disclaimers and notes (aka part 0)

Disclaimers first:
All characters and concepts from "The Tomorrow People" belong to either Roger Damon Price, Thames Television, Tetra Films, and/or Nickelodeon. All characters and concepts from "Power Rangers Zeo" belong to Saban. The story is mine, as are any random, one line extras.

End disclaimers.

Still with me? Good. :)

This is yet another of my crossovers, but this time it doesn't fall on the Tomorrow's Future timeline. If you couldn't tell from the disclaimer, this is a crossover with "Power Rangers Zeo", which happens to be one of my guilty pleasures.

For those of you familiar with the timelines for both series, the events of this story happen after "The Living Stones" on the Tomorrow People end, and between "Rangers of Two Worlds" and "Hawaii Zeo" on the Power Ranger end. There is some violence in here, but quite a bit less than what one would see on a standard episode of Power Rangers.

I owe thanks to Wendy Kelley for beta reading despite a busy schedule, and Mandi Ohlin for beta reading, general encouragement, and listening to me worrying about my PR continuity. Stephen Fitch deserves credit for last-minute proofreading. Also to Kittie for reasuring me that I didn't have a piece of junk on my hands, and Mara for having the PR Writers' list for me to post on. :)

The reference to Rocky's love life (or lack thereof) is to Mandi Ohlin's Power Rangers piece, "Irreconcilable Differences".

This story is in eight parts and will post Saturdays and Wednsdays. These parts are on the short side, so the total length of this story is about the same length of my six-parters.

There are three stories that follow the events of this one, but I think I can wait to post them. :)

And now, on with the show....

Something More in Common

The Youth Center is crowded. Six young people sit at one of the tables, where there would normally be seven. They seem as happy as the other youngsters that populate the place, Angel Grove's most popular teen hangout.

Nobody notices an almost intangible sadness among the members of the group. That is because the group is good at pretending things were normal, when they are not. Some things have to be kept secret.

Adam Park glances around the room. At least there have been no attacks over the last few days, surprising since they had two sets of foes to deal with recently. Not only is the Machine Empire continuing to be a menace, but Rita and Zedd have returned, and they are equally capable of causing problems. _At least they don't have the tengas or the putties anymore,_ he thinks. Having to deal with putties, tengas, *and* cogs would be a headache. They routinely come out with bruises fighting just one type. Two or three would surely overwhelm them.

"Hey, Adam, are you there?" Kat says, her voice disturbing his thoughts. He smiles at her.

"I think so," he replies. Kat is nearly always the one who notices things. Not that everyone else is blind, especially not Tanya, but everybody is kind of sad after Billy's departure. Happy for him, too, but still...

* * *

Nobody really notices the three teens who walk in the door. Maybe if they'd been new, someone may have noticed, but the three have been coming in on a sporadic basis for the last few weeks. Normally there would have been four of them, but like the first group, they are missing a member today.

The youngest of them spots a table that has just been cleared. She squeals in delight and points to it. The three hurry over, and are fast enough to get it before anyone else does. She then orders for the three of them: two strawberry smoothies, and one baby smoothie.

Jade grins at the others as she sits down. "I guess Megabyte isn't going to tease me over my drink today!" she tells the others.

Adam, the eldest of the bunch, grins back. "Yeah, he'll be sorry he missed coming here, instead of being stuck at that dinner back at his place."

Jade nods. She likes Megabyte, even thinks he is cute, but sometimes the teasing does get a little out of hand. His current ongoing joke involves Jade's choice of drink. She sincerely doubts that her baby smoothie has baby food in it, as he claims. Of course, he drinks all the weird concoctions this place serves up, so he shouldn't tease her about what she drinks. Sometimes Adam can be a tease, too, but not as often.

"Mum wanted me to stay home for dinner, too," the third person says. She inspects her hands. "I offered to take her with me."

Adam laughs. "I seriously doubt your mum would enjoy this place."

"She certainly wouldn't appreciate the time difference," Jade adds. Even though she knows that it is dinnertime back home, she basks in the light coming from outside. Maybe they could spend some time in the California sun before going back home. It is certainly warm.

The smoothies arrive, and the three friends drink.

* * *

Tanya watches the group. Everyone seems a little unhappy, but resigned to the loss of their teammate. All of them have experience with team members leaving, except for her. She's never seen anyone leave the team. She glances over at Jason. With Billy gone, he's the only original Ranger left.

Billy must have seen a lot of them come and go. She's been told about the others. First Trini and Zack, and then Kimberly, then Aisha. Come to think of it, she did see Aisha, before she ended up taking Aisha's place. Even Jason was gone for a while before he came back to the team.

All of the team seem to be coping well. Tommy has been on the team nearly as long. What must it feel like to see everyone go? And Rocky and Adam. Rocky seems to be handling it well, and Adam tends to hide his feelings. He seems to do that a lot. Kat is nearly always the hopeful one. Jason tends to hide a lot also, but unlike Adam, he isn't shy.

Tanya wishes that Adam wouldn't hide his feelings. It's not doing him any good. Of all of them, Adam has been the closest to Billy. He's the one who should be the most upset.

"I need to go, guys," Adam says suddenly. He gathers up his backpack. Tanya hasn't been paying close attention to the conversation. She wonders if someone said something wrong.

She watches as Adam strolls towards the door. He stumbles over somebody's bag, exchanges a few brief words, and exits.

* * *

Jade watches the activity on the other side of the room. About half the time, something's going on. Usually martial arts, but sometimes other classes too. Ballet, for example. There had been a cute gaggle of little girls a few weeks back. And two guys as well, but the guys weren't very graceful.

She feels someone collide with her. She turns around to see a boy. Acute one at that, somewhere around Adam's age, of asian origin. One of the guys doing the ballet dancing. He doesn't look too happy. And from what she can tell, he just tripped over her bag. Of course he's unhappy. She feels the need to apologize. "I'm sorry."

The boy doesn't seem to be bothered. Maybe his mind is somewhere else. She knows where hers is. She likes cute guys, but this is embarrassing.

Adam looks concerned. Of course, he's the one who is always attentive to people's feelings. "Are you all right?"

The boy nods. "It's okay. I just didn't notice where I was going."

He walks away. Jade gazes after him, and then pulls the bag under her seat. She's grateful that Megabyte isn't there. He'd tease her to death about her new 'boyfriend'. She looks over at Adam, who's grinning. [Don't you say a word, Adam.]

His expression says 'who, me?', but she knows she'll be teased about it a bit later. Adam can be as bad as Megabyte, sometimes. At least he doesn't tease her that much.

"It looks like it's going to be warm here," Adam says out loud.

"I brought the picnic supplies," Ami volunteers.

Adam smiles. "It's a perfect day for it. Besides, that park seems so deserted sometimes."

"Not anymore," Jade says cheerily. She likes the park there. Always so nice. It's a shame that the people of Angel Grove don't seem to use the park too much.

* * *

Adam Park walks through the park. He's wary. The park is usually safe, but he's been attacked enough by various monsters there to be careful. The rest of Angel Grove is avoiding the park today. They must figure another monster is ready to come. As if they appear like clockwork. Actually, they just show up at the most inconvenient moments. Not to mention the cogs. He and his friends are the only ones crazy enough to take them on.

At least the park isn't totally deserted. A brave few have come to have lunch. In fact, the picnic tables nearby are nearly full. But that's about it. Adam is heading towards the crowd when he trips over something. He automatically assumes a defensive stance, and then looks down.

His foot is tangled up in a combination of backpack strap and picnic blanket. Three teenagers look up at him, and he hopes they don't see him blush. He vaguely recognizes the three.

"Twice in one day!" the youngest wails. Adam registers her accent and stares.

"It's all right, Jade," the lone male says. Two accents in a row. He wonders if this one's parents work for the same company that Kat's father does. Australian accents aren't exactly thick on the ground. Neither are British, for that matter.

"Um, do you want to join us for lunch?" Jade says to him.

Adam looks at the trio. The lunch looks inviting. He's sure he's seen the three before at the Youth Center. He hopes he can trust them. Maybe he should learn more about them. Besides, his stomach is growling. It's been an hour or two since lunch. His friend Rocky would be about ready to eat again. Good thing they get enough exercise. "You got enough food?"

"Sure," says the other girl, again with the British accent. The three of them must be new to the area, and probably hang out with each other because they don't know too many people in Angel Grove. Adam feels the need to make them feel welcome. Maybe when they get finished with lunch, he can introduce the three of them to Kat.

