Disclaimer: There are references to characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and those characters belong to Joss Whedon.
Author’s Note: This story idea came about after a conversation between myself and KSuzie. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Power Rangers
“Cheaters Never Prosper”
Tommy Oliver and Kimberly Heart sat cuddled on the couch on a Wednesday afternoon. They had just finished lunch and wanted to spend the next hour or so relaxing before Tommy was off to his geology lab. Tommy had taken the second geology course in the series this semester, and was once again working with Carri Hillard and Mollie Monroe. The only difference was he was really enjoying it, and they were using the class to finish fulfilling a science credit.
Kim sat up and stretched for a moment before leaning back into Tommy’s embrace. “There really isn’t much on TV.”, she commented
“Who needs TV when I have you to entertain me?”, Tommy asked as he leaned into her and gave her a passionate kiss
Kim giggled as he pulled his lips away from hers. “Why Tommy, what are you suggesting?”, she asked as she smiled and batted her eyelashes at him
“This.”, he replied as he smiled at her, before scooping her up and pulling her in close to him, then laying back on the couch. He put his arms around her and brought her into him, kissing her some more.
“Ah-hem.”, a voice said
Tommy and Kim immediately sat up. They were so wrapped up in each other that neither of them noticed Billy Cranston teleporting in. “Hey Billy what’s up?”, Tommy greeted
“Just coming home for lunch.”, Billy replied as he rummaged through the refrigerator. He pulled out some bread and lunchmeat and started to make himself a sandwich.
“Anything exciting going on today?”, Kim asked as she moved to the end of the couch, bringing her knees loosely up to her chest and turning to look at Billy.
“Not much.”, Billy said. He thought for a moment as he closed the lid on the mayonnaise jar. “I talked to Andros a bit ago. He said they got a new zord.”
“That’s great. Every little bit helps.”, Tommy pointed out. Fights between good and evil were getting more and more intense and anything they could do to give them and advantage would be excellent.
Billy smiled at Tommy. “He also told me that the zord had already been evil and they already had to rescue it.”
Tommy laughed. “Well you know it’s not a true tested zord if it hasn’t been evil.”
“We’ve had zords that haven’t been evil before.”, Kim said smiling at the two boys. “Just not that many.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it on the news, the rogue zord was a big story in Angel Grove last night.”, Billy told them as he put away the rest of the bread and meat
“We have enough to worry about here without paying attention to everything the Astro rangers are doing in Angel Grove. As long as there’s not a breaking story that Angel Grove has been destroyed, we’re good.”, Kim told him
“I suppose you’re right.”, Billy said as he looked in the pantry and pulled out a snack sized bag of chips. He held his lunch in his hands and looked at the duo. “I think I’m taking my food back to the Command Chamber. I’ll see you guys later.” Billy felt bad for interrupting them in the first place. They all exchanged goodbyes, and Billy teleported back.
“So,” Tommy started crawling over to Kim’s side of the couch and leaning over her, “where were we?”
Kim grinned and leaped toward him, knocking them both down toward the couch as she started giving him kisses.
Carri sat in her English class tapping her pencil on her notebook. She was ready for class to be over so she could get to lab and hang out with Mollie. But what sucked for her was that the professor had asked to speak with her after class. She assumed it was about the paper she had turned in the day before. They all had assignments that involved a 3000 word essay and a project. The professor assigned them “research buddies” and gave each pair a topic. They weren’t allowed to work together, but they were allowed to use each other for help.
The previous class they turned in a one page paper outlining what they were going to do with the research topic they were given. They had to explain where they were taking their paper and their project. Carri was excited, she had found a lot of good information in the library, and she had been corresponding via email with professors at other universities who were experts, as well as several people who were primary sources she had found. If everything fell together right, she could come out with an “A” on this.
She sighed and leaned back in her seat, waiting for the next five minutes to pass by. As she started to fade away, she heard the professor say something along the lines of “see you Friday”. Everyone around her packed up their things and started to head off. Carri put her things together and headed to the front of the room.
Dr. Bonaparte smiled at her when she approached. “Carri, thank you for staying.”, she said
“Not a problem.”, Carri replied
Dr. Bonaparte took two pieces of paper out of her briefcase and handed them to Carri. “Do you see something wrong here?”, the professor asked
Carri took the two pieces of paper and glanced them over. One of them was the outline she had turned in the class period before. She quickly read the other piece of paper she had in her hand. The other sheet was almost identical to hers. The phrasing was a bit different and some of the details had been swapped around but other than that it was the same. The name at the top of the page read Lizzy Banna, Carri’s research buddy.
“I don’t understand.”, Carri stammered
“Miss Hillard you know this university does not tolerate cheating. I don’t know what you think a research buddy is, but it is certainly not someone you may copy from.”, Dr. Bonaparte said rather sharply
Carri frowned. “Dr. Bonaparte, I can assure you that this is my original work.”
“That’s exactly what Lizzie said. That’s why she turned in all her original notes to me.”, her professor replied
Carri put her backpack down and started digging through it. Somewhere in there was a backup copy of all the stuff she had in her laptop, including research notes, e-mails, phone conversation transcriptions, and tentative essay pages. She had made two copies of the disk. One was at the apartment for safe keeping, the other was with her so she could work on it. Carri finally found the disk and pulled it out, handing it to her professor.
“This is everything I have.”, she said giving it to her. She smiled at Dr. Bonaparte as her professor clicked her nails on the disk.
“I will check out both yours and Lizzie’s notes. Both of you should be prepared to stay after class on Friday.”, she said eyeing Carri
“Yes mam.”, Carri replied. She smiled at her and turned to walk away.
As soon as she exited the room her smile faded and she clinched her fists down by her side. She could not believe that her research partner had cheated off of her. What nerve. She took a few deep breaths as she walked into the direction of her geology lab. She had to try to calm herself down before she looked up Lizzie’s residence and went over there to give her a piece of her mind. And that would not end pretty. As mad as she was, she wouldn’t be able to control her temper.
She stomped all the way over to her lab building, flinging the door open before stomping up the stairs. She swore to herself as she walked down the hallway and through the door, finishing by slamming her backpack on the table in between Mollie and Tommy.
