After Darkness Falls

"Home"

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, that is owned by Saban/Disney

A/N: Carri and all things related to Carri, including the yellow panther ninjetti and Jason's green cougar ninjetti, belong to KJ with many thanks. This is a seperate story from all the others I've previously written. This story assumes that the movie is canon, not the Ninjor storyline, that after the Power Chamber was destroyed in Turbo and that it was later rebuilt after in Space and that Billy came back to Earth after Lost Galaxy and rebuilt it. It also assumes that Tanya was replaced on the Zeo team by Carri Hillard, KJ's own character (again thanks), and that Kimberly took over the Turbo powers after Kat made the decision to leave.

The trio looked out over the ocean, they had almost forgotten how beautiful it was. It had been over seven years since they had been on Earth, so that was to be expected. Jason Lee Scott looked out to the horizon, it had been over eight years since he had stood in this spot, and that had been with a woman named Emily. It was after the meeting of the reds that he had left Earth. After the mission was over he went out for drinks with the other red rangers, and that night he was headed home on his motorcycle when was jumped by creatures he later learned was called a Courtadrones. They were pure black except for the electric blue heads, arm bands, and boots. Utilizing what little bit of power was left in his Tyrannosaurus coin he morphed and began to fight the Courtadrones. Half way through the battle his powers faded away and he was forced to leave the fight due the overwhelming odds. He found it strange that these creatures, which he had never before laid eyes on, would attack him. He was going to go to his friends Kimberly Ann Hart and Carri Lauren Hillard to talk about it, but Kimberly had gone missing a few years before, so he was only able to get ahold of Carri.

Carri had been born in Angel Grove, but moved during her elementary school years to New York where she was raised up until just before her senior year of high school when she talked her parents into letting her move in with her aunt, uncle, and cousin, Kat Hillard. She had heard stories from Kat about the attacks, the Power Rangers, and thanks to the evil spell that Rita had once placed over Kat, she knew who the rangers were too. She admitted this to them during their first meeting, and she swore to never tell anyone. Although the rest of the team was fine with it, Tommy was a little uneasy at first, but began to trust her shortly after they began to hang out regularly. After first semester ended and Tanya graduated early, she decided to go out and see the world, and with Zordon's permission she named Carri as her successor, passing on her Zeo powers to her.

Eventually Carri went on to become the first yellow Turbo ranger too, just as her cousin decided to retire and give the powers back to Kimberly, and throughout her tenure as a ranger she proved herself a force to be reckoned with. Whether it be as a ranger, or as a pissed off teenage girl. During their senior year of high school she developed feelings for Rocky DeSantos, the blue Zeo ranger, and the two subsequently started a relationship that had gone on throughout college and was still going. Over the years Jason, Kim, and Carri began to care for each other as well, but it was a brother and sister style relationship. They would tell each other things that they didn't feel comfortable telling anyone else.

He explained everything to her, from the time Tommy contacted him, to the mysterious re-charging of his coin, to the attack. Together they decided to see if any of the other Rangers in the galaxy could give them any information on the creatures. They were lucky, it had been one of the few nights that Billy wasn't cooped up in the Power Chamber. Jason hadn't wanted to let the other rangers know about this yet, as they were all busy with their own lives and some were still active, such as the Lightspeed Rangers in Mariner Bay, the Red and Quantum Rangers of Time Force, and the Wild Force Rangers. They contacted everyone they could think of, the Phantom Ranger, Trey of Triforia, and the rangers of Aquitar. Trey was the only one with any information for them, he told them what the creatures were called, but he did not know why they attacked Jason.

Jason was on his way to tell his then girlfriend Emily about everything, and what he had decided. But when he made it to her apartment he found her in bed with another man, and he instead decided not to tell her anything about it. He was too hurt to even face her. They had been dating for five, almost six years at that point, and she went and did that to him. He had made the decision to go out into space to find out for himself why they attacked him, and what he had witnessed with Emily only increased his desire to hurry and get going. Carri had made up her mind to go with him, and though at first he had been against it, he wound up giving in to the woman who had been like his little sister since they met. She had told everything to Rocky, and he had been against it just as Jason had, and just like Jason, he eventually caved. He knew she was strong, that she was a former power ranger and that she could take care of herself. She didn't bother telling her family, she didn't even think that her mother would notice. But if they asked anything when she returned she had decided to tell them that she went to see the world with a friend. Which wasn't a total lie, it was just the galaxy instead of the world. The two former rangers went to Andros, asking if they could borrow his ship for an unspecified amount of time. When the red astro ranger asked why they needed it Jason told him the truth, and Andros agreed, but asked if they could drop him off at KO-35 first so that he could get a spare ship to run his errands throughout the galaxy with.

