Everything was set.

All the arrangements had been made.

All he had to do now was get them. And boy was he going to get them.

The young, sandy-haired, blue-eyed genius stood at his computer, a manic smile on his face. After his attempted revenge on the Azure Elite, of the so-called 'Yosties', it was time for him to get back at the Initiates. He wasn't happy that the Elite had escaped his ultimate punishment, but he would save that for the others. Grinning he activated the location program on his computer, smiling when it brought up the results.

"Okay, so she's in Utah. Hmm, that explains a lot. Now, where... are... you?" The computer searched and finally beeped. "I knew she was an Australian, but why does she have to be that far away? Damn, I hate time differences. Alright, time to get going." With a manic laugh he reached up and pressed the button on his communicator.

A door slammed somewhere out near the kitchen and a woman's voice rang out.

"That's it! I'm fed up with people who can't speak a word of bloody English! I'm so sick of dealing with idiot customers who don't understand a word of bloody English when you speak it!" Things were banging around and he could hear muttered curses. Well, she was certainly turning the air around her blue. He didn't know that there were that many swear words in the English language.

"Great, she's had another bad day," whispered the man in the room with Billy. Billy hadn't noticed him until that moment. Billy had just a moment to be startled before something slammed on the bench and the man winced. The man looked up as she continued. Billy listened with interest; glad his personal cloaking device was working. It was interesting to see his intended victims in a normal light. Plus he was starting to understand this one's obsession with him. The man she was speaking to was tall, well built, with sandy-blond hair and blue eyes. Billy watched with interest as the man sitting at the computer sighed and logged off. It looked like he was setting himself to bare the brunt of a tirade. He got up and Billy followed him, curious to see what would happen next. He followed the man into the kitchen and managed not to be startled when he saw his intended victim standing there. She looked almost normal. That was frightening. The previous encounters with her had left him with the impression she was anything but. She looked up when the man entered and quirked a wry smiled when he spoke.

"Bad day?"

"You have no idea. Sometimes I hate dealing with people on a daily basis. Why can't I just work with computers and no people?" He laughed and walked over and hugged her. She returned the hug and then looked at him. "What time do you have to go to work?"

"In a few. You be okay here alone tonight?"

"Always am. Besides, have some writing I want to do. Cinders has come up with an interesting idea that I want to explore." He shook his head.

"You and your Power Ranger friends." She laughed and hugged him. Reaching up she gave him a kiss that turned quite passionate. Billy had to turn away in embarrassment. He quickly decided to investigate the outside of the house. He found it hot, dry and very muggy. A bit different from the last time he'd been to Australia. After a little while the man came out of the house and quickly departed. Billy heaved a sigh of relief. It really was getting hot out here, he thought to himself.

Billy walked through the house, curious about his victim. He noticed a wedding photo in the lounge room and nodded. So she was married. That made the obsession with him all the more weird. But looking around at all the various things that they had both collected, he wasn't that surprised. He assumed that the Ferrari's where her husbands and the Star Trek videos were hers. Looking at their video collection Billy wasn't surprised to find that they certainly had weird tastes. But everything showed that she was actually a neat, tidy person. Christmas presents were under the tree. Stacks of cards were sitting on the coffee table waiting to be posted. The whole place actually reeked of domestic harmony. He looked around some more but could find no evidence of children. Hmm, obviously had time on her hands. Shaking his head he got back to the task at hand and walked back up to the study.

His victim had changed out of her uniform and was sitting in front of her computer in just a long blue skirt and white T-shirt. Billy wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was another muggy, hot Australian day. How did they put up with it he wondered? She was just logging on when the phone rang. She leapt up to answer it and Billy got ready. As he was about to activate his capture program he was interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Excuse me, mate, but what are you going to do with her?" Billy froze, visions of Murray and his friends dancing through his head. He slowly turned to find a Koala Bear looking at him. It was about ten centimeters high and had a can in one hand and a couple of ,what looked liked, coins in a pouch on his belt. His fur was grey and white, and he was looking up at Billy with an intent expression on his face. He even spoke with the same strong accent as his victim.

"What? You can see me?" The Koala Bear smiled at the Billy's surprise.

" 'Course I can. Geez, and you're supposed to be the smart one? I'd have thought she'd have better taste. Oh well, we work with what we're given." The bear shrugged.

"And who are you?" The bear grinned as he cracked open the tinny.

"I'm Macca. Her muse." That startled Billy, he'd never heard of him. Macca noticed that and grinned.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I know. I don't do much, truth be told can't be stuffed half the time. But I give her the odd 'good idea' so she keeps me around, you know, in case." Billy had a sneaking suspicion. Some of her work of late had been pretty dark and there was an evil gleam in the little bear's eye.

"What kind of ideas?" The bear grinned and leaned against the nearest book - Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising", Billy noted absently.

"Well, that little idea of.. Wait a minute. I'm not telling you. You tell me what you're gonna do to her, or do I have to get Murray over here?" Billy gulped, fear rising up in him again. With a little effort he pushed it down.

"You know Murray?" The bear laughed. It was an evil little laugh.

"Yeah, he's a mate. We swap the odd e-mail. But I don't hang around with those guys much. There's nothing more I like than having a few, and a game of two-up, but can't seem to get those guys interested in it. Oh, well. So, what are you going to do to her?"

"I'm getting my revenge. She put me through that sham of a trial and I want to return the favor." The bear thought for a moment, absently swigging on the stubby. He looked at the Blue Ranger, his expression serious.

"You gonna bring her back?"

"Eventually."

"Good. Bring her back before her hubby gets home, otherwise he'll get worried. And I don't want him worried, is that understood?" The bear was quite serious.

"Just whose muse are you anyway, hers or his?" The little bear laughed.

"Her's. But he's good people. Bring her back; don't care in what condition. To be honest mate, she's been ignoring my ideas for her latest series. So go for it, mate. But be back before midnight, Australian time." Billy was stunned, if he was reading it right, the muse didn't mind if he took her, as long as she got back before her husband returned from work. He nodded at the muse and looked up as she walked back into the room. Sighing she sat down at the computer and was just about to log on when Billy quickly rushed to her side and put his hand on her shoulder. They immediately disappeared in a flash of blue and white light.

Macca walked over to the computer and logged on. Quickly he sent an e-mail to Herta. He grinned slyly. The next few hours would prove quite interesting. ~*~

Once Billy had made sure that his first victim was securely contained, he proceeded forward in the next step of his plan.

When he reached his destination, he realized that he'd made a mistake. It was just 'stupid' cold in the state in which his next victim lived, and he'd misjudged the exact location of his teleport, finding himself standing outside of the brick-trimmed house, in the snow.

Preparing to correct his mistake and teleport into the house, he allowed himself a few minutes to examine the set up of the Christmas lights on the house, and a HUGE, PURPLE banner flapping lazily in the frigid wind. That was one difference, he noted, between this house and the last one. There were no Christmas lights on the outside of the other house. Strange. Oh well. Different countries have different traditions. He looked closely at the banner. "Utah Jazz? I should have known that I would be dealing with a mentally unstable person when I found out about this little bit of information in the computer database. How could anyone SANE like someone other than the LA Lakers? It's just inconceivable." Shaking his head he pressed the teleportation button on the side of his communicator. Suddenly he disappeared, reappearing seconds later within the warmth of the house.

Still invisible, Billy found himself standing in the center of a large living room/dinning room area. To his right, in front of a huge front window, flashed the lights of a Christmas tree; the only other light in the room came from the television sitting in the entertainment center. If one didn't know any better, one would think that his next victim was just your normal human being. But, unfortunately, Billy knew differently.

At the sound of a voice from the TV, Billy turned to see a basketball dropping through the basketball hoop.

"A gentle push, a mild arch, and the cowhide globe hits home. The Jazz have beaten the Lakers for the second time on the year," he heard 'Hot Rod' Hunley say, as the Delta Center, on TV, exploded into a roar.

"This just doesn't bode well. This has to be some sort of bad 'omen'."

Billy moved toward the hallway and the rooms he knew were located along its length. Unexpectedly, he tripped over something on the floor, nearly toppling him onto the couch. He turned to look and held his breath when the object he'd tripped over moved, then spoke.

"Blakie, you stupid cat. Leave me alone," came the groggy voice from the 'living' blanket on the floor.

"This should be easy," he thought. He wouldn't have to locate his victim in a room, taking a chance on waking one of the others up. Either the brother or the son if he remembered rightly. She was right here, in front of him. He could barely make out a dark head poking out from under the blanket. Slowly he moved to the blanket, easing back a corner from Cinders' face, making sure that he had the right victim. But before he could get a glimpse, a feminine voice spoke up from somewhere behind him.

Billy froze. Had he actually overlooked something, and there were more than three people living in the house? Then a sudden, horrible thought hit him, and his stomach churned. A muse? Another muse?

"Who are you, and what are you doing to my mistress?" Billy turned his head slowly toward the Christmas tree where the voice seemed to come from. The voice had been soft, but demanding in its tone.

"Who's there?" Billy asked, not seeing anyone... or anything.

"I asked first," came the voice again. This time Billy caught a glimpse of a slight movement among the branches of the tree.

A small, purple dragon sat silently beside a Swallowtail butterfly. When she saw, in the flashing lights, just whom it was that was standing before her, she flapped her pearlesant-pink wings and flew toward him. Gently she lit upon his shoulder. The tinny dragon's bright, blue eyes immediately transfixed Billy.

"W-what?"

"I said, I know why she refers to herself as the 'Local Billy Obsessor'. You're a fine hunk of man. Firmly packed, too." Billy blushed and jumped when the small dragon's taloned feet pinched him. "You know, you never answered my question. What are you going to do with her?"

"I'm going to get my revenge on her and her friend for that ridiculous sham of a trial they had me judge. It was nothing more than a chance for them to ogle me and try to catch me. By the way, I didn't get your name."

"My name's Herta, I'm her muse." Billy fought back the sudden panic he felt. He'd had too many run-ins with other muses, and just the thought of them was starting to reek havoc on his nervous system. But this muse seemed different somehow.

"Well, I must say that you're the nicest muse I've met, yet."

Boy, he doesn't have a clue, Herta thought to herself.

