Tugging him gently by the arm, the Zeo Ranger dragged the Morphin' Ranger into the apartment. "Hey, where'd you two go? You missed the BEST story!" Zeo Rocky greeted as he cuddled with his girlfriend.
"And what was that?" Morphin' Tommy took a seat next to Cassie, casting her a wary glance. "You didn't tell them any embarrassing stories, did you?"
The Purple Morphin' Ranger winked at him mischievously. "Nope," she paused, thinking back. "Unless you consider the one time M'Ela sent down the Mr. Potato Head monster to be embarrassing," she assured with a chuckle as the doorbell rang. "Oh, I'll get it. That must be the rest of the gang."
As Cassie went off to get the door, Shannon sat down on the living room floor between her husband and Zeo Tanya. "You okay?" the Yellow Zeo Ranger leaned over and whispered in her ear.
Smiling in a reassuring manner at her friend, she replied, "Sure I'm fine! Just a little stressed out and shook up by the whole universe displacement thing."
Still looking slightly skeptical at the Zeo Guardian, Tanya excepted her excuse reluctantly. "Alright."
9:06
Zeo Kat and Rocky stood out of the balcony as the warm wind passed through the open sliding glass door and into the apartment's living room. Cuddling with loving words and touches, they were both unaware of the presence watching them from inside.
"Katherine?" Morphin' Adam came up to Morphin' Katherine and laid his hands on her shoulders softly, following her gaze as she stared out the window at the couple.
"Hmmm?" she moaned quietly, turning her face to him while he sat down with her on the sofa near the balcony window.
Sliding his arm around her shoulders and bringing her closer to him, Adam laughed gently. "Are we being a 'Peeping Katherine' and watching our new guests' private moments?"
Katherine snuggled into her boyfriend's arms and sighed reluctantly. "Not really...I just couldn't help but notice those two together," she paused, trying to say the words she wanted to say. "She's pregnant."
Adam nodded solemnly, stroking her light blonde hair. "I saw that," he looked down deeply into her eyes, watching flickers of different emotions pass through them. "Does it bother you?"
The Red Morphin' Ranger leaned her head into his shoulder, gnawing on her lower lip in contemplation. "It doesn't actually bother me, in the sense that it drives me crazy...but yeah, the fact that she is pregnant and Rocky is the father does bother me."
"You know, he's not our Rocky and you're not her."
"I know that, but it's still eerie in a way. I never imagined Rocky with anyone BUT Tanya. They've been together ever since the eighth grade...four years," Katherine smiled to herself contentedly, remembering all the good times she had witnessed between her two friends. "They've never considered anyone else. They've always been SO faithful to one another.
"And then, I never imagined myself with anyone but you," she glanced up into Adam's deep brown eyes and kissed his lips softly. "Before we met, I never considered having a 'boyfriend'; it was a foreign thought to me. But when you joined the team, you managed to break into my heart..."
"Your COLD heart," the Blue Morphin' Ranger interrupted her with a chuckle.
"Yes, my COLD heart," Katherine playfully glared at him and stuck her tongue out. "But you know, since we've been together I never thought I could be with someone other than you; you know me the best of anybody."
"I do," he agreed, hugging her to his chest. "Besides, just because that Katherine has a thing for her Rocky doesn't mean you'll fall for our Rocky. I won't let that happen," he murmured soothingly.
The leader of the Morphin' Rangers grinned. "I know you won't."
Universal Frequency 8208585
December 20th, 1998
7:45 PM
Five minutes of fighting had progressed since the Turbo Rangers' arrival and things were starting to get better.
At first not knowing how to combat the strange robotic-like lackeys of Astronema's the six teenagers suffered. But once they realized how the Quantrons fought, battling them with their Turbo weapons was simple as pie.
Now, at the present moment, most of Astronema's quantrons were running away from the threat of the six teens. Soon enough, they all left and their "queen" was left to pick up the pieces. "How do you like them apples, Astroturf?" Sheryl snapped readily, as the villainess approached them alone.
Astronema rolled her eyes at the White Turbo Ranger's snap and stood before the Turbo Rangers; her eyes locked on the ground, almost as if she was thinking up a counterattack. "Let's get her NOW!" Ryan growled into his helmet comm. "While she's TRYING to think!"
His teammates just as antsy to pounce on the defenseless witch, Liyah's voice cut into their helmets. "No." She stated strongly. "We can't attack without being provoked; the Rules of Power, you guys...remember?"
"Dangit!" Kerry cursed lightly into her comm, stomping her foot.
Following the noise of Kerry's stomp, Astronema slowly looked upwards at the group of six, her eyes focused on Sheryl. "I heard about your mishap on KO-35, White Turbo," she spoke so coldly that she could have frozen water. "You're zord was shot down by the Phantom Ranger?"
Justin's twin blinked calmly underneath her helmet as she stepped out of the group and closer to the purple-haired woman. "Yeah," the brunette replied in a dark tone. "My zord has been repaired since then."
Astronema and Sheryl both began to circle one another as Kerry, Ryan, Camellia, Tamara and Liyah looked on with careful eyes. They did this until the villainess stopped and whispered, "I also heard you have not recovered since then either." And with a jabbing motion of Astronema's hands, her sharp diamond-topped staff appeared suddenly.
"NO!!" the five Turbo Rangers screamed painfully as they saw the sharp end of the staff go straight through Sheryl's suit and into her gut. All they heard from Sheryl was a soft gasp into her helmet comm.
With an evil chuckle, Astronema jerked her staff out of the White Turbo Ranger, allowing her to fall to the pavement limply. "Oh, yes Turbo Rangers," she hissed quite happily. "Oh yes..."
The evil woman quickly disappeared into a purple flash of light while the Turbo Rangers ran over to Sheryl's stabbed body. "Sheryl!" Tamara cried, trying to remove the girl's helmet.
Camellia pulled the Black Ranger's hands away from her friend's helmet. "No," she insisted. "Don't take her helmet off; you'll cause her to revert to her normal height and that'll just make things worse." Shannon's younger sister bit her lip extra hard to keep her from breaking down into tears. "We have to get her to the Power Chamber; it's her only chance."
7:51 PM
"SHERYL!" Justin cried out as he saw his sister being cradled in the arms of his best friend. Running over to Ryan, who had just appeared out of a green teleportation streak, the fourteen year-old looked frantic. "What happened to her?!"
"Astronema happened," Tamara growled angrily, approaching Zordon's warp. "We have to do something, Zordon! We can't just let Astronema get away with stabbing Sheryl!"
"We will not," Karone told Tamara, while she helped Ryan lower the White Ranger down onto the diagnostic table. "We have a plan."
"What plan?" the Red Turbo Ranger scoffed. "We're down two Power Ranger teams, Sheryl's JUST been stabbed and Astronema has the upper hand. You've gotta have a miracle for us to win this one."
"Then," Zordon replied the young leader, "we have a miracle for you, Liyah."
For a moment, the room fell unusually silent except for the beeping sound coming from the diagnostic table every few seconds. "We found the other rangers," Andros announced, banishing the quietness.
As Karone, Justin and Alpha went to work to save Sheryl, the Red Astro Ranger motioned the other rangers over to where he was standing near the sensors console. "So, you found them," Liyah replied with slight awe in her voice, while looking down at the computer screen covered with blinking lights of white, orange, red and green. "But how do you plan on getting them back here?"
"The Astro Rangers have a device that modifies their Astro Morphers. It alone allows them to travel through different universes," their Eltarien mentor responded. "They will be the ones to find and return with the other rangers hopefully..."
7:53
"You are doing fairly well," Phantom's shadowed voice called out to Astronema in the middle of the Galleria as the younger woman stared at her staff, stained with blood. "Your first draw of blood I take it?"
"First draw of Power Ranger blood," she shrugged in a nonchalant voice. "Besides, blood just happens to hold something with me. Blood and I are in agreement with one another."
The Phantom Ranger heartily laughed. "An agreement?" he scoffed at the villainess, emerging from his hiding spot, ripples surrounding him and quickly disappearing.
Turning her gaze from the bloodied tip of the staff and to the man, she spoke, "Yes, an agreement. I shed it from its prison and it provides me with my power." Then, with a smooth lift of her arm, Astronema brought the tip of the staff to her mouth and licked it gently, savoring the blood's taste and quietly enjoying it.
The Phantom Ranger nearly vomited, but steadied himself before he actually did. "I take it this is your little twisted behavior?"
Astronema nodded with an evil smirk, twirling the Wrath Staff in her hands now that she had finished her 'snack'. "Mother has her craziness, Grandmother has her lust for sex, and I have my taste for blood."
