It was just before dawn when Noah woke up as he had been for the last few years. With brisk movements, he closed the laptop situated on his desk and packed a duffel bag with a change of clothes. It was just after 5 am and Noah was just now getting out of the house. The city bus was scheduled to arrive at his stop in 15 minutes, which he needed to take in order to be at the dojo before 6:30.

This practice was rigorous and intense but already starting to heed results. Noah's own confidence level grew incrementally with the progress he has been making.

By 6:15 he was walking into the Harwood county mall which was devoid of its usual shoppers. The silence was strange when Noah first came, but he eventually learned to love it. In his eyes, the mall was at its best when there wasn't much going on.

This early in the morning the only stores that are open usually cafes but that's not why Noah was here. Situated not far from Ernie's Brain Freeze was the Tarragon Dojo, and it was here that the real Noah revealed himself.

______

Troy's face melted into his palm, his eyes felt like lead as he could barely keep them open. The white bowl of cereal before him grew soggy as he lacked the strength and the motivation to raise the spoon to his mouth. The more he thought about the exertion of eating, the more his mind began to drift, and soon he needed to be jostled awake by his aunt.

"Rough night?" Troy's Aunt was on the other side of the counter, her back facing him. She was dressed in her usual gray pantsuit and was in the process of filling a thermos with home-brewed coffee.

She turned to see Troy dozing over his cereal and brushed his arm to snap him back awake. "Why are you always so tired? I hope it's because of school work."

Her words did not seem to resonate what was more interesting was the mushy breakfast soup that was once his cereal. "Do you have any plans for later today?"

"Why?" He responded.

"I need you to do me a favor. I need you to drop off and pick up Randy at his martial class after school. I'm going to be a little late."

"What's wrong with Isaac?" Troy squinted his eyes and drew his head back surprised. Of all people, the responsibility had to fall on his shoulders. His Aunt had another son she could ask.

"Unfortunately, no matter hard I beg him not to be like his father, there's no stopping him. So he'll be busy the next few days with schoolwork to even take his brother." Troy's aunt said.

Troy scrunched up his face indignantly, he had hoped that by living with his aunt he would be able to shove all forms of responsibility. Everything changed however when he got roped into being a ranger, and now everyone expected him to be at their service

"Just please do me this favor. This is a one-time thing. Unless you like to stick around? It's a free program that teaches swords, martial arts and etc. You know, something to keep your mind off of the past few days. You're a great martial artist and maybe learning a new thing or two might be good for your resume." Troy's aunt effused.

Emerging from one of the upstairs bedrooms, a nine-year-old boy descends the stairs and enters the kitchen dressed for school with the exception of sneakers. "Mom where's my shoes?"

"Have you've tried your room?" Troy responded to the boy.

"No....but I've tried your room." The boy interjected.

Troy rolled his eyes at his cousin's bland come back, he figured it must have killed at recess which is why the little menace tried it on him. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It's not supposed to."

"Well if it's not supposed too then why say it?" Troy added.

Troy's 9-year-old cousin, Randy, raised an open palm as if to say talk to the hand. Where did he go thinking that he was all high and mighty as if the world revolved around him? Randy refocused his attention to his mother who laid out a clean bowl and a spoon for him. "Oh mom, mom, can you bring my Kismet to school afterward? I wanna show Chris the War of the Coin."

"Randy, you're not bringing your little game to your training. You know you get distracted." Randy's Mother said.

"No, I don't. Chris gets distracted, I stay focus."

"Oh really is that why Chris is a higher belt than you?" She remarked.

"That's because his dad is a master, way better than Troy." Randy babbled.

"Oh yeah speaking of which, I cant take you to your class today hun. So your favorite martial arts master is going to take you instead."

"Who Jason?"

"No Troy."

"How? Is he going put me on the back of the bike or something or on the roof of the school bus?"

Randy then turned to face his cousin with the cheesiest smile he could muster. He tried his best to look innocent and adorable like the day he was born. Troy didn't seem to notice he too busy adding more dry cereal to his bowl.

"Then Troy can you bring my Kismet then? Make sure to bring War of the Coin." Randy asked Troy.

"You're not taking that with you." Randy's mother interfered.

"But mom I unlocked a new character. It's the quantum ranger! He's so cool! He reminds me of dad!"

At the mention of the word Dad, Troy halted his obnoxious cereal pouring. He remembered hearing that his uncle passed on the battlefield, the same one his father has just returned to. For Randy to be so young yet still hold this heroic image of his father tugged at the piece of humanity he had inside.

His mother was indeed touched, but she held firm on her answer. Randy took a seat next to Troy and poured his own bowl of cereal. "Hey Troy, you ever played the War of the Coin?"

"No.." Troy replied.

"Oh..." Randy paused shrinking into himself, the way the nine-year-old ended the conversation so abruptly made Troy think that he might've critically damaged his ego. But like other kids Randy's age, the little boy sprang back to life as if nothing happened. "Well, you should. When we get back I'll show you how to play."

