Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. Someone else does.

Thanks to Dagmar for beta reading this for me. I made some changes. I think I see what you meant by the sentence structure being a bit simpler in this chapter, but I can't seem to figure out how to improve it. So, I left it as it is and hopefully I'll get more complex in the next chapter.

Please let me know if I make any errors. I have no problems with constructive criticism.

This is set after "Transmission Impossible."

And I still stink at titles :)

I Have a Sister?

by

Eileen (Psycho Tangerine)

Chapter Four: Picnic of Fear

"You know, this lunch isn't half bad," stated Tanya as she bit into a ham and cheese sandwich. "I guess you pass as a sandwich-maker, Justin."

"Yeah, well I wanted to make some kind of dessert, like a cake or something, but Mrs. DeSoot wouldn't let me use the oven."

"Do you think it may have something to do with those 'humongous triple chocolate peanut butter and jelly' cookies you and your friends tried to bake last month?" queried Tommy teasingly. "I heard you guys had to spend the next day scraping hardened dough off the counters and burnt cookie out of the oven."

"Well, at least he knows not to leave eggshells in salads," said Kat in disgust as she picked a piece out of her mouth. "And whatever possessed you to flavor potato salad with ketchup?"

"I ran out of mayonnaise?" Tommy suggested lamely. "Besides, I figured since ketchup tastes great with everything else…"

"I think I'll just stick with a veggie burger." Kat looked at Adam who was doing the barbecuing. "How's it coming?"

"Almost done," Adam replied. "I just have to…" He was interrupted as a Piranhatron rammed into him.

"Whoa! Where'd they come from?" asked Tanya as she jumped up to face two other piranhatrons.

"Never mind that," commented Tommy as he flipped a fishhead over his shoulders.

"Why do they have to keep interrupting our picnics? They're worse than ants."

The Rangers continued to fight unmorphed until they were certain that all the other picnickers had fled the area. Then they morphed into the Turbo Rangers. After that, it took very little time for them to pulverize the remaining Piranhatrons.

"What was that about?" wondered Kat.

"I'll tell you what that was about," sneered a voice from behind them.

"That was about me and how I'm going to give you the scare of your lives!"

"Ucchh, I hate jellyfish," Justin groaned as he stared at the slimy-looking multicolored creature, remembering a sting he had received only two summers earlier. "What in the world ... are those jellybeans in him?"

"Yep, just call me the JellyBelly Fish, J. B. for short. And here's a sweet treat for you!" With that, he shot several pellets through one of his tentacle-cannons at the Blue Ranger.

Justin jumped away just before the small projectiles could reach him. J. B. continued to shoot infected jellybeans at the Rangers and the Rangers continued to dodge out of the way.

"Oh man, he'd better run out of these damn things soon." Tommy called as he rolled away from yet another barrage before firing his auto blaster.

"Yeah," Adam replied. "These things are non-stop!" He dove under a barrage of jellybeans. "I hope I never see another damn jelly.."

WHUMP!

Unfortunately, Adam did not notice the slight indentation in the ground as he began another run and dive. Catching his foot in the dent, he fell down hard on his side.

"Adam!" Tanya gasped as he took a hit from several jelly beans. Her brief pause in ducking caused her to receive her own barrage just a few seconds later.

"Ha! Two Rangers down, three more to go," J.B. gloated as he continued to shoot jelly beans.

"Adam, Tanya!" Tommy called to his two teammates who were now cowering back from the fight. "Hey! What's wrong with you guys?"

"No!" Adam screamed in what seemed like pure terror as he stared down at his feet.

"I didn't mean it, I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"Hurt who?" Justin called as he ducked more jelly beans.

"Look at them just scurrying there," Adam moaned. "And we just trample them any which way we want. Are we that cruel to such tiny creatures?"

"What?" Tommy was flabbergasted. "You're freaking out about stepping on a few bugs? Tanya, talk some sense into him. Tanya?" But when he glanced in her direction he noticed that she was staring at her own feet in equal horror.

