Authors Note: Few quick notes so you
guys know. As you’re reading, there’s a spot where
Carri gets referred to by another name. To understand that, check
out the pic I used for her profile picture in the Character
Bio’s section. Also, just for the record, the people that I
describe that the girls meet that presumably work for the studio
are completely fictional, and any resemblance to anybody who
actually works for the studio is accidental.
Also just so you know, the title was appropriate but I promise it
has nothing to do with a similar titled Buffy episode.
Power Rangers Zeo
“Doppelgangers”
It was a hot late August afternoon in Los Angeles. Classes were just a few days from starting up again. Everything seemed to be falling back into place. Billy was back home from Europe, sharing the apartment with Kim, Carri and Jason who were all permanently moved back in. Not that Kim and Carri ever permanently left. Tommy and Rocky had moved back into their dorm room. Well not theirs, but a slightly better version of theirs they earned through their sophomore status. As for Kat, well she was living at home and getting ready to start class at Angel Grove College. She was even starting to really put some things back together, as she and Carri had met recently at the Youth Center to hang out.
Carri Hillard and Kimberly Heart were not concerning themselves with any of that this afternoon as they arrived back at their apartment from the beach.
“Did you lay out and fry long enough?”, Jason Lee Scott looked away from the television as he asked the girls when they came through the front door
Kim rolled her eyes. “No.”, she said making a face at him
“Whatever.”, Jason replied rolling his eyes back in her direction
Kim and Carri walked over to Jason and sat on either side of him on the couch. “So what’s up?”, Carri asked
“Not much. I’m getting ready to go over to the bookstore to try to pick up a few of my textbooks before class starts.”, Jason replied
“Good luck.”, Kim said. “We went over there this morning and it was packed and there weren’t many books left.”
“You should have come with.”, Carri told him as she curled up in her spot on the couch and leaned her back up against Jason for support. “But no you had something better to do.”
Jason laughed. “Yeah I told you I was meeting with Emily this morning.”
“You just won’t get your books.”, Kim said as she curled up in a similar fashion to Carri, leaning on Jason as well
“Then I guess I had better get going.”, Jason said as he jumped up off the couch and turned to watch as the two girls lost their balance and fell backwards into each other. Jason let out a small laugh.
Kim stuck her tongue out at him. “Thanks. Thanks a lot.”
“Anything for my two favorite girls.”, Jason said as he smiled at them. “Not to be mistaken, of course, for my favorite woman.”
Carri grabbed a couch pillow that was lodged in between her and the couch. “We love you too.”, she said as she threw it at him. “Now go get your books.”
Jason caught the pillow and tossed it on the floor. “Yeah, yeah.”, he replied. “I’ll see you guys later.”
The girls both said goodbye to him as they were each laying on a half of the couch with their heads together. “So now what?”, asked Kim
“I donno.”, Carri replied. “I think Rocky’s coming by later.”
“Yeah I was going to go over to their dorm. Tommy says it’s in order now.”, Kim told her
Carri giggled. “I’ve seen their version of in order.”
“True.”, Kim said as she laughed. “Come on let’s get up.”
“Actually I’m quite comfortable.”, Carri replied. Kim smiled at her as she started to pull herself up, then pulling Carri’s arms she pulled her to the floor. Both girls laughed as they headed towards their bedrooms.
Lord Zedd stood in Finster’s work room looking over his wife’s latest idea. “Are you sure this is going to work?”, he asked
Rita Repulsa frowned. He wasn’t hiding the skepticism in his voice. “I am positive. How can it fail. The rangers will not have a clue about what we’ve done until it’s too late.”
“This is not the first time we’ve thought that.”, Zedd pointed out
“Yes will this time I’ll be right.”, Rita snapped
Zedd sighed. He was going to let her go through with it. To be quite honest, on paper it seemed like a really good idea. He just wasn’t so sure how it was going to come out. They had tried to split the rangers up before and it never quite turned out right. “Fine just do what you have to. Maybe your little plan can lead us to the destruction of those power punks.”
With that Zedd took of for his throne room. Rita smiled and looked at Finster. “I’ll show him who’s the brains of this operation. Goldar! Rito! Get in here!”, she said as she yelled for her favorite lackeys. She looked at them as they walked in. This would be a fairly easy task, even they couldn’t screw it up.
Kim and Carri met in the living room of their apartment after they had both gotten showered and ready from the beach. “So when are you heading over?”, Carri asked as she plopped down on the couch
“Soon.”, Kim said as she sat down beside her. “I think Tommy said he’d be there around 5:30.”
Carri nodded in acknowledgment and then dug around for the remote. She and Kim made themselves comfortable and started to channel surf. They weren’t able to look long before they were rudely interrupted.
“Hello girls.”, Goldar growled as he was teleported into their apartment
The two girls jumped up and turned to face him. “So now you think you can come into our house and cause trouble? Big mistake.”, Kim pointed out
“Let’s show him.”, Carri said with a smile. “It’s morphin....”
Before she got a chance to finish her sentence, Rito teleported in behind her and pushed both girls to the ground. As they started to get up, a portal opened below them swallowing them and closing itself behind them. Satisfied with a job well done, Goldar and Rito took off.
The other end of the portal found the girls in one of Rita’s dark dimensions. They hit the ground then jumped to their feet in a defensive stance.
“This is not good.”, Kim pointed out the obvious
“You’re telling me.”, Carri agreed. Upon not seeing anything in the dimension, the girls went from being defensive to snooping around. Until Rita’s face appeared before them.
“Hello rangers.”, Rita greeted
“What do you want Rita?”, Kim snapped
Rita laughed. “I thought you would have figured it out by now. The destruction of the power rangers of course.”
“So you’re going to start with us?”, Carri asked
“No I’m not going to destroy you. Just send you out of the way so I can have my fun destroying the team from the inside.”, Rita told them
“And what you don’t suppose they’ll notice us missing?”, Kim asked as she made a face
“That’s what I made these robots for.”, Rita said laughing as she revealed her latest creation to the two female rangers. Between Finster’s abilities and the scraps they found from the Machine Empire, Rita had been able to construct exact replicas of Kim and Carri. “The rangers will never know you’re missing and they’ll be able to destroy the team for me.”
Carri glared at her. “Billy will figure it out.”, she shouted angrily
“After years of dealing with you rangers, don’t you think I know how you operate?”, asked Rita. “Of course Billy will scan my robots. And thanks to my magic he will find them nothing but human.”
Rita couldn’t help but laugh as she watched the horrified looks on the two female rangers faces. With a wave of her wand she sent the two robots off. “In just a few minutes my robots are going to start phase one of breaking apart your precious power team. Once they all hate each other and noone wants to fight the good fight anymore, it will be easy for Zeddie and I to step on in.”, she explained. She paused as she stared at them. She wanted to just send them away, but she had to rub in her success farther. “Before I make you girls disappear, you just have to see the show.”
The girls looked on as somehow Rita managed to share her view of the telescope with them. They watched in utter horror as the events that Rita set in motion started to play out before them.
The Carribot found her way into the living room of the apartment, where she was awaiting Rocky’s arrival. Finally she heard a knock and watched the door open as he walked through it.
“Hey baby.”, Rocky DeSantos greeted as he came in and sat down on the couch next to the Carribot. He leaned over to give her a kiss, one she didn’t return. “What’s wrong?”, he asked
“Wrong?”, she repeated rolling her eyes. “Nothing’s wrong. Or perhaps everything is. I’m not sure I haven’t decided yet.”
Rocky was confused and unsure of what to say. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Look,” she started as she scooted away from the couch and turned toward him, “the truth is you just don’t cut it for me anymore. You haven’t for a long time.”
Rocky was baffled. “How can you say that? After all we’ve been through? After this past summer? Can you seriously look me in the eye and say that I don’t cut it for you? I don’t understand.”
“I think I just did look you in the eye. And besides, there’s not much to understand. The last couple of months have been a front. But I didn’t want to break up the team so I kept my mouth shut. But I can’t do it anymore. I’m sick of the lies. I’m sick of pretending I’m in love with you when I’m not.”
Rocky honestly did not know what to say. He had no clue anything was wrong. He had no clue what she was talking about. “Nothing is making sense. Breaking up the team? The lies? You swear you’re pretending.... well if you’ve been pretending then you deserve an Oscar because you sure as hell had me fooled.”
