Power Rangers Zeo
"Returns"
Two comrades were looking through the window of an airplane, waiting for it to touchdown in their hometown. Both were excited to get some time off, and to get to go back and see their friends. They only hoped their friends would have time to see them.
“Do you think they will be excited to see us?”, asked Zack Taylor
“I certainly hope so.”, replied Trini Kwan
“It sucks that we won’t be able to stay too long.”, Zack said
Trini smiled. “Yes but, you know, work calls. And you have to admit, we have some of the best jobs in the world.”
Zack nodded his head in agreement. “I am excited to really get into it. We have done so much good with the peace conferences, and now, being able to work on the council in Geneva, that’s going to let us do the most good of all.”
“I can’t wait to tell everyone. My parents included.”
“Me too.”
The two leaned back in their seats, hoping the rest of the trip would go by quickly.
Carri Hillard sat Indian style on her couch watching TV. For the moment, the apartment was empty. Billy was in the Power Chamber working on some stuff. Jason had class. However, she was expecting Kim to come in any minute. Every once in a while, Carri glanced down at her right hand to see the beautiful ring Rocky had given her for Valentines Day. He spoiled her this year. However, he justified it by saying that this really was their first Valentines Day together. He didn’t count last year. It was... well... for lack of a better word, weird.
Kimberly Heart bounced into their apartment, pulling Carri out of her thoughts. “Hello.”, she greeted
Carri looked up and smiled at her. This was the first time that day she had seen Kim. Both of them took off at separate times for classes that morning. So this was the first time she noticed the new piece of jewelry around her neck. “Does someone have a secret admirer?”
Kim smiled. “Tommy gave it to me last night. It was a late birthday present.”
“Did you two go out on a date?”
“No. We’re not dating.”
“That’s nice jewelry for not dating.”
Kim plopped down on the couch beside Carri. “We’re just friends.”
“For now.”, Carri smiled
“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Kim asked
She grinned. “You know. You’re back. Kat’s off with Chris. It’s only a matter of time before he asks you out.”
Kim blushed. “Maybe. But for now, you guys just have to accept that we are just friends.”
“Whatever.”
“Whatcha watching?”, Kim asked trying to change the subject
“Ya know, I haven’t really figured that out yet. Some really weird movie. I found it while flipping through the channels.”
“Is that Brad Pitt?”
“Yeah. Why do you think I stopped on this crap?”
The girls laughed. “So what’s on the agenda for this afternoon?”, asked Kim
“See if Brad gets naked.”, she replied with a goofy grin on her face. “Really though, I’m not sure.”
Kim smiled at her friend. “Did you forget what day it was?”
“It’s February 16, why is that so.... ooooh...”, her eyes lit up as she realized what happened on February 16, “the new section of the mall opened today.”
“Yes and you know good and well that we have to break it in.”, Kim said
Carri hopped up and gave Kim the remote. “Give me five minutes. If Brad gets naked, pause it.”
She laughed as her friend ran off to get ready to go shopping. “You think Kat would wanna come?”
“I donno, is Chris going?”
Kim rolled her eyes more for herself than anything. “Of course not.”
“Then Kat probably doesn’t want to go. But you can call her and ask if you want.”
“What’s up with her and Chris? It seems as though she never wants to hang out with us girls anymore.”
“You know how it is. It’s that newness thing.”
“It’s almost been three months. That’s past the newness factor.”
“I don’t know.”, Carri said with emphasis on the don’t. “I called Kat last weekend to ask her if she wanted to go to the movies with us. She said that she would check with Chris and see if he wanted to go. It’s a friggin chick flick. He wouldn’t want to go. She said Chris likes chick flicks. I debated questioning his sexual orientation but I left it. Then I told her it was kinda a girl thing and she said that was ok she forgot she and Chris had plans anyway.”
“Well I should invite her. Maybe we can get her to come.”
“Be my guest.”
Kim reached over and grabbed her phone. She flipped through the contacts, found Kat, and gave the number a call.
“Hello?”, Katherine Hillard picked up
“Hey.”, Kim greeted
“Hey Kim, what’s up?”
“Not much. Me and Carri are going over to the mall to check out the new section, do you want to come?”
“Chris and I are going out to lunch but maybe we can meet you guys over there later.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “Yeah maybe.”
“I’ll call you when we’re done.”
“Alright. Talk to ya then.”
“Bye.”, Kat said as they hung up
“I think we’ve lost her.”, Kim said as Carri appeared from her room.
Carri stuck her lower lip out. “She won’t come will she?”
“She said maybe after her and Chris eat lunch that they would stop by.”
“What ever happened to girl time? Doesn’t he have male friends he wants to hang out with?”
“Maybe she’s hanging out with his friends.”
“When would she have time? The two of them do hang out with us on occasion. Add class, dance lessons and rangering and she’s got a pretty full week.”
Kim shrugged. “Maybe their relationship is going slow. Maybe after a few more weeks she’ll be back to wanting to have girl time.”
“Maybe. But for now, I believe we have a mall to get to.”
“Darn straight.”, Kim smiled as she stood up and turned of the TV, throwing the remote on the couch
The two girls grabbed their purses and took off, leaving their apartment empty.
Lord Zedd was sitting on his throne when a figure materialized in front of him. “Well look who’s back.”
“Hello Zedd.”, Callisto said with a smile. “I came back to take care of some unfinished business.”
“Which would be?”, Zedd prompted
“I owe the green ranger a little bit of payback.”
“For what?”, he asked
She glared at him. She didn’t like her motives being questioned. She decided to answer him anyway. “For embarrassing me, a goddess, in front of Xena and Hercules.”
“Hey Goldie, look, it’s Calli.”, Rito commented as he and Goldar entered the throne room
Goldar glared at his accomplice, then backed away just before Callisto flung him to the other side of the room. “Callisto, may I ask, what brings you to our palace?”
“What do you think.”, she snapped. She had already told Zedd and was in no mood to repeat herself.
“The destruction of the power rangers?”, he asked
“Just one.”, she replied
“Carri?”
“Jason. Although, Carri would be an added bonus.”, she said with a smirk on her face
“What is it exactly that you want from us?”, Zedd asked her
“Word has it that your wife has an infinite number of dark dimensions. I want to use one.”, Callisto replied
“That would not be a problem. Rita!”, he hollered
“What?”, Rita screeched as she walked into the room. She glared at Callisto “Oh, you’re here.”
“Callisto is going to use one of your dark dimensions to destroy the green ranger.”, Zedd explained
“Hmph. Good luck. You’re welcome to use this one but I don’t think you’ll get any results.”, she said a piece of paper materializing in her hands with coordinates for one of her dimensions.
The goddess glared at her. “Don’t underestimate me.” And with that, she disappeared to Rita’s dark dimension to start working on her evil plan.
Jason Lee Scott wandered into his apartment around five thirty, after his lab had ended. The apartment was empty, but that was to be expected. He had heard that the new section of the mall was finally opening that day, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out were the girls had gone. Billy, of course, was off helping Zordon.
Jason scrummaged through the fridge to find a cold drink. He didn’t see anything exciting, so he settled for juice. As Jason sat down to watch TV, there was a knock at the door. He wasn’t expecting anybody, and he doubted that anyone else was. Rocky and Tommy tend to just let themselves in. He got up and walked over to the door. Peering through the peephole, a smile came across his face.
