Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to KJ. There’s only one Carri babe….

Author’s note: The Copy Cat came to life after a long and occasionally wild conversation with KJ, where we decided to write the same story from different angles.

... In the spirit of things, the copy cat monster herself and the battle scene were copied directly from KJ’s Cheaters Never Prosper.

… I also took a lot of AU liberties with building codes/inspection processes regarding Kim house, and this AU also assumes that Jason remained the Gold Ranger until he graduated high school.

What would you do if you were copied without permission? On the one hand, imitation can be flattering, but when that imitation extends to the show she created, Carri just isn’t amused…..AND as the Rangers slide in to the holiday season, it just seems really hard to get into the spirit of things.

All things Power Rangers belong to Saban and Disney. All things Carri belong to KJ, with many thanks. The copy cat monster and the ensuing fight scene are also KJ’s and were unrepentantly cut and pasted and glaringly plagiarized, but I did ask permission first. Demonking belongs solely to Daniel White and Teeg and Rexo belong to KS and me. The premise of the Coin Series was inspired by a story written by Terry, Chris, Daniel, Brice, Katey and myself, but has digressed terribly since it started and no longer bares much resemblance to the original...

The Coins takes place in an alternate dimension.

Power Rangers: The Coin Series
The Copy Cat

“You know, we could have taken a car.” Jason said as he slowed his pace for the third time as they passed one drab and identical building after another.

“Why would we take a car to go four bunkers down.” Adam said testily, his leg visibly limping with each step he took across the tarmac.

In the three weeks since the battle against Teeg, Adam’s right leg just hadn’t healed the way it should have. It had been fine while he was morphed and it was fine for a while after Billy hooked him up to the medical beds and stimulated the nerves in his lower back, but now Rocky was back, which put an end to the morphing, and he and Tanya would soon be returning to New York after spending the holiday with her parents.

After only two days without a morpher, his leg was obviously stiff and sore and he had begun to limp noticeably. Billy was at a loss. There was something wrong with his sacral and femoral nerve, but biology wasn’t his strongest subject and the computer didn’t seem to have a permanent fix available. He supposed he could send Adam to Aquitar now that Carri was home, but he had another idea he wanted to try out first.

One of his colleagues had transferred from Mariner Bay to NASADA as part of the first phase of the new refugee city project. His job was to develop and strategically place medical facilities in various quadrants that could service a multitude of alien physiologies over a wide variety of medical specialties. Billy had agreed to act as a consultant and, although he considered the work tediously boring, it did give him some connections. One of the teams working on the project was also working on improving the neurological treatment facilities on Earth in general and was developing an experimental process that would artificially copy the nerves in the spinal cord, effectively bypassing damaged or severed bundles and stimulating the muscles into action as if nothing was wrong. He’d been able to get Adam a consultation with the research team and Jason had agreed to walk over with him.

The team didn’t know the details of who was coming, but they did know that someone from level eight who had sustained a traumatic injury was coming over for an evaluation. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it was most likely a Power Ranger who had been hurt. Jason was well known on the complex as working closely with the Rangers, and had wanted to tag along to dissuade anyone from asking too many questions.

This particular bunker was only on a level five security, which was still pretty tight and he didn’t think it would be a problem, but rumors were easy to start and he considered himself a lot more intimidating than Adam was. “Come on grandpa.” Jason chided as he slowed down yet again.

“Very funny.” Adam growled, obviously dragging his leg and moving it with effort.

Jason winced. That was one of the drawbacks to being a Ranger as you slid into thirty, you just didn’t bounce back from injuries as quickly as you did at sixteen. Turning twenty nine hadn’t phased Jason much. His birthday had come and gone with little fanfare and except for a phone call from his mom bugging him to come over for dinner and a grim reaper doll from Kim, he’d pretty much ignored it.

The concept of turning thirty didn’t bother him all that much. Considering his link to Muirantias and that Lerigot estimated his lifespan somewhere around nine or ten thousand Earth years, thirty wasn’t even a drop in the bucket. What bothered Jason was watching his friends growing up. Life was changing again and it bugged him.

In their teens, they had been invincible. They went to school, played hard, and saved the world. Life was awesome and it didn’t seem like it would ever be different. Then they graduated and went to college and even though they had more freedoms and responsibilities, things were also pretty much still the same: Go to school, play hard, help others to save the world. Somewhere about twenty five, things changed. Although Jason’s life at NASADA kept him pretty isolated from the outside, and in the same save the universe loop that he’d been in for years, his friends were changing. They were growing up and settling down; getting married and having kids. It was weird. Even Adam was feeling the pressure from his wife to start having children.

Kim’s close call and subsequent pairing off with Tommy had seriously affected him as well. For the last few years, he’d been content with his life. He seriously loved what he did; loved traveling the universe and thwarting evil, loved being on the inside of Earth’s migration into a new era, loved the adventure and excitement and even the power. But his carefully contrived lifestyle had a flaw; it depended on Kim and Carri to fill the emotional void of a relationship. For all the headaches the girls gave him, he had enjoyed having them flutter around him. They were safe. He could hug and cuddle with them and enjoy their affections, but he knew that neither of them would put the demands on him that a real relationship with a female would. Kim was his sister and would always be connected to him as his Muirantian twin, and even though what he felt for Carri wasn’t exactly sisterly, it was also a safe kind of love. Sex, he could find anywhere, but loving someone, that was a little harder.

He didn’t regret letting Carri go. There was a huge part of him that was thrilled she had found a happy relationship with Rocky, but he also missed her. Rocky was possessive and jealous and didn’t like him paying attention to her; harmless or not. So he had stepped back. Kimberly understood, and had honestly done her best to step up and fill the void Carri had left, but now she was firmly attached to someone else as well. She still tried to be there for him though. When Tommy had bristled at him for hugging her a little too long, she’d stood up to her fiancé and flatly stated that she came with Jason in tow, period, and Tommy needed to get over it. His friend had given him an odd look and backed down, but Jason had clearly gotten the message. Sisterly bond or no, Tommy wasn’t going to put up with him sharing Kim’s affections any more than Rocky was going to put up with sharing Carri’s.

It was an odd place to be. What had been such a comfortable and carefully contrived lifestyle four months ago, was now isolating. He was odd man out, the only single guy in the midst of married friends. He didn’t know what he could do about it either. The women he dated weren’t exactly the kind he’d introduce his friends too…let alone his mom. They were fun to play with, but to be honest, they were all pretty much cheap little clones and he was grateful to go home alone without them at night. He supposed he could go out and find a nice girl to date, but then what? It wasn’t like he had a nine- to-five job. NASADA and Lightspeed both paid him very well for what he did, and he had all the other amenities you looked for in a stable job, but he could never reveal his job description, let alone relate the day to day tasks he was required to perform.

He’d told his parents he was in the Secret Service, which was true, after a fashion, but what would he tell a steady girlfriend? Bolting off at any given time to answer a page on his communicator got really old, really quick. That was why he’d stopped trying to have relationships after a while; well, that and the fact that steady girlfriends expected a proposal.

He was at a crossroads. It wasn’t a mid-life crisis, he was far too young for that. Life just wasn’t as comfortable as it had been a few months ago. He was lonely and frankly jealous that his friends had gone out and found successful relationships when he hadn’t. As he watched Adam limp through the door of the bunker, he determined that his priorities needed re-evaluating. He decided to bail on his date and just sit home and try to figure things out. Maybe Kim was right, the reason he would never find a woman that could understand and put up with his lifestyle was because he had never honestly gone out and tried to find one. Easy for her to say, he thought grimly.

Rocky’s head hurt. He and Carri had been back for two days, but the time-disorienting feeling of jet-lag had stuck with him and he was tired and grouchy. He had gone over to his mother’s house very early that morning before the kids left for school to sit down and talk things out, but he wasn’t getting much of a chance to do any talking. His disappearance for the last three weeks had only added fuel to the fire that was already burring hot between himself and his mother and siblings. Fortunately, the youngest two would be getting on the school bus in about five minutes and he’d have a good excuse to leave.

He had paid the mortgage and the utilities before he left the planet, but he had stopped paying the tuition and other expenses of his siblings when they sided with his mother and against him and Carri. He didn’t have any guilt about that, which surprised him, but now, not even eight weeks later, the kids were in serious dilemmas. It was hard for Rocky to see them in trouble, he was way too used to taking care of them, but after several months of being around Carri, it was a lot easier not to cave into their whining. It was three days before Thanksgiving and he honestly wanted to bury the hatchet with his family, but instead of meeting him even half way, the kids had descended upon him about how horrible their lives were and his mother was blaming him. Somehow it was all his fault… because he’d continued to date that woman. That had been a poor beginning and as the hour he’d spent at the kitchen table crawled by, it didn’t get much better.

His brother Teo, who was twenty-five and the next oldest next to him, was in the worst shape. His truck was in danger of being repossessed because he hadn’t taken his brother seriously and made the last two car payments. He had a good job that he loved as a DJ, but whereas most DJ’s had a second job during the week, Teo only worked one or two nights and that just barely paid his rent, let alone his car payment. Without his truck, he couldn’t haul his equipment around and if he couldn’t do that, he was going to lose his job. He was also behind on his share of the rent and his roommates were seriously upset. Rocky’s comment that he might want to consider a second job hadn’t gone over well. Teo apparently, suddenly, wanted to go back to school and he couldn’t possibly do that if he worked during the week. This didn’t sit well with Rocky, who had delivered pizzas and opened his Karate school while putting himself through college.

Next up was his sister Nina, who’s twenty-third birthday party he’d missed while on Aquitar. Nina was a very good friend of Marie’s and had been the most vocal against Carri. Technically, she worked as a secretary for his schools, answering phone calls, paying bills, and collecting tuition checks. Apparently Master Archer, his friend from college who he’d hired to oversee his schools when he couldn’t be there, had decided to crack down on her while he was gone.

Instead of allowing her to calculate her own hours and write her own paycheck each week, he’d created a sign-in book and forced her to sign in and out whenever she came and left the school. At the end of the week, he’d docked her each time she took more than an hour for lunch, and he’d also docked her for being late and leaving early. Despite her protests, he had taken the checkbook away from her and was also now insisting she wasn’t going to get another paycheck until she’d worked off the duplicate paychecks she’d been giving herself. This caught Rocky’s attention immediately and he suddenly realized why expenses seemed so high in comparison to the money coming in over the last few years.

Far from being repentant, she was furious that Master Archer had challenged her, the sister of the owner, and was demanding Rocky fire him. Archer had apparently been making life hell for Nina in other ways too; hanging up the phone when he thought she was talking too long with her friends, shooing her boyfriend out when he hung around for too long, telling her she had to dress more conservatively in front of the kids, no more i-pod inside the school, forbidding her from reading romance novels on the front desk, and a whole host of other things. Worst of all, since he had docked her salary the last three weeks, she couldn’t pay even the minimum on her credit card bills and was now probably going to have to move home with their mother. Far from being sympathetic, Rocky found himself considering raising Archer’s salary.

Eddie was up next complaining that the school was also bugging him to get his tuition paid and he didn’t know about his car payments, but he hadn’t made any himself. In contrast to their sister, his youngest brother wasn’t all that worried about it though. He was nineteen and very laid back and Rocky found himself staring into his brother’s red eyes and wondering if he was stoned or was recovering from being stoned the previous night.

His two youngest sisters, Doninta and Ileana, were just chatter boxes and Rocky found himself tuning them out and watching the clock until they left for the bus stop. Doni was pissed that she didn’t have a car like her other siblings, but heaven forbid she go out and get a job after school. She had cheer practice and other activities and already couldn’t find the time to get her homework done. A job would just bring her GPA down that much further. Rocky had gotten cars for the other two and she thought it was horribly unfair that she didn’t have one too.

Rocky couldn’t begin to imagine what problems fourteen year old Ileana could bring up, but apparently she’d been caught cheating and was suspended from school for three months. That seemed harsh to Rocky, until he learned that she’d actually hacked into the school’s computer, downloaded its information on tests and exams for the rest of the year, changed her grades for the term, and then given it a nasty virus. His mother insisted that the whole affair was somehow his fault because he had created so much turmoil in their lives and the youngest was naturally just acting out against it. His mother now demanded that he pay for the tutor they’d found so she could stay on track and not fall behind the other kids.