“You want the lies explained? You want to know why I’m about to break up the team?”, she said harshly as she stood up and looked at him sitting there. The Carribot had to keep from smiling at a job well done as she saw all the emotion in his face. She was excited to deliver the next line. “Because everything I haven’t been getting from you I’ve been getting from Tommy.”
“What!”, Rocky yelled leaping up out of his seat. “All this time you’ve been going behind my back with Tommy?”, he questioned his voice still raised. Rocky clinched his fists. He didn’t know whether to be angry or sad. She would expect angry. But he sure as hell wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing how sad and torn up he really felt inside.
“That’s what I just said.”, the Carribot pointed out. “So now you know. Now it’s off my chest. That’s the lie. That’s what I was afraid would break up the team.”
Rocky had so much he wanted to say to her, but he declined to say any of it. “Well congratulations you just did.”, he replied simply as he walked out the front door slamming it behind him
The Carribot smiled as the cross on the wall shook on his way out. She sat down on the couch and crossed her arms, completely satisfied with a job well done.
The Kimbot smiled as she walked towards Tommy’s dorm. She quickly allowed the smile to fade as she put on the fake tears and flung the door open.
Tommy Oliver looked up from his magazine to see his girlfriend storm in, tears running down her face. He stood up to greet her. “Kim, baby what’s wrong?”, he asked as he extended his arms to her
The Kimbot said nothing as she just walked up and slapped him in the face. “How dare you?”, she spat
Tommy stumbled back not expecting this reaction from her. “How dare I? How dare I what?”, he asked looking her in the eye
“Don’t play stupid with me Tommy. Carri called. She confessed everything.”, she explained
“Confessed what?”, asked a confused Tommy. “That we had lunch together one day last week? That’s what friends do, they hang out.”
“Lunch last week?” the Kimbot repeated shooting him a look. “Was that before or after you slept with her?”
“What?”, Tommy asked surprised by Kim’s accusation. “Kim come on you know I didn’t sleep with her.”
“So are you denying it this past time or are you denying the last few months?”, she asked
“Months? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The Kimbot got right in his face. “If you’re not going to be man enough to admit it that’s fine. At least my ex-best friend respected me enough to tell me the truth.”, she said as she looked him in the eye. “I hope I never have to see your unfaithful, backstabbing, sorry ass again.”, she said as she walked out the dorm and slung the door shut.
Tommy sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. Kim just left him over something he didn’t even do. Something Carri said he did. He had to prove her wrong. But how could he? It was his word against hers. He sighed and leaned against the wall, hoping that he could figure out how to get her back.
“And now to say goodbye.”, Rita said as she looked at the two girls who were standing in her dark dimension. The looks on their faces were priceless. Both girls were close to tears, but she didn’t think they would give her that satisfaction. With a wave of her wand she opened a portal behind them that sucked them both in. She laughed as she closed it, then went on to watch the rangers.
Billy Cranston stood in the Power Chamber as a streak of blue light came in. “Hey Rocky what’s up?”, he asked as his friend appeared before him
“I need you to run a scan for me.”, Rocky said trying hard not to show any emotion
“What kind of scan?”, Billy asked looking his friend in the face. It was obvious to him that he was in some kind of pain.
“On Carri.”, Rocky told him. “I need to know.... can you tell me if she’s under a spell?”
“Absolutely.”, Billy replied as he walked over to the console. He spent a few moments using his newly perfected device to scan Carri. After a few minutes he turned to Rocky. “Nope she’s clean.”
Rocky took a deep breath to hold in all the emotion. “Thanks.”, he said as he prepared to teleport out
“Wait aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on?”, asked Billy
“You’ll find out soon enough.”, Rocky replied as he disappeared
Billy thought for a moment, then decided that it may be in Rocky’s best interest if he figured out where he went and followed him.
Rocky teleported to the side of his dorm room building. He ran up the stairs and threw open the door to his dorm.
“Rocky I...”, Tommy started to say but Rocky never gave him a chance as he punched him, throwing him backwards
“I thought we were friends.”, Rocky growled
“We are friends.”, Tommy said as he looked up from the floor at him
“Friends don’t sleep with their friends girlfriends.”, he snapped
Tommy started to stand up and try to back away from Rocky. “I didn’t sleep with you’re girlfriend.”
“That’s bullshit and we both know it.”
“Look I don’t know what she’s telling everyone, maybe she’s under a spell, but the only relationship I have with her is friends, and now I’m not so sure about that anymore.”
“She’s not under a spell I already had Billy check that.”, Rocky told him. “And she’s already spilled your secret there’s no use trying to hide it.”
“Look...”
Rocky quickly cut Tommy off. He sure as hell wasn’t in the mood for any excuses. “I don’t know why you did it, maybe Kim wasn’t good enough for you, maybe you wanted her from the beginning I don’t know, but you two can certainly have each other now. I sure as hell don’t want anything to do with either of you again. Ever.”
“Rocky wait!”, Tommy called as he watched him storm out. He saw Rocky push past Billy who had been standing in the doorway the entire time. Tommy thought about it. What if he had been under a spell? What if he really cheated on Kim with Carri and couldn’t remember it? He went over to Billy. “Check me out. What if I’m under a spell?”
“What the sleep with your friends girlfriends spell?”, Billy asked skeptically
“Please just give me the benefit of the doubt.”, Tommy asked
“Fine.”, Billy replied. He teleported back to the Power Chamber with Tommy and scanned him, finding him to be clean. “Nice try Tommy but you’re not under a spell.”
Tommy thought for a moment. Was there something wrong with him? Did he have multiple personalities? Could he have done it and suppressed it? But he would never want to hurt Kim like that.
“Get out.”, Billy snapped pulling him out of his thoughts
“What?”, Tommy asked
Billy looked at him. “I once had a lot of respect for you Tommy, but now I’m afraid I’ve lost most of it. I’d prefer you not to be in my presence right now.”
“Yeah, fine.”, Tommy said. He couldn’t argue anymore. He wasn’t under a spell and neither was she. And even if he really believed in his heart that there was no way it could have happened without him knowing or remembering, noone was listening to him. Tommy didn’t say another word as he teleported back to his dorm room.
Both robots stood in the livingroom of the apartment discussing their job well done, until they heard Jason making his way back.
“I couldn’t get all of my....”, Jason started as he opened the door. He stopped mid sentence as he saw the girls going at it. He ran over there to try and pull them apart.
“You are such a backstabbing little bitch!”, the Kimbot yelled
Jason stepped in the middle of them. “Come on Kim whatever she did you can’t mean that.”
“She slept with my boyfriend.”, Kim stated. “Well ex-boyfriend now.”
The Carribot got a sly grin on her face. “Not true. Slept implies once. And it was definitely way more than once.”
The Kimbot took a swing at the Carribot, catching her in the jaw. The Carribot stumbled backwards. Jason just stood there unsure of what to do. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This couldn’t be right.
After the punch to the face, the Carribot got up and walked towards the bedrooms. “Where do you think you’re going?”, asked the Kimbot as she started to follow her
“To my room.”, she snapped
“You’re not welcome here anymore.”, the Kimbot replied, her voice ice cold
The Carribot laughed. “And what exactly do you think you’re going to do about it?”
“She’s right.”, Jason said finally snapping out of his daze and going to stand next to Kim. “You’re not welcome. And if you don’t leave, I’ll force you to. You’re welcome to come get your things when nobody’s around. But for now, get out.”
“Fine I can tell when I’m not loved.”, the Carribot said as she headed towards the front door. “I’ll be at Tommy’s if anybody needs me.”, she said as she closed the door behind her
“I can’t believe it.”, Jason said as he turned to Kim. “I never thought he would do something like this to you. Especially not with her.”
“Me neither.”, the Kimbot said in a whisper
Jason gave her a hug as she was quivering. “If you need anything...”, he said letting his voice trail off
“I just need to be alone right now.”, the Kimbot said as she broke away from Jason and walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her
Jason sighed as he went back out into the livingroom. He couldn’t believe all this had happened. He always thought Carri and Tommy were so happy in their other relationships, for them to be sleeping with each other... And some friend he was. He knew both of them so well and he didn’t have a clue.
He found himself sitting on the couch. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television. As he started to get into the show he was watching, there was a knock on the door. Jason got up and went and looked through the peephole. Standing there was Tommy. He almost didn’t open the door. He wasn’t sure what to say. After a moment he decided to open it long enough to tell him to go away. As the door cracked open he glared at Tommy. “You’re not welcome here.”
