Disclaimer: Power Rangers Zeo is not my property, and it is that of Saban Entertainment. All characters, besides Cleo Lotus, Samantha Greene, Tygris and Daran: The Hunter, are my ideas, and I take the credit for them. This is set directly at the end of "Rangers of Two Worlds: Part 2". Portions of this fic are rated at PG-13. This fic is not recommended for young children, because of some slightly violent scenes. The history of the beginning of time is not a religion of any sort, and is not intended to be worshiped by anyone. It was only created for this story alone. And the song "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls is not my property, and I am not trying to make a profit from using it.

Authors' Notes: (1) A rewrite of the original version written by my other alias, ZeoDiamond, and (2) The First fic in the "Billy Isn't Always What He Seems" Series and The First in the "When Man Meets Beast" Series

Half-breed: The Rewrite
by: Kay Enasni

"So, Billy...When are you coming back?" Tommy asked, smiling at his friend. Billy stood next to Cestria, Cestro and Delphine, their faces were grim and serious. Billy could only mirror their visage.

"Actually," he said, unable to look his friends in the eye. "I'm not." Out of the corner of his eye he could see Adam looking around at the others, a shocked expression on his face.

"But, why??" he asked, growing noticeably paler. His worry was evident.

Billy turned to Cestria, smiling softly. She lay her hand on his. "I've finally found someone I can relate to."

The rangers smiled.

Rocky, always the loud one, piped up. "I knew you'd find the right girl someday. I didn't think she'd be from another planet!

Jason nodded, grinning widely. "I don't know how you do it, bro!"

"Thanks guys. You don't know how much this means to me." Billy replied, smiling.

"Congratulations, Billy." Kat said.

"Yeah! Good luck!" Tanya said, her usual bright smile plastered to her face.

He nodded, looking happier than he ever had before. "Bye, guys."

"Hey!" Tommy interjected, just as the image started to fade. "You'd better not forget to write"

Chuckling softly, Billy replied. "Don't worry, I will."

"Bye, Billy." they all said. The image of the young man, Billy, the former blue ranger, a dear and trusted ally, faded away in a blur of static, flickered, then died. ***Cestria's Place, A Few Weeks Later ***

"Mmm... Oh, Billy." Cestria purred in his ear, running her hands along his back. "I'm so glad that you decided to stay here with me." She let out a soft moan as Billy began to work his mouth around the nape of her neck, and she lifted his shirt up over his head, and tossed it aside.

"So am I..." he whispered. His voice could barely be heard over the soft music that

Cestria had playing in the background. The two were on Cestria's couch, the lights dim.

It seemed as if Cestria had every intention to have a sensational evening with Billy, and so far so good. The champagne had made him delirious, and he could not realize what he was doing. Under any normal circumstances, he would have noticed the giant picture of Tideus that Cestria had sitting nearby.

The champagne had been a nice touch, Cestria had to admit. It was so typical for someone who had never touched a drop of it before, to go overboard. And indeed he had, so much so, that he couldn't think straight, and his hormones were out of control. And that is exactly that Cestria wanted.

She never had anything but a physical attraction to Billy. That and she wanted his

brainpower. And who wouldn't for that matter? Her true love, Tideus, knew that she was doing this...and didn't care a bit. What a loving and caring husband he would make for her. And as soon as she had the guts to tell Billy that they were through, {after getting precious information out of his egghead first}she and Tideus were to be married. But the first thing she needed to do was to finish her mission...and get rid of...this loser.

Trying to keep herself from shouting out in sheer pleasure, Cestria added, "What is Earth compared to me?"

"Nothing."

"Good..." Cestria managed to say. Billy's eyes shut tightly. She smiled coyly at him.

"I love you."

Cestria nearly snorted, thinking to herself how pathetic this human was. And yet, she knew she had to keep him occupied, and not let him know what was really going on. "I love you too.... Forever and ever."

Billy awoke the next morning, to find himself in his own quarters. His head throbbed, and his stomach churned. All he could remember was the night before. The music, the dim lights...the champagne.

"Oh damn!" Billy said aloud, clutching his head as he did so. "I drank too much champagne."

You really did it this time, brainiac. He thought to himself. Now you know why people complain about being hung over. Wh...where's Cestria?

He looked around the room, finding that he was alone. Where had she gone? Hadn't he been at HER place? His head began to spin, muddling all of his thoughts.

Rest...just rest. No more champagne, ever. Oh...what a night! A sly grin slid across his face as he shut his eyes. Images of the previous night flooded into his head, causing his hormones to go wild once more. Just the thought of what they had done drove Billy off the deep end, and caused him to grow excited to the point of no return. He loved her, she loved him, and that was all that mattered.

He was finally happy.

The telecommunications unit nearby began to pulsate. Billy groaned and covered

his ears with his hands. Oh damn! It's so dang gone loud! I don't remember setting it that

way! He thought. The sound was magnified a thousand-fold, and he cursed at himself for

drinking so much. He reached over and managed to graze the button with his fist.

"Hello?" he asked, his voice scratchy and dry. He swallowed hard. I certainly hope

I don't sound as bad as I think I do.

"Billy, this is the Ambassador. King Poseidon requires you to be at his palace

immediately."

"How important is this?" he asked. He sat up abruptly, causing his head to spin.

"I'm not feeling well."

"How unfortunate." The Ambassador added. "For this is of the utmost

importance."

"If you could tell me what it is, then I might be able to see if I can be there. I really am NOT feeling well."

"I cannot say, my friend."

"Confidential...." Billy sighed, "I'll be there as soon as I can." He flipped the switch

and stood, head pounding. He was surprised that he managed to make it out to the pod,

much less drive it. But he managed to get to the palace without spilling his guts all over

the floor.

"Oh this is perfect!" Archerina squealed. "Your father is gone...and we are the rightful rulers of the Machine Empire."

Gasket put a loving arm around his bride. "Yes, my love, and there is still more wonderful news that I have to tell you."

She turned her yellow eyes to look into his. There was a slight hint of curiosity there, despite the lack of emotions that all machines have. "What wonderful news,

darling?"

"I have something to show you." he said, taking hold of her arm "Follow me."

He led her down the dark corridors, through the dimly lit rooms, until they finally entered a room, made entirely of silver. On the far wall, there was a gigantic safe, silver locks holding it tightly shut as to keep intruders from entering it.

Archerina gazed around the room in amazement. She had never before seen it, and none of the other machines probably never had either.

"Inside the safe, there is a great power. The 7th Zeo crystal lies within." Gasket whispered, running his metal hands along the shining surface of the safe. "There is only one in the whole universe who can open it."

"Who?" she asked. Her hand took hold of the silver lock, and she desperately tried to pull it off. But to no avail. The lock stayed in its place.

"Do you remember that pesky friend of the Power Rangers? The one with the brains?"

"Oh, him. Why him??" she asked.

"He is a half-breed."

Billy entered the throne room. King Poseidon looked at him and sighed. This is exactly what he had feared would happen. Billy's hair and clothes were crumpled and misshapen, his pupils dilated, he was barely able to walk in a straight line and kept calling out for his glasses, as if he could not see a foot in front of him.

"Oh dear, Billy. Do not tell me that you have gotten with Cestria."

Billy nodded, grinning widely. "Uh huh, sure did, sire!"

Poseidon shook his head and put his chin in his hands. "Poor soul," he said. "She has seduced another."

"Wha??" Billy asked, holding onto his ear. "I canna understand you...stop screaming."

This has happened to so many of our more intelligent citizens. I need to warn

Billy of Cestria. Not only does our alliance with Earth depend on it, but his life as well. I

cannot see another of our kind, or any kind taken advantage of and slaughtered by her.

Our laws against harming and/or punishing females are going to change very soon, enough is enough.

The king rose up off of his throne, walked over to Billy and grabbed him by the

shirt. "Look, Billy. I don't mean to be so rude about this, but it is for your own good. Stay

away from Cestria. She is no good for you."

Blinking his eyes severely, Billy looked at the King of Aquitar. His speech slurring,

he answered, "Wha? You wan her for yerself??"

"Not in the least. I'm married, and very loyal to my wife. Cestria is a horrible being, Billy. She will pretend to be in love with you, seduce all of your intelligence out of you and then kill you."

"Now why would she do a thing like tha??"

At the time, it was fairly obvious that Billy was far to hung over to be talking to, but the king knew, that if he did not tell him now, it would be too late. Billy would give all his intelligence away to Cestria, and then she would kill him, just like all of the Aquations. It was strange for Poseidon to care so much about a human, besides the fact that an intergalactic alliance would break up, but hedid. This boy, who had come to their world to help get rid of the hydro contaminators, had been like a son to him. He did not want to see Cestria hurt him.

"Please, Billy. LISTEN to me! What I am telling you is true! Stay away from Cestria. Or it will cost you your life!" He was pleading now, dark eyes wide with fear for his young friend.

"Look dude," Billy muddled, pushing the old man's hands off of his shoulders, "I know what I'm getting into. I love Cestria, and she loves me, and we're not gonna let some old fogy try to interfere. Got it??"

And with that, Billy stormed out of the throne room, never to be seen again by the

King.

"Man," Tommy said, almost to himself. "It's been only a few weeks since Billy left, and I miss the guy."

Tanya sighed and sipped on her drink. "I barely knew him...but it felt like I knew him forever. He was a really nice guy."

"And one of my best friends." Said Adam, looking around the Youth Center. The weights seemed so empty without Billy there, and everything just seemed so...different.

"I've known Billy practically forever, and I know that he's doing the right thing." Jason said. "He looked so happy. So...at peace, it seemed."

"Definitely a side of Billy no one saw since he gave up the Zeo powers." Kat said.

She twirled a lock of her blond hair with one hand, and squished a French fry between her

fingers with the others. She didn't seem to care what she was doing.

Rocky tapped his pencil on the table. "Algebra just isn't the same without him." He said, looking glumly down at his math book, "And I think Zordon and Alpha miss him a lot too."

"When he told me that he was going to forget to write...I didn't know he was serious. It's nearly been a month, and no word from him. Is he so happy that we don't even matter to him anymore?" Tommy mumbled.

"Now don't you even think it!" Adam interjected. "Billy is our friend... he's probably just really busy on Aquitar. You know how everyone there likes to take advantage of his brains."

"I hope you're right." Tommy said, his voice only a whisper. "I really hope you're

right."

"No...you can't be serious."

"We can't find him anywhere, Mr. Cranston. We've got search parties out all over the place on the lookout for him, but so far, nothing."

"Isn't there anything more you can do? He's my son, and he's all I got left...after Racheal."

"We're sorry, Mr. Cranston. We're doing the best we can. And we won't stop till we are totally sure that we cannot find him."

"Totally sure??"

"A body, sir. The only real evidence that he is not missing. Except if he comes back on his own."

"A...a...bo...body?"

"Yes, sir. Murders, suicide, accidents, that type of thing."

"He would never commit suicide. I know my Billy all to well."

"Don't they ALL say that. But most of the time, it's what the parent's say they know, and really don't. You're son could have been very unstable...and you might not have known about it."

"Please!! Don't talk as if he is dead, Lt. Stone."

"That's how it is in most of these cases, Sir. Your son had seemed VERY unstable to me for the past few months."

"He seemed perfectly fine to me."

"I notice these things...I noticed, most of all, that when the Power Rangers changed, that he went from wearing blue, and being happy, to wearing black, and being depressed."

"Are you saying that he is the former Blue Ranger?"

"I would say so. And then, Rocky went from wearing Red, to wearing blue. I know who they all are. Aisha and her family disappeared, and Tanya shows up. Yes...I notice many things, Mr. Cranston."

"So, you're saying that Billy could have gone suicidal on me??"

"The very same."

"I cannot believe this...all I called you here for is because I wanted news on the search for him....not for you to come here and tell me a bunch of rubbish."

"I only thought it appropriate..."

"Don't give me that...now...get out of my house...and DON'T come back until you have found my son!!"

Hours later, after Billy recovered from one of the worst hangovers in the entire history of the universe, he made his way to Cestria's place. The words of the King echoed in his head, but he could not bring himself to believe it. Cestria loved him, he knew that with all of his heart. Why else would they have done what they did the previous night? What plagued his mind the most was that the King of Aquitar, a supposedly happily married man, would interfere with his relationship with Cestria. He was not a really good king if THAT was the way he operated.

He stood at her front door, smoothing his hair with his hands. After all, I want to look good! he thought. His eyes looked along the door as he did so, and he caught a

glimpse of the inside of the room through the peephole. His eyes grew wide at what he

saw.

"No...no...it can't be." He whispered.

There, on the couch, was Cestria. But oh, she was not alone. Not in the least bit. She and Tideus were on that couch, intertwined, lying in each other's arms. They were engaged in such an activity, that Billy thought was only meant for him. Cestria had told him, that she loved him, and no other. And now he saw proof otherwise. King Poseidon was right. He thought. His eyes began to fill with tears. She is only taking advantage of me. She doesn't love me.

His eyes once more ran over them. Yes...she was truly in love with him. Her passion was so much more than it had been for him. So much more. This hurt...more than anything had ever hurt anything in his life. He covered his face with his hands and began to sob, letting out all of his rage and frustration. He ran for the pod, and drove it all the way back to his place.

Cestria jerked up suddenly, nearly knocking Tideus off of her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I...thought I heard something." She stammered, looking out the window. She could see Billy's pod as it sped away towards his quarters. She gulped. "He knows."

"No...this cannot be happening. It just can't be!" he exclaimed, yelling to no one in particular. "She...she took advantage of me!! It's just like what his majesty said! I was so mean to him about it too. He KNEW she would hurt me! And there I was! I didn't even pay him any attention! How could I have been so blind!?"

Countless things were thrown around the room as he suddenly let all of his rage out on the furniture, the tears in his eyes blurring his vision. I hate her!!! I thought she loved me!! She said she did!! She RAPED me!!!

Billy sat down on the bed hard, hugging his shoulders. "I...have to calm down." he muttered. He tried desperately to stop himself from shaking. "Must get away from here. Gotta talk to the others."

He punched the buttons on the telecommunications unit...and sent a signal out for Earth. Minutes later, his image appeared in the viewing globe in the Power Chamber on Earth.

"Zordon, Alpha, come in. This is Billy."

"Oh, Aiyiyi!!" Alpha yelled as his head shot up. Billy's face loomed large on the viewing globe. "Billy! It's so good to hear from you."

"Hi guys." he said, managing a smile. "How are things at home?"

"OTHER THAN THE OCCASIONAL MONSTER ATTACKS, THERE HAS BEEN NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY." Zordon said. His voice was filled with happiness at the sight of Billy's face, but he could tell that there was something wrong with him. "BILLY, WHAT HAS HAPPENED?"

"Nothing. What makes you think that something has happened?" he asked. It was quite obvious that there was something the matter, but he could not bring himself to say it. He didn't know why. Zordon had been one of his best friends, a father-figure to him for the past 3 years. And yet he could not bring himself to confide in him.

"Aiyi-yi, Billy! Why must you lie to us? I thought that we were your friends."

"You are! It's just...well...this is very uncomfortable for me. The subject that is."

"YOU CAN TELL US ANYTHING, BILLY." the mentor said, looking gently down upon Billy.

Zordon's wise face, and his comforting voice had calmed Billy's shattered nerves, and he soon found himself spilling out the entire story. He skipped no details, and never once over exaggerated. The truth, and nothing but the entire, heart-wrenching truth. The old wizard nodded.

"I CAN TELL WHY THAT IS TROUBLING YOU SO MUCH," he said. "I

WISH THERE WAS SOMETHING MORE I COULD DO."

Billy's eyes were filled with tears once more. "I...want...to come home, Zordon." he wailed.

"SHH.....PERHAPS YOU SHOULD TALK TO THE OTHERS. THEY HAVE MISSED YOU TERRIBLY THESE PAST FEW WEEKS."

"Could you call them in, please?" Billy asked. "That is...if you don't mind."

"NOT AT ALL. ALPHA, PLEASE CONTACT THE RANGERS."

"Right away, Zordon!" the little robot chirped. He waddled over to the control panel and pressed a button. "Rangers. Teleport to the Power Chamber immediately."

Within seconds, 5 streaks of multicolor brilliance shone in the room, and then materialized into his friends. Tommy, the always benevolent leader, stepped forward.

"What is it Zordon?" he asked.

"WHY, TOMMY. AREN'T YOU THE CONCERNED ONE. THERE IS NO EMERGENCY. IT WAS JUST A CALL FROM AN OLD FRIEND."

Then a familiar voice piped in, "Hey!! I'm not THAT old!!"

"Billy!!!!" they all chorused. Their faces lit up at the sound of his voice, and all turned to face the viewing globe. It was at that instant when they fired a barrage of questions at him.

"How are you?"

"How is Aquitar?"

"Is there any way you can help me out with my algebra, long distance?"

"Can you believe how dumb Rocky is?"

"How are things between you and Cestria?"

"How come you never wrote? I mean, I know you said you weren't going to. But I thought you were kidding."

Billy could not help but laugh. "To answer your questions, guys. I'm fine, things here suck, yes there is, yes I can, I'd rather not say and I never had the time."

"Oh," Tommy said. "We've missed you bud."

"We've been wondering how you've been and stuff." Rocky said. "So, How have you been?"

"Things were great.until very recently."

"What happened?" Tanya asked him. She was worried for him, even thought they did not know each other well.

"It's hard to explain..." he said softly.

"You can tell us, Billy. We're your friends." Adam said.

"I know that..but..it's a very sensitive subject for me."

Rocky cocked his head off to one side. "Can I guess? I'm really good at this kinda thing."

Billy slowly shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Go right ahead. I doubt you can figure this out though."

"Thanks!!!" Rocky said. He cleared his throat. "When you got to Aquitar things were great. You and Cestria were very happy together, or so it seemed. She was going rape you to get your brains.and was gonna get rid of ya as soon as she had gotten what she wanted. The way she was gonna get rid of ya was to kill, and she was really going to marry Tideus. So she got you drunk, got you in bed and got some brains. The next day you ended up in your place with a really big hangover, and you didn't know how you got there. The King of Aquitar called you up and told you to meet him.which you did. He warned you about Cestria cause she had done that type of thing before. You didn't believe him and went to pay her a visit. Then you saw her with Tideus, went back to your place and called here. And there you have it, exactly what happened."

Billy stared at the Blue Ranger, wide eyed. "How on Earth did you know???" he asked.

"I read the script, silly." He said, and held out his hand. In it there was the script

for the newest Power Rangers Zeo.

"Oh," Billy added. "I didn't know that. Hey! I don't have a script!"

All of the others turned to face Rocky. "Neither do we!" They exclaimed.

Rocky looked at them nervously. "I'm just special I guess." He said.

"Then tell me what else the writers have in store for me."

"No can do. This thing is confidential."

Kat put her hands on her hips and cleared her throat. "Can we get back onto the

subject at hand?"

Billy slapped his forehead. "Doii!! OK..Guys.I don't think I'm going to be on Aquitar much longer."

"Don't blame you a BIT." Tommy said. "But don't you think you should talk things out with Cestria first?"

Billy looked at the grim visage on each of the faces that were looking at him. "I will...and if things aren't any better after that, I'll be on my way home. Billy out."

They all stood there, staring at the blank viewing globe in silence. They hadn't realized all that Billy had been going through. It had all sounded so terrible. It made them realize that some of the worst things could happen to the nicest people. Billy would need a lot of support when he came home.

"That had to hurt." Tommy said, breaking the silence.

"Poor Billy." Tanya added. She nodded her head solemnly. "He's going to need us more than ever."

"And we're going to be there for him. One hundred percent." Adam said.

Kat nodded. Suddenly, her blue eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. I just realized something."

All of the other rangers turned to face her, bewildered looks on their faces. "What

is it?" they said.

"Billy's dad! He's probably worried sick!!!"

They all looked around at each other, wide eyed and worried.

"Poor Mr. Cranston." Tanya said. "The sooner Billy gets home, the better!"

"Half-breed? What is..a half-breed?"

Waving his hand in front of his face, Gasket replied. "It's some blasted condition where an Earthling is part Animal, part Human. It usually happens under rare occasion where one parent of the child was somehow turns from animal, to human and mates with another human. Thus causing a half-breed. Billy is a half-wolf half-breed, and the only one who can hold the 7th Zeo crystals power."

"How queer."

"Isn't it though."

"How do you plan to capture this.Billy, my love?" Archerina asked. "And how will you get him to become our very own Silver Ranger?"

Gasket fiddled with the lock in the silver room. "Very simple." He replied. "He will be on his way home soon. The moment he lands on the Earth, we capture him. From there, we use THIS."

He lifted up his left hand. In it, he held a small vile that contained a glowing green liquid. "This is the most powerful mind control potion in the history of the universe. And I am fortunate enough to be the only one to hold it. We will use it on Billy, and he will be totally under our power. Our own personal slave until he withers and dies."

"Is it THAT powerful?"

"Indeed it is, my darling. All we have to do now is wait for that little fish lover to come into the atmosphere. And then, he's as good as ours."

Archerina squealed with laughter. "Oh dearest, I cannot wait a minute longer!"

"Neither can I, my love. Neither am I. But we will have to. Our plan is perfect. And if we go through it perfectly, we will soon have those pathetic Zeo Rangers at our mercy. And THEN we'll show them which machine is the REAL king of the Machine Empire!!"

The two machines began to laugh maniacally, the tones echoing in the halls, outside of the palace and out onto the lunar terrain.

"Are you SURE that you haven't seen him, Adam? The police aren't being of any help, and I'm so worried about him." Daniel Cranston said, his voice wavering. Tears streamed down his burning cheeks and dropped onto the phone that he held in his shaking hand.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cranston. I wish there was more that I could do. But I don't know where Billy is." Adam said. "I'm sure he'll show up soon."

"I am worried out of my mind." He said. "I hope you're right. If anything happened to him, I don't know what I would do."

"The feeling is mutual. But I have a gut feeling that he is going to come up sooner or later."

"I hope that what Lt. Stone said wasn't true. I hope that Billy didn't lose his mind, and commit suicide. I hope that he's all right. I hope.. I.I..I hope.." His voice trailed off, and he began to sob. Why had Billy left him? He had always thought of Billy as such a happy boy. He never thought that he could have done anything to drive him away. He had always been fair, and rarely ever had reason to punish Billy. So why had he left? Why had he left everyone he knew and loved behind to suffer and worry?

Adam's voice rang in, full of concern for Billy's father. He knew that he couldn't tell him where Billy really was, but he tried his best to reassure him that Billy was OK. Mr. Cranston was very unbelieving at this point. And who could blame him? For all he knew, his son was lying dead in a ditch somewhere, and not on Aquitar, safe and sound.

Cestria walked around her house, humming to herself. The fact that Billy had seen her with Tideus was hardly a strain on her mind. All she cared about was seeing Tideus again.

"La dee dee da dum."

Suddenly there came a knock at the door. Or was it more of a furious pounding? She couldn't be sure. Cestria rushed to the front door to answer it, looking through the little window to see who had come to call. There was Billy, his face flushed with anger. Her eyes widened and she opened the door.

"Billy! What a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting you." she said, faking a surprised pleasure. The scowl that his face bore did not change, and she chuckled nervously. "Won't you come in?"

Billy pushed her out of the way and made his way into the main room.

"Is something upsetting you, Billy?"

He turned to face her. She met his gaze, only to be locked into his icy cold stare. His voice, low and deep took her by surprise. "What makes you think that seeing you with Tideus would make me upset?"

Cestria backed away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh...oh oho..yes..you do know what I'm talking about. I know everything, Cestria. Everything about how you were only seducing me to get my brains, and how when you had gotten what you wanted, you were going to kill me off. King Poseidon told me that, and my friend Rocky told me that. Don't deny it."

"Deny what? I haven't any idea what you're talking about. It's lies, all lies. Billy, I love you." Cestria bit her lip as mouth uttered the lie. His eyes only grew colder.

"Lies will get you no where Cestria. Just admit it. That is EXACTLY what you were trying to do."

Cestria tried to force her eyes to look away from him, but it was impossible. Those

blue eyes, which once shone with love and admiration only for her, were now as colder than ice and were made so by extreme anguish and pain. She knew that it was the truth, but she would never let herself admit to her lies. She had gotten away with this so cleanly before. Never a problem. None of the previous men she had done this to had figured it our before. And now she stood face to face with the smartest of them all, and he had found out. She knew of only one thing to do. It did not matter anymore if she had his intelligence. What mattered is that he was gotten rid of.

She backed up into the wall, gently nudging a switch nearby. A panel on the ceiling swung open, and a gleaming sword fell down into Cestria's hands. "You know too much," she growled. "Now you must die!"

Billy's eyes went from icy cold, to wide with fear. He backed away quickly. She

swung the sword at him, growling and cursing. Her eyes glowed a bright red and her mouth was twisted into an evil sneer. When she spoke, her voice screeched and hissed. It was a voice all too familiar to Billy's ears. Then her body began to transform into a armored woman. Scorpina.

She had disappeared shortly after Rita and Zedd were married, and had disguised herself as an Aquation ever since. So THAT was why Rita and Zedd had gotten so smart. Scorpina had stolen all intelligence out of every brainy man on Aquitar, and had then tried the same on Billy. In the process she had fallen in love with Tideus, the Yellow Alien Ranger. And now here she was, trying with all her might to destroy someone that she had tried to destroy many times before.

She was enraged, screaming and shouting. The swinging of the sword did not help her much in the way of killing the young man, but it certainly was frightening him. Billy had never before felt true fear, and surely this was it. Somehow, despite the sharp sword that could enter his trembling body at any second, he managed to knock her down with a low roundhouse kick and ran out of the door.

She climbed to her feet and charged after him, sword out. "I'm going to kill you, Billy Boy! Just you wait and see!!!"

Hot tears streamed down Billy's cheeks as he ran towards his pod. Every few seconds he could feel the sharp blade of the sword nudge at the back of his shirt, and could nearly feel Scorpina breathing down the back of his neck.

Have to get away!! Have to go home!!

Scorpina growled and jumped at him, knocking him to the ground. Lifting her booted foot, she flipped him over to face her with the broad side of the sword and brought her foot down hard upon his chest. He gasped, his eyes wide with both terror and pain. His arms flailed outwards, reaching desperately outwards so that he could grab onto the frame of the pod. Scorpina only laughed and raised the sword high above his head.

"This is something I have waited a long time to do!" she exclaimed, "And now, Billy, the FORMER Blue Ranger, you will die under the sword of Scorpina! The most powerful warrior in the universe!" Her arms thrust downwards, sending the sword plunging towards the middle of Billy's heaving chest. His screamed echoed through the pod chamber and his hands instinctively rose up to meet the forthcoming blow. He knew that it was the end for him. He shut his eyes tightly, and prepared to die.

Suddenly, as out of nowhere, a blur of purple and black slammed into Scorpina into the opposite wall. She growled in protest and leapt at Billy's rescuer. Billy scrambled to his feet and turned to face them, only to be met by a great shock.

"King Poseidon!" he yelled. "Get away from her!!"

The King of Aquitar was struggling against the efforts of the powerful Scorpina, and was fighting a losing battle. "No!! You go on without me! Go home!"

Billy rushed forward, ready to enter the fight. "I won't leave you! Come with me!"

At that instant, Scorpina ran her sword through the noble King. He hunched over, eyes wide and glazed over. The blood was the first sight that met Billy's eyes. Oh, the blood. So red...too red. Death. There was death everywhere. Images of all the blood, all the death before him flashed inside of his head, even as he closed his eyes. The world was spinning. Billy's breathing became more rapid, coming in quick pants. He clutched his spinning head, and began to scream.a scream that would rival that of a banshee.

Scorpina pulled the blade out of Poseidon's stomach and let the bleeding body slump onto the ground. She once more turned to face Billy, pointing the red blade at him. There was an evil gleam in her eyes, a lust for blood. Billy ran to the pod and climbed inside. He turned it on, ready to speed away. Scorpina thrust the sword into the side of the pod, screaming. Billy tried desperately to keep the images of blood, and his tears from blurring his vision, and sped away, leaving a ranting Scorpina behind .He was going so fast, that the pod shot high above the surface of the water and was soon out in the depths of space, headed towards home.

"Zordon, This is Billy. I'm on my way home."

