Power Rangers: Legacy
"The Power of the Coins"

Carri sat at her kitchen table thumbing through the papers in front of her for the umpteenth time while she finished her third cup of coffee. Rocky had gone to the bakery for bagels and should be back soon. He felt guilty that Carri was going through this in the first place.

The day before she had been served with a lawsuit. It was from Jessica, who was suing her for the damages to her face and her ego among other things. She couldn’t believe that the bitch had the nerve to sue her. That was the last thing she needed with everything else going on in her life. She had spent most of her Friday on the phone with her father’s lawyers, faxing paperwork and going over facts. They said they would take care of everything for her, and they’ll get it thrown out before it ever becomes an issue.

Although it was nothing, she couldn’t help but be a little upset over it. It didn’t help that apparently Jessica had called Rocky on Monday, warning him she was going to do it. Rocky never passed along the message. He said that he didn’t think she was actually going to do it and that he didn’t want Carri to worry about it unless it actually happened.

That was part of the bad parts of the week. The week actually did have some good parts. Mollie as her assistant was working out well. Work was much less stressful than it had been, and she actually felt like she was able to get stuff done. With the exception of Monday’s attack, Callisto and Rhianna were laying low. Thursday they fought Cratus, Goldar and some Cirranadrones but that took all of five minutes. As for Kim and Josh, well Tommy was working hard on Kim. Brushing up against her, lingering with his touches, talking to her more, treating her like someone who truly cared instead of a casual friend. She hadn’t spent much time talking to Kim this week as she was in New York, but she hoped it was making a difference. She couldn’t wait for her brother to arrive today. She had twenty-four hours to put enough doubt in his head to get him to forget about Kim.

As she worked on her coffee the front door opened and Rocky strolled through. Carri didn’t turn to see who it was as he walked into the kitchen and set breakfast on the table, pausing to kiss her on the neck. Before he sat he took the papers from her hands and tossed them aside so she wouldn’t look at them anymore. "Why don’t you forget about that for now." he suggested as he sat beside her

Carri rolled her eyes. "Let me think about something else. Like my lunch with Kat." Another bad part of the week. Kat had called and practically begged her to have lunch. She wanted to talk. They hadn’t really spoken since Kat slapped her, and she wasn’t sure what she wanted to talk about. She hoped that her cousin wasn’t looking for apologies because she wasn’t sure today would be the day she was in the mood to give them.

"Lunch with Kat will be fine." Rocky assured her as he opened up the bag and handed her a bagel

"Yeah after we’re done screaming at each other I’m going to haul off and hit a pregnant chic." Carri replied rolling her eyes. All she could envision was their last meeting, and how close she came to ripping her head off.

"You’re family, and you need to start acting like it." Rocky pointed out. He hated seeing the two girls at odds, especially knowing how close they were when Carri first became a ranger. He was never quite sure what the final nail in the coffin was. It was easy to point out Carri’s negligence to Kat’s wedding as the end of the friendship, but things hadn’t been the same between them since well before that.

Carri narrowed her eyes and looked at him. "I promise I’ll try." she said

Rocky couldn’t help but laugh. "I’ll take it." he said. Where Kat was concerned, an "I’ll try" from Carri was about as good as he was going to get. As he took a bite of his bagel, his cell phone went off. He un-clipped it from his belt and glanced at the caller ID. He didn’t recognize the number but he could tell it was local. He was almost afraid to pick it up, that it might be Jessica on the other line. But it could also be important, like one of his siblings or his mom or his other family. He flipped it open and brought it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey!" a female voice greeted cheerfully from the other end

A smile spread across Rocky’s face. It had been a long time since he’d heard that voice but he would recognize it anywhere. "Aisha, hey." he replied. "What are you doing in town?"

"Visiting. I wanted to get my boys together for lunch but I forgot about the big shot up in New York. So what do you say?" she asked pausing to wait for an answer

"To lunch?" he questioned

"Uh-huh." Aisha replied

"Sure. What time." Rocky said. He would love the opportunity to have lunch with Aisha. She had been traveling the world, visiting all sorts of places to help locals with their wildlife.

"How about you pick me up at the Hilton around twelve-thirty and you can pick the place." Aisha suggested. She hadn’t been to Angel Grove in so long she didn’t know what was what. The last time she spent any length of time there the Youth Center was still the place to hang out and eat.

"Sounds great. So I’ll see you then." Rocky said thinking about where he wanted to take Aisha. He’d love to go to Bulkmeier’s but he knew that’s where Carri was meeting Kat. And he didn’t want to be around in case world war three broke out in the restaurant.

"Yup. See ya later." Aisha replied

They exchanged goodbyes before Rocky hung up the phone and looked over at his girlfriend. "Who was that?" Carri asked as she continued to work on her bagel and coffee

"Aisha." Rocky replied giving her a smile. "I haven’t talked to her in forever and I guess she’s in town and wants to have lunch."

"That’s cool." Carri said smiling back at him. At least someone was going to have a nice lunch.

Rocky took a giant bite of his bagel as he thought for a moment. "I’ll call you later to see how you’re lunch went. I have no idea how long I’m going to be with Aisha."

Carri shrugged. "That’s fine." It was nice that Rocky was going to get a chance to see one of his childhood friends. It made her think about looking some of her own old school friends up and giving them a call. "I’ll probably be calling you before that though for you to come bail me out."

Rocky paused and looked at her before rolling his eyes. "You’re not going to loose your temper with Kat."

When he finished speaking Carri practically choked on her last bite of breakfast. "How long have you known me now?"

Rocky laughed before scarfing down the rest of his bagel as well. "Too long." he replied as he leaned in and gave her a kiss. He stood from his chair and held his hand out to her. "Come on, let’s go take a shower and get ready."

"But you don’t have any clothes here." she pointed out. If he knew he was staying the night and had to be somewhere in the morning he would usually bring a change of clothes and use her shower instead of going back to his apartment. But the previous night he knew he would have all morning and wouldn’t have to worry about it.

"That doesn’t mean I can’t take a shower." he said giving her a goofy grin

She smiled at him and took his hand, letting him pull her up and lead her off. At least part of her day would be pleasant.

