Disclaimer: The Power Rangers belong to Saban, everybody else belongs to me.
Author's Notes: Sorry it has been so long since the last update. Life is crazy for me. Thank you guys for sticking with me. I am starting to get into a schedule, and hopefully updates will come more frequently.
Ranger Scrolls
"Old Loves"
Jason walked into his living room in a t-shirt and swim trunks. He went to gather his friend, who was sitting at the kitchen table with books spread out everywhere. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.
Kim was startled for a moment, but then she gathered herself together and looked up at him. "Do I look ready?"
He made a face. It was obvious she didn't look ready, he was just out here to push her along. "Well hurry up, we can't keep Carri waiting all day."
"She'll just lay out there and fry. She won't even notice," Kim said with a smile. It was a half-truth. She would notice when she didn't have anybody to gossip with besides Jason, who would simply groan and pretend to ignore her. "Besides, just because this is the first day of spring break, doesn't mean that I don't have anything better to do. We went out yesterday and Saturday, and I didn't even get to touch my paper. And it's due next Monday."
"Everybody needs a little sun to make them feel better. Besides, you promised Carri you'd go," Jason pointed out. Honestly he doubted Carri would care, still he was going to give Kim a hard time.
"I think I'm going to work on this. Later this week I'll hit the beach with you guys," Kim assured him. When Jason didn't look convinced she continued. "If Carri protests please remind her that Friday is the big day and if she wants me to go out she has to let me get finished."
Jason chuckled. She had a point. "I'll tell her. Good luck with that."
"Thank you," she said, relieved that he wasn't going to give her any more of a hard time and let her work.
Jason grabbed his towel and keys and took off. Kim resumed going through her books. She didn't think the paper was going to be too hard. She had gathered a lot of information. She just wasn't sure yet where to start.
Kim's' silence was interrupted when someone else entered the apartment. She looked up at her visitor and smiled. "Hey."
"Hey Kim," Tommy greeted as he noticed the pile of books in front of her. "Working hard?"
"For now," she said. She'd take a break for a minute for Tommy. For a second she thought that sounded bad, that she'd ignore her best friend but visit with someone else. However this was Tommy, and Carri would probably kick her for ignoring him. She'd been pestering her for weeks now about when they were going to go out again.
Tommy came in and sat down beside her. "Anything I can help with?"
"Nope. I've pretty much got it handled. But thank you." Kim smiled at him and watched as he reciprocated. It was nice to exchange smiles with him, it reminded her of high school.
"So... are you going to be doing this all day?" Tommy wasn't sure where to start in regards to getting his point across. He figured this was as good as a way to go about it as any.
"I sure hope not. It would drive me crazy. A girl's got to have a break sometime," she said smiling at him. "But it is going to be my main focus so if you are trying to get me to go to the beach with everyone count me out."
"Actually I can't go to the beach today. I had something I had to do. I just wanted to stop by here first."
Kim's eyebrow rose as she locked eyes with him. "Why?"
"To see you," he admitted. He wasn't sure why it made him nervous to say it out loud but it did.
The pink Ninjetti felt a blush creep into her cheeks. "Why?"
"To see... to see if you would like to have dinner with me tonight," he said, spitting it out.
Kim grinned, thrilled to hear that from him. "Tommy Oliver... are you asking me out on a date?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah... I guess I am." He almost hit himself for saying guess. He definitely was asking, he'd been thinking about asking for a long time now.
"I was wondering if you would ever do it," she teased.
Tommy's face scrunched up as he wondered if that was good or bad. "Can I take that as a yes?"
She laughed. "Of course." She watched him as he let out a sigh of relief. "What you didn't think I'd go?"
"No, I did. It was just... well you know me it's hard for me to get things like that out." he said smiling. This was Kim, there was history there, asking her out for a second time wasn't easy. "I'm glad you were here alone."
"Why do you say that?" asked Kim, although she had a good feeling she knew the answer.
"I wanted to go out on a date first before we said anything to the others," he explained.
She smiled as he confirmed what she had been thinking. "In other words, you're glad Jason and Carri weren't here."
Tommy laughed. "Yeah pretty much. The two of them have been egging us on forever." Every time they sparred Jason asked about Kim. He had a feeling it was part legitimate question, and part a distraction technique. It didn't matter though, it was driving him crazy.
"They were right weren't they?" she asked with a grin.
"Yeah... yeah they were," he said with a smile. "Well... I will let you get back to your paper. I have to get going anyway."
"Ok. So then I will see you tonight?" Kim asked, her voice reflecting an excitement she hadn't felt in a long time.
"Yeah. See you then," Tommy assured her as he left.
Kim smiled as she turned back to her books. She was excited to finally be getting another chance to date Tommy. She couldn't wait until that night. She looked down at what she was doing. Now if only she could concentrate.
Billy and Trini found themselves in Angel Grove taking a walk on a quieter beach. They were both eager to avoid the crowds that had become Los Angeles, and with public schools still in session and the community college not having spring break until the following week, Angel Grove was perfect.
"I can't believe that you guys are leaving at the end of the week," Billy said, the lines of his face giving away how upset that made him.
"I know. Time flew by so quickly," Trini replied. She didn't want to go now but she knew she had to. Besides, she had something to look forward to. "I can't wait to get started with work but I am going to miss you guys."
Billy nodded as he thought about her leaving. "I'll have to make this week especially special for you."
Trini looked at him. "You've made my entire time special," she assured him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Billy felt her kiss him. He gazed over at her. Without thinking, he leaned in and gave her a real kiss. When it ended, Billy stood up straight and blushed.
"Was that...," Trini smiled as her voice trailed off.
"I don't know if I should have..."
"You mean this whole time and you haven't thought about kissing me once?" Trini asked, having a good feeling he had thought about it more than once.
"Well... yes... I mean... of course I have," Billy stammered.
Trini's eyes lit up. It was cute the way he was trying to cover for himself. "Then what's the problem?"
"I've come to feel strongly about you Trini, and I don't know if you feel the same, and you're leaving and it's not feasible and"
"Shh," Trini said placing a finger to his lips. "You worry too much." Trini took his hand in hers and started to walk. "If we make it work, that's fabulous. If not, well at least we can say that we tried."
Billy smiled. She was right, he shouldn't worry about it. That was sometimes hard for him. He figured at the moment though, nothing else mattered. He continued to hold Trini's hand and he walked her down the beach.
The beaches of LA were packed for spring break. Both USC and UCLA had let out the same week, which meant that there were college kids everywhere. Some were playing volleyball, some were lying out. Some had even been brave enough to venture into the ocean, where the water temperatures were well below their peak.
One girl was enjoying her time in the sun more than others. She was lying on her towel face down. She was so zoned out she didn't even notice the volleyball coming in her direction. She felt it hit her back and roll off to the side. "What the...," Carri questioned as she turned around at sat up. She picked up the volleyball and scanned for who it belonged to.
She didn't have to wait long before someone came to claim it. "Well I'll be damned," David Myers said as he walked over to Carri. "What are you doing here?"
Carri rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to simply flip him the bird and lay back down. "I live here. The question is what are you doing here?"
"It's spring break. And you can't stay cooped up in New York for spring break," David pointed out. He loved New York but he was looking forward to heading out to the west coast for a while. Especially since he knew people, or at least one person, out here.
She got not wanting to be in New York. Although she didn't want to be there spring, summer, winter or fall. Still trying to pretend she didn't loathe him, she flashed him a fake smile as she held up the volleyball. "So this belongs to you?"
"Yeah," he replied as he took it. He extended a hand to her. "Why don't you come play with us?"
"I don't know I'm"
David cut her off. "Some of your old friends are over there and they are dying to see you."
She sighed. She was almost positive her parents, well her mother, told him how to find her. God forbid she blow him off and he goes back to tell them what a bitch she's become. She hated trying to appease her mother's society when she was there, she thought she didn't have to do it in California. Yet here was her ex-boyfriend, the boy her mother loved, the boy whose own mother was still a part of the same social circle as her mother. "Sure why not," she finally replied with a sigh. She was going to ignore his outstretched hand but he leaned down and helped her up anyway.
She picked up her things and walked over to the net with him. She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything rude when she saw who they were playing with. Not that she hated them, but they weren't exactly the type of friends she wanted to have.
"Oh my, gosh, Carri, I can't believe it," Cindy King said as she ran over and gave an old friend a hug.
"Yeah it's so cool to see you," Amanda Martin chimed in as she came up for a hug as well.
Carri returned the hugs. "It's good to see you too," she said although she wasn't sure how much she meant it. She was thrilled to leave New York behind, and there were reasons why she hadn't written any of these people.
"You remember Cory?" asked Cindy as she gestured to the guy behind her.
Carri smiled and waved at Cory McIntyre, Cindy's on again off again boyfriend for as long as she could remember. Amanda grabbed Carri's hand and walked her over to the last male on the court. "This is my boyfriend, Paul Jacobs."
"Nice to meet you," Paul said extending his hand. He had heard a lot about Carri from the rest of the group.
"Nice to meet you too," Carri replied. She turned to David. "Did you bring a girlfriend?" She hoped the answer was yes, at least then she knew he wasn't going to try and woo her.
"Kinda hard to bring one if there's not one," he told her, making an upset face at first but ending with a smile.
"Right," she said, and suddenly she had a bad feeling about where this meeting was going.
"So maybe we could start fresh. New game. How about... me, Carri and Cindy against Paul, Amanda and Cory," David suggested. No way was he going to let Carri onto the other team, not when she could stand next to him and watch him play.
Carri shrugged. "Whatever." At least she wasn't going to have to be on the other side of the net. Then she'd actually have to look at him the whole time.
Cindy smiled, excited to finally see her high school group back together. "This is going to be so much fun."
David grinned. He was happy that he got to be the dominate player on the team. The only reason to play with two females is so that you can impress them. David took the volleyball back. "We'll serve," he said, quickly hitting the ball as the game started.
The ball went flying back and forth over the net. The teens were trying to make small talk as it did. "So tell me," David started as he hit the ball, "what's so special about LA?"
Carri ran up to the net to smack the volleyball. "I love it here. The sand and sun of course, then there's the city, my friends."
"You should come back to New York. We'd all love to have you at NYU," David told her. He'd love her at NYU. They could try again.
"I'm quite happy at USC," she replied, the mere thought of being stuck at NYU with David making her want to throw up in her mouth a little bit.
"Yeah but don't you miss us?" asked Cindy. There was no way Carri didn't miss hanging out with them. They were best friends.
"Of course." She missed them about as much as she missed King Mondo.
"It would be great to have you back. It would be just like old times," Amanda said, her mind racing with what the three girls could do together.
Carri ran in front of David and slammed the ball so hard it rolled quite a ways out of bounds. She sighed. This was getting irritating. It would be a safe assumption to say that her mother put him up to this... but then again he may be trying to coax her back on his own. She looked as the ball rolled off and Cory jogged after it. As she watched Cory, she saw another figure appear from behind him. She had never been so happy to see anyone in her entire life. "Jason!" she yelled as she ran over and threw her arms around him in a hug.
Jason looked baffled. As close as they were, as much as they thought of each other like siblings, she'd never run and jumped into a hug like that with him. Not even with her boyfriend for that matter. "Ok since you only haven't seen me since this morning."
"Please save me," she whispered in his ear. She was hoping maybe she'd get lucky, and the excitement she showed over seeing Jason would be enough to get them to leave her alone.
Cory picked up the ball and then extended his hand to the stranger. "Cory McIntyre."
"Jason Scott," he said shaking his hand. He looked over at Carri and raised an eyebrow. Not that she was anti-social, but she wouldn't just jump in and play with a group of strangers, especially when she knew some of the others were coming by.
