Dream Walking
by Jeremy Ray Logsdon

"I can't!" she shouted back. "The red is going to catch me!"

"What is the red!" Kimberly yelled. Lightning tore the sky in half, and she ducked slightly. A hard rain began to pelt her, yet she continued to run. The woman in the blue dress, a faint red tinge at the hemline, darted into a overgrowth that Kimberly would have sworn had not been there a moment before. "Please!" Kimberly shouted. "Just tell me who you are! Maybe I can help you!"

The woman stopped and turned back to look at Kimberly. "Nadia?" Kimberly asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Please Kimberly," Nadia said. "Distance yourself. You stay away, and keep everyone else away. Especially Jeremy and Beth. Don't let them come near me, okay? Blue becomes red, so you stay back."

Lightning flashed again, and with a jump, Kimberly woke up.

She jerked only slightly as she realized that the crack of thunder that followed was real. Sitting up in bed, she looked out the window. Rain pelted the glass and the wind howled. "A country summer storm," Kimberly muttered.

"Kim?" Katherine complained from beside her.

"Nothing Kat," Kimberly sighed, lying back down in bed. "Just a dream."

~*~

"I know you don't," Nadia said. She walked to the end of the cliff, and magically, a rock bridge formed beneath her feet. "Follow me for the answers."

"I don't even understand the question," Billy said as he hurried down the trail. He reached the edge of the cliff and stepped off onto the rock bridge that was forming beneath Nadia's feet.

"Destruction," she announced, pointing down. He realized just then that they were at an unrealistically high altitude, as the only thing visible was clouds and the navy blue purple color of the sky itself.

"I don't..."

"Destruction," she said again. "Not necessarily bad." Looking down, he saw the remains of the twelve recently destroyed Assault Vehicles floating in space.

"It's bad for them," he told her. "You're the enemy. When they lost their Assault Vehicles, you stand a much better chance of winning."

"Destruction and change," Nadia told me. "Not necessarily bad. Good, even."

"Yeah, I got that. Destruction and change can be good. But..."

"No more, no less. Go before blue becomes red."

His eyes slowly opened as the dream ended. Billy looked at the sleeping form of Jason beside him. He carefully crept out of bed, not wanting to wake him up. He wasn't used to having to share a bed with anyone, but as bed space was limited, he hadn't had much of a choice. He and Jason had just recently stopped kicking each other all night long.

He stepped out into the hallway and pressed his thumb and index finger. A faint blue glow began to shine from his fingers as a communications channel was opened with the Command Center. "Omicron? Sigma?"

"Billy?" Omicron asked. "Is there a problem?"

"I've been having some weird dreams," Billy said. "Repeat dreams. Can I teleport in, ask you some questions?"

"Yeah, come on in," Omicron said. "Uhm, Jeremy's here, too, actually."

~*~

"A bit more than I would have suspected," Omicron answered, "but not really abnormal."

"Blood pressure?"

"One twenty over ninety."

"Pulse?"

"Sixty-seven."

"You've got a good heart. Boy, you're calm, huh?" Sigma asked me.

"They're just dreams, not nightmares," I reminded him.

"Any cold sweats, anything out of the ordinary?" Omicron asked.

"Nothing. Just dreams with a recurring trend."

"What did Nadia do in this dream?" Sigma asked.

"She was a policewoman," I said. "I don't really remember anymore." Blue light flared up as Billy teleported in.

"That's a pretty simple dream," Omicron murmured. "Hey Billy. Dream quality?"

"Just a normal, fuzzy dream," I answered.

"It's only been six days since the big battle," Sigma said. "Nadia played a key role in that battle, on our side. It's only natural that she should show up in your dreams as well."

"But every single night ever since?" I asked.

"It's been six nights," Omicron said. "You've just got a lot of stuff in your head that's going to have to be dreamed out. Give it time. Now go home, and go to sleep."

"All right," I said, hopping off of the medical table. "I hope you know what you're talking about. You want me to wait for you?"

"No, it's okay," Billy answered, taking my place on the table. "So..."

~*~

"Yep," I answered as I took my glasses off. "Which direction is the lake?"

Laughing, Katherine said, "Just gimme a sec and I'll lead you there."

"Are you guys coming or what?!" Rocky shouted, obviously far from shore.

"We'll be there in a minute!" Kat shouted back.

Suddenly, a body slammed into mine. Purple and blue light overwhelmed me, and I realized with a loud mental laugh that Allison had just teleported us. In a mingled blue and purple streak of light, we teleported to where Rocky and the others were swimming and rematerialized, splashing into the lake.

"I can't believe you did that!" I protested as I resurfaced, spitting out a mouthful of water.

"How big is this lake?" Rocky asked, looking around. The far shore wasn't more than five hundred feet away, although the water stretched to our left for a long distance.

"It's in about five different counties," Allison said. "It's big."

"Man, the sun feels good," Jason murmured, floating on his back in the water.

"Certainly does," Kimberly agreed. She and Crystal were currently sharing an air mattress.

Rocky suddenly surfaced right by my side. Whispering, he asked, "Can Crystal swim?"

"Flip 'em backwards," I said with a grin. "I'll help." With a knowing glance, we both sank beneath the water and swam to the air mattress.

Although I was pretty much blind at that point as I can't swim with my glasses on, I could see well enough to find the end of the air mattress. Rocky, who at that point was nothing more than a red blur from his swimming trunks, pushed up on his end. Sensing his movement, I grabbed the pillowed end and pulled down. With a loud cry of alarm, Crystal and Kimberly were flipped backwards into the lake.

Unfortunately, the plan backfired when one of them landed directly on top of me. I was forced upside down, and in doing so, a glimmer of light from the bottom of the lake caught my eye. Lack of oxygen forced me to resurface. "There is something at the bottom of the lake," I said as I filled my lungs with oxygen.

"What kind of something?" Crystal asked, running her hands over her disheveled hair.

"It was glowing," I answered. "Maybe it was a diver's lantern or something. I'm gonna go get it."

"I'm coming too," Allison volunteered. As I dove down into the water, I could hear the rest of the group following me. We were apparently farther out from shore than I had thought, because it took several seconds to reach the bottom. We were about twenty feet under, although the light was greater at the bottom of the lake than just beneath the surface. Exhaling the last of my air, I knelt on the bottom of the lake. My fingers scuttled across the glowing object as the rest of the Rangers reached the bottom. The object was as smooth as glass, and seemingly round, although I couldn't free it.

I felt a hand tapping me on my back, and I turned to see Jason motioning toward a large rock. It took me a moment to realize what his intentions were, but then I realized he wanted me to help him move it. I curled the fingers of my left hand around the stone and pulled back in unison with Jason. The large slab of the rock didn't lift up, although we did slide it down enough for Katherine to pull the object free from the mud. By that time, my lungs were screaming for air, and as soon as I realized Katherine had the glowing object in her hands, I returned to the surface with a few powerful chest strokes.

"Did you get it?" Billy sputtered as we all resurfaced. Judging from the red looks on everyone's faces, I presumed that everyone had swam to the bottom.

"I got it," Katherine said. She had it beneath the water and was shaking it to get the excess mud off of it. A few seconds later, she lifted it out of the water.

"It's a dagger," Crystal muttered in disbelief. It was about twelve inches long, the double-edge blade making up half of it. Despite lying at the bottom of the lake for no telling how long, it looked remarkably sharp. The hilt, however, was the most interesting. It was a gargoyle with one menacing hand stuck up in the air. In that claw was a crystal orb, glowing with a soft white light. The gargoyle was mostly royal blue, although the outstretched arm was red with a bit of purple where the two colors intermingled.

"It's beautiful," Kimberly sighed.

"And it's mine," a female voice said from behind us. I whipped my head around to see Sheila sitting on the surface of the water effortlessly. She was wearing her customary blue spandex bodysuit, and her braided hair just narrowly missed touching the water. "May I please have it? I'm going to take it regardless, so you might as well just give it to me."

"GET DOWN!!!" a loud voice shrieked.

"Teleport!" Allison cried. I saw only a brief flash of yellow before I squeezed my thumb and middle finger together. My body turned into blue light and I sank beneath the water with the others.

Red and purple teleport streams circled around me, and I began to pick up on thoughts that the two of them were projecting to me. I sent back my own agreement, and with that decided, we shot straight up out of the water. As soon as Crystal, Allison, and I rematerialized, we were already morphed. It wasn't the first time we had morphed in a teleport, but the process is much easier to understand than to explain.

I silently called on my Power Ski, and it materialized beneath me in a blue glimmer. As soon as I looked up, I saw Tara driving back toward us on her own Power Ski. She had rammed Sheila, sending the henchwoman halfway across the lake. "Good thinking, girl!" Allison shouted to her.

A few moments later, the other five Rangers drove up to us on their own Power Skis, Kimberly and Katherine riding on the back of Billy's and Rocky's respectively. "Sigma told me you all needed help," Tara said, slowing to a stop near us.

"Who has the dagger?" Crystal asked.

"I have it," Katherine said, revealing that it was still clenched tightly in her fist.

"NADDIES!" Sheila screeched. With multiple flashes of colored light, Naddies began to drop out of the sky on their own Jet Skis.

"Take it back to the Command Center," Crystal suggested. "And have Sigma contact Dana and Beth."

"You got it," Katherine agreed before she teleported away.

"Let's do it!" Allison shouted. The other Rangers roared off on their Power Skis, leaving me behind.

