Power Rangers
“Poison”

Callisto sat on the bridge of the Dark Fortress, a look of pure murder in her eyes. She had been away for a while, and when she came back Ecliptor had delivered news to her that had made her angrier than she had been in a long time. She sat there until another female approached her. “He’s still alive.”, Callisto hissed. “I left him for dead, I made sure of it.”

Astronema frowned. “I was certain he was dead too.”, she replied. “That red ranger just couldn’t let him go. I think he made him well again.”

Callisto made a flame ball in her hand. This aggravated her almost as much as realizing she hadn’t killed the yellow ranger. At least Rita had given her an explanation for that. This had no explanation. “I’m going to fix this.”, she said

“And how do you suppose you’ll do that?”, Astronema questioned

“Simple.”, Callisto said as she extinguished the flame ball. “I’m going to kill him.”

Astronema thought for a moment. Everyone knew that she wanted the rangers dead more than anyone. But she had an idea. “Bring him to me.”

Callisto glared at her. “For what?”

“I have a plan.”, she said with a smile. “Darkonda brought me a gift and I know just how to use it.”

“It had better be good.”, Callisto warned

Astronema shot her a look. “Since when have my plans not been good?”

“Fine.”, Callisto replied. Besides if the plan was bad they would still have him in captivity, and she could kill him anyway.

“Now once he’s alone on the surface, we’ll go get him.”, Astronema said with a smile on her face as she turned to see what was going on with the Astro Rangers.

Zhane stretched as he walked though Angel Grove. He was just starting to get back into the swing of things after everything that happened. It was hard to believe he was dead. Well almost dead. If it weren’t for his best friend he wouldn’t be here right now.

He had set out to see the town while the rangers had other things they had to get done. The silver ranger was planning on meeting his teammates soon in the Youth Center. It would be fun, they had shown him where it was earlier but he hadn’t really had a chance to hang out there yet. It was amazing to him being on Earth. Some things were similar, but a lot of what went on here was so different from what he knew on KO-35.

It had been a beautiful Saturday. Earlier in the day, Ashley had pointed him toward the beach. He watched for a while, but he couldn’t quite understand why anyone would want to lay out there and let the suns ray’s poison their skin. Ashley had explained it as tanning, but he still didn’t get it. Eventually she left to run some errands, leaving him on a hot crowded beach full of people.

Although the tanning appeared boring, he saw some people out in the water riding around on what looked like modified galaxy gliders. He would have to learn to do that some day. He hoped that one of his teammates could teach him. But then again, how hard could it be? The galaxy gliders were complex, and he was showboating on those. Those water gliders shouldn’t be too difficult.

After he was done observing, Zhane left the beach and took off through town. He checked out places where he saw a lot of people. Some of the places seemed interesting, others did not. Now here it was late afternoon, and he was walking through a grassy area full of families. It looked like they were all out here laughing and playing and carrying on. Maybe he could get his teammates to do that with him too.

Zhane smiled as he looked around. His smile quickly faded as two figures materialized in front of him. Zhane jumped into a defensive stance. “What are you doing here?”

“Why we’re here for you, of course.”, Astronema replied as Callisto lunged for him

Zhane hadn’t been the only ranger visiting the beach that morning. Carri had spent most of the day laying out near Rocky, who was working that afternoon. She was by herself, as Kim had taken off for a romantic weekend with Tommy. She did get to talk to Rocky some, and spend some time with Jason and Emily at Ernie’s beach club for lunch.

Now she was ready to get cleaned up for her night out with her boyfriend, Jason and Emily. She was headed toward her Aunt and Uncle’s house for a shower and to say hi to her cousin Kat. She took her flip-flops off and detoured through the park, enjoying the feeling of the grass under her feet. While she was walking, she practically got trampled by a group of people trying to flee. Ranger instinct took over, and she took off in the direction that they were running from.

When she was in the clear she saw Astronema and Callisto attacking a man. She didn’t recognize him, and she had no idea why Callisto would be after someone who wasn’t even a ranger. Not wasting any time, Carri ran forward and tackled the goddess, bringing her down.

Callisto was surprised, she had not expected anyone to interfere, let alone Carri. “You.”, she hissed

“Leave him alone.”, Carri ordered glaring her down

As Callisto went to attack her, the man jumped in front of the goddess and kicked her backwards. “Get out of here before she kills you.”, he yelled

“I’m not leaving you here alone.”, Carri replied as she went to stand beside him

“Too bad.”, Astronema said. “It’s your funeral.” With that the princess of evil pointed her staff at the Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger, zapping her. She watched as the ranger fell to the ground.

“What have you done?”, Zhane asked going to attack Astronema

Callisto flung him across the park and into a tree. He slumped down to the ground and she was immediately on top of him grabbing him by the throat. “The same as I’m going to do to you.”

“Are you ready?”, Astronema asked

“What about her.”, Callisto asked, gesturing to the fallen ranger

“We should bring her. She may prove useful.”, Astronema replied going to stand by Carri’s lifeless body

Callisto smiled. This day was turning out perfect. Not only was she going to get rid of that pesky silver ranger, but she could take her greatest enemy down as well. Callisto and Astronema teleported their prisoners back to the Dark Fortress so they could work on their plan.

Tommy and Kimberly were sitting on the porch swing of the house that belonged to Tommy’s family. It was a beautiful place which was located on a more private spot on the beach, miles away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. The place was usually rented out, but for the first time in forever it was empty. Tommy had convinced his parents to let him use the house for the weekend, and as soon as Kim got home Friday he had ordered her to pack a suitcase so he could whisk her away.

The drive wasn’t long, and to Kim’s surprise when they got there and opened up the door the kitchen was set up for a romantic candlelight dinner. Tommy had snuck up earlier in the week and prepared everything so that it would be perfect for when Kim arrived.

They enjoyed their dinner, then spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other’s company. It was nice to relax without having to worry about school or roommates or Rita and Zedd. Well they were always worried about Rita and Zedd, but the evildoers didn’t even cross their minds that night. There were no conversations about rangering or fashion or martial arts or gossip, just Tommy and Kim enjoying each other.

After a wonderful night they woke up the next morning and headed down to the beach, where they spent most of the day. Tommy surprised Kim by bringing out a picnic lunch. He had made salad and sandwiches, brought fruit and cookies, he even had sparkling cider. They toasted to the wonderful things life had given them. To friends and family, but most importantly, to each other.

Once they were done on the beach, they went inside and helped each other get cleaned up. Neither knew what they wanted for dinner, so instead of eating they had gone out to the porch swing to enjoy the peaceful sounds of the ocean. Tommy slipped through the kitchen on his way out, grabbing something from the fridge before joining Kim.

“This is so wonderful.”, Kim said as her boyfriend sat down on the swing beside of her. “I just hate that we have to go back to reality tomorrow.”

Tommy put his arms around her and drew her in for a kiss. “That’s tomorrow. Let’s enjoy the rest of our time here.”

Kim nodded and looked down at the box in his hands. “What’s that?”

“Well,” Tommy started looking over at her. “I thought you might be hungry. It is dinnertime.”, he replied as he opened the box

A smile came over Kim’s face as she looked down at it’s contents. “Tommy you spoil me.”, she said delightfully as she stared at the chocolate covered strawberries

Tommy took one out of the box and fed it to her. She appreciated the gesture enough to lean in and give him a kiss when she was done. Tommy smiled and put his arm around her, pulling her close as he pushed the floor to make the swing move. “So are you glad I dragged you out here?”

“Of course.”, Kim replied reaching for another strawberry. “We’ve spent some amazing time together but this is the best weekend ever.”, she added biting the end of the strawberry

“It was for me too.”, Tommy said leaning down to kiss her neck. “One day I hope we can be done fighting. Then we can spend the rest of our lives having romantic weekends.... romantic weeks, just like this.”

Kim’s eyes lit up and the thought of spending every week for the rest of her life right here with Tommy. “One day.” She said as she brought her legs up onto the swing and curled up next to her boyfriend. She was enjoying the back and forth motion of the swing and Tommy’s strong arm around her. And she was especially enjoying the kisses he would place on her head in regular intervals.

This moment was perfect. Everything about it was perfect. She closed her eyes and nestled her head in Tommy’s chest. If the world would allow it, she would never leave.

Tommy and Kim weren’t the only ones looking forward to their evening, as the Astro Rangers were excited to be taking Zhane through Angel Grove for his first night on the town. They had so many things they wanted to show them, and Ashley was determined to get everyone together to go to a local eighteen and over club. It wasn’t much, but on Saturday night’s they had bands and dancing and it would be so much fun for the rangers to do it together.

They had everything planned out except for one problem. The silver ranger had yet to show up. “Is he usually late?”, TJ asked

Andros shook his head no. As long as he had known Zhane, he wasn’t one to be late. Not this late anyway. He was debating if he should be worried or not. But then again, if there was a problem Zhane would have let him know. He had probably found a female and was busy trying to win her affection. Zhane had always been one with the ladies.

“Do you guys think we should go look for him?”, Ashley asked

Carlos looked down at his watch. “We should give him another few minutes.” Zhane was already twenty minutes late, but maybe he got hung up or was having fun and lost track of time.

“We can try and contact him.”, Cassie suggested

Andros nodded. “I’ll be right back.”, he said. Even though he was almost sure there was nothing to worry about, he’d feel better getting a hold of him. Andros walked to a secure location in the Youth Center before paging him through his communicator. He called his name once and there was no response. He tried again and got the same result. After two more tries, he decided it was now a good time to be concerned.

Andros walked back over to the table. “Maybe we should go see what DECA knows.”

“You couldn’t get a hold of him?”, asked TJ

“No.”, Andros replied

The other rangers quickly jumped out of their seats and they found a safe place to teleport off. Once aboard the ship, the rangers made their way to the bridge. “DECA where’s Zhane?”, Andros asked as soon as he hit the bridge

“The silver ranger is no longer on Earth.”, DECA replied

“What do you mean no longer?”, Carlos asked as he started to get concerned for Zhane’s safety

“Aye ai ai!”, Alpha exclaimed as he went over to the ships consoles and started scanning. “We should be able to pull video of Zhane’s last known whereabouts. DECA keeps logs of all the Astro Rangers.”, the little robot exclaimed as he went to pull the video

A few seconds later the screen showed footage of Astronema and Callisto, Callisto was taking Zhane away and Astronema was standing over some girls body. “What’s going on?”, asked Andros. “How come we weren’t made aware of this?”