“Well look who came home.”, Jason said opening the door to reveal his visitors
“We had to come back for a visit.”, Zack said giving his old friend a hug
Trini hugged Jason as well. “Yes, we haven’t been to Angel Grove in so long and now that we’ve got new jobs in Geneva it will probably be even longer before we come back.”
“New jobs?”, Jason asked as he motioned for his friends to come in and shut the door behind them
“We’re working for a council up there that promotes peace.”, Zack told him
“That’s great guys.”, Jason replied. The three of them sat down. There was a few seconds of silence. “So... how did you find me here?”
“Billy.”, Trini replied. “We’ve been sending each other letters.”
“Really?”, Jason asked
Trini smiled. “Yes. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until he wrote me one day.”
“Speaking of Billy, where is he?”, asked Zack
“The Power Chamber, of course.”, replied Jason
“And Kim?”, he asked
Jason grinned. “The mall opened up a new section. I don’t think I have to tell you the rest.”
Zack laughed. “Of course. She went shopping.”
“Do you think she will be home soon?”, asked Trini
He shrugged. “With her and Carri, who knows.”
“I take it Carri’s a shopper.”, Zack said
“Carri and Kim can make a sport out of it.”, he replied laughing. Suddenly, Jason’s cell phone went off. “Sorry guys. Let me grab it real quick.” Jason glanced at the caller ID. He smiled as he picked up. “We were just talking about you.”
“A, who’s we? And B, is that a good thing or a bad thing?”, Carri asked
He laughed. “You’ll find out. On both accounts. So what’s up?”
“Me and Kim are going out to eat. We are trying to get everyone to join. You in?”
“But of course. Only if I can bring some friends.”
“Did Emily come by?”
“I don’t expect to see her until I go down there tomorrow.”
“Then who are your friends?”
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you. Just plan for two more.”
“Fine then. Talk to ya later.”
“Later.”, he said hanging up the phone. “Well that was Carri. She was calling to invite me to dinner and you guys are coming too.”
“Is everybody going to be there?”, Zack asked. Jason nodded. “We’ll let’s get going then.”
The trio got up and took off, leaving the apartment for the time being.
Kim and Carri sat down at the long table at Outback waiting for their friends to arrive.
“So is this really Australian eating?”, Kim joked
Carri giggled. “I donno.... my dad does make a mean steak.”
“What are you talking about? Of course this is authentic Australian eating.”, their waiter said placing coasters down on the table
“I may be hard to convince. The American part of me may be fooled, it’s the Australian part that knows better.”, Carri said smiling at him
He smiled back at her. “I wouldn’t peg you for an Aussie.”
“Don’t let her fool you. She may have been born there, but she is more of a Californian girl than anything. She only came back to visit her family two weeks each during summer and winter breaks.”, Kat said sitting down with her boyfriend across from the two girls
“See there’s an authentic Australian accent.”, the waiter replied
“Don’t listen to her. Just because I don’t have an accent doesn’t mean I’m still not half Australian. Just the half of me that was raised in California stands out more.”, she defended her heritage
Their waiter leaned on the table beside Carri. “So what can I get you to drink?”
“Cokes for us please.”, Chris Black said as he scooted in closer to Kat. Carri and Kim smiled as they ordered their drinks.
“Is the rest of your party on their way?”, he asked before he left to get their beverages
“I sure hope so.”, said Kim
The waiter nodded and took off. The foursome started to chit chat. A few minutes later, Rocky walked in, followed by Billy.
“Hey baby, what’s up?”, Rocky DeSantos asked, giving Carri a kiss and then sitting down beside her
“Not much. Just waiting for all you pokey people to get here.”, she replied
“Well I for one was not being pokey, I was busy.”, Billy Cranston said sitting down beside Rocky.
“How was the mall?”, Rocky asked
Kim smiled. “We came, we saw, we conquered.” The girls laughed.
“In other words you purchased?”, he asked
“Just a few things.”, Carri said smiling. “It’s really cool. You will have to come check it out sometime.”, she said glancing over to her cousin
“I will. Just by the time we got done with lunch we figured you guys were probably knee deep in shopping so we would just go some other time.”, she replied
Their waiter came back and wedged in between Carri and Rocky to set the drinks down. Rocky looked up at their waiter and rested his arm on the top of Carri’s chair. The waiter backed up. Carri smiled at Kim. The waiter was kind of harmlessly flirting earlier. Rocky put a quick stop to that. She had told Kim that he sometimes got jealous. Not that he didn’t trust her, he just didn’t like other guys trying to hang on her. Their waiter took the boys drink orders and left again.
“I wish everyone would hurry up I’m starving.”, Rocky commented removing his arm and flipping through the menu
“Wait, let me guess, whenever Tommy hurries up and gets here we can eat right?”, Jason asked as he and his two guests walked in
Everyone looked up and over at him. Billy smiled as he and Kim were the first two to jump up.
“It is so good to see you guys!”, Kim exclaimed giving her two friends a hug
Billy gave Zack a hug, then smiled at Trini. “How long are you here for?”, he asked as he hugged her
“Just a few weeks. We are starting a new job in Geneva soon.”, she told him
“Really? That’s great.”, Billy replied. Although he did mean it, seeing Trini there kind of made him hope that his friends would stick around.
“How are you guys doing?”, Rocky asked as he turned around and smiled at them
“Doing good.”, Zack replied
Jason looked at the table. “You know Carri kind of already right?”
They nodded. She turned and smiled and said hello.
“Have you met Kat?”, asked Jason
“Not officially.”, Trini replied
“Guys this is Carri’s cousin Katherine, but we all call her Kat. Kat, meet Zack and Trini. And this is her boyfriend Chris.”, Jason said doing the introductions
“Nice meeting you.”, Kat said as Chris smiled and nodded.
“Is that.... Zack and Trini?”, a voice piped up from behind
“Tommy, how are you?”, Zack asked as he hugged an old friend
“I’m doing fine, how about you guys.”, Tommy Oliver said as he gave them both a hug
“Doing good. We thought we could come by for a visit before we started our new jobs.”, Trini told him
“So the Peace Conferences are done?”, asked Tommy
“For the most part. One of the things that came out of the conferences was a council in Geneva, which we were asked to stay and be a part of.”, Zack explained
“Wow, that’s great.”, Kim congratulated her friends
There was a silence over the group. “Why don’t we all sit down so we can eat.”, suggested Jason
Billy and Kim returned to their seats. Tommy took the open seat beside Kim. Trini and Zack sat in the two seats across from Rocky and Billy. And Jason took the last remaining seat beside Kat.
“This is so cool. It’s just like old times.”, Kim said smiling and looking at the original rangers
“Better than old times I would hope.”, Rocky said
Kim thought for a moment. “You’re right. Not only do I have my four best friends I started high school with, but all the stragglers we have picked up along the way.”, she smiled as she put an arm around Tommy, then one around Carri, while reaching over to grab Rocky’s shoulder.
“Tommy’s almost been around long enough to be considered an original.”, Jason said smiling
“That’s right. It wasn’t too far into our freshman year when he showed up.”, added Zack
Kim smiled. “I remember. Well these guys...”, she paused and pointed to Rocky, Carri, Kat and Chris, “are defiantly stragglers.”
“How long have you guys known each other?”, asked Chris
“That’s a complicated story.”, Jason said
“I’ve known her all my life.”, Carri said pointed to Kat. The table laughed.
