Authors Note: This is probably the longest fic I’ve ever written. Originally I was going to write it as a two parter, then I thought to myself “no it won’t be that long”..... so I was wrong. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it.

Power Rangers Zeo
“Pink Dilemma”

Katherine Hillard was on her way home from the Youth Center, deep in thought. It had been a hot late June afternoon and she had just got done doing some special dance sessions with some of her students.

Her summer so far had been uneventful. She hadn’t even had the opportunity to take a vacation. Her exboyfriend had gone out of town for a week the previous month. Her cousin just got back from her weeks vacation in Australia. Kat sighed. She would like to go home to visit. There’s family and friends there she hadn’t seen in a long time. She would like to take her boyfriend. Actually they had been talking about taking a vacation. But it wouldn’t be to Australia. They were going to stay in the states.

She smiled as she thought about her boyfriend. She loved him. A lot. The others... they didn’t understand. Especially her cousin. But she didn’t expect them to. They all had each other, and she sometimes felt as though all she had was him. Maybe it was her fault. After all, nobody said they hated her when it happened. When she broke her ex’s heart. But then, it got weird. She tried to hang out with them. But everything seemed so... different. Maybe it was because of her, or her boyfriend, or her and him. She sighed. Maybe she just couldn’t be a part of this group anymore. After all, the only reason she was so easily accepted is because of what she knew. Her cousin was her best friend, but she wasn’t so sure about that anymore. Of course, she did have a real best friend among the team once, until her friend moved to New York.

Kat frowned as she walked up to her parents mailbox and emptied it. As she walked into the house, one envelope in particular caught her eye. She dropped the rest of the mail and held the one in her hand. Her hands were shaking badly, and she didn’t know if she could open it. She took a deep breath. She knew she had to know what was inside. Carefully she opened the envelope and pulled the letter out. As she read it, a smile spread across her face. She pulled the letter towards her chest and paused for a moment to think about what it meant. It was what she had been waiting for, what she had wanted. She neatly folded it up and put it in her pocket. Then she rushed upstairs looking for her phone so she could plan to meet with her boyfriend to tell him the news.

Lord Zedd stood in his throne room. He was unsure of his next move. Everything he had done had failed. He needed.... he needed to do something. To change something. He was never going to conquer Earth at the rate he was moving.

A figure materialized in his throne room, ripping him out of his thoughts. He looked over at her. She was the last person he had expected to see here. “I heard you were chasing those Astro Rangers. What are you doing here?”

She looked over at him. “I got one of them.... the other, well let’s just say I had to take a break.”

“Take a break? So you’ve decided to come back and pester the rangers of Earth? My rangers?”, he questioned

“In chasing those space rangers a thought occurred to me. Maybe I was doing it all wrong before. Maybe I should get a sidekick, someone who knows those rangers better than me. Someone the rangers will let kill them before the rangers ever hurt them.”, she explained

“And what exactly do you plan on doing? Asking one of their friends?”

The woman rolled her eyes. “People are born with a certain capacity of evil. You know that as well as I. Your wife’s green ranger failed simply because any decedent of Hercules wouldn’t have the capacity for evil. If Xena hadn’t devoted the end of her life to doing good deeds, well her decedent might have potential.”

Zedd frowned. “All of those goody-two-shoes rangers have ancestors who are good hearted. How is this going to get you anywhere?”

“How quickly you forget.”, she said. “Not all of the rangers ancestors were good. Well.... I suppose I was good once, before Xena ruined it. Now my capacity for evil is great as well as that of anyone else in my line. That’s why Kat worked out so well for you before, and why she will work out just as well for me.”

“What makes you think that the others just won’t turn her back to good again?”, he asked

“Just watch.”, she replied. And with that, she was off to Earth to capture her victim.

Kat smiled as she finished getting ready. She was supposed to meet her boyfriend in Angel Grove park soon. She told him they needed to talk. He had asked if it was bad. She assured him it wasn’t.

One last check of her hair and she took off down the stairs. She stopped dead in her tracks as a figure was standing there waiting for her. “What do you want Callisto?”, she asked

Callisto grinned at her. “You.”

Kat stood there frozen for a moment, but as the goddess lunged at her she managed to dive out of the way. Kat saw her pick herself back up, and she knew what she needed to do. “It’s morphin time! Zeo ran...”

Callisto hit her hard, cutting her off mid sequence. Kat gasped as the zeo crystal that gave her all of her power hit the floor. Callisto smiled as she picked up the crystal. She looked at Kat. “You’ll never be able to use that!”, Kat yelled

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t want to use it.”, she said walking over to Kat. “I want you to. Just not now.”

“What are you doing to me?”, Kat asked

Callisto grabbed her. “You’ll see.”, she said as she teleported the two of them off

Chris Black sat on a bench in Angel Grove park waiting for his girlfriend to arrive. She had sounded so excited on the phone. She had said she needed to talk to him, but this didn’t sound like an I’m going to break up with you speech. He couldn’t wait to find out what she had to say.

He sat there for a while. Every few minutes he would check his watch. She was late. She was never usually late. He picked up his phone and called her. No answer. He dialed her parents house phone as well. Still no answer.

He didn’t think he had to be nervous, but yet he was. He didn’t know who to call, who to talk to if he needed to know if Kat was in trouble or not. Sure she had friends before they met, but he didn’t have a way to contact them. Not that any of them kept up with her daily life anymore anyway. He wasn’t sure if she had pushed them away, or they had pushed her. Either way, she said they didn’t hang out like they used to.

Chris sighed as he checked his watch yet another time. He wasn’t going to give her much longer before he would just have to go to her house looking for her.

Kat found herself in a cage in the desert. She saw her zeo shard sitting nearby, on top of some sort of machine. She wasn’t quite sure yet what was going on. Callisto had disappeared for the moment. Although, she would be back to take her away. That much she knew. Callisto told her what her plan was. She was setting up some sort of area that she was going to take Kat to, in order to make her evil. Then and only then would she give her the zeo chard back, then she would send her back to her team to destroy it.

Kat found herself fighting back tears. She could never do that. She still cared about them, regardless of how she felt things were going now. She knew she had to get a message to somebody. She pulled her communicator to her mouth. “Tommy?”, she said but got no answer. “Jason? Rocky? Carri?”, she said trying everybody. She thought she heard someone answer her back but there was so much static she could hardly tell. She decided to go ahead and speak anyway. “I’ve been captured by Callisto. I’m in a cave in Angel Grove desert. Callisto’s gone, but she will be back for me. She’s going to make me evil. You guys don’t have long. I need to you rescue me, or at least get my zeo shard away from her.”

Kat sighed as she leaned against the bars of her cage. She had hoped a rescue team would be there soon.

Kimberly Heart was the passenger in a convertible, with her best friend Carri Hillard driving. The girls were coming home from LA, where they attended school and shared an apartment with two other friends. They spent the last two days there, and were going to Angel Grove to see their boyfriends.

As the girls drove past the desert, they heard a noise. Well it wasn’t just any noise, it was Carri’s communicator. Carri pulled the car off to the side of the road. “Go ahead.”, she said

The message they got back was full of static, and they could hardly make out all the words. But they defiantly got the gist of it. “.....captured by Callisto...... cave in Angel Grove desert....... Callisto’s gone.... will be back..... make me evil.... don’t have long.... rescue me.... get my zeo.....”

The two girls looked at each other. Carri held her communicator to her mouth. “Tommy come in.”, she said but got no response. She then tried Rocky and Jason, but the results were the same. “Looks like we’ll have to do this on our own.”

Kim nodded. “I just hope we can find her in time.”

The girls hopped out of the car. “It’s morphin time!”, Carri yelled but nothing happened. She frowned then figured she’d join Kim who was getting ready to transform as well.

“Ninjetti, crane!”

“Panther!”

The two ninjetti’s looked at each other and took off through the desert. They had no idea where they were going, or what they were looking for. As they combed the desert, Kim finally spotted something. She grabbed Carri’s arm and spun her around. “Look, tengas.”, she said

“That must be where she’s got Kat.”, Carri replied

The two girls ran down and engaged the tengas. They proved to be easy opponents, but then, what else was new. They saw the cave that the birds had been guarding so closely. They ran over to it and went inside.

“Kat we’re going to get you out of here.”, Carri said as she saw her cousin sitting in a cage. Carri ran over to it looking for a lock that they could try and break.

Kim quickly picked up Kat’s zeo shard and ran to join Carri. “What’s the verdict?”

“I don’t know how to get into this cage. There is no door.”, Carri said

“Well we have to move fast because she’ll be back any second.”, Kim said

“Too late.”, Callisto said as she appeared in the room

Carri turned to her. She looked over at Kim. “I’ll distract her.”

Kim nodded as Carri ran over to Callisto. Her distraction worked well, as it gave Kim time to look for a way to get Kat out. Kat looked over at her. “Give me my crystal.”

“So you can morph?”, asked Kim as she handed it over

“No...”, Kat said her voice trailing off. “Look, there is no door here, I’ve tried. She got me in here with a wave of her hand. You can’t rescue me, and I can’t chance her getting the crystal.”

Kat held her hand through the door with the crystal in it. Kim looked at her. “Hold it.”, Kat said

Kim put a hand on the crystal. She felt the wave of power go from Kat into her. Suddenly the crystal disappeared and the Pink Zeo Ranger was standing there. Kat smiled, happy that no matter what happened to her, Callisto wouldn’t get that crystal.

Callisto snapped her head towards Kim as she heard the commotion. She quickly threw a fireball at her. Kim ducked out of the way, and the fireball hit the little machine Callisto had built. The machine was intended to scramble the communications and morphing sequences of the rangers so they wouldn’t be able to help Kat.

Callisto ran to attack Kim. Kat knew what was going on and she looked at her cousin. “Morph, quickly.”, she whispered

Carri nodded. “It’s morphin time! Zeo ranger II, yellow!”

Callisto turned back in time to see herself getting attacked by the yellow zeo ranger. As both rangers stood before her, she knew what she had to do, and she knew she had to do it quickly. Even though Kat wouldn’t be a ranger, she would still be good evil and maybe Callisto could even find her powers. Callisto quickly disappeared, taking Kat with her.

“We’d better get back to the Power Chamber.”, Carri said

“Right.”, Kim agreed as both girls teleported off

Chris arrived at the Hillard’s household. As he pulled into the driveway, he saw Kat’s car sitting there. Chris walked up and knocked on the door. “Hello?”, he called waiting for someone to answer

The answer never came. Chris knocked one more time before he tried to open the door himself. To his surprise, the door wasn’t locked. He walked in and looked around. “Kat?”, he called as he walked up the stairs

He still got no response. He walked into her bedroom and took a look around before jogging back down the stairs. He found her keys and her phone sitting on a table, but there was no sign of her anywhere. Chris started to worry. He picked up her phone, hoping to get a hold of one of her friends and that they might have some answers.

The girls arrived in the Power Chamber dressed as zeo rangers. Billy wasted no time contacting the others. No one in the Power Chamber was sure of what had happened, but with the girls being morphed they could assume it was something big.

The three remaining zeo rangers teleported into the Power Chamber moments later. “What’s going on?”, asked Tommy Oliver

“I’m not sure. We’ll have to ask Kat and Carri.”, Billy Cranston replied

“Well?”, Jason Lee Scott asked as all attention turned to them

Carri and Kim looked at each other and powered down. They gave the boys a moment to absorb what was going on.

“What happened? Where’s Kat?”, asked Rocky DeSantos

“Kat’s been captured. She gave me her powers.”, Kim started

Tommy looked at her strangely. “Not that I don’t love seeing you as a ranger, but I don’t understand what would happen to make Kat just give you her powers like that.”

“Maybe we should start from the top.”, Carri said. She looked at the others. “We were on our way back to see you guys when my communicator went off. I stopped to answer it. The transmission was fuzzy, but it was Kat, she had been captured and was in a cave in the area. I tried to morph, but it was no good.”

Carri paused and Kim continued. “I used my ninjetti powers, and she joined in. We went to look for her. I found tengas, and we took them out, then we found the cave. Kat was in a cage, but we couldn’t find any way in or out. I found Kat’s zeo crystal, it had been set down.”

“Callisto showed up to take her away. She’s trying to make her evil, I think she was going to make her use her powers against us, kind of like what happened with Tommy and the machine empire. I distracted Callisto, I was hoping Kim could find away to get Kat out.”

