Power Rangers: Legacy
"Consequences"

Carri and Rocky sat out on the back porch of her Angel Grove home. They had just finished dinner and the last rays of sunshine were starting to give away to the night. After a few moments they got up from their chairs at the table and brought their beers to the bench where they sat curled up next to each other.

At the moment Carri was more concerned with picking the label off of the beer bottle than actually drinking it. She had a lot of things running through her head and she didn’t even know what to tackle first. Callisto and Rhianna’s attacks were becoming more difficult, work was extremely busy as of late, then of course there was the whole Kim and Josh issue.

Rocky kissed her on her shoulder and brought her out of her thoughts. She turned toward him and he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She was startled and when he pulled back she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked trying to rack his brain to figure out why she wouldn’t want his affections

She flashed him a warm smile. "No of course not. It’s just, I don’t know..."

"Cheer up." Rocky replied as he leaned in and gave her another kiss

Carri got behind the kiss before suddenly pulling back. "It’s just Josh has been here for three weeks now. That’s two weeks longer that he should’ve been. Just for Kim. I know he’s going home soon but that’s not the point."

"I know you find it more than a little weird but you should be happy for them." Rocky pointed out. He had heard endless complaints from her about how she couldn’t believe they were still together, and that Josh was just ignoring his responsibilities back home for her.

"I guess." she said as Rocky pressed his lips against hers yet again. They stopped briefly and she went on. "Then Callisto and Rhianna have been raising hell lately and Kim doesn’t seem to give a damn at the moment leaving that on my shoulders."

"We are a five person team remember? You’re not the only one who can pick up Kim’s slack." Rocky pointed out. She wasn’t the only one who had noticed that Kim was sliding on her ranger duties as of late. Noone was willing to point it out to her though, they were waiting for her to collect herself and bring herself back together.

"Yeah but this is still mine and Kim’s fight and we know what to do and," she stopped as she noticed the hurt expression on Rocky’s face, "I’m sorry I know you guys have made it your fight too." As a red Tommy was really getting involved in things besides the fights and as former reds Jason and Rocky helped out when they needed to as well. "It’s just Kim and I have been at the front of this fight trying to figure out how to destroy them. Kim was the red on the first mission with them, and now she’s backed off and I’m in the front as the one with the previous contact. Which I don’t mind. But I’ve also got work breathing down my neck. There’s so much to get done, so much that we need to address with the first few shows, not to mention everything else that’s starting to roll into my office. Things are getting so hectic sometimes I just want to pull all my hair out." she finished letting out an agitated yell

Rocky put his beer down then took the bottle out of her hands and sat it down as well before wrapping his arms around her and putting his chin on her shoulder, lightly kissing her neck. "Things will settle down I promise. Everything’s going to be fine." Of course Kim breaking up with Josh would get rid of most of Carri’s frustrations, and he didn’t see that happening any time soon.

"I’m glad one of us is confident." she said looking up and sighing heavily. Everything was so chaotic. It was much simpler being a ranger in high school. Zordon did all the worrying and all the rangers had to do was run out and kick ass between classes and her biggest concerns were when the next sale at the mall was or when Brad Pitt’s newest movie came out.

"I know how to make you feel better." Rocky said as he kissed her neck again

"You gonna fly me to the moon so I can kick the crap out of someone?" she asked, a smile forming at the corner of her lips

"I said make you feel better, not get you killed." he chuckled as he reached up and grazed her chin with his fingers, turning her head toward him.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked as her eyes made contact with his

Rocky said nothing, only pulled her into him and wrapped his arms tightly around her kissing her passionately on the lips. Carri felt herself melt in his arms and she gave into him, allowing the worries of the night to slowly disappear.

Not every ranger was lucky enough to be wrapped up in someone else’s arms that night. The remaining two male rangers had gone out for drinks and hopefully dates, but had come up empty and were now cutting through the park near the lake enjoying some time to just hang out.

"I should just go back to not dating." Tommy mused thinking about his uneventful night at the bar. He and Danielle had parted ways the previous week, and Jason had insisted that he go out that night, if anything to keep him interested and not give up.

Jason rolled his eyes although Tommy couldn’t see it in the dark of the night. "Whether or not you’ll admit it to yourself, you’ve been miserable the last few years alone."

"I wasn’t alone." Tommy defended himself. "I’ve always had Hayley."

"Really now? So you two have been getting it on all these years?" Jason teased

Tommy groaned at his friend’s inference. "She’s been there to be my friend and I didn’t need anyone else." Tommy and Jason had both changed a lot over the years. Tommy had spent most of his time since college deeply involved with work and the rangers. It was his life, it was what made him the no nonsense ranger he was today. He enjoyed female companionship, but he had so much going on he didn’t feel the need to be out there looking. Unlike Jason, who only spent enough time doing his online investments to pay for the basics. And although Jason was keeping up with ranger activity, he was just now starting to get seriously involved again. Which left him a lot of spare time in his life for dating.

"You say that now bro but when the right girl comes along you’re going to jump at the chance." Jason pointed out. Jason always thought Kim was the right girl and he had a feeling that Tommy was more conflicted on that end than he was letting on.

"When and if it happens, it happens. You’re more worried about it than I am." Tommy said as he crossed his arms over his chest

"It’s not easy with the lives we lead. Maybe we should just quit dating." Jason said as a smile came across his face. Tommy was almost right about the not dating part. His reasons weren’t but sometimes Jason found himself wondering if that was the right idea. Of course he doesn’t think that he could follow through with that. Unlike Tommy he wants the right woman in his life.

Tommy just shook his head. "I’d like to see you try." With the frequency of dates Jason was going on, he couldn’t imagine him giving it up.

