On The Armada Warship, Emperor Mavro and Redker were in his chambers, watching and re-watching the footage of the Rangers' battle with Damaras. Mavro had sent Damaras, one of his most powerful warriors, against the Rangers in a do-or-die mission specifically to test them. While he had some measure of how dangerous they were, given that they had managed to dispatch both of his sons, and a respectable portion of his forces, he hadn't actually seen them in action.

He knew that under the suits, all the powers and all the fancy weapons, he knew they were humans. He had one of them in his grasp briefly. Many of the worlds he had conquered had been populated by humans, or species very similar to humans, and he had learned a lot about them. They were clever, and had a capacity for surprising courage and strength in times of crisis, but when all was said and done, they were still and inferior species. When everything was stripped away, when they had to stand before him alone, they all fell in the end.

Damaras had failed him disastrously, it was the reason he had agreed to the do-or-die mission, in order to redeem himself in the eyes of his Emperor. Mavro had leveraged that, knowing that it didn't really matter who won. If Damaras won, it meant the Earth was defenceless, but if the Rangers won, it would give him an important lesson in how strong they were. Damaras was capable of wiping out whole planets single-handed. If anyone could defeat him, they were an opponent to be respected...if not necessarily feared.

The Ranger he had in his grasp, the Red Ranger, the leader...was a teenager, little more than a child! By the looks of him, he had only recently matured into what by human standards would consider an adult. Such was the longevity of his own kind that Mavro wasn't entirely certain of what human age meant, by comparison their lives were little more than a hiccup to those of his kind, but he understood that he had reached maturity. He hadn't seen any of the others out of their suits, but given the way they interacted, the way they talked to Troy, combined with the fact they followed him without question seemed to indicate that they were around the same age. It was a little surprising to him to find out that the heroes the Earth relied on were barely more than children, but he had faced, and even used child soldiers before. It wasn't as though he could simply write them off.

"Impressive." He stated as he watched Jake finishing off Damaras, re-winding it and replaying it again and again. "These Rangers are unique, and powerful foes. I have seen nothing like them before."

"They don't seem that impressive to me." Redker snorted. "Give me an invasion force and I will..."

"To disrespect your foe is to court disaster and invite defeat!" Emperor Mavro roared, pointing at Redker in a threatening manner. "You will do as I say, and act only when I tell you and don't you EVER forget that!"

"Of course, Your Highness." Redker replied humbly. He hated being subjugated like this. He had been a member of the Royal Family all his days, something that held a certain position and respect in and of itself, but with the demise of both the Emperor's children, he was now next in line to the throne. His word was second only to Mavro's in the grand scheme of things, and he was eager to use his position to enhance his own reputation and gain his uncle's favour. He felt humiliated that he wasn't being trusted to go and lay waste to the Earth and demonstrate his power, but he couldn't risk angering his uncle. While Mavro wasn't likely to leave himself short another heir, since he had access to advanced bionics to repair any damage, he was not above crippling his nephew just to make a point.

"Go and take this data to Lavira." He snapped at him. "Have her update our tactical database throughout the fleet ahead of the invasion. The more prepared our troops are for whatever the Rangers can throw at them, the better."

With that, he handed the data device to Redker, who just bowed as he left. He made his way to the lab, finding Lavira inside.

She was wearing a large, heavy collar, a restraint that had been forced upon her for her failure in the eyes of Emperor Mavro. It was wired with explosives, set to detonate if she attempted to leave the lab, and disabled the weapons fitted into her armour. Mavro still valued her technological skill, but could not ignore the failure of Vekar's War Cabinet to keep him safe. Redker just leaned on the doorframe as he watched her working.

"What do you want?" She muttered, not even looking at Redker.

"I was asked to come here by the Emperor." He told her.

"Well, whatever it is, just say it and go." She told him. "I'm busy."

"Not busy housekeeping I see." He chuckled, heading over to a wafer-thin mattress in the corner, which had a rumpled blanket laid over the top of it. This was what Redker considered suitable sleeping conditions for her now that she was basically a prisoner. "We were kind enough to set you up with a bed and you don't even make it?"

"You call that a bed?" She asked in response.

"I suppose it isn't exactly as comfortable as my cousin's old room." He taunted her.