“I couldn’t free her. Kat said there wasn’t a way. And she knew Callisto could just swoop her out of there and take her crystal. That’s when she transferred the power to me. Callisto was angry, and that’s when she accidentally destroyed the machine that was causing us interference. Carri morphed, she took off with Kat, and now we’re here.”, Kim finished the story

“So Kat was worried about Callisto making her use the power for evil, so she transferred it to you.”, Tommy said. Kim nodded.

Carri frowned. “That part doesn’t matter anyway, what matters is we need to find her before Callisto gets a chance to turn her against us, to make her evil.”

Rocky walked over to her and smiled at her. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her. Billy’s on it.”

“Absolutely. I’ll search for her everywhere. Earth, Rita’s dark dimensions, other planets... you name it I’ll search it.”, Billy said

“How are you going to find her?”, Jason questioned. “She has no powers now zeo or ninjetti.”

“Is she still wearing her communicator?”, asked Billy

“As far as I know she is.”, Carri replied

“Then I can find her with that.”, Billy said as he went off and started to work

“Are you going to be ok?”, Rocky asked as he put a hand on Carri’s arm

She nodded as she put her arm around his back. “As ok as I can be. My archenemy has captured my cousin and plans to turn her evil so you know.”, she replied giving her best fake smile. Rocky could hear her voice waver and he put his arms around her and gave her a hug.

Tommy walked over to the girls. “It’s good to see you as a ranger again even if it is under crappy circumstances.”

“Well these are still Kat’s powers you know.”, Kim said. “I could never... I mean it’s not fair to say that she can’t be a ranger anymore because she was taken by Callisto.... I hope she’s alright.”

Tommy pulled his girlfriend close. “Don’t worry. Billy’s going to find Kat, then we’re going to go pay Callisto a visit and show her why you don’t mess with the power rangers.”

“I hope you’re right.”, Kim said as she smiled at him

“Guys we need to get going. We left the car in the desert and we need to get it home.”, Carri said as she pulled away from Rocky

“You ok to drive?”, Rocky asked concerned that she could break down at any minute

She gave him another fake smile. “I’ll be fine.”

“Besides she’s got me. We can keep each other together.”, Kim said as she smiled and stood beside her. “We’re off. But we’ll still get together tonight. Hopefully with Kat safe and sound.”

“You bet.”, Tommy said giving her a kiss. Rocky gave his girlfriend a quick kiss as well and the two took off.

“I didn’t want to say this before, but I don’t think time is on our side. With Callisto who knows what she’s going to do to Kat.”, Jason paused as he looked at his friends. “And I don’t think we can, well I doubt they can function right if Kat comes back and attacks us.”

Tommy frowned. “You’re right bro. We just have to hope for the best.” And with that, the boys teleported down to the surface to continue on their day, hoping that Billy would contact them soon with good news.

The girls pulled up in the Hillard’s driveway that afternoon. They got out of the car and removed their stuff from the trunk. Kim and been staying there when she was in Angel Grove, since she didn’t have a place of her own in town.

The duo brought bags into the front door of the house and sat them on the floor. There on the couch sat Kat’s boyfriend. Carri managed to smile at him. “Chris, hi, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve been trying to call you for the last thirty minutes!”, Chris exclaimed. “Kat was supposed to meet me at the park and she never showed. All of her stuff is here, but she’s missing.”

Kim and Carri exchanged a look. “Well you see, Kat’s....”, Kim let her voice trail off as she tried to think of a convincing lie

“Kat just boarded a flight to Australia.”, Carri blurted out not knowing what else to say

Chris looked at her curiously. “What? I don’t understand? Why wouldn’t she tell me?”

“Kat found out that one of her best friends there was in a car accident. They don’t think she’s going to make it. Kat wanted to fly back.”, Kim added to the lie

“She felt guilty for not going back more often.”, Carri said, knowing that Kat really did feel bad about never seeing her old friends from Australia. “She wouldn’t have called me except I had met the girl a few times in passing and she thought I would want to know. She said she was going to try and call you but she wasn’t sure when she would have the time.”

“I wish I would have known.”, Chris said frowning. “I could have done something.”

“Unfortunately, these things aren’t exactly planned.”, Kim told him

Chris nodded as he stood up. “Thank you for explaining that. Hopefully I’ll hear from her soon.” Chris turned and walked out the front door.

As he left the girls sighed and sat down on the couch. “Boarded a plane to Australia?”, Kim asked

Carri frowned. “I don’t know. I panicked. I wasn’t expecting him here. And that was the first thing I could think of. And if Billy doesn’t find her right away, that will explain where she’s gone. And if he does.... we’ll she’ll just have to stay away from Chris for a while, long enough to play out the lie.”

“I guess that would work.”, Kim paused, “I just hope... I just hope she’s ok.”

“Me too.”, Carri said as the girls curled up on the couch. Carri reached over and grabbed the television remote, then clicked it on.

After a few minutes of watching the moving pictures, there was a knock on the door. Carri didn’t have to get up as Tommy and Rocky let themselves in. The boys each sat on the end beside their girlfriends. Nobody said much. They just stayed there with them until Emily and Jason arrived and they all went out.

A few days went past with no sign of Kat. The rangers were trying to resume normal activities, but it was difficult. Billy was still scanning for her, but with no idea where to even start looking it had proven difficult.

Jason, Carri, Kim and Tommy took a nice afternoon and went to the beach, where Emily and Rocky were both working that day. The foursome had been playing volleyball for a while when they decided to take a break. Jason and Carri sat down on their beach towels, while Kim and Tommy took off hand in hand to get everyone some drinks.

Carri stretched out on the towel and looked over the ocean. She sighed as she leaned back to absorb some of the sun’s rays. Jason looked at his friend. “Smile.”, he said to her. “It’s not like you to be out here on the beach without a smile on your face.”

She flashed him a half smile. “Better?”, she asked. She knew what he was talking about. For her, being on the beach was one of the most happy, peaceful places.

“You’ll have to do better than that.”, he said

“I know. It’s just... it’s hard. It’s been days and we’ve heard nothing. Good or bad.”, she said as she turned to him. “I know things between us haven’t been the same since... since, well, Chris, but she’s still my cousin and my friend and I want to see her home safe and sound. And if she’s not safe and sound, well, I want to know that too so we can at least do something to help her.”

“I know it’s hard. She’s our friend too. And you’re right, I want to know something too, one way or another.”, Jason replied. “But it’s been a few days and I know you’re down but there’s nothing we can do about it now except wait on Billy.”

“Or wait for Callisto to unveil her plan.”, she added. Jason nodded. Carri thought for a moment. “You’re right you know. It’s just hard. I’m used to going in and kicking ass and here I am with my hands tied. But I promise I will try to lift my spirts and think positive until we hear something.”

“That’s the spirit.”, he said. He looked over and saw a genuine smile on his friends face for the first time in days. “Hey I hear your ‘Stros are doing pretty good.”, he said trying to change the subject

“Yeah. First place. Got the Cardinals hot on their heels though. But it’s better than I can say for Rocko’s Dodgers.”

Jason laughed. “You two and your teams.”

“They’re playing each other at Dodger Stadium this year. We were so busy last summer we couldn’t go. But I’ve already got us tickets this year. And pretty good ones too I might add.”

“You sitting by the home team or the away team?”

She grinned. “Well to prevent future arguments, we’re going twice. Once by the Astros dugout, and once by the Dodgers.”

Jason couldn’t help but smile. “That’s cool.”, he said as he looked down the beach. “It’s about time you got back.”

Tommy walked over and handed Jason a soda. “You wouldn’t believe how many people there were out there.”, he said as he sat down on a blanket.

“I donno, there are a lot of people out there.”, Carri said as she motioned to the beach and took a drink from Kim, who sat down as well

“Well when you have days like this...”, Kim smiled as her voice trailed off

Jason gulped his soda. “I’m afraid if I set it down for a second, it’s going to get hot and nasty.”

“How about we go for a dip before we play?”, suggested Kim

“I think that’s a fabulous idea.”, Carri replied

“Then let’s go.”, Tommy said as he hopped up

The four friends jogged down the beach and into the water. They were so busy enjoying the ocean, that they didn’t notice the commotion start on the beach. They looked up in time to see some sort of beach ball monster standing there terrorizing citizens. Well, there weren’t many citizens left at that point, most had run for cover from the monster and his tenga friends.

“Beach ball?”, Kim questioned. “Zedd never learns.”

Tommy smiled at her. “You know it’s up to us to teach him a lesson.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”, she asked as they swam toward the shore. By the time they got there, there wasn’t a person in sight.

“It’s morphin time!”, Tommy yelled

“ZEO RANGER I, PINK!”

“ZEO RANGER II, YELLOW”

“ZEO RANGER IV, GREEN!”

“ZEO RANGER V, RED!”

“I think somebody needs to be deflated.”, Carri said looking at the monster

“You rangers don’t scare me.”, he said as he fired at them. The rangers were forced backwards by the blast and were surrounded by tengas.

The rangers were so busy taking on the tengas, that they had no idea what caused the monster to yell and stumble forward. “They always forget about the blue guy.”, Rocky said as he joined the fight

“Nice of you to make it.”, Kim said

“A good lifeguard has to figure out what’s scaring away all his swimmers.”, Rocky replied

“I wouldn’t worry about the swimmers ranger I would worry about yourselves.”, the monster said as he fired at them another time

Kim jumped up, leaped over the tengas, and ran at the monster, calling for her weapon as she did. “I’d almost forgotten how much fun this could be.”, she said as she attacked

“Fun? You call this fun?”, the monster asked as he kicked her down

She was quick to stand up. “It’s fun for me anyway. Zeo I, power kick!”, she yelled as she knocked the monster back

Tommy broke free of the tengas and went to join her. “I can’t let you have all the fun by yourself.”, he said as he called for his weapon and attacked

Tommy and Kim fought the monster for a little while by themselves, until the others finished off the tengas. Then the monster was attacked by three more zeos. “It’s not very nice for you to try and ruin our day.”, Jason said

All five zeos then jumped on the monster. The monster threw them off. “Nice? Who said I had to be nice?”, he asked as he fired at them yet again

The rangers hit the sand but were quick to get back up. As they stood, they saw the monster grow to enormous heights. “Why do they always think that this is going to help?”, asked Kim

“I don’t know, but we need Super Zeo Zord power now!”, Tommy yelled

All five rangers jumped into their Super Zeo Zords. The individual zords attacked him for a few moments, before the monster proved himself stronger than what was thought.

“I think we need to combine and take care of this jerk. He’s ruining my tanning.”, Carri said

“You read my mind.”, Kim replied as they initiated the sequence to form the Super Zeo Megazord

The megazord stood in front of the monster. “You think your zord scares me?”, he asked

“No, but it should.”, Rocky replied

The rangers called on their saber, then they slashed the monster, bringing it down.

“I knew that monster was worthless.”, Rita screeched

“So did I. But I couldn’t sit back and watch those rangers try to have fun. And Callisto thinks we’re going to sit back and let her take weeks with Katherine and let those punks enjoy themselves well she’s...”

“What? Crazy?”, Callisto asked as she teleported in. “I thought you would leave them alone until I was ready.”

“And I thought you would have been ready by now.”, Zedd snapped

“All the years you’ve been trying to destroy them you would think you would have learned some patience.”, Callisto replied

Rito entered the room and walked up to Zedd. “Hiya Ed. Sorry to interrupt you and Calli, but I thought that maybe I could...”

Callisto didn’t let him finish. He annoyed her and with good reason. She flung him across the room and he hit the ground with a thud. “Was that really necessary?”, Rito asked as he rubbed his butt

The goddess rolled her eyes. “Katherine will be ready soon. Then we will unleash her on those rangers. They won’t kill her, but they won’t be able to stop her.” Callisto then left to go back to Kat, to finish getting her ready to face the others.

Kim and Tommy went out to dinner later that night. Kim’s mood had improved that day after the fight. They hadn’t said anything about it, but Tommy felt like he had to. “It was good to see you fighting again.”, he said after a pause in their conversation

Kim smiled. “It was so exciting to be there again. I had all but forgotten what it was like. And now... it just makes me feel whole again.”

“Once it’s a part of you, it’s something that’s hard to let go. Especially when you get to taste it again. I remember being green, going through some of those same feelings.”, he replied

“I know things are different than before. Different powers, different people, but we get out there, I know exactly what to do. I mean, yeah it’s a learning experience with the zeo stuff, but at the same time it’s all the same. And the people, well you know I’ve been with so many different people but it’s great to go out there and have five of us gel that well.”