"Is that one of your power ranger games?" Troy asked.

"Yeah. Power Rangers are so cool especially those giant robots. I would like to ride in one of them. Maybe when it flys and shoots lasers. Like that guy on the news. Gosei Red?"

"Gosei Red?" Once more Troy was dumbfounded, the second time this morning. Where in the world did Randy hear the name Gosei and more importantly what kind of name is Gosei Red?

"Yeah isn't that his name? And the guys before them were Shinkengers?"

That made Troy smirk, "Where did you come up with these names?"

"That's what Chris calls them.......Even though I should know when Chris doesn't like someone he's calls everyone a weird name."

"Hmm sounds like an interesting friend. "

"Yeah...."

------------------

The mall was smaller than some of the other ones Troy has been to, having only two levels. The grand space in the center however was perfect for hosting big events. To his immediate left was a small froyo/smoothie shop called Ernie's brain freeze.

"Hey slow down before you trip," Troy ordered but Randy didn't listen.

"Stop walking so slow," Randy called back. While Randy was at his lesson Troy could slip in there for a cool drink if he wanted. That would have been the case if he did not see the backs of Gia and Emma already seated at one of the tables.

He hustled past the restaurant as to not give the girls a chance to notice him.

Randy was leagues ahead of Troy as he ran to the dojo just as the last class was letting out. Two lion-dog statues guarding the door and a sign hung out that read Tarragon Dojo, and it was there where Randy was headed.

"Randy!" Troy called to his cousin. The nine-year-old kid glances back to taunt his cousin but when he returned his attention forward it was too late for him to stop running. He ran face-first into the older student.

"Aha, I told you so." Troy mocked.

The doorway to the dojo resembled a Japanese torii gate from which the name of the dojo was put on display. The inside was rather standard, with wooden flooring by the door with cubbies for students to place their belongings. Mirrors lined the front and back walls with the training mats on the floor between them. In one corner was a free-standing punching dummy and in another a barrel full to bursting with bamboo swords.

Troy felt like a kid in a candy shop. Everything was eye-catching and called to him.

As much as Troy wished he could stick around he had to get going, there were so many other things that required his attention. For starters he had to get himself to school, this morning's excursion really threw Troy off of his regularly scheduled day. There was also the fact that the dream he had the night before bothered him greatly. He was so disturbed that he could no longer slip back into a deeper sleep and woke at every little instance. He also needed to consider his after school plans with retrieving Randy and then going on to perform his own training. He couldn't leave out the possibility of a monster attack that seems to happen every day.

All of these factors found their way into Troy's head and he developed a bit of a headache just thinking about it. As he turned to leave a familiar voice echoed from one of the back rooms and was moving toward the front.

"Hey Michelle, Sensei said he's leaving sooner than usual this afternoon. Does that mean he's found a hobby other than beating me with a bamboo sword," Troy turned to see Noah in the middle of a conversation with another girl, both of them had duffle bags slung over their shoulders and they seemed rather familiar with one another.

The girl smiled at Noah's remark and then sat at the service table near the entrance, "I'm sure it's nothing we have to worry about, that just means the afternoon instructor can start his classes a bit sooner. Nice pin by the way."

Noah took recognition to the pin slash mega force communicator that clipped onto his collar. "Thanks! I made it myself, ww-w-wwith a friend's help."

"Noah," Troy couldn't believe his eyes, the look on his face spelled out his confusion. He was lucky he did not rush to leave.

"Troy?..uh hi didn't recognize you. What are you doing here?" The blue ranger dropped his duffle bag at the sight of his teammate standing by the door. Words could not seem to formulate in his mind; the jig was up.

"Dropping off my cousin, you?"

"Well uh, I'm just here to tutor some kids with physics homework. You know some are having a hard time calculating the rate of change for a falling object. It's all very problematic I'm sure you understand."

"In a Gi?" Troy wasn't buying it by the look of Noah's clothing.

(Gi is the uniform worn for training)

"Well if you come to a dojo you need to look the part, right," Noah chuckled nervously, "Anyways I am in a rush. I'm helping Emma with a webpage, if you can Troy just forget you saw me here."

Noah attempted to slip past Troy but from the back of the dojo, the master appeared. "Hey Noah nice work today, I hope you come tomorrow and we'll continue to work on Kenjutsu. This time with double swords."

Troy looked at Noah with a knowing look. The blue ranger opened his mouth to retort but there was nothing he could say.

"...Okay you caught me." Noah confessed, "I came here to train and it's not because Gosei hasn't shown me how to fight on my own but I-I wanted to widen my horizon."

"I don't know how that's a problem," Troy said, putting his hands in his pocket.

"It's not really," Noah was uncertain.

"You don't want Jake to know or something?" Troy guessed.

