Yes, another one-shot plot bunny attack. Don't ask; and yes, it's true that I don't own the Power Rangers as said previously. Or NCIS, the one show that is more awesome than PR. PR is between NCIS and NCIS: LA. Alas I own none of them.

This occurs in the time before Mack goes all gung-ho and seeks out his teammates and gets the sword for the Sentinel Knight.

Not in the same world as most of my fics (like the fluff epics) save for "The Tardy Present". I like to count that one as canon.

It was nighttime in San Angeles, and the five retro Rangers were hanging out in the rec room of the Hartford mansion, eating popcorn and drinking cans of root beer. Bridge was also having buttery toast. Mack was there too, sitting cross-legged on the couch. He wore khaki pants and a red T-shirt. Scratching at his curly sandy hair he asked, "Hey, guys. Did you ever make mistakes as Rangers the first time around?"

There were four groans at that, which Mack roughly translated as 'oh, Lava Lizards and Chillers yes', and a so-so hand gesture from Bridge.

Xander shuddered. "Collectively it was really bad around the time of the Rock Porium's first anniversary… the five of us were experiencing hubris and using magic to do things we really should have doing by hand. In the end it nearly caused the end of the world… although we did end up getting a power upgrade because of it."

Tori nodded in understanding. "No kidding. Once I used my ninja powers to try to be in two places at once… it didn't end well."

"Jack and Sky as well as Z and Syd kept fighting so all five of us had to go and do some intense training to re-learn how to be a team," Bridge recounted. Mack looked over at the brown-haired guy from 2027, one of the few people since the Angel Grove days to have multiple morphers apparently.

"So wasn't that hard? Not having done anything but enduring the same stuff?"

Bridge looked confused. "But I could have tried to get everyone to get along."

"I guess the closest my team came to anything like that was when we learned that Anton Mercer, Trent's adoptive father, was the alter ego of Mesogog, our arch villain."

"Who's Trent?" Xander demanded. Kira blushed. "Now? My boyfriend. Then? The formerly evil White Ranger."

"Ah… yeah, Nick had major issues with Koragg-cum-Leanbow even before finding out that Leanbow was actually his birth father."

Almost everyone stared at Xander in surprise. Adam had already heard it from Kim.

"Okay…" went Tori before switching the subject. "Most embarrassing moment ever?"

Bridge blinked at her in utter bafflement. She leaned over and patted his unruly brown hair.

"It's okay. You don't have to do it."

The others all hid smiles.

Kira tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I guess that time some weird meteor switched all four of our personalities. I turned into a girly girl, Conner turned into a nerd, and Ethan was interested in just pumping iron and whatnot. It also turned Trent good for a little while though…"

Adam's smile faltered at the expression "pumping iron", and he gazed out at the skyline of the city outside the window. Bridge and Xander both looked over at the most senior Ranger. Due to them all having been Green at some point the trio had an extra close bond. Xander let Bridge, as the more senior and the 'Red' Ranger, ask the question.

"Adam? Are you all right?"

Adam turned back to the younger Rangers, a wryly wistful smile on his face as he replied with another question: "Have any of you ever heard of "the" letter?"

Tori, Bridge, Xander, and Mack all looked confused. Kira half-smiled.

"Dr. O. mentioned it to me once. It was after me and Trent had gotten together but had to do a long-term relationship with me going to New York and him going to art school. He said if I ever did anything resembling "the" letter he'd never forgive me. He seemed more than a little tense about it."

Adam smiled despite himself. "As he should be."

"Is this about his break-up with Kimberly and later relationship with Katherine?" Bridge asked curiously. Adam nodded. Mack commented, "Is it just me, or does it seem like this Tommy digs girls with names that start with K?"

For a minute the former Red Overdrive Ranger didn't understand why Kira was giving him a death glare. Then it hit him.

"I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!" he freaked out. Tori muffled a snicker. Xander for once was glad for having a male Yellow on his team judging from Kira's aura of anger which had Bridge sitting on his gloved hands to protect them. Adam told the younger Rangers to settle down, but Kira was still glowering at Mack as Adam elaborated.

"Yes, well. As far as I know-"

"As far as you know?" Tori echoed. Adam informed her, "It was before my time, as it was late freshman year when Kimberly and Tommy began dating. Rocky, Aisha, and I did not become Rangers until mid-sophomore year."

"It took you guys a long time to defeat Rita and her lot?" Xander questioned. "I mean it took me and my mates just about a half a year to defeat the Underworld, familial issues and all."

"Familial issues?" Kira stopped giving Mack the ptera glare to look at Xander in confusion.

"Well, Nick had to cope with Koragg-cum-Leanbow being his birth dad and Udonna being his birth mom. Plus they had to deal with Nick actually being their son Bowen."