8:10 PM
"How is Sheryl holding up, Camellia?" Karone questioned the younger ranger, struggling to slip on a yellow suit over her MegaShip uniform.
"She's doing better, thanks to you," Camellia sighed in relief, walking into the living quarters Karone was in. "Now, if only I could ring my hands around Astronema's neck and squeeze..."
Karone finally stuck one of her arms into the suit and began to work on getting the other one in. "I would not suggest it. Astronema is one of those psycho villains you do not want to try those kind of things with," the Astro Ranger warned the Turbo Ranger as she stuck her tongue out, trying to fudge her arms into the suit still.
Camellia couldn't help but almost chuckle, watching her sister. After a few minutes, she suggested, "Maybe you might need my help?"
The blonde smiled graciously. "That just might work," she agreed as the brunette came up to her side and navigated her arm into the sleeve of the suit.
"Aren't all villains psycho?" she reassumed their conversation while helping Karone get her legs into the suit.
"Of course," she responded, sticking her left foot through the leg of the suit, "but no one is as psycho as Astronema. She had this coldness about her and at the same time she can manage to be a little bratty child. Sometimes, I think she has more than one soul living in that body of hers."
Karone easily fudged her right leg into the suit and zipped it up to her neck. "I guess I am ready to go find the others now," she laughed, staring down at herself. "I look like a giant ginina!"
"Ginina?" Camellia looked at her in confusion, not recognizing the word.
"Ah, what do you call it on Earth?" she pondered for a moment, before remembering its Earth name. "Ah! Sunflower. Gininas are a type of sunflower native to Cindaria and its colonies."
The Yellow Turbo Ranger laughed, finally understanding. "Then I guess you DO look like a ginina! What are those suits for anyways?"
"They prevent us from morphing while we are 'riding' through the portals. That way we are able to use our Astro morphers to find the correct universal frequency and stop in the correct universe without actually 'bumping' into one," she explained as they exited the quarters and strode down the stairs into the Power Chamber.
"Are you ready, Karone?" Davius questioned his girlfriend as she emerged from the staircase with Camellia.
She quirked a grin at him, while he zipped up his own blue suit. "Pretty much," she replied definitely. "So who is going after who?"
"I an taking Artemis and the Zeo Rangers," Andros declared, turning away from the console and facing his sister. "You are taking Zhane and Calypso, Karone. Davius will find the Element Rangers."
Camellia watched quietly as the three expert Astro Rangers on this matter communicated.
"What universal frequency is that?" Karone queried, pushing the yellow sleeve higher up her arm so she could adjust her Astro Morpher.
"Universal frequency 8218587," Andros answered, repeating the long frequency number off of the console near him.
Once she had the number programmed into her morpher, Karone gave a nod of her head. "Got it. We had better get going."
"Right," Davius agreed, fiddling with his Astro Morpher one last time. "You ready, Andros?"
"As ready as I will ever be," he shrugged, zipping up the front of his red suit. "Alpha?"
The quiet robot looked up from the teleportation console and gave Andros a "thumbs-up" sign. "I'm tapping into your Astro Morphers...Now," he slowly slid his robotic fingers up the touch-sensitive controls.
Suddenly a purple portal that resembled the ones Astronema had used on the other rangers Davius rolled his eyes at the blonde. "Oh, just go would you!"
"Alright," she replied slowly, approaching the edge of the purple pit and jumping feet first into it; Davius quickly followed suit.
Andros lingered back for a few seconds, meeting his younger sister's gaze. *I will be back with Artemis. You do not have to worry, Camellia* he assured, literally diving into the purple hole.
Running up to the purple portal before it closed, the Yellow Ranger took a little peek into the swirling purple abyss. *I pray you do come back with them all, Andros. All safe and sound...*
Universal Frequency 8218587
Jumping out of their bed and dressing quickly, Calypso and Cheridian made it to the MegaShip's bridge in record time. "What's going down?" Calypso breathlessly wheezed as they both exited the Megalift.
"Astronema sent down a monster," Andros informed briefly, him and Zhane already heading out towards the corridor. "You guys stay here. We'll take care of it," were the Red Ranger's last words as he disappeared off of the bridge.
Cheridian rolled his eyes in annoyance at their simple dismissal. "He acts as if he knows we cannot fight!"
"Andros is simply looking out for your best interests," Alpha Six chimed in, making his way around the room. "It wouldn't be any good to have you injured, now would it?"
"I guess not," Calypso sighed, plopping herself into herself into the weapons console's seat. "I just feel so helpless, sitting here doing nothing and just waiting for someone to come pick us up and take us home! I wanna get some action in!"
Cheridian laughed at his girlfriend's whining. "I never knew you to be so anxious for a fight!"
Calypso shrugged in a dejected fashion, running her fingers along the control console in front of her. "Well, fighting would be a lot better than just sitting around and doing nothing! We can't even go down to Angel Grove without looking suspicious!"
At her words, Cheridian gave her a mischievous look. Calypso returned his look with a wary gaze of her own. *You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?*
He grinned innocently. *Hey, you are the one with the ability to hear my thoughts...You tell ME!*
"Yes," Calypso blurted out as she answered him, a grin spreading across her face quickly.
"Yes what?" Both D.E.C.A. and Alpha chimed at the same time, looking to the Grid Guardian.
Cheridian quickly dismissed the question with a casual, "Nothing." Heading off of the bridge with his girlfriend in tow, he said, "We will be down in Angel Grove if you need us."
"Angel Grove?!" the robot protested, stunned at their announcement. "You CAN'T go down to Angel Grove! Who knows what could happen if you two go down there?"
Now standing in the back doorway, the couple gave heavy sighs. *We were SO close!* Cheridian cried out in their thoughts.
"Alpha, please," the Asian woman began to speak, spinning her words of wisdom. "Keeping us cooped up on the MegaShip is inhumane! I need to get out and actually breathe real oxygen! Not the synthesized kind!" She paused for effect, so that her words could take a moment to sink in. "Besides, it'll only be this ONE time..."
Calypso was quickly cut off D.E.C.A. "It appears that the Rangers are having trouble restraining Astronema's monster, Reflectolite."
"See, they NEED us out there to help them!" Cheridian added to his girlfriend's plea to be let off of the ship. *What kind of name is Reflectolite?*
*Apparently, Astronema has never sent down monsters to attack KO-35 before, has she?*
*No. Our Astronema prefers hand-to-hand combat.*
*Well then, you're gonna find out what it's like to fight a stupid, idiotic, synthesized monster...*
9:20 AM
"Kiyah!" Andros cried as he power kicked Reflectolite, but as his foot met the monster's chest he ricocheted backwards into the nearest tree.
"ANDROS!" Ashley called out, running over to the Red Ranger's side. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he gasped out, clutching his hand over his chest for a split second. Watching his other four teammates try to tackle Astronema's latest monster and fail miserably once more, Andros pulled himself up from the ground. "This monster is so stupid, and yet so strong!"
Ashley let out a small, strained chuckle. "You're telling me! I've tried scanning him for weaknesses, but he always seems to be able to reflect my sensor scans!"
Rushing over to their fallen comrades, the Yellow and Red Rangers quickly helped them get up and take a defensive stance of a group. "Oh lookie here! They're still fighting...I've got to beat them!" Reflectolite hiccupped, his ungainly hands glowing with a black light.
Just as the monster was about to throw the powerful blast at the Astro Rangers, a green beam directly hit his black ball of energy, discharging it right away. "Wha..." T.J. gawked in shock, turning to face the direction of where the green light had come from.
"Calypso! Cheridian!" Andros snapped, as he saw the pair of Power Rangers jogging onto the scene. "I told you to stay on the ship and let us handle this!"
Cheridian shrugged, wielding his Super Silverizer on his arm. "D.E.C.A. told us you six were in trouble and we just came down to help you get rid of this 'Reflectolite' thing."
"Whoa...two Silver Rangers!" Reflectolite squealed happily, not at all fazed by the fact that his energy attack had been foiled. "Astronema will be happy when I destroy both of you!"
Cassie groaned underneath her pink helmet. "What an idiot..."
Abruptly, Astronema's monster began to charge both Zhane and Cheridian...head first. "Oh geez!" Zhane cried, jumping off to the side and out of harm's way.
Unlike Zhane, Cheridian didn't move and simply whipped out his Silverizer and shot at Reflectolite. As he finished his target practice, the large monster fell over onto its back and with moans of pain, blew up and was destroyed. "How did you do that?!" Carlos gaped, staring at Cheridian. "Zhane tried blowing him up with his Silverizer, but it had no effect!"