"THAT IS GOOD NEWS INDEED." Zordon said. His voice rang in loud and clear, echoing through the pod. "HOW DID YOUR LITTLE TALK WITH CESTRIA GO?"

Billy sighed. "Well.Cestria is not at ALL what I thought she was. She is really Scorpina, and she k..k." he could not bring himself to utter the horrible words. Zordon sensed the pain that Billy was feeling.

"BILLY, WHAT HAPPENED?"

"The King of Aquitar is dead. Scorpina killed him, and it's all my fault." He spat out angrily. His face flushed red, and once more the images of all the blood poured into his head. Billy forced the images into the back of his mind and held onto the steering mechanism tightly. So tightly that his knuckles were white. He would not allow himself to think about all the blood. The bright red blood, the sword, the king. No. He would not think about that. "B.but I'm on my way home. And I'd rather not talk about what happened these past few days. Do NOT think that I am going to need support. I am JUST fine without you guys." He did not even realize the harsh tone that he was using, nor the words. To him, this was all one horrible nightmare. One that seemed never-ending. And he

was reacting how any normal human being would react to the situation.

"PLEASE TRY TO CALM YOURSELF, BILLY. THERE IS NO NEED TO BLAME YOURSELF FOR SOMETHING YOU DID NOT DO."

Taking in many deep breaths, Billy forced himself to calm down. "Y.you're right. I need to calm down. Are the others around?"

"NO, THEY ARE NOT. THEY WENT TO GO REASSURE YOUR FATHER ABOUT YOU."

"My dad!! Oh no!!" he screamed, slapping himself on the forehead. "He must be

worried sick! I am so stupid!! I should have told him.I should never have left in the first

place!"

"BILLY, PLEASE CALM YOURSELF. YOU WILL SOON BE HOME WITH YOUR FATHER."

"What will I tell him!? I just can't go up to him and say 'Hey dad! I'm home! I'm sorry I'm so late. Just took a month and a half detour to another planet, only to be raped by one of that planets inhabitants, who really wasn't who she seemed to be, and I witnessed the king of that planets brutal death, but I'm fine now."

"THAT WOULD BE A PROBLEM."

"You're darn right it would." Billy replied, sighing. "And I can't come up with anything decent TO tell him either."

"YOU." Zordon paused, obviously deep in thought. "YOU MIGHT AS WELL TELL HIM WHAT REALLY HAPPENED."

"He'd think that I have gone out of my mind. Wait a minute..that's not such a bad thing..It's the truth after all."

"YOU HAVE NOT LOST YOUR MIND. YOU HAVE JUST BEEN THROUGH

A LOT OF MENTAL STRAIN."

"No shit, Sherlock." Billy growled.

"PLEASE CALM YOURSELF. I HAVE NEVER HEARD YOU SPEAK IN SUCH A HARSH TONE TO ANYONE."

"I'm sorry," Billy said. "But with the way things have been lately."

"I UNDERSTAND. PLEASE HURRY HOME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, SO THAT YOU MAY BE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FATHER ONCE MORE."

Billy stifled a smile. Zordon always knew what to say to make him feel better, if only a little. "Thank you Zordon, and I'll be home within the hour."

"HAVE A SAFE VOYAGE, BILLY. ZORDON OUT."

Billy leaned back against the soft cushioning of his seat and sighed. He reached over and clicked off the communicator, the static died slowly. Then, he set the pod to auto pilot and closed his eyes. So many bad things had happened. Before, it seemed as if it could not get any better, Of course that meant, from there everything would go downhill, but he had never expected THAT downhill. He never expected the affair, the real motivation, Scorpina and the death of one of his most trusted friends and allies.the King of Aquitar. No.he had not expected any of it. And yet it had happened, and so quickly.

The mental scars would fade, but never heal entirely. From then on, he had resolved never to love again, for to him it now meant betrayal, sadness and death in it's most horrible form.

"Gasket!! Darling!! He is on his way home!!" Archerina exclaimed, pointing out of

the window and bouncing like a tiny child.

Gasket came up to her and took her into his arms. "So he is." He said in soft tone. "At long last. I am so glad that you noticed it, dearest. I would never have seen him."

"It is time to unleash that brilliant plan of yours!!" she squealed. "I cannot wait!"

"Neither can I, my love. It is all too perfect. We shall grab him as SOON as he gets out of that pod, and use my precious little potion on him. Then, we shall have him unlock the safe that holds the Silver Zeo crystal."

"And then we shall use our little half-breed ranger to destroy the others!"

"And then, I, Gasket, RIGHTFUL king of the Machine Empire, and you, my dear queen Archerina, shall rule the Earth!!"

Archerina pulled her husband into a bear hug and planted a kiss onto his cold, metallic lips. "But first.we must recruit our cogs to capture him."

Gasket nodded slowly. "COGS!! Prepare for battle!! We are to take the young man, Billy, captive! Archerina and I will be with you, but you will be the ones doing most of the work! Do your job well.and I will make sure that you are amply rewarded with

your.VERY OWN OILCAN!!"

The Cog army cheered to the best of its ability. Gasket laughed to himself about how foolish they could be. He had meant that the whole army would get one can. They were uplifted by some of the stupidest things. He could hardly believe that he had to constantly deal with them on a daily basis, and that he trusted in them to bring his greatest prize to him. Oh well, Cogs will be Cogs.

"You will be hidden around the area where he lands, and the INSTANT that he steps out of that pod, GRAB HIM! Make SURE that the rangers do not get in the way! Do NOT fail me!"

Five streaks of colored light streamed into the Power Chamber. An instant later, they were all 5 humans. before Tommy could step forward to ask what sort of monster was against them this time, Zordon spoke.

BILLY IS COMING HOME, RANGERS.

The Power Chamber filled at once with cheers and cries of joy. Zordon and Alpha

did not join in the celebration, however. Kat noticed this and asked, "What's wrong?"

MY FRIENDS, MORE HAS HAPPENED SINCE BILLY LAST SPOKE WITH US, AND NONE OF IT IS GOOD. HE WILL NEED OUR HELP, THOUGH HE DENIES IT. Zordon had hated hearing the pain in his oldest student's voice when he'd spoken of Scorpina's murder of the king. Billy was going to need more than help, but what it was, Zordon had no idea.

"What is it?" Adam was at once worried; if something was wrong with Billy, he, of all the Rangers, wanted to know about it. Zordon looked at them all, should he really tell them? They were his friends; they deserved to know.

CESTRIA . . .IS SCORPINA, AND IN HER RUSH TO KILL BILLY WHEN

HE DISCOVERED HER SECRET, SHE KILLED KING POSIEDON. Zordon almost flinched when he saw the horror in the five pairs of eyes beneath him. He told them all that Billy had told him, including his refusal to accept help for the pain he felt.

"Well, whether he wants it or not, we're going to help him!" Adam insisted. "That's what friends are for!"

"Friends and family," Tanya nodded suddenly. "Let's surprise Billy: have his dad waiting for him when he gets back."

"I think he'd want to tell his dad about what's happened himself," Tommy objected.

Tanya shook her head.

"We can surprise them both. We can ask his dad to take a walk with us or something, maybe mention there was a sighting of Billy wherever he's supposed to land at. His dad won't know what to expect, and neither will Billy."

The Rangers exchanged glances, and as her plan sunk in, one and all smiled.

"Cool idea!" was Rocky's comment.

"I'll go ask him!" Adam said.

"We'll be with you in a minute, Adam." Kat said.

He nodded, smiling and teleported off without another word.

The others called up Billy's course on the computers, and plotted where he was going to land. It was going to be one heck of a welcome-home!

"Come on, Mr. Cranston!" Tanya said cheerily, tugging onto his arm. "Let's go on

a walk!"

"No.I really need to stay here. In case someone calls." He replied. He drew his arm away from her. "I need to be here in case they find Billy."

"But a walk will do you A LOT of good!" Adam protested. "Please?" Adam then

instinctively moved into his 'cute adorable, gotta love it, puppy dog face' maneuver. This was something that no human in their right mind could resist. Be they male or female, it was so cute it tore at their hearts. It was Adam's secret weapon against adults who refused to do something that might help them, or that he wanted really badly.

Mr. Cranston winced as he stared at Adam's face. "Adam, please, don't do that to

me. You know what that face of yours does to me.."

Adam smiled quickly, then continued the face. Mr. Cranston whimpered and tried to turn his gaze away. But then, the total cuteness of it all took over. "Alright, alright! I'll go on a walk!"

Rocky laughed and leaned over to whisper in Tanya's ear. "I wish I could do that. He always gets his way!"

"So do I!! Hey Adam! Can you teach me how to do that!?"

"It's an acquired skill.very few can actually do it. And I am one of the few!"

Tanya snorted and punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Show off!!"

Pulling Mr. Cranston out of the door by his arm, Adam stuck his tongue out at her.

"Thank you!"

"Oh, Gasket!! Is he here yet?" Archerina peered out from the bushes, trying to catch a glimpse of the descending spacepod.

"Calm down, dear!" Gasket, too, was looking out for Billy, but he spared a glance for the Rangers and human standing only a few dozen feet away. "They'll hear you!'

"We could just call our Cogs if they find us!" Archerina dismissed the idea the Rangers might interfere with her Gasket's brilliant plan. That just wouldn't happen!

Gasket sighed; he loved Archerina, but at times, she WAS a bit silly. "Here he comes! Quiet down, dear, please!"

She was quivering with delight, about to pop out of the bushes. "I can't help it,

love. I am far too excited!"

He reached over and took hold of her shoulders and pulled her back against him. "It's landing, Shhh." He whispered. His bright yellow eyes were locked on the pod.

"What is THAT?" Tommy deliberately widened his eyes in shock. Kat could tell it was only with the greatest of control he was able to stop himself from bursting into laughter.

Mr. Cranston's surprise, however, was unfeigned. As the ship descended to Earth and landed not far from them, he felt his heart rate tripling. He knew, as did everyone in Angel Grove, that aliens were trying to invade. Were they about to be victim to a monster attack?

Tommy was shaking with concealed laughter; he hoped he could keep up this act until Billy came out. "We'd better get back," he said, pushing Mr. Cranston a few steps back. "Never know what could come out of that thing."

Just as if on cue, the pod opened, gushing out an expanse of fog. A dim light flowed behind it, and the shadow of a dark figure could be seen. It moved out of the way of the light, it's obviously human arms thrashing out in front of it. It coughed and sputtered, and the fog began to clear, revealing the face of the figure.

"BILLY!!!" Mr. Cranston yelled, eyes brimmed with tears.

Billy looked up, his eyes wide in true shock. He'd wanted to tell his dad about

what had happened, but he hadn't expected to MEET him the moment he stepped off his ship! Billy, for the first time since seeing it happen, forgot about the king's death, Scorpina's existence, and ran to his father.

"Dad," he whispered. "Oh, Dad. I'm home."

The tears now flowed freely from Daniel's eyes as he held his son close to him.

"Oh Billy." he sobbed. "I.missed you SO much! I was so worried!"

"I'm home now. You don't need to be worried anymore. I'm not going anywhere,

ever again!"

Gasket leapt out of the bushes, sword out. "Such a Kodak moment! Too bad you ARE going somewhere, little half-breed! COGS!! GRAB HIM!!"

Billy and his father jumped away from each other, emitting a cry of terror. Dozens upon dozens of cogs materialized out of nowhere, their mechanical arms whirring and creaking. They charged at Billy.

The rangers stood there, wide eyed. "What are we going to do?" Adam asked worriedly. "We have to do something!!"

Mr. Cranston whirled around to face them. "Why won't you do something!?" he cried. They all gave each other worried glances, then nodded.

"IT'S MORPHIN TIME!!" Tommy yelled. Their arms moved in the familiar formation, locking the zeonizer to the communicator.

"ZEO RANGER I! PINK!"

"ZEO RANGER II! YELLOW!"

"ZEO RANGER III" BLUE!"

"ZEO RANGER IV! GREEN!"

"ZEO RANGER V! RED!"

"GOLD RANGER POWER!"

The six teens dissolved into armored superheroes at an instant, and began plowing their way through the cogs. Unfortunately for them, another dozen of cogs, far beyond their reach hand taken hold of Billy and were dragging him towards the two cackling machines.

Of course the cogs were not getting there easily. Billy was giving them quite a hard time with his kicking and screaming. They hadn't realized how strong he actually was, but that was just too bad for them. Gasket and Archerina could have cared less, and ran out into the mass of cogs to grab Billy themselves.

"LET ME GO!!" He yelled. Grabbing onto Gaskets arm, he gave it a tremendous

tug. With a disgusting snap, in broke off and fell to the ground. Billy crashed down with it,

and scrambled to his feet. Gasket snarled.

"Not so fast!" he screamed. "No one amputates Prince Gasket's arm and gets away with it!" With that, Gasket slammed his big metal foot into Billy's head. Billy sighed deeply and collapsed, a thin line of blood trickled down his forehead. Gasket kicked him in the ribs, growling. He then bent over and grabbed onto the fallen arm. "Archerina, darling. Could you help me with my arm? HE isn't going to be headed anywhere any time soon."

"Of course, my love." she said, and helped him tend to his arm. This distraction had given the rangers some time to make their way closer to Billy. Tommy was the first to break the barrier line of cogs and broke out in a run.

"I'm coming Billy." he grunted, panting. He reached Billy's side, only to find him unconscious. Gasket, who was standing nearby getting his arm repaired, gasped and pulled away from Archerina, tearing his arm off once more.

"I have worked too hard!" he yelled, holding his sword out with his only hand. Tommy had lifted Billy up onto his shoulder and was suddenly struck in the ribcage with Gasket's sword. He toppled over backwards, crying out in pain, and Billy landed on the ground with a loud 'thump'. The other rangers saw this, and tried desperately to get to them. But alas, Gasket would not have anyone ruin his perfect plan, more and more cogs appeared, practically burying them. Gasket plunged the blade of his sword into the Earth and managed to get Billy onto his shoulder. Archerina came up, carrying his other arm, and pulled the sword up.

"Let us go." she said. "We have what we want."

Gasket broke out into an evil laughter and shot a glance to Billy's father. The poor man was staring, wide eyed and helpless to save his son. Gasket continued his laughter and made a quick bow in Daniel's direction, then he, Archerina and the cogs vanished.

It was at that very moment, when Daniel Cranston collapsed. He let his body relax totally, and found comfort in the back of his mind. There he was safe. There he was with Billy. Nothing could harm him ever, here in his mind. He never had to feel worry, or pain, or sorrow. There was nothing but peace here. There were no monsters, nor was there anything that could cause him any grief. This is where he would stay. The shell of the body he once knew would remain there, a sign of a sad and lonely man, now dead. He was now at peace, for nothing in the outside world mattered anymore. All that mattered was that the pain was over.

The rangers shouted out cries of outrage. Adam slammed his fist into the bark of a nearby tree, screaming profane language all the while. Tommy had clambered to his feet, and was busily blaming himself for not saving his friend. Rocky ran around, screaming and making a racket like a chicken with it's head cut off. Kat sunk down unto her knees and began to wail. Tanya came over and tried to comfort her. And there was Jason, standing as still as stone, fists clenched. The only words spoken came from his mouth, and they bit as hard as steel, despite the plainness of the words. "We'll get him back."

Without another word, the rangers lifted Mr. Cranston up and teleported to the Power Chamber.

Hours passed without a single word spoken. Alpha was working worriedly on reviving Mr. Cranston, as Adam and Tanya continuously tried to lock onto the Machine Skybase so that they could get Billy back. The others sat around, holding their helmets in their hands and looking very depressed. After all the trouble that Billy had gone through, Cestria, the affair, Scorpina, the murder, he was now in the clutches of Gasket in Archerina. It all seemed so hopeless.

It was then that Tommy remembered. Gasket's arm. Billy had taken it off, giving Tommy a new hope. Breaking the silence, he whispered. "I have faith in Billy. He won't give up without a fight." The others looked at him, tears in their eyes. They all nodded slowly, and continued their work. Tanya and Adam came up with nothing, and Mr. Cranston was taking a turn for the worst.

All the while. Tommy's words echoed through everyone's mind. I have faith in Billy. He won't give up without a fight.

"Ohhhh..." grumbled Billy. "My head." His eyes flickered open. The only image that met his eyes was a landscape of blur. The colors were all muddled, what colors there were anyway. It was dark in this room, and he could not tell whether or not he was alone. He blinked several times, rubbing at his eyes. What he saw when he was done, was two pairs of bright yellow eyes locked on him. Attached to those eyes, there was two heads, and attached to those, two bodies. Rising himself up onto his shoulders he saw who it was and screamed.

Gasket was hovering over him with a syringe needle, filled to the top with a glowing green substance. Archerina was standing at his side, holding onto a bottle with the same eerie liquid.

"At last you have awakened, half-breed." Gasket said softly.

Billy's only nervous reply was, "Get away from me!" as he tried to creep away. To his misfortune, his ankles were shackled to the floor...and he could not move. He began to cower and whimper.

Archerina only laughed. "Oh, don't worry. This isn't going to hurt a bit." she said. Reaching down, she rolled up the sleeve of his shirt on his right arm. He swatted at her, only to have Gasket's sword pointed directly at his throat. This caused him to quiet down. The only movements he made was his quivering of fear as Archerina held tightly onto his arm. "Go ahead, darling." she whispered.

Gasket's eyes gleamed brighter still, seemingly full of triumph. He reached down to gently slit the needle into the exposed skin on Billy's arm. There he paused, as if for dramatic effect. Every nerve in Billy's body was screaming out, wanting him to do something. He gritted his teeth and balled up his fists. What did they think they were doing to him anyway? They wouldn't accomplish anything by it. He wouldn't let them. Never.

Laughing, Gasket plunged the syringe downward, spilling mind control potion into Billy's blood stream. A loud yell escaped Billy's throat as the foreign substance raced through his body. Every muscle became stiff, every nerve became shot. The potion moved quickly through him, making his mind become more and more dark. They had gotten what they wanted. Billy's eyes began to shine brilliant silver and narrowed into glowing slits. A low growl came from Billy's lips.

"How may I serve thee, my master and mistress?"

There were trees all around. Dark, ominous looming trees, covering all sunlight and blocking them from the world. They ran, as swiftly as they could, but to no avail. The Hunter was coming, and his teeth bared at the thought of fresh blood. They could hear his heavy footsteps stomping along behind them. He was gaining on them. Faster and faster he came, until they could feel his hot breath rushing down the back of their necks. They couldn't stop running, for to stop would mean their certain, horrible death.

The Hunter was an evil man. His big muscles were covered by the hides of animals that he had slaughtered in his long lifetime. He had a mop of long blong hair, and a yellow mustache and beard to match. Deep set in his big face were peircing blue eyes. Around his neck, and tucked under his shirt made from the hide of a seal, there were five beautiful necklaces.

As the two ran something so horrible, so beyond their control happened. The Hunter yelled only one word, but it was enough.

"Up!"

Instantly, the roots of the trees sprang up and entangled the pair. Their shrieks echoed against the thick wall of trees. They were trapped. Bound tightly by the roots of trees. They struggled with all their might against the mighty magical roots, but they held steadfast. The Hunter walked slowly up to them, breathing in quick pants. Or was he laughing? The man could not be sure. The only thing that he could feel in his heart was fear. They were going to die.

The woman did not give up her attempt to break the bonds of the enormous roots. She grunted and snarled as she tried to break free. "You will never get away with this Daran! You will never win!"

He walked up to her and took her chin in his hand. "I always win.and I always get what I want." He whispered. "Too bad that you decided to go with this loser, wolf woman. My taste always has run towards wolf." Daran: The Hunter, bent down, about to draw her into a passionate kiss. Fangs grew within her mouth, and she bit down hard onto his tongue He pulled back, squealing like a wounded pig. His hand flew up to his mouth, and the woman could see the redness of blood squeeze through his clenched fingers. With his hand over his mouth, he uttered a muffled sentence.

"You'll pay for that dearly, wolf woman." He waved his hand in front of her face and the roots retracted away from her, sending her crashing to the ground. The air was knocked out of her, and gushed out from between her teeth. She shut her eyes tightly, as to keep the sight of the Hunter out of her mind. He waved his hand once more and in it appeared a gleaming katana blade. He ran his thumb along the sharp side, laughing evilly.

The man, still stuck in the roots, was screaming and yelling in protest, bucking and thrashing against them. One of his hands broke free, and he began to pry at the other. He called out the woman's name, warning her of the Hunter that was hovering over her with the giant blade. She did not move a muscle. It was like she did not hear him at all. His scream was the only thing heard as Daran the Hunter brought down the blade into the body of the woman. He slashed at her, giggling like a schoolboy. The man pulled his other hand out of the root and leapt to the ground. He ran to the woman, for whom there was no hope to save. She had died. The only thing that the man could hear was the echo of his beloved wife's voice ringing through the trees.

Tis time for me to leave thee. Thou alone, among men & beasts, doth have my heart. thou art my true love & together didst we have a most handsome and wise son, who will grow to a great destiny. Thee must save a valuable medallion from the clutches of the evil Hunter. Save this medallion once I have departed this sweet Earth, and give it to our son. Good bye, my love.I have.but one last request.

Do not forget me.

The man held the dead form of his wife against him, rocking to and fro. His tears fell upon her, mixing with the several streams of blood. They began to twinkle softly, then began to glow. The man gasped and jumped back, unsure of what was going on. The glow became brighter and brighter, until it became almost blinding. Both the man, and the Hunter shaded their eyes.

When the glare died down they uncovered their eyes. The Hunter let out a laugh of pleasure as he saw what it was. The man could only gape in amazement. There, standing over the body of his wife was the ghostly figure of a silver wolf.

It turned around in a full circle, looking over the two. It then stopped for a minute as she looked at the man. There was a look in it's eyes, something that the man couldn't quite pick out. Sadness? Despair? Anger? Or was it pleading? Yes, it was all four of them.

"Racheal?" he whispered. The wolf cocked her head and nodded

You know what you must do, Daniel.

"I'm scared, Racheal. Terrified."

You know what you must do. Do not fear, for nothing will happen to you.

The Hunter snarled. "I will have what I want, wolf woman. Your spirit shall be mine!" His hand flew up to his neck, and out from underneath his shirt he pulled out 5 shining medallions. They glistened, hanging from his thick neck by a mass of golden chains. "See these!?"

Daniel nodded. "What do you think? That I am blind?"

The Hunter raised his hand once more. "Tou lina zooha borli. Canis lupis ashdir rahim." He whispered. A low howl escaped the throat of the silver wolf, and it's image began to fade. As it did, a golden wolf medallion with eyes of gleaming sapphire formed in the Hunter's hand. His deep laugh and a low howl rang in Daniel's ears.

"At last. My mission is complete! I have the power of all now! The crane, the falcon, the bear, the ape, the frog and the most powerful of them all , the wolf are now under my control. I now have the ultimate power!"

The tears had returned in the man's eyes. "No you don't."

Thee must save a valuable medallion from the clutches of the evil Hunter.

"For you, Racheal!" He yelled, and leapt at the Hunter. He had no weapon, but he had the will. He would get the medallion from the Hunter, even if it meant his death. There was no longer any fear, for he had felt all the fear that was possible within a man. His hands grasped onto the medallion, but the Hunter held it steadfast.

"It is MINE!" he proclaimed. "You will never be able to take it from me."

With his mighty arm, the Hunter reached out for Daniel's throat. He took hold, and began to squeeze tightly. Daniel began to choke, his air supply cut off from him. But this did not stop his attempts to take the medallion. Somehow, he managed to inch his fingers around the sides of it, enough to get a hold of it. He looked into the black eyes of the Hunter. They gleamed and glistened with hate and pleasure.

Thee must save a valuable medallion from the clutches of the evil Hunter.

Daniel kicked and thrashed, managing a guttural moan. It was then when his foot struck. In the most sensitive area of the male body, Daniel's foot landed with such strength that no one had ever known. The Hunters eyes grew wide with rage and pain. His grip loosened on both the medallion and Daniel's neck and he toppled over backwards, crying out in agony.

Daniel landed with the agility of a cat, and with the quickness of a cheetah, he sprung for the katana. In his bony fingers the sword was clumsy, but he knew that he had to rid the world of this hunter. And with the help of all he held holy, he would do it. He ran forward, as fast as lightning, and swung the sword out at the Hunter.

The Hunter was already up, and turned to run only to meet the cold steel blade in the back. He screamed and ran as fast as he could, running through the trees, and out of the wood, never to return.

Daniel plunged the blade deep into the earth and let out a glass-shattering scream of triumph. He had won, the medallion clasped to his palm. He brought his eyes down to gaze at it, the sapphire eyes of the wolf figure glittered in the streams of sunlight that now shone through the trees. They no longer seemed so ominous, or black, or frightening, and the body had disappeared.

Save this medallion once I have departed this sweet Earth, and give it to our son.

"I will, Racheal." He whispered.

Thou alone, among men & beasts, doth have my heart. thou art my true love & together didst we have a most handsome and wise son, who will grow to a great destiny.

"Billy will have it, as soon he is old enough." The tears began to flow once more. She had left him, killed by the evil Hunter.

Good bye, my love.I have.but one last request.

Do not forget me.

And he would not forget her. Ever.

Billy stood with his master and mistress in front of the door to the Silver Room. Gasket spoke.

"Unlock the safe there and take out what's inside, Billy," the evil machine ordered. Billy nodded and opened the door smoothly. Archerina squealed and grabbed onto her husband's arm.

"Oh, Gasket, my darling, in only a few moments, we will have our very own Power Ranger!"

Gasket laughed as Billy walked towards the safe. "Yes.. Ours FOREVER! There is nothing that can break the control of that potion . . .nothing at all!!!"

Billy touched the lock, and at the touch of a half-breed, it opened easily. The safe door swung open, and small tendrils of fog, similar to what had happened when the door to his spaceship had opened, poured out. Inside, there gleamed a crystal, long, slender, and gleaming from within. He reached inside and picked it up, and as he touched it, the crystal melted into him.

Gasket bellowed in triumph, "MORPH, my Silver Ranger!!!!!!! Let me see my newest and greatest warrior at his full power!"

A moment later, Billy stood before them, the Silver Ranger, morphed and completely under their control. He blended in perfectly with the brilliant shine of his surroundings. A sword was in it's sheath at his side, and his hand rested on the sapphire studded hilt. On the helmet, was the image of a snarling, vicious wolf, which they would see their reflection in. The visor too was made of silver, so that no one could see in, and he could see out. On his chest there was a brilliant shining silver shield. It, like the sword hilt, was studded with sapphire. His armored body glistened underneath their watchful eyes. Such a fine warrior was he. And he was theirs, for all eternity.

The evil laughter of the two machines echoed throughout the Skybase, only to be joined by Billy's own shrill, insane cackling. It truly was a great night for the forces of darkness.

Daniel walked through the door. His clothes were bloody and misshapen, his neck bruised as well as the rest of him. He was out of breath, and obviously very weak. He collapsed to the ground, knocking over a lamp as he did so. The sudden noise awoke his sleeping son, who had been lying on the couch. He shot straight up from where he lay and turned around.

"Dad!" he cried, and ran to his father. The man was unconscious, and holding something tight in his left hand. The boy nudged him gently, looking out of the open doorway to see if his mother was close behind. She wasn't there. "Dad," he whispered. "Wake up. Please, wake up!"

A soft moan escaped Daniel's throat, and his eyes fluttered open. "B.Billy?" he said. The boy nodded.

"Dad, what happened? You're all bloody, and tired, and.and.dad, where is mom."

"I. . I. ..," Daniel stared at his son, unable to say the words he knew he had to. Despite what had happened, despite the horrors he'd seen, his mind cleared suddenly. He was almost sure he'd heard his wife's whispered voice in his mind. Tell him. He must know.

"Dad?" Billy stared up into his father's pale face; what was wrong? Where was his mother? Had something. . .no. . nothing could happen to her.

"Billy," Daniel made his shaky way to the couch and pulled Billy down next to him. "Listen to me, Billy. There . . .there was an accident."

In quiet tones, Daniel told his son an edited version of what had happened, not mentioning the fact his mother was. . had been.Whatever the proper phrase was. .. a wolf. That was something Billy would never have to find out. Whatever the destiny he was supposed to grow into was, he wouldn't need to know.

Billy couldn't believe his ears. His mother was dead. Mom was dead. "NO!" he yelled suddenly. Daniel jerked back, surprised by Billy's anger. "No, she's not dead!! This is some bad joke!!! How could you?!?!?!"

