Legal Disclaimer: Okay, we've all been through this before, Saban's, not mine, etc., etc., been there, done that. This begins after "The Wasp With a Heart", but before any other episodes that might be showing. Would someone out there PLEASE write me, I don't know if anyone's reading any of these fics!!!!!
"Andros?" it was late on the Megaship, and the Red and Black Space Rangers were the only two awake just then. Carlos had been wondering about something for a long time now, ever since he and the others had met their new friend.
"What is it?" Andros asked, glancing over at him. He had an idea on just what it was he was going to be asked, and he'd known this would happen.
Carlos paused for a moment before asking. He wanted to think this question out a bit. It was the perfect time to ask, all the others were asleep. "Andros," he began. "Why were you the only Ranger? You had the other morphers. Who used them? Or were we the first somehow?"
Should I tell him? The Red Ranger wondered briefly. Finally, he nodded to himself. "You weren't the first Rangers to use those morphers. The others. . .," he fought to get the words out. "They died."
His friend was by his side a moment later, with an arm around his shoulders as Andros struggled with his emotions. "I wasn't there," he whispered. "It was almost a year ago, Earth-time. I'd went looking for Corone again. D.E.C.A. was down for repairs, so I couldn't scan like I've been doing. I'd had a life-reading on one planet we'd passed, so I went down to check it out alone. It was a false alarm, and when I got back to the ship. . .,"
The memories seized him.
"Kia? Soron? Dina? Kilana?" Andros called out as he re-entered the docking bay. He hung his Galaxy Glider up on the wall, and looked around. They'd said they'd meet him when he got back, but there was no sign of them. "Guys? Where are you?"
It only took him a few minutes to search the entire ship, and his heart sank deeper and deeper the more he looked. There was nothing. Nothing and no one. Their rooms were untouched, all their things still there. It was as if they'd just vanished into thin air.
"This isn't funny, guys," Andros muttered as he made his way to the bridge. "Come on out, I'm getting worried!" If this is one of Kilana's jokes, I'm not amused! The Pink Space Ranger had what could be termed a 'bad sense of humor' by some. But Andros wasn't laughing now, as he opened the bridge, and stared in shock and horror.
The bridge was a mess. No, a disaster. Wires and tubes and strips of metal were spread everywhere. And there was blood. . .so much blood. ..everywhere. . .
Andros backed off, unable to believe his eyes. This couldn't be happening. . .it just couldn't be. . .no. . .
But it was.
He shivered as Carlos tried his best to calm him down. "I never found out what did that to them," he whispered. "I found their morphers in the debris. D.E.C.A. was still offline, she had no idea what happened. All I ever knew was that they were gone."
The Black Ranger closed his eyes for a moment, offering up prayers for the souls of those who had gone before them. "I'm sorry, Andros," he said. "I shouldn't have stirred up bad memories."
"It's all right," Andros shook his head. "You deserved to know."
The two of them sat in silence for a time, staring out into space. Andros' mind wandered back to that horrible day. He'd never even found their bodies. Just their morphers, in the ruins of the bridge. He glanced around briefly and shivered. Whatever happened to you, wherever you are now, in the afterlife, rest in peace, my friends, he thought. My new friends and I will carry on the fight.
He looked to Carlos. So much like Soron. They even look somewhat alike. I guess that's why I gave him the Black powers that were Soron's. They go well together. The Red Ranger sighed briefly. I still miss them all so much. * * *
The flowers were looking particularly beautiful today, but Waspicable couldn't stop to look at any of them. Ever since he had left behind the forces of evil, he had been on the run. They considered him a traitor, and worse.
He'd had his chance to be evil, he knew. He could've been one of them. But he hadn't been able to do it. He hadn't destroyed the Pink Ranger. He'd followed his heart. He had a heart, something few, if any, monsters ever had.
"I wonder why I'm so different," he mused as he buzzed around. He stayed in his small bee form as much as he could, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Attention would just bring trouble.
He buzzed around all day, helping out humans in any way he could without being seen, and finally came to rest for the night in a bed of daisies. "Good night, Pink Ranger," he glanced briefly to the sky. He knew she wouldn't hear him. But it made him feel better to think just somehow, she might care about him, just a little.
Waspicable slowly drifted off to sleep, and deep into dreams. Dreams where. . . he wasn't the monster he was now. . .where he was. . .he was. . .
Things were quiet on the Megaship that day. The Red Ranger had left on another search for his missing sister. The other four Space Rangers had remained behind, keeping an eye out for any trouble as they patrolled the cosmos.
But trouble appeared right in the middle of the ship, as out of nowhere, the shields had gone down, and on the bridge had appeared hundreds of Quantrons. Standing in the middle of them was the Princess of Evil, Astronema. "Destroy them all," she said, almost sweetly. "Except that one," she gestured towards one of them, the Black Space Ranger. "Him, I want alive."
The fight was short, bloody, and ugly. The Rangers put up the best fight they could, but it was all for nothing. Soon, the Pink, Blue, and Yellow Space Rangers lay dying in their own blood. The Black Ranger was held in the grip of twelve Quantrons. Astronema stepped gracefully over to him and ran a hand down his cheek.
"My, my, my, you are very handsome," she chuckled. "I will have a great deal of amusement from you."
"Never!" he hissed. "I would rather die than let you touch me!"
Astronema smiled, and the Black Ranger felt fear in his heart. "If you refuse me," she purred. "I will deliver to you a fate far worse than death."
He held his head up high. "Then do it! Anything is better than having you near me!"
She raised her staff and blasted him with dark whips of evil magic. Pain filled his entire body, twisting and deforming him. He heard Astronema's voice above him as he dropped to the floor, writhing in agony. "Take his morphers, and the others. I'll find my own evil warriors to use them."