"Calypso took out the important thing," he nodded towards the Green Morphin' Ranger. "He was able to reflect your attacks because he was hording up his energy inside of him. When he created that energy attack, he used a lot of that horded energy, which she was able to destroy with her Blade Blaster. Thus, he didn't have enough energy to block our attacks any longer."
"How did you know that?" T.J. questioned warily, leaning against a tree in one of the denser parts of Angel Grove Park.
Before Calypso could answer the Blue Astro Ranger, a circular portal of purple light opened up in front of the seven Power Rangers and a familiar figure stepped out of it. As soon as she did, the portal closed behind her. "Zhane? Calypso?" the figure dressed yellow queried, eyeing the group closely.
A grin quickly spread across Calypso's face and she removed her helmet anxiously. "Karone?!"
Universal Frequency 8208597 "How long has it been since my 'double' past away?" Kimberly questioned gently as she sat across from Shannon, nursing a small cup of coffee.
Shannon stared down at the kitchen table and then glanced up to face the same exact face of her long-deceased friend. "It's so hard to look at you, Kimberly, and actually tell you this," she struggled to smile as tears threatened to breech her eyes. "It's been four years since she passed away; like I said before to everyone, everyone but Rocky and I died trying to save Earth."
"And it's been three years since we were thrown into this mess of mentoring a new group of Power Rangers," Rocky teased, trying to lighten the mood while he grabbed himself a cup of coffee also. Though, it was evident that this subject of talk had a deep profound affect on him too.
"How did it all happen? How did it become so hard for you two?"
Rocky pulled up a chair to the kitchen table next to Shannon and took her hand into his. "We never saw it coming, that's how it happened. After we freed Kimberly, Aisha, Jason, Trini, Billy and Zack from Zesta's spell, Dark Specter simply came out of nowhere and blindsided us Rangers. Suddenly we weren't facing some stupid little idiot with a puny little monster and minion force. We were facing the real deal..." he trailed off, shutting his eyes painfully. He then reopened them, meeting Kimberly's gaze with his own tear-ridden one. "And as much as we hated to admit it, we weren't READY for the real deal."
"We lost Tommy and Kat in the first wave of attacks. They never felt any pain; they got caught in the first of many refinery explosions in and around Angel Grove," Shannon murmured painstakingly, slowly trying to numb herself to the pain of the memories.
"Then we lost Kimberly, Adam, Billy and Aisha in the second wave. Kim died at the hand of a mob of vampites. Billy and Aisha were stabbed to death by Astronema. Adam broke his leg and suffered a severe infection because we didn't have the medical abilities to heal him. That eventually killed him too."
Rocky instantly took up the story-telling when gigantic tears swelled from Shannon's eyes. "There were only six of us left then: Trini, Tanya, Jason, Zack and us. Trini, Tanya and Zack died trying to infiltrate one of Dark Specter's lead scout ships; we tried saving them, but there was nothing we could do. We were practically useless. So Zordon finally told us something that could save the entire universe," he paused, glancing down at his cup of coffee, "Shattering his tube and, in essence, killing him all together.
"First, the three of us all said no. It wasn't worth Zordon's life, but as we fought more battles, barely managing to get out alive, our perspective changed. We knew it was the only way and we saw everything Zordon was seeing, just standing by and watching us fall like flies one by one..."
"I broke his tube with my Star Staff," Shannon sputtered out through her quiet sobs. "When we did that, a golden wave emitted from the broken warp and literally bathed the universe in its power. That golden wave destroyed all the evil in our universe and we three lone rangers were left to clean up the aftermath."
"We began reconstruction on Angel Grove quickly. The three of us had retained our powers so we were able to help without revealing our identities," Rocky's voice hushed slowly, "Then about a month after, Jason committed suicide. We found him lying dead, up in the living quarters of the Power Chamber. Later, when the computers came back online, we were able to figure out that he had overdosed on painkillers."
"Painkillers?" Kimberly gulped down, her fingers firmly twined around her mug. Even though she knew this wasn't HER Jason they were talking about, the thought of ANY Jason from ANY universe loosing so much hope as to even THINK about suicide sent a shudder through her spine.
Shannon nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It was after Jason's death when Rocky and I finally saw that we were TRULY alone. Thinking we were in love, we quickly got together and started making love frequently," the brunette paused, pushing her short curly bangs out of her face. "Not until did I find out I was pregnant with Kathy did we realize that all the sex and closeness we had was all out of loneliness. We were the last two of our species and we knew we had to stick together to survive."
"We didn't get back together until the very night Kathy was born," Rocky slowly let a gentle smile grace his lips. "We had been working in the Power Chamber that night and we were completely alone; no connection to the outside world. Spending those long hours with her during the labor...I don't know, I guess it changed the way I saw things. The way I saw you," he gazed lovingly at Shannon and kissed her back of her hand gingerly. "Kathryn Syryn DeSantos was what bonded us and what made us see each other. And I continue to thank God everyday for where destiny has led us. We may have lost our friends along the way, but their great sacrifice helped give us a higher understanding of what life is."
A long pause followed Zeo Ranger's words and Kimberly took that time to process all the information that she had just heard. Unfortunately she was quickly interrupted from her thoughts as Zack suddenly burst into the kitchen during the solemn moment. "KIM! Come 'ere quick!" he cried exuberantly, pulling the Sound Ranger up and out her chair where she had been rooted for the last ten minutes.
"What?" she replied startled, stumbling out of the room, her two other friends hot on their trail. "What's going on, Zack!?"
"Just follow me," he assured, dragging out of the house that belonged to Shannon and Rocky into the front yard. All the Element and Galaxy Rangers, unmorphed of course, appearing to be gathered around someone on the lawn and casually talking to them.
"What's going on, Vivian?" Rocky called out to the Pink Galaxy Ranger, while walking up to the group.
Vivian Chu spun around, her short black bob bouncing against her cheeks. "Rocko! You won't believe this! We've got another dimension-traveler!"
Universal Frequency 8218690 "Hahhhh," Zeo Tommy yawned semi-loudly, slowly rising from his make-shift bed on the floor of the living room. He glanced down next to where he had been sleeping to see Shannon still curled up underneath the blanket they had been sharing.
"Eeewww! Morning breath!" another voice squeaked quietly from across the darkened room.
The Red Ranger chuckled to himself, rubbing his watery eyes tenderly with his hands. "Is that you, Cassie?" he replied with another gentle yawn.
"Yup," the Purple Morphin' Ranger's soft voice answered. "I just woke up too. Where are you, Tommy?"
"I was sleeping next to the fireplace," Zeo Tommy paused for a second. "You DO know which Tommy this is, right?"
"My Tommy is sleeping next to me still," she relayed, her grin evident in her voice. "So I'm assuming that you're Shannon's Tommy."
"Yeah, but I think we should go into the kitchen before we start waking everyone else up," he suggested, as he noted both Zeo Adam and Zeo Tanya stirring near by his little sleeping area.
"You're probably right," Cassie agreed, and he could hear her rising from the floor after his remark.
Tommy also carefully stood up in the small sea of bodies that were still sleeping in Cassie's apartment.
The night before, after Morphin' Kimberly, Billy, Katherine and Adam left Cassie's, they had fixed the sleeping arrangements. Since Cassie was the only one who had her own apartment of all the Morphin' Rangers and Power Central wasn't equipped with living quarters, the six Zeo Rangers had to jam themselves in. Cassie gave up her bed to Rocky and Kat for the night because of Kat's condition, and both her and Morphin' Tommy had spent the night sleeping in the living room with the other four Zeo Rangers.
Creeping through quietly, Zeo Tommy made it into the kitchen and winced as the bright light suddenly rushed into his eyes. "Ow!" he blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to adjust to the drastic change in lighting.
"Oops!" Cassie said, lowering the power level of the lighting in the kitchen. "That any better?"
"A little bit. Thanks," Tommy acknowledged, rubbing his eyes once more.
"Do you want a cup of coffee?" she offered, moving towards one of the higher cabinets in the kitchen.
He smiled tiredly, nodding his head. "Coffee would be good."
As Cassie went to work making the coffee, she also started a conversation. "So, how long have you and Shannon been married?"
Tommy arched his eyebrow a tiny bit as he took at seat at the kitchen counter. "How'd you know we were married?"
"It's sorta hard to miss those rings you and her are sporting," she teased, taking the coffee canister out of another cupboard.
"I guess so," he shrugged sheepishly. "We've been married for about five months now."
"Any kids?"
Running his hands through his long brown hair and brushing it away from his face, Tommy replied, "Yeah, three. A four-year old and six-month old twins." Pausing and thinking about her questions, he asked her a question of his own. "How long have you and Tommy been together?"