"You guys, wait!" I shouted. For some reason, my Power Ski wasn't moving. Just then, Nadia rose from the water beside me. For the first time in a few weeks, she was wearing her dark blue robes, although the very bottom of them was stained with red. "Nadia?" I asked.

"Blue becomes red," Nadia said. "The change. Blue comes red. The change. Blue becomes red. The change. Blue becomes red. The-"

~*~

"Huh?" I snorted as I sat up. I realized I had fallen asleep. I was lying in an inner tube in the middle of the lake.

"Do you have any change?" Rocky asked beside me, floating in the water. "For the vending machines. We forgot to bring any cokes."

"Oh, yeah," I said. "In the ash tray of the blazer, I guess." It was then that I realized I had just dozed off. I sank through the hole in the inner tube and resurfaced beside it. "These dreams are making less and less sense."

I glanced up at the shore and saw that everyone else was getting ready to eat lunch. The dreams were obviously more than just manifestations of typical teenage angst and bad memories, no matter what Sigma said. "I'll talk to him about it later," I sighed as I began to swim for the shore.

~*~

"How big will the power surge be?" Sigma asked.

"Big enough to revise pretty much the whole concept if we needed to," Omicron said. "Certainly enough for new Assault Vehicles."

"Then we should get a new design plan," Sigma said.

"Let's make some type of series," Omicron suggested. "I like horses. Maybe we could make farm animal Assault Vehicles."

"And which lucky Ranger gets to pilot the Cow A.V.?" Sigma quipped.

"All right, all right. I see I didn't think that through. Aquatic animals that can fly through the air like through water."

"I doubt Beth wants another flying A.V. She's been in the air for the past two years."

"Maybe automobiles?" Omicron suggested.

"Oh yeah, nothing is better for fighting the forces of evil than a great big Pinto," Sigma said sarcastically.

"Then let's just set the computer to come up with the ideal second wave of Assault Vehicles," Omicron said. "And we'll go with whatever the computer comes up with."

"Deal."

~*~

"Is there a problem, Sheila?" Draanov, the rat-beast, asked.

Sheila crossed her arms across her chest and strummed her fingers against each bicep. Looking over the group of assorted humanoids, animals, and beasts, she saw that with few exceptions, all were wearing blue and pink, herself included.

"As a matter of fact, there is a problem," Sheila said. "Nadia seems to have left us."

"Bite your tongue, Sheila," Nadia snapped from the back of the room. "I have not left."

"You made a temporary alliance with Sigma," Sheila challenged. "If that isn't betrayal, I don't know what is."

"No, I'll tell you exactly what betrayal is," Nadia snarled as she picked her blue robes up slightly to enable her to stride over to Sheila. "Betrayal is when a main warrior attempts to take the Queen's place by filling the heads of her crew with lies and propaganda. That's betrayal." Nadia extended her hand and summoned her pink staff. "I'll trust you not to betray me, again. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sheila said. "I'm terribly sorry, Nadia."

"Dismissed," Nadia snapped, thrusting her staff into the air. She disappeared in an explosion of pink, leaving the lunar palace behind again.

"You are right," Draanov said as he walked up to Sheila. "She is softening."

"Three weeks ago, she would have killed me for such betrayal," Sheila muttered. "And today, not even a slap on the wrist. Something happened to her when she joined Sigma's side, even if it was temporary. And what is this about her not attacking until they can get Assault Vehicles? Anyone would know that this is the time to attack! While they are defenseless..."

In a much quieter voice, Draanov asked, "Are you giving Blue and Pink Ranger the dreams?"

"I accidentally gave the wrong Pink Ranger the dreams, the gymnast one. What's her name? Oh yes, Kimberly. And they are having quite an effect on the both of them. I believe I'm going to just totally screw with the heads of all of the Blue and Pink Rangers. And I think it is time to introduce a new factor," Sheila said. She clapped her hands twice and said, "Raphael?"

A handsome man with jet black hair walked up to them. He was wearing blue jeans and a bright blue t-shirt which revealed tightly packed muscle across his chest, abdomen, and shoulders. "Yes my Queen?" Raphael asked in a whisper.

"Who is this?" Draanov asked.

"This is Raphael," Sheila explained. "My newest weapon. And when I take Nadia's place, he shall be my main henchman."

"But, Sheila," Draanov started to complain, but Sheila put a hand up to silence him.

"Fear not, Draanov," Sheila assured him. "You will be rewarded for remaining so loyal to me. I may even give you Beth Berry as your reward, when blue becomes red."

~*~

~*~

"What does that mean?" Beth asked.

"It could mean several things," Sigma told her.

"What does it likely mean?"

"Truthfully? It might embarrass you."

"Sigma," Beth said, "I'm practically in my underwear having a dream analyzed. What more is there to be embarrassed about?"

"Well, given your sudden drop in pulse rate and blood pressure, and the slightly elevated testosterone level, it seems you may have been aroused by your dream," Sigma explained.

"And apparently, there is plenty more to be embarrassed about," Beth muttered with a red face.

"I think you and Jeremy are both just tired, still," Omicron theorized. "Go home, drink some warm milk, and get some sleep."

"Warm milk?" Beth protested as she hopped off of the medical table. "That's disgusting."

"Fact remains, get some sleep," Omicron said. "Take care."

"You too," Beth said just before she teleported away.

Omicron and Sigma looked at each other for a moment. "Why do I sense that you know so much more than what you are telling me?" Omicron asked, folding her arms across her chest. "You know, even for an archangel, you are still a pain-in-the-butt big brother."

"Have the computer see how much longer until we can execute PC Plan."

"Why?" Omicron asked.

"Big brother isn't gonna tell," Sigma said plainly. With that, he disappeared.

Omicron "hmph-ed" and then turned to check the computer systems. It wasn't much of a surprise to find out that the estimated time until the magical alignment of the sun, Earth, and the North Star was still more than three days away.

"Lights down," Omicron said. The entire Command Center darkened, the only light coming from the many control panels, the lighted pie grid in the center of the room, the crystal pedestal his Sword perpetually rested in, and the neon columns. She slowly walked to the back of the Command Center. A section of the wall slid up, revealing a very human-like bedroom. Since she wasn't technically a flesh and blood human, Omicron didn't need sleep. However, she had long since established that simple rituals such as sleeping and eating were greatly relaxing. With a slight hand gesture, her outfit of shorts and red t-shirt changed into a yellow sleep shirt. Her waist-length blonde hair was immediately bound with a pink scrunchie, and she sank into her feather-mattress bed. She considered turning on the television, but there was seldom anything good on in the middle of the night, and Omicron had already seen virtually every infomercial in existence. "Sigma," she muttered to herself as she pulled the covers up over her body, "I sure hope you tell the rest of us what you're thinking."

~*~

"You mortal men have a tendency to think very linearly," Nadia explained as the two of them walked down a worn path. They were walking nearly straight down a sloping hill. Tall green weeds grew on each side of their path, and hundreds of tiny blue flowers dotted the green landscape.

"I've never been called a man before, either. Except by my mom," Rocky said, thinking about that.

"Really? How old are you?"

"I turned eighteen this past April."

"Ever been with a woman?"

"No," Rocky said. "Why?"

"I'm trying to decide if I was justified in calling you a man," Nadia explained.

"Oh," Rocky said dejectedly.

"No, it's okay," Nadia said. "I think you are a man. I think being a virgin makes you more of a man."

Rocky blushed slightly and decided it would be best if he didn't bother to mention that a significant contributing factor to his remaining virginity was that the opportunity to lose it had never presented itself. He didn't know if he would have taken it or not, and he felt he was better off not knowing what he would, in fact, do.

"I know that I'm dreaming, but WHY am I dreaming?" Rocky asked.

"I can't tell you that," Nadia told him. "But I can tell you this. The blue becomes red."

"I was red becomes blue," Rocky mused.

"That is an excellent analogy."

"Is Jeremy becoming a Red Ranger?" Rocky asked. "What's going to happen to Crystal?"

"Blue becomes red does not directly affect the Rangers," Nadia explained. "The consequences of blue becomes red will have a profound affect on the Rangers, however. You too, if you are still here."

"Am I ever going home?" Rocky asked.

"I don't know," Nadia said. "Why don't you wake up now?"

Rocky's eyes were forced open as his dream ended. It was as though Nadia had made his dreaming stop. He sat up, rolling his shoulders slightly. He then realized he had been sleeping in a bad position, as a single strand of pain was present in his back. Although his back was essentially healed, it did still tend to give him trouble on occasions. "Blue becomes red," Rocky whispered to himself. His body then spoke to him again, and he realized his bladder was painfully full.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and turned on the lamp. Wincing slightly at the light, he tapped around with his feet, looking for a t-shirt. Not finding one, he just stood up and walked across the near-dark room. He ran his hand over his sleep-roughed hair and walked across the darkened living room and into the hallway.

"Rocky?" a soft voice asked.

"Huh?" he asked, turning toward the voice's source. "Kimberly?"

"Are you awake?"

"Yeah," Rocky said, stepping into the bathroom. "What are you doing up?"

"Dream," Kimberly answered noncommittally. "Are you decent?"

"Not really," Rocky muttered, glancing down at his body, clad only in red shorts.

"Well, I'm coming out anyway," Kimberly said. "Gotta get something to drink."

Rocky paused in the bathroom door, and then he looked back out into the hallway to Kimberly. "What was your dream about?"

"Nadia," Kimberly answered. "Something about blue becomes red. It doesn't make any sense, but they always make me wake up."

"That's what I dreamed about," Rocky said with a near-silent gasp. "After I use the bathroom, I'm going to the Command Center. You come with me."