Jason laughed and looked out over the water, noticing a silhouette of a young couple. "Well I suppose we can’t all be like them." he said chuckling as he gestured to them

Tommy smiled as he glanced over to the couple in question. It was nice to be young and in love. They paused and watched for a moment, both finding themselves wishing that they had a girl they could be with like that.

The man kissed the woman passionately, they could hear her moan from where they stood. She lifted her leg and pressed her knee firmly against his hip before putting her hands on his chest then letting them slide down to his waist, gripping him tightly. He rubbed his hands all over her back, and as he kissed her he squeezed her in areas that made her squeal.

"Maybe we should just leave them to this." Jason said as neither man took their eyes off the couple

The woman’s head fell back and the man kissed her neck before burying his head in her chest. Wind blew and the leaves shifted, causing moonlight to cast on the woman’s face briefly. All it took was that brief second for the duo to realize who the woman was they were staring at.

Tommy clinched his fists and his eyes glowed with rage. "He had better take his damn hands off of Kim." he growled. The man they couldn’t see, but it didn’t matter as Tommy was about to rip him apart limb by limb.

"Tommy Kim’s not your girlfriend anymore." Jason reminded him. He was surprised as well, Kim hadn’t bothered to tell him she was dating anyone, let alone this enthralled by someone. He wished someone had told him, it certainly made some of her behavior over the last few weeks make sense.

"I’m not going to stand here and watch while he treats her like some little whore." Tommy said as his knuckles grew white from him clinching his fists so hard.

"She’s moved on and obviously it’s with him. She seems happy and we should get out of here." Jason pointed out. He had to admit, he didn’t like watching someone feel up on the girl he considered his little sister any more than Tommy liked watching her. But this wasn’t the time or place and he hated to see the fury Kim would unleash if they interrupted.

Mind made up, Tommy glared at them as they continued to grope each other. "I don’t give a damn." he said as he started to walk over there

Fortunately Jason had an idea where that was going and he stepped in Tommy’s way. "Bro I’m not going to let you do this."

"I’m not giving you a choice." Tommy said as he tried to push past him to continue on his warpath

Jason shoved Tommy back. "I swear I’ll teleport us both out of here in the middle of the park to keep you from doing this." He was hoping that if Tommy realized that he was about to seriously break ranger code just to keep him out of this fight, he’d back down. And Jason wasn’t kidding, the only other two people around were Kim and her date and they didn’t seem to be paying them too much attention anyway.

Tommy turned toward Jason, deadly look in still in his eye. It frightened Jason a bit, it reminded him of the look he had when he was evil. If Tommy were to get his hands on that man he probably would crush him and Kim would never forgive Tommy for that. For that reason among others, Jason stood firmly planted in front of him despite the murderous look in his eye.

"Come on Tommy let’s get out of here." Jason said calmly staring him down

Tommy took a few deep breaths as he glanced over at Kim before turning his attention back to Jason. He wasn’t happy in the least, but he allowed Jason to grab him by the arm and pull him away from the scene. It was lucky for Kim’s date that Jason was there because otherwise he wouldn’t have hesitated.

Jason continued to drag him off. As the distance grew between them, Tommy slowly started to calm down. Perhaps Jason was right, perhaps it wasn’t a good idea. Then again, the thought of Kim, his Kim, being taken advantage of by another man like that infuriated him all over again.

It didn’t take long before Jason had gotten them out of the park. He stood there waiting to flag down a taxi. After striking out at the bar and seeing Kim, it was about time to call this Friday night done. Jason hailed a cab and opened the door, shoving Tommy in before he could protest. Within seconds they were speeding off to Tommy’s house so he could hopefully get a good nights sleep and put everything behind him.

Forces on the moon were stirring early the next morning. Callisto was overseeing the production of her new and improved Cirranadrones, as Cratus and Goldar had recently finished scouring the galaxy to find her what she needed. Cratus had also come across a magical spell for Rhianna’s staff, something that would allow her to create monsters that had magical powers of their own.

Callisto was quite pleased with Cratus’s findings. He had proven himself worthy on more than one occasion. Unlike that overgrown ape that Rhianna kept around. If it wasn’t for his loyalty to her parents, she probably would have disposed of him long ago. At times Callisto still wanted to watch him go up in flames despite Rhianna’s assurances that he was useful.

The goddess heard the clanking of Rhianna’s heels as she entered the room but didn’t bother to turn to acknowledge her. "You wanted to see me?" Rhianna questioned as she stepped in beside her

"I altered your staff last night." Callisto said simply

"Which means?" Rhianna questioned. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or bad thing, she never knew where Callisto was concerned. They both did have the same goals in mind, but they were both evil. And if there was one thing evil beings were known for, it was their deception.

"The monsters you’ve been making have been good, but not good enough. Now you have the ability to create monsters with magical powers of their own." Callisto informed her. Not only would these monsters have weapons and the ability to fight, but they would have magic on their side. That would give an edge over the rangers. What good it would do was yet to be seen.

Rhianna nodded. She agreed, she had yet to make a monster she was satisfied with. "Perhaps I should test it out."

"Yes." Callisto agreed. "Let’s finish a batch of these new Cirranadrones then we’ll see how the rangers like our upgrades."

"Will it take long?" Rhianna asked. If she could really make monsters with magical abilities, she was anxious to try it out.

"Not at all." the goddess replied. She crossed her arms and stared as her minions continued working around her. Soon they would see how the rangers could handle their new army.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning as Carri outside of a small diner enjoying breakfast with Jason. She had enjoyed a romantic evening with Rocky the previous night and he had gotten up early to go do some work at each of his schools. Now she was planning on spending her Saturday catching up with friends.

