Disclaimer: Saban, some Ranger people. There's a connection there. Oh, and "Some Kinda Somethin'" is by Chely Wright from her album, Single White Female.

Timeline: sometime before the PRLG ep, "To The Tenth Power".

Author's Note: I'd like to thank Starhawk for proofing, even in the middle of her finals. :) Ya know what? I have *no* idea what this is, other than a story. *grin* It seems that during a several day bout of insomnia I accepted a challenge. The challenge said, "So my challenge is to pair up a PR couple with people that have probably never even met. They might not even know they had both been rangers. Pick unlikely people!" So somehow my sleep-deprived brain picked the two Rangers where it was totally impossible that they had ever met. And strangely they *did* make a good couple. So I finally made myself sit down and type up what had been stuck in my head since that night. And that's what you see before you. It's just some kinda somethin'. *grin*

"What is this place Alpha?" Maya looked curiously around the room. Its smooth black walls gave no hint to the room's intended purpose.

"This is the simudeck," Alpha answered, pleased to see to her interest in the MegaShip. No one but Damon knew anything about the MegaShip. But Maya had been bored waiting to meet Kendrix for lunch. So she had come to talk to Alpha and had ended up accompanying him on his routine system checks.

"The simudeck?" she asked, glancing back at the robot.

"Yes. It can simulate any environment, any place or time you program into it. The AstroRangers used to love to take little vacations here after battles," he continued, as he punched some buttons and saw that the system was functioning properly.

"So it's all imaginary?"

"It's as real as you want it to be. In this room at least."

Maya's immediate thought was to have this wonderful device take her back to Miranoi. But she rejected that idea just as quickly. Today was not a day to be sad. And as much as she wanted to see her homeworld, she knew it would only make her unhappy to see it again and know it wasn't real. But still she asked, "Can I try it?"

"Of course, Maya. The Earth AstroRangers left several programs of Earth in the system, and Andros and Zhane added many from the alien worlds they had been to. DECA can help you with anything else you need," Alpha answered as he shuffled out of the simudeck door. "I'll just finish my checks and leave you alone."

"Thanks Alpha," she called over her shoulder. She was already pushing buttons, calling up Earth programs. She didn't know what she was bringing up, but she didn't care. At each new prompt she just randomly picked one of the choices. Finally the prompts ended and DECA's screen flashed the words 'program ready'. "Begin program, DECA," she said, excitedly.

The black walls melted away and in their place appeared a beautiful park. It was very large, for she could not see an end to it anywhere. And she wondered how the computer had done such an incredible job of giving the impression of depth to the small room.

"Excuse me miss, would you care to dance?"

The light voice from behind her startled her. People did not usually sneak up on her, but she had been so busy marveling at the view in front of her that she hadn't bothered to look behind her. Turning she met a pair of smiling brown eyes. He was about her age and had a cheerful face. And he appeared to be seriously awaiting her answer.

"I'm sorry. What?" was all she could think to say. Oddly it hadn't occurred to her that people would appear in these illusions. She noticed that behind the dark-skinned boy was a group of children a few years younger than him.

"Well, you had wandered into our class, so I thought you might have wanted to join us?" he smiled and offered his hand. "Dance?" She just stared at him, not knowing quite what to do. But there was something about this boy that she liked.

"Smooth, Zack!" came the call from one of the boys when it became apparent she wasn't going to accept his offer. "If that's the best you got, it's no wonder Angela won't go out with you."

Belatedly Maya realized that she had just made him look bad in front of what appeared to be his students. "I'm sorry for interrupting your class," she said hurriedly. 'Angela?' she thought as she started to move away. Did that mean he had a girlfriend? She could not explain the disappointment she felt at hearing that. None of this was making sense.

"Wait," Zack called, reaching for her arm. "Don't go," he asked, "Class was over really." He turned to the boys and said, "Get lost guys. Seeya tomorrow." The boys laughed and waved, but they left, though occasionally looking back to watch them.

"Kids," he sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Zack Taylor," and again he offered his hand.

This time she took it, smiled and said, "I'm Maya."

"One name, huh? I bet you're a supermodel. You're certainly beautiful enough," he said charmingly.

Maya blushed slightly, but cocked her head in confusion. "What's a supermodel?"

Zack just laughed. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

She considered it for a moment and thought why not. "I'd like that," she answered. But she wasn't going to let him off that easily. "Now what's a supermodel?"

It wasn't until she heard her communicator sound quite a bit later that she remembered that she was only walking in an illusion. She had been having such a wonderful time talking to Zack that she hadn't noticed the passage of time at all. She did notice though that at the sound of her communicator, Zack gave his own wrist, and the strange device on it, an odd look as well.

