Disclaimers: All PR characters do not belong to me. They belong to Haim Saban. Queen Uriel, King Rashell, Jaime Talsik, the Aquitians besides the Alien Rangers and Cestria, and Jackie Oliver, are mine so please don't use them without my consent. Thanks a bunch :) Oh, Alex Krycek, Fox Mulder, and Dana Scully belong to Nicholas Lea, David Duchovny, and Gillian Anderson as well as Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and FOX.
Rating: Rated PG-13 for language, violence, character death, mild romance, and adult topics such as vague references to homosexuality. You have been warned.
Archiving: Do archive, but let me know where so that I can come and visit.
Author's Notes: See below...there's a rather long one...
Dedication: To Rachel, who picked me up when no one else would, and Jessica, who makes me feel special to the point that I actually believe it. You guys are two of my best friends, and I'm glad that I know you. Well, you guys and Tara who is so caring, and then there's Brittnay who can always make me laugh, and Bonnie who's like the sister I never wanted *hehehe*, and Andrea who makes my life seem better than it is...ah, never mind...is it possible to have six best friends? Well, Power Rangers has six people be best friends, so I guess we're like them, only none of us are really hot guys and we can't morph *though on hard days I have desperately wished that I could!*
Summary: It is time for the rangers of Earth to repay the rangers of Aquitar for what they did long ago. How will the Earth Rangers respond to meeting with the Alien Rangers again, and what developments will occur back on Earth when Kimberly meets Jaime for the first time?

Waterworld
by Christina Ortega

***theme***
As some cool music begins playing we see shots of Angel Grove being blown up followed by a shot of Uriel and Rashell teleporting into the moon palace in front of Rita and Zedd (New Evil)

This is followed by a scene where Tommy knocks Lord Zedd to the ground with one swift blow followed by the Power Rangers, unmorphed, standing in front of a group who look just like them (Perfect Likeness)

Next comes a scene where Kat, Rocky, and Adam are standing inside of a prison cell talking followed by a split shot. One side shows Tanya and Kat screaming at each other and the other shows Jason yelling out gibberish while Emily watches him in horror (Blue Files)

The next scene is one of the Silver, Gold F, and Gold Rangers standing in the middle of a battle field being attacked by evil armies. This is followed by a shot of Trey of Triphoria looking down on an unconscious Jaime Talsik while Jason, Kat, Emily, and Adam watch in the background and then a scene where the White Ranger is talking to Saba in the middle of an Earth battle (Golden Wars)

Next is a shot of Kim, Trini, Zack, Tommy, Rocky, Kat, Adam, Jason, Emily, and Tanya sitting in the park followed by a shot of the Gold Ranger F covering her ears as the White Ranger, who is behind her, falls to his knees and shakes his head in pain. This is followed by a shot of Jaime looking up at Zordon angrily while Alpha scurries around behind him (Tension)

After that there is a shot of Jason and Zack walking through the park together followed by a scene where Jason is kneeling in front of Tommy. Next is a scene where Scorpina and Uriel are in Uriel's chamber, and completing the theme is a shot of Uriel and Tommy standing alone in a small room. (Resolution)

The screen becomes black and white lettering comes up: What will happen next? This is followed by a bunch of shots of all the rangers doing different things including some cool parts where Jengas are going flying everywhere and there are even some implications of people making love *this is a kids show, though. We can't show the sex...at least not in the previews :)*

After this a lightning bolt comes up between Power and Rangers and underneath there is a nice little 'Allied Evil' logo completed with a cool booming special effect. Then, in little white letters, it reads: written, produced, edited, and directed by Christina Ortega

As the music ends, Christina walks out with a big smile on her face and exclaims: Enjoy part seven of Allied Evil. I've had so much fun writing it, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it! Sorry about the time I wasted with that theme, but I wanted to make sure everyone would understand what's in this story which means...reading the other ones! Shameless plug for me, I admit. Sorry...but I also don't want everyone to be confused when they read this installment. Believe me, I've been there, and I don't want it to happen to any of you, so my advice...starting from here in this series would be like watching the season finale of the X-Files and expecting to understand what the hell was going on *the word 'hell' will later be removed from this broadcast* Hehe, my friend has done that and I got to laugh at her the whole time that she was going 'I don't get it! Who's the kid? How did his arm get cut off? Why are half of the people on this show over the age of 45!? Is he an alien that needs nicotine to survive!?' Oh...X-Files belongs to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and FOX. Just had to make that clear. Don't sue me!!
 
 

* * *
end theme
* * *
Evil laughter boomed through the submarine flying through space towards the planet Aquitar. Jumping around happily the evil space pirate, Divatox, was preparing her evil armies called Piranatrons for landing. "If you don't know how to swim you will be in deep shit," she told them flippantly. "Once we destroy the Alien Rangers, we will be free to take over the water planet and then move onto bigger and better things...like Earth."

"Divatox," Porto called from where he was manning the controls of the sub, "what about Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd? They are in the Earth sector."

"So? I'll be willing to take them on," Divatox told him. "Anyway, it isn't like they've defeated the rangers of Earth yet."

Rygog, who had been listening to the conversation, sighed. "Word has it that Queen Uriel and King Rashell have joined forces with them."

Divatox laughed at this. "What are you two so worried about? Rita and Zedd are old friends of mine. If worse comes to worse, we will join forces with them. Anyway, we aren't going to think that far ahead. Right now, our objective is Aquitar and, according to those monitors, we are going to be touching down in five hours."

Glancing at the monitors, Porto sighed. "Make that five minutes."

"Minutes, then," Divatox muttered. Turning to the Piranatrons again, she put on her most determined face. "Prepare to land!" She shouted. "Touchdown in five minutes!"

"22...24...37...Hike!" Elgar called from the doorway that he had just come through. "Hey, Auntie D, why are we talking about football?"

"Incompetent fool," Divatox mumbled. She frowned at her nephew. "Get ready to land, idiot! We're touching down on Aquitar in less than five minutes."

Understanding, Elgar jumped up in the air. "Yippee!" Knocking his head on a monitor, he cried out before rubbing his head. "Oh, that's smarts."

Rygog shook his head. "What a moron."

* * *
Billy Cranston walked through a large room within the Command Center on Aquitar with windows that showed Aquitians swimming around in the outside world while the Alien Rangers looked at screens and worked at consoles along the wall. Feeling a hand touch his shoulder, he turned around and, finding that it was Cestria, he kissed her cheek before putting a hand on her shoulder. "I can't wait, Cestria. After all this time, I'm so glad we're doing this."

"Me too, Billy," Cestria acknowledged. "I've always dreamed of getting married, and though I never imagined that I would be wed to an Earthling, I'm so glad that I'll be spending the rest of my life with you."

"There's something I've been wondering. We're getting married in a week...should I contact the rangers of Earth and have them come here to see me off, so to speak?"

Cestria nodded. "I've never really met the other rangers...well, I have spoken to Tommy over communications once."

Billy frowned. "He tried to contact me?"

"I'm sorry, Billy, that I forgot to tell you until now," Cestria said. "He did try to contact you, but you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you. It was a little while ago."

"What did he say?" Billy asked surprised by the amount of pleading in his voice.

Noticing it, Cestria caressed his cheek. "There have been a lot of things going on with the rangers of Earth. Angel Grove was attacked and many people died."

His mouth opening in shock, Billy stared at her for a moment before inquiring, "My parents?"

"They're safe," Cestria told him. At his skeptical expression, she sighed. "Tommy said that he and the other rangers checked. They're fine, Billy. Anyway, they no longer have the Zeo powers. Alpha was able to get the old Dino powers online and they have been using those. Jason Scott was off the team for awhile, but is back now."

"Jason," Billy breathed. "I haven't seen him in awhile. Well, I haven't seen a lot of people in awhile, actually." His eyes still gleaming with curiosity, he questioned, "What else?"

"There are new enemies," she informed him. At his startled expression, she continued. "The Machine Empire was defeated by Rita and Zedd who are back in business along with two new evil beings: Rashell and Uriel. Also, Kim, Trini, and Zack are in town helping to repair Angel Grove."

Billy smiled. "Oh, I know I'm going to have to have a gathering for our wedding then. This is going to be quite a party. You know what? I know it's really late on Earth right now, but I still have my communicator. I should contact Tommy sometime. He doesn't know I kept it so it would be the perfect opportunity to surprise him and tell him about the wedding."

Cestria nodded. "That's a wonderful idea, Billy. He will be shocked."

At that moment, alarms began to go off in the room and, looking at the large screen at the back of the room, the two gasped as they saw a large craft circling around the planet. "What the hell is that!?" Cestria cried.

Billy shook his head. "I don't know." At that moment, the ground shook and they both fell to the ground. "Someone is firing on us!"

The alarms became more and more urgent as the two, looking outside, saw that Aquitians were dying left and right from the blasts. Now the water was becoming red with blood as torpedoes were continuously fired. "Who the hell is doing the shooting!?" Delphine, the leader or the Alien Rangers inquired with anger. "Cestro, what do the monitors say?"

"The readings are coming in now," the Blue Aquitian ranger replied. Glancing at the screen, however, he watched in horror as the consoles around it shattered from the force of the blasts. "Damn it!"

Aurico through his hands up in the air before falling to the ground as another blast shook the room. "What do we do!?"

"We need to get a message to Earth," Tideus said. "The Earth Rangers can come here to help with this."

Delphine shook her head in protest. "We don't even know what we're dealing with, and the atmosphere here cannot be survived for long by humans!"

"It was the same thing when they contacted us," Tideus told her. "Zordon would want us to call him just like we'd want him to call us!"

Corcus nodded. "Yes, but how? The consoles are broken and it will take hours, maybe days, to fix them!"

Cestria pointed at the silver device around Billy's wrist. "Contact Tommy and tell him to come with the others right away! We need help!" Nodding, Billy pushed a few buttons on his communicator and desperately hoped that Tommy would answer it.

Back on Earth, Tommy Oliver slept in turmoil on his bed in the shelter within the boundaries of Angel Grove. His dreams were haunted with images of Kim coming to him and saying that she hated him and even more visions of having sex with Uriel. All of a sudden, he heard six familiar notes chime through his dream and, opening his eyes, he looked groggily at his communicator before pushing the button to get it running. "Tommy here. What's up, Zordon?"

"This isn't Zordon, Tommy!" A frantic voice called. Horrible booming noises were heard in the background.

Becoming alert, Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Who is this?"

"Tommy, it's me! Billy!" The voice screamed. "I'm on Aquitar! We're under attack! You and the other rangers need to come h—" the communication ended with one last boom followed by static.

Sitting up in a haste, he forgot about the lamp right over his head and cursed as he banged his head on it before literally falling out of bed and scrambling to his feet. This disturbance was enough to wake up his younger sister, Jackie, who glanced at him with confusion. "Tommy, what's going on? Are you ok?" Having just come in from LA with another team helping to rebuild Angel Grove, this was only her second night back.

"Ranger business," he muttered as he pulled on a pair of jeans. Deciding that wearing his undershirt was enough, he looked back at his sister. "Go back to sleep, Jackie."

"No way!" Jackie exclaimed. "I want to go with you!"

Tommy shook his head. "This is a big deal," but before he could teleport, Jackie clung onto him so that they both teleported in a flash of white.

Entering the Power Chamber, Tommy rubbed the stinging area where he had banged his head before running frantically up to Alpha. "Oh, wake up, Alpha! Please wake up!"

The little droid quickly woke up and scurried around in alarm. "Intruder! We're all going to die! Intruder!"

"Alpha, it's us!" Jackie told the robot softly as she pushed some of her brown hair away from her face. "Calm down!"

Seeing who it was, Alpha sighed and glanced up at Zordon who was looking down at the droid with annoyance. "Ay yi yi, I'm sorry, Zordon, but I do get really worked up since Goldar and Rito blew up the first Command Center and Ivan Ooze got in here the first time..."

"WHAT IS THE MATTER, TOMMY?" Zordon questioned, ignoring Alpha for the time being.

Tommy looked at him with extreme fright before motioning towards his communicator. "I just got a message from Billy saying that Aquitar was under attack. Shit, I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack." He took in a few deep breaths before saying, "We need to get the others up here and teleport over there to fight whatever this is—"

"SLOW DOWN, TOMMY." Zordon told him gently. "NOW, YOU RECEIVED A MESSAGE FROM BILLY SAYING THAT THERE WAS TROUBLE ON AQUITAR?"

Tommy nodded. "The transmission cut off early. I don't like this, Zordon. You need to teleport me over right away."

"YOU AND THE OTHERS," Zordon corrected. He could understand Tommy's constant need to protect the other rangers, but sometimes he could get a little out of hand. Then again, in his youth ages ago, Zordon had been the same way with his mentor. As Tommy lowered his head and nodded again, he sighed. "ALPHA, TELEPORT THE OTHERS HERE RIGHT AWAY."

"You've got it, Zordon," Alpha told him. "Teleporting now."

Soon, six colored lights entered the Power Chamber revealing the other rangers. Yawning, Rocky looked up at his mentor. "Rita and Zedd are going to pay dearly for interrupting the good dream I was having."

"IT ISN'T RITA AND ZEDD, ROCKY. AQUITAR IS IN DANGER, AND YOU MUST TELEPORT THERE IN ORDER TO HELP."

"What about Jaime, Zordon?" Emily questioned making Jason frown. Even if they had broken up, he still didn't like the Silver Ranger all that much. "Is he coming with us?"

"NO, EMILY. AS THE OTHER RANGERS MAY REMEMBER, TRIPHORIANS CAN NOT LAST LONG ON AQUITAR. AS IT IS, YOU SEVEN WILL BE IN GREAT DANGER BEING ON THE PLANET JUST AS THE ALIEN RANGERS WERE WHEN THEY WERE HERE."

"We have to go, Zordon," Tommy said softly as he looked at the viewing globe. Zordon frowned at him but said nothing.

"Aquitar is made entirely of water, though," Kat reasoned. "Are we going to be able to live on the planet?"

Zordon nodded. "THERE ARE INDOOR PLACES ON AQUITAR AND, IF NEEDED, THERE ARE OXYGEN DEVICES ON THE PLANET FOR NON-AQUITIANS. YOU MUST GO NOW, RANGERS. GOOD LUCK, AND MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU." As the seven rangers faded away, he looked down at Alpha. "BE SURE TO MONITOR THEM AT ALL TIMES TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY WILL BE SAFE ON THE PLANET."

Alpha nodded. "Yes, Zordon. I was already planning to." Switching on the viewing globe, they watched as seven colored lights traveled through space towards the water planet.

Jackie sighed as she watched the images. "God, please don't let Tommy make an ass of himself over there. He seems really wired."

Hearing her, Zordon couldn't help but chuckle. "I'M SURE HE WILL DO FINE, JACKIE. CONCERN FOR A PERSON'S WELL-BEING CAN BE THE BEST MOTIVATOR." At least, it always had been for Tommy.

* * *
From the moon, Lord Zedd had been close to falling asleep when, suddenly, he was jolted awake as seven colored lights flew past his face. Standing, he watched in awe as they went past the palace and disappeared from his sight. "Now where the hell are they going?" He muttered to himself. "Finster!"

After a few minutes, the little pale creature appeared in the throne room. Yawning, he nodded. "Yes, Lord Zedd?"

"The rangers just left Earth and I want to know where they're going!" Zedd exclaimed.

Nodding again, Finster waddled out of the room, just missing Rita as she stormed in. "Zedd, you're giving me a headache! I can't sleep with you screaming like that!"

Zedd shook his head and grumbled under his breath before explaining. "The rangers just teleported off of Earth and I sent Finster to find out where they've gone."

"We haven't heard anything about another threat," Rita said softly, "except for on Dactor, of course, but that is another matter. The Triphorians have that battle under control. There is no reason for them to get involved!"

"I know that!" Zedd exclaimed. "What we have to do now is figure out where they would be going!"

Rita shrugged. "What about Hirpog?"

"Rashell is there," Zedd remarked. "He would have told us if something was going on there. Even though Robert is dead there is still enough troops there to hold the planet from any attack. No one would dare touch it. Hell, half of the galaxy doesn't even know that Todd is dead." Continuing to brainstorm places that the rangers might be teleporting to, neither noticed Uriel teleport into the throne room.

She listened to the two banter for a moment before clearing her throat and inquiring, "Why are you naming planets for no reason?"

Turning to her for the first time, Rita informed her of the situation. "The rangers have teleported to another planet and we're trying to think of where."

The rangers are off-planet? That could be dangerous...stop it. You hate the rangers, Uriel. They're immature, annoying, have a great smile and wonderful hair, can have really intimate conversations...damn it, not now! "What about Triphoria?"

"Triphoria was in the other direction, and the Silver Ranger was not with them," Zedd told her. "Besides, the Triphorians are fighting on Dactor, but they have the upper hand and there is no reason for the Power Rangers to join them."

"So they were going in the other direction, the Silver Ranger was not with them..." Her eyes lit up. "We can assume that Jaime isn't with them because he can't go, not because he didn't want to go, right?"

Rita nodded hesitantly. "I suppose so."

Uriel smiled. "Earth is part of a three-way triangle between two planets. One is Triphoria. If they aren't going to Triphoria then they are going to the other planet, and you know what that is."

"Aquitar," Zedd muttered. "Of course! It was too simple! There must be a threat to Aquitar!"

At that moment, Finster scurried back into the room. "Majesties, I have received a transmission from King Rashell saying that there is a threat to Aquitar."

"We have figured this out already, Finster," Uriel told him. "Now, what exactly is the threat?"

"I suppose you may remember Divatox?" As the three groaned, he felt there was no need for an answer.

Zedd growled. "So, that bitch is trying to move her way onto our turf by starting with Aquitar?"

"Her Piranitrons couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag let alone the Alien Rangers!" Uriel exclaimed with a mocking chuckle. "What the hell does she think she's doing?"

"She's bombing Aquitar, my Queen," Finster explained softly. "Hirpog readings show that there are no communications going out of Aquitar. Their systems have been destroyed."

Rita shook her head. "There has to be a mistake. How else could the Earth rangers have gotten involved?"

Finster sighed. "Billy Cranston, the former Blue Ranger, is on Aquitar. I suppose that he kept his communicator and it had barely enough power to get a signal to Zordon or one of the other rangers."

"Well, what do we do?" Zedd questioned the others. "Do we go to Aquitar and get the woman to leave, or do we let her destroy the rangers for us?"

