Surprises
by KrazieKat

"Jenivive! Wait up!"

Jen sat up in bed, breathing heavily. She was alone in her new bedroom at the Hart residence, having moved to Angel Grove a little under a week ago. She flopped back with a groan, and sighed. "Not another dream," she said.

The dreams had started not too long after meeting the Power Rangers. Alex, it seemed, hadn't burned out her mage talent a year ago Halloween. All she had done was exhaust her powers for a year, and then they flared up, causing Shaira and Rocky to have to seek Jen out to find out why Alex was so terrified of magic. She was now under the training of Shaira and Zordon, training her powerful talent, and gaining control over her developing telepathic powers. Jen shook her head at the thought.

Alex, a mage? That was believable, after what had happened a year ago, when some mage tried to take her over, to have control over her powers. It was more believable than Rocky, Alex's cousin being a Power Ranger. She sighed and punched the pillow, turning on her side.

Not that she blamed Alex of being terrified, but the magic from that night had stayed with Jen. She had been changed, until she was a minor mage. She could do a few illusions, and shields, but that was all. Not nearly as much as Alex could do. But there were more changes than that. She wasn't the same Jen that anyone that knew her from before that night would have recognized.

Jen got to her feet with a sigh and headed for the bathroom. She blinked at the light, and caught sight of herself in the mirror without her illusion on. There before her was evidence of the change that night had wrought. Pupils shaped like a cat's stared from emerald green eyes, too green to be human. Ruby red hair hung down to her waist, and was gently waved from crown to tip. Jen knew that if she'd cut it, it'd bunch into curls. Her featured had been refined and made more delicate. When Jen raised her hand up, she overlaid the illusion of what her hand had looked like before, and she could see that the fingers had been lengthened and slimmed down. She closed her hand into a fist, and banished the illusion, closing her eyes.

"Jen? Are you all right?" Kim, the Pink Guardian, poked her head in. She was startled to see that Jen had her illusion down, and when she blinked, it was back up. Jen sighed softly.

"Yeah, I'm all right. I just had a dream of the others," Jen responded in a soft voice. "I couldn't get back to sleep." She waved Kim back to bed. "Go back to sleep." Kim smiled and went back to bed.

Jen sighed and headed back for her bedroom. She sat in a patch of moonlight streaming in her window and closed her eyes, letting her consciousness drift. _Hello, young one,_ a gentle voice spoke in Jen's mind.

Jen jerked to awareness with a gasp. "What was that?" Jen wondered. What ever it was, it was powerful. She shook herself, and noticed that it was almost dawn. Looking over at the alarm clock, she saw that it was about to go off. Several hours had passed without Jen noticing. She stood up and got ready for school, feeling completely rested.

Alex sat in a back corner of her English class, Jen in front of her and Angela to her right, and kept making both girls giggle by keeping a running commentary on the lecture going in both girls' minds. Finally Jen reached back without looking and backhanded Alex's thigh near the knee, causing the girl to yelp loudly enough to get everyone's attention in the class. Alex blushed and Angela had to smother a giggle as the teacher glared at the three of them. Not seeing anything wrong, he turned back to the lecture.

_What was that for?_ Alex asked, massaging her thigh. _I'm going to be bruised for a week._ She winced and sent, _Definitely no shorts for a while._

_Why not? Yellow and green are your colors._ Jen sent teasing back.

Angela sent a mental snicker and added, _No, they aren't. They're Tanya and Adam's colors._

_True, but now I'm going to be wearing them for a week._

_How long does he go on like this?_ Jen asked. _It was boring the first time, and it's no more exciting the second time!_ Angela and Alex suppressed snorts of laughter at Jen's mental grumbling. She proceeded to describe in detail what she wanted to do to Mr. Hollon and his lesson planner, and trust me, it's unprintable!

Finally they got out of class after the bell rang, and they headed for lunch. They met up with Rocky, Tommy, and Shaira, and they headed for lunch. The three girls kept exchanging thoughts, until Shaira finally interrupted with an exasperated, _People are going to catch on when you giggle without talking._

_No they won't,_ Jen sent back, startling the Purple Guardian. _They'll just see three girls that know each other so well that when they glance at each other, they'll giggle at a mutual thought. I've known groups like th-_

Her thought was interrupted as she ran into someone, and both fell down. "Sorry about that," she apologized, climbing to her feet. She held a hand out, and the boy that she had spilled to the ground took it. There was an electric shock, and Jen gasped as she saw the boy. REALLY saw him.