“My sensors did not show Astronema’s or Callisto’s presence on Earth.”, DECA replied

“How is that possible?”, asked Cassie

“Astronema and Callisto have the ability to cloak themselves for limited amounts of time.”, Alpha explained. “If they were only here for a few minutes, DECA’s sensors wouldn’t have been able to read them.”

“So what do we do now? It looks like they’ve captured Zhane and another female hostage.”, TJ pointed out

“That’s not just any female.”, Ashley said walking up to take a closer look. “I think that’s Carri.”

Andros sighed. This just kept getting worse and worse. “Let’s go to the Command Chamber. They’re bound to be worried by now too, and we’ll need their help.”

The others nodded in agreement with their leader, and they took off in hopes they could rescue two fallen comrades.

Rocky had finished his shift and gone back to headquarters to take a shower and get ready to go out. He was planning on spending his night with his girlfriend, and Jason and Emily. It would be nice to get together with Jason and Emily, as they hardly ever saw Emily because she didn’t live close-by. Well, she was close, but between her work and their work and school and rangering, Jason was lucky enough to get two days a month with his girlfriend, let alone having everybody hang out.

As Rocky finished getting ready, he headed back out to the beach in the direction of Ernie’s beach club. There he planned on meeting up with Emily and Jason, then going to get Carri from her Aunt and Uncle’s place. He enjoyed the stroll down the beach, with the sound of the waves crashing and the kids playing. It didn’t matter how long he had worked there, it never got old or boring.

Upon approaching the beach club, Rocky made out two figures who were sitting together at a table. He smiled and waved as he approached.

“You ready to go?”, Jason asked

“Yup.”, he replied as he smiled and nodded

Emily and Jason stood up and the trio headed out to the parking lot. Jason walked over to his SUV and unlocked the doors, before holding the door open for his girlfriend and climbing into the drivers seat. Rocky climbed in the back, then tossed his stuff into the trunk.

“So what do you guys want to do tonight?”, asked Jason as he started the car and put it in drive

Emily smiled and brushed him off with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about it. Carri and I have it all taken care off.”

“I don’t know whether I should be excited or worried.”, Jason teased as he was promptly hit by Emily

“Glad you said it, not me.”, Rocky replied as Emily turned and swatted at him too

The trio joked and talked the rest of the short ride until Jason pulled up in the Hillard’s driveway. He turned the engine off and all three jumped out. Rocky took the lead as he headed up the porch steps and rang the bell.

The door slowly opened and revealed the blonde standing behind it. “Rocky, hey, what are you doing here?”

“We’ve come to take Carri off of your hands.”, he replied with a goofy smile

“That would be great if she were here.”, Kat replied

The smile quickly faded. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I haven’t seen her in almost two months.”, Kat told him. “She had called me earlier today and asked if I was going to be here, and if she could come by. When she didn’t show I figured she had gotten busy.”, Kat paused and looked from Rocky, to Jason and finally Emily. “Oh God, don’t tell me you don’t know where she is either?”, Kat asked slightly panicked. It wasn’t like her cousin to disappear without a trace. Not unless she was in trouble.

Rocky didn’t know what to say since nobody knew where she was. “Can we come in?”, he asked

Kat nodded. “Of course.”, she replied, backing away from the door

The trio entered the house and Kat shut the door behind them. Rocky immediately brought his communicator to his wrist and tried to page his girlfriend. A few minutes and several unsuccessful pages later, he stopped and turned to Jason. “This can’t be good.”, he said

Jason looked at him and nodded before turning to Emily. “Do you mind staying here for a while?”

“If it’s ok with Kat.”, Emily replied

Kat nodded. She didn’t want the boys wasting any more precious seconds here. They had to go find out where her cousin went.

“We’ll be back.”, Jason assured her as he leaned down and gave her a kiss

“Be careful.”, Emily said as they teleported out

Jason and Rocky stood in the Command Chamber as Billy and Trini were working frantically with the controls. “What’s going on?”, asked Jason

Billy looked at the duo. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he was going to have to be. “We lost Carri’s signal.”, Billy replied

“What?”, Rocky snapped. “And you didn’t tell us?”

“At first we thought it was some sort of astronomical interference. It faded in and out for a while before she disappeared.”, Trini explained

“Where was she?”, asked Jason, his concern growing

“That’s the thing. We’re not sure. That’s why we thought it was some strange interference, because we can’t even pinpoint her last location.”, Trini told him. She knew they should have contacted the others, but she and Billy had been almost positive that there was something screwy with the system.

As Jason and Rocky stood trying to absorb the situation, the Astro Rangers teleported in. Rocky looked them over. “Sorry but we’re in the middle of a crisis. You’ll have to come back later.”

“What’s the crisis?”, Carlos asked although he had a good idea

“Carri’s disappeared and we have no clue what happened to her.”, Jason replied

“Maybe we can help.”, Andros said. “Alpha send down a copy of what we were just watching.”, he said contacting his ship. A few seconds later a disk appeared in the red ranger’s hand. Andros handed it to Billy. He had nothing to say, the video would take care of it.

Alpha and DECA had viewed the entire encounter after the rangers had left. It started with Zhane walking through the park and being attacked by Astronema and Callisto.

“Who’s that?”, Rocky asked. Seconds later he found himself not caring as Carri came into the picture, attacking Callisto from behind. They watched Astronema take her down, and Callisto take him down, then the four figures teleport off. Rocky felt the weight of the world come down on him as he grabbed a console for support. “How could this happen and we not even know?”

“Astronema and Callisto cloaked themselves, keeping them off of our sensors long enough for them to come to Earth.”, Andros explained

Jason put a hand on Rocky’s shoulder. “It didn’t look like they were after her. She was an accident, they were after the other guy. Maybe... maybe she’s ok.”

Rocky nodded but Jason’s words were hardly comforting.

“The other guy is Zhane. He’s our silver ranger. Andros had been regenerating him from where he almost died.”, Cassie explained

Andros thought for a moment before the answer hit him. “Of course. Callisto was upset that Zhane wasn’t dead so she went after him. Carri probably thought she was rushing to the aide of a civilian when they took them both.”

“That’s a good explanation, but it really doesn’t help the situation.”, TJ pointed out

Jason thought for a moment. He hated to do this, he knew how much this weekend meant to Tommy. “Let’s contact Tommy and Kim. We’ll need them if we’re going to figure this thing out.”

Billy went to contact Tommy as the other rangers stood anxiously waiting for any kind of answer to be found.

Zhane sat in one of the holding cells of the Dark Fortress, keeping a close eye on the unconscious girl beside him. She had taken a hard hit from Astronema back in the park. She shouldn’t have ever been there, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He had no clue what Astronema or Callisto would want with her. When they got there he tried to get them to let her go, but had no luck.

As Zhane leaned back against the wall, the other girl started to stir. He quickly scooted up next to her. “Easy there, you were hit pretty hard.”, he said as he helped her sit up

She put a hand to her head. “Anyone get the licence of that bus?”, Carri grumbled as she opened her eyes and everything started to come into focus. “Where am I?”

“We’re in the Dark Fortress. In a holding cell.”, Zhane explained

Carri sighed. “Great that’s exactly what I needed today.” She groaned and leaned back against the wall. “I swear.”, she said to herself. If it wasn’t one thing as a ranger it was another. She looked over at the guy sitting next to her. “I’m Carri.”, she said figuring if she was stuck here with him, she might as well learn his name.

“Zhane.”, he replied smiling at her

“So tell me Zhane,” she started, “what did those evil women want with you in the park?”

“I don’t know.”, Zhane lied and smiled. “Why did you feel compelled to try and save me?”

Carri shrugged. “I don’t know.”, she lied as well. She thought for a moment. This conversation was going nowhere. “So you from Angel Grove?”

“No I’m not from around here.”, Zhane replied

“I’ve lived in Angel Grove for I don’t know how long. With the exception of the three years in New York and my living in LA now, Angel Grove has been my home.”, Carri told him. “What about you, what do you call home?”

“I used to call KO-35 home.”, he said without thinking. He saw the strange look on her face. “It’s a military base across seas.”, he added quickly

Carri thought for a moment. Things were starting to make sense now. “Funny I thought KO-35 was a space colony.”

Zhane was taken back by her comment. “What would give you that idea?”

“This friend of mine. Andros.”, she replied

Zhane made a face. “So, you know Andros?”, he asked. If she knew Andros and knew of KO-35, it may make explain why she was helping him. She may be a ranger.

“Yeah I met him a few months back. He saved me and my friend and gave us powers.”, she said looking at him to gage his reaction

“Powers? You mean like Astro powers?”, Zhane asked understanding what she was getting at

“I was the Yellow Astro for a while before I became the Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger. What about you, ever been a ranger?”, she asked

“I’m the Silver Astro ranger.”, he said proudly. He smiled at her then continued. “Astronema hates me because I’m an Astro ranger. And Callisto tried to kill me once, and Andros saved me. I’ve only been back in action for a few days. Callisto probably found out about me and that’s why she attacked in the park.”

Carri couldn’t help but laugh. “Great so we have something in common. Callisto wants both of us dead.” Carri tried not to laugh again as she thought about the situation they had gotten themselves into. She wished they knew of the others ranger status before, because they would have just morphed and taken the duo down before it ever got to this.

“Hopefully you’re higher on the hit list. It may give me a chance.”, Zhane joked. He looked over at Carri who smiled and rolled her eyes.

“Unfortunately you’re right. No matter what you’ve done she couldn’t possibly want you dead more than me.”, Carri replied

Zhane frowned. He had meant for it to be a joke, he didn’t realize he was serious. “Well no matter what happens we’re both rangers. We’ll make it out of this.”

“I hope you’re right.”, Carri replied. She smiled over at him. She hoped they would have a chance to get out of this mess, but for now all they could do is sit and wait.

Astronema and Callisto were walking through the Dark Fortress. Astronema wanted to show the goddess first hand what she wanted to do to the silver ranger. Actually to both rangers. Although she hadn’t intended for it to come out that way, it would be perfect.

Callisto followed her into a small room which held a giant container filled with what appeared to be water. “What’s this?”, she asked

Astronema smiled. “Darkonda brought it back for me. It’s supposedly all the rage in other parts of the universe.”

“Water?”, the goddess questioned skeptically

Astronema laughed. “You think I would reward Darkonda for bringing me plain water? No, this particular liquid is a type of poison that attaches itself to cells. It enters the body and takes over everything good and covers it with evil, essentially making whatever touches it, well, evil.”

Callisto thought about it for a moment. “So you want to make both rangers evil?”

“Yes I thought it would be fun.”, Astronema replied. “They’ll have to be destroyed by their own friends. And if their friends don’t kill them, and they kill the rangers, well I always thought it would be fun to have my own evil rangers.”

