Author's notes – ChibiDawn, yeah, one of my favourite moments in Megaforce (a season I otherwise didn't much care for, but there were a couple of lovely moments, here and there) was that moment where Gosei just starts screaming at his kids, "Morph! Morph! Morph!" If the normally emotionless and calm mentor suddenly completely loses his cool? You know that bad things are about to go down.

This chapter features another big call-back to "Shades of Grey". If you haven't read that story, don't worry. In the events of that story, the Rangers restored their friend Trystenn (a prince of an alien kingdom) to his rightful throne, and Trystenn ended the story by promising to retake the city of Azhron (after it had become a hive of villainy and evil, in his absence). Four years have passed since that adventure, in the lives of the Rangers, and this story is the eventual conclusion of that ongoing subplot.

Enjoy!

Part Five

Chapter One

7 months ago

"Thanks for the ride," Zac said, reaching into Tommy's car for his backpack. It was warm despite the early hour, and Zac was already missing the car's air-conditioning. "My ride's still in the shop, but they said it'll be ready by Thursday."

"No worries," Tommy replied, as they made their way through the university carpark. "It's study week, man. We need all the help we can get."

The end of November saw the much-anticipated arrival of study week at the university. The tutorial schedule hadn't changed, but lectures were done for the semester, and everyone had one last week to finish their assignments and prepare for next week's gruelling exams. The campus was busy as the Black and White Rangers reached the library building in the centre of the grounds.

"I don't know why we didn't have one of these back in high school," Zac said. "Could've used one."

"Guess this is gonna be a rough couple of weeks for you," Tommy said.

"What makes you say that?" Zac asked. "Our exams can't be that scary. Plus, y'know, we have Billy as a tutor."

Tommy smiled. "I meant with Angela leaving soon," he said. "Once you guys are through exam week, you've got, like, two weeks together and that's it. In the last week, she'll probably be getting ready for the move, right?"

Zac's face fell. "It's that soon?" he asked softly. "I've been so busy with uni stuff that I hadn't really thought about it." He lowered his voice. "I'm not ready for this."

"I thought you'd be counting the days," Tommy said. "You want to come inside? I can see Trini and Angela in the student commons."

Zac paused a second longer than he needed to. "Sure, yeah," he murmured. Tommy's brow fell, but Zac followed him into the library. Heading towards the common study area on the ground floor, they soon found Trini and Angela sitting with Kim and Billy near the window. Zac smiled to himself. All this time, and he still got nervous whenever he saw Angela. Her hair was pulled back and she was wearing a sun dress to deal with the day's heat.

"Morning boys," Angela said as they approached.

Zac pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. "Early start?" he asked.

Angela gestured to the workbooks spread across the table. "Trying to organise my study schedule for the week," she replied.

"Where's Jason?" asked Tommy.

"He has a class Monday morning, remember?" Kim said.

"Anyway, I need to get moving," Zac said. "I've got study groups and classes, like, all day."

"You want to meet up for lunch?" Angela asked. "Get some fresh air?"

Zac glanced to his watch. "Not on my schedule," he replied. "Tomorrow?"

"Movie night at my place then," Angela nodded. "Come around at six. We need to do something this week to de-stress."

"I'll lock it in," Zac replied. "Later guys." Without waiting for a goodbye, he turned and left the library. The Rangers looked to Angela, but she shrugged noncommittally and they returned to their books.

True to his word, the Black Ranger spent the rest of the day on campus alongside his classmates. But he didn't end up leaving campus until well after dark, and knew that tomorrow would be the same. Stopping into a florist on the way home, he picked up a bouquet of Angela's favourite flowers. The next morning, he asked Tommy to stop by Angela's place, and doing his best not to be seen, Zac placed the flowers, a textbook Angela had left at his place and a hastily-written apology, all on Angela's front step before ducking back to the car. Tommy stared at him silently for a few seconds before driving away.

Zac spent most of Tuesday on campus finishing his last few assignments. He'd only just made it home when the phone started ringing. Without looking at the caller ID, he picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Thanks for the flowers," Angela said. "And for returning the textbook, I actually needed that. But I was hoping to see you as well."

Zac felt his heart aching. "Yeah, I'm sorry, something came up," he said. "I knew I wouldn't be able to make it tonight."

"I miss you, that's all. What about tomorrow?"

"I can't tomorrow, I'm gonna be in the library all day."

"Oh."

There was a pause. "Let's get lunch on Friday," Zac said, breaking the silence. "At least end the week on a good note."

"I'll pencil us in," Angela replied. "I'll hold you to that."

"Listen, I'll let you go, I've got too much to do. Talk to you Friday."

"Good night Zac," Angela replied, and they hung up.

He spent all Wednesday in the campus library, only emerging in the afternoon for a late lunch. By Thursday, he no longer needed to be on campus and finally felt on top of his assignments. He stopped into the Youth Centre after breakfast to finish the last of his reading. But he'd only been there a few minutes when he looked up to see Jason crossing the room towards him.

"Morning," Zac said, as Jason pulled out a seat.

"Hey," Jason replied. "It's good to see you man. Where have you been all week? Billy doesn't have this kind of work load, and he's taking like twenty classes."

Zac nodded to the pile of books in front of him. "Uni stuff man," he said. "It's just getting to me a little bit."

"You must be on top of this by now," Jason said. "Angela was asking about you."

Zac stood up and crammed his books into his backpack. "Listen, I gotta keep moving," he began.

"Zac, wait," Jason began.

But Zac didn't stop. "I gotta pick up my car today, I've got books to return…"

"Zac."

"I've got a class this afternoon, and one of the guys we play soccer with on the weekend? Sam? He needs my help with something…"

Jason stood up and raised his voice.

"Zac? Stop."

Zac froze. Jason used his scary Red Ranger voice. That just wasn't fair. Everyone within twenty feet of the table had stopped what they were doing. Even Ernie had frozen mid-motion up at the bar.

"How do you do that?" Zac said irritably, as everyone began moving again.

"Tell me what's going on with you," Jason began. "We haven't seen you all week. You're filling every second of your day with something to keep you occupied, and I don't know what we…" and the Red Ranger's face fell as he realised the truth. "It's not us, is it? You're trying to distract yourself from something."

"Dude, whatever," Zac said, and stepped away from the table. "Listen, I gotta keep moving, okay?"

And without waiting for Jason to reply, Zac left the Youth Centre.

With the week finally behind him, at lunchtime on Friday, Zac drove into the university, parked a mile away from campus and made his way towards the food court. Just as he reached the building, Angela called his name from one of the garden benches under a row of trees. He felt his heart beating faster.

"Hey stud! Over here!"

Zac smiled and jogged over, sliding onto the bench next to her. "Hey," he said, and they shared a brief hug.

"It's great to finally see you," Angela said. "Where have you been all week?"

"I guess this just ended up being harder than I thought it was going to be," he replied, gesturing vaguely around the campus grounds.

"Well now I got you all to myself for the next hour," Angela began, "so you can start by telling me…"

At that exact second, Zac's communicator beeped. They both stared at the device for a second, then laughed.

"I'm sorry," Zac said helplessly.

"Go," Angela nodded. It was the one thing she'd always understood, and he would always be grateful for that. "Someone needs you more than I do. Go!"

"Yeah, I should," he said, and stood up. "Thanks."

"One condition," Angela began.

"Yeah?"

She stood up to join him. "Come back to me," she said.

"I'll do my damnedness," he said. With a final grin, Zac dashed away.

To be continued.