Her first reaction was, _My God! He's handsome._ The second was, _He has eyes like mine!_

He had eyes like hers, slitted pupils floating in a pool of sapphire blue, and his hair was gold. Not blond, not white, gold. He smiled at her in a knowing way, and she knew he saw through her illusion. "No problem," he said smoothly, before carrying on.

Alex felt Jen's surprised, and watched the boy dressed in white as he moved past the group, then turned back to Jen. "What's wrong?" she asked out loud. Jen turned her gaze from the disappearing boy to Alex.

"What?" she asked, lost.

"What's wrong? You looked distracted."

"That boy... I'd swear he saw through my illusion, Alex. And he had eyes like mine."

"What!" The first time she was teleported to the Power Chamber, she had let down the illusion to reveal what she really looked like to someone else for the first time, so everyone in the group knew what Jen looked like underneath.

Before she could reply, the communicators beeped, and the group looked around. They moved off to a secluded hallway, and Tommy asked into his communicator, "Yeah, Zordon?"

"There was a flash of power in your vicinity. Keep aware of any unusual circumstances."

The rangers and guardian exchanged glances, and Alex said into the communicator Billy had fashioned for her after her flare-up, "Jen ran into a boy that saw through her illusion, Zordon. She said he had eyes like hers."

"Come to the Power Chamber at once." The teens looked around and teleported out, Jen holding on Alex's arm while Angela held onto Tommy's.

As Jen re-oriented herself after landing in the Power Chamber, she wasn't at all startled to see some of the others land in there as well. Zack, Jason and Kat landed in a second group, and Billy and Trey had landed before her group had arrived. Everyone that was here either had the same lunch, or didn't attend school. She snorted at the thought of, _All this for little ol' me?_ She felt like batting her eyelashes.

"Jen, will you please describe to the others the encounter you had in the hallway of the school a few minutes ago?" Zordon asked.

Jen shrugged, and said, "I don't see why not. Alex, Angela, and I met up with Rocky, Shaira and Tommy, and Shaira sent a comment to all three of us. I was in the middle of a reply when I bumped into a boy. I helped him up after climbing to my feet, and when our hands touched, I felt a current run from him to me, and vice versa. I looked at him, and the first thing I noticed was that he had eyes like mine."

Alex, who had heard her thoughts, glanced at Jen, but kept quiet. If she didn't want to talk about it now, experience told Alex that Jen would talk to her later. She listened in halfheartedly, noticing that Jen was playing with something in her hand.

"- he walked past, and then Alex asked me if there was something wrong. Then you called about the flash of power, and the rest, as they say, is history."

Finally Tommy noticed that Jen was playing with something, and asked, "What's in your hand?"

"Huh?" Jen looked down, and finally saw what she had been playing with. "It's grandfather's coin," she answered. "I always play with it when I'm agitated." She handed it over to Tommy, and he paled. "What?"

Jason stared at Tommy, then snatched the coin away. "It can't be," he said, stepping back. Zack saw the coin, and he backed up, taking a hissing breath. Shaira snatched it way from the startled Red Guardian, and she stared at the coin in her hand. Billy saw the coin and had a similar reaction to the other Guardians.

"Um, not to be rude, but could someone tell me what's wrong with Jen's coin?" Alex asked. Angela nodded, agreeing. Kat, Rocky, and Trey wore puzzled looks.

"When I first became a Power Ranger, I was the original green ranger," Tommy said.

"Yeah, we know about Rita's spell. What does that have to do with Jen's coin?" Angela snapped, getting exasperated with her twin.

"That's the coin."

"WHAT!" That came not only from the three girls, but also Shaira.

"So that's what happened to the green Guardian coin," she said, sounding as if something clicked in her. Seeing the rangers' puzzled looks, she explained. "There were originally eight coins of Guardian, but one was stolen, the green one. If Rita somehow found a way to turn it into a Power Coin, of course after the original charge was taken off, it couldn't hold a full charge. And since the Power Coins of a ranger requires so much more power per square inch, the charge that Zordon gave Tommy wouldn't last."

"You make it sound like air pressure," Zack half joked.

"In a sense, you could say it is. The Guardian Coins have a lesser power to square inch ratio, so the Guardian coins use less energy."

"But how did Jenivive get the coin?" Trey asked, puzzled.

"Easy. Tommy had a double that with the help of the Wizard of Deception sent Adam, Rocky, Kim, Aisha and myself back in time. Tommy and Tom managed to rescue us, and Tom stayed back in time. I guess Jen is his descendant," Billy finished.

