Author's Note: Rita, Goldar, and Rito are a little more unintelligent in this, but that's okay. Saban, not me, so don't sue me.

The New Girl
(Part II: Think Pink)

Tanis shook her head in dismay. The gun in her hands was pink, with silver designs. "I can't take this guys! It was Kim's." she protested, and handed the gun back to Billy.

Tommy took the gun, and slapped it into her hands. "You'll take it. Kim would have wanted you to have the very best defense against the Tengas, and so do we." he said firmly, and closed her hands over the gun.

"Besides, I modified it a little. It's a little stronger than it used to be. If we can ever find the Pink Power Coin..." he trailed of, and looked at Tommy.

Tommy cleared his throat. "Um.. Tanis... we all talked about it, and we agreed that... when we find the Pink Power Coin, we want you to be the new pink ranger." he said with a smile.

Tanis blushed. "Thank you Tommy. I'd be honored." she replied, slipping her new gun into her bag, along with her new communicator.

Rita cackled with glee as Zedd explained the details of his new plan.

"Perfect Zeddy! It's just perfect!!" she screeched.

"Don't I know it." he said smugly.

"Goldar! Rito! Get over here!" Rita shrieked.

Tanis stood out on the bluffs above Angel Grove, with her gun in her hands and her communicator on her wrist. Raising it, she pointed and shot. The bullseye had only one hole in it, but she had been practicing shooting for hours.

"You're amazing. Before becoming a ranger, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a basketball." Billy complimented.

"Thanks Billy. I've been doing this for over six years now." she replied.

"Wow.. They let twelve year olds use Guns in New York?" Aisha asked. Tanis laughed, and shot again.

"No. My mom and I used to go hunting with my Dad's dad in Canada. He taught me to shoot." she explained.

"Cool!" Rocky grinned.

"A girl who hunts, shoots, and fights like a guy. This is great!" Tanis blushed, and Aisha elbowed him in the ribs.

"And what about me?" she demanded.

"You just beat me up." he grinned.

Goldar and his multitude of Tengas waited behind a rock. He was getting impatient, and the rangers wouldn't leave, so he signaled the attack. The Tenga flooded out of hiding, screaming and squaking. He heards a rapid sound of firing, then only a few cheeps of pain. He peeked out and saw his warriors laying fallen on the ground.

"Holy Shit." Rocky said.

"Now am I hot, or am I hot?" Tanis asked smugly, sticking her gun in her bag.

"Let's get out of here." she said, and turned her back on the Tengas. The rangers nodded, and they filed down the path one by one, Tanis coming last. Golder smirked, and snuck out of hiding. He reached out, and covered Tanis's mouth with one hand, and picked ehr up with the other. She lashed out with a foot and caught Rocky in the back, he whirled on her.

"No! Tanis!" he cried, and reached to grab her, just as she and Goldar vanished. "ADAM!!" he bellowed.

Tanis struggled out of Goldar's grasp and went for her gun. She barely had it out when he slapped it away.

"Foolish human!" he laughed.

"Goldar! Bring me the girl!" Zedd thundered. Goldar pushed Tanis to her knees in front of Lord Zedd. "

You girl, are very lucky to have been chosen as one of my warriors." he growled.

"Who says I wnat to help you?" she spat.

"The fact that you don't have a choice! Rita! Get over here!" Zedd demanded. Rita entered.

"Yeah Whaddya want?" she screeched.

"Cast a spell on this girl, then give her the Coin." he snapped.

"The pink power coin?" Tanis asked sharply.

"Ooh, you're a smart one." Rita chuckled.

"Well, you aren't very bright. Don't you know that Billy altered my gun to be linked directly with the pink coin? I can't morph it I don't have it." she lied convincingly. Rita scowled. "Goldar. Give her the gun." she snapped. Tanis accepted ehr weapon, but she didn't fire it. She guessed that if her weapon couldn't protect her with it's force field, then she was toast anyways. Rita raised ehr hands, and said her spell. Tanis felt a darkness begin to cloud her mind, but it was very weak. She casually pushed it away with a thought.