"I don't think she's going to be of help either, Tommy," Kat shouted as she sidestepped more projectiles and returned fire with her auto blaster. "I'm guessing their sudden fear is caused by that stupid candy."

"I think I've finally had my fill of jelly beans," said Justin slightly out of breath. "But how do we stop him? We don't have full capacity with both Adam and Tanya out of commission."

"Maybe there's a weak spot we could all fire on?" suggested Kat.

"Good idea," replied Tommy. "Maybe we could blind it if we all fire on its eyes."

"Ok," agreed Justin.

"Ok, on the count of three, we fire at its eyes together. Ready? One...two...three!"

"Fire!" they all shouted immediately before J.B. could release even more of his projectiles.

"Aggggh!" howled the monster as he took the blasts full-force and collapsed on the ground.

Ten seconds later J.B. was growing with the help of a torpedo.

"Oh great, now what do we do?" groaned Kat in exasperation.

"We need Turbo Zord power, now!" called the three Rangers who were still in commission. However, Adam and Tanya did not call their Zords or even seem to notice that they needed to.

"Guys, we really could use some help here," Tommy shouted to Adam and Tanya. "We can't destroy that monster without you."

"Mmmmm...Monster?" Tanya squeaked as she ducked behind a large tree. "Tell me when it's gone!"

Adam stared at the gigantic jellyfish but didn't move. "You...you want me to fight him? I can't, I might hurt him...or he might hurt me. I mean you really can't expect me to do something so dangerous...how can I fight him? Do I have the right to even try to stop him? If he gets hit, will he not bleed and cry just like I would if I got hit, just like those poor little insects who I just crushed so thoughtlessly...oh, God!..." he cried, falling to his knees, "I am so, so, sorry...those poor defenseless little things, what can I do to make it up to them?"

"Useless," Tommy groaned, "they're completely useless to us."

"And helpless," Kat added. "Don't you think you should get them out of danger?"

"Right," replied Tommy. A second later, Adam and Tanya disappeared in columns of green and yellow.

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"Yo, yo, yo," said Alpha 6 as Adam and Tanya appeared in the Power Chamber. "What are you two doing here? That candy monster's gonna step on your friends!"

"Ahhhhhh!" The two Rangers screamed at the sight of the short robot.

Dimitria appeared in her tube at that point. "Alpha, do you not realize that there is something wrong?" She looked in puzzlement at the two cowering Rangers. "Adam, Tanya, why are you two behaving in such a strange manner?"

"Ahhhh! What is it?" Adam whined, still staring at Alpha 6.

"Never mind that," Tanya stammered as she pointed to Dimitria, "sh..she has something over her mouth...she must have a really contagious disease."

"We're going to die!" Adam moaned. He and Tanya backed into a corner. But when they bumped into each other, they yelped and ran into a different corner each.

"Yo, yo, yo," Alpha 6 said, "we don't have time for that. The other Rangers are in deep trouble without the Desert Thunder and Dune Star Zords."

"Is it not possible to direct those Zords by remote control?" Dimitria asked.

"Not really," answered Alpha 6. "Our information on past Zords indicate that some of them had been equipped with a remote control feature. But we haven't been able to get very far with installing remote controls into these particular Zords."

"Alpha? What are our other options?"

"Someone has to pilot each Zord," Alpha answered. "And they need to do it like yesterday," he added, mentally wincing at the viewscreen as Wind Chaser Zord took a nasty blast.

"Do we have any other choice?" Dimitria sighed to herself. "Tanya and Adam, will you allow me to take your powers for awhile if I promise to keep you both safe and sound here?"

Tanya and Adam looked at Dimitria, but were both too frightened to respond. Instead, they nodded and took off their morphers. "Don't touch me!" Tanya cried when Alpha reached out to her.

"Sheesh, I'm sorry," Alpha answered. "Why don't you put your morphers on the floor?" As soon as Adam and Tanya complied, he gently picked them up. "Yo, Dimitria, now what? It's not like we have anyone to give these to. Do we?"