Jason looked over at Carri as she started on her second cup of coffee. They had mostly been making small talk as they were both working on waking up. But he couldn’t wait any longer before talking about his Friday night. "Have you noticed how Kim’s been acting strange lately?" Jason questioned. He figured asking about Kim was a good place to start.

"Yeah she’s not been herself." Carri replied. If Jason only knew the half of it. She didn’t know why Kim didn’t want to tell him. She assumed it was because even though she knew about blonde big boobs, she didn’t want Tommy to know about Josh or that she was even dating. She seriously doubted Jason would tell, but who knew how many beers it would take to get the secret out.

"I think I know why." Jason said grinning

Carri froze. "Why?" she asked figuring she’d play along

"Last night Tommy and I caught her making out with some guy in the park. I thought he was going to strip her right there in public." Jason said. As he paused Carri shuddered. He couldn’t blame her, he didn’t like thinking of Kim like that any more than she did. "Seriously I never really thought Tommy was going to kill someone until that moment."

That perked Carri’s interest. She didn’t even think Tommy cared, but apparently he did. "So did you get a look at the guy?" she asked hoping that they didn’t realize it was Josh. If Tommy figured out who he was, she was afraid he’d hunt him down and pummel first, ask questions later.

Jason shook his head no. "We couldn’t see him. We didn’t even know it was Kim for the longest time."

Carri nodded as she started tapping her foot while she thought. She never kept secrets from Jason. And now that the boys both knew she was dating, what was the harm in Jason knowing who. Besides it would give her someone else to confide in so she didn’t drive poor Rocky crazy. "If I tell you something you have to swear not to tell anybody." she said glaring at him

"I can keep my mouth shut." Jason replied. He couldn’t help but wonder what she knew that he didn’t.

"I’m serious Jase. I will hunt you down and kill you if Tommy finds out." she warned

Despite the tone in her voice and the look in her eye, Jason cracked a smile. Years of friendship had taught him that she was the one person whose bad side you didn’t want to be on. He hadn’t been before and he wasn’t planning on starting now. "I promise I’ll keep your secret just like I’ve kept every other secret you’ve told me." he said hoping she’d hurry up and spit it out

"She’s been dating Josh the last three weeks." Carri quickly blurted out

"Josh? Like your brother Josh?" Jason asked suddenly feeling hurt that neither had confided in him earlier

"The one and only." she said giving him a small smile

"And you couldn’t tell me this before?" he questioned

She shrugged. "It was Kim’s secret. I just promised to keep it for her. I don’t know why she didn’t want to tell you. She’s been acting kind of weird since they started dating."

"And you’re ok with this?" Jason asked. It had to be strange for her to see her brother dating the girl she considers to be her sister.

"Are you kidding? I’ve been trying to smile for Kim’s sake but they’ve been at it for three weeks. That’s two whole weeks longer than I gave them. And she’s with him and she’s not thinking right and my god Jase she broke my bed on the first date." Carri said anger rising again as she thought about it. That memory gave her the creeps as much as the thought of them almost screwing in the park.

"Should I even ask how they broke the bed?" Jason questioned. He had a lot of ideas running through his head about how it could happen.

Her lips pressed together and she glared at him. "Sex." she said. She saw how he was trying hard not to laugh so she continued. "I’m not kidding. They were screwing and they broke my freakin bed. It took Josh and Rocky five hours to figure out how to get it back together again."

"Come on you have to admit it is kind of funny." Jason said as he started processing the interesting events that were going on in Kim’s love life. He stored a few mental notes that he could maybe pull out later to put into his new book.

Carri shot him a look that said this was anything but funny. "Maybe to you it is. But they’re screwing each other, which I don’t like. Not to mention she’s ignoring the important things in life like Callisto and Rhianna. She’s been so giddy lately she could care less about anything else."

"It’s probably just the new relationship phase. You should’ve seen her when Tommy first came into the picture." Jason said. She was just as giddy and care free then. Of course that was more than a decade ago when her role as a ranger was much different and much less involved than it is now. He agreed, she needed to snap back with it. But they’d have to wait and see how things went and if it really became an issue, he wouldn’t hesitate to tell her. "Give her some time and she’ll be back with it."

"I hope you’re right." Carri said just as her communicator went off. She glanced down at it briefly before glancing up at Jason. "Let’s go see what they’re up too this time."

"Nothing we can’t handle I’m sure." Jason replied. Or at least he hoped so. He snuck in one last bite of his breakfast before he and Carri each threw some cash on the table and headed to find a secure place to answer their page and morph.

Kim sat in Josh’s arms on the beach, watching as the waves crashed onto the shoreline. It was a beautiful morning and she was thrilled to be there with the man she was falling in love with. Much like every time they went out, the previous night’s date had been wonderful. Except with this date she got a diamond necklace as his way of saying I’m sorry I have to leave you but I love you.

She wished he could stay longer, but he had already been there too long. He had pushed back some things for his show so he could stay there with Kim an extra two weeks, but work couldn’t be pushed back any longer. Kim understood. She didn’t like it, but she definitely understood.

His flight was leaving that afternoon and Kim was planning on spending the entire morning with him. Carri had said her goodbyes the previous afternoon just so they could have the time together. Kim was surprised, Carri seemed like she was handling the whole thing pretty well. Of course she could tell she wasn’t thrilled about it, but she figured it had to be weird for her to hear her talk about her brother like that.

Josh pulled her in a little closer and gave her a squeeze as she looked up at him and smiled. "I’m really going to miss you." she said

"Me too." he told her as he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He couldn’t believe how fast the three weeks had flown by. He was glad that he had Kim to spend them with. Of course he did feel slightly bad about not spending more time with his sister, but she didn’t kill him for it so he figured he was alright for now.