The three of them are still staring at him. He's still standing up. He sits down in a hurry and eyes the food. Jade hands him a banana. He realizes that he should introduce himself. "Hi, I'm Adam. Adam Park. Are you new here?"

Great icebreaker, Adam, he tells himself as the three teens look at each other. He wishes one of his friends was here. They wouldn't promptly put their foot in their mouth.

"I'm Adam Newman," the eldest says. "This is Ami Jackson, and I think you've met Jade."

"Weston," Jade interjects. She's blushing furiously, maybe even more than he is. "We're visiting for the summer."

Adam is somewhat relieved. Good thing his name is relatively common and he's used to running into other people with the same name. "That's good," he said. "Where are you staying?"

The three look at each other again. Ami smiles. "South of here," she says.

"You had much of a chance to meet people?" Adam asks, trying to desperately maintain the conversation. This is definitely not his strong point. Maybe he can get far enough to get them to the Youth Center. Then, the others can take over. This new group can get everyone's minds off Billy.

"Not really," the other Adam says. "We've been here for a few weeks, but we've also been sightseeing, so we haven't been in town much."

Definitely a good time to get the others involved. "I'm meeting a few of my friends later," he says. "Want to come along?"

"Sure," the other Adam replies. The two girls nod in delight.

* * *

Jade is so glad that this guy, this other Adam, tripped over her bag. She knows they have to be cautious about what they say to people, but that doesn't mean that they can't make friends with the people they encounter. And their new friend is kind of cute looking. And she's looking forward to meeting his friends. She can tell that the others are, too. If they handle this right, no one will ever suspect that they don't live in town.

[I think we should take him up on his offer,] Adam says. [Something's wrong here. I want to find out what.]

Ami nods. [He seems so lonely. But he says he's got friends...]

[Some things you don't share with anyone, Ami,] Adam says quietly.[Even your friends.]

Jade looks at him. He seems so sad, like he is when he thinks no one is looking. One doesn't have to be an empath to tell he's speaking from experience. [And some people hide things no matter what,] she replies.

[Even without realizing it,] Ami says. They watch as their guest goes through another banana.

They have plenty of time.

* * *

Adam is momentarily startled as his communicator goes off. So are the three he's with. "Beeper," he says, hoping that they believe him. "I've got to go. Maybe we can meet tomorrow? I teach karate at ten, you can meet the others after."

"Sure," the other Adam says.

"Bye, Adam!" Jade tells him.

"Be safe," Ami replies.

Adam waves to the trio and takes off, seeking a safe, isolated spot. He activates his communicator. "Adam here."

"Adam, this is Kat. We need help. Immediately!"

"Right away," he says. He looks around to see if anybody's watching. "Zeo Ranger four- green!"

He morphs and teleports away.

* * *

Adam, Ami, and Jade continue eating after the other Adam's hasty departure. Jade sighs after the young man they got to meet this afternoon. Undeniably handsome, with dark, curly hair and eyes to die for. She didn't see a beeper on him, though. And besides, Adam wears one of those, and it doesn't sound anything like it. Maybe it is some stylish American thing she doesn't understand.

At least she'll get to see him again. If he doesn't flee.

A siren starts up. The three look around to see the other picnickers hurry out of the park. Jade looks at the others, but they don't look like they have a clue either. [What's going on?] she asks.

[I don't know,] Adam replies. [These people know what to do, maybe it's normal.]

[Maybe we should follow them.]

The three of them follow the rest of the people. Adam manages to get his hands on one of them. "What's going on?" he asks.

"Monster," the woman says.

[Monster?] Jade asks. The other two shake their heads.

[It must be one of those evacuations they've been talking about,] Ami says.

They follow the woman, hoping to get a clue as to what was going on. "I wish our friend had stayed around to tell us what to do," Jade says.

"Maybe he saw this coming," Adam jokes weakly. The ground shakes.

Ami points up behind them. "That must be the monster," she says.

Jade looks where Ami is pointing. It's hard to make out what the thing is. All that she can tell is that it looks like it's made of metal and resembles a big iron. Five giant robot-things come up and fight it. She wonders if she's just imagining things. Certainly she must be imagining the big pyramid.

[I think we had better get out of here,] Ami says.

Jade nods. The three disappear.

* * *

"Wow! I missed all that adventure?" Megabyte exclaims as they fill him in on what happened the day before. "Why do you get all the luck?"

Adam sighs. He'd had a hard enough time getting Jade out of there. He wonders where Megabyte's misplaced sense of adventure comes from. They get into enough trouble when they're not looking for it. They don't really need to get involved.

He looks at Jade. Jade will be disappointed if she doesn't get to see the other Adam again. Plus their new acquaintance would probably wonder if they didn't turn up again. They don't want to arouse suspicion. That, too, can be dangerous.

* * *

Adam smiles at his students as the class ends. It's been a quiet day, so far. Just the normal stuff. Being a teenager is hard enough. Between school and his classes and being a Power Ranger, and he can't believe he has time to himself.

Suddenly, he pales as he remembers. He's supposed to introduce the friends he met yesterday to Kat. He hasn't even mentioned it to Kat. He nearly slaps himself. Since Billy left, he's been getting as forgetful as Tommy. Not a good thing.

At least Kat's there. Things are not a total mess. He jumps as a hand touches his shoulder. He turns around to see Tommy's and Jason's concerned faces. "What's up, man?" Tommy asks.

Adam looks at the two of them. "I forgot, I'm supposed to introduce some people I met yesterday to Kat."

"Oh, who?"

Adam shrugs. "These three people I met. An Australian guy and two British girls. They're here for the summer. I wanted to introduce them to Kat yesterday, but we had to face Ironface."

As if on cue, Kat and Tanya come up to the three boys. "What's up?" Tanya asks.

"Adam wants Kat to meet some people," Tommy says offhandedly. Adam tries to restrain himself from blushing. Of course Tommy has to blurt it out. He would have been more discreet about it.

"They're not here yet, though," Adam adds. "The class finished a little early."

"I can't wait to meet them," Kat replies eagerly. Adam gazes at her. Kat's open, welcome face attracts people, and her personality keep them listening to her. She will probably get along perfectly with the newcomers.

* * *

"It's time," Jade says eagerly. She notices Adam sigh. "Come on, Adam, it'll be fine!"

Adam seemed to be debating with himself. "Okay," he says. His shoulders are slumped, as if he's resigned to keep an eye on the rest of them. Jade doesn't know why. It's not like they get in that much trouble.

"The day's slipping past! Let's go!" Megabyte is practically bouncing up and down.

Ami looks at her watch. "He's right. It'll be time for bed in a few hours."

Adam nods, and they all teleport back to Angel Grove.

* * *

Kat looks around eagerly for the newcomers. Adam can be a little nervous around people he doesn't know. That he made friends so easily is a good sign to her. She might sometimes wish that he was a little less quiet. But maybe that's part of his charm.

There are a lot of people in the Youth Center. Adam hasn't pointed anyone out yet, so they must not be there. Maybe they're shy too.

Adam approaches a group of four people. From the way he's gesturing, these must be the people he wanted her to meet. She looks at the four appraisingly. Two boys. One maybe a little older than her, one maybe a little younger. The older one is quite a looker. Dark hair, but kind of skinny. His younger friend could use a more flattering haircut. Redheads really shouldn't cut their hair as short as his is. It kind of reminds her of Rocky right after he had his hair cut. His hair might be darker, but it wasn't very attractive.

Two girls as well. One black, darker skinned than Tanya. Lots of jewelry. One that was barely in her teens, with long, braided blond hair. She walks up to the group.

Adam turns, blinks, and turns to the group again. "This is Kat."

"Hello," Kat says.

"This is Adam, Megabyte, Ami, and Jade."

"Hello. Pleased to meet you," the one introduced as Adam says. She blinks, surprised with the familiar accent. No wonder her Adam wanted her to meet this bunch.

The other three chime in with various greetings. "Did you just move here?" she asks. She tries to remember if her family said anything about new hires from their homeland.

"We're just here for the summer," Megabyte says.

"We've been out of town a lot," Jade adds.

"Oh," Kat says. "Have you met a lot of people yet?"

"I've been trying to introduce them to some," her Adam says. "I would have yesterday, but things - happened."