~*~

A door at the back slid open and Omicron came walking out. "I was sleeping," she complained. "Lights on." With a whir, the entire room lit up. "Let me guess. You both had dreams about Nadia." Before Rocky or Kimberly could answer, she called, "Sigma. Meet us in the Med Chamber."

~*~

"Keep them away!" Nadia shouted to her. She didn't seem angry in the least; she was just running from her. They were running deeper and deeper into a confusing maze of stone walls. The walls had the appearance of what Katherine would have imagined the interior of a pyramid to look like. Blue torches, burning with red fire, were placed every few feet along the walls, providing significant light.

"Nadia, stop running!" Katherine shouted. The blonde demonness continued to run through the maze of stone walls. She was always a few feet ahead of her. However, Katherine suddenly entered a larger room that signaled the end of the tunnel. The room wasn't large, however, but it was big enough to hold a single bed on which a dark blue sheet was draped.

"Blue becomes red," Nadia said simply. She said it firmly, as though she was trying to tell her something. "Make Beth and Jeremy stay away from me no matter what. In fact, make all of them stay away from me. You too. Blue becomes red. The way out is in the bed." Nadia leapt at the bed, and her body collapsed into a glimmering form of white light. The white light sank into the bed and disappeared.

"The way out is in the bed," Katherine murmured. She stood beside the bed and looked at it in disbelief. "Well, I don't know of any other way to wake up." She yanked the sheet off, and screamed. Beneath the sheet was a pile of snakes, spiders, and assorted insects, all writhing and scurrying across each other. As soon as the sheet was off, they began to spill onto the floor.

With a slight cry of alarm, Katherine sat up in bed, her momentum causing her blonde ponytail to cascade over her left shoulder. Whimpering, she ran her hands over her face, wiping the cold sweat away.

"Katherine?" Kimberly asked, sitting up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Katherine stammered. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just had a normal dream with a nightmare ending."

"What about?"

"I'm not really sure. Blue becomes red... Nadia... a pyramid... a confusing jumble of images."

"You should go talk to Omicron," Kimberly said. "All of the Pink and Blue Rangers have been having dreams about Nadia and her telling us blue becomes red."

"Go now?" Katherine asked. "It's the middle of the night."

"I'll go with you."

~*~

In addition, we had Munfordville's Annual Fourth of July Costume Party to look forward to. Some of us were making our own costumes, while others were relying on Omicron to make "impressive" costumes. Although they wouldn't tell us what they were making, we did know that Billy, Rocky, and Allison were going as some type of trio.

Meanwhile, Nadia stayed true to her word and didn't attack. She didn't send Naddies or any of her customary gargantuan machines that always forced us to call on our Assault Vehicles. Unfortunately, Sheila made no promise. Fortunately, Sigma was prepared.

~*~

Beep beep beepbeep beep beep.

"That's a sound from the past," Kimberly said.

I lifted my glowing hand to my mouth and answered, "I read you."

"All Rangers, please prepare for teleportation to the... well... to your headquarters. Please prepare for teleportation," Omicron said.

"Should we take your telescope inside?" Billy asked. The night had been so starry and warm, we had decided to go outside and spend the evening looking at the universe.

"This is the country," I reminded him. With a smile, I added, "People don't steal here." Then, in six streaks of blue, pink, and red light, we lifted into the nighttime sky.

~*~

I glanced to my left to see Crystal emerge from a cubbyhole with red light glowing from it. "What do you think?!" Omicron cried from beneath us.

I looked out and saw that what had once been our Ranger headquarters, virtually identical to the Command Center from _Mighty Morphin Power Rangers : The Movie,_ was now replaced with a totally revised room. It was divided into two levels. The top level was about half the size of the bottom and looked over it like a balcony. The walls of the entire room were seemingly composed of glowing silver with a thin-lined black gridwork design. Sigma's Sword still rested in a pedestal of crystals, although it was located in the very center of the top level. A great amount of white light shone from it, and even more light was shining from the seven cubbyholes.

All along the back wall of the upper level was what we later learned were called the Teleportation Booths. Three booths set into the wall, yellow, purple, and pink, were on the right side, each the size of a closet. Their respective colored light shone from them. A larger room, glowing bright white, was set in the middle of the wall, between the blue and pink cubbyholes. It was the "landing area" for anyone other than Sigma's six Rangers to teleport in to, including the visiting Rangers. On the other side of the white room was blue, red, and green.

"Omicron!" Tara cried, running out of her teleportation booth. "What is this place?!"

"It's your new headquarters!" she cried from below.

A glass railing was stretched along the upper level. A wide staircase was positioned in the direct center of the level, leading to the bottom. The steps were also made of glass. There were twelve of them, and they were all glowing in our Ranger colors. Blue was at the top, followed immediately by pink, red, purple, green, and then yellow before the pattern repeated itself. A glass banister stretched up both sides of the stairwell, with neon-tubing in it which added even more light. At the bottom and top of each banister was a large glass orb with six rings floating around it, slowly rotating; the six rings were glowing our respective Ranger colors.

The floor of both the upper and lower level was composed of small rectangular blocks of glass. They were all lighting up in a rhythmic wave pattern, the light traveling from one wall to the other before disappearing.

Gold and neon light columns, similar to those in the Command Center, were in each corner of the room. The old computer consoles lined three of the walls. A large video screen was set in one wall, not hidden as it had been in the Command Center. "This place is wonderful," Dana said as she hurried down the stairs. The rest of us were close behind.

"What do you call it?" Billy asked, looking about himself in awe.

Sigma appeared with a white crackle of electricity. "Welcome... to the Power Core," Sigma said with a smile. "This isn't our only change. Rangers, prepare to reach the next level."

His Sword flashed once, and a silver pedestal rose from the ground. The top was divided into six sections, each section holding one of our colors. "You haven't changed our armor, have you?" Tara asked as she approached the yellow section.

"Same helmet, same general suit design," Sigma told us.

I stood before the blue section, trying to understand what was going to happen. My five co-Rangers were just as perplexed as I was.

"Rangers, you have defended this planet well in secrecy for almost two years now," Sigma began. "You have fought well against Nadia and her forces of evil, as well as the occasional teenage angst which made its way into the team. However, before we continue to the next level, there is something I must confirm. While being a Power Ranger is a great honor, it is an even greater burden. You are now presented with the ultimate choice. You can continue with me in my fight against evil, or you can choose to return to a normal life. Your memories of the past two years will not be erased, of course. However, I must warn you, this is an all or none situation."

"What?" Tara asked, turning to Sigma in horror.

"The Power will know what anyone of you decides," Sigma said, "and should one of you decide to leave, the Power will essentially make you all leave. It has accepted the six of you as a tightly knit group, and it could not function if any one of you should be missing. A new team has been considered, this one a bit more evenly divided at three men, three women. I would much rather keep you six, but I don't want to put a hamper on your lives, as this never-ending fight could truly last until your dying days. You have already made the decision even if you do not know it yet. Reach into yourself and draw the Power out. It will either be further infused into your being, or it will graciously accept your group retirement."

I glanced at Dana. She had never been as thrilled with the morphing process as the rest of us, and she had hated having to put her life on the line on a nearly weekly basis to defend a planet that for the most part didn't even know she existed. A part of me could relate to her feelings, but a bigger part yearned to have a hand in the battle against evil. Looking at her face, I knew that my fight with Duran had been my last fight. Glancing at Beth, I saw that she had reached the same conclusion.

"It was good while it lasted," she whispered.

"Rangers, touch your destiny," Omicron reminded us.

Crystal put her fist out before us. I placed my own hand on top of hers, and the rest of the group was close behind. A deluge of memories flooded through me. Our first fight with Naddies, first meeting Nadia, the first fight with Duran, the first time I left the Earth's atmosphere in Triceratops... The five faces before me were faces I knew very well. Beth, my long time crush and a fighting spirit that kept the team going even in rough times. Crystal, the source of team camaraderie and bravery. Allison, my best friend and confidante, who was always able to supply the team with an often needed idea to let us gain the upper hand. Dana, our resident genius, when morphed anyway. Tara, the mean Ranger who could intimidate morphed or unmorphed. The six of us were a truly equal team with not a single position of leadership anywhere to taint our friendship.

"Let's get it over with," Crystal muttered, looking at our faces nervously.

"Now!" Beth shouted. We yanked our hands back and slammed both palms down onto our colored section. A surge of power tore through me, forcing my eyes shut in shock. Blue light overwhelmed me, and I felt the power leave me.

Then, I felt it return, more powerful than before. I forced my eyes open and realized I was fully morphed. With a gasp, I held my hands up before me. "Dana?" I asked, looking over at her. She was standing in her own Green Brachiosaurus armor.

"I thought for sure we were done for!" Allison cried, clapping her gloved hands together happily.

Dana only shrugged and with a laugh said, "I guess I don't want to leave after all."

"Our Power Coins," Beth said, looking down at her chest. I realized that on each of our chests was a blank silver coin, no longer the golden coin on which embossed was our animal guide.

"Sigma?" Tara asked.

"The next level," Sigma said. With a minuscule sparkling of silver, a silver Power Coin appeared on the pedestal. "Accept your new Powers."

I picked up the silver coin resting in the blue section of the pedestal. A Lion was emblazoned on its surface. "My totem," I whispered, running a finger over its surface.

"While your new animal guide may or may not be your totem," Omicron explained, "the computer felt the animals chosen was an appropriate comparison.

"Tara, you are the Fox. You are loyal and wise.

"Dana, you are the Sparrow, quick and true.