“I know what you’re talking about. On both accounts.”, Tommy replied. “The zeo stuff wasn’t hard to pick up on. And as far as our team goes, well I love everybody who has ever been with us, but we’re probably five of the strongest and we’re all close and we work the best together.”

“I just hate to have to give it all up again when Kat comes back.”

“Well, maybe she won’t want to be a part of it anymore.”

“Tommy who are you kidding? Once she realizes what she’s missing, she’ll want it back.”

“Maybe. But she’s got a life outside of this.”

“And we don’t?”

Tommy made a face. “That’s not what I mean.”

Kim glared at him, waiting for a explanation. Tommy looked at her as he told her what he was thinking. “It’s not that I’m saying that we don’t have lives. It’s just that I have you and Rocky has Carri and Jason has Emily, who may not be one of us but she’s friends with us and she knows about us. And you and Carri are always hanging out and so are me, Jase and Rocky. And who are we hanging out with and spilling our secrets with if not our significant others or our same sex best friends? The rest of the team. I talk to Carri, you talk to Jason and Rocky, Carri talks to Jason.... so where does that leave Kat?”

Kim frowned. “I don’t know, you tell me.”

“Kat has Chris. And we haven’t spoken much since... well you know. She was never that close with Jason, or Rocky for that matter. And Carri... well Carri feels like she’s been pushing her away. You know that. She hasn’t hung out much with either of you.”

“But she’s still a part of the team and she knows that. I just don’t think she’d want to give it up that easily.”, Kim pointed out

“You may be right.”, Tommy agreed. “But then, at the same time, she may use this is an opportunity to concentrate on other things like Chris and his friends, school, dance...”, Tommy let his voice trail off

“I know how selfish this sounds Tommy, but I hope you’re right.”, Kim said smiling at him. Tommy smiled back at her. Kim’s smile quickly turned into a frown. “I feel bad all this talk and we don’t even know if she’s ok.”

“Don’t worry about that. I know we’ll find her. And if Callisto’s turned her evil, we’ll make her good again.”, Tommy assured her. Kim looked doubtful. “Why am I so confident you may ask. Because we have the best team, and we are, well you know who we are I don’t think I need to say that in the restaurant.”

Kim’s smile slowly came back as the couple enjoyed the rest of their dinner.

Rocky and Carri had decided to spend the following afternoon in Angel Grove park. They had eaten lunch in the park and were sitting on the grass enjoying the scenery. Their four friends were going to meet them in the park later for some goofing around.

“I always liked the park.”, Carri said leaning in close to her boyfriend. “It’s always been so peaceful.”

“Me too.”, Rocky agreed. “I’m glad we came out here today.”

“It’s been a.....”

Carri was cut off by a figure that was standing behind them. A figure neither one of them saw coming. “Well rangers your day is just now going to get exciting.”

Rocky and Carri scrambled to their feet and swirled around. Carri gasped as she realized who was standing before her. “Kat...”, she stammered

“The weakling I once was is dead.”, she hissed. And as the duo looked at her, they were afraid it was true. Kat was no longer the sweet, innocent girl they had last seen. Her blonde hair had been turned black, and her blue eyes were now dark and cold. She was standing there in a leather outfit with a staff of some sort in her right hand.

“I won’t believe that.”, Carri said taking a step towards her cousin

“Oh but you should.”, Kat said as she lunged at her, swinging her staff as she went. The staff hit Carri hard and she went flying across the grass.

Rocky stood there unsure as of what to do. This was still Kat, wasn’t it? But she was trying to kill Carri. He couldn’t let that happen. But he couldn’t hurt her either. “Kat don’t make me do this.”

Kat laughed as she went after him next. Rocky dodged out of her way and went and stood beside Carri, who was just getting to her feet. “Rocky we have to do something.”, she whispered

“But what? We don’t want to hurt her.”

“Too bad since I’m dying to hurt you.”, Kat said. The two rangers stood there glaring at her as she took her staff and pointed it at them. The end of the staff fired at them, hitting them and knocking them to the ground.

Rocky grabbed Carri’s hand as they laid on the grass. “We need to get out of here.”, he said looking at her

She nodded. They both reached for their communicators and disappeared.

Kat frowned as the flashes of blue and yellow light teleported away. Her mentor appeared before her on the lawn. “Something a matter Kat?”, Callisto asked

“The rangers didn’t want to stay and play with me.”, Kat replied

Callisto smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll get them eventually.” Then she and Kat disappeared.

Billy looked at the two figures that appeared on the Power Chamber floor. “Are you guys ok?”, he asked rushing over to them

“Mentally or physically?”, Carri asked. “Because physically, I hurt but I’ll live. Mentally, my cousin just tried to kill me and I’m to afraid to hurt her to stop her.”

Billy frowned as he helped both of them up and led them to a medical table. “Alpha if you’ll contact the others, I’ll take care of them.”

“Aye ai ai!”, the little robot exclaimed as he ran off to alert the other rangers

Streaks of green, pink and red light came into the Power Chamber. “What’s going on, what happened?”, Jason asked as the trio rushed over to their friends

“We found Kat.”, Rocky told them

Carri frowned. “Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty.”

“She tried to hurt you?”, asked Kim

“Hurt? No.”, Rocky said making a face. “Kill, yes.”

Tommy turned to look at Zordon. “What are we going to do?”, he asked

“We need to find out the source of Katherine’s evil. Once we find out exactly what kind of spell or power she is being influenced by, we can try and bring her back to the side of good.”

Billy finished with the blue and yellow rangers and walked over to the controls. “I don’t know if I can find much. We weren’t expecting her to appear, I didn’t have time to get a good scan in.”

“We’ll just have to wait until she attacks again.”, Jason said

Kim frowned. “I just don’t like this at all.”

Tommy put a hand on her shoulder. “Neither do we.”

Callisto and Kat appeared in the Lunar Palace after Kat’s first trip to Earth. “So?”, questioned Callisto. “What did you think?”

“Brilliant!”, Zedd exclaimed as he got up to look at Kat. “I can’t believe we never thought of this before. Those rangers were too scared to hurt her to even try and mount an attack. They didn’t even morph!”

Rita could hardly contain her excitement. “I knew that Kitty was a good idea from the start. I just didn’t push her hard enough before but you, well look at what you’ve done with her.”

Callisto smiled. “I told you that it would be worth waiting for.”

Rito walked into the throne room with Goldar. “Hey Goldie you think,” Rito stopped speaking as his head snapped in Kat’s direction. “Wow, Calli, great job. She looks hot.”

Callisto started to retaliate but Kat never gave her the chance as she held up her staff and zapped Rito. “I don’t appreciate morons gawking at me.”

“She is truly evil.”, Goldar said

“So girls, what are you going to do now?”, asked Zedd

“Well I don’t want to sit around this drab place, that’s for sure.”, Kat replied. “I want to destroy those rangers.”

“She’s like the daughter we never had.”, Zedd said

Rita smiled. “I know Zeddie, isn’t it great?”

“I know of a way to get those rangers attention.”, Callisto said as she smiled

“How’s that?”, asked Kat

“Do the one thing those goodie rangers can’t stand.”, Callisto replied. “Go down to the surface and destroy innocents.”

Kat smiled as Callisto used a wave of her hand to make them both disappear.

Callisto and Kat arrived on the surface of Angel Grove, prepared to do some damage. They stood in the middle of the park, watching all the citizens try to flee. “Watch and learn”, Callisto said as she threw a fireball towards some of the fleeing citizens. She laughed as it hit someone.

“I think I can do that.”, Kat said as she took her staff and prepared to fire. She saw a target and went to let that person have it with a beam much greater than the one she had hit Rocky and Carri with earlier. To her surprise, a flash of yellow light appeared in between her beam and her target. The yellow ranger absorbed the blast.

“You don’t want to kill anyone.”, Carri said as the other four rangers joined her

Kat rolled her eyes. “You guys are being such party poopers.”, she replied as both she and Callisto fired on the rangers

The five rangers scattered. They looked around to see that the rest of the people had made it safely out of the area. They turned their attention back to Kat and Callisto. “Kat, it’s us, your friends.”, Kim tried to plead with her

“I don’t have any friends.”, Kat snapped as she attacked her

Carri saw Kat attack and Kim defend herself. She couldn’t quite bring herself to attack Kat. So she took all her anger and aggression out elsewhere. “How could you do this to her!”, she yelled as she attacked Callisto

Callisto threw the yellow ranger off of her and turned to fight her. “I just tapped into her capacity for evil. She did the rest.”

Carri and Callisto started to fight. Tommy went to help his girlfriend fight against Kat. Tommy knew what it was like to be forced into being evil. He also knew that regardless of who your friends are, you will do what you are programmed to do and destroy who you’re told to destroy, no questions asked.

Rocky looked at the two fights at hand, unsure of which one to join. As much as he wanted to get Kat back on their side, he knew that someone had to help in the fight against Callisto. He ran to help Carri attack her.

“Thanks.”, Carri said as Rocky hit her from behind

Rocky smiled. He knew that Carri felt responsible for Callisto and her actions, and wanted to take her out herself. But he also knew that Carri wasn’t stupid and knew she could always use a hand. And with the two of them attacking, it lessened Callisto’s chance of making a good offense. Or so they thought.

Carri stabbed Callisto in the stomach. Callisto laughed and threw her back. Rocky used his weapon to slice her as well. Callisto was getting ready to offer him the same fate but she saw Carri start to get to her feet again. Callisto quickly used her powers to suspend Rocky in the air. “This would hurt you the most wouldn’t it?”, asked Callisto

“Let him go!”, she yelled as she watched Rocky struggle helplessly

Callisto laughed. “Hurt may be an understatement. It would destroy you. Especially if I got Kat to kill him for me.”

Carri angrily lunged at Callisto, who used her powers to slam her against a tree and hold her there.

The others weren’t aware of what was going on yet. They were too busy trying to talk to Kat, but without much luck. Kat was more powerful and more evil than they could have ever imagined.

Jason tried to grab her from behind. He thought he had some mild success when Kat used her staff to zap him. He went flying backwards. “Guys we have to get that away from her!”, Jason yelled

Kat smiled. “Fat chance.”, she said as she fired a beam at the pink and red rangers. It was then that she noticed what Callisto had done. She started to walk over there when the remaining three rangers ran to stop her.

“Kat you don’t want to do this.”, Tommy yelled as he tried to jump on her

Kat threw him off of her. And she turned and fired at the rangers again. “I am sick of you rangers trying to tell me what I want to do. Because what I want to do is destroy you.” Kat came up behind Callisto and used her staff to hit Rocky so hard that he was stripped of his powers and knocked unconscious. Callisto let him fall to the ground.

“No!”, Carri yelled. “Kat please don’t do this!”, she begged as she desperately tried to move.

Kat smiled evilly as she walked over to Rocky’s lifeless body. “The blue ranger is as good a place as any to start.”

The three free rangers started to move. Tommy looked over and saw Kat put one foot on Rocky’s neck, while holding her staff high above her head. He knew that this meant they couldn’t bring her back peacefully. He hated to do this to her, but he had no choice. “Zeo five power kick!”, he yelled as he hit her in the back

Kat stumbled forward as her staff came down. Even though Tommy hit her, she had still managed to hurt Rocky with the power from her staff, although she couldn’t finish him off like she had wanted. She thought she could get back to him, but as she turned she was attacked by the pink ranger.

Jason jumped up and glanced at Kat. Tommy and Kim were handling her, and he needed to help his other friends. Jason quickly attacked Callisto from behind. Her concentration was momentarily interrupted and Carri hit the ground. Callisto turned to Jason. “You again? I thought you would have learned not to mess with me.”

“Funny I was just about to tell you the same thing.”, Jason said as he kicked her back

Carri saw that everyone was preoccupied and ran over to Rocky. He wasn’t moving, but as far as she could tell he was still alive. She saw Kat break free and run after him again. She didn’t have much time, so she touched a button on his communicator teleporting him out of there.

“Bitch.”, Kat hissed as she eyed the yellow ranger

Carri could feel the tears from in her eyes as she slowly stood back up. “You’ve gone too far.”, she said as she forced the tears back and looked at her

“What are you going to do? Kill me?”, Kat asked as she pointed her staff at her

“Not if we can help it.”, Kim said as she attacked her from behind

Kat stumbled forward, and Carri did also. Carri turned to see Jason getting up from behind her. Callisto had thrown him in their direction. The rangers regrouped and looked at Callisto and Kat. “This isn’t over rangers.”, Callisto said

“Not by a long shot.”, Tommy replied. They watched Callisto and Kat disappear before they teleported back to the Power Chamber.