This wasn’t exactly what Callisto wanted, to make the rangers evil. But the more she thought about it, the more she liked it. Those two were all about doing the right thing, saving the innocents, fighting for their friends. To them, being evil and destroying their friends would be a fate worse than death. “If they destroy those rangers, after we’re done with them, can we reverse the effects.”

“It can be done. But why would you want to do that?”, asked Astronema

Callisto laughed. “Because them knowing they killed their friends would be torture. Almost worse than the torture I’m going to put them through.”

Astronema thought for a moment. “Interesting.”, she said as a smile spread across her face. She liked it, and she couldn’t wait to put it into action.

Kim and Tommy stood in the Command Chamber absorbing what they were being told, the romance of a few moments ago now completely dead. Kim couldn’t believe that two rangers were captured by Astronema and Callisto, one of them being her best friend. Just a short time ago everything was perfect, and now all that was gone and the reality of their lives came flooding back in.

“Does anyone have a plan?”, Tommy asked as he slipped an arm around Kim to try and let her know that it was all going to be alright.

“We’re working on it.”, Billy replied grimly. They were probably in the Dark Fortress, and there weren’t any plans that would allow them to break in. At least, not any ones that didn’t end with someone dying.

As if reading Billy’s mind, Rocky brought up a stupid one. “Why don’t we just break in and rescue them?”

“That’s not a good idea. The Dark Fortress is well guarded, much more so than the Lunar Palace ever was.”, Andros warned. He wanted to break in to rescue Zhane as well, but he knew better. He had spent a lot of time studying the Dark Fortress and it was nearly impenetrable.

“So then what do we do?”, Rocky asked. All he could think about was that they had to get her back, and they had to do it now. If he had to risk his life in the process, so be it.

“We’re going to figure this out.”, Jason assured him. “Look... I know... I mean...” Jason didn’t quite know how to phrase what he wanted to say without upsetting Rocky further. “She’s not going to just kill them. She’s going to torture them first, and that gives us time.”

Rocky slammed his hand hard on the console out of frustration. “You saw the scars and bruises she came back with last time she spent any time with Callisto.”

Kim broke away from Tommy and walked over to give the red ranger a hug. “It’s going to be ok.”

Ashley watched as Kim hugged Rocky then stepped back. “Maybe we can bargain with them or something.”, she suggested, recalling the events of the other dimension

“Yeah but what would we have that she’d want?”, Cassie asked

“Our powers.”, TJ said. All heads turned toward him. They didn’t want to hear it, but he was right. The one thing that Callisto and Astronema would be more interested in than two rangers would be all of the rangers powers.

“We can’t give them our powers. Who’s going to protect Earth? And search for Zordon?”, Carlos questioned trying to logic that option

“We have to.”, Rocky said. “For them.”

Tommy shook his head no. “Whose to say either one with listen to that idea? Besides, Carlos is right.”

Rocky looked like he wanted to protest when Jason jumped in. “I don’t know about Zhane, but Carri definitely wouldn’t want us to give up our powers over her.”

“Neither would Zhane.”, Andros added to his point

“So then that puts us back at square one.”, Cassie pointed out the obvious. “We have nothing they want, and they have everything we want.”

“We’ll think of something.”, TJ said looking around the group. “I mean we’re the power rangers. We always win, right?”, he said trying to pep their spirits

Noone in the group could be certain as they all stood numbly trying to figure out a solution, a way to save their friends before it was too late.

Callisto and Astronema headed down toward the holding cells, with several Quantrons in tow. They went over to Zhane and Carri, and Astronema held her staff up and pointed it at them. “Move and die.”, she said plainly as Ecliptor let the force field down that held them in

They both stood and looked at the small group there in front of them. Two Quantrons walked into the room and clasped their hands behind their backs, securing them with some sort of space aged handcuffs. The Quantrons pushed them forward and they had no choice but to walk.

Carri eyed Callisto as the Quantrons pushed her by. “What do you want with us?”

“We just want to play a little game.”, Astronema said with a smile as she looked over at the silver ranger

“We’re not really up for any games, but thanks.”, Zhane said

Astronema poked him in the back with her staff, causing him to stumble forward a few feet. “You don’t have an option.”

The Quantrons forced them through the Dark Fortress, with Astronema and Callisto close behind, ready to attack if necessary. They forced them into a room, where Ecliptor stood waiting. “Rangers nice of you to join us.”, he said as they were thrust forward toward him. Ecliptor took a hook and clipped both rangers hand restraints into it, then turned toward one of the Quantrons and motioned for him to begin.

Both rangers hands were yanked high above their head as a wire lifted their bodies into the air. They were adjusted so they were hanging over a huge tub of what appeared to be water.

“I know I said I needed a bath, but I can do it myself.”, Carri said squirming her hands around in an effort to get free

Zhane was also trying to free himself while he pondered what was going on here. “What are you doing, drowning us?”

“It would ruin the surprise if I told you.”, Astronema replied as she smiled sweetly. “Now lower them.”

They watched as the two rangers were lowered into the huge vat. “What the hell?”, Carri asked as they entered the vat, the water stinging as it hit the skin of their legs. They could feel the water seeping through their pores. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither.”, Zhane said, although there wasn’t much they could do about it

Seconds later they were completely submerged, then were quickly pulled out. The process didn’t take long, but it was highly effective. The two rangers were removed from the vat and lowered in front of Astronema before they were cut free. They turned and looked at her, bowing down on one knee.

“Princess Astronema, how can we serve you?”, Zhane asked as they looked up at her

The blue flames in their eyes that were an effect of the water showed for a moment went they looked up at Astronema. It was hard not for her to squeal with delight when she saw them. “I want you to destroy those rangers.”

They blinked, their eyes adjusting back to their normal color. “It shall be done.”, Carri said as she and Zhane stood and teleported away

“Do you think this will work?”, asked Callisto

“It can’t fail.”, Astronema said with a smile as she went to watch the action

The rangers stood in the Command Chamber waiting for some positive news. Everyone was doing something to try and figure out any kind of solution, but noone had been successful yet.

“Hey guys.”, Trini said. Everyone stopped and looked at her hoping she had an answer. “I think I have some good news.”, she said motioning for them to look on screen

As they did they saw Carri and Zhane walking together through the park. “They must’ve escaped!”, Rocky exclaimed

“But how?”, asked Andros, skeptical of any type of escape from the Dark Fortress

“I don’t know but we should get down there.”, Ashley replied excitedly

They others agreed and they all teleported down to the park. Rocky ran up to Carri and threw his arms around her. “Thank God you’re ok with Callisto and all and I was so worried.”

“Of course I’m ok. Why wouldn’t I be.”, she replied as Kim came over to say hello as well

“Zhane I’m glad to see you’re alright.”, Andros said as he approached his best friend. “But how did you escape?”

“Just got lucky.”, he replied. He looked over at Carri, who had a sly smile on her face. The rangers were all close enough now to attack.

Carri gently nudged Rocky back, before kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying into Tommy and knocking them both down. Before Kim could react, Carri punched her sending her down as well. Jason put a hand up to try and stop her, but she was too quick and she grabbed his arm flinging him around, putting the last of the Ninja Zeo team on their backs on the ground.

Zhane issued a few quick blows to Andros, before using him to take out Ashley. Cassie tried to push Ashley out of the way but was unsuccessful as Andros and her both hit the ground. Zhane then turned on Cassie and knocked her out as well, before going after TJ and Carlos. He quickly attacked them, knocking both rangers back, before he and Carri did a few back flips away from the group.

“It’s morphin time!”

“Let’s Rocket!”

And just like that the Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger and the Silver Astro ranger were standing in front of the people who meant the most to them, ready to attack and kill them.

“Let’s have some fun.”, Carri said as the rangers were starting to get to their feet. “Power daggers!”

“Super Silverizer!”, Zhane yelled as they ran to fight

The other rangers were too shocked and stunned to really have any time to react as their friends came running at them, special weapons in hand. It was all they could do to defend themselves, and they didn’t do that well since they wouldn’t morph. Carri and Zhane tore through them leaving them hurt and on the ground.

They pulled themselves to their feet and regrouped, looking at the two rangers standing in front of them. They weren’t prepared for this, and they were in no shape to deal with them right now. Quickly they teleported to the Command Center and collapsed when they hit the floor.

Billy and Trini started to immediately help heal the rangers when they appeared. It took a good twenty minutes, but eventually everyone was as good as new.

“What happened out there?”, Rocky asked. He couldn’t believe what was going on, even if he did see it with his own two eyes.

“It appears as though Carri and Zhane are evil.”, Billy said although he was pretty sure the others were well aware of that

“How did that happen? I mean...”, Ashley stopped not knowing how to phrase her question

“We don’t know.”, Trini said softly, knowing that wasn’t the answer they wanted to hear

“Well not quite.”, Billy said. He had an idea but he just didn’t have a way to prove it yet. “In the scans I did in the park, it seems as though there is something wrong with their DNA.”

“Like what?”, asked Tommy

Billy shook his head. “I can’t say for sure without a sample.”

“How do we get a sample?”, Carlos asked. “Can we pick a strand of their hair or something?”

“Although we can get DNA from hair, it’s not that simple.”, Billy said with a sigh. They were going to hate the DNA he needed to see. “I need skin cells. The strange DNA readings are heaviest on the skin.”

Cassie raised an eyebrow. “How do we get skin cells?”

“You take something sharp and slice a piece of skin.”, Billy said with a frown on his face

Rocky paled. “You can’t cut them up!”, he exclaimed

“I just need a small sample. It’s the only way to be sure.”, Billy tried to reason with him

Kim nodded to tell Billy she understood what he had to do. “I’d rather hurt them now than leave them evil.”, she said looking over to make eye contact with Rocky. He seemed like he was starting to understand that this was the only way.

“We’ll need two volunteers.”, Billy said. He would need a sample from each of them to be absolutely sure.

“I’ll do it.”, Andros was quick to reply. Zhane was his best friend, and he had almost lost him once. He refused to have him back now only to lose him to evil.

Billy looked over at Rocky, thinking he would want to help as well. After all, it was his girlfriend. But one look and he could tell that the red ranger didn’t have the heart to hurt her, even if she was evil. “I’ll go.”, Jason said once he realized Rocky wasn’t going to

“Then it’s settled.”, Billy said. He walked into the other room to get some surgical like knives then he walked back out, handing one each to Jason and Andros. “Take the knife, slice it quickly against the arm, grab the sample, then teleport back.”