"You her boyfriend?" Cory asked, trying to size up the man standing in front of him.
"Nope. Friend. Roommate. But absolutely not boyfriend." Although he supposed if she was in trouble and needed him to play the boyfriend he would.
She made a face. "You say that like it would be some god awful thing to have me as your girlfriend."
Jason laughed. He loved her and Kim but both of his girls drove him crazy sometimes. He wasn't sure how Rocky managed. "Maybe it wouldn't be. But then again..."
Carri slapped him in the stomach and laughed. "Come on, you're playing." She dragged him over to her side of the net, barely giving him time to throw his towel and shirt down next to her stuff.
"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" asked David, irritated to see another male on his side of the court.
"Everyone this is Jason Scott. Jason meet Amanda Martin and Paul Jacobs. You met Cory. And this is Cindy King and David Myers."
"Nice to meet you," Jason said as he shot Carri a look. He had a bad feeling about this. "So... how do you guys know each other?"
"We went to high school together in New York," Carri explained quickly. She would have to tell Jason everything but she wasn't getting into it now. "Well except for Paul. I just met him."
"So that would be..."
Carri cut Jason off before he could say it. "Where's Kim?"
"She said to tell you that if you wanted her to go out on Friday, you would let her work on her paper today," Jason told her, ignoring the other people on the court for the moment. "So are we it?"
"Tommy can't come, Kat and Chris might come, Billy and Trini are together, Zack's with his family, and Rocky is working." She was hoping to get a big group out but there would be other days for that.
David came up and put a hand on Carri's lower back. "So what are we waiting for, let's play."
Jason shot her a look. She made a face. This probably was going to be a really bad idea but still they both took positions on the court, then the ball came flying toward them.
"So Carri, about that New York idea...," David let his voice trail off. She rolled her eyes.
"You could cheerlead with us," Cindy said excitedly. College cheerleading was so much fun and she wanted to have her two best friends there.
"It would be just like high school!" exclaimed Amanda. "Senior year was the best. I wish you were there. How was your squad?"
"I wasn't a cheerleader my senior year," Carri told them. She would have shot herself. She did have a friend on the cheerleading squad, but other than Ashley she steered far away from that madness.
"You didn't make the team?" asked Cindy in disbelief. She had been co-captain of their squad, there was no way she got rejected by the squad in California.
"Something like that," she replied. Carri didn't want to get into why she didn't try out for cheerleading when she came back home. Somehow she didn't think "cheerleading was horrible" would be a good response here.
"You were on the cheerleading squad?" Jason asked looking at her in disbelief. She had never shared that fact with him. Or anyone that he knew of. Something like that would have most certainly popped up in conversation before.
"Yeah, yeah. But that's my little secret," she said hitting a ball over the net. She never told them she was a cheerleader in New York. She was damn good at it but she hated it. It was what her mother forced her to do, and it was one of the reasons she ran away from the big apple screaming.
"So Carri, we met this girl from here, she said she knew you," Cory said, changing the topic of conversation.
"Who?" asked Carri, raising an eyebrow.
"Tanya... something...," Cory tried to remember the name,
"Oh!" Carri felt like hitting herself for not realizing it faster. "Tanya Sloan. Yeah I met her just before she came up there."
"She was nice. It seemed like senior year was kind of hard for her though. She kept talking about this guy she was seeing back in California," Cory told her. He couldn't remember the guy's name, but he knew she missed him.
"Adam," Carri supplied the name for him.
"You knew her boyfriend?" asked Amanda. Tanya talked about him all the time but nobody else had ever met him.
"Yeah. He moved up there last summer. He was friends with me and Jase," she replied. She missed having Adam around. She knew the others did too, especially Rocky. Adam was his best friend, and although he hung out with Jason and Tommy it wasn't the same.
"Jase?" Cindy asked. She looked over at Jason. "Oh, yeah, him."
Jason glared at his friend. He had a million questions he wanted to ask. It would be rude to ask them now, but then again he wasn't sure the other girls would get it.
Carri was busy trying to figure out how she was going to make it through the rest of the day as she dived for a ball and missed. She rolled over in the sand and laid there for a minute. Jason laughed at her. David shot him a look. "Are you ok?" he asked walking over to her. "You don't need to be diving for balls you know. Let me and your friend take care of those."
She rolled her eyes. She was diving for line drives a year ago, even though her coach hated when she didn't let some of those go back to the infield. She was fairly certain she could handle a volleyball. "I'm fine. I'm enjoying the sand on my back at the moment."
"Let me help you up," he said pulling her up against her will. Then he started to brush sand off her back.
Carri jerked back. "I like having sand on my back," she said matter-of-factly, willing the fingers she didn't realize she balled into a fist to open. She looked down and noticed a few grains that had slipped into her bikini. "It's that sand that can get irritating," she said more to herself than anything. She got back in her spot and they continued to play.
They played for a while, with her old acquaintances from New York continuing to drive her nuts. Eventually they decided it was time for them to leave. David held the ball. "Guys I think we had better get going so that we can get ready for tonight. Would you care to join us?" he asked turning to Carri.
"No thanks. I've got plans," she said. Which for the record, that wasn't a lie. She had a date that night.
"Well then I do expect to see you out here tomorrow," David said flashing her a smile.
She sighed. It would be so easy to blow him off for the rest of the week. Although if she was going to be out here anyway he'd figure it out, then her mom would get mad at her. At least if she gave him one more day of her time maybe things would be ok. "Sure. We'll be here," she said smiling and looking at Jason.
"Actually I" Jason never got the words out as he got an elbow in his stomach.
"See you tomorrow," David said as he gave her a hug. She half returned it. The others waved and called goodbye and Carri waved back.
"You are not leaving me alone with those people tomorrow," Carri hissed. She was beyond irritated with them, and she was afraid she was going to give David a black eye.
"Emily is off tomorrow and we are going out," Jason replied. He wasn't going to ditch his girlfriend for this, whatever crazy drama this was.
"She can come too," Carri pointed out. She would love someone else on her side.
He laughed. "I don't think that would exactly be her idea of a romantic day. Make Rocky come."
She frowned. "He can't, he's working. He's off Wednesday and Thursday for sure so if I have to play volleyball any of those day's he is coming, like it or not." She was bummed that she wasn't going to spend more of her spring break with her boyfriend, but he needed the money.
The two walked back over toward their stuff and collapsed on the sand. "So tell me why you can't just say no."
"Because... because he'll go back and tell my mom that I'm an evil bitch from hell and then... well I don't really want to know what happens then." It was hard to say with her mother. They were a lot alike, and she knew she got her temper from her mother. Carri tried hard to control it, and channeled a lot of her bad moods into pummeling monsters. Her mother wasn't physical, but she could most certainly find a way to make her regret her decisions.
Jason raised an eyebrow. He was fairly certain his friend was over exaggerating. Besides, she had two parents. "What does your dad think?"
"He just wants me to be happy. But he also wants my mom to be happy. And mom likes David." Her parents had a weird relationship. They had both turned a blind eye to a lot of things over the years, but they still loved each other. She scoffed at it, but as she learned over the years if her mother wasn't happy, even if her father would agree with her it would be much easier to side with his wife than daughter.
"So then that was the David." It was a statement not a question as he had put that puzzle together early.
She sighed. "The one and only."
"Are you going to talk to Rocky about it tonight?"
"Eh." The last thing she wanted to do was tell her current boyfriend that her ex-boyfriend was hanging around her.
"Eh?" He had a half a mind to tell the blue ranger himself. She couldn't keep that bit a secret.
"I certainly don't need him coming down here to act jealous." They had both seen him jealous before and last time it didn't work out so well. "If he never has to cross paths with David, that's fine by me. I would really prefer them to never meet because Rocky might kick his ass and that might not look good."
Jason gave her a look. She didn't say anything so he moved on to a different part of the conversation. "So, I have to ask, do you have multiple personalities? Because those aren't your type of people and you are not a cheerleader."
Carri laughed. "Well if you must know my story."
"I can't believe you haven't told me your story already."
"To be honest, nobody here really knows the details about my life in New York. Because I hated it. And I hate talking about it. And now it's here so I shall share it with you." She looked at him as she started. "When I lived in Angel Grove, I wasn't the me you know and love."
"Well..." Jason laughed as he interrupted her story.
She rolled her eyes and continued her story. "Anyway I played baseball, I surfed, I sunned, I was best friends with Matt and them... we used to have a whole group of us than hung out all the time. I lost touch with them when I moved away," she paused for a second, a frustrated sound escaping her lips as she remembered the arguments she had with her mother over the girl she was in California.
"As you know, my dad got to start his own production company in New York. So we moved there. My mom was thrilled. She thought it would be a chance for me to start fresh. My dad liked the baseball and the surfing and my friends, my mom, not so much. She wanted me to have better friends and less boyish activities." She thought she could remake her daughter into a carbon copy of her, future queen of high society. That wasn't her though, that would never be her. She could fake it really well, but at her core she was always the girl in California.
"So you think your mom approves of you now?"
She let out a huff. She knew her mother didn't approve. She was walking a fine line by defying her that way, and she was lucky her mom had yet to retaliate. She supposed it had to do with the fact that she was out of her mother's hair, never caused trouble for her aunt and uncle and stayed out of the tabloids. There was one thing she knew for certain though. "I didn't care then and I don't care now. That's part of the reason I wanted to come back so bad is because I missed all the things I loved."
He nodded and she continued. "With me having absolutely no friends in New York, my mom convinced, well pushed, me into trying out for the cheerleading squad. I made the JV squad my freshman year, and was varsity by the time I was a sophomore. That's how I became friends with Cindy and Amanda. That's how I met David. He was a quarterback on the JV squad freshman year."
"I didn't know you were such the cheerleader," Jason said. It was more than just doing it, she moved up the ladder quickly.
"My mom made me do it and I never do anything half assed," she said as she grinned at him. "Still, nobody was more surprised than I was when I made co-captain my junior year. By that time David was also one of the captains of the varsity squad, and we had been dating for almost two years. We had all been friends since then. The three of us, Cory who was our kicker, and some more we picked up over the years. By my junior year, I had really come to dislike cheerleading. And it seemed like the more I disliked it, the more involved I had to get in it. I also started to really dislike the friends my mom set me up with, and the boyfriend she loved so much. David and I had nothing in common, except he was the quarterback and I was the cheerleader." David was a jerk. She knew it the entire time but she tried to play the part. From the first day in their New York penthouse her mother indicated if she didn't give it a good go, which meant doing what she thought she should do, she would ship her daughter off to boarding school.
"So you guys broke up?"
"Right before I moved back. I was tired of him putting women down and treating me like crap." She hadn't said that to him. Her mother was letting her go to Angel Grove, she was scared to make waves and be forced back home. "My mom was so happy with everything I was doing but I missed Angel Grove so much. Kat made me so happy when she called to say that she was moving there. I spent months begging. My father was easy to convince. It was my mother who was harder. She was finally tired of listening to me so she let me go with the expectation that I would continue doing here what I did there. Of course I didn't hesitate to split it off with David and cut ties with everybody before I flew home."
"I didn't know you hated New York that much," Jason said. He knew it was something she didn't talk about, a period in her life she tried to pretend didn't happen.
"Yeah well... I got to come back home. I got to surf. And play baseball. And tan. And see my old friends. And most importantly, I met you guys who are the best friends a girl could ever ask for."
He smiled. "We are lucky to have so many friends who are so close." The rangers were friends, family even, and most people went a lifetime without finding that many close friends.
