Ch 11

Andros let out a sigh as he opened his eyes and found himself on the floor in the middle of his bedroom.

He was nowhere close to the place that he had hoped he would dream about. His last thoughts before falling asleep were of the beautiful parks of KO-35 and of holding his beautiful Yellow Astroranger in his arms. But Arcadia was nowhere around and he was not on KO-35.

He sat there a while, waiting for Arcadia to show up at any moment as she had in the past. But minutes went by and she never came. It was the most boring dream he had ever had.

Finally, after several failed attempts to wake up, a knock came on his bedroom door. It slid open before he could answer the knock and both Arcadia and Ashley stepped into his room in matching Yellow Ranger uniforms, looking down at him with frowns on their faces.

"What's going on?" Andros asked, standing from his spot on the floor and glancing back and forth between the two of them.

"You've made a mistake, Andros," Arcadia said. "You need to apologize to us."

"What mistake?" Andros asked.

"We're not the same person," Ashley replied softly. "Arcadia and I are two different people."

"I know that," he said.

"Then, why are we dressed alike?" Arcadia asked him, pointing down at her yellow shirt.

"You were both Yellow Rangers," Andros answered. "And I didn't dress you alike."

"You have no idea how much power you really have over us, do you?" Ashley asked softly, reaching into her pocket and holding up the envelope with his name on it.

Andros narrowed his eyes at her and snatched the envelope away. "Why do you have this again?" he asked angrily.

"Why won't you let go of it?" Arcadia asked in return. "Keeping it doesn't change anything and it'll only cause us to hate you."

"You would hate me, Arcadia?" Andros asked, somewhat hurt by her choice of the word 'hate'.

"I hate you now," she answered gently. "As I told you before, your memory of me is wrong. Things were different than you remember. You would know that if you ever talked to Zhane about what happened."

"Zhane and I aren't speaking right now," Andros replied gently. "And if you would just tell me what isn't the same with us, I can fix it and –"

Arcadia put a finger to his lips, immediately stopping his words. "I told you before that I don't know anymore than you do," she said, flicking the envelope in his hand with two fingers. "But if I were you, I'd destroy that first before you lose your friends over it."

"My 'friends' don't know what it is," Andros said.

"You'll tell us before long," Ashley said. "But you're sure to lose us before you get the chance to explain things."

"So what is it that you want me to do?" he asked in frustration.

Arcadia walked up to him and snatched the envelope back from him. "Bury it," she yelled at him. "Just bury it!"

***

Andros woke up with a start, the first time in a while that he was able to wake himself up from a dream about Arcadia. Usually Zhane would have shaken him awake by now, complaining that he had slept through something important. But as he glanced around the bridge and found himself still alone, he quickly remembered why he was there and that Zhane was not going to be talking to him for a while.

Bury it…

Bury what? The dream was already a distant blur now, with only a few words standing out to him. All he could really recall was Ashley and Arcadia being angry with him over something that he needed to bury.

For the next few minutes, Andros thought about the dream, not sure that he wanted to drift back into it as long as both women were angry with him. Arcadia had never been that angry with him before in real life, let alone in one of his dreams. And he still did not know what he could have done to make Ashley so upset. Even in a dream, it was enough to make him feel kind of… well, kind of bad.

He closed his eyes for a while as he thought, leaning his head back in his seat and eventually drifting back to sleep. When his eyes opened again, he could hear the beeps coming from the console behind him and he turned around to find Zhane pressing some buttons behind him.

"Zhane?" he called out softly as his eyes completely opened and he focused on the image of his friend.

Zhane glanced at Andros and then back to the screen in front of him. "I'm just double-checking a few things before we get to Onyx," he said with a sigh. "I'll be out of your way in a second."

"No," Andros said, sitting up in his seat and swiveling around to face Zhane. "I, um, I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"You mean you aren't done talking down to me yet?" he asked, keeping his eyes forward at the screen.

