"No!" Feige whined behind Gruumm's back as she followed him and watched him carry his shield. "You just finished fighting Atsuon, why jump into another battle? You're still hurt, too!" Onto his bicep, her fingers grabbed and tried to make him turn around, but his long strides made it difficult to hold on. "Picking fights with Cruger is only going to make things worse!" As soon as she said that, she watched his head aggressively turn around and lean close to her face.

"Things are already worse! I would have hired an assassin as you suggested, but that would cost more than restocking my Arsenal. You worry too much!" The second he yelled, he quickly backed away when he noticed how close he was and continued his way down the hall.

Feige saw the cart behind him being pushed by a simple Crybot, which was full of spheres of all kinds. As fast as her feet could run, she caught up to his side and pouted. "I worry too much... B- Because that's what friends do. They look out for each other, h- help each other. Honestly-- I wished you two would make up already and call it even. Y- You took his planet from him and he took your horn. Is it your horn that you want revenge for? O- Or is it just your pride that's hurt?" Her words made the Emperor halt in his step, which she noticed and saw him move his attention to her dangerously slow.

"Troobian horns are something that we take pride in. They indicate power, dominance-- strength! The bigger your horns are the less of a chance others look down on you! It is what gives us a sense of--" Before he could finish, Feige's lips opened to speak.

"Dignity?" Violet hues peeked at rubies when she asked. The nod of his head told her that she was correct, it made her frown after she glanced at his missing horn. "I'm sorry. It still gives you no right to hunt Cruger... I know Omni forced you to do all of those things, but the past is done, you need to let things go-- you know?" Pain filled her eyes when she folded her arms and turned to walk in the other direction.

"Do you know how hard it is-- to let go of what was taken from you?!" His words boomed through the halls, Feige didn't have to look to know his eyes glinted in the dark. She paid Morgana no mind as she passed her by and stopped.