She nodded. "I don't know what I would have done if my parents had made me stay in New York." Or made her come back, which was something she worried about every day, especially when she did something she knew her parents didn't approve of.
"It would be different," Jason replied. He would never have known Carri so he wouldn't have known the friend he was missing. Now though he couldn't imagine her not have being there when he came back.
Carri decided she'd had enough of New York and switched the subject. The two of them continued to sit out there for a while talking before they decided it was time to go home.
Kim looked herself over in the mirror a dozen times. She knew that Tommy already cared about her, that it shouldn't be important what she looked like. At the same time, she wanted to make herself look, well, special for him. She sighed. Tommy would be there any minute.
This was the chance she had been waiting for. The chance to make things right with Tommy. Everything had to be perfect. She looked over at the bathroom counter and thought for a moment. She smiled as she crept into Carri's room and stole a splash of the perfume the girls loved so much. Kim had promised to buy a new one and share. Which she would, eventually. She stopped and looked at herself. She walked back into the bathroom and stared in the mirror one last time.
She thought she looked good. Well as good as she was going to get. She reached up and touched the necklace Tommy had given her for her birthday. He never stopped caring about her. And she had always loved him. Now that she was home… well the possibilities were endless. As she walked out into the living room there was a knock on the door. Kim couldn't help but smile as she answered it.
"Hey beautiful," Tommy said giving Kim a kiss on the cheek. He hoped that wasn't too much of a greeting for a girl he technically hadn't been dating for two years.
She couldn't help the blush that crept into her cheeks as Tommy's lips touched her skin. "Hey Tommy."
"Are you ready to go?" Tommy asked, the nerves he had walking to the door starting to wear off.
"Absolutely," Kim replied. She was as ready as she was ever going to be.
Tommy smiled at her as he grabbed her hand and led her out the door for a romantic night out on the town.
The apartment didn't stay empty for long. Carri and Jason were both on their way back from the beach. They did miss Kim and Tommy's departure, but not by much.
Carri burst through the door, phone in hand. "I just can't believe... it's just so irritating... I'm going to kill him."
Kat smiled from her end of the line. "Calm down. How bad can it be? He's just here for spring break, and then he's gone."
"He's going to go after me again. I know it. I mean he had the balls to try and get me to transfer to NYU," Carri said, her mind racing at one hundred miles an hour trying to figure out how to fix this.
"Well I know he's pushing and I know he's touching, but you are just going to have to bite your tongue. And not let Rocky anywhere near him," the pink ranger said with a chuckle.
Carri snickered. "I know that's right." Although if he didn't back off, it wasn't Rocky who was going to pummel him.
"Next time he sees your mom and dad, he'll tell them how happy you are in California and how your friends were so nice and blah, blah, blah." Kat was trying to defuse a bomb here. She knew her aunt, and if her cousin tried to stir up this particular pot it was going to go south quickly.
"I hope so. I mean Josh told them once. Dad thinks it's fabulous that I'm so happy. But you know mom. It's her way or death."
"Your mom just wants what's best for you," Kat replied, regretting the words as soon as they came out of her mouth.
"Oh yeah, she does, and she'll let me to anything as long as it involves me being queen of high society and an elitist." The bitterness in her voice was obvious. She did not want to follow in her mother's footsteps, and she did not believe in that life at all.
"Your mom will loosen up once she sees how good you do on your own." At least Kat hoped so. She frowned, then switched topics. "Hey do you want to go to a movie tonight?"
"Maybe the ten. I'll have to call you and see. I am going out with Rocky." She paused and thought about it. She did want to make plans with Kat. She didn't see her cousin as often as she used to. "If not tonight though, we can go tomorrow night."
Kat thought for a minute. "It will have to be after me and Chris get back."
Carri nodded. "That's fine." She vaguely remembered some big day trip Kat and Chris were taking tomorrow. Her cousin started to talk to her about it, but when she rambled on about Chris she tended to zone out. She rolled her eyes to herself as she looked at the clock. "I have to go start getting ready. I'll talk to you later."
"Alright. Talk to you later," Kat said as the girls said goodbye and hung up the phone.
Carri walked into her room and collapsed on the bed. She thought for a moment. Although Kat knew her parents, she knew of one person who she could get an even better opinion from. She picked up her phone and dialed a number.
Three rings later a man picked up. "Hello?" the familiar voice came across the phone.
"Hey," Carri casually replied as though she called her brother every day. She didn't talk to him as much as she should. She felt guilty about it, but between school and the rangers and everything else she was always busy. Of course he didn't call her much either.
"What's up?" Josh asked, happy to hear from his sister. He had been meaning to call, he just kept getting busy.
"I need some advice." Her brother has always been the go to person for advice where her parents were concerned. Whenever mom was driving one of them crazy, they leaned on each other. Until he went to college and she moved back to Angel Grove.
"Shoot."
Carri took a deep breath and prepared to tell him her story. She saw Jason come in and sit down on the bed beside her. She spent a few minutes sharing and then she waited for his reply.
"I told you he was an asshole," Josh said. He hated that cocky bastard from the minute his sister brought him home. However he was from an influential family and their mother loved him.
"Thanks," she grumbled. Like that was really helpful. If she had to hear him offer another version of I told you so over David she was going to fly to New York just to smack him. "So what do mom and dad think really?"
"You know mom. She still talks to him. He tells her how much he misses you, and how great it would be if you would come back for college. Like it or not, they know you're happy there, and they know that I think your friends are great and that your boyfriend's great." He could hear his sister grumble something about his opinion not changing their mothers and he continued. "I don't think it would hurt mom's feelings if you transferred."
"Tell her to bite me," she snapped. It would be a cold day in hell before she transferred to NYU to live the rest of her life as David's high society housewife.
Josh laughed. "Look as long as you keep your nose clean she'll leave you alone. You can stay at USC without any pressure from her to come back east."
Carri bit back a comment about how her brother was not the one to tell someone to keep their nose clean. She loved her brother, and he loved to party and she had seen him at a few frat parties in some of the tabloids. Instead she went back to her problem. "I just don't know what to do. I mean... if I tell David how I feel, or one of my friends tells him how I feel, it's going to get back to mom and dad and he's going to make it sound like either I'm a bitch or my friends are awful. I don't want them to make snap judgments based on what one asshole says before they get to meet anyone." Not that her mother was going to meet them and like them, but she'd rather them have a ten percent chance at success than zero.
"Why don't I come take care of the problem for you?"
Carri snorted. "Yeah, right. You gonna catch the next flight?"
"No I'll drive," he replied, the tone in his voice rather cocky.
"From New York?" There was definitely something up with her brother, she just couldn't put her finger on it.
"Don't be stupid. From Vegas."
"You're in Vegas?" Truthfully she wasn't really surprised. She doubted it was going to be his last vacation in Vegas.
"Well you know. Finally twenty-one. Spring break. Me and a bunch of my buddies came down. So really, I can come by in the morning, kick his ass in the afternoon, and be back in time for the late night strippers."
"Ha-ha funny."
"I'll do it. I'll be down there," he said seriously. He wanted to do this for a long time, and now he had the perfect excuse. His sister never said anything, but he saw the way David treated her.
"Are you sure? That's five hours. Each way."
"I don't do anything during the day anyway. And I could probably get my boys to come with me. They've always wanted to go to LA. If we hang around the city for a while, and we don't go back until late, well Vegas will still be here and going. Besides, what are big brothers for?"
"Ass kicking," she said with a laugh. Not that she couldn't do her own ass kicking, but it reflected less poorly on her if her brother did it.
"Exactly. I'll see you in the morning." Then before she could argue, he said goodbye and hung up.
"What was that all about?" asked Jason as he noticed the perplexed look on Carri's face.
"My brother is actually in Las Vegas. He is going to drive here and take care of my David problem for me." She shouldn't be surprised, she knew her brother hated him. This was the perfect excuse for the confrontation he wanted.
"That's a long way to drive for one afternoon," Jason pointed out. Although he knew he'd do it if one of his girls needed him.
She shrugged. "He's going to bring his friends. They want to see LA. He says it doesn't matter what time they get back." Jason smiled at her. Carri hopped off the bed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date tonight."
Jason took off and left Carri to get ready for her evening.
Later that night, two figures took a moonlit walk down a beach that was now empty but had been full of activity earlier.
"It's beautiful out here," Kim said as she looked out over the ocean.
"Not as beautiful as you," Tommy replied. It had been a fantastic evening and he was thrilled he could end it out here with Kim.
Kim blushed. He used to call her beautiful all the time, and it still got to her. "Thank you for taking me out tonight. It was wonderful."
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for that chance?"
"Two years would be my guess," Kim said smiling. She had been waiting the last two years to see him romantically again, although until last summer she never thought she would have a chance.
"Has it been that long since you left for Florida?" Tommy asked as Kim nodded in reply. "I can't believe it. It doesn't seem like it's been two years." He supposed he kept plenty occupied in those two years that he didn't even notice.
"I know. A lot has happened since then. A lot has changed." She frowned. Some of it was good, but there were some things in the last two years she'd like to take back.
"Most of it for the better I hope. You're a gold medal winner. You've got powers back"
Kim stopped him before he could finish that sentence. "Ninjetti powers"
"Yeah but you can still fight with us." He knew she missed being a full morphing ranger. He'd been there before, the one on the outside without powers. Even though she gave hers up willingly, he doubted it was any easier.
"Not like I used to. I missed that you know. Now it's if there's a few too many Tengas, I'm your gal. If there's real evil, not so much." Ninjetti's were strong, but they were no match for the monsters that attacked on a regular basis.
"Well if we ever need another female ranger, we know who to call." He'd love for her to be on the team again. Not that he'd ever ask anyone to quit knowing how hard it is to give up powers. Still, it would be nice.
Kim smiled. "Thank you. But I don't see that happening anytime soon. Carri and Kat are both pretty settled in LA," she paused. It would be nice if one of them left. She doubted Carri ever would, her best friend was made to be a ranger. If Kat ever wanted to pursue other things though she'd be happy to step in for her. She shook her head to herself. That wasn't what she had been thinking about earlier, and she needed to switch topics. "Besides, that wasn't exactly what I was talking about when I said change."
"Then what were you talking about?"
"We've changed. I broke up with you over nothing, you dated Kat, I excelled in gymnastics, and you started college..." her voice trailed off. It was hard thinking about what they had been through, but they had to acknowledge it if they were going to move forward.
Tommy raised one brow in concern. He wanted to forget about the past, it wasn't important to him now. "None of that matters anymore. I broke up with Kat - well she broke up with me. And we are both in school now."
"You'll graduate a semester before me," she pointed out.
Tommy stopped walking and looked over at her. "It doesn't matter. I'll wait for you." He didn't want her to think that he'd ever move on and forget her.
"For what?" she asked as she stopped and turned so she was standing in front of him.
"Forever."
"Tommy," Kim said with a smile as she put an arm around him.
"It doesn't matter to me what happens in the future, or what has happened. You're back, you're here with me, and everything else is, well, trivial."
"I know. The first thing... well the reason that I moved back was you. Sure I missed talking to Kat and Rocky and Carri, I mean we have become such good friends, and Jason, I've known him forever. But nobody made me want to come back more than you. Especially after I saw you last summer."
Tommy was somewhat surprised. After all she hadn't even known he broke up with Kat when she moved back. That she would come back even if they were only going to be friends meant a lot to him. A thought crossed his mind and he had to share it. "Do you regret coming home?"
"Absolutely not. I have missed you guys, this place, so much. No Olympic dream is worth giving all this up for." She enjoyed training, enjoyed the Pan Globals, but this is where her heart was.
"Are you sure? That's a lot to give up."