"Do not speak of him." Lavira stated. "Just say what you have to and go."

"That is no way to speak to your superior!" He snapped.

"You are in no way superior!" She responded sharply. He just smiled at her as he saw the anguished look on her face. He stepped closer.

"Well, maybe if you'd spent a little less time in my cousin's bed and actually got him to go through with that wedding you'd have a point, but since you didn't, you're nothing more than a lowly little grease monkey." He answered, giving her a small laugh. "I was born into greatness. You had to try and get it by bedding a royal."

He looked her up and down, taking joy in her torment.

"In what way did you ever think you would be...?" He was interrupted as one of Lavira's computers bleeped, flagging up an alert. He looked to her curiously.

"Well, let's see what you've been working on shall we?" He asked her. Lavira stepped aside, letting him look at the computer. It came up with schematics for something he hadn't seen before. He just looked dumbfounded.

"What the devil is this?" He yelled, seeing the schematics for a war machine he had never seen before. "These are schematics for a Megazord!"

"So you do have a brain underneath all those stinking scales!" Lavira answered as he glared at the screen. "I'm re-purposing the wreckage of Vekar's Zord into a new and powerful weapon."

"This is being built in the Hangar!" He screamed. He rounded on her. "How did you...?"

He was flung across the room as he grabbed her, a massive electrical charge rushing through him. He stared up at Lavira as she walked over to him, looking down on him with disgust. He looked shocked as she casually removed the restraint collar.

"I have built some of the most advanced weapons in the galaxy; did you really think your pathetic collar would be beyond my capabilities?" She asked as she threw it down at him in contempt. "I only stayed here until my weapon was complete."

She picked up a knife from the work bench, and turned back to Redker. He watched as she dragged it across her own face, cutting a deep gouge from just beneath her left eye, all the way down her cheek. She then did the same with the right.

"The Rangers took my beloved from me! I take the oath of the Tears of Blood that they will pay!" She threw down the knife and made her way out of the lab. She headed for the hangar, finding some Kingsmen standing in her way. They saw she was out of the lab, and immediately levelled their weapons.

"You are in violation of the Emperor's custody!" One of them announced. "Return..."

Lavira fired a barrage of missiles from her shoulder mounts, destroying them completely and tearing off the door. She went inside, finding her Megazord waiting for her.

"Nothing will stop me avenging my love!" She stated. "Not even The Emperor!"

The following day, Gia took Emma to the Brainfreeze, promising to get her some ice-cream. Although Emma wasn't in much of a mood, it was a while before she would be allowed to see Eric at the hospital, and Gia wanted to do what she could to cheer her up. Emma had explained all about the break-up, telling her every painful detail. Gia had spent most of the previous night soothing her. While she had dated Spider briefly, Troy was the first guy that Emma had completely given her heart to. The end of that relationship had devastated her.

As they arrived, they found Orion, Noah and Jake at the counter, talking with Ernie. While Orion had tried ice-cream before, they'd never had the time to take him somewhere like Ernie's, and they'd assured him that there was a whole world of difference between what they could pick up in a store, and what he could create. It seemed like they had taken the time to introduce him to that now.

They could see Orion look on in awe as Ernie placed the Brainfreeze Gut Buster...the largest and most extravagant creation on Ernie's menu in front of him. People rarely ordered it, partly for its hefty price tag of fifty dollars...unless someone by some miracle managed to clear the dish single-handed, a challenge that so far no one had accomplished, but mainly because of its insane size. It had roughly three scoops of every flavour of ice cream in stock, wedged into a bowl that looked more like a sink than any kind of eating vessel, interspersed with bananas, strawberries and raspberries and topped with lashings of cream, strawberry sauce, chocolate sauce, and so many sprinkles that it looked like a psychedelic dream.

"Hey, check it out." Gia said as she pointed over to them. "The guys have ordered a..."

"Gia, can we just go?" Emma asked. "I really don't feel in the mood..."

"Come on Emma, you can't hide away." Gia told her. "You've got nothing to be ashamed of, and we're all going to fight together at some time."

"I really don't..."

"Gia, Emma!" Ernie called out, gesturing them over wildly. "Come and see! Your new friend Orion is attempting the Brianfreeze Gutbuster Special Challenge!"

