Troy was up early the following day. He always was. He was always up long before the sun rose, even in the summer, when the sun was often up before six in the morning.

He'd never really understood it, in a lot of ways he still didn't, but he'd always felt a heavy sense of responsibility, a sense of duty that drove his whole life. He'd started training in Martial Arts from an early age, partly because he'd been badly bullied as a child, but going on from that, he just found...something that rang true with him.

It was like his dreams. It was something that...he never really understood. All his life, he'd had these dreams. For a long time, it was just every few months or so, he would have a particularly vivid dream that was just...so real. The first time he noticed, was when he was ten years old, and living in Turtle Cove. The time he had dreamed of meeting the Wolf Ranger wasn't really too surprising, everyone dreamed of the Rangers, but when he and his parents found themselves caught in the middle of a battle, when every detail, right down to the heat of the explosions and the smell of burning was so familiar...it was then that he realised that he had already been there in his mind.

For a long time it scared him. Hell, it still did. He didn't know why he saw things that hadn't happened yet. He didn't know why in all the world, he was the one that saw these things. He didn't understand where these dreams came from or why. At one time, very early on, when he first explained to his parents that he saw things that hadn't yet happened, he was terrified. They were too. They sent him to a few different doctors, not really knowing what else to do. It was clear that they were scared when he was able to tell them where and when a new Ranger team would form. It wasn't his fault, he didn't know what any of this meant, but it was clear his parents feared for his wellbeing. In time, he just stopped talking about it and let them believe it was just a phase, that it was something he had grown out of.

"That's great." Casey complimented him as he blocked his last blow. The Tiger Master had agreed to come out with him into the woods. It was something of a Ranger tradition that any time there was a team-up that the veterans left the newbies with a training session, with some lessons and wisdom to part with. It was just another thing that freaked Troy out though. As soon as he'd seen the Jungle Fury team...he just knew who they were. He recognised them; he had seen them before, even though he had never physically met them. "You're good."

"I try." Troy told him. "Sometimes I really have no idea what I'm doing."

"You're saying that to me?" Casey chuckled in response. "When I was called up, I'd been at Pai Zhua for a week, I was a towel boy! I didn't know what I was doing either."

"But...it worked out." Troy replied.

"It did." Casey replied. "But it was a pretty bumpy road getting there. Just...know things happen for a reason."

Just then, Noah arrived.

"Noah?" Troy asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Can you give us a minute?" He asked. Casey just nodded.

"It's probably about time I was heading anyway." Casey told him. "It's a pretty long drive back to Ocean Bluff."

As he left, Noah stood, staring at Troy. The Red Ranger took a deep breath.

"Noah, what I said..."

"Please, just...let me go first." Noah told him. "You already called the fact that there's an atmosphere between us, you already gave me an out to tell you what it was about. I was just too proud and stubborn and angry to take it."

"I'm guessing that's no longer the case." Troy stated. Noah just took another deep breath.

"Troy, I'm in love with Emma." He admitted. Troy just looked at him. It was something he had some suspicions about, but for some reason, despite his gift/curse of premonition, he wasn't able to see and be certain about. "I...I've been in love with her for a couple of months."

"Noah..."

"I'm sorry, I just...things like this don't happen to me." Noah told him. "I saw a lot of things about Emma I really liked. You have no idea how insane I was going when she was with Spider."

"I have an idea." Troy replied. He too had been insanely jealous when Spider had been going out with Emma. Troy was always an introvert; he was always very self-contained, largely because of the gift/curse of his dreams. When HE didn't really understand them, and his parents had basically sent him to psychiatrists who thought he might be showing early signs of schizophrenia, he had become somewhat reluctant to talk too much about his feelings and what he was going through. Any time he did, it seemed like it just got him into more trouble. That said, Emma had something about her that was just...right. He'd never hidden his dreams from her. She was the one he always talked to about them.

"I love her, and that's why I just want her to be happy." Noah assured him. "It sucks that she doesn't feel the same way about me that I do about her, but that's my problem. It shouldn't be hers, or yours."

Troy just took a seat on a tree stump as Noah started to pace.

"I've got to admit, this whole thing drove me insane." Noah told him. "I hate what this has done to me, I hate that I resent what you have with her, but...I guess, I love the fact that she's happy."