"One doesn't have a lot of time for wicked ways when one's setting an example for one's children."

"Children?" Billy was surprised by the multitude of giggles that suddenly burst from the tree. Then, like moths from a closet, the tree exploded with miniature dragons the sized of the aforementioned moths.

"Hello," they giggled in unison, except for two of them, who drew a bit closer, like they were examining him.

"He's no Max Evans, from Roswell," sneered the baby blue one.

"Or Wolverine, from X-Men," stated the pale green one.

"Ooo. Or that hunky Kevin Richardson from the Backstreet Boys."

"Yeah. How could I forget-"

"Alright, that's enough," Billy shouted, cutting them off. He quickly looked to see that he hadn't disturbed his victim, then turned back to glare at the mini-dragons. "I may not be either of those guys, but it so happens that she likes me the best," Billy stated proudly. "Wait a minute, what am I saying? I've got work to do." Billy moved unexpectedly, startling the baby dragons and knocking Herta from her perch on his shoulder.

"Alright kids, back to bed."

"Ah, mom..."

"Don't 'ah, mom', me. Bed!" Herta pointed a talon at the tree, never taking her eyes off of it until they were tucked away.

Herta turned to see Billy preparing to make away with Cinders. "Just a minute, young man. I don't mind you taking her, but I do insist that you have her back no later than 6:30am. She has to get her son up and off to school and she has work."

"I'll see what I can do." With that, Billy disappeared, taking his sleeping victim with him; the blanket she'd been covered with, left behind in an empty pile on the floor.

With a 'harumph', Herta turned to head down the hall to the computer to let Macca know that Billy had indeed arrived and absconded with Cinders. A low purring voice stopped her half way down the hall.

"You should have told him to have her back by 4:00am. You know I insist upon making her get up to give me my daily milk at that time," the longhaired, black cat said, staring hungrily at the petite dragon.

"Don't push it, Blackie, or I'll lock your fuzzy black butt outside one night."

With indignation, the silky black cat moseyed off, leaving the dragon alone in the dark.

"Cats," she said, then continued on down the hall on her task. ~*~

Cinders landed in a heap on the hard, cement floor. Picking herself up she slowly looked around. She didn't know whether to be excited or angry about where she was. Being awoken from a sound half sleep wasn't pleasant. Noticing Billy at the computer consoles she took a glare out of her pocket and sent it at him. He ignored her and concentrated on his computer. She glanced around her, taking in her surroundings. First she noticed the small room, the force fields and then the equipment that had been used to torture the Elite. She'd heard all about that. It was then that she noticed the figure shivering in the corner. It looked kind of familiar. Cautiously she walked over and knelt down next to it. Reaching out and touching it she was startled to find Mouse looking up at her.

"Mouse! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Cinders! Mate, he got you too?"

"Sure did. Hey, are you okay?" She looked closely at Mouse, noticing that she was only dressed in a thin T-shirt and skirt and was shivering. Reaching out, Cinders touched her hands; they were like ice.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"Not yet. It's bloody freezing, that's what's wrong. It's the middle of bloody winter here. It's summer at home, and I'm cold!" Cinders looked at her closely and could see her partner was indeed slowly freezing. Standing she stormed to the force field's edge with all the subtly of a Storm Trooper killing Ewoks.

"Hey, Blue Boy! Mouse is freezing in here. How about a blanket or something for her, as it appears that you failed to provide me with the one I was wrapped in." Indeed, Cinders stood before him in nothing but a pair of baggy men's shorts and a tank top. Odd attire for someone who was living in a place that had snow on the ground but hey, she was from Utah, nothing surprised him about here anymore.

"Why should I?" was his only response. Cinders frowned and brought out the heavy guns. She knew that they were in deep trouble and she practically had nothing to bargain with. But her friend needed something.

"Because, if you do, I'll make you fall in love with Kim in my next fic. No violence what-so-ever." Billy blushed as he considered her words. He really did like Kim, but not that way. He walked over and looked through the glowing force field at the Australian woman. She was shivering badly and looked miserable. He wanted them to suffer, but he didn't want to do physical harm to them. Besides that, he was a bit concerned about what their muses would do to him if they were to be physically harmed. And besides, he was a Ranger; protecting civilians was what it was all about. Sighing he walked over to his couch and took off the blanket that was lying there. He motioned to Cinders.

"I'm not doing this because of what you said. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do. Back away from the force field... Please?" Cinders did as she was asked as he deactivated it. He then threw the blanket to her and she caught it. Running over to her friend she wrapped it around her and sat down next to her.

Putting her arm around Mouse, Cinders looked up at him.

"What are you going to do with us?"

"Put you two on trial, and this time I won't be your little puppet judge. No pulling of the strings by you two, not any more. It's my turn to pull some strings." He grinned evilly and walked away.

"Boy, I sure hope this won't be happening in Florida, we'll never get back home," Cinders sighed. ~*~

Mouse slowly stirred about ten minutes later, the warmth of the blanket and Cinders' arm slowly thawing her out. She glanced at her friend.

"Hey, mate. Thanks for what you did. I know that couldn't have been easy." Cinders smiled at her. For the moment Billy was ignoring them.

"That's okay. You'd do the same for me." Mouse smiled at the statement.

"In a heartbeat." Cinders suddenly noticed something for the first time.

"Hey, you cut your hair." Mouse's long dark hair was now shoulder length, with just a hint of the red tinge she liked to put in it.

"Yeah, easier this way. Did it just before I went to Sydney." Before Cinders could quiz her friend about her Olympic experience, the sounds of footsteps made them stop. They both looked up as Billy walked over to them. In his hand he held a bundle of clothes. He deactivated the force field for a split second and threw them in to the two ladies. Stepping back he re-activated the force field.

"Okay, 'ladies'," he used the term mildly. "Change into these; they'll be a lot warmer for you especially, Mouse, And then we'll go."

"Go where?" Cinders asked quietly.

"To your trial, my dear 'ladies'." ~*~

Mouse and Cinders were chained together with little links of unbreakable gummy bears. Mouse had already tried eating her way out of them, but to no avail. They were both now dressed in black trousers with black long sleeved shirts. Billy had also thoughtfully provided them with jackets, which they both found to be quite warm. Mouse tested the gummy bears again but no luck. She just shrugged at Cinders' cynical look. They were led into a courtroom and to the defendant's table. They both gasped when they saw what Billy had assembled.

The Jury consisted of Rangers, and only Rangers. All the incarnations. Mouse looked at Cinders.

"I don't recognize half these guys." Cinders just looked at her like she had just said that Al Gore should be president. "Hey, I live in Tasmania, remember? We were lucky to get two weeks of Lost Galaxy!" Cinders relaxed and pointed them out.

"Well, over there we have the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers and those ones, over there, are the Time Force Rangers, but they don't really count yet, as the show won't start until February."

"Oh, okay. Saban's been busy, hasn't he?"

"Tell me about it. Seems like we can't turn around without a new incarnation popping up." There was a stir at the back of the court and three figures entered and sat down. The two miscreants both went pale. Cinders broke the silence.

"You think that they're here to support us?" Mouse looked at her, and when she spoke the sarcasm made her accent stand out so much it was surrounded by neon lights and dancing girls.

"Of course they're here to support us, mate," Mouse stated, slapping Cinders upside her head. "Hey, we only did the same thing to them! Geez, and I thought I was naive." Cinders pouted and stuck her tongue out at Mouse.

"I was just asking. No need to be sarcastic about it."

"Sorry mate, I'm still half frozen. How do you guys live like this anyway?"

"Practice. And if you think California is cold with temperatures in the upper 60s to mid 70s, you should try the 20-30 degree temperatures, during the day, in Utah." Mouse just looked confused. Just then the bailiff stepped forward and spoke.

"All rise, Judge Dagmar presiding." Everyone stood and the door behind the bench opened and the judge walked out.

The tall, statuesque figure gracefully closed the door behind her. The black robes of a judge only enhanced her well-endowed figure and added to the aura of mystery and wickedness prevailing around her. The Amazonian-stature of the woman overwhelmed most of the male jury members; especially the ones that hadn't seen her before. Banging her gavel, Judge Dagmar sat down and glared at everyone.

"Be seated."

Mouse looked at Cinders. They both had identical looks of despair on their faces.

"We... are so... dead." Mouse could only nod in agreement. ~*~

As Judge Dagmar prepared to speak she was interrupted by a commotion at the back of the courtroom. The sound of the banging gavel was nearly drowned out by the ruckus.

"Order! What's going on back there?" All eyes turned to the back of the room to find two darkly robed figures untangling themselves and rising from the floor. When Billy recognized the duo, he paled in horror.

"I'm sorry, Dagm... I mean, your Honor. I'm Froog and this is GreenEyes. We're 'Yostie' Initiates."

"They're with us," Mele stated from her place in the audience.

"Yeah, we're here to testify against the defendants because they left us out of the last trial," GreenEyes stated, straightening her robes.

"There was a bloody good reason for that, wasn't there mate!" Mouse whispered to Cinders, who just nodded in agreement. They had wanted Billy all to themselves, that's why they hadn't brought the other two Initiates in for the trial.

"Yeah, we want justice," Froog added, as they slunk to the pew behind Mele, Peregrine and Rap.

"Justice? Oh, okay," Dagmar laughed sarcastically as she brought the gavel down, bringing the court to order.

Cinders slid down in her seat, the pull on the Gummy bear chains causing Mouse to teeter precariously on the edge of her own seat.

"Do you think we can get Johnny Chocran to defend us. After all, he did such a good job for OJ?" Cinders asked, feeling a bit delusional.

"Yeah, right. Like he'd represent someone like us. And I don't know about you, mate, but the last time I checked my pay slip, it wasn't THAT big."

"Well, you don't have to get snippety," Cinders pouted.

"Snippety? I'll show you, snippety." Mouse jerked on the chains, pulling Cinders off her chair to land in a pile of tangled, black clothing on the floor. In a flash, Mouse dove in for the attack.

At the sound of a clearing throat, the two girls looked up to see Billy glaring down at them. Looking petulant, Mouse released her hand full of dark hair, and Cinders withdrew her teeth from Mouse's leg.

"If you two are friends, I'd really hate to see what you would do to each other if you were enemies." Billy shuddered at the thought.

