Truth In The Lie
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Power Rangers in Space (PRiS). Some chapters will reference fights and scenes from the show, but everything else is fictitious and may follow the general PRiS theme.
Story picks up after the episode 'The Secret of the Locket'.
Author's Notes: The pairings of the story will be Andros and Ashley, and a love rectangle between Astronema, Zhane, Cassie and the Phantom Ranger. I just thought mixing it up might make things more interesting and I can't help but think how Zhane and Cassie would make a cute couple.
This is my first time writing a fan fiction, hope you enjoy.
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Chapter One
Carlos steadied himself on the top step of the steel ladder, his arms extended up to hold a banner in place. Without wobbling from side to side, he temporary looked down at his friend and asked, "Is that good?"
Ashley raised her head and stood back from the bridge's doorway with squinted eyes. "Hmm," She arched her brows, a habit she had when in contemplation. "A little more to the right," She shook her head, then lifted her hand to wave him in the desired direction. "Little more, little more… Perfect!"
"Now that even the banner's in place, everything looks ready to go." T.J. clasped his hands together and looked around the bridge contently.
The four Astro rangers from Earth had decorated the room in anticipation of Zhane's return from helping the KO-35 rebels strengthen their defense and rebuild their base. Zhane had contacted them just a few days ago to inform of his return, but Astronema and her list of evil minions had kept the rangers busy until now.
"Should we use the synthetron to make some food now, or wait until he's actually here?" Cassie questioned as she emerged from a pile of unused decorations lying on the ground. She bent down slightly to dust off her knees and a flash of memory suddenly darted into her mind. "On second thought, we should start making some now. Remember Zhane's appetite?"
Carlos gave a loud snort and nodded in agreement, but before he could mutter a word, the sudden ringing of the emergency alarm cut short their conversation.
"Rangers, Astronema and her quantrons are attacking Earth." Deca's voice filled the room and within a second, an image of the attack was brought onto the large viewing screen in front of them.
"Okay guys, let's go!" T.J. ran towards the direction of the jump tubes but came to an abrupt stop before he reached the doorway. "Wait, has Andros been notified of this?"
Ever since their return to the mega ship from their previous fight, Andros had gone straight into his room and refused to talk to anyone but Ashley. Though they all knew he had never been a very social or outgoing person to begin with, none of them could recall a time when he locked himself up in his room since the five of them have become friends.
Naturally, all glances shifted towards Ashley. She was the one who knew Andros the most as they shared a special type of relationship. Rather than to stop and discuss her plan with her friends though, Ashley ran up ahead past them and called back, "You guys go first, I'll go get Andros and meet you down there."
The three rangers took Ashley's suggestion and dashed off towards the jump tubes.
"Andros!" Ashley shouted while rounding a corner of the narrow hall, "Andros, Earth is under attack!" Without knocking, she hurried into his bedroom in an attempt to save time, but after catching a lifeless stare from him, she regretted her lack of manners. "Andros," Her voice was soft and weak, like the look on his face had somehow frightened her into a fragile state. "The others have gone down already; we should go help them too."
"She's my sister," He turned away to face a drawer by the left of his bunk bed. Placed in the center on top of the metal surface was the framed picture of a young girl. Andros stared mindlessly at it and sighed. "Karone's my sister, I can't fight her."
An awkward silence swept the room. For an extended moment, neither of them could find the courage or vocabulary to break the silence. After yesterday's fight, Andros had returned to the scene, remembering that he had knocked off Astronema's familiar looking necklace during their battle. When he found the necklace hanging loosely from an iron rod, he wondered briefly whether it was real. Was he dreaming? Or was it some kind of an eerie nightmare? After all these years, he finally found his long lost sister, yet she turned out to be their most hated enemy… Astronema.
"Rangers, Astronema has retreated and sent the Stinging Cactus to destroy Earth." Unaware of the tensed atmosphere in the room, Deca's voice came on and notified. "Andros, Ashley, the others need your help."
Taking a few steps forward, Ashley reached out for Andros' hand. "It's just the monster now, we won't be fighting your sister." She pointed out gently, "Please, let's go help the others. We'll talk more about this when we come back, okay?"
Though he knew it was up to him and his friends to save the universe from evil, he couldn't deny that coming up with a way to bring Karone back was just as important to him as his destiny. It wasn't until Ashley kept persuading him to join the fight that he realized helping his friends would be the more appropriate thing to do in the bigger picture. "You're right Ashley, let's do it."
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By the time Andros and Ashley reached Angel Grove, the megazords have already been called. Sparks flew out rapidly from the mid-section of the Astro Delta Megazord after a strike from the now super-sized plant monster. Within a few seconds, the megazord had tumbled down onto the grey cement ground and raising it back to its feet appeared difficult.
"We're losing power, and fast," Cassie alerted her teammates. She pushed a few buttons on the control panel in front of her and read aloud the damage report.
T.J. closed his hand into a fist and let out a grunt in frustration, "The damages from the megazord's previous fight haven't been fully repaired yet. The monster's too strong for us in our current condition, we need a new plan!"