“Zack, Carri and I were friends through the third grade. Then we didn’t see each other again until last summer.”, Trini said
“And Trini, Zack, Billy, Kim and I have all known each other since the fourth grade although we didn’t become friends until middle school.”, Jason said
“We met Tommy during our freshman year of high school, and Rocky almost a year later.”, Kim continued
“That’s when me, Jase and Trini took off for the peace conferences.”, Zack pointed out
“I was at the conferences until, what, a little over a year ago?”, Jason asked. The others nodded.
“I came to the states almost a year after they left, during our junior year.”, Kat added
“Thankfully. I spent two in a half years trying to convince my parents let me go back to Angel Grove. It wasn’t until you came that I had a leg to stand on.”, Carri said
“So you came to Angel Grove with Kat?”, asked Chris
“Not quite. It took me the rest of my junior year to convince my parents. Then they made me stay all summer. So it wasn’t until the day before school started that they finally let me go.”, she explained. She looked around the table. “So as you can see, I’m the newbie.”
“Well actually I’m the newbie, unless you don’t include me in your group.”, Chris corrected
Kat put an arm around him. “Of course we do.”
He smiled. “You know you’re going to have to take me to Angel Grove and show me around. Maybe I can understand what’s so special about it that you guys like to come back.”
“I came back because I missed it. The town, my friends, even my extracurricular activities.”, Jason said
“I know that feeling. I was crushed to leave all of my friends behind. I loved the town, the hangouts, the sun, the beach.... let me tell you, my first winter in New York I about died. I went to bed one night and woke up and looked out the window and there was a foot in a half of snow, with the blizzard still dumping it. I hid myself back in the bed and when my brother tried to get me to come out in it, I asked him if he’d flipped his lid.”
Rocky laughed. “Well we certainly don’t get that kind of weather around here.”
“You wouldn’t have lasted in Europe.”, Jason told her
She looked down at him. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you didn’t last in Europe.”
“She’s got you there.”, Zack said
Jason smiled. Their waiter returned to the table to get everyone else’s drinks, and to start taking orders. After he left, the group continued to tell stories and have a good time while they were waiting for their dinner to arrive.
“Look at them. All in one place. They are all so innocent looking. It makes me sick.”, Rita said as she peered through her telescope to spy on them
“If I had the same powers as Callisto, I would throw one giant fireball down at them, catching them off guard and destroying them all.”, Zedd said wishfully
“Well you don’t.”, Rita snapped. “All we’ve got are our monsters and them.”, she said slinging a finger in Goldar and Rito’s direction
Zedd smiled. “I have been working on a plan.”
“And you haven’t shared?”, Rita asked
“It is not perfected yet. Once I have all of the details ready to put into play, I will share it with you.”
Rita made a face. “I don’t think I can stand all the suspense.”
“This is something I have been working on for a while. Hopefully in the next few weeks it will be ready.”
“Weeks?”, Rita whined
“It will go by. Besides, for now we must let Callisto have her fun.”
“And fun it will be.”, Callisto said as she appeared back from the dimension
“Are you going to get the green ranger?”, asked Rita
“Not yet.”, she replied. “I just need one more thing from you. Within a few hours, I will be ready for him. Then he will know the price for embarrassing a goddess.”
Jason stood in the kitchen the next morning eating breakfast. It was too early. And they had all stayed up too late the night before. But he had to get up early so he could surprise Emily early. She knew he was coming down, she just didn’t expect him until later.
As he stood there he heard a door creek open, and footsteps coming down the hall. He looked as the sleepy figure materialized before him. “I didn’t wake you did I?”
She smiled. “An earthquake couldn’t wake me.”, Carri told him. “I woke up with a dry throat. I just need some water.” She walked over toward the cabinet and got out a glass, then filled it with water. She leaned against the sink and turned to Jason. “You going to see Emily?”
“Yeah.”, he replied. “I’m excited. I actually get to spend the entire weekend with her. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to do that.”
She smiled at him. “I’m glad. You guys deserve some time.”
“What are you doing today?”, he asked
She shrugged. “Going back to sleep.”
“After that?”
“Donno. Rocky has to work all afternoon today. So probably get together with the others. If they’re not busy.”
“When was the last time you guys had an entire weekend?”
“Ha. Probably last summer. But it’s alright. At least we see each other during the week. And the weekends aren’t bad. He works later on Saturdays, but only in the mornings on Sundays.”
“Is he still going sparring with Tommy?”
“Just because you have better things to do doesn’t mean they don’t. This is the one day a week you guys go down to the Youth Center and spar.”
“I know. I miss being able to go down there more often.”
“Yeah but LA’s fabulous, and we are still close enough to home.”
“True. I just miss seeing Emily.”
Carri put her glass in the sink. She smiled at her friend. “I should go down there some Saturdays while you guys are there. I haven’t talked to Emily in a while. Not to mention I miss Ernie’s burgers.”
“Emily misses you guys too.”
“I know. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been back. Well not counting monster attacks.... but tell Emily I said hello.”
“I will.”
Carri walked past Jason and turned to go back to bed. “Have fun this weekend.”
He smiled. “See you when I get back.”
As Carri was exiting the kitchen, a figure appeared in front of her. Her eyes got wide. “You!”, she exclaimed
“Hello.”, Callisto greeted as she threw Carri across the room. Carri hit her head hard on the wall and slid down to the floor unconscious.
“Leave her alone!”, Jason yelled
Callisto grabbed him by the throat. “Done.”, she said and they both disappeared.
Kim crawled out of bed later that morning. She looked down the hall. Billy’s door was still closed. Jason’s was open. He had left to go see his girlfriend that morning. Carri’s room door was open too. She could not imagine what could have gotten her out of bed that early. She wasn’t sure if even an early bird sale would do the trick.
Kim walked out of the hallway and into the living room and that’s when she saw her friend crumpled up against the wall. She ran over to her. “Carri!”, she exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulder and shaking her
Carri laid still for a moment. Kim called her name and shook her once more. Carri’s eyes fluttered open and she slowly focused on the image in front of her. “Kim?”
“Oh my gosh, Carri, what happened?”
“Where’s Jason?”
“He went to see Emily this morning, remember?”
Carri sat up and looked oddly at her friend. Then she tore off for her room. Kim followed her.
“Carri maybe you need to sit down, you hit your head, things may be a little fuzzy right now.”
Ignoring her, Carri grabbed her communicator. “Jason?”, she called paging him
She heard the faint noise of a communicator going off. She ran back out to the kitchen and called Jason again. She heard the noise louder when she got out there. Then she found it. Laying on the floor near the kitchen was Jason’s communicator.
Carri knelt on the floor to pick it up. Kim came and knelt down beside her. “What’s going on?”, Kim asked
“She was here.”, Carri replied
“She? Who she?”
“Callisto.”, she said standing up. “She must have took Jason with her.” Carri went back down the hallway towards her room. “Wake Billy up. I’m going to change. We’ll need everybody in the Power Chamber. This is an emergency.”
Jason found himself chained to a wall in one of Rita’s dark dimensions. “What do you want with me?”, he asked her
“Isn’t it obvious?”, she asked as she hit him across the face. She grabbed his jaw and made him look her in the eyes. “You embarrassed me. It’s the least I can do to torture you.”
“My friends will find me.”
She laughed. “Maybe. It would just be an added bonus. What better way to torture someone then to kill their friends slowly and painfully in front of them.”
Jason jumped out at her as far as his chains would allow. She stepped back and laughed at him as she let the torture begin.
The four rangers and Billy met in the Power Chamber mid morning on that Saturday.