"I doubt she'd be able to destroy the rangers with those pathetic soldiers of hers, but if she could I don't want her to. We must go to Aquitar and stop Divatox," Rita said.

Uriel nodded in agreement. "We can stay on Hirpog. It's close enough to Aquitar so that we can keep track of what is going on, and if things get bad then we can intervene."

"Goldar!" Zedd called. The four watched as the space ape entered the room in his gold armor.

"You called, my Lord?" He inquired.

Zedd nodded. "Prepare Serpenterra for travel."

Goldar inclined his head. "Yes, my Lord." With that, he teleported away.

After he had gone, Zedd turned to Finster who had been watching him with interest. "Go find Rito, Scorpina, Baboo, Squatt, and all the tengas, jagas, and putties that you can. This may become an all out war, and I want to have everyone with us. Let's pack. We have a long journey ahead of us."

* * *
The Earth Rangers landed on Aquitar during the next Earth morning. As they materialized inside of the Aquitian Command Center, Rocky collapsed to one knee and took in a deep breath. "That was the most horrible teleport we've ever done. I'm beat."

Adam nodded. "Even the trip from Phaedos wasn't that bad. My whole body is stiff."

"So, where is everyone?" Tanya inquired. "Either they're all hiding or we teleported into the wrong area."

"Knowing how fucked up our consoles have been for awhile, I'd say that the latter is right," Jason mumbled.

Just then, a door at the end of the room opened and they watched as the Alien Rangers entered with Billy and Cestria. Smiling, Kat ran over to Billy and embraced him. "We've missed you, Billy."

Returning the embrace, Billy nodded. "I've missed you guys, too. It's been too long." Walking over to the others, he hugged Tanya before taking Tommy's extended hand. "Sorry that I didn't get the chance to return your message."

"No problem, Man," Tommy said. Giving up on the handshake, he embraced the former blue ranger. "We've really missed you back home."

Slightly overwhelmed by this gesture, Billy smiled faintly. "Really?"

Rocky nodded. "Yeah, Billy. Ever since you left my math grades have gone down the drain!"

"It's been boring in the Power Chamber without you," Adam admitted. "Usually if one of us had to be there alone, you'd be there, too. I never realized how much those times meant to me until you left, Billy."

Looking up, Tommy grinned as he saw the Aquitian rangers walking towards them. It had only been a few months since they had last seen each other, but after all that had happened, it felt like so much more than that.

"Welcome, Rangers of Earth," Delphine said with a small bow of the head. "I assume you all remember us."

"This is Emily," Rocky said motioning towards the Gold Ranger. "She's taken over for Trey's sister's powers."

"It was unfortunate what happened to her. Gloria was so young," Corcus said with a frown. "Anyway, it is a pleasure, Emily."

She smiled. "Nice meeting you, too."

Tideus glanced at Delphine. "You should take Tommy up to the main room and show him what we're up against."

She nodded and looked at the White Ranger. "Follow me, Tommy. There is much for you to know."

"What about us?" Kat implored. "We will need to know these things, too, right?"

Cestro nodded. "Yes, but it is too dangerous for all of us to go up at the same time. If there are only two up there, there is less chance that those people will be spotted."

As the two walked out of the room, Tanya put a hand on Kat's shoulder. "Count to ten and breathe, Girl. They're both White Rangers. Let them do what White Rangers need to do."

"Hopefully the White Rangers won't need to do a lot together," Kat mumbled. Hearing her, Emily chuckled besides herself.

Reaching the main room, Delphine looked around a few times before motioning for Tommy to enter. Glancing around, he easily noticed all of the blood mixed with Aquitar's water. "I heard loud crashes over my communicator. Were you bombed?"

Delphine nodded. "Torpedoed, actually. At first we didn't know where our attackers were, but we found the ship after Cestro got the main generator back online." Pushing a few buttons on the console, the two watched as a large submarine came into view. "When we saw it, we knew right away who our assailant was."

"Who is it?" Tommy questioned, slightly uncomfortable by his lack of knowledge on the subject.

"Divatox," Delphine told him. "She is a space pirate that moves from planet to planet and takes the population hostage with her Piranatrons fighting those who don't cooperate with her orders."

Tommy shook his head. "Damn. How many have been killed?"

Twisting her wrist, Delphine sighed. "We estimate that at least 200 were in the water when Divatox hit, and that is just in this area. There may have been other places she has attacked."

"How will we fight her? Will she send those fighters, Piranitrons, to the solid ground under the water of Aquitar?" Tommy asked. Just the thought of innocent civilians being killed like the ones on Earth angered him, and he wanted more at that moment than to go out and meet with this Divatox.

"You will fight the Piranitrons if they come indoors," Delphine told him. "We will fight in the water."

Tommy shook his head in opposition. "There will be more in the water. A little while ago Zordon told us that we could fight underwater in our ranger armor."

Delphine frowned at him. "That's true, Tommy, but you will be here as we were on Earth. If somehow your powers are drained, you could drown. Oxygen tanks would be too much for all of you to handle while fighting."

"We'll take the risk," Tommy told her. "You guys risked your life for us, and we'll do it for you."

Smiling faintly, Delphine gazed at him, her head twitching slightly. "That's awfully brave of you to risk lives that aren't yours to risk." Seeing him lower his eyes, she took a step towards him. "Don't feel too bad about it. I've done the same thing many times. As the leaders of ranger teams, we want to help, but sometimes the others don't feel the same way."

"I'll rephrase what I said then." Tommy said quietly. "I'll take the risk. You guys risked your life for us, and I'll do it for you."

Delphine, obviously touched by the statement, walked to where he was standing and put a hand on his arm. "You've already done so by coming here. There will be more outside, but we need rangers guarding the Command Center from attack which there will probably be. We did what we did because we didn't want to see your people suffer just as I know you don't want to see our people suffer."

Laughing weakly, Tommy glanced at her. "It's amazing how alike we are. I know that it's pathetic I just realized it now, but we are two of a kind."

"I knew when I first saw you," Delphine told him, "that we were alike, and not just because of the hair." As he chuckled, she grinned. "We both would put everything on the line if it meant that one innocent person could be saved. Our teams mean more to us than ourselves, and if anyone tells us otherwise it feels like a blow to the head that nearly kills us."

"That is me," Tommy breathed with a smile. "We're the same." As he turned towards the windows and saw the blue water mixed with some red splotches here and there, he didn't notice Delphine beginning to near him.

She was nearly there when the two heard someone clear their throat from the doorway. Turning around, they saw that it was Corcus, and he was eyeing them warily. Her head twitching, Delphine sighed. "I guess you've learned everything you need to know."

Tommy nodded. "Yes, I have, but I'm still going out with you." Seeing Corcus' eyes widen, he figured it was because of the threat and continued, "You are going to need help and while the others guard the Command Center I can help out there."

"You would be taking a big risk, Tommy," Delphine said. "We wouldn't be able to watch you all the time, and if you had a power drain you could die."

"I'm a good swimmer," Tommy argued.

Delphine shook her head. "That won't help if ten Piranatrons are holding you down so that you can't get inside."

"He is right, though," Corcus voiced. "We're going to need some help."

"If I feel my powers leaving then I'll get inside before they do," Tommy told them. Sighing, Delphine nodded. After all, if it were her, she knew that she wouldn't be persuaded.

* * *
As Serpenterra neared Hirpog, the monsters watched as Rashell's face came up on the monitor above the control panel. "You may land just outside the East quadrant."

"Yes, Rashell," Uriel said. "We look forward to seeing you there." Are you, Uriel? Really, or is there someone else you'd rather see? Not now! Don't start thinking that!

Rita watched her husband chuckle as he continued to pilot Serpenterra before muttering, "You have too much fun with this thing."

"It makes me feel more powerful than I already am," Zedd told her. "You can't tell me that being inside this massive ship doesn't make you feel powerful."

"This piece of junk always runs out of energy!" Rita countered. "How can you feel powerful inside something that has to be rebooted with power every few days!?"

Zedd scowled. "That was a fluke thing."

Uriel, meanwhile, had gone to another section of Serpenterra and was sitting down with her eyes closed in thought. As she felt someone sit beside her, she turned and saw that it was Scorpina, and she was giving her a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

Contemplating whether to tell her, Uriel finally sighed. "I don't know how I'm going to face Rashell after what I've done with...you know..."

"Don't tell him," Scorpina suggested. "I mean, it's not like anyone but us knows what you've done and I don't intend on saying anything. If he asks just say you were busy. Then, if he asks what you were busy with, just say you were dealing with personal matters or make up something."

"Was I wrong?" Uriel questioned.

Scorpina shook her head. "Of course not. Do you think you're the only one who's ever cheated on their husband? Rita has done it, and people on Earth do it all the time! You've monitored their behavior as much as me."

"You don't understand," Uriel said. "Though Rita has cheated on her husband, she still loves him, but I don't know if I still love Rashell. In fact, I never really loved him to begin with. It was a forced marriage, and now that I've had a...taste...of someone new, I don't think I will be able to keep pretending to love Rashell anymore."

"You've got a problem then," Scorpina told her quietly. "I don't know...try to think of all the rotten things Tommy has done to us. Remember when he made a fool of you at your first meeting? Don't you recall how good it felt to almost kill him?"

Uriel groaned. "He was a fool to think he could take me on with just his ranger powers."

Scorpina nodded and smiled as she saw that she was getting somewhere. "Do you remember when Tommy and the others killed the warriors from Hirpog that had been in your services for so long? You wanted to kill him then."

"Those rangers are all going to pay for that, as well as the man Rita and Zedd said killed Robert," Uriel said with a snarl. Her eyes became soft after that and she whispered, "Yet when he was under my control I couldn't get enough of him. Scorpina, I can't pretend to hate him any more than I can pretend to love Rashell."

Scorpina sighed in resignation. "I don't know what to tell you. All I can say is that you and Tommy cannot be together unless you become good or he becomes evil again."

Nodding, Uriel pondered this and slowly mumbled, "Or if he was taken away from everything he knows and we are alone."

"What are you thinking?" Scorpina questioned eagerly.

"Let's say I kidnap Tommy and leave Rashell to go to another sector of Hirpog? No one will know where we've gone, and it will give Rita and Zedd the perfect opportunity to destroy the rest of the rangers!"

Shrugging, Scorpina said, "Well, it is a good plan, but as your assistant, Queen Uriel, it is my profound duty to ask that you take me and Finster with you."

Uriel smiled. "What about Goldar? He has a thing for you."

"He's an idiot as I have said many times," Scorpina muttered. "Well? Will you take us? Rita no longer sees me as important, and it is the same with Finster."

"I suppose that I would. It would be nice to have someone else there, and Finster is wise when it comes to Earth diseases and other needs the White Ranger might have..." Uriel grinned. "Very well. When the time is right we will go, kidnap Tommy, and leave Rita, Zedd, and Rashell for good."

* * *
Lights flashed and small appliances beeped within the technological chamber. It was strange to be living in a room that was filled with technology that she couldn't understand, but at the moment Kat didn't care about this. The only thing that mattered to her was the conversation she was about to have with Tommy who had just entered her living quarters. As he offered her one of his charming smiles, she clenched her fists and told herself that she couldn't weakened. "We need to talk, Tommy."

Immediately seeing that she was upset, Tommy sat down on the queen sized bed in the middle of the room before questioning, "What's wrong, Kat? Did something happen today? Are you feeling sick?"

"I imagine that I should be asking you these questions," Kat retorted. Don't give me that she mentally muttered as she saw Tommy's innocent expression. "Today I had a little chat with Corcus. He knew that you were going out with me. Billy had told him while he was here."

Tommy shrugged. "Did you not want Corcus to know that we were going out?" Why would Kat not want to be seen with me? She's never acted this way before.

Kat groaned and stood before putting her hands on her hips. "Did you not want him to know that we were going out!? I want to know what I did to push you away!"

"Push me away!? Kat, what are you talking about!?" What the hell is going on!? Standing, he put his hands on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes. "Please, Kat, just tell me what's wrong. You haven't pushed me away. I love you." Then there's Uriel...but I don't think this is a good time to talk about that.

Pulling away from him, Kat frowned. "Why don't you tell me what happened between you and Delphine up in the control room today?" Please don't lie to me, Tommy. I know what happened.

What happened in the control room? "I don't understand what's wrong. We were up there and she told me about Divatox, the space pirate who's threatening Aquitar right now. After that we talked about defensive and offensive ways of fighting. Mostly, we conversed about how we would be able to join the battle since we would have trouble if we unmorphed in the waters of Aquitar." Tommy's eyes narrowed. "What did Corcus say?"

"Oh, just that he walked in on the two of you about to kiss." Kat didn't believe that Tommy had double crossed her...with Delphine! Not that there was anything wrong with liking an Aquitian. Billy was in love with Cestria, and she was extremely kind, but Tommy and Delphine!? How could she not be as good as the leader of the Aquitian Rangers!?

Tommy nearly fainted when he heard this. Delphine and I...about to kiss!? "Katherine! How could you believe that!?"

Kat threw her hands in the air with exasperation. "Corcus said that he saw you two about to kiss! I want you to be honest with me, Tommy!"

"How can you believe Corcus over me!?" Tommy rubbed the back of his neck angrily. Kat and I have been through so much and now she's doubting me in a second just because some misinformed alien told her that I was making out with the leader of the Aquitian Rangers!? I don't believe this! "Don't you trust me!?" Do you really trust yourself, Tommy? It isn't like you've told her about Uriel...Like this is the time to tell her!

Wavering slightly under his rising fury, Kat lowered her eyes before inquiring, "So Corcus lied to me? Why would he lie to me, Tommy?" That's right, Kat! Why would he lie to you? You hardly know Corcus! "Tell me, Tommy! Why would he lie to me!? If you were making out with Delphine I deserve to know!

Wait until I get my hands on that Corcus. Hydrated or not, he's not going to be moving very well in the morning.. "I don't know why Corcus would lie to you, Kat, but he did. Delphine and I weren't making out. If she made a play for me I didn't even notice!" As she continued to glare at him, Tommy's rage turned to sorrow, and his shoulders slumped. "Fine, Kat. After all we've been through, I would hope you could trust me, but I see that you can't." Kissing the Pink Ranger's cheek softly, he sighed. "I'm not feeling very well so I'm going to go back to my room."

As he turned to leave, she grabbed his hand. "Tommy..." So Corcus did lie? Why would he lie to me?

Tommy pulled his hand away and shook his head. "I'll see you tomorrow." Watching him exit her room and push a button closing the metal door behind him, Kat rubbed the bridge of her nose before sitting down on the bed behind her and looking up at the ceiling. Sighing, she sprawled out along the whole length of the mattress and, tired from the argument and teleport from Earth to Aquitar, fell asleep without bothering to change into the night clothes Cestria had put out for her.

Damn it, there were three women in my life and I chose Kat because she was the only one to truly accept me for who I was. I didn't have to pretend to be perky all the time for Kim, and it was obvious that I couldn't be with Uriel. Now Kat and I are fighting, and I'm miserable, but for me, such is life. Gazing at the floor as he walked, Tommy didn't even see the Aquitian coming towards him, and the two bumped roughly into each other.

Looking up, Tommy cursed under his breath as he saw who it was. "Get out of my way."

"Let me explain," Corcus begged, his eyes pleading. "I hope that I caused no trouble between you and Katherine, but I wanted to make sure that nothing serious was going on with you and Delphine."

"If Delphine tried to kiss me, I didn't see it, and I don't acknowledge that it ever happened," Tommy growled. As the Black Aquitian Ranger tried to put a hand on his shoulder, he slapped it away. "Make sure you have your facts straight before you go around telling lies like that."

Corcus took a step back somewhat caught off guard by the White Ranger's cruel nature. "I was only trying to help."

"Maybe that would have helped on your planet, Corcus, but on Earth we like knowing the truth...not lies, and if you feel like talking shit about someone do it to one of your own people." Pushing past Corcus, Tommy glared at him. "If you bump into me at all tomorrow I won't be responsible for my actions."

As the White Ranger began to walk away, Corcus tried calling to him again, "Tommy..."

Turning back, Tommy glared at him. "Fuck you." With that, he continued to his chamber leaving the Black Aquitian Ranger to stare after him in amazement.

* * *
Reaching his room, Tommy closed the metal door before resting his head on the cool metal. "Why does everything happen to me?" He wondered aloud before banging his head a few times.

"To say that all things bad happen to you can be as selfish an act as saying that all good things should be yours," A voice commented from behind him. Turning around, Tommy sighed as he saw that it was Delphine. The White Aquitian Ranger was stretched out on his bed with a small smile gracing her features.

"Delphine, I hate for this to sound rude," Tommy said, "but you are definitely not the person I want to see right now. I just had a falling out with Katherine over something that Corcus said about us in the control room today."

She nodded in understanding. "He spoke with me about it. Corcus saw me about to kiss you."

Tommy grinned. "Exactly, Delphine, and we both know that didn't happen. I mean, we had been talking. Corcus must have been seeing things, right?" As her face fell, he took a step back in nervousness. "Right?" He implored again weakly.

Instead of answering, Delphine walked to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. She winked at him before laughing faintly. "Does that make you remember anything, Tommy?"

"We were, um, on the beach along with the others after the Zeo Crystal had made us all our normal sizes. It was the first time you ever saw me for who I truly was," Tommy answered. The scene was still as fresh in his mind as if it had been yesterday.

Delphine shook her head. "I had already seen who you truly were, Tommy, but that was the first time I ever saw how incredibly handsome you were." As he gaped at her wordlessly, she smiled. "I've never been one to go for humans. As it was, when I heard that Cestria was marrying Billy I was shocked, but then I remembered you. Tommy, you said so yourself. We have so much in common."

Tommy sighed before taking her hand off of him and holding it softly. "Delphine, we can't be together. I don't care if she's mad at me or not...I love Katherine, and I could never return your feelings."

"I'm not asking for your love," Delphine whispered. At his surprised expression, she put a hand on his cheek. "All I'm asking for is the chance to make you feel better as your love has deserted you. Let me be repaid for my attraction to you. That's all we can ever have, Tommy, and I know that." Leaning closer to him, she kissed him tenderly before backing away and pulling him towards his bed covered in white sheets.

Delphine pushed Tommy down on the mattress before climbing on top of him and kissing him again, this time more fiercely than before. As she backed away, Delphine chuckled at his stunned silence before kissing along his neck and smiling to herself as she felt him begin to relax under her touch. "Kiss me," she said softly while running her hands over his chest. "I won't make you go any further than this. Just kiss me."