"I do!" This time it was her turn to whip around. Tears cascaded when her eyes bore dangerously into his from the distance and tightened her fists. "Fear! Fear took my life right out of my hands! You know that! You saw how I lived before you appeared! Fear has dragged you down! That THING is controlling you with it! It took more from you than Cruger did! I know you can't fight it... I know it's too powerful for you. But that doesn't mean you should take your frustrations out on him! I..." With a few steps back, her attention on Gruumm's astonished skeletal mouth averted to her feet. "I c- care about you," A silent tear strayed the second she turned away and headed back down the hall, leaving the duo in the quiet of the dark.

~~~~

The last bit of her words resonated in his mind like an echo in a cave. His rubies watched her backside grow further away until she was gone and ignored the astonished expression on Morgana's face, for he pondered the previous events with Feige to compare them to what was said.

She cares? His thoughts were full of confusion and questions, nonetheless, he had to move. "Morgana-- Bring me my bike!" His heavy steps sounded throughout the hall as he continued toward the teleporter. Yes, instead of the teleporter that was in his Arsenal Room, he was sidetracked by everything else to think clearly and chose the longer route. Seconds turned into minutes when he waited near the main tele.

Folded arms and a lowered head proved how deep in thought he was. She cares... She cares? All of the things she's done for me, it was because she cared? His fingers clenched onto his forearms upon the burning sensation he hated feeling so much; a feeling that many would describe as guilt. But not him, no words would be enough to explain it. The burn in his chest made him place a hand where it was and feel the bone on his armor after he clawed at it.

"That is a first, wouldn't you say so, Lord Gruumm?" Morgana came up to his side rolling the bike to him and gave him a grin.

"She doesn't yell often," Grumbling, averting his rubies, Gruumm stood up straighter and grabbed the bike by its handles.

"Not that. Someone cares about you.~ I'd take advantage of that. I'd make her destroy the Power Rangers in your stead, so you can head after Cruger. Once the planet is taken over, the galaxy, no... The Universe-- will fear you and your weapon of destruction! Sit her aside in a tube in your Arsenal and attach some sort of device to control her mind! She'd have no choice but to do as you--" Before Morgana could continue, a furious roar erupted from the Emperor, and her neck was grabbed by his strong hand.

What came out of his mouth was a spit of anger and words that were a bit too fast. "How dare you suggest I stash her away like she's a piece of artillery! Keep your mouth shut, unless you want to be turned into ash just like Atsuon!" Dangerous crimson in his eyes struck fear into the gothic woman who donned her battle suit. The grip on her neck was tight, he had her an inch above the ground, watched her try to pry his fingers off to get some air and her eyes rolled.

Straight away he let go, saw her gag for air with her hand to her throat and hardly any care from him showed when she stepped away. His body shook with rage, not for a second did the glint in his rubies fade, for he turned to face the teleporter and punched in coordinates.

After roughly a few minutes, he and Morgana were on Earth hidden in the shadows. They watched the Power Rangers run to an alien who dug into the ground, so while they did that, hundreds of blue-heads, orange-heads, and simple Crybots were all made to align the edges of a cliff. Backing up, he and the overgrown child hid further behind the horde. "Attack!" The handlebars on his bike were tightly gripped when he gave an order to his robots.

Left and right the robots started to fight. He ignored Morgana who decided to hitch a ride on the back of his bike since he was more focused on waiting for Cruger's appearance. He watched the Rangers jump into swat mode, however, their countless bullets and martial skills hardly did damage to the horde. There were too many to fight off and he knew that, it delighted him to see them struggle.

The second Cruger came in on his fore-wheeler and shot at a few to support the team, Gruumm cranked up his engine. Off of the cliff, several beams were shot from his bike and knocked the Shadow Ranger off of his vehicle. The rough landing did little to no damage to his ride, so with skill, he skidded to a halt and grabbed his staff. He paid Morgana no mind when she got off, for he too did the same.

"I couldn't let my soldiers have all the fun!" He gave a few steps toward the group, ignored Morgana's comment when she said 'We want to play too' and prepared for the fight.

"Let's play!" The quick answer Gruumm received was swiftly overrun when he lifted his hand and commanded the horde to pile up behind him.

"Cruger! You and your precious SPD have stood in my way long enough! It ends-- now!" From his staff, he charged the orb and shot a stream of power. It amused him to see them all fly from the force that exploded behind them. As fast as he could, he returned to his bike, rushed after them, and sent more beams after the team; particularly Cruger which he made sure to hit on his way past.

He knew the rest of his soldiers would assist and heard their shots go off behind him after the others. His bike curved about to a slow halt just to see Morgana shoot purple waves of energy at Z and Syd, they flew high from the impact. There in the distance, he spotted the Red Ranger in his Battlizer mode, swinging his energy blade and striking down many of his soldiers.

I don't think so! Revving up his engine, he zoomed across and shot beams at the team's leader. Surprisingly keeping a stable footing despite the explosions that went off, however, the closer he got, the harsher the next shot was and it made Jack fall back from the hit. "Gotcha!" Thrilled to bits, Gruumm yelled and came to a slow halt until one foot propped himself up. "At last-- no more Power Rangers!" With arms outstretched, a large amount of satisfaction could be heard in his voice.

That was until three individuals appeared. A woman clad in green who wore red and white boots, a male who wore a black jacket and donned a red shirt. Then the third one, a male dressed in a blue shirt glared daggers at him. "Think again, bonehead!" The guy in black and red took a stance, as did the other two.

"What?" Ultimately confused now, he could have sworn there were only the five rangers, including Omega. He watched the SPD members approach and converse, saw the three show off their strange bracelets, and soon heard Cruger bark out his order to 'suit-up'.

As soon as the dog gave his command, Gruumm, Morgana, and the remaining soldiers all prepared for whatever came next. The moment they did their thing, the flashes of light that covered them in their suits, and of course their Michael Bay explosions for no particular reason... The Emperor quickly became annoyed.

"Attack!" With his arm out, he and everyone else charged after the group who did the same. Everyone fought, left and right. The female rangers against Morgana, the males teaming up and either taking down some robots or blasting off their lasers.

Gruumm picked up his speed when he saw Cruger come in with a larger vehicle, which was accompanied by two Red Rangers, and saw them busting through a small horde of his soldiers along the way. He curved around the fight to get closer to the commanding dog, who just sent a blast of power to destroy a large number of soldiers.

Across the extra beams which nearly missed his head, he spun around to face the approaching vehicle. "You're mine, Cruger!" With a mighty leap off of his bike, he landed just in front of the dog and swung his staff. Left, right, and around he attacked, only to have his strike get blocked when Doggie lifted his blade. When he tried to thrust the end of it at his face, it was unfortunately grabbed and yanked down.

"Get off my truck!" Annoyance and disgust could almost be heard behind that helmet.

The horizontal slash from the blade made him feel immense pain when he cried out, as the force behind it sent him over the edge and to the ground. He had to tuck and roll to keep himself on his feet, which he was thankful he did because there ahead of him were the Red Rangers.

Whirling the staff about, with both hands, he charged his orb and sent out an electrical blast to knock them over. Sadly it was futile, for he watched them jump to avoid it and sent their flurry of beams. The strength behind their attack made him stumble and fall, it took him a minute to regain his footing.

Feige... Feige. He sat there a moment to think about their argument nearly twenty to thirty minutes ago. How she wanted him to stop, that he was still hurt, and how much she just wanted him to let it go. Heavy breaths escaped his skeletal mouth, the battle was taking its toll and he began to realize she made a point about his existing wounds.

He watched all of the Rangers take down what remained of his soldiers after B-Squad left to go help Omega. When he finally stood up and saw the dog approach him with his blade, he too lifted his staff to prepare. "Cruger! Using Rangers from the past may have won this battle... But I have a surprise of my own in store!" His tight fist proved the grudge he held until he heard the dog command the Dino Rangers to finish the fight.

"Let's put it together!" The Dino Red Ranger demanded and quickly put their weapons together to form some sort of cannon that took the Emperor by surprise. "Z-Rex Blaster!" In unison, they announced, took position, and aimed the weapon.

"Do it!" Doggie commanded.

"Fire!" The Red Ranger agreed with a nod and pulled the trigger.

Out came a large beam, for a second he saw a flash of dinosaurs before stumbling a little. It wasn't enough to knock him down, for he quickly shot his staff's energy at the ground to stir up dirt and left within seconds.