“Alpha what’s so urgent?”, Rocky asked
Alpha turned and looked to Carri. She nodded and looked at the others. “Callisto has Jason.”
“What?”, Tommy questioned angrily
“He was leaving this morning... she came in, knocked me out, and took him and left.”
“Are you ok?”, Rocky asked putting a hand on her arm.
She nodded. “She wasn’t after me this time.”
“Why would she be after Jason?”, asked Kat
The others look thoughtful. Billy was the first to speak. “Could it have anything to do with what happened when we went to ancient Greece?”
“Callisto has already proven that she holds a long grudge.”, Alpha pointed out
“Zordon’s right. She hates us because she hates our relatives.”, Tommy said pointing to himself and Carri
“So what exactly happened in Greece?”, asked Rocky
Billy looked over at his friends. “She was burning villages. Xena and Hercules were having trouble handling her. Jason said we should help... we weren’t sure how... he said the Ninjetti rangers should attack. We did and we... well although we may have all attacked, Jason embarrassed her.”
“And she’s been holding a grudge since then.”, Carri said
“It makes sense.”, Tommy said
“If she vowed revenge on Jason then... well she may not have been able to remember until we went back in time.”, Billy tried to offer an explanation
“And now that you jogged her memory, she’s pissed.”, added Rocky
“So what can we do?”, asked Kat
“Can we scan for him?”, asked Carri
Billy thought for a moment. “We can try. Although he doesn’t have his communicator, and he isn’t morphed, so it might be easier to scan for Callisto. If she’s been waiting for this revenge that long I doubt she’s going to leave him until she’s finished.”
Tommy looked at Billy. “I don’t think I need to say this, but we have to do this quickly. I don’t think time is on our side.”
Billy nodded as he took Alpha and went off to start working.
Emily woke up early Saturday morning. She was excited, and with good reason. She was finally going to get to spend a weekend with her boyfriend. She hoped he would arrive quickly. She got dressed and waited for him. By noon, he still hadn’t shown. She was starting to get worried.
Emily picked up the phone and dialed his number. The phone rang a few times, then his voicemail picked up. “Hey Jase, it’s me.... I just wanted to know where you were at. Call me.” She sighed as she hung up the phone.
“What’s wrong?”, asked her friend and roommate Jennifer as she came in and sat down beside her
“It’s Jason. All week we’ve been talking about getting to spend the weekend together. And now he’s nowhere to be found.”, Emily explained
Jennifer put an arm around her friend. “Maybe something happened. Like he got a flat tire.”
“He would have called.”
“And his phone battery is dead.”
Emily smiled. “Maybe.”
“Hey there is no need for you to mope around here all day and wait for him. Give me a half an hour to get ready, and then we can go down to the Beach Club and grab lunch, and I’ll wait with you until he gets there.”, Jennifer suggested
She thought for a moment. “You know... that’s actually not a bad idea.”
Jennifer smiled as she hopped up and went to the shower. Emily picked up the phone and called Jason back. She waited for the voicemail to pick up. “Hey Jase, if you get here in the next thirty or forty-five minutes, come by my place. If not, just meet me at the Beach Club.” Emily smiled as she hung up the phone. Jason probably just got hung up that morning. She was sure that by the time they finished eating lunch, Jason would be there to take her out.
Billy let out a sigh of relief. It had taken him over two hours and he worked straight through lunch, but by that afternoon he had found them. Billy went to page his friends. Four flashes of light came in almost together.
“Did you find him?”, Tommy asked
“I found Callisto in one of Rita’s dark dimensions. However, there is no doubt that there is zeo energy in there with her.”, Billy told them
“Can we teleport him out?”, asked Kat
“No. Unfortunately Callisto put up some sort of device prohibiting anybody from teleporting out. However, we can teleport in.”, Billy said
“Well then what are we waiting for?”, asked Carri
Rocky looked at her. “She’s going to let us in but not out? Something’s not right about that.”
“Rocky’s right.”, Tommy agreed. “Besides, what do we do once we get there?”
“I would imagine that whatever is keeping people from teleporting out can be destroyed, but that is just speculation.”, Billy said
Carri looked around at her friends. “Guys we have to. This is Callisto. She will kill him.”
Kat nodded. “She’s right we have to try.”
The boys looked at each other. They weren’t sure that this was such a good idea. But they knew the girls were right.
“We just have to be careful. She’ll kill us too.”, Rocky said looking more towards his girlfriend than anything. Anytime Callisto comes back he worries about her and with good reason. He didn’t know what he would do if Callisto really hurt Carri or even worse.... well he didn’t want to think about it. As if reading his mind, Carri reached over and squeezed his hand.
“We’ll all come back in one piece. I promise.”, she said
He smiled at her. “Let’s do this.”
“It’s morphin time!”, yelled Tommy
“ZEO RANGER I, PINK!”
“ZEO RANGER II, YELLOW!”
“ZEO RANGER III, BLUE!”
“ZEO RANGER V, RED!”
Jason was crumpled up against the wall. Every bone in his body ached. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on. He hoped that she would think she had defeated him, and release his arms. Then he could morph. He may or may not be able to get out of there, but at least he would stand a fighting chance.
Callisto stood in front of him and lifted his head up. She smiled. “What to do with you now.... there’s so much to try... torture has always been my favorite thing you know.”
Jason managed a weak laugh. “Do your worst.”, he hissed although he didn’t really mean it.
She let out a crazy laugh. “If you think that you are going to be fortunate enough to see the worst I can do to you right now, you are sadly mistaken. No, that would be too kind.”, she paused as she thought about what she wanted to do next. She was so absorbed in what she was working on she never saw the rangers teleport in.
“Hey bitch,” Carri spat as she executed one of her power moves, “that was for this morning.”
Callisto was flung across the dimension and she hit the wall hard. She smiled as she looked up at the rangers. “I was hoping you’d join us. Now I just have to figure out who I’m going to kill first.”, she said as she flung all of the rangers back. Then she jumped up prepared to attack.
Jason watched helplessly as Callisto fought his friends. He wanted to help them. She was throwing them around like it was nothing. He looked at them. They looked like they were looking for something. He thought he might have known what it was. There was a device he noticed when she first brought them there, but she had tried to keep it hidden. Callisto, however, wasn’t giving them any chance to regroup, let alone find what they were looking for.
“Zeo five power weapon!”, Tommy yelled as his sword appeared in his hands. He charged her full on. She fought with him for a few seconds, until she decided she was through. She flung over in the direction of the rangers. They tried to scatter, but Tommy knocked the other rangers down.
Callisto smiled. This was going better than she could have ever hoped for. While the rangers were on the floor, she started throwing fireballs at them. She watched as they rolled away, afraid for their lives.
They jumped up and tried to attack again. This time it was Rocky and Kat who called for their weapons and ran after her. She defended herself against both of them. Tommy ran up with his sword. She threw Rocky and Kat down, kicked the sword out of Tommy’s hands, and then threw him down as well. She looked at the three rangers.
She was so preoccupied with them that she had completely forgotten about the fourth ranger. Carri picked Tommy’s zeo sword up off the floor and used it to come up behind her and slice her in half. Carri knew it wouldn’t do much, except piss her off.
And that it did. Callisto wasted no time grabbing her by the throat and slamming her across the room and into the wall. Carri was slow to get back to her feet. Callisto moved quickly to get by her side. She kicked her down, and as the other rangers were approaching she did a back flip to get behind her hostage, and grabbed Jason’s hair, pulling him up and putting her sword to his throat.