Jen didn't seem all that impressed. "So what? How can a coin exist in two places at once?" she demanded. "I've had IT," snatching the coin from Shaira's hands, "since I was five years old. Which is the real coin? I mean, it's flashed a couple of times since I heard that the green ranger mysteriously appeared, evil again, and then the white ranger defeated him." Her question stumped Billy.

"I suspect that your coin was dormant until Tommy lost his green powers, and then what ever green powers that were free settled into your coin, but it remained dormant until Tom was here. After he went back in time, it freed the green powers dormant in your coin, and since it didn't have an outlet, it flashed randomly."

"Well, not exactly randomly," Alex said softly, turning everyone's attention to her. She looked over at Jen and their eyes met. Jen nodded, and Alex took a deep breath. "That... night, Jen was wearing the coin in a specially made holder that allows her to wear it as a pendant. The one time it flashed before me was in... in His presence," she finished shakily. She clasped her hands, and Rocky hugged her as she wrestled the terror.

"Plus, it would flash just before I would get into trouble," Jen said to cover the silence Alex's statement caused. "It would force me to stop, and then what would have been trouble for me would happen."

"You had close calls too?" Alex asked softly.

"That's why I emphasized with you," Jen said. An alarm went off, and Alpha looked at the console he was in front of. "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi! Cogs have grabbed Kim, Trini, Adam, and Tanya," Alpha said. "They're being held in a warehouse."

"Be careful rangers. I expect a trap."

A grin spread across Shaira's face, and she said, "They wouldn't expect an extra Guardian while we're rescuing them, now would they?"

The teens looked over at her, puzzled, but Jen caught on first and grinned broadly. "No, they wouldn't," she answered Shaira.

"Hey, metalheads! You better let our friend go now!" Tommy ordered, standing in the entrance of the warehouse, flanked by the others. The cogs turned from their prisoners to the intruders.

"Tommy, look out, it's a trap!" Adam shouted.

The Cogs charged the rangers and guardians, and in the fury of the battle, no one noticed a green and gold form slip in, and sneak over to the prisoners. Trini noticed her first, and stared at the girl with a feeling of deja vu. She put her finger to her mouth and Trini nodded.

She reached up with the Dragon Dagger, and sliced through the chains. The clatter of the chains falling to the ground caused the Cogs to turn, but it was too late. The rangers had their Zeonizers, and Trini and Kim had their coins.

"Let's do it guys," Adam said. "It's morphin’ time!"

"Zeo II- Yellow!"

"Zeo III- Green!"

"Yellow Dolphin Guardian Power!"

"Pink Naga Guardian Power!"

With six Zeo rangers and seven Power Guardians the Cogs were taken care of easily, and all thirteen were soon back at the Power Chamber. Alex and Angela sat in a corner, and smiled at the shock of the others as Jen revealed her identity to them.

After the usual question and answer period, Alex finally spoke up. "Shaira, you said that there were eight coins. What was the eighth? White?"

"No. It was amber, and lost several generations ago. Zordon created the White ranger after the Guardian coins were made, so there was no White Morphin energy for one."

Jen moved over to her two friends, and smiled at them. "Come on. We have a class to get to."

"But we didn't have lunch!" Alex wailed as they teleported out. The rangers and guardians chuckled, and Adam said, "Yep, she's definitely a De Santos." He avoided Rocky's swing, and they all teleported back to school. They had classes to get back to.

That night, Alex tossed in bed as images of him flashed through her dreams. Finally, she sat up in bed, breathing heavily, trying to get her hormones under control. As she finally got them in check, she was awake enough to realize that she wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. She sighed, and jumped as her communicator beeped.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"SARA says that you're awake. What's wrong?"

Alex sighed. She shouldn't and wouldn't keep this from one of her mage teachers. She shrugged, not knowing if Shaira was watching her on the Guardian Ship, and asked, "Is it all right if I come up?"

"Sure. I'll be waiting in the mess."

Fifteen minutes later, Alex was staring out of the mess window of the Guardian Ship. She turned as Shaira walked up with two mugs of hot cocoa, and Alex raised an eyebrow. "Kim introduced me to the wonders of chocolate," Shaira explained. "What's wrong?"

"Well, lately... I've been having dreams," Alex said, then blushed as she thought about her dreams. "They aren't your normal dreams," she finally said.

Shaira raised an eyebrow. "Really? I've never known you to blush. They must be something else."

"Yeah, something else," Alex said, laughing uneasily. She looked down at her cup, and then said, "They're... about Tommy."

Shaira waited patiently as Alex got up her nerve to talk about them. "They're... hot." Alex said.

"How hot?"

"Core of the sun, hot," Alex said.