~~~~

Feige saw it all. She watched the battle in the monitoring room and was sitting in Gruumm's skeletal chair. Her arms were lazily folded over her chest, all she could feel at that moment was disappointment and sadness. "Thanks to Morgana... She left instructions on how to work this thing. What buttons did what and such. I don't know why though... Maybe she wanted me to see their fight? Gruumm lost, all because he didn't heed my warning. He's so reckless. He complains that I don't listen to him... But, when it matters most, he doesn't listen to me. Well-- at least he did when Atsuon was around... He came to my aid every time," Mumbling, curling into the seat, the end of her short dress was tucked under her when she lifted her knees close.

She saw him disappear on the screen and watched the Rangers leave. I really need to start bringing a blanket with me every time I visit his ship. She shivered from the cold, her arms were quickly hugged and the temperature of the room was roughly the same as her skin now. I'm hungry. Maybe if I make something for him as an apology, it'll cheer him up. Her brows knitted when she frowned and guilt burned in her chest when she recalled the argument from earlier. He liked mashed potatoes from what I saw at the Restaurant before. I wonder if he'll like some hamburgers and fries? He didn't seem to favor chicken very much. Pondering, she was watching a screen that had nothing amusing to show and sighed.

The faint thuds of heavy boots became louder but not once did she move her attention to the approaching Emperor and kept her gaze on the holographic screen.

"How did you get that to appear? You don't know Troobian," His words were laced with concern despite his curiosity. Feige wasted no time when she slapped a piece of paper onto his chest with instructions on it and bolted out of the seat.

Not a single word, no warm welcome or greeting. She stomped her way out of the room and left him there to his thoughts. Well, at least she thought he would stay there, unbeknownst to her he followed.

Feige roamed about in search of a kitchen of some kind. She had no idea that Gruumm quietly kept on her trail, his heavy boots were as silent as a hunter in the dark. Eventually, she came across a large circular room similar to all the others, minus the bars and empty spaces.