“Enough!”, she yelled. “Take one more step rangers and I will let you watch him bleed to death.”
The rangers stopped dead in their tracks. Carri looked at her friends. She was a few feet from Jason, the others were still halfway across the room. She wanted to do something to help. She saw Rocky shake his head no.
Callisto laughed. “Very good blue ranger. Don’t encourage her to do something stupid to get you all killed. Now power down.”
The rangers were hesitant. “Guys don’t do it!”, Jason exclaimed as Callisto tightened her grip on him and pulled the sword tighter.
“How sweet he wants you to let him give up his life and for what? So he doesn’t have to watch me kill you? Well I might kill you,” she said tightening up once more, “but I will definitely kill him.”
The rangers reluctantly powered down. “You rangers. So predictable. You have to save your friends above all else. Now call on your zeonizers.”
“We’ll never give you our powers.”, Tommy said
“Yes you will your friends life hangs in the balance.”, Callisto pointed out. “Besides it’s not your powers I want, let’s not forget I am a goddess. I just don’t want you to use them. So until I see a pile of zeonizers sitting in the middle of all of us I am not letting him go.”
The rangers glanced at Tommy, unsure of what they should do. They did not want to give up their powers, but it was not worth Jason’s life. If there was something, anything, now was the time. Tommy unfortunately was as baffled as the rest of them and decided to continue to play along. He was the first to throw down his zeonizers. The others reluctantly followed.
“We followed all of your demands, now let him go.”, ordered Tommy
She laughed. “You are in no position to be handing out orders.”
“Let him go.”, Carri said threateningly
Callisto shifted quickly and took her sword and put it within millimeters from Carri’s heart. “No.”
Rocky started to move forward and Callisto turned back to Jason. “One more step and I’ll have both of them killed so fast you won’t even know what happened.”
“What do you want from us?”, Kat asked
“Well poor Jason is suffering alone I think as his friends you can suffer with him.” As she spoke, four more sets of chains appeared on the floor. “Put those on yourselves.”
The rangers knew that if they did that, all hope was lost. Callisto would certainly kill all of them. And with her hands on Jason, they didn’t know what they could do to stop her.
Jason looked at his friends. He knew what they were thinking. That this was it. He would rather them sacrifice him, than let her kill all of them allowing this lunatic bitch to run free on Earth with Rita and Zedd. He knew they could never do that though, even though it may have been what was right. He glanced at Callisto. She was staring at the rangers. Well, Rocky, Kat and Tommy. She could see Carri out of the corner of her eye but she wasn’t paying her as much attention. Jason quickly made eye contact with her. He hoped she understood that he was getting ready to do something. If he could make Callisto let go for even a split second, somebody would be able to make a move.
Jason took a minute to gather all the strength he had left. He couldn’t use his hands, so he would have to kick her. She had loosed her grip on him since she had gone after Carri. That certainly helped. He figured if he could kick her right side, she would falter to her left moving her sword away from his throat and giving someone a chance to attack. He made eye contact with Carri one more time and gave her a half smile. Then quickly he swung his leg back and hit Callisto’s right side.
As he was starting to kick his leg back, he heard Carri yell something. It seemed like things flew by after that. Callisto, who was so busy looking at the other rangers, didn’t realize Jason was planning anything until it was too late. She wasn’t completely balanced when Jason kicked her, and she wavered to her left. Before she had a chance to think about regaining her composure, the Yellow Panther Ninjetti was on top of her, pulling them both to the ground.
Jason collapsed after Callisto let go. He saw Carri attack her more fiercely than before. With one kick, Carri tore the sword out of Callisto’s hands. She picked it up, and turned around and sliced through the metal that was holding Jason there. Callisto leaped on top of her and pulled her to the ground, and they both rolled off. Jason saw his friends pick up their zeonizers and he heard Tommy yell. Jason wasted no time getting in on the action.
“ZEO RANGER IV, GREEN!”
His friends were quickly at his side. “Are you ok?”, asked Tommy
“I will be.”, Jason said. “Keep her busy.”
“Not a problem.”, Rocky replied as he ran over to help the yellow ninjetti
The others quickly joined him. Callisto was so furious that she didn’t even notice what Jason was doing.
Jason had found what he thought the others were looking for. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it looked like it was projecting some sort of force field. He decided that what they probably want was it destroyed, so he took the liberty to do it himself. Jason then ran across the floor, scooping up the last set of zeonizers on his way over. He was going to help his friends when before he knew it, the entire team was teleported back to the Power Chamber.
Everybody powered down. “What happened?”, asked Tommy
“Someone destroyed the device that was keeping you there. It took me a few seconds to lock on to your signals and then I got you all out of there.”, Billy replied
Carri looked panicked. “No, I have to go back, my....”
Jason extended his hand to show what he had picked up. She smiled at him as she took them back. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “No, thank you. All of you, if it weren’t for you guys....”
Tommy put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s us who should be thanking you. You gave us an opening. Without it.... well we didn’t know what we were going to do.”, he said looking at his friend. “So how do you feel?”
“Alright considering. I think morphing fixed most of the damage she caused.”, he replied
Billy walked over to him. “Just to be safe, I would like to scan you to make sure you’re alright.”
Jason nodded and allowed Billy to walk him to one of the medical beds.
Rocky put his arms around Carri. He really thought that Callisto was going to finish her off earlier. But then, he knew if given the chance, Callisto would probably rather do to her ten times worse than what she did to Jason. Or at the very least, finish her off in a fight to the death.
Carri looked up at him. She put her hands around his neck and gave him a kiss. “We’ll get her eventually.”
“Hopefully before she gets us.”, he said. He looked at his girlfriend. Although he wanted more than anything to just take her home and relax with her, he knew that he had to go back to work. He leaned in and gave her one more long kiss. “I have to get going. Duty calls.”
She smiled at him. “I’ll see ya later.”
“Definitely.”, he replied as he teleported out
Kat looked down at her watch. She gasped. “That dance class I was going to teach this afternoon starts in five minutes!”, she exclaimed
“Well go down there.”, Carri said
“How am I supposed to get home?”, asked Kat
“Don’t worry. I’ll drive down there and pick you up.”, she assured her
“Thank you.”, Kat said as she quickly teleported out
Carri walked over and stood next to Tommy as Billy was examining Jason. Billy motioned for him to sit up.
“Well?”, asked Tommy
“He’ll be fine. He just may be a little sore for a while.”, Billy said
Jason smiled. “No kidding.”, he said rubbing his sore muscles. He stopped at thought for a moment. He had almost forgotten how this day started. Then it hit him. “What time is it?”, he asked. Carri went and picked his communicator up, then handed it to him. He looked at the time. It was almost three. He jumped up.
“What’s the rush?”, asked Tommy
“Emily.”, he replied. He was worried. He didn’t know what he was going to say. And who said she even wanted to see him. He had to go to her though, he had to try. “I have to get to Angel Grove.”
“After the day you’ve had, you need to relax. I wouldn’t recommend driving down there.”, Billy said
“I have to.”, he snapped
“Why don’t you ride down there with me. I have to go get Kat anyway.”, Carri suggested
“Are you sure?”, Jason asked
She nodded. She knew how much this weekend meant to the two of them.
“Thank you.”, he said
“Come on.”, she said. “Let’s go by the apartment and then we’ll go to Angel Grove.”