"Allison, you are the Frog. The Frog grants you hindsight and a keen sense of spirituality.

"Crystal, the Squirrel is yours. He will give you speed and agility.

"Beth, the Kangaroo represents you. You are a fierce fighter and determined.

"Jeremy, you are the Lion, fierce yet graceful."

Silver light flashed around us, and our coins appeared in our belt buckle/morphers. The blank silver coin on our chest immediately bore the image of our new power source. "All six of you now own all six helmet devices. Freeze Lights, Power Scream, Power Scan, Power Beams, Power Vision, and Reality Alterer.

"You have also been given new Assault Vehicles, as well as a new concept for the Mega and Dual Assault Vehicles. Follow me," Omicron said. She teleported away in a flash of white light, which we followed.

"You knew they wouldn't leave, didn't you?" Jason asked Sigma.

"Of course, I did," Sigma answered. "But I had to give them the opportunity. Morph and go follow them. I think you'll get a kick out of the new A.V.'s."

~*~

"As you may have guessed," she started, "your new Personal Assault Vehicles are your Power Source."

With a growl, the yellow Fox appeared on the horizon. Yellow light shone up from behind it, illuminating the giant Assault Vehicle. Tara smiled proudly as her Assault Vehicle presented itself.

A bird called, and a giant green Sparrow swooped down from the sky. Dana's hand went to her chest where her fingers danced over the sparrow symbol on her Power Coin.

Ribbitting, Allison's purple Frog leapt into view. She couldn't suppress a laugh as it ribbitted again.

Silently, Crystal's red squirrel skittered into the red lit portion of the field far before us. It stood up on its haunches, and despite the mechanical appearance, it behaved as a real squirrel would have.

Suddenly, Beth's Kangaroo jumped over the horizon. When it landed, the entire Earth shook. It served the same purpose as the original Brachiosaurus had. It towered over the tallest of the other A.V.'s, standing at a height of three hundred feet. Although it wasn't as bulky as the Brachiosaurus had been, it was much taller. Beth had finally gotten her wish in that she was going to pilot a heavy land-based Assault Vehicle.

Lastly, with a thunderous roar, a blue Lion appeared before us. Its blue mane was a paler blue than the rest of its royal blue body. Though the Lion Assault Vehicle was modeled after a male Lion, I already felt that it was a she. I suppose that was a mental homage to Triceratops, as well as Dragonfly, both of whom I had referred to as feminine entities. Lion was considerably larger than Triceratops had been, and other than Kangaroo, it was the largest A.V. in both height and length.

"Omicron, they're beautiful," Crystal said softly.

"I'm just glad to finally be on the ground," Beth commented. "I was so tired of flying."

"I'm glad to finally be in the air," Dana remarked. "Brachiosaurus was kind of hard to control... all that weight."

"We still have Dual Assault Vehicles?" Allison asked.

"Definitely," Omicron said, "but they've changed from what you might be expecting."

"How so?" I asked.

"Observe," she told us, pointing to our Assault Vehicles. "In the past, to form a larger Assault Vehicle, your Personal Assault Vehicles merged. While this is still the case, no longer is the merging mechanical." With a bright blue and pink flash of light, the Kangaroo and Lion briefly glowed their color and moved into each other. The light flashed again, and standing in their place was a tall humanoid shaped Assault Vehicle. "Beth and Jeremy, the Lion and the Kangaroo can merge to form Aries, Roman god of war." Aries had blue skin and wore pink armor. It did not fully cover his body, however. It covered his entire torso and shoulders, but his lower legs and forearms were bare. His hair was pink, and he wore pink sandals on his feet. He held his hands out before him, and with a white glimmer of light, a giant version of my Triceratops Whip appeared in his hands. "All of the Dual A.V.'s have the ability to call upon the weapon of their Rangers.

"Crystal and Allison, the Squirrel and the Frog can form Icarus, the winged warrior." With a red and purple flash, the two A.V.'s formed Icarus. He had red skin and wore a purple toga. His hair was purple, his feet were bare, and a pair of purple wings extended from his back.

"Be careful you don't fly him too close to the sun," Tara joked. Icarus silently flapped his wings, and as he sailed off of the ground, he summoned the Tyrannosaurus Talons. When he landed, he gave a quick demonstration of his dexterity with the weapons, and then he was still.

"Lastly, Dana and Tara, the Sparrow and the Fox can form Aphrodite, Roman goddess of love." In yet another flash of light, Aphrodite appeared. She had green skin, and wore a tight fitting yellow leotard and had yellow hair. Aphrodite was one of the few gods and goddesses I knew anything about, and I knew that her outfit was not something she wore.

Before I could ask why, Omicron explained, "Obviously, Aphrodite was not much of a fighter, so we changed her a bit. The leotard gives much more freedom of movement than a full-length gown."

"Why gods and goddesses of mythology?" Dana asked.

"The computers at the Command Center, or Power Core, thought it would make an interesting change from the norm. We also changed the Mega Assault Vehicle."

The three humanoid robots looked at each other, and then merged in a tremendously bright silver flash. When the light subsided, a gargantuan quadropedal silver dragon stood in the center of the field. It was the stereotypical image of a dragon, with a long tail heavyset body. Before we could comment on her appearance, she stood up, quickly transforming herself into a bipedal dragon.

"Two modes of attack," Omicron explained. "Bipedal or quadropedal. And you'll notice she is silver, as your Power Coins are now." In her bipedal form, she summoned a golden Sword. Then, she quickly separated into our six private Assault Vehicles.

"That is amazing," Billy said in awe, summing up all of our thoughts.

"Try 'em out," Omicron encouraged, stepping away from us to join with the other five Rangers.

"Lion!"

"Kangaroo!"

"Squirrel!"

"Frog!"

"Sparrow!"

"Fox!"

The power immediately took over, making the six of us quickly run through a quick skit of nonsensical moves that nonetheless looked impressive. Brightly colored glows of light began to surround all of us, and we line-of-sight teleported into our Personal Assault Vehicles.

When the blue light subsided, I found myself seated in a high-tech cockpit. It was similar to the Triceratops cockpit, but there were new controls, and old controls were present in a new fashion. "This is amazing," I whispered to myself. "Well, Lion, I'm gonna try you out." Quickly, I flipped the hydraulic switches and pulled back on the control lever. With a happy growl, Lion leapt off of the ground, giving me full control of her movements. A mental link was connected between us, and I quickly understood all of her abilities. She could slash with her claws, fire lasers from her eyes, bite, shoot, and just flat-out attack like any good lion could.

I soon found myself in the middle of Africa, traveling across the great continent at fast speeds. "Jeremy!" Beth shouted over our radio channel. "Let's try Aries out!"

"Where are you at?" I asked, trying to find her pink blip on the global map in the control panel.

"I'm still in Kentucky," she answered. "I didn't feel the urge to hit the skies like some people."

"All right, give me just a sec, and I'll be there." I pushed the button that gave Lion the ability of flight, and with that, I flew into the darkened sky.

A few scant seconds later, I landed beside the giant Kangaroo. "Beth, you know how to do this?" I asked. "Lions tells me its a different way than we're used to."

"It's instantaneous," Beth agreed. "Ready?"

"Let's do it."

In unison, we cried, "Aries Dual Assault Vehicle. Power Up!" Lion and Kangaroo melted into giant amorphous blobs of light and energy. The two collided, instantly coalescing into the tall form of Aries. Beth and I found ourselves seated in a dual cockpit behind Aries' eyes.

"That was quick," Beth remarked, looking at her side of the cockpit.

"You guys!" Dana shouted. We looked up to see Aphrodite approach us. "Let's go for the Dragon!"

"We'll be there in just a second," Crystal told us. The red and purple Icarus flew down from us a few seconds later.

"The Dragon?" Beth asked. "We all up for it?"

"Let's do it," I agreed.

In perfect synchronicity, we shouted, "Dragon Mega Assault Vehicle! Power Up!" Silver light flashed all around us, and then, we were seated in a cockpit the likes of which none of us had ever seen.

"Oh wow," Tara sighed, looking up. We were seated in a small room, but rather than being lined up, each Ranger Partner Duo was seated in an appropriately placed console. The three consoles were placed in a circular configuration, so that we were each facing a different direction. The walls were silver, while our seats were still gray leather with colored highlights. A computer connected each console to the sides, while flat metal bridged the gap across the diameter. It was like sitting in boxes, even though the control panels before us were virtually identical to those of any other Assault Vehicle.

"Where's the windshield?" Allison asked.

"Rangers, we've made a slight modification," Sigma told us. "Your cockpit is now located in the belly of the A.V., where you should be considerably safer. You each have a monitor set before you, as well as a holographic viewer in the center of the cockpit as your primary view during battle."

When he said that, a holographic yet true to life picture of the Dragon A.V. appeared in the center of the circle of cockpits. Assuming we had been fighting a villain, he would have also been present as a hologram. "The computers feel that viewing battle from an external view may be a better alternative when the six of you work as a team," Omicron said.

"We're in Quad Mode," Crystal said. "Let's go for Bipedal."

"Who's in control of that?" I asked. "Beth and I have weapons for our specialized."

"Crystal and I have emergency control and internal workings," Allison said.

"Our specialized is Mode Control," Tara said. "Going up." She typed in a quick series of commands, and the Dragon immediately responded. There was a slight sense of movement as she stood up. The cockpit shifted slightly but quickly readjusted itself so that we were in the right position.

"Wanna take this baby into space?" Dana asked, her fingers resting lightly on the controls that would unfurl the wings.