Callisto sat waiting for a report from Cratus. She had spent the better part of the last week trying to figure out what gave the metallic armor it’s power. It had taken a lot of digging but Goldar finally found a contact of Master Vile’s who was still alive, and Cratus had gone to meet with him.

Although Callisto wasn’t known for her patience, it was alright that it had taken so long. They had spent the better part of the week cleaning up the mess that the botched magic left behind. Their forces were now finally back at full strength and ready to go. They attacked once during the week, but it was lame at best. Callisto never wanted to send the forces out, she didn’t want to show the rangers their weakness. But Rhianna had insisted that they needed to remind the rangers that they were still there, full force or not. Callisto highly doubted that they would forget about them regardless of whether or not they attacked. Especially the female rangers. Even if they didn’t attack, the pink and yellow rangers would still be trying to plot their demise.

"Goddess Callisto." a voice spoke from across the room

Callisto turned her head to see who her visitor was. "Cratus. What did you find out?"

"The metallic armor is being powered by the rangers power coins." Cratus informed her. He had to travel to the far reaches of the galaxy to find out that information. The creature that had it was currently hiding from the Nova Rangers, who he had come across on a planet near Rheiga 4.

"The power coins?" Callisto said, contemplating what he said for a moment. She took a second to recall what Astronema told her before she took off in the hours before the final battle. "I thought when the Ninja Zeo rangers had the coins they were stripped of their powers in the final battle." she said to noone in particular

"I don’t know about any of that. But what I was told is that the power coins are still very powerful, they just aren’t connected to a morphing grid which is why they can’t morph with them. But they can still use them for things such as metallic armor." Cratus said. He had talked at length with his contact about the power coins and how they weren’t worthless.

"Really?" she questioned rasing an eyebrow. Cratus nodded and she started thinking about it. If that was the case than all she had to do was get her hands on the power coins. And how hard could that be?

Kim and Josh were sitting in the backseat of the car as it pulled up to Carri’s Angel Grove home. They waited until the driver opened the door then they both jumped out. The driver popped the trunk and pulled their luggage out, and Josh tipped the man before grabbing his small bag and Kim’s two larger bags and following her to the door.

Kim searched for her keys as she headed up the walkway and toward the front door. She had a wonderful week in New York, but she was also glad to be home. She was and always will be a California girl. Here they were talking about going to the beach. There they were still wearing light jackets.

As the lock turned back from the door it made a clicking sound, and Kim turned the knob and pushed it open. "Hello?" she called out as she walked in with Josh right behind her

The only response she got was the whirling of the air-conditioning. She took a quick peak into the garage and noticed Carri’s car was missing. "Looks like we’re all alone." she said as she walked into the living room where Josh had already made himself comfortable

"Then why don’t you come over here and have a seat." Josh suggested as he patted the couch pillow next to him

Kim grinned at him as she walked over and sat down. She curled up next to him and reached for the television remote, turning it on and flipping through the channels.

"You know," Josh started as he leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head, "there are much more interesting things to do than watch tv." he finished, leaning in and kissing her on the neck

Kim turned her head enough to catch his lips with hers before turning back to the tv. "True." she agreed as she smiled at him. Although at the moment she would probably be just as happy sitting here and relaxing. Besides who knew where Carri went or when she’d be back. The one thing she was not in the mood to hear was Carri’s ranting if she busted them in the act.

"So then why are we watching tv?" Josh questioned as he kissed her on the neck again. He took his fingertips and grazed them down her arm, cupping his hand over hers and hitting the power button on the remote.

As Kim turned toward him her cell phone went off. She reached for it and Josh grabbed her hand. "Let it go to voice mail." he said as he leaned in and gave her a kiss

Kim returned the kiss passionately for a second before the phone distracted her again. "Let me see who it is." she said as she pulled away from Josh and reached for it. The number was Ashley’s direct office line, so Kim decided it was probably best to pick up. "Hello?"

Josh frowned and leaned back into the couch as Ashley replied. "Hey. I know you it’s Saturday and you just got back but I was hoping you could come in for a bit. I’ve got something that’s got to be ready to go by Monday."

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Kim told her, pleasantly surprised that Ashley called her when she needed help. "I’ll be there as soon as I can."

"Great. See you soon." Ashley said as she hung up her phone

Kim hung up as well and was quickly pulled back by Josh. "Now no phones, no tv, just me and you." he said as he raised her chin with his finger and kissed her throughly

For a few moments Kim allowed herself to fall into him. His kisses, his touches, they were wonderful. He paused for a second and Kim pulled herself back into reality. "Maybe later? That was my boss, she needs my help."

"On a Saturday?" Josh questioned in disbelief

"She said she’s got something that has to be done by Monday. I promised I’d help. But later it will just be me and you, ok?" Kim said giving him a sympathetic smile

Josh sighed. He was not one for later. But for Kim, he supposed he would make an exception. "Fine. Later." He grinned and pointed toward her. "But you better make good on that."

"Promise." she said as she smiled at him and ran off into the bedroom to get changed

Kat sat at a table at Bulkmeier’s that afternoon waiting for her cousin to arrive. They had a lot to talk about. She still had plenty to say about her wedding, but she wasn’t sure if today was going to be the day she was going to say those things. Today she was more concerned about her cousin. Her other cousin, the one who bothered to come to her wedding and is now involved with one pink ranger.

No matter how much Carri insisted that she couldn’t be there, Kat would still hold it against her. She had Marie there as her maid of honor, but it wasn’t the same. She had known Maire for a few years and they had become close. They knew a lot about each other, but she still didn’t share the same things with her that she shared with Carri.

When Kat when to officially ask Carri to be her maid of honor, she was more than a little surprised by what she found out. She went to the apartment that her cousin and Rocky shared and was told that her cousin was in space with no return date. She was crushed that she would do that to her friends and family, to the people that needed her. They weren’t rangers anymore, it didn’t matter what the evil was it wasn’t their problem.

Of course Carri would tell you differently. She shouldn’t be surprised. Years ago when she quit being a ranger she could see how devoted the rest of her team was. Since then Kim and Carri have chased bad guys in space and Tommy has run his own team against his own villain. Jason and Rocky’s re-involvement with the Turbo team didn’t surprise her either.

Kat was jerked out of her thoughts when the chair across from her scraped against the ground. "Hey." Carri greeted as she sat and gave her cousin the biggest, fakest smile she could come up with. She was not going to give her any genuine pleasantries until she was sure what this lunch was about.