"Maybe we should go get lunch and bring it back here." she suggested. They had talked about having an early lunch before his flight. They were going to go out and eat but Kim found the beach so peaceful that she hated to leave it.

"That sounds like fun." Josh agreed. It was nice and peaceful sitting by the ocean. He always loved going to the beach, it was probably the thing he missed most about California all those years. The few trips he made back to California he had made it a priority to hit the beach at least once.

What he’d really like to do would be to whisk her away to the beaches of Hawaii for lunch. He could afford to do it, money wasn’t the issue. What kept him from doing it was the fact that his father would kill him for pushing things back yet another week so he could continue spending time with Kim. He initially told his father that he was helping his sister out with stuff which is why he wanted to stay later. Unfortunately for him he had taken Kim up to LA where they visited with some of his Hollywood friends. He had Kim were sitting cozily at a table in a club with his friends when someone snapped a picture of the group. Days later it surfaced on the internet and his father’s people found it.

He didn’t even get a chance to make up anything as Carri was more than generous with the details of why he was staying in Angel Grove when she had spoken to their father. Now he was pretty much told that if he liked working he had better stop screwing around with his sisters friends and get home. Not that he thought his dad would actually fire him, he was doing too well with the show. But he could make his life hellish which was something Josh wanted to avoid at all costs. His father didn’t demand much out of him as an employee, only that he stayed out of the tabloids and did his job. Although that picture wasn’t in the tabloids it still showed him partying and the fact that he was partying and not home doing his job didn’t sit well with his father.

Josh was hoping that he’d have some down time in the near future and could come back and visit with Kim again. Although he knew that for the next week he was going to be busy wrapping up some details about the show’s season finale, and after that his father had a project that he wanted him to help with before their new season started up. There was definitely enough work piled up and waiting for him to keep him in New York for a while.

Josh leaned in closer to Kim and got a whiff of her perfume. Something about the sent she wore drove him wild. He leaned in and started kissing her neck. Kim giggled and turned toward him. "I’m going to miss your kisses." she said as she leaned in and gave him one of her own

"I’m going to miss giving them to you." he told her as he grinned at her. He put his arms around her waist and brought her into him, gently rolling back and laying her down on the sand. She grazed her fingertips on his neck and he leaned in and kissed her passionately.

Kim felt herself getting lost in Josh’s arms again. Just as she thought the moment couldn’t get more perfect, her communicator went off. Josh pulled back and she groaned.

"Don’t answer it." he said as he linked his fingers in hers and lightly pushed her hand to the ground so she couldn’t reach it. "It’s not like the world’s going to end if you stay here with me."

"You know as well as I do that it very well might." Kim replied. She hated leaving him as much as he hated her leaving, especially since this was their last time together.

"Carri will handle it." he said as he leaned down toward her and kissed her yet again

Kim let out a soft moan as his lips grazed hers before continuing down her neck and to her chest. Suddenly Kim’s communicator chirped again. She sighed forcefully before kissing Josh on the head then playfully pushing him to the sand and sitting up. "Go ahead."

"There’s a monster and some Cirranadrones. You need to join the others." Billy’s voice came through loud and clear

"On my way." Kim said as they ended the communication. "I’m sorry I’ve got to go help them."

"I know." Josh said. He really did understand, not only was the world in danger by her not being there but so was his sisters life and the lives of her friends.

"Why don’t you go get lunch and I’ll meet you back here as soon as I can." Kim suggested. She was hoping that the fight would be quick and painless.

"I can handle that." Josh said. He leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss before standing up.

Kim took a deep breath then stood up as well. She looked around to make sure they were still the only ones on the beach before she morphed and teleported to the scene.

"It’s about time you showed up." Tommy said glaring at the pink ranger as she materialized before him

"Sorry I was busy." Kim apologized. "So what do we have?"

"Hard as shit Cirranadrones and a monster with the ability to do God only knows what." Carri said slightly irritated by the fact that Kim had let her brother distract her for so long. The Cirranadrones had been seriously upgraded and they had a hybrid cactus monster shooting thorns at them. Fortunately they had so far managed to avoid the thorns as nobody wanted to find out what they could do to you.

"Look out!" Jason yelled as the cactus monster pushed to the front and attacked by throwing more thorns

Carri retaliated by calling for her weapons, firing a shot then immediately rolling out of the way

Kim watched as the monster turned off in her direction and Tommy called on his weapons and ran to join her. Jason and Rocky were busy fighting the Cirranadrones and not doing so well. She looked around the battlefield unsure of where she wanted to jump in. For a brief moment she forgot where she was as all she could think about was the beach. She couldn’t wait to get back there and see Josh. She was sad that he was leaving and she had to take some of her time with him to fight.

Jason glanced at her, irritated by the fact that she was standing there like a kid who had better things to do than save the world. Perhaps she thought she did have better things to do, but by default as a red and a member of the Turbo team rangering was her top priority. "We could use a little help!" he yelled snapping her attention back

Tommy and Carri briefly glanced over at the fight against the Cirranadrones to see if there was anything they could do. They were afraid that their three friends were covered in the warriors and were struggling. What they saw was the two rangers struggling and the pink ranger pulling out her weapon and taking them on one at a time like she hadn’t a care in the world.

Neither had time to ponder Kim’s mental status at the moment. They could only hope that she would kick herself into battle mode. They feared turning away from the monster and getting hit with the thorns or allowing one of their teammates to be hit.