Tommy looked up at her. “What’s wrong?”, he asked. His first thought was that it was ranger related, that she had run into Goldar or Elgar or even Callisto on her way to class and that’s why she was all worked up.
“You would not believe what just happened.”, Carri said as she sat angrily down in her seat before dragging her bag off the table and to the ground.
Mollie glanced at her. “Well we’re not going to until you tell us.”, she said smiling at her. Mollie had hoped that a smile would be enough to settle her friend down, but Carri was still angry as she spoke.
“You know that English project I’ve been working on?”, she asked looking at them. Both Mollie and Tommy nodded. “Well it turns out my so called research buddy has been stealing my work and turned in an outline practically identical to mine. Now the professor thinks I’m cheating. I gave her my research so hopefully that will clear my name. But Lizzie turned in research too. If that slimy, no good, cheating, lying, bitch thinks she can get away with this she has another thing coming.”
Mollie raised an eyebrow. “Remind me never to cross you.”, she said with a smile. Carri scowled at her. “I know your pissed, but you might as well calm down for now, since the only thing you can do is wait and see what happens.”
“I could go take her out way before then.”, Carri pointed out as she pulled out her lab notebook and opened it to the days lab so she could read it.
Mollie smiled a little in Tommy’s direction. Tommy started to laugh, and he pulled up his lab sheet to his face to try and hide it. The last thing he needed was to agitate her as well. He almost wished it was just Goldar pissing her off. At least with him, she can just morph and take him out. With this girl... Tommy tried not to laugh again as the thought occurred to him that if it weren’t for Carri’s beliefs in the responsibilities of a ranger and her love of being one, she would probably morph and take her out too.
“You’re not helping Oliver.”, Carri said dryly as she continued reading the lab. She didn’t know who he thought he was fooling, holding up the piece of paper to laugh.
Before Tommy could respond, their lab instructor spoke indicating that it was time for them to pay attention.
That evening Jason Lee Scott and Rocky DeSantos were heading back to Jason’s apartment after a workout at the gym. They were talking about random stuff when suddenly someone called their names.
“Rocky, Jason!”, the young girls voice yelled. The boys spun around to see Jessica and Stephanie McClintock standing there.
“Hey, what are you girls doing here?”, Rocky asked as the girls walked over towards the two male rangers
Stephanie smiled at them. “We just thought we’d come to visit.”, she replied making eye contact with Jason. He was a cuttie. She wasn’t sure if he had a girlfriend or not, and she didn’t want to flat out ask. She was sticking to flirting with him to see if she could start something.
“You guys just work out?”, Jessica asked. She knew the answer to the question as they stood their sweaty in their workout clothes. She just wanted to hear them say it.
“Yeah we spent some time this afternoon at the gym.”, Jason replied
“We should go workout sometime.”, Jessica suggested eying Rocky
Rocky smiled at her. Fortunately he had a real excuse for that. “That may be hard. We go to the school gym and you have to have a valid student ID for that.”
“Maybe we can just do some stretches out in the park or something.”, Jessica said. Even if she couldn’t get into the gym, she would find a way to workout with him. She thought it would be hot to watch.
“Yeah maybe.”, Rocky replied
“Hey guys.”, Kim said as she walked by and smiled
“Hey Kim.”, Jason greeted. “Where have you been?”
“Running errands.”, she replied
Jessica looked over at the older woman and smiled. She thought she was pretty cool, the type of person she could be friends with. She was excited that she had stopped to visit. “Hey Kim.”
“Hey Jessica how are you?”, Kim asked
Jessica grinned. She was thrilled that Kim seemed to be showing interest. “Good. Stephanie took me to this new mall today that’s just outside of LA. It was so awesome. You should go sometime. I could take you, it would be so much fun.”
Kim smiled at the younger girl. Like her or not, she thought it was sweet that this little girl looked up to her so much. Besides, it wasn’t her boyfriend she was stalking. “Actually Carri and I went on opening day. It was pretty awesome.”
Jason snickered. “They have built in radars. If a new mall opens with in a few hundred miles of here, they’re there.”
Kim elbowed him as Stephanie laughed. Jessica was busy frowning. She was sad that Kim had already gone with Carri. “Maybe we can go some other time.”
“Maybe.”, Kim said flashing her a smile
Rocky caught someone approaching out of the corner of his eye. “Hey Carri!”, he called out
Carri was just returning home from lab. She ended up having fun with Tommy and Mollie, but when lab ended and she left she remembered why she was pissed in the first place and started to think up all sorts of ways to get back at Lizzie. So she was already in a pissed off mood when she approached Rocky, Kim and Jason, who were standing with two people she wasn’t fond of, Stephanie and Jessica.
She stopped when she neared them, then glanced at Jason, Kim and Rocky before flashing them a half assed smile. Carri then rolled her eyes and continued walking. Anything that was going to come out of her mouth at the moment probably wasn’t going to be nice.
“What a bitch.”, Jessica said as she walked away. Carri stopped at the comment, then took a deep breath before she continued walking. She was not going to loose her temper with a fifteen year old right now. That would have to be saved for another day when she was thinking more clearly.
“Jessica.”, Rocky said sharply as they watched Carri disappear into the building
“What?”, she asked trying to appear innocent. “She’s not very nice. I don’t know why you’re with her, you could do so much better.” There was about a month a little while back where Carri wasn’t even around much. Rocky had been sad, and Jessica thought it was because they were going to break up. But much to her dismay, they worked whatever it was out and were back on track.
“I don’t think she was upset with us.”, Rocky replied. At least, he hoped not. “She seemed kind of angry with something else.”
“Still if she loved you she’d be nicer to your friends.”, Jessica pointed out
Rocky smiled. He could see what Jessica was trying to do. “Well I wouldn’t worry too terribly much about it.”
Jason stood their thinking for a second before making a face. “Does anyone know what time it is?”, he asked
“Four-fifteen, why?”, Kim replied checking the time on her communicator
“I forgot I had to email my mom something by four-thirty. I’ll be right back.”, Jason said as he turned toward the building and jogged off. In reality he wanted to see what was up with Carri. Everyone knew she wasn’t fond of Jessica or Stephanie, but she was usually at the very least civil. Not to mention she should have said hello to her friends. So either she hated them all, or was really pissed about something else.