"Hey" Kat returned the greeting while smiling sweetly at her cousin. She waited until Carri flagged down the waitress to order a drink before she spoke again. "How are you?"

"Good." Carri replied, wondering how long she’d have to make small talk before Kat got down to it.

"Rocky’s good, work’s good?" Kat questioned watching as her cousin smiled and nodded. "How’s, you know." Kat asked as she reached out and touched Carri’s communicator

Carri was a bit startled by her cousin’s touch and she jumped back. "It’s going." she said as the waitress returned with her tea

"Callisto’s still around?" Kat asked

"Uh-huh." Carri said grabbing some sweetener and pouring it into her glass. She was already done giving answers to questions she didn’t even think Kat cared about. If she was going to ream her she wished she’d do it so Carri could just take care of this and get out of there.

"I’ve seen the footage from the fights on the news. It looks like things are getting tougher." Kat said continuing with the small talk

Carri let her spoon clang down to the table. "Somewhat." she replied. She saw her straw sitting in the center of the table. Out of boredom she leaned on the table and propped her head up with one hand and used the other one to spin her straw around a few times without touching it.

Kat gasped and smacked her hand on the table to stop the spinning straw. "Did you do that?" she asked looking at Carri curiously

"Yeah." she said, deciding that she wanted the straw. With a small flick of the wrist it flew out from under Kat’s hand and into her own.

"But how?" Kat questioned

"Telekinesis." Carri said nonchalantly as she unwrapped her straw and stuck it in her drink. At least now Kat would be off of the pointless small talk.

Kat didn’t even know her cousin had those kind of abilities. "Well," she said giving her a quick smile, her thoughts now completely off the earlier questions

The waitress walked over and Carri quickly ordered. Kat took a few seconds to compose herself before she ordered as well. Once they were finished the two girls sat in silence staring at each other from across the table.

Carri couldn’t take it much longer. She was going to get to the bottom of this if it killed her. "So what’s up?"

"Not much." Kat said sweetly. "Work is going good. Chris is doing fine and the baby is healthy." she replied putting a hand on her stomach

"That’s good." Carri said pausing for a second before she thought about how to phrase her next question. "But I wanted to know what’s up with us? With lunch?"

"Can’t a girl just want to have lunch with her favorite cousin?" Kat questioned. She was at least waiting for the food to come before she started drilling her on Kim and Josh.

Carri rolled her eyes. "Considering I thought we were going to kill each other the last time we talked, no."

"I thought maybe we could make up for that." Kat replied

"And? There’s always an and Kat I’m not stupid." Carri said glaring her down

Kat sighed as she took a sip of her drink. Carri wouldn’t drop it until Kat got down to it so she would. "And I thought I could ask how your family is doing. How your brother is doing."

"My brother?" she asked raising an eyebrow. This was getting a bit weird.

"Yes. I heard he had a new girlfriend." Kat said giving her a quick smile. "A certain pink ranger."

"Oh." Carri said as it dawned on her. Kat has never been Kim’s biggest fan and she probably is no happier about the two together than Carri is. That must be what this lunch was all about. "Yeah they’ve been together for a few weeks now."

"Isn’t that nice." Kat said the sarcasm in her voice showing. It was anything but nice. She was hoping she could get dirt on their relationship so that she could talk Josh out of dating Kim. He deserved someone much better. Someone who wouldn’t run off and crush him. Someone who she would consider a better person.

"Yeah it’s great." Carri said with enthusiasm. Kat didn’t like Kim dating Josh and she was going to play it for all it was worth. If she said the right things she could get Kat to run to Josh and help contribute to her and Tommy’s break them up plan. Of course she couldn’t tell her about the plan. Even though she was married, the last thing Kat would want to do would be give Kim back to Tommy. "I’m sure it’s awesome for him to date her. He gets to watch as she runs off to save the world."

"You think he likes that?" Kat questioned. She could hardly imagine anyone being able to watch someone they love run off to put their lives in danger everyday.

"I’m sure he does. I mean Emily loved it." Carri said giving Kat a smile. Carri was close enough to Emily when they were rangers before to know that she had confided in Kat her hatred of what Jason did, and all her fears every time they ran into battle. Of course Kat probably doesn’t realize that Carri knows that information as well.

"True." Kat said although Carri’s statement was far from it. Emily despised Jason’s running of to be a ranger. That might be an angle she could use with Josh. Talk about how hard it is to be on the outside looking in. Watching them be rangers and risk their lives everyday, knowing that they’re a tight knit group that you can never be a true part of.

"I’m happy for them. They’re just so cute together. And how awesome would it be to have Kim as my sister-in-law. She’d be part of our family." Carri commented as their lunch arrived. She knew if she hadn’t pushed Kat enough to say something to Josh yet, that comment would do it.

The thought of Kim becoming a part of their family was enough to make Kat ill. "Oh yes, how great." she said. She was absolutely going to have to plant some ideas in Josh’s head before that happened. She would make it seem like dating a ranger was the worst idea in the world. They would break up if it killed her.

While Carri was working on Kat, Rocky and Aisha were having lunch across town at a deli. They were seated and had ordered their food before they started catching up.

"So how have you been?" Aisha asked smiling over at her childhood bestfriend

"Good." Rocky replied smiling back at her. Having Aisha in town brought back a lot of fond memories. He only wished Adam was here as well.

"You still have your school here in town?" she asked. The last time she visited Angel Grove, Rocky had given her a tour of his karate school.

Rocky nodded. "Yeah. Along with one back home in Stone Canyon and one in Los Angeles. The Angel Grove school is still my baby." he said pausing for a moment. "What about you, what part of the world are you running off to save next?"

She grinned at him. "San Diego." she replied as he narrowed his eyes and looked at her strangely. "I’m moving back to California. I’m going to be the head zoologist for the zoo and wildlife parks."

"That’s awesome." Rocky said. It would be great to have her close by again. They’d be able to hang out some.

"I know I can’t wait to start my job. I spent yesterday searching for apartments down there. And I figured I’d come see everyone today. How’s the old team doing?" she asked referring to their ranger teammates

"Tired of fighting." Rocky said giving Aisha a slight smile. She hadn’t made the last ranger meeting either as she was out in the middle of nowhere and they couldn’t get a hold of her. It was alright though, as he wouldn’t have expected her to volunteer anyway.