Yes, Kat was wrong. I didn't make out with Delphine before. I'm making out with her now. Tommy, you are so pathetic... Tommy gazed at her awkwardly before leaning forward and kissing her. As she responded, he closed his eyes and did his best not to feel guilty about what he was doing. Kat, what can I say? I thought I was in love with Kim when she returned, but I was wrong. I loved you. Then when I was under a spell I had sex with one of our greatest enemies. Well, I was under a spell...although when I was released she announced her love for me and I kissed her again. I still love you, though, even now as I'm kissing the leader of the Alien Rangers. Shit, Tommy, you should go on Springer!

Feeling her pull away, Tommy looked at her. "You should go. I can't do this to Katherine."

"You already have," Delphine told him. Caressing his cheek, she stood and left him alone in his chamber...or so she thought.

"I thought you were going to make life easier on yourself by going after Kat. What you said to Kim was brave and smart, but now you're doing it again," a voice said from Tommy's right.

He turned and gasped as he saw that Jason was standing in the doorway leading to another part of Tommy's room. Smoothing down his white tank top, he put on the blankest expression that he could. "Doing what?"

Jason frowned. Doing what? Come on, Bro, I'm not an idiot. "Screwing up your own life! You're becoming a real asshole, Tommy. I don't want to see Kat get hurt after all that she's been through already. First this thing with Kim and then I see you making out with Delphine!"

"Well, why the hell were you spying on me!?" Tommy exclaimed. I don't think Delphine should be the real issue here. What the hell was Jason doing!?

Rubbing his eyes, Jason sighed. "I came in here to talk to you about what Delphine had said about our battle plans for tomorrow. When you weren't in this room, I thought I'd try the other one, and when I came back I heard voices. The door in this room is the only way out. I didn't have a choice but to listen in." Jason frowned. "Don't change the subject, either. I'm not the one at fault here. Why were you making out with Delphine?"

Ok, Tommy, what reason are you going to give him? "Um, Jase, Kat was mad at me so I thought I'd make out with an Aquitian?" "Well, it was a comfortable situation and we have a lot in common. It was the heat of the moment, Jason," Tommy answered at last.

Hearing this, Jason smirked. "It was the heat of the moment? Great, so who's your next moment going to be with?"

"Jase—"

"I suppose it'll be with Delphine again," Jason continued, not giving Tommy a chance speak. "Or maybe you'll go for Billy's wife-to-be Cestria. Hell, or Tanya's open all this week as long as Adam doesn't find out. Maybe you'll eve start going for guys because Rocky is still on the rebound after Cassandra's death, and we have some pretty heated moments too."

Tommy glared at his best friend and did his best to keep his temper from rising. "That is so cold!"

Jason shrugged. "You said that you and Delphine had a lot in common and it was a comfortable situation. Hey, I'm comfortable, and we have a lot in common."

"Stop it, Jason," Tommy warned, not sure how much longer he could stay calm. If he only knew of all the things I've done lately. Jason has no idea what he's getting into here.

"It would be the heat of the moment, Bro. You and me. Come on...I'm sure they have some kind of wine here..." Now maybe he'll see how stupid he's been acting lately. It's weird. Ever since he got back from being on the moon with Jaime, Tommy has been acting really strange. It's almost as if every girl he comes across is his new lover.

Shuddering at the image, Tommy stared at him in fury. "Are you trying to make me sick!?" Stop it, Bro. You really don't want to get into this. I'm not going to tell you either way. Just stay out of it.

Jason smiled faintly. "I'm just getting into the moment."

Tommy looked at him in silence for a moment. Finally, after a few seconds, he completely lost it. "Look, if you knew how complicated things were you wouldn't be giving me such a hard time!"

"I thought you said it was just the heat of the moment," Jason said. "How complicated is that?"

"This isn't just between Kat and me or Delphine and me!" Tommy shouted. Lowering his eyes, he shook his head. "My mind is so screwed up that I've almost completely given up on it."

I knew there was something more to this than just a moment in time. "I'm here to listen if you want to talk, Bro," Jason told him. "You know I won't betray a confidence."

Tommy chuckled besides himself. "You're here to listen? I thought you were here in the heat of the moment."

Jason sighed and sat down next to him on the bed. "On the level."

Instead of beginning to tell Jason of all that he had been through, Tommy just smiled and continued to look at his best friend with interest. As Jason shot him a puzzled glance, he chuckled softly. This quickly turned to hysterical laughter, and Tommy found himself helpless to stop himself.

While this was happening, Jason watched him with confusion. Either he's joking with me, too scared to tell me what's going on, or he's trying to hold in tears. I don't like this either way. "Tommy, talk to me. If you're just kidding around with this, though, then I'm leaving."

"Go ahead and leave," Tommy murmured in between small giggles that made him sound like a twelve year old boy again. As Jason frowned and began to stand, Tommy smiled. "If you do leave, though, then you won't get to hear about how I thought I was in love with Kim and then was taken over by Uriel, and how during that time I slept with her, and after the spell was broken I still kissed her, and then how I tried to push her out of my mind by giving up Kimberly to be with Katherine, and then coming here and getting in a fight with Kat after Corcus told her that Delphine and I were making out in the control room which was a lie, and then ending up making out with her in my room over here, and now sounding like a complete idiot to my best friend who is probably going to take my Power Coin from me and give it back to Zordon after saying that I'm not worthy to lead the rangers." Taking a deep breath, Tommy reached into his pocket and pulled out his morpher before handing it to Jason. "Go ahead and give it back to Zordon. It'll be all right. I'll just go ahead with my perverted life and end up with some male bum here on Aquitar. Who knows? Maybe I'm just confused. Maybe I'm gay. Jason, am I gay?"

Jason just stared at him blankly. "Tommy—"

Interrupting him, Tommy continued, "I don't know if sleeping with an evil queen makes you eligible for the 'gay' category on Earth, but being gay is just about the only thing I haven't tried. You don't think I'm gay, do you, Jason? Do I come on to you? I've never noticed it, but who knows? Maybe Corcus will walk in on us now and then go over to Kat and make sure that she doesn't mind the fact that I'm gay...that Corcus. Hey, I wonder if he's gay. Jason do you think he's gay, because I think that he might be gay..."

As Tommy continued to say every single sexual thing that came to mind, Jason just gaped at him in shock. Tommy thought he was in love with Kim, had sex with Uriel, left Kim for Kat, and made out with Delphine. Good God...and now he thinks he's gay!? "Tommy—"

"I've never really looked into being gay. Do you know anyone that's gay, Jason? Well, I don't mean that you're gay, all I'm saying is that there is probably some gay guy back in Angel Grove..."

"Tommy—"

"...you know, because being gay sounds really appealing compared to my life right now. I mean, Kat would be mad, but then I'd get a chance to start over. Then again, knowing my luck, in a month I'd be together with Aurico, Jeff, and Zedd—"

"Tommy!" Jason shouted, unable to hide a grin as the White Ranger turned to him in shock. Sighing, he mumbled, "You aren't gay. Do you hear me? I would know if you were gay. You will never be gay, all right?"

"How do you know?" Tommy questioned. "Are you?"

At this, Jason laughed out loud before replying, "Luckily, no. Now...you slept with Uriel?"

Tommy nodded. "I was under her spell. She forced me to have sex with her."

"I thought you said that you didn't remember what happened during the time that Uriel made you evil," Jason voiced.

"I didn't, and I still don't remember all of it," Tommy admitted, "but Uriel came to me when Jaime was fighting you guys. She showed me images of our making love, and then she kissed me...and I kissed back, Jason!"

Jason frowned. "What are you saying? Do you love her?"

Tommy shook his head quickly. "No!" he cried, but thinking about his answer, he shivered besides himself. "To say that I don't feel anything for her would be a lie. I don't love her, Jason, and I never did. It was all a lie to please her, but as I was kissing Delphine all I kept thinking was 'why can't this be Uriel', and you know why? She seemed to care about me more than Katherine did tonight. In fact, I don't think I've been cared about that way ever before."

"Tommy, you were intimate with her," Jason told him. "No matter whether you were under a spell or not, now that you know the truth you're going to feel something for her, and that's why I'm worried about you. Caring for Uriel might make you susceptible to her attacks, and we can't have that."

Nodding, Tommy mumbled, "I told her I could never love her, but that's a lie. Do you think..."

As his voice trailed off, Jason quickly said, "You're considering loving an evil being, Tommy. Think about that for a minute. If you love Uriel then you love evil, and I know for a fact that you love Katherine."

"Why does my life have to be so confusing!?" Flopping back on the bed, Tommy closed his eyes. "I was thinking of going to Zordon and saying that I couldn't lead the team because my crotch didn't know the difference between good and evil." Chuckling, he smiled. "Maybe that thought isn't such a joke anymore. I don't want to love her, Jason, but I can't just turn away from a person...from a being that I made love to...from a being that I lost my virginity to, and how am I going to tell Kat all this?"

"I don't know, Man," Jason admitted, "but not telling her isn't an option. Kat needs to know what's going on. In fact, she's the one that'll probably be able to help you, not me. All I can do is listen to you and give support on what I think is right, but I really don't know all the answers."

Tommy grinned. "Damn, Jason. You've fooled me for quite a long time, then."

Smacking his arm flippantly, Jason flopped down next to him and put his hands behind his head. The two stayed in that position for a few minutes until Jason smiled. "I like your room."

"Thanks. Cestro picked out a good one for me..." As he saw Jason's innocent expression, Tommy shook his head. "No, I'm not getting up and going to your room. This is my room. You leave."

Jason shrugged. "They gave me a little dinky bed. I'm afraid that if I lay on it that I'm going to break it."

Tommy sighed. "What are you saying?" Glancing at Jason again, he chuckled. "You want to stay over here, don't you?"

"You should see that little thing they expect me to sleep on!" Jason exclaimed. "You have a big King-sized bed—"

"Queen-sized," Tommy corrected, "and if you sleep here where am I going to sleep?"

Jason smiled. "On the floor."

Tommy scoffed. "I'm not sleeping on the floor. You're the guest. You sleep on the floor."

"Some host you are," Jason muttered playfully. Slipping off his shoes, he climbed to the top of the bed and slid underneath the covers before grabbing one of the pillows and closing his eyes.

Watching him in surprise, Tommy groaned. "No, you are not staying here. Get up." As the Red Ranger made no move, Tommy sighed. "Come on, Bro, get up. I want to get some sleep, and you're going to be kicking me all night."

"I don't kick," Jason told him. Sitting up, he slipped off his shirt before tossing it on the ground and lying down again. "If you're tired, go to sleep."

Rubbing his eyes wearily, Tommy sighed and pulled off his shoes before looking back at his best friend. "I'm too worn out to argue with you, but this is the only time you're staying here. I want you out tomorrow morning."

Jason glanced at him and smiled. "Yes, My Powerful Leader."

Tommy took off his shirt slowly before slipping out of his pants and climbing into bed in his white boxer shorts. Before lying down, he took his pillow and whacked Jason on the head before getting comfortable. "That's for the leader comment."

Closing his eyes, he was unprepared for the blow he received from his best friend. Tommy grinned and looked at Jason who was laughing. "That was for the gay comment. Are you...humph..."

Sliding out of bed, Tommy turned off the lights before jumping back on it again. He turned to Jason slowly. "You aren't though, right?"

"Aren't what?"

"Gay." The only answer he received was another blow to the head. Hitting him back, the two continued smacking eachother with their pillows until they were overcome with laughter.

* * *
"Look how cute they are," Tanya breathed the next morning.

Cestria nodded. "They are related to each other, are they not?"

Tommy and Jason related? Billy chuckled to himself. That was a good one. "Actually, they aren't. All that Tommy and Jason are is good friends."

"Yeah. When Adam and I were younger we used to have sleepovers, although we just called them overnighters," Rocky voiced. Walking closer to the two, he picked up Jason's red sweatshirt and gazed at it for a moment before throwing it at the sleeping Red Ranger.

He awoke with a start. Looking around, Jason quickly spotted Rocky laughing and sighed. "Very funny." Glancing at Tommy who was still fast asleep, he took his pillow and hit the White Ranger a few times, laughing as he bolted upright and, with a panicked expression on his face, began looking around.

Tommy quickly figured out what had happened, and he rubbed his eyes before hitting Jason with his pillow. "Ha, ha. I'm sure you enjoyed that."

"Just as much as Rocky enjoyed hitting me in the head with my sweatshirt," Jason retorted. When the Blue Ranger shrugged virtuously, he smirked. "Yes, Rocky, I know it was you."

Cestro, who had been watching as the others woke the two sleeping rangers, let out a sigh of relief. "When Jason didn't join us for breakfast this morning, we were worried. Then, there was no one in his room, but Tanya informed us that Tommy had not come either, so we assumed you were together."

Jason sighed. "He almost made me sleep on the floor."

"You take up a lot of room," Tommy argued. "Plus, halfway through the night I had to pry the covers from you because I was freezing my ass off."

Rocky smiled. "That was some lovely imagery there, Tommy." He was rewarded with a pillow thrown at his head. "Hey! No need to be prissy!"

Tommy glanced at Jason. "Please say I can throw your pillow at him."

"I'm going to keep it for a little while longer," Jason told him, his eyes shimmering, "but later on we can both beat the hell out of him."

"There is no justice," Rocky breathed playfully.

Adam put his arm around Tanya and turned towards Tommy. "Kat stayed downstairs with Emily. They wanted some time to themselves."

Suddenly feeling ill, Tommy shook his head. "Where's Delphine?"

"She's off somewhere talking to Corcus," Cestro told him. "Delphine didn't seem to be in the best of spirits. We're just hoping she doesn't kill him."

Just because you're hoping doesn't mean that she won't Jason thought to himself. "So, we missed breakfast?"

"Not officially," Tanya responded, "but we wanted to wake you up before Rocky ate all the food."

Rocky sighed. "What is this? Pick on Rocky Day?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'Pick on The Ape day'," Adam said with a chuckle. As the others laughed, Rocky scowled at Adam before stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Cestro, slightly upset about being the one to ruin all the fun, sighed. "We need to go over our battle plans. It is highly likely that Divatox will attack today. If she does, we need to be ready to defend Aquitar."

Billy nodded. "I assume we should get Katherine, Emily, and the rest of the Aquitian Rangers so that we can talk about what we're going to do."

Meanwhile, in the dining hall of the Aquitian Command Center, Kat took another bite of what she hoped was cereal before questioning, "Emily, am I stupid to be madly in love with Tommy?"

"I don't see how being in love is stupid," Emily responded. Taking another bite of her cereal, she swallowed it before questioning, "What? Did something happen between you two?"

Kat leaned her head against her palm before grumbling, "Corcus said that he saw Tommy about to kiss Delphine."

Emily's eyes widened at this. "Delphine!? You mean that Aquitian White Ranger!?" As Kat nodded, Emily smirked. "Yeah right."

"You think Corcus was lying?" Kat asked. When Emily smiled in response, Kat sighed. "That's what Tommy said, too, but...I don't know...I tend to get really defensive when it comes to Tommy because I don't want to lose him. Ever since he recovered from Uriel's spell he's been acting weird. I wouldn't call it avoidance, but it's like he's been evading some horrible truth that he doesn't want me to know."

Frowning, Emily leaned closer to her. "Do you think he could be remembering things that happened on the moon? Tommy was there a week, and a lot could have happened."

Kat sighed. "I don't know what to think. Emily, I want to trust him, but I don't know if I can."

"Tommy is our leader, Kat," Emily pointed out. "You have to trust him to some extent."

"I do. In becoming a ranger and fighting under Tommy's command I have put my life in his hands, and I trust him with it," Kat told her. "If he told me that death was the only way out of a situation then I would die. Emily, I would die for him or any of you. It isn't that kind of trust that I'm talking about."

Emily shook her head. "Katherine, what's more important than your life? If you've trusted Tommy with that, what else can you trust him with?"

Pondering the question, Kat slumped down in her seat and whispered, "My heart." As Emily leaned back and gazed at her dubiously, Kat muttered, "To me, the heart is more important than physical life. Trusting Tommy with my life is no problem. He's caring, smart, and has both mental and physical endurance that I would kill for, but to trust him with my heart? Do you think this is idiotic?"

"Of course not," Emily said, "because you know that...the heart will go on." Singing the last part of the sentence, she smiled. "You know, that song is actually a good one to listen to. If that song fits how you feel about Tommy...then you've already trusted him with your heart."

Chuckling lightly at the reference to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", Kat shrugged. "Every night in my dreams..."

Emily giggled lightly. "This is insane! What if someone walks in on us?"

"Let them walk," Kat mumbled with a large grin on her face. "I see you, I feel you...that is how I know you go on."

"Far across the distance, and spaces between us. You have come to show you go on," Emily continued, her face bright.

Kat smiled. "Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you open the door, and you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on." The two laughed.

Emily shook her head, "Imagine if Jason could see...us..." Suddenly, the grin disappeared from her face, and she buried her head in her hands. "God, Jason..."

"Love can touch us one time, and last for a lifetime," Kat continued, "and never let go till we're gone. Love was when I loved you. One true time I hold to. In my life we'll always go on."

"Near, far, wherever you are," Emily said shakily, "I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you open the door, and you're here in my heart and my heart does go on and on."

Kat put her hand on Emily's and sighed. "You know, maybe you should take your own advice. Do you still love Jason?"

Emily shook her head. "You know I can't answer that question right now, Kat. It's too hard."

"You're here. There's nothing I fear, and I know that my heart will go on. We'll stand forever this way. You are safe in my heart and my heart will go on and on," Kat finished quietly. "Tommy...I have to find him."

"Never take the person you have for granted, Kat," Emily told her slowly, "because you will regret it. I can guarantee that you will."

Kat stood from her seat, the cereal forgotten, and hugged Emily before sighing. "I'm sorry. What happened between you and Jason concerning Trini...I'm just really sorry, but I do know how you feel."

Emily nodded. "Kimberly. I know that was hard for you."

"I didn't know if Tommy was going to dump me or her or both of us, or go out with both of us secretly." Kat snickered faintly. "I remember that I called Jason one night and literally begged to find out if Kim and Tommy were going out behind my back."