*hmm... that was easy. Now how do I pretend to be evil?* she wondered. Then she looked up at Rita, her eyes like orbs of ice.

"Who is your mistress?" Rita asked.

"You are." Tanis relpied in a cold tone. Rita cackled evilly.

"It worked!! Give her the Power Coin!" she shrieked. Squatt came forward with a box. Tanis casually opened it, and picked up the coin. Then she rose off her knees, and held out the coin.

"Pink Ranger Power!"

Zedd laughed evilly.

"Now, my young warrior, I want you to kill the white ranger!" he commanded. "Whatever. I'll catch you poor gullible idiots later." the pink ranger laughed mockingly, and teleported out. Zedd blinked several times before he realized what had happened.

Tommy jumped as a streak of pink light formed beside him, and the Pink Ranger appeared.

"Hiya Tommy!" she laughed at his shock, and pulled off ehr helmet.

"Tanis!" Adam exclaimed, and tackled his cousin in a bear hug.

"Woah cuz! Calm down! I'm okay. Rita tried to put a spell on me, but the forcefield on my gun diffused it. Then i just lied about it till they gave me the Pink Power coin." she explained.

"Alpha?" Billy prompted.

"I am detecting the pink power cion, but in the hands of good again." the little robot replied.

"Cool, eh?" tanis grinned.

"WELCOME, TANIS, TO THE POWER RANGERS. YOU WILL PILOT THE PINK CRANE ZORD FROM NOW ON." Zordon said proudly.

"Thanks Zordon, I—"

"Incoming transmission form Phaedos." Alpha interrupted.

    An image of a woman in a green bikini appared in the viewing globe.

"Dulcea!" Tommy said in surprise.

"Zordon, is something wrong? The Crane has returned to phaedos, but she refuses to tell me why. Has something happened to Kimberly?" the woman asked worriedly.

"Dulcea, we lost the pink powers quite a while ago. Kim moved to florida to train to be a gymnast. There's a new pink ranger." Tommy explained briefly. Dulcea blinked in surprise. "Who?" she asked.

"Dulcea, this is my cousin, Tanis." Adam introduced. Tanis smiled.

"Hello." she said shyly.

    "Zordon, I'm going to have to take your pink Ranger for a few days. She must complete a quest, that she may be united with her Animal Spirit." Dulcea commanded.

"Alone?" Rocky asked. Dulcea nodded.

"Forget it! No way! I am not letting Tanis go to Phaedos alone. Remember what we had to face? Living dionsaur skeletons and creeps made out of rock!" Adam burst out.

"It's oaky Adam, I can do it." Tanis said, a little shaken by her cousin's reaction. Dulcea sighed.

"I will allow one of you to accompany her," she cut off adam as he began to volunteer. "But not you Adam. One of the others." she said.

"I'll go." Rocky said bravely. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"You're sure?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah. I'll do it. That is, unless Tanis wants to pick who goes." he siad hurriedly. Tanis blushed.

"I don't mind." she smiled. Dulcea nodded knowingly.

"Please come as soon as possible." she said.

Tanis gasped.

"It's beautiful..." she whispered, looking out over the temple ruins.

"You should have seen the temple in her youth. She was even more beautiful Tnais." Dulcea said, approaching her and Rocky.

"Rocky... it's good to see you again." she smiled.

"Likewise, Dulcea." he grinned.

"So, what do I have to do?" tanis asked.

"You'll have to make your way out to that spire of rock." Dulcea said, and pointed. "There lies the great power. The Crane will not be your guide. Rocky, you will lead ehr out there. Once you reach the spire, you will not say anything. You will not help her fight. You will not help her discover her powers. You are merely a helping hand on the journey there. Everything has changed." Dulcea commanded. Rocky nodded meekly. Tanis sighed as the sun began to set.

"You will leave in the morning." Dulcea told them, then turned gruffly, and walked away.

Tanis stood staring out at the jungle between her and the spire.

"Nervous?" Rocky asked quietly.