"Seriously?" Gia asked.

"He didn't know what he wanted, so he asked for a little bit of everything." Noah told them. "Ernie mentioned this and...he said he wanted a go."

"Oh come on Emma, we have to see if he can do it!" Gia said with a smile.

"I just really..."

"Hey Ernie, two of the usual." Gia rushed out, dragging Emma to the counter. Emma flopped down on the stool, knowing that there was no point in arguing. She really didn't feel like being around others, but Gia insisted on cheering her up.

"I'm really pleased to see you in here again. It's just like old times." Ernie stated as he prepared their order. He could see the look on Emma' face and quickly realised she was very down. "Is everything alright with your father? I called last night and they said he was..."

"Dad's doing well, he's comfortable." Emma sighed. She could see that Ernie wasn't going to let this go. "Troy and I broke up last night."

"Wait, what?" Noah asked. Orion seemed surprised too, but his mouth was full of ice-cream, so he couldn't say anything. Jake focused on his own ice-cream, trying not to let on he already knew what was going on. "Why, what happened?"

"He just...he said we've been growing apart." Emma told them, leaving out the detail that he had left her for Allison. "It...it hurts, but I guess...when I thought about it, I can kind of see where he was coming from. If I'm honest...I guess things haven't been right for a while."

Gia noticed that Jake's hand was heavily bandaged, and very quickly put the pieces together. One of the things that Gia remembered of the previous night, the thing that surprised her when she saw Troy was that his nose was clearly broken, an injury he hadn't suffered in any Ranger battle. While Emma had left out the detail that Troy had left her for Allison from the others, she didn't keep anything from Gia. If she was to take three guesses how Jake hurt his hand, she had a feeling she wouldn't need two of them.

"Emma, I'm so sorry to hear that." Ernie told her warmly. "Here, have this on the house. Broken heart discount."

"Thank you Ernie." Gia answered as he left.

"Man, I can't believe this." Noah reiterated, placing a hand on Emma's shoulder and stroking it gently. "I always thought you guys were rock solid. I can't believe it's..."

He tailed off as he too started to put the pieces together. He knew Jake had hit Troy, but he just didn't know why. Jake hadn't told him, just saying that he would know soon enough. He had a feeling Jake just wanted to wait until Troy told Emma himself. Jake was hurt when Allison had told him, it was understandable he would know what Emma was about to face and decided that hearing him blurt it out was only going to make it worse.

"I'm sorry too." Orion said, gulping down a mouthful of his ice-cream. "I guess the one advantage of the arrangement system we had in my village was that break-ups weren't common."

"I still believe in romance, but right now...I think that sounds pretty appealing." Emma answered. As she looked along the table, seeing Jake sitting, quietly eating his ice-cream, she noticed the bandage. Finally, she too managed to connect the dots.

"You...you know, don't you Jake?" Emma asked. Jake just nodded.

"I'm really sorry Emma." He answered. She just pulled him in, hugging her tightly.

"Know what?" Orion asked.

"I'm sorry too." Emma told him. "It really sucks doesn't it?"

"Wait...Troy and Allison?" Noah asked, doing his best to make it seem like he had only just caught up. Orion gulped down some more ice-cream.

"Wait...Troy and Allison?" He asked. The others just nodded. "Wow...um...I'm sorry to hear that."

"So...how's the hand?" Emma asked. Jake just shrugged.

"It looks worse than it feels if I'm honest." He told her.

"Well, the part of me that used to be Captain says that...we do still have to fight alongside him, and you could have put him out of action." Gia told him. "But the part of me that's Emma's best friend says...good job."

"Hey, check it out!" Emma stated, pointing to Orion's dish. Everyone knew the Andresian had a big appetite, but he had already managed to polish off a third of the dish. "He might actually do it!"

"Jeez...when I tried it that one time, I was seeing double by now!" Jake called out, getting up and standing behind Orion, rubbing his shoulders. "Come on big guy, you can do it!"

"Come on Orion!" Noah cheered, scattering his stool. Quickly, all the Rangers were gathered around, cheering him on as he ploughed into the insanely sized dessert.

Elsewhere, Troy was by the edge of a lake in the city park, just looking out over it. Allison arrived next to him, seeing him skipping stones across its surface. She looked up to him.