Shaira's eyes widened. "THAT hot?" Alex just nodded. Shaira took a drink from her cocoa, and looked away, gathering her thoughts. There was only one explanation, but she didn't think that was likely. Nah. She'd talk to Zordon. Even if it is true, she'd need the old man's help when it came time for them to... But that was only if that was what was happening.

Tommy sat up in bed, breathing heavily. He shifted uncomfortably, and asked, "Why her? Why Alex? I'm in love with Kat, aren't I?" He jumped as his communicator went off.

"Is this a night for sleepless teens?" Shaira teased. She was all too awake for three in the morning. "I finally talk Alex into getting some sleep, then SARA says you're awake. Need someone to talk to?"

Tommy grimaced, and said, "No offense, but-"

"I'm a girl? Hey, look at it this way. Why wake someone else up when I'm ready to listen in. I never could sleep when everyone else is, anyways."

"All right. Give me a few, and meet me at the Waffle House if ten minutes. I know the lady running the night shift."

"I'll be there."

Tommy walked into the Waffle House, dressed in his customary red, and Linda, the woman on the night shift, waved Tommy towards the back. The rest of the place was empty, and Linda wen to the kitchen.

Shaira looked up as Tommy sat down, and said, "It's a lovely night, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Tommy was kinda embarrassed and didn't know where to start.

"Look, Tommy, just take a deep breath, and start where ever you feel comfortable. But if you just want to sit here, that's fine. What ever you want."

"Thanks." Linda came up with a coffee cup and a pot of coffee, and Tommy saw that Shaira had already ordered. He smiled at Linda, and she nodded back before heading back to the kitchen with the pot. "You know how Kat and I are... together?"

"Uh-oh. Is there something wrong?" Shaira asked.

"Sort of. I thought I love Kat, but lately, we've been drifting apart." Tommy paused as he took a drink of coffee, and then went on. "And then there are the dreams I've been having lately. They're all about Alex." As soon as he said that, he blushed bright red, almost rivaling his shirt.

Shaira glanced down at her cup of coffee, and asked, "Are they... you know, hot?"

Tommy's head snapped towards Shaira. "How did you know?" he asked. Shaira shrugged.

"Educated guess." She finished off her cup of coffee, and put it down. "I know I promised Alex not to tell you this, but she's been having the same sort of dreams about you." She met Tommy's eye, and said, dead serious, "I think there's more to it than either of you are telling."

Tommy had to look away since he couldn't meet Shaira's eyes and not tell the complete truth. He didn't want to admit to himself that he was falling for Alex. Then it struck him. He WAS falling for Alex. "I'm falling for Alex," he admitted in a whisper.

"I thought so," Shaira said, sitting back.

"Why?" Tommy asked, looking back as Shaira.

"You're both too alike. You're both Shadowed souls, and even though you'll be attracted to the type of soul like Kim and Kat have, you'll never be completely happy. Only with one like yourself will you find happiness." Shaira's eyes clouded over, and she said, "I knew another couple like this. They fought it."

"What happened to them?" Tommy asked.

"They died miserable and alone," Shaira said, her gaze clearing to look at Tommy. "They were my grandparents. They thought that they could live without each other, but they couldn't."

Tommy sighed. "But what am I going to tell Kat? This would break her heart."

"I don't know, Tommy. I really don't."

Shaira appeared in the Power Chamber. "I thought Valentines Day was the holiday for love, Zordon, not Halloween. Why's all this happening now?"

"What's wrong Shaira?" She had lost the ancient mentor of the Power Rangers. He watched her as she started to pace in the Power Chamber.

"Have you ever heard of a soul bond, Zordon?" She glanced up at him, and he nodded. He remained silent as she paced. "You know that the first couple of days are the most delicate, right? Well, Tommy and Alex have one forming between them. A powerful one."

"What!" That stunned him. Soul bonds were extremely rare. To have one start developing before him and he didn't notice was unthinkable.

"They have a soul bond, Zordon. I've never seen one this powerful before. And trust me, I've seen plenty. As a Power Guardian, you tend to run into them. They're going to need a lot of help to adjust to the bond, Zordon. We need to plan."

They weren't the only ones planning that night. In Zedd and Rita's motorhome, Rita and Zedd chuckled after listening in on Shaira and Tommy's conversation. They had recognized the symptoms right away. "SO, poor Tommy has a soul bond with the Shadow Mage, huh?" Zedd sneered. "I wonder how we can turn this to our advantage?"