Finishing with the coffee, Cassie turned around and leaned against the edge of the sink. "We've together for two years." She was about to talk about Morphin' Tommy's former girlfriend, but decided to hold her tongue with that information, not knowing how Zeo Tommy would react. "Been inseparable ever since we became Power Rangers."
The Asian teenager was about to say more, when suddenly she heard a noise. "What's that?"
Tommy looked at her in confusion. "What's what?"
Hearing the same noise once more, a sort of rattling sound, she literally jumped up and down. "THAT noise!" she cried in a whispered voice.
Now that Tommy had heard it the second time, he carefully stood up from the stool he was sitting on. "Sounds like someone's at your front door," he paused, placing his hand on the light switch. "I'm gonna turn off the lights; follow me out."
Silently, he switched the lights off and with Cassie covering his behind, they both crept into the living room and hid in a secluded corner close to the front door of the apartment. "When they come in, you pounce them and I'll turn on the lights," Cassie sketched out a simple plan for Tommy and her to follow.
The Red Ranger nodded. "You got it."
They stood together motionless for a few minutes until their "intruder" was finally able unlock the door and make their way into the room. After watching them take a few cautious steps forward, Tommy immediately jumped into action and tackled the intruder to the ground, muffling groans and moans from the both of them.
Cassie dashed over to the light and flipped them on, startling the other sleeping campers in the living room. "Hey!" Adam groaned, rubbing his eyes furiously to get them to adjust to the brightness as fast as possible. "What was that for?"
"Someone was trying to break in," the raven-haired sixteen year old murmured in a semi-ominous voice.
"Was it M'Ela?" Shannon questioned with a slight yawn.
Answering her, Zeo Tommy came shuffling into the open area, holding a figure dressed from head to toe in some kind of red suit captive. "Does this look like one of M'Ela's goons?" he directed his comment towards the now wide-awake Morphin' Tommy.
The White Morphin' Ranger simply shrugged. "If it is, then I've never seen it before," he stated while staring at the intruder.
The intruder wriggled in Zeo Tommy's grip for awhile as suppressed grunts came from it underneath its mask. "Take off its mask, Tommy," Tanya suggested, her curiosity piqued by the appearance the red thing. "It sounds like it's trying to say something!"
Reluctantly, the Red Zeo Ranger loosen his grip on the intruder and allowed it to remove its mask. Instantly, a gasp was issued from Shannon and she laughed gleefully, "ANDROS!"
Universal Frequency 8218587
"The one and only!" Karone chuckled as she went to hug Calypso tightly. "Well, technically not the one and only, but the one I think you're looking for!"
Cheridian smiled gladly underneath his helmet. "That didn't take you too long; we only had to wait a day," he relayed to the Yellow Astro Ranger of their universe.
"A day?" she arched her eyebrow, slightly amused. "It's only been about an hour since Astronema zapped you here!"
"Uhhhh, I hate to break up your reunion," Zhane cut in as politely as could possibly be expected of him at that moment, shifting his gaze over to Karone, "but did she just call you Karone?"
Karone nodded at Zhane slowly. "Yeah, she did. Is there something wrong with that?"
Andros has now taken his helmet off and was gawking at the petite blonde girl. "This can't be..." he heaved quietly under his breath.
"What cannot be?" Both Karone and Cheridian echoed together.
"Karone is my sister," Andros gasped, shock shining from his eyes.
"I know," Karone chuckled, not knowing the seriousness of the matter. "Andros is my brother back in our universe also."
Emotionally distressed, Andros turned his back to the group and began to walk away; Ashley sharp at his heels. "Did we say something wrong?" Calypso inquired, confused at the Red Astro Ranger's attitude.
Giving a glance behind himself, T.J. saw Ashley comforting Andros a good twenty feet away from where the rest of them were standing. "Karone IS Andros' sister," he paused, letting part of his explanation hang in the air...making the effect of his coming words stronger. "Andros' LONG-LOST sister; she was kidnapped from their home when he was a child."
Karone's face switched from a nice peachy color to sheet white. Then, she gave herself a few mental slaps for forgetting one of THE most major rules of universe-jumping: Not everything is the same in every universe. "I am sorry," she murmured apologetically. "I really had no idea."
"It's not your fault," Carlos assured, also removing his own helmet. "You couldn't have known any better."
Karone took a little peek at Andros and Ashley, who were conversing between each other near by some pine tree saplings. "Maybe I should go talk to him," she suggested slowly, not sure if it would be the best thing or not.
Cassie met Karone's saddened glance and smiled kindly. "I don't think it would hurt to try..."
9:29
Ashley walked away from Andros distraught at her own boyfriend's distress. She knew he had every right to feel the way he was...he was shocked knowing that somewhere Karone was NEVER kidnapped and THAT Andros had managed to keep his sister safe throughout her young years.
Lifting her eyes from staring down at her fidgeting gloved hands she caught gaze with Karone's hazel eyes that had been looking at her curiously. "Can I talk to him?" she asked quietly, almost in an embarrassed manner.
"Yeah," Ashley stopped walking for a moment and looked behind her to see Andros' back as his eyes watched the puffy white clouds float by in the blue October sky. "He won't talk to me, but I have a feeling he'll be willing to talk to you."
Karone and Ashley shared a friendly smile before Karone headed towards Andros with her mission in hand. "Andros?"
He didn't respond and his back continued to face the girl.
Karone moved closer to Andros until she was standing right beside him; taking an interested notice in that he didn't flinch when she slipped her hand into his and held onto it. "What are you looking at?" She waited for a response. Once again, she got none from the stoic Power Ranger.
They stood quietly for a few minutes before Andros finally took notice of Karone's fingers laced between his own. "She used to hold my hand like that," he commented, and it would have sounded almost as if he didn't care if she hadn't seen the pain etched into his soft features.
"I still hold his hand like that," Karone replied with a soft smile. "He always used to hate being in public places with me holding his hand like that. He always thought it made him look like a baby."
"And she was always so scared of leaving my side," Andros returned, facing her and also smiling softly. "She was always a tag-a-long."
Karone gave him a simple mocking pout and raised her free hand to Andros' shoulder. "She does not think it is your fault, you know," she tried to assure.
Instantly, he became bitter once more. "How would you know?"
Even with his abrupt sneer, Karone maintained her ground and continued to chisel her way into his pain. "I know because I am her." Her voice was tender, soft and caressing, soothing him, just like that same voice would always manage to soothe her OWN brother's restless anger. "I may be from a different universe and everything, but that really does not matter at ALL. When you look hard into the core of things, deep down all of us Karones are all the same! We love our brothers with a fierce loyalty, no matter the circumstances..."
For awhile, Andros was quiet, regarding the woman presented before him. And as much as Andros tried to convince himself that this Karone couldn't possibly know what his sister was like, he realized he was just grabbing straws.
She WAS his sister.
She was Karone.
And with his realization, Andros hugged Karone fiercely with the touch only a brother could give his sister.
Universal Frequency 8208597 Vivian moved away from the circle to reveal Davius standing in the middle of the group, standing in some kind of funky looking blue suit. "Uh, hi," Davius spoke plainly, waving at both Shannon and Rocky in semi-confusion. "I am here to pick up the Element Rangers."
"Pick up?" Aisha teased. "You make it sound as if we were in jail or something!"
Davius rolled his eyes slightly at the Wave Ranger as the claustrophobic circle broke up from around him and everyone gave him room to actually breathe. "How long have you all been here?" He changed the subject, turning to look at Jason.
But instead of Jason speaking, Astrid piped up the answer of, "Nearly five hours already."
The Blue Astro Ranger now faced the Green Galaxy Ranger, a look of hope flickering in his eyes. "Did you start a multi-universal scan with the Element Rangers' biorhythms?"
"Yup," the auburn-haired girl replied, pushing her glasses higher up the bridge of her nose. "Is that important?"
Davius nodded excitedly. "Very important. The fact that you have the equipment to perform that scan is what I really wanted to know. It will help me communicate with my teammates."
"Wait," Jason gave a quick motion of his hands for Davius to stop speaking, "you mean, we're not the only ones who got into this sticky situation?"
"No, you are not," he remarked, pulling his Astro morpher from underneath the sleeve of his suit. Davius popped open a hatch that was located near the back of the morpher and stared down at a small chip that was lighting up in different colors. "Andros and Karone were sent to go get the Zeo Rangers, and Cassie and Zhane respectively. It looks as if they have found them also. Now, all we need to do is contact our home universe and we're all taken care of."
"Wouldn't your home universe be the one where you all are originally are from?" Greer McDougal, the Yellow Galaxy Ranger, queried. She was the only one who was having some trouble understanding all this universe-talk.