"A little. I think normally I'd be freaking out right now, but the temple is so peaceful..." she trailed off, and silence reigned again. After a few minutes, Tanis looked up at Rocky. "Rocky.. Why did you volunteer to come with me?" she asked. Rocky was silent for a moment.

"When Adam and I first moved here, we were best friends... but after we became rangers, Adam grew closer to Billy, and further from me. Billy was about to volunteer to take you, but I beat him to the punch. Billy's a great guy, and I don't envy him Adam's friendship, but I knew that if he came, you wouldn't come back.... I didn't want to lose another friend Because..." he trailed off angrily.

"Because Billy screwed up?" Tanis finished. Rocky looked at her in shock.

"Aisha told me about everything that happeren to Kat. Why do you think Billy put all those force fields on my gun? He didn't want to be responsible for the loss of another friend's life. He blame's himself for Kathrine's death." she finished sadly.

"I thought I was the only one who blamed him." Rocky growled. Tanis reached up, and slapped Rocky soundly across the cheek. Then, with tears in her blue eyes, she turned and walked away. Then she lay down on the stone, and slept. Rocky put a hand up to his smarting cheek, and watched her breath softly in the firelight.

Silently, Tnais and Rocky walked throught the jungle wilds of Phaedos.

"Tanis..." he said quietly.

"What?" she snapped.

"I... I'm sorry for everything I said about Billy... I didn't think you cared about him so much." he said sheepishly.

"So much? I care about all of you! You're the first friends I've ever had tha liked me for me, and not for the money in my bank account!" she said honestly.

"Rocky... you and the others have taken the fate of the earth into your hands, and you're better for it! I only hope that when it comes down to the crunch, I'm as good as the rest of you. Never in my whole life have I wanted to succeed at something so bad." she said wistfully.

After a few more hours, they stopped to rest.

"Man, it's almost dark out. Last time, we go t through this jungle in one day." he said. Tanis stared into the trees.

"We should stop for some rest. I'll take first watch." she stated. Rocky shook his head.  "No, you sleep first. You're practically asleep on your feet." he insisted, tugging her into a comfortable tooking hollow in the roots of a tree.

"If you insist." she said, and curled up. She fell into a deep sleep immediatly. Rocky looked up at a noise in the trees, and saw a large apre step into the diny clearing. His brown fur was streaked with red. Rocky knew him at once.

"You'll keep watch tonight?" he asked. The ape bobbed his head once. Rocky smiled. "Thanks." he said, and curled up in a second hollow.

Tanis woke slowly to see rocky staring down at her. She realized it was Daylight. "Omigosh I slept through my watch!" she yelped.

"We both did. I had a friend guard our sleep last night." he said. Tanis's eyes looked past his shoulder as the Ape wandered off.

"Him?" she asked.

"Yeah... the ape is my Animal Spirit." he said with a grin.

"Oh.." she said faintly, and they began to walk again.

Tanis frowned.

*It's almost dark again. I wonder when we'll get there... Hope it's not for a while yet, creepy as this place is, it's still peaceful.* she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her. Off in the trees a bird called out to it's mate. Beside her, she could hear Rocky's breathing, the soft swish of his ninja suit against his skin, his quiet footsteps in the dirt. She sighed contentedly.

"What?" Rocky asked curiously.

"It's so quiet. I could stay here forever: Just you, me, and the jungle." she chuckled. Then she realized that Rocky was blushing.

"There was another reason I asked to come with you tanis..." he said awkwardly. Tanis stopped, and jus tsmiled.

"I know Rocky. I'm glad you came with me." she said softly. Then she dropped to the ground and Rocky jumped aside as an arrow sped out of the woods. Her battle had begun. Rocky stepped to the side as two Rangers stepped out of the trees. Rocky recognized one as Kimberly's original Ranger suit. Original Pink held a pink bow, with an arrow knocked. The other Ranger was wearing a Green Ninjeti suit. However, she had her hood pulled off. "Kathrine?" Rocky whispered in confusion. Original Pink removed her helmet.

