Down at Angel Grove Memorial Hospital, Rocky had been the first to awaken, having slept lightly because he knew his sister was injured, but also because his leg was beginning to bother him. He rolled over onto his right side and looked to Kris's bed, but it was empty. Panic started to rise as he got up and quckly checked the bathroom. It was empty. Rocky hurried back into the dark hospital room and woke Jason.

"She's gone," was all he said in a terse tone.

"What?" Jason asked, awakening immediately. He blinked a few times, looked to Kris's bed, then back at his friend. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," Rocky replied mournfully. Jason stood up, wincing as he put weight on his ankle but not making any comments about it.

"Come on, we should try and see if we can get to the Power Chamber," he said. Rocky stood beside him, and they hit the teleportation buttons on their communicators in unison.

Much to their delight, and a bit of surprise, they ended up at the Power Chamber.

"Zordon, are we glad to see you," Rocky said, relief plain in his voice. "We lost contact with you for a long time."

"That was because of the storm," Zordon told him, his loud voice echoing throughout the big, empty room.

"Alpha, can you find Kris for us on your scanners?" Jason asked, turning to look at the little android.

"Right away, Jason," Alpha replied, moving to a computer console.

After a moment, he had a printout in his metallic hands, which he handed to Jason. Jason looked it over, then looked straight ahead, grim. Rocky immediately took the printout from Jason, and paled considerably once he'd read it.

"Can we get her off of the moon?" he demanded, looking between Zordon and Alpha. Alpha did another scan, and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Rocky, but there is a force field in effect," he replied sadly. "Nobody can teleport in, only out."

"They had better not harm her," Rocky growled, crunching the paper printout in his fist and hurling it across the room as hard as he could. Then he looked to Alpha. "Let me know the minute you figure out a way to get through that force field, all right?"

An alarm sounded before Alpha could reply.

"Looks like we don't need to figure out how to get Kris back to Earth," Jason said, traces of relief in his voice. He knew that the Machine Empire was up to something, he just didn't know what. Before he could relate his suspicions to Rocky, though, the teen had teleported to Kris's location, and Jason was right on his tail.

"Kris!" Rocky shouted, running towards his sister. "Are you all right?"

Kris edged nervously away from Rocky, ducking beneath his embrace.

"Kris, what's wrong?" Rocky asked.

"I know the truth, Rocky," she told him quietly, putting some distance between them as Jason joined his friend.

"What do you mean, the truth?" Rocky asked, confused.

"I know all about the Power Rangers,and what they do to the innocent people of Angel Grove," Kris explained, her voice hardening.

"But we protect the city," Rocky said. Kris chuckled.

"Yea right," she replied. "I've seen what you guys have done to this place, and to the citizens. And I'm here to destroy you once and for all."

"Kris, we're your friends," Jason said, stepping towards Kris. She took two steps backwards in nonverbal response.

"Not from what my mother and father told me," she informed him.

"Mother and father? Kris, our father is dead!" Rocky exclaimed.

"No, I'm not," Cairbre said, appearing alongside Charna behind Kris. She stepped back to stand between them.

"Kris, I don't know what you've been told, but these two are not your parents," Rocky said, his voice cold as he glared at the two new arrivals.

"They're my parents, and you're not my brother," Kris told him bluntly. An army of cogs materialized behind the "family." Jason and Rocky dropped down into defensive poses, ready for anything except Kris leading the charge on them. Jason just managed to call for help befre he was attacked.

When Tommy, Kat, Tanya and Adam arrived, a confusing scene met their eyes. However, they immediately went to help destroy the cogs before noticing Kris's role in the battle. She had been attacking Rocky, but he had flipped her backwards, away from the group. She got to her feet, and it was then that Rocky noticed that she had been completely healed; physically, anyway.

"Kris, what are you doing?" Tanya asked, having seen Rocky push his sister roughly away.

"Fighting for the people of Angel Grove," Kris told her, replying immediately.

"What?" Tanya demanded.

"She's been brainwashed by Mondo and his lackeys," Rocky explained tersely, not taking his eyes from his sister, her so-called parents, and the cogs that had yet to be destroyed.

"Come on, guys, let's morph and reduce these cogs to spare parts," Tommy said quietly. "It's morphin time!"

"Zeo Ranger One, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger Two, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger Three, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger Four, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger Five, Red!"

"Gold Ranger Power!"

Shortly thereafter, the cogs had disappeared, vanquished, leaving the Rangers free to confront Kris and the other two who were claiming to be her parents.