"Like that monster," Jade chimes in. "We've never seen a monster before."

Kat shrugs. "It happens every so often."

"You've never been in town during an evacuation before?"

The foursome look confused. "No," the other Adam finally says. "We must have always been out of town."

The rest of the team comes up. "Are these the new people?" Tommy asks.

"Yes," Adam says, and then proceeds to introduce them once again.

"This is great!" Tanya says. "Hey, what about a picnic. It's not like we're going to have a monster attack two days running."

The rest of the rangers nod, and the foursome does too. "Sounds great," the other Adam says.

"We'll go pick up some picnic supplies," Jason says.

"We should too," Ami replies. "Should we meet you in half an hour?"

"Sounds good."

The foursome leaves. Most of the rest of the team does too. Tanya and Kat find themselves alone. "That was a great idea, Kat. Just what we need to relax ourselves. Especially Adam."

"What do you mean?" Kat says, a little confused.

"You haven't noticed?" Tanya asks. "Ever since Billy left, Adam's been kind of... you know, glum."

"You're right," Kat says, considering Adam's mood. "It's a good thing we did meet them."

* * *

The two groups meet at the park. It's even more deserted than the day before. There are plenty of picnic tables there. Maybe people figure that the next monster is going to attack the park, since the last one attacked the beach.

Whatever the reason, Adam is kind of glad there aren't a lot of people there. The six of them plus the new four is going to make things a bit crowded. At least it should give them a chance at a bit of fun and relaxation, some time the team desperately needs. And it's good to meet some new people. They just have to be cautious as to what they say.

Adam watches his friends and the new people interact. Everybody's doing their best to make them feel at home. And the newcomers seem to be enjoying the interaction. Maybe the other Adam is a little reserved, but it's hard to be restrained around Kat when she's really trying. Not to mention the rest of the team. Looks like Jason and Jade have really taken to each other. Kat's focused on the other Adam, Tanya and Ami are discussing something, and Rocky and Megabyte are trying to out-joke each other, with Tommy looking on.

Billy should be there as well. But Billy is trillions of miles away, living with Cestria on Aquitar. It makes sense, anyway. He's a hero there, and everybody knows it. Not like here, where they all have to hide their identities. Not that Adam minds hiding. He never liked to stick out.

He wonders what their guests would think if they knew they were lunching with Angel Grove's very own set of superheroes. Nobody who lives in Angel Grove for any amount of time can avoid hearing about them. At least he knows that it's worth it to do what he's been doing for the last couple of years.

A voice interrupts his thoughts. "Hey, Adam," Tommy says. Adam looks up to see Tommy looking concerned for him. He looks around, seeing Kat and the other Adam looking up curiously.

He smiles bravely and tries to join Kat's conversation.

* * *

Adam looks over from where he and Kat have been talking. Tommy's words inadvertently tore him away from their conversation. He's been catching her up on current events in their shared homeland, and she's been trying to probe about his life here. Adam can tell that she means well, but it's hard for him to talk about living in the States, or Angel Grove for that matter, when he spends most of his time in a spaceship on a deserted island.

Besides, Kat doesn't fascinate him as much as the other Adam does. Something within him is telling him something's wrong with the other teenager. Adam knows his instincts are not to be ignored. He has to find out what's going on.

"Are you okay?" he asks. He notices Kat looking on expectantly as well. She must be able to spot her Adam's problems. He's hoping that she gives him some insight. After all, she knows him better than Adam does.

"Just a little squashed," the other Adam jokes feebly. Adam watches as Kat frowns briefly.

"Maybe we should take out the blankets," Kat says, her smile returning. "That way we'll be able to talk without squeezing each other out."

"Good thing we didn't bring any more of us," Adam replies, smiling back. He notes that the two share brief looks at each other, and decides that he must have hit a sore point.

Now that he notices it, he decides that the other group must be short a member too. He remembers how it was when they first lost Lisa. It was even worse when they lost Kevin. Sometimes he, or Megabyte would expect one of them to be there and they weren't.

He wonders who this group is missing, and what happened to them. He doesn't know how to approach the subject, so he hopes somebody brings it up.

* * *

The picnic soon turns into an idle day in the park. Adam is sitting under a tree, watching his friends play with frisbees that Kat and Tanya brought. It's just the relaxation that the team needs. The four others are relaxing as well. Adam thinks that he's done a good thing by introducing the two groups to each other. And from the looks Kat's been flashing him, he did a good thing by introducing the other Adam to her.

One of the frisbees landed right next to Adam. "Hey, toss that back over," Rocky calls.

"What? Don't tell me you've gone fishing," Megabyte replies lightly.

"You're trawling," Rocky says, grinning. The two laugh and go back to tossing the frisbee.

Adam groans. Getting everyone together was a good idea, with maybe the exception of Rocky and Megabyte. Neither group is going to thank him for putting those two together. Rocky's always had a weird sense of humor as long as Adam's known him. It has made him the jokester of the team. Even back in Stone Canyon, before they became Rangers, Rocky always had a joke on hand. Maybe he'll ask the other Adam if he has had similar problems with Megabyte.

Maybe Rocky's lightness is a good thing. At least he's not brooding. Fishing always makes Adam think of fish, and right now, fish make him think of Billy. Maybe everything does. Billy's always there. Before, he was with the team, and then, supporting everyone in the Power Chamber.

And now he's off dating an alien. From a shy teenager to a superhero to an interplanetary traveler in just a few years. Of course, they've all traveled, but nobody else has even considered living off Earth. Nobody's spent the time that Billy has off-planet. During the last few months before he left, he'd been spending half his time on either Aquitar or Triforia. And before that, he'd spent months on Aquitar. Of course he would fall for someone out there.

If only Adam doesn't feel so lonely. With Billy's departure, Adam seems to be handed the kind of stuff Billy used to do. Sure, he's smart, but Billy was a genius. He can't do half the things that Billy could.

"Hey," a voice comes from behind him. The other Adam sits down. They are the only ones not playing frisbee.

"You're not going to play?" Adam asks.

The other Adam shakes his head. "I'm not very good."

Adam sighs. He isn't too bad at playing frisbee, but he's not really in the mood to get up and join a game. He feels a bit sorry for the other Adam. His friends are playing without him, too. He doesn't mind today, but the other must feel left out. Still, he's not sure he should suggest it, considering what the other Adam just said.

"You okay?" the other Adam asks.

"Fine," he says defensively. In order to make his statement sound less rude, he adds, "I'm just not having the world's best day."

"What happened?" the other Adam asks.

Adam tries to think of a way to explain things. "Well, a good friend of mine went away. A long way away. He's in college. It's far enough away that we won't get to see him much. I mean, he was one of our - group, but he and I got along the best. A few people knew him longer, but we were the closest."

The other nods. "I know what you mean. Me, and Megabyte, and Ami, and Jade are a pretty close group too, but there were two others that we really miss, too. There was this girl in particular that I liked, but she had to leave."

"Why?" Adam asks. He hates to pry, but he hopes to get the attention off himself. The last thing he wants at moment is to be psychoanalyzed.

The other Adam shrugs. "Her family was being harassed by a rogue government agent. She had to sever all contact and move away. We haven't heard from her since."

"Witness Protection Program?" Adam asks.

"Something like that, yes."

"I'm sorry," Adam said, genuinely moved by the other's story. He thinks about the others that have left. Trini, who he barely knew, and Zack. Kimberly and his Stone Canyon classmate Aisha. "One of my friends moved to somewhere in Kenya. I don't hear from her much anymore."

"I'm hoping that we hear from my friend, sometime," the other Adam says quietly.

A shadow falls over the two. Adam looks up to see Jason standing over him. "Come and join us."

The two Adams shrug at each other and join Jason and Jade.

* * *

Megabyte throws himself down on a bench at the spaceship. "Whoa! Now *that* was a good day!"

Jade flops back along the wall. She's tired, which is not exactly surprising, considering she ran around quite a bit, and the time difference means it's bedtime for her. Even if it was getting to be the middle of the afternoon over there.

Ami yawns. "I think I'd better be getting home, Mum will worry," she says, and teleports out.

"Yeah, I'd better do the same thing before I drive Dad crazy," Megabyte adds, and follows Ami's lead. Jade and Adam are the only two left. Jade yawns.

"You'd better be getting home too," Adam says to her. "Your Mum will worry, too."

"I think she's gotten past that already," Jade replies. "I'll go in a few minutes. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep in the park. That really would have given us away."