As Doni stood up to catch the high school bus, Rocky stood too. He thanked his mother for the coffee and grabbed his car keys telling them they needed to figure it out themselves. He was honestly sorry that they probably wouldn’t be spending Thanksgiving together for the first time ever, but the idea of a quiet dinner with just Carri was sounding better and better.

He didn’t think it was Carri’s influence that gave him the courage to walk out the door again, ignoring the protests of the family, but he was very grateful he had such a strong and independent woman in his life. He was tired of taking care of people who didn’t appreciate what he did for them. He thought maybe this was how his dad must have felt eleven years ago. As he turned to close the door behind him, he looked Nina in the eyes and told her she was fired.

Tommy was not having a good day. His brother sat propped up on the porch of the old house, a huge I told you so look plastered firmly on his face. They had received a “stop work” order by the county until the inspectors could come out and determine if they had the right permits. He had a sneaking suspicion that the whole affair had something to do with the development group that had been trying to buy Heartland’s land from Kimberly. They had bought up all the surrounding acreage for a huge planned community and Heartland itself was the last piece of land they hadn’t acquired. She had been refusing them politely ever since the sale had been finalized, but lately they’d stopped increasing their offers and had gotten downright aggressive.

He had no idea who else would have tipped off the county that there was documented asbestos in the house and that no inspectors had been out to insure the substance was properly disposed of. For the last ten days, he had spent extra time he didn’t have producing documents where none had previously existed. It was a nightmare. What had really happened to the asbestos insulation could absolutely not become part of a government record where the general public could view it. It had been filtered, bundled up, and then sent to KO-34 where it was considered as priceless as gold was on Earth.

He had agreed to ship it off world as part of Earth’s appeasement settlement when the Kaoan government had cried outrage over the incident involving Andros. It had seemed such a simple solution. They wanted it, he wanted to get rid of it, and Andros hadn’t cared one way or another. He had no idea how priceless that substance was to the Kaoans, or he might not have sent so much of it, but all parties had been happy…that is until he’d been asked to provide documentation on the company who had removed it, papers assuring it had been removed according to law, and documentation proving it had been disposed of properly.

Fortunately, he’d been able to call in a few favors and a local corporation with close ties to NASADA had provided Stone Canyon County with the documents they requested. That still left the matter of the inspector, who had started complaining of other violations and was currently going through the house with a fine tooth comb. Michael was with him and the two seemed to come back out on the porch to review the blueprints every two or three minutes, then delve back inside to discuss something else.

His brother had found the whole thing hilarious. He had warned Tommy against taking on his then ex-girlfriend’s renovation and warned him even more about using too much alien technology to get the job done faster. Stone Canyon was notorious for their vicious rules and regulations. Too many homes, built in the housing boom of the early nineties, were falling apart and having serious problems because of lax enforcement of the building codes. This, combined with the need to control the growing sprawl out of Angel County, had enticed them to come down hard on all construction projects ever since.

Enforcement and fines were extreme and the inspectors themselves referred to a Nazis. Rumor had it the inspector who found the most violations was given a bonus at the end of the month. It was only a rumor, but given the asshole crawling around Kim’s house, Tommy was inclined to believe it. Michael had firmly sent him outside after the first five minutes, saying he wasn’t helping the matter with his scowls and growling and he’d been sitting on the porch with his brother ever since.

If the house and property had been solely in one county, it wouldn’t have been that big of a problem; they could just be very precise in their paperwork. However, of Kim’s two-hundred and thirty-six acres, twenty-four of them lay across the Stone Canyon County line. Unfortunately, that’s also where the house was, but not the whole house, just part of it. Angel County had softened their codes, restrictions, and ability to obtain permits to make it easier to repair monster damage more quickly and to encourage people to buy and renovate the older homes there and the inspector from Stone Canyon wasn’t about to accept any documentation from them on permits or passed inspections.

To build the road up to the house from the main road, they had to get a permit from Angel County and get an identical one from Stone Canyon County as well. To rebuild the porch and part of the roof where structural changes were necessary, they also had to have duplicate permits. To re-establish the water connection, they had to go through Stone Canyon, but the actual hookup site was on the part of the house that sat in Angel County. Although the house was going to be primarily solar powered, they were still required by Stone Canyon to hook the house up to public utilities or they wouldn’t pass inspection. Those connections would have to come from Angel County, however the Stone Canyon inspector firmly refused to approve the installation of the electrical and gas lines until they amended their construction permits and abided by Stone Canyon regulations. As the Angel County lines apparently didn’t meet those regulations, a special dispensation was going to have to be applied for before work could continue on the house.

Tommy had had enough. After the idiot combing through the house was finished, he was going to go down to the Stone Canyon County Government Center and file permits for everything he and Michael and his brother could possibly think of. Then he was going to go down to the Angel County Complex and file duplicate copies of all the permits he had filed in Stone Canyon. If that didn’t work, he was going to have someone at NASADA pick the whole damn house up and move it a good fifty feet into Angel County. He was fed up with the whole thing and his temper was boiling over.

It would help if Kimberly was actually present, but she wasn’t. She had gone to help the Nova’s secure a power coin and then she was returning with them to Rheiga 4 on personal business. Apparently two of the Nova’s had been caught in an illicit relationship; something that happened all the time on Ranger teams but was a major disgrace inside the Intergalactic community.

The boy was Elemi’s son and the girl of undetermined origin and the whole situation had caused a huge uproar. Kim had spoken extensively to Trey and Dimetria about it, which told Tommy she had known of the teenage affair longer than Elemi apparently had, and in the end it was realized that the only way the circumstances could be resolved was to give the girl Kim’s own Intergalactic status and let the two enter into a legal, but temporary, banding.

As much as Tommy got a sadistic glee out of her ex-husband’s angst and anxiety over the matter, he had agreed, as the Master of Zordon’s line, that it was an appropriate resolution. The girl possessed Kim’s old morpher and had been trained by her, it was acceptable that Kim should officially tap her as a descendant if she chose to. But even knowing that Elemi and Kim were soon to be in-laws just wasn’t enough to keep him from stewing that Kim was once again onboard her ex-husband’s ship.

She would only be gone about twelve hours Earth time, but Tommy knew how many weeks that translated into if she looped time, which he knew she was going to do, and the idea of her spending that much time with Elemi made his skin crawl and his irritability rise. She had agreed to marry him, he re-assured himself, but it didn’t help and, as the minutes ticked by, his mood became more and more foul.

Tommy watched as the inspector and Michael once again emerged from the house and Michael once again insisted that the Angel County permit for whatever construction project was under question was definitely the right one needed. Once again, the inspector challenged him, referring to his notes and the two continued their discussion back into the house. Tommy leaned his head forward and then threw it back, banging it several times against the outside wall of the house. His brother chuckled and he turned and glared at him unmercifully. This was going to be a very long, tedious, and frustrating morning.

One thing was certain, if his spies determined that the development group was the one behind his recent problems with Stone Canyon County, he was going to go after them with a vengeance. They were messing with the wrong pissed off Power Ranger.

Carri had already been home for two days, of which she slept through most of, but it still startled her when she woke up and saw her bedroom and not the tiny holding room she’d been sleeping in for the last three weeks. She was still tired and fatigued, but having her morpher back helped things considerably. She rolled over and stretched her hand out for Rocky, but there was only an empty pillow, which meant that he had already left for work without waking her. She frowned, not liking that he’d slipped out without saying goodbye, but she understood. He’d been extremely overprotective in the last forty-eight hours and had been insistent that they go to bed early the previous night so she could rest; not waking her probably meant he still wanted her to catch up on her sleep.

She was done with resting though. It had taken the past two days to get over the jetlag feeling she’d had, but she was feeling better now. Kicking a monster’s ass yesterday had been pure bliss and that, more than anything else, had restored her spirits. She still hadn’t had a chance to talk to Kim about recent developments with her powers, but she realized was going to have to make time as soon as her friend got back from Rheiga 4. She hadn’t even told Rocky, although she knew he suspected something was up.

The combination of the water from the Eternal Falls and her Ninjetti powers had done something to her. The metallic venom from the Apis monster had been strikingly similar to the venom in Ivan’s scorpions. That’s what had caused the allergic reaction she’d suffered, but it had also changed her physiology. Weird Ranger powers were not unheard of, she knew that, but she’d never experienced any of them before either. In the last week alone, she’d been able to use the metallic like compounds in her cells to form a type of armor around her hands. The armor was electrically charged and she’d been able to do all kinds of fascinating things with it. It was both weird and fascinating at the same time.

Practicing had been extremely difficult, the process left her exhausted and she was rarely left alone because Rocky hovered over her. Now that she was back on Earth and he’d be gone at work all day, she was eager to see just what these new powers could do; but she needed to talk to Kim first. Kim wasn’t Dulcea, but she knew a hell of a lot about Ninjetti powers from her training on Phaedos. She didn’t want to give up her new found ability, it fascinated her, but she wanted more information on it before she got in over her head.

Stretching, she rolled out of bed and wandered out into the kitchen in search of coffee. She had a mountain of mail to go through and her dad’s production office had a conference call scheduled at noon that she had to be ready for. It was good to be home, but catching up on all her missed work was going to be a serious pain in the ass for a while.

Trini shoved the copies of her divorce papers into the drawer, purposely placing them well away from the file that contained the copy of their marriage license for the ceremony on Friday. She and Billy should have been married by now, but a last minute phone call from his mother had postponed things. She wanted to fly in and be there for the ceremony, which had shocked her son, but the only weekend she could get off from work was the week of Thanksgiving.

Billy hadn’t wanted to wait, sighting his mother’s dubious past history of claiming she’d show up for something and then blowing it off, but he had eventually caved to pressure from his father. Trini had told him waiting a few more weeks wouldn’t matter to her, but as the days got closer, she really wished they would have just flown to Los Vegas. She was obviously pregnant now and even though the folds of her maternity blouse hid the small bulge, she was still overly conscious of it.

Billy was in a horrible mood at the prospect of being around his mother again and the sudden news a few days ago that she was bringing her husband with her, a husband no one knew she had, had only added fuel to an already angry fire. Billy never lost his temper with her, but in the last few days, he’d been short and snappish and an absolute hellion around NASADA. The Rangers chalked it up to pre-wedding jitters, but Trini knew he was simply dreading seeing his mother again and all the old slights and angers of the twenty years since she’d walked out on him were flooding back.

Trini really couldn’t identify. Her mother was dominating, but she had to admit that she had two very loving and stable parents and a good solid upbringing. She barely remembered Billy’s mother and those memories were more along the lines of being surprised that he had one. She’d only been to visit twice in the time between elementary and high school and he rarely spoke of her.

She knew that the woman had called her son defective and had flat out told him the reason she was leaving his father was because she couldn’t deal with his oddities. That still hurt Billy, but she also knew his father had been a great parent and Billy had as stable of an upbringing as she had; if only in a single parent household.

She sighed heavily, thinking of the small ceremony on Friday. Part of her was excited, but part of her wanted to spend Thanksgiving quietly, without a fuss, instead of fretting over rehearsals and relatives. It was going to be a larger wedding than she had originally wanted, but still tiny; only about twenty-five people were attending.

Small as it was, it was all far more complicated than she really wanted to deal with right now. Her mother was flying around like a chicken trying to add this or that into the ceremony and to make sure this or that decoration or food item was present and Trini simply rolled her eyes and let her flutter about.

Billy’s mother was supposed to fly in on Wednesday and spend Thanksgiving with them, but she had just left a message for Billy saying she had another obligation and would now be flying in early Friday morning, just before the wedding that afternoon. Billy wasn’t going to be happy and she wasn’t quite sure how to tell him yet. They had specifically postponed the ceremony so that she could be there, now Trini wondered if they had postponed things for nothing.

Jason and Adam weren’t kept waiting long, people from level eight generally weren’t, Jason mused, and both were quickly led to a set of elevators nearly identical to the ones in their own compound. NASADA may have the cutting edge in alien technology, Jason thought to himself, but they were really short on originality. Lightspeed was different. Talk about cool buildings and facilities. NASADA was effective, which was why Billy was here, but it was just so …blah.

The elevators did a quick security check, nothing compared to level eight, and then began their decent to the right level. All the while the aide escorting them gushed. Adam apparently found the attention amusing, usually it was Tanya who was gushed over and not him, but Jason kept his no nonsense scowl firmly in place. After a few minutes, it amused him to note that the aide began to keep a cautious distance from him and focused most of her chatter towards Adam.