"Are there not two former Rangers still living in Angel Grove?" For some strange reason, Dimitria was getting tired of having to tell her assistant the obvious all the time. "Would they not come to their friends' aid if called?"

Alpha 6 noticed the slight tenseness in his boss's voice, but decided that it wasn't the time to verbally acknowledge it. Instead, he set the controls and teleported in two very surprised individuals.

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Luckily for the Rangers, the fear-producing jelly beans were ineffective with the JellyBelly Fish at such a huge height. However, he was still able to do some damage to their individual Zords through the use of his tentacle cannons.

"We're not going to last much longer," Justin announced over his communicator. "We're all under 75 power levels!"

"Regroup," Tommy ordered. "Let's try to aim at his back, I think I saw a small chink in there." But, unfortunately, J.B. was also aware of this slight weakness and kept his back away from the Rangers as he continued to blast at them.

"Soon, I will have you all trembling just like your yellow-bellied friends," he taunted.

"Never!" Tommy retorted. "And they're no cowards. Not without that spell of yours."

"Look!" Justin shouted as the Dune Star and Desert Thunder Zords appeared at the battle site.

"Adam, Tanya, is that you? Are you all right now?" Kat called to the two approaching Zords.

"No time for that!" cried Tommy as he took a particularly nasty hit. "We'd better form the Turbo Megazord and get rid of this gigantic sugar headache!"

"Initiating Turbo Megazord!" shouted all five Rangers. As soon as the Turbo Megazord was assembled, they had it pull out its giant saber.

Kat frowned in thought. There had been something different about some of the voices that had called for the Megazord. Very familiar, but different.

"Hah!" cried J.B., "What can that dinky thing do in comparison to my cannons!"

"You'll see," cried Tommy. "Turbo Megazord Spinout!" he ordered. The spinning Megazord immediately sliced into the flabbergasted creature, which exploded into a million pieces.

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Three seconds later, the Rangers appeared in the Power Chamber.

"I am NEVER eating jellybeans again," groaned Justin.

"Yeah, right," teased Tommy. "You'll be scoffing them down by next Easter."

Kat shook her head at them. "Uh, am I the only one who can see that isn't Tanya in the Yellow outfit? And that the Green Ranger is a bit huskier than usual?"

The figure in Green snickered and then powered down.

"Jason!" exclaimed Tommy.

"I was wondering how soon someone would notice," said Jason. He turned to the still morphed Yellow Ranger. "You may as well demorph. It's not all that bad."

"You wouldn't say that if you had ended up as Yellow," Rocky grumbled as he powered down. "Thank you for noticing I wasn't Tanya," he commented to Kat.

"You're welcome," replied Kat. "Besides, it's not like a guy couldn't be a Yellow Ranger," she continued, referring to the Aquitian Rangers.

"And at least you didn't have to be Pink," added Justin. He ducked at Kat's swipe.

"So, I guess you being Green is your vengeance for my taking your old color?" Tommy asked teasingly of his best friend. He was glad to have his old sparring partner back. He hoped Jason would start hanging around again after he gave the power back to... Tommy mentally smacked himself on the forehead. "Dimitria. Where are Adam and Tanya? How are they doing?"

"I placed them into seperate rooms," said Alpha 6. "They're too scared of Dimitria and me for us to even talk to them. They're scared of each other as well."

"What happened to them, anyway?" asked Kat. "I've never seen them act like that."

"Yo, yo, yo, how should I know?" retorted Alpha Six in his usual manner. "I guess those jelly beans had some spell or something on them. But I don't know how to heal them."

"Never mind," said Tommy. "Let's just start looking for a way to cure Adam and Tanya." He turned to Jason and Rocky. "Will you guys be able to continue fighting in their places?" He wished that they could stay on the team permanently, but he knew that Adam and Tanya would want their powers back as soon as they were cured.

"Definitely," responded Jason as he whacked his best friend on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. "I miss being a Ranger."

Rocky sighed. "Well...I guess I could tolerate being Yellow for a little while longer." He felt a bit envious of Jason and Tommy. He had seen Adam's terror when Jason and he had arrived in the Power Chamber earlier. If he tried to interact with his own best friend at this point, he would cause a complete panic attack.