"What's that?" he asked, turning to look at her wrist.

"Nothing," she said, covering her wrist with her other hand. "I have to go."

"Wait," he called. "Can I see you again?"

She took one look into his brown eyes and found herself saying, 'yes' before she realized it. And when she saw how it made him smile, she didn't care. She turned from him calling, "End program DECA," and hurried from the room to answer Kendrix's call.

Regardless of her words, Maya hadn't intended to return to the simudeck. But she found her thoughts preoccupied by the smiling boy she had met there. She could not forget him, even if he wasn't real. She just wanted to see him again. So not many days later she found herself back on the MegaShip, asking Alpha questions again as she headed for the simudeck.

"So just how real are the people that the simudeck creates, Alpha?" She hastily altered her statement before he could answer. "I mean, did these people ever really exist?"

"Most of them, yes," he said. "Either they were programmed by the AstroRangers or I downloaded them myself."

"You?"

"Yes. On one of the MegaShip's trips back to Earth I downloaded what little remained on the destroyed Power Chamber's files into DECA. It included data that had been collected on many people from Angel Grove. The more data that DECA has available on that person, the more real that person will seem." Alpha added, "The most information available was on the former Rangers of course. So it's highly likely that you'll see them in any random Earth program."

Maya gave the robot a look. Did he know what she had programmed? And was he saying that Zack had been a Ranger? He certainly seemed real, too real to have never existed.

But Alpha said no more and continued on his way. Maya watched him leave before turning back to the simudeck door. Once again she entered the black room and began the program. Around her the park sprang to life. In the distance she saw a group of kids playing a game with an odd-shaped ball. Leo had called it a football, and he and Mike played this game every chance they got.

"Maya!" Zack yelled, waving at her from his position within the game. She waved back and ran over to join them.

"Maya, I'm so glad you came," he started. "You gotta meet my friends." He then proceeded to introduce her to the other kids playing football with him, five other boys and three girls. The one named Jason reminded her a little bit of Leo. He was even wearing red.

Zack quickly excused himself from the game so he and Maya could be alone. Despite her protests, that is. She hadn't wanted him to leave his friends, but was thrilled that he wanted to spend that time with her.

And what began as an experiment in curiosity soon developed into a daily routine. Maya made it a point to find time nearly everyday to visit the simudeck, to visit Zack. He brought out in her a happiness she had never felt, and had wondered if she ever would on Terra Venture. It was a place so different and strange to her, nothing like her homeworld. And as hard as the others had tried to make her feel at home, something was still missing. She missed her home, and somehow Zack made her forget that.

Spending time in the park, she often thought that that was where she was most at home, out in the open air with nature. But that wasn't the open air, and nature was far away. She could go out into one of Terra Venture's domes and be in a more realistic representation of her homeworld. But Zack wasn't out there. He was in the simudeck. And she was finally admitting to herself that he was why she went there.

He was just so easy to talk to. And everywhere they went, from the park to the Juice Bar where he and his friends hung out, she felt at ease because she was with him. From his martial arts classes to his dance competitions, she found that she enjoyed it all because he did.

He and his friends had such a close-knit relationship and yet they had accepted her immediately. She had often wondered if he and his friends were Rangers of the past. They all had such multi-faceted personalities and seemed so much more alive than the other people she encountered in the simudeck. It was because of them that she so immediately took a liking to this planet, though it was somewhere she knew she would never had a chance to go.

She became used to the ways of Earth quickly, and as the weeks passed she totally forgot that it was all nothing more than a fantasy. He and his world were as real to her as her own. And she looked forward to every precious moment she could find to spend with him there.

But things that good seldom last forever. It finally ended one night. When Maya showed up very late one night at their room, Kendrix asked her where she was going all the time, where she kept disappearing to. Maya had been about to answer, and then stopped. It dawned on her how it would all sound. Could she stand there in front of her best friend and admit that she thought she was falling in love with a character in a simudeck program? She was new to all this, the science, the technology, everything around her. She knew how foolish she would sound if she confessed that she had fallen for what was basically a figment of her imagination. He was real in so many respects, but only when she was there to turn on the program.

So she turned to Kendrix and lied. She told her that she had been spending the time with the GalactaBeasts. And as no one else talked to the GalactaBeasts (except for Leo on one strange occasion), she knew no one could question her truthfulness. But that night had forced her to come to a realization. Things had to change.