The rangers powered down and Carri ran over to Rocky, who was still laying lifeless on a med table. “Is he ok?”

“Kat hurt him pretty badly.”, Billy told her

“But is he going to be ok?”, she asked.

Billy nodded. “It’s going to take time, but yes.”

Carri turned and walked towards Zordon’s tube. “What are we going to do?”, she asked brushing back a stray tear. Kim walked over and squeezed her friends hand as they looked up for a response from their mentor.

“Billy was monitoring your fight.”, Zordon informed them. “He may have some answers for you.”

Billy walked away from Rocky and went over to the other rangers. “From what I can see, all the power Kat has comes from the staff she holds.”

“So if we destroy the staff, we free Kat?”, asked Jason

“I’m not sure.”, Billy replied. “At this point, that’s just a theory. But I can positively say that if you bring me the staff and I destroy it, it will get rid of her power.”

“Well that’s one important step.”, Tommy said. The others nodded. “Even if she’s still evil, she can’t hurt anyone else without her powers.”

“Then hopefully we can take her down without hurting her.”, Kim said

Carri took a deep breath before she spoke. “I just can’t believe it’s come to this. But after what she did to Rocky, well as long as she has that staff we have to consider her dangerous. We have to do what needs to be done to keep anyone else from getting hurt.”, she paused to take a another deep breath. “It’s just, this is still Kat, and I can’t believe she would do this to us. What if Callisto was right? What if she does have some sort of capacity for evil? I wasn’t here when Rita had her under her spell, but was she really like this?”

“Kat didn’t have any powers when Rita had her under her spell. So it’s hard to compare.”, Kim told her

Tommy nodded. “But she still did do some evil things. Capture the falcon zord, she tried to kill Kim by taking her power coin.”

Carri frowned. “She just never told me what she did. I knew she was evil. But even then I always thought, this is Kat, how evil can she be?”

“Unfortunately, it looks like we’re starting to have the answer.”, Jason replied

“Yeah.”, Carri replied as she looked over at Rocky’s body. She had to bite her lower lip to keep from crying.

Jason walked over to his friend and gave her a hug. “Hey don’t worry about it. Everything is going to be ok.”

“How can you be so sure?”, Carri asked as she leaned her head on her friends shoulder.

She felt Tommy come up beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him. “Because we’re the power rangers.”, Tommy replied

Kim came and stood on the other side of Tommy, and Tommy put his other arm around her. Kim grabbed her friends hand. “Yeah and there is nothing we can’t accomplish together.”

Carri smiled at her friends. “Thanks guys.”, she replied. She knew as long as they had each other they could work their way through any crisis. They were all best of friends, like family, and there was nothing that they couldn’t handle.

Callisto and Kat went back to the Lunar Palace. Callisto was quite satisfied with what they had accomplished. But much to Callisto’s delight, Kat wasn’t.

“I want to finish off that blue ranger.”, Kat growled

“Well you did a lot of damage to him. But now those brats have him in their precious Power Chamber, so you can’t touch him.”, Rita said

“What if I just go in there and take care of him?”, asked Kat

Rito made a face. “I don’t think evil people are allowed in.”

“Besides even if you could get in, I’m sure the rangers are there protecting him.”, Goldar added

Callisto thought for a moment. “Maybe she can get in. After all, she was one of them a week ago.”

Zedd smiled. “You may have a point. She did have free access to the Power Chamber. It may still let her in. And as for those power punks, I think I can distract them for a while.”

“Good. If you can distract them, I’ll take care of the ranger.”, Kat said as she smiled

“In that case, let me just send a bunch of tengas to the park,” Zedd paused for a second as he lifted his staff, “and now you have your distraction.”

Kat laughed. “Perfect.”

The rangers were standing in the power chamber when the alarm went off. They all spun around to see what the disturbance was. “Rangers it appears as though Lord Zedd has sent a bunch of tengas to the park.”

The teens looked at each other. “Be careful guys.”, Jason said. The others nodded.

“Ninjetti, falcon!”, Tommy yelled

“Crane!”

“Panther!”

“Cougar!”

Billy watched as his four friends took off to fight the tengas. At least this would be an easy fight for them. He glanced over at Rocky and frowned. There wasn’t much more he could do for him. Except monitor him and wait. Billy decided to go through that afternoon’s fight with Kat again to see if there was anything he missed. Anything he could find out about her and her powers would help his friends.

As Billy was cuing everything up, he heard someone teleport in. He knew the tengas were easy opponents, but that was surprisingly quick. “Back already?”, he asked as he turned to face his friends

To his surprise, it wasn’t the rangers who were standing there. “This is going to be too easy.”, Kat said as she smiled. She quickly used her staff to lift Billy up and fire a beam at him, sending him across the room. As he hit the ground, she went over to the blue zeo ranger.

Billy was having a hard time getting to his feet. The blast had hit him pretty hard. He looked over and saw Kat over Rocky’s lifeless body. She was coming back to finish off the job. He knew Rocky’s body couldn’t handle much more, and he would have to act quickly. “Ninjetti, wolf!”, he yelled as he leaped out at Kat

Kat was surprised to see Billy standing there. She knew she only needed another second or two to finish off the zeo ranger. But first there was a ninjetti standing in her way. She grinned. It wouldn’t be hard to get rid of him first, then finish off the ranger. They engaged in battle. She fired a blast at him, which missed and hit the console, scrambling wires and temporarily knocking Zordon’s tube out of commission. One shot she purposefully aimed at Alpha, causing him to go crazy. She continued to fire at him and miss, hitting the console.

Billy tried to mount an offence, but he knew it wouldn’t do much good. There was only one way to get her out of there, and he had to do it quickly before she destroyed that part of the console. He jumped as far away from the controls as he could, and looked at Kat. “If you want me, come get me.”

Kat started to run at him, but Billy used his ninjetti powers and disappeared, ending up in front of the console. As Kat turned, Billy hit several buttons and watched as the former pink ranger was teleported to the moon. Billy was unsure of what to do next. Rocky needed immediate attention or he could die. But if he didn’t act quickly, Kat could just teleport herself back in there and finish him off anyway. Billy made up his mind and went to the console. He had to reprogram their defense shields to only allow himself and the five rangers access.

As he started to work, he could hear the others teleport in chattering amongst themselves. The chatter quickly stopped once everyone got a look at what was going on. “What the hell happened?”, Tommy asked as they saw Zordon gone, Alpha going crazy and half the consoles destroyed.

The others looked around and realized there was something else going crazy. Rocky’s monitors. “Rocky!”, Carri exclaimed as she ran over to him. “Billy you’ve got to get over here and”

“In a second.”, Billy cut her off. He needed to finish this first. He was almost done. He knew they would understand once he had time to explain.

“But he’s dying! What the hell are you doing over there!”, she yelled at him

The others looked from Carri to Billy. They knew something must be going on to keep him at the consoles and away from their dying friend. A few seconds later, Billy looked triumphant. “Finished.”, he said as he quickly turned his attention to Rocky. “Move.”, he said to Carri as he got over there and started to work

She stumbled a few feet back and fell to her knees. Jason knelt down beside her and put his arms around her. Kim buried her head in Tommy’s shoulder, as she couldn’t bare to watch what was going on.

As the monitors continued to go off, Carri slumped to the floor and she started to cry. Jason pulled her in to his chest and continued to hold her there. He glanced up at Tommy and frowned. Tommy returned the frown as he put both arms around his girlfriend and squeezed as he saw a loose tear run down her face. “Everything is going to be ok.”, he whispered into her ear. That only made a few more tears fall down her face.

After what seemed like hours, the monitors finally stopped going off. Billy continued to work for a moment before he stopped. Tommy glanced at him. “Is he alright?”

“She did a lot of damage... he’s lucky to still be alive.”, Billy replied

Carri looked up at him with a tear-stained face. A few stray tears still fell. “But he’s going to make it right? He’s going to be ok?”

Billy knelt down to her level and put a hand on her shoulder. “He was hurt badly. But he’ll live to fight again. It’s just going to take his body time and a little bit of help to heal itself.”, he told her smiling as he spoke

Carri said nothing and just nodded in response. She brushed the tears away and Jason helped her stand up. She turned and saw Kim look up at her. She could tell Kim had been crying as well. The girls went over and hugged each other.

“So what did happen here?”, Jason asked

“The tengas were meant to be a distraction. Kat teleported in and knocked me back, and tried to finish him off. There must have been some sort of glitch since she was a ranger, which allowed her to get in here.”, Billy explained. “I used my ninjetti powers to fight her, but she was stronger than me as you can see. I had to teleport her out of there to get rid of her. I had to decide to tend to Rocky first or to reconfigure the Power Chamber’s shield to only let the six of us in. I chose the latter, because even if I had tended to Rocky first, she could’ve teleported back in and killed him before I could stop her.”

The others nodded. They all agreed that Billy had done the right thing. “What about Zordon and Alpha?”, Kim asked

“I think between the five of us, we can get this place up and running again.”, Billy said smiling at them. The others shook their heads in agreement, and with that the rangers got to work.

A few hours later, everything was back up and running again. “Aye ai ai, rangers, I can’t believe Kat got in here and attacked.”

“We’re just lucky Billy was here.”, Carri said as she smiled at her friend

“Yeah if it weren’t for Billy...”, Jason glanced over at Rocky and never finished his sentence. The others knew what he was thinking.

“I just did what any of you would have done.”, Billy replied. “I’m just glad we got everything up and running again.”

Tommy smiled. “We never had any doubts.”

“Now that this is all done, maybe you guys should go relax.”, Billy suggested

Carri glanced over at her boyfriend. “I think I’m going to stay here tonight.”

Billy walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “There’s nothing you can do for him here. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on him.”, he told her. She frowned as he spoke. “Besides, Rocky wouldn’t want you to just sit here with him.”

“Billy’s right.”, Kim agreed. She saw the look on Carri’s face. “Don’t worry. We’ll go to the apartment and sit on the couch all night and watch Brad Pitt movies.”

“Thanks Kim, but you and Tommy had plans and I’d hate to step in the middle of that.”, Carri replied

Tommy smiled at Carri. “There’s always nights for me and Kim. You need us. Why don’t we all go out to dinner then we’ll take you home and we can all hang. Or me and Jase will just take off and let you girls obsess over your Hollywood hunk.”

“Sounds like a plan bro.”, Jason said

“Are you guys sure?”, Carri asked. Tommy and Kim nodded in reply. “Thanks guys. That means a lot to me.”

“Well let’s not wait around here and depress ourselves. Let’s get going.”, Jason told them

“We’ll see you later Billy.”, Tommy said

“Call me if anything changes.”, Carri requested of Billy. Billy nodded. Carri hated leaving with Rocky’s life in the balance, but Billy was right. She couldn’t do anything for him, and he wouldn’t want her sitting there with him.

Billy said goodbye to his friends as they teleported out. Billy sighed and stretched. With the source of Kat’s power unknown, and Rocky needing attention, he knew it was going to be a long night.

Carri got up early the next morning and went to the Power Chamber. Billy and Alpha weren’t in the main room, so she walked up and looked at Rocky. After a few moments she heard a door open.

Billy saw Carri spin around to look at him. “He’s doing a lot better you know.”

“That’s good. How much longer before he regains consciousness?”

“It’s hard to say for sure. I know I said this before but he really is lucky to be alive. To be honest that second attack by Kat should have killed him. He was already so weak. And by the time I got to him, well, he must have been really fighting for something. And last night, well it was touch and go all night. I thought he was ok but with everything he’d been through... but now I can say with one hundred percent certainty that he’ll be fine.”

Carri smiled. Not as much about what Billy said, but that he’d said it at all. He could have babied her, but he told her the truth. She reached down and put Rocky’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “Do you think”, she started but had no time to finish the thought as the alarm went off

Billy and Carri turned to see what was going on. They saw Kat standing there with a group of Zedd’s tengas. “You go ahead. I’ll alert the others.”

Carri nodded. “It’s morphin time! Zeo ranger II, yellow!” The yellow zeo ranger appeared before her cousin.

“I’m surprised to see you here. I figured by now you’d be mourning the loss of your boyfriend.”, Kat said with a smile

“You’re assuming he’s dead. And you know what they say about assumptions.”, Carri replied

Kat frowned. “That’s too bad. I thought I’d all but left him that way.”

Carri wasted no time initiating a fight. She wanted to get that staff away from Kat, but that was proving to be difficult with all the tengas around. Before she got a chance to really give it a try, three flashes of light came in to help her.