"But what else can we do? We've already combined the Astro Megazord and the Delta Megazord. This is all the fire power we've got." Carlos reminded while the megazord took another blow from the monster. This battle had originally started in their favor, but they had obviously underestimated the monster's destruction threshold a little too early.
"Guys, we've got to bring the megazord back to its feet. If we hold him off a while longer, maybe we'll come up with another plan." Andros wasn't ready to give up so easily, but before anyone was able to move their controls, they could see the monster charging at them through the viewing screen.
It would've only taken one more step until the monster was near enough to destroy the megazord with the stomp of its stem. Yet the sudden firing of another zord from behind knocked the Stinging Cactus off stride.
"No one messes with my friends and gets away with it!" Zhane piloted his new Mega Winger and began battling the monster. A few quick punches and a kick gave just enough time for the other rangers to get their megazord back on its feet. "You guys step aside and let me finish the job," Zhane spoke through his communicator. Not that he wanted to sound cocky, but he only wanted to protect his friends and their zord.
As the gigantic monster recovered from the previous assaults, Zhane aimed the Mega Winger's ultimate weapon at it. "Wing Blaster, fire!"
Directly on target, laser beams fired from the Mega Winger pierced through the Stinging Cactus' body. In a matter of seconds, a massive explosion erupted on the battlegrounds and debris flew everywhere within the area as an aftermath.
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Cheers of triumph carried out to as far as Megadeck 3, giving Alpha quite a pleasant surprise. "The rangers, they're back!" In quick, tiny robotic steps, Alpha made his way up to meet them. "Ai-yah-yai! Zhane, what are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming back!" The robot spun around and put its hands up to its communication speaker, muffling the giggles that were trying to escape. If Alpha had eyes and could wink, it certainly would've done so to the others.
"Well, nice to see you too, Alpha. I thought I told you guys a few days ago that the rebels' defense have gotten a lot stronger and that I'd be coming back." He stood by his locker, unloading his morpher and various weapons into it. "Didn't you all listen to that message?" He questioned with high hopes of a few nods in return.
"Message? What message?" Andros closed his locker and scanned around the room to find only blank faces staring back at him. "Zhane, we didn't get any messages from you. In fact, we had no idea you'd be coming back to join us today."
Carlos walked toward the doorway while holding back his laughter. "If it makes you feel any better," He turned back to face the silver ranger, "I'll say on behalf of everyone that it's nice to have you back."
A weak smile formed on Zhane's face, "Thanks?" Something wasn't right, this had to be a joke. He was afraid that the distance from the rebel's base to the mega ship was too great that he made sure to use a communicator with extra strength for reaching the perfect frequency. In fact, he was certain they must've received his message without static or noise. "Come on, guys, you did hear the message, right?" Surely his friends wouldn't be that heartless, would they?
"I'm going to do some maintenance repairs on the megazords, Carlos, Alpha, you guys want to help?" T.J. ignored Zhane's comments and made his way over to join Carlos by the door. They didn't even wave or mutter a "later" when they strode off into the next room.
It was apparent that Zhane was confused and a little disappointed, but neither of the remaining rangers gave him time to figure out what was happening.
Ashley, who had been standing with Andros near the steps leading to the jump tubes, leapt towards the exit and dragged Andros with her. "I have an Astronomy exam tomorrow and Andros is going to help me study. See ya!"
With only Cassie left in the room with him, Zhane's lips twisted into a wry grin while he quickly spun himself around to face her. "I'm sure you heard the message and knew I was coming back. Did I ever tell you that you're my favourite pink ranger?"
An uneasy expression formed on Cassie's face. "Sorry, but it's been a rough day and I'm dead tired so I think I'm going to go take a nap." She excused herself in the most polite way.
"What?!" He cried out in disbelief, "Then what am I supposed to do? I come back to spend time with you guys and everyone just leaves me?"
"Well, if you're looking for something to do, the hallway lights on Megadeck 3 have been flickering for a few days now. Go check it out, I think the bulbs are about to go out," She notified him of the maintenance issue before turning a corner of the stretched hallway.
Any expressions of hope or happiness have now been completely removed from Zhane's face. This wasn't the way he had anticipated his return to be like. Never mind the balloons, but where was that big shiny banner with the "welcome back" greeting on it? All those sleepless nights he spent while helping the rebels were the direct results of missing and worrying about his dear friends. Did any of them ever talk about him? Did they even think about him? With heavy steps and his head down, he dragged his feet towards the bridge…
"Surprise!"
He jumped at the remark and nearly fell backwards to land on his bottom. "Guys, that was not funny!" He shouted as his eyes glanced around the room to find everything he had hoped for. "Balloons, banner, and food! This is awesome!"
Everyone in the room shook their heads and laughed, including Alpha. "You think we'd really not care about you rejoining the team?" They watched the blonde man blush and the room erupted into more laughter as they ran up to him for a big group hug, "Welcome back, Zhane!"
To be continued…
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AN: Just thought I'd throw in a little classic PRiS moment to begin the story with. How'd you find the first chapter? Please review!