As Jason expected, just about everyone they encountered was anticipating real live Power Rangers. They were respectful of their insistence that they were only volunteers who “worked with” the Power Rangers, but no one actually believed that alibi. Security around the two had been overblown and Jason firmly resolved to have Billy look into it afterward. They were assured over and over that the team who would be working on Adam’s injury had been thoroughly screened by multiple sources. Their alibi as volunteers would have been much more believable if no security requirements had been demanded. All the added hoopla did was draw attention to the fact that they were not ordinary NASADA workers.

Finally, the pair were left alone in a large infirmary of sorts and Jason allowed himself to chuckle over the whole situation. Adam grinned in response and the two rolled their eyes in mutual understanding of the idiocy of it all.

“If it’s like this now,” Adam piped up, “I wonder what’s going to happen when Tommy’s information campaign gets going in earnest.”

“Don’t remind me.” Jason scowled.

Tommy’s proposed information campaign had met with a lot of resistance from the Zeos, primarily because they were the ones slotted to be the first Rangers put out to the media for interviews; excluding, as it happened, Zeo five, who was just too busy at the moment and had assigned another red to take his place. Kim had hemmed and hawed, but eventually she had agreed to do the first interview with Cassidy, explaining why the girls had protested that day. Karone had been scheduled to appear as well, but mysteriously disappeared, claiming way too innocently that she had completely “forgotten” about it.

Kim hadn’t been too phased by the defection and Jason wondered if the two girls had discussed it ahead of time. Since Kim’s decision to protest with her that day, she and Karone had become fast friends. As Kimberly was the spawn of Maligore and Karone was Dark Specter’s former heir, the two had cheekily pronounced each other cousins, much to the amusement of Andros and the Zeos. Even without Karone, Kim had done an awesome job and the four minute piece had run on just about every news station across the globe.

Unfortunately, she’d given such a good performance, Tommy was now pressing her to take the unmasked job of official “press secretary” to the Rangers. She had flatly refused and Jason knew they had argued loudly and viciously over it, but Tommy kept at her. Jason figured she’d probably cave eventually. She was pretty, spoke both English and French fluently, had been a fairly famous athlete and sports commentator, a co-host to her own TV show, and she knew how to give interviews and be interviewed. Most importantly, she always caved when Tommy really wanted her to do something.

Officially, all the Zeos, including both Carri and Karone were now openly employed by the New Tech City Project. Somewhere in the last week or so Tech had been substituted for Refugee because someone thought it might sound too much like a refugee internment camp instead of a modern intergalactic city. Jason thought New Tech City sounded stupid, but no one had asked him for his opinion and everyone seemed to ignore him when he gave it anyway.

Their official jobs hadn’t exactly been outlined yet, but Tommy had kept them more than busy between that and their other responsibilities. Jason thought the entire affair was insane, but he had to admit he’d warmed up to it a little more in the last week. It was grueling, tedious, monotonous work, but some of it was actually kind of fun. Besides, Tommy had made sure Jason’s other work in the galaxy wasn’t compromised, which had given him a good excuse to get out of more than one lame assignment; so he was content.

He was so lost in his own musings, it startled him when the door opened and Billy’s colleague, Dr. Iwate, and his group walked in. They introduced themselves to Adam first and then turned and greeted Jason. He stood casually and extended his hand to each of the team, not really paying all that much attention. But when his hand clasped the small female one of Dr. Mann, his head snapped up. There, in front of him, was a face he hadn’t seen in more than ten years.

“Emily.” He said, stunned.

Zedd was thoroughly depressed. The last monster attack had failed more miserably than the others. Actually, the monster had been alright, but the claybots had mysteriously hardened half way through the battle and begun shattering as the Rangers kicked them. It was pathetic and he just didn’t understand it. Neither, apparently, did Sirius who was justifiably terrified for his own life at this point.

For the last three weeks, the attacks had been wretched at best; each and every one of them a disastrous carbon copy failure of the last. At one point, it almost looked as though Sirius was done working through the bugs in their machinery, but that monster had also crumbled at the most critical moment. It just didn’t matter what he did, nothing worked. Even supervising Sirius from start to finish hadn’t produced better results.

He slouched miserably on his throne and leaned his chin against an armored fist. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear they were being sabotaged, but not even a tighter security net around Sirius’s lab had prevented the pathetic quality of his monsters from improving. The previous day had been a complete and total disaster and he had another forty eight hours before the next batch was completely cooked. He just didn’t get it…

“I’m going to fucking murder her!” Carri snarled. “That two timing, double crossing, sneaky, slimy, little bitch!” She screamed as Rocky closed the front door behind him. He cautiously made his way into the family room, only to duck quickly as Carri’s cell phone whizzed past him and imbedded itself in the drywall where his head had just been. She immediately froze, then raced up to him.

“Are you ok babe?” She asked, eyes wide and hand reaching up to make sure the phone hadn’t bounced off his head.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What the hell was that about.”

Her eyes immediately turned more viscous than he’d ever seen them. She threw back her head and screamed in frustration.

“What?” Rocky asked, seriously worried for her sanity. Thank god it was still early afternoon or the neighbors would be calling 911. Carri had only been back from Aquitar for two days, what could have so seriously riled her in the six hours he’d left her alone was baffling.

“That!” she hissed, pointing at the TV that was showing nothing but snow and static.

“The cable died?”

“No!” She screamed, grabbing the remote off the back of the couch and hurling it across the room. It smashed into three different pieces and the batteries scattered across the floor.

“Ok, instead of smashing any more electronics, let’s try taking some deep breaths.”

Carri took a massive breath in and exhaled it forcibly, but she still looked ready to destroy the rest of the house. She stared at the snow on the TV screen as if it were the most annoying monster she’d ever fought. She was breathing steadily in and out, but it reminded Rocky more like a bull ready to take out the matador than a calming exercise.

“No offense sweetheart,” He said, trying to add a little humor into a tight situation, “But I kind of like that big flat screen of yours, even if you’ve destroyed the remote. I’d really hate to see you take it out.”

She turned her glare on him then, but the humor worked and she stopped looking as if she was going to tear the house apart. She walked over and picked up the pieces of the remote, snapping it back together and re-inserting the batteries. She then hit the play button and the DVD whirled into action as if nothing had ever been wrong. She tossed a manila envelope on the sofa aside and motioned for him to sit down next to her.

The screen went to a blank blue color and then beeped into a color wheel. It began the countdown at five and then beeped again before showing a vaguely familiar opening sequence. It was the music from Carri’s show, but jazzed up in a funky remix, and the scenes that preceded the strikingly similar cursive title were nearly identical to Carri’s opening sequence. But instead of pictures and postcards from around the world falling across the screen, these pictures were obviously US landmarks. Where Carri’s name would usually scroll across the screen in big gold cursive letters, the screen spelled out a new name in platinum ink.

“Lizzie Banna?” Rocky asked, “Never heard of her.”

“My former assistant.” Carri growled. “She was all gung ho about taking over for me and seriously pissed off that I hired someone else.”

“So she quit and found another job?”

“No she went to another network and copied the whole damn format of my show. How the hell she moved so fast on it is beyond me. We just wrapped this season’s production in August.” Carri hit another button on the remote and the end credits began to whirl by. “Look…” She pointed to the writing scrolling upwards on the screen. “I specifically had that font made just for my show. She took my damn disks Rocky. The god damn music is even the same, all she did was hype it up and re-mix it. I don’t know how the hell she can get away with it. From start to finish it’s my show. Stylish Shopping my ass, it’s a total knock off of Boutique Style. She changed the name, but the show is the exactly same.”

“It’s a show about shopping babe.” He said and instantly regretted the comment.

“There’s a hell of a lot more involved in putting that kind of show together than just shopping. She copied the opening, the dialog style, the format, the ending, and even the damn font on the credits…and I’ll bet you anything she also took a copy of my contact and sponsor list off my laptop.”

“So what happens now?” he asked and Carri snorted.

“Dad’s had his lawyers on it for two weeks trying to get it pulled before it debuts next Sunday as a mid-season replacement.”

“And...”

“And the judge ruled this morning that it can air as long as she changes the music and the font the credits are written in.” She threw back her head and screamed again, but there was far less effort in it this time. “Damnit, where are Zedd and his monsters when I need them!” She howled.

Tommy waited impatiently in his office as the minutes ticked by. He understood that the bedroom had to remain clear of people so Kim could safely transport back in, otherwise he’d have been pacing the floor in there. She was nearly one minute past her return time, which he knew was no big deal, but he wanted her back…now. A reddish glow illuminated the hallway and he raced across it, halting at the doorframe and allowing the last of the energy to drain away before he burst in and scooped her up.

“I missed you too.” She said, smiling and pressing into him, the fatigue clear in her voice. It was nice to have someone to come home to who realized you’d been away a lot longer than the clock said you had.

“How’d it go?” He asked, hugging her tightly.

“Frustrating, but good.” She said, relaxing into his embrace.

“Frustrating?”

“Let’s just say that Teeg was not exactly amused to learn I’m still alive.”

“Are you alright.” He asked, concerned. There was obviously more to the story than that, but he knew he needed to step back and let her re-adjust to the time.

“I’m fine. Just really tired.” She said, lifting her head and kissing him soundly. “And very, very hungry.” She groaned.

Tommy grinned at her. He was slowly starting to get to know and understand her patterns. Normally, she ate very little, often forgetting to eat at all until someone reminded her; which was the Kimberly he remembered from high school. The one exception to this was when she used her powers. If she was just using them to check the progress of something or power up a viewing globe, she’d get a little irritable and grumble about the lack of snack food variety in the cupboard. If she used them to transport around, she could usually be found eating what he’d consider a normal sized meal. However, if she’d really been out and around the galaxy, looping time and seriously drawing on her Muirantian powers, she could down a shocking amount of food in a very small amount of time and become absolutely vicious if she didn’t get that food fast enough.

“I told Rocky and Carri to meet us at Bulkmier’s in half an hour for a late lunch.”

“Perfect.” She said in such a dramatic tone that he chuckled at her.

“I also told him if they get there first to go ahead and order you two of whatever he was having. I think he thought I was joking.”

“Maybe I can call ahead.” She said absently, stepping away and pulling off her Nova uniform shirt before heading into the bathroom. “Let me get a fast shower and then we can go.”

Tommy paused, considering his options. On the one hand, Kim could get nasty if she didn’t eat soon enough after a long power drain. On the other hand, she’d just taken off her shirt and turned the shower on. He really should turn around and finish copying the disks he’d started to work on for the Assembly, he thought to himself. But at the sound of the shower curtain being pulled aside he threw caution to the wind and removed his own shirt and jeans; following her into shower and completely ignoring her protests that they would be late.

“Carri, this is a bad idea. We’re gonna be late meeting Kim and Tommy.” Rocky said as he locked his car and ran after his girlfriend who was storming through Angel Grove Park. A reporter had called from a local news channel asking if Carri had a comment about Lizzie Banna shooting a reunion show with her best friend in Angel Grove Park and Carri had flown out of the condo screaming. Rocky had convinced her to at least let him drive so she didn’t kill herself or someone else on the freeway.

“She’s doing a god damn reunion special Rocky.” Carri snarled as she stomped down the sidewalk. She wasn’t sure exactly where in the ninety-five acre park she was going, but she had a pretty good idea she’d find Lizzie at the Power Rangers Memorial where she had shot the opening sequence for her own reunion episode. “She’s twenty-frek’n-four years old. How the hell does she come off doing a reunion special.” Carri stopped short and whirled around and Rocky had to dance back a few steps to keep from slamming into her. “… she went to high school in Kentucky.”

Carri spun around again and stormed off. It wasn’t long before she saw the familiar sites of a crowd watching the filming and the actions of a production crew trying to wrap things up. She avoided the crowd and made her way through the back of things, past the cameraman who was packing up his gear and right next to Lizzie, who was complaining about the lack of diet soda on the set. Lizzie physically jumped when she saw her, then, in an over the top bit of Hollywood acting, squealed, “Carri! God, I haven’t seen you in ages…have you gained weight? Domestic life looks so good on you.”

“Cut the crap Lizzie.” Carri said, extremely proud of herself for holding back and not physically throttling her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Lizzie shrugged, tossing her bleach blond hair back and doing her best to appear as if she had no idea what Carri was talking about. “Uhmm, I’m like, wrapping production for the day. Why?”