“And I was beginning to think you were going to make it easy for me to destroy you.”, Kat said

“Sorry to disappoint.” Jason replied as he attacked her. Tommy and Kim went to work on the tengas.

After a few minutes the rangers thought they were making progress. The tenga army was diminishing. And they were coming closer to getting that staff. Kat sensed the fight was not going quite as planned. She leaped backwards and held her staff high in the air. A lightning bolt flew from the sky, then she quickly turned the staff towards the rangers, hitting all four of them and flinging them to the ground. “How do you like my new trick?”

“How do you like mine?”, asked a voice from behind. Kat spun just in time to see what was about to hit her. As Trey’s staff made contact, Kat hit the ground hard. Furious to be surprised like that, Kat took off leaving just the rangers.

Trey ran over to help the others get up. “Are you all ok?”, he asked

“Yeah I think so.”, Tommy replied

“Zordon informed me of your situation.”, Trey told them. “I got here as fast as I could.”

“Thank you. From the look of it, we’re going to need as much help as we can get.”, Kim replied. The rangers quickly teleported back to the Power Chamber.

“Billy I don’t know what we’re going to do, she keeps getting stronger.”, Jason said as they powered down

“That last attack was some sort of staff upgrade.”, Billy informed them. “Somebody strong is powering her.”

“Callisto?”, suggested Carri. Billy shook his head no.

“Rita and Zedd?”, supplied Kim

Billy shook his head no again. “More powerful than that.”

“Who could be more powerful that Callisto and Rita and Zedd?”, asked Tommy

“That’s the answer I’m almost afraid to find out.”, replied Billy

Jason made a face. “Do you think we can still get the staff away from her?”

Billy nodded. “Actually I have done a lot of investigating into the staff. I still can’t say for sure that it’s what’s making her evil. But I do know that it can absorb a lot of energy. Most of it evil energy. But if we can counteract that with some good energy of our own, it may make it unstable enough that Kat can’t hold onto it, giving you guys seconds to steal it.”

The rangers thought for a moment. Tommy was the first one to speak. “How do we infuse it with good energy?”

“If one of you guys can get a hold of the staff, I think I have a way to fill it with good energy through the zeo crystal.”, Billy told them

“So basically the plan is grab the staff and hope you can work your magic before she kills us.”, Carri asked. The others shot her a look. “I just wanted to be clear.”

“You don’t think it will work?”, asked Jason

Carri smiled. “If Billy came up with it, it’s bound to work. That staff just hasn’t brought us much good luck yet.”

“Well I think it’s about time for our luck to change.”, Kim said. The others smiled and nodded.

“Well I am going to stay around Earth. Please don’t hesitate to call when she attacks again.”, Trey told them

“We won’t.”, Tommy replied. “And thanks again for your help.”

“Any time rangers.”, Trey said as he teleported off

“So now what?”, Kim asked

“We are supposed to do a martial arts seminar on campus this afternoon. It’s part of an outreach to kids program that USC is doing.”, Jason said

“We as in”, Carri didn’t finish the sentence as she looked at Rocky then glanced at Tommy and Jason

“Yeah.”, Tommy replied. “But Jason and I will carry on. We can tell them that Rocky suddenly got sick.”

Kim and Carri nodded. “Emily is coming up after the seminar.”, Jason told them. “Maybe when she gets here we can all go out.”

“Sounds good.”, Kim replied

“Well we had better get going.”, Jason said

“We’ll see you guys later.”, Carri told them

“Good luck.”, Kim added as she gave her boyfriend a kiss. The two male rangers then teleported out. Kim turned to her friend. “So what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.”, Carri said glancing at her boyfriend

Kim grabbed her by the arm. “Come on. I’m taking you down to the beach. A little sun always brightens up your day.”

Carri looked hesitant. “But...”

“No buts. Come on, lets go.”

“I’ll let you know if anything happens. Go have a good time.”, Billy encouraged

Carri thought for a moment. “I guess you’re right.” With that, the two girls teleported out of the Power Chamber leaving Billy alone to do work.

Billy found himself so occupied with the Kat situation that the afternoon flew by. He was contemplating weather or not Rocky would be alright long enough for him to go out with the others for a bit when his friend started to stir. Billy ran over to him and put a hand on him to keep him from moving too quickly. “Easy Rocky. You took quite a beating.”

Rocky started to sit up. “How long have I been out?”, he asked looking around the Power Chamber. “And where are the others? Are they fighting? Are they hurt? Do they need me?”

Billy smiled as he helped him sit up. “The others are fine. Tommy and Jason are finishing up a seminar. And I believe Carri and Kim spent the afternoon on the beach.”

“Seminar? You mean I’ve been out for a day now?”, Rocky asked in disbelief

“Yes.”, Billy replied looking at his friend. “What’s the last think you remember?”

“I remember being suspended in the air by Callisto, and Carri was held against a tree. And Kat came running towards me. And that’s it until about two minutes ago.”

“Kat used her staff to strip you of your powers and knock you to the ground. With Callisto still holding Carri against the tree, and the others down from Kat’s attack, Kat went over to you and used her staff to try and kill you. If it wasn’t for Tommy, she would have succeeded. Jason freed Carri and she teleported you out of there.”

“And I’ve been out since?”, asked Rocky

Billy frowned. “Well yes but not entirely because of that. Zedd sent tengas to attack when the others got back, so they took off again. Kat was able to infiltrate the Power Chamber. I think it was due to a glitch in the system and her being a ranger before. She attacked you, but I was able to get her out before she killed you. But, you can ask the others, they came back from the fight and you were dying and we didn’t think you’d survive. You almost shouldn’t have survived.”

Rocky smiled. “I have a lot to live for.”

“You were kind of iffy last night. But the others weren’t there for that part. They left, well three of them left and dragged Carri with them. But we didn’t think you’d want her here watching you.”

“Thanks.”, Rocky told him. “So she’s at the beach now?”

“Hang on let me check.”, Billy said walking over to the control panels. He did a quick scan for her. “Looks like she’s back at the apartment.”

Rocky hopped down of the med bed. “Then that’s where I’m off to.”

“Just take it easy.”, Billy requested

“Of course.”

“See you later.”

“Later.”, Rocky said as he teleported to the living room of his friends apartment. He looked around and saw nobody was there. He walked down the hallway. Carri and Kim’s bedroom doors were shut. He assumed that they had just gotten back from the beach and were getting ready. He cracked open Carri’s door and looked around. He didn’t see her, but the bathroom door was cracked. He walked into the room, then quietly shut the door behind him. He sat on the bed and waited for her.

A few minutes later Carri walked out of the bathroom. She was looking for her perfume, so off in her own little world thinking about everything that’s happened that she almost didn’t notice Rocky sitting there. As she saw him there, she froze for a moment. “Rocky?”, she asked in disbelief. Then she ran over to him and threw her arms around him almost afraid to let go.

Rocky returned the hug then he pushed her back a little bit. “Hey.”, he said smiling at her

She returned the smile. “I was so worried about you.”

“Billy told me what happened.”

“After Kat attacked the Power Chamber and we returned, I really thought we were going to loose you. I didn’t know what to think or what to do. All I remember is sitting on the floor crying and thinking that if something were to happen to you I’d,” Carri couldn’t continue as she got choked up

“Don’t worry about it now.”, Rocky said giving her a kiss. “I’m here. In one piece. I would never leave you.” Rocky put his arms back around her and pulled her in giving her another kiss.

Carri grinned as she curled up in her boyfriends arms. “Just don’t ever scare me like that again.”

“I don’t plan on it.”, he replied as he smiled down at her

“Hey Carri are you ready to go?”, Jason asked as the door swung open. He saw her sitting there with Rocky. He smiled at them. “It’s good to see you up and moving.”

“It’s good to be up and moving.”, he replied

“So do you want me to tell the others you’re not coming?”, Jason asked

Rocky spoke before Carri could answer. “Well where were you going?”

“The whole gang of us were going to eat.”, she replied

“Just because I was almost dead doesn’t mean I lost my appetite.”, Rocky joked. “Count us in.”

“Are you sure you feel up to it?”, Carri asked

“Absolutely. Then after maybe me and you can come back and have some alone time.”, he told her

She smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Are we ready?”, Rocky asked

Jason nodded. “Tommy went to grab Kim, Emily and Billy are here so we are good to go.”

“Then let’s do it.”, Rocky said as he hopped up and took his girlfriend with him. The three of them went out to greet the others and then they were all off to dinner.

After they left the restaurant, everybody went their separate ways. Billy went back to the Power Chamber, Carri and Rocky went back to her apartment to relax, while Tommy and Kim went for a moonlit stroll down the beach. Jason and Emily walked around town, unsure of how they wanted to spend their night.

Emily looked up at her boyfriend. “I’m so glad that Rocky’s ok. I’m sure Carri was devastated.”

Jason nodded. “She was, but she’s strong. She kept doing what had to be done.”

“I just can’t believe that Kat would do those things.”

“I know. But it’s unfair to judge her. When you’re evil, well spells can make people do things that they would never dream of doing.”

“Have you ever been evil?”

Jason shook his head no. “But Tommy has. I saw what he was capable of doing. You remember that day that Carri and I disappeared on the beach?”, Jason paused and glanced at Emily, who shook her head. “We were taken to be killed by Tommy, who was still evil in that world and was killing rangers. When we freed him he was devastated by what he had done. Tommy has a heart of gold, he would never want to hurt any of us.”

“What do you think is going to happen when you free Kat?”

“Kat hasn’t done anything worth regretting yet.”

Emily made a face. “But she almost killed Rocky and destroyed your Power Chamber.”

“Both things she’s going to be upset about. But Rocky’s not dead, and we put the Power Chamber back together.”

“Do you think Kat will want to be a ranger again?”

“It’s hard to say for sure. I’d want to go back to fighting the good fight, righting all the wrongs, making up for what I’d done... not to mention not having the power is a hard thing to get used to. You always want it back.”

Emily put her arm around Jason as they continued walking. “I just hope everything works out.”

Jason put his arm around her and squeezed as he smiled at her and nodded. They were approaching a movie theater, and Jason was about to suggest they go in, when his communicator went off. Jason took Emily’s hand and walked off into an alleyway. “Go ahead.”

Billy’s voice came through the communicator. “It’s Kat. She’s attacking again.”

“I’m on it.”, Jason said. He put his hand down and turned towards his girlfriend. “I’ll be right back.”

“Be careful.”, she said giving him a quick kiss

He nodded his head. “It’s morphin time! Zeo ranger IV, green!”

Jason was the first morphed ranger to appear on the scene. He glared at Kat. She was by herself this time. “You’re just making this too easy for us.”

Kat rolled her eyes. “Please I don’t need Zedd’s army to back me up.” Kat saw a red and pink light, followed by a blue and yellow light. She glared at the five rangers as they stood there. “So you’re on your feet again? That won’t last.”

Rocky smiled. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I was you.”

Kat turned just in time to see the black light materialize beside her. She did a few back flips so the entire ranger team was in front of her. “I’m not dumb enough to fall for that again.”

The rangers looked at each other. They knew what they had to do. They all attacked, trying to grab for the staff. But Kat had become very good at welding its power, and she was able to keep the rangers off of her.

“Has anybody tried using their power weapons against her?”, Rocky asked as he looked at the others. They shook their heads no. They had always been so concerned with Kat’s safety, that nobody had tried it. Rocky decided that they only chance they had was for someone to knock her off her feet. He called for his power weapons and attacked.

Kat was surprised to see him attack her like that. So surprised that she didn’t have time to mount an offence. After a few minutes of fighting with him, she lifted her staff high in the air to try and get a charge from it. Rocky tried to grab it, but she was too smart to let him get to it.

As Kat held her staff in the air, she concentrated all of her energy on the blue ranger. So much so, that she never noticed the yellow ranger leap at her and grab the middle of the staff. Kat swung the staff around and threw the ranger on her back.

“You think I’d let go that easily?”, asked Carri

“No a challenge would be more fun.”, Kat replied

Carri quickly maneuvered to her feet without letting go of the staff. Suddenly she felt a charge of energy flow through her. She didn’t know how long she would have to hold on for Billy to finish. Fortunately for her, she didn’t have to worry about it. The staff quickly became unstable with the good and evil energy in it. The staff sent electric shocks through both girls bodies, throwing them back and falling to the ground where they once stood.