Adam shrugs. "I think we could have explained it. They didn't catch on, anyway, as far as I could tell."

"Good," Jade says, stretching. "I don't want Jason to think I'm weird. Or Adam. The other Adam."

"I think they're more open-minded than that," Adam replies. "I think they're pretty safe to hang around."

"So, what were you discussing, anyway?" Jade asks, trying to stave off sleep for a few minutes more.

"Trying to find out what was wrong," Adam said thoughtfully. "They have a friend who he says went to college. It reminded me of Kevin and Lisa."

Jade looks up to see a kind of sadness in his eyes. Usually, he hides his emotional pain quite well. Even keeps from broadcasting his sadness. Sometimes, they do catch him at it. But sometimes Adam can be so private. Nobody knows much about his past, and he rarely even talks about the events that happened since he gained his powers. She's heard of Lisa, of course, but it's only a name to her. Kevin, she got to meet once, but he had gone long before she became a Tomorrow Person.

Still, she doesn't want to pry. She possibly could get all the information out of Adam's mind, but it would be very, very rude. She knows that Adam would be rather upset at her. And he'd be able to tell, too. Not like the rest of the people on this planet, who wouldn't have the slightest idea she was going through their minds. Still, that was wrong, too. Adam had taught her that.

She sighs. Sometimes it seems like it might be beneficial just to go into someone's mind. But she doesn't think Adam would ever agree, and she's too tired to talk to him about it.

* * *

"Thanks, Jason," Kat says while tidying away some of the picnic.

"For what?" Jason asks, trying to think what would make Kat so happy. He's holding one of the baskets that the group used. It's too bad that their new friends couldn't stay, but sometimes things like that happen.

"Cheering Adam up."

"Oh, yeah," Jason says. "I'm glad I could."

"He's been keeping to himself. I'm glad you drew him out."

Jason shrugs, handing the basket to Kat. "He looked like he needed it."

"Yeah, he did," Kat replies, putting the last items in the basket. "Look, I'll see you tomorrow. I have some things to do."

"I'll see you then," Jason says.

Kat walks off, leaving Jason to his thoughts.

Jason picks up some leftover trash from their picnic. He figures he might as well, considering that saving the world will mean nothing if it's a trash heap otherwise. It's the least he can do.

He didn't really notice before Kat mentioned it that Adam had sort of gone into hiding. Of course with Adam it is really hard to tell. Adam is always the one that tries to blend in, and sometimes it is hard to tell if he is just there to be there, or if he genuinely likes to be there. It occurs to Jason that Adam is a bit like Billy, he just didn't start out as geeky as Billy did. And Adam knew how to fight before he joined the team.

But they were both shy, and they both tried so hard to fit in. Jason wonders how close Adam and Billy were. He knew that Billy most frequently talked to Adam and was more relaxed in his presence. Maybe it was because Adam, like Billy, was quiet and non-assertive.

He almost stumbles over the subject of his thoughts. Adam is sitting under the tree that he seems to like.

"Hey, Adam," he says.

Adam looks up. "Jase."

He sits down beside Adam. He doesn't feel totally comfortable at the moment. Still, it wouldn't be the first time he had to talk to someone about their doubts and fears. But talking to Tommy about his guilt is easier than talking to Adam about whatever problems that he's having. Of course, he has a lot in common with Tommy. Adam tends to be an enigma.

"Thanks for introducing those new people," Jason says, hoping to get a clue as to what's wrong.

Adam shrugs. "I thought that Adam might want to have somebody to talk to from his own country."

"That's good," Jason says. "So, what's up with you, man? You've been a bit quiet for the last week."

Adam chuckles. To Jason it sounds forced. "I'm normally that way. You haven't noticed?"

In fact, Adam hasn't sounded cheerful since Billy left. Problem is, Adam's so quiet that it's sometimes hard to tell when he's depressed. He would have thought that Tanya would have. She and Adam are dating, after all.

Maybe Billy *is* the problem. Billy's leaving, anyway. With Billy away on Aquitar, Adam could have lost his best confidante. Or at least Billy isn't coming home anytime soon. There were plenty of times in the last few months when Billy was on Aquitar or Triforia. Adam didn't seem to be really affected then.

Maybe what Adam needs is a quiet pep talk. Jason may not be leader of the team now, like he was when Tommy was having his doubts about his powers and abilities, but he thinks he's qualified enough. "You're missing Billy."

Adam looks up, startled. His expression is enough that Jason knows he hit the target. Still, he doesn't reply.

"I miss him too."

"I just can't believe that he's gone away for the rest of his life," Adam says, finally speaking up.

"I think he'll be back. I'm just happy for him and Cestria," Jason replies. "He sometimes thought he'd never get a date."

Adam laughs. "And then he ends up with a fish. Didn't Billy used to be afraid of fish?"

"Yeah. But I don't think Billy considers looks as important as personality. I just wish I'd gotten to know her, and under better circumstances. He chose a pretty intense time to go."

"Have you ever noticed that we always have an emergency disrupting the important things in our lives?"

"Yeah," Jason replies. "No matter who we're battling, you can make sure that they're making our lives as difficult as possible."

"I decided long ago that we Rangers can't, by definition, have quiet lives. Not while we're a part of the team, anyway. I sometimes can't remember what a normal life is like."

"I forgot for a while," Jason says. "And then, when we went away, I remembered again. Took a few weeks after we arrived in Switzerland, though. When I came back, I'd forgotten what it was like to be a Ranger. Then I had to remember again. Someday, when Trey gets himself back together again, I'll be able to tell you what having some free time is like."

"No bumps and bruises, no inventing excuses to explain why you had to miss class or came home with a sore arm, not having to worry about whether the world's going to end because you fouled up."

Jason smiles. "Makes you kind of wonder why anyone would want to be a Ranger."

Adam smiles back. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Neither would I. Despite all the bruising. It's a good feeling to save the world."

"Being able to morph is part of it, but you're right. We're the only ones who can save the world from invasion. I never thought that I'd be part of it."

"I remember when Zordon first gave us our morphers and powers. It seems kind of silly, until you actually confront putties or tengas or Cogs. I think that's the point when all of us first realized that there was a threat to the world, and that we had to defend it."

"Yeah, but there really wasn't anything to fight until then," Adam says. "I remember the first time I heard about the monsters and the power rangers. I thought it was some sort of publicity stunt."

"Things change, huh?" Jason asks. When he came back, he couldn't believe the changes. The enemy was different, the Rangers were different. Angel Grove looked the same, but that was about the only thing that remained the same.

"Yeah," Adam says, glancing up. He's smiling slightly. "You know, if you'd told me a couple of years ago that my best friend would go off to another planet to live with an alien girlfriend, I would have laughed my head off."

"Zach was the same way when Zordon first explained about us saving the world," Jason says thoughtfully. He remembers that he almost didn't believe it himself.

"What happened?" Adam asks.

"Got attacked by putties on the way home. That cured any lingering disbelief."

Adam laughs. "I guess it would. Stranger things have happened."

"It's a job hazard, I guess," Jason says. "You get used to strange things happening. Kind of like we're stuck in a science fiction movie."

"Sometimes it feels like that to me, too," Adam says. "But superheroes never had problems quite like this."

"At least we have each other," Jason says. "Otherwise we'd go mad."

Adam nods. "Yeah," he replies.

* * *

Several days later, Jade walks though Angel Grove park, hoping to run into the people that she and her friends met last week. If nothing else, she'll probably meet them at the juice bar.

Something roars behind her and she hears people scream. She turns around to see something weird and metallic. Several somethings weird and metallic. Something resembling a hair dryer and several nasty looking robot things. She runs, hoping to get a safe distance away so that she can concentrate and teleport.

A green flash of light forms between her and the metallic things, and solidifies into some person in a weird costume with a helmet. The figure starts fighting the metallic things.

Jade pauses and prepares to teleport. The figure seems familiar, but she doesn't know why. She'll have to figure out why later. She concentrates, and disappears in a flash of light, not before several other figures in the same kind of outfit join the fight.

* * *

Adam sighs silently in relief as the others join him. He was walking in the park, and therefore was nearest when Mondo's latest creation attacked. He parries a blow from a cog, and manages to knock several out of commission.

The fight is numbingly boring. They take out the cogs, fight the monster, and knock it to pieces. Then they have to fight it again, giant-sized. Fortunately, the monster is one of the weaker ones, and Jason is able to take it out with Pyrimidas.