Without another word, Billy ran up to his room and locked the door. He stayed there for hours, crying. Daniel tried to get him to come out, but Billy simply ignored him. He didn't want to believe his mother was gone. It just hurt too much. Far too much.

The Rangers all trooped into the Youth Center; every last one of them was tired and worried over Billy. There had been no sign of him since he'd been taken by Gasket and Archerina, no word on a ransom or any plans the two evil machines might have for him. Alpha had been searching day and night for any clues; but came up short every time.

It was only at Zordon's insistence that they'd even left the Power Chamber in the first place. He'd told them as soon as there was any word, good, bad, or otherwise, on Billy, they'd be the first to know.

"We've got to find him," Adam muttered to them as they took their usual table.

"We can't let Gasket and Archerina do . . .whatever it is they plan to do with him."

"I think I'd be even more concerned if we knew what it was they had in mind," Tanya replied softly.

Tommy shrugged. "I don't know. Not knowing is nerve-wracking enough, to my way of thinking."

Their conversation was cut off when a young woman approached them. She was very beautiful. Her hair, long and blonde, was pulled up into a flowing ponytail. Among the rest of her lovely facial features, she had a pair of bright, cat-like green eyes. She had a full figure, an was not ashamed to show it off with the tight bluejeans and black leotard that she wore. "Excuse me?" her voice was sweet and gentle. "You're Tommy Oliver, right? Billy Cranston's friend?"

Tommy nodded. The woman smiled. "I'm Samantha Greene; I used to live in Angel Grove. I just moved back to town, I was wondering if Billy's around anywhere."

Rocky shook his head. "Not at the moment." It was all he could bring himself to say. Tommy agreed with him.

"Where is he?" Samantha asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's been a while since I saw him; he and I were friends, or at least knew each other, a few years ago."

Kat glanced around nervously; they'd never had to deal with quite this situation before. "He's out of town; we're not really sure when he's going to be back." Or even IF he'll be back.

The others nodded simultaneous agreement. Samantha frowned. "Just my luck. Well, if he shows up anytime soon, let him know I'm around, would you?"

Tommy nodded. "Will do."

"Thanks," she headed away, leaving the Rangers to wonder if they'd ever be able to give Billy the message: or even ever speak to him again.

Looking down upon the Earth , Gasket saw the rangers engaged in conversation at the Youth Center. A slight sneer crossed his face and his eyes narrowed. Oh, yes. They shall know what happened to their precious Billy. Especially when he is down there, beating their puny behinds.

Battle cries echoed through the halls of the Skybase; Billy was practicing on the cog army. The way that things were headed, they needed to replenish the cog population, and keep their precious silver ranger away from them. The crunch of metal crashing against the wall was soon heard, then the electronic whirring of the disassembled gears. Gasket turned around. It is time, thought he, to send my silver ranger to Earth. The rangers will be no match for him if he can destroy an entire cog army.

"Silver Ranger!!" he called. Seconds later, the silver clad warrior bounded into the room.

"Yes master? I am here to serve thee."

"It is time, Silver Ranger. Go down to Earth and destroy the Power Rangers. Be sure that you do not leave one alive unless circumstances show otherwise. Do NOT fail me."

"I do as my master commands." Billy said; then he disappeared in a brilliant flash of silver.

Daniel. Our son is in the deepest of peril. He was to become the Silver Warrior, that is true. But that power fell into the wrong hands, and now, so has he. I am afraid, my husband, for our son. He is under the effect of a powerful mind control potion. He will kill, and kill again, not knowing his good and true side underneath. He could kill you, and everyone we love, dear one. His friends are at the greatest risk.

You must remove yourself from this mental state that you are in right now. I have been sending you images of the past. A dark and painful past for you.and if you resist in saving our son, so be it. I shall send you horrible images of the future that may be if you do not get off of your rump and help.

Dear one.I am counting on you. Remember that.

The sun sent golden streams of light dancing off of the gleaming gold surface of the 5 medallions. The faces of the frog, the crane, the falcon, the bear, and the ape spun lazily around on the golden chain, which was dangling from the burly wrist of a man. He sighed as he stared at them. All he needed was one more. just one. And a mere mortal had pulled it out of his grasp! How times had changed. Things used to be, hunter chases mortal, mortal flees and cowers, hunter threatens and tortures; having a lot of fun with the victim, then the hunter goes in for the kill. Then that was that. There was never any rebellion, much less the mortal WINNING.

Daran was lucky to even be alive after that fateful day. Lucky for him.

Not so lucky for the Half-breed of that blasted she-wolf and that blasted human.

A gentle rain dripped from the gigantic leaves of the trees. It was such a beautiful day in the rainforest, fro everything alive was up and moving; making all of the music of the wild. And what harmony it was; a symphony of living things. All of these things did not matter to Daran: The Hunter. He would kill it all if it were within his power, and it nearly was. He stood, pulling the medallions over his head and around his neck.

"I WILL get that medallion, little half-breed. You will fall, and I will have the supreme power in the entire universe. You had better watch yourself, Billy Cranston, because your Mommy isn't around to take care of you anymore, and that father of yours is too helpless. I will have my revenge!!!!!"

With that, he ran faster than a deer in her prime, headed for California, where he knew that Billy would be. He knew for sure that there was nothing that could keep him from the power any longer.

He would, at long last, win the battle that was started centuries ago.

The Silver Ranger arrived at his destination seconds after his departure from the Machine Skybase. If anyone had been able to see his face, they would have seen the most evil sneer imaginable. And his eyes...were no longer the beautiful bright blue...but an inhuman shade of yellow. The people in the surrounding area should have been glad that they could not see his face...not that it would have mattered much. For he caused fear without them having seen him. His actions did all.

As he landed on the soft earth, his hand immediately flew to the hilt of his sword. He jerked it out and held it before him, cackling. "Oh, yes...." he whispered. "This is the last day that the rangers will ever live to see. And their heads will be my proof." He thrust the sword outwards, and it struck a nearby telephone pole. It came crashing down, and any people who were around tried to flee in terror. But it was no use, for the falling power cords took their lives. Well... it was more the Evil Silver Ranger who took their lives, for when he struck the pole, the deaths of the civilians were his VERY intention.

Those who were not killed ran away, sobbing and screaming. The ranger laughed, and pointed the tip of his sword at a building. It instantly caught fire. Oh how FUN it was to be evil! How wonderful it was to such things as this! He had never dreamed of being like this. Anytime prior, he would have been seriously against it. But now...it was different. He knew what he had once been, and...he did not care. Worst of all...he loved what he was doing now. NOTHING could stop him.

Or so it seemed.

The rangers, of course, arrived moments later. When they saw the new, stealthy Silver Ranger, they could do nothing but gasp.

"It can't be!!! It just can't!" The pink ranger cried, pointing to Billy. He only laughed and pointed his sword at her, and suddenly Kat was all aflame. She screamed out in pain and dropped to the ground, attempting to extinguish the fire. She could feel the intense heat, and the horrible pain as the flames tried to burn through her suit. She could hear the screams and shouts of the other rangers, and Billy's evil laughter. Rolling around, she tried to put the fire out. There were burnt holes in her suit by this time, and they were only becoming worse. The fire leapt and licked at her skin, and she snarled as she looked at Billy. "Billy...this is not you!!"

"How would thee know who I am? Thou are not me." he chuckled.

"You're our friend! Billy Cranston!" Tanya yelled. She was trying with all her might to get Kat over to the water, as to extinguish the fire.

"Thou hast my name correct. Unfortunately for you, I am befriended to no one. ESPECIALLY thee!" He turned his sword to her, and suddenly she was thrown into the lake. The water rushed above her head, and she was plunged deeper, and deeper. The water rushed into the helmet, so that Tanya found it impossible to breathe. Deeper, deeper. There is only so much time that a human can stand underwater before losing consciousness, and some water had already entered her respiratory system. Her lungs were full of filthy water. It seemed as if she had been under for only a few seconds, where it had been 5 minutes. She then lost consciousness, and floated the surface of the lake.

The screams became louder, and Tommy turned to face the laughing Silver Ranger. "You are TRULY evil!! He yelled, and charged at him. Billy easily dodged him, and with the point of his sword, Tommy shot up into the air and went hurtling into a nearby tree at over 100 miles per hour. There was a sickening crunch, and the body dropped to the ground. He did not move.

Kat too, had ceased moving, and the flames began to grow higher and higher. There was no movement or struggling from each of the three fallen rangers.

Adam, Jason and Rocky seemed so helpless. They did not know what to do, and whether or not the others were dead. Billy walked up to them, and so doing, thrust his word into the dirt. In a low voice, he said unto them. "Forget them...they are no longer with us. Why don't you join me...and we can work together...and EVERYTHING will be ours!"

Just as Rocky, Jason and Adam were about to refuse, a streak of black ran into the silver form standing in front of him, and was soon holding Billy by his neck. As Daran had run by, the power of the medallions had healed all of the others, and they came running up to the three remaining rangers.

The Hunter held Billy tightly by his neck, and squeezed tightly. All of them heard a grinding sound, and heard him begin to choke.

"Where is the wolf medallion, Half-breed!!" Daran yelled. "Tell me, or it shall be your death!!"

"I swear...by my lifeblood, oh Hunter, that I do not have it! I have never heard of the wolf medallion. You MUST believe me!" he cried. He sounded so desperate, so pleading. So much that he did not even seem to be evil anymore.

"You lie, Half-breed! If you wish to live to see the next sunrise, then you will tell me where it is!!"

"I tell you! I do no have it...I swear by all I hold holy, I don't!" He sobbed. His hands tried with all of their might to pry the mighty fingers off of his injured neck. The Hunter only squeezed tighter, then kicked him and let him drop to the ground.

"I will be back!" he yelled. "And if you do not have the medallion with you, you know what will happen!!" and in a flash, the Hunter disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Then, the injured silver ranger vanished as well. This was INDEED very strange.

"I cannot believe this!" Gasket screamed, hitting Billy on the head with the broad side of his sword. Holding onto his head, he cowered away. "You failed me!! And you were about to kill them off! If you could handle the rangers then you could SURELY handle DARAN!!"

Billy's yellow eyes were wide with fear. "I apologize, master. I did not mean to fail you!"

Gasket struck him again, leaving him bleeding and sprawling out on the ground. "If you fail me again, I will take away what I gave to you...your life!"

Then, at that instant, a fire began to spark in the bright yellow eyes of the Silver Ranger. He did not have to obey this machine! He himself was flesh and blood, and machines were to bow to HIM! He should make things proper, and put these machines in their true stature, FAR below the human race. It was humans who created the machines, and not vice versa. Which meant that the machines were not to try to overthrow the humans.

Humans could VERY well reprogram a machine if it did not obey!

Billy stood and turned to Gasket. "I think not. You were not my maker. My birthparents were. You know what I think? I think that YOU should bow to ME!"

Gasket laughed. "What!? You have GOT to be joking!! Archerina! Come quickly! Our ranger is trying to make a funny!"

"Oh?" she asked, entering the room that they were in.

"He said that I should bow to him!" his laughter only became louder.

Billy grabbed onto Gasket's newly attached arm, and pulled it from the socket. "I was not joking." he whispered. "I said bow to me. BOTH of you!"

Archerina dropped to her knees and bowed without argument. Gasket gaped at her. "Get up!" he yelled.

Before she could respond, Billy came up behind her and opened her back hatch. Reaching inside, he grabbed onto all of the wires and connections and ripped them out of her back. She slumped over and her motor whirred, and stopped responding.

"Next!?" Billy asked evilly, headed toward Gasket. He jumped back, so that he could get away from the Silver Ranger that he had created. But within minutes, he too had been disconnected from his power source, and Billy was now the one who reigned over the evil empire.

Little did he know, that his father had awoken from his coma, exited the Power Chamber discreetly, and was on his way to save his son from evil, the medallion in hand.

Part 3

In the beginning of time, there was one being that created the earth, and the stars, and everything that we now know. No, this was not a god, or a goddess, or even a diety at all, but merely a mortal from another dimension, who held the greatest of powers. Of course, where she was from, this power was only mediocre, and her transportation, merely an accident. But when she saw the blank void in which she was floating, she decided that it was time to do something about it.

But first of all...I must tell you her name. She was Cleo Lotus, an apprentice to the goddess of the other dimension, Una. She was a bumbling young woman, and never seemed to get anything that Una asked of her correct. It was a wonder that Cleo was able to keep her grace. And one day, when Cleo was practicing on her interplanetary transportation, she ended up transporting to the void that would soon become our universe.

"Tsk tsk tsk," she had said. "This will never do." She flicked her wrist, and then, before her, all of the galaxies appeared. She named them all carefully. And of course, she had a favorite. It was a darling little spiral one called 'The Milky Way", and it was her favorite for many reasons. The main one, was that there was a little star, with 9 little orbs of debris circling them. They were so cute, so she named them as well.

The star, she decided, should be called "The Sun" and the planets were named, in this order. "Mercury." For the tiny one just outside of The Sun, "Venus" for the clouded one that was next in line, "Earth" was for the one that had rushing blue waters, and large green landmass. Cleo named the little sphere circling it "The Moon". "Mars" was the little red one with the two little moons. They were called "Phobos" and "Demos". The next one in line, the gigantic swirling, multicolored gas giant, was called "Jupiter." The moons were so many, that she only named the four first ones. "Io", "Callisto", "Ganymede", and "Europa". The remaining planets, were named "Saturn", "Uranus", "Neptune", and "Pluto" and they too had moons that were properly named. And so, "The Solar System" was created.

And as Cleo Lotus had a favorite galaxy, she also had a favorite planet, and it was Earth. It was here where she created the first "Life."

She went down herself, and created 9 creatures.

There was the wolf: cunning and swift. Her name was Racheal.

There was the frog: small but mighty. Her name was Biannca.

There was the crane: agile, light as a feather. His name was Raoul.

There was the ape: smart and strong. His name was Philipe.

There was the bear: fierce and unstoppable. Her name was Kira.

There was the falcon: winged lord of the skies. His name was Cazir.

There was the cat: quick and sly. Her name was Samantha.

And then there was the human. His name was Daran.

And it was then, that time dawned. And from there, things progressed to what they are today. Of course, no one ever new about Cleo Lotus, the true creator, for she left the memories of different religions within the animals...and left the Earth to return to her own dimension.

The Zeo Rangers teleported into the Power Chamber, shocked, hurt, and amazed. They first of all, were very startled at Billy. He had nearly wiped half of the team out, and just with a point of his sword. None of them had actually come in contact with him, and his sword had done all the dirty work.

The casualties he had caused, they knew, would be blamed on them. All people were to be afraid of the rangers after one had killed so many. Zordon reported to them, that there had been 20 deaths, just from the powerline alone. In all of their history as Power Rangers, they had never had that many deaths in one battle.

Tommy sighed and walked up to the control panel. "I can't believe this," he said. "Kat, Tanya and I almost died!! And all because of those blasted machines!"

"Gasket and Archerina totally went overboard this time! Poor Billy, under a spell!" Kat said, rubbing her hands together. "Who was that who saved us from him?? We really must thank him."

Each of the rangers looked up to their mentor. He frowned. "THAT MAN IS NOT A GOOD MAN. HE HAS LIVED SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME AND WAS THE FIRST OF HUMANS. HE IS DARAN, THE HUNTER OF POWER."

"Hunter of Power??? I don't like the sound of that." Tommy said. "Why was he after Billy? And what was all this business about a medallion?"

"DID ANY OF YOU SPOT THE MEDALLIONS THAT HE HAD HUNG AROUND HIS NECK?"

Tanya picked a slim green lake plant out of her wet hair, and smoothed it down. "I did." She said. "What is so important about them???"

"Oh aiyi-yi!! They contain the essences of the other 6 animals that Cleo Lotus created at the dawn of time!! The power inside is so great.that if they all were in the wrong hands, the universe would be his for the taking!!!!"

"But.." Tanya interjected. There was a stern, confused look on her face, and squinted her eyes. "I only remember seeing 5 of them."

All of the rangers, the old wizard and the robot looked at her. Zordon flashed her a very concerned look. "TANYA, IT IS IMPERITIVE THAT YOU REMEMBER THE ANIMALS THAT YOU SAW ON THE MEDALLIONS."

"I think I remember them all." She whispered. For a minute, she was deep in thought, and then she cried. "AHA!! I remember! There was a frog, a bear, a monkey or something, I think it was an ape, a crane, and a eagle..or a falcon or something."

The others looked at each other, all in a state of complete shock. They knew something that Tanya and Jason didn't; That each of the animals that she had named were their former animal spirits. And now, at least, some of the story became clear. The only animal that was missing, was the wolf; Billy's spirit animal. Daran had been after Billy for the medallion, but WHY he would have it, none of them would know.

"What? What is it?" Tanya asked. She was very worried looking. "Is something wrong?" Jason nodded in agreement, for he too had not been there.

"Kinda." Rocky said. "The animals.the ones that you just named.were our spirit animals before the Zeo powers came along."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Jason said

"THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE, TANYA AND JASON. YOU WERE NOT HERE WHEN THE NINJA POWERS WERE AROUND." And with that, Zordon explained the Ninja era to the Yellow and Gold Rangers. When she was through listening, what the others were saying made perfect sense to her.

"I understand now." She said. "But..Daran wasn't after YOU guys..was he???"

Each and every one of them looked at each other, and shook their head.

"AND HE HAD NO REASON TO, FOR THEY ARE NOT A CHILD OF LIGHT, A HALF-BREED."

Rocky grimaced. "OK.now I'M confused!! I lost the script!!"

Sighing, Zordon went into the tale of the Half-breed, and the tale of the beginning of time. He made sure to mention that the death of the animals, one by one. How Raoul: The Crane, and Biannca: The Frog, had died before the discovery of metamorphosis. And how all were killed, except the wolf. There seemed something missing, but he could not tell what.

"So, what you're saying is that Billy's mother was one of the first animals created; the wolf, and married Billy's dad..thus creating Billy?" Rocky inquired.

"YOU COULD SAY THAT." Zordon sighed.

"So..where does that clue Billy into the picture?" Adam asked softly. "Why would Daran want the medallion from him.."

"RACHEAL WAS KILLED BY DARAN, AND WAS MADE INTO THE WOLF MEDALLION. UNLUCKILY FOR HIM, DANIEL CRANSTON WAS THERE, AND MANAGED TO STEAL THE MEDALLION AWAY FROM HIM. DARAN MUST ASSUME THAT BILLY IS THE ONE WHO HAS IT.FOR HE KNEW THAT RACHEAL WOULD WANT IT GIVEN TO HIM."

"And Billy doesn't have it!!" Kat exclaimed. "But.what happened??? With Billy finding out, I mean."

"HE NEVER KNEW THE TRUTH, AND STILL DOESN'T. TO HIS KNOWELGE, HIS MOTHER WAS KILLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT. THAT IS WHAT DANIEL TOLD HIM, FOR HE KNEW THAT THE NINE YEAR OLD BILLY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE TRUTH."

"Poor Billy!" Alpha moaned. "Oh aiyi-yi!!"

Tommy took on his leader position, stepping forward and sporting a determined look on his face. "Where is the wolf medallion??"

"TO MY KNOWELGE, DANIEL STILL WEARS IT."

Adam turned around to look at the cot where Billy's father had lain. "Oh no!!! He's gone!!!"

"No!!!" Tommy yelled. "Where could he have gone!?"

Alpha set to work right away on locating Mr. Cranston, and the search turned up that he was inside the Machine Skybase.

"This cannot be happening. Why did he leave!?" Kat said.

"GO TO HIM..I FEAR THAT HE HAS GONE TO SAVE BILLY, AND THAT MEANS TROUBLE."

"RIGHT!" Jason cried. "BACK TO ACTION!!!"

And then, in seconds, they all had teleported away; on their way to the Machine Skybase to save their friend and his father.

"Oh NO, Zordon!!" I just realized something!!"

"WHAT IS IT ALPHA?"

"Samantha!! The Cat!! She is STILL ALIVE! The Hunter has missed her!!!"

Zordon's eyes became wide. "THEN WE MUST PROTECT HER. AS SOON AS THE RANGERS RETURN, SEND THEM TO KEEP WATCH OVER HER. DARAN MUST NOT HAVE HER POWER."

Billy had taken NO time on situating himself in the throne room, and began to bark out orders to the remains of the Machine Empire. He made it VERY clear to them who was boss, and all who disagreed were immediately dismantled. And by this time, there were QUITE a few dismantled machines lying around.

"Gee.ain't this livin'!" he exclaimed with great relish. He sighed happily and leaned back in the throne, taking off his silver helmet. The throne room had the most magnificent view of the world he was to conquer. "Hmm..I think..that my palace..should be in the Hawaiian Isles. No!! France!! Definitely France!! D'oh!! Why am I fighting with myself over where to live, I can have a palace in ALL of those places. I'm going to rule the world!!" Billy broke out into evil laughter, only to be interrupted by a strange.yet familiar voice.

"This isn't you, Billy." it said. There were two tiny blue lights, twinkling in the shadows nearby.

"Who is there!?" Billy demanded, standing. He clutched his helmet to his hip, and drew his sword. "I command you, show yourself before me: King Billy of The FORMER Machine Empire!!"

A figure crept out of the shadows. Yes indeed, this was a man he knew well. It was his own father. In his hands; which he held out before him, was a lovely golden wolf figure with sparkling sapphire eyes. It was hanging on a chain, that too was gold. "You are not evil, Billy. You are my son.and I love you. You mean the world to me. Come back, please."

"You're request is feeble." Billy grunted. "Tell me, old man. Why should I go back to a life where I was never happy?"

Daniel advanced, still holding out the medallion. It's eyes seemed to pulsate, glowing brighter and brighter. As they flashed, they grasped onto something inside Billy's mind, and began to tug at his heart. "You're not happy here, are you Billy?" Daniel's voiced seemed to be unison with another.a female one.

Billy gulped, staring into the wolf's eyes. "M.mom..???" he stuttered. The inhuman yellow that his eyes had been had returned to their normal shade of steel blue. He was fighting with himself inside, though he did not wish to admit it. It truly WAS the voice of his mother.

This is not really want you want, is it dear one? The voice said again as Daniel's mouth moved. His voice had drowned out to give way to Racheal's.

"Yes!!!" he yelled, then felt a sharp pain in his mind. It was wrong, and he knew it. The spell had broken once he had destroyed the machine's for it was a control potion, and he no longer hand anyone to control him. "I mean.Never." His voice was now nothing but a whisper. "I would never betray my friends like I just have. I am a failure." Stepping forward, he lay his sword and helmet on the ground.

That is not true!! You were under a spell, and a powerful one at that. You had no control over what you were doing, and now you do. You will be forgiven by the world, for they will understand. Now come, take this medallion. The time has come. Daniel's arm reached out, and he had now walked all the way up to Billy. Slowly, he brought the gold chain down around Billy's neck.

The eyes of the wolf flashed a brilliant blue, as did the eyes of the Silver Ranger, as the essence of the first wolf rushed through his body. He felt powerful! His sense of smell and his ears were now keener, and his muscles were firmer. His canine teeth had become a tiny bit longer, and far more sharper. Yes..this was the way the Half-breed was to be.

Daniel and Billy both managed to break out of their trances, and were soon embracing each other, bawling wells and wells of tears. It was for certain, that they would do everything, and anything in their power never to be separated again. Billy was free, and the Silver Ranger was on the side of good.

The rangers teleported in to see this episode, and let out 6 simultaneous sighs of relief. Everything was fine. They no longer had to worry about the threat of a ranger on the side of evil; a friend that would take their life. At long last, things had slowed down, and actually became calm. There was a sereneness in this seen that no one could sense, and it was the calm of a ghostly spirit.

"Billy!" They all cried, and dove into a gigantic group hug. Each and every one of them got quite a bit squashed, and tears flowed freely. This really was a happy time for the rangers; another victory. It was a victory against something they had never encountered before, something difficult. Any yet, they had won.

After managing to catch his breath and stop crying, Billy said to them. "Come on guys! Let's go home!!"

And then they left the Machine Skybase, headed for home. This victory certainly called for a celebration!!

Daran slammed his fist into a buttress, causing a flock of brightly colored birds to vacate their homes. "I cannot believe this!!" he screamed. "He did not have the medallion! I do NOT have the power!!!"

A tiny monkey climbed down the tree and looked at him curiously. As it began to chatter, and Hunter grabbed onto it's long tail and threw it into a nearby tree. It hit it, and made a disgusting 'crunch' sound. Daran growled. He had worked too hard for the other 5.he did NOT want to lose this one; the one that was most essential in completing his quest for power. He took off each of the medallions and looked at them tenderly. There they were, all 5 of them that he had killed.

But.there seemed something that was missing. It was something other than the medallion of the wolf. There had been 7 animals in all, hadn't there?? Getting the wolf would make his collection into 6. YES!! There WAS one missing! The Cat!! The Cat was still alive!

He slapped himself hard in the face. "I cannot believe that I forgot all about her!!" he exclaimed. "I am so STUPID!!!"

"That you are." A voice said. "Perhaps you could use some assistance?" From behind the gigantic tree came a woman. She was clad in gold armor from head to foot, and besides that, her long, silky black hair flowed down. Her dark eyes were very capitivating.

"Who might you be?" the Hunter growled. He was not easily affected by women, and their so called "charms". He had had far too much of it over the millennia. She came closer to him, smiling wickedly.

"I am Scorpina." Said she. "And I am after ALMOST the same thing that you are!"

He cocked his head to one side and studied her face. "What mightthat be?" he inquired.

"Revenge. But besides that, Billy Cranston."

"Oh?"

"He has done something awful to me.and he is going to pay for it." she pointed at her stomach with her sword. "The bastard made me pregnant."

"I heard about that." Daran said. "It's all your fault if you ask me. You were the one who drunked him into it."

She sighed. "OK..OK.fine.I'm not pregnant. But it would be a DOOZY of an excuse to use on him! Don't you think?"

The Hunter nodded at her, and took hold of his katana blade. "You nearly had ME fooled, Scorpina. You say that you are after him yourself, am I correct."

"I will not rest until I stand over his mutilated body, with his blood smeared bright red on my sword."

"And I want that as well." He replied. "And the medallion as well. A shame he hasn't got it."

"That is where you are WRONG." Scorpina said. She was smiling ear to ear. "He has it now."

"Then we team up. I will need some help after we do him in though."

"Oh, really?" She said darkly. "What is it, and what's in it for me?"

"I have to skin a cat. If you help, you get half of the greatest power in the universe." He said.

"Sounds tempting." She muttered thoughtfully. "Deal!"

The two villians shook hands, and in that, an alliance of ultimate evil had been made. This new team was a threat..one that the rangers knew nothing about.

Samantha Greene sat alone in her lovely little apartment. Gazing up at the shelves of her display case, she could see the entirety of her cat figurine collection. Some of them were priceless; ones from ancient Egypt that she had been given to as soon as they had been forged. Those were the days, when nothing was after her and everything was right. She truly loved the Egyptians, and they worshipped her like a goddess.

After all, she was the Cat.

Ever since the death of her closest friend, Racheal: The Wolf, she had tried desperately to seek out the friendship of her son; The Half-breed. She had pretended to be an ordinary schoolgirl {For she only looked 17.if even THAT old} who was in need of some academic assistance.

The brown haired beauty had easily won over his trust, and love. They became very good friends, and did nearly everything together. Even though Samantha would never admit it, she loved the young Half-breed. And when she heard of his disappearance, and then learned the cause of it, she was heartbroken. And so she had sought out the help of his other friends, The Power Rangers.

Of course, THEY were of no assistance to her.

She sighed softly, and picked a picture of her beloved up off of the nightstand near her bed. She looked lovingly upon the young man's face and whispered. "I will save you. somehow."

Being the last of the original 7 animals was very hard on her. She did not know when, or even IF Daran would strike. And of course, she didn't want to take any unnecessary chances. She had changed her appearance totally over the past century, to look like a typical brown haired, brown-eyed supermodel type. Her hair had been like that of a tabby cat, and that of course was very suspicious. And her eyes were shaped like that of a cat, so she had to change that as well. But inside, she was still a cat, sly and quick. And nothing would change that.