"Zeddy, don't you know anything about soul bonds? If we capture one, we have the other," Rita said. "If we capture Alexandria, we have Tommy at our mercy. We'll have him on our side, without having to rely on a spell."

Zedd looked at his wife skeptically. "How do you know this?" he asked. She waved him off.

"I researched everything there is to know about soul bonds, Zeddy, when I was still training. Now, are we going to capture Alex or not?" Zedd just laughed evil while shaking his head.

Alex tossed over onto her other side, then gave up trying to sleep. She and Jen always meditated when they couldn't sleep, so Alex moved over to the patch of moonlight coming through her window, then closed her eyes and let her consciousness drift.

_Alex?_ That thought was as different from her normal sendings as TV effects from the sixties to the CGI of today. This was filled with nuances and subtleties that her normal sending lacked.

_Hey, Tommy._ She found that she didn't have to work as hard, to send her thoughts to him. _Is this cool or what?_

_I think that there was something that Shaira didn't tell me when I talked to her,_ Tommy commented.

Alex 'saw' the entire conversation from Tommy's point of view, and she said jokingly, _That's it, I'm going to kill he-_

_Alex?_

_TENGA!_

Tommy jerked up in his bed, and threw a shirt on. He teleported to Alex's room, but it was too late. Alex was gone, and there was a note sitting serenely in the middle of the patch of moonlight. Tommy snatched it up as Rocky came in, rubbing his eyes. "Tommy?" he asked. "What are you doing here? Where's Alex?"

"We have to get to the Power Chamber. Come on."

Tommy paced restlessly in the Power Chamber, the other rangers watching him warily. Shaira watched him, and felt her suspicion justified. She was startled when he practically snapped at her, "What is it about us that you didn't tell me?"

"Well," Shaira said, swallowing, "You have a soul bond. It's a binding between you and Alex, allowing you to draw on one another's powers. It also has the adverse effect of allowing both to suffer the spell that's cast on one."

Angela looked over at Jen, and Jen said, "If Alex's put under a spell, Tommy's under it too."

"Oh!" She watched her twin pace, then she said, "But why them? I thought that Kat and Tommy were a couple?" Jen just shrugged.

An evil laughter turned everyone towards the viewing globe, and Zedd and Rita stood there. "Find out little note, Tommy?" Zedd taunted the red ranger. Tommy glared at the image and growled.

"What do you want, Zedd?" Jason demanded.

"Isn't it plain, Jase?" Tommy asked the Red Guardian. "Me."

"What!"

"No way, man!"

"Tommy, you can't!"

"Ah, but he must rangers. Or suffer Alex's life," Zedd gloated. Tommy's eyes narrowed, and his hands curled as if they were aching to wrap around the evil sorcerer's throat. Angela felt a pure rage, not all of it from her. She glanced over at Tommy and had to use all of her self control not to back up a step.

Jen glanced from Tommy, to Angela, to Shaira, as the Purple Guardian backed away from Tommy, to the coin in her hand. A plan started to form in her mind, and she motioned Angela and Shaira back. Jen started explaining the plan in a soft whisper, too soft to carry to the Viewing Globe, and Shaira's eyes widened. "It's dangerous," she warned.

"Dangerous or not, he grabbed my friend. I'm not about to let him get away with that." The girls finally noticed that Zedd was off the Viewing Globe, and the others were trying to persuade Tommy not to go.

"You can't go, Tommy, it's a trap!" Adam argued.

"I don't have a choice, Adam. If Alex dies, so do I." Tommy's hands were clenched into fists.

"He's right," Shaira said, half her attention on Jen's plan. "He has to go. But he won't go alone." She looked over at Jen. "Tell them."

Jen took a deep breath, then said, "Well, I have the coin that he used, Angela's his twin, and Shaira has the power that we need to trace him. If we link onto Tommy, we can trace him to where they're holding Alex, and then-"

Billy caught on. "We get in there, and get them out. Jen, that's brilliant."

"Let's wait until we get them out of there, before anyone starts singing any praises," Jen said. Billy kissed the green guardian in the middle of her forehead and she turned an interesting shade of red, then muttered something softly. Angela, who was closest besides Billy, heard something somewhere between, "It was nothing," and Aw, shucks!"

Tommy appeared in the park, alone, and Goldarr appeared with a flock of Tengas, two of which held Alex by the arms. Tommy allowed two of the Tengas to grab his arms, then said, "All right, you have me. Let Alex go."

"Foolish ranger!" Goldarr laughed. Alex disappeared in the Tengas's grips, revealing a Tenga in disguise. "Why would we bring her down and risk losing her to your friends?" He and the Tengas disappeared with Tommy before he could do more than shout, "NO!"

