Power Rangers
“Seeing Double”
Tommy Oliver helped Carri Hillard to stand back up after the megaship had taken quite a beating. There was no indication of what happened, but in all honesty they should have been space dust by now.
Ashley Hammond looked around at the others curiously. There was no way they could have survived that. Noone knew how the afterlife worked, so she found herself having to ask a question. “Are we dead?”
Carri thought for a moment. Something strange had happened, but she was pretty sure they were all alive and well. “Well if we’re dead this is heaven.”, she said pausing to think for a moment. “Or hell, because if it’s heaven it’s really a cruel joke by God to make us float around on the megaship for all of eternity after all the times we’ve saved the world.”
Andros shot her a look. That was a not so serious answer for what was supposed to be a serious question. Both TJ and Ashley smiled, they appreciated a little humor to lighten the situation. Andros on the other hand did not. He used the ship’s computer to try to analyze what happened. A few minutes later he spoke. “I think we fell into some sort of wormhole.”
“There just happened to be a wormhole right where we were?”, Tommy asked a bit skeptical
“No I believe that between the energy and the elements from the planet and the energy we were trying to put forth at the same time, a rip was created causing the wormhole to form.”, Andros replied
“Can we just go back through it?”, Ashley asked
Andros shook his head no. “It was just temporary. We’re lucky though, if it hadn’t have formed there, we would have been dead.”
“So where did it send us?”, asked TJ
Andros took a moment as he worked on the consoles some more. “We’re at the same coordinates as before, only the planet’s gone. There are no remnants of it anywhere. Which means we either went to the future, or to another dimension entirely.”
“How do we find out?”, Ashley asked
“Go to Earth.”, Carri spoke up from behind. The Astro rangers turned to look at her and Andros nodded his head yes as he set the coordinates and they took off.
Two days later, the rangers were finally back in the Earth’s atmosphere. They pulled the ship close to Angel Grove and looked at each other.
Ashley was the first to speak. “Should we go investigate?”
“That’s the only way to know for sure. We should go down to Angel Grove.”, Tommy replied. Andros glanced at him, this was his ship, his team, he was the one to make the decisions. But for the sake of avoiding an argument, he agreed.
The five rangers teleported down to the planet’s surface, behind some of the buildings that were there in their world and they hoped would be there in this one. “We should check this place out.”, TJ suggested
“We should first try and make contact with the rangers of this planet.”, Andros corrected. TJ and Ashley nodded their heads in agreement.
“I think we need to have an idea of what’s going on first.”, Tommy replied
“He’s right.”, Carri chimed in. “We don’t even know that there are rangers here, we might as well do some investigating.”
“Certainly there are rangers on this planet that would be willing to help us.”, Andros replied. He could feel his anger rising as he felt like Tommy was challenging his leadership.
“Yes and we’ll find that out if we check out Angel Grove first.”, Tommy countered. He was the leader of the rangers and after years of adventures, his instinct took over. And it was telling him to check out Angel Grove. Besides it was stupid to assume that there were rangers and they were friendly.
The other three rangers watched as Andros and Tommy stood close to each other before they started arguing back and forth about the best course of action. “Enough!”, Carri exclaimed as she stepped between the two leaders. “I vote we split up and check out Angel Grove. When we have evidence of the rangers let’s contact each other then we’ll contact them.”, she said holding up her arm and pointing to the communicator
“Fine.”, Tommy said glaring at Andros
“Fine.”, Andros said glaring back
“Come on guys, let’s head this way.”, Ashley suggested as she pulled TJ and Andros off in one direction
Carri took Tommy and headed off in the opposite direction. Carri waited to speak until the others were out of earshot. “He is a leader too you know.”, she reminded him
“I know.”, Tommy said. Of course he knew, but with Tommy’s experience he should have been in charge of the team. When it came to ship matters, Andros had authority. But when it came to ranger matters, Tommy felt as though he did. He felt a responsibility for the rangers and he thought he had to do what was right.
“Let’s go over here.”, Carri said dropping the subject as she pointed in the direction of the Youth Center
The duo walked over toward the Youth Center and started looking around. Tommy started to walk around back. “I’ll go check out the tables in the back.”, he said looking at her
She nodded. “I’ll peek inside.” They figured if there were any rangers in Angel Grove, this is where they’d probably be. She walked in and looked around, quickly recognizing the back of the head of the man sitting at the small table. “Rocky?”, she questioned
He turned back for a brief second then turned forward, going back to the papers he was looking over. “Hey. I thought you were at work.”
“Work?”, she questioned. This was definitely some sort of alternate dimension. “You know I forgot something I have to go back and” Carri stopped as she turned and bumped into somebody. She took a step back. “Sorry.”, she said as she started to go around
“Carri?”, the man questioned. She recognized the voice and looked up to see Tommy standing there. It wasn’t her Tommy, it was an older Tommy, but it was still him. “I thought you were at work?”, he asked looking down at her. Something seemed off. It was Carri he was looking at, yet it wasn’t.
She smiled up at him. “Just heading back.”, she said trying to get out of there. She eyed the door just in time to see her Tommy walk in. She tried to shoo him away, but the older Tommy realized what she was doing in time to see a glimpse of a younger looking version of himself take off.
“What’s going on here?”, he asked eying her
The look on his face suggested that this Tommy wasn’t as friendly as the Tommy she knew. “Nothing. Like I said going back to work.”, she said. She tried to walk away but Tommy grabbed her arm.
Rocky gathered his things from the table and walked over toward them, looking at them oddly. “What’s this about?”, he asked looking over at his girlfriend. Only the more he looked at her the more he realized this wasn’t exactly his girlfriend but some sort of replica of her, perhaps younger than her.