"She started it," Mouse whined as she sat up in her chair.

"Oh, yeah? Well you're nothing more than a... KIWI!" Cinders snarled at the woman beside her, which started the chaos all over again. The word 'Kiwi' was being thrown around like a piece of bad fruit, tufts of dark hair was floating through the air, cheers were going up around the courtroom, bets were being placed in the back; 4 to 1 for the 'Tasmanian Devil' against the 'Utah Raptor'.

The gavel was having no effect on regaining order, much to Judge Dagmar's dismay. Quickly she requested that the bailiffs retrieve a Sledgehammer for her. Whether she would use it as a gavel or a correctional device; one was want to know.

Billy stood at the edge of the fight, unsure if he wanted to put himself in danger, bodily. But the decision was made for him when a scream of outrage emanated from Cinders at Mouse's yelled, "Zedd lover!"

"All right you two, enough!" Billy grabbed Mouse by the shoulder, lifting her off the indignant Cinders, and plopped the tall Australian down in her seat. Once freed from her 'friends' grasp, Cinders got to her feet, and with her only free hand, tried to smooth the wrinkles out of her clothes.

Billy turned away from the pouting Mouse to get Cinders situated in her own seat. But, in doing so, the Gummy bear chains stuck to his pant leg. As he turned toward Cinders, the chain wrapped around him, nearly pulling Cinders off her feet while he did manage to pull Mouse from her chair.

Before Billy realized what was going on, he was thoroughly sandwiched between the two dazed women. Cinders was pressed to his chest, her face mere inches from his own. As he tried to shift, he felt something pressing against his backside. Turning his head slightly, he came face to face with a starry-eyed Mouse.

The courtroom had erupted into mass chaos; the Azure Elite and their accompanying Initiates were protesting the position the other two Initiates and their shared obsession were in. Judge Dagmar was doing her best to raise the Sledgehammer.

The more Billy tried to untangle himself, the more he became tangled, pulling the two drooling women closer to him. Suddenly the sound of splintering wood caught everyone's attention, bringing the courtroom into dead silence.

Handing the Sledgehammer over to the bailiff, Judge Dagmar took her seat and brushed the splinters of wood from the stand, the corner of which had been obliterated into toothpicks.

"I will have order! Bailiff, unwrap those three immediately."

A bailiff with a torch approached the trio and proceeded in melting the chains, leaving the trio sticky, but unstuck. Billy quickly put some distance between him and the two women, a sticky hand print evident on the back of his jeans. Mouse stared dreamily at her hand.

"I'll never wash my hand again."

"That's nice. As long as you don't mind it being covered in melted Gummy bears and lint for the rest of your life. As for me? It's just too bad that I don't smoke or I'd need a cigarette about now," Cinders sighed.

"That good, huh?"

"Yeah, and you?"

"Hey, I'm married, not dead." The two women laughed. Their little plan had worked perfectly.

Turning in unison they gazed back at the group of Elite and Initiates, sticking out their tongues at them and sneering. Laughing they both sat back down and after looking at her hand a moment Mouse quietly wiped it on a tissue she had in her pocket. After a few seconds of vicious scrubbing her hand was no longer sticky. As much as she wanted to keep it like that, there was nothing worse than sticky hands and lint. She glanced up and Cinders and joined her friend in giving the Elite the most wicked grin she could.

"Give me something sharp, please!" Peregrine screeched.

"I can do a lot with twenty toes," Rap threatened.

"Why do they get all of the fun?" GreenEyes moaned, jealousy making her eyes even greener. Mele was busy holding Froog back from the two women as court was called back into order.

"Now, Mr. Cranston, call your first witness."

"Yes, your Honor. I call Mele to the stand." ~*~

Mele walked gracefully over to the stand and stood in the box. She smiled at Judge Dagmar then looked at Billy. He had what looked like a bible with him and handed it to the bailiff. He took it to her and had her place her hand on it. She looked closely at it and saw it was the "Writers Guide to the Power Ranger Universe". Hmm. Blue Boy's done his homework. The bailiff looked at her.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you never write another fic again?"

"I do." Mele gracefully sat herself down, adjusting her cloak appropriately. Billy approached her carefully, staying just out of arms reach.

"Miss Mele. Can you please tell us how you know the two defendants?" Mele did one of her dramatic pauses and then spoke, a smile in her voice.

"Well. Cinders I have known for some time now, through "The Dark Realm", formally known as the "Angel Grove Youth Center" website. Her muse and mine are friends. She also has a warped sense of humor that appeals to me. She has always been a Billy fan; even her pen name on messageboard posts is 'Local Billy Obsessor'. But she's very good. Very creative in some of the things she does." Billy paled a little at the words but pressed on.

"And the other?" He felt like he could see the grin that appeared on her face.

"Well, Mouse. Well, besides the obvious Australian accent Mouse has been around a little over a year. When she first arrived on the scene, it was a very different Mouse than what we see today. My personal theory was that she was feeling out the lay of the land, so to speak, before revealing her true personality. But I'll say this for her, she is different. Not afraid to tell us what she thinks." Mouse and Cinders grinned at each other but then sobered up when Judge Dagmar scowled at them.

"Now, Miss Mele. What is your current association with them?"

"Their 'Yostie' Initiates. Although, after what those two have accomplished so far, we might have to consider making them full time 'Yosties'. We're waiting to see how they get out of this first, though." Cinders shared a frightful glance with Mouse and as one they looked over at Perry and Rap. They could see the smirks that the Elite was throwing at them.

"Oh Christ. I wish I hadn't got up this morning," Mouse muttered.

"Hey, I was still in bed, sorta', when I got nabbed." They both jumped when Judge Dagmar banged her gavel.

"You two will be quiet or I'll have the bailiff gag the pair of you." They both nodded and Judge Dagmar motioned to Billy to continue. With a sip of water he asked his next question.

"What does being a 'Yostie' involve?" Mele then launched into a description of what being a 'Yostie' was. She told of the two times they had kidnapped Billy and then of the trial that the two Initiates had managed to pull off.

The jury of Rangers were aghast. They'd heard stories of Billy's abduction, and had even been tricked into the sham of a trial the two defendants had put together. But to hear of it all in detail, well it was just... disgusting. Especially to the Time Force Rangers who had not been present during any of it. Cinders elbowed Mouse when she noticed the glares from the Time Force Rangers, cast their way.

"I think we're in trouble," Cinders mumbled out of the corner of her mouth, not taking her eyes off the Rangers. Mouse looked to where Cinders was pointing, and gulped. She could feel the prick of the daggers that were being cast their way.

In a panic, Mouse was immediately on her feet, cutting into Billy's cross-examination of Mele.

"What are you doing?" Cinders asked. She got no reply as her companion began to speak. As Cinders listened to the words, she dropped her head down on the table in defeat. She should have known that things were going to go spinning out of control REAL FAST, real soon.

"I want to call a witness to the stand!"

Judge Dagmar looked up from her 'notes' and added her own glare at the two women.

Feeling like she needed backup, Mouse gave a quick tug to Cinders' sleeve. Moaning in despair, Cinders got to her feet. She stood quietly next to her companion, until Mouse's elbow found a rib. With a grunt of pain, Cinders spoke up.

"Ah... yeah... We, um... want a chance to defend ourselves," she stated, feeling a bit uneasy.

Before Judge Dagmar could speak, an enraged Rap was on her feet behind the two women.

"Defense? What kind of defense did you two allow us? Don't let them have any defense, Daggy!"

"Enough!" Dagmar yelled. She too was on her feet, hands braced against the bench. "As you two can well see, there is already a witness on the stand. Sit down now, both of you. One more word and I will have you both bound and gagged."

Cinders began to let her mind wonder as she caught sight of Billy out of the corner of her eye. Noticing her gaze, he shifted uncomfortably.

A quick elbow to her side - there goes another rib - caught her attention. "Pervert," Mouse accused, pulling her companion down into her own seat.

"What?" Cinders tried to look innocent, a look that she couldn't quite pull off.

"I know you too well, mate. And that scares the crap out of me."

"Sorry. It was the whole 'bondage' thing," Cinders finally admitted, smiling wickedly.

"Now," Judge Dagmar began, taking her seat. "Let's get back to the matter at hand. You two will be allowed three witnesses after prosecution has called on all of his witnesses. So, I'd advise you to choose you witness' wisely. Wait. What am I saying? The word 'wise' and you two just don't work together, do you?" Dagmar stated, shaking her head.

"Not unless you add 'ass' to the end of it," Cinders sniggered at her quick witedness. Mouse gave her quick 'high-five'. A look from Judge Dagmar silenced them immediately.

"Mr. Cranston, you may proceed."

"Thank you, your Honor. Mele you may step down," Billy said as he moved to stand at his table. He started thumbing through several stacks of papers before calling his next witness.

Mele stood and vacated the witness stand. As she made her way to her seat; she gave Billy a quick 'come-hither' look and winked.

The robed woman's actions did not go unnoticed by Judge Dagmar, who cast a glance at a blushing Billy. Shaking her head, she leaned back in her chair. "What in the world do they see in him? Now Jason, that is a REAL man."

Noticing that the courtroom had become incredibly silent, Judge Dagmar looked up to see everyone's eyes on her. A stifled snigger from Mouse caused Cinders to crack up, spewing Diet Coke out of her nose, which threw the courtroom into chaos.

It was in that moment that Judge Dagmar realized that she had spoken aloud what it was that she had been thinking. Trying to remain professional, Judge Dagmar slammed the gavel against the bench as she eyed the Sledgehammer she had used previously; wondering if she'd have to use it again.

Glancing over the quieting courtroom, Judge Dagmar spotted Jason in the jury box, his face nearly as red as the shirt he was wearing. Tommy and Zack were ribbing him about her remark, which made him blush an even darker shade of red, if that were possible.

Clearing her throat, she looked to Billy. "Mr. Cranston," she began, trying to get things back to as normal as things could get in an abnormal situation. "Call your next witness."

"Yes, your Honor. Prosecution calls Rap to the stand." Rap looked up at the mention of her name. Putting aside her notebook, that she'd been adding up all the toes in the courtroom on, she made her way to the stand. Giving her oath, she awaited Billy's questions. She had a LOT to tell him. The questioning began, but knowing that whatever was to be said was nothing they didn't already know or haven't heard before, Cinders and Mouse put their heads together to come up with three witnesses they could use.

