His backpack rustled as he shrugged it off. He took his skateboard and carefully strapped it to the pack. He clipped his helmet to the top, and heard the rustling again as he put his pack back on. Yeah, maybe he should have re-thought the timing of his grocery trip.

After Dustin had left, he'd tried unsuccessfully to go back to sleep. There didn't seem much chance of that happening though. Failing at that, he'd gone back to the Playstation 2, determined to figure out the track at Bristol. And how Dustin had managed to skunk him, again, the night before.

He'd finally given up on that as well, and had gone to the grocery store for Dustin's cereal on his way to the Academy. He'd taught his classes well enough, but he was far from focused. He just couldn't get the dreams, or Skyla, off his mind.

He needed to do something. He'd tried ignoring it. He'd tried thinking of anything else but what was bothering him. But he couldn't. Dustin had been right all along. He needed to go to the forest.

He'd left the Academy, asking Tori to cover his other basics class. Then he'd ridden his skateboard as far as he could by road. Now as he hiked through the woods, he could feel his skateboard bounce with each step. Crushing the cereal box little by little. This so was not his best idea.

He knew where he was headed. He didn't know if it was right, but it was a place to start. He needed to get back to that chimney. The only remnants of an old house, the brick chimney stood slightly out of place in the dark woods.

He'd seen Skyla there twice before. Hopefully he'd find the answers he needed there this time too.

Eventually he could see the chimney between the trees. This part of the forest was always eerily quiet. And today was no different. He wandered around the clearing, not sure what he was looking for, not sure what he would find.

He started to get frustrated as time passed. He didn't see anything. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. Sensei had told Tori to trust her inner ninja on her quest. And this was quest-like at least.

He took a seat on the ground, cross-legged with his back to a tree. With one last look around, he closed his eyes. And listened. And searched. And called to his inner ninja.

Leaves rustled. Birds chirped. The air swirled around him.

And the wind was calling his name.

He smiled, scrambled to his feet, cereal still crunching, and hitched his backpack higher as he followed the wind.

Sunlight filtered unevenly through the dense tree cover, making the woods darker than one would expect. But there was a light ahead. A bright white light. A light so out of place in the woods, anyone else would have been concerned.

But not Shane. It was the light from his dreams. And he'd learned to trust his dreams. They always led him back to her.

The light grew brighter, and enveloped him. Then retreated. And when his eyes re-adjusted he saw a bird of fire before him.

"Skyla," he said as he moved forward.

The firebird had landed on a low branch, and the tree did not burn. She nodded her head and spoke.

"Hello Shane." Though it didn't look like she had spoken, Shane felt sure he had heard her with his ears and not in his head. "It's good to see you again."

"Yeah, you didn't stay gone as long this time."

He was standing in front of her now, and reached an unsure hand out. Again she nodded, so he hesitantly dared to stroke her burning feathers. They were warm, but didn't burn him either, and were almost unbelievably soft.

"I had to come back. You were lost."

"I...," he started to disagree, but thought better of it. She was right after all. He was lost. He'd lost her power, and his link to her was gone with it. Nothing had felt the same since. And as much as he had hoped to find her there, he couldn't help being reminded of just how guilty he felt.

He took a step back, hands shoved in his pockets. "Listen, Skyla, I'm really sorry. I know I let you down. You must be really disappointed in me."

"Why would I be disappointed?" she cocked her head. "You defeated Lothor. And you continue to fight for good."

"But I lost the power."

"I am sorry that you are no longer a Ranger. I know it meant a lot to you."

Now he was confused. "But Skyla, I lost your power too. Lothor destroyed it."

It was interesting to see a bird laugh. Especially a bird made of fire. Her fire fluttered and flashed as she flipped her wings. He didn't know if he was more annoyed at her laughter, or curious as to the reason behind it.

"I gave you the power, and it will never leave you. I told you being a Ranger was a plus, not a requirement."

"But Lothor destroyed the battlizer."

"The battlizer, but not the power. You cannot lose the power, Shane. It is a part of you now," she tried to explain.

"But I don't understand," Shane sat on a nearby fallen tree. "I haven't felt anything. I can't still have it, can I?"

Skyla hopped to a lower branch so she was closer to where he now sat, puzzled. "The power is a part of you now, as it was a part of me. And like Karmathians, the power does not die but evolves."

"But it, I don't," he stopped abruptly, unsure, and hung his head. He didn't know how to express what he was feeling. Because that was sort of the problem. He couldn't feel it anymore. It wasn't there.

Since the moment Skyla had passed the power on to him, till the battle at the Abyss, he had felt it. A warmth. A strength. A sense of control or confidence or something. It wasn't something he could explain. He just knew things were different now.

"The mind is a powerful thing. If you believed it was gone, then for you, it was gone. But it has always been there."

"Yeah, 'cause that made just so much sense," he replied sarcastically.

She moved, craning her neck down till she caught his eye. And he raised his head to see her. "I told you I would never leave you."

He could swear it looked like she was smiling. And he couldn't help but want to return it.

"So the power is still here, it's just in a new form?" She nodded, so he continued. "And the battlizer's gone?"

Her wings lifted in the form of a shrug. "The power has a tendency to take the form it feels would help you best. You could probably call on the armor again if you really tried. But the powers the armor gave you are still there."

"So what do I do?"

"Believe in yourself."

"That's it, huh?"

"That's it," and she smiled again.

She shifted on the branch, and it drew his attention. "It's time for me to go."

"Do you really have to?" he asked, knowing the answer but asking anyway.

"I'll always be with you, Shane. As you are with me." Skyla launched herself skyward, her fire searing a trail of light through the trees.

"You know what to do, Shane. Trust yourself." Her voice was fading away, sounding far off, carried by the wind.

"Skyla!" he yelled, but she was gone. He lost sight of her fire in the brightness of the sun peeking through the treetops.

His eye was drawn back to the branch she had sat on. Caught there between twigs was a tail feather. No longer seemingly made of flames, it was still stunningly beautiful. Long, sleek, and fiery red. Carefully he plucked it from where it was. And as he turned it slowly in his fingers, he swore he saw trails of fire from it burning across his vision.

Glancing upward toward where she had disappeared, he tried moving the feather again. And still he saw the trails. He didn't know what to think of it. Another gift, another part of herself she had given him?

He stood, offering her a silent goodbye, then he headed back toward the road and out of the forest. He twirled the feather again, wondering if others could see the fiery trails as well. Or was it just for him. Another symbol of the connection between them.

She had said to trust himself. That he knew what to do. She had told him that before. Last year. And he'd eventually figured it out. How to find the power within himself, whether that meant how to call the battlizer or the power in some new form. If she was right, he just needed to figure that out again. And she'd always been right so far.

So caught up was he in contemplating her words that he barely noticed how much ground he had covered or how close he was to the road.

Until the feather flared briefly bright. Until he heard the sound. Screeching tires followed immediately by a terrifying bang and a horrible, metal-crunching, ripping sound.

Feather clutched tightly in his hand, he didn't even pause to think. He just ran for the road and the source of the sounds.