"Jake knows..I guess, I guess-"

"I mean if you're hiding a center someone, by all means." Troy juts his chin in the direction of Michelle, who had positioned herself behind a welcome desk.

Noah's face became a tinge darker as he blushed in embarrassment. "No no, she and I are nothing like that. She's just a friend from class and that I would like to stay out of Jake's nosey ears. Michelle's father is great, swords have always been my preferred weapon I always wanted to have, especially after seeing videos of the samurai rangers in Panorama City."

"..If-if you ever wanted to learn, all you had to do was ask...I'm not sure how much good it would do given the way things are." It was as if the world ceased spinning beneath Noah's feet. Troy Burrows, has just offered to teach sword training. The planets must have been aligned or something mystical must have happened to make Troy behave this generously.

"That's...very kind of you Troy...," Noah said, lost for words, "but I'm not sure if it would work. Your weapon is best suited for you like mine is for me. Wouldn't it cause a great disturbance if we switched?"

"You're learning the sword technique now, there shouldn't be a difference," Troy responded. This was the second time Noah was befuddled by one of his teammates, the first being Gia. He always found himself outwitted when he took too long to think and plan.

It's not that Noah didn't want to wield the dragon sword it was more so he was wary of his potential teacher. Sensei Endo was strict but fair. He saw the sword not as a weapon of oppression but as an extension of his own will, something Noah wasn't too sure Troy has.

Noah sank deep into his thoughts. Usually when this happened the person he was talking to vanishes, but Troy was waiting there patiently as if he had all the time in the world. This by far had to be the longest conversation Troy has had with anyone since he moved to Harwood county. It was odd that out of everyone, it was Noah who he shared this moment with.

"Yeah, I guess..." Noah broke his silence, unable to give Troy a straight answer, he changed the subject. "How long have you've been training? I always wonder that you're a natural. I'm barely reaching the style of the double swords. Jake has barely any experience with the ax and he handles it like an expert already."

As strange as the encounter was for Noah, it was four times weirder for Troy. Just a moment ago he was busy thinking about everything he would need to do that day. Yet as soon as he saw Noah all of his plans no longer mattered as much. The reasoning was simple out of everyone on the Megaforce team Noah was the least invasive about Troy's past. His reward was something not given to everyone which was Troy's respect.

"....Well if you wanna know I've been training ever since I was 7 years old. From constantly moving I never had a solid foundation, every time I was taught it was always a different teacher, so it was like starting all over again." Troy explained.

"Because your dad's an army soldier right?" Noah guessed as Troy stood quiet. The blue ranger wished he silenced himself faster. Troy was showing him kindness that no one else got to experience and he almost ruined it by spouting a single observation he'd learned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

Troy shrugged one shoulder not bothered by Noah's question, "J-just be patient, don't worry about what other people are doing. As for Jake, you should expect that, he handles that Axe just like he handles other things. I don't think you should compare yourself to me nor him." Troy then left, leaving Noah puzzled.

The blue Megaforce ranger hovered at the entrance to the dojo for a second. His mind was in the process of mentally dissecting the whole exchange. It was so bizarre and out of the ordinary. On the bright side, it seemed like Noah was one step ahead of the other rangers. Troy seemed to see him as a confidant, a link he could probably use to get to know the man behind the beast.

Noah then broke away from the entrance as he went back to talking to Michelle. The young lady sat behind the reception desk welcoming those who came in. Earlier when Noah arrived she was wearing a white gi similar to him but now she switched to a comfortable pair of jeans and a graphic space wars shirt. Her silky black hair was pulled into a bun and held in place with a pen. Her epicanthic folded eyes skimmed over the computer screen as she completed the daily roster.

"Hey, Michelle sorry about that." Noah apologized, leaning on the table as he spoke to her.

"Oh no problem, you have new friends, that's great." She smiled.

Noah shook his head, "I wouldn't say he's my friend but he's a very mysterious guy."

"More mysterious than your other friend?"

"Oh most definitely....hey did you manage to crack that program I gave you?" Noah said softly to her as she reaches into her purse and hands Noah an external hard drive.

"Yeah, it took me a little bit, I've never seen coding like that before. I would have been done sooner, I didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh no you're fine, this will help me a lot." Noah thanked her greatly as he admired the hard drive.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's it's for?" Michelle wondered.

"Well umm," Noah cleared his voice as it became soft as he speaks. "There have been rumors of a potential headquarters for every power ranger team, possibly called the hexagon. I know pentagon, hexagon, I didn't make up the name but I'm going to use this disk for I can find out how they make power rangers."

Michelle looked at Noah not flinching in the slightest. He stared back at her through the lenses of his glasses. A crack emerged on both of their faces at the ridiculous nature of their project and they laughed heartily.

"Oh jeez, I thought you were serious." She chuckled.