"Let's go," Crystal agreed. The six of us quickly worked as a team, and a few moments later, the Dragon streaked out of the atmosphere in a streak of silver.

~*~

"Mind if I join you?" Katherine asked as she climbed up my tree.

"No, come on up," I said with a warm smile. I scooted up to another branch to give Katherine my spot. "Sun's beautiful this morning."

"I take it you all are pretty pleased with the way everything has turned out?" Katherine asked.

"I haven't been this happy in I don't know how long," I answered. "I haven't been unhappy, but the way I feel now... Wow. New A.V.'s, still a Power Ranger, my right arm is nearly healed, and I haven't had to fight in over two weeks. I feel great. How are you all doing?"

"We're adjusting, still," Kat admitted. "We're doing much better now that we've been in one place for... what?... three weeks now? I'm doing really good. All of those horror movies you've been making us watch have been giving me some weird dreams, though."

"Are you happy here?" I asked.

"We'd be happier home, of course," Katherine said, "but yes, we are happy here."

"Good," I said with a smile. "Make sure you save me a dance tonight."

~*~

"I'm going barefoot," I said, putting on an eye-patch.

"Do pirates go barefoot?"

"They are this year. Who's Tarzan?"

"Anybody home?!" Tara called from the front door.

"Come on in!" I shouted back.

"She shanghaied me into doing it," Jason complained as he walked out of his room. He was wearing a similar leopard print loincloth that covered only half of his chest.

"Nice loincloth," Kimberly muttered.

"Nice loins," Tara said with an appreciative grin.

"Watch it, Vampire," Jason teased good-naturedly. She was wearing a slinky black dress, as well as outrageous black eye make-up and fangs.

"I guess we're going to meet everyone else there," I said, putting my glasses back on over my eye-patch.

"We teleporting?" Kimberly asked.

"It's okay with Sigma," Tara said. The four of us teleported away in four streaks of colored light.

~*~

"Did you guys see Allison?" Crystal asked as she ran up to me and Katherine. Katherine was dressed as an Indian Maiden, and Crystal was dressed up as a Genie. All three of us were barefoot.

"What's she dressed up as?" Katherine asked. Before we could ask, the D.J. began to play a thunderous score of triumphant music.

"Is that the theme from Batman?" I asked.

The people present began to hoot and holler as the blue spotlight was trained in the center of the courtyard as three caped figures ran through it. Billy was dressed as Batman, Rocky as Robin, and Allison as Batgirl. They were also wearing the extremely stylized rubber suits, although I did notice that Allison had foregone the five inch stiletto heeled boots in favor of regular boots.

"Whaddya think?" Dana asked from behind us. Turning, I saw that she was wearing a green bodysuit and a red wig.

"Poison Ivy!" I laughed.

"How do we look?" Allison asked, running a gloved hand through her blonde hair.

"This is surprisingly hot," Billy complained, fanning himself with his hand.

"You look really good," Crystal commented.

"Hey hey hey," the D.J. said, "I've just got a request for the song 'I Swear,' so guys and gals, if you came with someone special, now's the time to lead 'em out onto the dance floor."

Just as I was about to ask Allison, she blurted out, "I know we always dance during the couples songs if we're both single, but Rocky just asked me and he's really cute and I'm going to dance whether you want me to or not but I don't want to feel guilty."

"Go ahead," I said, patting her on the back. I spied Crystal not to far away, but before I could hurry over to her, a hand clamped on my shoulder.

"May I have this dance?" a very familiar voice asked.

"Nadia?" I asked in disbelief. She was dressed as a U.S.O. girl from World War II, differing only in that her entire outfit was in shades of blue. Her hair was also in a forties style in that her bangs were rolled. "You're beautiful," I whispered before I could stop myself.

"May I have this dance?" she asked again.

"Certainly," I said as soon as I found my voice. "I'd be honored." The logical part of my mind told me that I was about to dance with the woman who had wanted to kill me on a daily basis for the past two years, but the male part of my mind told me that a beautiful woman wanted to dance with me.

I delicately placed my arms around her as we joined the large crowd dancing to the slow song. "I'm not going to break," she told me with a smile.

"Uhm... how do you want me to hold you?"

"I'm also not going to try anything tonight. I'm just here for fun."

"Why don't you join our side permanently?" I tried.

Her only reply to that question was to lift her eyebrows in disbelief. We danced in awkward silence for a few seconds more before she finally said, "I can't do that. Beth hates me."

"How do you know I don't?"

"I can tell," she said simply.

"If you joined our side, Beth would stop hating you."

"No she wouldn't. I'm surprised you have."

"I still don't like you," I challenged. "And why should I? You want to kill me."

"If I should get the chance."

"You want to take over the Earth."

"Duh."

"And you've been giving us weird dreams for the past two weeks."

"Pardon?"

"The dreams. Blue becomes red."

"You've been having dreams? What about blue becomes red?"

"You always tell us that blue is about to become red, so that we had better be careful," I explained.

"Is that right?" Nadia asked, scrunching up her nose. "Methinks I will have to have a talk with Sheila later."

"Sheila is giving us the dreams?"

"Yeah. Little bitch has plans to overthrow me. That ain't gonna happen, whether she wants it to or not."

"What are you going to do to her?"

"She'll be taken care of," Nadia announced. "Don't worry about it. It isn't your concern. So... have you got to dance with all of the Ranger girls?"

"Not yet, but I intend to," I said with a nod. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long," she admitted. "I just decided to show up for a dance or two."

"The party just started. It won't wind down until around 3 a.m. or so; that's another eight hours."

"Can I hang out with you?" she asked. "I don't really know anybody, and you're about the only Ranger who'll look at me without spitting on me."

"That'd be wonderful," I mumbled woodenly. "The others will have to know you are here eventually."

"They'll find out soon enough," Nadia said. The song winded down to a close, and "Don't Be Stupid" by Shania Twain filled the air. "Know how to line dance?" Before I could answer her, she was already running to join an impromptu line that had formed in the center of the courtyard.

~*~

"The rest of us have barely seen you tonight," Allison said when she finally caught up to me. "Dance?"

"I'd love to. I met somebody, tonight, actually."

"That blonde girl?"

"Yeah, her," I said. "She's nice."

"You seem to be having fun," Allison acknowledged. "She's very pretty."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment to you," Allison chided with a smile. "What's her name?"

"Uhm, Natasha."

Her eyes suddenly narrowed behind her eyepiece, and she punched me in the shoulder. "It's Nadia, isn't it?!"

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"I can't believe you're dancing with Nadia," she said softly.

"Oh stop it," I snapped. "We're just dancing."

"Why don't I go find RatBoy and dance with him?" Allison tried, referring to Draanov.

"Now that was just mean."

"It's the same thing."

"No, it isn't. Nadia really helped us out when we were fighting Duran."

"Her own mess," Allison battled. "It was her own mess and for some reason, she decided to help us out."

"She's different tonight," I sighed. "It's just for tonight, honest."

"For your sake, you had better hope Beth doesn't find out."

~*~

"What about him?" Kimberly asked.

"He's gorgeous."

"Go ask him to dance," Katherine encouraged. "What's the worse that'll happen?"

"Nobody ever says no to Beth Berry," Dana joked, earning a slap on the arm.

"All right, I'm going," Beth said. However, just as she turned around to go find the guy in question, she bumped into someone. "I'm sorry," Beth apologized, before she realized who she had bumped into.

"May I?" the man in the blue mask asked.

"Certainly," Beth smiled.

~*~

"Nadia," the man whispered. He quickly located her presence, and teleported closer.

~*~

"Yes, Queen Sheila," Draanov answered obediently. "What shall we do with the Naddies?"

"Leave them," Sheila answered plainly. "I want no remnants of the past. When does the alignment reach its peak?"

"In approximately fifteen minutes, your majesty," Draanov answered. "The exchange of power will occur then."

Before Sheila could say anything else, a humanoid in blue body armor with long white hair hurried up to her. "Queen Sheila," she said, "we have just detected a great surge of evil energy."

"Oh?"

"On the Earth," the woman answered. "Munfordville, to be precise."

"An identity?"

"Not one that we recognize, Queen Sheila. Does the name Ma'erok mean anything to you?"

~*~

"No," I admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I can't really say as I blame her. You know, what with all of the limboes and general mayhem."

"Well, even if our shields are down just for tonight, we've had fun."

"We certainly have," Nadia agreed. "This is a pretty song."

My hand absently brushed her hair out of her face. My gaze locked onto her blue-green eyes, and for practically the first time in my life, I didn't think; I just reacted. I lowered my head down to hers, and she stretched up to meet me halfway. My heart accelerated as I felt her satin soft lips touch mine. We stopped dancing, and the kiss slowly began to increase in its urgency.

"Excuse me," a dark voice snarled beside us.

I turned my head to see a man in black body armor, covered by loose fitting black robes, standing before me. His face was twisted into an angry grimace, but his most prominent feature were the black orbs in his eye sockets. "Excuse us?" I asked in disbelief. The man said nothing, but he extended his hand. A tiny pinpoint of green light exploded on each of his fingertips. A crushing pain centered itself in my chest, and before I could make any type of reaction, I was airborne. I landed in the middle of a card table holding refreshments about ten feet away. The table collapsed under my weight, and I rolled backwards.

"Can I help you?" Nadia asked sarcastically.

"Nadia," the man whispered softly. He took her left hand in his, and then his face fell. "Where is your wedding band?"

"Do I know you?" she asked. "Who are you?"

~*~

"I think so," I said.

"Who is that guy?" Jason asked.