Tommy ran to attack Kat before she could pull herself together. As he did so, Jason ran over and grabbed the staff, teleporting out with it. Kim and Rocky went to check on Carri. “Are you ok?”, Kim asked as she was climbing to her feet

Carri grinned. “Nothing like a little electric shock to get the blood flowing.”

The other three rangers ran over to Tommy, who was handling Kat now that she was without her staff. “Give it up Kat. Your power no longer exists. You can come back, with us, where you belong.”

“I never belonged with you.”, she hissed

As Tommy went to grab her, Callisto showed up with a handful of tengas. “Not so fast red ranger.”, she said throwing him back. “I believe you have something that belongs to us.”

Jason teleported back onto the scene. “Had you mean.”

“What did you do with my staff?”, growled Kat

“Not much. Gave it to Billy, he destroyed it.”, replied Jason

Kat glared at the green ranger. “How dare you.”

“Don’t worry we’ll take care of them.”, Callisto said as she advanced.

The goddess was stopped dead in her tracks by the gold ranger. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Trey begin to fight with Callisto as the zeo rangers ran for Kat. But the tengas wouldn’t allow them access without going through them first. Kim was the first one to break free. As she ran towards Kat, Goldar appeared taking them both away.

The other rangers cleared the tengas and ran towards Kim. “Where did she go?”, asked Tommy

“Goldar rescued her.”, Kim said

“We’ll have to get her later.”, replied Jason. The rangers then turned around towards Callisto.

“Let’s just piss her off and get her out of here.”, Carri said reaching for her pistol

“Sounds like a plan.”, Rocky replied as the rest of the team did the same. All five rangers fired on her.

Callisto spun around to see that Kat had disappeared along with the tengas. She hissed at the rangers and with a wave of her hand, she took off as well.

“Those bastards took my staff!”, Kat yelled once she was back in Zedd’s throne room

“Calm down, I’m sure we can get you another one.”, Rita said

Callisto arrived in the throne room and looked at Kat. “Don’t worry it’s replaceable.”

“Can I get one now?”, she asked

“It’s going to take a few days.”, Callisto replied

Kat crossed her arms and stormed off. Zedd smiled and sighed. “Teenagers.” He was glad to see things were finally going somewhat his way. To see that they were finally able to use one of the rangers own against them.

The rangers teleported back to the Power Chamber and powered down. “I’m no expert, but it doesn’t seem like the staff was what was keeping Kat under the spell.”

“You’re right Kim.”, Billy replied. “But remember, it was only a theory.”

“So then what is it, how do we reverse the spell?”, asked Tommy

“I think she’s going to have to be reminded of who she is.”, Billy answered. “I’ve been scanning her, and this is not the kind of spell you can free with potions or artifacts.”

“So we need to remind her that she was the sweet, innocent Kat we all loved.”, Carri said

Billy nodded. “That’s essentially the idea.”

“She won’t listen to us.”, Jason pointed out. “We’ve tried.”

“Yeah but I’m sure it’s hard to get to her with Callisto and Zedd’s goons guarding her.”, Rocky added

“What if we kidnap her? She’s powerless against us without her staff. All we have to do is grab her and bring her here.”, Tommy suggested

“Well I don’t know if bringing her here would be such a good idea.”, Billy said. “But I can find a cave in the desert to set you up in. All I need to do is put up a force field to keep her evil friends out and you guys might just be able to work your magic on her.”

“We just have to hope that she doesn’t get a new staff before she attacks again.”, Kim said

“Well she seemed kind of pissed at us. I don’t see her waiting too long to come after us. She just needs time to regroup.”, Jason told her

“Jason’s right.”, Tommy agreed. “She won’t wait to come back after us. We just need to be ready.”

Billy nodded as he went to work creating a space that the rangers could take Kat to, in order to try and break the spell that Callisto placed over her.

Kat awoke the following morning and went straight for the throne room. She saw Lord Zedd sitting on his perch. He turned to look at her when he heard her come in. “I want to go down to the surface.”, she said looking at him

“That would probably not be wise seeing as though you don’t have any powers.”, Zedd pointed out

“Send me with tengas. And a monster. And let me watch as they torture the rangers.”, Kat pleaded

Zedd thought for a moment. He loved her spunk, her thirst for destruction. He almost couldn’t deny her. “I will send you down there. However, at the first sign of trouble I am bringing you back.”

Kat grinned. “Don’t worry the only ones who are going to see trouble are the rangers.”

Zedd laughed as he scanned the surface. Upon picking an object and transforming it into a monster, he sent Kat and some tengas down to the surface.

Tommy had gone to the Youth Center early with Rocky. Rocky felt like he needed a workout after being out the last day, and Tommy never refused a challenge. A few rounds into the boys sparring routine, their communicators went off. The duo walked over to a secluded part of the Youth Center to answer them.

Tommy raised his communicator to his mouth. “Go ahead Billy.”

“Zedd created a monster and sent it to the park, along with tengas and Kat.”, he replied

“Does Kat have a staff back?”

“Not as far as we can tell.”

“What do you want us to do?”

“If you can grab her and teleport, I’ll take care of the rest.”, Billy told him

“Alright. We’re on it.”, Tommy said as he glanced over at Rocky. “It’s morphin time!”

“ZEO RANGER III, BLUE!”

“ZEO RANGER V, RED!”

The blue and red zeo rangers were the first to arrive on the scene. They saw the monster and the tengas protecting Kat. They wanted to get to Kat as fast as they could, but to get to her they would have to get through Zedd’s goons first. As the two rangers rushed into battle, the remaining three rangers appeared on the battlefield ready for the fight. Tommy and Rocky saw them come in, and ran straight to the monster leaving them with the tengas.

“You guys will never learn.”, Carri said as she easily through a few tengas aside

“If Rita and Zedd ever learned the meaning of the word defeat, we wouldn’t still be doing this.”, Jason replied as he dealt with his own tengas

“But they haven’t.”, Kim said as she threw a bird aside, “So we’ll just have to teach them.” Kim continued to fight tengas. At one point she looked around and realized that the tengas around her were gone, and only Carri and Jason had them to deal with. Kim smiled as she called for her power weapon and ran at the monster.

Kat looked at the pink ranger in shock as she launched an attack that neither she nor the monster saw coming. Tommy saw Kat glaring at Kim. He knew this could possibly be his only chance to get a clear shot at her. Tommy flipped over the top of the monster and grabbed Kat’s arm.

“Let me go.”, she hissed

“I don’t think so.”, Tommy replied as he hit the button to teleport himself off

Jason and Carri finished pummeling the tengas just in time to see Tommy and Kat disappear. “Is that a good thing?”, Carri asked

“Yes, that’s a very good thing.”, Rocky said as he smiled at her, even though she couldn’t see it through the helmet

“I don’t think that’s such a good thing.”, Kim said as she pointed to the monster who was now growing to city wrecking size

“Well there’s only one thing we can do about that.”, Jason replied

“We need Super Zeo Zord power now!”, Rocky yelled. Upon his command four out of the five Super Zeo Zords came barreling towards them. The rangers jumped into their zords and turned to face the monster. “Time to send this guy back where he came from.”, Rocky said as the individual zords attacked

The monster laughed. “You don’t scare me.”, he said as he tried to fight off the individual zords

While the fight was going on, Carri looked up to see the red Super Zeo Zord come flying at them. “It’s about time you got here.”

“Traffic.”, he replied laughing at his friend

“Well whatever, I think we need to show this jerk what we’re made of.”, Kim said

“Couldn’t have put it better myself.”, Tommy replied as they begun the megazord transformation. When the transformation was complete, Tommy went to call for the Red Battlezord. He wanted to make short work of this monster because they had more pressing things to deal with.

The Red Battlezord attacked and as he did, the meazord brought out its saber to finish the job.

“What have you done?”, Callisto growled as she entered the throne room

“Made another crappy monster that fell to those blasted rangers.”, Zedd grumbled as he crumpled back in his seat

Callisto glared at him. “I don’t care about your monsters, it’s Kat I’m worried about.”

“She went on her own accord.”, Zedd told her. “It appears as though she wasn’t as good as you thought and the rangers got her.”

Callisto hissed at him as she took off.

“Do you think she’s gone Zeddie?”, Rita asked as she walked in

“She probably went to search for Kat. Either that or she’s fled the galaxy again.”, Zedd replied. “Either way, she’s out of our hair for a while.”

Tommy took the rangers to the cave that Billy had set up for them. Noone, not good or evil, would be able to find this place unless they knew where it was first. As they walked in, they first noticed Kat chained to a wall.

“You will all pay for this!”, Kat yelled

Carri was the first to power down, and the others followed. “Katherine it’s us. We’re your friends, your family.”

Kat looked at the yellow ranger curiously as she walked up to her. “My friends? My family? Do you want to know what happened to my friends and family? You all destroyed them.”

“Kat that’s not true. You have to believe us. You’ve been brainwashed.”, Tommy told her

“Brainwashed?”, Kat said as she tried not to laugh. “Callisto found me. She nurtured me back to health. She told me you killed everyone I loved and that I was lucky to be alive. But now I can see that I’m not so lucky anymore.”

“Kat we’re not going to kill you.”, Kim assured her. “We’re your friends. We care about you. We know you’re not this evil person that Callisto has made you out to be.”

“Callisto and Lord Zedd and Rita are the only friends I have left.”, Kat snapped

“They’re evil. You’re a good person. You’ve broken their spell once before, I know you can do it again.”, Rocky said trying to urge her to remember who she was

Kat turned away from them. “Stop it. I will not listen to this.”

“You don’t have a choice.”, Jason replied

Carri thought for a moment. They had to get her to realize who she was, and what better way then to flood her with memories. “Kat, remember when we were little, and I used to come to visit you in Australia? We used to have so much fun. Your dad would grill shrimp up, and we would spend hours surfing. Remember when we were like, twelve, and you met that really cute older boy on the beach? And I spent the next week trying to hook you guys up. I even switched your surfboards out so he accidentally took yours and you had to confront him.”

As Kat turned back towards the rangers they could have sworn that her eyes flashed blue for a second. Tommy squeezed Kim’s hand and decided it was his turn to walk down memory lane with Kat. “Do you remember when we went to the ski resort? And you spent that entire time trying to hook me up with Heather? But it was you and I who ended up dancing. Remember our first date? At Ernie’s Hawaiian party? And how we spent the entire next day curled up together on the beach?”

“Think of all the fun we’ve had together. The group of us. The rangers. All the fun times you and Aisha had and you and Tanya. Remember your first birthday in the States? Remember the fair?”, Rocky continued to try and flood her with memories

“Remember when you saved my life at the Youth Center?”, Kim asked. “When you truly showed us how good you were? When you proved you were worthy of being a power ranger?”

Kat was absorbing everything the others were saying. The others could see her eyes flash blue, and even see the blonde streaks that were starting to appear in her hair. Suddenly, Kat started to shake her head violently. “No, no, no!”, she yelled as the black hair and eyes completely took over again. She swallowed hard fighting back the flood of emotions that was trying to come forward.

Jason looked at his friends. “We should keep going. It was starting to work.”

Before the others had a chance to respond, their communicators went off. The five rangers formed a circle as Tommy went to answer it. “What is it Billy?”

“Callisto’s in the park and she’s not to happy. You guys have to get down there right away.”

“What about Kat?”, Tommy asked

“Don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere. And as much as Callisto’s been trying, she can’t find her.”

“Right.”, Tommy said as he put his arm back down to his side. “Let’s do it. It’s morphin time!”

“ZEO RANGER I, PINK!”

“ZEO RANGER II, YELLOW”

“ZEO RANGER III, BLUE!”

“ZEO RANGER IV, GREEN!”

“ZEO RANGER V, RED!”

“Rangers it’s nice of you to come.”, Callisto said staring them down. “Now if you’ll tell me where Kat is I might spare your pathetic lives.”

“Let’s see.... how about no.”, Carri said as she was the first to call on her weapons and mount an attack. The other rangers were quick to follow.

Callisto didn’t hesitate to throw the Zeo’s to the ground. “You’ve made a mistake rangers. That wasn’t a request as much as a demand. Now tell me where she is.”, growled the goddess as she hurled the closest ranger high into the air

Tommy’s eyes grew wide as he saw Callisto lift Kim. “I think it’s you who has made the mistake.”, he said as he created his Zeo Blaster, putting it in one hand while taking his Zeo Power Sword in the other. Tommy then ran at her full force.

Callisto snapped her attention towards the red ranger as she let Kim go. “Well if you are going to take out a team, you may as well start with its leader. Then the rest of them will topple behind him.”