Carri sighed as she decided to give in. Besides even though these guys were older than she and her friends were in her dimension, perhaps they know the rangers are were involved somehow. “If you would like to follow me I can explain.”
Tommy led her out of the Youth Center, his hand still gripped on her arm. As she walked out she noticed her Tommy leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He jumped up when he saw them walk out dragging Carri with them. “What’s going on?”, he asked, “What are you doing with her?”
Carri felt his grip loosen as they looked at the White Ninja Zeo Ranger. “I’m just trying to get some answers.”, the older Tommy replied. He finally let Carri go and she walked over and stood by her Tommy. “Which you promised me.”
“Well... you guys don’t know anything about the power rangers do you?”, Carri started. Tommy shot her a look. Just because the men standing in front of them were himself and Rocky, didn’t mean that they knew anything about the power rangers.
Tommy and Rocky exchanged glances. “Maybe you should come with me.”, Tommy said as he motioned for them to go around back
The white ranger looked hesitant. They had been through enough that day already without following some strangers to some unknown place, regardless of who they resembled. Tommy noticed the hesitation in his younger self’s eyes. He couldn’t blame him, as the team leader he had always been cautious and he had to imagine that this version of himself felt the same way. Tommy lifted up his sleeve to reveal their versions of communicators. The two Ninja Zeo’s followed Tommy and Rocky off and let them teleport them away.
At the same time all this was going on, Ashley, TJ and Andros found themselves wandering around the other side of Angel Grove. Neither Ashley nor TJ had brought up the conversation that happened when they first teleported, they didn’t think it was their place. Instead they went over what they should be looking out for in Angel Grove.
“Hey look a strip mall.”, Ashley said as she pointed. The place looked fairly new with about a dozen stores and a few restaurants surrounding it.
TJ laughed as they headed in that general direction. “We didn’t travel to another dimension so you could go shopping.”, he pointed out
“We can walk by.”, Andros said looking at the mall. “Keep your eyes peeled, you never know what you’ll see.”
The first place they passed was a small deli. It was full of people who were coming in and out with the lunch rush. Ashley scanned the crowd as they walked by, and she noticed a woman heading out to her car. “Hey that looks like Carri.”, she said as she pointed
Andros grabbed her and tried to usher her on by. “Careful we don’t want to alert anyone of our presence just yet.”
But it was too late. Carri heard her name being called and turned to see who it was. She thought she recognized the three figures as she waved and walked over to them. As she headed toward them the three rangers froze. This woman certainly looked like Carri. But they knew it couldn’t be, at least not their Carri. This woman looked a bit older than their Carri. Not to mention that as far as they knew, Carri and Tommy were on the other side of town.
“Hey guys what’s up?”, Carri asked as she walked over and smiled at them. She looked over at the three people standing in front of her. They certainly looked like Andros, Ashley and TJ, but something was off. They all looked younger, and Andros and Ashley weren’t comfortable enough with each other to be married. “What’s going on?”
“Well,” Andros started lowering his voice, “we’re not exactly from around here.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”, Carri questioned eyebrow raised
Ashley smiled at her. “We’re from another dimension.”
“Oh.”, was all Carri managed to say as she reached in her pocket and pulled out her phone. A few seconds later her call connected. “Hey. You still nearby?”, she asked the person on the other end. There was a pause before she spoke again. “You may want to turn around and get back here.” Another pause. “I’ll explain when you get here.” With that, Carri hung the phone up and turned back toward the others with a smile. “So how exactly did you get here?”
“We’re not completely sure, but we think it may have been a wormhole.”, TJ answered
“Right.”, Carri said. She didn’t know what to say, or whether or not to just sweep them up and take them back. Fortunately she didn’t have to worry about it much longer as a car flew into the parking lot. As the engine silenced, the door opened and a woman Carri’s age stepped out.
Kimberly Heart surveyed the scene and quickly found Carri as she headed over to her. They had taken their lunch breaks together at the deli, and Kim was just down the road when she got Carri’s call. She turned the car around and flew back. “So now can you tell me what’s going on?”, she asked as she went and stood next to her friend
Carri gestured to the trio. “They’re from another dimension.”
“Oh.”, Kim’s reaction mirrored Carri’s. “What do you think we should do with them?”
“Maybe we should just go.”, Ashley said as she took a step backwards and pointed behind her
The older women laughed. “We’re not going to hurt you or anything.”, Carri assured her. “This is just an odd situation, that’s all.”
“Should we take them to Billy?”, asked Kim as she looked over to her friend. Carri nodded her head yes. “To Billy it is then.”, Kim replied as they walked off motioning for the others to follow
“Why are you taking us to see Billy?”, Andros asked. He could make an assumption, but he wanted to hear it from them.
“That’s the best place we know to go to figure this out.”, Carri replied. As she walked her hand fell to her side. That was the first time the Astro rangers had gotten a glimpse of her communicator. They felt a little bit better as they let the duo lead them off to a secure place, eventually holding on to them and teleporting.
Carri and Tommy found themselves being teleported into the rangers command post. As they glanced around, they noticed it looked similar to the Command Chamber, but more advanced. “So what do you call this place?”, she asked
“The Command Chamber.”, Billy replied as he looked at the younger versions of two of the rangers
“How long has it been here?”, Tommy asked
“A year.”, Billy replied. Well that was only partially a lie. The Command Chamber building had been there for years, but it was only about a year ago that he gutted it and started over, making sure it had the most up to date technology in the galaxy.