“Look bro I just want to talk to Kim for a minute.”, Tommy replied
“First off, you lost the privilege to call me bro the minute you slept with Carri.”, Jason said trying hard to contain his anger he felt towards the man he once called his best friend. “And you’ve done enough damage to Kim already. She’s in her room crying.”
“I just need to...”
Jason quickly cut Tommy off. “Need to nothing. You’re girlfriend just took off looking for you. Neither one of you are welcome here anymore.”, he replied as he slammed the door and locked it. Jason then walked back to the couch and resumed watching tv. He found it hard to concentrate as he couldn’t help but think about what was going on around him.
Kim and Carri had been sucked through Rita’s portal and ended on a city street somewhere. They both stood up and brushed themselves off. Carri looked at her best friend. “I know it’s killing us to see the boys like that, but we have more important things to worry about.”
Kim nodded. “We’ll get home and sort this all out. But for now, we have to figure out how to get home from.... well from wherever we are.”
The girls looked around. Carri smiled as she thought she recognized the city. “I think we’re in San Diego. That’s the baseball field, dad took me there once to see Houston play. And that’s the convention center. Josh talked me into going with him and dad to the comic book convention one year.”
“Our San Diego?”, Kim questioned although she thought she knew the answer
“I doubt Rita thought out this entire plan and then sent us two hours down the road. More than likely it’s an alternate reality.”, Carri pointed out
Kim shook her head in agreement. “But there’s only one way to find out. And that’s try and call home.”
“We should head to the convention center.”, Carri suggested adding to Kim’s thought. “They should have a phone we can use there.”
With that, Kim and Carri headed off. They weren’t sure what to expect. There were a lot of people in the streets that day. Carri assumed there was something huge going on at the convention center, but they weren’t close enough to tell what yet.
As they approached the convention center, people started to point at them and whisper. “This is kind of creepy don’t you think?”, Kim asked
“Yeah we’re dressed like everyone else. We look normal. We shouldn’t be standing out like this.”, Carri replied
“There is definitely something weird going on around here.”, Kim said as more and more people were pointing and whispering
Carri looked around and finally noticed the banner on the convention center. “Oh shit.”, she said as she thought she realized what was going on. “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
“What are you talking about?”, Kim asked as she spun around and caught what Carri was looking at. “This can’t be good.”
The girls were reading the banner. They now knew what kind of convention it was. The banner read “Welcome Fans to the Power Rangers Convention”. As the girls started to realize what was going on, the fans heading to the convention center started to come up to them.
“Oh boy. No what?”, asked Kim
“My suggestion? Move. Quickly.”, Carri replied as she took of all but running
Kim was quick to follow. As they walked by the front door of the convention center, a short, pudgy, balding man in a suit grabbed them by the arms and led them to a heavily guarded elevator. They stepped in and he hit the button and it started to go up.
“You know you could have just come through the back door and avoided all that. You’re just lucky that word gets around quickly and I intercepted you or you would have been mauled by excited fans.”, the man said looking at them. The girls made a face. The man quickly smiled at them. “I’m sorry, it’s great to see you girls. Steve thought that neither one of you would show, that this is beneath you now.”
“Well here we are.”, Carri said with a fake smile on her face. Kim looked at her, and Carri shrugged her shoulders.
The elevator doors opened and the man walked them down a hallway and into an office. “Here’s my office. For now anyway.”, he said as he walked around the desk. “Have a seat.”
The two girls sat down and faced him. Neither had any clue what was going on. The man looked at them both. “So Amy, how’s the new show going?”, he asked. Neither girl said anything as they didn’t have any clue who he was referring to. “I mean nothing is as exciting as playing Kim on the Power Rangers but still.”
Kim let out a fake laugh as she realized he was talking to her. “It’s going good.”
“And Neve, I here your show is doing great in the ratings.”
“Yeah it really took off.”, Carri said throwing another smile at him
“Anyway girls thank you for coming. I suppose you came for the entire package right?”, he asked looking at them
“Of course.”, Kim blurted out. She wasn’t sure if that was the right answer or not, but she figured she’d try and play along anyway.
“Fantastic.”, he said as he pushed a thick stack of paper towards each of them
Carri took one glance at it and immediately knew what it was. She had seen enough of these in her lifetime. “So we’re shooting?”, she asked
“I know what you’re thinking. That we couldn’t possibly use you after the boys have been here all week. But don’t you worry. The boys have done several scenes, but the ones you girls were going to star in we haven’t shot yet. We had two versions of the script. I was hopeful.”
“That’s great.”, Kim lied
“You need to take those to your hotel and learn your lines.”, he said. “We’re going to shoot Act 5, Scene 4 and Act 7, Scene 1 tonight. Then we have a lot to do tomorrow. I believe you girls are in Act 5 Scenes 2 and 3 but we can’t shoot those until we have some daylight. Plus we have a few more daytime scenes that you are in leading up to the finale. This is going to be the highest rated two part Power Rangers episode ever.”
“Sounds good.”, Carri said as she forced a smile. She hated acting and she couldn’t believe she was even going to pretend to be an actor. “We’re looking forward to it.”
“That’s great. I’ll get my driver to pick you up and take you over to the hotel. We’ll shoot tonight and tomorrow, and of course Saturday is the big all day appearance of the best ranger team ever at the convention.”, the man replied. He stood up and extended his hand to shake the girls hands, then they took off. The man led them to the back up the building then called for his car. They climbed in then were off to the hotel.
Tommy walked into his dorm room and saw Carri sitting on Rocky’s bed. He collapsed on his own and stared at her. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Tommy baby how could you say that?”, the Carribot asked as she went over and sat on his bed, lifting her hand up to run her fingers through her hair
“How can I say that?”, Tommy repeated as he pulled back. “You ruined my friendships, my relationships...”
“I? Baby I think it was more we that took care of that.”, she said as she scooted towards him and put a hand on his thigh
Tommy tried to scoot away again, this time scooting all the way against the wall. “There is nothing that I did wrong and I can’t get to anybody to make them see that because of you.”
The Carribot laughed. “Nothing? You call that night at Angel Grove Lake nothing? Well damn baby I’d love to see what your something is.”, she said as she leaned in and pressed her body against his, giving him a passionate kiss
The red ranger sat there stunned for a moment, before pushing her off of him. “Enough.”, he snapped
She stood up and looked at him, pouting. “What is it baby? Now that they know it isn’t fun anymore?”, she asked as she pushed out her lower lip. “Fine. I’ll go. If you decide you want to make up for lost time just call.”
With that the Carribot walked out of the room, swinging her hips as she went. Tommy watched her go. He didn’t know what was going on. He still couldn’t believe it. But even she was so confident. And it’s not that he didn’t find her attractive, but he knew in his heart that he wouldn’t cheat on Kim with her. He was in love with Kim. He’s still in love with Kim, no matter what she thinks. He just has to figure out what’s happened here so he can go to her and try to win her back.
Rocky made his way up to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. Not to see her. But his three closest friends in town still lived there and he needed someone to talk to. He knocked, and a few seconds later someone answered.
“Hey man.”, Jason greeted
“Hey.”, Rocky replied. “Can I come in?”
“She’s not here.”, Jason said as he opened the door and let him through. “We kind of threw her out.”
Rocky sighed. “Believe me she’s the last person I want to see right now anyway.”
“How are you holding up?”, Jason asked as he escorted him over to the couch
“Honestly?”, Rocky asked as he took a seat. “The woman I’m in love with just told me she’s been sleeping with one of my best friends behind my back. So not too good.”
Jason frowned. “So you do still love her?”
“Yes. But I don’t think I will ever be able to forgive her.”, Rocky replied. “And because of that, I’m going to have to learn to let her go and move on.”
“It’s going to be hard.”, Jason told him. Rocky nodded in agreement. “But I’ll be here if you need anything.”
“I need a place to stay.”, Rocky said. “It will be a cold day in hell before I go stay with Tommy.”
“Well...”, Jason started but his voice trailed off. He knew what he wanted to say, he just wasn’t sure how Rocky would react. But he decided to say it anyway. “Carri’s obligated to pay rent here still. And I’m sure she’s going to stay with Tommy at least for a while. So you are welcome to stay here.”
“Yeah.”, Rocky replied. He couldn’t bare the thought of her living with Tommy. He always thought it would be the two of them that would have a place together someday. He had to push those thoughts out of his mind. “So... what do you think is going to happen with the team?”
Jason hadn’t really thought about how all this affected the world. “We had better pray that Rita doesn’t attack. The team’s in such disarray right now.”, Jason answered. He thought for a moment. “I hope though that neither one of them will be so petty as to neglect their ranger duties. No matter how we feel about each other, the fate of the world still depends on us.”