She stood and walked into her living room. There were dozens of cases filled with more "Cat-like" things, and her kitten, a lively little fellow whom she called "Whiskers" crawled up to her and began to purr like a maniac. Samantha managed a smile and hoisted the kitten up into her arms.

"Come on," she said. "Let's watch some TV.see if there is any good news today." She plopped down on the couch, and grabbed onto the remote. Clicking on the 'on' button the images of the battle that had raged on earlier streaked against her screen.

"Silver Ranger!!" She gasped. "That has to be Billy!! Oh no!!!" But her worry was soon calmed when she saw the Silver Ranger himself apologize to Angel Grove.

"I promise you.that I will never leave you to the forces of evil ever again."

She lowered her head and a tear slid down her cheek. "I wish that he would say something of that nature to me." She whispered. Whiskers put his hands on her face and licked the tear away.

Now she knew for sure.that she; The Cat, was in love with the son of the Wolf. And that she would love no other for the rest of her life; for all eternity and a day.

"WELCOME HOME, SILVER RANGER!" Zordon said cheerily. He and Alpha were both overcome with emotion, the robot jumping around like a rabbit, and the old man laughing happily. Billy smiled at them.

"I'm home." He repeated. "For good!"

They all greeted him home, yet again. "This calls for a party!!" Rocky screamed, and for once everyone agreed with him. This really was an occasion special enough to have a party for. There was so much to celebrate.

There was Billy's return from Aquitar to celebrate. And the Silver Ranger powers. But most of all, there was his triumph over the potion.

They were making the party plans, when they all realized something. They each knew something about Billy's past that Billy didn't. Even if it would hurt him, he must know. Soit was then when they stopped him from his laughing and giggling.

"Billy..we have something that we need to tell you." Tommy said. There was utmost urgency in his voice that stopped Billy cold.

"What is it?" he asked worriedly

"Well.I.uh.. How to put this." Tommy trailed off. He was very nervous about what had to be said, and how Billy would react to it. And worst of all, it showed.

"What Tommy is trying t say is that you're mom was a wolf, and that hunter dude is after you cause you have the medallion." Rocky blurted out. Somehow it was not all that surprising that he would be the one to do it. After all, he had the biggest mouth of them all.

Jason nodded gravely. "It's true." He said. "You're mother was one of the first 7 animals alive, and the Hunter; Daran, is after the essence of your mother that is trapped in that medallion."

"We're really worried about your safety." Adam said, nodding. "We care about you too much to have you ripped to shreds.."

"Like my mother???" Billy finished for him. "How come you're telling me things that I already know? I can take care of myself, I'm a big boy now."

Everyone in the Power Chamber shot him a weird glance.

"H.how did you know?" his father whispered. There were tears forming in his crystal blue eyes as he thought of the way that his wide had been taken from him, and how he had to lie to Billy so that he would not get hurt.

"She told me herself." Billy said plainly, as if it were not big deal.

"AHHH..I UNDERSTAND." Zordon said. Tanya turned to look at him.

"Well, YOU do. We don't have a CLUE what you're talking about! How could his dead mother tell him what happened?"

"WHEN THE MEDALLION WAS PLACED ON HIM, THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE FIRST WOLF DID TOO. HE KNOWS EVERYTHING NOW."

"Yeah.what he said." Billy replied, grinning. "And I know about Samantha too. Mother told me to look after her, and that Daran would be after her next."

Once more, they all were confused, and Zordon once more explained.

"Hey!! Is.Samantha.do you think that she is the same one that was asking for Billy at the Youth Center earlier?" Jason asked, tapping his fingers on the control panel.

"There is only one way to find out." Billy said. "Alpha, help me bring her up on the viewing globe."

In seconds, the image of Samantha Greene, alone in her apartment kissing a portrait of Billy appeared in the globe. Billy turned away and blushed deeply.

"THAT IS THE CAT, SAMANTHA." Zordon said. "OTHERWISE KNOWN TO YOU AS SAMANTHA GREENE." He began to chuckle a little as he saw what she was doing. "SHE..APPARANTLY HAS BEEN IN LOVE WITH BILLY.AND JUST WONT SHOW IT."

Kat giggled. "Gee, Zordon! What was your first clue. The fact that she is kissing the picture, or the fact that she is calling out Billy's name?"

All laughed except for Billy, who only blushed more. And there was still the matter of his vow of never loving again.

"She may be in love with me," he said. "But I am not in love with her, or anyone for that matter. And never will be again. Love is painful."

Adam hugged his friend gently. "Come on, Bill man! You aren't gonna just let one bad experience win you over, are you?"

"Yes. I am."

"Come on!" Kat cried. "It's not like you to give up! Live a little! Forget what happened on Aquitar."

"That chapter of your life is closed, and it's time to move on!" Tommy finished for her. He was quickly rewarded with a kiss from his lady.

"They're right, Billy." Daniel said. "And I agree with them. They know what is best for my son almost as much as I do!"

Billy crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not changing my mind." He replied stubbornly. "Love is painful. There is NO use for it in my life. I love you guys, but not in THAT way. Not the EVIL kind of love."

Jason nodded. "I understand bud." He said, putting a comforting arm around his "little brother". But in response, Billy only threw it off and snorted.

"Understand!? You??? Understand!? You weren't raped!!" he declared. His arms flailed out, and his eyes flashed with a buried fury. He knew that they would not be able to help him. The best way that they could have helped him was to leave the subject untouched. But no-they had to tamper anyway!

Each one of them jumped back, startled by his reaction. They had no idea how hurt inside he really was. They did not know, that anything they said that they meant to be comforting, could be very cruel to the ear of the victim of the act that had made him this way. He collapsed onto the Power Chamber floor, sobbing.

His father went to him and held his shivering son in his arms. "Calm down." He said. "Remember, we STILL have that party to plan!"

"Yeah!!" Rocky yelled. "PARTY! P-A-R-T why? Because you GOTTA!!!" He pulled Billy to his feet, and had him giggling at his Jim Carrey impersonations.

"You're right!" he said, wiping his eyes. "LET'S PARTY!!"

Billy and Samantha sat at a table, chatting about all of the times that they had spent together, and the others were all sparring. Jason had left to pursue the better things in life, all the way across the country with his family. It was good for him too, for the Gold Ranger powers were not agreeing with him at all. They all knew that he would be happy wherever he went.

Things had calmed down immensely since the Machine Empire was destroyed. No one was there to stop them from doing things that they had always wanted to do, and never could do before. There was no need for the Power Rangers much anymore, but nonetheless they kept the powers. You know, JUST in case that something..or someone for that matter showed up to torture the earth.

Rocky had been spending some of his spare time at the orphanage, and had befriended a wonderful boy named Justin Stewart. He was especially brilliant, and all of the rangers agreed that he reminded them all of Billy. It was not at all surprising that Billy and Justin got along so well, but Justin still tended to hang out with Rocky more than any of them. He was also a black belt in karate, which was great for a kid at his age; 12. He was a GREAT kid, and everyone really liked him. He needed friends.especially with what had been going on in his life recently, and they were there for him.

Also in his spare time, Rocky, along with David Trueheart and Adam, had started a karate class. It was doing EXTREMELY well, and they had a lot of students already. They all were having the time of their lives with it, and it gave them something to do with the extra time that they had gotten since the destruction of the Machine Empire.

Tanya had gotten a job at the radio station, and absolutely loved it. She had a great spirit over the airwaves, and people loved listen to her. The rangers liked how the girl, the one who had come all the way from Africa, had gotten used to the ways of American life and was making herself more comfortable. She sang some as well. This really was something that she would like to do with her life.

Kat went into ballet, which she was really talented at. She composed ballets, danced them, produced them, directed them, EVERYTHING. She even went out to audition for a chance to enter an EXCLUSIVE ballet institute. Everyone agreed that she would have an excellent chance at the part, but she still had her doubts.

It was not a surprise to any of them when Tommy went into driving racecars with his uncle. He had a natural ability for speed, and with HIS hair.the feeling of wind blowing through his hair was one of the ultimate things ever. The need for speed was great inside of him, and it was the best thing going for him since he had become a ranger. Definitely this was something that he could do with himself!

Billy had applied for a teaching position at Angel Grove High, and was accepted right away. He was teaching the freshman science class for the remainder of the school year. To his surprise, Justin was the top pupil in his class. It really should not have amazed him that a 12-year-old boy would be so intelligent, but it did. He decided that teaching should be his long-term goal, because he loved it more than anything he had done. And best of all, Samantha was his teacher's assistant.

Yes indeed. Things were calm, and life was pleasant for the first time in years. No one was there to ruin the opportunities that awaited them.

To continue.Billy and Samantha were sitting at a table, going over the end of the year grades. The table was piled high with grade books, papers, and pens. It was a wonder that they could be seen under such a mess, but as they were grading and averaging and such, they entertained each other with small talk.

Rocky and Adam were sparring in the ring. A big karate tournament was on it's way, and they were preparing for it.

"Hi-ya!!" Rocky cried, as he attempted to knock Adam to the ground. Adam only tripped him with a low, roundhouse kick, which sent ROCKY to the ground. Giggling, Rocky climbed up. "Good move!!" he said.

With a fake evil smile on his face, Adam said. "Oh yeah? Try THIS on for size! Hya!" and he went into a complicated maneuver. Rocky had to back up into the side of the ring to keep himself from getting hit by a barrage of flying feet.

"Wow! That's a good one! Try THIS!!" Rocky said, and attempted a high kick. But something went wrong, and instead of just kicking, he bumped into the back of the ring and fell over backwards onto the ground.

His back hid the floor, and made a sickening "CRUNCH" sound. He cried out in pain, unable to move. "My back! My back!!!" Adam jumped out of the ring and ran to Rocky. The rangers ran over, and Billy pushed all of the stuff off of the table and made his way over as well.

Hours later, the rangers, Justin and Samantha were all out in the reception area, waiting for the news on Rocky. They had called the ambulance right away, and he was immediately rushed to the hospital. Rocky had been screaming and crying. The poor guy hit his back on the concrete hard.

"I can't believe this!" Justin cried. "Rocky has always been so careful! These things ALWAYS happen to the best people!"

Samantha held the boy close to her. "I know." She said. "I have seen it happen so many times that it's no longer bearable."

There was not much conversation in the least after she said that. Justin had broken out into tears, and they all did what they could to help him. It seemed that hours upon hours had passed when the doctor finally came out. He had his hands clasped together, and was rubbing them together. He had a stern, disappointed look on his face.

"Are you all here for Rocky DeSantos?" he asked. They all could tell that his voice was quavering.

"Yes." Billy said. "We are. How is he??"

"Tell me he's going to be OK!!" Justin shrieked, looking up at the doctor. "Please tell me that he's going to be OK!"

The doctor turned his eyes away from Justin, and opened his mouth to speak. He could not find the words to use, and so took off his glasses and covered his eyes with his hand. "I.I." he stammered. "I can't say that, young man."

Tommy went up to Justin and looked the doctor sternly in the eye. "What is it? We can take it."

"I.I'm afraid that his back was broken in several different places. We did all we could, but it wasn't enough. Rocky.won't ever be able to walk again. I'm really sorry. I wish it wasn't that way."

"NO!" Justin yelled. "Don't lie to me!! He's OK! He's FINE!!!"

It painted Billy to see this. He bit his lip, remembering how he had reacted that way when his father had told him that his mother was dead. He hadn't believed a word of it, and thought that his dad was playing a very cruel joke on him. When he found out that his father had not been lying to him, it hurt even more. But he bounced back, and became strong again. In fact, he became far stronger than he had been before.

I got over it. He thought to himself. And things got better. I bounced back, and was better than ever. Especially now that my mother is with me. Now I know that she is not dead, not totally anyway. Her human form and spirit may be dead, but her wolf spirit is alive. Maybe the others were right. Maybe I am being very foolish in my decision never to love anyone again. He looked at Samantha, and touched the wolf medallion around his neck lovingly. I know that I have already broken my vow. I love her.

"Can we go to see him?" Tanya asked. "He needs us now."

The doctor shook his head. "Immediate family first." He added.

Adam growled. "No one called his family like they were supposed to!" he exclaimed. "While you do that.we will go to him!" And with that, Adam stormed through the corridor, leaving the doctor flustered and bewildered.

They each followed him down the hallway, into Rocky's room. The young man was laying in his bed, staring at the wall to the left of him. He sighed softly, and then there was a sound of quiet tears. Billy could not help but stare at Rocky's legs for a moment, knowing that they would never move again. Knowing that they would never block the blow of any villain. Knowing that the power would have to be given up to another. Who? That was something that Billy did not know.

"Hey Rocky." Kat said. "We wanted to see how you were doing."

"That's nice to know." He muttered.

"Rocky, please." Adam whispered. "We're here for you. No matter what, we'll be here for you."

Rocky broke down, sobbing. The others surrounded him, doing all they could to calm him.

"Oh!! I am so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Rocky apologized.

"It's OK!" Tommy said. "I understand completely. WE understand completely. Anything you say or do, we will accept. Even if you say something so mean that we could hate you forever, we won't be made mad by it."

"That's right!" Justin said. "We're your friends, and that is what they are for!"

Sighing again, Rocky said. "Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. And I'll be fine.but.there.is something more important to discuss." He gestured toward his communicator, and then brought up his Zeonizer.

"Oh man." Tommy said. "You need a replacement."

Samantha and Justin both gave themselves the stangest looks. "Is there something that you guys need to tell us?" Samantha asked.

Billy took hold of Samantha's hands. "I think you already know." He said to her. "You know that we're the Power Rangers, don't you?"

She looked away from him. "Well.yes.I do. But how did you know that I knew all along? I kept it very well hidden."

"I am the Half-breed." He said. "My mother has told me that you know. And that you are The Cat."

She gasped. "Racheal. Oh my..I knew that you were the half-breed but..I didn't know that you knew about me!"

"Ahem!!" Rocky cleared his throat. "I know my replacement!"

"Probably someone REALLY great!" Justin said, smiling. "You're the best judge of character that I know!"

Laughing, he replied. "He's the best guy I know. And he'll make a great blue ranger. Won't you Justin?"

Wide eyed, Justin gasped. "What??"

"Justin. I want you to take my place as the blue Zeo ranger. You're the best man for the job, and I have the ULTIMATE faith in you. Will you do it??? For me if for nothing else."

Justin looked very hesitant, and the rangers a little shocked about Rocky's choice in a replacement. They knew that they could handle the idea of a 12 year old being a ranger, but it would just be.well.different. They trusted Rocky's judgement though. He had never steered them wrong before.

Finally, after a long silence, Justin shouted. "Wow!! Of course I will!!" and his response was met by hugs from everyone, ESPECIALLY Rocky. After that, Rocky requested that they leave so that he could get his rest. And so, The balance of power, went from Rocky: The Former Blue Ranger, to Justin: The New Blue Ranger.

After the episode at the hospital, each of them split off to go their separate ways. Justin stayed with Rocky, and all but Billy and Samantha returned to the Youth Center. Billy had decided to take a walk with Samantha in the park, so that he could confess his true feelings for her. And today was as good a day as any to do so. It was the loveliest day there had ever been for a while. The sun was shining, the birds chirping. Everything was JUST the way Billy wanted it to be.

As they walked into the shaded, tree-covered area {which just so happened to be VERY secluded, also as Billy had planned.} he took her hand. She was shocked at first, but it was a very welcome change of place. He had been really cold to her flirting, and this was the first time that he had done anything about it.

"I think we need to talk." He whispered. "About us."

Samantha could not help but laugh. "You use the word 'us' like we're married or something!"

"Well.that's kind of what I need to talk to you about. You know that vow I made, right? The one where I decided that I was never going to love anyone ever again.?" Still holding onto her hand, he stopped walking and turned to face her. Looking into her eyes, he tried to read her mind, but was unable.

"Yes." She said, frowning lightly. "I know about it. And it's been a real pain to me."

"Well.I already have gone against it."

"Whom are you dating?" she asked softly. She tried to turn away from him.

"No one.but.I am in love with someone."

"I wish her all the luck in the world, and I hope you two are very happy together." Samantha felt that she was going to cry. It was like he was trying to break up with her before they had ever dated, and this hurt her very badly.

"You don't really understand, Samantha. The girl, or more accurately the WOMAN, that I love.is none other than you." his face flushed a deep scarlet as he said so.

"A.are you serious?" she stammered, blushing as well.

"I have never been more serious about anything in my entire life, Samantha. I know this is a little sudden.but.will you marry me?" he dropped to one knee and took her hands into his. There was the most pleading, loving look in his eyes, and Samantha could not resist. She smiled, kneeled as well and kissed him.

Something inside of Billy snapped at that moment. Something.animalistic. Something VERY wolf-like. His kissing became harder, and harder, like that of an animal. He held onto Samantha very tightly, and ran his hands along her back. His hands moved faster, and he caused more and more friction, and he held her closer...and closer.until she was practically on top of him. Samantha did not notice this strange behavior, though, and after a while, they broke apart.

"WOW!" Samantha exclaimed, panting. "I have been waiting for SOME time to do that!"

Billy's eyes, on the other hand, were very wide. "I.lost control, Samantha. I...didn't mean to do that. Something.something weird happened inside of me."

"I didn't notice anything." She said. "But, then again, you and I have never been engaged before."

"I'm not going to lost control like that again. That scared me."

"NOT AS MUCH AS THIS WILL, SILVER RANGER!!"

Billy screamed and leapt to his feet. "NO!" he screamed. "NO!!!"

"That's right, Billy boy! I'm back for you!" Scorpina stepped out from behind the tree, grinning evilly. From behind her, came Daran: The Hunter. "Prepare to DIE Kitty woman!"

Daran sauntered up to Billy. There was an evil glint in his eyes, and he had the medallions strung out up on his arm. They dangled, and glinted in the sun. The eyes of each of them twinkled menacingly. "It looks like I will finally get the last two medallions that I need!" he declared.

Samantha was nervous, and backed up into a nearby tree. Inside her, every portion of her soul was screaming for help. She knew that it was nearly the end, and that her happiness with Billy would never be, and she would never live to see her wedding day.

"Le.leave me alone!!" she pleaded. Scorpina came ever closer, the point of her sword was pointed directly at Samantha's heart, and her hands were ready to throw it at any moment.

"Never, Cat! You're head, and your medallion will be my prize once I have killed you!!"

"SAMANTHA!!" Billy yelled. A deep growl sounded in his throat, and his eyes flashed a bright silver. Inside of his mouth, his canine teeth became long and sharp, and his fingernails were sharper as well. Scorpina threw the sword, and Samantha's scream rang through the area.

With the speed of lighting, Billy dashed at the sword. It seemed to him as if he was running in slow motion, but to the eyes of the watchers he was nothing but a blur. He caught the sword in his hands and threw it into Daran's heart. The Hunter fell to the ground, crying out in pain. Despite this, Scorpina kept on her pursuit.

To her dismay, the Half-breed leapt at her, and began to tear her flesh with his claws. His teeth were busily working on her face and neck, trying for the jugular vein. He was going to kill her! NOTHING could stop him! He was the wolf: cunning, swift.and now vicious. The power he was using upon the scorpion woman was that of a vengeance that he never thought that he would get. The vengeance for the false love, the murder of a friend, and the attempted murder of his fiancée. Yes.she was going to die on this day.

Billy! Cease this at once! It is not time! You are not ready to use this power. Stop it! Listen to me and stop this insanity at ONCE!! They will flee, and you will get your chance.

"Yes mother." He said, and pulled himself away. He went to Samantha, who was very much bewildered and shocked. His eyes stopped glowing, his teeth and fingernails had shrunken back down, and he was no longer growling. There was not a single drop of blood on him, unlike the other two. Scorpina shrunk away, and grabbed onto Daran. They then disappeared.

"B.Billy..what in the hell happened!?" Samantha gasped. "I.never saw anything like that in my life. E.except from.your mother."

Billy's eyes were wide. "I.I'm scared." He shivered as he said so.

"My lands, Billy. You're mother. The wolf instincts that your mother gave you are starting to surface. Billy..if you don't control it, then someone that you love can get seriously hurt!"

"I.nearly lost control completely this time! M.my mom managed to stop me. You can't believe how grateful I am!!"

She put a comforting arm around him. He was shivering severely, but a passionate kiss solved that problem. "I can understand perfectly, love. Come on.let's go to my place and.calm you down."

"Woah." He whispered. "L.let's go!"

Ahhh...the treasures of Earth. The gold, the rubies and gems, there for the taking. Yes, Divatox was a space pirate, and an excellent one at that. She had heard of the treasures of Earth from her former fiancée, Maligore, and dropped him to get them. Now she was nearing the Earth.

She stood at her periscope laughing down deep in her throat. In it, she could see the vast oceans and plains that the Earth had. "Oh, this is gonna be GOOD!!" she exclaimed. "A whole world of riches, MINE for the taking!! NO ONE can stop me now!"

"Yeah! No one can stop me now!" Elgar declared, laughing his egg shaped head off. Diva turned around to face him, growled and slammed him to the ground with her gloved hand.

"You idiot!! I am ashamed to be related to you!!! I cannot believe that I have to continually, day after day after day, put up with you!!"

"Um...duh?" was Elgar's only reply. Rygog cuffed him on the back of his neck, and the egg shaped monster toppled to the ground.

"Thank heavens he's shut up!!!" Divatox yelled.

"My Captain!!!" Porto decreed, looking up from the controls that he had been fiddling with. "We are entering the Earth's atmosphere!!"

"At last!! The treasures are all mine!!! ALL MINE!!!!"

The space submarine plummeted through the skies, and plopped down, nearly soundless, into the ocean near the coast of Angel Grove.

"Hey!! What was that!?" Justin asked worriedly. His hand pointed out to where the gigantic craft had plunged into the water. "It looked like...a space ship...or a submarine or something!" He zipped up the zipper on his wetsuit and put the oxygen tank onto his back. Reaching down to put on his goggles, and check the equipment, he said. "I'm gonna go check it out!"

Adam grabbed onto Justin's' shoulder tightly. "I don't THINK so!" he said. "Don't even think about it buddy! I'm not gonna let you go out there and get yourself killed. It might be better if we leave it alone and DON'T know what it is!!"

"Then go with me!!! We're Power Rangers! We can handle it!!" It was at that moment when Justin was very thankful that there was no one on the beach with them. The day was nice enough, but it was a little too cold to be going out onto or into the water.

"There are things that even Power Rangers can't handle, Justin. Especially things that we know nothing about."

"You really have a lot to learn about it." Kat said to him. She was staring out at the water. Justin began to argue with Adam over going out into the water to check the sub out, when their shouting and griping was interrupted by Kat's shrill scream. The sub had surfaced very close to them, and had opened out. From inside, the ugliest woman they had ever seen crawled out.

"Haha!!" She called. "New slaves."

Justin started backing away. "Sorry, Adam. You were right. I don't want to know about that!!!"

Divatox waved her hand, and a bridge instantaneously appeared over the gap between the sub and the shore. The three rangers backed away, and Kat managed to contact the others. After Divatox came ashore, three ugly monsters popped out after her. They obviously were her sidekicks, and came up to stand beside her.

"I am Divatox!!" she said, pointing to herself. "The most positively, absolutely evil space pirate this neck of the universe has ever seen!"

"Oh yeah!!!" Challenged Justin. He was only a kid, and a bold one at that. "Well, we're the Power Rangers!!"

"Oh really? Like I give a rats tail!! What IS a Power Ranger anyway?" She put her hands on her hips and let out an exasperated sigh. "And who are you to reprimand me? You're nothing but a little midget where I'm concerned! Like you could even hurt a fly!!!"

Her response to what Justin had said was met by the young boy's foot in her stomach. She crumpled over, gasping out in pain. "Never call me a midget!!" he declared, snarling at her.

"And to answer your question about what Power Rangers ARE!? Why...they're US of course!!" as voice declared. A silver form, followed by a red one, and a yellow leapt out towards the piratress. The silver one held out his sword, and there was a low growl coming from his throat. "Now leave here!" he commanded.

"I don't think so, jewelry boy!" she said, laughing. "I came to Earth to get treasure, and I'm NOT leaving until I get it!!!"

"Get lost, Divatox!!!" Tommy yelled. He held out his blaster, ready to shoot her at a second's notice.

"Captain. It seems that these Rangers have a very special, powerful jewel with them, and it is the source of their power!!"

"I want it!" she growled. "Rygog! Get it for me!!"

The monster leapt out at the rangers, only to meet the bite of Billy's sword. He did not give up, however, until he had managed to grab each of their zeonizers. This took a long time...and Divatox was very displeased.

"NO!!" Billy yelled. He dashed out to Rygog, attempting to grab his zeonizer back. He had been demorphed, and the power was gone. Once more his teeth and nails grew. He kneeled down low, then leapt out at Divatox {who now held the zeonizers} only to knock her, himself, and the crystals into the water.

Divatox and Billy cried out in pain as there seemed to be an electrical current flowing into their bodies. The power of the crystal seeped out into the water, and was shocking the two of them. The screams and shouts from both the monsters and the powerless rangers were drowned out by the sound of electrical whirring. Samantha too came running up, screaming like a banshee. She would have ran out into the water had it not been for the others holding her back.

Divatox managed to stumble to her feet, and waved her hand. Rygog, Elgar and Porto ran up, pulled her out of the water and onto the bridge and into the sub. The zeonizers were floating on the surface of the water, as Billy kicked and writhed. His screams were full of pain and anguish, and he was struggling to get onto the shore. Samantha broke the grip of the others and ran to him. She pulled him out of the water and into her lap. He was shivering and shaking, and she kissed from his mouth to his neck to calm him.

The sub sunk underneath the ocean and sped off. The zeonizers bobbed on the surface. Large electrical sparks leapt up from them, and a strange, glowing, colored liquid was leaking out of them. It was the coordinating colors of each shard. The power was gone. Washed away by the salty ocean.

What were they going to do? There was a new villain in town, and Daran and Scorpina would not rest until the day Billy and Samantha perished. They had to have power! If not.....

The Earth was doomed.

Their communicators began to beep. Sighing, Tommy answered. "This is Tommy. What is it Zordon."

"RANGERS. I HAVE SEEN WHAT HAS JUST OCCURED. REPORT TO THE POWER CHAMBER IMMEDIATELY, FOR I HAVE SOMETHING OF GREAT IMPORTANCE TO GIVE TO YOU."

"Zordon! Billy got hurt very badly!!!" Samantha yelled. Over the month, she had been helping out in the Power Chamber as Billy had before he left for Aquitar. She stroked Billy's wet hair, and he whimpered helplessly. Samantha was NOT happy. She and Billy had not been able to complete their "Special Moment" because of this...and now he was hurt. Next time she saw Divatox, the first thing she would do was transform and rip her apart.

"HE WILL BE FINE. JUST BE CAREFUL WITH HIM WHEN YOU BRING HIM. AT THIS TIME, HE IS VERY PRONE TO WORSE INJURY."

"Come on." Justin said. "The sooner we know about what Zordon wants to give us, the better."

And with that, they teleported off into the sunset; 8 brilliant flashes of colored light.

Samantha lay Billy down on the examination table. He had already began to recover, and his eyes were open and alert, waiting for Zordon to tell them what he had to tell them. His fiancée remained by his side, as the other rangers lined up in front of their mentor. The little robot was scuttling along excitedly, "Aiyi-yi"ing about something. Zordon was smiling, despite the ranger's obviously foul mood.

"THE TIME HAS COME, ZEO RANGERS, TO SHIFT INTO TURBO!!" Zordon declared happily. Each of them exchanged bewildered looks.

"Huh??" Tommy asked dumbly. "What do you mean?"

The power of the motor lives within each of you. The need for speed is great, and the power is as well. It is the only thing that can be used against Divatox, and the only thing that can defeat her. Although I feel some strange feelings coming from four of you. Racheal Cranston's voice poured into the Power Chamber. Am I right?

The four senior members of the team, Tanya, Kat, Adam and Tommy nodded solemnly. They had been planning on quitting for a time now, for they had been out of high school for the longest of times. It was time to go on with their lives. Tommy and Kat were engaged to be married as soon as she returned from the Ballet Academy {for which she learned that she had been accepted to that very same day}, Tanya had decided to go into radio full time, and go to college, and Adam had decided to help Rocky and David run the martial arts school. It really was time for them to move on. They stated this to their mentor, the robot, the Wolf, the Cat, and the Silver Ranger. To them, they were letting the whole team down, but Zordon only smiled at them.