Callisto and Tommy started to fight. The other four rangers regrouped and stared at the duo. Carri was the first to speak. “Hey Calli you forgot one thing.”

Upon hearing the name that she dreaded the most to be called, Callisto turned towards the group and formed a fireball with one hand. “And what’s that?”

“That by taking on our leader you just took on our entire team.”, Kim pointed out

Jason laughed. “And that will not end well for you.” As he spoke the foursome attacked her, power weapons in hand.

Rocky and Carri were the first in line to take a shot at her and roll off, forming their blasters as they hit the ground. When Kim and Jason were clear, they fired, hitting her and causing the fireball she had ready to throw to implode. “What are you going to do now Calli?”, Rocky asked

Before she had a chance to retaliate, Jason and Kim hit her with blasters as well. “I think she should just give up.”, Kim answered Rocky’s question for her

“Never.”, Callisto hissed

Tommy joined his friends and called for the Zeo Cannon. The teens wasted no time firing on her. “How about now?”, he asked

Callisto slowly got to her feet and looked at them. It had become obvious that her plan had failed. She would not be able to locate Kat, not anytime soon anyway. By the time she found her, well those goodie rangers would probably have figured out how to rip her from evil’s grasp. She decided it would be better for her to take off and regroup. “Until next time rangers.”, she said as she disappeared

“We’ve been lucky with her so far.”, Rocky said. “One day...” he decided not to finish his thought as he knew that the others realized that their luck would one day run out

“We’re just lucky that she has low tolerance for her own failure.”, Tommy pointed out

Kim smiled. “So I guess at this point she considers Kat a failure? Score one for the good guys.”

Jason nodded. “Speaking of Kat, we need to get back.”

Carri looked at her friends. “You guys go ahead. I have an idea, I’ll be right behind you.”

The others nodded in agreement as they went back to the cave which held their friend and former ranger.

“Do you think we should keep going with the memories?”, asked Kim as they all arrived and powered down

“Carri has an idea. Let’s wait for her to get back.”, replied Tommy

Kat looked at the group. For them to be back so quickly, she feared something had happened to Callisto. “Where is she?”, Kat yelled

“She?”, repeated Jason

Kat glared at him. “Callisto.”

“We sent her off were she belongs.”, Rocky replied

“You killed her?”, Kat questioned almost yelling

Jason frowned. “We could only dream.”

“How dare you! She will be back. She will rescue me. And she will make you pay for all that you have done to me!”, Kat threatened

“No Kat I think she cut her losses and you just happened to be one of them.”, Carri said as she teleported in

“Losses? She would never do that to me.”, Kat replied as she held back tears that formed at the thought of the one person she knew cared for her abandoning her

Tommy looked at her. “Maybe it’s because she knows you’re good and that we would be able to prove it to you.”

“Liar!”, Kat yelled

Carri approached her with a book in hand. “We can sit here and discuss memories all you want, but you know what they say. A picture is worth a thousand words.”

With that Carri opened a photo album and shoved it in Kat’s face, forcing her to look at the pictures. The book was arranged chronologically. It was Kat’s personal photo book, that she had started when she was little showcasing her best friends and boyfriends. The book started out with pictures of her and Carri as children. As Carri flipped the pages, Kat saw other old friends from Australia, as well as boys she had been interested in.

Tears started to form in Kat’s eyes as she looked at the pictures. It was all so familiar. But how could it be? Callisto said these people were her enemies. Kat gasped as she saw the first picture she took in the states. There she was. With the people Callisto had called her enemies. Three of them were standing in front of her. The blue, pink and red rangers.

The others looked at Carri and Kat. They saw a stray tear fall down Kat’s face. Her hair started showing streaks of blonde that came and went. They also noticed that the wall Kat was chained to and the roof over her head was starting to shake. The foursome took off for the other side of the cave. “Careful!”, Rocky called to Carri who was still showing Kat pictures

Carri continued to flip through the photo book. She finally got to some newer pictures. As Kat looked at the images of the Zeo rangers and their friends, the tears flowed freely. The rock continued to shake as little pieces flew down. Jason, Kim and Tommy hit the ground, with Tommy protecting his girlfriend.

As Carri got to the end of the book, Kat saw the pictures of her and Chris. Memories came flowing back. Her hair and her eyes were rapidly switching colors back and forth. Bigger boulders started to fall.

“Carri move!”, Rocky yelled

Upon realizing that her job was done, Carri snapped the book shut and turned to run. A chunk of rock hit her in the shoulder blade and she fell to her knees. Rocky ran for her and helped her up, then pulled her protectively next to him as they ran to the other side of the cave and hit the ground beside the others.

Almost as rapidly as it had begun, the shaking of the walls and the roof stopped. The other rangers got to their feet. There, in front of them, Kat stood chained to the wall. Her blonde hair and blue eyes had returned. The rangers maneuvered around the fallen rocks to get to her.

“Kat!”, Carri exclaimed as they unchained her. Carri threw her arms around her cousin, who was still crying.

“Thank you.”, Kat whispered into her ear as she returned the hug

“Come on, let’s get back to the Power Chamber.”, Rocky said putting a hand on his girlfriends shoulder

The others nodded and the group teleported out. When they got back, they walked Kat over to a med bed. “What happened in that cave?”, Jason asked once they finished getting Kat situated

Billy looked at his friends. “Whoever helped Kat become evil and gave her that staff was not to happy with you trying to remind her of who she was. There was a lot of evil energy flowing to the spot where she stood, which was what was causing the rocks to fall.” As Billy spoke he started the scan on Kat.

“Well?”, Tommy asked after a few moments

“It appears as though there are no traces of the evil that took her over. And she has no injuries from her little adventure.”, Billy replied

The rangers smiled. Kat smiled back as she looked at them. Her smile turned into a frown as she realized what happened the last time she was in the Power Chamber. “Oh God....”, she said as the tears started to come back. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Kat calm down.”, Carri said as she stood by her. “What’s wrong?”

“I am so sorry.”, Kat said between sobs. After the tears slowed down she spoke again. “I can’t believe.... Rocky I thought I’d killed you.... and Alpha and Zordon.... and what I did to the rest of you....”

“It’s ok.”, Rocky replied. “I’m alive, they’re alright. Nothing to be upset over.”

“Rocky is right Katherine.”, Zordon stepped in. “You were under a very powerful evil spell. All of your actions were reversible, and although you did some terrible things, you should not hold yourself at fault for any of them.”

“Yeah Kat, we’re not mad at you.”, Jason said and the others echoed his sentiments

“We’re just glad to see you safe and sound.”, Kim added

Kat smiled as she wiped the tears out of her eyes. “Thank you guys.”, she said her voice almost a whisper. The others smiled and said you’re welcome. Kat looked at her friends. “So now what?”

Kim grabbed her old friend’s hand and looked her in the eye. “I know you only gave me the power because of the situation you were in. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t dream of keeping powers that didn’t belong to me. These are yours, and whenever you want them back, just let me know.”

Kat smiled at Kim’s comment. She took a moment to look at each and every one of her friends. She sighed heavily as she hopped down from the med bed and walked away from them.

“Kat what’s wrong?”, Tommy asked

“Wrong? Nothing’s really wrong. It’s just that I....”, Kat frowned not really knowing how to say what she wanted to. “Kim you can keep the powers.”

The others looked at her with blank expressions on their faces. Kim was the first to speak. “Thank you for the gift, but are you sure this is what you want to do? I mean after the ordeal you just went through... maybe you need to take some time to think about it.”

Kat smiled at her. “No. They’re yours now. Besides, I’ve been.... well you see....”, Kat closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The only way to say it was, well, just to come right out with it. “I’m moving to North Carolina.”, Kat spat out quickly as she turned away from her friends and teleported home before she could give them a chance to respond

“Kat wait!”, Carri exclaimed but it was too late. She looked over at Billy. “Where did she go?”

Billy took a moment at the computer before he turned back to his friend. “She went home.”, he replied

“I’m going to talk to her.”, Carri said as she teleported out

The others glanced at each other. “I don’t understand why Kat would all the sudden want to do that.”, Tommy said

“You’re right it doesn’t make much sense.”, Jason replied

“Well hopefully Carri can find some answers.”, Kim said

Rocky glanced down at his watch. “Guys I have to get going, I’m going to be late to work. Tell Carri I’ll call her later to find out what’s going on.”

Kim nodded. “I think I’m going to give the two of them some time and head over there and find out myself.”

Rocky teleported out. Tommy and Jason looked at each other. “How about it bro? Wanna hit the mats?”, Jason asked

“That sounds like a good idea.”, Tommy said. The boys teleported out and Kim followed them to pass the time.

Carri teleported to her living room and saw Kat sitting on the couch. Kat stood up to face her cousin when she saw her come in. She rubbed her eyes to try and hide the fact that she’d been crying. Carri looked at her. “Kat I don’t, hell we don’t understand what’s going on.”

Kat frowned. “I thought I was pretty clear. I’m moving to North Carolina. Kim’s going to take my place.”

Carri threw her arms up in the air. “That’s the part that’s not clear. You’re moving to North Carolina.”

“What do I have left here that should make me want to stay?”

“You have us. Your friends. You had the team until you removed yourself from it.”

“I used to have all that.”, Kat snapped at her. Carri looked surprised that her cousin would snap like that. Kat even surprised herself as tears started to form. “Ever since Kim came back and you two started hanging out, and she got back together with Tommy I haven’t had any of that.”

“Let’s not forget that you broke up with Tommy long before Kim came back into the picture. And yes, Kim and I have become close lately and you and I have drifted, but that’s not because I haven’t tried to keep us together. So don’t blame Kim.”

“I’m not blaming Kim.”, Kat spat out as the tears started to flow. “I never belonged to this stupid team in the first place.”

“How dare you say that!”, Carri exclaimed as her own tears started to form. “You’ve been with this team for a long time and we care about you.”

“Do you know why I was made a part of the team? The same reason you were. I knew their secret. The only difference is, you became best friends with them all and they accepted you. Tanya was my only best friend on the team. That became evident when I left Tommy and none of you wanted anything to do with me. So now you have the perfect team. You’re all each others best friends. So congratulations.”

Tears started to flow down Carri’s cheeks as she responded. “How dare you! You were my best friend. You were a part of our team. Until Chris came into the picture. Until you didn’t want anything to do with us.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore anyway. I’m moving to North Carolina and that’s final.”

“Even if you’ve lost all respect for us, the rangers, your friends, what about Chris? You just gonna leave him here too?”

“Chris got a scholarship to Chapel Hill he’s thinking about accepting. The day I disappeared I got a letter in the mail saying I’d been accepted.”

“Oh God that’s what this is all about? You following your boyfriend of nine months to the other side of the country?”

Kat glared at her. “Don’t tell me you can look me in the eye and honestly say that you wouldn’t follow Rocky if he transferred to the other side of the country.”

“That’s different.”

“Yeah, right.”

“We’ve been together for almost two years now. And we can honestly say we love each other. However even if he transferred to the other side of the country I would still have other things to consider. Like my friends. My responsibilities. The rangers.”

“I think we’ve covered that, I’ve left my powers in quite competent hands. I never see my so called friends anymore anyway. And how can you say that because we haven’t been together as long as you two have that we can’t say we love each other.”

“Because to love each other you have to truly know each other. And can you say that?”

“We know everything about each other.”

“Yes I’m sure between your dance classes, school, being separate during vacations, time spent saving the world, you know each other. Speaking of saving the world, I guess that means you broke Zordon’s orders and told him you were a power ranger.”

“I would never tell him. And even if I did, it would be no different that Jason telling Emily. Oh wait, yes it would, since you guys like Emily.”

“First of, Emily has made an effort to get to know us. Not once has Chris called any of us and invited us somewhere. And second, Jason has been with Emily for a year and a half. She knew strange things were happening. Not to mention if we didn’t tell her, I wouldn’t be standing right here talking to you.”

“I wish you weren’t!”, Kat yelled. She saw the look of horror come across her cousins face. Kat didn’t mean to say that. She was just getting so frustrated. But it was too late to take it back now.

Carri slowly curled her fingers into a ball as she crossed her arms and glared at her cousin. “Fine if you want it that way I’ll leave. But remember this. You don’t have to go. Whether or not you want to admit it you have friends here. We still care about you. If we didn’t care about you we wouldn’t have worked so hard to make you good again. And you’re still my cousin and I still love you. So think about that before you commit to the other side of the country.” With that, Carri stormed out the front door slamming it behind her. Tears started to fall faster as she searched for her keys and took off.

