His best friend Zack`s voice came through the line. ''Heya, Jase. Zup with tonight? Ya got any plans with Kimberly?''

Jason said, ''Kind of. They aren`t definite. She`s coming over for some studying and then we`ll supposedly watch a movie.'' he chuckled suggestively.

Zack laughed. ''As much as I know you`d like to carry out those plans, I`ve got a better idea. My dad`s got a bunch of horror movies on tape, and we`re gonna watch them. Kim said to talk to you first.''

Jason replied, ''I`ll get back to ya. Better get some sleep before school. Catch ya later!''

***********************************************************

Later, at Angel Grove High, Jason was standing at his locker. He got his books for second period and left it. Seeing Kimberly Hart, his girlfriend, he called, ''Hey, gorgeous! Over here!''

Kimberly whirled around. ''Hey!'' her face lit up. She greeted him with a huge hug and a kiss. ''Boy! I haven`t seen you all day!'' she slipped her arm around his waist.

Jason said, ''I liked that welcome!'' he stopped to kiss her and continued, ''Whadda want to do tonight? I know we had plans, but Zack`s invited us to a movie party.''

Kimberly nodded. ''I know. But I`d rather be alone with you. I`ve barely seen you all week! With cheerleading practice, your football practice, the dance commitee meetings.........I`ve been swamped. And I`ve really missed you.'' She leaned against.

They entered Mrs. Abbleby`s English room. ''Hello. I hope you guys are ready for the test.'' She greeted them.

Jason cried, ''Test? What test? I`m not ready for a test!''

Kimberly said, ''Hon, if you paid attention to class instead of me, then you`d know.'' she smiled and kissed him.

Zack walked in. ''You can start learning now. The Zackman is here.'' He sat down, then addressed Jason and Kimberly. ''Hey, lovebirds. Zup? Ya comin to the party?''

Kimberly said, ''No, Jase and I want a little down time together. But thanks for asking us. We`ll take a raincheck.'' She sank into her seat.

Jason sat behind her. ''Mrs. Appleby, what`s going to be on the test? I`ve been paying attention, but I`m not sure.''

While Mrs. Appleby explained to Jason, Kimberly and Zack compared notes. Trini Kwan, another friend, hurried in as the bell rang. ''Here`s your tests. As soon as you`re finished, read or work quietly. You may begin as soon as you get your test.''

Later, at lunch, Jason, Kimberly, Trini, Billy Mitchell, Tommy Oliver, and Aisha Campbell gathered at their normal table. Jason was the last one to arrive, led by Aisha. ''Hey, guys.'' Jason said happily.

Aisha asked, ''Why ya`ll so happy? It`s Halloween.'' she sank into a seat next to Kimberly.

Zack, her boyfriend, kissed her long and hard. ''I take it you don`t want to snuggle with your main man while we watch scary movies?''

Aisha said, ''No baby, I do, I just don`t like Halloween. It has to do with Stone Canyon. It`s also a long story.''

On the moon, Zedd was pacing in his throne room. ''Goldar! Get your monkey ass in here now!''

Goldar ran quickly in. ''Yes, my lord?'' (he kissed up constantly.) He was kneeling on one knee.

Zedd smiled. (Well, he would have if his mouth could smile.) ''That`s nice. Well, I want you to make a monster and send the putties down in the meantime.''

Goldar nodded. ''OK, my leige.'' He bumbled off.

***********************************************************

After school, Jason and Kimberly were walking to Jason`s house for some, uh, studying.

Jason stared at his girlfriend as she walked. She was so gorgeous! They`d been going out for two years now. Since freshman year. She`d agreed to go to a dance with him, and the rest was history. He wouldn`t be able to live without her. And they`d had some close calls.

Kimberly stole a glance at Jason and noticed him staring at her. ''What? What`s the matter?''

Jason just smiled and turned away. Kimberly stole another glance at her boyfriend. Jason was so drop-dead gorgeous! After two years, she was still in love with him. He had a great body, too. Not only did he play football, but he was into martial arts and he was a basketball player. It made for quite a gorgeous body! She felt so safe on his arms.

They reached Jason`s house. He opened the door and said, ''Ladies first.''

Kimberly pretended to curtsy and said, ''Thank you.'' They laughed and Jason followed her in, locking the door behind them. He also hit the lights. He assumed they`d be busy for awhile.

**********************************************************

Zack was setting up for the party when his communicator beeped. ''Zup, Z?'' he asked.

Alpha`s voice came through the line. ''I guess that means you read me.''

Zack laughed. ''Yeah, Alpha, it does. What do you want?'' he said, serious this time.