“That’s easy to say.”, Rocky said. “Maybe if we were all robots we could go out there, ignore our feelings and function.”
Jason smiled. “Yeah, maybe.” The two sat in silence for a moment before Jason grabbed the tv remote. “You want to watch something?”
“Anything to get my mind off of this.”, he said
“You got it.”, Jason replied as he started to flip through channels
Carri and Kim walked into one of their hotel rooms. They took the television scripts and tossed them on the bed.
“So Power Rangers, gem force?”, Kim asked laughing as she glanced at her script
“I think I’m going to get back and tell Zordon I want to be the Diamond Ranger. Only, of course, if it means they give me diamonds to wear all the time.”, Carri said smiling
Kim giggled. “There is no diamond ranger. Weren’t you paying attention? It’s the Diamond Command. Their Power Chamber is one big giant diamond.”
“Yeah and did you see? That’s where we’re filming tonight.”, Carri pointed out
Kim nodded. “Do you think we can pull it off?”
“Acting? Please did you read the lines? It’s like they came right out of our mouths.”, Carri replied as she flipped to the first scene they were filming that night. “Look. The rangers teleport us in. We smile as our former rangers smile at us and the present rangers look at us in awe. Tommy says sorry to pull you girls from modeling. I say all you had to say was Goldar is still alive. You know how I like to give Goldie his weekly butt kicking. And you say as long as it doesn’t take long baby because they are going to take us shopping tomorrow to pick up some new outfits for the next shoot. And Rocky says great that’s all we need for the two of you to get to go to the mall all expenses paid. Then everyone laughs.”
“Could you really see us having that conversation?”, Kim asked
She shrugged. “Yeah. Couldn’t you?”
“Even the modeling part?”
“I donno. Do pigs fly?”
Kim laughed. “Well...”
“And Rita’s monsters so do not count.”, Carri replied smiling
“In that case, no.”
Carri picked up the tv remote off of the hotel night stand. “Let’s relax a little, then we can work on this some more.”
“We can’t relax too long.”, Kim pointed out as she made herself comfortable on the bed
Carri turned on the tv. “And now back to the Power Rangers Zeo marathon with King for a Day.”, the television set announced
“You want to watch?”, Carri asked
Kim made a face. “I don’t know. Do you think it’s going to be kind of creepy?”
“Previously on Power Rangers...”, the announcer said
As Carri watched her jaw dropped. “Uh yeah.... but I’m too curious now....”
When the previously finished, they kicked into the theme song. The girls looked at each other and laughed. “We have our own theme music?”, Kim asked
The show quickly followed and the girls got into the action. During the first commercial, Kim turned to Carri. “So did anything like this ever happen to you?”, she asked
“Try this scenario exactly happened to me.”, Carri said as she sat there in awe
“You mean Tommy really thought he was the king of the machine empire?”, Kim questioned
Carri nodded. “Yeah he was going to kill us all, starting with Jason. If it weren’t for Kat’s idea, which for the record I still think was too risky, Tommy may have never been able to break free of their grasp.”
“That’s wild.”, Kim said as the show cut back on
The girls watched for a while longer. As things unfolded Carri’s eyes got wide then she jumped up. “Holly shit!”, she exclaimed
“What? What’s wrong?”, asked Kim
“I spent weeks debating with Jason how we all the sudden ended up in Gasket’s backyard. It was Rita and Zedd all along!”
“You guys didn’t know?”
Carri pointed to the tv. “Does it look like we had a clue? Man he’s going to die when I get back and tell him this.”
“Yeah but this is just a tv show. How can you be sure that’s what happened in our reality?”, asked Kim
“Yes this is a tv show. And yes it is condensed a little from what actually happened. But everything they’ve shown so far, word for word, has been completely accurate. It’s like someone videotaped us. Even that look.”, Carri said as she pointed to the yellow zeo ranger who turned to the blue ranger after Kat powered down
“That’s too freaky.”, Kim said
“Yeah no kidding.”, Carri replied
The two girls continued watching that episode, followed by a few more. They weren’t even close to being in chronological order. But every one that Carri saw was like a memory to her. Finally one came up called Pink Dilemma. In the first five minutes of the episode, Kat had been captured and forced to turn her powers over to Kim. Carri turned off the tv. “I hope you don’t mind.”, she told Kim as she turned to her. “But I don’t think I can watch that one.”
“I don’t blame you.”, Kim replied. “Besides, we have to get back to our script.”
Carri nodded and the two girls picked up their scripts and worked on learning their lines.
Rita walked into Zedd’s throne room with a huge smile on her face. “This is going better than I could have ever imagined.”
“For now.”, Zedd said. Although he was still skeptical, he had to admit that Rita’s idea was working out pretty well. “What about the pink and yellow zeo rangers? They are still alive?”
“I’ll take care of them later. They can’t get out of that dimension. Nobody knows they’re there. And to be honest Zeddie when my plan works and we destroy the rangers, they won’t matter anymore anyway.”, Rita pointed out
“And when, exactly, will that be?”, asked Zedd as he gave his wife a strange look. He knew that even the best laid plans could go to waste if not executed properly. And if Rita kept waiting, something was bound to happen.
“Finster is working on a monster for me right now.”, Rita bragged. “We’ll attack the rangers in the morning.”
Rita turned and took off from the throne room. She was very satisfied with what she had done and she certainly wasn’t going to stay in there and let Zedd bring her down.
Kim and Carri had a limo waiting for them right when the man they met earlier said there would be. They climbed into the limo and were driven to the studio. As they got out, they were ushered into makeup and costume. Finally they walked out onto the set.
“Girls it’s wonderful to see you.”, greeted another man they had never seen before. This one was taller than the first, perhaps younger, definitely skinner, but still balding.
“It’s good to be here.”, Carri lied
“You girls remember Austin, Steve and Jason.”, the man said as he gestured to three guys who looked a lot like Jason, Rocky and Tommy.
“Of course.”, Kim lied as well
“Then allow me to introduce you to the new breed of rangers, the gem force rangers.”, the man said as he turned the girls toward five actors. “This is Jonathan, he plays Ethan the Red Ruby Ranger. This is William, he’s Brian the Blue Sapphire Ranger. Over here we have Robert, he plays Christian, the Green Emerald Ranger. And the girls are Jennifer, who is Samantha the Yellow Citrine Ranger, and Melinda, who is Dana the Pink Tourmaline Ranger.”
As the new rangers were introduced to the girls, they all smiled and said hello. Melinda and Samantha walked up to the two female rangers in awe.
“You know the line that I say that says how cool it is to be working with the two best female rangers ever. And how you guys have inspired everyone who has come after you?”, Samantha asked
Kim smiled. “Yeah. Although that’s a bit much isn’t it?”
“Actually we feel the same way as the characters do. You two are legendary in the Power Rangers realm.”, Melinda agreed with her friend
Carri raised an eyebrow. “Really?”, she asked. The two girls nodded. “Well then let’s not disappoint. Let’s get started shall we?” With that Carri stepped onto the Diamond Command set. “Where do you want me?”, she asked
Kim quickly followed her over and they were all told their places as the shooting began.
The next morning Rocky awoke in Carri’s bed. It was weird sleeping there, but the mattress had been much more comfortable than the couch. A rush of emotions came over him as he stretched and looked around the room. It was littered with photographs of the two of them. He hoped that she would come get those sooner than later.
Rocky climbed out of bed and went into the kitchen. He quickly downed a bowl of cereal, then went back into the bedroom to take a shower. He stayed in the shower for a while, letting the warm water run down his back. It felt so nice and relaxing, he almost didn’t want to get out. As the water started to go cold, he finally climbed out. He slowly got dressed and headed out into the livingroom, where Jason and Kim were sitting on the couch watching tv.
“Hello.”, he greeted them
“Good morning Rocky.”, Jason replied. “Have a seat.”, he said as he scooted over to make room
Rocky collapsed in the middle of the couch between his two friends. He looked over at Kim, who had been locked in her room the entire previous night. “How are you holding up?”, he asked
“Fine.”, she said softly. “And you?”
He smiled at her. “Fine.”, he replied
Jason looked at his two depressed friends. “We need to get you guys out today. How about the beach?”
“No.”, the Kimbot was quick to reply. “No beach. Too many memories.”
“Sorry.”, Jason apologized. The Kimbot waved it off saying there was no need. Jason smiled at her. “Well there must be something we can do.”