The battle raged on with four rangers fighting fiercely and one ranger busy wishing she was on the beach wrapped up in her boyfriend’s arms. That dynamic stayed the same until Cratus and Goldar teleported down, attacking Carri and Tommy from behind and forcing them to take their attention off of the cactus monster, leaving him free to roam.

The cactus decided that since the yellow and red rangers were well aware of his presence, he would find another ranger to poison with his magical thorns. He looked around the battlefield and saw the pink ranger off in a corner fighting one or two Cirranadrones. The green ranger was covered in Cirranadrones. The blue ranger was as well, but that quickly changed as several of them threw him back. He would make an easy target. He fired a thorn at him and hit him in the chest. He watched as he powered down and laid there.

Seconds later the cactus monster was attacked from behind. Carri rolled off the creature and went to protect Rocky. She was pissed that Cratus and Goldar distracted them, she was pissed that Rocky got hurt, and she was pissed that Kim was on another planet. They were down one and a half rangers and Callisto and Rhianna were seriously bringing it to them. There was only one way to fix it. "Guys we need to get to the Command Chamber." she called out to her teammates

"Rangers you can’t retreat now." Goldar taunted. He was actually quite pleased that they were forcing them to back off.

"She’s right." Tommy said as he appeared beside Carri. "We’re getting nowhere."

Reluctantly Jason agreed, and the rangers teleported back to the Command Chamber to see if they could come up with some sort of plan that works.

Rocky was immediately teleported to the medical room and Billy started to get to work on what the cactus monster had hit him with. The other rangers stood in the main room and powered down so they could try to figure out a plan of attack.

Immediately Carri crossed her arms and glared at Kim, who seemed to be still glowing from the beach and not at all concerned about getting their asses kicked. Jason stood by Carri looking over at Kim as well. Both were thinking of what to say, but neither had to worry about it as Tommy beat them to it.

"What the hell was going on with you out there?" Tommy yelled as he stood in front of her, gaining her full attention

"What do you mean?" Kim asked innocently, not at all happy with Tommy’s attitude. "There was a battle and I was fighting."

"Like hell you were." he snapped. "You were acting like a school girl with a crush out there, not like a red."

Kim crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "Please Tommy you’re so full of it."

"Dammit Kim you haven’t been acting like a red for weeks. You’ve been walking around here on cloud nine forgetting that the world’s in danger. You’re ignoring your duties, you’re slacking in fights - hell you could’ve gotten someone killed just now. I’ve been running everything lately and you haven’t been a part of it." Tommy argued. He was tired of the way things had been going lately, and now that he knew why he was even more upset. Before her new boyfriend she wanted to be the one leading the charge on the fights. She wanted to be on top, if not ahead of everything that was going on with the battle. Now he understood why Kim had been too busy to help out when Tommy and Carri were in the Command Center doing small tasks. It was sad when they were communicating with teams across the galaxy looking for tidbits of help on the fight, and other reds were wondering how the red Planetary Ranger could be too busy to be there.

"Now you know how I felt." Jason muttered. Both rangers shot him a look. "Let’s not forget that when you two first got together you both were kind of slacking and I picked it up for you."

"That has nothing to do with this." Tommy said irritated that he had jumped into the middle of his and Kim’s argument

"Sorry Tommy I haven’t been living up to your standards. I’ve been busy with work." Kim growled through clenched teeth

"Bullshit." he growled. "You’ve been busy running around with another man. Did the love we had for each other mean nothing to you?"

Kim snorted. "You say that like I’ve been cheating on you. You’re the one who told me to move on." she reminded him, ignoring the fact that he knew she was seeing someone

"Well I didn’t expect you to actually do it." he said as he glared at her

"Please! You moved on first. It wasn’t long after your moving on speech that I saw you with blonde big boobs." Kim pointed out

"Her name was Danielle." he said harshly, angry that Kim didn’t bother to use her name. "And that’s different."

"Different!" Kim exploded. "Please Tommy explain how you’re dating is different than my dating."

"Because you weren’t supposed move on." he yelled realizing how bad it was to say after it was too late

"I see. The great Tommy Oliver can do whatever he wants while little old Kim is supposed to sit at home and cry over him all day." she said staring at him with cold, hard eyes

"I meant"

"Guys!" Carri yelled cutting Tommy off. She was fed up with hearing them argue and she wanted to stop them before Tommy shoved his foot farther in his mouth and Kim ended up killing him. Besides they had much more important things to worry about. "There’s still tough Cirranadrones, two ugly lackeys and a monster shooting thorns out there and they’re a bit more important than your social lives. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go check on my boyfriend."

With that Carri turned and headed toward the infirmary. Jason turned and followed her. He couldn’t help but snicker, he kind of found the Kim/Tommy situation amusing. Although it was inappropriate given the circumstances, he’d definitely have to store it away for later. The duo walked into the infirmary and a quick glance back told them that the former couple had shut up and were now following.

Carri walked over toward Billy. "How is he?"

"The monster infected him with some kind of magical poison." Billy replied as she walked over and stood beside him

Carri sighed when she looked down and shifting toward a shade of green. "Great so I’m going to have a plant boyfriend again?" she asked recalling his horticulture experiment gone bad

"Not quite like that." Billy said, the incident bringing a smile to his face. Although it had been serious, Rocky as a plant was rather amusing. Carri had only been a ranger a few months at the time and she found the whole thing hysterical, especially when he told Kat she had nice leaves. As a new ranger she didn’t quite comprehend how serious it could’ve been which was why her amusement had lightened up an otherwise somber mood. "Whatever this poison is it’s attacking his bloodstream and turning his skin green. At this point I can’t be sure if it’s turning him into a plant or just trying to kill him. What I can be sure of is that I’m running it through every database I have. It doesn’t seem too complex so I should be able to find a solution."