Jason jogged up the stairs and went to his apartment, opening the door and going inside. Carri was not out in the living room so he headed back to the bedrooms and found her sitting on her bed, arms crossed, watching TV. Jason stood in the doorway. “You know I think Jessica wants to be you. Date your boyfriend, hang out with your best friend.”
Carri took a hand and waved him off. “It’s not that. And for the record I don’t care if she wants to be me, that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“Well you could be nicer.”, Jason commented as he walked into the room
“Usually I’m nice.”, she said pausing for a second. “Well as nice as I am going to be to her.”
“So if Jessica didn’t piss you off what was it?”, Jason asked sitting beside her on the bed. “I don’t think your mad at me. So is it Kim or Rocky?”
“Of course not.” she snapped. She sighed, she hadn’t meant to snap. She was still pretty worked up. “Sorry.”, she apologized. Jason nodded. “It’s Lizzie, my English research buddy. She copied off my notes and even my outline that I turned in as an assignment on Monday. Now the professor thinks I’m cheating. We both turned in our notes, so hopefully that will pan out. In the meantime...”
Jason smiled. He knew where that train of thought was going. “In the meantime you’re mad as hell and plotting her demise.”
“That about sums it up.”, she replied. She looked over at Jason who was smiling at her, and she couldn’t help but giggle. “I know I shouldn’t get mad with everybody, but that really pisses me off. I’ll try and be nice but just know that I’ll be thinking about revenge.”
“She’s going to get busted and in a lot of trouble with the university. You don’t need much more revenge than that.”, Jason pointed out
Carri raised an eyebrow and smiled at him. “This is me you’re talking about. I won’t be satisfied until I take her down.”
Jason laughed as Rocky and Kim poked their heads into the room. “You ok?”, Rocky asked looking at his girlfriend
“Yeah I’m fine.”, she said smiling at the duo. “Just a really shitty day in class that’s all.”
“Anything you want to discuss?”, asked Kim as she smiled back
“Just my English partner cheating off of me and getting me in trouble.”, Carri said carelessly
Jason laughed. “Don’t forget about the part where you’re taking that anger off on everything that moves.” Carri stuck her tongue out.
“Maybe we should do something fun tonight.”, Rocky suggested as he walked over to the bed. He hopped on and scooted in the middle, putting his arm around his girlfriend and smiling at her.
“If you guys can keep me from thinking about killing Lizzie it would be worth it.”, she replied grinning as she gave Rocky a kiss
“Great.”, Kim said perking up and smiling. “I’ll go call Tommy.”
“And I’ll just.... go.”, Jason finished. He smiled at his two friends before taking off and leaving them alone.
The five rangers walked into the college bowling alley later that night along with Billy and Trini. “I’m glad you guys suggested it, this will be fun.”, Trini said, squeezing Billy’s hand and smiling. With ranger stuff they hadn’t had much time to all go hang out just for fun, and it was nice to get out of the Command Chamber and hang out.
“Yes it is good that we can all get together when it’s not, well, related to our club.”, Billy said smiling
Kim and Carri looked at each other and giggled. Club wouldn’t exactly be the code word they would come up with for the rangers, but it would do. Besides it wouldn’t red flag the other bowlers in line and that was the most important part.
The seven friends finally got their turn in line. They got their shoes and a pair of lanes, then headed out to bowl. They headed out to their lanes and looked at the scoreboard. “We could split up girls and boys.”, Kim suggested
“That hardly seems fair.”, Jason teased
Carri raised an eyebrow and looked over at Kim. “It is so on.”, she said as Trini laughed
The girls put their names into the computer and the boys did the same, before everyone took off to look for their bowling balls. A few minutes later the game got started. The girls tried their hardest but couldn’t compete with the boys. Of course, they had never been good at bowling, and they didn’t care, they were just having a good time.
A few games later, the girls were getting tired of being whipped by the boys. “You guys done?”, Kim asked looking over at the group of boys
“What are you tired of getting beat?”, Tommy asked smiling at his girlfriend
Kim grinned at him. “Yeah something like that.”, she said as she walked over to him and gave him a kiss. “Come on, lets go.”
Everyone gathered their things and paid for their bowling, before heading out the front door. Rocky put an arm around his girlfriend. “You guys want to go down to the café and get a cup of coffee or something?”, he asked
“Or a burger or fries or...”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rocky said grinning and cutting his girlfriend off
“Well maybe...”, Jason started but was cut off by a group of hybrids who had appeared in front of them
Billy grabbed his girlfriend as the rangers stood to face the hybrids. “And I was beginning to think Rita and Zedd were leaving us alone.”, Tommy mused. “It’s morphin time!”
A few minutes later the rangers stood there facing the hybrids and the fight began. It didn’t take long to fight the hybrids. They called on their weapons and flew through the strange looking creatures. The rangers got into it and quickly disposed of the hybrids. They powered down and Billy and Trini came out of hiding.
“What do you suppose that was about?”, Trini asked
“The usual I’m sure. We were having fun, and they wanted to interrupt it.”, Jason replied
“Hey I think it was great.”, Carri said. The others looked at her oddly and she smiled. “I mean we had a lot of fun bowling then the hybrids were nice enough to come let me work some of my built up aggression out on them.”
“At least somebody looks at this positively.”, Tommy joked. He put his arm around Kim’s waist and led her off. “Let’s head to the café.”
“Sounds good.”, Kim said as she and the others took off
The next morning Carri’s first class was canceled. She put her books and her laptop into her backpack and headed down to the library. It was going to be good time to do some more research on her paper. After a good night’s sleep, she was confidant that she would be cleared by her professor and would be allowed to proceed as planned.
When she first walked in, she grabbed the book she found from the last time she was in the library. She then sat her computer up and pulled up her word processing program, accessing the file she was using for notes. She pulled out a notepad and plugged her computer into one of the internet ports. Carri started flipping through the book and looking for relevant information. She was able to pull a lot of good stuff from the book as she keyed it into the computer.
One quote in particular caught her eye. She looked down to see what the source book was that it came from. She copied the book in her notepad and went back to the book she was currently reading. A half hour later she was done with that book and ready to search for the next one. After saving her file, she left her stuff on the desk and went over to the elevator. She hit the button and it walked in. She was getting ready to hit a button to take her to the right floor when she realized she didn’t know what the floor was.