“If you wanted to go off and do your own show, that’s fine. I could honestly care less and I probably would have wished you well, even helped you, but what you’re doing is such blatant duplication of Boutique…”

“The judge said you don’t own shopping shows sweetheart.” Lizzie said nastily, perky facade dropping in an instant.

“Shopping shows no, but he did tell you to find your own music and fonts. You copied those directly off my computer didn’t you? Danny says he’s never seen you down in the studio, that’s the only other place you could have gotten it.”

“Oh please, like I would copy you… I’m totally doing my own thing.”

“You changed the name and remixed the music…everything else, the format, the outlines, even the damn postcards floating down during the opening credits…it’s all directly off my show. You’re even in Angel Grove Park at the Power Rangers Memorial doing a reunion show for Christ’s sake...”

“Excuse me, but you don’t own outlines and you don’t own the right to talk about shopping and travel. I have every right to make up my own episodes and if they’re similar to yours, well I’m sorry you’re taking it badly. The truth is, I have as much right to talk about this stuff as you do.” Lizzie said, clucking her tongue and waving her hand in a stupid gesture that looked totally out of place on her.

Carri came so close to slapping her it wasn’t funny. She had never, in all her wildest temper blowouts, ever wanted to physically crush another human being until this instant. The conscious realization of that kind of raw emotion startled her and that, more than anything else, kept her temper in check. “At least my show is original.” Carri spat, using all her self control to stay rational and not to wrap her fingers around Lizzie’s throat. “You’re nothing better than a damn copy cat. You’re too lazy to create your own ideas, so you blatantly pirate mine.”

Lizzie placed a hand on her hip and matched Carri’s scowl. “You know, I used to admire you. I mean it, I really looked up to you. I loved the spin you put on the episodes and I really enjoyed the way you’d write the scripts, but the reality is you’re just an old witch who can’t stand the fact that you’re getting a little too old to do this anymore. There’s a new, younger, girl in town sweetheart… and there’s nothing you can do about it.” She turned on her heel and stormed off, calling over her shoulder, “Leave my set or I’m calling security.”

Carri started to follow her, eyes murderous, but Rocky stopped her. “Carri nothing good is going to come from you going after her.” He said. She whirled around and turned her glare on him, but he shook his head. “Think about it babe, she’s right, this is her set. She has every right to call security on us. You want to talk about bad press? Take a deep breath and let’s go meet up with Kim and Tommy.”

Carri closed her eyes and exhaled forcefully. Rocky was right, the judge had said Lizzie’s production could continue. If she pummeled her it would only feed the tabloids and give the bitch more publicity. “Fine.” She muttered and allowed Rocky to lead her away from the set.

“I have an idea Zedd.” Rita said, leaning back from the viewing globe where she’d been watching the yellow Ranger.

“I assure you, I’m not the least interested in it.” Zedd replied morbidly from his throne.

“No, seriously.” Rita insisted. “I’ve been doing a lot of research into our predecessors, she admitted cautiously. “It seems that the previous Rita and Zedd didn’t wait around for clay monsters to ferment.”

“Fascinating.” Zedd said the same monotone.

“They would use their staffs to make objects, and even sometimes humans, on the surface of the planet into monsters.”

Zedd sat up a little straighter and turned toward her, which thrilled her to no end. She may not know where her predecessor was yet, but she’d learned enough from her spell books to at least peak Zedd’s interest for a while.

“Explain.” Zedd said.

“The yellow Ranger’s in a tizzy over some stupid human squabble. She feels angry and violated. Violated woman are generally fairly vulnerable. I think we might be able to exploit that emotion….if we work quickly.”

“And your plan is…” Zedd asked and Rita all but danced up next to him.

“We join the power of our staffs together, focus it through the viewing globe, and turn the source of the yellow Ranger’s angst into a monster who works for us. The other human already despises her, it would be relatively simple to utilize that anger for our own cause…unless you want to sit around and do nothing for the three days it takes Sirius to make another clay monster…” she said, one finger idly tracing the crescent of her staff.

Zedd stood up and grabbed his staff forcefully, “Show me the one who has upset Zeo two.” He demanded and Rita gleefully enlarged the image on the viewing globe to show Lizzie leave the set and walk off through the park. “This had better work witch.” He growled, raising his staff.

Rita brought her own staff up and the two simultaneously shot Lizzie with energy bolts. Lizzie arched back momentarily in shock and then quickly began to morph into a six foot tall black cat which walked upright on two stiletto covered paws and wore the same hat and purse Lizzie had. With another jolt from Rita’s staff, she was transported off the surface and up to the Lunar Palace.

“Can you at least pretend you’re not about to go nuclear at any moment?” Rocky asked under his breath as Skull laughed nervously and dropped menus haphazardly all over the table. Carri glared at him and he giggled again, promising to bring Dr. Oliver over as soon as he arrived. He turned quickly and immediately tripped over a chair at the table next to them, belly flopping on the floor.

Usually, Skull didn’t seat them when they came to eat at Bulkmier’s, they were comfortable enough with the restaurant and staff that they would just walk in and grab an open table in the section they liked or, if it was a peak time, one of the waitresses would seat them. But this afternoon the restaurant was absolutely packed; they had been quickly ushered past at least twenty parties waiting to be seated.

Bulkmier’s was an incredibly popular hamburger joint in Angel Grove, and it could be difficult to get a seat sometimes during peak hours, but their group had fallen into the habit of not coming during the busiest times, so that it was a little quieter and they could relax by the pool or up near the patio by the fence; rarely eating inside the main restaurant itself. True, they were eating lunch a lot later than they normally did, but it was hardly late enough in the afternoon for the dinner crowds to be jamming in. Rocky felt a little sheepish cutting in line like they had, but Carri just shrugged.

The waitress was not far behind Skull, bringing silverware and straightening the menus.

“So what’s going on today?” Rocky asked her. She wasn’t one of the girls who normally waited on them, but he had seen her often enough to strike up a friendly conversation. “Did someone switch primetime from six up to three?”

She smiled at him, looking up and nodding to a customer who was trying to get her attention. “Mr. Bulkmier started a new promotion,” she said as she filled the water glasses. “If you redeem your school Bulkpoints during the week between two and four, he’ll give you double credit for them. I think he was trying to entice more of the kids from the junior high and high school to come over after classes and sports.”

“Which is the same time we generally come…fabulous.” Carri growled, tossing her menu down. Rocky gave her an admonishing look and turned back to the waitress.

“And that brought in this much of a crowd?”

“No.” The waitress said in a frustrated tone, nodding at another customer trying to get her attention, “He forgot to make a provision that you can’t use the new promotion with any other promotion. Watner’s is also fighting for the after school crowd and is running a buy one meal get one meal free promo. Mr. Bulkmier always accepts any promotion Watner’s is running. So most of these kids are paying for one meal with their Bulkpoint dollars and getting the second one free using the Watner’s coupon.”

“Crap.” Carri said, rolling her eyes and sitting back in her chair. “Which means we’re gonna avoid Bulkmier’s for a while. I don’t know what’s worse, the teenagers or the noise they make.” She said irritably, glaring at two teenage boys who were noisily moving down the crowed isle, shoving each other and calling out stupid insults. Two giggling girls followed them.

“Yeah, and the tips have been fabulous too.” The waitress said sarcastically. “One kid actually looked me in the face and reminded me that ten percent of nothing is nothing and that was his tip for me.”

“Nice.” Rocky said. He’d waited enough tables and delivered enough pizzas to know Bulk’s staff probably wasn’t too happy this afternoon.

“Good god.” Carri moaned after the waitress took their drink order and ran off to another table.

“Oh leave off.” Rocky answered. “It wasn’t so long ago that you were in high school.”

“I was never that loud…or that silly.” She said crossly as the table next to them erupted in overly loud laughter and started shooting spitballs at each other through their straws. “Leave it to Bulk to pack his restaurant and then not make any profit. I hope he can stay in business after this.”

“I’m sure his wife will find a way around it.” Rocky said, leaning back in his seat. “She’s pretty sharp… and it’s only Monday.”

“Well, at least the wait will keep those people who followed us from getting in anytime soon.”

“Carri…” Rocky said, frustration clear in his voice. “They weren’t following us.”

“Yes, they were.” Carri insisted. “They were parked illegally right outside my condo, I saw the same car pull out of the park’s community lot after we left, and then they followed us all the way here and parked a few cars down from us… but then they didn’t get out.”

“It was a coincidence.” Rocky said.

“What’s a coincidence?” Kim asked as she sat down, Tommy right behind her.

“Carri thinks someone is following her.” Rocky said in a tired voice. Paranoia and hallucinations were a common side effect of some of the treatments she’d received on Aquitar, but he thought her well past that phase.

“Are they?’ Kim asked, and Carri’s yes firmly drowned out Rocky’s no.

“Actually that idea isn’t so farfetched.” Tommy answered, a serious looking frown on his face.

“What are you talking about?” Rocky asked.

“Trini and Billy said someone’s been poking around NASADA asking about Carri.” Tommy answered and then filled the two in on what they had missed over the last three weeks.

Just before the Apis monster attacked, someone had filed a freedom of information request at NASADA for all information regarding Carri and Rocky. Someone was also mulling around asking why Carri, a television host, and her boyfriend were seen so much going in and out of the restricted gates inside the main complex, especially since there was no official record of her going in and out of those same gates. Trini had picked up on it immediately and brought it to Billy, who at first assumed it was the same tabloid who published a dirty story about Carri throwing her life away for her karate instructor.

Carri snorted at the memory of the article, but Rocky wasn’t amused at all. Carri might be used to the tabloids, but the piece had been extremely embarrassing for him and had portrayed him pretty much as a gold digging loser from a trashy family. It went out of the way to mention his dad’s previous arrests for drunkenness and his cousin’s incarceration. Never mind he had three successful schools and scads of uncles, aunts, and other cousins who were successful professionals and business owners.

After tracing down the company who filed the request, as well as the private investigator asking questions, Tommy told them that it was determined that an off shore company that had nothing to do with the media or anything else related to Carri was responsible.

“So what do they want?” Carri asked, an uneasy feeling settling into her gut.

“I don’t know yet.” Tommy answered. “They backed off quick enough when we sent people after them, so we backed off too, but apparently the good behavior was only because you weren’t around the last three weeks.”

“So what do I do?”

Tommy shrugged. “Keep an eye out and be careful until we figure out who they really are and what they really want.” He said.

“But what do we tell people if they start asking questions?” Rocky asked, unwilling to drop it.

“Officially, we’re about to disclose that we’re going to be using Ausus Productions to develop the information awareness programs for New Tech City.” Tommy answered and Carri’s eyes perked up. Her production company was only a few years old, but the few projects she and her dad had joint ventured had been extremely successful. “What we can say,” Tommy continued “Is that we’ve simply been in negotiations with Ausus. That’s why you’ve been in and out of the intergalactic areas normally off limits to civilians and other NASADA personnel.”

“So, you’re really going to give my company the contract for the awareness program?” Carri asked, the anger from this morning draining away and excitement finding its way back in her voice.

“Of course.” Kim countered. “Who’d you think we would use?”

“I dunno, I mean Adam’s company does similar stuff and he’s been…”

“Carri! You’re back!” A familiar accented voice called and Carri turned to see her cousin waving and making her way toward her.

“I just can’t get a break today can I?” Carri muttered. The last thing she wanted to deal with today was her cousin. The Hillard family was furious at Carri for mouthing off and insulting Katherine. Carri had flung out an embarrassing incident that was supposed to have been a secret between their paternal grandmother and Katherine’s father. No one else was supposed to have known about it and the revelation that someone had snitched, and now apparently everyone knew, had reverberated across both coastlines and embarrassed a lot of people.

But Carri had a side of the argument too that was being completely ignored. Katherine had firmly sided with Rocky’s ex-girlfriend against her and although she really hadn’t been all that nasty about it, Kat’s defection was the last little insult Carri could take without completely blowing up.

Katherine had called and left several messages while she was gone and Adam had also pulled her aside on her return and told her that her cousin wanted to make peace, but Carri wasn’t quite ready for that. She needed more time to figure out how to honestly call bygones. Her temper was already boiling over, she didn’t need to be forced into dealing with her cousin as well. Anger or no, she put on a good face for the sake of the rest of her friends and smiled as her cousin reached the table, returning her hug.