"Lord Ma'erok," Sheila said from behind us. "A bad guy from a different dimension." Jason and I spun around in unison, only in time to see her lash out at us with a red dagger. We both hopped back, although the tip of the blade sliced through my baggy shirt.

However, rather than attack again, Sheila just crossed her arms. "Blue becomes red, boys."

~*~

"But Sigma," Ma'erok growled angrily. "I detected Sigma attached to this dimension. You have to be here."

"Oh, well you see," Nadia said calmly, "there is more than one Sigma without a dimension out there. He thinks there are only two people without dimensions, but there are many more than that. A lot more. You probably detected a similar Sigma, thinking it would lead to me, and it did, just not to the me you wanted to meet. I take it you were married to a form of me."

He looked away in shock and disgust, and in so doing, caught sight of a familiar young woman in a leopard print outfit. "Kimberly?" he asked. "You wait here," he told Nadia.

"I don't take orders from you," Nadia snapped contemptuously.

~*~

"Nice costume," Kimberly remarked. "How do you get your eyes to look like that?"

"Where's your precious Tommy now, Kimberly dearest," Ma'erok asked sarcastically.

"Tommy?" Kimberly asked, looking to Katherine for support. "What-?"

"And the child, how is your child?" Ma'erok asked.

"What are you talking about it?" Kimberly asked, stepping back.

"How did you follow me here?" Ma'erok demanded, wrapping one powerful hand around her left arm.

"I'll thank you to let go of me," Kimberly snapped, her eyes flashing angrily as she wrenched her arm from his grip. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Kimberly!" Nadia cried. "That isn't a normal man! He's a villain from another dimension!"

"So you aren't the Kimberly that I know?" Ma'erok snarled. "I really do not like this world." He began to walk away, determined to get answers. He then caught sight of a familiar woman with long black braids. If Nadia couldn't help him, then perhaps Sheila could.

~*~

"This isn't me," she insisted. "I promise."

Red lightning suddenly cracked across the sky, making everyone stop dead still. Sigma immediately teleported all of the non-Rangers away to protect their delicate psyches. Sheila began to walk into the center of the courtyard with a sultry gait. Her blue spandex bodysuit began to glow. The glow, however, was not blue. It was red. When the glow subsided, she was wearing a bizarre form of red body armor. Her calves and forearms were bare, while the rest of her was covered in the shiny armor. Her feet were also bare, and her toenails, as were her fingernails, were painted bright purple.

"She's wearing red," Nadia said with a snarl.

"Oh, this is truly wonderful," Sheila insisted, tilting her face up to the sky. "Oh... so wonderful." With a phony smile, Sheila announced, "Nadia dear? I have a message for you."

"What the hell are you trying to pull?" Nadia asked as she pushed past me to stand beside Sheila.

"I've done nothing, Nadia," Sheila said. "The forces of evil did it all for me. You've weakened, Nadia. And the forces have shifted the power. You aren't head honcho in charge of Earth anymore, Nadia. I am."

"Bull shit," Nadia cursed. "They would have warned me." She summoned her pink staff in a flash of pink.

"They tried," Sheila said. "But the balance of power redirected to me, so I sent the warnings to the Blue and Pink Rangers."

"Blue becomes red," Rocky whispered.

"We thought the messages were from Nadia," Billy added.

Red light slowly began to shine around Nadia. Her blue outfit shifted colors, and she was left standing in an identical red replica. "Pink and red really don't go together, Nadia," Sheila said with a shrug.

Nadia thrust her staff forward, but nothing happened. Panic crossed her face for a second, but before she allowed it to overwhelm her, she tried again.

"I told you, Nadia," Sheila said. "The forces don't protect you anymore." Nadia disappeared in a flash of red and reappeared in front of Sheila. Purple chains materialized on her wrists. "Blue and pink are out; red and purple is the way, now. Ma'erok, may I request your attendance? We'll explain everything in our new headquarters."

"What are you going to do to her?" I asked, stepping forward to make my presence known.

"Not your concern, Blue Ranger," Sheila said coldly.

"Please don't, Sheila," Nadia said calmly. Sheila's only reply was to smile and shrug.

"Before we go," Sheila said, "Pink Ranger, I have a surprise for you."

"What are you talking about, Sheila?" Beth asked as she stepped forward. She crossed her arms defiantly across her chest.

"Well, Nadia looked like Blue Ranger's ideal woman," Sheila said. "My new henchman looks like your ideal man."

"Draanov?" Beth asked, raising her eyebrows sarcastically.

"Hardly," Sheila muttered. She clapped her hands and said, "Raphael!"

"Hello darling," Beth's dance partner said as he pushed past her to walk to Sheila. His entire blue outfit was red, and when he removed his eyemask, he revealed that his identity was that of the man in Beth's dreams. "Do I impress you?"

"Sexual tension," Sheila said. "Nadia affected Blue Ranger, Raphael can affect you. And I'm sure he'll have his affect on every other XX Ranger on the team. Mr. Y chromosome over there will probably succumb to me before long, isn't that right Blue boy? Draanov, Raphael, let's go. Ma'erok, you may come with us if you like, and I will explain the situation."

Draanov grabbed the purple chain that bound Nadia and led her away. She cast a pleading look back at me.

"We can't let them take her away," I whispered to Jason.

"I think it's out of our hands," Jason said sympathetically.

Purple light shone from the orb on Sheila's dagger, and a section of the ground rose up a short distance before them. The section of the ground formed a tunnel entrance that led into a stairwell that disappeared beneath the earth. "This, dear Nadia," Sheila said as they walked toward the magical crevice in the ground, "is our new headquarters. Villains on the moon, it's a bit... done, don't you think?"

I twisted my hand and summoned my Power Morpher in a blue glimmer. "Lion," I said firmly, and in a blue flash, my Triceratops armor appeared on my body.

"What are you doing?" Beth snapped.

"I'm gonna help her," I said firmly.

"Frog," Allison said as she morphed into the purple armor with the Mastodon on the helmet.

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink —- Butterfly," Katherine added. She and Allison joined up and followed me as I began to walk toward the leaving villains.

"Beth?" Dana asked.

"I'm not helping," Beth said firmly.

"Sorry," Dana apologized. "Sparrow." Beth's mouth dropped open a bit in shock as Dana walked off in her gleaming green armor.

"Squirrel," Crystal intoned, joining Dana as she walked off.

"Beth?" Jason asked.

"I can't stop you," Beth said. "We don't have a leader to the team, remember?"

"Tyrannosaurus —- Cougar," Jason said softly.

"Triceratops —- Wolf," Billy joined, walking off with his friend.

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue —- Ape," Rocky called, hurrying up to the two guys as they joined the parade of Rangers following the demons.

"Beth, I honestly won't go help if you don't want me, too," Tara told her.

"We defend innocent lives, right?" Beth asked.

"Nadia isn't exactly innocent," Kimberly contributed.

"Jeremy likes her, though, doesn't he?"

"I think so," Tara said with a nod.

Beth twisted her right hand, summoning her morpher. The silver coin in it caught the light. "Kangaroo!" Beth shouted firmly. A split second later, the fully morphed Pink Ranger was standing in her place.

"Pterodactyl —- Crane!" Kimberly yelled.

"Fox!" Tara cried. The three female Power Rangers ran after their other comrades, all of whom were about to fight for a woman that just a month before was their mortal enemy.

"Blue, block their way," Jason suggested.

"We're on it," Rocky affirmed as he, Billy, and I line-of-sight teleported in front of Sheila and her crew.

Sheila walked up to me and stopped not more than a foot from my face. "May I ask what you're doing?"

"You want to take Nadia, you go through us."

"Fine," she said. "If you want to play rough, we'll play rough."

Kimberly and Tara quickly oriented themselves on each side of Nadia. "Fire!" Tara cried. They simultaneously fired an arrow at Nadia. The two arrows hit the purple chains and broke them, freeing Nadia from Draanov. She looked at the chain in shock. Crystal quickly pushed Nadia out of the way. Draanov turned to reclaim her, but she was quick to retaliate with a high kick.

"Gargoyles!" Sheila shrieked. The very fabric of reality rippled as numerous silver and gold mechanical fighters appeared. They had thick bodies, reptilian skin, and wide oval-shaped heads. Two black almond shaped eyes were positioned above a small nose and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth. Two sharp ears were positioned on their heads, and their long, muscular arms were topped with a hand completed with sharp black claws. Two bat-like wings were kept tucked against their backs. The numerous mechanical fighters stood poised, ready to attack at a moments notice. "ATTACK!!!" she finished.

At once, the fight was on. "Mastodon Machete!" Allison cried. Brandishing her machete, she ran at Nadia.

"Allison, no!" Nadia cried, thinking she intended to attack her. However, Allison sliced down in one clean move, breaking the purple chains from her body.

"You're welcome," Allison said before two Gargoyles ambushed her.

Nadia produced her pink staff just as Sheila approached her. "The fools," Sheila sighed. "They must think you care for them."

Lightning quick, Nadia lashed out with her staff, knocking Sheila's dagger from her grip. "I do," Nadia said plainly.

"Raphael!" Sheila snapped. She jump-kicked Nadia, knocking the blonde demonness to the ground. Raphael ran up to Nadia with a long broad sword, ready to cleave her in half. Nadia quickly somersaulted away. Holding her staff like a bo, she began to do battle with him.

"Why do you fight?" Raphael asked as the two began to spar in earnest. "Do you truly believe they will let you join them. Your nature is evil, Nadia. Embrace the evil, and perhaps Sheila... will be lenient."