She searched all of her pockets only to come to the conclusion that she had left the piece of paper with the book information on the table. Carri opened the elevator doors and headed back out. As she turned the corner and headed to her stuff, she saw Lizzie standing over her computer. Not only was she standing over her computer, but she was pulling a disk out of her disk drive.
“Hey!”, Carri exclaimed walking over to her. Lizzie looked up sort of surprised and slipped the disk into her pocket. “What the hell do you think your doing?”, asked Carri
“Seeing what you did to cheat off of me.”, Lizzie said as she tried to push past her and take off
Carri stepped to the side and stood firmly in front of her. “You were copying my files.”
“That’s bullshit.”, Lizzie said as she once again tried to leave. Carri was stronger than her and she couldn’t push past her.
Carri shoved Lizzie back off of her. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but if I was you I’d back off and fess up to Mrs. Bonaparte.”
“Or what?”, Lizzie questioned as she snickered
“Or you’re going to have to deal with me. And you don’t want that.”, Carri growled
Lizzie laughed. “Are you threatening me?”
“Yeah.”, she snapped. “I am.”
“Please.”, she said with a hint of humor in her voice. She stormed passed Carri and toward the elevator. “This is my paper, my A, and you are going to get what’s coming to you.”
“You’re delusional.”, Carri hissed. “And I’m going to tell you right now that you’re messing with the wrong woman.”
“I could say the same of you.”, Lizzie snapped
Carri made a face. “You want a fight, you got it. But let me warn you now, this isn’t going to end pretty for you.”
Lizzie laughed and boarded the elevator. She knew exactly what she was doing. Cheating off of Carri to get an A. Well it wasn’t technically cheating, she was changing a few of the words. She hit the button for the ground floor. Carri didn’t scare her. And she certainly wouldn’t be the first person she took out in her quest for an A.
Carri could feel her blood boiling as Lizzie left. She had to calm down before she started chasing that girl down the elevator. She walked back over to her computer. She had to know exactly what files Lizzie had copied. She packed up all her things before finding a secure location and teleporting to the Command Chamber.
“Hey Carri.”, Billy greeted. “What’s up?”
Carri held her laptop out to him. “Hey Billy.”, she started. “You know the girl that cheated off of me? I think she just copied files off of my laptop. I want to know which ones.”
“Not a problem.”, Billy said. He took her computer and hooked it into one of the Command Chamber computers before running some scans. A few minutes later he had some answers. “Looks like she copied some of your word files, and an excel file or two. Plus your inbox.”
“My inbox? You mean the folder with the files regarding the paper right?”, she questioned
“I mean all the files in your inbox.”, Billy clarified
Carri paled. “Oh no. That’s not good.”, she said
“Why?”, Billy questioned although he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer
Carri went over to the computer and opened her email before clicking into her inbox. She opened the first file and clicked on the top email, scrolling to the bottom and letting him read the email.
[email protected] writes:
I am glad everything is going good. You won’t believe what
has been happening here. You know Richard Wilkins? Mayor of
Sunnydale? He’s the new big bad. Not only that, but Faith
turned on me. It’s been one hell of a senior year. At least
Angel is doing better. Well I don’t think he’s as
tortured anymore, I suppose that counts for better.
[email protected] writes:
The mayor? Well that explains the stuff that happened in the gym
back in September. Well kind of. Why did he call the boys in the
first place? Well it sounds like you’re going to have a hard
time. Glad to hear Angel is doing better. And if you ask me,
better was not killing your friends so anything past that is just
icing on the cake... And you can call me for help if you need it.
Well... I can’t promise I’ll come... I’ve got my
hands full trying to stop the universe from ending.
[email protected] writes:
Yeah I’ve seen some of the news reports that have been
coming out of Angel Grove and LA. Those Astro Rangers are doing
pretty well out there. And I’ve seen what you guys have been
getting into. And I thought I had it bad in Sunnydale. The vamps
are getting bad but at least they can’t become one hundred
stories tall and stop things. Constantly. Twice a day.
[email protected] writes:
That twice a day thing was only for one week. They were just
trying to piss us off... which they accomplished...and blow stuff
up... which they didn’t. So we’ll see. I don’t
know what’s happening, Andros and the others are having a
hard time getting a good beat on Astronema. Hopefully they can
come with some good news fast. If not...well it won’t matter
what the mayor wants the world will belong to Dark Specter.
[email protected] writes:
Well then you take care of stuff on your end and I’ll take
care of stuff on mine. I just am not sure how to do that yet and
it sounds like you aren’t either... well there has to be
more positive things to talk about. How’s Rocky doing? And
the rest of the gang? Oh, I got into a few different schools. I
think I’m going to UC-Sunnydale though. You are going to
have to give me tips on how to mix being a superhero with college
life lol. Anyway, I am off to meet Giles for another training
exercise. I will talk to you later.
Billy finished reading and looked over at Carri. “You get the idea or would you like to read the e-mails with Kat?”
“The others are not going to be happy.”, Billy said sighing
“The others? I’m not happy. Not only did she break into my computer but she stole some super private e-mails about things that she’s not qualified to know.”, Carri griped. “Maybe we can send her to another dimension, one where she can’t cause us any problems. Or the yellow ranger can go take her out. For the safety of the team.”
“Let’s not get carried away. I’ll contact the others and we can go from there.”, Billy said. Carri sighed and leaned against a console as Billy went to call her fellow rangers to try and get a meeting of the team.
Rita finished peering through her telescope. She was watching as a girl walked across the lawn in front of the campus library. “So, the yellow ranger has a new enemy?”, she said as she looked up and looked over at Zedd
“And what, exactly, do you suppose we do about it?”, Zedd questioned
“I want to make her into a monster.”, she said giddily as she turned toward her husband. “It would be so much fun.”
“Should we not discuss something like that with Divatox?”, asked Goldar
Zedd shot him a look. It was precisely because of the fact that he disliked her, that made him want to agree with Rita. “Let’s bring her here.”
“Oh Zeddie we haven’t done this in a long time.”, Rita glowed as she called for her brother. “Rito, go down there and bring the girl to me.”