"What do you think, mate? Who can we ask?"

"Good question. I didn't really expect us to win that one, so I didn't think that far ahead." Cinders admitted.

"What about Cynthia?" Mouse asked, it being the first name that popped into her head. Cinders looked at her friend and sighed. "Mate, do you really want someone who calls herself 'The Pagemistress of Evil', defending us?" Mouse looked crestfallen and stared at her hands. They were tastefully painted with gold and silver nail polish. "Well..."

"I don't think so. Besides, did you get a look at that list of fics she posted on the board that she's working on? Besides, today... I think it's still today. Anyways, she updates the "Dark Realm" today, and she said she's going to be making some changes."

"Oh, yeah. Well crikey, mate." Both women began to think and think... And the more the Grinch thought of this Who Christmas-sing,
The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
"Why, for fifty-three years I've put up with it now!
"I MUST stop this Christmas from coming! ...But HOW?"
Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

Suddenly Cinders and Mouse looked up at the reader of this fic.

"Sorry, mate. Wrong story," Mouse and Cinders grinned sheepishly. "Now on with OUR story."

"You mean you came up with someone who would actually stand up for US? Cool, let's have it." Cinders turned in her seat to face her companion.

"The Evil Pagemistress may not be such a good idea, but, what about 'The Evil Pagemistress' ' 'good twin'?"

"Good twin? Good twin... good twin..." Cinders thought the name sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Christ, mate. And I thought Tommy was the one with the bad memory." With a quick slap upside Cinders' head, Mouse explained, "Kahva, numskull!"

Cinders began to message the area of impact while she glared at her 'slap-happy' companion.

"Why do you always have to do that?"

"Habit. Works doesn't it?" Cinders quickly tried to think a thought.

"It does, it works."

"Good. So, what do you think?"

"About what?" Mouse prepared for another assault. "Just kidding. You really think Kahva will do it?"

"Sure. After all, didn't we promise to make her an honorary 'Yostie'?"

"That's right. Okay. One down-"

"Two to go."

"I know, what about Kato Kalin? He'll testify for anyone," Cinders said.

"What is it with you and these people involved with OJ?"

"He was framed, I tell ya'."

"Let's be serious. We need two more witnesses, and we're running out of time."

"How's this? ZeoViolet."

"She a 'Yostie'?"

"Not really, but we e-mail each other quite a bit, when she can get to the library."

"I guess she'll have to do. IF she'll do it. Now, one more."

Again the thinking began, and the courtroom could smell the smoke. Several people came to mind, but not one of them would have the time to come into court to testify on the two women's behalf, if they'd even be willing to do so in the first place.

At the sound of loud thumping beside her, Mouse looked over to find Cinders banging her head against the table. Around them she could hear Rap's testimony coming to an end.

"Prosecution now calls Peregrine to the stand," Billy called.

Rap glared evilly at the duo as she passed. Not willing to be outdone, Mouse snarled back. Peregrine made her way to the stand in a swirl of black robes, giving her oath and taking her seat. Cinders had finally stopped banging her head on the table, but now a bright glow from above her head caused Mouse to have to shade her eyes. A HALO? Above HER head? Impossible! Mouse thought to herself. As she continued to look at the woman, she figured out what it was that was making the bright light. Reaching over, she casually clicked off the 'idea' light bulb that floated just above Cinders' head.

"Got a bright idea, do you, mate?"

"Yeah."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"Can't. You turned the light off." Mouse could only roll her eyes. This is the last time I write a fic with her. Mouse thought, but not aloud, like Judge Dagmar.

"Funny," Mouse said, sarcastically. "Just tell me what the idea is."

"Oh. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures." Mouse didn't like the sound of it already.

"Do I dare ask?"

"My brother, Wildman. He can testify for us." Cinders grinned, but it faded at Mouse's stricken look.

"And you thought someone using the name 'Evil' was a bad thing. He-he's not going to go crazy on us, is he?"

"Nah. He's been off the Mountain Dew for a few days."

"Whew. That's good to hear. Okay, we have all three witnesses, we just have to make it through all of Billy's witnesses now." ~*~

Cinders continued to tap her pen on the table, much to Mouse's annoyance. They'd been sitting in the courtroom for hours, as Billy called one witness after another to the stand. And from the sound of things, it wasn't boding well for the duo. There was an awful lot of 'tisk-tisking' and finger pointing going on. Even Judge Dagmar's attention had wondered dreamily to Jason, who kept shifting nervously under her gaze. He had begun to feel that the Amazonian woman, if she could, would have climbed over the bench, into the jury box, and divested him of all his clothing right then and there. Though the idea was an appealing one, he wasn't comfortable with there being an audience. Sifting again, Jason tried to focus his attention on the testimony of the current witness.

To everyone's surprise, Billy had called a psychologist to the stand to testify to all of the mental distress the two women had been and were causing his client. Billy seemed genuinely intrigued by what the man was saying, though 99.9% of it was flying somewhere way above everyone else's heads. Sounds of restlessness and boredom came from the seats behind the defendants. Mouse glanced back to find Mele, Peregrine and Rap fast asleep with their heads resting on each other's shoulders. And just behind them GreenEyes and Froog were doing the same.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say they look cute and innocent."

"Too bad we know better."

"Yeah, it's a shame."

Hearing Judge Dagmar speaking, and not the psychologist, Cinders and Mouse turned to face her.

"Thank you, Mr. Cranston. You two," she said, pointing to the surprised duo. "Call your first witness."

"Yes, ma'am!" Mouse leapt to her feet. "I call Kahva to the stand."

All eyes turned to the back of the courtroom where a robed woman entered, looking like she'd had WAY too much Mountain Dew.

"They like me, they really like me," Kahva grinned as she raced to the stand. She pushed past the swinging gate, which grabbed a hold of her robes and yanked her off of her feet. She threw her arms out to catch her fall, but it wasn't her arms that caught her. Looking up, she found herself being held in Billy's arms.

"Oh, no. She's not going to faint on us, is she?" Cinders worried.

"Kahva? Right." The whole courtroom suddenly gasped in surprise as Kahva hoisted herself up and locked lips with Billy. Mouse looked over to see that Cinders had turned a lovely shade of green. "Don't worry, mate. She's just a little excited."

"Really, I hadn't noticed," she said sarcastically sticking her lip out. She'd only been just inches from that hot mouth, and now Kahva had staked the first claim. Oh well, there would be other chances.

"Besides, it's best to leave the 'Green Eyed' looks to... GreenEyes," Mouse stated, turning to look at the aforementioned woman behind her. Her 'Green Eyed' looks far-surpassed Cinders'. Cinders grinned evilly. Billy quickly pulled away, and put Kahva on her feet. Kahva staggered dreamily to the stand.

"I'm a 'Yostie'," she sighed. As if the lip-lock with Billy was part of the initiation that she'd just passed.

" 'Yostie'? Who said she could be a 'Yostie'?" Mele demanded from behind the two defendants. Apparently they had awakened from their slumber.

"We did," Cinders proclaimed from in front of them.

"You don't have that right," Rap growled.

"I am a woman, I can do what I want," Cinders sneered. Within seconds Rap was out of her seat, arms stretched over the divider, hands wrapped firmly around Cinders' neck. As Cinders prepared to pull the cowl from Rap's head, they were savagely pulled apart by a bailiff who was appointed to stand between the women; for the rest of the courtroom's safety.

"One more outburst, and everyone will be removed from the room," Judge Dagmar exclaimed.

"Proceed, Mouse."

"Thank you, your honor." ~*~

Mouse cleared her throat and walked to the stand where Kahva was now sitting, starring dreamily at Billy. She cleared her throat again, and Kahva still didn't take notice. Sighing she drew back her hand and let fly with her famous slap to the back of Kahva's head. She really was getting a lot of practice with this. This is what I get for consorting with American's! Could be worse I suppose, they could be Poms. What am I saying, Perry's a Pom. Explains a lot really, when you think about it. Shaking herself back to reality she looked up as Judge Dagmar glared at her.

"The defense will refrain from hitting the witnesses."

"Sorry, your honor." She turned back to Kahva. This time the young woman was smiling openly at her.

"Hey, Mouse! Or is it 'G'day'?" Mouse visibly winced as Kahva pronounced it as Gay'Day. Shaking her head she sighed. It was defiantly one of those days. I'm defiantly chucking a sickie tomorrow. This is all I need; an American juiced up on Mountain Dew thinking they can speak a normal language.

"Please don't try that again, Kahva. At least not until you've come off the caffeine and sugar high, or I might think you're not on our side. Now, can we please get down to it?"

"Sure. No problem. Sorry, Mouse. I can't believe you guys trusted me this much! This is great." At this point Mouse glanced over at Cinders, a horrible suspicion starting to form in her mind. She looked back at Kahva who was grinning like an idiot. Oh stone the flamin crows! That's it! I wanna go home!

"Kahva, mate, how much Mountain Dew have you had?" She asked cautiously.

"Oh, not much. About three or four... cases." Cinders groaned and put her head in her hands.

"Oh God, she's as bad as Rocky!" Everyone glanced at the former Red ranger who was going red. He looked around at everyone.

"What? I like the taste!" Judge Dagmar banged her gavel again and everyone went silent.

"Mouse, get on with it. We're not getting any younger you know."

"Yes, your honor." Mouse looked at Cinders who nodded. This was their chance, she just hoped she could pull it off. "Kahva, can you please tell us how you know Cinders and myself."

"Cool! That's an easy one. I thought this was gonna be real hard."

"You had a thought? God this is gonna be good," Cinders muttered to herself. She glanced behind her, around the guard that was protecting her from Rap - or Rap from her - it was hard to decide, to catch a glance at the Elite behind them.

"Well, Cinders I've know for ages and ages. She's great. She's my friend. She's got a really wicked way of writing. Likes lots of involved plots but is always making sure that the guys can escape some way. Wonder why she does that? Do you know why, Mouse? She likes really hard situations. But she's not as bad as Mele and the others, for instance."

"What do you mean, 'as bad as Mele and the others'? What have they done?"