“They’re back in the park calling for you guys.”, Trini said as she pulled them up on screen

“You’re not going to get a jump on them.”, Billy pointed out. He had thought about it, and if they got too close Carri and Zhane could morph and it would be useless. “As soon as it looks like they’ve stopped, I’ll teleport you on top of them. Then you can get the samples and get back.”

Rocky thought for a moment. “I can’t watch this.”, he said as he looked at his girlfriend on the screen

“Me neither.”, Kim agreed. The thought of cutting a sample of skin, not matter how small, was gross.

“Maybe you guys can wait in the apartment. I’ll let you know as soon as I have something.”, Billy suggested

“We should go too.”, Ashley said pointing to herself and Cassie. Not like they wanted to sit around here and watch Billy play with skin.

Most of the rangers were in agreement, and they all teleported out and told them to let them know as soon as they had any answers. Billy turned his head toward the screen and watched as Carri and Zhane made their way through the park. He watched as they stopped, Zhane folding his arms against his chest as they leaned against a tree.

“It’s now or never.”, Billy said looking over at Jason and Andros

Jason nodded. “Let’s do this.”, he said

Andros and Jason stood side by side as Billy teleported them down to the surface. They were instantly on top of their friends. Both had to move quickly as neither of them would tolerate this kind of advance for long. Andros pulled Zhane to the ground, got the sample he needed and rolled off. At the same time, Jason shoved Carri hard against the tree. She was stunned long enough for him to get the sample he needed, before she threw him backwards.

The two rangers were sitting on the ground as Carri and Zhane loomed over them. Carri glanced to her arm, looking at the blood trickling down her skin, before looking over at Zhane and nodding. “You will pay for this.”, she hissed

They watched as their two friends got into morphing stance, but before they could react they were teleported off. They arrived in the Command Chamber to find Billy standing there, arms crossed. “I told you to get the sample and get out of there.”, Billy said

“We couldn’t just... I mean...”, Jason was at a loss of words. He wanted to get out of there, but he was struggling looking at them standing there with that cold evil look in their eyes

“What if they attacked innocent people? They were going to morph.”, Andros said. He didn’t think Zhane could ever hurt anybody, but under evil’s grasp it was hard to tell.

Billy shook his head no. “They backed down and took off when you left.”

Jason nodded as he handed over his sample and Andros did the same. “How long is it going to take?”, Jason asked

“A while.”, Billy replied looking at them. “Maybe you should go back with the others. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something.”

Billy could see the reluctance in the two men’s eyes as they silently agreed. They both teleported off. Billy found the lab eerily quiet now that everyone had gone. Trini took off when the boys left to get the samples, as she had work to get to back home.

The former blue ranger took both the samples into his lab. He sliced each sample to make sections small enough to view under the microscope. He first picked up Carri’s piece and placed it under. It only took a few seconds to realize something was strange here. He readjusted the microscope and double checked, before picking up Zhane’s piece and doing much of the same.

There was definitely something wrong, as there was something in both rangers cells that was foreign. He took the excess from the original samples. The only way to figure out what this stuff was would be to try and extract a sample from the cell, then run it through his database. He worked carefully and tediously on the cells, getting a sample from each. He then put the samples in his machine, watching as it whistled and whirled to preform the tests. When the tests were finished, it would automatically search the universe for a match.

The process would take time, so Billy turned to leave the lab for the moment. As he did, the alarms in the main chamber went off. Billy flew out of the lab and went to see what the disturbance was. Not to his surprise, he saw Carri and Zhane out hunting the rangers.

“Oh rangers, come out come out wherever you are.”, Carri said in a singsong voice

“If you think you can just cut and run you’re sadly mistaken.”, Zhane yelled. “We know you’re watching. If you don’t hurry, it’s not going to end pretty for someone.”, he added gesturing to the park up ahead

Billy sighed. This was not good. He rushed to contact the others so they could get down there before Carri and Zhane did something they’d truly regret.

Carri and Zhane stood anxiously in the park waiting for the rangers to come. They were furious that they had been attacked, and that the cowards had left before they had a chance to retaliate. They were ready to do some serious damage if it was the only way to get the rangers attention.

“Do you think they’ll come?”, Zhane asked

“They will if they know what’s good for them.”, Carri replied

“What if,” Zhane started as streaks of multicolored light came flashing in before them. “Looks like they’re here.”, he said with a smile

“You guys don’t want to do this.”, Kim said as she looked the duo over

“Do what?”, Zhane asked glaring at her

“Hurt them.”, Kim said pointing to all the people in the park

Carri laughed. “Please we’re not going to hurt your precious innocents. At least, not now that you’re here.”

“Let’s finish this.”, Zhane growled. “Let’s rocket!”

“It’s morphin time!”

The other rangers turned and looked at each other. More than anything, they did not want to use their powers against their friends. But it didn’t look like they were going to leave them any choice.

Andros turned to his team and nodded. “Let’s rocket!”

“It’s morphin time!”, Tommy followed in right behind him

“Looks like they’re ready for a fight.”, Zhane said as he smiled

“Then let’s not disappoint. Power daggers!”, she yelled running after her teammates

“Super Silverizer!”, Zhane called for his weapon as he headed to fight against the rest of the Astro rangers. He quickly attacked each of his teammates, throwing them around.

Ashley grabbed him from behind. “Zhane you’re not evil.”

Zhane was quick to throw her off of him. “How cute. The yellow ranger thinking she can make me good. Not happening.”, he said as he turned at hit her hard with his weapon

“Ashley!”, Cassie yelled as Andros fired his blaster on his best friend. Zhane turned and angrily went after Andros as TJ and Carlos tried to come up behind him. As he threw the boys off of him the girls went to attack getting much of the same results.

As Zhane was fighting the Astro Rangers, Carri found herself fighting against the Ninja Zeo team. Jason went to kick Carri and she slashed him with her dagger and tossed him back. Kim and Tommy tried to leap on her to take her down without hurting her. Carri didn’t have the same reserves as she made quick work out of both of them.

Suddenly Rocky grabbed her from behind. “Carri we don’t want to hurt you.”

She laughed at the red ranger. “I’m not the one who’s going to get hurt.”, she said. With that, she twisted herself around and out of his grip, clicking her daggers together and hitting him hard enough to throw him back.

Tommy surveyed the scene. They were taking it easy on their friends, but it was obvious that their friends were willing to use their weapons to kill them. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, but they had to protect themselves. It was time to step it up to the next level. “Power sword!”

“Power axe!”

“Power bow!”

“Power lance!”, Rocky called for his weapon as he stood up. He had no intention of unleashing its power on her, but he planned on using it for self defense.

Andros saw Tommy lead his team in calling for their weapons and he knew he was right. The only way to be even with Zhane and to keep him from killing them would be to use their weapons. “Spiral saber!”

“Star slinger!”

“Satellite stunner!”

“Lunar lance!”

“Astro axe!”

Weapons in hand, the five rangers quickly advanced on the silver ranger. Ashley and Cassie fired at him. Zhane ducked and rolled, missing their advances. TJ and Carlos came flying toward him, swinging their weapons as they ran. Zhane defended himself against both of them. He was so occupied with the blue and black rangers that he never saw Andros attack. The Spiral Saber hit him hard and sent him flying.

Carri found herself fighting weapon against weapon as well. Kim shot a series of three arrows at her, which Carri used her daggers to deflect. Tommy came running at her with his sword. She stopped his sword mid air using her daggers, causing both to stumble back a bit. Tommy went to fight her, distracting her from what Jason was about to do. Rocky could hardly watch as Jason took his axe and fired at her, sending her flying backwards.

Both Zhane and Carri stood up. “So the rangers are willing to fight back.”, Zhane said. This was something neither were expecting. After their first encounter they thought it was going to be easy.

“We’ll be back rangers.”, Carri hissed as she and Zhane teleported off to regroup

The remaining rangers quickly teleported back to the Command Center. Billy wasn’t in the main area so the rangers headed off to his lab. When they entered they found Billy staring at something on a screen with his arms crossed.

“What is it?”, Jason asked

“I know what caused the mutations in their cells.”, Billy replied not yet turning to look at the others

“That’s great. So we can cure them now right?”, Ashley asked excitedly

“Not quite.”, Billy said as he turned to face everyone

Rocky frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“See this liquid?”, Billy asked as he pointed to the image he was looking at

Cassie stepped closer so she could get a good look at it. “It looks like water.”

“It’s not. It’s some sort of poison imported from another planet.”, Billy told her

“So Astronema poisoned them?”, Andros questioned

Billy nodded. “Essentially yes. This liquid took over there cells. The poison basically rewired their cells for evil, making them evil.”

“Can’t we just get rid of the poison?”, Jason asked. If the poison got in, there had to be a way to get it back out.

“There’s a solution. It’s a type of slime. If you can coat their bodies in it, the slime will pull the poison out of their cells and mix with it, destroying it and reversing the damage.”, Billy explained

Carlos made a face. “It’s going to pull poison out of their cells? It sounds painful.”

Billy nodded. The pain of removing the poison was going to be next to unbearable, but he wasn’t going to tell them that. This was the only way. “We’ll need someone to go get it. It’s only found on the other side of the galaxy.”

“We’ll go.”, TJ said volunteering himself and the other space rangers

The rest of the team nodded. “Where is it?”, Andros asked

Billy went to the console and pulled up an image of a planet, along with the corresponding information. He took out a disk and saved the information as Andros looked at the screen. “Here.”, Billy said handing him the disk. “This should help.”

Andros thought for a moment. “It may take a while to get there and back. I’ll push the ship as fast as I can.”

“Exactly how much of this slime do you need?”, asked Cassie as she raised an eyebrow

“Enough to cover them both.”, Billy said

“We’ll bring back a few tubs full.”, TJ said and looked at Billy who nodded

“You guys ready?”, Andros asked looking at his team. They all smiled at him and he turned back to the others. “We’ll be back as soon as we can with a solution.”, Andros said as the team teleported off

“What about us?”, Tommy asked after they were gone. “Anything we can do to help?”

“You guys can go home for a while. I’ll stay here and monitor in case either show up again.”, Billy said giving off what he hoped was a comforting smile

Tommy looked at his friend as they all reluctantly teleported back to Kim and Jason’s apartment.

Carri and Zhane walked into the main room of the Dark Fortress. To their surprise, they found Rita, Zedd and Divatox standing with Astronema and Callisto. Astronema turned when she saw them enter. “You weren’t expecting the rangers to fight back?”, she questioned as she looked them over

“No but we will get them next time.”, Zhane promised

Astronema nodded as Rita walked over to examine the two rangers. “So the little brats really are evil?”, she asked as she looked them over. She, Zedd and Divatox had come to the Dark Fortress demanding answers when their spying revealed two evil rangers, one of them belonging to the Ninja Zeo team that they were supposed to be destroying.