"And for the monster?" Carri asked glancing down at Rocky briefly before looking back up at Billy

"That I may have a solution too." Billy said with pride. He checked Rocky’s stats and took a glance at the computer before leading the other rangers back out into the main room. He glanced around the entire team first before pausing and making eye contact with Tommy. "Do you remember the metallic armor?"

Tommy nodded just as Jason spoke. "What’s the metallic armor?"

"Zordon created it just after Kim left. It was temporary armor on our suits that we could call on." Tommy filled in the blanks for his friend

"I’ve been working on recreating the metallic armor and using your power coins to power it. As long as you have your coins on you, you can call for the armor and it will protect you as turbo rangers." Billy informed them. He had always thought about recreating the metallic armor when they were Ninja Zeo rangers, but with them using the power coins in their morphing he would never have been able to get the armor to hold long, leaving them with the same problems they initially had.

"What good is temporary armor going to do us?" Carri questioned. She wasn’t sure what Tommy meant by temporary, but five minutes with the armor against that army wasn’t going to be enough.

"First it’s not temporary. Since your coins aren’t powering your morph, you should be able to sustain the armor during the course of battle. Second the armor will ease the fight against the Cirranadrones. It will also protect you against the cactus monsters thorns, as they aren’t powerful enough to penetrate the armor." Billy finished his explanation

"Then what are we waiting for?" Carri asked glancing over at her team. "We left some bad guys down there and we’ve got some ass to kick."

"I couldn’t have put it better myself." Tommy agreed smiling over at the yellow ranger. "Shift into turbo!"

Seconds later the four members of the Turbo team found themselves standing in front of Callisto and Rhianna’s forces.

"Come for another beating?" Cratus asked, excited by the thought of finally finishing off the rest of the rangers

"We’re not the ones getting the beating." Tommy promised. He looked over at the team to see if they were ready before he yelled, "Metallic armor, power up!"

The power coins took over and coated their Turbo uniforms in the metallic armor. Cratus looked surprised and Goldar found himself rather annoyed. He’d seen was the metallic armor could do and he didn’t care for it.

Carri was quick to grab her weapons and jump at the cactus monster. The cactus shot a thorn at her, which hit her suit and caused her to fall mid air, but didn’t do any damage. She stood up, more than satisfied with the armor. "A girl could get used to this." she said as she attacked the surprise monster with her weapons

Kim went to fight the Cirranadrones while Tommy and Jason went to face off against Goldar and Cratus. This time around the Cirranadrones were no more difficult that usual. Kim was able to face off against them by herself with no trouble, and due to her annoyances with Tommy’s earlier comments she was fighting them fiercely.

Cratus and Goldar found themselves behind in the battle quickly. Although they were both excellent fighters, the metallic armor the rangers were using was enough to drive them insane. It didn’t take long before they were tired of getting beat back and even more tired of not being able to beat them back like they were used to. The duo issued some parting words before disappearing back to their palace on the moon.

As Cratus took off, Jason looked back to see how Kim was doing. She had a few remaining Cirranadrones that needed taking care of so he went to help her finish them off. The first time he attacked the warriors he realized how much the metallic armor was helping in the fight. They were much easier this time than they had been less than an hour ago. He was glad to see that Kim had taken care of most of them by herself. If she could start getting back to ranger duties with her having a boyfriend, Tommy might let up on her. Of course Tommy still wouldn’t be happy about the whole boyfriend thing, but that was another story entirely.

With Jason’s help, it didn’t take long for her to vanquish the rest of the Cirranadrones. The pink and green rangers quickly rushed to the aide of their two teammates. Without having a full team they were forced to pool all of their weapons together and fire everything they had at the monster. Just like any other monster in battle he was brought down, grew and they defeated him once and for all before heading to the Command Chamber.

"The metallic armor did the trick." Carri said as they all arrived in the Command Chamber

"This time. Their power is growing, eventually they’ll be able to overpower it." Billy said. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to stay a step ahead of the bad guys, and now that they had the metallic armor he was holding his breath to see how they’d respond. He looked around the rangers and noticed that there were only three standing there. "Where’s Kim?"

"Considering the monster fighting is done she probably went back to her boyfriend." Carri pointed out. She was slightly ticked that her friend didn’t come back to check in, but she couldn’t blame her. After the argument with Tommy earlier, she wouldn’t want to come talk with him either.

"She had better get her head on straight. This fight is getting serious and we’re going to need her here one hundred percent." Tommy said as he crossed his arms and frowned. She damn sure needed to start acting like the red she was. Otherwise this fight was going to get a lot harder.

"Don’t worry about her bro I’m sure after today she’ll come around." Jason tried to make him feel better. He wasn’t sure if he believed that or not, but seeing her in the second part of the battle made him hopeful.

"What we should worry about is Rocky." Carri said, changing the subject before Tommy could start an argument about Kim. "How is he?"

"I found the antidote and gave it to him. He should be coming around shortly." Billy replied. Fortunately their first magical monster didn’t pack too much of a punch. It wasn’t hard at all for him to find the solution.

Carri nodded. "I’m going to go see him." she said as she walked off toward the infirmary. She headed through the doors and saw Rocky starting to stir on one of the tables. "Hey." she said as she stood beside him and cupped her hand around his

"Hey." he replied groggily. "The monster hit me?"

"Yeah." she told him nodding. "You’re fine now."

Rocky struggled to sit up. Carri reached over to help him before sitting beside him. He looked at her curiously. "Don’t we need to go take care of the monster?"