"You were a lot to give up. My powers were a lot to give up. The Olympics… that was just a fantasy with no guarantees. Even if I got on the team, it still wouldn't make me as happy as being back here does."
"Well we're all glad you have you back," Tommy said. He understood. If it had been him, he would have returned. Of course he doubted he would have been able to leave in the first place.
"It makes me happy to hear you say that."
Tommy looked at her. "I am especially glad to have you back."
She gazed up into his eyes. "You make everything worth it."
He leaned down and gave her a kiss. She looked up and him and smiled, as she pressed her lips against his one more time. They continued looking into each other's eyes. With one last passionate kiss, Tommy took her hand and continued to walk with her down the shoreline.
"Bleh. Young love," Rita said stepping away from her telescope. She had turned away from spying on Trini and Billy in the coffee shop long enough to see Tommy and Kim kissing. "You know I always knew that blondie would have to stay evil to hold onto him."
"Well sis why don't we try and make her evil again," suggested Rito. It seemed like a good enough idea to him.
"So she can go after Tommy? Too much work. Besides, she's lost interest," Rita told him. She'd seen the boy Kat was chasing. He didn't seem to have as much potential as Tommy but to each their own.
"Why don't you let me go down there and confront the red ranger? That will break the two up," Goldar suggested, dying to get down to the surface and involved in some action.
"Goldar, let the rangers have their fun," Lord Zedd said as he walked into his throne room.
"Why your highness?"
"Because my plan is finally finished. I am going to destroy those power rangers," Zedd told him, feeling a confidence he hadn't felt in a while.
"Right now?" asked Rita as her excitement grew.
"No. There is one more component of my plan that won't be ready until the morning. But tomorrow my dear, tomorrow will bring the destruction of those power punks."
Rita frowned. "I don't know if I can wait that long." The thought caused the beginnings of another headache to start to come to the surface. She needed them gone and she needed them gone now.
Rito scratched his head. "So does that mean that nobody can go down there tonight and attack?"
"Let the rangers have their fun tonight, because tonight will be their last," Zedd said as he laughed and took a seat so that he could spy on the rangers as well.
Late that night Kim came home, feeling quite pleased with her night. She was surprised to see Billy standing in the kitchen. Carri and Jason had already gone to bed. "What are you still doing up?" she asked. Out of the three, he would have been the last one she picked to still be awake.
"I was... out," Billy replied, unsure of how much he wanted to say of his evening with Trini.
"Out?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"So where have you been?" Billy asked trying to get her off subject.
"Out," she replied smiling. If he was going to be elusive, she would be too. "You were with Trini weren't you?"
He smiled. "I assume you were with Tommy." He'd only seen the giddy look on his friend's face once before and that was at the start of their relationship.
"We had our first date. Just don't tell the others yet. We will on our own time," she told him. She wanted to tell Carri and Jason, but not right now. She was glad it was Billy who found out. He was one of the few rangers she could trust not to spread the secret around the ranger community.
"You're secret's safe with me," Billy assured her.
Kim nodded, then turned her attention to the other matter at hand. "What about you and Trini? Are you, ya know, dating?"
"Well... yes... I guess you could say that as of today its official," Billy told her.
"Billy that's great." She was thrilled the two finally got together. She had thought they would be perfect for each other in high school.
"Yes. We are going to try to make the long distance thing work. We'll see how it goes."
"I'm sure it will work out for you guys." Kim assured him. She knew her two friends, they wouldn't let anything break this up.
"It didn't work for you and Tommy."
"That's because... that's because I knew that Kat was here and I didn't want him to feel obligated to me if he had any kind of feelings for her. We always loved each other." Her and Tommy weren't exactly the poster couple for long distance relationships. She had royally screwed that one up and she never should have.
Billy smiled. "I know."
"Well, I think I'm off to bed. I still have a lot of that paper to work on." Kim said with a smile.
"Me too. I actually have something I have been working on really hard for the guys. I just got behind because... well..."
"Because you've been courting Trini."
Billy blushed. "Well, yeah. I hope the others don't get mad at me."
"For what? For spending time with someone you care about instead of wasting every moment cooped up in the Power Chamber?" If anything the others would cheer him on.
"I guess you're right. It's just, you know, I've been doing a lot for them and"
Kim cut him off. "They love what you do for them, but they love you more. Your happiness is more important than anything you could possibly create for them." She knew she and Carri had talked about it. Both wanted Billy to find someone in his life, especially after his last disaster of a relationship with Cestria.
"You think so?" asked Billy, one eyebrow raised.
"I know so," replied Kim with a slight nod.
Billy smiled at his friend as he started to walk towards the bedrooms. "Goodnight Kim." He was glad he could talk to her. She was good at reassuring him about everything.
"Night Billy," she said, and then the two friends walked into their bedrooms and went to sleep, both thinking of the day's events.
Kim woke up early the next morning. Billy was the only one who had beaten her out of bed. She had breakfast and got ready before sitting back down with her paper. She hoped that a few more hours out of her day and she would be triumphantly finished. The apartment was quiet. Nobody else had emerged yet. Well, Jason had gotten up around ten thirty, grabbed breakfast, and went back to his room. He had wanted to give her some quiet time. Carri hadn't shown her face yet, but she had heard movement in her room. She assumed she was up.
At least with them being quiet she had gotten to do a lot on her paper. She was confident that she would be able to finish that afternoon. She was completely focused on her paper until she heard a knock at the door. Glancing at the clock on her computer, she realized it was a little before noon. Kim took a moment to stretch before she got up and went to the door, glancing through the peephole. She didn't recognize her visitor so she only opened the door enough to try and figure out what was going on.
"Hi," the guy said smiling at her.
"Hello. Can I help you?" she asked. He looked close to their age, probably a bit older. She took a minute to study his face. He sort of reminded her of a certain yellow ranger.
"I'm looking for Carri. This is the right place isn't it?"
"Yeah," Kim said extending the door open. She knew Carri had an older brother and she was starting to get the feeling this was him. "She hasn't actually come out to the world of the living yet though."
He walked through the door as he rolled his eyes. "Figures."
She looked him over. "And you would be?" She prompted, although she was confident she already knew the answer.
"Sorry," he apologized for not identifying himself earlier. He extended his hand. "Josh Hillard."
"Kimberly Hart," she said taking his hand, satisfied she figured out the mystery on her own. "But you can call me Kim."
"Well if you could tell my sister than I didn't drive all morning for her lazy ass to stay in bed, I would appreciate it." Not that he expected her to be up. Sleeping until noon wasn't completely out of character for his sister.
"Not a problem," she said walking down the hall. She knocked on Carri's door. When she didn't immediately get a response she knocked again.
"Be out in a sec," Carri called through the door. She'd heard the knock, heard her brothers voice come down the hallway. She knew she needed to hurry up and get out there.
"Ok," Kim called back as she walked back out. "Can I get you anything?"
"No thanks. I'm good," Josh said. He took a minute to really look at his sister's friend. She was cute, and if he wasn't heading right back to Vegas he might consider making a move.
The bedroom door cracked open and Carri walked out, dressed in a bikini with shorts and a spaghetti strap on over it. Josh looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "You're actually ready to go?" He had expected her to slink out in her PJ's, claiming to need another hour before they left.
"Of course," she said with a roll of her eyes. When they lived in Angel Grove before she slept in on the weekends. When they lived in New York, she'd sleep until eleven then hide quietly in her room, letting her parents think she was still asleep for another hour or two just so she could avoid them or her so called friends. "Just let me grab a bite to eat," she said as she walked over and gave her brother a hug. "How are you?"
"Good," he replied, returning the gesture.
"Where are your friends?" she asked as she went to make a sandwich. She half expected to find a group of boys standing around, all waiting to do the macho thing.
"I had them drop me off here. They wanted to see some LA sites. They may find the beach later, if we are still out there." He didn't expect to be on the beach too long. David would be easy to take care of.
"Have you met Kim?" Carri asked, watching as he nodded. She gave him a slight nod back as she turned her attention toward her lunch.
"So you came to visit your sister?" asked Kim. She was surprised Carri didn't mention it. They usually told each other everything.
"Something like that," Josh replied, the edges of his lips curling up in something that resembled a smile. He was excited for the opportunity his sister presented him with. He didn't consider himself a violent person, but when it came to his sister he'd do what he needed and what had needed to be done for a long time was to put David in his place.
Kim looked at Carri and the yellow ranger simply shrugged. "You've been unavailable the last day. I haven't had time to catch you up on current events. If you are here when I get back, I'd be glad to," Carri paused before smiling wickedly at her, "or if you come down to the beach with us..."
Kim grinned. "I might be here when you get back. And I might show up at the beach later. I am almost done with my paper. Is anybody else going?"
"Rocky will whenever he gets off. Tommy is. I'm not sure when though. He didn't give me a time, I didn't ask. Usually with him it's just a ballpark guess anyway." Carri made a face and Kim caught her look and chuckled. Telling Tommy a time to be there was useless, and asking him was almost just as bad. He was late even when he set the schedule.
During their conversation, a bedroom door creaked open out of sight. A few seconds later, Jason appeared. "I'm going," he said as he went to stand beside Carri, stealing one of the potato chips she had thrown on her plate as he did.
Carri looked at him, the question that was bothering her more important than the fact he stole her food. "What happened to the romantic afternoon with Emily?"
He made a face. He would have much rather had the romantic afternoon, but it just didn't work out. "One of Ernie's waitresses begged Emily to cover for her at the beach club today. So Emily is working today, and the other girl is taking Emily's shift tomorrow. So we rescheduled."
Josh nudged Carri. He didn't know this guy. Hell he didn't even know that she was rooming with a guy. He really didn't care, as long as the guy respected her. Otherwise he'd have to kick his ass after he was done with David. Mom may not like it though.
Carri realized that her brother had never met Jason. "Jason, this is my brother Josh. Josh, I'd like for you to meet one of my very good friends Jason." She briefly wondered if it was odd for her brother to see her living with a guy. She wasn't quite sure how to explain Jason to him. To everyone she met, she said he was like her brother, but this was her actual brother and that made the explanation feel odd.
The boys shook hands, both sizing each other up. "Nice to meet you," Josh said.
"You too," Jason replied.
"So who has the fourth room?" Josh asked. He noticed four bedroom doors when he peeked down the hallway and there were only three people out here.
"Our friend Billy. He left early for work this morning," Kim told him.
Josh thought for a moment. "I've met Billy, haven't I?"
Carri nodded as she took the last few bites of her sandwich. She went to grab the last chip but Jason beat her to it. She gave him a quick elbow before looking up at her brother. "You ready?"
"As ready as I'm going to be," Josh replied. He hadn't missed the exchange between the two. She seemed to accept this guy, he figured he would too, at least until he gave him a reason not to.
The trio walked towards the door. "Good luck with your paper," Jason said as they passed Kim.
"Yeah hurry up and finish it so you can come down," Carri said as Jason chuckled. She wanted as many people as she could get down there.
"I will. I'll see you guys later," Kim said, exchanging goodbyes with them before they left, giving her some much needed silence to finish her paper.
"So did you decide to tell Rocky?" Jason asked as they walked down the beach. He was hoping she did, but knowing her she omitted that detail.
"Well," she grinned sheepishly, "I told him Josh and his friends were in Vegas and they were coming to LA to visit. I told him that I ran into some old friends on the beach."
"So what happens if he drops by this afternoon?" It was an argument waiting to happen. If he was Rocky and he stumbled on Carri with her ex-boyfriend, he'd be furious.