It's only after the fight that he thinks of Jade.

"Did anyone see if Jade, that new girl, got away?" Adam asks the others while they are at the Power Chamber. "I couldn't see. There was a flash of bright light."

The others shake their heads, except for Jason. "I saw her too," he says. "She disappeared in a flash of white light, sort of like a teleport beam, but not one."

"Could King Mondo have gotten her?" Adam asks. He looks up expectantly.

I DO NOT KNOW, ADAM, Zordon says. IT IS NOT A FORM OF TELEPORT BEAM I AM FAMILIAR WITH.

"Don't worry, Adam," Tommy says. "We'll find her."

* * *

"That's the third set of cogs I've seen today," Tanya says to Jason. "I wonder what's going on?"

"I don't know," Jason replies. They're hiding behind some bushes in Angel Grove park. "It has to be related to Jade, though. This is where our last battle was."

"But that would mean that they don't have her."

Jason looks over at his teammate. "Possibly. Or that she's not talking."

Tanya shivers beside him. "I hope she's not hurt."

Jason nods. "I hope so, too."

* * *

"Any luck, Alpha?" Adam asks. The little droid runs around. Adam is surprised at how much energy Alpha seems to use.

"No, Adam," Alpha replies. At least he doesn't add 'Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi' to it. Alpha seems to worry excessively sometimes. Not that he doesn't have cause to worry this time, but Adam is grateful nonetheless "I have detected several signals that seem to indicate the same type of beam, but none of them go anywhere near the moon."

"Then where *are* they going?" Adam asks. He knows any clue would be helpful. Although this one is distinctly odd, unless they have a new enemy that they know nothing about.

"I will show you. Displaying now."

Adam looks over to see a map spring into life. There are several white dots on the screen, mostly on the southeastern part of England, and, oddly enough, somewhere in the South Pacific. Nothing anywhere near Angel Grove. In fact, nothing shows up on the entire North American continent. "Alpha, could you get more exact coordinates on the two concentrations, please?"

"Right away, Adam."

* * *

Tanya sits in the Juice Bar. She watches Jason and Tommy practice with each other, while keeping an eye out for... something. She doesn't know what. It's kind of ridiculous to assume that Jade would just walk into the building. Kidnapped people just don't do that.

Adam enters. Tanya knows that he's been spending the last few hours looking for Jade. He's not the only one worried. The only difference is that he's working it out in the Power Chamber, while Kat and Rocky are doing chores, and Jason and Tommy are just working out. She watches him look around, and then move towards her. He gracefully settles into a chair.

"Did you find her?" she asks anxiously. She can tell by his face that he hasn't, but maybe it would do him some good to say it out loud. It's not like anybody there would notice. They never do, and heaven knows that the team discusses Ranger business enough in here.

Adam shakes his head. "No. Alpha and I looked, but we're not sure if we found anything. We're getting the same energy signatures, but they're located mostly in London and some tiny island in the South Pacific. Alpha's trying to run through the records and see how long we've been detecting this thing."

"I'm worried," Tanya says. "How are we supposed to get her back if we don't know where she's been taken, or who took her?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out," Adam says, sounding determined. Tanya doesn't blame him. Their enemies weren't beyond hurting innocent civilians, why should this one be any different? She prays that Jade is safe.

Adam is probably hurting big time. She loves Adam, his quiet manner, his sense of responsibility, his honour. He's not the one to get close to people. And when he does....

She is mildly startled when Tommy and Jason draw up chairs across from the two of them. She's been so absorbed in Adam and his problems. Jason smiles as if he understands what she's thinking.

"Any luck?" Tommy asks. Adam fills him in on what he's found out.

"It sounds like something is happening in London that we don't know about."

"You mean that it might not be related to us at all," Adam says thoughtfully.

"Or that Rita or Zedd are up to something over there. It wouldn't be the first time that Rita and Zedd have tried something like this," Tommy replies.

"Something like what?" Tanya asks. She probably can guess, but she doesn't want to be wrong. Besides, this way she can find out more about the team's past.

"Using a friend or acquaintance as bait for a trap. The question is, which is the trap? London, the island, or both?" Tommy answers.

"Could be either," Jason replies. "Did Alpha say when he'd be done with the data?"

"He said he'd let me know," Adam says. "He was also going to do a scan of the island. London would take a while longer."

Tommy nods. "Okay. Keep us informed."

"I will."

The two leave once more for the mats. Tanya looks over at Adam. "You think Alpha will find something?"

"I don't know. He seemed pretty confident, though. I just wish I knew who had her."

Tanya placed her hand on his arm. "We'll find her."

* * *

Adam walks past the park. At least the Cogs seem to have given up. That's the one good piece of news. And even the Cogs have been a comfort. They probably mean that King Mondo doesn't have Jade. Which kind of narrows it down to two other possibilities. Rita and Zedd, or some unknown enemy.

"Hey, Adam, wait up!" Rocky yells. Adam turns around to see his friend running and stops long enough for his friend to catch up with him.

"Are you done with your errands?" Adam asks. He knows Rocky's just as eager to hear about Jade as the rest of them are. Still, Rocky sounded like he had a ton of errands to do.

"Yeah. And mom finally got Angie to her drama rehearsals, so I'm free. Hear anything?"

Adam allows himself a small smile. Rocky sounds like he's asking whether Shawn, Tanya's ex-boyfriend, made the head of the kids' softball league, rather than whether they've found Jade. He fills Rocky in on the news he's shared with the others.

They walk along the sidewalk for a few minutes. Rocky seems to be pondering something. He finally speaks. "I know that we're looking for Jade and everything, but has anybody seen Megabyte, Ami, or Adam?"

Adam stops in his tracks. Rocky's right. The rest of the group has kind of slipped everybody's minds. As far as he can tell. "You think they had something to do with Jade's disappearance?"

Rocky shrugs, his face unreadable. Adam can't believe that they would, but this wouldn't be the first time that their enemies have befriended them only to betray them. He remembers his encounter with Scorpina a while back. Rocky's staring at the ground. He speaks. "Or maybe the whole thing is a setup."

"Defector," Adam says quietly, remembering the strange robot that had gained Rocky's trust and then had set the Rangers up for an ambush by pretending he was in trouble.

"Yeah," Rocky replies. "I don't want to go through that again, Adam."

"Do you really think that all of them are in on this?"

Rocky looks up. Adam can only describe his expression as haunted. "I hope not."

"Alpha's working on it. We'll know soon what's going on," Adam says soothingly. "Trust me."

"I just wish he'd find out sooner, rather than later."

"I know," Adam replies. "I know."

* * *

Jade basks in the sun on the island, her mind on little besides how lucky she was to have skipped out just as her mum was going to give her more chores to do. It's too good a day to be doing housework. She just wishes she was a little less bored.

She could hang out with the others, she supposes. But Ami's studying for who-knows-what, Megabyte's spending some 'quality time' with his father (and grumbling telepathically every so often), and Adam's gone who knows where. She almost asks Megabyte to ask his father if he's heard anything about teenagers disappearing from parks in Angel Grove, but she figures that if somebody had seen her, she'd have heard about it already. Besides, she'd never hear the end of it.

Adam casually teleports in beside her. He's happy for some reason. Maybe he went on a date with that reporter that Megabyte says he fell for. "Did you bring any suntan lotion?" she asks, teasing him slightly.

He smiles even wider. "No, but I was planning to go to Angel Grove. Wanna come?"

"No thanks."

Adam's smile is replaced by a frown. "What's wrong?"

Jade debates whether or not to tell him. She finally decides, after a few go-arounds, that she better explain. "I think somebody saw me teleport," she says.

"Who?"

She cringes. "One of the monsters and these people in costumes."

"I'm surprised we haven't heard anything," Adam says, looking thoughtful.

"They may not have noticed," Jade says, almost to herself. "They were busy fighting each other, and everyone else was running away."

Adam places a hand upon her shoulder. "Look," he says, "I'll go and check it out. Probably nobody did. I'll go talk to our friends and see what I can find out."

"Thanks, Adam," Jade says gratefully. Adam nods, closes his eyes, and teleports out. She lies down again in order to bask more.

* * *

Adam finds himself in the middle of the park, behind a set of trees he spied earlier. He takes a moment to remember where he is, and then sets off in the direction of the Youth Center. He doesn't get very far because a large amount of robots materializes all around him.