The two teleported out. Tommy stayed behind to talk to Billy for a few minutes, then he exited as well leaving the Power Chamber calm for the moment.
Kim rushed up to her friends when she saw them teleport in. “Oh my gosh are you ok?”, she asked giving her friend a hug
Jason winced. “I’ll live.” Kim let go when she saw he was sore. Jason noticed Zack and Trini sitting on their couch.
“What happened?”, asked Zack
“Callisto took me to one of Rita’s dark dimensions to torture me.”, he answered
“How did they get you out?”, wondered Trini
“Operation rescue Jason.”, Carri said with a smile
Jason laughed. “I’m just lucky you’re crazy or Zordon would be recruiting new rangers right about now.”
“Hey anytime I have to opportunity to pull one over on Callisto, I’m in.”, she replied as she went to collect her things so they could leave.
“Where are you going?”, asked Kim
“To pick Kat up from the Youth Center. And to take Jason to see Emily.”, Carri told her
Jason grabbed his wallet off the counter and went to listen to his phone messages. “We need to get down to the beach club.”
Carri nodded. Kim looked at her friend. “Are you sure you want to still go down there after everything you went through this morning?”
“I have to.”, Jason replied
“Why don’t you just call her?”, asked Zack
“And tell her what? I need to go down there. It’s going to be hard enough to get her to understand and forgive me in person.”, Jason told him. He looked at Carri and saw she was ready. “We’ll see you guys later.”
There was a chorus of “bye’s” as the two walked out the door and headed for Angel Grove.
It was around three fourty-five when they finally pulled up at the beach club. Jason thanked Carri for the ride and he leaped out of the car. He saw Emily and her friend Jennifer sitting at one of the tables. He ran over to his girlfriend. “Emily I am so sorry.”
“Where the hell have you been? We have been sitting here for two and a half hours and you couldn’t even call me to tell me you were going to be late!”, she exclaimed
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. It....”, Jason paused. He wasn’t sure what to say. “Will you take a walk with me?”, he asked
Emily crossed her arms and glared at him. Slowly she got up out of her seat. “Fine but I hope there is some sort of explanation soon. Don’t think for one second that you can just walk me down the beach and all is forgotten.”
“I know Emily.”, he said. Jason started to walk and Emily followed him.
Carri got out of her car a few minutes after Jason. She walked towards the club in time to see the two of them walk off. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She walked over to the bar and sat down. “Hey Ernie. So how pissed was she?”
He glared at her. “Do you really have to ask that question.”
She sighed. “I hate it for them.”
“She has no idea does she?”, Ernie asked
Carri shook her head no. “That’s where we were you know. There was an emergency. Jason was the emergency. I just don’t know how he can explain that to her without...”, she let her voice trail off
Ernie quickly changed the mood. “Do you want something to drink?”
She thought for a moment. “Do you have any good fresh fruit?”
“I just got some great looking strawberries in this morning.”
“Then give me a strawberry..... orange.... yeah strawberry-orange smoothie.”
He smiled as he went to fix it for her. A few minutes later he sat the cold beverage in front of her.
“Thanks Ernie.”, she said setting a few dollars down on the counter. She sipped it and turned to look toward the ocean. She thought about Rocky. She figured she had nothing better to do, so she might as well take a walk down the beach and see what he was up to. She took her flip flops off and rolled up her pants legs, then she went down to the ocean and started walking.
Emily and Jason walked in silence until they were out of view of the beach club. They stood off in an area where nobody could really see them. Emily looked at him. “Tell me the truth. Where were you today?”
He sighed. He hated to say this, but it was all he could come up with. “There was an emergency.”
Emily uncrossed her arms and threw them down by her sides. “There’s always an emergency Jason. That has been the story of our relationship.”, she said. He started to talk but she put a hand up. “What is it really? Oh god are you sleeping with someone? Who is it? Is it Carri? No Rocky wouldn’t let that happen. Is it Kim? It is isn’t? I knew it was a bad idea for you to move in with some girl I hardly knew. Is that why you were meeting with me this weekend? To let me down gently?”
Jason fought back the tears that were forming in his eyes. He knew how hard things had been. He loved her so much. It hurt not being able to tell her the truth. “Emily I would never cheat on you. I love you. I have been looking forward to spending every moment of this weekend with you.”
“Then where were you? And don’t say an emergency.”, she said angrily
Jason opened his mouth but no words came out. He truly didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to lie to her. But he couldn’t tell her.
Emily looked at him, and the tears started falling down her cheeks. She loved him, but what she wanted more than anything was an explanation, the truth. He owed her that much.
To his surprise, Jason didn’t have to worry long about what to say. He quickly saw his morning come back to haunt him.
“So touching.”, Callisto said as she appeared before him to finish off the job
Jason wasted no time pulling Emily behind him. “Leave us alone!”
“And why would you think I would do that? After all, you’re still alive. And I’m not done with you yet. Of course, maybe I will start with her. Watching her die would hurt more than watching anyone else, wouldn’t it?”
“What’s going on?”, Emily asked Jason
“This.”, Callisto said picking Jason up by the throat and looking at Emily. She was going to attack his girlfriend, but she noticed that her attention had shifted for the moment to something else. Callisto followed her gaze down to the shoreline. She smiled as she turned towards her next victim.
“Carri!”, Emily hollered but it was too late
Carri looked up just in time to see Callisto, as the goddess used her powers to lift her off the ground and fling her up the beach. Carri skidded across the sand, her shoes and her drink flying out of her hands. She looked over and saw Callisto’s feet in front of her. Callisto picked her up by the throat as well.
Callisto looked Carri in the eyes. “Well this is my lucky day. Two for one.”
Without thinking, Emily ran at Callisto and tried to knock her down. Callisto took two steps backwards and quickly threw Jason and Carri down and picked up Emily. The goddess smiled. “You were going to die first anyway.”
Carri leaped up and grabbed Callisto’s arm, pulling her sword back before she could use it. Jason came up and kicked her. She let Emily go. She turned around and kicked Carri back, then focused on Jason and Emily. “You guys aren’t playing very nice.”, she said
“Neither do you.”, Jason said as he jumped up and attacked her.
Emily stood there frozen with fear. She wanted to help Jason but she didn’t know what to do. She watched Jason fight with Callisto, until she flung Jason back and he hit her, both of them hitting the ground hard.
Jason lay there clutching his sides. His last encounter with Callisto had weakened him, and he wasn’t sure he was up for another one yet, especially without being morphed.
“Are you ok?”, Emily asked him
He nodded his head yes, although he wasn’t sure at the moment. Suddenly Carri jumped in front of Callisto and kneed her in the stomach. She grabbed her wrist and tried to force her to let go of her sword. Unfortunately, with Callisto being a goddess and Carri yielding none of her ranger powers, she had no chance. Callisto returned the knee. Carri stumbled back a few feet.
Callisto smiled at her. “Now let’s see how you like being sliced in half.”
Carri’s eyes widened as Callisto took a swing at her midsection. She tried to jump back, but couldn’t completely avoid the attack. She cringed as she felt Callisto’s blade run across her stomach.
Callisto laughed as she threw Carri to the ground beside Jason and Emily. Carri put a hand on her stomach. Blood was oozing through her fingers. Jason put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ok?”
She glared at him. Then she looked over to Emily, and back to Jason one more time. “I am not going to die out here.”, she hissed looking at him. “I don’t care if you are with me or not.” Carri struggled to get to her feet.