Their laughter came to a halt however when a message buzzed on Michelle's phone. Her brief moment of joy rapidly became shock as she quickly gathered up her things to leave. "umm I gotta go. Take care, Noah."

______________________

Michelle burst into the door of her suburban home and quickly to the room where her brother lies in bed shivering. For the past two days, she and her mother have been taking turns treating her younger brother who's come down with a mysterious illness.

Walking into the room Michelle guarded her nose and mouth with a face mask, her mother was wearing one also as well as rubber gloves.

"How is he?" Michelle asked.

"No improvement." Her mother answered.

Michelle showed concern, "I'm going back to the lab. I shouldn't have gone to help dad with training."

"And what more could you have done Michelle, you've been working so hard already, 24/7." The door to the house shut forcefully as a man's voice echoed through the residence. Michelle's father arrived bringing with him medicinal tea.

"Well, dad it's better than us playing around. We went to the dojo when your son is here fighting for his life. Do you even care?" Michelle said forcefully.

"Of course I care." Sensi Endo snapped back, "But the people don't, they don't care if my son is hurting and how am I suppose to pay for his medicine?"

"I told you I would spend my college money." Michelle chided.

"No! You deserve a future and so does Nozomu. We need to be strong and you can't be stressed out when finding a cure. Good things come when you are patient."

Nozumo seemed to stir drawing the attention of his family. They all looked as he unknowingly discharged a sneeze onto his mother. He laid down once more seemingly slipping into a peaceful rest. In what seemed like an instant, his skin became lime green his face an expressionless mask and on his chest was the design of a bat-like creature.

Nozumo had fallen asleep as a human and awoke as a loogie. His mother likewise suddenly found herself transformed due to her prolonged exposure. The two of them sprung to their feet speaking the unearthly language of the fiends.

____________________

The Megaforce base was alive with activity as Tensou wheeled around from screen to screen.

"Oh no Gosei, this is bad it seems that there's a large viral outbreak spreading all over the city. What do we do?" Tensou was panicking.

Yet Gosei was unafraid, "I have been tracking this disease for some time now. Never before has it spiked this much. I'm getting the feeling that the warstar are involved."

(Cue the intro) 👇

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

In the comforts of the school computer lab, Noah was hard at work. On one monitor he had open a webpage in the making, different tabs lined the top of the page, and various photographic images composed the background. The name of the page was the Clear View Web.

From his laptop, however, he had the hard drive he received from Michelle connected. This was his true secret project, one that he couldn't share with anyone. On his laptop was archived ranger footage Noah downloaded from the base without Gosei's knowledge. The footage dated back to 1994, from what Noah could see a disc headed robot paraded around a body resting on a white bed. Fog shrouded the floor and the room was brilliantly white.

"...Should I set up the inter-morphing sequencer before I regulate the energy converters, Zordon?" The robot seemed to say.

Noah's eyes widened, "Zordon? That was Gosei's mentor wasn't it," he said to himself.

"Yes, Alpha. Meanwhile, I'll test the phase capacitance program," a deeper voice said. None of these words made sense to Noah. "This is going to be much harder than I thought."

"Right Zordon I'll begin the transfer now," the robot said.

Noah zoomed closer to his laptop screen when suddenly his video paused. A new window appeared in the center of the screen signaling a video call.

"Hey, Noah!" It was Emma along with Gia on the other side of the screen.

"Hey, Emma." Noah greeted with a smile.

"Hi, Noah!" Gia waved at the screen.

"Hey!" Noah said back, "what are you two up to?"

"Well, Emma and I just came back from the forest today," Gia said.

Emma began to yap, "Since my last encounter with that monster my photoshoot was ruin and I wanted to get better photos for the Clear View papers. I even managed to convince Gia to be the subject in some of my photos. I'll send them to you later Noah and you can upload them to the website?"

"Really? I thought you hated the spotlight, Gia?" Noah asked.

Gia sighed, "If it were my dad or anyone else I would have said no, but for Emma, I wouldn't mind posing for a few pictures."

Emma appreciated the thought as she hugged Gia and then spoke to Noah again, "Also thanks again for designing that webpage for me. How is it coming along? Were you able to include all the things I asked you to?"

"Just about, I came into school earlier this morning to finish up. The link to the new age is ready to go live on the Clear View website. I just need to put on a few finishing touches." Noah said through the virtual call.

Emma was grateful, "This would be a great way for me to raise awareness about all the harmful toxins that are polluting the air. I have been interviewing students for the school paper in order to get their perspective."

"What have people been saying? I can add them to the website as anonymous quotes." Noah offered.

"Well the garden club is all for it and the honor committee views, it as an awesome opportunity for community service. Today I'm meeting with the presidents of the drama club and chess team, as well as the captain of the football team at the mall."

A whine like sigh escaped Gia's throat. It wasn't much of a problem for her to take a few pictures, however, meeting with different groups wasn't part of the bargain. What was worse was that Jake always seemed to find his way to her. "I don't have to go to all of those do I?"