“I’ve been so worried about you since I heard. How are you feeling?” Katherine asked.

“Tired, but happy to be back.” Carri said.

“Are you sure?”

“ I’m fine Kat, really.” Carri insisted.

“Well you look fantastic.”

“Would you like to join us?” Rocky interrupted and both Kim and Carri turned and shot him evil looks which he ignored. He knew Kat had left several messages saying she wanted to bury the hatchet and for Carri to call her as soon as she got back. Carri had deleted them and said she just didn’t want to deal with it at the moment, but Rocky had a strong sense of family and since he couldn’t patch things up with his own family before Thanksgiving, he thought he might at least try and get Carri to patch things up with hers.

“Uhm, I’m supposed to meet Chris.” Katherine said hesitantly. On the one hand, she really wanted to make amends with her cousin, but on the other, Chris really didn’t like her high school friends; especially Tommy. “His golf game ended at two and he was going to shower and meet me here after I finished at the school…I had no idea it would be this crowded though. It’s usually dead in here between three and four.”

“New promotion.” Carri said wryly, “He’s trying to draw the after school kids; it worked.”

“Seriously Kat,” Rocky said, ignoring his girlfriend’s backward kick in the shin, “It’ll take you forever to get a table and this one seats eight; there are only four of us. Just order Chris something and he can join us when he gets here.”

“Alright.’ Katherine agreed, smiling and taking a seat at the end of the table between Carri and Kim.

Kim twisted her new engagement ring around worriedly under the table as Katherine sat down. She hadn’t seen or heard anything from Tommy’s ex-girlfriend in the last three weeks since she had shown up at Tommy’s house looking for Carri. Tommy had given her hell afterward about bailing on him and hiding in the bedroom, but it had given her an opportunity to call Aisha and she really hadn’t wanted to face Katherine that night; the two had a bad tendency to start screaming at each other, despite the peace they’d made at the reunion, and she just wasn’t up to it…plus it had been fun to let him torture her afterwards for being a bad girl. Kim wiped the slightly wicked smile off her face that particular memory induced.

It felt more weird than usual to be around Kat. She supposed it shouldn’t, she was still part of the Ranger family. That wasn’t going to change just because she and Tommy were back together. Adam had told Tommy that Katherine had taken the news pretty well. He didn’t know all the details, but Tanya had taken her to lunch and reported that, although Katherine had some saucy words about their new relationship being a predictable occurrence, she really hadn’t been all that phased by it either.

“I don’t suppose you have some free time to shop afterwards?” Katherine asked Carri, breaking the silence that had settled around the table.

“I dunno know Kat.” She replied. “Honestly, I’m always up for shopping, but I still get really tired in the afternoon and it’s been a really long day.” Carri said, adding silently that she still hadn’t even begun to forgive her for the last shopping date they’d had together.

“Just maybe one or two stores? I’d love to show you the bridesmaids dresses and I’ll buy you coffee after.”

“I think you should Carri.” Rocky added, receiving a stomp on the toe for his efforts.

“I live so far out of your way,” Carri demurred. “And Rocky’s taking the car we rode in to go see his uncle this afternoon.” And I really, really don’t think I’m ready to kiss- and- make up on this of all days, she thought.

Carri sighed deeply. She really did love her cousin and she honestly wanted the rift between them over, but today was not the day to mend fences. Her cousin was one of the sweetest people she knew, Carri just didn’t want to be sweet today. She seriously wanted to trash something and if she left with Katherine after lunch, she knew damn well that something was going to be blond and blue eyed and very fond of pink.

“It’s not a problem at all to drop you off.” Katherine insisted. “I don’t have any dance classes this week because of the holiday and I need to go over to the outlets near you anyway.”

“Ok.” Carri said hesitantly, with a slightly forced smile.

The table delved into silence again as the waitress came with Carri and Rocky’s drinks and took their orders. She bounced off, promising to bring the other drinks as soon as she could and then another uncomfortable silence ensued.

Carri’s temper was boiling, she was having a really bad day and her temper was pretty short on a good one. She knew that Rocky had meant well and she understood what he was trying to do, but she couldn’t let it go yet…and today was the absolute wrong day to even try. All her cousin’s comments from the last lunch they’d shared came steaming back to the surface and intensified her already foul mood. If she was smart, she knew she’d clamp her jaw shut and say nothing, but she just couldn’t let her cousin’s past digs go. Finally, she looked directly at Kim and asked, “So, speaking of wedding shopping, have you and your mom decided on the colors?”

Just for a second, Rocky thought Kim might actually jump across the table and slap her. He actually thought that might not be such a bad idea. What the hell did Carri think she was doing?

“That’s right.” Katherine said politely. “I almost forgot to congratulate you two.” She fixed her eyes on Kim, purposely avoiding her ex boyfriend.

“Thank you.” Kim returned in the same polite tone.

“Do you have your ring yet?” Carri asked, knowing full well that Tommy had picked it up earlier in the morning. Kim smiled tightly and nodded, slowly producing her left hand for Carri who reached out and grabbed it for a closer look; directly in front of Katherine.

“Wow.” Carri crooned. “Good job Oliver. How many carats?”

“I’m really not sure.” Kim said, pulling her hand back and giving Carri a warning look to behave as Kat’s shoulders stiffened. She knew full well Carri could care less about engagement rings and hated wedding chatter. It was obvious that her ring was bigger than Kat’s, but Kat’s was an heirloom, a family treasure, and hers was new. They were both special.

“It’s lovely.” Katherine commented. “Very original.”

“It’s actually an anniversary ring.” Kim said, feeling a bit odd discussing it. “But I liked it better than the more traditional ones.”

“Kim wanted sunken stones that wouldn’t snag in a fight like the other ring he gave her.” Carri explained further and this time it was Tommy who glared at Carri.

“Other ring?” Katherine asked and before Tommy could warn her otherwise, Kim innocently produced the little ring he had designed for her when they were in high school, now residing on the fourth finger of her right hand. Kat’s eyes widened and her jaw hardened, but she said nothing. Kim didn’t miss the reaction and glanced hesitantly at Tommy, who met her gaze with a look that firmly told her not to ask until later.

Tommy swore under his breath. That little ring had been a huge point of contention between him and Kat. Although he had designed it and ordered it to be made when he was dating Kimberly, he hadn’t finished paying for it until after he had begun dating Katherine. She had somehow found it one day and assumed it was for her, but her fingers were bigger than Kim’s and it didn’t fit. After examining the date on the sales slip a little closer she realized he’d been making payments on it for a long time and that the ring had to have been made for Kimberly. She’d been furious that he’d held on to it and demanded he sell it or give it away. He’d taken it back from her, promising to do so, but had never gotten around to parting with it. A few years later, when she found it in a box of his things after they had moved in together, she’d gone ballistic a second time, citing it as proof that he couldn’t let go of Kimberly. He honestly didn’t know if Kat’s cousin had known about their fights over that ring or not, but the look he gave Carri was murderous. She at least had the decency to blanche in response.

“Have you found your dress?” Katherine asked sweetly, obviously tweaked but making a good effort to get past it.

“Ashley’s making it for me.” Kim answered softly, grateful for the topic change and sliding both hands under the table. “I don’t know anything about it except the lace is from one of the trunks I found in the old house.”

“Ashley Hammond? Katherine asked, surprised and Kim nodded. “What a coincidence. I asked her last August if she would do mine.”

“Really?” Kim asked. “That’s interesting.” She said, giving Carri a pained look. She had the sinking feeling she wasn’t going to be able to produce any good answers this afternoon.

“Well, I mean,” Katherine continued. “We’ve been friends since high school.”

“Oh.” Kim said uncomfortably.

“I knew you’d met her through Carri, but…well she really doesn’t design bridal gowns…she was doing it just for me. I was going to have the first and only one.”

“Karone and I are good friends.” Kim answered quickly, realizing this conversation was doomed, but trying to save it anyway. “It was Karone’s idea, she asked if Ashley would do it for me and she said she’d be happy to.” Actually, that was an out and out lie. She and Ashley had become pretty good friends as well in the past few months. The two had a lot in common and Ashley was appreciative of everything Kim had helped her with over the past few weeks since the fire. True, Karone had mentioned how lame the dresses they’d looked at were, but it was Ashley who had suggested she do the gown as a gift to her. She had mentioned that she’d been working hard on several designs lately, but Kim had no idea she’d been referring to her work with Katherine.

“Oh.” Katherine said quietly, sliding her water glass back and forth slightly between her thumb and forefinger.

“So, have you set a date?” Rocky asked, trying to change the subject again.

“Memorial Day weekend.’ Tommy offered and Katherine paled.

“Are you serious?” Carri asked, looking hesitantly at her cousin. She’d meant to tweak Kat as payback for what she’d said about her and Rocky, not start a war. Her eyes darted to Kim’s and locked there.

“Yeah, why?” Kim asked cautiously.

“That’s the same weekend Chris and I are getting married.” Katherine said irritably.

“Oh.” Kim answered flatly. “I didn’t know that."

“How could you not know?” Katherine asked, voice rising and slapping a hand on the table. “I’ve been telling everyone for months not to make plans that weekend.

“I’m sorry Kat,” Kim replied defensively. “I honestly forgot about it. It’s not like I seriously expected an invitation.”

“I chose that weekend.” Tommy interjected trying to stave off the fight he clearly saw coming. “The Rush family reunion is that weekend, so all my mom’s relatives will already be here.”

“Oh.” Kat said flatly and an uncomfortable silence followed in which everyone at the table except Katherine and Kimberly looked around the restaurant to see if they could spot the waitress.

“I guess that means Carri’s not going to be able to be in your wedding.” Katherine said after a few minutes of playing with her napkin.

“Why not?” Carri asked.

“Because you’re one of my bridesmaids.”

“You still want me to be one of your bridesmaids?” Carri asked in genuine surprise. She and Kat had been at each other’s throats for months. Since she hadn’t heard anything about ordering the dress, she’d just assumed she’d been written off.

“Of course I do.” Katherine said heatedly, giving her a look that clearly said she was shocked Carri would think otherwise.

“Oh…uh, well…it’s just that Kim asked me to be one of her maids of honor.” Carri stuttered.

"One of?” Katherine asked, turning to Kimberly.

“Well…one Matron of Honor, Trini, and two Maids of Honor…Aisha and …” Kim pointed at Carri who nodded. “I couldn’t decide.” Kim said sheepishly, “And they didn’t care. So those three can figure it out between themselves and then I’ll have my three step sisters as bridesmaids since Karone doesn’t do weddings.”

“Six.” Kat said, a clear edge in her voice. “Which is exactly how many I had announced I was having, except my cousin and Aisha have apparently committed to yours too.”

“Oh come on Kat,” Kim laughed, uneasily; she was hungry, tired, and grouchy and she was going to lose her temper really quick if this conversation didn’t turn around really fast. “I don’t exactly move in the same circles you do, how would I know your wedding plans.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I haven’t seen you in almost four months, and before that nearly five years. How could I have possibly have known you had six bridesmaids and who they were?”

“Because you’re friends with Carri, Aisha and Tonya and all of them knew; plus I said it more than once at the reunion. Six has always been my lucky number; it’s a huge part of my theme.”

Kim sighed deeply. She’d been a little too busy at the reunion to listen to Katherine gibber on about her engagement. She refused to let herself get angry. If Carri couldn’t be at her wedding, she’d be really disappointed, but she’d understand. Katherine was family and Carri’s parents and brother would definitely be attending Kat’s wedding. It made sense and she wouldn’t fret over it. As for Aisha, Kim would give up one maid of honor, but not both.

This was exactly why she didn’t want a big wedding, Kim thought miserably. The whole big wedding thing was her mother’s idea anyway. The longer they made plans, the better eloping in Vegas sounded.

“I’m fine with five.” Kim said evenly. “It’s not like it really matters how many attendants the bride has.”

“Four.” Katherine answered curtly. “Aisha’s in my wedding party too.”

“Excuse me?” Carri asked defensively, interrupting them, “I think I can make my own plans that day.” If given the choice between her best friend and a cousin she’d been at war with on and off for years, she was choosing the friend.

“Seriously Carri, its fine. Kat is family, you really need to stay with your first commitment and not bail on her.” She said firmly and Katherine nodded and seemed to relax a little.