“We’ve taken you here. Now we need some sort of explanation.”, Tommy said. The younger rangers were looking around taking things in, which was nice and all, but that wasn’t why he brought them there. He brought them there so they could talk freely and key him in on what the hell was going on.
“Well,” Carri started as she looked over at the white ranger, trying to figure out what to say first. They were interrupted when five more flashes of light came in, revealing TJ, Ashley and Andros along with an older Kim and Carri.
The three Astro rangers went to stand beside their two friends. “Is everyone ok?”, Andros asked eying the two Ninja Zeo rangers
Carri shrugged. “Yeah.” She didn’t know why they wouldn’t be. Tommy made a face. Andros certainly didn’t have to worry about him and Carri, they could take care of themselves.
The older Tommy frowned and looked at Kim and Carri. “Could someone please tell me what is going on here?”, he asked, the anger and frustration in his voice showing
Carri pointed to the five rangers. “They’re from another dimension.”
Tommy crossed his arms on his chest and sighed looking at the travelers. “So then, what exactly are you doing here?”
“Well it was kind of an accident.”, TJ started
“I don’t know if you’ve heard of Gasket and Archerina, but in our attempts to destroy them and the rest of the Machine Empire, the planet they were hiding on became unstable and exploded.”, Tommy continued as he stood in front of the group
Andros stepped forward to be level with Tommy. “In our efforts to escape, the planet’s energy combined with our own ripping the fabric of space and time and creating a wormhole which we slipped through.”
Tommy thought for a moment before turning toward the other rangers. “We should contact Jason, and we’ll figure out what to do from there.”
Carri snorted. “Good luck I think he went for a road trip on his bike again.”
“That boy can’t hear anything when he’s out on his bike.”, Kim reminded him
Tommy smiled at her. “Don’t worry I fixed that. Billy go ahead and contact Jason.”
Billy was quick to contact the fifth member of this world’s ranger team, and in a few seconds green light came streaking in. The man standing there took his helmet off and looked at the other rangers. “Alright whose idea was it to put a com link in my helmet?”, Jason asked looking at his fellow rangers
“It worked didn’t it?”, Tommy asked looking over at him
Jason said nothing as he looked around the room, finally noticing his visitors. “Who are they?”
“Us.”, Carri replied. “Or at least dimensionally traveling versions of ourselves.”
Jason glanced over at Carri. Something about this seemed odd, or at least odder than it should, but he didn’t say anything. “So what are you going to do with them?”
“That appears to be the million dollar question.”, Kim said as she crossed her arms and looked them over
“Look to be honest,” the Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger said as she took a step forward beside the two leaders, “we just want to get back home. If you could help us out, that would be great.”
“I could probably figure out where you came from, that would certainly be a start.”, Billy spoke as he thought for a minute about what to do. “I would need access to the megaship.”
“I can take you.”, Andros replied. He would be happy to help Billy figure out how to get them home, but he wasn’t about to let this man be on the ship alone, even if he was similar to the Billy he knew back on his Earth.
“What about everyone else?”, asked Rocky
Carri sighed. “I guess I can take them back to my place. It’s big enough, it will do for now.”
“So then it’s settled. Billy will take Andros to the ship, and Carri will take the rangers to her place.”, Tommy said in a firm tone, one that suggested that this was his decision and it was final.
“And I’m going back to my bike.”, Jason added as he strapped his helmet off. He rolled his eyes once he knew they couldn’t see. He couldn’t believe they had interrupted him for this. It was important to know, but they could have just filled him in. It’s not like he needed to meet young Tommy or Carri. A few seconds later, Jason was gone.
Andros stepped forward and approached Billy, then the two took off for the megaship, leaving the eight rangers behind.
“I need to get back to my work.”, Kim pipped up. She quickly pulled her communicator to her chest level and hit the button, teleporting off.
“And we need to finish what we were working on.”, Rocky said toward Tommy
Tommy nodded his head in agreement. “You think you got this?”, he said directing his question toward Carri
“Yes sir.”, she said, a goofy look on her face as she gave him a mock salute. Tommy said nothing as Rocky gave her a quick kiss, then the two men left. Carri turned toward the five rangers. “I guess that leaves just us.”, she said. She walked over to the control panels then teleported the young rangers out before following behind them herself.
The five rangers found themselves arriving in Carri’s home. As they looked around they were impressed. Especially Carri, who was thrilled with the modern interior and the beautiful view of the lake. “So this is yours?”, she asked
The older ranger nodded. She absolutely loved this place. And it was easy enough for her to get, she just had to work her butt off to keep it.
Ashley finished examining the place and walked back out into the living room. “So, do you live here by yourself?”, she asked out of curiosity
She nodded her head yes again. “Kim was my roommate for a while until she found a place.”, she said purposefully leaving out the details of how or why the girls became roommates. Who knew how the future was going to unfold for these kids, but she didn’t want what happened in her world to influence what may or may not happen in theirs.
The Yellow Ninja Zeo Ranger snickered. “Don’t tell me you’ve been with Rocky since high school and he has yet to move in.”, she said. She knew that her Rocky would move in with her in a heartbeat if he could. But with her current living situation that was next to impossible. Which was good, because Carri wasn’t sure if she was ready yet. Not that she didn’t love him, but they were still young and that was a big step.
A small laugh escaped from the older Carri’s lips. “Actually we haven’t been together since high school.” They dated through high school, and in college, and even a little beyond, but they split up for a while after that. Not because of any problems, but because Carri got word that Callisto was still alive and had to go see for herself, so she hitched a ride across the galaxy. He regretted he couldn’t go with her, and she promised not to be long. Boy was that an understatement. Sometime after she got back they ended up getting back together.