Callisto laughed at her. “You can hardly move. What are you going to do now, bleed on me?”
“I’ve got a better idea.”, Carri snapped at her as a smile spread across her face
Carri started to speak but Jason didn’t even let her get the words out as he stood up. He had thought about it, and she was right. They were all going to die here if they didn’t do something. “It’s morphin time!”, he yelled
“ZEO RANGER II, YELLOW!”
“ZEO RANGER IV, GREEN!”
Emily looked on in awe as the green and yellow Zeo Rangers stood in front of her. “I’m sorry. Now you need to hide somewhere.”, he whispered to his girlfriend. As he turned back, he saw Carri attack Callisto with her zeo weapon as she flipped over her head. Jason called for his zeo weapon and did the same.
Callisto turned around to face the rangers, leaving Emily alone for the time being. “I didn’t think you would do it. I thought you were sworn to secrecy.”
“What good is a dead ranger to Zordon?”, Carri asked as she pulled out her blaster and fired. Callisto got irritated, and Jason took advantage of that and joined in.
Jason looked at Carri. “I have an idea.”, he said. She nodded. “We need the zeo cannon now!”
The Zeo Cannon appeared in the two rangers hands. They fired at Callisto with a blast much more powerful than the blasters had been. She fell to the ground. She sat up and looked at the two rangers. She hissed at them, then took off.
Jason and Carri powered down. Jason looked at his friend. The front of her shirt was torn and covered in blood. “Are you ok?”, he asked
She picked up her shirt. The blood had dried when they morphed. She lifted it up and exposed her stomach. The wound was gone. She smiled. “One of the benefits of being a ranger.”
“Jason!”, Emily yelled running down the beach at him. She threw her arms around him.
“Emily I am so sorry I couldn’t tell you before. We’ve been sworn to keep our identities a secret. It hurt not being able to tell you.”, he said as he gave her a hug. The two stood there in silence for a second.
As Emily came down the beach, Carri went and retrieved her shoes. She came back down and looked at the two, who were still embraced. “Guys I think I’m going to continue my walk down the beach.”
Emily turned to look at her friend. “Are you alright?”
Carri nodded. Jason looked at her. “What are you crazy? You can’t go out like that.”
She looked down at her shirt. “It’s not like I keep a spare around just in case Callisto shows up to try and slice and dice me.”
“How are you going to explain that to people? What are they going to think?”, asked Jason
“I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”
Jason took his shirt off and handed it to her. “Put this on.”
“Don’t worry about it.”, she replied
“Don’t be stupid.”
She looked him in the eyes. She knew he was right. She just hated taking the shirt off his back. She sighed as she took it and put in on over her own. “I’m gone. Just call me and let me know what you’re doing. I have to pick Kat up in a little over an hour.”
He nodded. “Do you think she’ll come back?”
“Not any time soon. Once we embarrass her she’s been taking off. But if she does, don’t hesitate to call for me. I liked that shirt.”, she said with a smile
Jason smiled back. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye guys.”, she said as she waved and took off
“Bye.”, Emily and Jason replied. Emily waited until she had gone down the beach. She turned to her boyfriend. “Now can you tell me where you were?”
Jason sighed. “Callisto kidnaped me this morning. She had taken me to another dimension to torture me. She would have killed me if it wasn’t for the others.”
“Jason... do you... I mean does this happen often?”, Emily asked
“With Callisto? No. She was just upset because of what I did to her when we went back in time.”, he explained
“What?”
“It’s a long story. Callisto is a goddess. She was once human, and because of ours... well mainly because of Carri’s ancestor she became evil and eventually a goddess.”
“So how, why even, did you go back in time to meet her?”
“Some of us were sent back in time by Zordon, he’s our leader, to meet our ancestors in order to stop the dreams we were having. Most of the others met their ancestors when they were accidentally teleported back in time. We have these powers, called ninjetti powers, that connect us to our ancestors.”
“You keep talking about we. Who is we?”
Jason hesitated. He decided to go ahead and tell her because she would probably figure it out anyway. “Well as you know, Carri and I are zeo rangers. Along with Rocky, Tommy and Kat.”
“What about Kim and Billy?”
“They, along with the rest of us except for Kat, have permanent Ninjetti powers. They are limited in what they can do power wise, but have proven to come in handy. They both used to be rangers.”
“And Adam?”
“He was a ranger too. He also has Ninjetti powers.”
Emily looked down at the sand. “So this Callisto... if she doesn’t attack you all the time... then why do you keep disappearing?”
“Callisto has only attacked a few times in the last year. She’s not really our biggest concern. Lord Zedd and Rita, they’re the ones that cause all the monster attacks you hear about in Angel Grove. They’re what keep the rangers in business.”
“It makes sense... everything that’s happened since we’ve been together.... but I have so many questions.”
Jason lifted her head up and looked in her eyes. “I promise I will try my best to answer them.”
She sighed as she tried to figure out the next thing she wanted to say.
Carri worked her way down to the public beaches, where everybody came to go swimming. It wasn’t too busy for a Saturday, but then again conditions weren’t quite ideal yet for beach goers.
She walked through the sand for a while, trying to figure out what was going on. She had passed some towers, but had yet to see her boyfriend. For a while she got lost in her thoughts. That’s when he came and grabbed her shoulder.
“Hey.”, she said smiling as she turned to him.
He had a confused look on his face. “Is that Jason’s shirt?”
She nodded. He started to get angry. “What the hell are you doing wearing Jason’s shirt?”
Carri didn’t say anything. She turned to make sure nobody was paying much attention as she lifted up his shirt enough for Rocky to see hers.
Rocky’s expression quickly shifted from anger to worry as he lifted up her shirt and put a hand on her stomach. “What happened?”
“It was Callisto... I guess she felt like she owed me from before.”, Carri explained
“So what, she just shows up and tries to half you?”, he asked
“She came for Jason. I was walking along the beach, coming to see you. I didn’t even see her there. She pulled me over, and attacked me, Jason and Emily.”
“Is Emily ok?”, Rocky asked
She shook her head yes. “We morphed... she knows now... but I wasn’t going to die on that beach.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “Thank god you’re ok.” Carri returned the hug. Rocky looked down at her. “I don’t know why nobody contacted us.”
“Me neither.”, she said
Rocky put his arm around her as he led her down the beach, trying to keep an eye on his water. “So how long are you down here for?”
“Not long. I came to pick Kat up from the Youth Center. And to bring Jason to see Emily.”
“Kat had a class?”
“Yeah.”
He pulled her in closer. “I have an idea. How about I come by tonight with pizzas and movies, and we make a night out of it.”
She smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”
He smiled back as he walked with her a little while longer until she had to leave.
Carri met Jason back at her car a while later. She unlocked the doors and they both got in.
“Did you see Rocky?”, asked Jason
“Yeah. He was worried. And angry. But mostly worried.”, she told him. “He’s coming by tonight. We’re gonna watch movies.” Jason smiled at her, then she continued to talk. “I spoke to Billy. He doesn’t know why but Callisto didn’t show up on the scanners. They didn’t know what was going on until we had already pissed her off and she’d left.”
“That’s odd.”, Jason said as the car started moving
“What about Emily? How is she?”, asked Carri
“A little shaken up.”, he replied
“What about the rangers thing?”
Jason sighed. “She’s.... I think it’s just a lot for her to take in right now. I wanted to stay with her. But she needs time to think. And she wants me to rest.”