*Your nature is evil, Nadia.* The words echoed around in her head, yet she

still continued to battle him. _I am evil,_ she thought to herself. _I serve evil. I am Nadia, dark priestess._ The words, however, were quickly losing their meaning. A sudden revelation lit itself in her mind, and with a scream of pure terror and anger, Nadia knocked Raphael away with a powerful strike.

"I AM *NOT* EVIL!!!" she screamed. Suddenly, a chasm opened above her head. Nadia screamed as white light flowed out of the chasm and surrounded her body. The fight immediately halted, and Rangers, Gargoyles, and Henchmen alike all turned to see Nadia. Her scream stopped, and she let her arms fall back against her sides. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and tilted her face to the sky. Tiny beads of white light began to circle her, and suddenly, a black shadow leapt from the center of her body. She did not move, but the black shadow which had just been forced from her body tried to escape. It formed a thin, wiry body, but as it began to scamper away in panic, white light from the chasm shone on it. An inhuman scream of pain came from it, and it exploded in a visual cacophony of white and black light.

Nadia raised a hand to her chest and let it rest there. Her eyes remained closed as an influx of memories soared through her head.

Long ago on a different plane of existence, evil claimed her when she got a bit careless in battle. She lost the protection of her Sapphire Sword, a Sword nearly as powerful as her older brother's Sigma's Diamond Sword. As soon as the evil was firmly implanted within her, she stole her sister Omicron's Pink Garnet Sword, a Sword of equal strength to hers. The Pink Garnet Sword tried to shut down, until she was only left with a pink staff. However, it was still more than powerful for her evil means when combined with the magic given to her by the side of evil.

The chasm above her closed shut as white light coalesced into the form of Omicron beside her. "That was a long time ago, wasn't it?" Omicron asked.

"What have I done?" Nadia asked in a small voice. Tears slid down her cheeks, unhindered. "Oh God... Omicron, what have I done?"

"You weren't able to stop it," Omicron whispered as she pulled her sister into a hug.

"What's going on?" Ma'erok asked in a near-growl, although he knew the answer.

Nadia broke away from Omicron and looked back down at her. Her red U.S.O. outfit quickly shifted into a pair of denim shorts and a blue t-shirt. "What am I going to do?" Nadia asked sadly.

"You can make amends," Omicron said. "Bring the Sapphire and Garnet Swords back to the side of good."

"This is yours," Nadia told her, shoving the pink staff back into Omicron's possession. Omicron smiled as the staff quickly shifted back into its true form, that of a powerful pink Sword. The hilt was made of silver, and wings of silver twisted up the base of the blade.

"I've waited for this day to return a long time," Omicron said with a smile, referring both to owning her Garnet Sword again, as well as having her only sister back on the side of good.

Nadia thrust her hands forward, and with a flash of blue light, a Sapphire Sword formed in her hands. It was identical to Sigma's Sword with the sole exception of the deep blue color of the blade. It had likewise been carved from a single sapphire, and it was both a mighty weapon and a tool for accessing the great powers of the universe.

"This is something I certainly never fathomed happening," Sheila admitted. "You went soft, Nadia."

"I'm stronger than I've ever been," Nadia said. With that, Raphael launched himself at Nadia, and the two began to battle.

"Let's win this fight!!!" Omicron cried happily, thrusting her Garnet Sword into the air.

"LET'S GO!!!" Beth shouted.

"Attack!" Ma'erok yelled, commanding Sheila's Gargoyles to finish their assault. "WRAITHS!!!" Numerous black and brown robed fighters appeared and immediately joined in the fight. As the fight raged around them, Sheila strode over to Ma'erok.

"Hello, Lord Ma'erok," Sheila purred. "I hope you are finding your stay in our dimension pleasurable."

"I can't believe that mockery of my wife is fighting with Sigma's Warriors," Ma'erok growled. He and Sheila were standing in the middle of main street, only a few feet from where Nadia and Dana were fighting back to back.

"You know," Sheila mused, "there is something we can do. Perhaps... give Nadia a taste of her own medicine..."

~*~

"What?!" Katherine asked, pausing only after she brought the sharp edge of her Power Shield down across a Gargoyle's chest.

Rather than answer her verbally, Omicron pointed the Garnet Sword at Katherine. Bright pink light burst from its tip and flowed into Katherine. The understanding entered her through the power surge, and she gave Omicron a quick nod of approval. "Pink Fire Cloud!" Katherine cried. She locked her hands together and thrust them at the sky. A pink cloud of light centered around her hands. She pulled her hands apart and held them, one above the other, at chest level. She then snapped her arms outward, unleashing the torrential flood of pink power. Numerous streaks of pink light burst from her body, dismantling Gargoyles and destroying Wraiths.

A Gargoyle's Bo knocked me off of my feet just before a beam of pink light struck it. A pink form flipped to my side. "Your weapon," Beth said as she helped me to my fight. "Let's bring 'em together."

"Triceratops Whip!" I shouted, summoning my Power Weapon in a flash of blue light.

"Pterodactyl Ball and Chain!" Beth shouted, touching her already withdrawn weapon against mine.

With a bright merged flash of pink and blue, our weapons merged into a more powerful Dual Weapon, the Chain Whip. It had the blue cylinder of the Triceratops Whip, and the heavy spiked ball of the Pterodactyl Ball and Chain. "Yours or mine?" Beth asked.

"Go for it," I said, leaving Beth with the weapon. I quickly rejoined the fight as Beth lashed out with the Chain Whip. The heavy spiked ball flew at a Gargoyle, attacked to the blue cylinder by a thick pink chain. With the greatest of ease, she lashed the heavy ball at any fighter that ventured too close.

We eleven Rangers and the two angels did not notice Sheila and Ma'erok, carrying on an elaborate conversation in the middle of the desert street.

~*~

"She is the exact replica of my wife," Ma'erok sighed unhappily. "But..."

"She's good now," Sheila continued. "Go on... Blast her out of the dimension. Do to her what you did to a form of Sigma, once. Do to her what she did to the Sigma here."

"She's so beautiful."

"She also kissed the Blue Ranger," Sheila said. She held her dagger out before her. The crystal orb in the gargoyle's outstretched hand flashed purple, and a square viewing screen appeared before them. The scene of Nadia sharing a delicate kiss with me played across the screen.

Ma'erok extended his staff in my direction. A green glow began to coalesce on its tip. "Not him," Sheila said, gently pushing the staff off of its target. Slapping herself in the chest, she said, "I'm going to take care of these six pain-in-the-butt Power Rangers on my own time. You can get rid of Nadia. You don't have to, I'll do it myself. But I thought you might *want* to."

He turned his gaze back to the blonde woman, now classified an angel, fighting two of his Wraiths. He watched as she cleanly sliced through a brown one with her Sapphire Sword, sending an empty robe fluttering to the ground. "I can't," Ma'erok said simply, dropping his head in shame.

~*~

"Always have been," she said. "I just didn't know it."

Although what is actually beneath the helmet of a morphed Power Ranger is something of a perpetual mystery, I'm sure if there was a physical human face beneath the helmet, a smile crossed it. "I'm glad."

"Behind you!" Nadia shouted. I dropped into a split as she high kicked a silver Gargoyle that had snuck up behind me.

"Thank you," I said as I jumped back into the fight.

~*~

Ma'erok's features were locked on the viewing screen floating in midair. Sheila silently conjured up the image of the evil fleeing from Nadia's body. "The light," Ma'erok said. "How can the light claim her like that?"

"You should teach her a lesson," Sheila entreated, raising her eyebrows. "Send her out of the dimensions. She betrayed evil. She betrayed the fight that we fight every day of our lives. We can't let her get away with that!"

Rage roared up in the twisted darkness that was Ma'erok's soul. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" he bellowed. Green light flared up all about him as he thrust his staff forward. Sheila laughed wildly as power channeled from the Infinity Gem in his possession soared at Nadia. The blonde angel barely had time to look up before the green light struck her. With a pained scream, her feet were yanked from the pavement as her body traveled straight up into the air.

"NADIA!!!" I screamed. Thunder boomed, and then the green light subsided. Nadia's Sapphire Sword clattered to the pavement, for she was no longer around to hold it. I hurried over to the Sword and carefully picked it up. "What did you do to her?!" I bellowed, enraged.

"It is not your concern, mortal," Ma'erok growled.

"Our work here is nearly done," Sheila said. "Raphael, Draanov, go supersize. Ma'erok, shall we?" Sheila and Ma'erok turned to walk away. A supernatural staircase opened up in the earth, and the two descended into it. The ground closed back up, and it was as if they were never there.

"Draanov?" Raphael asked.

"Let's," Draanov agreed. Red and purple light welled up around them, and they immediately grew to city-wrecking proportions.

"I'll go back to the Power Core to see if I can find her," Omicron volunteered, taking the Sapphire Sword from my wooden hands. "She's out there somewhere; don't worry."

"We'll take care of these pests," Jason said, referring to the Gargoyles and Wraiths.

"It'll be okay," Beth told me, cuffing me lightly on the shoulder. "We'll get Aries out here, and you can take your frustrations out on either of these guys you want."

"Let's do it," I agreed. In unison, we cried out, "Aries Dual Assault Vehicle, Power Up!" The Lion and Kangaroo flew down from the sky and quickly merged into the powerful Aries A.V.

"Let's go," Beth said. Taking my hand, we leapt into the sky and teleported into the cockpit of our dual A.V.

~*~

"We're getting our butts handed to us!" Beth agreed.