"Yes.." Emma put up a cheesy smile, "please?? Okay, just the drama club please, it's right beside the dojo and that will only take ten minutes."

Gia sighed, "Okkkaaayyy."

Emma looped her arm around Gia once again in a brief hug of thanks. She then refocused on Noah who was waiting patiently. "Hey Noah, you should meet us there, I could interview you too."

"Yeah, that would be fun. Maybe afterward the three of us can walk around the mall or something" Gia said.

"That sounds like fun...wait, what about Jake? Can he come?" Noah popped the question and right away Gia gave her answer.

"No."

Noah and Emma chuckled then the door to the computer lab opened, Noah's head bolted upright like a meerkat looking for danger. Instead what walked in was the rounded edge of a guitar case and the one carrying it was none other than Jake.

"Who you talking to buddy?" He asked but Noah ignored him and turned his focus back to the girls.

"Well you guys have fun, hopefully, I can meet you guys there. Just don't burn Gia out too much Emma." Noah said.

"Gia?" Jake's ears became warm at the mention of his beloved. He quickly forced his guitar case on to a row of computers opposite to Noah. He raced around hoping to catch a glimpse of his partner.

"Okay, I won't. Bye." As soon as the call ended, Jake smacked his lips at the blatant disrespect Noah extended.

"Thanks a lot, dude." Seeing that the screen was off Jake retreated to a clear spot on the ground. He fell to the floor belly down and raised himself using the strength of his arms. In a series of reps, Jake brought his chest down to the floor bending his arms at the elbow before rising again with his arms fully extended.

"Not my fault, you should have gotten here earlier." While Jake toiled away doing push-ups, Noah couldn't help but notice the guitar case on the opposite to where he sat. "What's with the guitar case? Since when did you learn how to play?"

"I haven't." Jake sprung up shaking off the upper body workout he performed. He grinned watching Noah undo the clips and open the case.

Inside was not what the blue ranger expected to find. Rather than the stringed instrument, it was the trusty weapon of the Black Megaforce ranger.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Noah said closing the door. "How did you even get this in here?!" He said in a hushed tone.

Jake removed the ax from the case and performed a few test swings. He rested the blade on a portion of the desk near Noah's laptop which remained in sleep mode on the desk.

"You got to fix this for me buddy." Jake held the ax with one hand gripping it from the base and trying to raise it like a norse god of thunder. "It's a little off balance. I just need some of your tech-support help. If you just make --whoa. A few more tweaks. I know when I use this thing."

The heaviness of the blade brought the weapon down dangerously. Jake's gripped the middle of the handle with his second hand stopping the ax from accidently chopping the desk.

After a second stumble with the ax, Jake returned the weapon to the guitar case. "I can impress Gia."

"And defend the earth? Tensou should be able to help you, this is something out of my expertise. This is ranger technology, I barely have the fundamentals down." Noah said.

"You built our communicators, how hard can it be?"

"Well I came up with the idea, but it was Tensou who knew how to merge them into the morphin grid."

Jake nodded his head as is sifting through the conversation. It must not have registered that Noah denied his request. "Okay, so um...Hey since you can't fix my ax, why not be my workout buddy. I was thinking after the News saw us the other day, they might make an action figure of us. I need to make sure the muscle definition is just right."

Noah shook his head and then sat back at his computer. "Jake, we're still new at this, we don't usually get-."

"I know action figures until season two." Jake moan.

"Season two? What are you talking about? I was trying to say we usually don't get well established until we beat our foe."

"Hey, I remember when I was 4 they already had In space action figures. That red ranger however looked like he was on steroids." Jake divulged into a tirade about ranger history, a section of which was not interesting to Noah.

"Virus continues to spread." Noah returned to his laptop, more files were being added as Michelle's decoding program broke through more security protocols. The next thing to catch Noah's eye was a news headline.

"Virus? No, Tensou told me it was just some little curious girl. She hulked that red ranger with a touch of a button. The number 3 is dangerous, huh and I'm the 3rd ranger on this team, I'm awesome." Jake gawked out the window dreamily. He imagined how awesome it would be for him to be discovered by the media as he prattled on about the hulked out red space ranger. Noah however was magnetized to his computer screen. He was following more and more reports on the mysterious virus that has seemingly sprung up out of nowhere. It was initially believed to only be affecting children 10 and under, but new reports suggest that adults are starting to become even more susceptible.

"No no I mean a Virus is spreading through Hardwood County and no there is no telling when they'll have an antidote. It all started in the little town of Chesterfield."

The mention of the virus drew Jake's attention. How has he not heard about it? If he had known sooner he likely would have skipped class. While Noah skimmed articles on the school computer Jake pulled up beside him.

"Chesterfield isn't exactly close, do you think it could really spread that quickly across the whole county?" Jake asked.