Gabriel chuckled and quickly answered the red head. "A home universe would be like a base universe; a universe where all the teams involved could meet up before they went back to their domestic universe," he paused, watching Greer's confusion add up even more on her face. "I think you may want to stick to majoring in World History, Greer."
A few chuckles went around the group, before Rocky approached Davius. "I assume you're going to get your hands on our equipment so you can contact your home universe and your friends?"
The Astro Ranger smiled graciously. "If you are willing to offer their use to me, I would appreciate it."
Rocky grinned at the young man. "Well, I'm offering it!"
Universal Frequency 8218690 "Yes, it is me," Andros responded with short smile as Zeo Tommy let go of his arms completely. "I have come to take you home, Sister."
Shannon hugged her brother tenderly as everyone else sighed, grunted and whatever-ed in relief. "How'd you find us?"
"With Justin's help we were able to fix the sensors and scan for your biorhythms. Afterwards, Karone, Davius and I used our modified morphers to trigger a portal and now I am here," he summarized factually and clinically, sounding slightly bored with himself.
"Oh, you make it sound so easy," Zeo Adam groaned with sarcasm tiredly, plopping onto the nearby sofa. "Why couldn't you come when we WEREN'T sleeping? I'm dead tired."
Murmurs of agreement came from Zeo Tanya and Morphin' Tommy.
"You have been missing from our universe for only an hour."
Adam nearly fell off the sofa and onto the living room floor. "You have to be kidding! How come we're so tired then?"
Andros was able to efficiently answer the Green Ranger's question with one sentence. "Your powers adjusted your internal clock to the universe's 'clock'."
"Alright, that explains a lot," Adam replied with a yawn, then immediately conked out on the sofa into dreamland.
Shannon chuckled at her friend, and then turned to face her brother. "So, you're going to take us home?"
"No, Shannon. Andros is just here to model the newest line in Power Ranger fashion," Tanya sighed sarcastically, her attitude a little edgy due to being interrupted out of her sleep. "Of course he's going to take us home!"
Shannon stuck her tongue out at Tanya playfully just as Rocky and Katherine wandered their way into the living room, both boasting disheveled and tired appearances. "What is this racket about?" Rocky groaned, literally about to fall asleep on his feet. "It's only 5:30 in the morning."
Cassie gave Rocky a pleased grin. "You guys are going home."
Cassie and Tanya immediately jumped into to re-explain what had taken placed moments before to the two Zeo Rangers, Shannon watched them happily. Smiling widely, she wrapped her arm around her husband, leaning on his shoulder. *We're going home!* she mentally squealed to Zeo Tommy as Andros began to converse with Morphin' Tommy.
The Red Zeo Ranger cracked a smirk at her mental remark. *Aren't we the perky one early this morning. I really need to get you off that stuff Kimberly is feeding you...*
The Zeo Guardian pinched him in the side, muffling a laugh. *You stop it with your horrible jokes!* She glanced up to meet his beautiful brown eyes and her own glistening blue ones. *You can't tell me you're not happy about going home.*
He moved his hand up to brush her cheek softly. *Of course, I'm happy and glad. I'd like to resume our Winter Break with some normalcy.*
*You mean, YOUR Winter Break. Have you forgotten that I play the full-time mommy at home?* she grinned deliberately.
*How can I forget? You won't LET me forget!*
Their mental bantering was put to halt when Rocky finally asked Andros the million-dollar question, "How are you going to get us there?"
Andros tapped on his Astro morpher with her hand. "I will use my morpher to open up a portal to our home universe. Once we get there, we will meet up with the other rangers and we will adjust our morphers to get us back to OUR universe," he paused, glancing around the room of Zeo and Morphin' Rangers who looked like the semi-understood him. "I think it would be best if we leave now. We probably would be able get back much faster if we do."
"Alright then," Zeo Tommy agreed. "Looks like we're leaving."
"It would be better if you morphed," Andros suggested as he re-calibrated his morpher.
"Whatever you say," Shannon shrugged, turning to Tanya. "You mind waking him up?" She nudged her head towards the couch where Adam was sleeping.
Tanya grunted her affirmative answer, and gently kicked Adam in the shin. "Get up, Adam. We're leaving."
"Wha...?" the Green Zeo Ranger abruptly popped up from his sleeping position and stood up.
Zeo Tommy simply shook his head, stifling a small bout of laughter within him. "It's Morphin' Time!" he shouted, just as his counterpart and Cassie moved a few feet away from the group of six.
"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"
"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"
"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!"
"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"
"Zeo Ranger V, Red!"
"Zeo Ranger VI, White!"
"Ready?" the Red Astro Ranger questioned, pulling his red hood back over his head completely.
"Ready," the six Zeo Rangers responded in unison.
Slowly, almost as if a giant mouth yawning, a swirling mass of purple opened up in the middle of the floor. One by one, each of them jumped into the portal until Shannon was only left standing with Cassie and Morphin' Tommy.
"Thank you for putting up with us, even if it was only for half a day," she thanked graciously, removing her helmet momentarily.
"You're more than welcome," Cassie acknowledged whole-heartedly. "It was a new experience I think all of us learned from."
Shannon nodded her head gently, turning to face Tommy. "Don't forget about our talk, Tommy," she placed her hand against his arm and winked. "If it's any consolation, you still got me."
He smiled faintly, and both Morphin' Rangers watched as Shannon latched on her helmet and jumped feet first into the purple portal, the mass disappearing from sight after she entered it.
Cassie twisted her head cockily to look at her boyfriend, who was still staring fondly at the spot where the purple portal had been. "What was that about?"
Chuckling softly, Tommy wrapped an arm around Cassie's shoulder and brought her in close, kissing her forehead. "Nothing too special, Cass. Just some old memories..."
Universal Frequency 8208597 Davius turned way from the communications console to meet Rocky's intent gaze. "So, did you get that message through to the home universe?"
Davius nodded and smiled, holding up his fingers which were crossed for good luck. "I am hoping it got through," he answered the question to his best ability. "I won't be sure until we actually try to access the universe."
Shannon looked to the Element Rangers with a faint smile. "I guess this is good-bye then, isn't it?"
"Good-bye for now," Kimberly reiterated, hugging Shannon tightly. "You never know when we'll be back."
"Yeah, I mean I wouldn't mind getting thrown back here by Astronema if it meant visiting you all again," Aisha chirped brightly with a laugh, trying to make up for the sadness surrounding their parting.
A silence fell over all of them and that was when Davius chose to open the portal with his morpher. The purple portal opened in the middle of the floor and literally beckoned the Element Rangers to return home. "I think it would be wise to start heading towards the home universe; the others are probably on their way."
The six traveling teens nodded in agreement, heading towards the portal, giving the Galaxy Rangers and Rocky and Shannon their last good-byes.
Davius leapt in first, then others following him in until Jason was only left. He hesitated before jumping in, turning his gaze to the group of seven watching him. "You Galaxy Rangers aren't too bad," the Flame Ranger chided the young Power Ranger team. He then dived head first into the portal, it instantly sealing up and vanishing after his entrance.
Gabriel smiled gently at his four female teammates. "Coming from the best, 'not too bad' is pretty damn good..."
Universal Frequency 8218587 Andros removed himself from the hug he was sharing with Karone and smiled faintly. "You have to go soon, don't you?" he queried virtually in an off-handed manner, already knowing the expected answer.
The happy smile that had won over Karone's face morphed into an unfortunately sour one. "I do; my teammates will be waiting for me in our home universe. My brother will be waiting for me," she responded gently with a sigh. "He'll be worried if you don't show up, right?"
"Right."
Andros returned his forlorn gaze to the skies, but Karone pulled him away. "Oh no you do not!" she chided in a sisterly tone. "You are not going to run away from this; you are going to watch me leave and you are going to like it!"
He chuckled softly. "Do I HAVE to like it?" the Red Ranger relented, letting his "sister" drag him back towards his friends.
The group of six had been talking among themselves about Andros and Karone's situation until the duo returned, then everything fell silent. "It's time for Calypso, Cheridian and Karone to leave," Andros announced somewhat solemnly to his team.
"Really?" Calypso frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. She quickly glanced at Karone, giving the girl one of her BEST puppy-dog looks. "Can we PLEASE stay for awhile longer? I'm having too much fun!"
Karone mimicked the Green ranger's face exactly and nodded negatively. "As much as I would love to...No," she denied her friend's request. "We should get going as soon as possible so we can catch up with everyone else at the home universe. Besides, you just want to stay so you do not have to deal with my brother!"
Calypso grinned meekly and blushed lightly.