"Remember what I taught you," Cairbre whispered in Kris's ear, standing a little behind her. Kris nodded, staring the Rangers down. Lifting her left wrist high into the air, she shouted, "Silver Ranger Power!" And the transformation was complete.

Beneath their helmets, the Rangers were gaping in surprise.

"Wasn't she the evil blue ranger a couple of months ago?" Kat asked quietly.

"Colours can change," Tommy told her, smiling grimly at his own memories. Green, white, red...I'm turning into a regular rainbow...or the Italian flag. "Kris, let us help you. You aren't thining straight."

That caught Kris off-guard, for she realised that nothing she had been told had triggered a single memory, but wrote it off as severe amnesia.

"I'm not thinking straight?" Kris asked incredulously. "You guys are the ones terrorizing the city, not me and my parents. And I'm here to put a stop to that."

Rocky stepped towards her.

"Kris, you don't know what you're saying," he told her gently, extending a hand. "Come with me, I'll show you everything you ever wanted to know about your life. I'll take you to meet your real family. You mother, your brothers and your sisters. I'll show you pictures from the family albums with you in them when you were younger. Please, Kris, don't listen to those two imposters. They're not your real parents."

For a moment, Kris was almost tempted to listen to the Blue Ranger, but then the images she had been shown came flying through her head, and her resolve hardened.

"Forget it," she said, kicking Rocky's hand away. "Charna and Cairbre are my real parents, and I'm an only child. Nothing you pathetic Rangers could say would make anything any different."

"Good girl," Cairbre whispered into Kris's ear. "Now, attack them while they're not expecting it." Kris nodded in reply, and pulled her blaster from its holster on her hip, aiming it at the Rangers. They took a step backwards reflexively.

"I'm going to finish you Rangers off once and for all, and the world will be a safer place because of me," she told them. Her blaster ran from side to side, taking all six rangers in its scope. "Now, which one of you would like to go first?"

"Guys, we should teleport back to the Power Chamber and see if Zordon and Alpha can find some way to fix this mess," Rocky whispered to his teammates, acutely aware of the blaster his sister had pointed directly at them. Tommy nodded his assent, and the six of them were gone in multicoloured flashes of light. Kris fired, but the beam shot straight through the light columns and disintegrated a tree instead. She cursed loudly, and turned back to face her "parents."

"Be patient, my child," Charna told her. "We will get them soon. They will come back and try to take you over to their side."

"I won't go," Kris assured her. Charna and Cairbre smiled, and they stood around, waiting for the Rangers to return.

Rocky stepped towards her.

"Kris, you don't know what you're saying," he told her gently, extending a hand. "Come with me, I'll show you everything you ever wanted to know about your life. I'll take you to meet your real family. You mother, your brothers and your sisters. I'll show you pictures from the family albums with you in them when you were younger. Please, Kris, don't listen to those two imposters. They're not your real parents."

For a moment, Kris was almost tempted to listen to the Blue Ranger, but then the images she had been shown came flying through her head, and her resolve hardened.

"Forget it," she said, kicking Rocky's hand away. "Charna and Cairbre are my real parents, and I'm an only child. Nothing you pathetic Rangers could say would make anything any different."

"Good girl," Cairbre whispered into Kris's ear. "Now, attack them while they're not expecting it." Kris nodded in reply, and pulled her blaster from its holster on her hip, aiming it at the Rangers. They took a step backwards reflexively.

"I'm going to finish you Rangers off once and for all, and the world will be a safer place because of me," she told them. Her blaster ran from side to side, taking all six rangers in its scope. "Now, which one of you would like to go first?"

"Guys, we should teleport back to the Power Chamber and see if Zordon and Alpha can find some way to fix this mess," Rocky whispered to his teammates, acutely aware of the blaster his sister had pointed directly at them. Tommy nodded his assent, and the six of them were gone in multicoloured flashes of light. Kris fired, but the beam shot straight through the light columns and disintegrated a tree instead. She cursed loudly, and turned back to face her "parents."

"Be patient, my child," Charna told her. "We will get them soon. They will come back and try to take you over to their side."

"I won't go," Kris assured her. Charna and Cairbre smiled, and they stood around, waiting for the Rangers to return.

"Zordon, is there any was that we can get Kris's mind back to normal?" Rocky asked as soon as he and the others had solidified.

"I'm afraid not, Rocky," the inter-dimensional being replied. "The only way for Kris to regain her memory is not through the use of any external power, but on her own."