Aisha raised an eyebrow. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means that me, Tommy and Kim along with Jason and Carri are a ranger team again. And Billy runs our Command Chamber." Four out of the six rangers Aisha had served with were now back in the game.

"Really?" Aisha questioned her eyes growing wide. "What in the world would make you guys want to be rangers again?"

"Callisto." Rocky said simply. At least she was what drove Carri back into the rangers, she influenced his decision, and he was pretty sure she influenced Jason and Tommy’s as well.

"You mean that blonde goddess?" Aisha questioned struggling to remember her from their one encounter. Rocky nodded and she continued. "She didn’t die with everyone else."

"Nope." he replied although he wished more than anything she had. He would have a relatively normal life right now. He often found himself imagining what life would be like if it hadn’t been for Callisto. He would still have his schools, only he would be married to a woman who would definitely be a local star, maybe even a regional or national star by now. They would’ve had a house, kids if he could talk her into them. Instead of all that Callisto came back and he was forced to start over.

"Does she still hate your ex-girlfriend?" Aisha asked referring to Carri

"I think she’s still number one on her hit list." Rocky replied flashing her a smile. "And Carri’s my girlfriend now." he added. Last time he spoke with Aisha, Carri was still in space and he was dating Jessica.

"Good for you guys." Aisha said. It shouldn’t come as any surprise to her that they hooked up after she got back. "My love life is non-existent." she said with a slight frown. Her last boyfriend had been a brilliant doctor and traveled the world with her healing people while she was healing animals. That relationship lasted about a year before they parted ways. Now she was single and looking. "So if you have any sexy single friends, send them my way."

Rocky laughed. "If I come across anyone you’ll be the first to know."

"I’d better be." she said with a grin as their sandwiches were placed in front of them. As the conversation silenced and they started eating, she thought about how nice it was to be back in the states and to be able to visit with people who she considered her closest friends.

Carri arrived at her house after she finished up her lunch with Kat. She pulled into the garage and noticed Kim’s car was missing. Which meant she had made it home and had probably taken off with Josh somewhere. She hit the button for the garage door and walked into the house, surprised to find Josh sitting on the couch.

"Hey." she greeted her brother. Josh turned and saw her standing there and he stood. "Where’s Kim?"

He went to give his sister a hug before he answered. "She had to go into work for a while."

"That’s too bad." Carri said although in reality it was perfect. With Kim being gone, she could work on Josh for a bit. "How was your week in New York?"

"Good." he answered as he sat down and his sister sat beside him

"And mom and dad?" she questioned trying to get the pleasantries out of the way

"They’re doing good. They both want to see you soon." Josh told her flashing her a smile

"Right." Carri said rolling her eyes. Her mother probably wanted to see her just about as much as she wanted to see a nuclear explosion. She knew that her mother wasn’t too fond of her most recent choices. Not that she’d ever been fond of her choices, but lately all she’s done has been to piss her off.

"Mom still wants to see you regardless of how angry you make her." Josh said with a grin. At least she wanted to see her on occasion. Carri in large doses tended to give their mother a headache.

"Whatever." Carri replied before going to change the subject. "So how are things going with Kim?" she asked satisfied that she could leave the topic of her mother while brining up what she really wanted to talk about

"Kim’s amazing." Josh replied

"And the long distance thing is working out ok?" she questioned looking at him curiously

"Yeah it’s going good." Josh said. On more than one occasion he had been tempted to have a fling just for female companionship. But he loved Kim and knew that he would see her soon and he managed to make up for the three weeks apart during their one week together.

"I’m glad to hear that. I know how hard it is for rangers to have long distance relationships." she said giving him a smile and trying to bait him

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Josh asked. He had no idea what his sister was trying to imply with that statement.

Carri tried not to smile as her brother took the bait. "Something about being a ranger, saving the world. You have this need for close companionship. Especially when you’re always running off planet and working closely with other rangers you develop feelings." Carri said shrugging as though it was no big deal. "But it looks like you and Kim are going to break that cycle."

"What cycle?" Josh said asking more questions to try and get his sister to elaborate.

"Tommy and Kim once had a long distance relationship. She went to Florida and he was here being a ranger with Kat. One thing led to another and, well you know." she said knowing full well that nothing happened between Tommy and Kat until after the letter. But they were getting close before that and it was good enough. "It happened to me too. I left Rocky here to go off into space and it didn’t take long working with Zhane before we were in bed together. Nobody plans on this stuff happening, it just does."

She paused for a second as she watched her brother frown, then she continued. "But you and Kim work great together. She’d never cheat on you with Jason or Tommy." Carri said brushing it off like it was nothing. Of course what Josh didn’t know was that Jason was not the one he had to worry about. If everything went according to plan, she’d be leaving him for Tommy.

Josh hadn’t thought about that before. Long distance relationships were hard enough, but he could only imagine it was worse when the other person worked closely with two guys whom she had good relationships with. They had to protect each other’s lives, they did missions together to save the world and those were the kind of bonds that Josh could never have with Kim. "I trust her." he said giving his sister a smile. He did trust her, although he wasn’t sure about trusting the other rangers.

"That’s good." she replied. From the sound of his voice she could tell she had planted doubts in his head. The conversation paused and she glanced toward the movie he was watching on tv. "I need to go get some stuff ready for Monday." she said as she stood. "I’ll leave you to your tv." she added before she headed into her small office space. She was planning on letting her brother stew on this for a while before she tried to plant some more ideas in his head. Hopefully this would be the start of getting her brother to think twice about dating Kim.

"I know how to get the rangers coins." Callisto said as she strolled into the throne room where Rhianna was sitting

"How?" Rhianna asked. The goddess had her full attention now. She had heard that the rangers power coins were powering their armor, but as much as she racked her brain she couldn’t come up with a way to get them from the rangers.

"We kidnap someone. Someone close to them. We won’t give them a choice, they’ll have to turn over their power coins." Callisto said smiling at Rhianna. She had yet to decide who they should kidnap, but it was a start. The rangers would do anything for their friends and that could only be good for her.