"Do you not think it would be best to start searching for that cure?" asked Dimitria, speaking for the first time.

"We'll need to get blood and hair samples from them first," said Justin. "That won't be easy to do since they're so scared of us."

"Kat," said Tommy, "can you help Justin with that? I think you'll have the most calming effect out of all of us."

"Sure," answered Kat as she followed her younger teammate out of the room.

"In the meanwhile, would it not be best for me to search for a cure in my own way?" With that, Dimitria faded from sight.

"Well," said Jason as he sat at one of the consoles. "While she's busy doing that, we may as well search the data banks here for anything related to fear-related spells."

"Good idea," replied Tommy. He looked at the computer in front of him in confusion. "Too bad the only ones who could figure this thing out were Billy, Trini, and Adam."

Rocky groaned in exasperation and pressed a few buttons. A search engine popped up. "Hey," he explained to the startled Rangers. "I did learn something in that computer class. Besides, I've observed Adam and Billy a lot while they were working."

"O...kay, then why don't you run the searches, Rocky." Tommy headed to the Zord Bay door. "I think I'll do better helping with the Zord repairs."

"I'll go with you," announced Jason. "I'll be more useful with a wrench. Besides, we'd better get them fixed quickly before Divatox attacks again." He followed Tommy out of the room.

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Two hours later, the Rangers had regrouped in the main chamber to compare what they had found so far.

"Whew," said Justin as he glanced at Kat. They were both sweating and out of breath as well. "Those two were really wild with terror. Even Kat couldn't calm them. We had to grab the blood and hair by force."

Tommy noticed the large bruise on Kat's cheek. "Did Adam do that to you?" he asked a bit disturbed.

"Actually it was Tanya. She's got a great right hook."

"I've already fed the samples into the computer," stated Justin. He joined Rocky who had already begun watching the information for possible match-ups of the infected tissue to possible cures.

At the same time, Dimitria stood in the privacy of her chamber, mentally sending messages out to her colleagues. As soon as she had done so, she remained in her trance, in hopes that someone would soon respond to her messages with useful information. And, while in that trance, she had yet another dream.

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From the cave in which she had been hiding and waiting, the middle-aged Inquirian felt a shiver. Instinctively, she knew what had just occurred and bowed her head in silence for the young woman she had known for only a short time. Several hours later, she became aware of voices and knew that her wait in the cave, situated on top of Mount Arosios, was about to end.

"Just put her here," came a voice from just outside the cave. "No, Barnos, there's no sense in giving her that cloak for warmth. You'd only delay the inevitable. We've got to get back before sunrise. General's orders."

The Inquirian listened as the sound of the men descending the mountain diminished until the only sound left was that of the soft whimperings of a child. Peeking out of the cave, she saw Dimitria standing in just her white nightgown, sucking her thumb and weeping softly to herself. "Dimi?" she whispered gently, "Dimi, do you not know it is me? Marala?" She walked over to the shivering child. She picked her up and carried her back to the cave where her small ship was hidden.

Pulling her thumb from her mouth, the little girl snuggled up to the woman and said drowsily. "Are we gonna go see Mamma and Divi, now?"

"Wouldn't it please us both if I could say 'yes'?" Marala sighed wistfully, wishing with all her heart there had been some way for her to know where the other little girl had been left. The thought of her freezing or starving to death alone somewhere saddened the woman deeply.

"Dimi," she whispered to the now-sleeping toddler as she strapped her into a seat of the ship, "Would it be at all possible for me to take care of you, even though I am not young anymore? How can I not take care of you since you cannot live on this planet anymore and I am the only one who can take you off it?" With that, she started her ship and lifted off.

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Dimitria snapped out of her trance with a start. "How is it after all this time I finally remember being left alone and that nice woman who took me in her spaceship?" she whispered to herself in a mix of shock and sadness. "But, does this mean that I am not truly Inquirian? And who is this Divi? Is it possible that my enemy is also my sister?"