She knew it had to end. Her feelings were running too deep and she would only get hurt if she let herself go any further in her delusions. It was time to break it off with Zack. And as she walked to the simudeck the next morning, she had to shake her head in disbelief. Listen to me, she thought, 'break it off with him'? He isn't even real and I'm talking as if we have a relationship! But he was real, at least to her, and there they did have a relationship. But it could go on no longer if she wanted to leave without a broken heart.

She didn't know how long she stood outside the simudeck door, just staring at it as if there were some easier way to do this. And there was. All she had to do was walk away. She didn't have to break up with him, she could just never turn the program on again. But she wanted to see him one last time and mostly she wanted to say good-bye.

He was waiting for her at what had become their usual spot, the lake. His friends, Tommy and Kimberly, met there a lot too, so Zack and she had staked out a private spot of their own.

"Hey, Maya! Right on time, as usual!" he greeted her warmly. "Shall we go?" he asked as he offered her his arm.

"Zack," she said, trying to avoid his eyes, "we have to talk."

"Why so serious? What's wrong?" He was instantly concerned. He was so caring, she loved that about him. And that was making this even harder.

"I can't see you anymore."

"What?"

"I can't come here anymore, Zack. I really can't explain it, but it's over." She made the mistake of looking at his face and saw the hurt in his eyes.

"What's going on, Maya? What are you saying?" He took her hand in his and tried to get her to look at him again. She squeezed his hand and then pulled hers away.

"I'm sorry, Zack," she managed to get out, before she turned to run. This had gone nothing like she had planned.

"Maya! Please wait! Tell me what's wrong?" He yelled, trying to follow her. She had to get out of there. She couldn't look into his eyes again, knowing that it was the last time she would ever see him.

"End program, DECA!" she cried as she ran from the park. The room started to go dark behind her as she hurried out the door. Even still, she could hear Zack screaming her name.

She didn't look back.

She was trying desperately not to cry, and berating herself for being silly as she ran from the MegaShip and through the corridors of Terra Venture. He wasn't real! How did she let him get to her like this? But he was real, some part of her insisted. He was real enough that she had fallen in love with him, as much as it hurt her to admit it.

She wanted to talk to someone who wouldn't judge her. And as much as she loved her friends, she knew they just wouldn't understand. She didn't want to give them any further reason to think of her as the simple jungle girl, ignorant in the ways of technology, technology they had grown up with their entire lives. They would never have forgotten the difference between real-life and fantasy. And they would never have let themselves get carried away by emotions that couldn't be real. But if what she felt for Zack wasn't real, if he wasn't real, then why did it all hurt so much?

The GalactaBeasts, she thought, they understood her and wouldn't judge her. She would borrow a horse from the stables and go see the GalactaBeasts. Talking with them always made her feel better, and if she had ever needed a friend to just listen, it was now.

Everyone at the stables knew Maya. She frequently volunteered her help there when she had had the time. But that was before she had started spending all her time with Zack. The stable hands hadn't seen her in weeks, but greeted her warmly and let her take her favorite horse without question.

As she entered her friend's stall, she could not stop her mind from drifting back to Zack, and how he had looked when she had told him it was over. She felt terrible about it all, like she had broken his heart along with hers. She kept telling herself he was just an illusion of light and sound, but it was little comfort when in her mind she could still see the incomprehension in his normally cheerful eyes and hear the pain in his voice as he called her name.

"I don't know, Jase. Horses and I don't get along too well."

"That's just because you've never tried to ride, Zack. Look, Em and I are going, so you can come with us or stay behind."

Maya stopped when she heard the names. Zack? Jason? It couldn't be. But someone was walking by the stall that sounded remarkably like them and she had to know. She ran out of the stall and straight into one of the young men passing through the stable. He somehow managed to keep his feet, but she fell backwards, hitting the ground.

"Miss, are you all right?"

She looked up quickly, shaking the hair out of her face at the same time. It was him! Zack! He was real, and he was impossibly standing in front of her with the same smiling eyes and light voice. A few years older and with a different hairdo, but it was him. She looked at his companions and sure enough, it was his friend Jason. He also had a different hairdo, and was now wearing black instead of red, but his imposing presence was unmistakable. Standing beside Jason was an attractive blonde woman that Maya could only assume was the 'Em' Jason had referred to only seconds before.

"Miss?" she heard Zack say again, and she turned back to see him kneeling in front of her and offering her a hand up. "Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice. She was being given a chance at the impossible, and she wasn't going to let it pass her by. She smiled up at him and took his hand.

"I am now."

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Zack Taylor," he said, not letting go of her hand, even after she was standing

"I'm Maya," she answered, glancing down at their hands, then back up at him.

"One name, huh? I bet you're a supermodel. You're certainly beautiful enough," he said charmingly.