Tommy was thrown into a bedroom done in silver and black, where Alex was already sitting on a chair. She turned at the sound of the door opened, and stood up as Tommy was thrown in. The door closed and Alex hurried over to the red ranger. She was still wearing the black pant and shirt pajama outfit she had worn to bed, and as she touched Tommy a jolt traveled through her hand and up her arm. She could tell by his shiver that Tommy felt the same thing. Alex and Tommy felt something in each of them exchange, and then Alex was staggering back.

Shaira broke the link with the three other girls in the Power Chamber, and swore. She had a long list of swearwords, and creatively mix and matched before Jason finally grabbed ahold of her and slapped Shaira on the cheek. Before anyone could say anything, she said, "The soul bond, it's intensified. And three guesses as to who's doing it. They shouldn't be at that stage for at least a month!"

"What do you mean, 'that stage'?" Jen asked.

"That shock that we felt? That was a telepathic bond forming between Tommy and Alex. And I could feel part of her power being shifted into Tommy. It looks as if one will be a spell maker, and the other, a spell breaker."

"Who wants odds in favor of Tommy that he's the spell breaker," Angela muttered to Jen. The green guardian snickered, then asked Billy, "Did you get enough?"

"Yeah." He had connected the viewing globe to the three girls' link with Tommy, and was still by the console.

"Then let-" Shaira was cut off as the alarms went off. Then Shaira winced as the alarms on the Guardian Ship went off. "What is it this time?" she asked

"A monster," Billy said. He looked up from the console and saw Shaira massage her temple. "And Shades?" he asked.

"Yeah." Shaira sent out the command that shut the alarms off on the ship, then said, "This isn't what we need."

"Hey, it's no problem. The Guardians, sans Jen, take care of the Shade, Rangers sans Trey take care of the monster, and the three of us take care of springing our friends." This came from Angela, snapping everyone's head towards her.

"Whoa, who said anything about you?" Jen asked. Angela snorted.

"A) I can go with you, or B) I follow you, and then risk getting hurt. Either way, I'm going. You can't stop me." Angela started to glow with a purple light, and it flashed brilliantly. When everyone's eyes cleared, Angela was morphed into the purple ranger.

She looked identical to the other rangers, except that she was purple in color, and the eyepiece looked like adiamond on it's side. One other thing that was different was that she had a katana strapped to her back. Angela removed her helmet and demanded, "What was that?"

Shaira shook her head, and said, "Your determination to go made you perfect to accept the diamond Zeo shard. We finally have a purple ranger. Now, I believe we have some things to take care of?"

"Right," Rocky agreed. "It's morphin time!"

"Zeo I-Pink!"

"Zeo II- Yellow!"

"Zeo III- Green!"

"Zeo IV- Blue!"

"Purple Basset Guardian Power!"

"Red Eagle Guardian Power!"

"Black Leopard Guardian Power!"

"Yellow Dolphin Guardian Power!"

"Pink Naga Guardian Power!"

"Blue Garou Guardian Power!"

The three teens left behind watched as the others teleported out, and then Angela said, "We better get on our way." Trey and Jen nodded at her, and she stanced. Having watched the others enough times, she said, "Back to action!"

"Gold Ranger Power!"

"Green Dragon Guardian Power!"

The trio landed in the dead center of a hall of doors, and Jen groaned. "How are we going to find them?" she asked. Angela started down the part of the hallway behind them, and said, "Split up. Check the rooms. You find them, give a holler."

"Holler?" Jen asked, then started checking rooms. But on her second try, her luck ran out. She slammed it shut behind her, and Trey who had just finished checking the room across the hall, asked, "What?"

Jen didn't have time to answer as the door was forced open from the inside, and she sprawled to the ground in front of Trey. He helped her up as Tengas spilled into the hallway. "Alex, keep searching," Trey ordered. "We'll take care of these!"

"Sure!" As she turned back to the search, she muttered, "Have fun." She upped the search, and lucked out on the next door. She opened the door, then closed it behind her, turning beet red under her helmet and Trey and Jen came running up from scaring off the Tengas.

"They've raised an alarm. We don't have much time," Jen said. "Did you find them?"

"Yeah," Angela said. Her blush was dying slowly, and she said, "They're, ah.... busy."

"Busy, huh?" Jen barged into the room and bellowed, "Tommy, Alex, this is a breakout. We're blowing this joint. Are you with us or not?"

Alex gave a small shriek and fell of the far side of the bed, leaving Tommy to sleepily prop himself up on one elbow. "Jen?" he asked.