Alpha replied, ''There are putties in the park. You need to go fight them. I`ve already contacted Trini, Aisha, Tommy, and Billy. But Kimberly and Jason aren`t answering.''

Zack chuckled. ''Don`t bother. They`ll be busy for awhile.''

**********************************************************

At the park, Aisha, Trini, and Billy were there, already morphed. ''Hi, Zack. Are Jason, Kimberly, and Tommy coming?'' Aisha asked.

Zack replied, ''Tommy should be here. Jason and Kim won`t be coming.''

They began fighting the putties. Zack was doing pretty well until the ones with the pumpkin heads showed up. They kept regrouping. Aisha got out her blaster and tried to shoot them down, but they still regrouped. Soon Kimberly, Jason, and Tommy joined them. Zack said, ''Sorry, guys. It`s just these damned putties.''

Jason just nodded and knocked down three putties. Then they began circling the Rangers. ''God, are these things posessed?'' Trini asked. ''They don`t give up!''

All of a sudden, there was a flash of light, and the Rangers were on a strange island. They were unmorphed. They walked around, admiring the surroundings while Billy tried to call Zordon. He announced, ''I cannot get through to Zordon.''

Kimberly said, ''Great. So we`re on our own? On a strange island? This is bad. Ah!'' she screamed.

Jason said, ''You okay, Kimberly?'' he was at her side instantly. Kimberly pointed. There was a huge coffin just standing open. A man was standing up inside it. He turned around and saw the group of teens. He didn`t say anything, just stared. They weren`t sure what to say. Finally, he said, ''Only three women. Oh, well, blood is blood.''

Zack said, ''What?! You aren`t a vampire, are you?'' he looked kind of nervous.

Jason laughed. ''Of course not, Zack. Vampires aren`t real. Are they, Billy?''

Billy replied, ''Affirmitive. But there have been deaths that may have been the cause of vampire bites.''

Kimberly backed up. ''So vampires _could_ be real?'' She backed up even farther and almost knocked Zack into the water.

Billy replied, ''Possibly. But not proven.'' He joined the others.

Aisha said, ''Then let`s go!'' They took off running.

They found a cabin two miles down the beach. They decided to see if anyone lived there. Jason led everyone in. It was disgustingly dirty, but no one appeared to be living there. They left it to find something else.

**************************************************************

Zedd roamed around his throne room. ''Goldar? Come here now! Where are the Rangers? They`re suppposed to be fighting the putties! What happened?''

Goldar replied, ''Finster sent them to Vampire Island.'' He shook his sword after every word.

Zedd asked, ''Why? I wasn`t told of this! A man leading a hostile takeover needs to know where his enemies are!''

Goldar said, ''I told him not to, but he thought he`d have them occupied while he worked on finishing the monster.''

Zedd seemed to approve of this, so Goldar continued, ''It`s some kind of witch thing in honor of Halloween.''

His leader paced the floor. He didn`t say anything at first. Then he said, ''This is a good idea. I`m glad I thought of it. Tell Finster not to release the monster until I tell him to.''

*************************************************************

The Rangers had found another beach house. This one had no one living in it, and it was _clean._ Trini noticed the science books on the shelf and she and Billy went to examine them while the others checked out the house.

Kimberly left the others to look at the upstairs. She noticed it had five bedrooms and three bathrooms. The first two had been teens', since a lot of pictures of Leo DiCaprio and Jonathan Taylor Thomas hung on the walls. The next three had pictures of animals and Mel Gibson. There were also a lot of clothes strung on the floor in all five rooms, plus they had two dressers in each room. Kim did the calculations and decided she and Jason could have one room, Aisha and Zack another, and Trini, Billy, and Tommy could have the last three.

Jason poked his head into the room she was in. ''Hey, girl! How many bedrooms are there?'' He slipped his arm around her waist.

Kimberly replied, ''Five.'' She explained the sleeping arrangements to him and they went back downstairs to see about some food.

Zack was already in the kitchen, examining the food. ''Frozen pizza!'' He yelled.

Jason entered, followed by Kimberly and Aisha. ''Zack? Are you going to dump Aisha for the pizza?''

''Funny, Scott, funny.'' Zack shot back.

''Thanks, I try. So, what else is there besides your darling pizza?''

While their guys discussed food, Kimberly and Aisha kept a look out for vampires.

Billy said, ''What do you have that is edible?'' He had just walked in.

Kimberly announced, ''It looks like we`re camping out, because Aisha and I keep seeing these bats flying real close to the house. Real bats wouldn`t do that, would they, Billy?''

Billy replied, ''No, they`re afraid of us. They wouldn`t deliberatly attack us.''