Carri glared at her and clamped her jaw shut, but said nothing. This day just wasn’t going to get any better for her. Every time it started to turn around, something else came crashing down. She’d only accepted Kat’s invitation to be a bridesmaid because they were cousins and she’d never have heard the end of it from her mother if she’d refused. It wasn’t like she was Kat’s maid of honor or anything, she was only a stupid bridesmaid in a stupid pink taffeta gown with stupid matching shoes.

“Hold on,” Rocky interjected and the three women at the table shot him warning looks to stay out of it. “When are the ceremonies?”

“Four.” Katherine said evenly.

“Five-thirty.” Kim said immediately after.

“So you see?” Rocky said, “Maybe Carri could do both.”

“Except that she’s needed at the Grand immediately after my ceremony for pictures and the wedding party’s introductions.” Katherine answered testily. “She’ll throw off my entire album if she’s not there.”

“Where did you say you’re having the reception?” Tommy asked sullenly, sinking down in his chair.

“The Lakeside Grand, where the reunion was on the second night.”

“Oh god.” Tommy groaned, hands rubbing his eyes.

“Please tell me that’s not the place you just booked us.” Kim said, voice dripping with the frustration she felt. He’d been so proud of himself that he’d finally found a venue her mother was happy with. Memorial Day weekend was apparently a prime date and most places were already booked well in advance when they had started looking.

“It was the only place in town big enough that had openings. We only got it because another party cancelled when they saw how torn up the deck and back wall still is.”

“That’s impossible.’ Katherine said, her voice rising. “I booked all three adjoining ballrooms. My wedding’s huge; more than four hundred people are expected. They’re coming in from all over the world. I’ve got one hundred and forty-nine hotel rooms already reserved there and a block on another fifty-one.”

“Well, they told me that night was free because the other party canceled.” Tommy said.

“I most certainly did not cancel it!” Katherine howled and several people turned around to look at her.

“Calm down.” Carri said, putting a hand on her cousin’s arm. “I’m sure there’s an explanation.”

“It’s alright Kat.” Kim also soothed. “If there’s been a mistake, at least we know each other. The hotel can give Tommy his deposit back and we’ll give up that night. End of problem.”

“I just can’t believe this.” Katherine said, voice lower, but still obviously upset. “It’s bad enough you move back to town and take Zeo one’s powers, then go out and suddenly get engaged to Tommy after years of denying there was anything between you two, but after all my hard work and planning…now you have to go and copy my wedding too?”

“I am not copying your wedding Katherine.’ Kim said testily, anger rising. “And excuse me, but he was my boyfriend long before you moved in on him...and if you want to start on usurping powers…”

“Alright.” Tommy said, sliding his chair back and physically picking Kim up and out of her chair. “I think we’ll just ask for our order to go.” He said, wrapping his arm tightly around Kim’s chest, pinning her arms and holding her firmly against him. She growled at him in response and her eyes flared into an angry shade of red. At that precise moment, all four communicators went off.

“Someone remind me to kiss Zedd.’ Carri muttered under her breath as she stood up. The conversation was her fault, and she’d accept responsibility for being an idiot, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t glad for an excuse to run from it.

“Two days in a row?” Rocky asked.

“Let’s move.’ Tommy said, turning Kim around and pushing her towards the exit.

“Kat, uhm… I’m really sorry.” Carri said, indicating her communicator.

“Oh I understand.” Katherine said bitterly, sinking back in her chair.

As the four made a hasty exit, her fiancé Chris arrived at the table. Turning around to look at the four departing people he gave her a questioning look.

“Did I just miss something?” He asked.

“Rangers you’re just in time to meet Lord Zedd and Rita’s first joint creation; Copy Cat.” Sirius greeted them diplomatically as they transported to the scene. Carri rolled her eyes under her helmet. She’d been dealing with a copy cat all day, so now they send down a monster named Copy Cat. Life was just peachy sometimes.

“Alright pussycat,” Carri yelled, slamming her fist into her palm, “Let’s catfight.”

“I’ll be happy to oblige.” Copy Cat called back, “But first you need to deal with them.” Copy Cat crooned, sending several waves of claybots at them with a simple gesture of her paw.

“You would think maybe we could get a little variation in the fight plan.” Kim drolled, moving into position with Carri.

“It’s called Copy Cat and you’re looking for it to do something original?” Jason barked, coming into formation with Rocky.

The Rangers fully occupied fighting the claybots, Copy Cat scanned the battlefield. She wasn’t sure which Ranger to go after first, but for some reason she felt an unnatural disgust toward the yellow one who had mouthed off at her. She was like a tempting little yellow canary flittering around. Yellow was such a sallow color to wear, she wouldn’t be caught dead in it. “Oh yellow Ranger...” She sang over the noise of the battle waving her paw in a silly gesture.

Carri turned and saw the monster waving at her. Now that was a new twist, since when was she the one being singled out; well, singled out before purposely drawing attention to herself. The wave of claybots pulled back and as Kim partnered up with Tommy, Carri found herself face to face in a small clearing with Copy Cat. The monster initiated a false attack and like an untrained idiot, she actually fell for it. Rebounding and attacking in earnest, she found herself quickly suspended high in the air with beams of energy coming from Copy cat’s claws. She hung suspended for a few seconds more before another jolt pummeled her and she was thrown across the battlefield.

“Carri!” Rocky yelled as she hit the ground

Carri shook her head forcefully, but quickly pulled herself to her feet. “I’m ok.” she called back.

“Not for long.” An angry voice said. Not just any voice… her voice. Frowning, she stood up to see that Copy Cat had made a replica of her. The shadow twin was nearly identical, right down to her Ranger’s uniform; except this Rangers uniform was black where hers was yellow, and yellow where hers was white. Before she had much of a chance to register what was going on, Copy Cat’s Shadow Ranger kicked her backwards; hard.

Carri stood and charged at the Ranger, who easily matched her move for move.

“Do I need glasses or is that another Ranger?” Jason asked, eyes going back and forth between Carri and her doppelganger.

“Watch out, Copy Cat can apparently replicate you.” Carri warned.

But it was too late for Jason. With his attention caught by Carri’s fight with her replica, Copy Cat was able to get behind him, creating a double of the green Ranger as well.

“Oh, this is so not good.” Kim groaned. “Guys watch it, if that double has even a fraction of Jason’s Muirantian power, we’re in serious trouble.”

“Let Jason handle his shadow.” Tommy said, moving directly in front of her and standing in-between Kim and Copy Cat. “I want you back in the Command Center, now.” He ordered. Kim started to protest, but he cut her off.” Do you honestly want another evil version of you cross hopping through dimensions?”

“You’ve got a point.” Kim said, and transported out.

Jason looked up at his double with a sinking feeling. Tommy was right to send Kim away, but what he didn’t know was that Jason still possessed the Phoenix Crystal. If this was a true replica, it not only had Jason’s power, but some of Kim’s as well. Hopefully, the twin hadn’t realized what it really was yet. Jason jumped up and leaped at him, trying to take him down or at the very least keep him away from the others. If this stayed a physical fight, they were fine, if the two started using powers…they were in serious trouble.

On the other side of the clearing, Carri was easily being worn out by Shadow Yellow. Trying to quickly gain the advantage, she called on her weapon. “Double clubs!” she yelled, gripping the weapon firmly as it materialized in her hands.

“Shadow daggers!” the other Ranger hissed in response and Carri cringed. Ok, so maybe they weren’t carbon copies...this was definitely not going to be good day.

Tommy and Rocky regrouped back to back, fighting together against the claybots. “We have to be careful.” Tommy warned gesturing toward Jason then Carri, “Keep your eyes open for that cat or we’ll end up fighting ourselves.”

Rocky nodded. “Where is she?” He asked as he kicked a viratron back away from its squadron.

“I don’t know.” Tommy replied “Just keep an eye...”

“Surprise.” Copy Cat said from behind, interrupting Tommy and getting a jump on the blue and red Rangers. She held them both high in the air before shocking them as well.

They hit the ground with a hard thud, rolling to absorb some of the impact. As they stood and turned around, they simultaneously came face to face with Shadow Red and Shadow Blue. “Welcome to your worst nightmare.” Shadow Red growled.

“I’ve already fought this fight.” Tommy spat back. “And you lost.”

As Shadow Red began his attack, Rocky went after Shadow Blue. Fighting yourself was never a good thing, you had to look deep within you, push the envelope, and press yourself into resisting the easy tried and true reflexes in favor of the new and untried.

“Switch styles.” Tommy whispered hoarsely as he and Rocky slammed into each other again, back to back.

“Huh?” Rocky asked, kicking his twin away.

“Switch fighting styles, vary between the different approaches of the other’s you’ve fought or sparred with. It’ll confuse your double, he’s expecting to match you move to move.”

“Got it.” Rocky called, springing off Tommy and using the momentum to pummel his doppelganger with one of Jason’s signature kick, punch combinations.

“Zedd, look! It’s working!” Rita squealed.

“Yes,” Zedd replied, an edge of excitement in his voice. “It actually is.”

“We should have tried this weeks ago!” She said, jumping up and down. She might not be at full power, but at least Zedd knew she wasn’t worthless.

“The battle’s not over yet witch.” He growled.

As the fight continued below, the Rangers found themselves quickly tiring. They were equally matched move for move, with the Shadow Rangers adjusting just as quickly as the Rangers varied their techniques. The battle seemed a stale mate until Shadow Yellow clicked her daggers together and smashed Carri across the chest. Carri flew back and landed at the feet of Copy Cat.

“Yellow Ranger, how nice of you to join me.” Copy Cat purred, as she protracted her claws menacingly.

“You don’t like me do you?” Carri asked, glaring back at the overgrown fluff ball and Copy Cat responded by using her claws to electrically jolt the yellow Ranger at her feet.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” She crooned.

Carri gasped in pain as all the energy flowed through her. “Oh just an intuition.” She groaned.

Jason saw the attack and leaped over Shadow Green, simultaneously using his pistol to fire on Copy Cat. The monster temporarily lost her balance and stumbled backwards on her stilettos and he ran forward to help Carri up off the ground.

“This is how to use your pistols.” Shadow Green yelled as he ran toward Carri and Jason. As he fired, both Rangers flew through the air, hitting the ground again hard. Carri laid still for a moment, trying to catch her breath. “I should have just stayed in bed this morning.” she groaned, slowly picking herself back up. Her head ached and she was more than a little woozy from fight.

“You should transport back and let Billy take a look at you.” Jason said “Seriously Car, you only just got back from Aquitar. Don’t undo everything they were able to do for you.”

Carri shook her head no. “I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” Jason insisted, and before she could protest gain, he pulled his communicator to his mouth and had Billy teleport her up.

“Where’d the yellow birdie go?” Shadow Yellow asked, jumping in front of Jason in a battle ready stance.

“Like I’d tell you.” Jason replied nastily as he kicked her backward. Shadow Green took advantage the distraction to join the attack on him from behind and he soon found himself facing two Shadow Rangers, not one.

Tommy saw the change in tactics, but he and Rocky were still struggling against their own doubles. When Shadow Blue used the Shadow ax to stun Rocky, sending him flying back, Tommy was also hit hard with a sucker punch from his own twin. Both Rangers smacked hard into each other and hit the ground with a thud.

“Didn’t see that one coming.’ Tommy muttered.

“Switch off.” Rocky called out, jumping up and flying through the air to hit Shadow Red with his ax. Tommy followed suit and hit Shadow Blue with his sword.

Tommy found himself struggling, and it wasn’t a good feeling. Not only was he fighting the Shadows, but Sirius had decided to try and take hits at him as well with something that looked like a long black bokken, but the thing was charged with a nasty whistling green energy that hurt his ears and stung like hell. He was finding it a bit tricky to hold off both advances at once as they swung their weapons at him simultaneously. Using his sword on the Shadow Ranger, he was able to throw him back for a moment then quickly turned his attention to Sirius to try and take him out before the Shadow Ranger regrouped.

For a pathetic looking, little bug eyed lizard, Sirius was a damn good warrior and as Tommy focused in on not getting stung by the bokken, or worse, the Shadow Ranger utilized the distraction to come up from behind and smash him with his own specialized attack. Tommy went flying and landed unceremoniously in a pile along with his fellow Rangers. The three guys looked up as one and found themselves staring into the faces of the four Shadows and Copy Cat.