“Of course.”, Astronema said with a smile on her face.

“Astronema,” Ecliptor started rushing up to her

“What?”, she asked turning to face him

“It’s the Astro Rangers. They’ve left the galaxy.”, Ecliptor informed him

Astronema thought for a moment. She didn’t think they would have been able to figure it out, but Billy was smart. He could have come up with the answers and sent the others after the solution. She couldn’t take that chance. “Follow them!”, she ordered

“What about our rangers?”, Callisto asked looking toward Carri and Zhane

Astronema didn’t want them to come just in case they could turn them good again. She looked over to Rita and Zedd. “Take them to the Lunar Palace. They can attack the remaining four rangers whenever they’re ready.”

Rita smiled. She loved having evil rangers working for her again. “Come on.”, she said looking at the duo. Rita, Zedd, Carri and Zhane took off for the Lunar Palace, while Divatox left for her submarine. As soon as they were all clear, Astronema ordered the ship to take off in search of the Astro Rangers.

Tommy and Kim curled up together on the couch. Tommy had suggested that they go back to the house while they waited. He wanted to be able to get Kim to not be stressed, if only for a moment. Kim declined going, saying that there was no way she could get back into that romantic mood with all that was going on.

“So much for our romantic Saturday night.”, she said with a sigh

Tommy kissed her on the top of her head. “We had a great Friday night. And a great Saturday. And I promise you there will be more opportunities for romantic evenings in the future.”

“Everything was so perfect a few hours ago and now everything has fallen apart.”, Kim said, not hiding the sadness in her voice

“Don’t worry about Carri and Zhane. The Astro’s will be back soon, and we’ll be able to help them.”, Tommy assured her

“You know as well as I that not everything goes according to plan.”, Kim spoke as she looked up at him. “Which is why I can’t help but worry.”

“At least they’re safe.”, Tommy reminded her. When they first disappeared they were worried that they were going to be tortured. Not that being evil is good, but as long as they’re evil Callisto and Astronema won’t hurt them.

Kim moved in closer to Tommy and felt his strong arm pull her in tighter. In the midst of everything it was comforting to have his arm around her. In her twenty years on this planet, being a ranger was the most amazing thing she’d ever done. It had also put her on the hardest emotional roller coaster of her life. Everything that happened with Tommy on his long road to becoming the White Ranger, Zordon almost dying at the hands of Ivan Ooze, friends coming and going, her almost dying before she left for Florida... the list went on and on. Now here she was back at the low points of the ride with her friend evil and trying to kill her.

It was comforting to have Tommy to lean on. With the exception of the time that he was evil, he had always been her shoulder to lean on, her rock when things got tough. Kim was always strong, and she could survive without him, but she was thankful that she didn’t have to try.

“We’re going to have them back by tomorrow morning.”, Tommy assured her. “And by tomorrow night we’ll be back at the house for one last romantic meal before we have to come back.”

“Promise?”, Kim asked

“I promise.”, Tommy replied as he leaned in and gave her a kiss

They heard a door open from down the hallway. Slowly Rocky came walking out into the living room and sat down on the end of the couch.

“How are you holding up?”, Tommy asked. He couldn’t imagine how difficult it was for him to watch his girlfriend try and kill them.

Rocky shrugged. “Ok. I’ll be much better when this is all over with.”

“Won’t we all.”, Kim added in agreement

“It’s just kind of hard though.”, Rocky said as he thought about everything that was going on. “I want to defend myself, but I don’t want to hurt Carri.”

Tommy nodded. “We all feel the same way. But we’re going to have to get past that if we’re going to survive, because they are more than willing to kill us.”

“I know.”, Rocky replied quietly. He was well aware of that fact, but he was having a hard time processing it.

Jason walked out into the living room, phone in hand. They heard him say “love you too” before he hung up the phone and came to join him.

“Emily?”, questioned Tommy

Jason nodded. “I had to catch her up. I haven’t talked to her since we left her at Kat’s. She’s going to let Kat know what’s going on. She wants to drive my car up here and see me but...” Jason let his voice trail off as he shook his head no. “We have powers to defend ourselves, she doesn’t.”

“You don’t think that Carri would actually go after Emily do you?”, Rocky asked. He would hope that even with her being evil she still had lines she wouldn’t cross.

Jason shook his head. “I don’t know.”, he replied. Truthfully he’d seen evil and he wouldn’t put it past either of them, and that was a chance he wasn’t willing to take.

“Why don’t we get out of here, get some fresh air?”, Tommy suggested. The mood in the apartment was too depressing. They had to try and get their minds off of the current situation, as there wasn’t much they could do until the Astro’s got back.

“I’d like that.”, Kim said as she squeezed Tommy’s arm

Tommy looked over at Rocky and Jason, who still hadn’t replied. “Guys?”, he asked

“Yeah sure.”, Jason said

The white ranger glanced at Rocky, who finally made eye contact with him. “I guess we don’t need to be sitting around here.”, Rocky replied

“Great then it’s settled.”, Tommy said. He stood up and pulled Kim up behind him, before ushering everyone out the door.

Carri and Zhane teleported down from the Lunar Palace. Goldar kept insisting that he come with them, but they were pretty convinced that they could destroy the rangers considering there were only four of them right now. They were both walking near the apartment, trying to figure out the best way to get the rangers to come out and play.

Zhane glanced around. There were a few people scattered throughout the area. And if there was one thing the rangers didn’t like, it was them attacking people. “What if we hurt some innocents? That will get their attention.”

Carri nodded and smiled, noticing one girl in particular. “Not just any innocent, that innocent.”, she said as she pointed. She walked over to the young girl, who was hanging out with someone who appeared to be her age. Zhane walked over and stood by her side as she called the young girls name. “Jessica.”, she said harshly

Jessica McClintock spun around at the sound of her name. She had brought her friend to the college campus in hopes of seeing Rocky, so that her friend could meet the guy she constantly talked about. They had walked around campus but with no luck, and now they had to run into his girlfriend with some boy. “What do you want with me?”

Carri said nothing, just smiled. Jessica looked at her strangely. “I get it you came to tell me he’s your new boyfriend and you’re giving Rocky to me.”

The yellow ranger rolled her eyes as she grabbed Jessica by the throat and lifting her up. “Actually I came for you.”

Zhane smiled as he caught something out of the corner of his eye. “That was fast.”, he said with a smile as the rest of the Ninja Zeo team came running towards them

“Let her go!”, Rocky yelled, hardly believing that she was actually trying to choke Jessica

Carri shrugged. She could have cared less about Jessica, she just wanted to screw with her until the others got there. She threw her over at her friend, knocking them both down. “Nice of you to join us.”, she said as she grinned

“I told you she was a crazy bitch!”, Jessica exclaimed as she attached herself to Rocky

“Not now.”, Rocky said as he nudged her back. “Just get out of here, let us take care of this.”

Jessica grabbed her friend and they took off, leaving the six rangers there facing each other.

“How could you hurt an innocent person?”, Rocky asked

“It got your attention didn’t it?”, Zhane replied with a laugh. “Let’s rocket!”

“It’s morphin time!”, Carri yelled. They both morphed and much to their surprise, a fleet of tengas appeared beside them.

Tommy looked at the small army they were faced with. “Let’s do it.”, he said. “It’s morphin time!”

“Your powers won’t help you now.”, Carri threatened. “Power daggers!”

“Super Silverizer!”, Zhane called for his weapon as well. He then brought out the full power of his weapon to attack Rocky and Jason, while Carri brought her daggers together to slash back Tommy and Kim. The duo knocked them to the ground and the hybrids were quick to jump on them.

The four rangers were having trouble getting up. Carri and Zhane’s initial attack was fierce, and now they found themselves covered in hybrids. The only way they were going to get out of this was to call on their weapons.

Each ranger called for their power weapon, and immediately went to work as it fell in their hands. After a hard fought battle, the rangers finally destroyed the hybrids and stood together, staring at Zhane and Carri.

Zhane smiled as he saw the rangers worn out and hurt. “Was this your plan?”, asked Jason. “Let the hybrids do the hard part leaving us for you to destroy?”

“No. But it will do.”, Carri said with a smile as she and Zhane attacked more fiercely than before

The rangers tried hard to fend off their friend’s attack. Rocky slammed his lance down on the ground, knocking them both back. As they flew through the air from the red ranger’s attack, a series of arrows came flying and hit them head on. They both hit the ground hard and Tommy went to attack with his sword.

Much to his surprise, Zhane blocked his attack. Jason was preparing to fire his axe toward the rangers when Carri threw a dagger at him, catching the axe and knocking it out of his hands. She fought her way through Rocky, Kim and Jason to get her fallen weapon, then with the help of Zhane she fought them all back.

“This is going to be too easy.”, Zhane said with a smile as they prepared to finish them off

“You rangers have finally met your demise.”, a voice growled from behind. Zhane and Carri turned to see Goldar standing there.

“What are you doing here?”, Carri hissed. She and Zhane had made it perfectly clear that this was their battle and that he was to stay the hell out of it.

Goldar glared past Carri and Zhane and to Tommy. “I want to be the one to bring down the white ranger, you can have the other three.”

“Last time I checked, they were all ours.”, Zhane growled holding his weapon and contemplating using it on Goldar

The rest of the Ninja Zeo team used Goldar’s distraction to teleport to the Command Chamber so they could regroup and recuperate. Carri glanced back just in time to see the multi colored streaks fly out. She turned to glare at Goldar. “Princess Astronema is not going to be happy about this.”, she said as she and Zhane teleported out in a huff

Goldar growled. He didn’t care what Astronema thought, he wanted to be the one to destroy Tommy. Noticing that this attack was now a lost cause, he teleported away as well.

The rangers powered down as soon as they entered the Command Chamber. “Are you guys alright?”, Billy asked as soon as he saw them. He had watched the entire fight, they were lucky that Goldar showed up to distract Carri and Zhane.

Rocky shook his head. He was physically fine but mentally he was distraught. “This just can’t be happening.”, he said. Not only did he use the full power of his lance on his girlfriend, but she had tried to kill an innocent.

Kim frowned. She agreed with Rocky, everything that was going on was wild. They had almost been killed out there by two Power Rangers, one of whom she considers to be her best friend. “We just have to hope that the Astro Rangers hurry back.”