She shrugged, not at all concerned. If things went as planned David would be long gone by that time. "Josh will have taken care of the problem by then and the three of us, Rocky, Tommy and Kim can play volleyball."
"Zack and Trini may come by in a few hours, if we're still here. They wanted to spend some extra time with their families," Jason told her. He knew that initially the duo said they weren't coming back out to LA, but they didn't want to miss the opportunity to hang out on the beach once with their friends before they went back.
"That would be cool," Carri said. She hadn't seen them as much as she thought she would. Trini had spent most of her time here with Billy. Zack hung around a bit, and when he wasn't visiting his family he was hanging out in their apartment with Kim and Jason.
"Who's Zack and Trini?" asked Josh, trying to get a hold of his sister's friends.
Carri smiled. Her brother knew the duo, even if the names didn't ring a bell. "You remember the two kids I ran around with in elementary school? And you thought it was funny to make fun of us because we were shorter than you?"
Josh laughed as he thought about the little boy and girl who had been two of Carri's first friends. As far as he knew, after they switched schools she didn't have any contact with them. "Wow that's been a long time. I can't believe you met back up with them."
"Turns out, they became best friends with the same group I became best friends with when I came back. They have been in Europe doing work, and they came home for a visit." Carri explained, looking away from her brother and toward the beach. As she turned, she saw someone approaching them. "Great."
"Hey!" David yelled as he led his group down the beach. He walked up to them. "You didn't tell me your brother would be here."
Josh smiled, trying to be friendly, although they both knew they weren't each other's biggest fans. "I was in Vegas. And I told my sister I couldn't be so close without coming by to say hello."
"You remember everybody right?" David asked, gesturing to the rest of the group.
Josh looked over. He remembered Cindy, Cory and Amanda. They were part of his sister's circle of… well he wouldn't exactly call them friends. However he didn't know the other guy. "Except him."
"Paul Jacobs," he said extending his hand.
He took it. "Josh Hillard."
"Come on guys, let's play a game," David said grabbing Carri's hand and walking off. David's friends followed close by.
"I've wanted to step in for her, but she won't let me," Jason said once the others were out of earshot. He moved in David's direction more than once the day before, but each time Carri shot him a warning look.
"She doesn't want you guys to get involved. Don't worry I'll take care of it," Josh assured him. He was the only person Carri would let step in. He understood, mom didn't like her friends and she didn't know them. If she heard that one of them socked David, the douche she still loved and whose mother was her friend, she'd never even give them a chance.
"Just do her a favor and do it before Rocky swings by." The last thing he wanted was the blue ranger involved. Rocky wasn't going to tolerate David's behavior in the least.
Josh smiled. "Don't worry I don't plan on letting it last that long."
The two caught up to the others and saw that they had already started dividing people. Jason noticed that the court looked the same as yesterday.
"Why don't you play with us," David said pointed to Jason, "and you can play over there."
The fact that David didn't want him on the same team came as no surprise to Josh. He simply nodded and took his spot as the game began. He watched as things progressed. David kept on his sister, doing things like putting his hand on her. It was irritating to watch, but he just had to wait for the right moment. He wanted to make sure that if David complained about the Hillard siblings, they would be able to justify themselves. He was hoping David wouldn't complain at all, that whatever he did to cross the line he wouldn't want getting out.
They didn't play much more than an hour before Josh was given a reason to intervene. The ball kept sailing back and forth. Carri was trying to stay near Jason and away from David. At one point David squeezed in between the two and jumped up and hit the ball hard. It went flying out of bounds and towards the ocean. Paul took off for the ball.
"My bad," David said as he turned toward Carri and grinned. He missed the roll of her eyes as she started to walk off. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her towards him. "Isn't this great?" he asked.
Great her ass. She gave him a small smile and held back her comment. She had to keep reminding herself that she did not want her mother to figure out a way to force her back home. She had to play nice. "I love being on the beach and playing volleyball."
"No, I mean me and you. Hanging together, just like old times." He missed her. The two of them were golden in high school. They could have that again.
"It's fun." About as fun as being stranded in the Lunar Palace.
He put both hands on her arms and looked into her eyes. "I know we broke up because you were coming home. I know how much you missed Angel Grove. But I missed you. And I know you missed me. So why don't we give us another chance? You can come to New York next year and we can be together."
She resisted the urge to throw up at the thought of going back to be with David. Instead of giving him the middle finger, she came up with a nicer way of saying screw you. "I can't. I'm seeing someone here and I'm really happy." Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Josh approach the net and Jason stand by his side.
David grabbed her arms tighter. "We worked so well. And we loved each other."
"That hurts," she hissed looking at him, the stare deadly enough to cause most people to back down. She would not lose her temper, she would not pummel him. "And love is such a strong word."
"Tell me that this isn't love," he said as he forced her to him and gave her a kiss.
Josh had seen enough. He grabbed David's shoulder and yanked his head back. "Don't touch her," he threatened, ready to haul off and kill him right there.
Carri made a face as David's head went flying back. She was glad her brother was there, she was about to use some of her fighting skills on her ex. She was relieved when Josh started to step in between them, but instead of separate from her David grabbed her and forced her to the side. She slipped and hit the sand between Josh and David, then scooted back, crossing her arms and clenching her fists while tapping her foot in the sand. It was probably better for her to remain sitting. If she stood she'd clobber him.
Jason knelt down beside her. "Are you ok?" he asked. He wasn't worried about her physically. As a ranger, a bump on the sand would be the least of her worries for the week he was sure. He was worried she was about to explode. The signs were there, anybody who knew Carri knew her temper was dangerously close to boiling over. She took a deep breath and nodded as she looked up at Josh and David.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked David. He was trying to connect with his ex. He couldn't imagine that she didn't have feelings for him.
"Keeping you away from my sister," Josh said, crossing his arms and squaring himself up against David.
"You think you need to protect her? From me?" It was a strange thought, he loved her and he'd never hurt her.
Josh nodded. "I think you just made that obvious."
"She still loves me you know."
"No, my mom still loves you. She loves someone else. She never loved you." He was deluded if he thought his sister was in love with him. He was starting to think the boy did need an ass kicking.
"If she cares so much about someone else, then why is he not out here with her?" As far as he could tell Carri had one male friend in California and that seemed to be plutonic. If she had a boyfriend, he'd be here every day. No way he'd let his hot girlfriend go to the beach alone.
"She would invite him but she's afraid he'd kick your ass."
David laughed as his friends came and stood by his side. "I think the only one who's getting an ass kicking is you."
With that, Jason stood up and glared at him. If the three of them were going to go after Josh, he was going to fight. Of course his stepping in wouldn't be fair to them, but that's what they got when they picked a fight with a ranger.
To his surprise, David simply smiled. "It's still two on three. With those odds, I think you need to leave." The threat was clear in his voice.
"Fine. We'll all go," Jason said as he started to extend a hand to Carri to pull her up.
David grabbed Jason's hand and knocked it away. "Not her. She's welcome with us. The two of you have to leave."
"Don't worry about leaving. I have some business to take care of first anyway," Josh said as he glared at David. He'd come all this way to finally get David off of his sister's case, he wasn't leaving before he finished the job.
Carri watched the boys argue. She wished more than anything that she could just make him go away. That she could put him on a plane, and ship him back to New York, one way, never to return again. She thought briefly about shipping him to the Lunar Palace, and thought that Rita and Zedd might actually take him in and make him an evil minion gave her a small laugh. She could take him out then. The humor was a nice distraction, and she was so into the thought that she almost missed the other figure drop his stuff down with hers and Jason's and jog over there.
"You don't want to do this Josh. Besides, it's an unfair fight," David told him. Josh would be a piece of cake and as for his friend, well the other two could take him down quickly.
"Three on three seems pretty fair to me," Tommy said as he walked over and stood beside Jason. He had no idea what was going on, but if the green ranger and Carri's brother were standing strong against someone, he was going to stand on their side.
Carri smiled. Now maybe David would consider backing off and leaving her alone. The three boys were intimidating, especially the two rangers, and if she didn't know them as well as she did she would have turned the other way and took off.
With a sigh she glanced around the beach. She saw Cindy and Amanda standing together a ways away. They smiled at her. She knew they didn't want to come over, that they didn't want to be involved. As she turned away from them, something caught her eye. The fight with David was forgotten and she reached over and tugged Tommy's swim trunks. "Uh, guys..."
Tommy swatted her hand away. They were too involved in what they were doing. She sighed. "Fine then I'll just fight the forces of evil on my own." She jumped to her feet as she spoke and moved into a fighting stance.
"Suit yourself," Rito said as he sent Tengas in her direction.
The minute the birds started squawking loudly, the boys stopped arguing and turned to see what was going on. Carri kicked one bird back as the others advanced on everyone else. For the moment, the boys forgot about arguing with each other and started taking out some aggression on the Tengas. Amanda and Cindy were trying to huddle away from the group.
Carri hit one Tenga and got smacked from behind by Rito, which sent her sailing to the ground. She sat up, spitting out grains of sand. "That was a cheap shot." She stood up and turned to face Rito. She never noticed David come at her from the side. He put his arms around her and threw both of them to the ground and out of Rito's path.
"What do you think you're doing? You should go over there with the other girls and let us handle this," he said not letting her get up. He refused to let her get into the middle of this. It was a man's fight.
"I'll be fine. Now move," she said with a hiss. He refused. He wasn't going to let her up until she agreed to hide. She knew she had to jump back into the fight, especially when she saw the monster come down.
"Hm... where to start...," said Zedd and Rita's latest creation. "There, that looks good."
Before Carri had a chance to jump up, the monster threw some sort of net around her and David, temporarily paralyzing them both. Tommy and Josh saw what happened. The others had been drawn from the fight by Rito, who was distracting them at the moment. The two boys ran over to help, but couldn't avoid being caught in one of the monsters nets.
Cindy saw the monster scanning the area. She stepped away from Amanda and started running towards the others. "Guys look out!" she yelled mainly for her boyfriend.
The monster smiled as he threw his final net over her. Then he and all three nets disappeared.
Jason kicked Rito back. As Rito regained his balance, he looked for the monster. He had heard him come in. However, he didn't see him. Now five of the kids that were on the beach were missing. Even an idiot like Rito couldn't miss what had happened here. "Ed's not going to like this too much," he said. As he turned to go back to the fight, he got attacked by two Zeo rangers.
The blue and pink rangers worked furiously to defeat the Tengas and Rito. It didn't take them long to send them packing. Amanda came flying over and threw her arms around Paul is tears fell down her cheeks. "They took them," she choked out through the tears
"What the hell happened here?" asked Cory, panicked that his girlfriend was missing.
"A monster has kidnapped your friends," Rocky gave them a quick explanation. "But don't worry, we'll get them back." Hopefully quickly, considering his girlfriend was among those missing.
"You guys just hang tight," Kat said as the two rangers' teleported off.
Jason waited a second then started to jog down the beach. He needed to teleport to the Power Chamber, he had to know what happened to his friends.
"Where are you going? Those guys just said for us to stay," Cory said, trying to sound authoritative.
"I've... I've got to let their significant others know what happened so they don't worry," Jason came up with an excuse as he went searching for a place to teleport.
Zedd saw the five paralyzed figures appear in a cage a few meters in front of him. He could feel his blood boiling as he looked at their faces. One glance at Rita showed the disappointment on her face. He stormed off and approached the monster. "I gave you one simple task. To bring me the power rangers. And you have failed."
"I did not fail you my lord. I brought you the blonde, the long haired one, the brunette, her boyfriend and their friend," the monster explained his actions.