He teleports out of there very quickly.

* * *

The group is sitting together at the Juice Bar, swapping their stories, when their communicators beep in unison. Looking around, they quietly move to a deserted hallway. Tommy activates his communicator as the others crowd around. "This is Tommy. What's going on?"

"Rangers!" Alpha's voice comes over the communicator, "We have located one of the strange beams in Angel Grove. Come to the power chamber immediately!"

"We're on our way, Alpha," Tommy says. He looks around, noting the grim looks on the others faces. Then, all of them touch the teleport buttons on their communicators.

In six flashes of light, they are gone.

* * *

"Adam? Are you all right?" Jade asks. Adam appears a little bit shaken, maybe a little wide-eyed. Considering how composed he usually is, he looks like Jesse, her dog, dragged him through the grounds of the Lucifer estate.

"I'm fine. I just got stuck in a monster attack, that's all."

"Oh, dear," Jade replies. "They're probably in a shelter, now."

"I wouldn't suggest teleporting in at the moment," Adam says, a small, wry smile gracing his face. He frowns. "It's weird, though."

"What?" Jade asks, trying to divine her friend's mood.

"Those robot-things that we were told about...it's like they were there because I was there. They arrived after I did."

"So, are they after us?" Jade asks, worried. A thought occurs to her. "But why weren't they after us before?"

"I don't know," Adam says thoughtfully. "Let's go down and try to figure this out.

* * *

Tommy doesn't waste any time after he arrives at the Power Chamber. "Where'd she go?"

HE, Zordon corrects gently. OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE.

The Rangers looks over to see Adam, the Cogs, and Adam's disappearance. Tommy shakes his head. "Well, he's probably not working for Mondo, then."

"If he is working for anyone," Adam says. "We could be making a big mistake."

Tommy looks over at his second-in-command. "This just means that he's probably not working for Mondo... and we can't be sure of that."

"Where did he go?" Tanya asks

Adam looks over from the readout. "That island where we detected the signals."

Tommy is about to add a comment, when Alpha speaks first. "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi! Another signal!"

"Can you get a visual?" Adam asks.

"Right away, Adam."

The viewing globe lights up, revealing a sandy beach, a couple of plants, and some very unwelcome figures. Cogs. Tommy tenses, wondering why they are there. It's like they're going after something, chasing after something. The something comes into view. Megabyte. He's running, but he trips. Just as the cogs are about to grab him, he disappears in a flash of light.

Suddenly there's nothing on the beach besides sand, plants, and some very confused cogs. Tommy regains his voice. "Where'd he go?"

Adam is frantically moving his hands over the control panels. "He didn't go very far. Wait- he went *underground*?"

* * *

Megabyte is glad that he's already lying down when he teleports into the main room of the ship. He's not sure he can get back up at the moment. He's been chased by bad guys in all sorts of places, but this is the first time that anything's invaded the island. At least the ship seems clear.

"Megabyte, are you all right?" Adam asks. Megabyte looks up to see his friend kneeling beside him, with a worried-looking Jade peering over his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I seem to have brought a little bit of Angel Grove home with me," he jokes weakly.

"What happened?"

"I teleported on the beach so that I could get some sun, and the next thing I know, these robot-things rush at me! I teleported just in time."

Adam frowns. "You want help up? I think we have a lot to discuss."

* * *

Jason looks over the readings. He's trying to make sense of them, but isn't having much more luck than Adam's having. "So what do we do now?"

"Teleport in, of course," Tommy says.

Adam looks over at him, his face set in a mask of frustration. "Tommy, there's a reason that the Cogs are running around the surface. They probably can't get in. We can't either- there's some sort of shield. We can detect the readings, but we can't teleport in."

"Great," Tommy says, turning away. Jason can see he looks just as frustrated as Adam. He turns around again. "Can you find a way to teleport in, or do we have to wait until they decide to leave?"

"I'll work on it, but I think that we might not be able to get through," Adam says, sounding cautious.

"What about the cogs?" Katherine asks. "They're all over the island."

Jason is about to answer, but Tommy beats him to it. "They're not attacking anything, so it's not like we can attack them. Alpha, can you keep an eye on the cogs while we figure out what's going on with Jade and her friends?"

"I will, Tommy."

"I'll stay here and attempt to find a way through," Adam says, looking over a console. Jason notes Adam's tense stance and decides that it might not hurt for him to stay.

"I'll stay here and help Adam," he says.

"All right. Maybe we'll come through with something on our end."

With that, the rest of the group touch their communicators and teleports out.

* * *

Megabyte listens as Adam tells about his encounter. He's taking his time, but maybe he feels like taking his time for once. Jade kind of looks guilty. He tries to come up with a breezy comment, but fails to find one. Instead he tries for a serious question. "So, what do these robot things want with us?"

"I think they saw me teleport," Jade says quietly. Megabyte stares at her. Jade is usually trying to prove how much she belongs with the group, that she rarely admits to doing something wrong.

"That makes sense," Adam replies. "But they didn't just run up and attack me, they appeared out of the air. If they can do something like that, why would they need us?"

"Because we're the good guys?" Megabyte asks, amazed at Adam's blindness to the facts. "That's usually reason enough."

"Maybe they think we can help them with defeating the Power Rangers," Jade says, looking thoughtful. "Go somewhere they can't."

"Possible," Adam replies.

"So, what should we do next?" Megabyte asks. "We have the robotic horde above us, they can track us, and we have no idea on what to do."

"Why don't we find the Rangers?" Jade replies. "They're supposed to come if someone's being attacked. Maybe I can attract their attention that way."

"That's crazy! You'll just get captured," Megabyte says, not believing his ears. He can't let Jade get away with this. He'd never hear the end of it if she got hurt. Looking over at Adam, he knows he feels the same way.

Jade draws herself up. "It's my fault that they're here," she says, raising her chin. She glares at him and then Adam. Then, in a pleading tone, she adds, "let me go for once. I can teleport out. We're safe here."

Megabyte glances at Adam, seeing his friend actually considering Jade's proposal. And, if Megabyte knows Adam, he might just let her go through with it.

And he does. "Be careful, Jade."

Jade nods. "I will."

She teleports out.

* * *

Jason watches Adam manipulate the controls with the help of Alpha. He looks like he's ready to start pounding his fists on the consoles in frustration. Of course Jason's never seen Adam do that before, but there's a first time for anything. He looks over at Alpha. Although Alpha doesn't have a face, much less expressions, Jason can tell that he's eager to help but doesn't quite know what to do.

"Adam?" he asks, intending to ask whether the younger teen needs to take a break. Adam turns around to face him, and Jason is struck by the amount of raw frustration. "Adam, why don't you take a break, let Alpha run the scans."

Adam glares at him for a moment, then looks over at Alpha, and his shoulders sag. "I guess that will be okay. Zordon?"

DO NOT WORRY, ADAM. ALPHA CAN MONITOR THE SCANS FOR A FEW MINUTES.

"All right," Adam says. He looks over at Jason.

Jason nods, already picturing a seldom-used portion of Angel Grove park in his mind. "We'll be right back."

* * *

The two Rangers land in a quiet portion of the park. Adam blinks at the sunshine. He's glad that Jason pulled him away when he did. Everything he's tried has failed to penetrate the whatever it is that's below the surface of the island. His only consolation is that the Machine Empire doesn't seem to be having much more luck than he is.

"You okay, man?" Jason asks. Adam takes a deep breath, and is surprised to find that his is.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"You looked about ready to put a fist through the console," Jason says, smiling a little.

Adam can't help but smile back. "Wouldn't have done my search much good," he replies, joking.

"No. And Billy would've had fits."

Adam continues to smile, although Jason's mention of Billy makes something inside him clench. "Yeah."

Jason moves closer to him. His feeling must have shown on his face, for Jason adds, "Don't worry, you're doing a fine job."

Adam shrugs, attempting to hide his discomfort. "Billy would have done better."

He apparently still doesn't manage to hide his feelings, for Jason puts a hand on his shoulder. "You're not Billy. You're not supposed to be. Everybody knows that."

"Yeah, you're right," Adam replies. "I still wish I could find out how to get in. If only to know what's going on."

"What do you think's going on?" Jason says. Adam looks up at him, trying to divine Jason's intentions. Other than maybe trying to make him feel better.