“Look guys, it’s getting late. Maybe everyone should just go home and get some rest.”, Tommy suggested. It had been a tiresome night, and they all needed to try and get some sleep so they would be ready for the next fight.

Jason nodded. Tommy was right, the were physically and mentally drained and would be no good if they kept going at that rate. “That sounds like a plan bro.”

“Let’s go home.”, Billy said. It was time for him to get some rest as well, and if Carri or Zhane surfaced throughout the night he would be alerted through his communicator.

Kim walked over and placed a kiss on Tommy’s lips. “Goodnight.”, she said

“Goodnight.”, he replied. Jason, Kim and Billy were the first to teleport out, going back to their apartment. Rocky and Tommy weren’t far behind as they headed back to their dorm.

Rocky sighed. “I need to call Jessica.”

Tommy glanced over at the clock. “It’s eleven o’clock.”

“I’m sure she’s still awake. Besides I need to figure out a way for her to forget what happened.”, Rocky said. As he spoke he had no idea how he was going to do it. Carri had tried to strangle the girl, and there weren’t many ways you could make excuses for that.

“Good luck with that.”, Tommy said. He watched as Rocky picked up the phone and went to sit in his chair to talk. Tommy left him be as he got ready for bed, thinking about everything that had happened that evening. He couldn’t believe how quickly this day went from one of the most wonderful days of his life, to another horrid ranger mess.

Of course the rangers got themselves into more messes than he could remember. It was all a part of saving the world. A part that they all accepted when they took the powers. However no ranger really knows how bad it can get until they’ve been there. It was lucky for him that his team was experienced. They knew how to handle situations, and that sometimes the worst wasn’t what you saw the first time around, it was what was to come next.

Sometimes he felt bad for Andros because he had a team of rookie rangers. They were learning quickly because they had to, but them being fast learners couldn’t make up for the lack of experience and knowledge that being rangers for a long time had given the others. Tommy felt pretty confident though that when it came down to it, Andros’s rangers would do well.

He finished getting ready for bed and glanced over at Rocky, who was still on the phone. By the look of it, the conversation wasn’t going well. Tommy sighed as he climbed under the covers and closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep.

Later in the night, the Astro Rangers found themselves getting closer to their destination. “How far out are we?”, Ashley asked

“We will be at the planet in ten minutes.”, DECA answered

“Thanks DECA.”, she replied

Cassie looked over at Andros. “Are we going to land the ship when we get there?”

The red ranger shook his head no as he held out the disk Billy gave him. “According to this, our ship won’t do well in the planet’s atmosphere. We’ll get as close as we can, then use the gliders.”

“Is the slime going to be easy to find?”, asked TJ

“It should be.”, Andros replied. “Everything we needed to know is on here. We should be able to take the Galaxy Gliders right down to the main area.”

Carlos crossed his arms and turned toward his fellow rangers. “I hope this works.”, he said. He wasn’t skeptical about Billy’s conclusions, it was just that they were relying on this slime when as far as they knew it hadn’t actually been tested against the virus on humans. During their voyage, he had sat with Andros and reviewed the information they had been given on the planet and the slime.

“It will work.”, Ashley said as she smiled over at him. “When has Billy been wrong?” In her short time as a ranger, the one thing she was certain of was the fact that Billy was a genus and could do anything.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”, Andros replied. The people of KO-35 didn’t have religion, at least not in the sense of what the people of Earth had. They did believe in a higher power that protected them. Andros used to ask the higher power for help, but had given up on it after losing his sister at such a young age. Almost losing his best friend twice didn’t help. But now here he was talking to the higher power again, asking for this slime to be the miracle they were hoping for. He didn’t think he could handle it if he was forced to kill Zhane.

Suddenly the megaship started to slow down. “Is that it?”, Cassie asked as a planet came into focus

“It sure looks that way.”, TJ said as he stared at it

“Come on.”, Andros said. “Let’s not waste any time.”

The five rangers headed off of the bridge, stopping only so that they could each pick up a container to hold some of the slime. Each of the rangers headed toward the jump tubes and a few seconds later they were standing on their Galaxy Gliders, heading toward the planets surface.

“Follow me.”, Andros called. He led them across the planet’s surface, before finally jumping off of his board. Fifty meters in front of them was a lake which was made of the slime they needed.

“Not so fast.”, Astronema said, using her staff to zap them back. The rangers hit the ground hard, then pulled themselves back to their feet. Looking around they saw Ecliptor and a monster on either side of Astronema, and enough Quantrons to keep them busy. “Get them.”, Astronema ordered as she disappeared

Andros ran to attack Ecliptor, while TJ and Cassie went after the monster, leaving Ashley and Carlos with the Quantrons. Carlos and Ashley wasted no time pulling out the Star Slinger and Lunar Lance. They fought the Quantrons fiercely, trying to make quick work of them. They knew they needed to hurry so they could get what they came for and head back.

Cassie and TJ were having a hard time with the monster. He was proving to be more difficult than the ones they usually fought. Cassie brought out her Satellite Stunner while TJ called for the Astro Axe, hoping that their weapons would make the fight easier. The monster slung them back, and before they could get up two figures flew through the air, attacking the monster as they went.

“You guys need help?”, Ashley asked as she helped Cassie up

“Yeah that would be nice.”, the pink ranger replied with a smile

The foursome attacked and got a few good shots in before the monster knocked them back again. “Alright guys lets finish this.”, Carlos said as they stood. “We need Quadroblaster power, now!”, he called

A few seconds later the four space rangers weapons were placed together, forming their weapon. “Quadroblaster, fire!”, Carlos ordered. And just like that, the monster was brought down

It didn’t take long for Astronema to fire the satellasers, making the monster grow to enormous heights. TJ glanced over at Andros, who was still fighting Ecliptor. “You guys take the zords. I’ll finish him.”, Andros said

The others quickly called for their zords and went back into battle with the monster. It didn’t take long before the monster was toast and the rangers were standing triumphantly behind their leader. Ecliptor took one look at the group and disappeared. They were going to have to rethink their strategy if they were to destroy the rangers.

As soon as the coast was clear, the rangers wasted no time picking up their containers and running toward the river, scooping up as much slime as their buckets could hold. “Galaxy gliders, hang ten!”, Andros yelled as he looked toward the sky

The Galaxy Gliders came barreling toward them, and they jumped on them and headed back toward the megaship. As soon as they hit the floor of the ship, they felt the ship rock. They dropped their containers and tore off for the bridge.

“Alpha what’s going on?”, Cassie asked

“Aye ai ai, rangers we’re surrounded by Velocifighters.”, Alpha said as he looked at the group

“Great, just what we don’t need.”, TJ pointed out the obvious as the team headed for their stations

Andros barked out orders as they maneuvered around, taking hits from some of the Velocifighters. They quickly took one out, and there were three more out there. The second one wasn’t very difficult, it was the third and fourth one that were hard. Finally, all four had been destroyed.

“Let’s hurry before they send some more after us.”, Andros said. They quickly charted a course for Earth and took off at top speed.

Billy laid in bed bright and early the next morning. He didn’t want to go back to sleep, but for some reason he was reluctant to get out of bed. He was about to give in and get up when his communicator went off. The blue ninjetti grabbed it off of his night stand and pulled it to his mouth. “Go ahead.”, he said

“We’re almost back to Earth. We’ve got the stuff.”, Andros’s voice came through loud and clear

“Great. I’ll meet you with in the Command Chamber in twenty minutes.”, Billy said. He leaped out bed and headed for the shower. Trying hard not to waste time, he showered as quickly as possible before hopping out and drying off. He threw some clothes on then looked toward the bedroom door.

Usually in the morning Billy went out into the kitchen for coffee and breakfast. But this morning he was more interested on getting a hold of what was going to be their friend’s cure. He decided to skip breakfast and teleport straight to the Command Chamber. As quick as Billy was, the Astro Rangers had beaten him there, and were standing in the control room with five large buckets.

“Is that it?”, Billy asked. Andros nodded in reply. Billy smiled and took off through his lab, getting two bigger containers and bringing them back. He filled both to the top with the slime, leaving almost two in a half of the rangers original containers full. Billy gestured to the extra. “We should keep some in case it doesn’t work.”

“So now what?”, asked Cassie

“I’ll contact the others and then it’s a waiting game.”, Billy replied. He went to the control panel and contacted Jason, who alerted Kim, and Tommy, who alerted Rocky. It took them all about fifteen minutes to get to the Command Chamber. Once they were all there, he gestured to the buckets in front of them. “We have the solution.”

“I’m glad Carri and Zhane won’t be evil anymore.”, Ashley said smiling at the others

Rocky shuddered. His nightmares the previous night were bad enough without thinking of his girlfriend as evil.

“When do you think they’re going to attack again?”, asked Kim as she looked over at Billy

“It’s hard to say.”, Billy replied. He thought for a moment. “I’m sure even though they’re evil they had to get some rest. I would think they’ll be back after you sometime this morning.”

“Hopefully it will be soon and we can get this done with.”, Jason said as he glanced over at the rest of his team

A few hours passed before Zhane and Carri showed up on the Command Chamber’s sensors. Once again they were out looking for the rangers, thinking of how they were going to destroy them.

Tommy was leaning on a console half asleep when the alarm went off. He stood straight up and looked at the screen. “Now what?”, he asked looking over at Billy

“I believe that the best thing to do would be to have the Ninja Zeo team go down and talk to them, distract them, but don’t let them morph.”, Billy said looking over at them before glancing over at the Astro’s. “Then you can teleport directly behind them and dump the slime on the top of their heads. It should coat their entire bodies.”

“Sounds like a plan.”, TJ said as he smiled

“Although we have more slime, we may only get one good chance as they won’t let you sneak up on them again.”, Billy added. He looked at the others as they were getting ready to teleport out. “One more thing.”, he said stopping them. “I know we mentioned before that this was going to be painful. But it is seriously going to cause them some pain. Whatever you do, let it work. Don’t try and help them.”

The Ninja Zeo’s nodded. Rocky was reluctant to agree but he knew he had to, it was the only way to make them better. The foursome teleported down to the surface and stood in front of the two evil rangers.

“Glad to see you could join us.”, Zhane said as he smiled

Carri nodded. “I was beginning to think we would have to hurt someone else before you’d fight us.”

“Don’t you remember, we’re your friends, you don’t want to do this.”, Rocky tried to reason with them although he knew it was all but useless

Zhane smirked as Carri laughed before Kim spoke. “He’s right. Don’t you remember all the things we’ve done together?”

“Enough talk.”, Carri said, boredom settling in. She pulled her hands together and was getting ready to morph when Jason stopped her.