"What did he say?" Emily asked curiously

"Jason is a gentlemen. All he said was 'I won't speak for him. All three of you are my friends, and I don't want to hurt any of you, but with that aside, Tommy really is the one you should talk to, not me. I'll just make things worse', and that's what he said every time I asked him. Now that I look back on it, I'm glad that he didn't tell me anything, because I know myself. I would have gotten suspicious, and then taken wild guesses about what Tommy was doing behind my back, I would believe them, and then have dumped him which would have been the wrong thing to do."

At that moment, Kat looked towards the doorway of the large room only to find that Tommy was standing in the doorway watching her. She turned a bright shade of red and quickly ran over to him. "How long have you been here?"

"I just got here from my room?" Tommy put his hand on her cheek. "Why? Is something wrong?" Delphine can't have told her. She wouldn't do that!

Smiling, Kat kissed him gently. "No, nothing's wrong. Where is everyone else?"

Tommy grinned. "Well, Jason is trying to coax Adam into lending him a pair of pants, Rocky is trying to steal a few snacks that Tanya hid in her room, and the Alien Rangers went with Billy to make sure that Delphine hasn't killed Corcus yet." Looking over his girlfriend's shoulder, he waved at the person he saw there. "Hey, Emily. How was your night?"

"Surprisingly boring considering all the blood in the water," Emily replied. "You know, I wish they had a movie player here. We could have brought Titanic."

As Kat put her hands over her eyes in embarrassment, Tommy sighed. "It is amazing out there, isn't it? Our world was littered with dead bodies. I can't imagine going out into the Aquitian Waters and finding only red swirls of blood. That's actually creepier than what happened on our world. I just hope we can help." As they were talking, none of them noticed the small device that popped out of Emily's cereal bowl.

From her ship, Divatox frowned. "Who are they? Those young creatures don't look like the Aquitian Rangers, and the long-haired one just said that they didn't come from this world...Porto! Who are they!?"

"Yesterday a teleportation was monitored between Earth and Aquitar," Porto replied quickly, "and you know who lives on Earth."

"Zordon's Power Rangers!?" Divatox moaned. "This could ruin my plan! They weren't supposed to be here!"

At that moment, Rygog entered the main room of the submarine and bowed. "Your Evilness, might I have permission to go down to Aquitar with a group of Piranitrons so that we can finish those Aquitians?"

Divatox nodded. "Yes, Rygog, and try to get some of the Piranitrons inside of the Command Center. That is probably where most if not all of the Earth Rangers are going to be, and I want them destroyed. Do you understand me?"

"I will not fail you, Divatox," and with that the large monster went off to find an army of Piranitrons that he could bring with him on his journey down into the waters of Aquitar.

* * *
"I can't believe you didn't tell me that they were going to Aquitar!" Jaime Talsik yelled, the anger evident on his face. "I was just as capable as them in this situation, Zordon."

{Oh, Silver Ranger, I already have enough on my mind. Fighting with you is not going to be pleasant.}"YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I, SILVER RANGER, THAT TRIPHORIANS CAN NOT HANDLE THE AQUITIAN ATMOSPHERE AS WELL AS EARTHLINGS CAN."

Jaime shook his head. "The others could drown over there, and if what you say is true and the person attacking Aquitar is the space pirate Divatox, I could have helped them."

Jackie, who had been listening in on the conversation, shook her head. "Come on, Jaime. Why can't you admit that you're wrong, and that Zordon was right in keeping you here?" Honestly, the Triphorian frightened her. There was just a force around him that kept her wary whenever he was around, and yet in moments like these he could seem just like a child that was trying to convince his parents to buy him a toy.

"He's not right," Jaime said, looking at her. "I...just because Trey crashed there doesn't mean—"

"ARE YOU TIRED?"

Jaime groaned. "God, Zordon, I haven't gotten this much sleep since...well...there is no since! You've kept me in the Crisis Center so that I could regain my strength, and I understand that, but now I'm completely healed and the only reason I'm staying here instead of going back to my duties on Triphoria is because I'm worried about the rangers."

Before Zordon could say anything, Jackie intervened. "You know what? He's right. Why don't I show Jaime around some of Angel Grove? He could hang out with me and the others, and I'll make sure that nothing happens to him."

Zordon frowned. "I DON'T KNOW, JAIME...YOU HAVEN'T BEEN OUT ON YOUR OWN SINCE YOU WERE ON TRIPHORIA."

"As I said, Zordon, I'll take care of him. If he seems like he's getting weak, I'll tell him that he needs to teleport up," Jackie reasoned. "Please? We'll have fun, and you're right. Jaime hasn't been out since he was on Triphoria. Don't you think he needs a little fresh air?"

Jaime nodded. "Yeah, Zordon. Come on."

"WHAT ABOUT THE STRIPES OVER YOUR RIGHT EYE? HUMANS DON'T HAVE THINGS LIKE THAT."

As Jaime began to back down, Jackie shrugged. "Maybe we could write it off as a really painful tattoo. Jaime could pretend not to be able to see really well out of that eye. I don't know, Zordon, but I do know that if you keep him locked up here for much longer that he's going to lose the physical capabilities that he had before."

Oh, she's good. "VERY WELL, JACKIE. YOU MAY ACCOMPANY THE SILVER RANGER WHEN HE IS LET OUT TODAY, BUT YOU BOTH MUST BE BACK HERE TWO HOURS AFTER DARK."

"Come on, Zordon," Jackie whined. "My curfew was later than that before Angel Grove was destroyed!"

"THREE HOURS, THEN."

Jaime shrugged. "That's fine by me." With that, he left the room to make sure that he looked as Earthly as possible.

Meanwhile, Kimberly Hart wiped the sweat from her brow before airing out her light pink midriff top. She sighed and sat down on top of a pile of rubble before looking over at Trini Kwan who was painting a wall of a building white. "Trini, I'm feeling worthless again!"

"Kim, if you keep moping around, I'm going to start feeling like a psychiatrist!" Walking over to her, Trini brushed some dirt off of her black shorts before questioning, "What's wrong now?"

"How could Tommy choose Kat over me?" Kim whispered feeling near tears again. "I thought he loved me." Tommy, why? We could have started where we left off. Damn it, we could have been happy like we were before! What can Kat offer you that I can't?

Trini frowned. "We've been over this, Kim. You dumped Tommy. I know it hurts, but he's not at fault here. You dumped him, he pined over you for most of his senior year, and then he got together with Katherine. He stayed with her because he was being faithful and they're in love with each other." I hate saying this to her because I know how much she's been through with that abusive boyfriend, but she has to realize the truth. "You know how hard it was for Tommy to dump you, don't you? He was terrified, and if you make him feel uncomfortable you're going to make it worse. Tommy is offering you friendship, and I would hope you would consider it."

I thought Tommy would love me forever; that if I ever wanted him back that he would accept me... "How can I be friends with someone that I still love? I can only clam up around him now. Kat and I used to be good friends, and I don't want to hurt her, but our friendship can't compare with what I feel for Tommy!" "

Kim, after what happened between you and Austin in Florida, I know you think that Tommy is the only guy for you, but he's not. You will move on, and you will find someone else that will be just as kind and sweet, and he'll love you more than Tommy ever could," Trini told her confidently. "You have to believe me, Kim. After what happened between Richie and I, I know how it feels, but now I have Jason and I know that he cares about me a lot."

Rubbing her hand along the hot rubble that she was seated upon, Kim glanced up at the sky before waving at Zack who was walking towards them. Before he was in hearing range, Kim whispered, "I'm happy for you and Jason."

Trini nodded. "I'll be happy when you realize that you can get over this."

Reaching the two women, Zack, in his black shorts and large white shirt, chuckled. "You girls have to see this."

"What's going on?" Kim questioned, trying to get Tommy out of her mind so that she could concentrate on the conversation.

"You know Tommy's sister, Jackie?" Zack asked. Oh, they're going to love this one. Both women nodded. "Well, Zordon gave her permission to take Jaime out for the day. I saw them walking through the park together, and dare I say, they are adorable together."

Well, that girl always was sweet. "Let's go say hi," Trini suggested.

Kim nodded. "Yeah. It is majorly hot out here, and I could use a break."

After being cleared by their observer, the three walked to Angel Grove Park and searched for Tommy's sister and the Silver Ranger whom they had never met. Spotting two people sitting by the lake, Kim smiled. "That's them, I think."

Apparently hearing her, Jackie, in her purple tank top and blue jean shorts, stood and waved them over. "Hey, Guys." As Jaime stood as well, she smiled. "Ok, Jaime this is Kimberly Hart, Trini Kwan, and Zack Taylor. Guys, this is Jaime Talsik, the Silver Ranger." She motioned towards Jaime who was wearing black pants and a silver tank top.

"It's nice to meet you," Trini said, extending her hand. Jaime looked at it for a moment in confusion before remembering what Jason had told him about shaking hands and grabbing it. His silver shirt ruffled lightly as the wind brushed by as did his short brown hair.

"The pleasure is all mine," Jaime said. Looking at Kim, he grinned warmly. "I watched from the Power Chamber as you fought with the others in Ninja Ranger form. It was quite a sight."

Oooh, he is cute. Kat and Emily were right. "Thank you," Kim said, a small blush creeping up into her cheeks. Seeing this, Trini and Zack glanced at each other and exchanged meaningful glances. This was all working out perfectly.

* * *
"We are going to need Earth Rangers around the entrance of the Command Center as well as throughout the building. No evil forces can enter here, for this area is the place that controls most of Aquitar's energy and communications as well as the teleportation units," Delphine explained. "If Divatox takes this building, then she will have control over Aquitar."

Both the Alien Rangers and the Earth Rangers were seated in the main room of the Aquitian Command Center. Hearing that Delphine had finished, Tommy stood from where he had been sitting and pointed at a map of the Command Center at the far end of the room. "We're going to need to position our forces throughout. Delphine has informed me that we are going to have Aquitian guards as back up, but the forces are low because of the torpedoes that were fired two days ago." He glanced at Adam. "Most of the forces are going to be around the main entrance of the Command Center. It seems most likely that the forces will strike there first when they try to enter. Adam, are you willing to lead those warriors in combat?"

"I'm always ready for a challenge," Adam told him grimly. Pushing a loose strand of silky black hair out of his face, he sighed. "How many soldiers do you estimate I'll have as backup?"

Answering for Tommy, Tideus replied, "Approximately twenty to thirty. Many soldiers will be needed in the water when Divatox's Piranitrons attack."

Tommy nodded and turned his attention to Emily. "More forces will be assembled by entrance to the area where some of the Aquitian population is located. Divatox will most likely want to take some hostages, so we're going to need someone there. Emily, since Billy has informed me that your powers most likely will malfunction near water, we've positioned you there. Are you all right with that?"

"I'll help as much as I can," Emily said, her voice strong. Ok, Emily, you're ready for this. In a few hours you're going to have your first real test as a ranger. Will you be able to hold your own without the others around?

"Tanya, Rocky, and Kat, you're going to have the important task of guarding the main room of the Command Center. The troops will be low there, which is why I've positioned you three in that area," Tommy explained.

Rocky nodded, all flippancy from earlier gone. "You can count on me."

"Me, too," Kat said.

Tanya frowned. "We'll be ok, but what if we can't hold them off? Our area is going to be the hardest to guard because of the lack of space."

At this, Billy took a step forward. "Our communication ability has steadily been rising. We should be able to contact the others if needed, and if you do need another fighter, remember that I have the Ninja Wolf Powers."

"Jason, we've stationed you with some guards outside of the Aquitian Zords and Arsenal bay," Tommy told him. "That area will be hard to find, but if found you have to protect it with everything that you can. We can't lose the Aquitian Zords and weapons because the Aquitians are going to need them in the future."

Jason nodded. "I'm on it, but what about you?"

Having been fearing this question, Tommy lowered his eyes before replying, "I'll be going out into battle with the Aquitians."

"Tommy, no," Jason said, shaking his head. "That isn't going to happen. You can come guard the arsenal with me. We're going to need another ranger down there."

Aurico shrugged. "Jason, we're going to need some extra fighters. Our warrior count is low."

"So I'll go," Rocky voiced, his eyes on Tommy. "Tommy, you're still recovering from being under Uriel's spell, and extra stress isn't going to be good for you. Let me go."

"Let me do what I have to do, Rocky," Tommy mumbled softly. "I want to right what I did to you guys, and this is the best way for me to do it."

Kat shook her head in protest. "Tommy, you aren't going out there."

The harshness of her voice caught him off guard, and Tommy took a small step back. "Kat—"

"I've watched you go and risk your life more times than I'd like to remember," Kat whispered roughly, "but I'm not going to let you do this. Don't say that there isn't any other way, because all of us are willing to go out there so that you won't have to. Killing yourself is not going to make up for what you did when you were under Uriel's spell. We need you...I need you." Speechless, Tommy just turned away and looked out at the water of Aquitar.

Jason nodded. "Well, that takes care of that. I'm going."

Kat sighed. "I didn't mean for you to risk your life either, Jason."

"Yeah, Jason," Emily said. "I think it would be better if the Aquitians took care of what they're best at, and we stay on dry ground." I don't even want to think of you dying. Jason, it could have worked out between us!

Jason shook his head. "I have to do this, Emily. So, that settles this. Tommy will guard the arsenal, and I'll be out with the Aquitians."

"I want to go with you," Tommy voiced. Billy, who had been leaning against the wall with Cestria, groaned. To him, this was just like old times.

Rocky perked up at this. "Hey, why don't I go with Jason? I mean, there are already two other people guarding the Command Center's main room. I'll go with Jason, and Tommy can stay and guard the arsenal...with Billy."

Hearing his name, Billy looked up. "Um, I don't know, Rocky. I haven't put on the Ninja Wolf Armor in awhile, and I wouldn't want to hold Tommy back."

"What do you mean 'hold me back', Man?" Tommy walked over to him. "Look, I can see this is a losing battle for me, but it would be great to fight by your side again. Hey, to make it more interesting I could wear the Ninja Falcon Armor. It would be like old times."

Tideus cleared his throat. "Um, I hope you do remember, Tommy, that this is a real war and not a time to reminisce." As the other Aquitians nodded, he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

All of a sudden, alarms began to go through the Command Center. Cestro ran over to the monitors and watched as armored fighters began to pour from Divatox's sub and sink to the bottom of Aquitar along with a menacing monster. "Divatox is attacking!"

"Get to your positions," Delphine commanded the Earth Rangers. Turning to Jason and Rocky, she motioned for them to follow her and the other Aquitian Rangers out of the room.

Billy turned to Cestria and kissed her softly. She hugged him. "I don't want you to get hurt, Billy."

"Go to the place where the Aquitian civilians will be," He told her. "I'll come to you when we have defeated the Piranitrons." As she nodded and ran off, he turned to Tommy. "We should go."

"Yeah," Tommy agreed. He glanced at the others. "Are you guys going to be all right?"

Kat smiled. "Quit worrying about us, Tommy. We'll be fine." He's such a worry wart. God, I love him. With that, all the rangers ran towards their specified positions.

Jason and Rocky followed the Aquitians into a pitch black room. Rocky shivered. "Really welcoming in here, guys. Where are the lights?"

Instead of getting a response, all the two heard was a loud cry, "RANGERS OF AQUITAR, WE NEED FULL POWER!" Looking up, the found that the lights had switched on and that the Aquitians were morphed and ready for action.

The two humans shrugged. "It's morphing time!" Jason called.

"TRICERATOPS!"

"TYRRANASAURUS!"

"Here," Corcus said, handing the two shoe covers that almost looked like rubber. "Attach these to your boots, and they will keep you from floating up in the water when you are fighting."

Aurico nodded. "We should go so that we can prevent as many of the Piranitrons as we can from getting to the Command Center."

"Yes," Delphine acknowledged. Opening a hatch on the wall of the room, Rocky and Jason watched in horror as water began to spill inside. Delphine turned to them. "When you go out, you'll find that the shoes will drag you to Aquitar's surface. Don't let that alarm you." With that, she jumped out into the water and was quickly gone from their sight. Tideus and Corcus followed.

Rocky's eyes widened. "You have to be kidding me!"

"We must go now," Aurico instructed. He jumped out of the room which was now halfway filled with water.

Jason shrugged. "Well, I've felt the need for speed lately." He went to the open hatch and jumped out into the water before disappearing from Rocky's sights.

The blue ranger swallowed hard before gathering the courage to go to the hatch. He closed his eyes and left the room before yelling, "That's what I get for giving in to Tommy's stupid guilt!" All of a sudden, he felt as if the water sucked him up and pulled him with the speed of light down to the bottom of the ocean.

All of the colors swirling by him were making Jason dizzy as he sped to the bottom of Aquitar. Suddenly, his feet slammed into the sandy ground. "Ow!" he yelled before glaring at Delphine, "That hurt!"

"My apologies for not warning you about that," Delphine said unemotionally. The six silenced and watched as Rocky came spiraling down to the ground and landed on his ass.

Tideus frowned. "I've never seen that happen to anyone. Our rangers always land on their feet when they come down from the Command Center."

"Then again, this is Rocky we're talking about," Jason said with a chuckle as he walked over to Rocky and helped him to his feet.

The Blue Ranger groaned in pain. "I'm not going to be able to sit for a year!"

"Heads up!" Delphine ordered as a group of Piranitrons ran towards them along with the monster. "Are you guys ready?"

"Yes!" the Aquitians yelled.

Jason and Rocky glanced at each other. "Sure, why not?" Rocky murmured. Jason snickered before looking up at a Piranitron that knocked him painfully to the ground.

* * *
Adam, in Black Ranger Form, glanced uncomfortably at the Aquitians that were whispering behind him in a tongue that he couldn't understand. I didn't know Aquitians had their own language. He shifted nervously. "Um, you guys do speak English, right?"

One of the Aquitians that was wearing sea green armor nodded. "Yes, Sir, we do." By her voice, Adam could tell that the Aquitian was female, and he sighed in relief before turning back to the door where they were watching the battle.

Seeing about thirty Piranitrons make it past the Aquitians and the Blue and Red Earth Rangers, he sighed. "Here we go. Are you guys ready?"

"Ready, willing, and able, Sir!" They all screamed catching Adam off guard.

Sir? Hmm...I'm going to have to talk to Tommy about this one later. "Well, here they come!" As the Piranitrons ran into the room, he got into fighting stance along with the morphed Aquitians. "This is it! Attack!" Soon, the room became a whirlwind of screams, both battle and of the dying.

Kat and Tanya glanced at each other before looking out the windows at the rangers who were fighting in the water. "I hope Rocky and Jason are ok," Tanya breathed.