“Sure sis.”, he said
Rito disappeared and Zedd sighed. He wasn’t sure if Rito was the one for the job, but then again how could he mess this up. A few minutes later Rito reappeared, girl in hand. “Here you go sis.”, he said as he tossed her on the floor
Lizzie stood up, scared and confused. “What do you want with me? If it’s money I can have my dad send you some. Or”
“Silence.”, Zedd bellowed
Lizzie jumped as Rita approached her. “We want you to work for us.”
“I don’t know I’m just a college student and I”
“I wasn’t giving you a choice.”, Rita cut her off, zapping her with her staff and making a monster out of her
What Rita created was an ugly looking cat monster. “How can I serve you?”, Copy Cat asked
“Goldar, take Rita’s monster down to the surface and get those rangers.”, Zedd ordered
Goldar nodded in compliance and headed down to the surface with Copy Cat and some of their hybrids.
The rest of the rangers had just finished reading all of the potentially incriminating e-mails on Carri’s hard drive. Tommy sighed and looked at the yellow ranger. “I don’t know what we are going to do.”, he said
“Well,” Jason started thinking for a moment. “It may go over her head.”
“Yeah.”, Kim chimed in. “I mean it’s not like you said my friends and I are rangers, and my other friends are former rangers and vampire slayers.”
“Yeah but I hinted.”, Carri pointed out
“Andros was the only ranger name that you specifically linked to any of this. And it’s not like she would know him.”, Rocky told her
Carri sighed. Sure Lizzie wouldn’t know the Red Astro ranger, but wouldn’t she find it the least bit odd that Carri knew it. “We just have to find out what she knows so we can take care of this.”
“Well maybe” Jason started but was cut off by the Command Chamber’s alarms
“Looks like this is going to have to wait.”, Billy informed them. “We’ve got a monster in LA with Goldar and some hybrids.”
“Let’s do it. It’s morphin time!”, Tommy yelled. All five rangers quickly morphed and were on the scene.
“Rangers you’re just in time to meet Lord Zedd and Rita’s newest creation, Copy Cat.”, Goldar greeted when they arrived
Carri rolled her eyes under her helmet. Of course she had been dealing with a copy cat the last two days, and they sent down Copy Cat.
“But first you must deal with them.”, Copy Cat said, sending hybrids at them with a wave of her paw
The five rangers jumped into action, taking on the hybrids. As the rangers were fighting the hybrids, Copy Cat scanned the battlefield. She wasn’t sure which ranger to go after first, but for some reason she felt disgust toward the yellow ranger. She walked over to her as she was surrounded by hybrids. “Oh yellow ranger.”, she called in a singsong voice
Carri turned and saw the monster standing theresuspended her high in the air with beams of energy coming from her claws, before jolting her full of energy and throwing her across the battlefield. . The hybrids backed off and she went to attack the monster. She never got a chance as the monster
“Carri!”, Rocky yelled as she hit the ground
Carri started to pull herself to her feet. “I’m ok.”, she called back
“Not for long.”, a voice said. Not just any voice, but her voice. She stood up to see that Copy Cat had made a replica of her. Except this rangers uniform was black where hers was yellow, and yellow where hers was white. Before she had a chance to register what was going on, Copy Cat’s Shadow Ranger kicked her back.
Carri stood up and ran at the ranger, who was matching her move for move.
“Is that another ranger?”, Jason asked looking on in awe
“Watch out Copy Cat can replicate you.”, Carri warned
But it was too late for Jason. As he was looking at the replica of Carri, Copy Cat came up behind him and shocked him, creating a double of him as well. Jason looked up at his double. Copy Cat had apparently pulled energy from the zeo crystal, because his Shadow Ranger was black with green. Jason jumped up and leaped at him, trying to take him down.
On the other side, Carri was easily being worn out by Shadow Yellow. She knew she had to try and get an advantage, so she called on her weapon. “Power daggers!”, she yelled
“Shadow daggers!”, the other ranger cried in response
Carri cringed. This was not going to be good.
Kim and Rocky ended up fighting together against the hybrids. “We have to be careful.”, Kim warned as she gestured toward Jason then Carri
Rocky nodded. “Where’s Copy Cat?”, he asked as he kicked a hybrid back
“I don’t know.”, Kim replied as she tried to fight while looking around for the monster
Rocky and Kim continued to fight fiercely against the hybrids. “Just keep an eye...”
“Surprise.”, Copy Cat said from behind, interrupting Rocky and getting a jump on the pink and red rangers. She held them both high in the air before shocking them as well.
Kim and Rocky hit the ground. As they stood up and turned around, they were greeted by Shadow Pink and Shadow Blue. “Welcome to your worst nightmare.”, Shadow Blue said as he attacked Rocky
As the Shadow Ranger was attacking the red ranger, Kim went after Shadow Pink. Both were having difficulty fighting themselves as they could match each other move for move.
Tommy was the only ranger left without a Shadow Ranger to fight. He had seen what happened to his friends, but was not concerned with it at the moment. As soon as he was clear of the hybrids, Goldar ran to attack him. Tommy called for his Power Sword to fight against his enemy.
“This will be the day that Lord Zedd and Rita finally defeat all of the Power Rangers.”, Goldar said triumphantly
“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I was you.”, Tommy warned as he attacked with a series of kicks and punches
“Oh really white ranger. And why is that?”, Goldar asked as he defended Tommy’s attacks and fought back
“Because” Tommy never got to finish his sentence as he was attacked from behind by Copy Cat, as the monster finished her collection of Shadow Rangers
“My turn to play.”, Shadow Red said as it attacked Tommy. Tommy sighed and ducked. Fighting against yourself never turned out well, and he wasn’t sure what was going to make this time any different.
The rangers were finding themselves dealing with the Shadow Rangers, who all had Shadow Weapons which matched their Ninja Zeo weapons. Carri was trying to fight Shadow Yellow in hand to hand combat with the daggers. They were still matching each other move for move, 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 lifted her claws up
“You really don’t like me do you?”, Carri asked as she tried to escape
Copy Cat used her claws to electrify the yellow ranger. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
Carri gasped in pain as all the energy flowed through her. Jason saw her being attacked, and leaped over Shadow Green, using his axe to fire on Copy Cat. Copy Cat stumbled backwards and Jason helped Carri up and tried to get her out of the way.