"So let's do it!" Crystal shouted.

"Mega Dragon Assault Vehicle! Power Up!" With a bright flash of silver light, our six A.V.'s merged into one powerful silver dragon.

"Bipedal," Dana said, quickly executing the command.

"Weapon choice?" Beth asked.

"Let's go for Sword," I said hurriedly. I glanced at the holographic renditioning of the fight in the center of the cockpit. A golden Sword appeared in Dragon A.V.'s hands. Holding the Sword ready, we began to circle with the holographic images of Raphael and Draanov.

"Sparrow took a hard hit in Aphrodite," Allison informed us. "We have to keep this fight on Earth for at least thirty seconds so the self-repair mechanisms can fix the Green Component."

"All right," I said, determined. "We have to get rid of these guys so we can find out what happened to Nadia. Let's go with the fire attack."

"That should send 'em running," Beth agreed as we quickly began to prep the controls.

"Dragon Fire Cloud!" we shouted in unison. The Dragon A.V. opened her mouth, and a giant bloom of fire burst forth. When the fire subsided, the holographic display of the battle showed that Raphael and Draanov have fled.

"Omicron?" Dana asked, opening a channel with the Power Core. "Are they gone?"

"Scanners are clear," Omicron answered. "All Rangers come in."

~*~

A faint blue glimmer appeared as my glasses rematerialized as the helmet cleared my face. Morphing means that all clothing, jewelry, or anything else external disappears beneath the armor. This includes glasses, but they aren't needed. However, in stand-by mode, our bodily functions are, for the most part, returned to us, and that means my eyesight is poor. The power returns my glasses from their subspace pocket dimension they were stored in, but everything else, such as jewelry or make-up in the girls' cases on occasion, is still missing.

"What happened to Nadia?" Beth asked for me.

"I'm alive and well," Nadia said. We all turned to see her sitting with Sigma at the bottom of the stairs. However, all wasn't quite normal.

"You were knocked out of the dimensions, weren't you?" I asked.

"Yes, I was," Nadia said. Her body was criss-crossed with the faint tendrils of light, just as Sigma and Catalina were.

"But you're okay?" Billy asked.

"I'm fine," Nadia answered softly.

"Rangers, things have changed, a lot, in the past few hours," Sigma said. "We have a new ally, a new villain, and a new head villain. The alignment is almost over, so our power levels will decrease a bit. Fortunately, so will their's. But it's okay, because two more Swords have been returned to us."

"There are more?" Dana asked.

"Many more," Nadia began. "There is a Ruby Sword, Emerald Sword, Amethyst Sword, Citrine Sword, Topaz Sword, Onyx Sword, Gold Sword, and a Silver Sword. Some have been missing for millennia. The Citrine Sword is being used to defend another planet in the far reaches of this universe. The others are either missing, or are being held captive by the forces of evil. One day, all will be returned to the fight for good, as will their owners."

"On that day, evil will die and goodness will reign," Omicron continued.

"That day is long overdue in coming," Sigma finished. "But I'm afraid that we still have a long fight ahead of us."

"We may not be alive to see that day pass," Tara said, "but I'm sure it will come to pass." She stuck her hand out before her.

"Definitely," I agreed, placing my hand on top of hers.

In quick succession, the rest of the Rangers, including the five visiting Rangers, placed their hands on the growing pile. "Power Rangers," Jason whispered.

"The fight against evil," Beth added.

"The legacy continues," Nadia said firmly. The three Swords flashed once in agreement.

~*~

"I know this must be hard on you," Sheila acknowledged, patting Ma'erok on the arm.

"You have no idea," he answered grimly. "I came here to bring the woman I loved back to me. Instead, I find that evil visage of my wife... Serving good... Kissing a Power Ranger?"

"You did the right thing in blasting her out of the dimension," Sheila said with a smile. She traced her hand along the side of a gilded mirror. As she did so, a supernatural image of Raphael and Draanov fleeing the flames of the Dragon Assault Vehicle appeared in the reflection. "Cowards. So, Lord Ma'erok, I have a proposition to offer. What say you join me here to defeat these spineless Power Rangers, and then revel in the destruction afterwards? I could use another good man around here..."

Ma'erok only glared at her. Waving his hand, he opened a green portal that would lead to his home dimension. Time was running down, and he had only a few minutes before it would be too late to return home. "No," he said simply as he stepped through.

"Suit yourself," Sheila muttered with pursed lips. Raphael and Draanov descended the stone staircase into the black walled throne room a few moments later. "How do you fare?" Sheila asked, although she knew the answer.

"Not well, milady," Raphael said, bowing before her. Draanov said nothing as he hurried to his quarters.

The room was as dark as ever, but Draanov didn't need light. Two words echoed around in his head. "Onyx Sword." He looked at his black club woodenly. _If this is the Onyx Sword, then... Don't be a fool, Draanov!_ he chided himself. _You don't serve the side of good!_ He walked over to a single mirror on the earthen wall. In place of a rodent snout, he thought he saw, for just a brief moment, the face of a human. However, when he blinked, that image was replaced with that of a humanoid rat in black body armor. "I don't serve good," Draanov muttered woodenly. He set the club against the wall and turned away to ready himself for bed. For the briefest of moments, the club turned into a powerful Onyx Sword, but then it turned back into the black club that served only as a weapon.

"I don't serve good," Draanov mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.

~*~

The green glow faded away, and Bronzar rushed to his master, grinning, prepared to submit his report. "My lord, welcome ba..."

The rest of Bronzar's greeting died out when the Titan got a good look at his master.

"It was a horrible sight. Ma'erok's usually tanned skin was pale, and his eyes were wide and unstaring. Had he not been there, Bronzar would not have believed that the Dark Lord was actually shaking. Ma'erok staggered forward, dropping his staff to the ground as he reached out and collapsed against the wall. He was breathing rapidly, and Bronzar believe he could see moisture in his emperor's eyes... thought that was impossible. Not even the departure of Lady Nadia had caused this.

"Master?" Bronzar whimpered, terrified by what was happening to his lord. Before Bronzar's astonished eyes, Ma'erok, ignoring the Titan, staggered away towards his private chambers, his steps uneven and shaky, his hands gripping the rock walls of the Star Fortress as he slowly moved, like an Azdraila, the Titan legend of the walking dead.

Bronzar then heard the door to Ma'erok's chambers shut, and the henchbeast picked up the gold staff and marched out of the Assembly room.

~*~

"C'mon," Nadia whispered. She took my hand and pulled me up from the couch.

"What's going on?" I asked. I looked up as the surroundings changed from my living room into something completely different. We were standing on a marble floor. Grecian columns stood at each corner of the square floor, and though there was a ceiling, there were no walls. A dark blue ocean extended in all directions for as far as I could see. "Am I dreaming again?"

"Yeah," Nadia said. "I brought you here to thank you. Thank you for bringing me back."

"You're welcome," I answered. "Is this going to be a sex dream?"

Nadia sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, this is not going to be a sex dream," she said, slapping me on the arm. "You just totally killed the mood, you know."

"Sorry," I said with a sympathetic shrug. "I just... well, it's my dream, so you know... I thought, that my hormone raddled nineteen year old mind might take it in a direction you didn't necessarily want it to go."

"I'm controlling this dream, thank you very much," Nadia informed me. "Mortals."

"So, what are we going to do here?" I asked, trying to remedy the situation.

"We were sharing a dance when everything went nuts," she said. "In the dream world, I am not a hologram. So, let's finish our dance." An ethereal music began to sound from no obvious source. "Do you like my hair like this by any chance?" Nadia asked. It was still styled in the forties "roll" she had been wearing at the costume party.

"I think it's beautiful," I answered.

"I like it, too," Nadia said as I led her into the center of the room. "But I have to like it, because Sigma said it will take me centuries to figure out how to manipulate physical objects in this timeless, shapeless pocket dimension I'm trapped in."

"Assuming that you hadn't been pushed out of this dimension," I began as we started to dance, "what would have happened?"

"I would have been a physical body in the Power Core," Nadia answered.

"No, I meant about us," I corrected.

"Jeremy, I'm older than time itself," Nadia said. "We couldn't... date. It'd be too weird. And just what am I going to do with the rest of time when you die here in about seventy years?"

"That's basically the same reason Omicron gave me," I said with a shrug. "What is it about you blonde angels?"

Nadia only smiled as she rested her head against my shoulder. The two of us danced long into the night, until I finally had too much to dream and woke up. Just as I was about to page the Power Core and ask her if the dream had been my influence or hers, I found a single strand of blonde hair on my t-shirt. It was no doubt placed there by the magical power of her Sapphire Sword, rather than a remnant from my dream, but it still gave me the answer I needed.

~*~

"It certainly is beautiful today, isn't it?" Kimberly asked.

"Gorgeous," I agreed, finally reaching the high branch of my tree she was sitting in. "The air smells cleaner, the sun is shining brighter... I couldn't be happier. On days like today, I don't even care that the world is in danger. It just doesn't seem possible, you know? How are you holding up?"

"I miss home, but I don't mind it here," Kimberly said with a smile. "I'm sure we'll get home."

"I'm sure you will, too," I agreed, nodding.

A car horn honked, prompted by Rocky shouted, "Jeremy, I sent you up there to get Kimberly down! Get the lead out!"

"Oh yeah," I said, "Tara decided to treat all eleven of us to dinner at O'Hare Steakhouse."

Rubbing her hands together in mock anticipation, Kimberly said, "Let's go."

Things don't always turn out the way you want them to. Sometimes, they turn out better.

The End... for now