Disclaimer: Leo, Maya, and Mike are not my creations. They belong to Saban, the Great and Powerful. I gave Maya the assumed last name of Lawrence. Feel free to use it if you're going to give her an assumed name; I'd be flattered. This is a fic from my series, Missing Medley, a collection of stand-alone fics.
Author's Note: First of all, YES! I did it! I wrote the first PRLG fic on the net! Okay, now that I'm done with that, one more thing. Just a bit of warning. This is my brain. ("La la, la la la la..." theme song from Smurfs.) This is my brain in the gutter. ("Boom chick-a bow wow...") Any questions?

Missing Mike
by Jeremy Ray Logsdon

"LEO!"

"Mike!" Leo cried futilely, stretching his arm down as though he honestly thought he could grab his brother.

"No!" Leo cried again, sitting up in bed. He gasped as he sat up, pushing the sticky bedcovers away. Despite the temperature regulating mechanisms in his room, he was still hot and covered in sweat.

"I need to workout," he grumbled. There's gotta be a gym around here somewhere. He hurried over to his wardrobe, finding a red tank top and a pair of black pants. He quickly dressed, losing himself in the familiar monotony of the task.

He left his apartment and located a wall map. He wasn't surprised to find that there was an all night gym nearby. With any luck, he'd have the gym to himself. And, when he got there, he saw that the weight room was empty.

Monotony brought pleasure, apparently, because he suddenly realized he was flat out on his back, benching two hundred and fifty pounds. He realized he had forgotten his weight belt. But that wasn't a big deal. He could handle this weight. But Mike... Mike would've chewed him out for it.

"If you're going to lift more than your bodyweight, lil bro, use a weight belt," Mike said. That was practically his motto. Mike had chewed out Leo on more than one occasion for that very thing.

As he silently counted out reps, he thought back to his first time in the gym. He remembered how impressed he had been when Mike would flex a bicep for him. That had been fourteen-year old Leo's goal : to have biceps like big brother Mike.

But he could never keep up. Mike had a two year head-start on Leo when it came to weight lifting. Leo's arms were nineteen inches right now. Mike's had been twenty-one inches. They had both been lifting for so long, it shouldn‰t have really mattered that Mike was bigger. But he always was.

I never could catch up with you, Leo grunted mentally. He lowered the bar to his chest and pushed it back up. His arms were starting to tremble, but he continued.

When Mike was 17, he entered his first bodybuilding contest. He had placed second. When Leo turned 17, he entered his first bodybuilding contest, too. He didn't place at all. However, at the time, he didn't really care. Mike had been proud of him. That was all he had been looking for really.

On Mike's 20th birthday, he could have become an IFBB pro. That's no easy task for anyone. It was practically unheard of for a 20-year old to become a professional bodybuilder. Mike had declined, not wanting to devote numerous hours a day to his body, but the option was still there for him. When Leo turned 20, he had already given up the prospect of being a professional bodybuilder. He had decided he just wanted to lift for fun. That's what he said, anyhow.

Despite the soreness developing in his arms, Leo continued pressing. He no longer counted reps. He was just benching like there was no tomorrow.

Mike had his first woman when he was eighteen. Leo still hadn't. He had given Mike some b.s. story about how he wanted to wait for marriage, blah blah blah. But the true story was that women scared the heck out of Leo, and he barely had the guts to date a woman, let alone have a physical relationship. He still acted like a pre-pubescent boy around woman he found attractive. Excited beyond belief, but so nervous he could barely form complete words.

But Leo had finally done something Mike hadn't done before. Mike may have pulled the Quasar Saber out of the stone, but Leo was the first Corbett brother to morph. And the only. Mike was gone.

Mike was dead. It didn't seem possible.

And Leo suddenly remembered another gleaming bit of information about his older brother. "Whatever you do, Leo, never, ever, lift free weights without a spotter."

"Oh crap," Leo groaned. The bar began to press down on him heavily, his arms so tired he couldn't manage to get in that one, final rep he desperately needed.

"Need a hand?" a calming voice said above him. Leo looked up to see Maya standing above him.

"Please," he grunted. Maya gripped the bar, and the two of them were able to get it back onto the bar.

"Do you have any idea how many times you lifted that thing?" she asked. "I counted. Forty-seven."

"You've been watching me, Miss Lawrence?" Leo asked as he grabbed onto the bar to hoist himself up. As he righted himself, he shut his eyes as a brief wave of dizziness passed through him. He then began to rub his right bicep tiredly.

"I was on... the moving sidewalk machine," Maya said. "The, uh..."

"Treadmill."

"Yeah," she said. "Terra Venture has a different time cycle than Miranoi. Kendrix says it'll take me just a few days to get adjusted to it. Is that why you are awake? New sleep cycle?"

"Nope."

"I didn't think so. Mike?"

"Yeah," he answered with a sigh. "I can't believe he's dead."

"What makes you think he's dead?" Maya asked.

"He fell into the ground, and it closed up after him," Leo said sarcastically. "I think he's dead."

"It was a magical device," Maya told him. "The Miranoans were turned to stone, too, but I have no doubts that they will be freed someday. We just need to defeat Scorpius."

Leo found himself smiling. "You really think so?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Leo," Maya promised. "I promise." She reached out and touched him reassuringly on the arm. "Let's go sit in those... tubs of bubbling water, and talk some more. Okay?"

"Hot tubs," Leo said. "And I'd like that."

Standing up, he winced a bit. "My muscles would like that, too."

A few minutes later, the two Rangers were in the Tub Room. Each tub was just slightly larger than a bathtub, designed to look like marble, and obviously made for one. Maya, who had changed into a one-piece yellow swimsuit, was sitting in a tub next to Leo, who was wearing a complimentary pair of red swim trunks, provided by the gym.

Maya had offered to listen, so Leo talked. Maya sat low in the water, resting her chin on the divider between the two tubs. Leo shared his life story with her, telling how he had never been quite able to catch up with his brother.

"Sometimes, I wished he had been really arrogant," Leo admitted. "That way, I would have felt justified in hating his guts. But I couldn't. He was too likable. I loved him. And now, he's- gone."

"I bet he's very proud of you," Maya said. She sat up and leaned further over to Leo's tub. "I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening."

"Let's even up your score card," she said. "I'm sure Mike would love to see that happen. Put the two of you on a bit more even ground." Smiling wickedly, she continued, "And I know something that I can help with."

"Yeah?" Leo asked, lifting one eyebrow. That certainly piqued his curiosity.

"Well, you need to go home and get in bed," she said.

"I'm still listening," he smiled.

"And get plenty of rest," she continued. "As soon as you wake up, we start you on a hard-core weight lifting routine. We'll get those biceps pumped up to twenty-one inches in no time."

Leo couldn't help it; he laughed out loud. "Deal," he agreed. "And, uhm... do you think there's ever any chance that you could help me with one of the other things on my mental 'catch-up-with-Mike' checklist?" Am I flirting or making a fool of myself?

Maya smiled, saying, "Don't hold your breath."

End