"I was afraid he was going to say that," Rocky muttered with a sigh, leaning against a computer console and setting his helmet beside him. "Well, if surrounding her with familiar objects didn't work, how are we supposed to help her get her memory back?"

"What if we re-enacted events that have happened in the past little while?" Kat suggested. However, her idea wasn't too well received, so she fell silent.

"Kat may have an idea there, though," Billy said after a moment. Everybody turned to look at him. "You guys don't have to act it out, but what if you just told her about everything that's happened in her life that you're aware of?"

"Like the fire?" Rocky asked, perking up visibly. Billy nodded, and the others could almost see the gears in Rocky's brain turning as they tried to figure out a way to make this work. Without a word to the others, he put his helmet on and teleported back to the park, with the others, minus Billy, close behind him.

Kris, Charna and Cairbre had been talking in a small circle when the Rangers showed up.

"It's abut time," Kris said with a sneer.

"Kris, do you remember when you were 12, there was a fire at our house?" Rocky began without any preamble.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, pulling her blaster casually from its holster on her hip and pointing it at the Rangers. "No, wait, I don't want to hear you ramble on about inconsequential events. All I want to know is who is going to die first?"

"Kris, you jumped out of your window, and ran away. We thought that you were gone, lost in the fire," Rocky kept going, ignoring Kris's threats. "But it turns out that you collapsed, and had amnesia for a little while. You lived on your own for a bit, but then you got your memory back and came to Angel Grove to look for me."

Kris rolled her eyes up towards the sky, which was begining to cloud over again, then faced the Rangers once more.

"Is there a point to this, or can I just shoot you and shut you up permanently?" she asked him, pretending to stifle a yawn.

"Rocky, this isn't getting us anywhere," Tommy whispered in Rocky's ear.

"Looks like it's going to rain again," Tanya commented, glancing up at the sky. However, her comment was ignored as the others payed attention to the omre pressing matter at hand.

"I don't care, Tommy," Rocky whispered back vehemently. "I'm staying here until Kris gets her memory back, even if I have to stay here all day." Tommy backed off at that point, realizing that Rocky's mind wouldn't be changed, but Tommy was prepared to intervene if it became necessary.

"Look, Kris, I don't know what they did to you, and quite frankly, I don't care," Rocky said, desperation creeping into his voice as he spoke. "All I know is that I want my oldest sister back. You were always the one, out of all of our brothers and sisters, who stuck by me no matter what. You understood me better than everybody. I guess that's because we're so much alike. I lost you once, and I don't want to have to go through that kind of pain and anger again, especially if it's caused by these two imposters." Rocky practically spat out the last word in disgust, eying Charna and Cairbre with revulsion.

Kris looked at him impassively through the visor built into her silver helmet. She waited a second before speaking.

"I presume that there's a point to all of this needless emotion?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip and tighening her grip on her blaster, her aim never wavering from Rocky's blue-suited form.

"Kris, come on, remember!" Rocky pleaded, out of ideas. He took a step forward, but reversed when Kris came close to pulling the trigger on her blaster. Rocky wouldn't be doing anybody any good if he was dead.

"None of what you've told me has been true," Kris told him, sounding incredibly sure of herself. However, mentally, she was questionning everything she had been told that she could remember. Small droplets of rain began to fall from the cloudy sky, creating dark spots on her shiny grey suit.

"How do you know?" Rocky challenged. "How can you be sure that they're telling the truth, and I'm not?"

Kris's head whipped around to look at Charna and Cairbre.

"Kris, we're your parents," Charna said. "Why would you believe these murderers over your own parents?"

Suddenly, Charna and Cairbre's images wavered, becomming fuzzy around the edges. Kris did a double take, as did the Rangers. Charna and Cairbre looked at one another in confusion. They became solid and clear once more, then they flickered, and instead of the human male and female, two cogs could be seen. Then, as soon as it had happened, Charna and Cairbre were back.

"They're cogs!" Kat exclaimed from the far right of the group. Charna and Cairbre's images changed between human and cog form before finally setlling on the true cogs that they both were.

"They must have been altered to look like humans to fool Kris into thinking that they were her parents," Tanya said thoughtfully.

"I knew it!" Rocky exclaimed, punching his right hand into his left palm.

"What's going on here?" Kris asked, her voice shaking ever so slighty.

"Kris, those two were fakes," Rocky told her gently, taking a step forward, then another. "They were sent by King Mondo to make you believe that they were your real parents so you'd work for Mondo and help him try to destroy us."