"I don't know. I don't think that Megabyte and Jade and their friends are in league with anyone. I don't think they're with the Machine Empire, and while they might be with Zedd and Rita, something just doesn't fit. I know Tommy thinks that they might, but I don't get the impression that they are. Am I making sense?"

"Yeah. You should tell Tommy what you think. He's a good leader. He'll listen."

Adam turns to his friend. "I know. He normally listens, but I think he's gotten a little paranoid lately, ever since Billy left. Maybe a bit on autopilot too. Like he could handle befriending yet another set of newcomers, but the whole thing with Adam, Megabyte and Jade kind of threw him for a loop. We've all been kind of moody, but he's got it bad. I'm amazed you don't have it any worse."

Jason shrugs. "I miss him too, but it's like I know he's going to be happy where he is, so it kind of makes it better. I mean, he was really in love with Cestria, I could see it when she came. He knows who his friends are, and how to get back home if he wanted to. If I know Billy, he'll probably come home once or twice."

"I think Tommy knows that too."

"Tommy-" Jason says, but is interrupted by the beep of their communicators. Adam brings his up and speaks into it.

"This is Adam."

ADAM, Zordon says, his voice quietly booming over the communicator, THE COGS ARE IN ANGEL GROVE PARK, ABOUT ONE HUNDRED FIFTY FEET FROM YOU.

"What are they doing?" Adam asks.

THERE WAS ANOTHER ENERGY SIGNAL THAT ENDED IN THE PARK.

"We're right on it, Zordon," Adam says. He takes his hand off the communicator and looks at Jason. "Maybe we'll get some answers now."

"Shouldn't we morph first?" Jason asks. Adam shakes his head.

"I don't want to take the chance that we might scare whoever it is."

They take off.

* * *

Jade is not surprised to find the robot-things arriving shortly after she does. In fact, she's surprised that they took as long as they did. Now she's stuck dodging them and hoping the Power Rangers show up like they're supposed to.

She's glad to see two figures charging in, but to her dismay, neither of them is a Ranger. However, she's not going to quibble on the matter. At least she knows she's not alone. But she doesn't want them to get hurt, and with the robot things, they probably will be. And it would be her fault. She's already gotten the attention of something rather unfriendly. Now she's got to get them out of there so that she had one less problem.

Jade knows the perfect place to put them. Of course, she has to get a hold of them first, and then hope she can teleport two guys who are bigger than she is. Good a time as any to find out. Luckily for her, their backs are to her and to each other.

She grabs a hold of their shoulders and teleports out.

* * *

One minute they're fighting Cogs in the park, the next moment they're staring at walls covered with strange, intricate designs. Adam glances around, watching Jason do the same. It's dark in the room, with a possible exception of a rectangular section that looks like it's one of those things where you can see what's going on underwater. The designs, circular entryways, and the strange column at the centre all scream alien. Adam realizes that it could very well be that space that they couldn't teleport into. Before.

Two people are staring at them: the other Adam from a bench near the centre of the room, near the weird column, and Megabyte, who is sitting in one of the sections between one room and another.

Jade sits down on the section near the centre of the room, near her Adam. She seems fascinated with the sand on the floor.

The other Adam stands up. "Are you all right?" he asks, concern apparent in his face.

Adam resists the urge to laugh hysterically. "I'm fine. Startled, but fine."

"We're both fine," Jason says. Adam lets him take the lead. "Jade, are you okay?"

"Yes. I didn't mean to scare you. I was in the park. I was hoping to get the attention of the Power Rangers."

Adam almost laughs. If they didn't have an idea as to what was going on, Jade's statement wouldn't have made much sense. Of course, she doesn't know that she is, actually, talking to two of them. He glances at Jason and figures he's thinking much the same way. Jade is looking wide-eyed at them, the other Adam is glaring at Jade, and Megabyte's rolling his eyes. Maybe everyone else has figured it out.

His communicator beeps. He places a hand over it, but this is not the Juice Bar where nobody ever seems to notice the communicators beeping. Here, everyone is paying attention to them.

Jade is the first to break the silence. "Go on, answer it."

Or maybe she's not as blind as she seems. He activates his communicator. "This is Adam."

"Adam? Jase? Are you okay?" Tommy's voice comes over the communicator. He sounds worried.

Jason has activated his own communicator. "We're okay, bro."

"That's great. Do you have any idea where you are?"

Adam groans inwardly. Of course he knows where they are. "I would guess under that island."

"Yeah. Did you figure out how to get in?"

Adam looks over to Jade, who's sitting there looking embarrassed, and then over to the other Adam. "Not exactly. We'll fill you in a few minutes."

Tommy sounds unhappy with the answer. "Okay. Check back in as soon as you can."

Adam terminates the connection and looks at them. Jason beats him to what he's going to say. "You know we're the Power Rangers."

Jade blushes even harder. "Not until a minute ago," she says. "I'm sorry Adam, it's like they were practically yelling it out, I could hear them."

"You were looking for us, why?"

The other Adam speaks up. "We were hoping that you could help with these robot-things that keep showing up wherever we go."

"Yeah," Megabyte adds. "It would be great if we could go somewhere besides here without facing an imminent assault."

Jason nods. "I think we can help."

Adam looks over as Jason activates his communicator. "Tommy, this is Jason."

"Jase? What's going on?" Tommy demands.

"I'll explain in a minute. I've got Adam, Megabyte, and Jade here. They need help and someplace safe to go besides where they are now."

"We can't teleport you out, Jase. We still haven't figured out that anti-teleport shield."

Jason nods. "It's not going to be a problem. Listen, we're going to get out of here and then we're going to need to get them to the Power Chamber.

"We can handle that," Alpha says, breaking into their discussion.

"Okay, Alpha. We'll try to get to the park. Jason out."

"You want us to teleport into the park?" the other Adam asks. It sounds like a rhetorical question.

"There's some sort of field here that's not letting us in," Adam says. "We can't get out unless you help us get out."

"No problemo," Megabyte adds.

* * *

"Alpha, have they appeared yet?" Tommy asks. Despite Jason's assurances to the contrary, Tommy continues to worry whether his friend is truly all right.

"They just did," Alpha says. "Teleporting now."

Five beams of light appear, one green, one black with gold lightning, and three white. They resolve themselves into Adam, Jason, the other Adam, Jade, and Megabyte.

Megabyte whistles. "Whoa!"

The other two are equally wide-eyed. Tommy glances at Jason, wondering why it was necessary for him to bring the three in. For that matter, why he trusted them.

"I think you know most of us," their Adam says. "This is Alpha, and that's Zordon."

The trio look up to where Adam has indicated. Zordon, as far as anybody can tell, is smiling.

WELCOME, he says. I AM ZORDON. I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE ASKED FOR THE POWER RANGERS' HELP.

"Whoa," Megabyte says again. He seems impressed.

"So, how can we help you?" Tommy asks. He's not sure that it was the world's brightest idea for Jason and Adam to bring them to the power chamber, but they're there, so he might as well treat them like they have a genuine problem. Besides, the rest of the team seemed to trust them.

"You can help by getting these robot things off our back," Megabyte says. Adam shoots him a look.

"What Megabyte's trying to say is that every time we go someplace, Cogs show up."

"How long has this been going on?" Jason asks.

"Maybe a day, maybe less," the other Adam replies. "It's odd, because we've only been going to Angel Grove for weeks now."

"Yeah," Adam says, "But I'd bet Jade didn't disappear in the middle of a battle before that."

Jade is looking more embarrassed by the minute. "It was the only way I could think of to get out," she says. "I'm sorry for causing trouble."

Tommy feels like they're skipping a point in the discussion. "What are you?"

The trio look at each other for a few moments, and then the other Adam answers. "We're Tomorrow People. We're supposed to be the next stage in human evolution. We can do a few things normal people can't, like teleport. Move from place to place-"

"We figured that out," Jason replies. "You put out some kind of energy when you do that. We've been tracking that."

"That explains some things," the other Adam says. "Anyway, we have some other talents, telepathy..."

"Mind reading," Megabyte adds. He glares at Jade.

"I said I'm sorry!"

"I take it that's not something that you normally do," Jason observed.

"No. A couple of other things that are unique to one or the other of us, I think that's it."

"So, why'd you come to Angel Grove?" Tommy asks. He still doesn't feel reassured. Maybe their answer will help.