Carri glanced over and saw the bruises on his bare chest. “I can see why she would be worried.”
“They’ll be gone in a day or so.”, he said
“Do you think she’s going to be alright?”
“I hope so. I told her that I would make up for today tomorrow. That we would start bright and early.”
“And?”
“She said ok. I’m going to make sure she doesn’t regret it. I am going to take her out and treat her like royalty.”
She smiled. “She’ll like that.”
“I just hope she can accept that being a power ranger is a part of who I am.”
“If she loves you as much as you love her she will.”
Jason smiled as he leaned back in the seat as they picked up Kat and headed home.
Kim, Zack and Trini came back into the apartment. The three of them had gone out that afternoon after they were sure the others were ok.
“I had fun. I’m glad we came back for a visit.”, Zack said
Trini nodded. “Me too.”
“Well we are glad you guys came back. It’s been too long since we’ve gotten to hang out.”, Kim said
“You can say that again.”, Zack agreed
Billy teleported home from his work at the Power Chamber. “Hey guys.”, he greeted everyone
He got three hello’s in reply. “I heard you had a busy day.”, Zack said
“Yes well, anytime Callisto gets involved things tend to go south quickly.”, Billy replied
“Who’s Callisto?”, asked Trini
“A goddess from ancient Greece, the one that captured us last summer. She should be dead. And yet here she is thousands of years later vowing revenge on the decedents of her greatest enemies.”, Billy explained
“Who are her greatest enemies?”, asked Trini
“Xena is her greatest enemy. You can trace her lineage back to Carri. Hercules would be her next least favorite, who has relations to Tommy.”, he answered
“What about the rest of you guys?”, Trini continued to ask questions
“Well... I was thinking.... maybe you and I can go out to dinner and I can finish explaining, and we can catch up on old times.”, Billy said
Kim raised an eyebrow and looked at Zack. Both teens smiled.
“Sure. It sounds like fun.”, Trini said as she smiled at Billy.
Billy grinned as he started to walk off. “Give me a minute and then we can go.”
Trini nodded. She turned back to her friends, who were looking at her. “What?”, she asked
Kim grinned. “Nothing.”
“We’re friends. And I miss hanging out with Billy.”, Trini said
“Nobody here said that you couldn’t hang out with Billy.”, Zack told her
Trini smiled. “Fine then.”
Billy came back into the living room. “Ready?”, he asked
“Let’s go.”, she replied. The two of them left the apartment.
“So was that...”, Zack smiled as he looked at Kim
“Sure looked that way to me.”, Kim replied
“I don’t know.... although they have been writing a lot lately.”, Zack told her
“It would be cute.”, Kim said
A few moments later, Carri and Jason walked through the door. Kim and Zack glared at them.
“Are Billy and Trini going out?”, asked Jason
“Maybe. But I think the bigger question is why are you half naked and she’s wearing your shirt?”, Kim asked
Carri took off his shirt and tossed it to him, revealing what she was wearing underneath.
“What happened to you?”, asked Zack
“Callisto.”, she replied simply
Carri started to take off her shirt as she disappeared down the hallway.
“Callisto attacked me and Emily.... we weren’t going to morph, but you can see what she did to Carri. We were afraid she was going to kill us. We had to do it.”, Jason said putting his shirt back on
“So Emily knows now?”, Kim asked. Jason nodded in response.
Carri walked back in with a clean shirt on.
“I assume you’re ok?”, Kim asked
“For the most part. That shirt cost me forty dollars though so...”, Carri made a face
Kim laughed. “Don’t worry we’ll go out and find a replacement.”
She smiled. “I didn’t think I would have to coax you into that one.”
The front door creaked open one more time. All four turned to the entrance way to see Tommy standing there.
“Hey guys. I came by to see if everyone wanted to go out.”, Tommy said
“Billy and Trini already left.”, Zack informed him
“Oh?”, Tommy asked. Kim giggled. “Well what about the rest of you?”
“Sounds like a plan bro. Just give me a minute. Rough afternoon.”, Jason said as he walked off
“I’m in.”, Zack told him
“Me too.”, Kim agreed
Tommy turned to the last one. “Well?”
“Not tonight.”, she said. “Rocky’s coming by in a bit and he and I are going to plop down on the couch and relax.”
“That sounds like a good a plan as any.”, Tommy told her
She smiled. “But definitely, we will all have to go out again before you guys leave.”
“We’ll be here for a few weeks so there should be some more opportunities.”, Zack told her
“Good then.”, Carri said as she collapsed on the couch beside Zack
Jason came back out a few minutes later. “Is everybody ready?”, he asked
“Let’s do it.”, Kim said hopping up out of her seat
“We’ll see you later.”, Zack told Carri
“Bye guys.”, she replied waving to her friends
They waved back and said goodbye as they collected their things and walked out the door. Carri laid out across the couch and turned the TV on, passing time until Rocky arrived. She smiled. After the awful day they had experienced, finally the ranger team was going to get some well needed R & R.
Astronema sat in the Dark Fortress, waiting for word from her lackeys. She had sent them out to finally finish of that red ranger. She had the perfect plan too. Nothing could go wrong. She was almost to the point where she could wait no longer. She crossed her arms and started tapping her feet.
“You too?”, Callisto asked as she came in and saw her friend sitting there
“I’m waiting for word on that ranger.”, Astronema said. “There is no way that my plan could have failed.”
“You know as well as I do that no plan is perfect anymore.”
Astronema looked at her. “You’ve been down with that green ranger all day. Don’t tell me you didn’t get to torture him.”
She made a face. “I had him all morning until those rangers came in to rescue him. He was stronger than I expected. When I went back for him later... well we’ll just say he angered me and I had to go blow off some steam before I came back.”
The queen of evil smiled. “How many times to I have to tell you not to underestimate those rangers of yours. Trust me, if anybody knows what they are capable of, it’s me.”
“True. But I’ve been thinking. I have some very good ideas in mind. Maybe you can even help me with them.”
She laughed. “I’d like that. As soon as the red ranger is out of commission, I’d be glad to help.”
Ecliptor came in to face Astronema. “My queen...”
She stood up and walked over to him. “You had better come baring good news.”
He looked at her, as if unsure what to say. “We don’t have the red ranger...”
“I should have guessed. You had better have a good explanation.”
“It’s.... the silver ranger. He’s not dead. He is alive and well. He assisted the red ranger and they both escaped before we could destroy either of them.”, Ecliptor explained
“What!”, Astronema exclaimed. She looked over at Callisto. “I have something to keep you busy for a while.”
Callisto smiled. She had an idea of what Astronema had in mind. “What’s that?”
“I want you to help me destroy the silver and red rangers. You can show my help how a real warrior does it.”
“That is the best thing I’ve heard all day.”, Callisto said. She laughed and the two went to work on how to destroy the rest of the Astro team.
Zedd and Rita stood in their throne room. They hadn’t heard from Callisto since the rangers hit her with the zeo cannon. They had been trying to figure out if she had left or not.
“Well? Anything?”, asked Rita
“She’s not in any of your dark dimensions. And she’s not anywhere close to Earth.”, Goldar informed them
“She must have felt defeated after those power punks hit her with their cannon.”, Zedd pointed out
Rita turned to look towards her husband. “Well Zeddie what are we going to do?”
“Let them have their moment for now. We will attack them with monsters. And soon, my newest idea will be ready for them. And they won’t be able to survive.” Zedd laughed as he thought about what the future would hold.