"We have to talk about what happened last night," Andros said. "We can't go to Onyx angry with each other. If anything were to happen to either of us and we were still mad at each other –"

"What do you want to say?" Zhane interrupted.

Andros let out a breath before starting, his mouth suddenly becoming dry at the thought of apologizing. "We both said some things that we didn't mean –"

"Speak for yourself," Zhane interrupted again, meeting Andros' eyes. "I didn't say anything that I wouldn't say again, so don't apologize for me."

"Fine," Andros said uncomfortably. "Well, I did say some things that I wish I hadn't. So, I'm sorry."

Zhane shook his head gently. "I'm not even mad about what you said," he said. "I don't care if you blame me for what happened to our friends. I don't care if you never show me what's inside that stupid envelope. And I really don't care if you mean this apology or not. I'm only angry because I'm tired of not being able to talk to you about what happened to our friends that day."

Andros lowered his head a little. "I want to talk about it," he said softly. "I just can't do it yet… But I want to."

"Why can't you?" Zhane asked.

"Because you already know how I felt about what happened," he answered. "You know how I feel now… And I feel like that isn't what you mean when you say that you want to talk about it." Andros pulled the envelope from his pocket and tossed it to Zhane, who caught it between two fingers.

"Are you giving me your official permission to look at this?" Zhane asked, glancing down at it.

"I wanted to show you when I found it in my room that day," Andros said with a sigh. "But I could barely bring myself to look at it… It was easier to deal with on my own, I guess."

"By shutting me out?" Zhane asked. "That made it easier on you?"

Andros shrugged. "Maybe," he replied. "But that's not how you deal with things. I had forgotten that… So if you really want to talk about it, we can talk about it."

"I don't want to talk about it right now," Zhane said, shaking his head. "I spent way too much time and energy talking about it last night with Cassie. I'm actually pretty exhausted… But I want to ask you one thing before we leave for Onyx."

"Sure," Andros said.

"Do you really blame me for our friends' deaths?" he asked, analyzing the look on Andros' face and scanning for evidence of a lie.

"I used to," Andros admitted in a small voice. "I really used to. But I blamed them and myself too. It just seemed so reckless, letting them on our ship. We barely questioned them and I can't help wondering if things might have been different if we had… But now I don't think that it would have made a difference one way or another. Those monsters would have found a way onto our ship even if we hadn't fallen for their trap… We're not always on guard and it shouldn't be that way or we'll miss out on –"

"Hold on," Zhane interrupted, a look of confusion on his face. "Between last night and this morning, you gained that much insight? How?"

"I've spent more than enough time and energy thinking about all of this too," Andros answered. "I've been practicing this speech in my head for the past ten months, but I… I couldn't say it then."

"You really want me to see this?" Zhane asked, holding up the envelope.

"Yeah," Andros said. "I need you to… then maybe I won't feel so alone in this."

Zhane opened the flap of the envelope and pulled out the thin piece of paper inside, staring at it for a while. His expression was blank and then one of confusion as he turned the paper to one side and then the other. He squinted at it and brought it toward his face and then away from it.

"You don't know what it is either," Andros said with a small smile. "It's okay. I didn't know what it was when I first looked at it. DECA had to tell me."

"What is it?" Zhane asked, staring at the black-and-white picture of grainy fuzz in front of him.

Andros stood up from his seat and walked to where Zhane stood, placing a finger on the edge of the picture. "Follow my finger," he said softly.

Zhane nodded as Andros began moving his finger along the picture in a series of squiggles and loops. "Do you see it yet?" he asked, looking up at him again.

"Not really," Zhane replied. "What is it?"

Andros pointed at the picture again, this time outlining something round. "This is a head," he sighed softly.

"It's a sonogram," Zhane said sadly. "She was…"

Andros nodded sadly. "That's why," he said, his eyes filling with tears. "That's why I couldn't deal with this. I just couldn't understand it, you know?"

"Understand what?"

"She printed this for me," he began, placing the sonogram back inside the envelope as a few of his tears fell. "That means that she knew about it before we landed on Wateth to fight those monsters. She knew that she was putting herself at risk by fighting… And now I'll never know why she let it happen. I'll never know what she was thinking."