After they dropped him off they began their search for any sort of leads. To begin with they travelled to the planet Onyx, where Andros had suggested they start. It was a planet full of criminals, and the information spot of the galaxy. They weren't able to get any leads from anyone though. As the next year went by they found themselves just as clueless as they were when they started. Then one day they received a summons from a person named Aulyan from the planet Harkin. Jason believed it to be some sort of trap, but at Carri's insistence they went to see what it was about.

After arriving on Harkin they sought out Aulyan. After a few days of searching they found his temple atop a mountain and he explained why it was that he called them. He was offering them the chance to train and get stronger. He explained to Jason that due to his dip in the Muranthian Pit he was developing powers, and in order to harness those powers he would need to train with one of Earth's mightiest heroes. After he and Jason discussed it, and Jason admitted that for the past seven years he had noticed something growing within him, Aulyan turned to Carri to explain why he summoned her. Though she had no type of special powers growing inside her, he could send her back to train with an ancient Kaoan in order to learn how to focus her mind, and learn telekinesis. He explained that they would each be training for at least four years in the past. After they agreed he cast the spell and sent them back in time.

Jason had found himself to be in ancient Greece, in the presence of none other than Hercules and his best friend Iolaus. Jason explained his situation to them, where he came from, why he was there, everything. Hercules agreed to train him, and for the next four years Jason went on the missions that the two friends always went on, and he experienced a lot of close calls, but over time he began to adapt to that way of life, and in honing his skills as a fighter and a thinker he began to understand the powers that he had. When he focused he found himself able to teleport across small spaces. He determined that his maximum range was up to one mile. As time progressed he learned how to teleport others with him.

Carri's journey went a bit differently. She arrived two-hundred years into KO-35's past. Aulyan had told her to seek out the Kaoan named Proctus, who would instruct her in how to focus her mind and use telekinesis. After searching for a few weeks she finally came across the man she'd been looking for. When she told him her reason for seeking him out, he put her through a test of courage to see if she was serious about wanting to learn. After passing his test he began to instruct her in meditation, and how to focus her mind properly on certain objects and make them come to her, and also how to repel them. After four years of studying under Proctus it was time to return to the present, where she met up with Jason inside of Aulyan's temple.

Aulyan told her that she could have learned everything from any Kaoan, but that he wanted her to learn from the best. Both former rangers were eager to return to their quest of finding out who it was that sent the Courtadrones after Jason. But Aulyan stated he had one final task for them to complete, and that was to travel to an alternate dimension. When Jason questioned him about it, Aulyan explained that the monster that their friends had fought in the past, Ivan Ooze, ruled supreme in that universe, having forced the rangers megazord into the comet instead of how it played out in their own dimension. Upon learning this, both rangers were eager to go and try to fix that dimension, powers or no powers.

Seeing how determined they were, Aulyan went and fetched a box that he had been entrusted with centuries before. He revealed to Jason and Carri that only he, and the select few, could open the box. The select few being the rangers that the powers deemed worthy. he told them that the powers held inside were based on those of Earth's natural elements, just as Zordon had asked him to make them, and that they were called the Terra Powers. Jason and Carri each tried opening the box, and each succeeded. Within the box sat six morphers, one red, one blue, one green, one black, one silver, and one white. Jason felt a rush come from the black morpher, and thus became the Black Ice Ranger, able to freeze enemies for short amounts of time. Carri felt the rush come from the silver morpher and became the Silver Sun Ranger, able to momentarily blind opponents. After receiving their powers the two were then sent to the alternate dimension.

While there they teamed up with the three remaining Ninjetti's of that dimension, Kairos, Terry, and Tommy. They were surprised to learn that all the original rangers, including that dimensions Jason and Carri, had been killed. All except for Tommy, who had been fighting the tyrant for fifteen years. He initially didn't trust the two rangers, he had no reason to. But after proving that they were there to help, he began to trust them a little. Carri's initial plan was to storm into into the Lunar Palace and kick Ivans ass, and Jason was behind her on that, but they both remembered their training and began to formulate a real plan.