"I wouldn't take this likely Jake, for all we know the people who were infected may not have known they were infected. They could have peddled the virus all over and not know it." Noah said pulling up another article. At this point, Jake began to hover over his shoulder.

"Hey what's that?" Jake said confused. Several windows were opened on Noah's laptop, each one overshadowing the other. Most of them were email notifications and more news reports each demanding attention. In one corner of the screen hiding in a collapsed window was a page marked with the Megaforce symbol. This intrigued Jake, what could Noah possibly be working on. He moved the cursor over the symbol and tried to open the window.

"It's nothing, just a project I'm working on for computer club," Noah minimized the tab.

"Oh really let me see!" Jake asked maneuvering the mouse to the unopened window.

"Jake, no that's private!" Noah reached over and close his laptop shut but Jake fought back.

"Ah c'mon Noah be a sport." The black ranger was now even more enthused to see what secrets his friend was keeping under wraps. With the fight not producing any results Noah gave up and allowed Jake to peep at his top-secret project.

The window opened and expanded across the entire screen. High resolute specifications of every power ranger to date was documented. Everything from weapons to zord blueprints was perfectly detailed. Jake's mouth was wide open, he could not believe all that he was seeing. "Project for computer club huh?"

"Shut up, man." Noah was embarrassed, barely able to look Jake in the eyes.

"Hey hey, I'm not your enemy. What are you actually working on?" The fact that it seemed like Noah was up to something devious made Jake smile. He didn't expect to find this wealth of knowledge on his friend's laptop, and the fact that Noah tried so hard to keep his research hidden meant that it was likely that Jake was the only other person to know. He wanted to shout out in glee but held his tongue, if Noah wanted to keep this on the down-low then so will he.

"Promise not to tell?" Noah pleaded.

"My lips are sealed."

"I'm trying to create a new ranger."

A look of disbelief settled on Jake's face. "Yeah right dude, sure you are."

"I'm serious. If you noticed Troy and Emma both command the sky, you and Gia are the earth, and then there's me. I'm the only one who commands the water."

"That's not too bad, more power for you am I right?" Jake said.

"Yeah, but I don't have anyone to spar with or hang out with on a daily basis. It's really just me."

"What am I chopped liver?"

"I'm sorry. You get what I mean though right?"

"I get it. You're lonely and you want a companion to splash around in the waves with." Jake gibbed.

"You don't need to put it like that Jake," Noah said under his breath.

"I'm just saying it like it is. Listen from one black brother to another all I got to say is go for it. Though I have to admit it's funny, I have to ask Tensou but you cant tell Gosei that you're making another ranger, which is practically impossible. Even for you...is this why you're always booking in the middle of nowhere?"

"..Meh, most of the time I just do it to get away from you," Noah said with a smile.

Jake was speechless, "Sheez, were all starting to act like Troy now?"

The blue Megaforce ranger crunched his face at the jest of his friend. Jake removed himself from the seat next to Noah and hovered close to the guitar case which was still situated on the opposite row of computers. He opened the case once more to see his weapon glittering. "So if I'm keeping your top-secret ranger project under wraps, you'll do what you can about my ax? I think that's a pretty fair deal."

"Sounds like blackmail to me," Noah replied.

"Okay, bad wording umm, just pleaassse do me this favor. I know you have it in you, I promise I won't use what you do to my ax for personal gain. Gosei will never find out and nor would he about your ranger."

Noah was frozen to his seat, he stroked his chin considering Jake's offer. It was annoying how he always found himself in a position like this. He was always at the mercy of somebody else and never once able to act on his own. By making this ranger he intended to give the power to someone he knew well and trusted, someone who he believed he could shape and mold into a better person. By devoting so much time to this project he was finally going to bring an end to this absence that he feels. Noah knew Jake well enough to know that until he got what he wanted there would be no end to the begging and pleading. It would be hard to focus on anything while Jake complained. It would be best to solve Jake's problem first and then complete the work for his ranger.

______________________

Troy disembarks from the city bus and crosses the road to the mall he was at this morning. As he moved toward the entrance he could not help but feel a crippling chilling sensation run up his spine as if he were being monitored. Scanning the area behind him there was no enemy in sight. As quickly as the feeling came it left him. Troy hustled into the mall as to not give whatever it was another chance to spy.

At this time in the afternoon, malls are usually bustling with activity. The after school crowd is when stores make their daily quota of sales and security was especially on watch for shoplifters. What Troy walked into was basically a ghost town. There were a few people, but not as much as there should be.

Troy continued on his way to the Tarragon Dojo where his cousin was standing by the torii gate engaged in a conversation with an older man. Randy gripped the older fellow in a tight embrace just stood by the entrance.

Randy zipped his red book bag and kneeled to tie his shoe. From behind another boy, his age raced toward him with a mobile game system in hand.

"Yo check this out, I just got that Go On-onger ranger." His gleeful smile masked his more devious nature that was likely buried underneath.