"Yeah. Sensors have shown that the Piranitrons have reached Adam and the other Aquitians," Kat informed her, "but it doesn't seem like any are coming this way, which is good because we don't have our backup yet."

Tanya nodded, but her smile quickly faded as she saw a group of the evil soldiers in the doorway of the main room. "Well, Cestro's computer is out. Let's do it, Kat."

"Right," Kat yelled. "It's morphing time!"

"PTERYDACTYL!"

"SABERTOOTH TIGER!"

The Pink and Yellow Rangers nodded at each other before attacking the ten Piranitrons that had gotten past Adam and the others. "Be careful with the equipment in here!" Kat reminded the Yellow Ranger. "You remember what Cestro said."

"I got it, Kat," Tanya acknowledged before flipping over a Piranitron and kicking it in the back. As a group of Piranitrons came towards her, she yelled, "Power Daggers!" When the yellow weapons appeared in her hands, she smiled before slashing at some of the Piranitrons.

"Power Bow!" Shooting an arrow at one of the Piranitrons, she smacked another one with the bow and then kicked another in the chest. Seeing them all get back up, she gasped. "Their armor is really strong! We're going to have to work extra hard to beat them!"

Meanwhile, Adam had just sliced a Piranitron in two with his Power Ax before watching as a large monster pushed his way through the fighters and began with a large group of Piranitrons down a hallway next to the stairs that a group of Piranitrons had gone up leading to the main room of the Command Center. He raised his communicator to his lips. "Emily, this is Adam."

"I read you, Adam," Emily, in Gold Ranger Form, called into her communicator. "Nothing's really happening over here."

"Be prepared for something to happen," he told her. "Some large goon and a bunch of Piranitrons are heading your way!""

Emily was silent for a moment before exclaiming, "I see him! Ew, that thing is gross! Don't worry. We'll stop him before he can get to the civilians." Lowering her arm, she got into fighting stance along with the Aquitians behind her. "Ok, you ugly...thing! We're going to teach you a lesson about sneaking down to places where you aren't supposed to."

Rygog smirked with amusement. "Really, Gold Ranger? Well, I am Rygog, Divatox's second-in-command, and though you aren't my primary target, I'll chew you up, spit you out, and then leave you in the Aquitian waters to drown. Yes, Gold Ranger, I know you're Triphorian. I can tell by your armor."

"Attack him!" Emily ordered the Aquitians who faithfully obeyed. Please, let me beat him. The others will trust me in battle if I can do this! Seeing that the Aquitians needed help, she quickly called out, "Golden Lightning!" A golden light streaked down from the ceiling and burned a few Piranitrons.

While they were all occupied, Rygog motioned for a few Piranitrons to follow him. "Well, Gold Ranger, I'm sorry to cut the party short." With that, he left Emily and the Aquitians to fight the leftover evil warriors.

Emily attempted to go after him, but she was pushed back by a Piranitron. Raising her communicator to her lips, Emily pushed a few buttons on it. "Tommy, come in. This is Emily."

"I read you, Emily," Tommy called from the drab area by the large door leading to the Aquitian's arsenal. "What's up?

"Some monster named Rygog is heading your way with a group of Piranitrons. I would come help, but we're outnumbered as it is up here," Emily told him.

Tommy nodded. "Don't worry about it, Emily. We can take him. Tommy out." Ending the communication, he glanced at Billy who had been listening in. "We should morph." At Billy's nod, Tommy yelled, "We need Ninja Power now!"

"NINJA FALCON POWER!"

"NINJA WOLF POWER!"

"This is amazing," Billy muttered as he looked down at his wolf armor. "I never thought I would be wearing this again."

Tommy touched his shoulder. "We've missed you, Man, and it'll be great to fight by your side, even if this is the last time."

As the two watched the monster Emily had called 'Rygog' approached them, Billy smiled confidently. "We aren't going to die. Let's get him!"

"Right!" The two attacked Rygog and his Piranitrons.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Jackie, Trini, and Zack were sitting by the lake and laughing as Kim attempted to show Jaime how to skip a stone in the water. Trini smiled. "They are so cute together."

"Yeah," Zack acknowledged. "This could be just what Kim needs to get her mind off of Tommy."

Jackie smiled slyly. "Not just to get her mind off of Tommy, but to get her mind on someone else. They're perfect together! Kim likes to be maternal, and Jaime is like a little kid on our world."

"You're right, Jackie," Trini observed. "Zack, I think Tommy is out of the picture."

Zack frowned at this. "Yeah, I think he is, too...well, for now, but what about Emily?"

"What about her?" Jackie questioned, not knowing what he was talking about.

Great. They don't know? "Jason broke up with Emily because he suspected that she had a crush on Jaime."

"Damn," Trini mumbled, feeling her heart break. "That's why he broke up with her?"

Zack nodded. "Some sparks are going to fly when Emily gets back from Aquitar and finds that the guy she thought she was in love with is hanging out an awful lot with Kim." Noticing Trini's hurt expression, Zack quickly cursed himself. "Trini, he told me himself that he broke up with Emily truly because he was madly in love with you, but he also mentioned Emily liking Jaime. You were the true reason." Trini smiled faintly.

Jackie sighed. "I hope that Tommy and the others are ok."

"Don't sweat it, Jackie," Zack said. "Tommy knows what he's doing."

Trini nodded. "When he became the leader after receiving the White Ranger Powers he always knew exactly what to do when fighting a monster."

"Billy!" Tommy called from where he had just kicked a Piranitron to the ground.

The Blue Ninja Ranger looked up. "Yeah?"

Tommy sighed. "I have no clue what we should do. I mean, we're getting no where with these guys! They just keep on coming!"

"Though I enjoy having you fight using your Ninja Powers along with me, Tommy, perhaps we could destroy these things more efficiently if you morphed." Tommy nodded slowly.

"It's morphing time!"

"TIGERZORD!"

Pulling out Saba, he showed the small sword the battlefield. "Ok, Saba. We're on Aquitar. Not that that should make any difference, but I didn't want you to freak out."

"Great, Teen Tiger, so now the pressure is on," Saba growled.

Tommy frowned, but deciding not to get into the name calling thing, he looked at Rygog. "Ok, you overgrown...thing! You're going down!"

Rygog snickered. "You, puny ranger, could not ward off Elgar let alone me."

"Elgar?" Tommy inquired. He laughed. "You can't taunt me with monsters that I've never even met, Rygog."

Apparently not appreciating being made fun of, Rygog snarled. "All right, Earthling. Come and get me."

Tommy nodded. "I intend to."

Meanwhile, Jason had just sliced a Piranitron in two with his Power Sword before punching at another one. He glanced at Delphine. "There are a lot of them out here!"

"Well, this is an invasion," Delphine muttered. At Jason's grunt, she sighed. "Just keep warding them off. I could try to get word to more Aquitian warriors that we're having trouble out here."

Tideus shook his head. "I was contacted by Adam a little while ago. All of the rangers are battling inside."

"Damn it," Aurico muttered after being kicked down by three Piranitrons. "What do we do in the meantime?"

Rocky smiled and called for his Power Lance before sticking it through a Piranitron. "We do that."

Kat shot another arrow through a Piranitron before pulling one back that had been trying to destroy the communication network. "We can't let them get to the machines!" She screamed after being pushed away by a Piranitron.

"We could really use some backup," Tanya stated.

Pushing two Piranitrons down to the lower level of the Command Center where Adam and some Aquitians were fighting, Tanya grinned as she heard the Black Ranger call up to her, "Thanks a lot!"

"No problem!" She called back before slashing another Piranitron with her Power Daggers. Seeing that one of the creatures was trying to break the energy holder of Aquitar, she kicked it away before throwing her body over the machines. "You'll have to get through me if you want this!"

Divatox watched the video feedback of the battle in her submarine with glee. "Ooh, look how my Piranitrons are destroying the rangers! This is so beautiful!"

Porto, who had overheard her, shivered. "Um, Divatox, our armies are losing."

"What!?" Divatox yelled sending Porto falling to the ground in fright. "What do you mean they're losing!?"

"Well, they are," Porto said from his spot on the ground. "Might I suggest the use of more torpedoes, Divatox?"

Divatox pondered this for a moment before smiling. "You may not suggest anything, Porto, because I just had an idea. What if we torpedoed Aquitar again? The rangers in the water would be killed, and the Piranitrons could dismantle the Aquitians' communication and teleportation systems while Rygog plants a detonator in the Aquitians' arsenal holding bay.. Isn't that brilliant, Porto?"

Porto nodded as he tried to stand again. "Wonderful idea, Divatox. Only you could come up with an scheme that amazing."

Elgar, who had just walked into the room, kicked Porto a few times. "Hey, Porto would make a good doormat, Auntie D!"

"I most certainly would not!" Porto exclaimed as he tried once again to stand. Unfortunately for Porto, he had the smallest legs and the biggest body imaginable, therefore this task was near impossible.

"Elgar, fire the torpedoes...and help Porto up," Divatox commanded. Cackling, she left the room, making sure to step on Porto a few times before she did.

Elgar chuckled before helping Porto to his feet. "Here ya go, you overgrown marshmallow. Now, try to stay out of trouble. I have to fire the torpedoes!"

Porto groaned. "Aggravating baboon."

Walking over to a console, Elgar studied it for a moment before pushing a button and laughing happily as torpedoes popped out of the submarine and spiraled towards the surface of Aquitar. "Now, those Power Rangers will be destroyed, and Divatox will have to give me some credit because I pushed the button! Ha, ha, ha!"

* * *
Jason looked up in confusion at the gray things that were coming towards them. "What are those?" He implored, already having a bad feeling about them.

"Torpedoes!" Cestro cried.

"Everyone, make for the Command Center!" Delphine commanded. She had just said this when the first torpedo hit the ground and sent them all flying in different directions through the water.

Feeling sick from the dust and fluids that came from the torpedo, Jason coughed a few times before looking around for Rocky and the Aquitians. "Rocky!" He yelled not sure if the Blue Ranger would be able to hear him. "Rocky, can you hear me!?" Damn it! As another torpedo fell right by him, Jason felt his body float up in the water before sinking back down to where it had been before. I don't know how to get back to the Command Center, and I don't know where anyone else is. God, I'm probably going to die out here...

Kat and Tanya, who had been guarding the machines, both fell to the ground as the first two torpedoes hit Aquitar. "What the hell is that!?" Kat screamed.

"I think those are more torpedoes!" Tanya yelled over all the hubbub in the room. Gazing out at the water, the two cried out as they saw blood swirl up in the water. Oh God...Jason and Rocky are still out there. No, they can't be...

Distracted, they didn't notice a Piranitron make its way over to one of the machines and begin pounding it until it was too late. Kat pushed it away, but she froze immediately when all the lights in the room went out. Soon, all electricity in the Command Center was out leaving the rangers in the dark.

Tanya looked around before yelling, "Activating Power Beam!" Two small lights came out of her helmet, and she located Kat before kicking away a Piranitron that had been coming towards her. Slashing out at a few blindly, she cursed as two of the Piranitrons grabbed her Power Daggers and threw them across the room before doing the same with her and destroying the communications machine.

"Well, we just lost contact with the whole building," Kat muttered. "All we have now are our communicators, and they don't work in the water." I hope the others are ok.

Emily looked around frightfully as the power in the room went out. "What's going on here?" Well, there's only one way to deal with a power outage. "Golden Torch!" At that moment, a glass ball fell into her right hand, and this ball set ablaze. Using the fire as her light, she looked around at the Aquitians who were eyeing her in wonder. Kicking a Piranitron out of her way, she sighed. "I hope the others are having as good of luck."

Adam cursed as the lights went out around him and the other rangers. "Great," he muttered. "Now, what was that extra addition on this suit? Jason had the Power Scope, Tanya has the Power Beam, Kat has the Power Radar, Rocky had the Power Audio Monitor, and I had...the Power Nighvision...thing...yeah, that could help. Activating Power Nighvision!"

A thin visor slipped over his first one, and he glanced around at the Aquitians and Piranitrons that were standing in shock. Shooting at a Piranitron with his Power Ax, he kicked another one before mentally thanking Billy for installing these gizmos in during their first time around in the Dino Armor.

Rygog looked around as the lights went out by the Aquitian arsenal bay. "What the hell happened?"

"The main generator in the control room must have been rendered incapable of functioning," Billy thought aloud. Feeling something cold touch his shoulder, he kicked the Piranitron away before hearing a faint cry.

"Man, I wish I had my Power Audio Monitor right now, or at least a Power Radar," Billy muttered as he began searching for the source of the sound. He looked down at the ground as he heard Saba yell, "You're stepping on me!"

Billy picked up the small sword and inspected it only to find that Saba had a small crack on its side. "Does it really hurt, Saba?"

Saba frowned, surprised that the human had remembered his ability to experience physical anguish, before replying, "I'll be fine. Where's Tommy?"

The two looked around as Rygog's voice tauntingly implored, "You want to find the White Ranger!? Well, he's right here!" This was followed by a soft moaning and the sound of footsteps running to the other side of the room.

"I don't know where he is, Saba," Billy said helplessly, "and I won't be able to find him without my Power Audio Monitor."

"Billy," Saba countered, "you are the wolf, and the wolf's hearing ability is far better than a human's. Use your instincts, and I guarantee that you'll find Tommy." At least, I hope you will.

Billy nodded and closed his eyes. Faintly he could hear the White Ranger groaning from his right, and so he followed the sound as carefully as he could. Opening his eyes again, he looked around. "Tommy?" All he heard were more moans and the sound of feet moving.

All of a sudden, he felt something perk inside of him, and his hearing became clearer. Now, he could positively say that the injured person was the White Ranger, and that he was leaning somewhere along the far wall. Following these never before used instincts, he found Tommy, now unmorphed, shuddering helplessly and leaning against the wall across from the arsenal holding bay. "Tommy, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine," Tommy told him with a small grin on his face. "Just give me a minute to catch my breath, Man."

That wasn't a smile...that was a grimace.. "You're a horrible liar, Tommy. Where did he hurt you?"

Tommy regarded him for a moment before meekly responding, "I'm fine."

Billy frowned. "No, you're not. Tell me where he hurt you or I'll probe you so that I can find out."

Really not wanting to be probed by the former Blue Ranger, Tommy winced and slowly moved his legs down to expose the bleeding wound on the left side of his abdomen. Billy reached out a hand to inspect the area, but Tommy grabbed it and pushed it away. "See? It isn't bad."

"If it's bleeding then it's bad, and that's bleeding. I know that communications are down, but I think your communicator has enough power to teleport us both up to the medical area on level three," Billy told him slowly. "Are you up for that?"

Tommy shook his head. "We...we have to stop Rygog. He went inside of the arsenal holding bay, and h-he's getting weapons for Divatox. Rygog...Rygog said something about a detonator before he did this. I think he planted one inside of the arsenal holding bay. We have to get him."

Billy sighed. "You know you aren't up for that." Suddenly, something sparked inside Billy, and he grabbed Tommy's arm fiercely. "You know what, Tommy? You're going to do what I say for once because you aren't my leader anymore. Do you understand that? Tell me that you understand that I'm doing this for your own good." When the White Ranger refused to answer, Billy tugged on his arm again, harder this time. "Look at me and tell me that you understand what I'm doing."

Gazing up at him, Tommy nodded as best he could. "I understand." Quietly, he inquired, "How long have you wanted to say something like that to me, Billy?"

"I don't feel like counting the days," Billy deadpanned before looking at Tommy's eyes. "Damn it, I think you're going into shock. All right, lift up your right arm for me." Tommy did as told allowing Billy to reroute his communicator for the medical area on level three of the Command Center. Pushing a few buttons, the two teleported away in flashes of blue and white and, reaching the medical area, Billy took Tommy's communicator off and put it on a table out of his reach.

Tommy pouted. "Hey, I might need that."

Billy nodded and replied, "I know you might, which is why I'm putting it out of your reach so that you can't use it. Oh, and I want your Power Coin, too." When Tommy refused, Billy cautiously pulled his morpher from his pocket before putting it down by the communicator. Looking through the drawers around him for the sink, Billy washed off a cloth right by the sink before walking back over to the White Ranger and wiping away as much of the blood as possible.

"Stings." Tommy whispered, his voice strained. Trying to ignore him as best he could, Billy continued to wash off the area before walking back over to the drawers and fishing through them for some bandages and bandaging tape.

* * *
Jason dove to the ground and covered his head as another torpedo shook Aquitar. "Come on, Rocky! Activating Power Scope!" As a monitor came up over his visor, he spun around and tried to find any source of life. "I don't believe this!" Jason exclaimed. "This thing is picking up nothing!"

All of a sudden, the device started beeping slowly, and he soon found the source of the quiet beep. Running in that direction, he flipped the Power Scope off and gasped as he saw that the life form was Rocky, and that the Blue Ranger was lying on the ground unmoving. "He's still alive," Jason told himself quickly as he recalled the Power Scope's beeping. If Rocky wasn't alive, I wouldn't have picked up his life force. "Hey, Rocky, can you hear me? It's Jason."

"Jason," Rocky whispered weakly, "it hit me. I can't move...you should...you should just leave me out here. I'm so stupid; there was pleanty of time for me to run away from it, but I couldn't, I just stood here like an idiot—"

"Don't talk like that," Jason commanded. "Rocky, I'm going to get you back to the Command Center. If we put our communicators together, we'll have enough power to get back inside, and then we'll get you some help. I think Billy said that the medical area was on the third level. We'll go there. Do you understand, Rocky? You're going to be fine."

Rocky coughed a few times before nodding. "You shouldn't have made me a ranger, Jason."

"Rocky—"

"God, I'm just so stupid, I...I always screw up and then I bring other people like you down with me!"

Jason eyed him sternly before softening. "Just shut up, ok? Get ready to teleport." Jason helped Rocky with the rerouting of his teleportation on his communicator before the two teleported together...

...nearly falling on top of someone when they got there. Jason sprang back and sighed when he saw that the being was only Billy. "Billy, you freaked me out, Man."

"Thanks, Jason," Billy murmured. "I'm glad to know I have that effect on people."

Jason sighed. "You know that wasn't what I meant." Noticing the other person in the room, Jason looked at the bandaged area on Tommy's abdomen before sighing. "See, I leave you alone for a few minutes—"

Tommy frowned. "Leave me alone, Jason. I'm fine."

"Actually, he has a bleeding wound on the abdomen and a mild case of shock," Billy corrected. "I was just about to find a blanket or something of that nature."