"Well, there's a lot. Let's see, Mele made Jason and Tommy drown Billy. But she did bring him back. And then in another story she had Jason and Billy kidnapped by aliens and Billy put through some horrible torture. That was really good. And then Perry did a really good stand alone recently where she got Billy and Jason trapped under a blown up Shopping center. Then in the same story she had Jason throw Billy into the engines of Terra Venture to jump start them." Kahva looked over at Peregrine. "Seriously, Peregrine. Next time you want to jump start something, use a battery!" Peregrine just groaned and lowered her head in her hands. Mouse cleared her throat, again, bringing Kahva back to reality. As much reality that Kahva could cope with anyway.

"What else?"

"Well, Peregrine has this really good series going, where she's put Billy through an emotional nightmare and his friends through much worse. And she does torture so well. Rap's just as bad." Mouse nodded along with her. This was turning out well. If they could get the jury to believe that her and Cinders were only following along bad examples, the verdict might not be so bad against them. She motioned to Cinders and they swapped places. Cinders moved over and smiled at Kahva.

"Kahva, you've explained how you know myself, and the 'Yostie' Azure Elite. Now, what about Mouse? How well do you know her?" Kahva bit her lip and frowned slightly for a moment. She looked at Cinders and spoke earnestly.

"Well, I don't know Mouse personally, as well as you do. I only know what I've read in her fics. Which is strange."

"How so?"

"Well, Mouse doesn't write as dark as everyone else does. In fact, the meanest stuff I've seen from her lately isn't as bad as what the Elite do. In fact a lot of her stand-alones have Billy, there, ending up with Kat. She's got a romantic streak in her, not many people see, I think. She certainly tends to focus on Kat a lot, probably because Kat's Australian like her." She looked at Cinders, her eyes totally vacant of coherent thought but shining with a childlike innocence. "You know what, I think Mouse isn't as bad as she wants us to think, unlike you, Cinders. With you, what you see is what you get." Cinders groaned audibly as Kahva continued. "I think underneath all that, Mouse is a softie at heart." Mouse just sat at their table, blushing harder and harder. She had hoped it wouldn't be this embarrassing. She slid down in her seat, trying to hide from the stares the jury members were giving her. This wasn't good; her reputation would be ruined. She looked over to find Cinders grinning at her like the proverbial 'Cheshire cat'. Oh crikey, now that's gone and done it. My next fic I'd better do something drastic. Maybe if I kill a few Rangers off. Nah did that already. Cinders turned back to Kahva.

"So, could you tell us, in your own words, what you think of the two of us?"

"Sure. Well, between the two of you, you have written some pretty intense stuff, but you always make sure that each Ranger has their counter part. No ranger goes alone. In fact, each Ranger always ends up with the person of his or her dreams. I think that's nice, don't you?" Cinders just smiled. She looked over at Mouse who had finally got her blushing under control and was carefully studying her fingernails. She knew her partner in crime well enough to know that they had all better watch out. Mouse was gonna prove Kahva wrong about her, somehow... some way.

"Yes, I do. That's what we try to do. Make sure everyone's happy in the end. Thank you, Kahva." She looked pointedly at the jury as she said that.

"Sure. No problem." With a dramatic leap and flourish of her cape, Kahva leapt over the witness stand with all the finesse of David Hasselhof driving KITT. Shaking her head she watched Kahva take a seat.

"Your Honor, we would like to call ZeoViolet to the stand." Mele sprang to her feet before the bailiff could call for the next witness.

"Hang on a minute! She's not a 'Yostie'!" Mouse stood as well and looked at Judge Dagmar.

"There was no stipulation that the witnesses had be to 'Yostie's', your honor." She glanced slyly at Mele, deciding it was time to start pushing her luck again. "Beside's, she has never understood our infatuation with Billy, over there. She reckons the Elite are just plain old off their rockers."

"Why you little.." Mele leapt over the rail and tried to get at Mouse, hands outstretched and anger in her heart. Mouse stepped back and assumed a fighting stance but luckily the guard put behind the two defendants, to restrain Rap, got to Mele first. He bodily pushed her back over the rail and then crossing his arms, looked sternly at her. Judge Dagmar banged her gavel again and stared daggers at Mouse, who relaxed and went back to her position behind the table next to Cinders, grinning quite evilly that she had succeeded in getting them to rise to the bait.

"You will refrain from baiting the gallery, missy, or I will have you bound and gagged and stuffed in a dark room with Michael Bolton singing continuously. Is that understood?" Mouse paled slightly and gulped.

"Yes, your honor. Sorry, couldn't resist." Judge Dagmar just shook her head and motioned for the bailiff to call the next witness. Cinders and Mouse both sat down and breathed a sigh of relief. Cinders looked at her friend, confusion on her face.

"Just what did you gain by pushing Mele like that, you know that in her next Yostie fic she's gonna do something terrible to you don't you?" Mouse just shrugged and grinned.

"I know. And I don't mind too much. My life's to boring at home, anyway."

"But your married, though, aren't you? Isn't your husband enough for you?" Mouse smiled at that, and what was more frightening to Cinders, than anything else she had seen, was that it was a smile that was full of love and it made Mouse look... well... normal.

"Yes I am. And he's wonderful. But, well, work sucks at the moment. I've had such a bad case of writers block lately that I've even been stumped on song fics, and I have some great song's picked out that I want to write for. My family is hassling me to have kids, which I desperately want to do but not yet and I want to see the world. My only escape is what ever the Elite comes up with." She looked at her friend and spoke seriously for the first time since Cinders had known her. "You live in the states. For you, if you want to get away, you just hop in your car and drive for umpteen hours and you're in another state entirely. Me, I live on an island. Sure, it's the best place to live in the entire world, but it's a little isolated. It costs a lot of money to get to mainland Australia, money we don't have. So, these little adventures of ours are sometimes the only chance I get to travel. Face it mate, when you're writing something like this, you can do anything." Mouse then smiled at her friend and reached out and grasped her hand. "I want to say thank you for letting me join you in these little adventures. They mean a lot to me." Cinders just sat there dumbfounded; as usual. Mouse turned to the person reading this fic and spoke in her lovely, uniquely accented voice.

"I'm sorry about that, folks. You see, Kahva got it right. I suppose I am a softie at heart and I do enjoy these little outings. But if I find that anyone of you has told Mele, Perry or Rap that I'm like this, well.. You know what they say... Never, ever piss off an Australian." She grinned evilly and then turned back to Cinders. "And if you ever repeat this conversation to anyone then I'll strand you in the outback with out the benefit of a Survivor film crew and all their luxuries." ~*~

Time seemed to pass slowly as they waited for ZeoViolet to put in an appearance. Cinders watched as Kahva conversed with a young woman in the audience. The woman was dressed in a "killer outfit". The outfit was a velvet green mini-dress. It had a fitted bodice, tight sleeves and a flared skirt. She wore riding boots whose tops disappeared beneath the incredibly short skirt. Cinders seemed to remember that Kahva had called her Ivy Tante. The petite woman was 5'2 with wavy, waist-length golden-brown hair, and her eyes were an interesting grey-green. A look that belied the woman beneath. Cinders continued to watch the silent conversation between the two women as they pointed now and again at the jury of Rangers. At second glance at the jury, she found Kim hugging Tommy's left arm while Kat held onto the other; their eyes locked on those of Ivy. Cinders had to snicker seeing the smug smile on Tommy's face.

Turning back to the front, the silence continued to fill the usually noisy courtroom. Mouse gazed nervously at the doors at the back of the courtroom. She didn't know ZeoViolet very well, except in occasional posts at the messageboard and through her fics. And as time lingered on, she was beginning to regret Cinders' decision on who would be testifying for them. She was about to say something when someone else broke the stilted silence. At the sound of Judge Dagmar's frustrated voice, both women jumped.

"Are you expecting your witness to show up sometime in this millennium?" Dagmar checked her watch, tapping the crystal, just in case it had stopped working. Cinders began to fumble for something to say as Mouse began to tug insistently on her shirttail. She glanced nervously at the other table where Billy shuffled through another towering stack of papers. "Well?" Judge Dagmar pushed.

Cinders opened her mouth to reply just as the door of the courtroom opened to admit an Eskimo into the room. The figure waddled down the isle, stopping momentarily to strip off several layers of winter outerwear. Both Cinders and Mouse sighed in relief to find ZeoViolet hidden beneath the coats and scarves. The young woman walked forward with a slight limp and a sneeze into a tissue in her hand. Cinders shook her head and watched as the McDonald's-uniformed woman approached the bench, the smell of french fries and burgers lingering behind her, reminding both women's stomachs that they hadn't eaten in a while. As ZeoViolet passed by Billy, as he stood at his table, she spared him a slight glance. "Hi," she said simply, and continued on to the stand, leaving a befuddled Billy behind.

As Billy watched the young woman take her seat, he didn't know what to think. He felt happy that there was actually someone in the courtroom to testify on the initiate's behalf that wasn't ogling him. Yet, at the same time, there was the unwanted and confusing feeling of disappointment that she hadn't ogled him or anything else. He was immediately brought out of his confused thought by the sound of snickering coming from the defendants. A glare from him quieted them momentarily, as he collected himself.

Mouse elbowed Cinders, which Cinders thought was rather hard. She picked herself up off the floor and seated herself back on her chair. The sound of chair legs grating across the floor caught everyone's attention as Cinders tried to put a safe distance between her ribs and Mouse's elbows. Finally situated, Mouse gave Cinders a puzzled look, then shrugged.

"Was it just me, or did Billy seem a little concerned that Zeo Violet didn't attack him?" Cinders chuckled.

"It wasn't just you, mate. And he's not the only one," Mouse stated. She couldn't figure it out either.

"Well, ZeoViolet likes Billy just fine, but she's got a thing for the Gold Ranger."

"Jason? I thought Dagmar was the only one that had a 'thing' for Jason?"

It was Cinders' turn to take a swipe at the back of Mouse's head, but the woman was a quick as the rodent she had named herself after, ducking the swipe, and continuing to look at Cinders confusedly. Sighing in exasperation, Cinders put her elbows on the table, picked up a pencil, and pulled a piece of paper to her. She slowly began to draw a picture for the clueless Mouse.