"THAT IS VERY MATURE OF YOU," he added as they finished. "TO ADMIT WHEN IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO LET GO, AND I AM VERY PROUD."

You have made a wise decision, rangers. The time HAS come for you to move on and enjoy what your lives have to offer. The only thing that is now required of you, is that you decide who will take your place on the team.

"Remember my friend from the soccer team? Carlos Rivera? I think that he would make an EXCELENT replacement for me." Adam said.

"And Ashley Hammond...you know...the Cheerleader. I'd like her to be my replacement." Tanya stated, smiling.

"I met the most wonderful girl. She's a very talented singer, and we were very fast fiends. Her name is Cassie Chan. She will replace me." Kat said.

"And my new friend T.J. Edwards can take my place." Tommy replied. "He has alot of potential as a leader."

"THEN THEY SHALL BE YOUR REPLACEMENTS. ALPHA, TELEPORT ASHLEY, CASSIE, T.J., AND CARLOS TO THE POWER CHAMBER. IT IS TIME TO PASS THE TORCH ON TO A NEW GENERATION."

In seconds, four startled teenagers were teleported into the Power Chamber. Cassie fainted right on the spot, it was such a shock to her. Ashley found herself stuttering, and wide eyed Carlos could do NOTHING but stare. T.J., the poor guy, screamed. They were scared out of their minds, and were even more so when they saw who was there.

Kat managed to revive Cassie, who shrieked as soon as her eyes open. She scrambled to her feet and ran over to the little group. They all huddled together. Each of the rangers and all else watching could tell that they were shaking. And who could blame them. The only one who had not been scared on his first entrance to the Command Center or Power Chamber was Billy, and he had at least been shocked.

To help them, Billy hopped off of the examination table. The young teacher taught a sophomore class as well, and they were all in it. He told them about what was going on, and what they had to do, and managed to calm them all down. Soon they were all nodding in agreement.

Tommy, Kat, Tanya and Adam stood before their chosen replacements. Suddenly, in their hands, there appeared a key. Tommy held the key up before him.

"T.J. You are powerful and brave. The ideal leader for an ultimate team. You will be the Red Lightning Turbo Ranger." He said. They key glowedbright red, and Tommy placed it in the palm of T.J.'s hand. His palm closed around it, and in a flash, the Red Lightning Turbo Ranger stood there.

Kat held up the key. "Cassie. You are swift, and smart. The perfect replacement for me. You will be the Wind Chaser Turbo Ranger, The Pink Ranger." That key glowed as well, and Kat placed it in Cassie's hand. Then there stood the Wind Chaser Turbo Ranger.

Tanya smiled as she looked at Ashley. She too held up the key. "Ashley. You are happy, but serious. You are the perfect replacement, and the ultimate choice to be the Dune Star Turbo Ranger, The Yellow Ranger." And then there was the Dune Star Turbo Ranger.

Adam looked around him. He had always been shy, and hated ceremonies. Hesitating a little, he held out the key. "Carlos. You are patient and smart. I could never choose anyone else to take my place. You will be the Desert Thunder Turbo Ranger, The Green Ranger." And then finally, the Desert Thunder Ranger stood before them.

They all looked wonderful, standing there in their magnificent new turbo uniforms. The other four looked more proud than they had ever been. It was a wonderful day, despite it's horribly rough start. The remaining two rangers smiled at their new teammates. Each of the Zeo team embraced the other members. Of course they cried a little, and who wouldn't! Four members of a six member team were leaving to persue the better things in life. Then they left the Power Chamber, with pained good-byes, never to return again.

The Power Chamber was deathly silent. Billy still felt alot like crying, and was trying desperately to shove the gigantic knot that had formed in his throat down. He rubbed his eyes a little, and sniffled. "That was such a Kodak moment." he said. Justin laughed a little, and then he too looked near tears.

"Just when I get used to one thing, a whole new thing starts. I must have the worst luck in the world." Justin said, then looked instantly shocked. "Hey Zordon! What about me and Billy? Don't we get powers too?"

"OH!! YES! YES!! I NEARLY FORGOT. ALPHA, PRESENT THEM WITH THEIR POWERS PLEASE. MY MEMORY IS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE."

Alpha held up two keys. "Justin, you are small, but have a sting like a scorpion." he said, gesturing to the key that was glowing blue. "You will be the Mountain Blaster Turbo Ranger, the Blue Ranger, and second in command." he placed the key into the boy's hand. As Justin morphed, he shot up a good foot or so, and was garbed in the blue turbo suit.

"This is so cool!!" Justin said excitedly, jumping up and down a little. Though he had the figure now of a full grown man, he was still a 12 year old in mind and in voice. He looked over at Billy. "This is awesome!! Come on!! I wanna see what your suit looks like!!"

Billy laughed a little, then turned to face Alpha. His face was serious, and Samantha could only stare upon him with love and admiration. {If she had done what she really wanted to, Justin would have been forced to leave, for she was thinking about what Billy would look like in spandex...or more acurately, OUT of the spandex. ;-)} His mother watched on too, through the sapphire eyes of the medallion. She was very proud of her son, and was glad that he was living up to his destiny. Alpha held up the key. It was shining so brightly that it was nearly blinding, and yet Billy looked into it.

"Billy. You have been through many troubles and sorrows in your past. But you have always been there for those who needed you. You have truly proven yourself worthy of this power. Cunning, swift, mighty and loving. Each of these is part of you as a whole. I give to you the power of the Silver Wolf Turbo Ranger, the most powerful of them all. Guard it wisely, and may the power protect you always." and the key lay in his hand a second later, and he became the Silver Wolf Turbo ranger. The helmet still bore the face of the wolf, but the rest of it was almost exactly as the Zeo had been...except...well...Turboish.

The Power Rangers, old and new, came to stand before the gigatic tube which held their mentor. They each took off their helmets, and Justin shrunk back down to his normal height. He was smiling down upon them softly. "YOU ARE THE POWER RANGERS TURBO; AN ELITE FIGHTING FORCE THAT IS AN UPGRADE OF THE FORMER ZEO POWERS. THESE TURBO POWERS ARE BASED UPON THE SPEED AND STRENGTH OF THE CAR. THE KEYS THAT WERE GIVEN TO YOU BY EITHER YOUR PREDESESSOR OR ALPHA ARE PART OF THE MORPHING MECHANISM THAT ARE CALLED YOUR TURBO CHARGERS. WITH THE WORDS 'SHIFT INTO TURBO' YOU WILL MORPH INTO THE TEAM THAT YOU ARE NOW. ONLY DO THIS IN TIME OF NEED. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER THE RULES, AND OBEY THEM TO THE FULL EXTENT."

"Um...Excuse me, Zordon. but we're new. We don't know the rules." T.J. stated. "Do you think that you could tell us what they are?"

Zordon looked to Billy, who smiled. Billy knew the rules very well, for he had been one of the first. "The rules are simple, but they must be obeyed. Or else, you will lose the protection of the power." Billy took in a deep breath and began, "Number one: Never escalate a battle unless...Divatox forces you. Number two: Never use your powers for personal gain. And Number three: Never tell anyone your identity. No one may know that you are a Power Ranger."

"NOW THAT I HAVE TOLD YOU, PLEASE STATE THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO GO ON WITH THIS. THIS JOB WILL MEAN RISKING YOUR LIFE MANY TIMES, AND ONE TIME, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT YOU MAY NOT COME BACK. SOME MAY NOT WANT TO TAKE THIS RISK, SO IT IS YOUR CHOICE, AND YOURS ALONE. CHOOSE WISELY."

"I'm all for it!!" T.J. exclaimed

"Count me in!!" Carlos yelled. His friends stared at him. Carlos was usually a very shy young man, who almost always had his doubts about something. To see him so willing to do something that could possibly kill him was truly amazing.

"Affirmative!!" chirped Justin. Billy laughed a little. That was exactly what he had said when he decided to become the blue ranger. It brought back wonderful memories of times long ago. Justin really was alot like him, more mature in some ways, but alot like how Billy had been.

"Yeah! What he said!!" Ashley giggled.

"I'm in!!!!" Cassie said. "These outfits are TOO cool!"

"You know I'm in." Billy said in a low voice. "I'll be a Power Ranger until the day I die, with or without the Power!"

"THEN I WELCOME YOU ALL. T.J. THE RED LIGHTING TURBO RANGER. JUSTIN, THE MOUNTAIN BLASTER TURBO RANGER. CARLOS, THE DESERT THUNDER TURBO RANGER. ASHLEY, THE DUNE STAR TURBO RANGER. CASSIE, THE WIND CHASER TURBO RANGER. AND FINALLY, BILLY, THE SILVER WOLF TURBO RANGER. YOU ARE NOW THE POWER RANGERS TURBO. MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU, FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES."

I am proud, on this day, my son. You have truly proven yourself a man. I am now able to leave you, knowing that you can take care of yourself. Please try to understand, that I will never leave you totally, and that I will always be with you in spirit. I love you, Billy. Remember that. You are the mighty Half-breed, and nothing can stop you. Keep close watch on the medallion, my son. The ultimate battle is yet to come. You shall be forced to make a hard decision over two things that you love very much, but do not be eluded. Remember that...and me...until the end of time.

Billy pulled out the medallion from underneath the tight suit, and looked into the eyes of the wolf. A tear appeared in is eye. "I will." he whispered. "Forever. Until the end of time, and then a day." Then the rangers had a minor briefing, and they returned home. Samantha could not cheer Billy up that night, and it disturbed her. He was very depressed about how his mother had left him so soon after she had come back. The pain would fade, of course, but never die completely. Of course, she would be back, and in a way that none of them would ever imagine.

Divatox pulled bits of weeds out her purple ponytail. Once it was out, she flung it at her 'Three Stooges' and began to scream uncontrollably. She began her usual stomping fit, and was growling like an angry dog.

"I can't believe this!! I let a group of little brats get the better of me!!! This is TOO unreal!!"

Elgar was laughing his head off. "You let a little midget hurt ya, Auntie D!! You...hahahaha...let a midget get you!!!"

"Shut up!!!!" she screamed. The egg headed monster fell to the ground, grunting and moaning. "There must be some way to defeat those pathetic excuses for teenagers!!!"

"Ahem, Captain. If you don't mind me interrupting...."

"WELL I DO MIND!!!"

"The rangers are powerless, my Captain. You can easily destroy them with just your piranatrons now!!"

Divatox stopped her ranting and stood there, mouth wide open. Her eyes were open as wide as her mouth, and indeed she did look very stupid, stupefied, stupefying, whatever. She looked very strange to say the least. "You're serious??"

"Yes, my Captain. When you fell into the ocean with the Silver Ranger, the Zeo crystal disintegrated, thus destroying any power that they had at the time. Now they have no powers, and are completely helpless in the event that you attack!"

Her wide opened mouth turned into a cruel sneer. She chuckled down deep in her throat and twirled her long purple ponytail. "That is SUCH an interesting concept, Porto. I think I'll try it out. But first...I want to settle in....make them think that we left. So that when we attack, they won't know what hit em!!!"

The sub echoed with the evil woman's laughter for hours to come. In fact, if you ask Elgar, Porto or Rygog, they'll probably say that she laughed all that night, and all the next day.

"So...um...how do you do that???" Ashley asked. She was staring dumbly down at her Biology book. It wasn't that she didn't know biology. She knew it inside and out. But she was flirting with the teacher.

"You have to pin down all of the feet, and then run the scalpel down from it's neck, down to in between it's legs. You have to be really careful about it though, or you'll have a frog that has been cut in half." he looked hard at the Yellow Ranger and shook his head. "Why are you asking me this? You passed your frog dissection with flying colors."

She was forced to blush. "I just want to hang out with you some more." she said. She knew that she was lying, but she didn't care. She could NEVER tell her teacher, her fellow Power Ranger, that she had a MAJOR crush on him. That just wasn't the way things were supposed to be!! Especially since she knew he was engaged to Samantha.

"Admit it Ashley. The only reason you want to be with me is cause you've got a crush on me. I know...because on this piece of paper, it has the words 'I love Billy." in a little heart."

Wide eyed, she snatched the piece of notebook paper out of his hand. "Yo.you weren't supposed to see that!" She exclaimed. Ashley quickly shoved all of her books and notebooks into her yellow book bag, and with a short "See ya." had headed across the Youth Center, face flushing a bright red. Billy shook his head, smiling. She was a nice girl, but not one that he would ever love. And besides, he was engaged to the most wonderful woman alive. To him, anyway.

And speaking of his fiancée, and co-teacher, she came up behind him and playfully licked his ear. "Hey there, handsome." she purred in his ear. "What's cookin?"

"Mmm....nothing much, Sam. Just trying to convince Ash that she's not really in love with me, and that it's just a major case of puppy love."

"She's STILL at that???" Samantha questioned, pulling up the chair beside him and plopping down into it. "I would think that she would have fallen for Carlos by now!!!"

Billy tapped his fingers along on the table and sighed. "I know, because Carlos sure as hell has fallen for her. But she refuses to grow up. She reminds me alot of a friend I once had, Kim Heart. She's the Valley girl, ditzy cheerleader type. But I tell you, this being a ranger is really gonna harden her up. She'll shape up in NO time."

"I should hope so." Samantha added. "Carlos is flirting like a MANIAC, and she is being so oblivious to it that it's not even FUNNY."

"I would think that she would notice something like CARLOS flirting."

Justin bounded up to them. "She is all he ever talks about. I just don't get this love thing. Love is just so..confusing."

Samantha laughed and ruffled Justin's hair. "You'll understand one day. When you're all grown up."

Justin looked disgusted and began to smooth his hair back down. "Don't mess with the hair!" he complained. "And I'll never be in love. I have sworn to a life of celibacy!"

Samantha and Billy exchanged strange looks. "Aren't you a little young for that?" Billy asked, raising an eyebrow. Justin only shook his head.

"It was T.J.'s idea. He and Cassie were talking about it, and he told me about it, and I thought it was cool." He stated plainly. "Cause who in their right mind would fall in love with me??"

Billy laughed. "What about that nice little girl. What was her name? Sarah???"

Justin grimaced. "She's 3 years old!!!" he declared, visibly shuddering. "That's disgusting!!"

The other rangers came up. Cassie and T.J were looking very concerned about something.

"Hey, Billy?" Cassie asked. Her voice was trembling. He looked up at her with worried eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"We just realized something." T.J. said. "We've been Power Rangers a week, and not a single monster has shown up. We're not sure if Divatox has left, or if she's playing a horrible joke on us, and making it seem like she's not going to attack."

Billy looked thoughtful. In his many years as a ranger, he knew that the trick that villians loved the most was the element of surprise. "Yeah..she might be stalling. To make us think she's not gonna attack and make us let our guard down. Just be alert for any attacks. She could attack at any moment, remember that. BE ALERT, DO NOT LET YOUR GUARD DOWN." The last part sounded very much like a stern order, and the other rangers nodded their heads seriously.

"You can count on us!" Carlos said, his hand reached behind Ashley, and pinched her rump. She squealed and slapped his arm hard. He had an innocent puppy look on his face. "What? I didn't do anything!"

"Don't give me that!" she said, and grabbed onto his long hair. She gave it a sharp tug, and he yelped. "Don't do that to me ever again, if you value your precious hair!!"

"Ow ow ow! Let go!! Please! I'll leave you alone, I SWEAR!!" She only dug her nails on her left hand into his arm, and pulled on his hair tighter.

"You had better!!!" she snapped. "Or those lovely locks of yours are going bye bye!!!" She started to twist his arm. Billy's eyes narrowed and he let out a low growl. It was as if they had not even been listening to him. He, the senior member of the team, had given an order to them, and there they were...acting very childish. He pounded his fist down hard upon the table.

"Were you two even listening to me!?" he growled. "I gave all of you specific orders! Now if you do not obey them, she'll catch you with your guard down. You guys have not been on the team long enough to be goofing off already. Now if you're NOT up to this, and you want to remain helpless little....children, then you keep this up. I'm sure that we can find someone to replace you."

The Yellow and Green rangers stood there, staring at him. He had a very deep frown on his face, and his eyes were flashing with anger. They had never seen him act this way before. It was not only they who were shocked. Justin, Cassie and T.J. were startled by his reaction as well. Even Samantha didn't understand it. It seemed to her, that ever since he had returned from the Machine Skybase, that he had been very different. He was almostlike an animal.

"We....we're sorry." Ashley stammered. She was very hurt. "I..didn't mean to...ignore you. I...just don't like Carlos messing with me."

"And...and I should not have been messing with Ashley. If I hadn't been, none of this would have happened."

The anger slowly faded from Billy's eyes, but was only to be replaced with a sharp burning fear. "I...didn't mean to overreact like that." he whispered. "And I normally wouldn't have. Something is wrong with me!!! And I don't know what!!!"

"This is really weird." added Justin. "But you know what. I just might have the thing to cheer everyone up!!!"

Everyone turned to look at the Blue Ranger. He began to dig around in his bookbag, searching for something. After a few minutes of waiting, the others were shocked when Justin pulled out seven plane tickets.

"I bought them with all of the money I've saved up with my paper route!" he exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear. "I thought that since winter vacation just started, that we could go to Alaska together, just to...you know....chill out until school gets back in session. We could hang out, rest...a certain two of us could get married..." He looked over to Samantha and Billy.

"Oh!! That's a wonderful idea, Justin!!! I love it!!!" Samantha said, and hugged him. "What do you think, Billy? We could get married up there! It would be wonderful!!!"

Billy was a little reluctant. "Well...as I said, Divatox could attack at any moment. And it might help if we were here to take care of things."

T.J. smiled and tapped his communicator. "Hey, Billy. Isn't that what these are for? It's an excelent idea, and Justin went off and bought the tickets with his own money. I say that we go, and if there are any problems, then Zordon could call us on these. With a simple press of a button, we can be here and give Divatox what she's got coming!"

Billy nodded his head slowly. "You know, the thought never occured to me. That's a good idea, T.J.! Alright Justin!! Let's go to Alaska!!!"

"Oh this is gonna be so cool!!! But...we majorly need to go shopping!!" Cassie explained, matter-of factly.

"I live to shop!!" chirped Ashley, clapping her hands together. "Shopping is life, and life is shopping. That's my motto. Wait...or is it 'Cheerleading is life, and life is cheerleading'? Oh well... either way, I LOVE TO SHOP!! Come on everyone!! Let's go to the mall and shop till we drop!" She, Cassie and Samantha started going on and on about shopping, and began to discuss things that they would buy.

Carlos shook his head. "Women." he muttered.

"Can't live with them, can't sell them for spare parts." added Billy. His response to Carlos's comment was only met by a sharp punch in the gut by Samantha. "OW!!!"

"That was mean." she said, sounding very stern. On the other hand that she was smiling, showing that she was only kidding around with him. "Keep that up, and what happened last night will never happen again!!!"

"No!! You can't do that to me!!!" he whined, blushing. The other rangers, along with Samantha, broke out into laughter. "Come on, come on. Let's go to Sunset Flames and get some things for our trip. When are we supposed to get to the airport anyway, Justin?"

"4:00 p.m. tommorrow." he replied, holding up the tickets for all to see.

"Dang!! Well, we better go now!!!!!" Billy said.

"SUNSET FLAMES MALL, HERE WE COME!!!" Samantha, Cassie and Ashley exclaimed. All of the male rangers looked at each other and sighed.

"Women." they grumbled.

"Ooh!! I totally LOVE those skis!!"

"They are TOTALLY you, Cass! Get them!!"

"You two.come over here and help me pick out my wedding gown!!"

"That one is totally faboo Sam!! Get it!!"

"Ashley...that is a tux."

"It is??? Oh!"

"How about this one??"

"That one's nice. I lean more towards pink though."

"Aren't wedding gowns traditionally white??"

"It IS white, Ashley."

"It is??? Gee, aren't I dumb today!!! That one is like, totally faboo, Sam! GET IT!! GET IT!!"

"That one is like, totally faboo, Sam! GET IT!! GET IT!!"

"Shush up Justin!!!"

"Make me!!!"

"Justin, come here and try on these snow boots!!"

"I already got a pair, T.J.!!"

"They were too big and you know it! Come here!!"

"Big is good!! Leave me alone!!"

"Justin, please. You need ones that will fit comfortably."

"I'm fine!!"

"Justin, listen to T.J. please. You're just being difficult. Has Billy come out of the dressing room yet?"

"No, he hasn't, Carlos. He's trying on tux's for our wedding."

"I DON'T WANT SMALL SNOWBOOTS!!"

"Too bad. You can have two pairs. I suppose that you want big skis as well?"

"Nope. I need tight skis."

"THOSE ARE TOO SMALL!!!"

"They have to be tight."

"Sheesh, Justin. Make up your mind!!"

"Leave me alone Ashley!"

"Cassie!! Get Carlos off of me!!"

"Get off of her you pervert!"

"Ow!!"

"Ta-da!!!"

"Oooh....Billy, that is so like, totally faboo!! Delish!!

"You think? I'm gonna get it."

"Can we hurry up and get out of here!? Us guys got everything we need!!"

"The girls have everything too, Justin. They just want to buy MORE. You know how women are!!"

"Women suck!! Let's grab them and get out of here before I PUKE!!!"

"Hey!! Let us down!"

"Yeah!! Let us down!!"

"Good thing I already bought everything I needed for the wedding dress!"

"Let's go home and pack!!!"

"FINALLY!!!"

"Justin, please. SHUT UP!!!!"

"Fine fine fine. Let's get out of here before I GO NUTS!!!"

And that was how their mall trip went. That was one time in the life of the Power Rangers when they WEREN'T exactly working together as a team.

"This is just GREAT!! The rangers are going out of town. And what's worse!! I DIDN'T GET TO THEM BEFORE THEY FOUND POWERS!!! SOME brilliant plan, Porto!!!"

"How was I to know that they had already found power! I can't trace that type of thing from inside THIS piece of junk!!"

"You STILL should have realized!!! RYGOG!!"

"Yes, Captain Divatox?"

"I want you and a monster to make sure that the rangers never make it to the airport tomorrow. I want them dead!!!"

"Yes, my Captain. Whatever you command, I shall obey."

"I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want!"

"So tell me want what you really really want!!"

"I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really wanna zigzig ha!!"

"If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends! Make it last forever. Friendship never ends. If you wannabe my lover, you have got to give. Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is!!"

The rangers broke out into laughter at Justin and Ashley's rendition of "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. Billy sat at the drivers wheel of the van, trying hard to contain his laughter. Despite his efforts, he was shaking hard, as was the van.

"You...you two are quite a pair!!" He managed to blurt out.

"Thank ya!!" Justin giggled. "Me and Ashley are gonna go on tour! We need a name for our group though."

"How about....A Couple of Idiots?" Carlos recommended. Ashley punched him hard in the shoulder. She was sitting right next to him in the middle section of the van, and Justin was next to her. Billy of course was in the driver's seat, and Samantha was in the passanger. In the back, Cassie, T.J. and stuff that they found that could not fit in the trunk sat. They were practically burried back there, but did not seem to care. Skis were bouncing up and down on the roof of the van, as were a few suitcases. Three weeks in Alaska...what a dream vacation.

"Don't make fun of me and my fiancee!!" Ashley snapped, and pulled Justin into a hug. He of course was blushing QUITE a bit, and for some reason Carlos was looking very jealous of the younger boy.

"I'm your fiancee?" Justin asked. "Since when?"

"Since I said so." she said simply. "We can get married in Alaska too!!"

"I really hope that you're kidding!!" Both Justin and Carlos yelped. Ashley was nearly crushing him, and Justin didn't exactly like how close she held him to her chest. He was only 12 for crying out loud!!

"Nope." Ashley laughed. "You and me are getting hitched, Justin. I'll be Ashley Stewart!!" Justin groaned.

"Ashley!! I'm 12 years old!! I'm not ready to settle down!!"

Laughing, Ashley let him go. "That's OK...I wanna marry someone else anyways!!!"

Billy sighed. "Not this again." he grumbled. "I've told you time and time again, Ashley. I am....."

"It's not YOU, Silly Billy. I've fallen in love with someone else!!" and without a word of notice, she pulled the Green Ranger into a kiss, that had it been explosives, the entire universe would cease to exsist.

But before their kiss was finished, the van began to spin out of control. It had been moving smoothly just moments before, but now it was shaking and spinning. It was like something enourmous was jumping up and down upon it. Screaming, Billy somehow managed to pull the van over to the side of the highway and shut it down.

It was still shaking violently, and every one of them was hanging onto one of the other. "What's going on!?" Cassie shrieked. Suitcases and duffle bags came toppling down on top of T.J. and herself, and they desperately tried to pull them off.

"Get out of the van!!" Billy commanded. "NOW!!"

One by one, they all toppled out of the van. Once out, they looked on top of it, to see what had been causing the problems. They were shocked to see Rygog, and a very strange looking monster. It looked as if it were half man, have panther, and Samantha gasped when she saw him.

"Tygris!!" she exclaimed.

"Hello, Samantha." he said in a gruff, deep voice. He bowed down low in her presence, for she was the leader of the Cats...the FIRST Cat. "How might you be on this lovely day?"

"Tygris...I command you. Leave this area at once."

"I am afraid that I cannot do that, milady. You see, my Captain Divatox will kill me if I do not complete this mission."

"I do not give a care about 'Your Captain'. Divatox can shove the orders she gave here up her butt. Now LEAVE."

"I am sorry, milady. I must do what I must do." and with that, the cat man leapt off of the van.

"SHIFT INTO TURBO!!" Billy yelled.

"Red Lightning Turbo Power! Red Lighting, ready to bolt!" exclaimed T.J.

"Mountain Blaster Turbo Power! Mountain Blaster, ready to crash!" Justin yelled.

"Desert Thunder Turbo Power! Desert Thunder, ready to rumble!" Carlos declared.

"Dune Star Turbo Power! Dune Star's gonna shine!!" Ashley shrieked.

"Wind Chaser Turbo Power! Wind Chaser, ready to howl!!" Cassie cried.

"Silver Wolf Turbo Power! Silver Wolf, until the end of time!!" Billy screamed. "Let's do it!!!"

Billy leapt up to meet Tygris in midair, and the swords that they each held clashed together. Both were growling and snarling at each other, and the swords clanged together noiselly. Before the rangers could reach him to help, Rygog had jumped down as well. Piranatrons appeared all around him, and they took on the other five rangers, leaving Billy alone to fight Tygris.

Samantha was torn apart. Tygris had been a good friend of hers back in the time of ancient Egypt. He was created by a great alchemist, and she and he became good friends. They remained together for many centuries, for he...like she...was nearly immortal. But then things changed. Tygris got cruel and hard, and went against Samantha in whatever he did. They grew apart, but they each still had a place reserved in each others hearts for the other.

"Your love for Samantha shall be your downfall, Son of Wolf!! She is mine...she is meant to be with a cat, which you are not. Cats and Wolves do not go together, and all wolve's must die!! You and she will never be together." Tygris bore his teeth and clamped them down hard onto Billy's wrist. He cried out and tried desperately to shake it off, but the sword that he held in that hand clattered to onto the earth, and he had no weapon. A river of blood poured down from the wrist, and Tygris's claws began to slash at the chest and arms. Billy was litterally defenseless, and could only utter cries of pain. With one sharp kick to his knees, Tygris had rendered Billy's legs completely useless, and the Silver Ranger was hanging in the mouth of the Man Panther by his bleeding wrist.

Now Samantha knew that Tygris was no longer on the side of good, if even by a tiny percentage. He was killing the man she loved more than anything on the Earth. This would NOT be permitted. The rangers were doing all that they could to get to him, and Justin had managed to break through the piranatrons. But Tygris had easily dismissed him by slamming the young boy into the van head first. He was struggling to get to his feet, and called to the other rangers. They were too meshed within the piranatrons to make it to the Silver Rangers, and all he did was continue bleeding. There was so much blood.

So much blood. So much blood. So much blood.

Bright red, thick blood flowing down the arm. Shining, bright blood covering the silver armor that covered his arm.

A loud, cat-like scream poured out of Samantha's mouth. With it came a flash of amber flight, that enveloped her form. It quickly faded, and there where she had once been, stood the most gigantic mountain lion that any of them had ever seen. Snarling, she bounded through the piranatrons, trampling them over, and then snapped her jaws down onto Tygris's throat. When he opened his mouth to cry out, Billy fell to the ground in a heap. The blood immediately stopped flowing, and the automatic ranger recovery system began to go to work. Billy was healing quickly.