"I'm sorry," Zhane said. "I didn't know… Is that why she was so distant around that time –she didn't know how to tell you about it?"

"I guess so," Andros answered, stuffing the envelope back into his pocket and wiping his tears away. "But I guess I'll never know."

"No," Zhane agreed, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I guess you never can."

***

A couple of hours had gone by slowly before DECA finally informed the rangers that they were within orbit of the planet Onyx. At least a half-hour before, she had insisted on announcing to them how dangerous and forbidden Onyx was. And the rangers had successfully tuned her out, not needing to be psyched out of this mission. They had to get to the Veo Prism shards before Astronema.

In spite of their initiative to get to Onyx as soon as possible, the rangers were all a little nervous. The plan was simple enough –they would stay together unless they were forced to split up by the monsters. The rangers would keep a low enough profile so as not to attract any monsters, which would be easy enough. No one knew they were coming and no one knew what the Power Rangers looked like demorphed. But it was not the plan that worried them.

They were more than used to defending a planet attacked by a monster or two, but they had never had to defend themselves against an entire planet of monsters before. So to pass the time, they went over their plans again and again, hoping that their nervousness would fade over time. But there was little time for that to occur and by the time DECA announced their arrival, they were more nervous than before.

They were more tense as they teleported from the Megaship, landing in front of what appeared to be a tavern on Onyx. They had all agreed not to morph, an obvious measure to keep a low profile, but eleven humans walking around the monster-infested planet was more than enough to catch the attention of any who happened to see them. But none of the monsters dared to confront them. If the humans did not start trouble, neither would they.

"We're not getting anywhere," Andros said after a while, lowering the Am-Scanner in his hand. "We won't be able to search this entire planet without one of these monsters starting trouble for us. We need more of a lead than this."

"We agreed that being patient was important for this mission," Zhane said.

"Yeah, well what do you want to do, go inside and start asking questions?" Cassie asked with a scoff, but when she looked to Andros for an answer he was already gone.

The rangers exchanged glances and hurried into the closest tavern to them, hoping that this would not turn into a search-and-rescue for Andros. They did not have time to revisit every building they had passed, nor would it be safe to do so. His impatience was already getting them into trouble.

By the time they walked inside, Andros had already made his way to the other side of the room, having caught the eye of every monster in the place. Now the monsters turned to the rangers standing at the entrance, staring daggers into them as they cautiously passed by them and made their way to Andros.

Andros had come upon a monster with bright yellow eyes and a haunting smile that seemed to fade a little as the Red Ranger approached him.

"What do you want, human?" it asked, turning back to its drink.

"I'm not here to start any trouble," Andros replied.

"Coming here and looking like that, you're asking for nothing but trouble," it said. "And I don't do favors for humans… especially Power Rangers"

"And I don't do favors for things like you," Andros replied. "But I'll do you a favor if you do one for me."

"There isn't anything that you can do for me," it said, finishing the last of its drink and tossing the cup over the counter where he sat.

"Actually, there is," Andros corrected him. "You see my friends behind me? They're all rangers too and I'm sure you know how much we hate monsters… All we need is information so if you help us, we'll walk out of here and forget that this place even exists. This place remains your sanctuary… But if you decide that you won't help us, we can't promise to be so kind before we leave here."

The monster stood from his stool and turned to Andros slowly. "Sounds like an empty threat to me," it growled. "Because I have friends too, most of them all around you and your friends. And you already know how we feel about you… So we remain at a standstill, I'm afraid."

Zhane leaned forward and pulled Andros back a little by his shirt. "Let's just go," he said before Andros could throw out another threat. "He's not going to tell us anything."

"Everything has its price," Andros said, pulling himself from Zhane's grasp. "What else do you want? Jewels? Viliars? Credits?"

"That depends on what you're looking for," the monster said with a laugh.

"Veo Prism shards," Andros said, walking back up to him.