"See this? This... is... the... Gold... Ranger..., right?"

"Uh-huh." God I hope there's a point in here somewhere. Mouse just stared at her.

"This..., over here..., is Jason."

"Okay, okay. But why is there such a big space between them? Don't they get along?" Shaking her head, Cinders began to sketch out another figure.

"I'll show you." As Cinders sketched, a tall, dark man; dressed in black and gold robes with a tattoo over his eye, emerged on the paper.

"He looks familiar." Cinders had to refrain from trying to smack Mouse again, and sighed. Maybe all those stories I hear about Australian's are true. I hope not, otherwise we're in deep trouble.

"This... is Lord Trey. He's the original Gold Ranger. The one who entrusted the powers to Jason." Mouse nodded, then noticed sparks starting to shoot out from Cinders' eyes as she continued to talk, her voice rising. "... gave the powers to Jason after Saban gypped Billy out of getting them! Billy should have been the Gold Ranger! It's not fair!"

"Whoa, mate. You gonna pull a 'Cyclops-without-his-visor" on me? I don't think the courtroom needs a new roof." Mouse finally got Cinders calmed down and seated just as Judge Dagmar began to raise her gavel.

"Are you two going to be quiet now? Or do I have to have you both tossed out of here?"

"Quiet as a... Mouse, your honor," Mouse smirked. Sitting her gavel down, Judge Dagmar looked over at the witness who was sitting quietly and patiently on the stand. It was then that she noticed several bandages wrapping various fingers and places on the woman's arms.

"Were you in some sort of accident on the way here, is that why you were detained?"

"No, your honor. I have no transportation, so I had to walk all the way here from work. Of course I had to stop by the library to check my e-mail. And, do you know, it's really cold out there."

"Well then, what's with all the bandages?"

"Oh, these?" ZeoViolet held up her bandage wrapped fingers. "I tend to be a little accident prone at work," she smiled sheepishly.

"Very well. Which of you two nincompoops are going to question the witness?" Judge Dagmar asked as she glared at the two defendants.

"I will, Judge Dagmar," Cinders volunteered, getting to her feet. She still felt a little unstable from the emotional outburst about Billy and the whole 'Gold Ranger' ordeal, but Mouse had calmed her down enough that she could think a little more clearly. At least her thoughts would be kind of murky instead of muddy, like before. Cinders and think. That was an oxymoron if ever there was one. Cinders slowly approached the stand.

"ZeoViolet, are you a 'Yostie'?"

"No, I am not."

"What does this have to do with anything, your honor?" Billy blurted out.

"Yes, Cinders. What does this have to do with anything?"

"Your honor, I'm simply trying to show the court that she would have no reason to lie on the stand. She's not a 'Yostie', so she has no ulterior motive to stick up for a 'Yostie'."

"Very well, continue."

"How well do you know Mouse and I?"

"I know Mouse through the messageboard and her fics. She's a really good writer with a LOT of great ideas. As for knowing you, I e-mail with you quite regularly. Well, as regular as you e-mail back. Which, by the way, I haven't gotten a response to an e-mail I sent you several weeks ago."

"Sorry, been kind of busy-"

"Get on with the questioning, please," Dagmar warned.

"Yes, your honor. Have you read any of our fics recently?"

"Yes, I have."

"Do you feel that either of us treats Billy unfairly, and pick on him in the fics?"

"I wouldn't say that."

"What would you say?"

"It's true that you both tend to focus on Billy more than the other Rangers, and tend to put him in some very harsh circumstances..." Mouse groaned at hearing ZeoViolet's testimony, and lay her head down on the table. What the hell was her companion doing? Incriminating them? This wasn't boding well. She just hoped that ZeoViolet didn't give any explicate details. They wouldn't survive that at all. "You put him in those situations, but you always have him come out none the worse for wear. Even if he doesn't get his Morphin Powers back, he always has new powers in order to allow him to be with his friends."

"Thank you, ZeoViolet." Cinders looked at Mouse to see if she would like to cross-examine the witness. Mouse could only shake her head. "You may step down." ZeoViolet got up, limped back to a bench in the audience while Cinders took her own seat.

"Please call your next witness to the stand," Judge Dagmar ordered. Mouse wearily lifted her head from the table and gazed forlornly at Cinders. She was about ready to give up.

"We're doomed, aren't we?"

"Why do you say that?"

"ZeoViolet's testimony just confirmed what Billy is accusing us of, and now... Wildman is going to testify." Mouse seemed near tears. "Well thank you for having some faith in me." Mouse sighed and looked at her. "Sorry, mate. I'm still cold; I'm tired and hungry. I don't know about you but I was in such delirium, that when Zeo Violet walked by, I thought I saw a Big Mac walking by, instead." "Well, let's get Wildman in here and get it all over with so you can get home." "Okay," Mouse sniffed as Cinders got to her feet once more. "Your honor, I call Wildman to the stand." No sooner had Cinders spoke the name, then the doors at the back of the courtroom burst open. The audience gasped in surprise, turning to see just who... or what, it was that Cinders had conjured up from the very bowels of hell itself. An unearthly fog rolled into the room as a shadow moved within it. Everyone held their breaths as words floated out from the fog in a kind of sing-song way... " ' "Blood was running into the tea pot,
Then I heard "THEM" laugh
"A bit of this in a cup of tea, is what it
Takes to set "THEM" free
You will hear "THEM" telling stories
From far beyond this Earth"
What I saw and what I heard made me
Want to stay and learn." ' "

As the voice continued, everyone waited for some fowl demon to emerge from the dwindling fog. But as the form took shape, everyone sighed in relief to find it was a... normal? Man.

Wildman stood six feet tall, and unshaven. He was dressed in black from tip to toe. From the black X-Men hat on his head, the bill turn backward, the WCW Goldberg shirt, to the hiking boots on his feet. He moved down the isle, CD player in hand. He seemed not to notice anything around him, or he didn't care. He passed through the railing gate and approached the stand. As he took his seat, Mouse started to hyperventilate, pulling desperately at Cinders' sleeve.

"This is just a joke, right? Please tell me this is a joke." Cinders shook her head and moved to the stand to start her questioning. Mouse groaned and put her head down between her legs. To kiss her butt goodbye, or to stop the sudden wave of dizziness that suddenly washed over her, she wasn't sure, but she was prepared in any case.

Judge Dagmar looked skeptically at the young man; fingers crossed in hopes that her own son wouldn't end up like this... homeless looking man. Cinders must be desperate if she's hiring homeless strangers off the streets to testify for them, she thought to herself.

Carefully she reached out and tapped the young man on the shoulder. Wildman immediately shut off his music and removed the headphones.

"Sorry, your honor."

"Mr.. Wildman. Could you please remove your hat?"

"Can't. Head cold."

"You're telling me that you can't remove your hat because you have a head cold?"

"Nah. If I take my hat off my head will get cold." The courtroom burst into laughter, but one deadly glare from Judge Dagmar silenced them all. Slowly she turned that same look on the still smirking Wildman. The smirk faded and the hat was immediately removed.

"Very well. You may start your questioning."

"Thank you, your honor." Cinders glanced back at Mouse who was still trying to keep from hyperventilating. "Mr. Wildman, do you know me and my companion, Mouse?"

"Yes, I do."

"Your opinion of me, please."

"You're a good writer, mother and friend. Terrible cook, but..."

"Thank you, I think. Do you feel that I treat Billy unfairly in my fics?"

"No, ma'am. You are a BIG fan of Billy's. No pun intended. You'd never do anything bad to Billy without a good reason, and a solution."

"Thank you. Your opinions of my companion," Cinders motioned to a suddenly wide-eyed Mouse. This would be good, considering she's never meet him and didn't know a thing about him except he was Cinders' brother.

"Mouse is pretty cool. She talks just like Steve Irwin. You know, the "Crocodile Hunter"? He's a nut. Don't know if she hunts crocs, but the accent is really awesome." Mouse just sat her head in her hands again. Why do all bloody American's think all Australian's are like him? For Christ sake, half the bloody time they can't tell he's taking the piss out of them. How the hell did I get myself into this? She looked up as Cinders continued.

"And, do you think she treats Billy unfairly in her fics?"

"Not that I've seen. I think you both are very good to Billy," Wildman finished with a nod of his head.

"Thank you, Wildman, you may step down." Wildman smiled, placed the earphones back over his ears and stepped down and headed for a bench in the audience. Mele, Rap and Peregrine watched as Cinders took her seat next to the nervous Mouse, both gazing hopefully up at Judge Dagmar.

"What a joke," Peregrine muttered, crossing her arms.

"Maybe, but I've got a couple of things up my sleeve that will blow their testimonies right out of the water," Rap stated, giving them a wicked smile. Slowly, and quietly she slunk from her place on the bench, making her way to the bench directly behind Billy.

"What is she doing?" Peregrine asked.

"I don't know, but every time she gets that smile, things don't go so well," Mele answered.

"I just hope that she's not planning on abducting Billy right here and now."

"I don't know. Might prove quite interesting," Mele said with a smile. Froog and GreenEyes watched with interest as Rap tried to sneak up behind Billy, nearly tripping on her robe and falling several times before she reached the bench behind him. Hearing the commotion, Billy turned to look. Startled, Rap dove to the floor behind the railing that separated her from him. Cinders and Mouse had heard the commotion as well, and started to turn and look. Thinking quickly, which was something Mele wasn't use to doing, she leapt to her feet and pointed in the opposite direction.

"Look, it's the Quantum Ranger!" Having heard the numerous rumors that Billy would be the one to return as the Time Force Rangers' Quantum Ranger, Cinders and Mouse turned to look in the direction Mele was pointing. Using the distraction, Rap leapt up and tossed a manila envelope onto the table in front of Billy, then dashed madly back to her seat.

Enraged by the continuous distractions and interruptions, Judge Dagmar hefted the sledgehammer once more, taking out a chunk of the other corner of the stand. The crowd was immediately hushed, eyes wide and focused on the Amazonian Judge before them.

"Silence! Now, Mr. Cranston, do you have any closing arguments?"

"Yes, your honor." Billy stood and reached for his notes. As he started to push the envelope aside, he paused and lifted it up. The Azure Elite watched with breaths held as Billy opened the envelope and gazed inside.