“We need to help them.” Carri said, watching things on screen from the medical bed.

“You’re clear.” Billy pronounced and gestured for her to up.

Carri jumped up and prepared to morph then stopped, looking over at Kim. “What if I go in as a Ninjetti? They don’t have those powers right?”

Kim swung around from the screen she’d been watching with Trini in the main room and looked at Billy questioningly. He thought for a moment, then said, “The Shadow Rangers wouldn’t be expecting a Ninjetti, but those powers aren’t nearly as strong as the Zeo powers. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“True, but they wouldn’t know how to handle a Ninjetti, let alone two Ninjettis, which may give us the advantage.” Kim added.

“Providing Copy Cat didn’t copy those powers as well.” Billy warned. “We don’t know yet how much power the Shadows possess.”

“Tommy ordered you out of the fight for a good reason Kim.” Trini said calmly, knowing how badly her friend wanted back to the action.

“I concur.” Billy added “We still don’t know how exact those replicas are. We can’t risk another Kimora.”

“But I can still go.” Carri insisted. Before anyone could tell her otherwise, she yelled, “Ninjetti-panther!”

Carri flew onto the scene with a vengeance and stood in between her fellow Rangers and the Shadow Rangers. “Hey Shadows, how do you like me now?” she asked. The Shadow’s looked at her oddly and moved as one to attack, but the Ninjetti was way too quick for them. Jason starred at her for a second, ready to slap her for trying something so stupid, then realized what she was trying to do. “Ninjetti- cougar!” he called.

Two Ninjettis against four Shadow Rangers wasn’t very good odds, but Tommy and Rocky weren’t done with the fight either. The battle began again, and this time the Shadows found themselves the ones having a hard time keeping up. The Ninjetti declined to fight the Shadow Rangers head on, instead they maneuvered around them, getting cheap shots in when they could. Frustrated, the Shadow Rangers began to slow, not understanding the new techniques and never quite able to figure out where the Ninjettis were or what their next move was going to be. After only a few minutes of fighting, the Shadow Rangers regrouped and stood by Copy Cat and Sirius.

“We’ll be back Rangers.” Sirius hissed. He raised his bokken over his head and transported the evil creatures back to the Lunar Palace, leaving the Rangers on Earth.

“I’m not sure I’d call this a victory.” Jason said, breathing heavily as they left.

“Me neither.” Tommy agreed. “Let’s get back to the Command Center.”

“I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news.” Billy said as they powered down.

“Good news first. We need it after that.” Rocky said, wrapping his arms around Carri from the back and tucking his chin on her shoulder.

“If you destroy Copy Cat, you’ll also destroy the Shadow Rangers.” Billy told them.

“Let me guess the bad news, we can’t get past the Shadow Rangers.” Carri said sighing.

Kim shook her head no. “Actually that’s good news too. I know how to bypass the Shadow Rangers.”

The Rangers turned as one to look at her, but it was Billy who continued. “In doing my analysis, I found that their power source is drawn from directly from solar energy.” He paused and regarded the Rangers seriously. “Unfortunately, to drain their energy, we have to draw them into battle when the sun can’t re-charge them.”

Jason couldn’t help but laugh at their situation. “Great.” He said sarcastically “I doubt they’re stupid enough to fight at night.”

“To complicate matters, Copy Cat is human.” Billy added.

“Since when does this Rita and Zedd pick on civilians?” Rocky asked.

“Lizzie.” Carri supplied. The other Rangers turned and looked at her. “Lizzie Bannon was my assistant on Boutique Style, she quit in a huff a few months back and is about to debut a copy cat version of my show, airing at the same time on a different network. It makes sense. Rita and Zedd have probably been watching me since I traded places again with Karone. I went off on Lizzie in the park this afternoon for copying me, Copy Cat seems to hate me more than any of you guys, and look at the name…Copy Cat.”

“She has a point.” Tommy said. “It’s not exactly an un-original idea for Zedd to come up with, especially if he’s starting to become more and more like the old Zedd. But whoever the monster is, how do we destroy it without hurting the human she came from?”

“Actually,” Billy said “If we assume the precedent is still the same as a decade ago, then by destroying Copy Cat we should rescue the human inside, not hurt her.”

“And if we’re wrong?” Tommy asked, hesitation clear in his voice.

“Do we have any better ideas?” Rocky asked. The Rangers looked at each other for a moment, then all turned to Tommy, who slowly nodded his head.

“Then it’s settled, we destroy Copy Cat and hope that saves Lizzie.” Kim said looking over at her teammates.

Jason snickered wickedly. “This should be easy. Carri’s been waiting all day to kick the crap out of her, and here’s her chance.”

“You told him?” Rocky asked.

“He was over at the condo raiding the frig when I opened my mail.” She said dismissively and Jason grinned sheepishly.

“You guys went grocery shopping when you got home, it was full.” He said unrepentantly.

“Do you always go over to my girlfriend’s house when I’m at work?” Rocky asked, a definite edge to his voice.

“Rocky, he just needed to talk to me about…uh, Adam’s medical exam.” Carri said, saving Jason the embarrassment of the others learning he’d come over to talk about running into Emily.

“Why would you…” Rocky started, and Carri shushed him with a warning look.

Before Rocky could say the next thing that came to his mind, Tommy interjected, “Destroying Copy cat is obviously a good goal, but we still haven’t figured out what to do with the Shadow Rangers.”

“That’s where I get a chance to help with the fight.” Kim grinned. “We need an eclipse in the middle of the day. Since none are scheduled, you guys are gonna have to use a little good old fashioned magic to make one.”

“Oh gee, and just who do we know who’s trained as a sorceress?” Jason said blandly and Kim smiled sweetly at him.

“You can do that?” Tommy asked and she grinned at him.

“Of course, it’s not a real eclipse, just a shadow. Shadows are the first thing a sorceress learns to manipulate, which is probably why we’re dealing with them now; seeing that this Rita’s just starting out. But, the ingredients I need to make a big enough shadow to cover the sun don’t grow on the surface world. I’m going to have to go get them…and I might also need a little help gathering everything.” She said, looking over at Carri.

“You’re actually gonna take me with you this time?”

“Only if you want to go.” Kim shrugged.

“How much time do you need?” Tommy asked and then rolled his eyes when she gave him a sardonic look. “Ok, ok.” He said. “How long before we’re ready to go back to action and you can pull off a solar eclipse on demand?”

Kim thought for a minute, then said, “Once I have everything I need back here, sorted, and ready to put together in order… maybe half an hour?”

“Alright then, go get your stuff, the rest of us need to come up with a way to draw the Shadow Rangers back in the open… and we also need to warn the other Rangers on the planet of what we’re going to do. A lot of us depend on solar power, I don’t want anyone put in danger unnecessarily.”

Exactly half an hour later the team was gathered around Kimberly, watching her curiously as she sorted and assembled various odd looking objects and plants. “The sun will block out completely much faster than in a normal eclipse,” Kim warned as she made the last of her preparations. “Once the sky is completely black, you’ll only have about thirty minutes before the sun starts to break through the shadow, so you need to make it quick.”

“So do we call them or do we wait for them to call us?” Jason asked, but the question was answered for them as the Command Center’s alarms went off.

“Speaking of which….” Rocky said as the screen showed Copy Cat and the Shadows were back in Angel grove Park.

“Let’s not keep them waiting.” Tommy said.

The team teleported to the center of the action and drew Copy Cat’s attention while Kim teleported nearby behind several bushes and began preparations. It wasn’t a hard spell, but the size required would make it tricky to hold together.

As soon as they hit the ground, Copy Cat ordered the Shadows to attack. They fought fiercely and this time the Shadows seemed a little more prepared for the Ninjettis mischief. After what seemed like an eternity, the light suddenly began to dim and then complete darkness fell over the city like a smoky blanket.

The Shadow Rangers slowly stopped moving and came to a halt like little wind up dolls that had lost their keys. The other Rangers paused only momentarily to look around them. Kim was right, it wasn’t like a real eclipse, the sky above was full of black and purple rolling clouds and it was obvious what they were seeing wasn’t natural.

“Let’s not waste our shot guys.” Tommy said as they reformed and attacked Copy Cat head on with Carri taking the lead.

She charged, pistol drawn and firing several rounds into Copy Cat’s back. Jason was right, it was kind of nice to beat the crap her. Even though it was more the monster than Lizzie she was beating up on, it was still somewhat satisfying to hammer out her aggression on the source.

“Hey, let us in on the fun.” Rocky said leaping up and attacking Copy Cat with his axe and was quickly followed by blasts from both Tommy and Jason.

“You can’t stop me.” Copy Cat growled, using the energy beams from her claws to fling the Rangers back.

“Guess again.” Tommy said as they regrouped and pulled all their weapons together. A few seconds later they fired on Copy Cat, bringing her down. Not to anyone’s surprise, she rose from the flames and grew high above their heads.

The Rangers were quick to call on the zords, fighting individually for a few minutes before Kim showed up and they brought them all together; destroying Copy Cat with the megazord’s saber just seconds before the sunlight broke through the artificial eclipse.

Landing close to the smoking wreckage, the Rangers jumped to the ground and fanned out in search of Lizzie. It didn’t take them long to spot her. Not too far from where Copy Cat had once stood, sat a very frightened Lizzie Banna.

“You’re ok now miss.” Rocky said

“I doubt that.” Carri whispered snidely from the back. Jason elbowed her hard and she crossed her arms and glared at Lizzie through her helmet.

“What happened to me?” She asked.

Tommy stepped forward. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Leaving the monument.” Lizzie replied. “Was I attacked by a monster?” She asked in awe that real live Power Rangers were surrounding her.

“Actually Lord Zedd and Rita made you into the monster.” Kim replied.

“ I’m a monster?” She squeaked, hands covering her mouth and eyes wide.

Jason shook his head no. “No, you’re fine now. Maybe you should go home and get some rest.”

“Yeah. Maybe I will.” She replied, allowing Tommy and Rocky to help her up.

“Well,” Rita said cautiously as they watched Lizzie walk off the edge of viewing globe’s screen. “That was…ah…that was...”

“A good first effort.” Zedd pronounced.

“Yes…yes, we need time to adjust to each other’s powers…to coordinate…”

“To make it stronger next time.” Zedd added.

“And angrier….we need to start with someone angrier.” Rita concluded.

“Obviously it will take a while to get the hang of this new technique.” Zedd agreed.

“Yes,” Rita agreed. “Time and a little practice, but we did pretty good didn’t we?”

As Sirius watched in horror, they walked off together, leaving the throne room and planning their next attack.

“Can we talk?” Jason asked and Emily felt her heart jump about ten feet. She hadn’t seen anyone in the parking lot as she walked to her car and he had come out of nowhere and scared her.

“I didn’t even see you.” She gasped, taking a huge breath.

“Most people don’t.” He said. “Not until I want them to.”

“Is that what all you people do or just you?”

“What do you mean you people?” He asked, slightly offended.

She tilted her head in a sarcastic gesture he remembered from the days they had dated. “You know, I could never figure out what that damn wrist pager was for. It never failed, no matter what time of day or night we decided to get together it would always end up going off and you and your friends would bolt with one stupid excuse or another.”

“Not always.” He responded lamely, only to receive another patient yet frustrated look. “Ok, many times….most, most times.” He tried to give her an impish smile, but she just rolled her eyes.

“And your other friends from back then…Adam, Tommy, the others? They’re all Rangers too?”

“Who said anything about anyone being Rangers?” He countered evenly.

“Oh come on Jase.”

“We were kids…just volunteers.”

“Yeah, and isn’t that your same cover ten years later? Just volunteers? Volunteers don’t need tons of security precautions and that injury of Adam’s didn’t happen in a fall down the stairs, something beat the crap out him and cut up his sacral nerve; a first year intern would recognize that.”

Jason gave her a cautious look. He wasn’t sure why he followed her out to her car anymore than he understood why he’d been skulking around the parking lot for the last three hours since defeating Copy Cat. Curiosity was the bigger part of it. He had just been talking to Kim about her a few days ago. They had been talking about the irony of her and Tommy seeing each other again at the reunion and getting back together, let alone their mad dash to get married in six months. Emily had graduated a year ahead of him and from a different high school, so he knew he’d probably never see her again at reunions, but talking with Kim about high school had gotten him thinking about her again and he wondered now if the Power had been trying to tell him something.