“Oh.”, was all Carri said. It didn’t look like her older self was much in the mood to elaborate. And she knew enough about dimensional travel to know it was for the best, you never know how your planet will develop and you wouldn’t want knowledge of the future to change your own fate.
Carri checked her watch. She had too much work to do and had been gone way too long. “Listen I have to get back to work. Are you guys going to be alright by yourselves?”
Tommy looked at her as if she had just asked if the sky was blue or the grass was green. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine.”, he assured her
“Alright then. I’ll be back later.”, she said as she quickly teleported off
Ashley, TJ, Tommy and Carri found themselves alone in the house. TJ started looking around, examining some of the details of the things in the home. “I wonder what it is you do for a living?”, he questioned as he looked
Carri shrugged. She hadn’t declared a major yet, let alone thought about a career. Ashley looked over at the other rangers. “It’s weird, but she sure didn’t want to tell us much.”
“Dimensional travel is complicated.”, Tommy informed her. Ashley and TJ turned their complete attention toward the white ranger. “Our world may develop similar to this one. If that’s true, then the less we know the less chance we have to mess up our futures.”
“That makes sense.”, TJ said as he collapsed on the couch
The other three rangers were quick to follow suite as they all found a place to sit down. “So do you think we’ll ever get back home?”, Ashley asked looking at the older rangers
“I have faith in Billy. If he’s anything like our Billy back home, he’ll find a way.”, Carri said as she adjusted herself in the seat to make herself comfortable
“Hopefully sooner than later.”, Tommy added. They definitely didn’t belong here, and he didn’t know how Carri felt but it was certainly weird seeing an older version of himself. He looked different, he even acted kind of different. Tommy could never imagine his own path developing that way.
Carri glanced over at the big screen television that was in the middle of the room. “You guys want to watch?”, she asked. Not like they really had anything better to do.
“Why not.”, TJ said. Carri smiled and went hunting down a remote as the rangers tried to relax a little bit
Callisto sat in her chair waiting for her spy to come back. She was tired of waiting, tired of being nice, and most of all tired of those rangers. She was never able to do it before, but now she was ready. As soon as she heard word that she was clear she would attack and deal out the years worth of payback that had been building up.
A strange looking creature came walking into the room. He paused in front of Callisto and bent down on one knee. She wasn’t the one in charge of the entire project, but she demanded respect as she was the one doing most of the running of the project.
“What have you found?”, Callisto asked. The tone in her voice suggested she was a bit bored, and slightly irritated at the fact that he hadn’t come back earlier.
The creature looked up at her. “She’s in her home.”, he told her
“Alone?”, Callisto questioned. This certainly would be good news.
“No.”, he said. Callisto frowned. “She’s with Tommy and two former rangers.”
Callisto laughed. “So they’re having a ranger reunion?”, she questioned. This might be fun. She wasn’t afraid of former rangers. And she despised Tommy almost as much as she despised Carri, so she would love to go have it out with him. “Ready the troops.”, she ordered the creature. “We’re going in now.”
“This is kind of interesting.”, Ashley commented on the TV show they were watching
“It’s keeping us occupied anyway.”, TJ added. He wouldn’t go as far as to call it interesting. He wasn’t so sure if he could say it was keeping anyone occupied as the Ninja Zeo’s looked like they could doze off any second. Not that he and Ashley felt any more energetic, they just weren’t sitting there with their eyes half closed.
“Well look at what we have here.” a female voice said from behind the rangers
The four rangers turned to see who had come into the house. TJ and Ashley were confused, but apparently Tommy and Carri recognized the woman as Carri quickly jumped up and stood in between the other three rangers and their intruder. “What do you want?”, Carri snapped
“Why you, of course.”, the goddess replied as she threw her enemy across the room. Carri hit the wall with a thud and slid down.
Tommy jumped up to help but Callisto wasted no time throwing him out of the way either. Tommy flew into the kitchen, hitting his head on the counter and falling back out of view. TJ and Ashley looked at each other slightly panicked. They had never faced this woman before, all they knew was she was she seemed very powerful as she easily took out the two senior rangers in the room. The two Astro rangers stood to face her.
“Leave our friends alone.”, TJ ordered as he stood in front of Ashley and took the lead
The blonde woman laughed hysterically for a second. She turned toward her lackeys who were standing next to her. “Take care of them.”, she ordered
Callisto then walked past TJ and Ashley, pushing them toward her army. She walked over to Carri who was trying to pull herself to her feet. “Leave them alone.”, Carri hissed as she watched TJ and Ashley fight
Callisto smiled and shrugged. “It’s you I came for.”
“You’ll never take me.”, she replied, her voice giving off more confidence that she actually had
Suddenly Callisto started laughing. The laughter quickly stopped and the goddess gave Carri no time to react as she used her powers to suspend her in the air by the throat. Carri struggled but with no luck. With a wave of her hand Callisto made herself and Carri disappear. The lackeys Ashley and TJ were fighting noticed their leader leave and they quickly followed suite.
Ashley and TJ glanced at each other. Carri was gone, the couldn’t do anything about that now. Tommy was knocked out, they could possibly help him. They headed into the kitchen and over to the white ranger to see what they could do.
Callisto and Carri ended up in one of the goddesses dark dimensions. Callisto flung the ranger against the wall as her lackeys came into the dimension. “Tie her up.”, she ordered
They went over and picked up Carri, who was groggy from hitting the wall twice, and having trouble breathing from Callisto strangling her. She didn’t have the energy to fight all the creatures holding her as she was dragged to the center of the room. Her hands were bound as she was hung up hook hanging from the center of the dimension. Her feet were tied and she was clipped down to the floor so she hung there, unable to move.