"Idiot! Did you not even look at the information we gave you?" Zedd asked. This was the perfect plan. How could this monster fail him? Before he could ponder any further, he heard the group start to regain their feeling. He looked over at them, glaring at two in particular. "They'll have to do," he said as he walked over and stood in front of the cage. "Welcome to your worst nightmare."
Carri rolled her eyes. "Sorry that started yesterday." Anything Zedd was bringing was almost a welcome distraction at this point.
"Silence!" he yelled.
Josh, David and Cindy jumped. Tommy glanced over at Carri. "What do you want with us?" he asked. Whatever Zedd was up to, he wished he hadn't involved civilians. It was going to make it that much harder.
"Simple. To kill you," Zedd replied, briefly locking eyes with the red ranger who seemed to acknowledge the reason for their capture as expected.
They could hear Cindy start to cry in the back. David put a hand on Carri's shoulder. She brushed it off and briefly wondered if she could volunteer him to go first in whatever Zedd had planned. That was the ex-girlfriend in her talking though. The ranger in her knew they had to protect all citizens, no matter how much of a douche they were.
"Let the girls go," Josh said, concerned for his sister.
"No. I think they will have as much fun in the Maze of Doom as the rest of you," he said as he laughed. With one wave of his wand, all five disappeared. Zedd walked back over to Rita.
"You promised the destruction of the power rangers," she whined as she felt the beginnings of another headache.
"Well if I could get some good help around here...," Zedd said looking at the monster. He turned to Rita. "Don't worry, if we destroy two rangers and three civilians, it will tear apart the rest of the team leaving them vulnerable."
Rita managed a smile. She looked at the monster. "And what about him?"
"He can go down to Earth and try to finish the job," Zedd growled glaring at the monster. The monster nodded and took off.
Rocky and Kat quickly appeared in the Power Chamber and took off their helmets. "What happened?" Kat asked looking to Zordon for answers.
"It appears as though Lord Zedd's monster has taken Tommy and Carri, as well as three others, to another dimension," Zordon explained. He wasn't sure why he took three civilians. If it was as leverage against Tommy and Carri, they could be in trouble.
"One of Rita's dimensions?" asked Rocky. They had experience with Rita's dimensions before.
"It doesn't look like it," said Billy, who had been working quickly to come up with answers since the others disappeared.
"Why would they take three random people?" asked Kat. It didn't make any sense to her. Usually it was rangers first, rest of the world later.
"Maybe the monster thought they were you," suggested Alpha. There were similarities between the civilians that were taken and the rangers.
"That's absurd, why would a monster think that?" asked Rocky as Jason teleported in.
"Maybe Jason can answer that question. He was down there," Billy pointed out.
"What question?" asked Jason, wondering if this was going to be as bad of a question as he was afraid it was.
"Why a monster would kidnap two rangers and three random people, possibly mistaking the others for us," Rocky filled him in on what they had been discussing.
"I... I don't know. If he'd never seen our pictures before, and just gotten descriptions... maybe he could get it confused. Everything did move so quickly... I think Josh was standing with Tommy, maybe because they were friends they thought he was me. Cindy is a tall skinny blonde... and David," Jason stopped short and mentally cringed a little. David was all over Carri in his attempt to protect her. Now wasn't the time to mention that to Rocky though. They had a job to do.
"David what? Was he one of Josh's friends?" asked Rocky. He didn't know David, or Cindy for that matter. However Carri did say her brother was coming by with some of his friends.
Kat shot Jason a look. But it was too late now. He couldn't very well lie to him. "No. He used to be a friend of Carri's. He's from New York."
Rocky raised an eyebrow. "Tell me that it's a coincidence that David is her ex-boyfriend's name." He glared at Jason, who didn't have any response. "So she kept me in the dark so she could run around with her ex-boyfriend?" he asked, feeling hurt. He stopped as something hit him. "The reason the monster would have mistaken him for me - he was all over her wasn't he?"
"Rocky you know that's not true," Kat said putting a hand on his shoulder. Carri would never let David do anything that would compromise her relationship with Rocky.
Jason looked at his friend. "Not entirely. He was all over her, but she didn't want him to be. She made that clear. For the last two days he's been trying to touch her and insist that she come back with him and she felt like her hands were tied. She couldn't blow him off. Her mother apparently cherishes his opinion. That's why Josh was there. To take care of her problem. That's why she couldn't tell you. She couldn't have you beating the crap out of him, and then him running back and telling her mom how bad she was and how cruel you were."
Rocky frowned. "I wish she had told me."
"She didn't want you to worry. She didn't want to confront him and give him the chance to give her parents a bad impression, and she knew you wouldn't stand for her being mistreated," Kat told him. She thought her cousin was a bit wrong on the issue. How could her parents possibly not like Rocky if he stood up for her?
Rocky nodded. That was certainly true. He wouldn't have stood for it in the least. He couldn't believe she did, she usually wouldn't put up with crap like that from anybody. He didn't know the entire story, but he imagined when he did it would make sense. "If it was that bad I'm surprised she didn't pummel him already." He voiced some of his jumbled up thoughts out loud.
Jason chuckled. He knew she was afraid of getting sent back to New York, but he'd let her voice those thoughts with Rocky later. Instead he gave a more comical response. "She probably already sacrificed him to Lord Zedd to save herself – her mom would never know."
The thought brought a smile to Rocky's face. "I wouldn't be surprised, but" he didn't get to finish his thought as the alarm went off.
"Rangers Zedd's monster is attacking Angel Grove. You must go down there, but be careful of his nets," Alpha said.
"Right," Rocky said, shifting back into ranger mode. "Back to action." The pink and blue Zeo rangers put their helmets back on as Jason morphed into the green Zeo ranger.
When they arrived on the scene, the monster was waiting for them. "Ha. You rangers can't stop me," he bellowed.
"We'll see about that," Jason replied. He wanted to make short work of this guy and get back to his friends.
The rangers and the monster started to fight. The monster tried to trap the rangers. He thought if he could bring the rest of them to Lord Zedd, all would be forgiven. The rangers however did not make easy targets.
They were dodging the monsters attacks, while trying to launch some of their own. They wanted to pull out the Zeo Cannon and bring him down, but they couldn't without somehow distracting him first.
As if Trey read their minds, he teleported down behind the monster. "It's time for a gold rush!" he yelled. The monster turned around just in time to see the staff hit him. As he got up and turned to face the other rangers, they fired a weapon of their own. The monster hit the ground hard.
Rita and Zedd would not let the rangers go that easily. As he hit the ground, they transformed him to city wrecking size.
"Not again," Rocky said sighing. "We need Super Zeo Zord power now!"
The three rangers jumped into their Super Zeo Zords, quickly followed by Pyramidas. They fought Zedd's monster for a while, and with the help of the Super Zeo MegaZord, they brought him down.
"Thanks for the help Trey," Jason said, giving a nod to the Gold Ranger.
"Anytime," Trey replied before teleporting himself off.
Following his cue, the rangers teleported off as well, heading back to the Power Chamber to see what Billy had found out.
Zedd had slung his five captives to different corners of his Maze of Doom. He knew that it was possible they would survive the maze. That he had counted on. They wouldn't, however, survive the finish line. That he was looking forward to.
Upon arrival, all of them quickly realized they would have to fend for themselves, at least for the time being. The first two to find each other were Carri and Cindy, which turned out to be a good thing given that Cindy wasn't dealing well at all. After Carri had gotten her to quit sobbing, she convinced her that they had to keep moving or else they would be killed.
"Do you really think they want to kill us?" Cindy asked, watching as her friend nodded. "Why?"
Carri sighed. She was focused on getting out of here and she was tired of trying to help Cindy understand. "I don't know. Weird stuff happens when you're near Angel Grove."
Cindy had another question on her tongue but she stopped when she saw movement. Then she shrieked. "Those birds are back."
The yellow ranger followed her line of sight to see more Tengas appear. She fought them while trying to protect Cindy, who was cowering behind her. She had knocked most of them back, when one came at her twirling some sort of weapon. Carri grabbed Cindy by the wrist. "Run!" she exclaimed as the two took off.
They had no idea where they were going. It was hard enough to maneuver through Zedd's maze without a Tenga on their heels. Carri took what turned out to be a wrong turn and she ran towards a dead end. She had to think quickly. "Get down!" she yelled as they approached the back wall. Cindy fell to the floor as the Tenga took a swing near their mid sections. Carri used her forward momentum to take a few steps up the stone wall. The Tenga swung above Cindy's head and below Carri's feet. As Carri got to her highest point, she pushed off the wall and kicked the surprised Tenga back.
She landed in fighting stance, ready for whatever came next. However she didn't have to worry about another attack, because while the bird was dazed, Tommy kicked him in the stomach causing him to drop the weapon. He picked it up and used it to knock the Tenga out. "I thought that was you running by."
"Thanks Tommy," Carri said as she helped Cindy up. She would have taken him out but it was nice to have the red ranger with them now.
"Come on, let's get out of here," said Tommy as he motioned for the girls to follow. There was no need standing in one place. They had to keep moving and find a way out.
"Have you seen the others?" Carri asked as she moved to get into step with Tommy. He shook his head no. "I'm worried about Josh."
"And David," Cindy chimed in.
"I'm sure they're alright," Tommy replied. So far all he'd seen were Tengas. They were a threat, but two physically fit men should be able to handle themselves.
Carri sighed as she looked around the maze. She folded her arms and shivered. A bikini on the beach felt fabulous. A bikini in here, not so much. She felt Tommy's hands on her shoulder as he rubbed her arms to try and warm her up. "Anything?" he asked. He was cold, and given she was wearing less clothes and had less body mass she had to be worse off.
She gave him a half smile. "Thanks for trying though."
"I don't even have a shirt to offer," Tommy said. He had been ready for soaking up the sun as well, and was wearing nothing but his swim trunks.
"I'll live," she told him with a shrug. She appreciated the gesture though. "Well hopefully," she added remembering her surroundings.
"Is this your boyfriend?" Cindy asked, curious about who was putting his hands all over her friend.
Tommy smiled. "No, I'm her best friend's boyfriend."
Carri shot him a look. "Since when?" Their situation was momentarily forgotten as she prepared to drill her teammate.
He flashed her a half smile. "Since last night."
"And you didn't tell me?" she asked, eyes narrowing.
"Nope," he said with a grin on his face. He had a feeling if she'd appeared at the apartment before they left Kim wouldn't have been able to help herself. Fortunately, they got one date out of the way without being hounded.
"All that pestering I've been doing and she couldn't even tell me she was going on a date," she said pouting.
"Kim and I decided we wanted to go on a date first before we told anyone, especially you and Jason because of the pestering."
Carri laughed. It was a valid point. She and Jason were asking Kim at least once a day if Tommy had asked her out yet. "Fine. I'm just glad you guys finally did it."
Tommy had a reply but he stopped suddenly and took a step forward, weapon in hand. More Tengas had shown up to try and take them out.
"Have you found anything?" Rocky asked Billy as they powered down.
"Well I have some good news. When the monster teleported back down, we tried to run a trace on its signature. We found the dimension that it came from. There was evidence of two evil signatures recently there. There was also evidence of two Zeo signatures and three other humans. The signatures were sent elsewhere. We can't pinpoint them exactly, but we have an idea. It shouldn't take us long to find them." Billy explained. The process was a shot in the dark. He didn't know if he could follow the monster's trail, but fortunately he'd left quite a few residual breadcrumbs.
"What do we do when we find them?" asked Kat, ready to run in for the rescue.
"It is doubtful that Lord Zedd will allow you to teleport in to his dimension." Alpha pointed out. Zedd was smart, they had to assume he'd put up the necessary barriers to prevent teleportation.