The other rangers knew that Samantha would take care of Tygris, so they set their sights on Rygog. He was already scared, and was cowering. A very dizzy Justin, swaying to and fro, was laughing at him, and taunting him.

"Neener neener neener! Rygog is a WEENER!!"

"Captain!!" Rygog yelped. "They're ganging up on us! The Cat is KILLING Tygris!"

Divatox appeared next to her first make and slammed him to the ground. "The midget is right! You ARE a weener! Look at them! Four of them are brand new Power Rangers! And this is their first battle! You could at LEAST handle THEM!"

"B...bu..but...." he stammered, cowering away from Divatox and the Rangers. Out of the corner of his eyes he could spot the man panther being torn to bits by the Cat. She was strong, and if something didn't happen, their best monster ever would be destroyed. And for once, he really didn't care. He just wanted to go back to the saftey of the sub and curl up in a little corner. Once there he would sleep for a million years...maybe longer. But for now, it was the present, and at any moment Divatox and the rangers could quite possibly knock his friggin head off.

Not that it would matter to him anymore.

"Get up!! GET UP!!" Divatox snarled at him. She kicked him in a sensative male area with the toe of her boot, and he shot upright, screaming. "Get up and finish the job! IF you value your pathetic life!!!"

Rygog stumbled to his feet and looked at her. His red eyes were glowing with fury. "No." he stated simply, and returned to the sub. Divatox followed him, hot on his heels.

But not long after, the torpedos struck Tygris. They knocked Samantha to the side, and returned her to her human state. Tygris loomed above them, now very huge indeed. The four newest rangers were very startled to see this, and jumped back a little. Justin had regained his senses, and Billy had climbed to his feet.

"Come on guys. It's time to use the Zords." he said. He rose his fingertips to the ear of his helmet. "Silver Wolf Turbozord power!!"

Repeating Billy's gesture, the other's followed.

"Red Lighning Turbozord power!"

"Mountain Blaster Turbozord power!"

"Desert Thunder Turbozord power!"

"Dune Star Turbozord power!"

"Wind Chaser Turbozord power!"

And then the Zords came. 6 gigantic cars, thundering down the highway. They were AWESOME. All of the rangers, old and new, stood there and stared up at them. These were their vehicles.

"Woah!!" Billy cried, looking up at the gigantic silver car that had slid to a stop before him. "Amazing."

"Let's do it guys!" T.J. commanded, and with no more than a "Hi-ya!!" he had jumped up to the driver's seat of his Zord. Emitting battle cries of their own, the other rangers followed.

"T.J. here! Ready to rock this big cat's world!"

"This is Justin! All systems online!"

"Carlos here! This cat is toast!"

"Ashley....oooh.....COOL Car!!"

"Cassie's here! Ready and raring to go!"

"Alright! This is Billy. Let's skin this cat!"

Tygris smiled evilly and growled. His enormous teeth were bared, and his growl sounded like some type of strange laugh. He stomped his huge feet and shook his arms. "I feel invincible!" he roared. "Nothing can stop me now!"

"That's what you think!!" said the Half-breed, holding onto the steering wheel tightly. He tuned it sharply to one side, and the Silver wolf zord lurched forward and in the direction of Tygris. The headlights flipped back to reveal missiles, and they were fired into the gut of the monster with the push of a button. That blow was fired by a blast of electricity from the Mountain Blaster Zord.

"Haha!!" Justin laughed, making his hand into a thumbs up sign. "Right on target!! This is fun!!!"

"Ooh! I wanna try!!" T.J. said, and punched down hard on a button. It didn't come back up, and Tygris was pelted with cannonballs that would not stop coming. "Um...whoops?" he said and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm right on his tail, Teej!" Cassie called, and threw a grappling hook at Tygris's tail. Once it was hooked on tightly, she laughed and put the Wind Chaser into full reverse, at top speed. The monster crashed to the ground.

Carlos and Ashley decided that it was time to do something about it. "Let's kick some asphault!!" exclaimed Ashley. "Put 'er in high gear, 'Los! We're gonna run this dude over!"

"Right!" Carlos replied, and they both shifted into high gear. The cars zoomed foward and trampled over Tygris's fallen form. The two rangers were laughing their heads off as they did so. It was GREAT fun!

The man panther could not take it anymore. He jumped to his feet, throwing the Dune Star and Desert Thunder Zords off of him. "That's it!" he yelled, clenching his fists. "It's time to show my true power!!!"

Suddenly armor appeared on his already muscular form, and a gigantic mace and flail appeared in his furry hands. He swung it around menacingly and growled down deep. "This is it! I'm gonna take you out Puny Rangers!"

"Come on guys!" Billy said, clapping his gloved hands together. "Let's see what this baby can do when it's at full power! TURBO MEGAZORD POWER!! NOW!"

The 6 cars zoomed up to each other and began to transform. The Red Lighting bcame the head. The Dune Star and Desert Thunder became the feet. The Mountain Blaster became the midsection. The Wind Chaser became the arms. And the Silver Wolf turned into a shield. There stood the Turbo Megazord, and it held it's sword out. "Power Rangers!!" The six people in it's cockpit yelled.

Samantha had stumbled to the van and hid behind it. This was the closest that any one living being that was an inhabitant of earth had been to an actual dual between the Power Rangers and their arch-nemesis. It was very stirring to watch, and was very glad that Tygris had forgotten about her. She remained behind the van until the battle had ended.

The two giants duked it out, giving and taking equal ammounts of blows. But this of course was not what either of them wanted. They wanted the other to be destroyed. Tygris spun his mace and flail high above his head. It began to increase in speed and became nothing more than a blur. Too bad the Turbo Megazord did as well!!

"TUBO MEGAZORD SPINOUT!!" The rangers cried, and a spinning zord chopped a gigantic Tygris in two. The two halves crashed to the ground and errupted in flames. The Turbo Rangers had won this round!!! They cheered and jumped around in their seats, then hopped out of their Zord. It returned to the Holding Bay, and they had unmophed when they landed on the ground.

"That was awesome!!!" Justin declared. He was bouncing up and down, laughing and gasping. "We won! We won!!"

Samantha came from behind the van and gave each of them a huge hug, and Billy a passionate kiss, and said. "Excelent job, guys! That was great!!"

There was much chatter and discussion as they climbed back into the van and replaced the things both on top, and inside of it. Their first battle as the Power Rangers Turbo had ended in a great victory. Once everything was settled, Billy started the van up again and they were once more on their way to the airport. This time, there were no interruptions. And even though they had seen Billy recover at lightning speed, and his fiancee turn into a cat, somehow they had all forgotten about that. So then they went on, to begin their trip to Alaska.

But no one seemed to notice the blonde haired man that was watching them from the side of the highway. Nor the Japanese woman that stood next to him.

"That little one is ME!!" Justin screamed. "Let me down, T.J.!"

"Whoops!! Sorry Justin! Didn't mean to pick you up!" T.J. said and put Justin back on the ground.

"Sorry, Justin! I thought that you were a suitcase!!!"

"Don't worry!" he laughed as they ran through the crowded airport. "Everyone does!!"

They each were carrying bags and skis under their arms as they ran. It was quite a sight to see a kid the size that Justin was, nearly burried underneath the odds and ends that the others had piled on top of him. It was a relief to all of them when they finally made it to the place, just barely on time.

They stacked their luggage on the convator belt, and dashed for the plane. When they finally got on, it was already beginning to take off. It was very rare, in these cases, for a plane about to make it's run down the runway to stop and let passangers aboard. But luckily for the Rangers and Samantha they DID stop. Billy was crammed into a window seat near an enourmous man, and Justin was constantly being flirted with by a little girl.

"OW!!" Justin screamed, and covered his hair with his hands. "Stop pulling my hair!!"

The little girl, named Rosaura, giggled and pulled at his hair again. "Pretty!!" She cooed. "Pretty! Pretty hair!"

"Now, Rosaura." her mother said to her in a harsh tone. "Leave the little boy alone. He doesn't like you pulling on his hair."

"But Mommy!!! I like the pretty boy's pretty hair!!"

"Please!! Listen to your mother!! I like my hair too...and I would like some of it to BE there when we get to Alaska!"

Rosaura paid him no mind. She took up two handfulls of his long, dark brown hair, and tugged on it as hard as she could. To her this was the most fun thing in the world, and she was having a fit. She was laughing so loud that even Justin's screaming couldn't be heard. "Pretty hair!!" She laughed. And before she knew it, a large chunk of Justin's hair was resting in the palms of her little hands. "Pretty hair for keeps! ALL for me!!"

Justin's eyes became wide and his hand went to the back of his head. Sure enough, there was a bare spot. It was barely big enough to be noticeable, and the other layer of his hair covered it up, but it was still his hair...and it was still his hair that was NOT in his head. He turned around in his seat to look at Rosaura.

She bit her lip, and opened up her hands. Holding them up to Justin, she gestured the peice of hair to him. "You can have your pretty hair back." she said sweetly. She stood up on her chair and put the hair on top of Justin's head. "Looks good." she added.

Justin could not help but smile at her. She was only about 3 years old, and those big blue eyes and that cute little voice told him that there was no reason for him to be mad at her. He took the hair off of his head and handed it back to her. "Here." he said. "You can keep this!"

And the look that she gave him could melt the coldest of hearts. Her little face just lit up as she held the dark brown hair in her hand. "You mean it? Pretty hair for keeps? All for me?"

"Yep! All for you!!"

"Wow!!!" she exclaimed and bounced in her seat. She planted a tiny kiss on Justin's forehead and then giggled. "Pretty hair all for me! Pretty hair for keeps! Pretty boy with pretty hair gimme pretty hair all for keeps! ALL FOR ME!!" she waved the hair over her head, and then placed it on top of her own hair; a mop of pretty blond curls. You had to admit, it looked very strange, and yet very cute in it's own sense.

In the meantime, Billy was not only struggling with not being able to sit near Samantha, but to keep dry. Now this was meant in more than one sense. The man sitting next to him; a very large man, was asleep. He was hunched over, and leaning over onto Billy. A thin line of drool hung from his lip, and threatened to drop at any moment. What matter matters even worse though, was the fact that Billy had an urgent call from Mother Nature that he needed to answer, and the man refused to let Billy up so that he could use the restroom.

Samantha was trying hard to supress her laughter over her fiancee's situation, but it was way too funny! He was whimpering like a little puppy, eyes squinted and face pouty. It was so funny, and so cute, that Samantha just plain burst out laughing. Billy looked at her with pleading eyes, but then gasped when the drool came down closer to his shoulder. She only laughed harder at him, gesturing with her hands so that he would know that she was sorry. When the drool finally spat itself down onto his shoulder, Billy shrieked out a cry of disgust, that caused the man to jolt up to an upright position, wide awake and furious.

He turned to Billy with a mean glint in his eyes, and balled up his fist. Samantha's mouth dropped open as she gasped. Of course, by that time she had stopped laughing. Just as she was about to go punch the man before he could lay a hand on Billy, the man put his hand on Billy's shoulder and smiled.

"So, sonny." he said {for this was a considerably older man}. "If you wanted to get up and use the W.C., all ya needed to do was ask!" and with that he slid out of his seat and let Billy out.

Billy was greatly relieved, and ran to the restroom without haste. When he returned the space next to Samantha was empty, and the man looked at him, smiling broadly.

"I thought that you two love-birds might wanna sit togetha." he said simply. Billy thanked him, and plopped down in the seat. Samantha kissed him passionately and nibbled at his ear.

"Glad you could make it." she said. "Why don't you just relax and get yourself a nice nap?"

"A perfect plan, Sam." he said, and leaned back in his chair. Samantha whispered sweet nothings into his ear until he had fallen asleep. And he did sleep, until they arrived at the Airport in Nome, Alaska.

***Best Western: Anchorage***

"Whoohooo!" Justin exclaimed and dove towards the bed. The springs creaked loudly as he did so, and he bounced upward a few times. He laughed and burried his face in a soft pillow, kicking his legs around. Then he lay still, and faked a loud annoying snore. Giggling Justin was soon flipped over by T.J. who was smiling at him.

"Looks like SOMEONE is excited to be at the hotel!" he said as patted his mittened hands together, and brought his arms about his torso. "You've got snow all over the bed now!"

"I don't care!" Justin said. "As long as I am not out there, IN the snow!!" He pointed out of the large picture window, where outside could be seen a great blizzard. "I nearwy fwoze my wittle arms off!" he said in a voice that made him sound only three years old, and then started to laugh all over again.

Carlos, who was standing besides T.J., dusted off his green coat and shook his head. As he did so, a pile of snow crashed to the ground from out of his long hair. Justin only laughed harder.

"Look!! It's the abomidible snow man!!" Justin pointed to Carlos quickly, then he clutched his sides and laughed some more, turning very red in the face. Carlos turned towards the bed, grabbed a pillow and sent it hurling towards his yougner friend. He was met by a barrage of the other pillows that Justin had grabbed from nearby, and tossed. T.J. backed away from them, and let them have their pillow fight.

Minutes later, the girls, followed by Billy, stumbled into the room. They were more or less as snow covered as Carlos had been, and when Justin saw them {for he had calmed down by this time} he had a fit! Each of them had a pillow shoved in their faces, and Justin's wild laughter rang in their ears. Through laughs, they could hear him trying to say something, but the only things that they could make audible were the words "abomidible snowmen!!" And to shut him up, they each burried him with the pillows.

Billy dusted his gloves off as he set down the suitcases. "OK, everyone. We're all checked in. You guys will get to keep this room with Justin." he nodded towards the laughing pile of pillows. "Good luck!"

T.J. and Carlos groaned as they looked at Justin. He popped his head up out of the pillows. He stopped laughing and looked at them. "What was so funny, anyways?" he asked.

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. Samantha came over to him and ruffled his hair. "Now now now....you just calm down! You have had way too much Surge today."

"Ha! There is no such thing as TOO MUCH SURGE! If it weren't for my size, I would be LIVING in a Surge can!" He reached up and smoothed his hair, remembering the girl who tore his hair out. He smiled.

Billy crossed his arms over his chest and cleared his throat loudly. The other people in the room brought their attention off of Justin, and back to him. He brought his lfet hand to rest on the handle of a large suitcase that was sitting on the floor beside him.

"Cassie and Ashley, you guys have the next room down, to the right. Here's the key." he handed the room key to the closer of the two, Cassie, who pulled out her keys and quickly added it to her keychain. "And Carlos, I already gave you the key for this room, correct?"

Carlos reached deep down into his jeans pocket and produced a large key ring. From it hung the room key. "Right here." he added.

"Good." Billy nodded approvingly. "You guys now who to call if you have any problems." He tapped lightly at his communicator.

Everyone nodded.

"Alrighty then. Samantha and I will be in the honeymoon suite down at the end. And dear," he looked at Samantha, smiling a little. "No 'honeymooning' untill we're married. OK?"

Samantha let out an exhasperated cry, and plopped down on the bed next to Justin, who had started up another giggle fit. She drew her face into a pout. "How come?" she squeaked. "Doing it out of wedlock never mattered before!!"

Billy flushed a deep crimson, and covered his face with his hands. "Sam...." he complained. She only sat there, smiling at him.

"My point exactly!" she exclaimed, and then everyone in the room except for Billy began to burst out laughing.

Billy moved is glance off of her quickly, to meet Justin's gaze. The younger boy immediately stopped laughing, and appeared in a trance. His jaw was slack, and it hung down, but he said not a word.

Between the two sets of eyes, an image that they could only see appeared. The two of them; Billy and Justin, were standing together in the middle of the night. Mountains of snow plummetted down from the sky above, drenching them with it's stinging wetness. They had no coats, or any other protective garments over their normal clothing, which was clinging onto their bodies. They began to trudge through the snow slowly. It was so cold, and the blizzard became far more worse. The snow was flung into their eyes by strong gusts of wind, and they stung like needles. But still they walked on.

They seemed to be searching for something, and quite desperately at that. Justin looked at Billy, and cupped his hands over his mouth. Out of it, though the sound could barely be heard, he began to call out the names of all of the other rangers. Billy followed what Justin was doing, and they proceeded over a large snowbank. Suddenly, there came a blinding flash of white light, and the two of them were knocked back into the snow, frozen and unconscious.

As the room faded back for them, they jumped back. Startled cries escaped their mouths, and they gaped at each other in amazement. The rangers and Samantha, on the other hand were very confused, and were giving the two of them strange looks. Billy grabbed onto his head, and bumped into the wall. Slowly, he slid down onto his rear.

What just happened to us?? He thought to himself, covering his eyes with his hands and rubbing fiercely. To his amazement, inside of his mind a voice rang in as clear as a bell.

Huh?? What's going on here!?

Billy jolted up. His eyes were very wide. "JUSTIN!?"

"Billy, what's going on!!!" he whined, looking at the Silver Ranger. They were both in a state of complete shock, and a thin line of sweat had formed on each of their brows. They had just shared a vision of some kind, and had read each others mind. They had talked telepathically, and had no idea of the reason why this had happened to them.

"Billy!!" Samantha cried, and hopped off of the bed to kneel beside him. She placed her shaking hand on his heaving chest and let him lean on her. "What happened? You're breathing so hard! What is the matter!?"

Billy leaned on her and let her hold him against her. His eyes were wide and locked on the pair of wide, frightened brown eyes that were across the room from him. "I...don't know...Sam. I...I...I'll talk to you about it later." he stood up, his knees wobbling. With trembling hands he reached into his pocked and pulled out his key ring. They jangled noisily as he sorted through them, looking for the right key for his room. Once he had found it, the keys dropped out of his hands and crashed down on the floor. He bent down to pick them up, and collapsed to his knees.

"Billy, Justin...what is wrong??" Cassie said to them. She walked over to Justin and he hugged onto her tightly. "Did something strange happen to you guys?"

"I said I'll talk about it later, Cassie." Billy snapped, and rushed the rest of his words. "The last thing I need to tell you is the ground rules. 1. No Smoking or Drinking. 2. No parties 3. No sex whatsoever. and 4. If you hear a lot of noise from the Honeymoon suite, DON'T come in." and with that he stumbled to his feet, grabbed onto the suitcase nearest to him and left the room.

Justin wiggled, and desperately tried to break Cassie's grip. "Let me go! I have to talk to him!!" his voice choked out with tears of fear. "Let ME GO!!!"

"Justin! Calm down, please!!" Cassie said. She leaned down and started to whisper things into his ear, as to calm him. Somehow they took some effect, and he was still and quiet. Cassie looked to the other rangers with a look of worry in her eyes. "We need to talk to them once they have calmed down. Something really bad must have happened to them that we couldn't see."

T.J. nodded as he looked at Justin, who had fallen asleep in Cassie's arms at the sound of her voice. "This could be one of Divatox's plots. She has only attacked once, and that surely wasn't the last either. We need to keep a lookout. That one battle was almost too much for Billy, who knows what she has set her sights on now?"

"But we need to get some rest first. We can't defend the world if we're dead on our feet." Carlos gestured his hands to each of the three beds. "A nice warm shower sounds really good to me right about now. Not to mention a long nap. That plane ride exhausted me."

Ashley crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. "Shower sounds good."

"I never invited YOU, Ashley."

"I know! I know!! But you do NOT wanna know what kinda thoughts just ran through my head when you mentioned yourself in the shower!"

Carlos blushed, and headed out of the room. Seconds later the sound of rushing water could be heard in the bathroom, and Carlos yelped out at how hot the water was. T.J. shook his head, smiling. Cassie stood up and lay Justin down on the pillow. His breath was quiet and deep, and he yawned. "Come on Ash, let's go get some rest."

"Right behind ya, Cass!" Ashley called, jerking herself out of a fantasy of Carlos and herself. She left the room at Cassie's heels.

Samantha looked worriedly over at T.J. "I'm scared, Teej." she said, rubbing her hands together. "I don't want anything to happen to either of them."

"I understand what you're saying, Sam. But we'll keep watch over them, BOTH of them. We won't let Divatox get anywhere NEAR them without a fight."

She pulled T.J. into a warm hug, thanking him. "I'm going to go talk to Billy, and see if he'll tell me what happened." she said. "If its something we should be worried about I'll give you a full report."

T.J. nodded, and waved to her as she headed out the door. She was going to make a good wife for Billy. Still there was something strange about her; something that he couldn't quite pin down. Part of the battle earlier that morning was very blurry and he couldn't remember it. There was something about a cat attacking Tygris, and any memories about Samantha during the battle were gone. He shrugged his shoulders and plopped onto the bed. He looked over at Justin, who slept soundly, wishing that he had known what was going on between him and Billy. T.J. knew that if Divatox came anywhere near them, that she would meet his fist head on. There was no chance that she was ever going to hurt them as long as he was around.

Meanwhile, Samantha went into the honeymoon suite, which the door had been left open. She closed it quietly behind her, and looked around the room for Billy. Upon hearing the sound of the rushing water, and seeing the steam boiling out from the bathroom, she knew that he was taking a shower.

"Billy?" She asked. "Care for some company?"

"If it's you, yes," he chuckled weakly; the memory of what he and Justin had seen was still with him.

She was with him a few moments later, running her hands across his tense shoulders. "You're very upset. What happened?"

It took a few minutes of massaging before he relaxed enough to start talking. Samantha was hoping for something more afterwards, but wanted to know what he and Justin had seen before they got into serious "honeymooning", despite the fact that they were not yet married.

"You know, it's kind of hard to concentrate with you this close to me," Billy smiled as he turned to look directly into her warm eyes. "But I think I can manage."

She giggled a little, trying to lighten the mood. "Then I'm obviously not trying hard enough to get your attention!"

"You've had my attention from the first time I saw you," he told her, kissing her at the base of her throat. "You could never lose my attention!"

Before things got too involved, Billy pulled back. "Samantha, maybe you can explain what happened to me and Justin."

In quick, terse words he explained what they'd seen, and about the telepathic moment they'd shared. "Have any ideas on what's happening?"

Samantha frowned lightly, and put her hands around his waist. He smoothed her wet hair, and she lay her head on his dripping chest. "I have no idea what it means, Billy." she sighed. "It could mean any NUMBER of things. I'm sorry."

"It's OK, really. I just hope that it isn't some of Daran or Divatox's work. If it is, they'll get a Half-breed's claws in their eyes! Not to mention everywhere else!! They'll learn not to mess with me, even if it means their deaths!"

She nodded slowly, and kissed along his neckline. "And I'll help." She added. She sighed a little. "It would be a lot easier if the others knew what we were, you know."

Billy nodded. "The new Rangers . . .well, I'm not really sure how they'd take it. I mean, a half-breed and the first cat...it's not exactly your usual situation, you know."

Samantha smiled and ran a finger down his back suddenly. "We have other things we should be doing tonight than discussing who knows what and why, Billy."

The gigantic submarine slid through the icy waters near the coast of Alaska. Divatox refused to let the rangers get slip through her fingers so easily, and had ordered the immediate deployment of her troops and her vessel to the frigid coastline of Alaska. She knew that they would not be able to defeat her without their precious zords nearby. And even if they were, there wasn't a chance that they would ever be able to drive through such deep snow!! Their location DEFINITELY gave her the upper hand!! It was ALL too perfect!

Not only that.but she had a plan. Oh yes, her plan had already begun to take shape! For in the sub with her, tied and chained up in the corner near her torpedo launcher, was Daniel Cranston. That fool Billy would never attack her if he knew that she had his father, and would not take a second thought to kill him. Her plan was flawless. She had the Half-breed's father, and he would surrender.

And yes, she had indeed found out about Billy's.condition. She had killed many half-breeds in her past, and surely this one would be no problem. From where she heard of Billy, was the strangest of all. At night, when she had fallen asleep, a man with a gruff voice whispered valuable information to her. Sometimes Divatox thought that she could hear a woman giggling softly in the background, but she often ignored it. All that mattered is that the information was true, and that she was going to take advantage of it! She didn't know quite HOW yet, but she had plenty of time to think of something. After all, she wanted to save her major attack for after the two goody-two-shoe's lovebirds were married.

She had been looking into her periscope, viewing the glaciers up ahead. They would present no problem to her; for all she had to do was use her torpedoes. And KABLOOEY!! They would be space dust, and the sub could get through without any problems. Smiling wickedly, she pushed her periscope up, turned, and walked over to Daniel. Muffled cries came from him, choked off by the gag they had put in his mouth when capturing him. Laughing, Divatox grabbed onto the ropes that bound his wrists, and pulled him up to her.

"Having a nice trip?" she snarled, letting out an evil giggle.

"Mmpph!! Nmph!!" Daniel grumbled, shaking his head. He struggled against her grip, crying out. But alas it was no use, for it did him no good. She was too strong for him to take down. Especially in the bonds that held him tight. This was nearly as bad as the time that the Hunter had set the trap of roots for himself and Rachael.

Divatox studied the man that was her arch-nemesis's father, and found that he was not half bad looking for a human. It would be nice to have some nice dirty fun with him before he was killed. After all, she had learned when she was younger: "Never let a good looking captive man go to waste!" and she didn't plan on going against that rule with this man. It wasn't like it was gonna be an ongoing thing or anything, just a one time fling. No Big deal. It's not like he wasn't going to be dead within the next month. "Oh.I have BIG plans for you, little man. Would you like to know what they are?"

He shook his head, shouting out muffled "No!" `s. Anything that this woman had plans for him to do could not in any way, be a good thing. He didn't need an ugly purple haired lady messing with him, just as he had found out where Billy was going to be married! He had been on his way to the airport to join the rangers, when this egg headed monster jumped him {with many fish looking creatures, I might add} and brought him to this disgraceful looking subcraft! He didn't want any plans that she had for him!

"Well," she rubbed her chin with her gloved hand, still holding him tightly with the other. "First of all, you're going to be my bait for destroying your son, Billy and all his pukish Power Ranger friends!" She paused for a minute, licked her lips and did her very best to look seductive. "And the second thing is, you will have to sleep with me, whether you want to or not!"

And before he could even put up protest, he was dragged into Divatox's sleeping quarters, to be the object of her pleasures.

Meanwhile, though she did not know it, her two stowaways were scrounging around for something to eat in the hold. Scorpina found herself nibbling at something, that tasted like it used to be some type of bread, while Daran tore at some raw fish with his teeth. They had spent the last few days in the sub, telling Divatox about the Half-breed. They needed all the help that they could get in defeating him.

Growling, Daran threw down the fish. "So, what are we going to do with the Half-breed once we have him killed? Besides rule the world with the amulet that he will leave behind of course!"

"Oh, I donno. Possibly open up our own beachside resort? I have always wanted one of those. Not to mention that I wanted to know what one IS."

"I don't believe you understood me!" he exclaimed, snatching the hardtack out of her hand. "What are we going to do with his rotting corpse? It might be worth something you know!"

"Hmm..there are so many options. We don't want to give him a decent funeral of course!"

"Of course not! Why would we?"

"Well..as I always say, `We'll think of something'. We do have a month or so before our major plan takes shape."

"You're right." He muttered, climbing to his feet. "We've got plenty of time. And there is one thing we know for sure."

Daran looked out through the porthole of the sub, staring at the clear ocean waters. "The Half-breed will die."

"Whoops! Be careful there, Justin! Don't wanna hurt yourself!" Carlos lifted a snow covered Justin out of the snow and set him back up on his skis.

Justin began to laugh. "I told ya! I've never been skiing in my whole life! So far, it's been FUN!!"

"Justin, all you have done is fall down face first into the snow on your way to the chair lift. We haven't even begun to ski yet!" T.J. said, smiling broadly. He handed Justin the ski pole that he had dropped. Laughing still, Justin grabbed hold of the pole and snatched it away.

"It's still fun!" he said, and pulled his ski goggles over his eyes. You had to admit, he did look a little funny with such big goggles on a small face. Everyone covered their mouths with their gloved hands to press back their oncoming laughter. He put his hands on his hips, so that the poles of his skis were sticking straight out to his sides. "What?" he questioned, giving them a strange look through the goggles.

"N.nothing!!" Billy gasped, turning red in the face. He turned to look away from Justin. It was just too funny! No one could possibly have looked at him and not laughed!