As Rocky unmorphed, Jason grabbed him before he could fall over. "You'd better make that two, Billy. Rocky hasn't had a good day either. Well, he was really close to being blown away by a torpedo, actually."

Billy nodded. "Let's hope the others are ok, because there isn't very much room in here as it is." He was about to leave but, remembering something, he turned back towards Jason. "I don't care what you have to do, but make sure that neither of them sleep. I'm not a doctor or anything, so I haven't been able to check to see if Tommy has a mild concussion, and if Rocky was almost hit by a torpedo then he might have one, too." With that, he left the room. Jason just stared after him. Ok, I'm stuck with two of my best friends, and they're both going to be whining about being tired. I can't believe Billy stuck me with this.

"Jason, come on—"

"No, Rocky."

"Bro, I don't have a concussion," Tommy told him. "That battle with Rygog just really wore me out. Plus, I didn't fully get over to the teleport from Earth to here."

Jason sighed. "Tommy, if you fall asleep, I'll push on your cut until you won't be able to walk for a week. Got it?"

Hearing Jason's infamous 'leader voice' come out, Tommy nodded and looked up at the ceiling. He felt himself drifting off, but was quickly awakened by the sound of Jason shaking Rocky a few times to wake him up. "Keep control," he told himself quietly. "Come on. Just keep control."

*a few minutes later*

"Damn it, Tommy, this is about the third time I've told you not to fall asleep!"

"Sorry," Tommy muttered sleepily, "but I'm so tired." Rocky nodded his agreement.

Jason sighed. "You guys are acting like a bunch of whiny first graders."

"Hey," Rocky mumbled, "I wasn't whiny in first grade. That's a horrible stereotype, Jason."

The Red Ranger groaned. "Where's Billy? He knows that I can't handle this."

Tommy glanced at him and implored, "Isn't Adam's dad a doctor or something like that? I remember him saying something about taking medical classes because he wanted to be a volunteer assistant over at Angel Grove Hospital. If you get him up here, I bet that he could tell you that neither of us have concussions."

"Adam is fighting, though," Jason protested. "Is it a good idea to bring him up here? I mean, the Aquitians might need him."

Rocky nodded. "That's true, Jason. Can I sleep now?"

Jason groaned. "All right, I'm contacting him." Raising his communicator to his lips, he called into it, "Adam, this is Jason."

"I read you, Jason," Adam responded from the first level of the Command Center. "How is it that you're contacting me if you're out in the water?"

"Well, I'm not out there anymore," Jason informed him. "Look, Adam, we have some trouble up here on level three. Tommy and Rocky are both injured, and we need your medical opinion on whether or not they have concussions."

Adam sighed. "I'm not going to say that you have the best timing, Jason, but if they need me up there...I'll be up in a second." True to his word, the three didn't have to wait long for the Black Ranger to appear in the small room. He shook his head. "Damn it, what happened to you two?"

"Sword wound," Tommy muttered. Shivering, he wished that Billy would return soon.

Rocky sighed. "Torpedo blast."

Adam walked towards Rocky and pulled his eyelids open so that he could examine his pupil. Frowning, he nodded. "Mild concussion. I don't know what kind of treatments they have here on Aquitar, but they were right to keep you awake, Rocky."

"Billy will probably know about the medical treatments that they have here," Jason commented. "I mean, he's been living on Aquitar for a while."

From the doorway of the room, Billy nodded. "Yes, I do know where they keep their medicine, and guess what else I found?" Flipping on a switch outside the door, the lights in the room turned on. At their puzzled glances, he smiled. "The Aquitians kept emergency power in this room because they figured that if the power was blown out someone might have gotten hurt when trying to prevent it." He threw a blanket at both Tommy and Rocky. "Well, they aren't much, but that should help a little bit."

Adam walked over to Tommy and did the same thing to him as he had to Rocky before shaking his head. "I don't see any evidence of a concussion, but I don't like the look of you in general, Tommy."

"You're a guy, Adam," Tommy quipped. "I wouldn't really want you to like how I look."

"On the level," Adam muttered. "Over all, you look exhausted. When was the last time you got a decent night's sleep?"

Tommy shrugged. "You know me, Adam. I keep irregular hours. Plus, I kept waking up last night because Jason was taking all of the blankets and not leaving me any." Jason turned away and snickered but said nothing.

"Well, if you keep keeping irregular hours then you're going to find yourself dead like Billy almost found you tonight," Adam told him solemnly. "Your powers surpass the Dino powers. Along with Emily, we need you to be in there fighting, and if you're making mistakes then you'll be condemning us to failure." As the White Ranger's face fell, Adam sighed. "Look, I'm not here to make you feel like a loser. Tommy, I'm saying this for your own good. Get some sleep. I'll try and find some anesthetics that will help you with the pain." Looking at Rocky, he shook his head. "Not you, though."

Rocky groaned. "Come on, Adam. You order him to sleep, and yet I can't?" Pulling a blanket around himself, he sighed. "See, Jason? I told you that you should have left me out there."

Jason shook his head. "Nah. I'm already being blamed for Tommy's exhaustion because I took his covers last night and kept him up. Being responsible for your death was not something I wanted to add to my list of mistakes."

Billy walked over to Adam and handed him a needle and a bottle that he had retrieved from a drawer at the far side of the room. "They don't have pills here on Aquitar, but Aurico used it on me once when I was in some pain after they stopped my aging."

"No way," Tommy murmured as Adam put some of the medication into the needle. "Come on, Man, you know how much I hate those things."

Adam sighed. "Sorry, Tommy." With that, he injected the medication into the White Ranger's arm. Pulling the needle out, he smiled. "Now, was that so bad?"

"You sound like that nurse who had just taken some of my blood when I went to a blood drive with Kim," Tommy said with a shudder. "I didn't want to go, but it was really important to her..." Yawning, he watched as Jason began to near the door. "Where are you going?"

"The Aquitians are still out there," Jason told him, "and I need to find them."

Adam nodded. "Our troops were doing ok, but I'll go down to the second level and help Kat and Tanya."

"I'll stay here," Billy said. "Someone is going to need to keep Rocky up until Aurico comes back because I don't know what they have here to treat him. Plus, I need to keep an eye on Tommy to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Tommy groaned. "No one has any faith in me."

Jason shrugged. "Nope, we don't." With that, he and Adam teleported out of the room leaving Billy, Tommy, and Rocky alone.

* * *
That night on Earth, Jackie, Trini, Zack, Jaime, and Kim had gone up to Angel Grove Cliffs to watch the sunset and the stars. Jaime squinted and then pointed upward. "I think I can see Triphoria, though it is very distant."

"Do you miss it?" Trini asked. When Jaime remained silent, Trini cleared her throat. "I didn't mean to imply that you don't, I'm just saying that, well, I just—"

"You haven't offended me in any way," Jaime cut in. "I was merely thinking of how the answer the question." When the others motioned for him to continue, he said, "I miss the people: My Queen, Trey...and I miss my status. Damn it, and I miss fighting. When I stayed here, I thought it was to fight, but I've done nothing but stay in the Crisis Center and conserve my strength. Well, my strength has been conserved, and I want to fight. Hell, I'd settle for a spar!"

Looking up at this, Zack smiled. "I'll spar with you. It's been awhile, and you'll kick my ass because your stronger, but since Jason and Tommy are always busy with their ranger business, I haven't sparred in ages."

Jaime nodded. " All right." Putting a hand through his silky hair, he stood and shook out his muscular arms before getting into fighting stance.

Zack, slightly intimidated by the fierce look on his face, whispered, "You do know that you aren't supposed to hurt the other person when you spar, right? I mean, I'm not trying to kill you and you aren't trying to kill me."

"I'm sorry," Jaime said, his face softening. "On Triphoria, when we spar it isn't a matter of life and death, but it can be a matter of rank. I forgot that on Earth sparring is merely done for pleasure, and there is no ruler to impress."

"Unless you count Zordon," Zack commented. "When I was a ranger, he ruled my life." Getting into fighting stance, he held his hand up. "Do you mind if I warm up?"

Jaime shook his head. "Not at all. I need to, as well." Throwing a few punches, he glanced at Zack. "You regret being a ranger?"

"Of course not," Zack said, "but sometimes I wish that I had let the others handle some things. The feeling of never being free because you have rangerhood on your shoulders, and having to lie to people that you care about because you can't tell others about your being a ranger are things that I regret, but knowing that I helped save the world day in and day out made up for those feelings of regret. Have you ever felt like that?" He took a deep breath before doing a series of kicks.

"My childhood wasn't a good experience," Jaime told him quietly. "Early on, my mother was killed by Veron."

Jackie nodded. "That was the race that attacked here not too long ago"

"Yeah." Jaime rubbed the bridge of his nose before continuing, "My father was abusive. He showed me all of the wrong ways to live and told me that I would never amount to anything within the kingdom. I grew up thinking that I was trash, and then when he made me an orphan early in life I felt as if I had done something horrible to him that I could never take back, and I blamed myself for his abandoning me."

"Oh, that's horrible," Kim said with a gasp.

Jaime sighed. "I don't know what happened to him. The last I heard was that he was locked away in the kingdom because of planning an attack to kill importent leaders of the Triphorian armors. Some say that he died in prison from a drug overdose, some say that he is still there wondering what went wrong in his life, and many say that he hung himself one night after giving up all hope of escaping. A few say that he was executed, but the prison records had no entry about this. Then again, why would the Triphorian Prison Guards want me to know that they had executed my father? That was as far as I looked for him." Kicking up into the air, he shrugged. "There was no point in looking any further. I knew by then that I was not to blame for his giving me up."

"I'm sorry," Jackie said sympathetically. "Who made you into the soldier that you are today if your family was dead years before you became the Silver Ranger?"

"I was adopted by a woman who had mothered a few soldiers in the Triphorian Army," Jaime explained. "She used to tell me of my potential, and I would never believe her because my father had told me I was trash, but she taught me the truth after enrolling me in the Army Training Camp just outside of the Triphorian castle. The woman...well...she died a few years later in a Veronian attack. It was almost funny; I cried for her more than I cried for my own parents.

"Anyway, by that time I didn't need a guardian since I was enrolled in the army. My Squad Leader taught us the basics of being Triphorian Rangers and about proper ways to address the royal family. I didn't meet Trey until about two years later, but in those two years I learned all that I could so that I could go out and fight the Veronians and anyone else that would threaten my kingdom since Triphoria was all I had left to believe in besides myself.

"My Squad Leader...I believe his name was Rowin Bonford...thought I had a gift for rangering, and he promised me that after a few years I would be on the front lines, and I was, thanks to him. A year after I had begun training I was fighting along with those that had been studying for many years. That was when I began to make a name for myself, but it was just among the soldiers and nowhere near the castle.

"Two years after I had begun training, I was at the front lines fighting on the planet Feltor. That was the first time I ever saw Trey and his sister, Gloria. Before that time, I had only heard rumors of their remarkable fighting skills, but it was nothing like seeing them up close. That was before I had the Silver Ranger Powers. Seeing them do moves that I had no idea how to do was remarkable, and during that fight I made myself work extra hard so that I could impress the Prince and Princess. It wasn't because I wanted recognition, but because I had been through so much, and I wanted to say 'I am Jaime Talsik who once considered myself the scum of Triphoria. Look at me now, for I am at the front lines and proudly fighting for my planet.'

"I got my recognition. The general at the front lines came up to me one day and told me that the Princess of Triphoria had been injured and that Trey would need a new fighting partner to go with him into enemy territory so that he could disable Feltor's main weapon. This was a large task, and it seemed likely that he and anyone to go with him would die, but they wanted two people to go so that there would be more of a chance that one of them would return. The general told me that I, the one who Bonford had spoke of, had made quite a name for myself in the higher ranks, and that I was to try out for the position along with nine other soliders that they felt were just as qualified."

Zack nodded. "Wow. Being a ranger on Triphoria is like giving your life for the War. I mean, before I die I'll probably never see the end of the War between Good and Evil, but I wish I could."

"It is a wish that all beings who fight for the side of good have," Jaime acknowledged. "Your leader, Zordon, used to fight for the Order of Meledan along with another that you might have heard of. Dulcea. He has lived for centuries, and yet he has still not seen the end of this war. We can win the battle which is the battle between us and our neighboring evil such as Rita, Zedd, Divatox, and the like, but in the farthest corners of the Universe there will always be evil. We can't escape it."

Kim leaned forward eagerly. "So, you went to this 'show of skill' competition for Trey and kicked everyone's ass. What happened after that?"

Jaime chuckled. "Believe it or not, it was rather close. I only beat the runner up because he was disqualified after being shot in the leg during the fighting."

"Ouch," Trini murmured. "Poor guy."

Shrugging, Jaime continued, "Yeah, poor guy, but it was a lucky break for me. Trey was hesitant to take an unknown with him. See, the other guys who had tried out all had made names for themselves within the castle, but my rumors had only circulated around the army. People said 'he is the next one to be knighted by the King and Queen', but it had never happened. Half of the people that had tried out had been knighted.

"Anyway, Trey finally agreed to take me along, and we snuck into enemy territory and only had to kill a few Feltorians to do it, and we disarmed the weapon. The bad news was that our position was surrounded and we had to trap ourselves within a dark cave so that the multitudes of Feltorian fighters wouldn't kill us on the spot.

"In that cave Trey and I began to learn more about each other. I told him of my life, and he told me of his, and we spent every day in that cave talking until our throats were sore. Well, they were also sore because we had no water or food. We lived there for three days, and that was when I noticed that Trey was becoming horribly ill. It didn't look like he was going to live without getting any water.

"See, in the Triphorian culture there are classes, but they are not poor, middle, and rich like on your world. We have the non-fighters, fighters, top fighters, royal fighters, and there are only a few of those still living, and then the royal guards and the royal family. At that point, I was merely a fighter. Sure, I was rumored to be the next one admitted into the top fighter class, but it had not happened, and I knew that my job as a Triphorian was to do anything in my power to keep Trey alive since he was part of the Royal Family, even if I had to die to do it.

"The fourth day, I left Trey in the cave and snuck around on enemy grounds to see if I could find water. Lucky for me, I found a spring, and the spring had clear water. I was able to get enough water in a canteen I had stolen from a Feltorian for one person before being spotted and chased back to the cave. Returning, I gave him the water and told him that it was good and that it would keep him alive for at least two days more."

"So, you were going to give your life for him," Jackie breathed. "That's incredible." Trini nodded.

Jaime shook his head. "Not when you think about it. I'm sure there are people in your life that you would die for." As the four pondered this, he continued, "The strangest thing to me was that he asked me if I wanted some of the water. Yes, it sounds like an innocent thing, but the Royal Family knows of their status, and that they are to live so that the planet can live. This proved that he had begun to think highly of me. Trey told me later that he had already felt friendship towards me, but at the time I thought it was pity so I thankfully refused.

"We won the war that night, and the next morning Triphorian troops travelled across Feltorian boarders to find the Prince. They reached us by nightfall, but I barely remember it. All I remember was Trey becoming unnaturally upset because I had grown feverish. After that, I passed out, and when I awoke I received the surprise of my life: I was in the Triphorian Castle under the watchful eye of one of the Royal Family's best physicians.

"So, Zack, in answer to your question, there's no way I can feel restricted by being a ranger because rangering is my life. I've known nothing else but it. That's why Earth is so intriging to me. Everyone seems so free and lively. We are not like this on Triphoria. Sure, there would be royal balls, parties, and people would date and marry, but it is nothing like Earth."

Zack whistled low. "Damn. That's one hell of a story!"

"I'll say," Kim said. "See, look how interesting his life is! All I could tell you about, Jaime, is my latest trip to the mall."

Trini leaned closer to Jaime. "You never told us how you got the Royal Touch."

"Yeah," Jackie remarked, "or about how you even became the Silver Ranger and were accepted by the King and Queen."

Jaime laughed heartily at this. "Come on, Guys. I have a million stories, but they are all so boring. I think I've bored you enough already, and if I tell you all that I've been through, Zordon will kill me for being late."

Kim touched his arm. "Jaime, you are not boring. That story was one of the most fascinating ones I have ever heard."

"Yeah, Man," Zack said. "That story was dramatic and, well, it puts me to shame as a ranger. I want to hear another one! Tell us about becoming the Silver Ranger!"

"Yeah," Jackie said, "and about how you and Trey became nearly inseperable!"

Jaime sighed. "All right, but if Zordon gets pissed, I'm blaming all of you."

Kim shrugged. "Like he's never been mad at us before." The others laughed before quieting as Jaime began to tell of how he came to fame within the Triphorian Kingdom.

* * *
Adam teleported down to the second level and, activating his nightvision, kicked a Piranitron in the stomach before flipping over to where Tanya and Kat were. The Yellow Ranger turned towards him and smiled. "Adam, I'm surprised to see you here." As he shielded his eyes from the glow of the lights on her helmet, she shrugged apologetically and turned her head so that Adam could see.

"I was called to the third level by Jason. Tommy and Rocky are both out of action," Adam explained. When Kat looked at him in worry, he smiled. "Don't worry about it, Kat. They're both fine. Tommy had a close call with a cut on the abdomen, but he'll make a full recovery in a few days. Rocky, well, he was almost killed by a torpedo."

Looking at her radar, Kat kicked an oncoming Piranitron away before saying, "Well, that's good, but people have died. We saw more blood. I thought it might have been Rocky or Jason, and I'm glad it wasn't. You don't think it could be the Alien Rangers, do you?"

Tanya sighed. "I hope not. I really hope not."

Landing back on the surface of Aquitar, Jason looked around cautiously before stumbling over something. He looked down and shuddered as he saw it was an Aquitian that had been literally sliced in two by a Piranitron. "This is like Earth all over again. Activating Power Scope!"

Immediately, he picked up two life readings and, running towards them, he flipped off his Power Scope as he found Tideus and Corcus conversing. Tideus nodded towards him. "Red Ranger, we were worried for your safety."

"Rocky was barely missed by a torpedo. I went with him to the medical area on level three," Jason explained. "Tommy is there, too. Billy said he had a close encounter with a sword."

Corcus frowned underneath his helmet. "There were many close calls, but they were not all close."

"What do you mean? I don't understand," Jason told him. What did he mean by that?

"He means, Jason, that many of our people are dead," Tideus explained, "including one of us."

Jason gasped in shock. "What!? How...who...when...—"

Corcus sighed. "Aurico and Cestro are tending to the body. You have the Power Scope, therefore you may see her."