Rhianna grinned. That she liked. It was devious and it would torment the rangers until they would have to give in. "Who do we take?"

The goddess shrugged. "We need to find a good candidate."

Rhianna was full of suggestions. She had spent most of her day spying on the rangers. "What about the yellow ranger’s cousin?"

"No." Callisto said quickly. She spied enough on the rangers to know that ever since she turned Kat evil she and Carri hadn’t been close at all. Neither Kim nor Tommy would be torn up if she went missing, and she wasn’t sure if Jason or Rocky cared one way or the other. They needed to kidnap someone who the rangers were going to be upset enough about to turn over their coins.

"Perhaps her brother? He is dating the pink ranger."

Callisto thought about that scenario for a moment. Although the two females would be upset it wouldn’t really get to the males. In fact from what she could tell, Tommy would prefer to leave him with her. "No."

Rhianna sighed. She hated that all of her suggestions were getting shot down. Those were the two people she had seen have the most interaction with the rangers. There were a few others she had seen around but she didn’t see how they would help their cause as they didn’t seem to know all of the rangers. "Well there is a girl the blue ranger is having lunch with."

"Who?" Callisto questioned her curiosity peaked

Using her staff, Rhianna brought up an image of Rocky and Aisha who were still sitting at a table chatting long after the food was gone. Callisto stared at the image a moment before smiling.

The girl she recognized. As a former ranger and teammate to three of the current rangers, she’d do nicely. "Perfect." she said as she went to get ready to attack

Rocky and Aisha sat at the table reminiscing about times past. It had been almost an hour since they were finished with lunch, but they were having such a good time that neither of them noticed.

As Rocky finished up with a story from their childhood Aisha sighed. It was memories like that one that made her wish she had never left for Africa. Sure it was wonderful and it opened up so many doors for her, but it closed several other ones back home.

"What’s wrong?" Rocky asked picking up on her change of mood

"Wrong? Nothing. I just missed you guys, that’s all." Aisha replied smiling at him

"Now that you’re only a few hours away, we’ll definitely have to make up for it." he assured her. He smiled over at her and her face paled as she jumped out of her seat and stepped back. "What?" he questioned not sure what was going on

"I don’t think she’s very happy to see me." a voice said from behind

Rocky jumped up and spun around to see Callisto standing there with Cratus by her side. "What do you want?" he snapped

She grinned wickedly at him. "I saw there was a ranger reunion going on and I thought I’d stop by for a visit."

He didn’t know what she meant by that, but he did know that whatever it was it couldn’t be good. "Aisha get out of here."

Aisha turned to run only to be greeted by Goldar and several Cirranadrones. "Yellow ranger, how good it is to see you again." Goldar greeted

"I can’t say the same thing about you." she said glaring down at an enemy that she hadn’t been faced with in years

Rocky wasn’t sure what to do. The restaurant was clear of everyone except Aisha as most of the patrons had gone running at the first sign of trouble. Still there were too many people standing outside staring in for him to attempt to morph. He would have to figure out a way to protect them both and hopefully the team would be there soon.

He didn’t get much time to figure out how he was going to do that as Cratus ran to attack him while Goldar and the Cirranadrones ran toward Aisha. He fought Cratus hand to hand for a moment. Cratus kicked him back and the next thing he knew Callisto used her powers to throw him across the restaurant. As he tried to pull himself to his feet he heard Aisha screaming for help. He looked to see her surrounded, then the entire group disappear.

The people who had fled the restaurant were starting to poke their heads back in. Rocky ran the opposite direction toward another exit so he could find a safe place and teleport to the Command Center before they caught up with him and wanted to ask questions.

Carri casually walked out into her livingroom. She wanted to stroll through to the kitchen to get a soda, all the while talking to her brother to try and get a feel for things. "How’s your movie?" she asked

"Ok." Josh said with a shrug. He hadn’t been paying it too much attention, he kept thinking about what Carri said earlier.

"Only ok? It’s got your favorite action star in it." she pointed out. If he wasn’t more excited about it than that, he had to be thinking about what she said. She walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, grabbing a soda.

"What you want me to say it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen?" he asked giving his sister a slight smile as he turned in her direction

She rolled her eyes and popped open the soda can, walking back into his line of sight as she took a sip of it. "No but..." she started as her communicator went off. She turned and set her drink down on the counter as she answered it. "What’s up?" she said casually, figuring Callisto and Rhianna wanted another meaningless fight

"You need to get up here now." Billy said sounding a little more on edge about the situation than usual

"On my way." she said flashing Josh a smile before teleporting up to the Command Chamber

She arrived almost simultaneously with the rest of the team. Except for Rocky, who was leaning against one of the consoles with his arms crossed and his eyes glued to the floor. "What’s wrong?" she asked putting a hand on his arm trying to get him to look over at her

"I failed." he said softly. He couldn’t believe that he had allowed Aisha to get kidnaped.

Carri turned her attention toward Billy and looked at him curiously. Billy waited until the others turned toward him as well before he spoke. "Aisha’s been taken by Callisto." he said simply

"What?" Tommy questioned. He had no idea the former ranger was in town let alone a prisoner.

"What does she want with her?" Kim asked as Tommy finished speaking. She and Aisha used to be close friends and she was more than a little angry that Callisto had taken her.

"We don’t know yet." Billy replied. He had a feeling they would hear her demands sooner rather than later. She was never one to make them wait.

Kim crossed her arms and frowned. Tommy reached out and put a hand firmly on her arm. "It will be ok." he assured her. She nodded and he removed his hand.

Jason looked at the duo curiously before shaking that thought off and moving on. "Can’t we search for her?"

"She doesn’t have powers so we can’t search that way." Billy said as he thought for a moment. "There’s a way to search for someone based on DNA but it’s not very accurate and there’s no guarantee we’ll get any results." It would show the most recent places her DNA has made contact with. But with her being teleported off to who knows where, there was no real way to use that to find her.

"I wouldn’t worry about it." Carri said. There had to be a reason for Callisto to go after a former ranger. Considering she wasn’t good at keeping secrets, the goddess would tell them why she had her and where she had her. It was just a matter of time.

"We need to do something to find her." Rocky said lifting his head up and looking around at his teammates. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to her because of him.