"M-may I have a few seconds to prepare, your honor?"

"Be quick about it, I've got a lot of writing to do." This whole farce of a hearing had been giving her some REALLY good ideas ever since she stepped into the courtroom.

Sitting down, Billy withdrew the contents of the envelope and filled through the sheets of paper and. photographs? As Billy looked at the pictures, his face reddened and he cleared his throat.

"Mr. Cranston. Are you ready?"

"I-I am."

"Proceed." Billy grabbed up the envelope contents and strolled to the middle of the floor. He cast a quick glance at the jury of Rangers and blushed even more.

"Your honor, in my hand I hold evidence to prove that these... women's motives against me, were anything BUT pure. Here I have here, an e-mail between Cinders and her witness, Kahva. And I quote, 'Liked the Billy pic, btw!:) Any new developments on the fic, by any chance?:) I'm eager for another preview.:) {looks over at chained up Tight Torn-up Blue Jeans Billy hidden in the corner of Master Control, now gagged} I swear, I've GOT to anchor that post he's chained to so he can't appear here at work, I'm gonna start fussing at him one day, and somebody will walk in and wonder why I'm talking to the corner - and then they'll call the nice men in the white uniforms with the big coat with extra long sleeves to come see me. Then again, I DO work in TV, so maybe I'll get lucky and nobody will really notice. I can always blame it on Barney.;)' End quote." Billy looked at the shocked stares of the Rangers, the sheepish look on the aforementioned defendant, and the victorious smiles on the faces of the Azure Elite. "Not only that, but I also have information here which leads me to believe that Kahva is actually an escapee from a local mental facility." Billy stated, waving the documents in the air. "I also have statements that prove that the witness, Wildman, is none other than Cinders' brother, in disguise. And that Mouse and ZeoViolet are actually twins who were separated at birth."

Incredulous, Mouse turned and looked back at ZeoViolet, who, after blowing her nose again, shook her head in denial.

"And I also have numerous, incriminating pictures, of several Rangers, that Cinders has put together." Billy again waved the evidence.

"May I please see those?" Dagmar asked, a little too eager to see them. She stretched out her hand to accept them.

"I guess so." Billy approached the stand and reluctantly released the documents to Judge Dagmar. Dagmar placed the items on the desk before her and leaned back in her chair. She'd seen a few of these 'fixed' pictures first hand, but a second look wouldn't hurt. Quickly she perused the written documents, then took up the 'fixed' photos. There were nine pictures in all: 1) A picture of two Rangers in compromising positions. 2) A picture of a shirtless Billy. 3) Another picture of three Rangers in a VERY compromising position. 4) A picture of a half-dressed Tommy standing in water. 5) Another picture of Billy in the state of dress as described in the e-mail between Cinders and Kahva. 6-9) Scantily clad pictures of Adam, Carlos, Zhane and Jason. Judge Dagmar gasped as she gazed at the last picture; running her fingers over the body in the photo. Casually she slipped the desired photo into her pocket, certain that no one had noticed, then handed the rest of the evidence to the bailiff with instructions to let the jury look at them.

As the jury looked at the pictures there were gasps of surprise and lustful giggles. Judge Dagmar looked at Billy with a new perspective on the young Ranger. Billy shifted nervously.

"Due to the damning evidence brought to my attention, the testimony's of the defendant's witnesses will be struck from the records."

"I knew you'd screw this up!" Mouse cried.

"Me? As if you never did anything wrong."

"You're the one who picked the witnesses!"

"You never told me you and ZeoViolet were twins."

"What? Are you insane?"

"Maybe. But they'll never prove it."

"Besides the major difference in our ages and looks, and the fact we live on opposites end of the world and we look nothing alike, of course we're sisters! Christ are you American's dumb or what!"

"Hey, I'm not the one who gave him that little bit of information, you know. Besides, I'd call that VERY separated." Mouse could only roll here eyes.

"I just wonder where Billy got all that information, anyway?"

The sound of satisfied laughter and cheers from behind them caught their attention. Turning they found the Azure Elite, as well as the other two Initiates, trying to look innocent. A look they couldn't pull off on their best day.

"They did it! They're the ones who gave Billy the information," Mouse declared.

"No way. They're not that smart." Mouse gazed at the women.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. You know, we're going to have to teach them not to mess with us, don't you?" Cinders just nodded.

"Members of the jury, you've seen the evidence and heard the testimonies, now it's time for you to make your decision." Cinders and Mouse faced Judge Dagmar as she spoke, both women worrying their bottom lip between their teeth. "Will you either find the defendants guilty or not-guilty, of crimes committed against Billy and various other Rangers?" ~*~

The jury got to their feet and headed for the voting booths lined up against the back wall.

"Voting booths? I thought they were supposed to go into a room, deliberate for several hours, then return with the verdict?" Cinders wondered aloud to her partner.

"Maybe in the real world, but here..."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

Within minutes the Rangers had returned to their seats, and the ballots were handed to Judge Dagmar for counting. Cinders and Mouse, for the first time, sat silently, watching as Judge Dagmar lifted on ballot after another for counting. Mouse was getting ready to say something when a small whisper stopped her. Like a dog listening to a high pitched sound, Mouse tilted her head, trying to hear the small sound again.

"Cinders. Mouse," came the small whisper again. Mouse followed the whisper until she spotted two sets of tiny, glowing, yellow eyes peering out at her from under the edge of the table. Quickly Mouse elbowed Cinders, only to receive a swat from the woman. Making her patented move, Mouse slapped Cinders upside the head which in turn made the woman spin in her chair to face her companion, fists raised for a fight.

"Someone... or thing, is trying to get our attention." Mouse leaned back and pointed under the table. Cinders lowered her fists and gazed to where Mouse had indicated. There she found two baby dragon muses.

"Seetta, Jetta. What are you two doing here?"

"Mamma and Macca sent us. They said that you might need these." The babies dropped two watches into Cinders' hand.

"Why would we need these? There's already a clock on the wall here," Mouse stated. Cinders just rolled her eyes and handed Mouse one of the watches.

"Mamma said to push the button in an emergency."

"Thanks, you two. You'd better get going." In a flash the two tinny dragon muses fluttered away, dodging the swats by various members of the courtroom who were mistaking them for flies.

Mouse watched as Cinders wrapped the watch around her wrist, and with a sigh of resignation, she did the same. This was turning out to be some really weird insane episode. Just in time, it seemed; as Judge Dagmar had finally finished counting the ballots.

"Will the defendants please rise?" With a bit of hesitation, the women got slowly to their feet. "After carefully counting the ballots, this court's findings are as follows. Seven votes for 'not-guilty'," Dagmar gazed at the jury to see several of the Ranger women grinning. Shaking her head she proceeded in the findings. "And twenty-eight votes for 'guilty'."

"I protest!" Cinders shouted, bringing the rooming to chaos.

"Sit down!"

"I have to agree. Nothing has been proven here," Mouse added, getting to her feet.

"I saw you looking at the ballots. You were turning them over in your hands and holding them up to the light. You can't count those with 'hanging chads', 'swinging-door chads', or 'dimpled chads'. I demand that those ballots be thrown out! The ballots have to show the clear intent of the voter!" Cinders declared as Mouse stood beside her with a strange feeling of deja vu.

"Count all the votes. Count all the votes!" Came the yells of the Azure Elite and 'Yostie' Initiates from behind them. Looking back, they were surprised to find that the women had conjured up protest signs from somewhere, and were holding them up.

"Where'd they get those?" Mouse wondered.

"Silence!" With one last swing of the Sledgehammer, the stand crumpled to the floor, the room growing deathly quiet. "This is not Florida! This court has found both of you guilty for numerous crimes against the Power Rangers, specifically of the person known as "Billy". For this you will be held in solitary confinement for a period to be determined by this court. While in confinement, you will not have any contact with each other, and you will be required to write, not one, but two fics each. One will deal with Billy in a happy atmosphere, with a VERY happy ending, and the second one will have to deal with any other Ranger with NO mention of Billy in it what-so-ever."

Mouse melted into a puddle of anguish as Cinders slapped her hands over her ears and released the most ear-piercing scream anyone had ever heard. Behind them the Azure Elite were cheering and giving each other the hi-five. Kahva and Ivy started to slink down the isle amid the chaos in the room. Kahva made sure that her hand was gripping Ivy's arm firmly, to keep the young woman from running into the jury box and pouncing on Tommy. Soon they were gone from the room to parts unknown. ZeoViolet, with all the dust floating in the air from the demolished stand, broke into a fit of sneezes which caused her to loose her balance and topple off the end of the bench. Wildman, on the other hand, remained seated, his feet propped up on the back of the bench in front of him, oblivious to everything around him, as he listened to his headset, eyes closed. ~*~

The jury of Rangers began to talk amongst themselves as Billy looked proudly on. He had finally done it. He'd gotten back at those two. After their sentencing, they would never dare to write such material again. A hand on his shoulder interrupted Billy's thoughts of victory. Turning he found Kim standing behind him, a strange look in her eyes and an all too familiar photo in her hands.

"Billy, I was just wondering something. Over the years I've gotten to see all the guys without their shirts, but I've never seen you without yours. Do you really look like this under that shirt you're wearing?" Kim held the picture of Billy dressed in nothing but Torn Jeans, up for him to see.

"Kim? Snap out of it! Whatever they have must be contagious." Billy backed away from the former Pink Ranger, his arms crossed over his chest.

Cinders, meanwhile, pulled Mouse to her feet, prepared to make their escape amid the confusion. But Judge Dagmar was all seeing, and all knowing. Dropping a dazed Jason into her chair, she called out for the officers of the court.

"Officers, arrest those women! Don't let them escape!" From the midst of the confusion Phantom Ranger and Blue Centurion appeared, both carrying handcuffs and moving swiftly toward the two women. Seeing them coming, Cinders grabbed Mouse and tried to leap over the railing, only to find the Azure Elite there to block their path. Like two cornered animals, Cinders and Mouse spun in a 360-degree circle, looking for a way out.

"What about the watches?" Mouse questioned, panic filling her voice.