"You don't know what it means to me to hear you say that." Troy replied, getting up. Noah just looked at him.

"I want Emma to be safe and happy. I need her to be." He answered. "And while it sucks that won't happen with me, I like to think I know enough about you to know that...you'll do anything to make sure that she is."

"Noah..."

"When I hugged that bomb, when I took it...I did it because I didn't care what happened to me. I didn't know if I'd survive." He admitted. "But...that didn't matter. If she got through it I'd have been fine with it. I know you feel the same way."

"Thanks." Troy replied, genuinely grateful for Noah's admission. He already knew there was an issue, and he genuinely wanted to resolve it, and make sure that they would be able to work together. "I mean..."

"Emma means the world to me." Noah told him. "I know you're bigger than me, I know you're stronger than me, and I know that you know way more about Martial Arts than I ever will if I live to be a hundred."

He stepped closer.

"Take care of her, and make sure she's safe and happy." Noah warned him. "If you don't, you'll have hell to pay."

"I think I can live with that." Troy replied, offering Noah a handshake. Noah stood, looking at his hand for a moment, before accepting it. He did genuinely hate the fact he knew that Emma had made her choice, and it wasn't him, but he loved her so much, he was able to accept her decision.

In another part of town, Jordan was in the basement of his house, working out in the gym his dad had set up for him in the basement. Throughout most of his life, his dad had worked in the military, and was often away from home for months at a time. They didn't really have a traditional father/son relationship as a result. His dad was more of an...Acquaintance.

His mom had died in childbirth, meaning it was just Jordan and his dad for most of his life, as much as it could be. His dad had buried himself in his work when he lost his wife, and constantly accepted every high-profile assignment that came along. Until a couple of years ago, when he was old enough to look after himself, he had been left with a string of carers that the military paid for. For the last couple of years though, when they figured he could look after himself, he was generally left on his own. It was something that many kids his age would think sounded ideal, sounded fantastic on paper, having a seemingly limitless bank account, all the gadgets and toys he could ever ask for, and no supervision, but there were many times he had wished all that would disappear, just to have more time with his dad.

He was burning with anger, with hatred. He knew that he was behind the others in his development. He was on the back foot from day one. Although he had wanted to be a Ranger, he had wished for it with every fibre of his being from the minute he arrived in Harwood, he had quickly found that it was never going to be like his dreams. It was like every time he thought he was taking a step closer to becoming the hero he wanted to be, to gain the acceptance and the pride he desperately wished for from the world, that something came along that slapped him back down to reality.

The previous day, he'd been part of a major battle, one that involved more than one Ranger team. It was the kind of thing he should have treasured, should have held close to his heart, that one day he might make into a story to tell his kids or even his grandkids, but there was only one thing that kept echoing in his mind over and over again. He had confronted Bluefur...and been defeated.

Jordan's grip on the bar of the multi-gym tightened so much his knuckles turned pure white. He didn't expect to get everything right away, but this was different. He'd been confronted by an enemy, and not only had he been defeated, but even with the power of the Robo Knight armour behind him, Bluefur had, without exaggeration, wiped the floor with him.

Jordan got off the bench and went to the heavy bag, throwing a couple of punches into it. It was a humiliation he couldn't get over. Bluefur had defeated him without even trying. He had smashed him into oblivion. He had...he had taken everything Jordan had ever worked for and flushed it down the toilet without really trying.

His punches slammed into the bag, faster and harder as his humiliation washed over him. He was the Robo Knight, he was a Ranger, he was a hero, someone that the world depended on, and he had failed. He was a failure, a nothing, a nobody. The armour had the power, it was him that was failing. As he threw a hard roundhouse kick into the bag, the armour formed around his ankle and foot. The bag exploded, spilling sand onto the floor. Jordan's eyes flashed with an unnatural light as he stared at himself in the mirror.

"Never again!" He growled.

A/N: The end of this story, I'll begin the next one once I come back from my vacation, I just wanted to leave this at a good place. One that answers a few questions...and if I'm doing my job as a writer properly...leaves enough that you'll WANT to read the next story!

Thanks to all my loyal readers and reviewers.