As she stood in the doorway, large walls similar to the ones in Morgana's room hid most of the dead-drop over the edges of the platform and held up metallic countertops. Some strange refrigerator leaked mist that somehow spread across the floor and masked the entirety of it.

An island sat in the center with a few bar stools along one side, their poles were made of bone and the seats were fuzzy. As she wandered about, her fingers traced along an odd stove that she couldn't comprehend. Against the metal coils, the cold sensation on her fingers told her that it hadn't been touched in a long time. Cupboards below the hovering countertops were automatically hissed open when she was about to reach her hand toward it and flinched.

Wow... These cupboards are cool.~ So far, every single door in his ship is automated. A small smile tugged on her lips at the convenience and pulled out what she could assume was a grocery bag. The moment she opened it, some vegetables were seen, and were quickly taken out. "Yay.~ Some veggies as a side to go with the burgers and fries.~" Happily she sang and stood up.

Onto the countertop the bag was plopped, next, she searched for other essentials. A pot, a skillet, and utensils like forks and knives. It didn't take her long at all to get started on the food. The skillet was searing hot after she figured out how to turn the stove on. Her hands used a large and sharp knife to cut at the veggies, the sound of boiling water was nostalgic to her and the delightful smell of the vegetables was refreshing.

After the veggies were put in the water, she started on some potatoes and began to chop some up in the shape of fries. She didn't notice the towering Emperor behind her, watching her with interest.

Three plates were sat out, and a fourth was taken from one of the cupboards to hold the future-cooked fries and began to search for something else. "Salt... Salt-- does he have salt? Maybe some French Fry seasoning? Pepper?" One after another she looked through more cupboards, that was until she pouted at the realization that there was none.

"F- F- Frick, the burgers!" As fast as she could, her feet moved to the stove and quickly flipped them over with some sort of metal spatula, or so she thinks is a spatula. Sighing, it was a relief that they didn't burn but she could tell one side was thoroughly cooked.

"Burgers?" Out of the quietness came Gruumm's deep voice and it startled her to no end.

"Eee!" Whipping around, flailing her arms, one of her hands landed on the skillet and a burning sensation sent her into a frenzy. "OW! Ow, ow, ow, ow, it burns! Ow, ow, ow, ow! Holy mother of hot burners- OW!" Up and down she waved her hand, ran to the sink, and turned on cold water.

"AAAHAHAHAHAHA!" Out came a burst of laughter from the Emperor, who sounded rather entertained by her jump scare and interesting choice of words.

She could hear his boots step closer to her, regardless, she sighed in relief upon the coldness of the liquid. "Don't... D- Do that, please," Her head slumped over the sink and groaned. She could still feel the beating in her chest from the random spook.

"Not to add insult to injury, well... Yes, I will add. You look little... Burnt out.~" A joke. Of all things Feige guessed would come out of his skeletal mouth, he popped in a joke and it made her giggle.

"This was supposed to be a surprise. Y- You weren't supposed to follow me," The shake of her head, her smile never fell, for she thought too much about the joke to focus right and continued to giggle. It made sense, she still had burns from being electrocuted by Atsuon's cube, she was a little tired, and she just burned her hand on the skillet.

"You didn't say anything when I approached. Morgana has some explaining to do, regarding these instructions," Explained the bony beast, which she could feel breath on her neck when he spoke and froze. "Aside from that-- I saw three plates. Are you... Preparing dinner or something?" There was a hint of excitement in his voice, most likely because this was the second time she'd made something for him.

Her cheeks burned about as hot as the one on her hand, his gravelly deep voice in her ear and his warm breath made her head lower to hide her flustered face. Quickly, she turned the water off and squeezed past him to reach the stove. "Y- Yes. I... Wanted to make you something. S- So... I figured, I'd make Morgana the same thing while I was at it. I hope you like it. It's an apology for the argument earlier," Guilt tugged on her heart when she flipped the patties and put the uncooked fries into another skillet, which she found in the cupboard after searching. "Thank the stars you at least have oil," Her mumbled words were heard, for she saw him gradually step closer to her in her peripherals when she poured the liquid into the skillet.