"Fine time to be asking me for the time," Cinders snapped, releasing Mouse. Even with everyone closing in on them, Mouse still found the time to use her patented move. Drawing back her hand, Mouse popped Cinders upside the head. Spinning, Cinders growled. "Remind me, the next time you get us into something like this again, to wear a helmet!"

"Me? How did I get us into this?"

"Was it, or was it not, your idea to write this fic?"

Looking sheepish, Mouse responded, "I forgot. But you're the one who wrote this part. Look. The baby dragons told us to push the button on the watches in an emergency. I think this..." Mouse barely ducked Phantom's grasp and crashed into Cinders who was trying to avoid Blue Centurion's grasp.

"...qualifies for an emergency!"

"Right!" Immediately they pressed the buttons.

"Nothing's happening!" Cinders cried.

"I wouldn't say that," Mouse stated, pointing to the surprised onlookers. Cinders quickly examined the zipper on her jeans and buttons on her shirt. Neither of which was undone.

"What are they looking at?" Before Mouse could reply, the courtroom disappeared in a rush of light as they were overtaken by the strange sensation of flying. Cinders was starting to really get into the sensation when Mouse was suddenly ripped away from her in another direction. Cinders screamed out to her, but it was too late. Mouse was gone. Scared and alone, Cinders closed her eyes and waited for the ride to be over. ~*~

Meanwhile, back in the courtroom, the Azure Elite screamed out in rage; angered that the Initiate duo had eluded them yet again.

"How did they do that?" Mele wondered, still amazed by the Dark Green and Blue streaks of light that had teleported the duo out of harms way.

"I don't know, but they won't get away with it again," Peregrine growled, thinking of the next time they'd meet.

"The way I'm feeling right now, the next time we meet up with those two, it will involve toes and a LOT of pain," Rap muttered. GreenEyes and Froog wondered around the courtroom, still in awe of their elder Initiates.

"Hey, do you think that if we apologize for being involved with this fiasco, that they'll let us join them?" GreenEyes asked.

"What will the Azure Elite do to us if we do? I shudder to think of it," Froog said, gazing at the three enraged women.

"Well, unless we want to be confronted by their rage right now, I think we'd better get out of here, and fast," GreenEyes stated as they beat a path to the doors at the back of the courtroom.

Mele paced before her two angry companions.

"We had better get back to our homes. We've got a LOT of planning to do to get back at those two."

"I agree, though I already have a few ideas of my own," Peregrine grinned, wringing her hands together.

"You two go on ahead. I'll meet you outside. I've got to retrieve the evidence," Rap said.

"I didn't like the sound of that," Mele grumbled

"Hey, let the girl have a little fun. Besides, how did you get a hold of all that evidence?"

"Oh, let's just say that... a couple of muses told me," Rap smiled, a look that sent chills down the other women's spines.

"Okay. We'll meet you outside," Peregrine agreed, pulling the stubborn Mele along behind her.

The women couldn't be certain how long they had been waiting outside of the courtroom doors, but the doors were suddenly kicked open as Rap exited the courtroom, a large... wiggling... bag being drug behind her.

"I don't recall the evidence being that big-"

"-or moving," Peregrine finished.

"So, I found a little more evidence as I gathered up my stuff. Let's get going before someone misses hi... it." Without hesitation, the trio and their 'evidence' departed the courtroom to various places around the globe; sure to raise their evil and wicked heads once more some other day. ~*~

ZeoViolet stumbled through the isle, every now and then looking behind her at the large group of Rangers who seemed to be searching for something. Noticing the man who called himself 'Wildman' still sitting on the bench, oblivious to everything around him, she made a wide birth around him and rushed from the courtroom.

Wildman was close to dozing off when a tap on his shoulder roused him. Sitting up, he let his legs drop from the bench in front of him and turned off his music. Opening his eyes, his heart began to beat rapidly. A tall, slender blond stood above him, and he searched his small memory bank for a name to put with the bod...face.

Kat. Oh, yes. Kat. A lusty grin curved his lips.

"Well, hello."

"Um. I was wondering if you could help me," her accent was awesome, just like Mouse and Steve Irwin's. Immediately Wildman was on his feet.

" 'Help' is my middle name," he lied. Kat took a couple of uneasy steps back.

"We can't seem to locate Billy or Jason, and I was wondering if you had seen either of them."

"Sorry, I haven't. Couldn't even begin to know where Jason might be. Have you questioned Cinders and Mouse? I'd bet all my money that they'd know where he is."

"Darn. They've already gone."

"Crud. I'd better get going, too, if I plan on getting a ride to work in the morning." As Wildman was about to make his departure, he noticed some strange movement behind the curtain of one of the voting booths. "You might want to check over there," Wildman said, pointing at the booth. Kat thanked him as he made his way from the courtroom.

Kat silently motioned to the other Rangers and moved to the voting booth. After a short pause, Kat finally reached out to draw the curtain back. But before she could grasp the stripped material, the curtain was ripped back and the Amazonian figure of Judge Dagmar filled the opening.

Kat jumped back in surprise, bumping into the Rangers behind her. Before them, Judge Dagmar smoothed her hands over the wrinkled material of her black Judge's robes.

"I want an APB put out on those two 'Yostie' Initiates immediately! Now if you'll pardon me I must attend to some Judgly duties." Judge Dagmar walked casually from the booth, drawing the curtains closed behind her. As she neared the door to the Judge's chambers, she dashed madly through the door, slamming it and locking it behind her. Confused by the Judge's actions, the Rangers gazed at each other as Tommy and Carter stepped forward, drawing the curtains back. As the curtains parted, the women gasped at the sight before them.

There, on the floor of the booth, clothes hanging in shreds on his body; was Jason, a strange smile frozen on his face, his eyes dazed.

"What is it with these people? Why are they doing this to us? And where's Billy?" Kendrix moaned. She had yet to be use to the torment PR fic writers could put them through.

"I don't know. Maybe they get some kind of sadistic pleasure out of it. And as for Billy, I think he's been abducted once again," Tanya replied. ~*~

Elsewhere, Mouse was still flying, surrounded by Blue light. What had Cinders' muses done to her? If she survived this, she would NEVER write another 'Yostie' fic with Cinders again.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, she suddenly found herself sitting in front of her computer as if Billy had never kidnapped her at all. Quickly she checked the clock to find that she had only been gone for an hour. She was back in her normal clothes and the temperature was back to normal. She was warm for the first time in what felt like hours. As she let out a sigh of relief, Macca popped up.

"So, how was the trip?"

"You knew, and didn't do anything; as usual?" The little bear shrugged.

"Hey, I conspired with Herta to come up with a way to get you two out of the mess you'd gotten yourselves into, mate." Course he wouldn't tell her what else it was the he and Herta had been responsible for. Rap could be VERY intimidating at times.

"Th-the watches?" She looked at her muse with stunned admiration. She didn't think her little friend had it in him.

"Tel-e-por-ta-tion de-vic-es. Yeah."

"Teleportation devices? But how?"

"We have our ways. So, ya' wanna play a little 'two-up'? After all, you owe me your life." Mouse just rolled her eyes and logged onto the Internet.

"In a minute my friend, I have to let Cinders know I got back safe. Then you and I are going to have a little talk." ~*~

A snore brought Cinders out of her deep sleep. She was surprised to find that the flying sensation was gone. She slowly moved her body to find a VERY hard floor beneath her. Opening her eyes, she found herself lying on the floor, just as she had been.

"Wow, what a dream. This will make for an excellent fic idea. I've got to tell Mouse about this." Cinders climbed to her feet and dashed down the hall to the computer, the 'watch' unnoticed around her wrist. Quickly she logged on and brought up her e-mail. Checking the messages, she found an e-mail from Mouse.

"Hey, mate,

We sure were lucky that Herta and Macca created those teleportation devices for us, or we'd be in solitary right now, and writing those horrible fics. Though by no means do I feel we are out of the woods? At the least, the Azure Elite will have plans for us in their next fic.

So, how did you survive the teleport? I wasn't scared at all. It was really cool. And, get this, I found myself right where I had been before Billy kidnapped me. And, is it just me, or have we only been gone for an hour? Luv, Mouse"

Cinders leaned back in her chair eyes glued to the e-mail on her screen.

"It wasn't a dream? All of that it really happened?"

"Yes, honey. It did." Cinders jumped at the sound of the voice. Looking up, she found Herta sitting primly amid the MMPR Blue Ranger toys that were placed on top of her computer desk. "And do you want to know something? Billy sure is a lot better looking in person." Herta's brow-horns bounced up and down. Cinders blushed.

"He is, isn't he?" They giggled. "Thanks, Herta, for helping us out. How did you know to make these?" Cinders asked, remembering the watch/teleportation device on her wrist.

"I have my ways. You'd better get some sleep. You have work tomorrow." Herta fluttered her wings and headed to the door.

"Yes, mom. And where's Blackie?"

"Please, don't call me 'mom'. I already have fifteen children. No offense but I don't relish a sixteenth. And, as for Blackie, he wanted out, so I let him out for a little while." Herta could barely hear the yelled curses directed at her, from one torked off black cat, freezing his fury backside off outside.

"Good night, Herta. I guess I can always e-mail Mouse back in the morning." Cinders logged off the computer and crawled between the sheets. As she reached for the light switch, two small voices from the small opening of the doorway stopped her. Pulling the door open, Cinders found Seetta and Jetta fluttering in the hallway, giggling.

"Thanks, you two."

"No problem. It was a lot of fun."

"Now that the trial is over... can I convince you to write that Roswell fic?" Seetta asked, hopeful.

"Uh-uh! I had the X-Men fic idea first. I need a Wolverine fix, really bad," Jetta interrupted her younger sibling.

"We'll discus this again some other time. Good night, you two." Clicking off the light, the two babies fluttered down the hall, back to their Christmas tree bed, quietly arguing amongst themselves. Cinders smiled and closed her eyes. "We'll have to do this again sometime," she muttered, then a strange thought crept into her mind. "I wonder if Billy was able to elude the Azure Elite? They haven't tried to abduct him in a long time." Giggling, she closed her eyes and slipped into wonderful Billy dreams.

"I've got an idea!" Mouse declared.

Extra Notes: The first Quote in the story is from Dr. Seusses "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". The song that Wildman sings to if from King Diamond's "Them" CD. QQ