“I don’t know.”, she replied
“I’ll think of something.”, Jason said. Although it was going to be hard for him to find an activity that didn’t bring back bad memories.
“Maybe we can...”, Rocky started as he was cut off by the too familiar sound of the communicator
“Go ahead.”, Jason said as he answered his page
“Rita’s sent a monster to the park.”, Billy told him
“We’re on our way.”, Jason replied. He looked at the other two and smiled. He hoped they were ready. “It’s morphin time!”
“Zeo ranger I, pink!”, the Kimbot yelled. Although she didn’t have zeonizers, Rita rigged it so she could “morph” like the others.
“Zeo ranger III, blue!”
“Zeo ranger IV, green!”
With that the three rangers were on the scene. They fought the monster alone for a few minutes before the red ranger showed up. There was still no sign of the yellow ranger. And it would have been better if Tommy hadn’t shown up, because neither Rocky nor Kim wanted to work with him.
Jason couldn’t blame them, but at the same time they were letting the monster kick their butts. He turned to the red ranger. “Maybe you should take off, let us handle this.”
“You’re going to get killed if you don’t....”
“We’re going to get killed if Kim and Rocky keep dancing around you.”, Jason snapped at him
Tommy sighed and teleported away. Once Kim and Rocky saw he was gone, they were able to concentrate on monster fighting. A few minutes later, the three of them pulled out the Zeo Cannon to bring the monster down. Rita made it grow, and as usual they defeated it in the zords then teleported back home.
“Finster!”, Rita screeched as she stormed into his workroom. “You’re monster was no good!”
“I’m sorry your highness but...”, Finster started but was cut off
“No excuses!”, she snapped. “Make me a new monster. And you had better make this one good.”
“Alright but it is going to take some time to make the type of monster you desire.”, Finster pointed out
Rita made a face. “Fine, just hurry.”, she said as she stormed out in a huff
Zedd couldn’t help but laugh as his wife came storming through. He told her it wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought it was.
Kim and Carri stood in a grassy field the following afternoon getting ready to shoot some more scenes. They shot what they needed the night before. They got a few done that morning. This scene was supposed to be the first scene in the show that the girls were in.
“Action!”, the director yelled
Kim and Carri walked through the field. “I wonder where the boys are?”, Kim asked
“I don’t know. But we’re in River City, and that’s where they told us to meet them.”, Carri replied
“I just can’t believe Goldar’s back after all these years.”, Kim said
A group of altered puddies “materialized” before the girls. “I think he’s back and he brought friends.”, Carri said as they both jumped into a defensive stance
“Well there’s only one thing left to do.”, Kim said as she looked at the camera and smiled. “Ninjetti....”
“Cut!”, the director yelled. “Alright good. And we’ll fill in the Crane and Panther transformation part with stock footage, as I’m sure you girls are used to.”
The girls were ushered back to the dressing room and they put on their ninjetti costumes. Carri looked at herself. “Not bad.”, she replied
“They are kind of off though.”, Kim said. Carri nodded in agreement. “And really uncomfortable.”, Kim added as she started twitching
“Let’s just shoot this and get it over with.”, Carri said as they walked back out
The girls took their places and the director called for action to resume. The girls fought with the “puddies” for a while until “Goldar” appeared with a monster. “You rangers will be sorry you ever messed with us.”, the man in the monkey suit growled
“A monster? Please you would at least think they would try and challenge us.”, Carri said
“Well you know what this means.”, Kim replied as she turned to look at her. “It’s morphin time!”
“Cut!”, the director yelled. He said something about adding in morphing sequence stock footage and sent the girls to change again.
Carri and Kim came back out in zeo costumes, fought and defeated the monster, then took the costumes off and put their clothes back on to make it look like they were powered down.
“We need to hurry up and find the....”, Kim’s voice trailed off
The director stopped them yet again. It was at this point that the girls were to be “teleported” to Diamond Command. “Good job girls.”, the director said. “Why don’t we take a break and then we’ll finish out the scenes.”
Kim and Carri nodded their heads yes as they walked off. Kim turned to her friend. “This is getting too weird.”
“Tell me about it.”, Carri said as they headed over to take a seat
In a space ship a galaxy away from the rangers, a blonde was standing on the bridge anxiously tapping her foot. “I’m tired of playing games.”, she said as she looked at her friend
Astronema, who was in charge of the ship, looked at her. “Soon enough. You have to have patience.”
“This is coming from someone who can’t wait to destroy the space rangers.”, Callisto snapped
“So what are you going to do then?”, Astronema asked
“I’m not going to ruin any future plans. But I am going down to Earth and I am just going to burn her. I’m sure they’ll just replace her. But it will surely kill the team and make me feel much better.”
Astronema shrugged. “Whatever you have to do. Just don’t let it interrupt Dark Specter’s plans.”
“Of course not.”, Callisto said as she took off
Moments later Callisto stood in the park near the college, behind her greatest enemy. “How does it feel to know you’re going to die?”, she asked
The Carribot spun around. She had no idea what was going on. Rita’s programming didn’t have her recognize Callisto. Rita didn’t think it mattered, Callisto never came to Earth without letting her know she was there first.
Callisto smirked as she threw a fireball at her. She laughed as the Carribot didn’t even try and dodge it. The fireball hit her head on, and she burst into flames. Callisto laughed and took off, heading back to the Dark Fortress.
“Well?”, Astronema asked as she reappeared on the bridge
“We can get back to work now. I feel much better.”, Callisto replied with a wicked grin on her face
Rocky and Jason were wondering through the park near campus later that afternoon. Jason was just glad he finally convinced Rocky to get out of the house. The duo was heading over to the campus gym to work out when Jason noticed someone out of the corner of his eye.
“Is that who I think it is?”, Jason asked
Rocky spun around to see Callisto standing there talking to someone. They couldn’t tell who she was talking to through the trees. They started to jog over there as she formed a fireball and threw it. That’s when they realized who she was aiming at.
Rocky’s eyes were wide with disbelief. “Carri!”, he yelled as the goddess was taking off. He ran over to her. She may have broken his heart, but he could help the feelings he still had for her. And he certainly didn’t want to see her dead.
As they got there they saw her hit the ground, with Callisto’s fireball finally burning itself out. Rocky ran to her and hit the ground beside her. “Oh God please don’t let her be...”, he couldn’t say the word as he looked at her charred lifeless body
Jason put a hand on his friends shoulder. “We need to get to the Power Chamber. And fast before anybody comes this way.”
Rocky nodded in agreement and put his hand on Carri’s burn one, then teleported the two of them to the Power Chamber with Jason right behind them. Rocky picked up her burnt body and set it on a medical table.
“What happened?”, Billy asked as he rushed over there
“It was Callisto.”, Rocky said. “She showed up in the park and threw a fireball at her.”
“Is she...”, Jason started. Even with what she had done he couldn’t say it. He couldn’t think about it. They were such good friends. And what she and Tommy did couldn’t change the friendship they once had. Even though everyone was mad at her now, one day Rocky and Kim will move on and maybe he could accept things and they could be friends again. He didn’t want to see her die on them like this, not by Callisto’s hand.
Billy looked at her body. “She’s burnt almost everywhere, severely in some places.”, he said as he picked up her wrist. “There’s no pulse.”
“That can’t be right.”, Rocky said. As he spoke he could almost feel the walls crashing down around him. “Can you scan her?”
Billy looked at his friend. After everything she’d done to him in the last twenty-four hours, he could tell that Rocky still loved her. And he couldn’t blame him, they had been so strong together. He knew by looking at the body that she couldn’t have survived the attack. But to humor Rocky, he ran a scan on her. He read the results. He was puzzled by what they said, so he ran the scan again. The results were the same. A slow smile crept across his face.
“What is she alive?”, questioned Rocky as he felt his spirits lift. “Don’t just stand there help her.”, he said as he started to get anxious
“Oh no she is quite dead.”, Billy replied still smiling
Rocky felt his hopes drop to the floor. “Then there’s not much to be smiling about.”
“Actually there is. Although she may be dead - if you even want to call her that, although we do call Alpha a he sometimes - wherever Carri is she’s probably very much alive.”, Billy explained
Jason looked at him curiously. “So you’re saying that this isn’t Carri.”
Billy walked out of the room for a moment and came back with something in his hand. He activated the laser he was holding and sliced open the skin of the Carribot, exposing the hardware inside. “Whatever this is, it’s all robot.”