“This is how you use the axe.”, Shadow Green yelled as he ran toward Carri and Jason and fired
Both rangers flew through the air and hit the ground hard. Carri laid on the ground for a moment. “I should have just stayed in bed this morning.”, she said as she tried to pull herself up. She was a little woozy from the three serious attacks in a row.
“You should let Billy take a look at you.”, Jason said
Carri shook her head no. “I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t look it.”, Jason replied. Before she could protest, Jason pulled his communicator to his mouth and had Billy teleport her up.
“Where’d the yellow ranger go?”, Shadow Yellow asked as she jumped in front of Jason
“Like I’d tell you.”, Jason replied as he kicked her back. Shadow Green attacked Jason from behind, and he soon found himself facing two Shadow Rangers.
Kim and Rocky were still struggling against their Shadow Rangers. Shadow Blue used the Shadow Lance to stun Rocky and send him flying back, while Kim was hit with the Shadow Bow. Both rangers smacked into each other and hit the ground hard.
“Ok this is not good.”, Kim pointed out as she tried to pull herself up
“Switch.”, Rocky said as he stood up. Before Kim had a chance to ask him what he was talking about, Rocky went flying through the air and hit Shadow Pink with his lance. Kim followed suite and hit Shadow Blue with her arrows. They both tried to combat with the others Shadow, hoping that they would be more productive not fighting themselves.
Tommy found himself struggling. Not only was he fighting Shadow Red, but Goldar was trying to take hits at him as well. Tommy was trying to hold off both of their advances as they both swung their swords at him at the same time. He was able to use his sword on the Shadow Ranger, throwing him back for the moment. Tommy then turned his attention to Goldar to try and take him out before the Shadow Ranger came back.
Goldar did a good job of distracting Tommy, as the Shadow Ranger came up behind him and smashed him with his own special attack. Tommy went flying and found himself in a pile along with his fellow rangers. They stood up and found themselves four strong, facing the five Shadow Rangers.
“I need to help them.”, Carri said, watching all the action on screen
“You’re all clear.”, Billy said as he gestured for her to get off of the medical bed
Carri prepared to morph then stopped. “What if I go in as a Ninjetti? They don’t have those powers right?”
Billy thought for a moment. “Although they don’t have those powers, you wouldn’t stand a chance as a Ninjetti.”
“Yes but they wouldn’t know how to handle a Ninjetti. Which may give me the advantage.”
It was a good idea, and for lack of anything else Billy told her to go for it.
“Ninjetti, panther!”
Carri flew onto the scene with a vengeance and stood in between her fellow rangers and the Shadow Rangers. “Hey Shadows, what do you think of me now?”, she asked
The Shadow’s looked at her oddly and all tried to attack, but the Ninjetti was way to quick for them. The other rangers quickly realized what she was doing and decided to join in.
“Ninjetti, falcon!”
“Crane!”
“Cougar!”
“Ape!”
Carri rejoined the team, and the five Ninjetti’s stood strong against the five Shadow Rangers. The battle began, and the Shadows were having a hard time keeping up. The Ninjetti declined to fight the Shadow Rangers head on, instead they maneuvered around them, getting shots in when they could.
This frustrated the Shadow Rangers, as they could never quite figure out where the rangers were or what their next move was going to be. After a few minutes of fighting, the Shadow Rangers regrouped and stood by Copy Cat and Goldar.
“We’ll be back rangers.”, Goldar growled. They had to prepare the Shadow Rangers to face the Ninjetti before this battle could continue. Goldar led the evil creatures back to the Lunar Palace, leaving the rangers on Earth.
“I’m not sure I’d call this a victory.”, Kim said as they left
“Me neither.”, Tommy agreed. “Let’s get back to the Command Chamber.”
The five Ninjetti teleported back and were greeted immediately by Billy. “I’ve got good news and bad news.”
“Good news first. We need it after that.”, Rocky said as they all powered down and looked over at Billy
“If you get past the Shadow Rangers and destroy Copy Cat, you can destroy the Shadow Rangers for good.”, Billy started
“Let me guess, bad news, we can’t get past the Shadow Rangers.”, Carri said sighing
Billy shook his head no. “Actually that’s good news. I know how to bypass the Shadow Rangers. In doing some analysis I found that their energy is drawn from the sun.”, Billy paused and looked over the rangers. “The bad news is that means to drain their energy, we have to block the sun.”
Jason couldn’t help but laugh at their situation. “Great and I thought you were going to say something complex.”
“Not only that, but Copy Cat is human.”, Billy added
“Lizzie.”, Carri supplied. The other rangers looked at her. “It makes sense. She copied off of me, and the monster is Copy Cat. Plus Copy Cat seems to hate me more than any of you guys.”
“She has a point.”, Tommy said. “If Lizzie is the monster, how do we destroy it without hurting her?”
Billy thought for a moment before replying. “Actually I believe that by destroying Copy Cat you will rescue her, not hurt her.”
“Then it’s settled, we destroy Copy Cat and save Lizzie.”, Kim said looking over at her teammates
Jason snickered. “This should be easy. Carri’s been waiting the last day to kick the crap out of her, and here’s her chance.”
Carri laughed but before she could formulate a response, Rocky spoke up. “That’s a good plan, but we still haven’t figured out what to do with the Shadow Rangers.”
“Rocky’s right. They’re too tough to get through them to get to Copy Cat.”, Tommy said. He paused and thought for a moment. There had to be a way to block out the sun to get to Copy Cat. “What if we use all our zords, and get everybody’s help? They could easily block out the sun.”
“Maybe.”, Billy said contemplating Tommy’s idea. It wasn’t bad, but it was too flawed to work. “I think it would be too splotchy. Sunlight could get in, defeating the purpose. What we need is some sort of solar eclipse.”
“Great.”, Kim said rolling her eyes. “It’s not like we can magically conjure up a solar eclipse.”
“She’s right. And I doubt they’d be dumb enough to attack at night.”, Jason chimed in. He was getting ready to add to that when Carri cut him off.
“Wait a minute.”, she said snapping all attention toward her. “Maybe we can’t conjure the solar eclipse, but I bet I know someone who can.”
“Who?”, asked Tommy. If they could bring out a solar eclipse, they could get to Copy Cat and defeat her without worrying about the Shadow’s. Tommy would feel much better knowing there was some sort of solution.