Kat slouched down on the couch as she started crying faster as well. She never wanted to argue with Carri like that. It’s just everything, all the emotions that had been bottled up, all came pouring out at one time. She should have talked to them before, told them how she felt. Instead she let it come out like this. She leaned her head back on a couch pillow as the tears continued to flow freely.

Callisto arrived at the Dark Fortress and stood in front of Astronema. The princess of evil looked at the woman standing in front of her. “He’s angry you know.”

Callisto said nothing. Astronema continued talking. “When Dark Specter himself helps you make someone evil, gives you a staff more powerful then you can imagine, well he expects results.”

“He obviously didn’t plan for the rest of those power brats. It’s not my fault. I warned him not to underestimate descendants of Xena or Hercules.”, Callisto replied

“Don’t be so quick to throw the blame to Dark Specter.”

Callisto laughed. “Please I’m not afraid of him.”

Astronema sighed and turned away from the goddess for a moment before she spoke again. “You’re just lucky that he has future interests on Earth. Otherwise he would have considered this a complete waste of time. And he may not be able to kill you, but trust me he can make your eternity a living hell.”

Callisto didn’t reply. She knew Astronema was right, she just wasn’t about to admit it. “So now what?”

“Now I believe you have a certain space ranger you promised me.”, Astronema reminded her

“Oh yes. I did, didn’t I?”, Callisto replied with a smile on her face as she went back to what she was doing before this whole fiasco began

Kim walked into the Hillard household. She had given them almost an hour to talk, she had hoped that was enough time. She saw Kat curled up on the couch and she went over and sat next to her. “Hey Kat.”, she said softly

Kat didn’t reply as she turned away from her friend. She thought about it, and Carri had probably told Kim what had happened. And now Kim was here to beg her to stay. And she didn’t want to talk about it, not again. She didn’t want to hurt anyone else’s feelings. “I don’t have anything else to say.”

“Well if you want to talk I’m here.”, Kim replied

Kat took a deep breath as the tears started to come back. “I don’t want to talk. I can’t.... I don’t want to hurt you too. I don’t want to make you all hate me.”

“We don’t hate you.”, Kim said confused at her friends reaction

“Carri does.”, Kat replied as she started to sob again

“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you.”

Kat looked at her. Maybe she hadn’t talked to her cousin. “You don’t have to lie to me I’m sure she told you how she feels.”

“I haven’t spoken to her.”, Kim replied. “Is she here? Maybe we can all talk and hang out and...”

“I haven’t seen her since she stormed off.”, Kat interrupted her friend. Then Kat stood up and started to walk up the stairs. She paused on the bottom step and turned back toward Kim. “I’m sorry I just... I just can’t deal right now.” Then she walked up the stairs wiping tears out of her eyes as she went. She walked into her room and shut the door behind her, flopping on her bed and burring her head in her pillow. Maybe she should talk about it, maybe she should tell Kim how she felt. But she had already made one friend hate her, and she wasn’t going to make any more.

Kim sat on the couch and watched her friend walk away. She frowned as she reached for her phone and dialed Carri’s number. There was no answer. She tried once more, then left a message hoping to hear back from her. She decided to give Tommy a call. Maybe he would run up to L.A. with her, maybe she could find her friend there.

Rocky finished filing out some papers. It had been a late night. There was a lot more action at the beach than he had wanted to see. Especially with all that had happened to him in the past few days, all that had happened to the team.

Rocky sighed as he thought about what had happened. Everything with Kat. Him almost dying. And now his girlfriend was MIA. Kim had called him. Said she couldn’t find her anywhere. And she wasn’t picking up the phone. That wasn’t like Carri. But them Kim had said from what she could tell, it looked like Kat had Carri had been in a huge fight.

He sat there thinking about it all until a voice ripped him out of his thoughts. “You ok man?”, Cody Madison, his closest friend at work asked

“Just a rough few days, that’s all.”, Rocky replied

“School? Friends? Relationships?”, Cody pried

“Not school. I guess you could say friends. Kinda relationship.”

Cody made a face. “Trouble?”

“Not with me and her.”, Rocky answered. “Really with her. And some other friends. And really I don’t know but I think shit hit the fan while I was working if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah.”, Cody replied. “I’m out. You going to lock up?”

Rocky nodded. He watched as Cody left. He quickly finished what he was doing. He looked down at his watch and sighed. It was much later than he originally thought. Rocky quickly turned out all the lights and walked out the door of the main building. He locked the door and gave it a quick tug to make sure the lock had actually caught. They had experienced problems with it in the past.

Rocky stretched his arms as he walked through the parking lot. His car was parked near the main building. He unlocked the doors and climbed in. As he did, he noticed a car far off in the distance. He chuckled. It was probably a young couple trying to enjoy the water at night. He always hated seeing people there at night though, because nobody was there to protect them. But then, they knew that. It was swim at your own risk that late.

The blue ranger cranked his car up and put it in reverse. He drove through the parking lot. As he got closer to the exit, he got closer to the car in question. He started to get a sense of familiarity. Once he was practically on top of it, and shined his headlights on it, he knew why.

Rocky parked his car beside the familiar yellow Mustang. He got out and smiled. He should have known he would have found her here. She couldn’t have been here too long, he was certain he would have noticed before. He quickly walked down the beach and saw her sitting at the waters edge. He went down and stood behind her.

“Hey.”, he said

Carri was startled by her visitor. She spun her head around and wiped the remaining tears off her cheeks. “Hey.”, she replied

Rocky walked over and stood next to her. “This seat taken?”, he asked smiling at her

She gestured to the ground beside her. “Help yourself.”

He sat down and turned to her. “Kim’s been worried about you. I’ve been worried about you.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t answer anyone’s calls. I just couldn’t, ya know? I needed some time.”

“Time to what?”, Rocky asked putting his arm around her

“Think.”, she replied. She paused for a moment. “Kat and I got into a fight.”

“I’m sorry.”, he said squeezing her a little harder. She didn’t immediately reply. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about it. But he had to ask. “About what?”

She sighed as she answered. “Let’s see it started with her being replaced by Kim. But that was ok with her, because us five were best of friends and she didn’t belong because she wasn’t friends with us anyway. That hurt to hear.”

Carri paused at took a deep breath. She didn’t want to start crying again. She told herself she was through. “Then she told me that her reason for going to Chapel Hill was to follow Chris. I can’t believe that she would say she’s in love with him after nine months. That she would pick him over her friends.”

“Nothing’s set in stone is it?”, Rocky asked. She shook her head no. “Maybe this will make her realize that we are her friends and we do care. Maybe she will change her mind.”

Carri shrugged. “I doubt it. Besides it doesn’t matter. That didn’t hurt as much as when she wished me dead.”

“Carri I’m sure she didn’t say that.”, Rocky said softly

“We were talking about Emily, comparing her to Chris. I think she’s jealous because Emily knows our secret. I told her if she didn’t know I wouldn’t be standing in front of her. She told me she wished I wasn’t.”

Rocky pulled his girlfriend closer. “I’m sure she didn’t mean that.”

“Maybe she did. Maybe she wants us all to hate her so she can leave without feeling bad. All I know is that she hurt my feelings. I never thought my cousin, my friend would say those kind of things.”, Carri replied as she curled up against Rocky’s body

Rocky felt her entire body shake as she took a deep breath. She wasn’t crying, but he could tell that she was earlier. “It will be ok.”, he replied as he held her closely with one hand and took the other and ran in through her hair. He continued to hold her there watching the water until she dozed off. Then he helped her up and followed her back to her home. Not in Angel Grove, he wouldn’t dare suggest she go there, but back to her apartment in L.A.

Kat awoke at one in the morning. She had cried herself to sleep earlier in the day. She was wide awake now. She didn’t feel much better though. She got off the bed and walked by the dresser. She noticed the letter of acceptance to Chapel Hill sitting there. Kat picked it up and glanced at it. It was hard to believe that something she knew was so right was causing her so much heartbreak. She let go of the letter and watched it flutter back down to the surface of the dresser.

Kat opened her room door and looked around. The doors to Carri’s bedroom and the guestroom were wide open. Both girls were probably at the apartment, but that was to be expected. She didn’t even want to hang around herself at the moment. She sighed as she leaned against the hallway wall. She felt like a mess. She probably looked like one too. Kat walked into the bathroom and washed her face, rinsing away all the dried tears. She took one long look at herself.

Kat wasn’t sure what to make of herself anymore. She didn’t know who she was anymore. Her senior year in high school it was so simple. She was an A student. She taught dance full time. She participated in so many school committees - social, government, leadership, yearbook - you name it she was on it. She was Tommy’s girlfriend. She was Carri’s best friend. She was the Pink Ranger. Through that she had become friends with Rocky, Jason and Adam. Most importantly, she was happy.

So where had everything gone wrong? Where had Kat gone? She still got decent grades, although her GPA wasn’t nearly as high as it was in high school. She didn’t teach dance full time anymore. She couldn’t because of school, she only taught on Saturdays. She wasn’t involved at USC at all. She missed that, the after school meetings and the planning for things for your fellow students. As far as Tommy and Carri, and even being the Pink Ranger goes, she had messed all that up. Not Kim, although Kim made an easy out. But it was Kat who dumped Tommy. And Kat who avoided hanging out with Carri. And Kat who gave Kim her powers and told her that she didn’t want them back.

And what about the rest of the team? She couldn’t blame anyone but herself. She was right about one thing. She and Carri were both so easily accepted into the group because of what they knew. But Carri became best friends with the group. Kat never felt like she had that. They were never ever mean to her. But she just wasn’t close with them. Carri made friends with them so easily because she tried. She was always talking to them, hanging out with them. She joined the group and formed a relationship with Rocky, and immediately befriended Tommy and Adam. When Jason came back, those two became best of friends telling each other everything. And then with Kim, well, they were quickly joined at the hip. Kat felt like she didn’t try hard enough. They did accept her because of what she knew. So she let it stand at that. She never felt like she had to work for friendships, because she was automatically their friend by being a ranger. Kat sighed. When she was a ranger, when she was in high school, she never thought anything of it. She considered them friends because they always saw each other, always hung out together. But now she knows she should have tried harder, that if she did she wouldn’t be in the position she felt she was in now.

What position was that exactly? Unhappy. Well she couldn’t say she was completely unhappy. She was Chris’s girlfriend. And she did love him. But she wanted to fix some other things in her life. She wanted to be close to Carri again. Maybe she could even become good friends with Kim. She wanted to at least be casual friends with the others. She didn’t want to be a power ranger. That took up so much time. Without rangering, she could get back to her old activities. But could that happen now? After everything they’ve been through and after everything that’s happened, would she be able to get things close to where they were?

And what about Chris and Chapel Hill? He hasn’t accepted yet, although she suspected he would, especially when she tells him that she got accepted to the school. Would she follow him? She knew the answer. She almost certainly would. What would be left for her here if she didn’t? Friendships she may not be able to mend? Friendships that she wasn’t sure were truly there in the first place. Well Carri’s was. She had been her best friend as far back as she could remember. Until now. Until they drifted apart this year.

Kat continued to look at herself in the mirror. She needed to think. She picked up her hairbrush and ran it through her blonde hair, pulling it up into a ponytail. She turned and exited the bathroom, heading down the stairs and out the front door. Kat took the brisk walk to Angel Grove Park. It was always a place where she felt calm, and she really needed that at the moment. Kat took a stroll down to the lake, and sat down, leaning her back against an old tree.

She looked out over the water. She smiled as she took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air. Kat closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Where had it all gone wrong. And not just this. Everything. She put her hand down on the grass, on top of a stone. She picked it up and started to rub it with her fingers. It was perfectly smooth, it felt like it had been in the water for ages.

She sighed as she held it and went back to her train of thought. Maybe it was the Power Rangers themselves. Her life was normal until she got mixed up with them. “I wish the power rangers never existed.”, she said aloud as she clutched the stone. She frowned. Maybe that wasn’t the problem. After all, she wouldn’t even know about the power rangers if she had never come to Angel Grove. And Carri would still be her best friend.

“I wish we had never moved to this stupid town to begin with.” she whispered with a sigh clutching the stone even tighter. She opened her eyes and looked down at the stone. What was she doing holding it to begin with? It was just a stupid rock. That belonged in the lake. She took her hand back and tossed it into the water, not noticing the strange glow that it gave off both times she spoke.

Kat frowned as she leaned her head back against the tree. She closed her eyes once again as a million thoughts filled her head. Finally she allowed herself to fall back asleep, putting an end to this horrible day.

The End

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