Callisto let them finish before she approached. She got a good look at the girl standing in front of her. Something wasn’t right. She had suspected it in the house, but brushed it off until now. The girl standing in front of her was not Carri. At least not her Carri, she could tell by looking at her. The girl didn’t have the exact appearance, she looked younger. And by looking in her eyes she could tell that she didn’t have the same experiences, and she wasn’t the exact same person. She suspected as much about Tommy, Ashley and TJ.
“Who are you?”, Callisto asked. She wanted to know where this girl came from and if the entire operation had been a loss. If it was a loss, someone was going to pay dearly. She would not be able to break into Carri’s home again as she suspected Carri would now put up a magical barrier.
Carri smiled at the goddess. She had a feeling this wasn’t going to turn out well for her anyway, so she might as well make the best of it. “Come on Calli, don’t you recognize me?” Carri quickly felt her head snap to the side and back as Callisto hit her across her face. Carri tried not to let Callisto know how much that hurt as she straightened her head out and glared at her.
Callisto looked at the young girl. For her to call her Calli meant in whatever dimension it was that she came from they were enemies. And quite frankly, that was good enough for her. The operation was still somewhat of a loss, as now she would have trouble getting to her Carri. But she could certainly have fun torturing this one.
Callisto laughed as she went to grab her tools to start the fun.
TJ and Ashley sat anxiously. They were trying to wake Tommy up but with no luck. They weren’t sure where to go from here. They were getting ready to contact Andros when Tommy started to stir.
The Ninja Zeo ranger tried to sit himself up as he blinked a few times, trying to get his vision clear. A few seconds later, Ashley and TJ came into focus. “How long have I been out?”, he asked
“Just a few minutes.”, Ashley replied
He looked around the kitchen, looking for his teammate. “Where’s Carri?”
TJ frowned. He felt so bad that he wasn’t able to help her. “That woman took her.”, he replied
Tommy quickly tried to jump up. He had to use the counter to steady himself for a moment as he felt a little woozy. Once that feeling passed he turned toward the other rangers. “We have to help her.”
“How?”, Ashley asked. That woman wasn’t exactly someone they were faring well against.
“Let’s get back to the Command Chamber. We’ll need the rangers of this planet to help if we have any chance.”, Tommy said. The other two rangers nodded before the trio all teleported to this planet’s version of a Command Chamber.
They looked around. Noone was there as the rangers had things they needed to do and Billy was still on the megaship. Tommy looked at the two Astro Rangers. “We need to contact Andros and get him to come back with Billy so he can contact the others.”
TJ nodded as he brought his communicator to his mouth to contact his leader.
Billy and Andros stood on the megaship. Billy had spent the last hour analyzing where they had come from. It shouldn’t have taken that long, it turned out to be tricker than he thought. He was surprised when he found out why, but he should have realized that from the beginning. He didn’t let Andros in on that, he just smiled and told the red ranger when he was finished.
“So you can send us back?”, Andros questioned
“Yes I can get you back to the moment you disappeared.”, Billy replied
“If we go back to the moment we disappeared, we’re dead.”, Andros was quick to point out. “Can you not send us two days in the future?”
Billy thought for a moment. It was going to be difficult, but Andros was right. If he sent them back to when the planet exploded, those five rangers would no longer exist. He had another idea of how to accomplish this. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Good.”, Andros said. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long and they could get back. He was getting ready to ask another question when his communicator beeped. “Go ahead.”, he spoke
“Andros we need you and Billy back to the Command Chamber right now.”, TJ told him
“Is something wrong?”, Andros asked
TJ started to tell the story but Tommy cut him off. “We’ll explain when you get here.”
Andros looked over at Billy. Both men quickly finished up in the megaship and headed back down to the surface to meet the others in the Command Chamber. “What’s going on?”, Andros asked looking at the three rangers. He could tell by the looks on their faces that something was terribly wrong.
“Billy can you call your rangers back here? This is something all of them need to hear.”, Tommy said
Billy nodded and quickly started sending out communications. Jason was the first to teleport in, bike helmet still on. He took his helmet off and looked around just as Rocky and Tommy teleported in. Flashes of pink and yellow light were next, fading away to reveal Kim then Carri. “What’s the emergency?”, Tommy asked looking first at his team then at the younger rangers
“We had a run in at your home.”, the white ranger started glancing toward Carri
“With who?”, Carri asked before Tommy was even given the chance to continue
“Callisto.”, Tommy said simply. He watched as Carri’s hands slowly balled into fists. She was furious.
She took a few deep breaths then spoke. “That bitch broke into my home and... oh God, where’s your yellow ranger?”, she asked. She realized what had happened. Callisto came for her, and took a younger version of her instead.
Tommy looked toward TJ and nodded. TJ stepped forward and spoke up. “Callisto threw Carri across the room before knocking out Tommy. We had to fight her army. We wanted to help but by the time we got to even look in Carri’s direction, Callisto had her and was taking off.”
The older Tommy cursed under his breath. This was the last thing they needed right now. They would have to try and mount some sort of a rescue, but the goddess would almost be impossible to find.
Jason looked at his teammates. “Why don’t we just find Callisto, kick her ass and get their friend back.”
“Nice idea Jase, but I doubt she left us a map.”, Kim said giving him a look
Jason snickered. He knew she wasn’t going to be obvious to find. But it certainly wouldn’t be impossible. “You know she took her to one of her dark dimensions.” That’s where she always took her prisoners. Usually for torture as Jason knew firsthand. He felt sorry for the Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger, because even if Callisto knew she wasn’t the right Carri she probably didn’t care.