Jason said, ''Ok, then. Zack, you`re our horror movie expert. What do we do to get rid of vampires?''

Zack replied, ''Garlic. And sunlight. But it`s dark now, so we couldn`t possibly have sunlight. Oh! There`s the stake through the heart, too.''

Kimberly said, ''Oh, that`s disgusting. I won`t be doing _that_ to somebody.'' She shivered, so Jason put his arms around her.

Trini joined them in the kitchen, followed by Tommy. ''So, what`s the plan?''

Billy informed the two while Jason and Zack hunted for garlic and Aisha and Kimberly hunted for stakes.

*************************************************************

Zedd laughed. ''The Rangers might get defeated without me!'' He paused and then yelled, ''Goldar! Get your bitchass in here!''

Goldar quickly ran in. ''Yes, my lord?''

''Tell Finster to change the monster he`s working on into a vampire.''

''Yes, my leige.''

''Those Rangers haven`t seen what Lord Zedd`s vampires can do!''

************************************************************

After gathering their supplies, the group sank on the couch. Kim and Jason curled up on a chair and fell asleep. Aisha, who was on Zack`s lap, said, ''Aren`t they cute? But not like us, baby.'' She assured Zack.

Zack picked up the t.v. clicker and flipped it to USA. ''Xena.'' He explained.

Billy said, ''This show is based on Greek mythology, yet it isn`t always about Greek characters.''

Zack said, ''Yes, well, Xena is a babe, as is Gabrielle. So don`t knock it before you watch it.''

Aisha said, ''They better not be better looking than me, or you`re obviously not in love with me.''

Zack quickly apologized, and they settled back to watch one of Zack`s fave episodes.

Afterwards, they heard noises and a scuffle at the door. Zack carefully pushed Aisha onto the couch, then got up to see what it was. Billy flipped off the t.v., all of them following Zack quietly so as not to wake Kim and Jason.

Zack opened the door, revealing vampires. He grabbed the garlic and held it out. They turned away, but they promised to come back.

***************************************************************

Kimberly awoke to smells of bacon and Jason`s cologne. She smiled and slowly got up, being careful not to wake him. She went to the window and breathed in the ocean breezes. Then seeing a figure on the beach, she yelled, ''Hey, Billy! Come here!''

Billy entered, saying, ''Good morning. Did you need my asistance?''

She nodded. ''Yeah, is that a vampire? It looks like one. And it`s only five thirty, so the sun isn`t up yet.''

He grabbed the binoculars and looked through them. ''Possibly. I`ll tell Zack.''

He left, and she yawned. A shower, or breakfast? Considering how hungry she was, she`d eat first.

She entered the kitchen. Zack was the one cooking bacon. (most of them were early risers, so most of them were used to getting up early.) ''Morning. Bacon, eggs, and toast?'' he asked cheerfully.

Aisha plopped down on a chair. ''Where`s your better half? He`s usually up by now.'' She bit into an apple.

Kimberly replied, ''I heard him up at two thirty in the morning. If he gets up in the night, he`s a late riser. And that boy sleeps so soundly!''

Tommy came in. ''I heard lots of noises last night. Kim, did you and Jason ever move upstairs?''

Kimberly shook her head. ''He`s still asleep in there, as a matter of fact.''

Breakfast progressed, and it wasn`t until they were finshed when Jason stumbled, still half asleep, into the kitchen. He yawned, and gave Kim a kiss. ''Leave any food?'' he asked.

Zack quickly scrambled some eggs. ''Here ya go, Bro. Want some toast?''

Jason shook his head and coughed. ''No thanks.'' he said hoarsely.

Kimberly felt his head. ''Are you OK? You aren`t coming down with something, are you?''

Jason said, ''I don`t think so. I`ll be ok. What was that?'' He lept from the chair amd padded through the house to the front door.

**********************************************************

Zedd said, ''Finster, did you change the monster?''

Finster replied, ''Yes. I`ve sent it to the island. To keep the Rangers busy while the real vampires are resting.''

Zedd nodded. ''Good. You may leave me now.'' He continued, more to himself then Finster, ''If I`m lucky, those Power Rangers won`t stand a chance.''

*********************************************************

Jason flung the door open. ''Oh my God.'' was all he could say.

There, on the doorstep, stood about five thousand putties plus the monster. The Rangers were astonished. Zack said, ''Damn.''

Aisha cried, ''How are we supposed to fight these if we can`t morph? Because if we couldn`t call Zordon, I doubt if we can morph.''

Trini said, ''We can try.'' she reached for her morpher.

Jason said, ''It`s morphin time!''

