Chapter 3

The three rangers arrived to where the monster was. They were all surprized to see not a monster, but a man. A blond headed man. This was something different all together. They had never fought a living person, besides Elsa, of course.

But this guy didn't look evil, except for the evil looking staff that he held in his hand. He wore silver and his spikes were silver tipped. He actually looked pretty handsome.

"Is it just me, or does this seem different from all the other times we fought the bad guys?" Ethan asked.

"It is. I don't think this guy really wants to fight us. He looks like he dosen't event want to be here," Kira replied.

"That could always mean he thinks we're not powerful enough to fight him. He could be bored," Conner put in.

"Well, we can at least talk to the guy. See what he wants," Kira said. But when they walked forward, a sliver blast of power came at them and knocked them backward. The man had shot at them! But that shouldn't have been too unusual to them. It had happened to them more than once.

"Well, I wasn't really expecting that," Conner stated.

"You are pitiful fools," the man mocked them. "What in the world would make you think that I wouldn't kill you?"

"I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way," Ethan said. And with that, the Dino Ranger started to get their asses kicked.

When they were all thrown back agian, Conner sttod up and said, "This guy is tougher than I thought. I guess it's time to go to Super Dino Mode!" And with flashes of lights, they were transformed into their more powerful modes. Then they attacked wiht more vigor than before. There was no way they were going to let this man get off scotch free.

On a hill above the Dino Rangers, a woman with blond hair watched the fight take place. This was never supposed to happen, espesally to the man the rangers were fighting. He used to be one of the good guys. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him to make him evil. But she knew she had to help the other rangers. She was the only one who knew his moves.

The girl raised her hand up and shouted, "Let's Rocket!" And in a flash of purple light, she stood there in a purple asto ranger uniform. "Now it's time to go kick some but." And with that, she leaped from the cliff and landed a few feet away from the fight. She ran forward and joined the fight.

Kira yelled as a silver blast came at her. She shut her eyes and awaited for the balst to hit her. It never did. She opened her eyes and saw a different ranger standing in front of her. She had deflected the blow.

"Dr. O, do you knowanything about this?" Kira asked through the lind to head quarters.

"No I've never seen this ranger before. Her uiform is the same as the astro rangers, but I thought that they had lost their powers when they destroyed Astronama," Tommy informed her.

"I don't much care about that. I just want to know if she is here to help us or him."

Kira got her answer when the purple ranger kicked the man as hard as she could. She didn't stop there. While he was fly ing through the air, she attacked agian, not giving him time to recover. He landed on the ground twenty feet away.

The girl in purple turned to the Dino Rangers. "Hi, guys. I just thought i could give you a hand."

"We appreiceate it, but who are you?" Conner demanded.

They all turned to the man when they saw him get up. "I would explain, but we've got to deal with this idiot first," the girl in purple explained.

"Don't worry about that. I know just the thing to bring him down," Conner said. "Come on, guys. Let's put 'em together!"

The purple astro ranger watched in horror as the other put their weapons together. "No!" she whisperd while running to put herself in the way of the blast.

"T-Rex blaster!" the Dino Rangers shouted in unison. They yelled when instead of hitting the man, it hit the purple ranger. She was thrown backward, right on top of the man. When she was demorphed, they finally got to see the woman.

"Zhane, you've got to stop this. This isn't who you really are. Comeback to me," they heard her whisper to the man.

The woman looked into the man's, Zhane, eyes and she saw a flicker of recognization in his eyes. "Karone," he croaked, "you've got to help me. I don't know--" he stoped suddenly and threw off the woman. He glared at all the rangers and then he disapeared.

"No!" Karone yelled out. "Zhane come back to me!"

"What the hell is going on?" Conner demanded. "I thought you were on our side?"

"I am."

"Then why did you protect him? We could have killed you!"

"It's a long story, and I don't have the time to tell it. I've got to find him," Karone answered. When she stood up, she almost fell back down agian.

"I don't think you're in any shape to go anywhere," Ethan stated.

"Come, on. We'll take to head-quarters. Then we'll find out some real answers," Conner said.

When they arrived at head-quarters, Karone was set down in a chair. "Okay, now tell us what in the hell is going on," Conner demanded.

"Do you all know the story about the astro rangers?" Karone asked. They all nodded. "Well, as you can tell, I'm one of them."

"But, wait a minute," Tommy inturrupted. "There were only five to begin with and then a sixth on arrived."

"Are you going to let me tell the story or not?" When he nodded sheepishly, she continued. "Tommy is right. At first there were only five: Ashley, Cassie, T.J, Carlos, and Andros. Later, Zhane was brought into the picture."