“She has thousands of those things. It could take hours or days.”, Rocky pointed out. Then he lowered his voice. “And she could be dead by then.”
The other rangers heard what Rocky had said even though he tried to hide it. “You don’t have to baby us we are well aware of what she’s capable of.”, Andros said crossing his arms as he looked at the other rangers. TJ and Ashley honestly didn’t know, Andros could tell by the way they gasped when he said dead. But Tommy knew, the look in his eyes said it all.
“Rocky’s right.”, Jason said ignoring Andros’s comment. “We need to come up with a course of action quickly.”
“Billy can you tap into their communications and get us a line to the castle?”, Carri asked
Billy nodded. Tommy looked at his teammate. “For what?”, he asked not sure this was a good idea
“Because I want to let her know that if she doesn’t let her go she’s going to have me to worry about.”, Carri said, the look in her eyes showing that she was serious
Tommy nodded. “We’ll start there.”, he said as Billy went to work
About a half an hour later Billy was ready to send out their communication. “Just say the word.”, Billy said looking the rangers over
The two teams wanted to get themselves ready first. The older team of rangers stood in front, with Tommy in the center and Kim and Carri by his side, then Rocky and Jason standing toward each end. The younger rangers stood behind this ranger team. Tommy and Carri were going to be the ones doing most of the talking, but they were standing there to support them and show Callisto they were serious.
“Go ahead.”, Tommy said nodding toward Billy. Billy pressed a few buttons and a few seconds later Callisto’s commander appeared on the screen. He was an odd creature to say the least. He had the body of an alligator with the tail and the claws, but his head looked like a mutated fox. He had joined with Callisto elsewhere in the galaxy. The goddess had kept him around for his loyalty and strength, and his ability to do tasks for her like spy on the rangers.
The younger rangers didn’t recognize him but it was obvious that the older rangers did. “Cratus,”, Carri growled, “where’s Callisto?”
He looked at the yellow ranger. “I thought she was torturing you but I guess I was mistaken.”
“We’re not here to play games.”, Tommy said sharply. “We want to speak to your boss. Now.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”, Cratus hissed
Carri frowned. “You see that wasn’t a request as much as a demand.”
Cratus laughed. “Since when did you think you could make demands of me?”
“Because if you don’t we’ll be in your backyard. And regardless of how it turns out, I’m sure Callisto doesn’t want that.”, Tommy threatened
“Is that supposed to frighten me?”, Cratus asked, a hint of amusement in his voice
A small laugh escaped from Carri’s lips. “You see, we do have extra rangers.”, she started pointing behind her. “And let’s not forget what happened last time Kim and I stormed your hideout with extra friends.”
Cratus straightened up and frowned. Of course he remembered. He was positive that history wouldn’t repeat itself, but he wasn’t willing to take that risk. “I will have to find her and have her contact you.”
“Don’t take too long.”, Tommy warned as he motioned for Billy to end the transmission
The rangers relaxed and turned to look at each other. “That went well.”, Jason said sarcastically
“Actually I think it may have. I think we scare him.”, Kim said with a smile
“Why is that thing afraid of you?”, Ashley asked
“Wouldn’t you be?”, Carri replied ignoring her question completely. It was another thing that shouldn’t be answered without knowing where these rangers future was going. She crossed her arms and leaned impatiently against a console as they waited for Callisto to contact them.
Almost an hour had passed since their communication with Cratus. Billy had spent the time working on how to get the other rangers home after they rescued their yellow ranger. The rest of the rangers had impatiently paced around the Command Chamber waiting for the call.
Billy started walking off when one of the controls beeped. He walked over and looked at it, then looked over at the rangers. “We have a transmission coming from the castle.”, Billy informed the rangers
They nodded and quickly stood in the same formation they were in before. Tommy nodded to let Billy know he was ready and Billy put it on screen.
Callisto’s face slowly came into view. She smiled at the rangers. She had heard what Cratus said, but she wasn’t too terribly worried. She would reply to them when she was ready. Callisto was sure that they wanted their friend back. And she would give her back, on one condition. “Rangers.”, Callisto said looking at them. “You wanted to speak with me?”
“You know what we want.”, Tommy said eyeing her
“Of course. You want the ranger.”, Callisto replied. A sick twisted smile appeared across her face. “I don’t know I’m having so much fun with her.”
“She means nothing to you. Let her go.”, Tommy demanded
“She’s a Carri which is good enough for me.”, Callisto replied smiling at him. “Of course she wouldn’t be as good as the real thing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Carri snarled
“I’ll meet you in the park. In one hour. You for her.”, Callisto replied. An hour would give her some more time to torture the ranger. She wasn’t going to kill her, but she would love to send her back broken.
“Not a chance.”, Rocky pipped up. He wasn’t about to let his girlfriend go down and be tortured to death for this other girl regardless of the fact that she looked like her.
Carri held a hand up. “No Rocky, it’s alright. I’ll do it.”, she said as she glared at Callisto
“Well then. We’ll see you in one hour.”, Callisto replied, beaming as she ended the transmission
“Are you crazy?”, Rocky asked immediately going to her after Callisto’s face disappeared. “She’ll kill you.”
“She’s going to kill her if I don’t.”, Carri pointed out. “Besides I’m not going down that easily. We can try to fight our way out of it at the exchange. If that fails, I’ll wear a tracker so you can find me.”
“She’s right, we don’t really have a lot of options.”, Andros spoke. The others turned toward him. The Red Astro Ranger had enough experience with Callisto to know two things. One, she was crazy, and two, when she made up her mind that was it.