"Go on-onger?" Randy was baffled.

"I meant RPM." Chris shook his head.

"So, I got the Quantum Ranger."

"Oooooh Lucky!" Chris said, "Did you get his boyfriend too? Time Red?" Chris said sarcastically.

"Why are you hating? Always calling them names. I'm going to get the new Red Ranger when he comes out and his name is Megaforce Red, not Gosei Red."

"Okay whatever well see tonight, let me know when you're online," Chris said as he walked away.

Chris scurried off to sit in one of the chairs offered for parents. Randy tugged on Troy's arm trying to pull him out of the dojo. "Okay let's go."

The red ranger wouldn't budge. His eyes were still dead set on the man Randy hugged earlier.

"Who is that guy?" Troy asked.

"What guy?" Randy wondered.

"The guy you just hugged."

"That's Chris' dad," Randy said.

"Name???" Troy circled his wrist signaling he wanted more information. In the few years, it has been since Troy last saw his cousin he would have at least expected him to mature just a little bit.

"I can't say his name he's an adult."

Troy stared at Randy with scrutiny. The young boy crumpled under the pressure and spilled the identity of his teacher. "..Jason..."

Troy was awestruck, the name Jason sounded so familiar as if he should know who it was. There was something about this guy that danced on the tip of Troy's tongue.

Jason gave another young student a fierce high five before seeing them off. He was marveled to of noticed that Randy hadn't left yet and instead lingered by the door with someone Jason did not recognize.

"Hey buddy you okay," Jason said as he came to Randy. "Is he with you?"

"Yeah, he's my cousin. My mom couldn't pick me up." Randy answered.

"Hi, what's your name. I'm Jason."

Troy was starstruck, "Troy."

"So you're the one his mothers been talking about. I hear you're pretty talented with your martial arts."

"No, he's not, I could beat him up," Randy said.

"Sure you can Randy." Jason smiled in a way that both supported and extinguished Randy's dream. He clapped the boy supportively on his shoulder. "but what did I tell you about Martial Arts."

"..only use it for self-defense," Randy said softly.

"Heh, you drilled that into him pretty well."

"Well, I just want the kids to understand that we aren't fighting just to fight," Jason said.

"Yeah.." Troy said back.

"Your Aunt speaks very highly of your skills. Why not come in for a class, I'm only here Tuesdays and Wednesday and then I head back to Angel Grove."

"Thanks, I'll think about it," Troy said.

"Alright cool, take care, Randy."

"Bye Sensi Lee."

"Class is over, you don't have to call me that," Jason said as he walked away.

Troy could not seem to peel his eyes from Jason. There was a connection that he just wasn't making. After much effort Randy finally got Troy's feet moving.

"Do you like him or something?"

Once more Troy gave Randy that scrutinizing look. He bobbed his head toward the exit telling the kid to beat it. "mind your business."

"Ohhh isn't he a little too old?" Randy shriveled up inside himself and walked out of the dojo like a zombie though he kept a small smirk on his face.

"Shut up. He just seems like someone I could learn a lot from. If I were, I would cherish that." Troy said.

"I cherish video games, I bet I can beat you?"

"You can't make me play that game," Troy said.

"What if I give you candy?" Randy said.

"Look Randy, If I play with you-you are gonna cry."

"How so?"

"Well, if I beat you then you'll never get your Gosei red."

"He hasn't even been released yet and his name is Megaforce Red," Randy said.

"Uh Huh." Troy said and then mumbled, "mostly everything is named after Gosei he might as well be Gosei Red."

The meetings with the various groups had gone over rather well. The presidents of the chess and drama clubs gave spectacular insight whereas the captain of the football team was more interested in hitting on the girls. Gia managed to send him fleeting with at least some of his manhood intact. As a thank you for sticking around longer than expected Emma decided to treat Gia at Ernie's. While riding the escalator the two of them laughed at how fast the football captain ran when Emma threatened to expose him in front of the whole school. To their surprise, a familiar jacket entered their field of vision headed for the exit.

"Hey is that Troy?" Gia alluded to the brooding figure with broad shoulders walking smugly toward the exit of the mall. A few feet behind him a little kid took a hulking pose beating his chest like a gorilla. He screamed at the top of his lungs and charged at the broad-shouldered figure.

Emma heard the scream and watched as the man Gia pointed to bucked at the young boy striking down his charge and filling him with fear. "It is him."

Troy threw his head back in laughter. His cousin spoke big game but lacked the motivation to back it up. Emma was disgusted, this was the last place she wanted to meet Troy.

What was that noise coming out of Troy's throat could it of been laughter? That was something she heard before a snarky remark in this scenario it seemed more genuine.

"Troy's laughing?" Gia was surprised

"So, everyone laughs." Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"But has Troy ever laughed?"

"Don't know..."