"Done." she said flashing him a smile

"And the Cirranadrones?" he questioned

"Trashed." she continued to give one word answers

"How?" he asked. The one thing he remembered about the fight was that everything was much harder than usual.

"Billy attached metallic armor to our power coins, so as long as we have them on us we can use the armor in battle." she explained

"Metallic armor? You mean the temporary shiny suits that offer more protection?" he questioned cracking a smile

"I mean the permanent shiny suits that offer more protection. We can call on the armor when we need it and it will protect us throughout the entire battle." she told him smiling back at him

"That’s great." he said as he put an arm around her waist. He looked up as the door opened and Jason walked through.

"How are you?" Jason asked curiously, looking over at Rocky as he entered

"I’ve had better days. But I’ll be fine." he told him

"Is Tommy still here?" Carri questioned looking up at Jason as well

The green ranger shook his head no. "He took off. Probably went home to pout." At least he hoped he did. He wanted Tommy to go home and get the earlier frustrations out of his system. Although as long as Kim was dating someone else, Jason could only assume that Tommy would still be frustrated.

"Something happen?" Rocky asked. He couldn’t help but wonder why Tommy would be home pouting.

"Tommy’s pissed that Kim’s ignoring her red duties. He’s even more pissed that she’s ignoring her duties because she’s with another man." Carri explained the situation. "They got into a fight earlier."

"He knows about Josh?" Rocky questioned. He couldn’t imagine that was a good thing. He was afraid if he knew what Kim and Josh had been up to that he’d want to kill him.

"He knows that she’s dating but he doesn’t know who. Which is going to be our little secret." Carri said gesturing to the three rangers in the room

Jason put his fingers to his lips and gestured that he was zipping them up and throwing away the key before flashing Carri a smile. "The secret is safe." he assured her

"Good." she replied. Jason already promised earlier not to tell Tommy and she knew he wouldn’t, but she wanted to remind him not to say anything. After the little argument they had in the Command Chamber she feared that Tommy would rip her brother limb from limb if he got his hands on him.

Rocky leaned over and kissed the top of Carri’s head before bringing her into him and resting his chin on her head. "I’d love to stay and chat but I’m way behind on what I needed to get done today."

Carri let out a sigh. If anyone understood being behind, it was her. She wished that he could stay a bit longer since he just recovered, but she knew she’d have to let him go. "Alright. If you need anything call." she said as she sat up and gave him a kiss

"I will." he promised her. He said goodbye to Jason and assured Carri he’d see her later before teleporting out.

"You ready to head out?" Carri asked looking over at Jason

He nodded and the duo took off a few seconds later.

Callisto stood in the throne room of the palace Rhianna had built, her arms crossed and her eyes glowing red. "Metallic armor? You mean we can’t penetrate it?"

"Not with the technology we have now." Goldar replied. As soon as he and Cratus returned they went to fill Callisto and Rhianna in. Goldar told them everything he knew about the metallic armor from the last time the rangers used it. Not surprisingly, their two female leaders were not happy.

"That monster was weak. The blue ranger survived. Could we not strengthen our monsters and break through the armor?" Rhianna wondered aloud, looking toward the older warrior for a response

"I will have to see what I can find. I’m sure there is a way to strengthen our forces to overcome their armor." the goddess replied, sounding more confident than she felt. She had no idea what to do at the moment, but she knew that she would have to immediately start researching the matter. She could use Goldar and Cratus to reach out across the galaxy, there had to be someone out there who knew how to surpass the armor.

She was more irritated about her Cirranadrones rather than the monster. She thought they were almost perfect thanks to her upgrades. Now they were no better than they were before. She had to find a way to make them more effective against those rangers and their damned armor. For a moment she found herself missing the days she was a mortal. It was easier to have her army then. They would destroy entire towns and there wasn’t a hero that could stop them. At least not one in shiny arrow proof armor. This war was turning out to be more challenging than she wanted.

Rhianna spoke, focusing Callisto’s thoughts back on the situation at hand. "We will figure out how to take them out. This is only a minor setback." she said agreeing with Callisto’s earlier statement. There had to be a way to overcome this situation. She came all the way to Earth to avenge her parents deaths and take over their planet, and she wasn’t going to give up that easily.

Callisto nodded before she walked off. She wanted to figure out a solution and she wanted to figure it out quickly. Patience was never one of her virtues, and she hated waiting for her revenge.

Kim sat in the airport, nuzzled into Josh’s arms. It wouldn’t be long before his flight started boarding and he would have to leave in order to get through security and reach the gate.

"I’m sorry about lunch." Kim said. They hadn’t really discussed it, but by the time she got back from the fight he had to take off and gather his things in order to make it to the airport and get checked in on time.

"It’s ok." Josh assured her. "Whether I like it or not, that’s more important than us." he said. And he didn’t like it, not in the least. But he couldn’t tell her to stop being a ranger any more than he could tell his sister. It was in their blood, and to love them was to embrace that part of them.

"Next time we see each other I’ll make up for it, I promise." she told him. She felt bad that her ranger duties got in the way, but they did come first. She couldn’t ignore them and leave her friends to fight the forces of evil alone and hope for the best.

"Why don’t you come up and visit me." Josh suggested. "I have a few ideas on how you could make it up to me." he added as he looked down at her and grinned before pulling her in and giving her a kiss.

"I have a few deadlines at work over the next two weeks. But maybe after that?" she said looking at him to see if that was alright

"I’m counting on it." Josh replied. He hated that he had to go back to New York and not see her forever. But it was comforting to know that she was going to come visit him and they could resume the passion that they found with each other in Angel Grove.