Delphine...oh shit... "I'm so sorry—"

"We don't want your pity, Jason," Tideus said, his voice slightly harsh. Seeing Jason move back slightly, he took a few deep breaths. "Excuse my tone, Red Ranger. We do not blame you or the others, but this battle has been more damaging than any of the Hydro Hog's attacks ever have been. We've lost hundreds...maybe thousands of lives globally, and we've lost one of our own."

"Don't think that we haven't been through this," Jason argued, seeing the reason for the Aquitian's bitterness. "Our people have been killed. You were there when some were killed, and Rita and Zedd's latest attacks on Angel Grove and Stone Canyon along with Uriel and Rashell have been devastating. Many have died; some have passed on in our arms. I'm sorry for Delphine. She was an amazing being, and the others will feel just as guilty and sorrowful as you or I do, but don't form a barrier between our two worlds just because you don't think we know what it's like to have our people die."

Corcus let out a deep sigh. "We don't want that, Jason, but you have to understand the bitterness we feel. Our leader is dead, and yet all of you live." As Jason took a step towards him angrily, he raised his hands in defense. "That was meant as no insult. We do not wish harm upon you, Jason, or your fellow rangers. It is just bitterness towards Divatox and her troops, and bitterness towards ourselves. She died with anger in her heart for me, and I must now live with that anger inside of myself. I observed a confrontation between Tommy and Delphine, and I told Katherine because I was worried for her well-being. Delphine found out, and she was furious. Now, she is dead, and I must live on, although if anything would have happened to Tommy I suppose I would have felt some guilt." He paused for a moment and thought about this. "Wait a minute...something did happen to Tommy..."

"Don't worry about Tommy, Corcus," Jason said. "All we need to think about now is how to avenge Delphine's death..." Wait until Tommy hears this one. He makes out with an alien one day, and she's dead the next. I swear, Tommy's life is harder for me to figure out than my own.

Meanwhile, Tommy was still staring at the ceiling as he thought of what it was he was going to remind Billy of. Something was troubling him, but he couldn't place a finger on it. Billy, who had been watching him, groaned. "Tommy, Adam told you to get some sleep."

"I'm trying to remember something," Tommy said weakly. "Before Rygog slashed me, I heard something, and I told you about it, too, but I don't remember what it—"

"Either get some sleep or I'll have to give you a sedative," Billy warned. I'll do it, too. Tommy worries me. Sometimes I think he's too noble for his own good...if that's humanly possible.

Tommy shook his head. "If you put me to sleep, how will I remember what I was going to tell you?"

Smacking Rocky who had been beginning to fall asleep, Billy sighed. "That's it, Tommy. I'm giving you a sedative, and I do know how to do it. I've helped Aurico in here plenty of times."

"I think that anesthetic messed up my memory," Tommy complained.

Billy smirked. "Come on, Tommy. Everyone has known that your memory is messed up for quite some time." Pulling out a needle from a drawer by the far wall, he put some medication inside of it and walked closer to Tommy. "Now, the anesthetic and the sedative shouldn't cause any problems if they are put together in your bloodstream, but if they do just die and I'll get the picture."

Tommy frowned. "Well, if I die then you'll know that...hey!" As Billy stuck the needle into him, he let out a deep sigh and looked at the ceiling again. "What was it that Rygog said...something about the arsenal room..." He yawned and watched as Billy sat down at the other side of the room again. "He put something into the arsenal room...I think..."

"Let the sedative work, Tommy," Billy instructed. "You really need the rest."

"It wasn't good...he talked about all of us being doomed...it would..." Tommy's head began to nod, but he opened his eyes quickly to keep from falling asleep. "...it would kill us all..." he yawned. Come on, don't give up on me now. It's right on the tip of my tongue! "A bomb...a detonator!"

At this, Billy looked up in surprise. "What!?"

Tommy turned towards him, his eyelids drooping. "Rygog...planted a..." he tried to reach a hand up to his eyes to rub them only to find that both of his arms were numb. "...detonator..."

"Where!?" Billy demanded fiercely. This is the first time I didn't listen to him, and this is the first time he's ever had something extremely important to say that I can't find out anywhere else. "Tommy, stay strong and focus. Where did he put the detonator?"

"W-we fought him..." Tommy muttered, his eyes closing. Pulling his blanket tighter around him, he sighed. "Arsenal room...t-the detonator is in the arsenal room..." With that, he yawned once more and let the drugs take effect.

Billy stared at him momentarily before rubbing his eyes angrily. "Damn it! He told me earlier and I barely paid any attention to him!" Picking up Tommy's communicator, he raised it to his lips. "Emily, come in."

"I read you, Billy," Emily said calmly. "What's going on? There aren't any more Piranitrons down here. They all ran away...I think we scared them off."

"That's not the only reason they left," Billy exclaimed. "Emily, Tommy just told me that there's a detonator in the arsenal room. I have to stay here with Rocky and Tommy because they're both injured and we can't have any Piranitrons getting up here, and the others are still engaged in battle. You and your troops need to go down to the arsenal room and find that bomb. Can we trust you?"

Emily nodded, her whole body becoming tense. "We're on it, Billy. Emily out." Turning to the soldiers who had been listening in, she sighed. "Well, it's time for us to find a detonator."

* * *
"I can't believe you and hundreds of Piranitrons could not kill those Earth Rangers!" Divatox exclaimed angrily before swinging at Rygog's head.

The large monster shifted backwards before protesting, "Divatox, we have planted the detonator as you requested. It is hidden within the arsenal holding bay. The rangers will never be able to find it in time, and the whole Aquitian Command Center will be destroyed along with those Earth Rangers."

"Hey, Auntie D!" Elgar exclaimed. "You'll be so proud of me! I killed a ranger!"

Divatox smirked. "You? You couldn't even beat Porto in a race let alone kill a ranger."

Porto grunted. "I don't appreciate being the subject of the jokes around here."

"Yeah, well maybe if you didn't look like the Fat Skuba Diver From Hell then you wouldn't be the subject of the jokes around here," Rygog countered. He and Elgar laughed at this while Porto, exasperated, waddled to the other side of the room.

"Anyway, Auntie D, I fired the torpedoes and the White Aquitian Ranger was caught in the crossfire. She's dead!" Elgar exclaimed.

Divatox jumped in the air happily. "Oh, Elgar, I would kiss you if you weren't so ugly and stupid!"

Elgar smiled. "Aw, I love you, too, Auntie D."

"Porto, pull the ship away from the planet," Divatox ordered. "We don't want to be caught in the floating debris that will be left of the Command Center after that device goes off. Oh happy day!"

* * *
"Zedd!" Rita yelled from the throne room of Hirpog's Palace. "Divatox has planted a detonator on Aquitar that will blow up the Aquitian and Earth Rangers!"

Annoyed by her constant yelling, Zedd sighed. "Good. They were beginning to bug me anyhow."

Rita walked over to him and smacked his shoulder. "Zedd, I want to destroy the rangers. That Divatox is a bitch! If she kills the rangers then she's going to want to take over Earth, and I don't feel like fighting her! She's annoying!"

I can think of someone else who's annoying. "So, what do you want me to do? Show Emily where the detonator is so that she can dispose of it?"

"How is she going to dispose of it if they're on the water planet?" Rita questioned. "Besides, they're almost out of time. I've got an idea. Just watch and learn, my husband, and maybe one day you too will know how to defeat your enemies."

Meanwhile, Emily walked into the arsenal room with a group of Aquitian soldiers, and they began thoroughly searching the large room for anything out of the ordinary. They had been searching for ten minutes when one of the Aquitians yelled, "I found it, and it's almost reached zero!"

Running over to him, Emily looked at the strange device that was at thirty seconds. She looked around frightfully. "There's no time to disengage it!" Hearing Adam call to her from her communicator, she raised it to her lips. "Adam, I can't disengage it. As it is, the device is on twenty seven seconds!"

"Is there any way that you put it somewhere that it will have little to no effect on the Command Center?" Adam questioned. Kat and Tanya were watching him with terror.

Gazing around the room, Emily shook her head. "No, Adam, there isn't. I hate to say it, but...it looks like we've lost."

Billy, who had been listening to their conversation through Tommy's communicator, shook his head before looking at Rocky who was eyeing him with horror. "We're...we're going to die?" Rocky questioned weakly.

"Go ahead and sleep," Billy whispered. Glancing at Tommy who was sleeping soundly, he shook his head. "We all tried so hard...to end like this...it just doesn't seem right. I always wanted to see us win over evil."

"Twenty seconds," Emily breathed. Looking at her communicator, she began to cry. "I'm so sorry, everyone, that I couldn't save us."

Adam shook his head. "We tried, Emily, and you tried. If this is how we're to go, then this is how we're to go."

Kat nodded and spoke into her communicator. "Emily, it has been a privilege to know you."

"Yeah, Emily," Tanya said. "I'm sorry you weren't on the team for longer. You're a great Power Ranger."

Adam, Tanya, and Kat hugged each other, tears streaming down their cheeks. "This is how we go," Adam muttered. "The Power Rangers live together, fight together, and die together, whether on this world or the next."

"I love you, guys," Kat whispered. "Adam's right. This is how we go."

"I wouldn't want to die any other way," Tanya breathed. "At least we tried."

Back on level three, Rocky painfully pushed himself up before standing and leaning on Billy for support. "Billy, I just wanted you to know that it has been a pleasure fighting by your side...when you were the Blue Ranger and even now."

"Same here, Man," Billy voiced. The two hugged before looking down at Tommy. Billy chuckled, tears falling from his eyes. "I wish I hadn't given him that shot, because, you know, I want to say goodbye to him. He's gotten me through so much...Jason, too."

At that moment, Tommy opened his eyes slowly and smiled, a tear rolling from his eye. "I'm here, Guys. Billy, I would have been asleep if you had actually given me the sedative instead of more of the anesthetic. That just put me out for a little bit because of the amount I've had today." Sitting up, he put a hand on his abdomen which was burning before hugging the two blue rangers, past a present. "God, I'm sorry I couldn't have led us through this."

"Don't say that," Rocky whispered. "We're just as much to blame for this."

"We couldn't win forever," Billy murmured, the anguish evident in his voice.

Emily let a rare sob escape her lips before whispering, "Ten seconds. Tommy, Billy, Rocky, I can hear you guys up there, and I love you all, too."

"Don't blame yourself for this, Emily," Tommy said into his communicator. "We're all so proud of you for proving your perseverance during all of this."

Hearing her boyfriend's voice, Kat smiled weakly. "Tommy."

"Kat, I love you," Tommy said, his voice strained with emotion. "Damn it, I've done so much to you recently, and I don't what I could ever say to you to make it up—"

Kat chuckled faintly. "Don't. I love you, and you love me, too. That's how we end."

Tommy nodded and, seeing Billy and Rocky nod, he teleported the three of them out of the room and down the second level. Grabbing Kat in his arms, he cried into her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

She held him tenderly and kissed along his neck. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He kissed her passionately. The two remained that way even after Rocky, Billy, Tanya, and Adam had joined them. Soon, they were in their own little world, enjoying each other's warmth and unique fragrances for what they knew would be the last time.

Emily, seeing the countdown move the five seconds, closed her eyes and wished that Jason was there with her and that he could kiss her before she was to die, but she thought it was better this way. Now he was peaceful in the waters of Aquitar, and he would die in that peace.

Divatox laughed hideously. "Finally, the day I have been dreaming of is at hand!" All of a sudden, she fell to the ground as a red light went through the room. Looking up, she gasped as she saw the detonator inside the submarine. "Oh shit..." 3...2...1...

...the submarine blew up in midair scattering debris all over Aquitar. Rita and Zedd laughed happily. "Well, Big Boy, what do you think of your wife now?"

"Very clever," Zedd said, kissing her cheek. "Now, when the rangers return to Earth, we will crush them!"

Rita nodded. "My thoughts exactly!" The two laughed and kissed again. It felt so good to be so mean.

* * *
After at least twenty seconds had gone by, Emily felt it was safe to assume that she was dead. Looking around, her eyes widened as she saw that she was still in the arsenal holding bay. She raised her communicator to her lips. "Um, Tommy, maybe something is up, but there's no longer a detonator down here, and we're still alive. Are you still alive?"

Tommy, hearing Emily's voice, released his death grip on Kat and replied, "I, uh, I'm alive. Are you guys alive?"

Kat looked up at him in surprise. "Emily, what happened to the detonator?"

"I don't know," Emily replied in astonishment. "I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see it reach zero, and when I opened my eyes the device was gone."

"This is amazing," Billy breathed as he touched his body to make sure he was still in one piece.

Rocky began jumping up and down in excitement until his body registered that he had nearly been blown to bits by a torpedo earlier that day and he had to stop. High-fiving Billy, he grinned. "Whoa, talk about a close call. Whoever saved us, I'm sure glad they did."

Adam and Tanya looked at each other before hugging and laughing happily. "This is incredible!" Tanya exclaimed.

"Talk about an adrenaline high," Adam remarked. "That was so...spiritual, in a way."

"Shit...Cestria!" Billy pulled slowly away from the others. "I have to make sure Cestria was ok down there. Why don't you guys...celebrate some more?" Hugging Kat, he smiled. "Being close to death really makes you think about what you need to do in life, and who you belong with."

As he walked away, Tommy looked at Kat. "He's right, and you know what? I was wrong."

Kat's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about, Tommy? What's wrong?"

"When Corcus told you that I had made out with Delphine, it was a lie, and when I left your room I was so upset because I knew...or I thought I knew...that you were going to dump me the next day," Tommy began, his voice shaky. "When I got to the room, Delphine was there, and she told me that she had made a play for me earlier that day, and that I just hadn't caught it. Then, she kissed me and told me to think about us getting together...she's liked me ever since we first met...you know, when I was a midget."

"So, what are you going to tell her when she comes back in?" Kat questioned.

Tommy sighed. "Well, I'm going to tell her that I'm flattered by the offer, but that my heart belongs to the most beautiful, caring, kind, understanding, and loving woman that I could ever hope for, and that I'm her love slave."

Kat laughed aloud at this. "You're my love slave?" Talk about a burst of emotion!

Kissing her passionately, Tommy nodded. "Yep. I'm your love slave. Command me, and I shall do what you wish, my master."

"Well, that first kiss was good," Kat said with a giggle, "but I think you could do better than that. Kiss me again, love slave." He obeyed her request, and the two kissed each other lovingly, knowing that this felt so right.

Adam, Rocky, and Tanya just watched the two with interest before looking the stairs as the door from the waters of Aquitar opened and Jason entered. The Red Ranger glanced up at them. "Guys, we have a problem. One of the Aquitian Rangers is dead."

Tanya's eyes widened. "What!?"

"Which one?" Rocky asked in shock. One of them is dead!? Oh my God!

"It's Delphine," Jason informed them. "Where's Tommy?"

"Um, he's locking lips with Kat," Adam explained. Walking back into the main room, Adam reluctantly got in between the two. "Guys, Jason is out there. Delphine is dead."

Tommy gaped at him. "How!?"

Adam shrugged. "I don't know, but that's what Jason said. He's on the first level."

Running to the stairs, Tommy looked down at Jason and, instead of saying anything, gave him the most dubious expression that anyone could ever dread seeing. Raising his hands in exasperation, Jason motioned for him to come down to the first level, which he did. "How did she die?" Tommy questioned hurriedly.

"We're assuming that she was torpedoed like Rocky almost was," Jason said. "Come on, you know that I wasn't there. I came in after I found Rocky so I didn't see what happened to anyone else."

Instead of posing more questions like he would have expected, Jason was caught off guard as the White Ranger began to chuckle. "What's so funny?" Jason questioned with confusion. When Tommy refused to answer, Jason sighed. "Bro, a ranger is dead and you're laughing. Those two things do not go together."

"You have no clue that a few minutes ago we all thought we were going to die," Tommy said, still chuckling. At Jason's surprised expression, he smiled. "There was a detonator and it was on twenty seconds. Emily watched it until it got down to five seconds, and then it miraculously disappeared and all our lives were saved.

"Then, when we think that the world is safe and everything is finally going to be ok, you barge in here and tell us that Delphine is dead," Tommy finished. "Don't you find that at all funny?"

Jason shrugged, a frown still tugging at his mouth. "Maybe it's ironic, but in your case I'd say that it's hysteria. Tommy, your exhausted, injured, and emotionally overwhelmed by coming really close to death and then finding out that someone else you were close to is dead. You know what, if you need to cry about it, that's ok."

Tommy groaned. "I'm overwhelmed, but I'm not just going to break down in front of you or anyone else."

"I'm not saying that you're a wimp, Tommy. All I'm saying is that you've gone through a lot. Not just now, but over the past few months. Angel Grove and Stone Canyon were destroyed, you had a woman die in your arms, you thought that you saw Kat making out with another guy, you were put under a spell that made you nearly kill an innocent civilian, Kim returned into your life and you dumped her for Kat..." Lowering his voice, he added, "...you lost your virginity to a being of evil who you might love, you were close to death, and now Delphine is dead. How can you hold that inside?"

Shivering, Tommy whispered, "I cried when Tina died and the two cities were destroyed."

Jason sighed. "That's the least of what you've been through, though." Putting a hand on his shoulder he smiled softly. "Let it go. You were close to death, and inside you know that you have to make a new beginning. Tommy, you have to let go. You have to tell Kat what you did with Uriel and Delphine—"

"I told her that," Tommy intervened, "and she accepted it...accepted me..."

"So tell her about Uriel," Jason persisted. "Before you can, though, you have to accept yourself. The only way you'll be able to do that is to let out everything that you've been holding in for so long." When Tommy just stared at him shakily, Jason grinned and pulled him further down the hallway away from Kat, Tanya, and Adam who had still been watching the two. "Ok, we're going to teleport to your room, all right?" Tommy nodded silently and pushed a few buttons on his communicator making the two disappear from the hallway and reappear in Tommy's chamber.

The two just stood their silently regarding each other for a moment before Tommy shook his head. "This is dumb, but I do understand what you're saying, Jason. I need to get back together with Kat. Actually, I'd rather do that now than just cry for no reason."

"The pain inside of you is just going to build up unless you let it go, and this is the best time to do it," Jason protested. "Listen, you almost died, and yet you're still alive. Doesn't that warrant a second birth? You're still holding everything inside of you, Bro! Let it go!"

Chuckling weakly, Tommy turned away from him. "Since when did you become my psychiatrist?"

Jason shrugged. "Ever since you became my best friend."