“Wait!”, he exclaimed. Both Zhane and Carri looked at him curiously. “Sure you have powers, but if you want to kill us why not do it hand to hand?”

As Jason spoke Andros and TJ were teleported down behind Carri and Zhane. Zhane snickered. “Yeah like that would be any...” He stopped as the cold slime hit his head and quickly worked to coat his body.

Carri started to say something but wasn’t able to react as the slime started to work. All either she or Zhane could do was scream in pain. Carri was the first to fall to her knees. Rocky took a step forward but Tommy grabbed his arm to stop him. They had to let his stuff run it’s course if they were going to help their friends.

As the rest of the Astro team teleported down, Zhane hit his knees as well. The pain became so intense that tears started running down both of their cheeks as they fell on the ground and curled up. The longest few minutes of their lives went by before the slime, having no more poison to feed off of, started dripping off of their bodies. Carri and Zhane laid there breathing heavily as the other rangers flew to their side.

Rocky was quick to run to his girlfriend, hitting the ground beside of her. He scooped up the top half of her body and brought it close to him, brushing stray hairs out of her face. He didn’t even notice as some of the excess slime was getting on him. “Carri?”, he questioned

“It’s me.”, she said smiling at him

He smiled back. “Are you ok?”

“A little sore, but I’ll be fine.”, she said. She was actually more than a little sore. Whatever the slime had done was painful, but she was going to keep her mouth shut. Rocky didn’t need to worry anymore than she was sure he had over the last day.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”, he asked

“Everything.”, she replied as she frowned. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need for an apology.”, he assured her

She smiled at him and held his gaze for a moment, before turning to smile over at Zhane, who was being helped up by the Astro Rangers. His eyes caught hers and he returned the smile. What they had gone through together was horrible, and they were both glad that it was all over.

Rocky helped his girlfriend to her feet. She turned and smiled at her fellow rangers. Jason returned the smile. “We need to get you guys back to the Command Chamber for Billy to check you out.”, he said

She grinned and saluted him, throwing in a “yes sir” as Zhane nodded, then they all teleported back up.

Billy was thrilled to see everyone as they came back into the Command Chamber. He quickly ushered Carri and Zhane into the infirmary and had them each sit on a medical bed. The first thing he did for them was find some towels, to let them start cleaning the excess slime off their bodies and try to get some of it off their clothes. Then he handed towels around to the other rangers, so anyone who had touched the stuff could clean it off.

As everyone was getting clean he ran an initial scan of the two rangers bodies. The first scan showed that their DNA appeared to be clean and free of the poison. The only way to be sure would be to take another cell sample. He stood in between the two med beds and looked at them. “I need a little sliver of skin from each of you. Enough to look at your cells and make sure the poison is completely gone.”

Carri and Zhane looked at each other and shrugged, before each holding out an arm. Billy went to get the proper tools and came back in. He first went to Zhane, slicing a little piece of skin and putting it in a small glass container, before taking a device and using it to heal him back. Then he turned to Carri and repeated the same procedure. “You guys hang here. I’ll be back in a few minutes and we’ll know the results.”, Billy said as he rushed off to his lab to find the answer

Callisto balled all of her anger into the fireball in her fist, and threw it at the nearest Quantron, sending him up in flames. Astronema shot her a look. “Now why did you have to go ruin a perfectly good soldier?”

“It’s because of your soldiers that those rangers freed their friends and ruined my plans.”, Callisto hissed shooting her back an equally annoyed look

Astronema huffed. “Well if I could get some decent help around here.”, she said glancing over at Ecliptor. The princess of evil thought for a moment. “Maybe we can still salvage this after all.”

“How?”, Callisto asked, eyebrows raised as she formed another fireball in her hand out of frustration

“You can go down to the surface.”, Astronema started. “With Ecliptor and Darkonda. And I may even have a monster for you. Plus I can join with my Quantrons. If you don’t destroy them all that is.”, she said eyeing the fireball in her hands

Callisto considered what Astronema was saying as she extinguished the fireball in her hands. “With everyone’s help, I should be able to destroy those rangers once and for all.”

Billy carefully looked at the two skin cell samples he had under the microscope. He smiled as he headed back over to the infirmary. When he walked in, all of the rangers were busy chatting amongst themselves. “Good news.”, he said. The room quickly silenced and all eyes turned toward him

“They’re free of the poison.”, he said as he walked over toward the two rangers in question. “The bad news is you’ll both be a little sore for a while because of the extraction.”

Zhane waved him off. “We can handle sore.”, he said with a smile. “Thanks for saving us.”

“Anytime.”, Billy replied smiling back at the silver ranger

As they stood in the infirmary, the alarms went off in the main chamber. At the others urges to get some rest, Carri and Zhane stayed put as everyone else headed off behind Billy to see what the problem was. Unfortunately, what they saw wasn’t pretty.

“Callisto.”, Rocky pointed out what they all saw

“Let’s not forget about Astronema.”, Kim said as she eyed the other woman on the screen

Billy went over to the controls and panned out their image. “This doesn’t look good.”, Ashley said as everyone came into view. Darkonda, Ecliptor and the Quantrons were there, along with a monster.

“I for one am glad the bitch came out. Because she’s entitled to an ass kicking.”, Carri pipped up from behind, referencing Callisto

“Or two.”, Zhane added

All eyes suddenly spun around to the two people that they had told to rest and let them handle this. “We’ve got this.”, TJ said with a smile

Carri rolled her eyes. “You’re going to need all the help you can get.”

“But after what you guys have been through”

Zhane cut Rocky off, finishing his sentence. “We’re fine and ready to get back to action.”

“Besides we’re going whether you like it or not.”, Carri added

Jason snickered and smiled at Carri. Yup, she was definitely back.

She smiled back as both she and Zhane decided they were going down there, with or without their teams. “It’s morphin time!”, she yelled, followed quickly by Zhane’s “Let’s rocket!”.

Neither member of the two teams was left with any time to protest, so they both followed in the morph and headed down to the scene.

“Welcome Rangers to your final battle.”, Callisto said as she eyed them both down

“Power Daggers!”

“Super Silverizer!”

Zhane and Carri wasted no time heading straight for a fight with Callisto, who was as eager to kill them as they were to hurt her. The others split up and tried to take on everyone that was left. Andros went to fight Ecliptor with Tommy’s help, while TJ and Rocky went to face off against Darkonda. Jason and Kim ran after the monster, leaving Carlos, Cassie and Ashley with the Quantrons and Astronema.

Astronema wasn’t down there to fight. At least not hand to hand. She zapped the three Astro Rangers back, watching them hit the ground before stepping aside and letting her Quantrons do the rest. They ran toward the rangers, who rolled out of the way and jumped up, calling on their weapons in the hopes that they could end this fight quickly.

The Fight against the Quantrons was probably the easiest of all the battles. Ecliptor and Darkonda were both strong, and all though they were each fighting two powerful rangers they were handling it. The monster was more difficult than a usual monster as he was able to shoot powerful beams at Kim and Jason. Both were using their weapons, but they were having trouble getting close enough to make a dent.

Of course Callisto was still a goddess, and any fight against her always proved to be difficult. Luckily for both Zhane and Carri, she was so full of rage at the moment that she wasn’t thinking straight.

Carri and Zhane leaped in the air and kicked her back at the same time. Callisto threw them to the ground and ran to attack with her sword. Carri used her daggers to block the attack and Callisto started to fight against her. Callisto was strong but Carri was able to keep up with her and defend her every move. The goddess was quick, and she wasn’t able to mount a good offense, but she didn’t need to as Zhane took the opportunity to use the full power of the Super Silverizer and attack from behind.

The moment Callisto turned to Zhane, Carri clicked her daggers together and used their full power to attack her once more. Callisto stood and looked at both rangers who pulled out their pistols and fired. Beyond pissed, the goddess leaped to her feet and quickly threw fireballs at both of them. They rolled out of the way and fired again.

One look around the battlefield reminded the goddess how there were too many rangers around and how she wasn’t going to win this time. Besides she was tired of them getting luckyh shots in. “This isn’t over.”, she hissed as she took off

Astronema noticed her friend take off in anger and she turned and zapped the silver and yellow rangers. As she turned back toward her fight, she noticed that the Quantron’s had been defeated. “Worthless.”, she growled as she took off, taking them with her.

Carlos, Ashley and Cassie split up. Carlos ran to join TJ and Rocky against Darkonda, while Ashley and Cassie went to help Kim and Jason, who had been joined by Carri, defeat the monster. Zhane had already gone to his best friend’s aid to try and beat Ecliptor back. Darkonda and Ecliptor were both getting annoyed that more rangers were showing up to their battle. The rangers launched multiple attacks against the duo using their weapons at full force, which was the last straw for both Ecliptor or Darkonda as they both took off.

All of the remaining rangers went into the battle against the monster, which was doing better since the odds had improved. Kim flew back and landed near her boyfriends feet. She jumped up and looked at him. “Let’s take him out fast.”

“Sounds good to me.”, Tommy replied as he leaped toward the monster, slashing it back. Several of the other rangers also got shots in before everyone regrouped. The monster was unable to take them all at one time, but he was more than happy to take shots when all eleven rangers stood facing him. The rangers scattered and came back together in two groups.

“It’s hard to get close, we should just blast him.”, Jason suggested. The rest of the rangers agreed, and the Ninja Zeo’s formed their Power Blaster, while the others formed the Quadroblaster. Both fired at the same time, knocking the monster back.

“Shall we fire the satellasers?”, Ecliptor asked

Astronema brushed him off. Eleven rangers was five too many. She would have to wait for them to separate so she could go after the Astro Rangers on her own. “Next time rangers.”, she said as she turned and stormed off. The princess of evil wanted nothing to do with anyone as she headed off to be alone for a while.

The rangers teleported back to the Command Chamber once all the work on the surface was finished. “That was a workout.”, Cassie said as they all teleported down

“I doubt they’ll be taking on all eleven rangers again any time soon.”, Andros replied. It had been a good attempt on Astronema’s part, but she didn’t account for the strength of two full teams of rangers.

“So now what?”, asked Carlos

Jason smiled. “We get back to real life.”

“I, for one, have a shower to get to.”, Carri said as she thought about what she was going to do the day before. Add in some poison water and some slime, and she was feeling quite dirty.

“Why don’t you go back to the apartment? Rocky suggested. “I’ll come by and visit in a bit.”

She smiled at him. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”, she said as she leaned over and gave him a kiss before saying goodbye and teleporting out.