Nooooo! I can't let that happen! he roared to himself. He jerked his head up, fighting past the pain to scream, "Morphers of the Pink, Black, Yellow, and Blue Space Rangers, teleport to shielded area level twelve! Authorization Omega Black!"
At the coded command, the four morphers, his own included, vanished into thin air, to reappear in the shielded place he'd ordered them to. Before he could do anything else, say anything else, he was overwhelmed by the agony of what was happening to him. His mind vanished, his memories faded into nothingness. . .and he stood up. ..
As Waspicable.
He sat up suddenly, his multi-faceted eyes as wide as they could be. He remembered! He remembered who he was, and more, he remembered who he had been. "Soron," he whispered. "I was the Black Space Ranger. . .and the others. . .are gone. . ."
He stopped suddenly. No, they weren't gone! Not all of them! Andros! Andros was still alive! He'd seen him just the other day, with Cassie! Soron smiled a little. "Time to see an old friend." * * *
Cassie sat in her bunk, staring down at Earth and thinking about Waspicable. She hadn't been able to sleep for thinking about her strange friend. He'd been so confused, and so different from the other monsters they'd fought. She'd checked with Alpha, in all of his data, there was never any reports of a monster with a heart before.
She wondered about him. Why was he so different? Why was he so good? What was it about him that made him what he was?
"Cassie? Cassie?" she looked up at the sound of buzzing, and a moment later, the object of her thoughts appeared in her room.
"Waspicable!" she smiled to see him, glad as she had never thought she'd be to see a monster there. "It's good to see you! But what are you doing here?'
He shook his head. "My name's not Waspicable! I know my real name now: and why I'm not evil!"
She was on her feet. "You do!? Wow!"
"Where's Andros?" he asked. "I've got to talk to him!"
"He's on the bridge with Carlos," she told him. "What's going on?"
"You'll see!" was all he said as he headed up there. "Come on!" * * *
Carlos and Andros looked up in surprise as Waspicable appeared in the bridge, Cassie on it's heels. "What is it?" Andros asked, coming to his feet. He knew this wasn't your normal monster, but still, it was a monster.
Waspicable looked around, and nodded briefly. "Just the way I remember it," he sighed. "Only the last time I saw it, it wasn't nearly this neat."
"Excuse me," Andros caught his attention. "Can we help you?"
"Yes," the monster seemed to be smiling. "I don't blame you, Andros, for not recognizing me. I am a little different than the last time you saw me."
"What are you talking about?" the Red Ranger frowned. "The last time I saw you, you were just like you are now!"
He shook his head. "Last time you really saw me, you were getting ready to go search for Corone."
Andros' eyes widened. "What. . .?" he asked. This was far too close to his old memories, to the dreams he'd had where the others returned out of nowhere. . .
"It's me, Andros," Waspicable said softly. "Soron," he saw the disbelief in his old friend's eyes, and hurried to dispell it. "Remember when Kilana put hot kiliks in your breakfast? And remember who helped you get her back, with the tilas in her bed? She shrieked loud enough to almost shatter a blood vessel! But she never put any more 'extra' spices in your food!"
Andros couldn't believe what he was hearing. His lips worked for a moment, then words emerged. "W. . .what's the easiest winning move in a game of Korovan chess?"
Waspicable chuckled. "Not to play against you!" he retorted quickly. Andros smiled.
"No one else has ever known that joke," he whispered. "Soron. It is you. How did. . .this. . .happen?"
The Ranger-turned-monster began to explain, as T.J. and Ashley joined them and heard the strange tale. Andros' eyes darkened to hear how Astronema had killed his friends, and warped Soron into the Waspicable form he now bore. "Something about you being a Ranger must have sparked my memories some," he told Cassie. "That's why I couldn't kill you, and why I couldn't be evil."
"How can we turn you back to yourself? Your old body, that is?" T.J. wondered.
Soron thought for a few moments, then said, "The change didn't fully take hold on me until I sent the morpher away. "I wonder if their power could change me back somehow?"
The Rangers all looked at each other, then to Carlos. The current Black Ranger didn't seem to think about it for a moment before pulling off the morpher and handing it to his predecessor. "Give it a shot," was all he said. Soron looked at it for a moment, then to Andros. The Red Ranger nodded, this was something he'd wanted since first returning to the Megaship to see the disaster left behind. To have one, at least, of his friends back.
"Let's Rocket!" Soron cried out, punching in the code to morph. A moment later, the Black Space Ranger stood before them all, in fully human form. He slipped his helmet off, and smiled at them all. Tall, with dark hair that touched his shoulders, tanned skin, and bright eyes, he bore a remarkable resemblance to Carlos himself. Not twins, but anyone who saw them and didn't know could swear they were blood relatives of some type.
"Soron," Andros whispered, gazing at a sight he had not seen in a year. "It's been. . .too long."
The first Black Ranger nodded briefly, then demorphed, standing in a shipboard uniform the twin of Carlos'. He handed the morpher back to the young Earthling with a smile. "That's yours now," he said. "You've earned it."
Carlos accepted it back, his hands shaking a little. He'd been of two minds when offering it to Soron, wanting the mutated Ranger back in human form, but also half-afraid he would want to keep the powers. "Thanks," was all he said out loud, though.
Soron looked at Andros. "If I can," he said gingerly. "I'd like to stick around for a while."
"You don't even have to ask that," the Red Ranger smiled. "You're always welcome here."
The former monster, now returned to his true self, turned to Cassie. "Hello again," he spoke directly to her for the first time since resuming his human form. "I'm Soron."
"Nice to meet you," she smiled. "Again."
Andros watched as the two of them began to talk, and smiled to himself. For the first time in a year, his ghosts were truly laid to rest. The other Rangers' souls were at peace, and at last, so was Soron.
And so was he.