"And me," Angela said. "Long story, I'll explain later, but right now, we gotta go!" She tossed Tommy's shirt at him, and said, "Let's go!"

Alex stood up, pulling on her pajama top, revealing a black sports bra underneath, and said, "Let's blow this joint." she didn't even bother buttoning the top as she walked around the bed.

As they reached the hallway, Jen swore. "A shield just kicked in. I felt it come to life."

"I can get us out of here, easy. Stand back." She pointed, and black, but not evil, energy swirled around her hand. Tengas appeared before her, but they disappeared just as quickly when they saw the massive energies that were pointed at them. Alex smiled grimly, but she continued gathering power, until she released it. It flowed along her arm, and her hand, forming a portal that appeared where she was pointing, and Alex staggered back. Tommy caught her, and swung her into his arms. "My hero," she teased, then became serious. "Let's go."

Tommy landed in the Power Chamber, the portal a few feet above the ground. He moved out of the way as the others came through, and swung Alex to the ground. "Where are the others?" he demanded.

"Mondo sent down a monster that looked like an economy sized blender," Jen said.

"They need your help, rangers." Zordon said. "Jenivive, Angela, you should stay here and help Alpha scan Alex, in case there's anything wrong."

"I know busy work when I hear it," Jen said, then motioned the two rangers on. "Stay in one piece, Tommy. I don't want either of these two going feral on me." She grinned and winked, and Tommy smiled back.

"It's morphin' time! Zeo V- Red!"

He and Trey disappeared in red and gold lights, respectively, and Jen turned back to Alex and Angela. "Let's get her onto the table," she said. Alex started to protest, but Jen said, "Al, kitten, you couldn't swat a fly if it landed on you right now. Now just give up and stop fighting up."

"Yes, Momma," Alex replied in a meek tone, causing all three to laugh. She had enough energy to help on the way up, but no more. She laid back, and sighed. "What's wrong with me?" she asked

"The bond is taking a lot of your personal energy. Tommy is using the power from the Zeo crystal to keep him going, so as soon as he powers down, he'll sleep like a log for the rest of the day," Jen said, looking at the examining console. The information came up as she needed it and knew that Alpha and Zordon were sending it her way.

Alex gripped Jen's hand tightly, and said, "Jen, they need you. You have to call the Dragonzord with your dagger. Remember how the green ranger used to do it?"

"Yeah, but how am I-"

"Don’t worry. You can do it, my Sidhe friend. Please, they need you." Alex dropped back with a sigh, and said, "Please, Jen, go now!" Jen nodded, and glanced over at Angela. "Will you be all right?"

"Yeah, go on."

"Back to action!"

A fanfare that hadn't be heard in quite some time rippled out over the harbor. Ancient systems powered up, and lights came on under the water. Awakened, the Dragonzord came at the bidding of it's new master. Jen laughed, saying, "Yeah!" and jumped into the cockpit as the Dragonzord cleared the water. "Let's go help our friends!" she said.

In the Basset Zord, Kim exclaimed, "Oh, my God! I don't believe it! Guys, check out the boogie behind the monster."

"What! How did-"

"What?" Tommy asked. "What's wrong?" The Zeo Megazord was in the wrong position to detect the newcomer.

"It's not what's wrong, it's what's right. It's the Dragonzord!" Billy exclaimed from his position in the Garou Zord.

The monster knocked the Zeo Megazord back with a few well placed punches, then it was knocked flying by the tail of the Dragonzord. It reached down to help the Megazord up, and Jen laughed.

"Hey, guys, surprised to see me?"

"No. You've stopped surprising me," Tommy said, playfully. "How did you-"

"Well, if you could do it, why couldn't I?" Jen demanded. She whipped the Megazord about, knocking the monster in the Basset and Garou zords range. The blades of the monster tangled up, and the two Guardian Zords took turns swiping at it, weakening it for the Megazord.

Jen smiled, and asked, "Now, what does this do?" in a playful tone. "Missiles? Oh, this thing is loaded. AM/FM radio cassette player, reclining bucket seats, power everything, AND missiles? Just the thing for rush hour traffic." She fired at the monster, weakening it more.

"Okay, guys, time for our turn!" The three zords stepped back, and the Power Sword swung down. To everyone's surprise, the monster caught it, and threw the Megazord back.

"Girls and guys, we need a change of plan," Shaira said. "I'm open to suggestions."

"Warrior mode," Jen said. "It can't stop all of us as once. And even if he stops all three of us, it'll distract the Megazord so it can take care of him. How's that sound?"