"Wait a minute. Didn't you call that guy Zhane?" Conner demanded. When Karone looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he said,"Sorry. Continue."

"But what a lot of people didn't know was that Andros had a sister who had been kidnapped when they were still little. I am his sister, but I used to not go by the name 'Karone.' I was once known as Astronama." Karone paused for a second before continuing. "It was later during a battle that Andros found out that I was his sister."

"But how does Zhane come into the picture?" Kimberly asked.

"Zhane and Andros were best friends growing up. And to be honest, my relationship with Zhane started when I was still Astronama."

"How did that happen?" Kira asked this time.

"He saved my life," Karone replied.

"Why would a Ranger save the bad guys life," Conner asked.

"Because I shot the monster that I had sent down to defeat the Rangers so it turned on me. It knocked me out, and Zhane rescued me. Later, I set up a date with him, but he was late because one of my minions sent down a monster and I didn't believe him when he tried to explain," Karone told him.

"Then how did Zhane become evil?" Tommy asked.

"A few months ago, he started to act weird. He became distant and cold and then he dissapeared. It wasn't until now that I found him."

"But that dosen't explain how you got a Astro Ranger uniform," Tommy said.

"When Andros found out that I was his sister, he set out to make me good agian. He succeeded, too. During the few short days that I was good, he had started to make a uniform for me, but before he could give it to me, an astroid was being sent toward Earth and I was the only one who could stop it. I boarded the Dark Fortress and tried to stop its coarse to earth, but my minions captured me and made me evil agian by putting a chip in my head that made me forget everythng but being evil. I almost killed the rangers before I was made good agian. And when I found out that Zhane was evil, I went to Andros and made him give me the uniform," she explained to them.

"How do we stop him?" Kimberly asked.

"I don't know. When he was a Ranger, he was the strongest. I don't know how much power he has from his Ranger days," she supplied.

"Apparently a lot. He totally kicked our asses out there," Ethan said. Kira and and Connor glared at him. "What? It's the truth."

"To tell you the truth, I'm not all that surprized. Zhane was always a very strong ranger. Without him, the other rangers would have been hurt a lot worse than they were. Zhane even saved their live a fews times." Karone stopped, remembering those times.

"Do you know any of his weaknesses?" Conner asked.

"As far as I know, he dosen't have any," Karone told them regretfully.

"Yeah he does," Kira said. "It's you."

"What do you mean," Karone demanded.

"Well, when you had him pinned, he almost looked like he reconized you. It was like he didn't want to fight you," she replied.

"I think that's mostly because the spell hasn't fully taken him over yet," Karone explained. "He's a strong fighter and he won't stop until he has no more strength to go on."

All the rangers fell into silence. It was broken by a ringing phone. Tommy got up and answered it. "Oliver residence. Yes, he's right here." Tommy looked over at Conner and said, "It's for you."

"Okay. I'll take it upstairs." He got up and walked up the stairs and out of the lab.

"I wonder what that was about?" Ethan asked after a few minuties.

"I don't know but I'm gonna find out," Kira stated and followed Conner upstairs.

Up stairs, Conner picked up the phone. "Hello."

"Is this Conner McKnight?" the voice over the phone asked.

"Yes, it is," he answered.

"I'm Robert Brinegar. I'm your ex-wife's lawyer. I just thought I'd call to inform you that last night, she died in a car accident. You know longer have to worry about the court battle. We need you to come and pick up your son a soon as possible," the man told him.

"Okay. Thank you. I'll take the first flight out." Conner spoke as calmly as he could. He hung up the phone after saying goodbye and turned to find Kira.

"What's wrong, Conner," she asked.

"Krista's dead, Kira. My son's mine. Why should I feel so happy about her being dead?" he said

"Conner, as long as your not happy she's dead then there's nothing to be worried about. You should be happy about getting Mason back. You're a good father," she comforted. Still seeing the tormented look in his eyes, she pulled him into her arms. "It will be okay, Conner. When do you need to go get him?"

"Whenever the first flight is. But what are you guys going to do about Zhane?" Conner asked.

"Don't worry, Conner, we can handle it for a day or two. Go get your son. I can explain it too them."

"Thanks, Kira. I owe ya one," Conner told her after pulling away.

"Don't think I won't collect on it either," Kira teased. "Go on. Your son must be looking forward to seeing you," she said.

"Thanks agian. Bye," he said before walking out the door.

"Looks like it time for me to go explain it to the troops." Kira took a deep breath and walked back down the stairs to the lab.