The escalator had finished its descent allowing the girls to step off. Gia made a motion toward Troy but Emma held her back. "Oh no Gia, we have things to do. I still have to interview the chess club."

"We still have time for that."

"No we don't, I still need to upload the recording to the website and I also need to write my statement about each interview. Now only that I still have homework and it's all due tonight."

"Seems like a bunch of excuses Emma, you told me this paper has to be done by the end of the week and our homework was just to write our thesis statements, complete questions 1-5, and solve the last two equations on our problem sets. We're done." Gia said.

"We see him practically every day, at school at lunch at training. I wanna minimize our conversation with only business. Isn't that what he said to you?"

Gia's crystal eyes peered through Emma, completely shattering the false persona she generated.

Emma rolled her eyes, "I know, I know I need to get to know him before I make judgments...but it's so hard too when he doesn't want to be our friends. After he mocked you last week I told myself there was no hope in even being his friend. "

"Emma you promised not to be so critical," Gia said.

"But he was critical to you." Emma bleated.

"Yeah, not until you told them all my business."

Emma sighed, putting up the white flag of defeat. "Okay, but don't say I didn't tell you so."

Approaching the exit Troy actually found himself having fun even if it was for just a moment. Descending the escalator a couple of yards from Ernie's brain freeze was none other than Gia and Emma. They were quick to spot Troy's trademark black leather jacket.

"Hey, Troy!" Gia spoke up first along with the pouting face of Emma.

The red ranger cursed under his breath as he looked over his shoulder to see the two female rangers. He already saw them every day at school and at the base for ranger training, this would have been the one place he would have thought he was safe.

"Hi," Randy said bashfully.

"Oh don't sound so thrilled," Emma said sarcastically.

"What are you doing here?" Gia tried to lighten the mood.

Troy was like a brick wall, the words of the girls deflected harmlessly off of him. He offered not a single response nor indication that he heard them.

"Alright, no conversation then.." Emma huffed.

Seeing that their calls failed to reach his ears, Gia and Emma instead focused on the pint-sized kid trying to get a peek at them. Troy did his best to keep his nosey cousin from prolonging the encounter but it was too late, the girls already spotted him.

"Oh, who's this?" Gia asked. "Let's see if I could take a guess. Brother? Nephew? Cousin?" Gia listed off the names of male relatives to which Randy shook his head no. When she got to Troy's cousin a smile broke across his face and he nodded vehemently.

"Awww you're Troy's cousin." Gia was gushing over the young boy.

Troy rolled his eyes, annoyed at how his cousin compromised their familial ties. Troy scowled at Randy angrily to which the 9-year-old shrugged as if he didn't know anything.

"Hi, I'm Emma." Emma bent down in order to speak to Randy, "what's your name?"

"...Randy," he said as he looked up to Troy.

___________

Vrak, Creepox, and Malkor stood within the confines of their ship. Through their viewing screen, they viewed the human news reports detailing this mysterious virus as a potential nationwide pandemic. According to the reports, other countries have begun stocking on personal protection equipment. The governments of the world have also demanded that their citizens keep away from each other and refrain from going out in public. There so far haven't been any confirmed casualties but cases are rising exponentially.

"It appears that Virox is doing well, the humans still think that this illness is one of their own planet's making," Malkor spoke.

"Yes Admiral, I've instructed this monster to remain in the shadows and to let the humans infect one another. That way the rangers will be made none the wiser." The malicious scientist Vrak chided.

"I am very pleased that your virus is morphing victims into loogies, at this rate we will have more than enough soldiers to fight back against your father." Hissed the admiral.

"Indeed, though I must warn you, these new loogies are incomplete they are yet to awaken completely," Vrak added.

"Is there a way for the humans to turn them back?" Malkor asked.

"Not without finding Virox first, he holds the master strand. Without a sample of his DNA, none of the human's vaccines will work." Vrak said

"Excellent see to it that he is not found," Malkor ordered.

"The use of this infection was a waste of time Vrak, I could have gone and destroyed the rangers," Creepox announced.

"Is that so Creepox, and how did your last excursion go? Might I say you seem to be doing much better?" Vrak said with a bit of edge in his voice. Creepox covered the X shaped scar on his chest.

"As I have told the Admiral, this was a training incident, it will not happen again."

"I see," Vrak said coldly, "And have you made anymore contact with the uh...spy...you have on earth?"

"I do not know what you could be insinuating Vrak!? My loyalty lies solely with the admiral."

"As do mine. If you are indeed so eager to fight there is something you can do for me. My zombats have identified a human attempting to create a cure. Do me the honor and dispose of her."

"Why not have your monster do it? Command Virox to infect her like he did the human children." Creepox snapped.

"If we command Virox to move about too much the rangers will catch wind and then all of our plans will go up in smoke. Do you really want that?" Vrak questioned.

Creepox fell silent.

"As I thought, now go!"

___________