"Kim?" Tanis said in curiousity. They were joined by three more different Rangers. Jason, the Original Red Ranger, Trini, Original Yellow Ranger, and Zack, the Original Black Ranger. None of them wore their helmets.

"So... this is my test? Can I defeat the memories of my cousin's friends, and become my own person?" Tanis asked.

"You hit the nail on the head, Tanis." Kat smiled.

"Well then, shall we?" Tanis asked, and beckoned. Kim fired. At the last second, tanis dodged, and pulled out her gun. She fired once. Kim's body fell to the ground, a smoking hole in her chest. Kathrine launced herself forward, and kicked the gun away. Tanis footswept Kat and punched her in the stomach. Kat kicked her in the side of the head.

"I'll kill you!" Kat whispered.

"Gee, it's too bad you're dead. Makes it kind of hard!" Tanis growled, and punched kat in the throat. She fell to the ground, her throat crushed. Zack moved forward.

"My turn man." he grinned cockily, and danced and wove around her. She grinned, and flipped backwards, coming up with her gun.

"Nice moves. But not nice enough." she pulled the trigger, and Zack fell with a thud, a hole in his forehead.

"So, who's next?" she asked casually. Trini came forward.

"You know, we're almost identical. It's too bad that you'll never be a ranger. We'd make a great team." the brown eyed girl laughed. Tanis rolled her eyes.

"Really? I don't think so hon." she kicked out, and trini blocked. Then trini pulled out her sais, and thrust them forward. Tanis ducked under them, and came up. Simultaneously, she kicked them out of her hands and punched ehr in the face. Her hit drove the bridge of Trini's nose upwards, and she convulsed once before slumping to the ground. Blood trickled out of her nose. Then, Jason put his helmet.

"That little trick won't work on me." he growled.

"So, you're the guy that Rocky replaced. I must say, he's definatly got more personality." she commented. Jason pulled out his sword, and slashed out at her. She cried out a little as he sliced into her arm.

"Make me bleed? Now you'll pay." she growled, and rolled, coming up with one of Trini's sais. Drawing back her arm she threw. Jason fell to the dirt, the yellow handled sai protruding from his stomach. He gasped, and then did not move again.

Tanis turned to smile at Rocky. She was rather surprised to se him glaring at her.

"How could you?" he whispered.

"It was easy." she said blitely. He walked forward angrily, and grabbed her arms. She cried out as the wound on her arm flared. He smashed her brutally into a tree. Her head smacked into the wood. She gasped in pain.

"They were my friends!!" he yelled in her face. Tanis shook her head.

"Look behind you." she muttered thickly throung the pain in her head. Rocky glared over his shoulder. Then he released her, and she crumpled into a heap. There was no sign of the massacre anywhere.

"They weren't real. Didn't you notice Kat? She's dead Rocky. It was only a test." Tanis whispered through her tears. Rocky paled, and fell to his knees.

"Oh god Tanis..." he whispered. She whimpered as she struggled to her feet. Slowly, her head pounding, she knelt beside him.

"It's alright... you were just confused." she said through her pain fogged mind. Then Rocky looked up at her. Her right sleeve was stained in blood, and her black hair was matted with blood.

"Oh God Tanis... I'm so sorry.." he whispered. She smiled a little, and passed out.

Tanis came to as something nudged ehr.

*Get up!* a voice said. She sat up.

"Who..?' she began, until she realized that a great big lion was staring at her. She smiled.   "Hi." she said.

*hello! It's about time. Are you ready to go home?* he asked.

"What's your name?" she asked.

*Sylvan. I'm your guardian spirit.* he said proudly.

"Neat. Do I have to go now?" she asked. Sylvan nodded.

*Unfortunatly, yes. But I'll always be with you. We are one. Now, you must go. Your friends are worried about you.* he said. Tanis flung her arms around his neck and buried ehr face in his mane. When she released him, there was a slight wet spot.

"Sorry. But I'm just so happy. I can't help but cry." she smiled, and sniffled a little. *Time to go. Rocky's waiting.* Sylvan seemed to smiled as she kissed him on the nose, then ran to Rocky's sleeping form. It was time to go home.

End