Tommy thought about it for a moment. Rocky was right, they had to do something they couldn’t just sit around here and wait. "What if," he said stopping as a noise went off in the Command Chamber

"What’s that?" asked Jason as he looked around the room

"An incoming transmission." Billy replied as he went to answer it

"Whoever it is, tell them we’ll contact them later." Tommy said with authority in his voice. Now was not the time for them to worry about galaxy gossip, and if any other team needed help at the moment they weren’t in the position to give it.

Billy traced the transmission and made a face. "We may want to answer this one." he said as he realized the signal that was coming through had been patched into their system from someone on the moon. The rangers gathered around him as he pulled up the transmission.

"So nice to see you rangers." Cratus hissed as his image came up before them. "Now I present to you goddess Callisto."

Carri rolled her eyes at the introduction as Cratus moved out of the way and Callisto came into view. Callisto quickly pushed Aisha, bound and gagged, forward and to the floor. She stood over her with her sword pointed toward her neck as she smiled at the rangers. "I’ll make this very simple rangers. You have one hour to meet us at the coordinates I’m going to send you. You will give me your power coins and I will give you your friend. Fail to comply and you will get her back in pieces." she said simply. She let out a laugh as the transmission came to a close.

Tommy looked around at the other rangers. He knew that giving up their coins was not a valid option. He was the first to say aloud what the others had been thinking. "We have one hour to figure out how to save Aisha."

Kat pulled into the driveway of Carri’s Angel Grove home. As she stepped out of the car she got her first glimpse of the house. Considering she and Carri had only spoken one other time since Carri had been back and that ended poorly, she hadn’t seen the house. She only knew the address because her parents gave it to her.

Slowly she headed up the small walkway and toward the front door. As she stepped onto the front porch she rang the bell.

A few seconds later the door opened. "Hey Kat." Josh greeted as he leaned in to give her a hug

"Hey." she replied returning the greeting and the gesture

"Come in." Josh said as he turned and gestured for her to enter the house

"Thanks." she said as she stepped through the front door. Kat walked into the house for the first time and looked around at front of the house, noticing the porch with the view of the lake. She couldn’t help but feel jealous of her cousin. She had only been back on Earth for a few months and already she had this beautiful home in a prime location with top of the line things. Kat spent the last few years working very hard for what she had. She and Chris owned a small ranch style home in a tiny neighborhood near the outskirts of Angel Grove. All of their belongings were either passed on used or bottom of the line merchandise. With the baby coming she didn't see that dynamic changing anytime soon. It frustrated her to know that her cousin didn't have to work nearly as hard to make this kind of life for herself.

She took a deep breath and tried to push the jealous feelings aside as she went and sat on the couch. She flashed Josh a smile as he sat down next to her. "So how have you been?" she asked

"Good." he replied smiling back at her. "And yourself?"

"I'm doing good." she assured him

"The baby is good too?" Josh asked. He couldn't believe that Chris and Kat were having kids already. He didn't know Chris very well, but from the few times he's met him he could easily see why his sister was so adamant that he wouldn't make a good husband or father.

Kat put a hand to the bulge that was forming. "The baby is great." she said glowing. "You should get married and have one so it can grow up with mine." she suggested trying to wiggle her way to the point of her visit

Josh laughed. "Not anytime soon." It would be quite a special woman that would get him to settle down with one person. Kim definitely had potential, but he would have to wait and see.

"Why not? I hear you have a pretty serious relationship going with Kim. What about her?" Kat questioned smiling sweetly at him. She hoped the response would be that Kim's not the marrying kind. That Kim and I have a rocky relationship.

"We've been dating a while now. Things are fantastic. But not enough to think about marriage." he replied

That calmed part of her fear of Kim becoming a member of her family but not enough. "Where is Kim I haven't seen her in forever?" Kat questioned. Before she tried to put doubt in his mind about their relationship she wanted to make sure Kim wouldn't be coming around any time soon.

"She went to work." Josh replied as he thought for a moment. "Although I suppose she's off being a power ranger right now. You just missed Carri, she got a page and took off a few minutes before you got here."

Kat nodded. That was fortunate for her, it gave her the perfect opening. "That's right I forgot your girlfriend was the pink ranger."

Josh grinned. It turned him on more than just a little to watch the news and see the pink ranger running around in tight spandex and know that she was all his. "Yeah it’s pretty wild."

"How’s that going, dating a power ranger?" Kat questioned

"Good." Josh said. Yes he worried about her but at the same time he always believed she would pull through.

Kat reached over and put a hand on his leg giving him a sympathetic smile. "If you ever need to talk about anything don’t hesitate to call."

"I’m fine, really." Josh tried to assure her

"I’m sure you are now. Jason’s ex Emily was for a while. I was for a while." Kat said giving his knee a squeeze before letting go and leaning back. "After you get over the initial amazement of dating a ranger things change. It’s really hard being on the outside. Watching the people you love go off to save the world everyday. Knowing they share something special that you can’t be a part of. Knowing they’re out there risking their lives and not being able to do a thing about it."

Josh said nothing and Kat continued. "Poor Emily used to beg Jason to quit being a ranger. But he’s part of the best ranger team ever. And ask any of them, duty comes first. Being a ranger consumes them. That’s why Kim and Carri ran off into space. As far as their concerned they’ll just jump right into battle even if they thought they could die." Kat said. It was all the truth, she was just trying to make it sound worse than it was.

"Yeah I suppose." Josh finally spoke. Kat was making it sound like this was some sort of obsession. He knew Kim was always involved in ranger things. He couldn’t imagine her knowingly putting her life on the line for the sake of the rangers.

"You’ll always be an outsider and you can never get in. It’s easy to get jealous and angry among other things. Emily and I needed each other to keep the other from going insane. You’ll eventually need someone too. I want you to know I’ll be there for you." Kat finished

Josh had never given much thought to Kim’s being a ranger. Several people said it was hard being on the outside and he was starting to see that. They would be in the middle of an intimate moment and she’d run off to be a ranger. Sometimes when she came back she was a new invigorated person. It was hard sometimes to watch her go and come back. To hope she’d come back soon and in one piece. He was falling in love with Kim but every ranger he talked to was giving him another thing to make him stop and think about it.

