Two Months Later

"Thomas- hold back for a minute," Theo said as the combatives class was coming to an end. Thomas glanced back at Theo and he just motioned for him to follow him. There had been a handful of times that he had been pulled aside by different instructors, but this was the first time that Theo had held him back.

"I'll catch up with you later," Thomas said as Jason, Zach, and Rocky nodded. Over the last several months, he had quickly become the leader of this class- that first night had shown Jason more than enough to prove that he had the chops to be here. More than that, he had become friends with all of them and the were some of the first true friends he had ever had. "Uncle Theo?"

"There's an assignment for you," Theo said as Thomas stared at him. What could they possibly have for him to do? Assignments were generally given to cadets in the Upper Academy and they certainly weren't given to someone who showed up two years late to the Lower Academy. "There's a future prophetess who needs a covert guard. Her previous guard…well…let's just say that he is no longer in the Power Ranger pipeline. I argued that you get this assignment as soon as she was identified, but I lost that argument until now."

"Do you have any background?" Thomas asked as Theo nodded and passed him a file folder. Thomas glanced down at the photo and then back up at Theo. He could understand why there may have been some problems, she was gorgeous. He gulped as he realized how hard this assignment might be for him. "Uncle Theo…"

"You have the best chance of keeping her safe. I'd suggest you use the last name Chesterfield instead of Trueheart though," Theo said as Thomas barely nodded as he opened the folder and started flipping through the pages. They had given him her entire background, everything that he could possibly want to know about her and some things that he felt were an invasion of her privacy. He was familiar with prophets and the protection that they needed. He had just never imagined that he would be given this responsibility, it was something that David had never been given. "Here's a note for your next class. By the way- no one else sees that file. No one."

"Okay…ummm…how do you suggest I meet her?" Thomas asked as Theo shook his head and flipped to the last page in the folder. He pointed at the 'locations' part of the profile and Thomas quickly read through the options. "The Juice Bar?"

"It's where non-academy teenagers hang out," Theo said as Thomas gave him a look and he laughed. Thomas didn't blend in here, he really was not going to blend in amongst normal teenagers. There had always been something about him that people just knew he was going to be powerful and it scared a lot of people away. "I didn't say this would be easy. I said that you would be the best at it."

"Fine. Do I get any changes to my Academy schedule?" Thomas asked and Theo grimaced. He had angled for some leniency when Mitchell said he was giving Thomas this assignment, but he'd only been able to negotiate him giving Thomas the news instead of his father. He saw this for the opportunity that it really could be for Thomas. "You're kidding. How am I supposed to do all of this and get her to trust me enough so that I can keep her safe?"

"I'll keep trying with your dad, T. I don't…I'll keep trying," Theo said as Thomas nodded and he then jogged out of the gym to head to his next class. Theo let out a sigh as he watched him go. He wished they could tell Thomas and David the truth, even if they told no one else.

Sally had had David when she was still at the Power Ranger Academy- something that rarely happened even though there were a bunch of horny teenagers there. The Command Center had been known to literally reinvent the hallways to stop teenage loves from getting it on. Even with that, Sally had gotten pregnant. Their family had never been able to get it out of her who the father was and they were more than shocked when she started dating Mitchell Trueheart. They learned later that it was for how powerful their future children would be, nothing else. He had never understood why Mitchell favored David so much and seemed to hate Thomas just as equally, but there were things he had never been able to get out of the Truehearts.

"How'd he take it?" Robert asked as Theo just nodded his head. Even at sixteen, Thomas was a professional. It was one of the few things that Sally and Mitchell had gotten right with him. "Mitch was an idiot to have given that assignment to someone else."

"I know, but unless you're having better luck convincing him…" Theo trailed off as Robert just shook his head. His brother was still being as stubborn as ever. "How do you two have the same parents?"

"No idea. All I can say is he got all the asshole genes and I got all of the compassion and caring genes," Robert joked as Theo looked over at him and he quickly looked away from him. "He's not treating Thomas any better."

"If anything, it has gotten worse. Thomas has excelled at everything here. It's obvious that he…" Theo trailed off as he glanced around the gym. If anyone heard this, even one student, it could ruin Thomas and it would cast all kinds of concerns on what was going on at the academies right now. "That he's the real Trueheart."

"Do you think anyone has figured it out?" Robert asked and Theo shook his head. Most of the staff knew where Thomas was in the ranger line and those that didn't had no reason to be suspicious- yet. "Is David still showboating?"

"Dangerously so," Theo replied as Robert gulped. It was one thing for a ranger to test their limits, that was expected of every ranger team when they first got their powers. It was another thing when they ignored them. "He's going to get someone hurt or killed. Mitchell can't see it, but the rest of us do and we…he's not listening."

"His team has physicals next month- I'll see what I can do," Robert said as Theo nodded his thanks. They had been actively managing David for years and both of them were growing tired of it. They had hoped that the powers might skip over David, but they had not been so lucky. He had even been named the leader of his team, as a yellow- which was basically unheard of. The red ranger was far more qualified, but Mitchell was determined that David take his place- not Thomas. It didn't make sense to any of them why he was that determined. "We've just got to get Thomas onto a team."

"The powers will pick him, but I still don't know if Mitch will let him keep them," Theo stated as Robert groaned. How was he going to get his brother to see how bad of an idea it was to keep putting David in a place he didn't belong?

AN: I hope you're enjoying this story! Please leave your thoughts (good, bad, otherwise) in the comments! Also- thank you to everyone that has reviewed so far- it really means the world to me to hear from you.