"I just, you know, I thought that she'd always be alive," Tommy whispered, his voice quavering. "Now I feel like I'm responsible for her death in some way. Maybe if I had felt the same way about her as she had about me—"

"You can't force yourself to love a person because of guilt, Tommy," Jason told him, "because that isn't love. Don't beat yourself up over this. I heard Delphine, and she said herself that she didn't need you to love her. What she felt was physical and mental attraction, but there's so much more to love than that...like what you and Kat share...and what Emily and I used to share..."

He stayed in that position for a few moments and lowered his head as Tommy began to tremble. Putting his hand on his shoulder, Jason gazed at him as he turned around, his eyes watering. "Do you see this!?" Tommy yelled suddenly, motioning towards his tears. "It has been so hard to hold these in for so long, and I finally thought that I could bury them forever, but then you had to come along and make this happen!" Crawling onto his bed, he buried his face in the mattress and sobbed helplessly.

Jason sat down next to him and took a deep breath before awkwardly putting a hand on Tommy's back. The White Ranger stiffened momentarily but quickly relaxed. "Damn you," Tommy whispered.

"See," Jason began, a weak grin on his face. "Don't you feel better?"

"Damn you," Tommy murmured again, this time louder. "I was doing just fine with everything until you made me do this! Damn it, why do I listen to you!? I should never listen to you, because if I do I always end up in this kind of situation! Damn you!"

"Do you want me to leave?" Jason questioned after a few minutes had passed. When Tommy didn't answer, he shrugged. "I know you're pissed off at me for making you do this, and if you don't want to see me, fine, but I know you could use the support. If I do stay, though, I'm not sleeping on the side of the bed that's wet with tears."

Tommy snickered. "That's cute. You're the one that made me do this." Taking that as a 'no', Jason put a hand through his short brown hair before glancing at his best friend once more and standing. He had just reached the door when he heard Tommy vaguely call to him, "Would you stay?" Instead of waiting for Jason to answer, Tommy pulled off his shirt and used it to wipe his eyes before throwing it on the ground and slipping under the covers that he had been lying on top of. Sniffling, he glanced self-consciously at Jason before covering his eyes with his hands and turning his head towards the ceiling.

After closing the door to Tommy's room again, Jason pulled off his shirt and sat down on the bed before hearing Tommy say, "I'm glad we didn't die. It wouldn't have been right."

"What do you mean?" Jason questioned. "How was it not right?"

"Well," Tommy explained, "you weren't there, and you wouldn't have been prepared to die. When we go down, I want all of us, rangers past and present, to be there for a final showdown against evil, and I want to die first."

Jason shrugged. "Well, that'll be kinda hard to manage since you're a damn good fighter and will probably be one of the last people standing.

Tommy nodded. "Still, that's how I want to go...all of us to go...not that I want any of you to die, because I would kill myself if you guys could live, but..." He rubbed his eyes, "...I've always wanted us to go down together. You know, like the Power Ranger's last stand."

"That's kinda apocalyptic, Bro," Jason muttered before lying down on the bed and pulling the covers over himself. Sighing, he turned towards the White Ranger and shrugged. "I just want a quick death. You know, the detonator would have been good for me because it would have been quick and effective. I don't want to have a prolonged death. That's a word of advice if ever I'm on my death bed and they're trying to keep me alive," Jason told him. "I want you to tell them that I want to die. That would be the best thing for me."

"I wouldn't want to be the one to say the words that would take your life," Tommy murmured, slightly shocked by how depressing that sounded. "Have you ever wondered what normal teenagers talk about if they're at a friend's house?"

Jason softly replied, "I don't know what they talk about. Discussing the rangers has just become a part of my life. Is it annoying you?"

Tommy shook his head in response. "No, it isn't. I just pointed it out because, well, I just noticed that all of us aren't like the others. Sometimes I wish I could be that carefree."

"If we were carefree and there were no rangers, we'd be dead," Jason pointed out, "but I was free at the Peace Conference. That was weird, Bro. I'd always have to remember not to worry about getting beeped when I went to a meeting. After awhile, I got used to it, and then when I became the Gold Ranger I had to get used to the beep again like I did the first time around."

Tommy nodded. "It was the same thing when I lost my Green Ranger Powers. For that short time that I didn't have my powers, it felt so weird not to have to worry about being called, and then getting them back was really strange." Feeling his abdomen begin to burn again, he sighed. "Well, you heard Adam. Sleep is good, so no taking my blankets tonight."

Jason laughed. "Why would I want to? Your tears got them all wet."

* * *
"So that's how I got to where I am today," Jaime finished, shivering as a cold wind flew over the high cliff. Putting his arms around his knees, he looked at the four expectantly.

Kim stared at him in awe. "Wow, Jaime. How could you think those stories were boring? To be given the royal touch when the King was drunk!" Looking at the muscles on his bare arms, she turned a deep shade of red. He is so hot. I really think I'm falling for him.

Zack nodded. "I liked the one where you spent the whole battle looking for Trey. That must have knocked down some of your fighting points, eh?"

"Both Trey and the King were rather displeased," Jaime said with a small chuckle.

"Or getting the Silver Ranger Powers after nearly losing your life fighting Gerlin!" Jackie exclaimed. "I can't imagine what your emotional stress must have been like after facing the being who's planet was responsible for your mother's and adoptive mother's deaths!"

Jaime shrugged. "It hurt at the time, but to know that he's dead now because the Selvinians killed him is definitely inspiring."

Trini looked down at her watch and gasped. "Damn it, we were supposed to be back at the Power Chamber a few hours ago! Do you think Zordon waited up for us?"

"How much of a fatherly figure do you think Zordon is?" Zack questioned. After a few moments of silence, he chuckled. "Yeah, I think he waited up for us."

Jackie looked around at everyone else slightly uncomfortably before saying, "Thanks for, you know, hanging out with me today, guys. I'm sure it wasn't much fun to hang out with Tommy's sister who happens to be a sophomore. If you did it for his sake, then thanks."

Kim touched her shoulder. "What are you talking about, Jackie? I think you are a blast to hang out with."

"Really?" Jackie asked, flattered.

"Definitely," Zack said with a grin. "You can tell us all of Tommy's most embarrassing moments!"

As they all laughed, Trini nodded. "Well, there's that, but you're also very mature for your age. I think everyone, myself included, can say that when we talk to you we feel like we're talking to a senior."

Jaime shrugged. "I can't tell the difference, and being from another planet, we can notice things much better than others can."

"Thanks, guys," Jackie voiced. "I really appreciate it."

"Well, we should go back up to the Power Chamber," Kim said. "I don't want to keep Zordon waiting." With that, they all disappeared in flashes of pink, silver, black, and yellow.

Reaching the main room of the Power Chamber, the five tried to tiptoe towards the door leading to the Crisis Center, but a harsh voice stopped them in their tracks. "YOU'RE ALL LATE."

Looking up at Zordon, Zack swallowed hard as he saw the stern look on his mentor's face. Damn it, the only time I've seen him like that is when Tommy insists on doing something stupid! "Um, hey, Zordon. We lost track of time. I forgot to wear my watch...it was Jackie's fault for picking up Tommy's lateness."

"Hey!" Jackie exclaimed, whacking him on the arm. "This wasn't my fault!"

"ENOUGH!" Zordon yelled, startling them all into silence. "FORMER RANGERS, SILVER RANGER, AND YOUNGER SIBLING OF THE WHITE RANGER. FOR THIS DISOBEDIANCE, YOU WILL REMAIN IN THE CRISIS CENTER ALL DAY TOMORROW."

Jackie groaned. "Ok, Zordon, I know you're taking something out on me that was Tommy's fault. I'll get him when he comes back tomorrow night and drag him up here so that you can shock him with energy charges or something!"

"GO!"

Not wanting to argue with him, the five did as asked. Reaching the Crisis Center, Jaime sighed. "Sorry, guys."

"Aw, we knew he was going to do something like this to us," Kim said. "Besides, this means that we won't have to work tomorrow."

Zack nodded, his eyes bright. "That's right! Not that I don't want Angel Grove to be rebuilt, but I've needed a day off."

"Plus," Jackie said, "the others are coming back tomorrow night, and I'm sure they're going to ask for us. We'll get off grounding early!" The five smiled at each other. This was going to work out better than they had expected.

The next day, all of the rangers stood solemnly in the main room of the Aquitian Command Center. Cestria sighed. "It seems like you just got here, Rangers, and now you're leaving."

"We would be willing to stay if you need help repairing your communication and teleportation systems," Adam voiced.

Billy shook his head at this. "It's all right, Adam. I know you guys want to get back to Earth, and Cestro and I can deal with the repairs. Luckily, they are all going to be minor repairs. In fact, all of Aquitar should have power and teleportation capabilities in a week or so."

"That's good to hear," Tommy voiced. Looking at Cestria and Billy, he smiled. "So, when things get back to normal here, I hope that you'll contact us about coming back for the wedding." When Billy and Cestria nodded, Tommy's eyes brightened. "Don't forget to consider me for Best Man."

Jason hit his shoulder. "No way, Bro. I'm Best Man." When Tommy shook his head and looked away, Jason sighed. He shook Billy's hand. "We'll miss you, Man."

Rocky glanced at Tideus and Aurico who had been leaning against the wall of the main room. "I'm sorry about Delphine, and I hope she's doing well in the afterlife."

"Thank you," Tideus said. "We will miss her, but Cestria has agreed to hold the White Aquitian Ranger Powers. It is a privilege to have her."

Kat smiled. "Congratulations, Cestria. I'm sure you'll make a great ranger."

"Aurico is taking over as leader because I'll need to learn the ropes," Cestria explained. "All I want is to make Delphine happy...wherever she may be now."

Bowing his head, Corcus murmured, "Until we meet again, Rangers of Earth."

The Rangers of Earth bowed. "Until we meet again, Rangers of Aquitar," Emily said.

Tanya nodded slowly. "We should go. Take care of yourselves."

"We will," Billy told her, "and thank you for helping us through this. Word has come to us that Divatox and her henchmen are dead. The submarine exploded."

At this, Rocky gasped. "You don't think that..."

"Who would have teleported the detonator to the submarine?" Jason wondered aloud. "I guess we'll find out eventually."

"Yeah," Tommy said. "If we're meant to find out who did it, then we will. Anyway, we should go. I contacted Zordon and told him that we'd be back by tonight. Let's go, guys." Waving, the rangers pushed a few buttons on their communicators and disappeared in flashes of black, pink, blue, yellow, red, white, and gold.

Watching them, Cestro sighed. "Take care, Rangers. May we meet again."

From Hirpog, Uriel, Scorpina, and Finster watched as seven lights popped through Aquitar's atmosphere and began to move away from the planet into space. Uriel nodded. "We need to go now. Follow my teleportation track directly. I will grab the White Ranger and pull him towards the other side of Hirpog. If all goes well, we will not be detected. Are you ready?"

"Let's go," Scorpina said, her voice displaying how excited she was.

Finster smiled. "I've haven't done anything like this since my youth!"

"Here we go," Uriel said, and in a flash of fire the three disintegrated and flashed out of the throne room...

...but not before they could escape Rashell's curious eyes as he entered. Frowning, he watched as the three flames moved towards the rangers. "Why would they..." he wondered aloud. "No!" What has that woman done in my absence!? Flapping his wings, he flew out of the throne room and chased the three flames as they sped towards the rangers.

With his eyes closed, Tommy relaxed as he thought of going home and being able to be on solid land again. Aquitar had been an interesting change, but there had been so much death. He was almost frightened to notice that the death on Aquitar had barely affected him. Could I be becoming used to death!?

Suddenly, he felt burning pain go through him as he was pulled out of his calm state and pulled out of his teleporational track. Opening his eyes, he found that something had grabbed onto him and, gasping, he easily noticed that this thing was Uriel, and the evil goddess was regarding him fondly. "The pain will be gone soon, White Ranger," She told him. "I am taking you to where you belong."

Uriel watched his face. He seemed shocked, and yet there was no horror in his eyes, which, for some reason, delighted her. Before she could even begin to turn back towards Hirpog, a fiery ache went through her chest, and she cried out before letting go of Tommy. Scorpina and Finster, who had been watching her and the White Ranger, gasped as they saw that Rashell had grabbed her in a death grip.

"You have defied me," Rashell said calmly. "For this, I will punish you." With that, a blue light appeared on one of his hands, and he laid this hand on Uriel's chest. She screamed in pain and terror as the blue light threw her off course and sent her spiraling helplessly back towards Hirpog's throne room. Scorpina and Finster, who had no choice but to follow her teleportation track, swerved back towards the palace, as well.

Rashell then turned his attention to the White Ranger who was trying to use his communicator to bring his teleportation route back online. "White Ranger, I despised you before," Rashell growled catching Tommy off guard, "but you have angered me in a way that none of the other rangers could. You have tried to win my wife!" Slashing the White Ranger's face, Rashell watched in satisfaction as Tommy yelped in pain and raised a hand to his bleeding cheek.

For a few more minutes, Rashell beat him and slashed at his defenseless body before grabbing Tommy by the neck and looking him in the eye. "I will not kill you now, White Ranger," he snarled with fury, "because Rita and Zedd seem to want you, but I will tell you this: I wish you dead, and if ever you touch Uriel again, I will waste no time in slitting your throat and making your head a mantle for my bedroom." Striking him again, Rashell summoned up some of his magic and sent the White Ranger speeding towards Earth at a velocity that not even Zordon would dare attempt. I will have my revenge on you one day, White Ranger. Mark my words. This is not over.

Uriel landed painfully in the throne room of the throne room with tears streaming down her cheeks. As a hand touched her shoulder, she looked up to see Scorpina gazing at her with surprise and concern. Grabbing the hand, Uriel looked at her with red eyes. "Did he kill him?"

"To the best of my knowledge, he didn't," Finster reported, "but he is returning now, My Queen. We must hide you, for you are not safe here."

Uriel shook her head. "No, Finster. I must face him if he's ever to understand."

"Understand what?" Rashell asked coolly as he reentered the throne room. He shoved Scorpina on the ground before raising a hand tauntingly at Finster. "Leave us, and take her." At Uriel's nod, Finster scurried towards Scorpina, and the two left them alone.

Rashell walked calmly around Uriel as she shivered with fright. She stood and looked at him pleadingly. "If you would only hear me out, Rashell, so that I can explain my actions—"

Before she could finish, Rashell slapped her with such fierceness that Uriel plummeted to the ground. "I loved you," Rashell yelled in a rage, "and you betrayed me to be with our enemy!"

"It wasn't meant to be this way!" Uriel shouted as she rubbed her sore cheek. "Tommy is not to blame. I made him evil, and what he did he did under my control!"

Rashell snarled. "Yes, but he drew you away from me." Kicking her, he hollered, "If you go near him again, I swear on the Old Code that I will kill you both!" With that, he stormed out of the room leaving Uriel to lie on the ground in anguish and sob.

* * *
The streets were filled with the sound of blaring music. A cool wind blew by making Dana Scully shiver. When two hands rubbed her shoulders, she smiled at her partner who was wearing a black coat with a brown shirt and black pants. "If you keep that up, Mulder, I'll be aroused."

"That's a reason for me to keep doing it," Fox Mulder replied huskily.

Alex Krycek, or Alex Mulder officially, shook his head and chuckled. "Damn it, why don't you two get a room!? I hate being the third wheel."

Mulder grinned and rubbed his hair. "Come on, Bro. You don't want to support your older brother?"

"Not especially," Krycek voiced as he jumped away from Mulder's hand, "and I told you not to do that!"

"You were kicked out of the Mulder family before birth," Mulder commented. "I didn't get to do this to you when we were younger, so I'm making up for lost time."

Shivering, Krycek used his good hand to pull his black leather jacket tighter around himself before looking up at the night sky. All of a sudden, a bright white light caught his eye, and he watched with puzzlement as if fell into an alleyway right in front of them. "Hey, did you guys see that?"

"I saw it," Scully said quietly. "What the hell was it?"

Mulder shrugged. "Well, I guess we'd better find out." The three ran to the alleyway and cautiously peered inside. Mulder gasped. "God, look at him!"

Hurriedly running towards the fallen man, Scully felt for a pulse. "He's alive, but his skin is cold. Damn it, and he has some pretty bad looking scars on his cheek...wait a minute...I've seen him before."

"I have, too," Krycek observed. "The hair...the face...oh my God."

"What?" Mulder asked quickly. "Who is he?"

Krycek looked at him, his green eyes full of concern. "That's Tommy Oliver."

Mulder gasped. "Shit, what happened to him, and how did he get here?"

"You saw that flash of white light," Scully reasoned. "Something must have happened during one of those Power Rangers fights. All I know is that we have to get him out of here or he's going to die."

"Should we take him to a hospital?" Mulder questioned. "I mean, he's the White Ranger. What if this happened during a battle?"

Krycek shrugged. "Um, Mulder, your place isn't that far from here, and your car is just a block away. We could bring him there so that Scully could give us a better examination, and maybe he'll come to and tell us what we can do for him."

"Good thinking, Krycek," Scully said. "Now, help me lift him." The three cautiously brought the White Ranger to a standing position and dragged him out of the alleyway towards Mulder's car. None of them were sure what had happened to him, or what the consequences could be for taking the White Ranger in, but they did have an idea that their life, as it had before when they were in LA a few months earlier, was going to become very interesting than it had been in awhile.

End

Yes, all those who have asked for them, Mulder, Scully, and Krycek are back! The next story will, well, I'm not going to give it away, but it's going to be quite interesting. Jaime/Kim. What do you guys think of that combination? I have plenty of problems for Kim to get into if she gets together with Jaime, and plenty if Jaime gets together with Emily, and plenty if he doesn't get together with either of them. Be sure to e-mail me with your thoughts. Anyway, more questions: Tanya/Adam or Tanya/Zack? Let me know! Who do you want to see Rocky with? Should Billy actually end up with Cestria in a piece of fiction!? I swear, I haven't seen another where Billy and Cestria actually stay together. Let me know if there is one. Well, I'd love comments on this story and suggestions for the next one, especially how you'd like the X-Files characters to get involved in the next story and what you'd like to see happen in the Rashell/Uriel relationship after their *ahem* falling out. My e-mail addy is Rkacat@aol.com Thanks for reading, and happy PR fanfic hunting! I hope you've enjoyed part seven of Allied Evil. Well, it took me a few months to write this one. Expect the next one in...December. Hehe, hopefully that won't be the case, but you never know!