The white ranger nodded. “We have to try this. If she comes by herself we’ve got a good chance of fighting and not losing either Carri.”
“She won’t.”, Kim assured him. “Cratus is always by her side. And I’m sure she’ll bring a supply Cirranadrones.”
“Cratus is the commander right?”, Ashley asked. Kim nodded. “So what are Cirranadrones?”
Kim looked at Billy who pulled up some footage to show the other rangers. Cirranadrones were her own personal army. She had created them years ago to help her conquer the galaxy. They were dressed in black, with the exception of their dark purple gloves and boots and the purple bands around their foreheads and their waists. Noone knew for sure what they looked like under their uniforms. The rumor was that she had taken some of the strongest warriors she knew and had someone replace weak parts with strong mechanical parts before cloning them. Some even said the first Cirranadrone was a clone of her minus the goddess powers, which she then improved upon with mechanical parts.
What the rangers did know is that they were strong and fast. She built them to mirror her own fighting style. The person she worked for loved them because they were difficult to defeat. She had called them Cirranadrones because she had created them to fight like they belonged in the army she had when she was human. Cirra was the name of the town she grew up in, the town she owed her abilities to. If Xena had never burnt her village down, she wouldn’t be who she was now.
“Those are the things we fought. They seem tough.”, TJ commented as he watched them fight some Cirranadrones who were carrying weapons
“They’re tough but they can be defeated.”, Jason told him. The one thing the rangers were grateful for was that Callisto couldn’t give her drones powers. She had tried but noone in the galaxy had that sort of ability. If they could get powers, they would be almost unstoppable.
“So we fight the Cirranadrones and Cratus while getting our Carri away from Callisto and preventing her from being taken?”, Tommy asked assessing the situation
The older Tommy nodded. “That’s pretty much the plan. Other than that we’ll play it by ear.”
“So what should we do until then?”, asked Ashley
Rocky looked at her and frowned. “The only thing we can do. Wait.”
The hour went by slower than the rangers had wanted. They were ready to get this fight started and get it done with. When the time came, Tommy looked around at all the rangers. “Ok, you know what we have to do?”, he asked, mainly directing the question toward the younger rangers
They nodded and the older team’s leader continued. “Let’s go ahead and morph first, then we’ll teleport down.”
Andros was the first to lead the team in their transformation. “Let’s rocket!”, he yelled as the yellow, blue and red Astro Rangers prepared.
“It’s morphin time!”, Tommy called as the White Ninja Zeo ranger morphed
Tommy looked down at his team before crying out, “Shift into turbo!”
“Mountain blaster turbo power!”, Rocky yelled
“Desert thunder turbo power!”, Jason was next to morph
“Dune star turbo power!”, Carri called out
“Wind chaser turbo power!”, Kim followed
“Red lightning turbo power!”, Tommy was the last to morph rounding out his team
The other rangers stood there in awe as the Turbo team morphed and stood in front of them. “Are you ready?”, the Red Turbo ranger asked
The others nodded, and the nine rangers teleported down to the park.
They looked around to see that Callisto wasn’t there when they hit the surface. They rangers stood ready waiting for her to arrive. A few minutes later she appeared standing forty yards from them. She was surrounded by Cirranadrones, and Cratus was standing by her side. She was holding Carri up, and the first thing she did was throw her to the pavement.
Tommy looked at his teammate. Callisto had done a number to her, she was beaten and her clothes were torn and covered in blood. The white ranger could feel his anger rise as he glared at Callisto.
Callisto pointed her sword at Carri and poked her in the back. “Get up.”, she ordered
Carri felt the tip of the sword pierce her skin as she struggled to get to her feet. She looked up to see nine rangers standing there. Part of her wanted nothing more than to go to them and collapse and be taken care of. A greater part of her wasn’t going to let this end with Callisto defeating her. She started to try and formulate a plan.
Callisto continued to hold her sword to the younger ranger’s back. She looked at the Yellow Turbo ranger. “Power down.”, she growled. Carri did as she was told, making sure to keep an eye on the goddess. “Now step forward.” Callisto watched as the yellow ranger took a step toward her.
“March slowly toward me, one step at a time and I will send her toward you.”, Callisto said as she nudged Carri with her sword. “One wrong move,” Callisto started forming a fireball in her hand, “and she dies.” Callisto threw the fireball next to Carri just for emphasis.
Carri cringed as she saw it hit the ground by her feet. She dragged her feet slowly and painfully as she watched her older counterpart come toward them. She couldn’t let her be tortured like she was. Callisto would have no mercy with her and Carri knew it. The only reason Carri was still alive was so that her older self would give herself up to the goddess.
The Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger thought for a moment. She had an idea, but she had to wait until she was far enough away. Finally she got about ten yards away. It wasn’t much, but it should be enough distance for her to act. She took a deep breath as she prepared to do something stupid.
“Ninjetti, panther!”, she cried. She wasted no time disappearing once she transformed into a Ninjetti. Which was good since Callisto wasted no time throwing a fireball. All she hit was the pile of yellow cloth that laid where Carri once stood.
The other rangers looked around for Carri but they didn’t have to look for long. A few seconds later the Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger appeared, hitting Callisto in the chest with her daggers. The moment she was hit, she ordered the others to attack. Carri quickly morphed back into the Yellow Turbo ranger and all ten rangers got into the fight.
The Yellow Ninja Zeo and Turbo rangers took the fight straight to the goddess. The Red and Pink Turbo rangers both went after Cratus, leaving the remaining rangers with the Cirranadrones.