"However my dimensional device will allow you access. If I can get Kim's help, then the three of you can go in and rescue the others," Billy told them. He'd thought this through already.
"Sounds like a plan," Jason said. He was sure everything was alright, all the same he'd like to get his two friends out of there.
"Can we do anything to help?" asked Rocky, anxious to get the others back.
"No. But this shouldn't take much longer," Billy assured him.
Rocky sighed as he leaned against a console and waited for results. He couldn't help but worry about his girlfriend. Thinking about his girlfriend made him think about her ex. He wished she told him what was going on. He could have helped. He would have... well he would have gone to the beach and confronted David. Maybe he could still do that. After all, he was almost to the beach when this whole thing started, having been let out a little early with a promise to work until lunch the next day. He was on his way home to surprise his girlfriend. He smiled. Once they made it out of this jam, he would definitely see what he could do to help.
David had found Josh first in the maze. He was more concerned about finding the girls. Well Carri anyway. He was afraid for her life out here. He did still love her. And he truly believed that she still cared about him. He sighed as he and Josh continued to walk around. They weren't talking, but there was certainly something to be said about safety in numbers. Especially with these giant birds around.
Of course, they hadn't really been fighting the birds. More like running from them. It was harder than expected with the maze they were trying to navigate. Suddenly they heard a noise. They couldn't be sure what it was. Maybe the birds? Then they heard it again. It was definitely female, and it was definitely screaming.
The two boys raced to where they thought the source of the screaming was coming from. It was getting louder as they got closer. They knew they were on the right path when they saw Carri slide across the floor and hit the rock wall with a soft thud. "That's going to leave a mark," she grumbled as she jumped up and ran back to the action.
"Carri!" David yelled as he ran after her. Josh muttered something under his breath as he followed.
When they caught up to her, they saw several of the birds attacking. Tommy and Carri were fighting them, while Cindy was screaming in the corner as the other two tried to protect her. "Go hide with Cindy," David said as he jumped in front of Carri and took a shot from a Tenga.
"Sure," she said rolling her eyes as she slipped past him and into the arms of some Tengas. Of course she would rather be in their hands than his. If that wasn't sad, she didn't know what was.
She slammed two together and hit two more. She saw David keep trying to get to her, but a few minutes later the fight was over.
"You don't need to fight those things they'll kill us," David said as he walked toward her.
"This is not the time nor the place for you to try and act all macho," Carri snapped. She knew what he was like. He'd done it the entire time they were together. She put up with it in New York, but here she wasn't under her mother's thumb and she would be damned if she let him act like he was the man and she was nothing but the pathetic little girl who needed him.
"She's right," Tommy agreed. He and Carri were the only ones qualified to go against the Tengas. He wasn't going to let someone try and pull her out of the fight. "Besides we need all the hands we can get if we are going to survive this."
"She's a woman, she shouldn't be fighting," David protested. He didn't know what was wrong with Carri. He thought she knew better than to put herself out there to get hurt.
Tommy immediately stepped forward and grabbed Carri's arms, pulling her far away from David. The look in her eyes said it all. She was about to show him why she was the yellow ranger. Even he felt the overwhelming urge to sock him for every female ranger who has ever held a morpher, but now wasn't the time. "Come on guys we need to keep moving," Tommy said, gently nudging Carri forward.
"Who do you think you are bossing us around and putting a hand on her?" David asked, irritated with the man who had jumped in the middle of his business earlier. "Wait, you're her boyfriend aren't you?"
"Lucky for you I'm not," Tommy replied. If he was in this situation with Kim and not Carri, he would have hit him. He could think more rationally where Carri was concerned than he ever would with his now girlfriend.
"Two male friends sticking up for you and not one boyfriend? Either you lied about having a love or you've turned into a slut," David said. If she was his girlfriend he would never let that many guys feel that comfortable around her. There was no way she had a boyfriend.
Before Carri could even protest Josh socked David in the jaw. "Don't you ever say that about my sister again," he growled. Carri had lots of guy friends growing up. David never let her have any, but to see her sister having them again now didn't faze him. It was normal for her and it did not make her a slut.
"Come on," Tommy said. One more minute with this guy and he was going to hit him. He was beginning to get what the fight he walked into in the first place was about. He turned toward the front, making sure the yellow ranger was following, and then he and Carri led the way, followed by Josh and Cindy, and finally David.
Kim hit the save button on her computer and smiled. As soon as her report finished printing she would be done. She worked overtime on this thing so she could go to the beach. She hoped Tommy was there. She was sure he would have shown up by now. It was after two and he had nothing going on at all that day. She couldn't wait to share the news with her friends. They would be so excited. They have been rooting them on since she came back.
As Kim finished stapling her pages, the communicator Billy gave her went off. She looked at it briefly, smiling at the pink markings on the side. She was surprised it was pink, after all Kat was the pink ranger, but she was still the pink Ninjetti. Pushing that thought aside she put her report down and lifted her wrist to her mouth. "What's up?"
"Kim I'm going to need your help with something. Can you teleport up here?" Billy asked.
"Sure thing," she replied. In a flash of light, she was gone.
She arrived in the Power Chamber to see Kat, Jason and Rocky standing around. Kat looked bored, Jason looked irritated, and Rocky was obviously upset. "What's going on?" she asked, immediately noting that two of the rangers were missing.
"Josh, Tommy, Carri, her friend Cindy and her ex David were all kidnapped by Lord Zedd and taken to another dimension," explained Jason. That was the gist of their day.
"Her ex?" questioned Kim, raising an eyebrow. "Why didn't she tell me her ex was in town?"
"Because you weren't around last night," Jason replied. He knew she had every intention to vent to their friend, but she was nowhere to be found and they had both gone to bed before she returned. They hoped she was with Tommy, but if she was she was trying to keep it a secret.
"I was out," she said, feeling somewhat bad that she couldn't be there for her friend last night. Then again, she was with Tommy, so Carri would have to forgive her.
"With who?" he asked, eyebrow raised as he waited for the answer.
"With one of the boys who is missing," Kim said with a frown on her face. She ignored the look Jason gave her. Instead she turned her attention toward Billy. "So what can I do to help?"
"The coordinates to the dimension that they have been taken to should...," Billy paused as a few buttons flashed, "well they are coming up now." Rocky smiled as Billy continued. "You and I will need to operate and man my dimensional traveling device so that the others can go in and rescue everyone."
Jason looked over at the blue ranger, who was obviously antsy to leave. "Do I need to remind you of the rules of being a ranger before we leave?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Rocky. He didn't know what he'd do to break any rules.
"I mean you can't go in and fight or blast or sacrifice anyone that may be evil but is really just human," Jason pointed out, silently adding that it went for him too.
Rocky smiled. The thought would have never crossed his mind. Sure he wanted to make a point, but not as a ranger. "Yeah, yeah. Is everyone ready?" he asked. They nodded. "It's morphin time!"
"Zeo ranger one, pink!"
"Zeo ranger three, blue!"
"Zeo ranger four, green!"
"Ninjetti, Crane!"
"Ninjetti, Wolf!"
With that, the rangers were gone, leaving only Alpha and Zordon in the Power Chamber as they went to rescue their friends.
After more battles than they could remember, Tommy and Carri were the first of the group to emerge in front of the exit to the maze. They were all exhausted and wanted more than anything for this to end. One glance and they realized that they still had more to deal with.
Goldar and Rito were standing off to the side, looking at a warrior in the middle. The warrior smiled. "I am here to guarantee your destruction," she said smiling, her eyes locking with the group's leader.
"Who are you?" asked Josh, glancing at her curiously.
"I am Scorpina," she said with a smile.
"A scorpion lackey? Ha. See ya," Carri said as she started to spin around and walk away.
Tommy grabbed her by the arm and spun her forward, pulling her back beside him. Now wasn't the time for that. "You don't scare us."
She laughed at the former white ranger. "You don't lie very well." With that, she jumped down from her perch and attacked the group. Carri and Tommy tried to lure her away from the others. Seeing as that was working, Goldar and Rito went down to chase the rest of the group.
Fighting Scorpina was harder than Carri had anticipated. She was strong. And Tommy made it a point to tell her to avoid her tail. She didn't know how much longer they would hold up.
Scorpina managed to back them into a corner. "You know, Lord Zedd wanted me to destroy all five rangers. It's not my fault he hired a monster too stupid to capture the right people. But then again, two is better than none," she said as she pulled something out.
"What's that?" Carri asked, referencing the glowing orb in her hands.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think we want to find out," Tommy replied, his mind racing to find a way out of this. Zordon wouldn't like it, but they may have to morph. He'd heard of doing memory wipes on civilians. If they exposed themselves perhaps Zordon would forgive them and simply remove those memories, at least from David and Cindy. He wouldn't trust them at all.
She grinned. "It's a present from Rita. I thought it would be more fun to destroy you by hand, but I think it will be just as much fun to blow you to bits and tear apart your friends." Scorpina was so excited that she didn't notice all the commotion as the rangers invaded their little party. Rocky came in and shot Scorpina from the side.
She turned towards him and Jason took the opportunity to use his Zeo power kick in her back. Scorpina went flying, her explosive device sailing out of her hand and well out of her reach. Rocky ran to check on the other two rangers. "Are you guys ok?" he asked.
"Much better now that you're here," Carri replied with a smile.
"So I imagine you have a way to get us out?" Tommy asked, grateful that the others came and they didn't have to morph.
"Just follow Kat. Jason and I will distract Rita and Zedd's goons then we'll be right behind you," Rocky said, motioning toward where the others were gathered.
Tommy and Carri turned to see that Kat and Jason were protecting the others, who were terrified about what had happened earlier. Carri squeezed Rocky's gloved hand. "Be careful."
He smiled. "Always am." Rocky ran off to help Jason distract the bad guys. Carri and Tommy ran over to join the others.
"I'm so happy you're ok," David said throwing his arms around Carri and rubbing his hands on her back.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rocky saw him. He saw the look of disgust on her face as she tried to push him away. He couldn't watch long as Goldar snapped him back to reality. But he wished that he could go over there and give him a piece of his mind.
As Carri got David off of her, she turned to the pink ranger. "K...," she started holding that first syllable out for a few seconds, "come on pink ranger the blue ranger said you could get us out of here."
Tommy tried hard not to smile. Fortunately Kat didn't have to hide it as she grinned under her helmet. "Follow me," she said as she led them around the maze.
A few minutes later they had found the portal back to Earth. "We have to go through there?" asked Cindy, quite a bit skeptical.
"Don't worry it's not dangerous," Kat assured her.
"Ladies first," Josh said sticking his hand out. If anything bad happened, he would rather have his sister free than him.
"I don't know," Cindy said. Carri sighed and grabbed her hand. Then she led both of them through at the same time. David didn't hesitate to follow. Tommy motioned for Josh to go before him. Then Tommy went through, leaving Kat there. Kat glanced over and saw the two male rangers running towards her and she jumped through.
Everyone landed on the grass and they were greeted by the pink and blue Ninjetti. Rocky and Jason were the last ones through. "Close it quick!" Rocky hollered as his feet hit the ground.
Billy hit a button and the portal before them shut. He turned to the others. "Now I believe you guys have a beach to get back to."
"Thank you for saving us," Cindy said. The others nodded their heads to say thank you as well.
"Anytime," Kim said with a nod.
Billy raised his communicator to his mouth. "Alpha I've got five people who need to be teleported back to Los Angeles."
"Will do rangers," Alpha said. A few seconds later, they were gone.
"I'd better hurry up and get back too," Jason said as he powered down and teleported to a safe spot.
"Let's take this stuff back, then we can get back to what we were doing," Billy said picking up a part of his device.
