Shift Steel: Rise of the Machines (S2)

Peace of mind was the name of the game for Derek Chase in the past year. After a war against the Tok'ra that spanned several years for him, he finally achieved the victory he craved, but at great personal cost to him with the loss of Moze. Fortunately, he did not shoulder the burden of this loss like he did in the original timeline when many lives were lost, thanks to the time spent learning to better cope and not to blame himself for everything that went wrong. One other thing that helped was keeping an eye on everyone else. With Moze gone, leadership fell naturally to him and while that didn't include fighting, it did include TLC with his friends, enjoying each other's company when they could.

In the past year, Derek also found time to re-dedicate to his company and his passion. With no wars and a girlfriend that was normally understanding, save for some trips that Derek had to make across the globe for business, the CEO was able to enjoy his life much more than he did six years ago. Currently, Derek was on a flight on a private jet, heading back to the city after a week in Japan, partnering with Toei and Bandai for the pending release of the newest Dragon Ball game. DC laid back, playing an early copy of FF 7: Rebirth. He briefly looked down at his phone, remembering that today was the one year anniversary of that fateful day and was thankful to be coming back when he did so he could pay his proper respects.

In the past year, Junichiro "Jun" Ryuzenji had kept himself busy with his music and art. He became more frequent with his appearances in the Sundrop Cafe which attracted many guests and people began to spread his performances through social media which attracted many agents of different record labels, wanting to sign him up. Meanwhile, he has been visiting his younger brother's grave and just had his past birthday when he turned 27 years old. It had been long since he had defeated the To'kra Empire and lost Moze. He made a promise to himself that he was going to keep moving towards the future and wanting what is best for his friends and himself.

Amara made her way into town, stopping and buying the flowers, several bundles in varied colors before headed to the graveyard. She stood at Tyler and Mackenzie's graves, laying flowers down and brushing away dust and debris from the wind. "Hey, guys. I'll be back later to talk, but...right now, there's a girl who needs me more," she said. She got up and walked down to Moze's gravestone, kneeling beside it and taking care to clean the headstone, removing any leaves and dirt from it, getting a handkerchief damp and cleaning up the name, digging in with her fingertips and making sure everyone could read the Red Ranger's name.

She laid a bundle of roses and white lilies on the grave, taking the dead ones aside and setting them beside her bag. "Hi, Moze," she said softly, sitting on her bag and sighing softly. "We're all still here. We think about you all the time. I'm sorry we don't get out here as often as we'd like. You know how busy we all are. Especially Cole, Ken, and Derek. Derek's actually on his way back from a Dragon Ball meet up with Toei. We had a meeting with CD Projekt Red a few months ago, about their new Cyberpunk MMO they're working on, and they asked if there was anything we'd like to see. Well..." She wiped her eyes and smiled softly. "We got a gun vendor in Night City named Moze and she only sells the best guns. They're gonna lock her shop behind a couple of big quests, and if you want the best Legendary Guns in the game to make yourself a Night City Legend, they're gonna have to find you."

Amara smiled softly, resting her hands on her knees. "Ken still blames himself. He said the other day "If Kingslayer had have worked, Dad would still be running SPD and Moze wouldn't be dead. I'd be, and then everyone would be happier." Kida slapped the shit out of him and told him to stop talking like that. We don't know what would have happened between then and now if Ken had been killed. You and Kaleb might have died some other way. Time wants to happen, and you guys knew that when you changed the timeline back then. We keep hoping Zara can talk some sense into him, but so far it hasn't happened."

She tucked the trash back into her bag, rubbing her hands. "Cole and Olivier got married. We were all there. It was a really good wedding. Best one I've ever been to. Until that Masters asshole tried to get in the way. Him and Ken almost got into it, and probably would have if Kida hadn't seperated them. Still don't know what Masters' big angle is, but we're working on it. Cole still thinks he's in league with Gasket and AXIM. I don't think so, but he won't let it go."

Glancing at her phone, Amara saw what time it was. She knew Derek would be back soon, and that the others would be coming soon, but she wasn't worried. "Jun's been scouted by a few record labels. Apparently, people are spreading his music over social media, and a few big records have looked to try and get him. I dont' think he's made any choices yet." She stuck her phone back in her pocket and got up, stretching and sighing.

"The others are gonna be here soon. I'm just gonna hang out, probably go talk to Tyler and Mackenzie for a bit, but I'll be back when the others get here." She put her hand on the gravestone, smiling softly. "Love you, Moze. Miss you all the time."

"Hey yourself honey sorry I wanted to let you sleep in after all it's not much of a honeymoon if you can't relax you know what I mean? I know we have to be getting back to Eaglemere soon but maybe we can get breakfast to go?" The green Ranger asked "I know we already had this I know we already had the ceremony but we still haven't sorted out the legal stuff you don't want to take my last name we can hyphenate or something and how would you feel about having a second ceremony?" The green Ranger asked talking faster and faster I know there's a lot of things to sort out when talking about things but I want to have the second ceremony because I want to… Invite my parents now I know what you're going to say but I've already worked out the temporal mechanics at least I think so all it would take is a few favors from Time force and it wouldn't be that long so the timeline wouldn't be in jeopardy" I know Ms. Kingsford was there and mom is great but I just miss them" the green Ranger said after he finally stopped rambling




***


The telltale roar of Ken's motorcycle heralded the arrival of the blue Ranger as he pulled up to the gate and shut the engine off
After taking a few deep breaths to steady himself
he went inside the cemetery and found the graves he was looking for which were on the opposite end of where Kida was three gravestones belonging to Jaguar Baptiste, and Joey Brooks, and Flynn Banner "hey guys I know it's been a long while but I've been busy running SPD and trying to make the old man proud trying to be the kind of King that you guys would be proud of too I know I've said it before but I'm sorry I should've listened to you we should've gotten out of there it's my fault you're in the ground and I'm missing an arm you guys were my best friends and I got you killed I know there's no way I can make up for that but I try and call you every time I going to battle I like to think you're there with me I can't face my father and Moze yet what do you say to them? I won't bore you with the temporal mechanics like Cole does me, but I lost dad in two different timelines and that's a lot to process even for me we still haven't found another leader, but I just hope whoever it is up to the task" with a sigh the blue Ranger stood up and went over to the other side of the cemetery.

Stretching his arms, Jun walked through the streets to Eaglemere, Jun looked up to see the sun shining through his eyes. He wondered what would be next for him as he thought about the plans he had in store. But first, "Maybe some pizza would get me to think," he spoke to himself, making his way to the nearest pizzeria.

"Yes, sir." Olivier smirks, taking her husband's hand and head towards the jet. It's a good thing she dresses in advance before she checks on Cole. This way she won't forget when it's time to leave.

Amara looked over from Tyler and Mackenzies graves, seeing Ken. She got up and walked away, making her way through the gravestones and being as respectful as she could before catching up to the Blue Ranger and head of SPD. "Ken, hang on," she said, jogging up and putting her hand on his shoulder.