"I guess we had better get moving them, hmm?" Cheridian spoke up, covering for his girlfriend's momentary embarrassment.
"Yes, we should," Karone concurred, putting her hood back on. She then reached for her morpher and speedily typed a new code into it. As she pulled her sleeve back over it, a purple portal opened up directly in the middle of the semi-circle the eight of them had formed unconsciously.
"Well, I guess this is good-bye," the Grid Guardian moaned sadly. Her brown eyes gazed around at her new friends and slowly smiled a silent good-bye, just before she dived into the swirling pool of purple.
Cheridian simply waved his good-bye and dove in after the Morphin' Ranger.
Karone giggled at her friends' dramatic exits. "I would explain those two if I could," she joked, glancing at the portal, "but I cannot explain them because I do not understand them. So, I guess I'll say good-bye and wish you all the best."
The girl was about to jump, until she heard Andros say, "Thank you."
Karone spun around and winked at her brother's double. "You are welcome."
With that, she jumped into the portal and it vanished from existence instantly. Ashley stared at the ground for a second, then glanced up at her boyfriend who was staring down at the same spot and smiling. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Andros looked up to me the Yellow Ranger's eyes. "I'm just happy to see her go..."
Universal Frequency 8208686 Eden Oliver rushed into her mother's study and strode up to the computerized desk. "Mom, I've gotta..."
"...Go meet up with Celise?" her mother glanced up from staring down at the flat screen before her and grinned. "I was once a Power Ranger too, ya know," she teased her daughter.
Eden twirled a lock of her long navy blue hair around her finger impatiently. "Moooommmm!" the fifteen year-old whined, not wanting to hear another one of her mother's LONG anecdotes. "It's important! We've got universe-travelers again!"
The older woman's curiosity was piqued by the mention of "universe-travelers". "Really?"
"Yes, really!" Eden was literally jumping up and down now. "Can I go now?"
Her mother rolled her blue eyes and chuckled. "You act as if I was keeping you locked up in a cell!"
Taking the light-hearted tone of her mother's voice as a yes, Eden began to head out the room. "Well, technically..." she drawled, a smirk creeping onto her lips as she ran out of the study.
8:18 PM
As Eden dematerialized from her white teleportation flash inside the Power Chamber, Jane DeSantos quickly remarked, "It's about time you got here, Whitey!"
Eden mock-saluted her friend and grinned, joining the ranks of her five other teammates. "Oh Holy One nearly told me a story before I left the house," she explained, and nearly everyone in the room nodded in sympathy. She then promptly changed the subject. "So, what happened to Andros this time around?"
"Depends on which one you are speaking of, Eden," Celise, their mentor, swiftly responded as she leaned easily against the biobed in the middle of the Chamber.
"I'm talking about the one who's from that parallel universe to ours where they have the whacked-out Astronema," she replied just as easily. "I'm NOT talking about Tymae's dad."
The only Cindarien Ranger on the Earth Force immediately protested. "What's wrong with my dad?" he queried, giving Eden a wary eye.
"Nothing," she shrugged. "I just don't think he'd be caught flying around through universal portals like his counterpart does almost all the time."
Following Eden's words, three separate purple portals opened in the Power Chamber and seventeen Power Rangers piled out of them. "Celise!" Davius cried thankfully. "You received my message!"
Celise nodded her head, her short bob of white hair brushing against her cheeks. "It was hard to decipher, but yes, I did receive your message if you would like to call it that," she paused, "Though I wouldn't count, 'We are coming with people' as a message."
Chase Taylor chuckled to himself, looking at the arrivals standing at the back of the room. "I'd say it should have been taken more as a warning!"
Blair Scott hooked arms with Chase and began to drag him towards a door that led to another room, motioning for the rest of her friends to leave their traveling friends alone. "Come on, you guys. Let's give them some privacy."
Slowly the group of seven, including Celise, migrated towards the doors that opened and then closed after them, leaving the room to be occupied by the seventeen Power Rangers.
Once they left, Tommy immediately opened his mouth. "So now that we're in THIS universe, when are we going back to OUR universe?" he queried the three Astro Rangers anxiously, removing his helmet and running a hand through his hair. "I'm worried about Caroline, Sean and 'Kala."
Karone grinned as she moved over to the consoles and began to fiddle with the controls a little bit. "You've only been gone for an hour back home; I'm sure they are fine."
The other rangers followed Tommy's suit and removed their own helmet, as Shannon moved to stand at her husband's side taking his hand into her own and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'm sure they're fine, Oliver," she assured in that way that always managed to calm Tommy down a bit. "I'm really worried about the Turbo Rangers to be truthful. Did they have to fight with Astronema?" the brunette's gaze met her older brother's.
Andros nodded his head, answering his sister's gravest worries. "Sheryl was injured in a face-down with her; Astronema stabbed her with her Wrath Staff."
"She stabbed Sheryl?" Kimberly's shocked and hurt voice echoed through the chambers while Karone continued to work on the controls. Kimberly and Shannon were the two rangers closest to Sheryl, outside of the Turbo team. "Is she alright?"
"She is recuperating," Andros replied with a warm smile. "She was not about to go down without a fight."
Kimberly leaned into Jason's strong arms as he hugged her tenderly. "When we get back the first thing I want to do is grab Astronema and toss her into the nearest black hole."
A unanimous call of "uh-huh" followed the Flame Ranger's words, as well as a few chuckles. "I can't wait to go to sleep when we get back home," Katherine yawned drowsily, leaning against Rocky for support so that she would just conk out and fall to the floor. "This universe-hopping has got me so tired!"
"No kidding," Zhane chimed in with the Pink Ranger. "We just came from another fight with Astronema!"
Everyone immediately gasped. "Astronema's monster, he means," Cassie corrected her boyfriend with sigh. "A stupid monster at that."
Zack shook his head at the correction. "If you guys faced one of those reject monsters, then that's nothing. We had to face these..."
The voice of the Yellow Astro Ranger suddenly cut Zack off with some exciting news of her own. "I have got the lock we need to get back!" she cried, her eyes bright with excitement. "We're on our way home!"
Davius smirked at his girlfriend's excitement. "Then if we are ready to go, stop yelping about it!"
Karone glared playfully daggers at Davius, and then glanced towards her brother. "Care to do the honors, Andros?"
"Definitely," he smiled widely at his twin and flipped open his Astro morpher, all eyes glued on every movement he made. He pushed in the universe's frequency and hit enter. "Done!" he reported, just as a swirling mass of purple opened up in the middle of the floor.
Tanya stepped tentatively in the direction of the purple portal. "Here we go again," she moaned, holding her stomach. "That last ride made me woozy."
"There is nothing to be worried about," Karone assured her fellow Yellow Ranger. "This portal is a lot more stable than the last ones we all went through."
"Alright then," Tanya shrugged, placing her nauseous thoughts at the very back of her mind. Then, she jumped into the portal.
All the other sixteen Power Rangers quickly followed her example and soon enough, all that could be heard in the Power Chamber was the continuous humming of the consoles.
8:19 PM
"What are you guys doing?" Blair groaned, watching as all her friends were huddle around the view screen inside the medical bay where they had been sent to wait.
"We're spying on the other rangers," Jane answered blatenly, tossing a wisp of blonde hair from her hazel eyes. She frowned softly when she caught the accusing glare she was getting from Blair. "Oh, come on, Blair! I know you want to know as bad as I do!"
The brunette rolled her doe brown eyes. "I have my morals, Jane, even though I may want to know who they are underneath the helmets."
"Suit yourself," Jane sighed, returning her attention to the view screen. As soon as she did though, the entire group of five let out a unison gasp. "Umm, Blair? You NEED to come and see this..."
"No."
This time Chase glanced back at Blair, his eyes wide open with shock. "Baby, you're going to want to see this," he reassured his girlfriend seriously.
Confused, Blair rose from the stool she had propped herself up on and cautiously walked over to where they were crowded around. Chase pulled her into the cluster and positioned his finger to point out one of the Power Rangers in the chamber that had just taken off his helmet. "Here, Blair. Right here."
She quickly took focus on the Red Ranger and tears instantly came to her eyes. "Daddy...?" Blair quietly sniffed, staring at Jason's figure as he wrapped his arm around Kimberly's shoulders on the screen. She took a deep breath and murmured, "That's my daddy..."
"I know," Eden whispered just as stunned. She couldn't believe what she was seeing: her dad's best friend alive. "It's so odd to see him alive after all these years."
Blair nodded quietly in agreement, then laughed gently as she looked at the other rangers on the monitor. "Your mom looks exactly the same, Eden!" she stared intently at Shannon's figure standing beside Tommy's. "So does your dad!"