The rangers were in the Command Chamber working on trying to find a way to rescue Aisha. The others had been discussing options for the last half an hour while Billy was furiously working. The blue Ninjetti walked back out into the main room with a box in hand. "What do you think?" he asked as he opened up the lid of the box

The others gathered around him and glared at its contents. Kim picked up one of the coins from the velvet lining and carefully inspected it. "They’re good. I don’t think she’ll be able to tell the difference." she said as she admired Billy’s craftsmanship

"Until she tests them out." Rocky said as he picked up one as well. Kim was right, Callisto wouldn’t know they were fakes just by looking at them. But he doubted she would give Aisha back without assurance that these were the real things.

Tommy shook his head in agreement with Rocky. "But they’ll be good enough to distract her."

"That’s where I come in?" Adam’s voice came through from behind. He had received a phone call shortly after Callisto had captured Aisha. Kim remembered his willingness to help and decided now was a good a time as any to cash in.

"Right." Kim agreed. Now that they were finally all in the room together it was time to go over all the details they had been working so hard to hash out. "We’re going to meet Callisto and Aisha at the warehouse." she started. The coordinates she had sent led them to an old abandoned warehouse in the industrial district of Angel Grove. She and Tommy had gone to stake it out so they could devise some sort of plan. "You and Billy will go ahead as Ninjetti’s and hide in your positions." Kim continued. From previous experience they knew that Callisto couldn’t sense them in their Ninjetti form. Plus she was expecting the five ninjetti’s to show up at the trade, and she tended to forget that they had two more.

"Meanwhile we’ll teleport down with the box of fake coins." Tommy chimed in continuing on with the plan as he flashed Kim a smile. "While she’s distracted looking at the coins, you guys get Aisha and get out of there. We’ll take care of the rest."

The plan sounded simple enough. Whether or not they could execute it the way they wanted to was a totally different story. However getting Aisha out was the most important thing. If Billy and Adam could do that, then as the current ranger team they’d worry about taking care of the rest of it.

Kim glanced down at her watch. There wasn’t much time left until they were expected to meet with Callisto. "Does everyone understand what to do?" she asked making eye contact with each of the six people standing there. This was important, if they did the slightest thing wrong it would mean Aisha’s life.

"Let’s go rescue her." Rocky said giving Kim a nod as her eyes met with his. He was going to make sure that Callisto would think twice before touching one of their friends ever again.

Callisto sat in her dungeon grinning wickedly at the former yellow ranger as she played with her sword. It was almost time to make the exchange. "Don’t worry soon I’ll have what I want and you’ll be free to go." she said glancing up at Aisha

Aisha did the only thing she could do, which was glare back at the goddess as she was bound and gagged. She hoped that her friends would save her but at the same time she didn’t want them giving in to this crazy bitch. Especially when it involved their power coins, which could be used by Callisto to tap into the morphin grid. Although the coins weren’t linked to the grid at the moment, someone as powerful as her could figure out how to do it. And if she could get into the morphing grid, she could destroy the power as they knew it.

The goddess ran her finger along the edge of the blade for a moment. "Of course if I don’t get what I want it will almost be as much fun." she said moving her sword back and forth in a few quick motions. Although she really needed the coins in the long run, the thought of being able to slice and dice a former ranger was thrilling.

She was hoping for some sort of reaction from the former yellow ranger but she didn’t give her so much as a squirm. For a brief second she wished she had taken Josh or Katherine, at least they would’ve played into her. Slowly she placed her sword in it’s holder behind her back and stood. It was about that time and she didn’t want to be late. She walked over to Aisha and grabbed her arm, and within seconds the duo stood in the warehouse. A few seconds later Cratus and Goldar stood by her side, their presence only to ensure that everything went according to plan.

It didn’t take long before the rangers appeared in front of her. Callisto checked to make sure all five were there. They looked at her seemingly defeated. That look was almost as good as the fact that she was about to take their coins. "The power coins." she snarled smiling smugly as she held out her hand

Rocky stepped forward, box in hand. He told the team he wanted to be at the front of this as he felt like it was his fault she got taken in the first place. He clutched it tightly as he made a few steps toward the goddess. "And Aisha?"

"Coins first." she said. She wasn’t stupid, just because they had a box didn’t mean it contained their actual power coins. And she wasn’t giving Aisha up for a box.

He approached the goddess and held out the box of fake coins. She took the box from him and opened it up to see the five golden coins nestled in the velvet lining. She picked up the coin in the center and ran her thumb over the image of the falcon. It certainly seemed real enough. There was only one way to know for sure. She handed the coin over to Cratus. "Verify this for me. Once we know it’s real"

She never got a chance to finish her sentence as she was jumped from behind by the frog ninjetti. He separated her enough from Aisha that Billy was able to grab their friend, spin her out of the way and teleport them both off. Furious Callisto flung Adam across the room before drawing her sword and lashing out against Rocky. She was going to slice and dice a ranger that day if it killed her.

Quickly she backed Rocky into a corner. When he couldn’t retreat anymore she swiped with her sword. Much to her surprise her sword clanged against metal. Turning she saw the yellow Turbo ranger standing there. "You didn’t think I’d let you do that did you?" she asked as with one swift motion she kicked the goddess back.

Furious Callisto engaged Carri in combat. A few seconds later the blue ranger was by her side and the two were working on pushing Callisto back.

On the other side of the warehouse her warriors were fighting as well. Tommy and Kim were taking on Cratus. Tommy was enjoying the ability to be there with Kim and work well with her as well as fight Cratus together. At one point he lifted her up so that she could get a good angle to attack Cratus with.

Next to them was Goldar who was fighting against both Jason and Adam. The Ninjetti didn’t have any weapons for the fight, but this was still Goldar and he knew how to take him down.

Callisto looked around the warehouse floor as she fought against Carri and Rocky. She saw the box with the coins in it sitting there in the same spot that she dropped it. They weren’t using their metallic armor, which meant that box might actually contain the power coins. She threw the yellow and blue rangers back, flinging a few fireballs at them for emphasis. Maneuvering quickly she ran across the floor, grabbed the box and took off.

Rocky and Carri regrouped and went to join their friends. Seeing that Callisto had left them and not wanting to fight this fight, Cratus and Goldar left as well. Once the scene was cleared the rangers teleported back to the Command Chamber where Billy and Aisha were waiting for them.