The Cirranadrones were difficult enemies, but they weren’t anything that six rangers couldn’t handle. They fought long and hard, but were finally able to defeat them. After their defeat, the White Ninja Zeo ranger rounded up the rangers and stood behind the other two battles that were going on. At one point, Kim threw Cratus back while the Yellow Turbo ranger knocked back Callisto.
Callisto stood next to her commander and looked the ten rangers over. She knew she would be better off when the other five rangers left. These numbers just weren’t good. “This isn’t over.”, she hissed staring down the Yellow Turbo ranger
“Not by a longshot.”, Carri snapped back as she watched her enemy disappear
When they were gone, the rangers all teleported back to the Command Chamber and powered down. As the uniform left Carri’s body, she collapsed onto the floor of the ranger’s base.
The White Ninja Zeo ranger went over to his teammate’s side. “Are you ok?”, he asked as he tried to help her up
“Yeah. Little shaken that’s all.”, she replied. She tried to brush Tommy off and get up on her own but she wasn’t sturdy enough.
“Here let’s have a look.”, Billy suggested. He led her off into the infirmary and laid her down on one of the medical beds. Using the computer he ran a full scan on her. A few minutes later he was finished. “Looks like morphing healed most of the broken bones. There’s a few fractures I can take care of.”, he started. He went to get another machine to attach it and let it work on healing the bone fractures.
“As for the cuts,” he continued minutes later, “they closed up when you morphed and started to heal. With you being a ranger, I would say they should be completely healed and the scars gone within a week. Same thing with the bruises.”, Billy explained
A few minutes later the machine was done working. Carri sat up on the medical bed and looked at the other rangers. She was already starting to feel a bit better. “Great now all I need is some clean clothes.”, she said with a smile
The Red Turbo ranger looked at her. “That was a stupid thing to do you know.”, he said sternly. “You could have been killed.”
Carri shot him a look. Of course she knew it was stupid. But she didn’t need to be lectured by a ranger she really didn’t know. “It worked didn’t it? Everyone’s alive. I knew what I was doing.”
Tommy sighed. He didn’t even know why he bothered to say anything. Regardless of the fact that she wasn’t his Carri, she was still Carri.
“Look,” Ashley started interrupting the uncomfortable silence, “why don’t we get you back to the ship and get you some clothes?”
“That would be nice.”, Carri said as she turned to the three male rangers. “You guys coming or are you going to stay here for a while?”
“Actually you can all go.”, Billy interrupted before the rangers could say anything. “I’ve found a way to send you back.”
“How?”, Andros asked
“It’s complicated.”, Billy replied. “But if you all want to go back to the ship, I can send you back to the place where you disappeared, only a few days later.”
“Sounds good.”, TJ said. He was excited to be able to go back home. Other dimensions were nice and all, but he was ready to go back to his planet and his friends.
The Turbo rangers all stood in front of their visitors. “I’m sorry your stay wasn’t all that pleasant.”, Carri apologized to the rangers
Carri shrugged it off as Ashley replied. “It’s ok. We’re all alive and going home, that’s what matters.”
“Is everyone ready?”, Andros asked looking at the other four rangers who nodded in response. They all said their goodbyes before teleporting back to the megaship.
Rocky looked at his team. “Do you think they know?”, he asked referring to something Billy found out that he had informed the Turbo rangers of earlier
Carri shook her head no. “Not a clue.”
“How are we sending them back?”, asked Kim as she looked at Billy
Billy walked over to a metal box that he had pulled out, and used a special key to open it. He pulled out the contents, revealing an orb to the other rangers.
“The Orb of Time?”, Jason questioned as Billy nodded in response. “I thought Zordon had that destroyed years ago?”
“He had me hide it from Zedd and Rita. Even after they were no longer a factor I didn’t think we needed to go digging it up. Until now.”, Billy explained
Tommy looked at the orb. “So we can use it to send them back?”, he asked
Billy smiled at the red ranger. “I know much more about this now than we ever did before. It shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Well what are you waiting for?”, asked Rocky. “Let’s send those rangers home.”
Billy nodded in agreement as he went to get started on the spells to send their friends home.
Ashley, TJ, Andros and Tommy were all standing on the bridge of the megaship. They had all anxiously waiting the last fifteen minutes for Billy to send them back home.
“How long is this going to take?”, asked TJ
“I’m not sure.”, replied Andros. It was hard for him to know anything with Billy keeping him in the dark. But he trusted him, not because he wanted to but because he had to.
“Well maybe...”, Ashley started. She stopped when a bright light filled the ship. A few moments later, the light was gone and the ship was floating out in space. “Well?”, she asked looking over at Andros
Andros went over to one of the control panels to assess their current situation. As he did, another figure appeared on the bridge. “Was that it?”, the female voice asked. The rangers spun around to see Carri dressed in her megaship uniform. She had taken a quick shower and come up to the bridge to see if they were closer to being home.
As everyone looked at her she walked over and stood by Tommy, arms crossed in front of her chest. Tommy smiled at her. “We’re about to find out.”, he replied. He looked her over as she stood there. She looked ok, but Tommy could tell she was still hurting. She didn’t seem too bothered by the fact that she was just tortured, which was hopefully a good sign.
“We’re at the right coordinates.”, Andros informed them, breaking Tommy’s train of thought. “There’s still a lot of debris here, which would indicate that the planet recently exploded.”
“So now what?”, asked Ashley
Andros smiled at the Yellow Astro ranger. “Now we set a course for Earth.”,
TJ and Ashley went to help Andros as the rangers prepared for the two day journey back home.
The End