“Thank God.”, Jason said smiling. He thought for a moment. “I knew something was wrong. There’s no way Carri would let Callisto take her like that.”
“Does this mean.... I mean... how long has the robot been here?”, Rocky asked
“If you’re asking if I think that robot Carri was the one that claimed to have slept with Tommy then the answer is yes.”, Billy replied
“Well then we have to find her!”, Rocky exclaimed as he started to get excited
“Easy there Rocky.”, Jason said smiling. Although he couldn’t help but share his enthusiasm that Carri was not only alive and well somewhere, but that she did not sleep with Tommy.
“Well first I need to figure out when the switch was made.”, Billy said
Jason racked his brain for a moment. “Well I saw her and Kim yesterday afternoon. They were just coming back from the beach and they both seemed fine. The next time I saw her was when I came home and she was arguing with Kim over Tommy.”
“So something had to have happened in between.”, Rocky replied. “Let’s get Kim up here and see if she knows anything.”
Billy nodded and went over to contact her so they could go to work.
“What was she doing here!”, Rita screeched as she ran furiously into the throne room
“Obviously she came to destroy the yellow ranger.”, Zedd said as he couldn’t help but be amused by Rita’s lack of planning for these things. Not to say that he would have done much better, he was just enjoying her failure.
“But she ruined my plans!”, Rita whined. “That robot being on fire fried everything in it and let the guard down on my spell. They’re bound to know it’s a fake by now. They’re going to go looking for their friend.”
Zedd smiled. “Well you still have one robot on Earth. And if you destroy those other two power punks, the rangers will never figure it out and you can get to the robot, reprogramming it with a new way to destroy them.”
“You’re right.”, Rita said perking up. She quickly ran to Finster’s lab. “Finster!”, she exclaimed
“Yes my queen?”, he replied
“Is my monster ready yet?”, she asked
“Almost.”, Finster told her
Rita frowned. “Well hurry up.”
Finster nodded and went back to work. Rita left the lab somewhat satisfied with her change of plans.
The boys teleported the Kimbot to the Power Chamber. Once they told her everything, she decided to pretend to want to see Tommy. After Tommy was filled in and the proper apologies were made and accepted, the rangers went to work.
“So Kim,” Billy started, “what do you remember about Carri yesterday?”
“Well...”, the Kimbot said as she pretended to think about it. “We went to the beach and came home. We took showers. As I was going to leave I didn’t see Carri anywhere. I assumed she was in her room. I left to go to Tommy’s, and that’s when she called me to tell me everything.”
“Something must have happened while you were in the shower.”, Rocky pointed out as Billy was hurrying over to the consoles
“Got it.”, Billy said excitedly as he turned back to the others. “There is definitely evidence of a dimensional portal opening in your apartment sometime within the last twenty-four hours.”
“Where did it lead to?”, asked Jason
“That, unfortunately, is going to be hard to tell. It could be one of Rita’s dark dimensions, or it could be another Earth dimension.”, Billy said
“Can you scan for her?”, asked Tommy
“I can try.”, Billy said. “Does anyone know if she was wearing her necklace?”
“She always wears her necklace.”, Rocky said
“If she had just gotten out of the shower she may not have had it on.”, Jason pointed out
Billy nodded in agreement. “Well I will set the scanners to pick up anything. Whatever they can find we’ll check it out.”
“Need any help?”, Rocky asked
Billy shook his head no. “You know how this goes. Just go home and I’ll let you know if I can find anything.”
The four rangers wished Billy luck, then they all teleported back to the apartment.
The rangers found themselves sitting around the apartment. A few hours had passed and they hadn’t heard any news.
“I can’t take all this waiting.”, Rocky said as he nervously tapped his foot
“Well scans take time. You know that.”, Tommy said as he leaned back on the couch and put his arm around his girlfriend
Rocky nodded. “But I want to know if she’s alright.”
“You know her.”, Jason said as he smiled. “She’s probably on another Earth some where hitting up the shopping malls or frying on their beaches.”
Rocky laughed as he thought about her, and how that might very well be a possibility. “Even though you very well may be right,” Rocky told him, “what if she’s being attacked by monsters or demons or even other people.”
“She’s good.”, Tommy jumped in answering the question. “I mean, she’s a good ranger. She knows karate so she can defend herself if she’s not morphed. When she’s a ninjetti, not only can she possess those powers but she can channel Xena so no worries there. And when she’s morphed she’s a phenomenal ranger.”
“You’re right.”, Rocky said. He knew she was an excellent ranger and he shouldn’t have to be concerned for her. “I can’t help but worry.”, he told them. “I mean, what if she’s hurt or something? It doesn’t matter how good of a ranger you are you can still get hurt as we all know firsthand.”
“There’s no use worrying about it.”, Jason pointed out. “We’re going to find her, she’s going to be fine, and she’s going to want to fly up to the moon to give Rita and Zedd a personal ass kicking.”
Rocky couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah you’re probably right.”
“Hey why don’t we put in a movie?”, Tommy suggested. He wanted more than anything to get everybody’s minds off of everything. Not to mention it was getting late so maybe by putting in a movie he could get everyone to relax and eventually get some sleep.
“Sounds good bro.”, Jason replied. He smiled at Tommy. He couldn’t believe how mad he was at his best friend for something he really didn’t have any proof that he did. But the Carribot must have had Kim convinced, and the two of them were enough to make him believe it.
“As long as it’s not stupid.”, the Kimbot said as she smiled at the boys
“Fine then you pick it out.”, Rocky replied as he grinned at her. “Just no mushy-gushy romantic crap.”
“Well it certainly won’t be two hours of blow ‘em up, gun slinging action.”, she said as she laughed and went to look at the videos. She stood there for a minute before she picked one out that seemed to be a compromise. Then she started it up and the foursome spent the rest of the night watching movies.
Kim and Carri woke up the next morning and were driven down to the convention center. Today was the big day, when the characters made an appearance and signed autographs. They got out of the limo that picked them up and were escorted in the backdoor and to the hair and makeup room. After what felt like hours, they were then escorted to the dressing room. There was a note on the table when they walked in.
Kim picked the note up and read it out loud. “Although the Zeo team is the favorite ranger team off all time, the fans love your ninjetti powers and costumes. We have decided to have you go out as ninjetti’s to talk to the fans.”
“Great.”, Carri said sarcastically. “I hate those costumes with a passion. They get all itchy and uncomfortable after about three seconds.”
Kim grabbed the costumes and stuffed them away in a drawer. “Let’s do it for real.”
“Can we do that?”, Carri asked as she raised an eyebrow
“I don’t know but I can’t wear those again.”, Kim replied. “Besides Rita threw us here and who knows if she’s going to come back and attack us. We’d be safer being real ninjetti’s than fake ones.”
Carri couldn’t help but laugh at Kim’s logic. But then again, she may have a point. A sort of twisted point, but a point. “Alright, sounds good to me.”
Kim giggled. She was getting ready to cry out when there was a knock on the door. Both girls jumped as a man told them they were needed on stage in five minutes. Kim looked at Carri who nodded.
“Ninjetti, crane!”, she yelled in a whisper not wanting to be heard by anyone outside the door
“Panther!”, Carri whisper yelled as well
Both girls stood there and smiled at each other, then headed out to the stage. When they got behind the curtain, they saw Austin, Steve and Jason standing there in their costumes along with the first man they met.
“You are going to stand behind a thick layer of fog. As they call out your characters names, you will walk forward, through the fog, take off your hood and mouth coverings, and approach your microphone.”, the man instructed
The five of them nodded, then they were moved into place. A few minutes later they could hear the fog machine start. The curtain in front of them opened and one dropped behind them. This put them right behind the fog, which was so thick that they couldn’t see a thing through it. The announcers voice came booming over the intercom.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. We are proud to present to you, the Zeo Rangers.”, he started. They could hear the crowd going wild. “First is your Pink Zeo Ranger, and Pink Crane Ninjetti, Kimberly Heart.”
Carri watched as Kim walked through the fog. The crowd went even more nuts when she walked out. The announcer spoke again after a moment. “Next is your Yellow Zeo Ranger, and Yellow Panther Ninjetti, Carri Hillard.”
Carri stepped through the fog, resisting the urge to wave her hand in her face and hack. As she made it through, she removed her hood and mouth covering then walked up to the mike next to Kim. She couldn’t help but smile as she got pops from the crowd.