"How's the face?" She asked him. He just shrugged.

"I'll live." He answered. "I'm more worried about Emma."

"I guess this was never going to end well." She answered sadly.

"I just don't know how I'm going to fight with them now." Troy admitted. "I'm pretty sure by now the others all know what I did."

"Hey, you can't take all the responsibility." Allison stated, taking his hand. "We were both involved.

"I don't expect them to forgive me or go back to being friends with me overnight." Troy told her. "Hell, I'm not sure I expect them to ever be friends with me after this, but the Earth still needs us as a team, and right now...I'm not sure if the others will trust me."

"They know they can trust you with their lives." She assured him. "Their hearts...that's probably going to take longer."

Troy turned to face her, kneeling down and smiling at her.

"You are amazing." He told her. "I really don't know if I could do any of this without you."

He pulled in, kissing her deeply. Right now, things were looking bleak, but as he parted from her, looking into Allison's eyes, and saw her looking back with the same warmth he felt, he just knew that as long as the path to get there looked now, this was for the best in the end.

Meanwhile, in the Mystic Mother's Temple, Jordan was in a grove, working hard on his training. Gosei was still keeping things pretty close to his chest about the ritual; all he knew was that he wouldn't be part of it. He had just told him to prepare for another part of the plan. He was still not clear on what that was, but he had told Jordan he was in for the fight of his life, and told him to be ready for it.

He swung around, bringing his Robo Blade down, slicing into a Giant Redwood. He watched as it slid across the diagonal cut, before coming crashing to the ground. He smiled as in a flash of light; the felled tree disappeared, and then reappeared upright. A tree that should take centuries, perhaps millennia to grow naturally had righted itself in seconds; such was the power of magic in this place.

"I SO love this place!" Jordan said with a smile. He heard some clapping behind him, and turned to see the Phantom Ranger, otherwise known as Gosei approaching.

"Your work is impressive son." He stated. "You've come a long way in your training."

"Thanks." Jordan replied. "Are the others ready for the ritual?"

"Soon enough." Gosei told him. "For now, I want you to come with me, there's someone I want you to meet."

"Who?" Jordan asked him.

"The rest of our team." Gosei told him. Jordan just furrowed his brows.

"Team?" He asked. "What team?"

"The strike team I'm intending to take right into the heart of the battle." Gosei replied as he took him into a white marble chamber. Inside was a massive ship, made of a reflective golden metal, with long, elegant, curving surfaces. The nose came into a distinct point, and the wings swept backwards like a diving falcon. Jordan marvelled at the vehicle as he approached it. "This ship is one I designed myself. It would have taken me months to build, but thanks to the Mystic Mother...well...it's amazing what she can do in an hour."

The ship opened up, and four figures started to head down the ramp. Two of them were short, VERY short, perhaps only a little over four feet in height. They moved with a mechanical gait, and had disk shaped heads which housed a single red light strip like a visor. Behind them were two other figures, one a blue armoured warrior, the other, a golden armoured figure with a long, black cloak.

"So this is Zordon's grandkid?" One of the short droids asked. "He doesn't look much like the old man."

"He took his looks from his mother's side of the family. That's probably for the best." Gosei replied. "Jordan, I'd like you to meet Alpha 5, Alpha 6, the Blue Centurion and the Sentinel Knight."

"It's an honour." Jordan said as he shook hands with each of them in turn. "It'll be an honour to fight alongside all of you."

"The honour is all ours, Son of Gosei." The Sentinel Knight replied reverently.

"Well Jordan, our chariot awaits." Gosei said, gesturing inside. As he went in, followed by Alpha 5, Alpha 6 and Sentinel Knight, the Blue Centurion grabbed Gosei by the arm, holding him back, gesturing that he wanted to talk to him.

"Are you certain you want your son on the ship?" He asked. "You know what this mission is."

"I know, and that's exactly why I want him to come along." Gosei told him. "It's the only way he'll understand what has to happen."

"With all due respect..."

"I have made arrangements." Gosei assured him. "Besides, I've never gotten a chance to fight alongside my son. I may as well take this opportunity."

As Gosei boarded the ship, Blue Centurion just shook his head.

"Sometimes I'm glad I'm a robot." He stated. "I'll never understand biological beings."