“Willow.”, she replied. “Well if not Willow than Giles.”, she continued. The others glanced at her. “Besides if we are going to be bringing the sun down in the middle of the day, they might want to know about it.”
“She’s right. On both accounts.”, Billy agreed with her, bringing the attention back to him. “The slayer needs to know about it. And if anyone can help with the spell it would be Willow and Giles.”
“Great then I’ll head home and make the call. I’ll let you guys know when I have something.”, Carri said teleporting out
“What about the rest of us?”, asked Kim
“We wait.”, Tommy replied simply as the rest of the rangers tried to relax and wait for the return of their fellow ranger.
An hour later Carri teleported back in, ingredients in hand.
“So?”, Tommy asked anxiously
“So Buffy’s a bit ticked she has to slay in the middle of the day, but she’ll get over it.”, Carri replied with a smile
Rocky looked at the items in his girlfriend’s hands. “So you got us a spell?”
“Yeah. Giles said it was some sort of ancient ritual for removing the sun. He said we’ll probably get a good thirty minutes before the sun comes back, so we need to make it quick.” , she replied before handing everything over to Billy
Billy looked at everything in his hands, reading over the pieces of paper Carri gave him. “This looks like it should be fairly simple. I’ll have to go down to the surface to preform the spell.”, Billy said
The Command Chamber’s alarms went off and everyone turned to look at the screen. “Looks like this is our chance.”, Jason said as they saw Copy Cat and the Shadow’s were back
“Let’s not keep them waiting.”, Tommy said. “It’s morphin time!”
“Ninjetti, wolf!”
The five Ninja Zeos teleported to the center of the action while Billy teleported nearby. As soon as they hit the ground Copy Cat ordered the shadows to attack. The rangers fought fiercely against the Shadows, but the fight was not easy. After what seemed like an eternity, the light suddenly disappeared and darkness fell over the city.
The Shadow Rangers stopped moving and the other rangers looked around. “Let’s not waste our shot guys.”, Kim said as they went to attack Copy Cat
The others were surprised to see that Carri had already put her weapons together and slashed Copy Cat back. Jason was right, it was kind of nice to beat the crap out of Copy Cat. Even thought it was more the monster and not really Lizzie she was beating, it was still somewhat satisfying.
“I think we should join in.”, Rocky said leaping up and attacking Copy Cat with his lance. He was quickly followed by blasts from Tommy and Jason, and finally a set of arrows from Kim.
“You can’t stop me.”, Copy Cat growled as she used energy beams from her nails to fling all 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, Copy Cat rose from the flames and grew high above their heads. The rangers were quick to call on their Ninja Zeo Zords. They fought in the individual zords for a few minutes before bringing them all together to create the Megazord. The Megazord called on it’s saber and quickly used their weapon’s full power to bring Copy Cat down.
The rangers jumped out of the Megazord and to the ground. Where Copy Cat once stood sat a very frightened Lizzie Banna.
“You’re ok now miss.”, Rocky said
“I don’t know.”, Carri whispered from the back, anger once again rising as her fist started to clinch. Jason elbowed her hard and she crossed her arms and stared at Lizzie.
“What happened to me?”, Lizzie asked
Tommy stepped forward. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Leaving the library this morning.”, Lizzie replied. “Was I attacked by a monster?”, she asked in awe that the Power Rangers were surrounding her
“Actually Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa made you into a monster.”, Kim replied
“So I’m a monster?”, Lizzie squeaked
Jason shook his head no. “You’re ok now. Maybe you should go home and get some rest.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”, she replied. Lizzie let Jason and Rocky help her up, then she walked off in the direction of her dorm as the rangers teleported back.
Everyone powered down when they got back to the Command Chamber. Carri was excited. “Guys I have an idea.”
“What?”, Rocky asked curiously
“If she was attacked leaving the library, then she never had a chance to look at my e-mail.”, Carri pointed out
“So what you want us to go capture her so you can destroy her disks?”, Jason asked skeptically
Carri rolled her eyes. “No I want you to distract her so I can go destroy her disks.”
“How do you suppose we do that?”, Tommy asked. He was kind of in favor of the idea. It wasn’t very ranger like, but they couldn’t afford her realizing their identities. She wasn’t fond of Carri, and because of that, her knowing would not go well for the rest of them.
“What if... what if a few rangers went to her door and got her to come outside. You know saying like they were worried about her and stuff like that. Meanwhile I can teleport in and quickly get the job done.”, Carri suggested
“I’ll go.”, Kim said. She smiled at the rangers. “If anybody can keep her talking it’s me.”
“I know that’s right.”, Tommy joked
Kim grinned at her boyfriend. “Thank you for volunteering to go with me. Anyone else?”
“I”ll go with you. That will make three. We should be able to keep her distracted long enough.”, Jason said
“And I’ll monitor you guys from up here, and keep Carri informed.”, Rocky said looking over at his girlfriend
“Thanks guys.”, Carri said smiling at them
“Now you know we’re only doing this to protect ourselves as rangers, and to protect the planet.”, Tommy was quick to point out
Carri laughed. “Yeah I know.”, she said. But she couldn’t help but be satisfied that Lizzie wasn’t going to have anything she used to cheat off of her with.
A little while later the rangers were set up. They watched as Lizzie sat in her dorm room and threw some disks down by her computer as it booted up.
“Ready?”, Tommy asked looking at Kim and Jason
“Ready.”, Kim replied. The trio morphed and appeared at Lizzie’s door.
Billy, Rocky and Carri had visual and audio as they watched the interaction. Kim knocked and waited for Lizzie to come to the door.
“What’s wrong?”, Lizzie asked as she looked over the three rangers
“We need to talk to you.”, Kim started. “If you could step outside a minute.”
Lizzie walked outside and shut her door. Rocky turned to Carri. “That’s your cue.”
“I’m on it.”, Carri replied. She teleported into Lizzie’s dorm room. She had her communicator on an open channel with Rocky so she would know if Lizzie was coming back. She knew he would warn her, but she also knew she needed to rush. She had to make sure to get this done.
First she grabbed the disks on the desk, and stuck them one by one into the computer. To of the disks held Carri’s English work, the other two were Lizzie’s history and science. Carri threw the history and science disks down and quickly erased the two English disks before placing them back down as well.