"It must be in the blood," Tymae shrugged absently. "Whoa...I wonder if I'll look the same after twenty years!"
"Don't get your hopes up," Elijah Cranston shot the hopes of his teammate down. "You'll probably look ten times older."
"Why are you so negative, Eli?"
"I'm not negative, I just like to have a little fun once in awhile," he retorted, grinning innocently at Jane, who was the one who had spoke to him in the first place.
Celise came walking into the medical bay from an adjacent room and queried, "Have they left yet?"
"No, but they're about too!" Eden squealed excitedly, causing Celise to chuckle at the young girl while going around the room and tidying things up.
The six teenagers glued their eyes to the view screen in awe as they watched the seventeen Power Rangers all jump into a portal that opened up in the floor and then disappeared. "That was weird," Chase blurted out absently. "I mean, seeing our parents when THEY were Power Rangers. Freaky stuff..."
"No kidding," Elijah concurred as they moved towards the doors, filing back into the Power Chamber.
After they had cleared out the medical bay, Celise smiled proudly. "A little inspiration from the past will hopefully go a long way," she mused to herself.
Universal Frequency 8208585 "Are they coming?" Sheryl's voice asked timidly as she made her speedy recovery lying on of the diagnostic table. "'Cause I don't wanna be laying here, looking like I do when they come."
Camellia, who was sitting at Sheryl's bedside, giggled a bit at her comment. "You act as if the Monarch of Cindaria was coming or something!"
"They should be here anytime now," Zordon answered Sheryl calmly.
Almost as if taking a cue from Zordon's words, a purple gateway gradually opened up in the middle of the Power Chamber and it spit out a long line of Power Rangers.
"YOU'RE ALL BACK!" Sheryl squealed happily, trying to sit up quickly, but winced and ended up lying back down.
"Sheryl!" Kimberly cried in relief, running up to the diagnostic table and joining her buddy's side. "How are you? Feeling better, I hope?"
Sheryl nodded as the crowd of people grew around her. "Look I'm fine you guys. I was worried about all of you to tell the truth," she paused, remembering her facedown with Astronema. "Astronema's a witch directly from hell."
"Divatox spawn," Rocky spewed with nastiness, standing on the other side of Sheryl. "That little wanna-be is going straight into the gutter..."
"...and straight out of our lives," Zack finished off with just as much irritation.
"There's only one way to do that, Rangers," Alpha Five piped up from outside the protective circle that had been formed around the White Turbo Ranger.
"And how would that be?" Billy asked curiously, spinning around to look towards the smaller robot. "Wait, don't tell me...I bet she's got all her powers tied up in that one staff she used on us, right?"
Both Zordon and Alpha were definitely taken aback. "Why, yes," Zordon answered calmly. "How did you know that?"
The Light Ranger shrugged. "A lucky guess," he grinned teasingly. "Actually, it was kind of obvious. Astronema doesn't fit the looks of an enchantress like Scorpio. She fits the looks of a warrior, just like Auora."
Suddenly the pieces clicked together and Justin quickly chirped, "And Auora's power source was her sword and fighting skills!"
"Exactly," Billy agreed. "Astronema's got the latter down pat, but she has a staff instead of a sword."
"So we grab her staff, and we've got her?"
Andros glanced over at Kerry and answered her question with an easy and swift, "Yes."
A grin spread across Ryan's face as he realized what they were FINALLY proposing. "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go kick Miss Astro-turf's behind into one of her OWN purple portals!"
8:53 PM
"Why can't we just go find her like the others?" Liyah suggested, wandering the open field at the top of Angel's Bluff. "Why are we being her bait?"
"Because we're the best bait she'll ever want," Tommy pointed out for the Turbo Ranger. "The fact that the fourteen of us didn't disappear forever in one of those portals gives her reason enough to come after us and try to kill us again."
The Red Turbo Ranger arched an eyebrow beneath her helmet. "As I was saying, why are we being her bait?" she repeated into her helmet comm, Tommy's explanation simply reiterating what she meant by her question.
"Shut up, Liyah, and just play bait, alright?" Shannon's voice snapped in irritation, tying The Red Turbo Ranger up in a gigantic rope.
One by one, Shannon proceeded to tie up Liyah, Tommy, Jason and Andros. They all fell to their knees on the ground and then fell flatly onto their backs. "This is really awkward," Andros muttered, adjusting himself in the ropes uncomfortably.
"You're telling me!" Shannon replied back, pulling her Zeo Laser pistol from its holster. "I'm the one that has to shoot at you four!"
Tommy, who was lying on the ground so that when he looked at Shannon she was upside down, warned, "Be careful, Sweetcheeks. I don't plan on loosing an arm pretty soon."
The Zeo Guardian rolled her eyes tediously at him. "Knowing how to aim is an instinctive power trait, Tommy. There's no way I could 'accidentally' hit someone."
"You could hit us if you wanted to though..." Jason trailed off, grinning underneath his helmet.
Shannon ignored his last comment and went to shooting at them in random patterns, making the area around them look burned and also making the four team leaders look battle weary. She kept pulling on the trigger for awhile, having a teensy bit of fun torturing the four, but soon stopped when Andros kicked her in her shin purposely. "You are TOO much fun with that, Artemis," he complained to his younger sister.
"I know," she laughed in fair agreement. "Now, you guys just act all hurt and stuff until Astronema arrives. When we fire the fist shot, only THEN can you stop the dumb act." The White Zeo Ranger finished her explanation and went running into the brush to join the other Rangers.
"Is this really smart idea?" Jason piped up as they all lay on the ground, pretending wriggle in pain.
"It's a plan, Jase," Tommy replied his best friend with a low voice. "No one ever said it was safe, OR smart for that matter..."
9:00 PM
"I really don't like the way this is going," Trini spoke up in a low tone. "It's nearly been ten minutes and no sign of Astronema."
"Neither do I, but she's bound to show up," Karone remarked sullenly. "I just hope she doesn't try to take advantage of them like that."
"I hope she doesn't know this is a trap!" Cassie voiced, just as a flash of purple appeared a few feet away from their four friends playing 'dead'.
"Astronema!" Zhane suddenly hissed tersely into his helmet comm.
Cassie nudged him in the gut gently. "I think we can all see that! Now, just be quiet so we can hear what she's saying!"
Astronema circled the four Red Rangers in a hovering manner, simply nodding her head in an ashamed manner at them. "What a predicament you four are in," she mused lightly, her staff grazing their suits as she pointed at each one of them. "You have to be the weakling bait for your friends, so they can supposedly destroy me..."
"By the gods, she knows!" Shannon screamed in terror, then switched on her helmet comm. "Tommy, get out of there NOW!"
Instantly, the other nineteen Power Rangers came charging out of the brush just when Jason, Liyah, Andros and Tommy burst from their ties and jumped at Astronema.
The villainess, who stunned at the Power Rangers early attack, was quickly knocked to the ground when Jason rushed for her abdomen. Her staff was momentarily knocked from her hands, the small and quicker Liyah was able to get her hands on it before Astronema could. "QUANTRONS, ATTACK THE RANGERS!!" She roared loudly, her calm and elegant evil overridden by a furious anguish. The warrior woman kicked Jason, who was pinning her to the ground, off easily and rolled over, standing up slowly. "RETRIVE MY STAFF!"
Liyah started sprinting across the open field as at least a dozen quantrons tried chasing her down, but obviously weren't succeeding because she had her Turbo speed on. She kept on running until she was confronted by another large group of Astronema's lackeys. "Dammit!" she cursed to herself and quickly made a wide u-turn, managing to avoid the quantrons that had been chasing her from behind.
Zack saw Liyah running back towards where the other rangers were fighting with the remaining quantrons Astronema had thrown on them and quickly realized that the Red Turbo Ranger needed a way out...quick. So, he whip kicked the quantrons he had been keeping busy and started running straight towards the younger girl. "LIYAH!" the Nature Ranger made sure he was directly in her path. "Give it to me!"
Liyah nodded her head and zipped over to Zack, tossing the staff into the air for him to catch. Just as the wrath staff was about to land safely into his arms and quantron came up behind him, kicking him aside and retrieving the staff for his mistress.
Zack pulled himself up instantly and caught sight of the quantron escaping. Calling up his Element essence, he kneeled to the ground and placed his glowing green hands against the dirt. "Vines," he whispered softly.
The running quantron was soon brought down when vines rose from the ground and twined around its legs, preventing it from moving any farther. Ryan was the closest one to Astronema's fallen lackey and he quickly picked up the staff AND the chase.