"Oh, this is great!" Justin was torn between being angry and laughing himself, he had an idea of how he had to look like this. "My best friends are all laughing at me!"

Cassie managed to control herself long enough to tell him, "It's too bad Divatox isn't here to see you, she'd laugh herself straight off the planet!"

Justin widened his eyes at this, and the sight of that through the goggles just sent them all into more and more spasms of laughter they could no longer hide. "Oh, fine! Keep laughing!" Justin pretended to be upset and started to stalk off through the snow.

He managed to take about four steps before he tripped over his ski poles yet again, and said something muffled by the snow. "What was that?" Billy called over to his young friend. Justin sat up and struggled to his feet and looked back over to them.

"Nothing," he smiled a little, then whipped one hand from behind his back, throwing a perfectly packed and rounded snowball straight at Billy.

"Hey!" the Silver Ranger clawed at his face, trying to clear the snow out of his eyes. "Justin!"

The littlest Ranger would've run, if every last one of the others hadn't started pelting him that moment with snowballs they'd scooped up at a moment's notice. "ACK!" he wailed, grinning. "I'm under attack!"

"That's what you get for hitting me!" Billy tossed two snowballs of his own at Justin, then stopped the fight with a quickly raised hand. "We came here to ski, not snowball fight!" When everyone responded to that with moans and groans of disappointment, Billy told them, "We can have the snowball fight after we ski!"

"Really? We can do that? Alright!!" and with that, a snowball went hurtling into Ashley's face, covering her nice yellow coat with the fine white powder. She crinkled her nose, and reached up to brush herself off, only to be plowed into by Carlos. He too, living in Honduras the majority of his life, hadn't the slightest clue on how to ski, and was almost as big a klutz as Justin was at it. It seemed as if they were TAKING TURNS falling over their own two feet! And when Carlos began to curse in Spanish, all of the others tripped over their OWN feet and started to laugh

"Ow!! Watch where you're going burrito boy!" Ashley complained, grabbing onto his hair and shoving him off of her into the snow. "Can we make it to the chair lift without one of you two tripping on the way?"

Carlos stumbled back up onto his feet, arms flailing the ski poles in all directions. "I..hope we ca.WOAH!!" in his attempt to turn around, he fell on his butt into the snow.

"I guess not!" T.J. said, reaching up into his coat to remove the snowball that Justin had stuffed in it. "Come on you guys! Are we gonna have to pick you up and carry you?"

Just as Justin gave her a weird look, Samantha chuckled quietly, and backed up into Billy. "Um.did you HAVE to say that, T.J.?"

"Can we just get to the chair lift and start skiing?" Cassie sighed, though she was smiling widely. "I would like to get on the slopes before I become old and gray!" She laughed and made her way over to chair lift. Ashley came to sit next to her, and they were carried off. Next came Billy and Samantha, which the two of THEM could not seem to stop kissing. T.J. somehow managed to get Justin onto the lift, and Carlos miraculously got on all by himself.

Surprisingly enough to all of them, they made it across from the chair lift with no problems at all. Justin and Carlos didn't drop a single ski poll, lose their goggles, fall off or ANYTHING. It seems as if things had taken a change for the better, and there would be no more screw ups the rest of the day.

Boy, were they ever wrong.

First, Justin tripped as he tried to get off of the lift, and lost one of his poles. As he fell, the poll dropped from his hand and went crashing all the way down the mountainside, never to be seen again. To his dissapointment, Justin had to sit out until they found him a boogey board to sled on.

Then there was Carlos. Poor little Carlos started off well enough. He started down the hill pretty well, and didn't take a spill. But oh, did that ever change. About half-way down the hill, he began to slide out of control. Screaming, he barreled down the hill; his hands out in front of him. It wasn't too long before his left hand, the left side of his torso, his left leg and the left side of his face came in painful contact with a gigantic fir tree.

Letting out a shrill cry of pain, Carlos collapsed into the deep snow. His entire body throbbed. That is, all except his left wrist. It was very numb, and out from underneath the rim of his glove, came a thin stream of blood. He groaned and turned his head to one side. The cold snow seeped in through his garments.chilling him to the bone. It wasn't long before he lost consciousness.

Seconds before the impact, the rangers saw him spinning out of control, and were calling out to him. Now they knelt down next to him, crying out desperately for help. Ashley held the unconscious Carlos close to her, hot tears streaming down her face. Cassie and T.J. managed to get back atop of the slope, and made their way to the nearest ski lodge.

"Hey!! We've got an emergency here!!" T.J. yelled as he burst into the lodge, not bothering to toss down his polls or remove his skis. Cassie stumbled in after him. Indeed, all eyes were on them as they stood in the doorway.

"Our friend! He slid out of control on the slope, and hit a tree! He's bleeding from his wrist, and he's unconscious! Please! We need a phone, an ambulance, SOMETHING!" Cassie was trembling uncontrollably, her face streaked with tears. "Please.he needs help."

Some of the people looked at each other, and one headed for a phone and called the hospital. Another person, a young woman came up to them.

"I am a doctor." She said, as she grabbed onto her parka and pulled it on. "I am Nika Lewis. Now, if you don't mind, take me to your friend and I'll see what I can do for him until the helicopter arrives." Nika grabbed onto a medical kit nearby, and rushed at the door with T.J. and Cassie at her heals.

There was no need for either of them to tell Nika where Carlos was, for Ashley led her there with her loud screaming. The three of them stumbled down the slope, and made their way to where the collision had occurred. Nika had to push them all away, and pry Ashley away from Carlos so that she could examine him. She carefully looked over him, making sure that she did not injure him any further, and to make sure that he did not get anymore wet than he already was, she took off her parka and gently lay him down upon it. She grabbed the goggles off from his eyes, took off the elastic band and made a tourniquet. She secured it tightly to his upper arm to stop the bleeding, but already she knew that he had lost many pints of blood by the deeply red colored snow that surrounded the area from which she had moved him.

Much to everyone's relief, the helicopter arrived only minutes later, and carried both Carlos and Nika to the hospital. The remaining people made their way up the hill, all the way back to the hotel in record time. From there, they teleported to the hospital, and sat in the crowded waiting room, waiting for news on Carlos. To Justin and Billy, this was almost like waiting to find out what had happened to Rocky, and they hoped that his injuries would not cause him to have to leave the team.

Hours after hours passed, with no word on his condition. Ashley had long since stopped pacing back and forth, and everyone else could not seem to stop fidgeting. They desperately wanted to know how he was going to be; to see if he was going to be OK. He had hit the tree very hard, and they did not want to lose him to one stupid skiing accident. After what seemed to be an eternity, Nika came out of the emergency room with a grim visage on her face.

Cassie stood up quickly. "How is he, Nika?" she asked quickly, voice quavering.

"He.he lost a lot of blood from his wrist. As you all know, that is not a very good area to lose a lot of blood from. He needs more blood, but unfortunately..we don't have his type in stock here, like we are supposed to." She sighed. "And have been unable to find any donors."

Billy looked to Samantha, and then to each of the others. He pursed his lips and nodded, seemingly to himself and stood. "What type is he??" he inquired, his voice cold and full of concern for the Green Ranger.

"His type is O." Nika replied, shaking her head solemnly. "And people with type O can only take blood donated from other people with type O. In these parts, that type is very rare. But we still should have had some in stock."

A small smiled formed on Billy's lips. "I can donate." He said. "I'm a type O."

Nika let out a deep sigh of relief and grabbed onto Billy's arm. "Thank the gods." She said. "We need to get him that blood as soon as possible. You don't know HOW relieved I am to hear you say that!" and with that, she pulled him into the other room.

Within the hour, they had given a pint of Billy's blood to Carlos, and he was resting comfortably in his room. With the new blood, he was doing a lot better, and was somehow healing miraculously. As soon as they got the permission, each of them crowded into Carlos's small room. He was very happy to see them, and greeted them with a warm smile, and a hug for everyone. To make them feel better, despite the loss of blood, all that was wrong with him was a few bruises and a broken wrist, and within a few days he would be well enough to go back to the hotel with them. He did not have to quit the team!

"So," Justin said after a long while. "I guess you'll never want to go skiing ever again, will you Carlos?"

His response shocked each and every one of them. "Are you KIDDING!?" He exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "I have never had so much fun in my entire LIFE!!"

This caused everyone to start laughing. Even though there had been an awful accident, Carlos was not gonna let that trip him up! Despite all the bad things that had happened, they had to admit that they each had a great time! All in all it had been one heck of a day!

Of course it was not long before the nurse came in, and shoved everyone out of Carlos's room. The man promised that they would be allowed to visit him some other time, and that he would be fine within a few days, but it was plainly obvious that he was very angry with them. They had protested for a solid 10 minutes after the visiting period had ended, and he WANTED THEM OUT!! Promising Carlos that they would visit again the next day, they all left his room and went back to their hotel.

Carlos sighed and leaned back into the hard hospital bed pillows. He felt really strange, very powerful, and thought that he did not NEED to stay in the hospital any longer! But of course, he was terribly exhausted, and just before he closed his eyes, there was a flash of silver; and then he was asleep.

***Louveteau Dominion***

“The time at hand has come, my pack brothers…and sisters. Our most gracious leader, as you may all remember, died nearly a decade ago on this very night, and for that, we are saddened. But there is also cause of great joy on this night!”

“Oh, my wise older brother, why should there be cause of joy on a night which such great sorrow occurred so many…many years ago?”

“I have not only gathered you here to mourn our leader’s death of so long ago, but to announce the arrival of her heir, the most exalted half-breed to our domain. Xenos: the son of Racheal, has come.”

“Oh my! Is it true? Has he really come to save us? Has he?”

“Shhh…calm yourself Beta. Yes, indeed he has arrived on our vast, snowbound kingdom. He is not quite ready to become our leader though. You see…he has not gone through his first Transformation yet.”

“I do wish that he would hurry! We are indeed in great peril! Daran will come any day now, I am sure. And then we will all be destroyed! Without him we are lost, you KNOW that, Alpha!”

“He is learning as fast as he is able, Omega. Our own gracious leader, even in death is assisting him into becoming a fine leader for us. Don’t you fret now. He will come for us as soon as the Transformation occurs.”

"I concur, Alpha. This is indeed a time for celebration as much as it is sorrow. Though Racheal has left us in body, she will never leave us in mind and spirit. We all know that any offspring of Her…will be in her likeness, and a wonderful leader. We have no need to fear. Xenos will rise soon enough!"

"Well stated, Gamma! Now everyone, you know that we MUST prepare for his arrival. He, as yet, has no idea what he is FULLY capable OF. It is our job, and ours alone to prepare him. Racheal has brought him as far as she is able, and now it is our turn."

"I have devised a perfect plan to get him, my lord."

"Do tell the whole court, so that we may all know."'

"I have been working for many, many weeks on my enchanted howls. The ones that you asked me to invent for the purpose of roping the Half-breed. Or more precisely, attracting him."

"Go on, go on."

"I have perfected them. One tiny sip of this elixir, and one crystal clear howl into the light of the full moon will attract him miles away! He wont Transform as of yet, but he will at least hunt, and act as we do. And that, of course, is the next step before the Transformation."

"My, my, my, Delta. You have been quite the busy little wolf, haven't you? Well that is not to say that I am EXTREMELY pleased with this report. The only flaw at the moment, is that the full moon is an entire week away. But as Racheal told unto us, 'All things will come in their own due time. If we are not patient, then we may miss the greatest of opportunities that lay in the paths ahead of us.' And so now we will wait. The meeting of Louveteau Dominion has been adjourned. Until then, my loyal pack. May the Power Protect You.”

***Divatox’s Sub ***

“I’ll be right back, my little Sugar Dumpling.” Divatox practically purred into Daniel Cranston’s ear. She smiled sweetly as he nodded with acknowledgement, and curled up asleep in the gigantic bed as he pulled the dark purple comforter over his bare torso. Pulling on her cape, she gently touched his cheek with her long fingernails, and kissed him lightly on the forehead. So she wasn’t going to kill him after all. So what? He still made pretty good bait, considering that Billy would do anything to get his father away from her.

Not that Daniel would necessarily WANT to be taken away from her, now.

And no, it’s not what you think. Not a single love spell/potion or anything of the sort was used on Billy’s father. Not one. It had all happened so suddenly, you see. At first, Daniel was not exactly thrilled with the purple haired woman who was trying to rip his clothes off, and Divatox wasn’t really in any mood to be sociable, and had kept him gagged and tied. But….then she looked into his eyes. Twin seas of endless blue; captivating her. She couldn’t believe herself when she found that he had untied him, and they began to talk.

But as you can tell by the way things have been described, that talk is not all they did. They both found out, that with each other it was truly possible to leave a deceased loved one behind, and love another. As revolting as it may sound, Divatox and Daniel Cranston had fallen head over heals in love with each other, and both were not sure in the least exactly how it happened that way. It just…well... Happened.

She left the room quietly, so that he could rest. The previous night had been a busy one for him, and heaven forbid, he needed it. Besides…Divatox had other fish to fry. Or other wolves for that matter. Somehow, she never COULD stick with a plan to back off of something until the appropriate time. There was always a constant need, a continuous urge within her to attack. She was war-driven, I guess you could say. But that of course, it the nature of a space pirate. Everyone knows that!

“Oh, Porto!” she complained, looking through her periscope in her usual manner. “Why can’t I ever be pleased with a perfect plan! I want to destroy the rangers NOW!!”

“Well, my captain. You can always toy with them a bit before the master plan. Just try not to drop a hint that it is you…so that we can remain undercover. It wouldn’t be smart to ruin our perfect plans, just as soon as they are within our grasp, only because you were bored and felt like attacking.” Porto said to her, looking through The Intergalactic Yellow Pages. He was obviously searching for a monster that Divatox could use in her plans.

“Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do you giant marshmallow! I know what I am doing! They’ll never suspect a THING!!” she screamed. She grabbed tightly on the hatch to his porthole like face, pulled the little door open, spit in his face, then slammed it closed. “GOT IT!?”

“Y…yes. Of course I understand, my captain!” he wailed, and continued to leaf through the enormous phone book. “Aha!!” he declared. “I have found the PEFECT monster!!”

“Hmm?????”

“You remember that WONDERFUL woman we met on Raliaan IV. The one with the wings?”

“Oh, Falconia. Yes…I remember her. To my knowledge, she is the only monster I ever hired that was any good.” Divatox put her hands on her hips and peered over the spine of the phone book to look at it. Porto had his finger planted on the picture of a woman, who looked very much like a bird of prey.

“Shall I give her a call?” he questioned, searching around for the telephone. Reaching up underneath a pile of seaweed that Elgar used as a decoration, he pulled out a ruby red telephone and stuck it inside the porthole like door covering his face; his fingers ready to dial.

“Sure, sure. Go right ahead. But if this brilliant scheme of yours doesn’t work…” she grabbed the top of his head and brought his face up to hers. “You had better know how to swim…got it!?” and with that, she slammed the porthole closed on the phone cord.

Shakily, Porto replied as he dialed the number. “Yes, my Queen. Falconia will not fail!” Only seconds after he dialed, there was a sudden click, and the phone went dead. “That’s odd.”

“No! It’s Falconia!!” a woman screeched as she mysteriously appeared on the Sub. She indeed did look like a falcon, with long white wings with grayish streaks. She had a long, curved beak, bright yellow eyes, and her feet were shaped like that of talons. But those were the only falcon like things about her. The rest of her body was shaped like that of a human female; a sturdy warrior woman. “What do you want!?” She demanded. “I thought that I had given you enough help with Raliaan IV!!”

“Yes, yes, yes…of course you did, Falconia. But my queen wishes your assistance again. She wants you to be secretive, as you were last time, and don’t let the Power Rangers know that you are working for her. Queen Divatox has BIG plans for them, and if you don’t keep it quiet, then they will all be ruined, got it?”

“And WHY is the big Marshmallow Porthole Head talking to me? Why doesn’t ‘Queen Divatox’ talk to me herself?” Falconia peered behind Porto’s enormous head. “Where IS she anyway?”

“Why, she’s right…” as Porto turned around to see where Divatox had been, he found that she had disappeared. “Here.” He finished.

“Oh my! Has Divatox taken up magic? She doesn’t appear to be there to me!”

“Just do what I say, Falconia. I’m sure Divatox is doing something very important. Now, you have heard of the Power Rangers, right? Or am I going to have to brief you?”

“No, no, no, Marshmallow man. I don’t need any briefing. Every villain from any galaxy has heard of them! Unbeaten, eh? Well not for long!” she cackled down deep. “Watch out, Power Rangers! You’ve met your match!” And before Porto could say another word to her, she had disappeared from the sub.

He sighed deeply, and went to take care of the things that need to be done for a sub to remain in working order. Rygog had been severely punished for his defiance, Porto knew. He, along with Elgar, was quite possibly still swimming outside; for Divatox had thrown them out into the deep, cold ocean. Suddenly, above his head he heard sounds. Low, metal clanging sounds; like someone was walking around in the air vents above him. “Who’s there!?” he exclaimed, reaching for a large object to bang on the ceiling.

Daran and Scorpina backed up against the wall, whispering profanities to each other. When Porto finally quieted, and they looked down through the vent to find that he had left the main control room. Scorpina slumped down onto the floor, still cursing.

“We almost gave ourselves away!” she exclaimed, growling at Daran. “You know, we BOTH gotta be careful! Not just me, you know!”

“Would you just SHUT UP! I know it was BOTH of our faults. Great god, Scorpina, you truly ARE the fool of this duo!”

She looked up at him, nearly jumping back as he cracked his gigantic knuckles. "W . . .well, you know we need to get a plan, and FAST! You saw how quickly Divatox snatched up that monster and sent it down. It’s only fair that we get to torture the rangers as well! You never know, we just might get rid of that pesky Half-breed once and for all!"

“Can’t you ever be patient, woman? We’ll get to it soon enough!”

“We are only waiting, because your royal freakishness…” she jutted her index finger out to point at him. “Has not come up with a brilliant scheme yet, no matter what he says!”

Daran growled, and with a swipe of his arm, backhanded her in the chin. She went crashing into the opposite wall, and slumped onto the ground. Slowly, Scorpina lifted her head to look up at him as he towered over her. There was an evil scowl on his face, and he reached town and took hold of her long black hair. With a fierce pull, he had her dangling her feet nearly two feet off the ground, being face to face with him. She trembled with fear, and bit down hard on her lip. His hot breath coursed around her face, and the low growl still resonated within him. “You had better not lose your tongue with me, you puny little bug, or along with it your head shall go! Is that understood??”

She nodded her head to the best of her ability, the rest of her body trembled with fear. With a loud grunt, he again hurled her into the wall.

“That’s better!” he snarled. “You know better than to get smart with me. I indeed have a plan, but it is not yet ready to be unleashed.” He plunged his booted foot into her side, pinning her to the wall of the already cramped area. She gasped for a breath, but none would come. Her eyes watery, she managed to gaze up at him. Daran had the most evil grin on his face, and pushed his foot deeper into her midriff. “Is that also understood?”

Scorpina’s voice came out as nothing but a shrill, squeaking whisper. “Yes, master.”

He kicked her once more, and then stalked off to the other end of the narrow hallway. Scorpina pushed herself up onto her elbows, glaring at him through her dark eyes. There was a sudden flash of red that sparked through them…but then it disappeared. She gasped, catching the breath that she had lost, and slowly began to regain her energy.

Just who did this guy think he was anyway?? The king of the entire universe? Ha! Fat chance on that one! He wasn’t any more powerful than she was…it was just that he was a man. Daran was nothing but a self-centered, chauvinistic pig. Well his high and mighty personality was going to be his downfall, which was for certain! If there was one thing that Scorpina could not stand, it was a man who thought that he was the center of everything. She was not ever going to live this down; not a chance in hell. She knew, that she would get the better of him, and at a time when it would most hurt him, and he would least suspect it. But…then…how should she go about it.

She craned her neck to look down the hallway, only to find Daran asleep at the end of it. Around his neck, she spied the 5 medallions. Now…if he didn’t have those…it would cost him everything. Perfect! Scorpina climbed to her feet slowly, both for stealth, and the fact that she was still extremely sore. Quietly, slowly, she crept down the hall, keeping her eyes locked on his huge, sleeping bulk. He did not budge in the least. She was fortunate that he could sleep through anything. Soon she was hovering over him.

She clicked her tongue distastefully, shaking her head. “Such a pity…what a fool you are.” she murmured, and knelt down silently beside him. Outstretching her arms, she managed to catch the chains of the medallions under her slender fingers…just barely grazing the skin of Daran’s neck. He sighed deeply, then turned away from her, as if to roll over. She gasped, nearly losing her grip on the gold chains…but somehow she managed still to keep hold of them. Then she realized, that now that he had rolled over, it would be easier to remove them from around his neck. Just the stroke of luck that she needed! With quick haste, she jerked all five of the medallions from around his neck, and silently stole back to the other side of the hall.

“I have triumphed!” she whispered excitedly, holding the medallions in front of her. They twirled around and around, and the gold twinkled in the light from the main control room below, sending gold flashes around the area surrounding her. With an impish grin, she stowed them carefully in the hilt of her sword at her hip. They would be safe there, for her sword was not as long as it’s sheath…and now Daran would never find them.

Indeed he would pay for his foolishness.

Part 5

***Back at the Hotel***

"You guys! Hurry it up! I see Nika and Carlos coming this way!" Justin grabbed hold of the curtains and pulled them closed. He hopped off the window seat, narrowing his eyes and putting his hands on his hips. "Faster! We haven't got all day! Quit being such slow pokes! Get a move on here." The youngest ranger ran around the room, barking out orders to the others.

Billy managed a small smile as he looked down at Justin from the chair on which he was standing. In his hands, he held one end of a gigantic banner, and T.J. was across the room, holding the other. He too was standing on a chair and they both were trying to hang the banner so that Carlos could see it as soon as he walked in.

The Blue Ranger had seemed to take control of the entire party plan. After all, it was his idea! He was like a tiny army sergeant with long hair, marching around the room and clapping his hands together. All the while he was shouting, his teenage boy's voice cracking as he demanded that Cassie put the sodas out, Samantha get out the streamers, Ashley stop eating the chips, and that Billy and TJ hurry their butts up with the stupid banner. All in all, it was a really comical moment indeed…if only they had a video camera!

As a matter of fact, since Carlos's accident, Justin had been more independent, and taking more charge. Carlos's accident and injury had affected all of them. It terrified them that one of their friends; their teammate, nearly died. And after all of that, the guy still wanted to go skiing again! There was just no stopping the unstoppable, I suppose...but now he was coming back after getting released from the hospital, changed forever in a way that only one of them could possibly understand.

Billy grimaced, taking his gaze from perpendicular, to stare right down into Justin's eyes. Instantly, the both of them froze. They had, ever since the first time they had caught each other's gaze, been avoiding looking each other in the eyes. Now Billy had done it, and now it was happening. Images swirled around them, the world became black, and everyone else around them faded.

And when they awoke, the two of them were tied to gigantic wooden stakes, hovering directly above a roaring blaze. Justin let out a startled cry, and Billy growled deeply. They turned their heads off to their right side when they heard a low cackling coming from that direction. There stood a muscular, blonde haired man who was dressed from head to foot in furs. His teeth glinted in the rising fire; his lips curled into the most sinister smile imaginable. Behind him, Scorpina stood with her sword held to Carlos's throat. Each and every one of their friends; T.J., loyal red ranger, Ashley, the sometimes stubborn yet powerful yellow ranger, Cassie, the swift pink ranger, Carlos, the dark and mysterious green ranger, and Samantha, the first of all cats and Billy's beloved; we're bound tightly with what seemed to be glowing yellow ropes. When Justin saw them, he twisted and yelled, trying to break himself free.

"Stop it!" Billy snapped. "You'll get yourself fried, and that wont help anyone!" There was a low resonance to Billy's voice…something non-human about it. Justin jerked his head in Billy's direction.

"Then what do you suggest, oh powerful leader!" he declared, eyes flashing with fury brighter than that of the fire. "She's gonna kill Carlos!!"

And then Daran began to come closer, his laugh rising high and ringing in their ears. Billy looked at him, narrowing his glowering eyes. Then he noticed….Daran was not wearing the medallions! The Ape, the Crane, The Bear, The Falcon and The Frog; they were not there round his neck as they usually were! But Billy had no time to figure out where they had gone, as Daran swiped down his knife and hacked the ropes that tied Justin and Himself off of the stake and the two of them plummeted towards the flames…and Carlos's scream echoed high into the night…

Billy and Justin snapped out of it almost immediately, gasping for breath and falling backwards to land on their rears.

"It happened again!" cried Justin. "It happened again! We saw another vision! We saw it!!!"

"Carlos…" Billy panted, rising to his feet. "Where's Carlos!? And Daran and…." He looked at everyone else, who's eyes were wide and full of fright. He gulped loudly and told them, "It happened again…we met each other's gaze and saw a vision. It was…it was awful…"

"We were tied over a fire, and you guys were tied up….and Scorpina had a sword at Carlos's neck…and Daran cut the ropes and we fell into the fire and Carlos screamed and…." Justin blurted out the words so quickly that they were barely even audible, and silenced himself quickly.

As a matter of fact, everyone in the room was silent.

Until there came a knock on the door…

Ashley jumped quickly and squealed. "It's Carlos! Turn out the lights, and everyone but Billy HIDE!" without a word she jumped under the refreshment table with Justin in tow. The memory of what had just occurred disappeared, and Cassie, Sam and TJ too dashed for decent hiding places. Billy switched off all of the lights, and quietly went to open the door. He poked his head out, only to be met by a snowball, and Carlos's loud laughter.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed. Billy wiped the snow crystals out of his eyes and grinned at the Green Turbo Ranger, who had the most goofy smile on his face. Smiling was something that all of them had rarely seen Carlos do, and it really was a welcome change. "Hey! Why's it so dark in there?" he asked Billy, trying to push through the doorway. Billy stood his ground.

"Turned the lights off, everyone else is out and Justin caught a cold. Thought it might be nice for me to stay with him. You know, watching him and letting him get his rest and giving him medicine and all that…"

"Oh…" Carlos bit his lip. Nika came up from not too far behind him. "Well, can I come in, I want to see how my buddy's feeling and all…"

"Sure…you and Nika can both come in. I'm sure Justin wouldn't mind the sight of a doctor right now. I told him 'Justin, you really shouldn't have jumped into that snowbank!' but did he listen? Heck no!" Billy held open the door for the two of them, and they stepped inside the darkened hotel room.

Carlos looked around. "Where is he?" he wondered, and all of a sudden, Billy switched on the lights and people spouted out from underneath tables, beds, and out of closets. There was a gigantic banner that read "Welcome Back, Carlos!" hanging across the ceiling with multi-colored streamers and balloons. A refreshment table was piled high with food and drink, and Carlos's jaw, it was safe to say, had dropped down to the floor! Nika grinned, crooked her finger underneath his chin and covered her mouth with his. Ashley's eyes widened, and she gasped…and Carlos staggered backwards, closing his mouth. He gave a short glance to Nika, and then back to Ashley, and walked over to Ashley's side. Finding that her man was loyal, Ashley gave a satisfied "Hmph!" to Nika, who just continued to stare at Carlos.

"Wow! A party for me!" Carlos gazed around the room, trying not to think of what Nika had done to him. "I've never had a party before!" he tapped the cast on his left wrist with the palm of his right hand. Ashley put her arms lovingly around him and brought her lips to his with a loving kiss.

"Yep." She said. "We missed you while you were in the hospital…and we wanted to throw you a welcome back party!"

"It was Justin's idea!" T.J. pointed to the Blue ranger, who was practically bouncing off of the walls. Cassie nodded.

"The little nut came up the idea for a welcome back party for you once they let you out of the hospital, and we thought it was a great idea!"

"Yeah, well I think it's an absolutely superb idea…" an unfamiliar, screeching voice cooed. All of them turned to look at Nika, who's parted lips had just uttered the sentence. They curled into a twisted and evil smile.

Carlos's eyes bulged as he stood there, completely still and staring at her. His jaw was slack and his arms hung limply at his sides. "Nika…" he whispered, then gulped suddenly as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. She was giving him an uncomfortable feeling. His deep brown eyes darted around the room, catching the worried gazes of his friends and trying his hardest not to meet Nika's glowering stare.