Knowing that Lizzie had probably put the files on her computer, she decided to search that as well. There were files all over the drive pertaining to Carri’s e-mails and other work. As far as she could tell, Lizzie hadn’t looked at any of the e-mails except the project related ones. Unfortunately there was no way to tell where all of Carri’s e-mails were spread on Lizzie’s drive. Well there was, but it was going to take time. And Carri didn’t have time.
She couldn’t help but be excited about what she had decided to do next. It wasn’t completely necessary, but it was the quickest and most effective way to erase everything that had any reference to Carri or her friend’s identities as rangers. Besides, Carri had warned Lizzie not to mess with her and she was going to make good on that. Carri scooted over to Lizzie’s DOS prompt, and entered the command to F disk everything.
“She’s getting anxious.”, Rocky’s voice came over the communicator in a whisper
“One second.”, Carri said. She waited until the procedure was done and the monitor was blank before teleporting herself back to the Command Chamber. When she arrived, Billy paged the others and they let Lizzie go back into her dorm before teleporting up themselves.
“Are we good?”, Tommy asked as they powered down
“Yup.”, Carri grinned. “We’re good.”
“Do we even want to know?”, Jason asked looking at his friend with a smile on his face
“I just erased the files like we discussed.”, Carri replied before quickly changing subjects. She turned to Rocky and smiled. “Want to go hang out?”
“Sure.”, he said. She took her hand in his and teleported the two away.
Kim looked down at her watch. “I’ve got ten minutes to get to my lab.”, she said. She gave Tommy a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you boys later.”, she said teleporting out
“Want to go spar?”, Jason asked looking at Tommy
“Why not.”, Tommy replied. The duo teleported out leaving Billy all alone in the Command Chamber.
The next afternoon Carri and Lizzie sat in their English class, anxiously awaiting for their professor to end the class so they could get this discussion over with. Five minutes before the scheduled time, Dr. Bonaparte let all of the students go. Carri and Lizzie reluctantly walked up to her desk and pulled up chairs.
Dr. Bonaparte looked sternly at both girls. “I spent the last two days studying your notes.”, she started glaring at them. “Unfortunately there is no way to tell from the notes who copied off of who.”
“I know it’s hard when she copied my work and put it into her comp...”
“I wasn’t finished.”, Dr. Bonaparte snapped cutting Lizzie off. “The good news for one of you is, the person who did the research contacted some primary sources via email. I was able to get in touch with every last source. They all remembered speaking with a Carri Hillard, but none had heard of Lizzie Banna.”
“But Dr. Bonaparte that”
“Don’t interrupt me again.”, the professor growled at Lizzie as Carri sat straight up in her seat with a smug smile on her face. “Now Carri, I apologize for the accusations. Here is your outline. Everything looks to be in perfect order. And here is your disk back.”
Carri took both items back from her professor. “Thank you.”
“As for you Lizzie,” she started looking at her other student. “You will get an automatic F on this assignment. And as this is your first incident of cheating, it will be marked on your permanent record. One more incident and you will be expelled from this university.”
“But Dr. Bonaparte, I can’t pass this class unless I do well on this assignment.”, Lizzie whined
“If you do well enough the second half of the semester, you may be able to pull your grade to a D. But I will be keeping a close eye on you.”, Dr. Bonaparte warned. “You’re both dismissed.”
Carri and Lizzie both walked out of their classroom and into the hallway. Carri was a few steps ahead of Lizzie when Lizzie shoved her from behind. “You bitch.”, she spat
Carri stumbled forward a few steps before she caught herself and spun around. Lizzie had just made a huge mistake.
Lizzie walked up until she was almost in Carri’s face. “Not only did you get me in trouble, but you snuck into my room yesterday and erased everything.”, she accused, knowing fully that she got herself in trouble and it would have been impossible for Carri to get into her room. But she was mad at her so she was going to blame her.
“First, you’re the moron who cheated.”, Carri snapped. “And second, how the hell do you suppose I got into your room in the first place when I don’t even know where you live?”
Lizzie really didn’t have an answer to either of the points Carri made. All she knew was that she was angry. Lizzie swung her fist back and went to hit Carri. To her surprise, in one motion Carri blocked her shot and swept her legs out from under her, leaving her on the ground.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay down.”, Carri said as she walked away. As much as she wanted to kick the crap out of her, she really didn’t. Lizzie had been a monster and had almost gotten expelled from school within the last twenty-four hours. Not that she didn’t deserve it. Besides, Carri got her revenge on Lizzie’s hard drive. And now she was so pathetic she almost felt sorry for her.
As Carri turned to walk away, Lizzie got up. She ignored the growing group of spectators as she ran at Carri, hands stretched out. “This isn’t over.”, she said as she went to pull on her hair
Carri didn’t feel that sorry for her as she turned back and caught a glimpse of her coming. Before she could even touch her, Carri grabbed her hands and threw her up and over landing her on her back. “Trust me, you don’t want to fight me.”, she said as she once again walked away
Lizzie sat up and looked at the other students who were amused by her. She was hurt. Not physically, but her pride was definitely scarred. Not only had she been caught cheating for the first time, but Carri had just embarrassed her in front of all these people. Twice. Lizzie pulled herself up and took off in the opposite direction, trying to get out of there as fast as she could.
“What was that all about?”, Rocky asked as he approached his girlfriend. He had planned to meet her after class to see how everything went with her professor
“Lizzie got in trouble and got mad.”, Carri replied smiling
Rocky looked at her. “So what, you beat her up?”, he asked with a smile on his face as well. He had gotten there in time to see Lizzie run at Carri, and Carri flip her on her back.
“It was self defense.”, Carri answered, the smile still stuck on her face
“In that case.”, Rocky said as he put his arms around her and gave her a kiss. “Shall we celebrate?”
“Celebrate what?”
“The fact that your name was cleared.”
Carri raised an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”
Rocky grinned and grabbed her hand, leading her off. “Come on I’ll show you.”
Carri laughed and followed. She couldn’t help but be in a fantastic mood. In the last two days she had stopped a monster and a cheater. Who happened to be one in the same. Whether or not Lizzie learned her lesson was yet to be seen. But Carri was confidant that she learned not to mess with her. And that was good enough for now. She put her arm around Rocky and let him lead her off to enjoy the rest of their afternoon.
The End