“And I need to go to Angel Grove and get my car and see Emily.”, Jason said. He said goodbye as well before teleporting out

Tommy saw everyone leaving and he smiled over at Kim, before pulling her in and giving her a kiss. “We still have an entire afternoon. Want to go back to the house?”, he asked as he nuzzled her nose in her neck

Kim smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Of course.”, she said as she moved her hand until it was firmly in his. They were almost oblivious to the others as they waved a brief goodbye before teleporting out.

Rocky chuckled softly as he thought about the duo. All the craziness they had seen as rangers, it was nice to see that Tommy and Kim could survive it all and still be as strong as ever, even through a breakup. His thoughts drifted toward his own girlfriend, and he realized how eager he was to see her. He looked at himself and finally noticed the slime that had transferred to him from holding her. She wasn’t the only one who needed a shower. “I think I’m off too guys.”, he said before saying his goodbyes and teleporting out

That left the Astro Rangers and Billy in the Command Chamber. Billy had no plans on leaving, as he had work to do and Trini was stopping by in a bit. The Astro Rangers were ready to get back to the ship and do some work of their own. Andros had come across some information while they were out looking for the slime that could indicate Zordon’s whereabouts, and he wanted the team to investigate.

“We should get going.”, Andros said gesturing to his teammates

Zhane pouted. “What happened to partying on Earth?”

Ashley giggled at the sad look on the silver ranger’s face. “Maybe next weekend. But you decided to go be evil during our clubbing time.”, she pointed out

“I didn’t get a choice you know.”, he said flashing her a smile

“Anyway,” Andros interrupted, cutting off the banter going on between his best friend and the girl he had interest in, “we should get back to the ship.”

Cassie glanced over at the two boys and smiled. Although it appeared as though Ashley and Zhane were oblivious, they sure picked up on the defensive tone in Andros’s voice. The pink ranger turned to Billy. “We’ll see you guys later.”, she said. The others echoed her goodbye’s as they all teleported out.

Jason went to Angel Grove and tried to call his girlfriend. To his surprise, he finally hunted her down at the beach club, sitting at a table with Kat sipping on smoothies. “Hello ladies.”, Jason said as he approached the table and leaned in to give his girlfriend a kiss

“Hey Jase.”, Emily replied returning his affection

“Is everything alright?”, Kat asked before Jason had a chance to separate from his girlfriend

Jason nodded his head yes. “Carri’s fine. I think she’s home now.”

“So she’s not evil?”, Kat said, wanting to him to clarify that

“Not anymore.”, Jason replied. He moved to stand behind Emily, putting his arms around her waist. “I was thinking maybe we could go out this afternoon.”

Emily smiled. “That would be nice.”, she said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out Jason’s key’s, dangling them in front of him. “I brought you a present.”

“Good I was going to need that.”, he replied as he moved his hand to take a hold of hers. “Shall we?”

Emily stood up and looked over at Kat. “I’ll talk to you later.”

The former pink ranger smiled. “Later.”, she said as she went back to her smoothie

Jason led Emily down the beach and toward his car. “I didn’t know you and Kat were such friends.”

“We’re not.”, Emily said before quickly correcting herself. “I mean not that I don’t like her or anything but we’re just acquaintances. She was worried sick about Carri and she called me this morning. She needed someone to talk to who knew about those things.”

“That was nice of you to talk to her.”, Jason said as he smiled at his girlfriend

“It was nice to have someone for me to talk to about you being a ranger.”, Emily replied

Jason looked down at her curiously. “Not that I mind you talking to Kat, but I thought you talked to Kim and Carri.”

“I hardly know Kim. She’s been in LA ever since she came back. Carri and I are friends but,” she paused before she spoke. She wasn’t quite sure if Jason was going to understand what she was going to say. “In talking to Kim, and knowing Carri, they’re both ranger junkies. It’s hard for someone on the inside to know what it feels like to be someone on the outside.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She was right, he didn’t truly understand. After all, she’d consider him to be a ranger junkie too. “Like what it’s like to date you. To hear what’s happened to your friends, to wonder when it’s going to be your turn to be evil or injured or disappear or worse. Carri’s philosophy is that you guys are the best rangers, and that you always pull through. And if you didn’t, well, she says that all of you have accepted putting your lives on the line for the greater good.” She stopped and looked at him for a moment. “Now that Kat’s not a ranger anymore, she knows what it’s like to worry about you guys all the time.”

“We all worry about each other.”, Jason pointed out. He worried about Carri and Zhane when they were evil. He worries about his friends if something happens to them.

“Not like I do.”, Emily said as she looked down at her hands. “I worry every time you guys morph. If I see the black ranger get zapped by a monster during the nightly news all I can think is, is he ok? The little stuff doesn’t phase you guys. You just brush it off and move on.”

Jason thought about it for a moment. She was right in a way. The only time he seriously worried is if someone was on their death bed. Broken bones, rangers turned evil, rangers being captured... those things didn’t really worry him, at least not enough to get worked up over. He would never comprehend what it was like to be in Emily’s shoes, to see him take a beating on the news everyday and wonder if he was alright. He could see where Carri and Kim would be no comfort, as they just brush off the little stuff to as if it were nothing. They all did, with the exception of Rocky and Tommy’s tendency to be overly concerned about their girlfriends.

“I wish you didn’t have to worry.”, Jason finally spoke looking down at her. “You are right. We are ranger junkies. None of us have been on your side in so long we’ve forgotten what it’s like. But it’s nice of you to have Kat to talk to.”

Emily shrugged. “It probably won’t be an everyday thing. But you’re right, it was nice.”

Jason approached his car and walked her over to the passengers side. “How about this,” he started as he opened the door, “I promise to try my hardest not to get into too much trouble if you promise not to worry too much.”

“I promise.”, Emily said giving him a kiss as she climbed into the car. She really only said that to end the conversation. The one thing she was learning about ranger junkies was that they put saving the world first, regardless of the consequence to themselves.

Jason smiled at her as he shut the door then walked over to climb into the drivers side. He put the key in the ignition and started it up in order to take Emily out for a nice, quiet afternoon.

Carri walked out of her bedroom feeling refreshed. She spent thirty minutes in the shower, then proceeded to treat her skin to assorted treatments and lotions for the next thirty minutes before getting dressed. She felt like she needed it, between everything that happened she had felt disgusting.

As she walked out into the living room she saw Rocky sitting in the middle of her couch. “What, you just let yourself in?”, she asked with a grin

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Since when is that any different from usual?”, he questioned as he motioned for her to come sit. She walked over and sat next to him, putting her legs over his and leaning her back against the back of the couch.

Rocky put a hand on her leg and smiled at her. She smiled back, then he took a deep breath and spoke. “I’m sorry if I hurt you on the battlefield.”

“No apology needed. I was really going to kill you. I should be the one full of apologizes.’, she thought for a moment before laughing. “And I’ll bet Jessica really hates me now.”

Rocky rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me started.”, he said as he laughed. “I think somehow my web of lies came together to make strange sense so everything apparently worked out ok. Well she still despises you and wants to learn witchcraft to do God only knows what, but she’s past the you trying to strangle her thing.”

“So if I come home super mean to everybody then you know she’s cast a spell on me.”, Carri joked

“I’d be more worried if you came home super nice.”, Rocky teased as she gave him a playful shove. “Besides she wants to work more on the scenario that makes you evil, and she saves me from you making me fall in love with her.”

“You can tell her she missed the boat on that one. I was already evil, and she wouldn’t have had much luck against an evil, pissy, Yellow Ninja Zeo Ranger.”, she said with a smile. “Although it would have been a fun fight.”

“Fun for who?”, Rocky questioned

“Me. Duh.” She said before looking him straight in the eye as serious as she possibly could. She held the look for a moment before they both laughed.

“I’m glad you’re back on our team today.”, Rocky said after the laughter died down

“Oh? And why’s that?”, she questioned raising an eyebrow

“Because we now have a Sunday afternoon for just the two of us.”, he said as he smiled and squeezed her leg

“And what are you planning on doing this afternoon?”, she asked him

“I was going to start with this.”, he said as he lifted her legs off of his lap and placed them on the couch, before turning his body so he could be on top of hers. He put his hands behind her back and pulled her close, giving her a passionate kiss. She smiled and threw her arms around him, returning the kiss.

The twosome spent the next little bit making the best of their alone time in the apartment, before heading out to do other things.

Kim and Tommy once again found themselves on the porch swing of his parents house. Tommy wrapped his arm around Kim as he swung them both back and forth. He was glad that they were able to resolve their crisis with enough time for them to come back. They hadn’t wasted their opportunity, they had a wonderful afternoon.

“Thank you Tommy.”, Kim said as she smiled and looked up at him

He smiled back at her. “For what?”, he questioned

“For this weekend.”, she replied. “Well the good parts about it anyway.”

“As long as I’m alive I can promise you that you’ll be getting more weekends like this.”, he said. They made eye contact and Tommy leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss.

They pulled away and Kim nuzzled against Tommy’s neck. “I wish we could stay here longer.”

Tommy nodded. “Next time the place is free I’ll see if I can get it from my parents.”

“That would be nice.”, she commented. She adjusted herself so that her head was leaning on Tommy’s chest, then she put her legs up on the swing. She couldn’t think of any moments in her life that she had enjoyed more than this.

Tommy felt her sigh as he rocked them back and forth while running his fingers through her hair. He wanted to hold her there forever, but he knew it wasn’t possible. He still had stuff to do inside the house. It was mostly minor cleaning things. His parents did have a cleaning service they used, but they asked that all guests do a few things before they took off. And if Tommy didn’t comply, they would never let him use the place again.

Yet with everything running through his mind that he needed to get done, all he could think about was sitting her with Kim. They only had to be back within enough time to make it to class the next day. He could stay with her there until then if she’d let him.

As if reading Tommy’s thoughts, Kim spoke. “Do we need to get going?”

He rocked the swing in silence for a few minutes before leaning down to kiss her on the top of her head. “Eventually.”, he replied

Tommy continued to rock the swing back and forth. Eventually Kim fell asleep in his arms, which wasn’t surprising considering the lack of sleep she got the night before. He sat there with Kim and looked out over the ocean, watching as the sun was starting to set. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets he had seen in a long time. He leaned down and kissed Kim on her neck and her eyes fluttered open.

She smiled and adjusted herself, wrapping her arms around him as they watched the sunset together. Once the sun disappeared over the horizon, Tommy lifted her head up and kissed her passionately before helping her up and back into the house.

As much as he hated to admit it, it was time to get everything cleaned up so they could head back to Los Angeles, back to campus, and back to their normal lives.

The End

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