Astronema saw the Green Turbo Ranger run off with her staff, but when she tried to run after Ryan, Shannon literally jumped on the villainess' back causing her to tumble to the ground once more. "GET MY STAFF!!!!!" she let out a hideous scream as she and Shannon proceeded to roll around, fighting.
As Ryan continued to run with the staff held tightly in his grip, one of the lead quantrons that had been pursuing him grabbed the end part of the staff and jerked the Turbo Ranger backwards. The quantron then proceeded to send a kick into the small of Ryan's back, causing the teenager to yelp in pain as he fell face forward.
Once the powerful staff was in the possession of the quantron, it abruptly was teleported away. Astronema saw this and quickly kicked Shannon aside so she could stand up. "What happened to my staff?!?!" she cried madly, shock deeply etched into her face.
The words echoed in the silent air for sometime because just after she opened her mouth, both Astronema and her quantrons disappeared into flashes of light also.
"Uh, what just happened?" Camellia blinked, not believing what had just taken place as she helped her boyfriend up off the ground.
"Astronema disappeared, that's what just happened," Ryan remarked heatedly. "And I almost had her staff too!"
"Looks like Astronema got away..." Troy trailed off, "...again."
"She ALWAYS gets away!" Davius complained, folding his arms over his chest and pouting. "Too many times to count."
"We tried at least," Shannon shrugged, dusting off her uniform where grass clung to it from her fight with Astronema. "Besides, maybe Astronema got in trouble with Scorpio or something. I mean, Scorpio had been pretty quiet since our last major fight."
Tommy wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder and shook his head. "I don't think so," he disagreed strongly. "Just admit defeat, Shannon: you were wrong about the Christmas lights and now you're wrong about Astronema."
A few gloved hands came up from behind Tommy and hit his helmet.
9:13 PM
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Scorpio screeched angrily at Astronema who stood before her. "DO you have ANY idea what could have happened if I had not intervened?"
Astronema stared Scorpio down with her coldness; it was no use displaying anger towards her own Grandmother. That would simply get her nowhere fast. "Yes, I do, Grandmother," she spoke politely. "I would have lost my staff and my powers."
"Correct! The same powers I gave you!" the older villainess growled heatedly. "If Phantom had not told me what you had attempted, you would be in worse condition! Be grateful, Astronema!"
"Yes, Grandmother," she replied in monotone.
Scorpio rolled her eyes and waved her hand pathetically at her granddaughter. "Get out of my sight, Astronema," she spat viciously, twining a long strand of red hair around her finger. "And do not try anything like this ever again."
Quietly, Astronema strode out of the throne room, her boots clanging against the stone floor.
Scorpio floated up from her throne and then downwards to floor, her bare feet gently touching the cold ground. "Phantom, get out here now," she demanded, dropping her arms to her sides uneasily.
Ripples came from the middle of the room and the Phantom Ranger appeared, covered head to toe in his armor. Just as he appeared though, his armor also melted away into the ripples, leaving him defenseless. "You called for me, my love," he approached her and gently wound his arms around her body, caressing her open back with his fingers.
Angrily, the villainess jerked away from his grip. Her hand reacted with a slap to his face. "You encouraged her, did you not?" Scorpio growled at her lover.
"If I did?" he queried temptingly, looking up at her from where he clutched his cheek, leaning against the base of her throne.
"You are a dead man," she replied fiercely. "I saw the way you eyed her; I may be on vacation, but I am still watching you."
He rolled his eyes at her. "It was ONE look, Scorpio!" he sighed in a laughing tone. "One look surely cannot hurt! Besides, I am a young man in my prime...sometimes my eyes wander."
"I know that!" she snapped at him. Scorpio slapped him once more, even harder. "You had better not encourage anymore insubordination against me."
The Phantom grinned as he clutched his cheek, for her recognized the tone of her voice. The tone that was just getting ready to forgive him for his wrong and open up to his passion. "I promise I will not," he answered softly, pulling Scorpio into his arms and kissing her ever Universal Frequency 8208585 "We sure have a hell of a lot to be thankful for on this holiday," Rocky murmured as he hovered slightly over the large dining table covered in food.
"Don't you dare touch that food, Rocky DeSantos!" Shannon cried from within the kitchen where she was still cooking up the last tidbits of the Christmas Eve dinner being held in her house.
"Are you sure you have the right holiday, Rocko?" Adam teased his friend, reclining on the sofa with Tanya held in his arms. "Remember, this is Christmas, not Thanksgiving."
Rocky rolled his eyes, moving away from the dining table that had been position in the living room and over to where his friends were patiently waiting for Shannon and Zack to finish the dinner.
"Wow," Kat gaped, taking in a large snuff of the heavenly smells floating out of the kitchen and to her nostrils. "I can't WAIT for dinner."
The Blue Zeo Ranger pulled up a chair and grinned at his pregnant girlfriend. "A woman after my own heart," he chuckled pleasantly.
Tommy laughed at Rocky's remark. "You wish," he glanced in his friend's direction, "I do believe you saying that to Shannon when she was pregnant and downed about twice as much food as you did at the Spring Picnic."
Rocky shrugged innocently. "I probably didn't; you probably just implanted that memory into your brain to make up for the many you've lost," he replied jestingly back at the Red Zeo Ranger.
Laughter went around the room, and even Tommy laughed. "That wasn't half-bad, Rocky," Trini allowed gently. "It was cold, but not half-bad."
"And you could do better, Trini?" he arched one of his eyebrows incredulously at the Wind Ranger.
Trini winked promisingly at her friend. "I can, but I don't want to hurt your feelings."
As Rocky opened his mouth, Shannon came barging through the kitchen door backwards, a large roasted turkey sitting on a platter held in her arms. "Dinner served!" she announced grandly, heading towards to dining room with Zack at her heels carrying the stuffing.
Everyone eased out of their lounging in the living room to follow them into the dining room. The twelve Power Rangers seated themselves at the long table covered in delicious food, and then Tommy spoke up, "It's finally Christmas Eve."
"I think we could all tell that for ourselves, Tommy," Billy pointed out, looking out the dining room window where they could see a house decorated to the nines for the holiday season.
"Let me at least finish, alright?" he retorted with a laugh. "It's Christmas Eve, almost near the end of this year, and we've made it a year to remember. From marriages," Tommy reached over to his right to squeeze Shannon's hand, "to babies," he met gazes with Rocky and Katherine, "this year has had its ups.
"But its also had its downs," he paused solemnly, squeezing his wife's hand once more. "People have died, been manipulated and used, as well as abused," all eyes were Tommy as he slowly continued to speak, "but we've survived through it all; learning and becoming stronger as a team and as friends.
"Everyday, I wake up thanking the gods for giving me such great friends and family. This latest experience dealing with Astronema just really made me value it even more. Meeting different versions of all of us made me think twice about everything I'd said and done. It didn't make me regret it though...it made me feel more secure in the life I lead and the friends I spend it with," Tommy finished his little speech, glancing around the table.
Rocky was the first one to speak up. "Oh, man...that was so beautiful!" he playfully sobbed, dabbing at his feigned tears with his napkin.
The twelve instantly broke out into laughter at Rocky's teasing, but not only because it was funny. They laughed because they knew he was right. Tommy's words had hit down deep into their hearts...no matter HOW corny they sounded.
Once the laughter began to die down, the pregnant Katherine declared what was on each of their minds, "Come on! Let's eat!"
Things have begun to settle down, but don't think it's the end because there is so much more in store! Find out in, "Everything Left To Be Desired"!
Dedication:
I was just about to put this at the top of the fanfic, but it was too crowded up at the top. It just wouldn't have had the same effect stuck up there with all those disclaimers and such 'n such. So, I have put it down here. I dedicate this fic solely to the two amazing authors and archivers who have continued to inspire me throughout my PR writing experience: Jeremy Ray Logsdon and Cynthia Harrell. I don't think there are enough ways to say thank you to you both. :)
Author's Note:
This fic has been in the works for over a year now (I started it around Christmas 1998) and it's come a long way. :) In some funny way, I kinda think it was like another person in my life for awhile. I mean, it annoyed me, it made me angry, it made me frustrated, it made me bored and it even made me happy. *grin* Anyway, thanks for actually waiting so long for it to be finished. :)
October 5th 1998
9:11 AM
March 3rd, 2001
5:45 PM
August 9th, 1997
5:12 AM
October 5th, 1998
9:25 AM
March 3rd, 2001
5:57 PM
August 9th, 1997
5:30 AM
March 3rd, 2001
6:10 PM
October 5th, 1998
9:25 AM
December 20th, 2016
8:15 PM
December 20th, 1998
8:40 PM
December 24th, 1998
8:10 PM