"You need to know where they are?" it asked. "If I knew that, I'd have them myself."

"We don't have time for this," Kim hissed at him. "The point was to stay out of trouble, wasn't it?"

"I'm afraid it's too late for that," the monster said, drawing a sword from its sheath and pointing it at the rangers as several other monsters surrounded them.

"We didn't come here to fight," T.J. said carefully as he and the others attempted to back away slowly.

"Really?" Andros asked. "Because I kind of did."

"So did I," the monster laughed, holding out a hand and sending the rangers flying back with a single blast of energy that tore through the tavern's wall.

The monster laughed again and approached the rangers as they slowly got back to their feet, ignoring the chaos he had created by destroying the tavern. Luckily for the rangers, most of the other monsters had decided not to involve themselves in this fight, knowing the reputation of the Power Rangers to win fights like these. Even with there being more of them than of the rangers, many of them saw it as a losing battle and ran off to find another tavern.

But seven other monsters remained, all with similar piercing yellow eyes and haunting smiles on their faces as they laughed at the rangers. For a moment, they seemed somewhat familiar to Andros and he stared at them, ultimately deciding that it did not matter if he knew them. They would be destroyed soon enough.

"Veo Tech Time!" he heard Tommy shout from behind him.

"Let's rocket!" Andros called out reflexively.

With a flash, the rangers were morphed, their weapons drawn and pointed at the monsters that continued to laugh at them evilly.

"We're going to have fun wiping the smiles off your faces," Andros said, lifting his Spiral Saber.

"You must not know who we are," one of the monsters said. It stepped forward as it became engulfed in light that faded quickly around it, revealing its latest image –Wan.

Three of the other monsters stepped forward, enveloped by the same bright light and revealing a human body –three humans that were not familiar to the other rangers except for Andros and Zhane.

"Tsukon, Darkonda, and Mirit," Zhane remembered.

"So you do remember us," Darkonda laughed. "That's good. Then I don't have to remind you that we've taken out your kind before… and quite easily if I remember."

"'Our kind' has changed a lot since then," Tommy said, powering up his sword. "Let's get 'em, guys."

The Veo Tech Rangers ran at the monsters first, sending powerful blasts at the creatures that dared to brag about destroying Power Rangers. The Astrorangers followed, led by Zhane and Andros, guided by the memory of their fallen friends.

These were the beasts that had killed their friends, Andros kept thinking to himself with every strike. They were the reason that he would never see Arcadia again. They were the reason that he was not a father. These vile beings were the reasons for all the misery in his and Zhane's lives. And they had to be destroyed.

Things were going well for the rangers at first, combining their weapons and firing all at once. After several successive blows, two of the seven monsters were down, neither of which included Darkonda, Tsukon, or Mirit. It seemed that the rangers could not count on the Veo Powers increasing anytime soon. But a half-hour in and with two monsters down, they felt like they were winning.

But after a while, their efforts only seemed to anger the monsters, who seemed to barely put forth any effort at all. They were stronger than other monsters the rangers had fought in the past, showing little or no signs of weakening during the fight as it lingered on for another half-hour.

Another hour in, a third monster was destroyed and the rangers still felt outnumbered. Unless they planned to fight another two to three hours, these monsters would not be destroyed anytime soon and the rangers were quickly beginning to show signs of tiring.

"Come on, guys," Andros said when a blast from the Veo Tech Rangers' blasters failed to phase Tsukon. "Just hang in there. Try the Quadroblaster again."

"Andros, we've already tried that," Carlos said, catching his breath after rolling away from several of Mirit's energy attacks.

"I think it's time to retreat," Tommy said, kicking Darkonda away from him. "We're not going to win this today and these things don't have the shards."

"We can do this," Andros exclaimed just as Tsukon released another powerful blast from his eyes that sent the rangers to the ground.

"Andros, we have to retreat," he heard Tylan call to him.

Not Tylan, Andros realized suddenly, shaking his head. It was T.J.

"We have to get back to the ship," Zeke agreed, putting a hand on Andros' shoulder.