"I'm so confused," Kris confessed. She saw Rocky advancing towards her, and trained the blaster on him. "I said confused, not stupid."

"Kris, you're not evil, and you don't work for King Mondo," Tommy told her, trying to aid his friend.

Thunder crashed overhead, and it caused a chain reaction in Kris's mind.

"Rocky!" Kris screamed from her room. The door was to hot, and smoke was pouring into her room quickly. When he didn't respond, she ran to her window, cut the screen out, and climbed out onto the tree. However, she slipped, and crashed to the ground. Getting to her feet, Kris began to run from some unknown pursuer, trying to get as far away from the burning house as possible.

"Going on a vacation?" said the woman standing next to her. The girl looked over and paused for a moment before answering.

"No, this won't be a vacation. I'm going to look for someone," the girl explained.

"Oh? Who?" the woman prodded. The girl looked down at her feet.

"I honestly don't know," she answered. They said nothing more to each other. The woman stepped out of the elevator when it reached the lobby, and the girl had the car to herself.

"Rocky?" she asked. And in that brief moment that she had spoken, Rocky saw the fire replay in his mind. He rememberedthinking about her burning to death, in terrible agony because he had been too afraid to go rescue her.

"Kris," he murmured. She got up from behind the table and they hugged each other tightly. He felt her shoulders shake as she started to cry.

"Rocky, I never thought I'd find you," she sobbed.

At their mother's house, Rocky knocked on the door while Kris nervously stood behind him. Their mother answered.

"Rocky!" she exclaimed. "This is a surprise. And who's your friend?" Kris came out from behind Rocky so her mother couldsee her.

"Hi mom," she said quietly. Mrs. DeSantos's hands flew to her mouth and she grew pale.

"Let's go inside mom. I'll explain everything," Rocky said, leading her into the living room. Kris shut the door behind her and followed her brother inside.

In the living room, Rocky lead his mother to a chair and sat down beside Kris on the couch.

"Kristine...is it really you?" their mother asked. Kris nodded. "Oh...I can't believe this! My eldest daughter is alive!

A while later, it returned holding a vial filled with a greenish liquid. It removed the machine from Kris's head and poured the liquid into her mouth. Kris swallowed it, and groaned. She lifted her head and opened her eyes. They glowed green. Seconds later, she was engulfed in a greenish-blue light, and she had changed from her street clothes to a dark blue Zeo Ranger suit very similar to Rocky's, but a different, darker shade.

"It worked!" the monster crowed exuberantly. The others cheered.

"Good. Now Kris, your enemies are the Power Rangers. Your only purpose in life is to defeat them. Now, go to Earth and dojust that! I will help you anyway I can" Mondo ordered. Kris was unstraped and she got to her feet.

"Yes master," she replied before she disappeared.

Rocky stood in the park with his sister in his arms. Kris broke free of his embrace and stood a few feet away, her back to him.

"I...I can't believe what I wanted to do to you guys. I'll never be able to face any of you again. I'll never live it down," Kris said, her shoulders sagging.

"Kris, you can't blame yourself. You didn't want to do any of the stuff you said. You were under one of Mondo's spells. You didn't do anything, it was all Mondo," Rocky replied. He powered down, then walked over to Kris and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged and walked a few steps before facing him.

"Can...Do you think that any of them will ever be able to forgive me?" she asked, tears running freely down her cheeks. Rocky moved over to her and now she fell against him, burying her face in his shoulder while he stroked her hair.

"Believe me Kris. They'll forgive you," Rocky said, and he teleported the both of them to the Power Chamber.

With a bloodcurdling scream, Kris's memories came flooding back to her. Everything from when she was five to what had happened up until that point. She turned around sharply on her heel, and gave a look to the cogs, who had called in reinforcements in the brief second that Kris had been in her own world, that could have melted diamonds.

"You almost made me hurt my brother," she snarled, taking step by anger-ridden step towards the cogs. They stood their ground, waiting to see what the human female would do. "You almost made me hurt my brother, and you're going to pay dearly for that. Nobody, and I mean nobody makes me do what I don't want to do, understand? I'm going to teach you a lessor that will be forever imprinted in your puny metal servos!" With that, she turned her blaster in the direction of the cogs and let loose with a barrage of fire that illuminated the darkening area, flashing brighter than any lightening ever had. Kris's lips curled back in a grimace as she squeezed the trigger as hard as she could, picking off the cogs until none of them remained.