The announcer went through the three boys, then the five of them found themselves standing up there together. “Now audience you can ask your favorite rangers questions then they will be here to sign autographs.”, the announcer said
Kim and Carri looked around the audience as hands flew up. There were a few people working for the studio on the floor who were selecting people to ask questions. The first person was selected, and their question and answer session began.
Rocky woke up in Carri’s bed the next morning. He flew out of bed and into the shower, wasting no time. He walked back out and looked around the room as he got dressed. He noticed all the pictures again. He smiled to himself as he thought about how what one day was a nuisance had all the sudden become reminders of someone he missed. He picked a picture up and looked at it. He was hoping they could figure out where she was today. He set the picture down then hurried to get dressed, and teleported to the Power Chamber.
“Any news yet?”, Rocky asked the second he materialized
“Nothing.”, Billy said as he was still bent over the controls hard at work
“Did you get any sleep last night?”, Rocky asked
“Some. Here.”, Billy told him. “I didn’t want to leave in case something came up.”
“You should’ve gone home. Alpha could have handled it.”, Rocky pointed out
Billy nodded and smiled at the little robot. “Yes but I wanted to be here.”
“Thanks man.”, Rocky said
“Aye ai ai, I hope we have some good news soon.”, Alpha said as he went to another control panel and started working
Tommy, Jason and Kim teleported in. “Anything yet?”, Jason asked as both Rocky and Billy shook their heads no
“Well we’re here to help if we need to.”, Tommy informed them
“I’m sure I can find something for you guys to help out with.”, Billy told them. He walked over to a control panel and thought for a moment. Then he motioned for the others to follow him, and he put them to work.
Kim and Carri were getting bored with the question and answer session, as were the boys. But they had to keep going until the studio told them to stop. One little boy raised his hand and came up with a question. Carri sighed as it was directed towards her. She was formulating an answer when out of nowhere a portal opened from the back, depositing Goldar and Tengas. Carri looked at Kim. Unfortunately Kim had been right earlier because this certainly wasn’t a studio promotion.
“Prepare to die.”, Goldar hissed as he leaned his sword forward motioning for the tengas to attack. He knew that the tengas wouldn’t be much for them, but Finster’s new monster would be done any minute and would be coming to join him. He watched as the girls became full-fledged ninjetti’s again and ran to attack.
Carri and Kim hit the tengas head on as the crowd went wild. They were flinging them left and right when the boys came out to join them. They boys were surprised as the tengas threw them to the ground. The crowd booed, but quickly cheered again as the girls used their ninjetti powers to try and quickly put the tengas away. They didn’t know how the studio was doing it, but the crowed loved it.
The boys ran back in to try and fight using their karate skills. Austin bumped into Carri and turned to her. “This is kind of rough for a demo we didn’t even know about.”, he said
“Yeah.”, she agreed. Although she figured he would find out soon enough that it was real. If Goldar came out, the girls were going to have to shoo them away.
After time passed fighting the tengas around the boys and the audience, they finally finished them off. When they turned back around they saw a monster standing beside Goldar. “You will never make it out of this dimension alive.”, Goldar said as he laughed
“What you think just because we’re girls we’re not gonna kick your ass? You are so wrong.”, Carri said as she smiled under her suit. “It’s morphin time!”
“Zeo ranger I, pink!”
“Zeo ranger II, yellow!”
The crowd stood there in shock and awe as the two girls transformed into power rangers right before their eyes. Nobody knew what to think, especially the boys since they knew that was impossible.
Kim looked at Carri. “Paper, rock, scissors, looser gets the monster?”, she asked
Carri balled her hand into a fist and competed with her. “Paper covers rock. Enjoy.”, she said. She smiled at her. “Besides I have to give Goldie his weekly ass kicking.” As she leaped up to attack she couldn’t help but laugh as she realized that was like a line from the script. The laughter didn’t last long as the monster fired beams at both girls, causing them to hit the ground hard.
“Ok so that hurt.”, Kim said as they climbed back to their feet. “He is so dead now.”
Both girls called for weapons and went to attack and trying not to get fired at in the process.
Billy was sitting at a control panel having trouble staying awake. They were working on scanning a string of dimensions. He was letting the scanners run their course when all the sudden they stopped and went crazy. He jumped to his feet as the others came running over.
“What is it?”, Rocky asked
“They were scanning these dimensions. I’ve been doing multiple sweeps of each set of dimensions. The first few sweeps didn’t show anything, but this one said that zeo energy has been activated on this Earth.”, Billy replied
“Can we get down there?”, Tommy asked
“Yeah. If you guys can get my dimensional device I’ll figure out the exact coordinates of the signal and send you in.”, Billy replied
A few minutes later everything was set up. Billy looked at the others. “Are you ready?”, he asked. He heard a chorus of yes’s in reply.
“If Carri’s morphed, should we morph too? She could be in trouble.”, Rocky pointed out
Tommy nodded. “She wouldn’t morph unless it was necessary, and we’d be better off going in morphed.”
“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”, Jason added
“It’s morphin time!”, Tommy yelled
“Zeo ranger I, pink!”
“Zeo ranger III, blue!”
“Zeo ranger IV, green!”
“Zeo ranger V, red!”
The five rangers stood there and waited for Billy to open the portal. Once they did, they jumped in. The portal landed them in the back of the convention center. What they saw left them confused. The pink and yellow zeo rangers were fighting Goldar and a monster, while three ninjetti’s that resembled the boys were cowering with a crowd of people who were frantically trying to get through the exit.
“We’ll sort this all out later. For now, we have to take care of them.”, Tommy said as he motioned toward the monster. The others nodded and went to help attack.
“Sure took you guys long enough.”, Carri said as Tommy appeared by her side to attack Goldar
“It’s a long story.”, he replied as he got a punch in
“Unfortunately I think I know how it started.”, she replied. As she thought about it her anger rose and she wanted to take it out on Goldar. “Zeo five power kick!”, she yelled as she hit him square on
Goldar stumbled back and looked to see the entire ranger team there. “This isn’t over yet rangers.”, he growled as he disappeared through the portal
“Now it’s your turn.”, Tommy said as they went to join the others, including two pink rangers
Rita’s monster, which was kicking Kim’s butt and would have eventually destroyed her, and could have probably taken two more, stood no chance against the power of all of them. After a long and tiresome fight the monster was finally destroyed by the rangers.
The four rangers that originally came through Billy’s portal stood there staring at Carri and Kim. “What’s going on here.”, Rocky asked looking at the two pink rangers
“If you’re talking about this,” Carri said pointed behind her, “that’s the Power Rangers convention and those were the guys hired to play you.”, she finished. “If you’re talking about this,” she said gesturing to all of the rangers, “well I would have to say you’re here to rescue us. Well maybe just me since the Kim robot’s there but mine’s not.”
“I’m not a robot.”, the Kimbot snapped
Tommy looked at the two pink rangers. “How do we know who’s who?”, he asked. “We were all fighting in battle the Kim robot could have easily switched places with the real Kim.”
Kim powered down. “I’m Kim.”, she said as she looked at him. She then glared at Carri, as she hoped she knew what she was trying to accomplish by powering down.
The Kimbot powered down as well. “No she’s not I’m Kim.”
Carri realized what Kim was doing. The girl standing beside her had stage hair and makeup, and was wearing what she had on that morning that they had bought the day before at the expense of the studio. The girl standing beside Tommy was wearing no makeup, hadn’t touched her hair, and had on an outfit out of the back of Kim’s closet. Carri quickly took out her Zeopistol and fired at the Kimbot. The robot sizzled and they could hear the metal inside exploding.
“How did you know...”
Kim cut her boyfriend off. “Sheesh you really don’t pay much attention to me do you.”, she said as she smiled at him. “Come on guys lets get out of here.”
“We need to take her with us.”, Rocky said as he pointed to the robot. “I mean, we can’t leave her here.”
“Great then one of you can volunteer to grab her because I find it kind of creepy.”, Carri said
Kim nodded in agreement. “Yeah I’m on the kinda creepy page also. Have fun.” With that the girls walked over to the portal the rangers entered from. Tommy picked up the Kimbot and the boys followed. Everyone powered down as they stepped through the portal and into the Power Chamber.
As the rangers arrived, Billy shut the portal behind them. He looked at everyone oddly. “What’s going on.”
“Two robots.”, Tommy said as he placed the Kimbot on the table
“That was Rita’s plan.”, Kim said although she figured they knew already. “Have the Carribot claim to sleep with Tommy and the Kimbot believe her, breaking up the team.”