Callisto rushed in and immediately analyzed the power coins. It didn’t take long to figure out that they were fakes. Furious she grabbed the box and slung it across the room, watching as it splintered into dozens of pieces while the fake coins clanged to the floor.

She slouched into her chair as she formed a fireball with her hand. It would be so easy to go down there and burn the entire damn town. But the rangers would survive. Somehow the rangers always survived. She continued to watch the fireball in her hand for a few seconds as it calmed her temper. Once she decided she wasn’t going to light anything on fire, she extinguished the flame.

The easy road had failed. Twice. This left her and Rhianna with only one option. That was to do the manual upgrades. It would take a few weeks but they would have soldiers and monsters that would be able to easily penetrate the metallic armor of the rangers. She wasn’t thrilled with the idea of laying low for the next few weeks, but it was the only option she had.

The rangers found themselves on Carri’s deck that afternoon grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. Adam had to return home, but the team plus Billy and Aisha had come by to hang out for a while. Rocky stood over the grill as members of his first ranger team surrounded him. Kim, Tommy, Billy and Aisha were all hovered around the grill as Rocky cooked, reminiscing about times past.

Josh found himself standing close to that group. He couldn’t openly share his affections with Kim as not everyone there was aware of the fact they were dating. He didn’t really like that as he had seen more than one look that Tommy had given Kim suggesting that he wanted her. Instead he was just here as Carri’s brother, standing in the middle of this group pretending to want to get to know Aisha when really he wanted to be close to his girlfriend.

It was hard to be there as they were all sharing moments of ranger past, things he couldn’t understand or relate to no matter how hard he tried. It made him wonder if dating a ranger was going to be harder than he thought it was. Not that he wanted to give it up, but now he found himself uncertain of how it was going to all turn out. For now though he was going to enjoy Kim’s company. He took a long lot at her and smiled at the skin tight jeans and overly generous top she had put on that afternoon.

He wasn’t the only male who had noticed what Kim was wearing. Tommy found his heart racing at the sight of her. He ached to be able to hold her in his arms again. To caress her, to kiss her... instead here he was trying his hardest to stay calm knowing that there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. It drove him crazy. She had been the only thing he could think about. Kim kept him up at night, infiltrated his dreams, and was the first person he thought of when he woke up in the morning.

He found himself making up reasons as reds that they needed to get together. Every time his communicator went off his heart skipped a beat, knowing that whatever it was it couldn’t be too bad because he got to see Kim. He wanted her to feel the same way about him. She would give him smiles and soft looks, but he wasn’t sure if that meant she was thinking of him the way he thought of her.

What Tommy didn’t know is that Kim had been thinking about him differently lately. Not in the same way that he thought of her. But she had noticed him more, and didn’t consider him as much of an asshole anymore. She would smile sweetly at Tommy, thinking about times past and how nice it was to have him in her life again. But for every smile she gave Tommy, she would turn and give Josh a seductive one that would make any man want to rip her clothes off right there. She loved Tommy, but she knew Tommy didn’t love her that way and she accepted that. She was happy with Josh now, and happy that things were starting to come together.

As the trio was lost in their own thoughts, two figures watched them carefully for a moment trying to see if they could read them. "How is operation breakup going?" Jason asked turning toward Carri

The duo had sat away from the main action and were chatting while drinking beers. Not that they didn’t want to be in on the fun, but neither knew Aisha well. Carri had only met her a few times and Jason met her in the days before he left for the Peace Conferences. Neither belonged in the middle of a conversation that involved reminiscing about their ranger days. Which was alright with them, that left them to hang in the corner and talk about other things.

Carri smiled at the name Jason and dubbed hers and Tommy’s plan. "Alright I think. I worked on Josh for a while today. I think I’m putting some doubt in his head. Tommy’s been working on Kim."

"She does seem a bit happier around him." Jason commented as they watched Kim finish telling a story before laughing and grabbing Tommy’s arm

"I hope Josh is picking up on it." Carri said after Kim removed her hand from Tommy’s arm

Jason glanced over at his friend. "Doesn’t it bother you in the slightest doing this to your brother?"

She shrugged her shoulders before replying. "Not really. He’s not exactly known for being Mr. Faithful. He’ll be upset for a while but he’ll be right back in the sack with the next pretty woman."

"You think he’s cheated on Kim?" Jason asked. Kim was like his sister and if he thought Josh was running around cheating on her he’d kill him.

"Honestly? I don’t think he has. I think he really likes her. Of course they haven’t spent that much time apart either." she replied. She stopped to think about it for a moment. She knew her brother better than anyone. At the same time she really hoped that he would be good to Kim, that he would be faithful. She was her best friend and she cringed at the thought of her brother running around on her behind her back.

Jason thought about it as well. "I guess it doesn’t matter." After all, they were trying to get Kim to leave Josh by taking Tommy back.

Carri shrugged. Maybe it did maybe it didn’t. She knew what did matter and that was getting Kim back to Tommy. "Anyways." she said with a sigh as she took a sip of her beer

Taking that as a cue that this particular conversation was over, Jason chugged the remainder of his beer and changed topics. "So how’s the stuff with Jessica going?" he asked immediately regretting bringing it up as he saw the fire rage behind her eyes

"The lawsuit is nothing but that little bitch...." she said getting so angry she couldn’t think of a way to finish her sentence

"Hey I’m almost done with my book." Jason said quickly switching topics as he stood up and grabbed another beer

Carri glared at him as he walked toward the cooler and back. He had opened a can of worms and was now trying to quickly put a lid on it. For the moment she’d let him as she didn’t want to go into it right there. "When’s it due?" she asked as he sat back down beside her

Before Jason could reply Rocky walked over in their direction. "What’s up?" he asked looking over at the blue ranger

"I’m not letting you guys sit over here and be party poopers any more." he joked as he grabbed his girlfriend by the arm and pulled her up. He put his arm around her waist and let her toward the rest of the group. She turned back to Jason and shrugged, and Jason slowly stood and went to join them.

With Carri and Jason in the conversation it switched from them talking about their days as a team to a hodgepodge of topics. The group stood around the grill as the food was being finished. Each person standing there tried to push out the million things that were on their minds so that they could enjoy an evening catching up with old friends.

The End

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