Once the cogs had been defeated, Kris barely had time to holster her blaster before she collapsed onto the wet grass beneath the rain. She moaned, placing the forehead of her helmet on the cool grass. The Rangers ran towards her with Rocky in the lead. When he reached her, he collected her into his arms, holding her gently while she cried her heart out. Carefully, he removed her silver helmet and placed it beside his own. An instant after he released her helmet it, along with Kris's silver suit, fizzled out of existence in a silver crackle of light.

"Kris? Are you all right?" he asked her softly as the others stood above them. She sniffled.

"Oh yea, peachy," she replied, her voice weak. "Can we go home? I want to lay down for a while."

"OK," Rocky said. He helped her to her feet, and they teleported to their apartment. Kris avoided looking at everybody, including her brother. When they arrived at their apartment, Kris headed straight for her bedroom without so much as a word to her brother. Rocky began to follow her, but stopped short when she closed the door to her room in his face. Deciding to let hr have some privacy, Rocky went into his own room and fell fast asleep.

He awoke to the sound of Kris crying in the room next to his. Quickly, Rocky got up out of bed, stumbled through the darkness to her room, and knocked softly on the door. When she didn't answer, he hesitated before entering her room.

The dark blue curtains were drawn, allowing no light into the room whatsoever. Rocky could barely make out his sister's form as she lay, huddled on the bed, sobbing quietly.

"Kris?" he called gently, faltering just beyond her doorway. He saw her head move, and her eyes caught the light that was coming into the room from the hallway, then she buried her head in her arms again. "Kris, don't shut me out like this."

"Rocky, I'm still in shock over what I did." Kris voice floated out of the darkness and barely reached Rocky's ears for it was so faint and leaden with emotion.

"Kris, you know that that wasn't you," Rocky told her, approaching her bed and standing next to it.

"Then who else was it?" she snapped.

"You had amnesia, and King Mondo took advantage of that," Rocky said softly. "I know that that wasn't fair of him, but evil beings aren't fair." He sighed and looked out at nothingness through the darkness. "I wish that I wasn't a Power Ranger sometimes. It'd put my family and friends in so much less danger."

"Rocky, how can you say that?" Kris asked him sharply, lifting her head to look at him. Their eyes met through the darkness, hers burning with intensity and shame combined while his flashed with regret and worry mixed in equal parts. "You and the Rangers do so much good for Angel Grove, and the world. If it wasn't for you guys, Mondo or Zedd and Rita would have taken over a long time ago, and the entire planet would have been plunged into a living Hell."

"Well, it looks like you're going to get the chance to do some good for the planet, too," Rocky commented. Kris looked at him in confusion. "The Silver Power Coin? You mean, I wasn't able to use that just because Mondo gave it to me? It'll work now, even though I'm good?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Rocky told her, shrugging. "But we can worry about that tomorrow. You should probably get some sleep. You've had a long couple of days."

"So have you," Kris reminded him, smiling a little. "How does your leg feel, anyway?"

"It's all healed up, now,"Rocky reported, flexing his leg a little to illustrate. Kris looked at him in surprise, a question on her face. "Power Rangers have amazing recuperative abilities."

"Does that mean I'm fine, too?" Kris wondered, looking down at her arm, which was still in a cast.

"Um, I don't know," Rocky replied honestly. Before he could say anything more, Kris took a deep breath, held it, and hit her cast hard with her right arm. She winced, then realized she felt no pain.

"That didn't hurt at all," she told him, amazed. She smacked her cast around a little more, and felt nothing except the vibrations of the cast making contact with her right fist. "I'll take the cast off tomorrow." Kris reached down and felt her leg, but it had healed perfectly, leaving no trace of the stitces, or even a scar. "Wow, this is incredible. Even if I'm not a Ranger, I guess I have their healing abilities." Kris looked back at her brother, her thought track changing. "I'm sorry, Rocky."

"Kris, none of this was your fault," Rocky told her, vehement, worried, sincere. He sat down on the bed next to her. "You have to know that."

"I guess I know that in my head, but my heart keeps insisting that some of this was my fault," Kris admitted.

"Was it your fault you got hit on the head with that tree branch?" Rocky asked her.

"No."

"Was it your fault you got amnesia?"

"No."

"Was it your fault that King Mondo took advantage of you while you couldn't fight back?"

"No."

"Then I don't see why any of this could possibly be considered your fault."

Kris looked at him, tears running down her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said hoarsely, throwing her arms around her brother. In reply, he hugged her closely, tightly, trying to reassure her in any way that he could.

"I'll always be there for you, Kris," he whispered. "No matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances, I'll always be around to help you and protect you."

THE END!!