“It would have worked too.”, Jason said
“So how did you guys figure it out?”, Kim asked as she looked at Carri oddly
Carri was sniffing the air and looking around. “What smells like burnt flesh?”, she asked as she continued to look. She followed her noise and looked down at the table. “Ew what happened to me, her, whatever.”
“Callisto got her with a fireball. We think it was a random act of vengeance.”, Jason replied
“So what she stood there and took it? Well you can make robots but you can’t make them smart.”, Carri said as she made a face and turned away from the table
“That’s how we found out. When Callisto killed you, her, we were able to find out that she was a robot.”, Rocky explained
Kim looked down at the robot a made a face, sticking her tongue out. “So why are you keeping it?”
“When I have time I want to examine it, figure out the technology. I’ll probably put both the robots in a back room so I can look at them. I just haven’t had a chance to move her yet.”, Billy explained
Carri turned to Rocky. “I bet you were glad to have me dead after what I did to you.”
“Oh God no.”, Rocky said as he put his arms around her and pulled her close. “Even after what I thought you did, and how you broke my heart, I still loved you. It’s just that I wouldn’t have been able to forgive you.”
Carri put her arms around her boyfriend and returned the hug. “Well you don’t have to worry about me sleeping with Tommy, I would never do that.”
“I know. My first thought was that it was a spell. But when we scanned her, she was normal. I just couldn’t believe you would do that to me. Not after everything we’d been through.”
A slow smile spread across Carri’s face. “Besides if I was going to cheat on you with anybody it would be Brad Pitt.”
“Hey!”, Rocky exclaimed as he looked down at his girlfriend and smiled. She laughed and gave him a kiss.
“So what does everybody have on tap for tonight?”, Tommy asked
“Well we’re now minus one on the dinner dates and I’d like to make it up.”, Carri said as she looked up at her boyfriend. He nodded his head in agreement.
“Us too.”, Kim said smiling at Tommy
“I have to go by the bookstore and pick up the books they had sent over for me. I only got two out of five of them.”, Jason told them
“I hate to say it.”, Carri started then let her voice trail off
“Oooh, I will!”, Kim exclaimed quickly jumping in. “I told you so!”
“Yeah, yeah.”, Jason replied smiling at the girls. “You guys want to all meet up later for a movie?”
“Sounds like fun.”, Billy said and the others agreed
“Then afterwards, me, you, discussion.”, Carri said pointing at herself first then Jason
“What about?”, he asked
She grinned. “One of our unsolved mysteries.”
“Which one?”
“Come on, it wouldn’t be as much fun if I told you.”, she replied. Then she linked arms with Rocky and teleported the two of them off before Jason could say anything.
“Do you know what she’s talking about?”, Jason asked looking in Kim’s direction
Kim laughed. “If I did, you’d certainly be the last person I told.” Kim quickly followed Carri’s example and teleported out before Jason could protest.
Jason turned to Billy. “Do you see all the love I get here?”
Billy looked at his friend and smiled. Jason smiled back then teleported down to get his books, leaving Billy alone in the Power Chamber to do some work.
Later that night after a movie, Jason and Carri met up and walked down to the beach to sit near the waters edge.
Carri took a deep breath. “Gotta love that fresh air.”, she said as she sat down and made herself comfortable
“So what is it that’s so important that you just had to tell me.”, Jason asked
“Oh you’re gonna love this. When I told Rocky he about died.”
Jason looked at her strangely. “So you could tell Rocky earlier but not me.”
She shrugged. “He’s cuter.”
Jason hit her on the shoulder and she fell toward the ground laughing. “Besides,” she started, “you’re the one who was really bothered by this along with me.”
“Ok I give. What is it?”, he asked
“Well Power Rangers was a tv show in that world. And we got a chance to catch a few episodes during a marathon they were running. It turns out that those episodes were literally word for word, action for action memories of mine of things that have happened to us.”
“Like?”, he prompted
“Like there was an episode called king for a day. Where Tommy was captured and brainwashed to be the king of the machine empire. And you were supposed to fight him ‘till death. Until we showed up.”
“Right I remember that.”
“Remember the debates we had about how in the hell we were suddenly dropped in the middle of Gasket’s backyard?”
Jason nodded. She smiled and continued. “Boy do I have an answer for you. Zedd and Rita sent us there.”
Jason looked at her wide-eyed. “No shit.”, he said. He smiled. “Well it makes sense. They hated the machine empire and were trying to take them over. And there’s no better way to piss Gasket off than by depositing four more rangers unexpectedly in his backyard.”
“Yeah that was pretty much their logic too.”, Carri replied as she laughed. The duo sat there in silence for a few minutes while the waves came crashing in over their toes. Carri thought for a moment than spoke again. “Was it hard for Rocky?”
“What?”, asked Jason
“Thinking I was dead.”, she replied. “I mean, I could tell, you know, that he was so happy to be there with me tonight.”
He nodded his head yes in response. “I think in the time he thought you were dead his entire world collapsed. I know deep down he still loved you. And I think he still thought something wasn’t right with the whole Tommy thing.”
“I know he’s going to worry about me constantly now.”, she said voicing her concern
“About you cheating on him?”
She shook her head no. “About me dying. Callisto obviously has it out for me. I do have an advantage now because she thinks I’m dead. But still, for him to watch her come and take out that robot so easily.... he always worries about me if he thinks she’s in town. I think that just confirmed his fears.”
“She killed a robot.”, Jason pointed out as he started to stretch out in the sand. “You’re smarter than that.”
“Yes but you guys thought I was dead. Would it not have devastated you if she had killed a robot Emily who you were convinced was real?”
“I suppose so.”, Jason replied as he thought about it. “But honestly, you’re a ranger and she’s not. So it’s easier to cast those worries aside once you realize that she killed a robot. I know if that was you, you’d still be alive. But if it makes you feel any better I was pretty devastated when I thought it was you on that table. It was just harder on him.”
“If something happens to me, it happens. I accepted that when I became a ranger.”, Carri said. She paused for a moment before continuing. “It’s just I’m better than that. I know that. You know that. He knows that too, but he’s still going to worry.”
“You know what,” he started as he looked at his friend, “there’s no need for you to worry about it. If Rocky worries, he worries. You can’t stop him. And I can’t blame him because if Emily was a ranger and Callisto obviously wanted her dead more than anything, I’d worry constantly too.”, Jason said as he smiled. He noticed she was deep in thought about what he was saying and he continued to talk. “Worrying is ok. Just if he worries to the point of being a nuisance, let me know. Like if he say’s don’t go to the mall Callisto might be there. I can talk to him about it. Or at the very least I can hold him down and you can run.”
That last statement made Carri laugh. “Thanks Jase you always know what to say to make a girl feel better.”
“I try.”, Jason replied as he smiled. The truth is they had been doing that for each other since they met. Listening to each others worries and problems, trying to help iron them out. Sure Carri had Kim to talk to and he had Tommy, but when it came to things dealing with the opposite sex who better to talk to than a member of it. Over the last two days he had almost lost two of his best friends over something he thought they did together. He was glad that they hadn’t slept together, and he was even more glad that Carri wasn’t killed by Callisto’s fireballs. He would have lost the one person he could talk to all night about everything.
The two of them just sat there for a while, thinking and talking. Jason was sharing some of what was going on with Emily and anything else he could think of, and Carri was talking some about the other world, and about her and Rocky. That is, until a wave came crashing over them soaking them to the bone.
“Didn’t see that one coming.”, Carri said as she laughed
Jason looked at her and saw how pathetic she looked with her hair messed up and in her face and laughed as well. “Is it time to go?”
“I would have to say so.”, she replied. The duo stood up and walked back towards the parking lot.
“What are we going to tell Kim when we walk in the door soaking wet?”, asked Jason as they approached the car
“Sex on the beach.”, she replied with a twisted smile
“That’s not even close to funny after what happened.”, Jason said as he couldn’t help but smile
“Then why is there a smile on your face?”, she asked grinning. “Anyways this is Kim, not some stupid Kim robot. She wouldn’t believe me anyways.”
“Yeah but it would be fun to say just so we can get the huge over dramatic Kim eye roll.”, Jason pointed out
Carri laughed as they climbed into his car and they started the engine. Jason started the drive to the apartment and Carri leaned her head back into her seat and closed her eyes. She smiled as she thought to herself how this ended another strange and wacky adventure of the Power Rangers. Next time, on Power Rangers.... she giggled as the line crossed her mind. She turned up the stereo and let her thoughts drift away as they made the drive home.