He hadn’t tried to stay in touch with her at all when he’d left for college. They had broken things off on sad, but fairly good terms and both had simply gone their separate ways. She’d been faithful in the Christmas cards for a few years, but he had never written or called her back. Then his powers had gone crazy and the next thing he knew it was a decade later.

When he didn’t answer her, she gave him a measuring look and hit the remote unlocked button on her keychain again. “What do you want Jase.” She said, opening the door and putting it between them. He shrugged and reached out to hold the doorframe.

“Just floored to see you is all…here especially.” He said, indicating the NASADA complex.

“What, you thought I’d wait tables for my uncle all my life?” She asked testily.

“No.” He said, grinning at her. “I knew you were finishing your Associate degree in nursing.”

“And you were possibly also wondering how and RN goes from an Associate’s degree to a medical degree?”

Jason shrugged casually and nodded, “With a lot of hard work I’d imagine.”

“To put it mildly.” She answered.

In truth it had been a lot harder than she could have ever imagined. Money had always been the biggest obstacle. Going straight to college from high school was an expense no one could help her with, and one she really couldn’t afford; although her uncle had tried to help her. She had started out in the nursing program at Angel Community and then leapfrogged from there.

At first all she had wanted was a nursing job at the neuro-care facility caring for her father since his motorcycle accident, but nurses only put into practice the tried and true procedures, they don’t go out and discover anything new and different, so she’d kept going back to school. Fortunately Dr. Iwate had been a very good friend of her uncle from his Peace Corp days. He had had been impressed with her tenacity and mentored and directed and even financed part of her education.

Medical school had been painful, and it wasn’t like she went to the most prestigious Caribbean schools around, but she’d managed to crawl through, get her diploma, and pass her licensing exams by the skin of her teeth. That hurdle complete, Dr. Iwate had helped her get a good, solid residency at a fairly prestigious teaching hospital. It wasn’t in the best neighborhood she could have hoped for, but the training had been fantastic. The past few years had consisted of long hard days and many, many sleepless nights. Somehow, the time between turning twenty-one and thirty had simply vanished, but she’d made it through to the other side. She still had a bit more training to go in her specialty, but when Dr. Iwate had offered her a chance to finish the last of that training while also working on the New Tech City Project, she’d eagerly accepted. Jason Scott was the last person she thought she’d run into on her first day of work; although she had thought about him when she moved her stuff back to Angel Grove.

“Can I buy you dinner?” Jason asked, pulling her thoughts back into the present.

“No.” She answered firmly.

“Why?”

“Because you never wrote me back asshole, that’s why. You just drove off on that stupid Harley you got for graduation and vanished into thin air.”

Jason half shrugged one shoulder and made an odd face. “I had a lot going on Em.” He said honestly, thinking of his Muirantian adventure with Kim. “Look, knowing me is dangerous. As a civilian you were safer being held at a distance. The galaxy’s not a very secure place and the longer you’re involved in NASADA, the more you’re gonna find that out for yourself.”

“So knowing you now is any safer?”

“Safer in the sense you now have clearance to know what to watch out for.” He said sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes and exhaled in frustration. Dating him had been out of the ordinary for her. He wasn’t the carbon copy, stereotypical surfer dude she’d been attracted to in high school. She had been basically on her own at that point, although her uncle was technically watching out for her, and she’d been so focused on putting herself through school, it had surprised her that she actually enjoyed his company. Jason was a whole year and half younger than she was, but he was by far the most mature and focused guy she’d known. She had been disappointed when he left for college, but she’d also had her own life to focus on.

“What color were you?” She asked suddenly.

“Huh?”

“What color Ranger uniform, I want to know.” She said.

He closed his eyes and let out a huge sigh, looking anywhere except her face. Finally, his eyes took on a very serious look, one that said very clearly to her that he was not someone to be messed with. “You want that information, then you’ll have to accept my offer to take you to dinner.”

“Well,” Tommy sighed as he dropped down beside Kim on the bed where she’d been reading a book. “Problem solved…sort of.”

“Did they give you your money back?” Kim asked, not looking up. It wasn’t like she really cared, the Grand was really nice and she’d been excited that it was free, but a big hoopla reception wasn’t high on her list of must haves. If they had to give up the Grand, then they’d find someplace else a little further out of town or they’d just have an outdoor reception up at the house. They had enough months to get some decent landscaping in and they certainly had enough acreage out there.”

“Nope,” Tommy said, rubbing his eyes with his palms.

“No?” she asked, putting the book down.

“The Hillard/Black wedding is booked on Saturday night. We’re booked on Sunday night.”

“Tommy….” She said with exasperation, “Mom’s booked the church for Saturday.”

“Yeah, I know…I screwed up. How hard will it be to get the church for Sunday instead?”

Kim’s heavy sigh turned into giggles and she slapped him with her book. “And I thought the Oliver syndrome was a thing of the past.”

“Nah, I just hide it well.” He grinned. “Seriously Beautiful, we’re booked for the afternoon and whole night, if we can’t get a church, we could always get married on the deck outside by the lake. It looks really horrible now, which is why the other party backed out, but they swear it’ll be finished before our weekend. Would you be really disappointed?”

“No.” She said, putting the book down and cuddling up next to him, head on his shoulder. “Mom wants the church. I think I like your idea better.”

“What are you working on so late?” Rocky asked, tossing his keys on the table next to Carri’s piles of papers and kissing her on the top on her head. He’d stayed later at his uncle’s than he’d wanted too, but he’d had a lot to discuss with him about what was going on with his family.

Carri seldom worked late at night unless she had to, but she was also three full weeks behind and she had spent more than a few hours shopping with her cousin after the battle with the Copy Cat. She smiled at him brightly and pulled his head back down with her arm, kissing him thoroughly.

“You’re in a better mood.” He said, kissing her again and then taking a seat next to her. The kitchen table was strewn with papers, disks, and folders all around her laptop. She had a desk upstairs, but Rocky had never actually seen her use it for anything other than storage. “Have a good shopping trip with your cousin?”

“Nah, that was horrendous.” She said, stapling some papers and tossing them aside. “First she goes ballistic on the cell phone to her wedding coordinator, then goes ballistic again to some poor lady at the Grand before the coordinator even has a chance to call and see what’s up. The car was literally swerving back and forth over the yellow line.”

“Jesus.” Rocky said with feeling. The last thing he wanted to hear after three weeks of fretting for her life on Aquitar was that her cousin’s crazy driving almost got her killed. He folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on them.

“But then we found out that the Hart/Oliver wedding reception was booked for Sunday, not Saturday and we giggled like crazy imagining Kim’s face when Tommy admitted he booked the wrong night.”

Rocky laughed softly, rubbing his forehead against his arms. “That sounds like a Tommy thing to do...well, a high school Tommy thing. He’s usually more on top of things than that.”

“Maybe being in love again caused him to relapse.” She offered, turning back to her screen as something caught her attention.

He reached out and idly stacked a few CD’s together that she had scattered across the desk while she typed a response back to someone. “So was that it?”

“Oh no.” Carri said with feeling. “After that we went to the bridal shop and I got fitted for my dress…it’s the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen…seriously, I had no idea my cousin was so stuck in the nineties.”

“What color is it?” He asked and she gave him an annoyed look.

“As it turns out, each bridesmaid is a different shade of pink which gets progressively lighter as we get closer to the bride.” Carri put both hands under her chin and batted her eyelashes in a silly gesture. “I’m five-six, which apparently means I’m at the end of the line and my taffeta is a nice bright shade of fuchsia.”

Rocky tried hard not to grin at the mental image of Carri in a bright pink taffeta dress, but he couldn’t help it. She caught his look and giggled too. “But we did manage to forgive each other.” She added, “Sort of…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means as long as Kim keeps her wedding on Sunday, which she’d be an idiot not to do since both Aisha and I and a lot of other people are supposed to be at Kat’s wedding on Saturday, then Kat and I have declared a truce.”

“And if she doesn’t?” He asked. Carri made a face at him but didn’t answer. “Well, I’m glad you’re back in a good mood.” He said, sitting up and stretching his arms behind his neck. “Beating the crap out of Lizzie must have been therapeutic after all, but I kinda felt sorry for her; getting turned into a monster, I mean.”

“Yeah, me too.” Carri admitted, “But it did feel good…even if she won’t remember it.”

“You think she learned her lesson?” Rocky asked and Carri shrugged.

“It really doesn’t matter.” She said a bit too calmly for Rocky’s taste. His eyebrows went up and she shrugged. “I mean…I’m pretty much done with that show, I gave it all I could. It’s time to move on to the next project. Lizzie only copied me because I’m good at what I do and I’ve been so successful. I need to take a deep breath and realize how flattering that really is.”

Rocky stared at her for a full five seconds before he burst out laughing. Barely eight hours ago she’d embedded her cell phone into the drywall; the same phone that he’d have to try and dig out tomorrow.

“You can’t be serious.” He said, still laughing.

“Stop.” She said, giving a sardonic look. “I’m entitled to a mature moment every once in a while. It just took me a while to make my peace with the situation.

“Uh..huh..” Rocky said unbelievingly.

“I’m serious.” Carri insisted.

Rocky shrugged, but still gave her a skeptical look. “So how much more of this do you have?” He asked, pushing one of her papers with his finger.

“I’m finished for the night.” She said, leaning back and stretching. “The rest can wait until tomorrow.”

She started to pick up her papers and put them in varies piles when a few titles caught his eye. “Are these more press releases from the critics on your new season?” He asked.

“Uhm…no, not exactly.” She said, pulling the papers together a bit faster.

“Then what are they?”

“Nothing. Seriously babe, just really boring production stuff.”

“Nothing? You go usually ape when this stuff comes in. Let me see.”

“Seriously.” She said, holding the papers against her chest and backing away from him. “It’s really nothing.”

“Carri…” He said, and her shoulders deflated.

“Ok fine…my dad sent them to me. They were released this afternoon because the judge ruled this morning, east coast time, that Lizzie’s show could go ahead and air.”

As she handed him the papers he realized they were the reviews from various critics, not for Carri’s show, but for Lizzie’s premiere on Sunday. His eyebrows went up a little and he gave her a questioning look. The first review was scathing. “Stylish Shopping is nothing more than a discount outlet version of the original.” He read out loud. The second page was just as bad. “Lizzie Banna is no Carri Hillard, she would have done well to remain an assistant rather than produce such a poor copy with her named stamped across it.”

“Read the one from Raven Cousins, she’s the one who hates me and my show with a passion.” Carri said, pretending to absently chew her nail.

“Why does she hate you?”

“Uhm… I dunno…maybe because I might have accidentally dated her husband once or twice about six years ago…but I swear I tossed him when I found out he was already engaged and heading to the altar.” She admitted. “Read it…go on.” She said, waving her hand at him.

Rocky thumbed through the pile until finding the one from Raven Cousins. “Although it pains this critic to give any nod whatsoever to Hillard, her hot temper and demanding production style make Boutique Style one of the more well rounded fluff shows on the nouveau riche networks. Lizzie Banna may have been Hillard’s former assistant, but it is painfully obvious she has learned nothing more than how to poorly mimic the tried and true. Stylish Shopping is a crude attempt to re-create the semi genre Hillard made famous in Boutique Style. Despite the media frenzy surrounding it and Ausus Production’s heated lawsuit claiming copy-write infringement, Banna has succeeded in creating no more than a child’s crayon copy of a well crafted oil on canvas original. Unless torturing yourself with the utterly insipid is your idea of a pleasant Sunday night, avoid this latest, unoriginal mid season replacement.”

“She likes me.” Carri said in a silly voice, hands clutched together. “She really likes me.”

“So that’s why you’re in a mature and forgiving state of mind all of a sudden.” Rocky said as he tossed the papers back on the table. “You know damn well her show’s gonna tank.”

“No.” Carri said calmly, picking the papers up and stacking them together. “I know the critic’s hate her. The public has yet to decide.” She took the papers and tossed them aside. “But the sponsor’s are definitely going to take notice that the critics panned it…”

“And that means…”

“Between the law suit and the bad reviews… they’re not going to be all that happy. And let me tell you from painful experience, if the sponsor ain’t happy, the network ain’t happy. If the network ain’t happy…” She looked up at him grinned wickedly, hands defiantly on her hips. “Cheaters never prosper babe.”

The End

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