"Megabyte found a coupon for the water park, we ended up spending a day, and we liked it so much that we came here for our get-togethers," the other Adam says.

"And Jade likes the baby smoothies at the Juice Bar," Megabyte adds.

Jade continues to blush. "I don't like them that much! But I do like it here."

"Anyway, since we can go anywhere in the world, we like to see new things. Sometimes we like to go back."

"So, this entire thing was an accident?" Tommy asks. "You're not from the moon or anything?"

He realizes this is a foolish question as Megabyte speaks up. "Are you crazy? We're from Earth. There's no air on the moon."

Their own Adam is flashing an I-told-you-so look at him. He shrugs. He knows when he's been wrong. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Maybe we can do something that hides the energy flashes that you guys cause," Adam says. He moves over to the console.

AN EXCELLENT IDEA, ADAM, Zordon says.

"I'll try to help," Tommy says, moving over to the console next to Adam. Tanya and Alpha join them.

* * *

Adam, Megabyte, and Jade are sitting along one wall, watching several of the Rangers and Alpha work on the problem of cloaking the signals. Jason's sitting along with them. Megabyte's been up and down to help out. Jade's still sitting and looking embarrassed.

"Will they be able to find a way to hide us?" she asks, as if to pass the time."

"Adam should be able to. He may or may not think he can, but he can."

"Adam's your technical person?" Jade asks.

"He is now," Jason replies, not being able to remember if someone mentioned Billy before. "Billy, one of our friends, handled things before that. He was a certified genius, and more than once he pulled our butts out of the fire."

"And Adam doesn't feel up to the task," Adam says. It sounded more a guess than anything else. Jason nods.

"Somewhat. It doesn't help that he probably misses Billy more than anyone else here. They were really close friends."

Adam inclines his head. "What happened to him?"

Jason smiles. "He fell in love, finally. With an alien. As far as I know, he's on his honeymoon."

"Sounds like a plot in one of those books Megabyte keeps lending me," Adam says, smiling.

"Jason, why did those Cogs go after us?" Jade asks. "We didn't do anything to aggravate them."

"That's easy," Megabyte snorted. "We're good guys. It's in their contract to bother us."

Jason laughs at Megabyte's words. Sometimes his life feels like that's true, but it's still funny. "More like they were curious about you and wanted to see if you could be used against us."

"It wouldn't have worked. There's no way that any of us would have worked for them. It's not like they can hold us. They can't take our powers away from us."

"Megabyte, I have a word for you: Lisa's Mom."

"That's two words, Adam."

"Whatever," Adam says. He turns to Jason. "Lisa is another one of us. She doesn't hang out with us much anymore, although we occasionally hear her. I think when her mom was kidnapped because of what she was, she didn't want to be one of us anymore."

Jason doesn't know what to say. He can sympathize with this Lisa, for his parents have been kidnapped before, and he was just as willing to give up being what he was in order to save them. "I bet she sometimes misses being part of the group. I did."

Adam raises an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Did you hear of that teen peace conference in Geneva?" Jason asks. Adam nods. "I went to it, and left being a Power Ranger. I only came back very recently."

"I hope Lisa comes back," Adam says.

"She will," Jason says. He catches some of the tone in Adam's voice and realizes that the poor fellow might be in love with her.

"At least we haven't lost anyone recently," Megabyte says. "Everybody else seems happy."

Jason chooses to ignore Megabyte's bitter tone. "I would think that being able to do what you do would be a great thing," he says. "I mean, we teleport, but it's more of a mechanical thing and you never know when the system's going to fail."

"It had better be reliable," Adam replies. "It's a defensive thing. We can't kill, so we end up with the ability to get out of places where we might be killed."

"You can't kill?" Jason asks. "And you're supposed to be what we're going to evolve into?"

"Is something wrong with that?" Adam asks, clearly bewildered.

"There's a bunch of evil beings out there, and they're not going to go away just because the human race is unable to kill. They'd sweep over this planet faster than you can say 'Ranger', and nobody's able to stop them. Can any of you fight?"

"It's never really come up," Adam says. "I know how to use a knife to defend myself, but I just don't get into a lot of fights nowadays. Maybe if we get someone who's a fighter, we'll know better. And as for the rest, maybe they'll be gone before humans finish evolving. We're only the beginning. It'll take some time for all humans to be like us."

"I hope so," Jason said. Although he didn't share Adam's optimism, he was comforted by the fact that they'd have time before they really became helpless.

"Besides," Adam said, "Do you fight them because you enjoy it, or because you have to? Wouldn't you rather live in peace rather than war?"

"That's a loaded question, Adam. No, we don't fight them just for the fight. We do it because we have to, because otherwise they'll take over the Earth. I'd be happy to retire my communicator, but I'm not likely to anytime soon, not while the planet needs me."

"Communicator?" Jade asks. Jason wonders why she's asking, and then figures that she just wants to keep the conversation going.

He raises his wrist and shows her his communicator. She grabs a hold of it and stares, fascinated. "It's to help us keep in contact with Zordon and Alpha and the others, as well as triggering teleportation."

"It looks like a watch, or a fancy bracelet that's made to look like a watch," Jade says, manipulating his arm to look at it. She doesn't touch it, however.

"That's the idea. They were designed to be easy to wear and keep with us, yet be inconspicuous enough that nobody would think they were advanced pieces of technology. Besides, nobody would think a bunch of teenagers would be the Power Rangers, and we try to be inconspicuous as possible."

"We do that, too," Adam says. "Otherwise we'd have scientists wanting us for experiments, and the military wanting to use us."

Jason can't help feeling horrified. "They'd really want to do that, man?"

Megabyte frowns. "Yeah. They tried once, when I was coming on. That's when Lisa decided to be normal, and I had the biggest nincompoop scientist trying to take me home so that he could study me!"

"Megabyte forgot to mention that he hadn't gained his abilities yet," Adam says. Jason has the feeling they've explained this before.

"Well, yeah. Simple mistake. After all, I was with a teleporter and I'd just helped another one escape, so I had to be one," Megabyte answers, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey, guys!" Tommy yells from the consoles. Jason and the trio are instantly on their feet. Jason walks briskly to the console, the other three trailing after him.

"Got something?" he asks, although he can probably tell the answer from Adam's beaming face.

"Adam's figured out a way that might work."

Tommy steps away and Adam continues. "Anyway, I think we found something that will cover the energy that shows up when you teleport. It's not tested, but I think it'll work."

"That'd be great," the other Adam says.

"Anything so that we don't have to worry about attracting attention wherever we go," Megabyte adds.

"Anyway, we're going to use the transmitters on some of the satellites that Zordon has in place, and flood the earth with something that will hopefully make you harder to detect. It'll have to be redone periodically, but hopefully we'll take care of the Machine Empire and you won't have to worry for long."

"Thank you," the other Adam says. Adam manipulates the controls.

"Hey, it was nothing, man," Tommy replies. "It was the least we can do."

"I don't know about anyone, but I feel like celebrating," Kat says. "How about going to the Juice Bar?"

"Maybe we should really check if it's safe first?" Megabyte asks.

Adam nods. "Good idea. I'll be right back," he says, and promptly disappears from the Power Chamber.

"I'd worry if he couldn't teleport out so fast," Megabyte says.

Adam reappears a minute later, smiling. "I think it's safe."

"Shall we go?" Kat asks.

The other Adam smiles. "Last one there buys," he says, and then teleports out.

* * *

Jason and Adam are sitting on a bench in the gym section of the Juice Bar/Youth Center, watching Rocky and Tommy spar on the mat. It's been a week since they met the Tomorrow People, and so far everything has remained relatively quiet. Jason's looking forward to them coming over to lunch tomorrow, even if it is really dinner for them.

The energy seems to be still working, or at least the Tomorrow People haven't seen fit to complain. He remembers the enthusiastic kiss Jade threw on Adam's cheek, causing Adam to blush. Tanya seems to have been amused.

The entire team seems to have been in a whole better mood. He doesn't know if their new friends had anything to do with it, but he suspects their presence helped. Adam seems to have been affected the most, being more cheerful, and more confident in his abilities after he solved the trio's problems. Maybe that was the best part.

Or maybe it was just having more friends out there. Maybe he would never know.

Maybe it wouldn't matter.

-End

Selma McCrory * smccrory@calweb.com
"We're peaceful. We can't wage wars, and we can't kill.
Not deliberately, anyway." -Carol, The Tomorrow People