"Cam was weirded out when he learned that Lothor was his father's evil twin," Tori conceded. Kira added, "And Trent had to deal with his adoptive father's alter ego being our arch villain."

All Bridge could offer was, "Sky was mean to Jack because his dad had been Red before he died so he wanted to be Red but Jack was Red and he wasn't so he was mean to him."

"I think you repeated yourself a few times there, mate," Xander laughed. Turning to Adam the Green Mystic Ranger asked, "So what exactly was the letter?"

"'The' letter," Adam corrected him. Tori laughed, "Okay, what was 'the' letter then?"

"It was 'the' letter where Kimberly broke up with Tommy."

Kira winced. "Not good."

"Try being the one reading it to Tommy!" Adam shuddered. Xander blinked. "Wait a minute, Adam. You're saying you read a letter that Kimberly wrote to Tommy to Tommy in which Kimberly broke up with Tommy?"

"Uh-oh," the Blue Wind Ranger observed. "Xander, I think you're learning Bridge."

"Well, my mom is always saying when I go somewhere new I should try to pick up a new language," Xander grinned. Tori and Kira muffled their groans. Mack asked, "Why were you reading the letter to Tommy?"

"Tommy was lifting weights in the Gym and Juice Bar when it came. He had just one set left, and I guess he figured that the letter would be mostly about what Kimberly was up to in Florida and since everyone was there I guess he figured it'd be nice for everyone to hear the news from the former Pink Ranger."

Tori raised her eyebrows. "By everyone you mean…?"

"Me, the Green Ranger. Rocky, the Blue Ranger. Kat, the Pink Ranger. Tanya, the Yellow Ranger. And even Billy, our tech support. Of course Tommy was Red and it was before Jason had become the Gold Ranger. So it was literally everyone except Zordon and Alpha."

"Oh…" Xander winced. The other junior Rangers looked equally discomfited.

Adam sighed, "So I started to read the letter. When I got to the part where she started to break up with him I probably looked like an anime character."

"With the huge freaked-out eyes and the sweat drop on the temple?" Bridge asked.

Adam nodded. "Yeah. Actually the rest of us all looked a little like that. Well, Kat not so much as a part of her was doing loop-de-loops against her conscious will. But she was majorly freaked out too. Tommy was just… quiet. I had never seen him like that before, and thankfully haven't seen him like that since. We were all blindsided. None of us saw that coming."

Mack observed, "I can't imagine Rose ever doing that to any boyfriend she might get."

"Same here with V," Xander had to admit. Bridge had to agree, "Syd would not be so low-key and sudden about a break-up."

Tori and Kira exchanged a shrug, having been the only girls on their respective teams. Pinks were mostly a mystery to them. Adam sighed, "I don't think Kimberly ever imagined doing that to a guy… but she realized that her heart didn't belong to Tommy, and that even though he was trying he losing the war to keep his heart from Katherine."

"So maybe a part of him was doing loop-de-loops over the chance he could now get with Katherine?" Mack frowned. Adam admitted, "Since despite what a lot of Rangers think-"

Here Kira blushed furiously.

"Tommy is human, and maybe in some corner of him that did happen. But that's why she wrote the letter. They were close, but I think distance made them see they weren't close in that way."

Adam sighed, "That was my most embarrassing moment as a Power Ranger with any of my three morphers. I had to learn before anyone else (well, except for Kimberly) that Kim was breaking up with Tommy. I read 'the' letter first. Not fun at all."

"Makes my moment of nearing turning into a tree because of a giant pimple look not so bad," Xander sighed. Tori admitted, "Definitely worse than Blake and Cam fighting over me."

The Yellow Dino Ranger looked over at her. "When did that happen?"

"Love potion of Lothor's."

"Udonna won't teach us love potions," Xander complained. Mack grinned, "If you were one of my students I wouldn't teach love potions either."

"Ungrateful ingrate," Xander retorted, but his eyes were laughing.

Kira looked Bridge up and down. "Bridge, have you ever been embarrassed?"

After taking a minute to think it over Bridge replied, "Yes. Syd made me dress formally for her nineteenth birthday party. I looked weird in my tuxedo and the black velvet gloves, and they made my hands itchy. But she said I couldn't wear my brown leather gloves to a formal party. So Z had to drag me off after I kept scratching at my hands. But on the plus side that's how we got together!"

"Not going to ask," Tori shook her head. Then she yawned. "It's getting late. We'd better go to bed."

"Yeah," Kira yawned. As she stood up and walked off she Gibbs-slapped Mack, apparently still upset with him over the 'K' comment.

"Ow," he protested as she left the room. Bridge ate his last piece of buttery toast before standing up, his empty plate in hand.

"Well, good night, everyone."

Tori had a last handful or two of popcorn before heading off to bed. Muttering something about getting his good-looks sleep Xander also left. So Mack was left alone with a pensive Adam.