"Better than anything I could come up with," Jason said. "Where did you come up with that?" he asked.

"Role playing. That's how we took care of a red dragon," Jen said with a grin. "Ask Alex about it when we get through."

"All right, that's enough chitchat," Shaira said. "Guardian Zords, Warrior Mode, now!" All three zords changed into their warrior mode, and Dragonzord held its power lance at the ready.

Jen raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Anyone care to go first?" The computer caught her attention as the Garou Zord lept for the monster, then she said, "Whoa, Shaira, I think I have a possible weak spot. The Power Sword may have been stopped in midstroke, but it wasn't enough to stop from a piece of the armor being knocked loose. If we can knock it completely free,-"

"Then we have a weak spot," Kim crowed.

"Go for it!" Shaira ordered. Jen nodded, and grinned blood-thirstily. "Let's rock!"

The Dragonzord stepped forward as the Garou Zord was knocked aside, and the Power Lance twirled. It slammed into the giant robot, and then twisted out, causing sparks to fly from the monster. "I got it!" Jen shouted triumphantly.

"Get back!" Shaira had Trini send all of the Basset zord's energy through and into the monster. Jason saw what the girls were doing, and the boys joined in.

The Zeo Megazord was ready to join the battle, and Tommy said, "Aim for where the Guardian zords are firing, guys. That's the only weak spot."

With the Zeo Megazord's energy, it was too much for Mondo's monster, and it exploded. The rangers and guardians cheered, and Shaira said, "Great work, Jen. We couldn't have done it without you!"

No one understood the answer, but Angela would have laid odds that it was the same reply that Jen had given Billy earlier.

That evening, the rangers and guardians were at a masquerade ball held in the Youth Center. Alex sat at a table, dressed in a silver and black evening gown, poked, prodded, and finally threatened into wearing it. To compromise, the skirt was slitted up to the middle of her thigh, 'in case anything happened,' as Alex said, but the slit was low enough to be modest. What the others didn't know, but Jen did, was that Alex was wearing a dagger strapped to her leg above the slit.

A guy in black dropped into the seat beside her, and asked, "Having a good time?" Alex glanced over and had to do a double take. "David, right?"

"Yeah. Your cousin tells me you're Alex. I've wanted to meet you since Angela and Tommy started talking about you, but something would.. uh.."

"Pop up? Yeah, family business," Alex said bitterly.

"You know, too?" David sounded surprised at Alex's bitter tone.

"Yeah. Shaira and the old man are training me to use my mage talent, if you want to call it that. I'd prefer to call it a pain in the a-"

Rocky came up, interrupting her comment, by saying, "Hey, David! Is Tommy here yet? Or did he forget?" At Rocky's joke, Alex felt a rush of bitterness and anger, and stood up.

"Excuse me, gents, but I have to go see something." She walked off, and brushed past Kat. She followed the bitterness to where Tommy was standing alone in the moonlight. She removed her mask, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Kat.. she broke up with me." Tommy kept his back to Alex, and said, "I know that I was planning on doing the same thing, but still.."

"That's because YOU were planning on doing it, but instead, she did." Alex walked over to Tommy and wrapped her arms around him, then closed her eyes. "Let her go, Tommy. Someone had to have their heart broken tonight. Maybe it's better this way."

Tommy turned to Alex, and asked, "How so?"

"This way, she isn't trying to figure out what she did wrong, or why you stopped loving her. She doesn't feel guilty about anything, so she's free to find someone else." Alex smiled sadly, and said, "And it'll leave you free for me." She planted a kiss on Tommy's lips, and Tommy kissed her back.

Shaira, watching the couple, snorted and shook her head. She turned back to the dance, and saw Kat and David dancing close together for a slow dance. She smiled and headed for the table that Alex had deserted. Jason snagged her from behind, and said, teasingly, "Nuh-uh! You're dancing, Shaira." He pulled her onto the dance floor, and said, "It's not that hard." He wrapped Shaira's arms around him, and then rested his hands on her hips. They started swaying to the music, and Shaira leaned forward, the rest her head on Jason, listening to his heartbeat.

When she giggled, he looked down at her and she explained. "Your hearts beating fast enough to be fighting Cogs. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, then thought, _Except I want you to kiss me._ Almost as if she heard his thought, she pulled him down for a kiss, and they stayed like that for the rest of the song. When they broke apart Jason noticed that a new couple had entered the dance. "Isn't that-?" he started.

"Yeah. Let's leave them be for now." Shaira bumped against Jason as a fast song started. "Let's just relax and have fun." Jason laughed and complied.

End