No, not Zeke, Andros corrected himself again. It was Carlos' voice he had heard this time. Maybe it was time to get back to the ship, he decided, watching the Astrorangers demorph involuntarily after another blast from Darkonda and Mirit. The blasts had burned through their rangers suits, as evidenced by their scorched clothing. But their faces had changed. Andros rubbed his eyes as the Astrorangers began to transform into the former Astroranger team, beaten, facedown on the ground, and unmoving.

The Veo Tech Rangers still had power; they were still morphed. But the fight was over now. The Megaship awaited them and they had not found a single shard of the Veo Prism.

It had to be here, Andros said to himself, glaring at the smirking monsters. There had to be at least one shard. They could not have come all this way to find nothing and be defeated. There had to be something here, even if it was just information.

"Andros," he heard Ashley called to him suddenly.

He turned around to her, surprised that she was talking to him again and even more surprised that she did not look like Arcadia at the moment. Andros watched her run toward him, still calling to him and waving her arms in an effort to get his attention.

But within seconds of her reaching him, he felt the sharp pain that accompanied a combined blast of energy from the monsters and fell to his knees. Before everything went dark, he thought he saw Ashley fall by him and he lifted his hand in an attempt to reach out to her. However, he found his arm to be as heavy as his eyelids and he was suddenly still on the ground, his eyes closing as he heard Zhane calling his name in panic.

***

Andros opened his eyes to intense brightness, squinting them a little as he finally gathered enough strength to open them all the way. He stretched out his arms, his knuckles scraping against something metal on his right. He turned his head just as the silver tray rolled away from him slightly. He sat up slowly and looked around with a sigh. He was in the infirmary.

He could not figure out why he could have possibly been there, though he gathered that he must have been hurt. It hurt to think about it though and he brought his hand up to his head, retracting it at the sudden sharp pain that it caused him. He must have hit his head, he determined as he brought a few fingers up to the bandages on his head.

"I don't remember getting hit on the head," Andros said softly to himself.

"You were out by then," Zhane said, making him jump. "Now lay back down. You're going to rip your stitches open."

"I don't remember getting hurt that badly," Andros said, though he lay back on the table. "I barely remember anything about it at all."

"Like I said, you weren't conscious for a lot of it," Zhane said. "But Darkonda caused a lot of damage to you and Ashley before we were able to get to you."

"Ashley?" Andros repeated, turning to his left and wondering how he had not noticed her lying on the table beside him.

"She jumped in front of you," Zhane explained. "She took the brunt of the blast… There wasn't much that we could do for her."

"She's not –" he asked, suddenly recalling her warning to him before she ran to him.

"She's alive," Zhane replied slowly. "But…"

"But what?" Andros asked impatiently.

"She's in a coma," Zhane said softly. "We don't know when she'll wake up and we need to get her to a doctor as soon as we can… The closest hospital is about an hour away from where we are now. We're already on the way and I want you to get checked out too."

"A coma," Andros said, turning back to look at her with a sigh. "Why would she do that?"

"If she hadn't, you wouldn't be here now," Zhane said. "And I won't get started on your stupidity… not yet anyway."

Andros lowered his eyes. "I didn't mean for anyone –"

"I know," Zhane said, cutting him off. "Just get some rest and I'll check on you in a little while."

Zhane walked out of the infirmary, leaving Andros staring silently at Ashley with tears beginning to sting his eyes.

She was hurt badly and it was his fault for being so reckless, for being so impatient, for being so…

"So stupid," Andros finished aloud, his voice at a whisper and wavering as tears streamed from his eyes. "Ashley, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."

Ashley lay there in silence, unable to see his tears or hear his words, which only seemed to upset Andros further. She could not respond to him at all and it was all his fault. As he continued to think about it, he grew angrier, scrubbing away his tears with his arm and burying his face in his face in his hands as he stifled a sob.

It won't be in vain, Ashley, Andros thought, clenching his fists in anger. I'll avenge you, I swear.