After helping the three Ninjetti's defeat Ivan and give them back their world they, the three took Jason and Carri to that dimensions Phaedos, where Dulcea bestowed their own Ninjetti powers to them. Jason became the green Cougar Ninjetti and Carri the yellow Panther. Dulcea explained that their Ninjetti powers would remain with them through the interdimensional travel as they were not connected to the Morphin Grid, but to their own spirits. Afterwards they returned to their own dimension. Aulyan told them that their training was complete as there was nothing more he could do for them, except get them pointed in the right direction. He explained that while they were training and fighting Ivan that he had uncovered some information on the Courtadrones. They were led by someone called Sarahna. Why she went after Jason he didn't know. Both rangers thanked him and continued their search. It wasn't much, but at least they had a name to go on.

By that time nearly six years had passed. They spent the next two continuing their search for Sarahna, and during their search they stumbled across Kimberly Ann Hart, the original pink ranger. Jason and Carri were both surprised to find her out in space, and Kimberly was even more surprised to find them. They exchanged stories as to why they were each in space. Kim's was a bit different, yet still the same, as Jason's. After her college graduation she had been attacked by Courtadrones, and forced to flee. Kim admitted to developing powers of her own, and in turn she had been summoned by Dulcea to learn how to control them, and during the process she re-gained her Ninjetti powers, only her pink outfit was now closer to red. It was only recently that she had started the search herself. When Jason asked her what her powers were, she only said that she would tell him in time, when she felt like she had a good enough grasp on them. Dulcea had taught her how to gain control of them, but it was up to her to master them, and until then she wasn't comfortable sharing what they were.

Her training with Dulcea had been difficult, the Ninjetti master taught her how to control her powers, how to reach deep within herself in order to control them. She also taught Kim how to re-charge Power Coins. Kim had wanted to learn how to make them, but she was told that her powers had to develop further first, so instead she taught her how to temporarily re-charge them. When she told this to her two friends, who were more like her brother and sister, Jason understood where his power charge had come from, and why it hadn't lasted.

Over the next year Kim tried her hand at opening the box, and became the Red Flame Ranger, and they managed to track Sarahna to her lair and while Jason and Kim were eager to find out why they had been singled out over the past few years, even though they each had a guess as to why. Their guess was confirmed when they finally came face to face with her. It was because they were both Maligore's children, heirs to Dark Specter's throne. Sarahna wanted them out of the way so that she could claim the throne and rule the universe. The three Terra Rangers banded together and fought her, and though the battle had been long and exhausting, they eventually won. Once the fight was over, and the threat of Sarahna diminished they decided it was time to return home to their friends and family. I took them a little over a month to return home, but they had made it.

Jason sat down on the beach with his two friends Kim and Carri and watched as the sun set below the horizon. "So, what's next?" Carri asked, looking from Jason to Kim. She was glad to be back home, glad to see the beach and hear the waves. She didn't realize just how much she missed it until now.

"Well, I'm going to start looking for a job and a place to live, and all that." Kim responded as she lay back in the sand.

"We could always move in with Carri." Jason said with a laugh.

Carri knew he was joking, but it sounded good to her. It would be like they were back in college, only this time it would be a house instead of an apartment. "Hey, you know that's not a bad idea. I do have the money to put a down payment on a house and a car. It would be like old times. Come on, what do you say?"

Kim thought about it for a moment. It would give her time to actually find a job, and it would be fun to live with her again. "Alright, but just until I get my second or third paycheck and have enough to get my own place." She said, holding her finger up for emphasis.

Carri smiled at her friends answer, then turned to Jason and asked "Jase, what about you?"

Jason knew that if he said no he'd never hear the end of it, and it would be good a little while. "Okay, okay. Count me in."

Carri and Kim smiled at each other, they knew he'd say yes one way or another. "Great, we'll start looking at houses first thing tomorrow. In the mean time, I'm kind of hungry."

"Arby's is open. Maybe. If that hasn't changed like everything else has." Kim pointed out, motioning towards the city.

"At least the waves sound the same." Jason remarked. "Anyway, now that you mention it, I could go for a bite to eat too. My treat." That decided the trio got up and headed for the nearest Arby's. Jason was glad that he had held onto an Earth twenty-dollar bill when he left.

It was a long walk, but not nearly as long as any walk they had been on during their years of training. After arriving at Arby's and getting their food they three friends sat down to enjoy their first real food in almost a decade. "I had forgotten how good their chicken was." Kim said as she swallowed the first bite of her chicken tenders.

"I know. This Jr. Roastbeef is delicious!" Carri said. Jason just chuckled at the two, acting like kids on Christmas over food.

Both girls noticed their friend chuckling, but decided to ignore it. They were all just glad to be back home, enjoying real food, in their hometown.