The next thing she knew, onto a countertop to her side, a ketchup bottle was placed and some Mayonnaise. After that, some cheese slices, mustard, lettuce, and all of the goodies you'd put on a burger were sat out. "W- Whoa, where did you..." Blinking curiously, her violet hues peeked at the Emperor's amused expression and glanced back at the additives.

"Just because I am not familiar with Earth foods-- does not mean I do not know how to look into it and learn what is needed," She could see his arms folding upon her astonishment, and she quickly moved and pulled out some buns that he surprisingly had.

"Nice.~" The info made her grin broaden, before she pulled them out, placed some buns on each plate, and got to work. Moments turned into minutes until everything was finally done.

Each plate had some mixed veggies on the side, while ketchup-covered fries were piled next to a beautifully crafted burger. The sad part was, there was no salt or pepper to add to them. Nonetheless, she took a plate and gave it to him, as hope sparkled in her violets with expectation.

"Um... I noticed that... Y- You have soda. Want to share?" Smiling, nervously, she asked, and turned around to search for some glasses.

"Are you certain I won't get drunk again?" The sound of his voice seemed almost embarrassed. Feige was too busy looking for the glasses to look at him, to see the faint pulses in his rubies and the shift in his weight on one foot.

"I- If you d- don't drink it all in one go-- I think you'll be fine," She could feel her cheeks burn at the memory of his human form leaning over, smirking at her with confidence and the red glinting in the shadows. Her movement became a bit quicker than she liked, for the imagery kept her flustered, and tried everything she could to not think about it.

Tight against her she felt his chest and froze, nervously her violets looked up to see his arms reach to the hanging cupboards. Down came three large cups made of polished bone and could feel his movement, when he stepped further to the side to reach for a 2-liter bottle in a hidden compartment.

Stop! Stop it, Feige! Stop thinking about his muscles! Her face was red and not once did her body loosen up, she was too stiff from the proximity to notice Gruumm pouring the soda. The earthy-haired woman shook her head to get rid of such thoughts, but it was difficult when his human form and his true form plagued her mind in such romantic ways, no thanks to her random brain farts.

"T- Thanks! B- By the way-- I wanted to know if you wanted to watch a m- movie with me?" Her words came out awkward and dared not to look at him.

"Movie?" When she glanced at him, all three cups were poured, and his curious head-tilt was once again directed to her.

She had to look away again to compose herself. Nodding to him, a small smile was given after she took hers and Morgana's plate. "W- While you were busy... With the fight. I asked one of your b-blue heads to run an errand for me. I r- rented out three of them," Shyly she stepped back and peeked at him through the strands that covered her face.

Silence from the Emperor told her that he was thinking, so she was waiting for a good minute before he finally answered. "I've never watched movies," simple and plain he stated.

The second she gasped, time had passed, and now they stood in his monitoring room with three discs in their cases that represented the movies. "This one--" From the stack of three, she lifted a case that had a strange creature that was pitch black with milky solid eyes. "This--," The second movie was picked up from the stack and showed him the cover of very large monsters at each others' throats who were fighting in a large city. "And-- lastly, "The third one was shown to him, its cover had various villains on the front and a woman with white hair dyed at the ends and was up in pigtails. She stared, waited, and watched his contemplative rubies dart between the three options.

One at a time, he took one and read the quick summaries of the movies. Once the Monster one was handed back to her, he kept the two others and made his way to his screen. "Alrighty, those are first," Mumbling, fumbling around, Feige watched his hand slip the disc in his computer and sat in his chair.

The brunette was lucky that she used her power to make the plates levitate. All three of them hovered above her head until she made Gruumm's plate carefully move into his hands. "M- Morgana, here," With a movement of her finger, the overgrown child's plate was hesitantly taken, and watched her lean against the bars nearby.

Sodas were passed over to the two, so when she sat on the floor, the screen pulled up the beginning of the movie and her lips curled up. Hehehehe! We're watching movies together! Blushing, giggling to herself, the contentment made her eyes close. The burger was pulled close to her mouth to hide her cute grin and begged the stars around them that he wouldn't look back to see her.