Tommy: ''Dragonzord!''
Zack: ''Mastodon!''
Kimberly: ''Pterodactyl!''
Billy: ''Tricerotops!''
Trini: ''Saber-toothed Tiger!''
Jason: ''Tyrannosaurus!''

Nothing happened. Jason said, ''At least we know we can`t.''

Kimberly said, ''Then let`s go!'' She lept off the porch and kicked a putty.

Aisha lept after her, followed by the rest of their friends. Kimberly angrily began to kick putties. ''It`s all your fault!'' She screamed. ''That I`m stuck on this stupid island!''

When the putties were gone, they had the monster to deal with. Aisha said, ''I don`t think I can stand to fight anymore. I`m tired.''

Jason said, ''Come on, Aisha. Do you really think you can`t? We need you badly. I mean, come on. We`re unmorphed.''

Jason must have been a great motivatior, because Aisha decided to stay.

The monster was vicious, and they didn`t last long. They were about to give up when Tommy rushed the monster. Jason noticed what was going to happen, and tried to warn him, but it was too late. The sword went through to Tommy`s heart and he died instantly. Jason ran to him. ''Tommy? Tommy, speak to me!'' He began to cry.

Kimberly put her arms around him and cried, too. Tommy had been a good friend. Aisha and Zack hugged, while Trini sank to the ground and began to cry. Billy, shy as he was, knelt by Trini and slipped his arm around her.

Jason cried, ''He can`t be dead! He just can`t be!'' He felt as his life was being ripped apart at the seams. Tommy was one of his best friends. They had been so close! And now he was gone. Jason knew he`d only feel worse if Kimberly died.

**************************************************************

Zedd laughed evilly. ''Tommy is dead!'' He yelled happily. ''Now it`s only a matter of time. Jason`s a nervous wreck! This is perfect!'' He paced the room gleefully. ''Goldar! Come here! Tell Finster to make more monsters of the same. We`ll trap those Rangers!''

**********************************************************

Jason sat crying in the living room. After they got over the shock, they carried Tommy`s body out back and covered it. Jason was the strongest, so they`d have to wait to bury it. He wiped tears from his face. He still couldn`t believe it. He grabbed a tissue.

Kimberly watched through the open doorway. She felt so bad for him. She knew he`d sulk and blame himself, but she didn`t know what to do. ''Jase, I wish you`d be ok.'' She whispered. ''I love you.'' she began to cry, for Tommy and for Jason. And for the Rangers. They`d never be the same again.

**********************************************************

When Zack looked on the outside, he saw more vampires. He couldn`t tell if they were real or Zedd`s. ''Hey, Aisha. Doesn`t that one look like my grampa?'' he was trying to make her feel better. Like Jason, she`d barely stopped crying since it happened. Aisha just kept crying. But this time, it was softer.

Zack went to find Kimberly. ''Hey, Kim.'' He found her crying by the living room door. ''What`s the matter? Tommy?''

She shook her head. ''Well, partly. I will miss him. He was a great friend. It`s Jason. I can feel him slipping away from me. I know he`s still deeply in love with me, but........he`ll sit all alone and cry about Tommy and blame himself because he`d tried to warn him. And I don`t know how to make it better.'' she sniffled.

Kimberly hugged him in thanks and slipped into the room.

Billy yelled from somewhere in the house, ''We`re under attack! Grab the garlic and the stakes!''

Kimberly dragged Jason out and they joined Zack. The Rangers gathered their weapons and charged outside. They began fighting. The stakes were quite sucessful, and only Billy and Kimberly didn`t use them.

Zack used the garlic to scare them. Then he thrust the stake through the heart. Jason wasn`t much help, of course, until Kimberly`s life was threatened. Then, outraged, he grabbed a stake and plunged it angrily into the vampire`s heart.

By the time the battle was over, there were some minor injuries. Aisha had a cut on her arm, Billy`s legs had some cuts, Trini`s arm was badly bruised, and Kimberly`s throat was sore.

They trudged wearily into the house, not sure at all if the vampires were gone. The sun came up, and they could hear screams of pain. Zack commented, ''I think they`re dead.'' Then they went wearily to bed.

*********************************************************************

When they awoke the next morning, they were home. Jason teleported to the Command Center. ''Zordon? Did you figure out where we were?'' he asked.

Zordon said, ''Yes, when putties began attacking people randomly, we knew you must be somewhere in a dimmension or on an island.''

Jason asked, ''What island were we on?''

Zordon replied, ''Vampire Island.''

*********************************************************************

Aisha said when Jason told them, ''I told you! Halloween is trouble.''

Everyone nodded. They had lost a friend, and they knew they`d never forget him.