Kim let out a satisfied sigh as she cured up and eased back into his arms. She was going to miss having him around, miss spending time with him and talking to him and touching him. It was really hard having a boyfriend on the other side of the country as she knew firsthand from her experiences in Florida as a teenager. This was different though. This time she wasn’t worried that there was a tall blonde with a pretty accent standing around waiting for her to turn her back so she could whisk her boyfriend away.

Above them the speakers cracked and a voice came through, announcing the boarding of Josh’s flight home. Josh leaned over and kissed Kim’s forehead. "That’s me baby."

"I know." she said quietly as she put her arms around him unwilling to let go

Josh looked over at her and cupped her face with his hands, pulling her in for a passionate kiss. He felt her arms loosen from around his waist and her hands graze across his chest. They were completely enthralled with each other for that moment. As Josh pulled back he ran his hands down her arms, stopping when he got to her hands. He clasped them together and brought them to his lips, kissing her fingers gently. "I’ll call you when I get home. And I promise we’ll see each other soon."

Kim nodded and smiled at him. "I’ll see you soon." she said as they stood. She threw her arms around him and gave him one last kiss before letting him go through security and toward his gate. She watched from the window as he boarded his plane, then stood there waiting until it took off. Once the plane was out of sight, she turned and headed for the exits so she could make her way back home.

Jason and Carri sat on Carri’s porch, enjoying the warmth of a spring day. They had spent time after the fight hanging out, with Jason trying his hardest to catch up on events he was behind on.

"So when does Josh leave?" Jason asked. The sooner the better as far as he was concerned. If Kim wasn’t going on dates all the time she’d be a more focused ranger and Tommy wouldn’t have the urge to kill someone.

Carri glanced down at her watch. "He should be on his way as we speak." she said. Assuming Josh made his flight he’d be well on his way back to New York by now.

"Good. Maybe we can get Kim back on track." Jason said, speaking his earlier thoughts out loud

"Maybe we can avoid the petty arguments when there are more important things to worry about." Carri pointed out. The one thing that she was most fumed about over Kim and Tommy’s earlier Command Chamber spat was that Rocky was hurt and there were monsters they couldn’t defeat roaming Earth. Meanwhile the two on the team that were current reds were more concerned about the fact that the other was dating someone else and not on the fact that they were all about to get their asses kicked. She thought for a moment before she spoke again. "I think they miss each other."

"What would give you that idea?" Jason asked, although he had gotten the same vibes himself

"Tommy wants to rip Josh’s head off for touching Kim, even though he shouldn’t care anymore. And no matter what Kim said she was jealous over blonde big boobs." Carri pointed out. She had asked Kim several times before, and each time Kim said that she was only upset that Tommy moved on so quickly. But Carri definitely got the sense that there was something more than that.

"Danielle." Jason corrected her for the thousandth time. She shrugged and smiled over at him and he rolled his eyes. She knew damn well what the girls name was, she just refused to use it. It didn’t bother Jason though and he continued. "You’re right by the way. There’s more between those two than they’re admitting. But considering they’re both stubborn and won’t listen to us, it will be interesting how it plays out." It might actually be good for Jason to watch it play out. The drama that was going on around him was more than interesting and it got his creative juices flowing.

"I think they’ll," Carri started but stopped short as she heard the sliding glass door open behind her. She turned to see Kim walk out onto the porch and she flashed her a smile. "Hey."

"Hey guys." Kim greeted her two dearest friends. "I hope I’m not interrupting."

"Of course not. Pull up a chair." Carri said as she gestured to her porch furniture. "Did Josh get on his flight ok?" she asked

Kim pulled up a seat and shot Carri a look. Unless something had changed Jason had no idea that she was seeing Josh and if she could she was going to keep it that way.

Carri waved off her expression. "He knows."

"We saw you last night." Jason said as he couldn’t help but smile at her. "In the park."

"We? Who’s we?" Kim said fearing that Tommy had seen her with Josh and that’s why he’d gone off on her earlier

"Me and Tommy." Jason said. He saw the panicked look come across Kim’s face so he elaborated. "We recognized you but we didn’t recognize the man who was feeling you up. Carri told me this morning that it was her brother."

"And you’re not going to tell Tommy right?" she questioned glaring at him

Jason chuckled, wondering how many times that day he was going to have to make that particular promise. "Of course I’m not going to tell him. It’s not worth it. You’ll kill me for giving up your boyfriend’s identity and she’ll kill me for getting her brother pummeled."

Kim nodded and smiled at him before glancing back and forth to both of her friends. "I’m sorry if you guys think I haven’t been around much lately ranger wise."

"It’s ok. As long as you get back in the game." Carri assured her

"Since Josh is in New York he won’t be here to distract me." Kim promised. She knew she had been slacking since Josh had come into town. She had never turned her back on a fight, but she hadn’t been hanging around the Command Chamber as much as she used to.

Carri nodded even though she wasn’t quite sure if that was true. He wasn’t in on that morning’s fight and he still distracted her. The best thing would be for them to break up so she knew Kim’s mind would solely be on the fight and she didn’t have to worry about thinking about her best friend sleeping with her brother. She was hoping one of the tabloids would catch him having one of his little flings and that would put a quick end to their relationship.

"We just need to refocus on what’s going on. I have a feeling things are going to get worse from here." Jason pointed out. They were going to have to up their forces to take on the rangers and that could get ugly quickly.

Kim shrugged. "We’ve done good at handling what they’ve thrown at us so far. What’s the worst that could happen?"

Her two friends shot her a look. Neither wanted an answer to that question. The metallic armor was going to prove to be helpful, but Callisto was extremely powerful and Rhianna was learning quickly, which meant that they could upgrade their powers to be able to get through the metallic armor. And nobody wanted to find out what could happen if they were able to do that.

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