There was something that just wasn't right about her on this day. Everything about her was different except for her appearance, and even then there seemed a dark presence about her. She had never kissed him before; never even tried to come onto him for that matter. And now this change in her voice…the screeching, grating harshness. The evil, the anger…the rage…the hatred. All were there, in her voice, appearance and personality. He could sense it, somehow, though he knew that he never would have sensed it before. Now he wondered why he had noticed it now, but to him it was like she wasn't even Nika at all.

That was it!!!

She wasn't Nika!

Somehow, deep within him he could feel it. She wasn't Nika at all, but an imposter in Nika's skin! He knew…that underneath she wasn't even a human. A bird…what was this about a bird? She was a bird!! What had this imposter done with Nika!?

The clone waltzed over to Carlos, purring deep within her throat. "What is it, lover?" she asked him, a saucy smile upon her lips.

"Who are you?" he demanded, jumping back as Nika's hands, stolen by some force of evil and hatred, caressed his chest gently. "What have you done with Nika!"

"Nika is dead, lover-boy." She cooed. "Good and dead."

"DEAD!? You killed her, you devil!! WHO ARE YOU!?" he grabbed hold of her shoulders and shook her fiercely. She cackled shrilly, and Carlos screamed and jumped back. As he did so, he looked down at his hands. There in his palms lay a large clump of gray and white feathers. He then lifted his gaze to look up at Nika's killer and gasped.

She was covered with the same feathers that he held, obviously he had rip them from her shoulders as he had shaken her. Her once soft and lovely features twisted and changed before their eyes, revealing long curved and pointed beak, and deep set, bright yellow eyes. Her clothing had vanished, revealing that her entire frame was covered in the same feathers. Everyone in the room gasped and reached quickly into their pockets to get their keys; the source of their power.

They had to get rid of this monster, and fast.

Billy snatched his key out first and fell into the all too familiar stance. T.J. and Justin fell in step behind him seconds later and given a few more seconds, Ashley and Cassie were in formation too. Samantha backed away from the potential battle, and Carlos still stood there, digging around in his pockets.

Billy turned his head off to the side, looking hard at Carlos. "Come on, Carl." He snapped the command. "Get your key, and let's go!"

Carlos shot a panicked look, still searching in his pockets and coat. "I know I had it right here!" he explained, his voice filled with worry. "It's gone!!"

"Oh, shit…" Billy cursed under his breath, and low murmur ran through the remaining rangers. "Come on you guys, we have to go on without him. You…" he pointed at Carlos with his index finger, eyes practically glowing. "You keep looking for your key, we'll hold it off until you do." And then the Silver Ranger turned his attentions back tot he monster.

With their keys out at the ready, they all let out a loud cry of "Shift Into Turbo!" and their arms flailed in the familiar morphing sequence. All flashed with bright light that when it faded, 5 Turbo armored stood in the place of the 5 civilians, poised for battle.

"Who are you, chicken butt!?" T.J. barked out as he put his gloved hands on hips. "And what do you want from us!?"

Falconia scratched the ground furiously with her massive talons. "What who you're calling 'chicken butt' there, Baldy!" she screeched/ "I am Falconia, conqueror of galaxies and I answer to no one, before you assume that I am working for one of your low class super-villains!"

"Gee…that is a reassuring thought to brood over." Cassie crossed her arms and shook her head. "Bite me, Bird Brain!"

"Well, you'll fear me soon enough, missy! I always get what I want, when I want it! And if you wanna learn that the hard way, have it your way! Well, well, well! Lookie what I have here!" she held up a communicator and a key and then slipped the communicator onto her wrist. Carlos's head shot up from where he had been looking through a suitcase, and he screamed. "A batch of Desert Thunder Turbo Chargers! Just what I what I always wanted, and now they're mine, all mine at last!" The bird-like creature doubled over laughing.

With an ear-shattering scream, Carlos dashed out to slam into Falconia. Cries and shouts of disapproval rang out in a chorus of voices, calling for Carlos to get away from the monster. But he refused to listen to them

In one fluid motion, Falconia issued out the morphing sequence using the stolen Turbo Chargers. The bird woman stood there, dressed in Carlos's green armor seconds later. Her feminine curve filled it's normally manly, muscular form like a glove. Like lightning, the false Green Turbo Ranger grabbed the real one and held him close. Her grip on him implied that she had no intentions on letting him go.

"Now I have the other thing I wanted!" she shrieked, drowning out the shouts of the terrified group of Power Rangers. "So nice and spicy….like a nice big cuddly burrito. Yum…" she seemed to slip off into her fantasies, yet her grip on Carlos had slackened none.

"What are we going to do?" Ashley whined and clasped her hands together. There were soft sounds of sobbing through her helmet. Justin came up and hugged her warmly, trying his best to comfort her. Still, she sobbed louder.

"This isn't fair…" Billy gestured to where Carlos was being held, shaking his head. "We cant attack her for fear of hurting Carlos, and I don't want to take any chances."

T.J. sighed. "That'd understandable, the poor guy's been through so much. We don't want to maim him or anything."

"But if we DON'T do anything," Cassie pointed out. "Then SHE might maim him…or rape him, which ever comes first!"

"There isn't much that we can do then, is there? Some leader I am…."

Stop that this very instant, William Cranston!

Billy looked up, shocked and overjoyed. "Mom???"

Billy…you know that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. Just be patient, and things will happen in their due time. Do you honestly think that after all those visions that you've had, that the Ne…I mean Carlos is going to die in this battle? Heaven forbid, Billy, what WERE you thinking.

"You…mean those images were real?"

That I did, but take heed, I will not tell you all that is to happen. You must do much of this on your own. Just a friendly reminder from your friendly neighborhood ghost wolf-mom. Now you know what you must do, or at least, my friend does…

It was then when the Turbo Rangers remembered Samantha. She had been helping Carlos look for his Turbo Chargers before he lashed out at Falconia, and now she was in her cat form, prowling towards the womanized bird of pray. She sneaked up quietly from behind her, and with a quick swish of the paw, Falconia was on her back and screaming. Carlos scrambled to his feet, snatching his Turbo Chargers away from her, and then cried, "Shift Into Turbo!" And he was now back in his rightful position of the Desert Thunder Turbo Ranger. He whirled about to face Falconia, still writhing on the ground and let his booted foot impact on her stomach. She rolled, and leapt up, screeching with anger. Carlos gave the rangers and Samantha a thumbs up sign, then balled up his fists again.

"You…puny little….Power Pukes!!!" Falconia was rasping; Carlos had dealt her a pretty serious blow and she was just now getting to regain her breath. "You…you'll never defeat Falconia!"

Samantha had just about had enough. To her, this bird was LUNCH! She lunged out and caught Falconia's wing with her massive jaws and bit down as hard as she could and began to drag her towards the door. Carlos ran to the door and flung it wide open, then moved out of the way so that Samantha could get through. Nodding slightly to Carlos as a sign of thanks, the gigantic cat dragged the bird-woman out into the snow. With a loud grunt, she flung Falconia as hard as she could, straight into a gigantic snow bank.

Billy shouted a quick, "Come on!" to the rest of his team, and the whole lot of them raced after Samantha, just in time to see Falconia bursting out of the hill of snow. She shivered and shook, then let out an earth-shattering screech of rage.

"Stupid cat, Stupid Power Rangers! You're all gonna pay for this!" She flapped her limp wing in their direction.

T.J. let out a deep-voiced chuckle. "Ha! I'd like you to give us your best shot!"

Falconia cawed at him, then started to charge. "You asked for it!!!!" she declared, and before T.J. could so much as move, she had pounced upon him and was ripping at him with her talons.

He squirmed, shouting out his pain. She was too heavy, he couldn't get her off! She just kept ripping, and ripping, and ripping….

Cassie screamed and pulled out her bow. "Hey, chicken shit!" she screamed, and just as Falconia turned around to screech at her, Cassie fired the bow and knocked Falconia off of T.J. Grateful to say the least, T.J. climbed to his feet, then pulled out his sword. Billy ran up next to him.

"Let's take her out…" Billy rumbled. T.J. nodded, with with short battle cries they charged with their swords out in front of them. A large wing flapped down and knocked the swords out of their hands and into the snow. They hadn't even gotten a chance!!

Arrows and bolts of electricity flew past their heads to strike Falconia. At least the others hand their weapons! The red and silver rangers bolted forward and grabbed their swords out of tnhe snow, then held them in front of them at the ready. Their teammates streamed up to stand beside them.

Falconia, to say the least, was ANGRY! Suddenly, before their eyes she began to grow to unimaginary height, and without the help of any spinning orbs or torpedoes! The group of Turbo rangers gasped and jumped back.

Billy turned to Justin. "You know what we gotta do." He said, then brought his fingertip to his earplate. "We need Turbozord power NOW!!"

As if they had been placed in Alaska all along, the 6 zords burst out from underneath the snow and sped towards their corresponding rangers. All leapt and were in the cockpit seconds later.

"Okay Rangers, Sound off!" Billy barked.

"Red Lightning: T.J.! Everything's ready here!"

"Mountain Blaster: Justin here! Let's kick some tailfeather!"

"Desert Thunder: This is Carlos! All systems are online!"

"Dune Star: Ashley here! I STILL like this stereo!"

"Wind Chaser: Cassie! Ashley, shut up and drive the zord!"

Billy looked at the gigantic monster standing in front of them, and decided that just their zords alone would not be able to conquer the monster. "Come on, guys! Let's bring em together!"

Insantly, the six zords changed their shape, andbegan to snap together. It wasn't long before the Turbo megazord stood in front of the evil Falconia, and was menacingly swining the Turbo sword at her. She only laughed.

"And this is what I am up against?" she snorted. "And I thought you guys were powerful! You can't beat me with that gigantic tin can, bucket of bolts you're driving! That thing couldn't hurt a fly!"

Billy retorted bravely, "You can think that all you want, Falconia! But you know what? You'll never defeat the Power Rangers! TURBO SPINOUT!!"

The zord began run at Falconia at full speed, then spin furiously. She yelped and tried to back away, but the spinning saber caught her in the stomach, and she errupted into flames, then crashed to the ground.

"That was easy…" said Ashley. "And she thought she was so tough!"

"She was all talk, and no fight…She thought that her threats would scare us and make us wearker, and then she'd be able to beat us. " Carlos said, then he shivered. "She almost had me too…I have to thank Samantha for saving me from her."

Billy grinned underneath his helmet. "I bet Sam was glad to help you."

T.J. looked at them all, and they all were suddenly quiet. "You guys…" he pointed out. "What about Nika?"

Carlos nearly screamed. "Oh my god! Nika! She's dead!!!!!!"

At that moment and time…there seemed to be nothing that they could say that could calm him down. Falconia had killed the doctor that had saved his life, and even though the rangers had destroyed her, Carlos was still not satisfied. He had been good friends with Nika…and to find out that she was dead…well…that hurt him more than he would ever know. Whoever sent Falconia out, whether she worked alone or not, was going to pay dearly for taking the life of a friend to all of them.

That night, which was the night before Billy and Samantha's wedding…Carlos stood alone outside, staring up at the moon. Tears glistened in his eyes with the pale light that the moon shone down. He had his arms hanging down limply at his sides, the one un-injured fist clenched tightly. "Lady above…guide her soul to the Summerland, that she may be reborn and perhaps, someday, we shall meet again." He whispered the words quietly, then wiped the runaway tear trailing down his cheek off.

T.J. came up behind him quietly, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry…" he said gently, trying to be comforting to his friend. Carlos only bowed his head in response, whispering a few words. When he looked up at the moon again, T.J. continued. "Maybe…you should come inside. Billy's wedding is tommorrow morning…and…you're the best man. Besides, you're going to catch your death of cold out here, it's below freezing now."

Carlos turned around and nodded, and then the two of them headed back for the hotel room. It had been a tiring day…and the one to follow was coming up fast. It was almost time…for Billy: The Blue Ranger…Billy: The Silver Wolf Zeo Ranger….Billy: The Silver Wolf Turbo Ranger…to marry the woman he loved. It was almost his wedding day.

There was a definite chill in the air that morning, but that was normal for Alaska, and in no way took away from the warmth and love inside the small chapel. Billy's heart thudded in his chest as he waited in front of the chaplain. He could hardly believe today was the day. After everything that had happened, after all that had tried to stop them, from Scorpina to Gasket to Daran, he and Samantha were finally going to be married.

"You're nervous," he glanced over at Carlos, his best man. He'd always thought Adam would be performing this for him, but the former Rangers hadn't been able to make it up there in time. They did however promise that once they got their busy schedules in order and got together, that they would make it up to Sam and Billy in any way that they could.

And indeed their schedules were very busy! Tanya Sloan was taking the music world by storm with her debut platinum album "A Time to Let Go". Adam Park was no longer working at the martial arts academy, but auditioned for a minor role in a major big-screen motion picture, and had ended up landed up the lead role! He was now in the middle of the filming process in Hollywood. Nascar driver: Tommy Oliver, was taking the racing circuit by storm with his continual wins. And then there was world famous ballerina, Katherine Hillard. She was performing in the most famous ballets in the world. Rocky DeSantos was a teacher for a class of disabled children, and was attending peace conferences around the world. Jason Lee Scott had ended up travelling to Florida, and had married Kimberly Harte. They were expecting a little bundle of joy any month now…

"What makes you think that?" the Half-breed asked, doing his best to conceal the nervousness in his voice. Carlos chuckled and pointed to Billy's shaking hands.

"Just a hunch," the Green Ranger said dryly. "Chill out, this is supposed to be the happiest day of your life!"

"I know, I know," Billy was about to say more, when the doors at the back of the wedding chapel opened, and he saw Cassie standing there in her maid of honor gown. Samantha had decided against having any bridesmaids; she would be escorted by no one. The only people involved in this wedding were her, Billy, Carlos the best man, Cassie the maid of honor, the other Rangers as witnesses, and the chaplain performing the ceremony itself.

Cassie walked down the aisle, a small smile on her lips. She knew Billy and Samantha were going to be very happy together. Nothing any of their enemies could do would prevent that.

If any of the Rangers had been paying closer attention, they would have noticed two pairs of hate-filled eyes glaring at them from the shadows above. Daran whispered to Scorpina, "This is an abomination! This should not happen, we must stop it."

Scorpina shook her head. "Let them have their joy. It will make it all the sweeter when we rip it from them. Be patient." The two minions of evil watched in silent outrage as Samantha entered the chapel and the wedding began.

Billy's eyes widened as he saw her; she was more beautiful in this moment than she had ever been since he'd first known her. Words simply failed to convey how she looked. "Beautiful" wasn't good enough. "Lovely" was an insult. "Perfect" was the next thing that sprang to his mind, but even that couldn't do the job good enough. As she approached, all thoughts of how to describe her failed. It was time.

Time to be married.

"William, Samantha, you have come before this company this day to proclaim and affirm your vows of love for all time," the chaplain began the ceremony. "Are you both resolved to continue in this?"

"We are," the couple said in unison. There was no going back, no denial. There was only love between them, love and romance and passion to fill the cosmos for all eternity.

"Do you, William, take Samantha as your wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, for as long as you both shall live?"

There was only one answer possible. "I do."

"Do you, Samantha, take William as your husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, for as long as you both shall live?"

Samantha smiled; after so long, she had found her true love. "I do. I lost track a long time ago of how long I have waited to say that. I love you, Billy."

"The rings, please," the double wedding rings were held out by Carlos and Cassie, and the chaplain held them up. "Rings are endless circles, just as the cycles of life and love are endless. With these rings, your love becomes eternal."

Billy took Samantha's ring in his left hand, and her left in his right. "With this ring, I thee wed, and all that I have is thine," he spoke the words formally, gazing straight into her warm and loving eyes as he slid the ring onto her finger. She took his hand in her own, and picked up his ring.

"With this ring, I thee wed, and all that I have is thine," she intoned, her eyes never leaving his. The chaplain smiled as the witnesses exploded into spontaneous applause, which seemed completely appropriate.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the chaplain announced. In the shadows, Daran and Scorpina clenched their teeth, just barely refraining from leaping down and killing them all. The Rangers didn't notice then, anymore than they noticed the slim red and gold clad figure watching from behind a pillar. A soft, cold voice whispered, far too low for anyone to hear, "Enjoy yourselves while you can, Rangers. It won't last forever."

Divatox never forgot her foes.

"Billy….dear, are you sure that you don't want to come with us? We could always leave Justin alone, he's a mature young man." Samantha put her hand on Billy's shoulder. Nearly two weeks had past since Billy and Samantha's wedding. It was a cold, clear night, and nearly everyone wore their coats, gloves and parkas. Billy did not, however, and sat slumped in a chair. Justin was across the room from them standing on his bed, looking at them all.

"You're darn right I'm mature!" Justin exclaimed, jumping up and down on his bed. Seconds later, he had sent himself hurling to the floor, head first. Good thing that there had been pillows on the floor. He poked his head up from the other side of the bed, laughing like a maniac.

Billy eyed him strangely, sighed, and shook his head. "Sorry, Sam. I just don't feel up to going. I'm really tired…and I have this awful headache. Besides…you think that we can leave this little idiot here by himself without him being put an insane asylum while we're gone?"

"Hey!" Justin squeaked, glaring at Billy. "I will not get locked up in the insane asylum! They're too good for me!" and then he began to giggle again, collapsing on the floor.

"I see your point." Carlos nodded at him. "But you don't know what you're missing. This club is supposed to be totally beast."

"Wish I could come…but I really don't feel well. I have this pounding headache, you see…." He trailed off, and stopped a second to rub his temples. "Oh, geez…"

"It's OK. Maybe you can come with us next time. One of us will stay with Rusty over there…" T.J. pointed his index finger out at Justin…who stopped to stare at him in disbelief.

"Don't call me that!" he said, and hurled a pillow at T.J.

Cassie laughed a little, and took the pillow from T.J. "We need to get going, though." She looked to the others.

"We'll see you guys later…Justin, don't mess with Billy, he's got a headache…OK?" Ashley gave Justin a cold glare, and he stopped laughing.

"OK, me be good." He said quietly. "You guys have a good time at the club."

"We shouldn't be past midnight." Samantha bent down and kissed Billy on the forehead. "You relax, and get better." With that, they all headed out…and for a few minutes there was silence. But of course, with Justin, it wasn't to last. It took Billy hours to finally get him to sleep.

Grabbing onto the television remote, Billy plopped down into a hard chair. He clicked on the television, not caring what was on. He was nearly alone in the room, except for the sleeping 12-year-old in the bed that was across the room from him. Justin was snoring softly, and rolled over to face the wall. Billy stared mindlessly at the glowing box, and rubbed his throbbing temples.

Of course Justin, only being 12, had been a total pain in the butt when Billy had tried to get him to go to bed. That only made things worse for Billy's headache. Now, finally at 2 a.m., Justin had finally drifted off to sleep and Billy found that he could not. He was far too restless, and he didn't have a clue as to why.

As Billy found himself finally feeling the urge to sleep, and was slumping back into the chair, a icy sharp breeze gushed through the room. It caused him to shudder, and goose pimples rose up on his bare forearms. Somehow he managed to push himself up out of the chair, and made his way across the room. Once he was at the window, he reached up to shut it so that the cold would cease.

But the window wasn't even open.

In fact, it was IMPOSSIBLE for the window TO open. There just wasn't any way that any wind could have gotten into the room. The door was shut tightly, and the heater was on, not the air conditioning.

The wind continued to circulate through the room. It came harder and harder, and was becoming more and more cold. It seemed to whisper his name, as if calling to him. His eyes flashed silver quickly, and unconsciously he walked to the door, pulled it open and stepped outside. The cold air pinched his exposed face and arms like needles.

But the cold didn't matter.

His eyes scrolled up from the horizon to meet the full moon directly above at the zenith. It was enormous, as they were near the top of the world, and the craters were more clearly visible than they had ever been before. There were many shapes that he could distinguish from them, but none more visible to his eyes than the face of his mother; both wolf and human. She was smiling gently down upon him, and her eyes were glinting with the wildness of the first of Wolves.

As he looked up at the giant white sphere, he drew in a deep breath....

AND HOWLED.

What was even more surprising, was the fact that in the distance, the howl of another wolf, a REAL wolf, came in response. With lightning fast reflexes Billy shot his head in the direction that the howl had come, and scanned the nearby area with his eyes to find the alpha of the pack. Nearly a mile off, he could spot him. He began to run, his breath coming out as quick pants and formed a fog before him.

As he ran, his teeth became longer and sharper, as did his nails. He was hunting on this night. His hunger for meat had risen, and he could taste the blood in his mouth at that very instant. The alpha looked at the young Half- breed curiously as he came running up, and sniffed at him. He smelled like a wolf, he howled like one, the only thing that wasn't the same is that he didn't look like one. But Alpha could sense the wolf blood within Billy, and allowed him to go hunting with the pack.

For at least an hour, Billy, Alpha and the pack searched for their dinner. It was a relief to all of them when they spotted a caribou across the way, struggling to make it through the heavy snow that had fallen just earlier that day. Billy let out a howl, and he and the pack charged at the helpless beast. It cried out in pain when the wolves pounced upon it, and began to eat it alive.

Billy found himself going completely berserk. He shredded at the skin of the caribou, and tore at it's flesh with his teeth. He wanted it, and badly. The blood...he craved it. No...no....he NEEDED it. He needed the blood to survive. He needed the hunt, and the flesh, and the blood. He needed it all. He was wild. He...was...the Wolf.

After their meal was completed, and they all stood there, licking their chops, Billy stood upright. He was covered from head to toe in the warm blood of the caribou, and his eyes glinted with madness. Something had just occurred to him. The Neo Half-breed...he needed one. He must make another of his kind. Billy knew, that he must let his blood mingle with that of a human, and turn that human into the Neo Half-breed, or all was lost. He was getting horrible glimpses of the future. Powerful, evil images. The Neo Half-breed MUST be created that very night!!

Without a word, {or bark, even} Billy ran off again to head to the hotel. He knew just the one that he would make into the Neo Half-breed. No one was in the room except for him, an he would give very little trouble. Within minutes, he reached the hotel room that he had left nearly an hour and a half ago. His belly was full, and his heart throbbed with the desire to create another. The headache he had earlier had ceased totally, and when he saw that the others had not returned, he smiled menacingly.

There, still asleep in the bed was his target. Such a helpless little child!! He would not be helpless much longer. Billy's eyes narrowed into tiny slits, and he went over to the bed. With his nails still long, he grabbed onto Justin's tiny shoulder, and squeezed. Almost immediately Justin's eyes flew open and he let out a whimper. But it soon turned into a scream when he saw Billy.

Indeed Billy was very frightening. There was blood caked on his skin and clothes, and his nails were long. There were bits of flesh underneath them, and on the corners of his mouth. It was as if he had gone wild, and had been hunting for fresh meat, and that Justin was going to be his desert.

"Don't eat me, Billy!" he pleaded. "I don't know what is going on with you, but don't eat me!"

Billy waved his hands, and the blood and flesh disappeared. He was totally clean, as if he had never been hunting. The only thing that remained the same was the length of the fingernails and the teeth. "Why, Justin." he said in a low voice. "I have no intention on eating you. I have a proposal to make for you, in fact!"

"Wha...what kind of proposal? What is going on with you, Billy!!?? This isn't like you at all!"

Billy let out a short, dry laugh. "Oh…but it is, Justin! More than you know. I am a Half-breed, Justin. The Zeo Rangers did not tell you that, did they?"

"No. What does it mean?"

"That I am the son of the first Wolf, and a human..." Billy trailed off, then started telling Justin the tale of the beginning of time. Justin sat there, wide eyed and amazed. "What I am trying to say, Justin. Is that if something should happen to me, The Half-breed, then I will need someone to take my place. A Neo Half-breed, per say."

"So you want ME to be the Neo Half-breed." Justin added thoughtfully.

"Exactly." Billy nodded. "Ever since we began to see visions of things that might happen…and communicating through telepathy, I felt that you would be the best replacement. Besides, you are more fit for the job than any of the others…."

"I'll do it!!" he replied. "I feel really honored for you to ask me that...and if in any event that something happens to you...I know what to do, and you'll have a good replacement. I'll do anything I have to."

"I warn you...." Billy said softly. "This is going to hurt BAD at first."

He took Justin's arm in his hand and with his other hand, opened a vein. Justin stared as his blood rushed from it, his head started spinning. Billy acted quickly, opening his own vein and placing it upon Justin's bleeding wound. Their faces twisted, from pain to ecstasy. They struggled hard not to lose consciousness, and it seemed as though fire was shooting through them. They both shut their eyes tightly. Neither of them noticed when Samantha, Cassie, T.J., Carlos and Ashley entered the room.

"What in the hell is going on here!!" T.J. exclaimed. Justin and Billy immediately jerked their arms apart. Justin was startled, for he thought that he would still be bleeding. But he was not, and he was staring at his closed wound, wide eyed.

Carlos' eyes widened as he took in the scene before him. Too shocked to speak, he could only stare, his face pale and drawn with a mixture of fear, revulsion, and a strange attraction he couldn't begin to explain. Something down deep was pulling at him, drawing him ever closer to the seen to look at them with boundless curiosity. Kind of like a wolf, you might say.

Cassie found herself clutching at the doorframe, her knuckles white with the force of her grip. "W-what are you doing to Justin?" she managed to stammer out, not even sure if she believed what she'd seen in the first place.

Samantha was perhaps the least startled of them all, though she hadn't quite expected to come into the room to see her husband crouched over Justin, doing. . .was he doing what she thought he was? And if so. . .why?

Ashley's reaction was arguable the simplest. She fainted.

Billy stood up and looked at the others. "Nothing is going on in here. We were just doing some experiments with our pulse rates." he said simply. "Nothing to faint about." he lifted Ashley up onto the other bed.

T.J. looked at Justin. "Justin? Is this true? Because if he was doing what it LOOKED like he was doing, you need to tell us!"

"No!! He wasn't doing ANYTHING like that to me! Billy wouldn't do something like that! He was..." Justin glanced at the TV. Luckily for him, there really WAS an experiment on a television on how to test pulse rates. "We were doing that! What is on TV!"

And sure enough, on the television there were two people testing their pulses in the way that Billy and Justin had seemed to be. They all sighed in relief and looked at them.

"We're really sorry." Carlos said. "We didn't know... I mean...if you came in and saw one of us practically on top of Justin...what would YOU think?"

"That you had lost your mind and were molesting a kid...but you have to remember...we're scientists and we like to experiment, even if most of it looks weird like that. I would never do that to Justin...ever."

Justin yawned and lay back down in the bed. "Now if you guys don't mind, I'm REALLY tired. Billy woke me up from a perfectly good deep sleep to show me the experiment."

Billy smiled. "Sorry about that...I just thought that you would like to try it before it went off the air."

"Yeah…it was cool." Justin yawned. There was a secretive smile upon his face that made a mark of "Ha ha! I know something they don't know!" and then he was soon fast asleep.

Cassie carried Ashley off to their room, and they too went to bed, and Samantha and Billy headed off to their honeymoon suite to let the guys get some rest. Samantha looked very concerned for her husband.

"Billy, why were you performing the Making?" she asked him, holding tightly onto his hand. "The original animals, and the Half-breeds do that to make another of their kind if they feel that they are near their end."

"And I feel that way." He said solemnly. "I…hunted with a pack of wolves tonight, Sam. When I was done, I had an awful feeling, and it told me to make the Neo Half-breed, and how I was to do it. I didn't want to take the chance of me dying, and there not being another Half-breed to take my place."

"So, you decided to make Justin into the Neo Half-breed. Just in case something happened to you, right?"

"Right, and I made up that lie to keep the others off my back, they would never understand what I had to do. They don't even know that I am the Half- breed, much less what one is."

She pulled them into their room and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "Don't worry." She said. "I'll always be here to protect you. And what's more, I am glad that you took that precaution, it was very smart of you." She pulled him closer in her warm embrace and kissed along his neck.

"Thanks for being so understanding. I had to do it. I'm really worried about what might happen now…I had the most horrible vision."

"Shhh…" she purred, licking at his ear. "Forget that for now. You've got me to contend with!"

"Mmm….I love it when you do that! Alright…I'll forget about it…FOR NOW." He said. And when she pulled him onto the bed with her, he really did forget about it, but that did not mean that he forgot about it completely. It would come back to haunt him.

And in a way that no one suspected.

To be continued...