Rocky grabbed the other piece. "Sounds like a good idea to me," he said as they teleported to the Power Chamber.
"I cannot believe we failed. This plan was perfect. If your stupid monster had captured the right people, we would have had those rangers worn down and beaten and they would never have been able to defeat Scorpina. Instead, we had two worn down rangers in there, leaving three morphed rangers to find them," Zedd spoke every word with a growl.
Rita glared at him. "Why does it have to be my stupid monster? We used one of Finster's molds anyway. Finster!"
He scurried into the throne room. He would have to take the blame for the monsters lack of intelligence. He wasn't looking forward to it. "Yes?" he asked.
"Your monster failed us." Rita screeched.
Finster nodded as the reaction was expected. "I'm sorry my queen, perhaps next time"
"Perhaps next time you'll get it right," she snapped with an annoyed look on her face.
"Next time I will make the monster," Zedd said. He was a fool to let Finster handle this. He should have taken matters into his own hands.
"So what are we going to do about Scorpina?" asked Rita, her attention off of her assistant at the moment.
"We can keep her close by. I will think of another plan. She can still be useful to us," Zedd told her. Scorpina was good, there was no sense in sending her away. It wasn't her fault that the monster set her up for failure. She would have destroyed those rangers.
Rita huffed. "All that planning and for what? Nothing."
"Don't worry Rita. We will get those rangers someday," Zedd promised as he slouched in his throne and looked out over Earth.
The group of five landed back on the beach. "Are you ok?" Cory asked as he ran over and gave his girlfriend a hug. He had been worried sick about her.
She nodded as a wave of relief swept over to her. "It was so scary. But the power rangers saved us."
Jason jogged back over to the group. "You guys are back." He didn't bother to try to sound relieved. He had no doubts they'd get them back in one piece. After all he was part of the team doing the rescuing.
"Yeah. We made it," Tommy said, not quite sure how to play the relieved civilian.
"That had to have been the worst thing ever," Amanda said, glancing over at Paul who nodded.
"It was pretty close," David agreed as he put an arm around Carri.
The yellow ranger shrugged him off as her brother stepped forward and glared at him. "Which reminds me we were in the middle of something before we left."
"Yeah, we were," David said and with a smile he hit Josh. Josh fell backwards not expecting the punch. He stood up and glared at David. Tommy and Jason walked over to Josh and pulled him up, standing firmly beside him. At the same time, Cory and Paul immediately went to David.
"You guys don't have to do this. We can all be friends," Amanda said as Cindy nodded her head in agreement. If these stupid California boys would just leave them alone, it would be fine.
"I think it's too late for us to be friends," Josh said. Besides, they were never friends. Even when his sister dated David he didn't think she was truly friends with them.
The boys started to argue. Carri tried to get in the middle of it, after all it was essentially about her, but they butted her out of the picture. With a sigh she walked off. Jason and Tommy fighting with her brother against David was not what she wanted. She just wanted Josh to make the problem go away. It was obvious that this was going to blow up in her face. She was three seconds away from saying to hell with her mother and the consequences and settling this herself.
Before she could come to that decision, she felt a hand on her back. She turned to see David standing there. He had stormed off from the others, and they had yet to realize where he stormed off too. "Can't we talk this through?" he asked.
"There's nothing to talk about. I don't love you. I never loved you," she hissed. Her mind was made up. She was going to end this.
"How can you say that after all we went through together?" She had to be lying. Someone here had to put her up to that.
"Everything I did in New York wasn't real to me. It wasn't who I was. It was who my mom set me up to be." He never knew Carri, the real Carri, he knew the persona she created to keep herself out of an all-girls boarding school.
His eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Even me?"
"Especially you," she said, hoping he'd get the message and it wouldn't escalate. "The whole us thing didn't have one leg to stand on."
"What the hell are you talking about?" he exploded. It didn't make sense to him. They were perfect, everyone knew it. "We were perfect for each other. We still are. Why do you think we got together in the first place?"
"Because it fit the mold," she snapped. She was the cheerleader, he was the football player. It was expected.
He made a face. She wasn't making any sense to him. "I know that you said we couldn't work because of the long distance thing. But we are older now. We can make it work. Hell you can come back home where you belong."
Her fingers curled into fists by her side. She was trying damn hard not to hit him, but it was getting close. "This is my home. Why don't you take your friends and get the hell off my beach."
He grabbed her hard and pulled her into him. "You don't mean that," he said as he tried to give her a kiss.
He surprised her for a second, and she was slow to react. She grabbed his arm and twisted causing him to back away from her face for a second and let her arm go. However before she got the chance to punch him, someone beat her to it. "Leave her alone," a voice said as David fell back to the sand.
Carri looked toward the source of the punch and saw Rocky standing there. She never even saw him approach, but she was thrilled to see him. "David meet my boyfriend. The man that I do love."
Rocky put an arm around her and looked down at him. "Don't you ever lay another hand on her again," he said, hoping that his actions were enough to permanently deter him.
As he spoke the other boys approached them. Josh saw David on the sand trying to get up. Before his friends could get over there, he kicked him in the stomach and David fell back down. Josh pushed him on his back and knelt down over him. "If I ever get word that you tried to go after my sister again, through her or my parents, I will come after you. And believe me when I say you don't want that," he threatened. He couldn't keep David away from his parents, not when their mothers were friends, but he could get him to back off of his sister.
David slowly stood up as he scooted back towards his friends. He glared at Josh. "This isn't finished."
"What are you going to do? Come after me?" Josh asked with a smirk on his face. He had enough friends and enough resources he could make David's life hell and the other man knew it.
David scowled as Josh backed up. He pulled himself up and glared at the other man. He still wanted Carri, there was no doubt about that. However he didn't want to cross Josh. If it came down to it, in the end Josh would be able to get more people to stand on his side. It wasn't worth it. He said nothing as he turned and collected his friends, then left.
Carri let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so sorry you guys for involving you in this. I mean he was my problem I just"
"Hey we're like family right?" Jason asked cutting her off. She was like his sister, and he would have socked the man yesterday if she would have allowed it.
Carri nodded and Tommy continued. "And what's family for?"
She smiled. "Days like these." She turned to Rocky. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I mean I should have told you, but he is my problem and I didn't want you to get involved, I didn't want you to get into a fight."
"Don't worry Jason explained everything," Rocky said as he gave her a kiss. "I would have liked to have taken care of your problem earlier but it's ok."
"I just... I didn't want him to say anything to my parents that's all." There was more to it than that, but she wasn't going to share everything right now.
"Don't worry about that. It won't be hard for me to find out if he were to say something. I don't think he will though. I think I scare him," Josh said with a smile. He knew she didn't want their mother reacting, or over reacting, and making her life hell. He'd do the best he could from his end, but he had a feeling all would remain quiet.
"Hey guys!" Kim hollered as she ran over and threw her arms around Tommy, giving him a kiss. She was so glad to see him for a moment she forgot not everyone knew they were dating.
Jason's eyes immediately shot to the yellow rangers and the two of them grinned. Jason cleared his throat, and Tommy looked away from Kim long enough to smile at him. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot to tell you. Me and Kim went out last night."
"So you two are...," Jason let his voice trailed off as he made hand gestures. He suspected it last night, he just wanted the conformation. Not that the kiss didn't give it away.
Kim smiled. "Uh-huh."
"Congrats you guys," Rocky said.
Carri simply grinned at her best friend. They locked eyes and made a silent exchange. The two had a lot to catch up on that night. Who knew one day could bring so much action?
"So are we going to play or what?" Josh asked picking the ball up from where it had been dropped earlier.
"Oh but of course," Carri replied. She was ready to really play, not play with someone constantly over her shoulder. "Come on Rocky, you're with me. You too Josh. We can take out those three over there."
"Sounds like a challenge," Tommy said smiling and grabbing Kim's hand.
"Well I never refuse a challenge," Jason replied. The three jogged after the others as they went for a fun afternoon in the sun.
The rest of the week went by peacefully. They all played volleyball the rest of the afternoon on Tuesday. Eventually Josh's friends came by, wanting to collect him to see the LA nightlife. Josh said his goodbyes and took off. The rest of the group went out that night. Wednesday and Thursday was a hodgepodge of activities among different groups. Friday night the entire group went out for one huge outing one last time before Zack and Trini left.
Saturday morning brought the departure of old friends. They all met in Billy's apartment to say goodbye before Billy drove the two original rangers to LAX.
"I wish we could stay longer," Zack said. He had an amazing time back home. However he was looking forward to getting back to his new job.
"Me too," Jason said as he hugged his old friend.
"Next time we get the opportunity, we will have to fly home so we can see everybody again," said Trini. They didn't get back home enough. That was going to have to change. The others agreed with her.
After a few more minutes of saying goodbyes, Billy looked at his watch and motioned towards the door. "If we don't take off soon, we'll never make it in time."
Trini looked up at him. "Ok," she said squeezing his hand. The others smiled as they looked at Trini and Billy. It was nice to see that Billy was happy again. He claimed to be happy on Aquitar, but they knew that Trini made him happier than anything there ever did.
Billy led the way out the door. He climbed into the driver's seat of his car. Zack scooted in the back to let the two lovebirds sit next to each other. They arrived at the airport a little faster than Billy had anticipated. After they had checked in, Zack started walking towards the gate.
"I'm going to give you guys some time. It was good to see you Billy," he said, flashing the duo a huge smile.
"It was good to see you too," Billy replied, saying a quick goodbye to Zack before his friend walked off.
Zack smiled and left. Once he disappeared, Billy looked down at Trini. "So this is it?"
"Don't say it like that Billy. I may be thousands of miles away but that doesn't mean that we won't ever see each other again," she replied. She was already thinking about the vacations she would take in the future.
"I guess you're right." It still didn't mean he would be happy about it. He finally found a woman to be happy with and he couldn't spend time with her like he wanted.
She smiled and gave his hand a quick squeeze. "We can send each other letters. And don't forget about this invention called the internet."
That got a smile out of Billy. "I know. We'll stay in contact."
"And you can come visit," Trini pointed out. "They can live without you here for a few days. They have before. Besides, you have these if they need you," she said as she placed her hand on top of his communicator. She knew he wanted to stay by his friends to help, but they could work it out.
"True." He paused for a second. "Maybe you can come back here some."
"Maybe," she replied with a nod.
"We will make this work," he said, sounding quite sure of himself despite the worries he had.
She smiled and nodded. "I know we will."
Billy smiled back not sure of how to phrase what he wanted to say. "You... you make me feel so special. So wanted."
"I feel the same way when I'm with you. Nobody knows me like you do Billy. We've been friends for so long," her voice trailed off. Even when they were kids she had a connection with Billy. It just took them this long to do anything about it.
"Nobody ever understood me like you do." She understood him as a person, a ranger, a scientist… he could never find that anywhere on Earth or Aquitar.
"I love you Billy," Trini said softly, her eyes meeting his.
Billy started to blush. It was the first time she had said that. "I love you too." He then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to give her a kiss. He was going to miss having her here with him, but at least he had her.
They pulled away and gazed into each other's eyes for a moment. "I need to get over there," Trini said. She couldn't miss her flight no matter how much she might want to stay.
"What's the worst that could happen?" asked Billy, his face brightening up.
Trini laughed. "I would have to stay here with you."
"And?"
"Billy," she said with a grin. They both knew she couldn't stay, not now anyway.
"I know," he replied. He gave her one last kiss. As they parted, he squeezed her hand. He watched as she walked over to her gate and boarded the plane. For the first time in his life, Billy was really, truly happy. He could not wait to see what the future would bring for him.