"WWWWAAAAAHHHHH!"
"Could someone PLEASE shut him up!" Nina yelled with frustration, holding her hands over her ears.
"I WANT MISS ASHLEY!!!!!" The 19-year-old baby cried. Zhane sat in the middle of the bridge and pounded his fists on the ground.
The quantrons standing in the room were keeping a safe distance from the shrieking terror. Ecliptor had taken the other three rangers into the back room for some adjusting, leaving Nina to figure out what to do next.
"You!" Nina pointed at the closest quantron. "Put him in the cell."
The guard shook his head and backed away further. He pushed a few of the other quantrons forward
"Ugh! You are all useless." Nina crept forward and kneeled down next to the silver ranger. "Zhane, if you want to see Miss Ashley, then you have to be quiet."
"NNNNNNNOOOOOO! I-I-I- D-D-DON'T W-W-WANT T-T-T-OOOO!" Zhane's voice was choked with sobs. "MISS ASHLEY!!"
In a last minute decision, Nina grabbed her staff out of the air and pointed it at herself. Her body was covered with pink electricity, and then her face changed to the kind one of the yellow ranger.
"Zhane," Nina cooed, not used to the sound of her new voice. "Zhane, I'm here. It's Miss Ashley."
"Ashley!" Zhane sniffled but wrapped his arms around Nina's leg. "Where did you go? That mean lady was really mean!"
Nina rolled her eyes. Babies were so dumb. She stood up and unhooked the ranger's hands.
"That's not important. How about you come with me to get some food?"
Zhane nodded his head and followed Nina on his hands and knees. Nina walked into the cell and had Zhane sit against the wall. With a wave of her staff, a plate of food appeared on the floor in front of the ranger. Then Nina left and locked the door behind her.
"Finally," Nina gasped. She returned herself to her normal features as she headed back to the bridge, where Ecliptor stood with the three rangers. "Oh, good…"
"My princess, there is something else you should see."
Nina squinted her eyes at her green companion. What was more important than her army that was going to destroy the rangers?
"The purple ranger," Ecliptor started, turning on the screen. Nina watched as Karone pushed away her paranoia to stand up to her brother and form a plan for all of them.
"How did this happen?" Nina exclaimed.
"The yellow ranger has figured out the undoing of the spell. A familiar touch restores their memory."
"Mind Shifter!" Nina roared. The brown cat appeared in a sparkle of yellow lightning.
"Yes?"
"The rangers keep getting their memory back." Nina growled. "And that is a problem. Ecliptor, go make sure our cat gets fixed."
"Yes, my princess." Ecliptor grasped the monster's arm and dragged him off of the bridge. Mind Shifter tried to fight, but Ecliptor was stronger, and they both left.
"As for you three," Nina smiled at her army, who had stood perfectly still during the small fiasco.
"Yes, master." Carlos, Cassie, and TJ all spoke, their voices robotic.
"Oh, that is fun!" Nina smiled and clapped her hands together. "Now, I want you three to go down to Earth and attack. When the other rangers show up, you are to fight them until they are dead. I will be down shortly with backup. Understood?"
"Yes, master."
"Good. Now, go."
And with that, the three rangers lifted their wrists and shouted "Let's Rocket". Once transformed, they disappeared in rays of their respective colors.
000000000000000000
Ashley, Andros, and Karone ran up to the middle of the town square, where their teammates were shooting down scenery and citizens.
"Nina isn't here," Andros muttered.
"Don't worry about that." Karone ordered. "We need to get them to stop without harming them."
"Rangers," Cassie spoke out. The other two stopped firing and turned to face their opponents.
"Well, we got them to stop." Ashley said.
"We will fight until you are dead." TJ repeated Nina's orders.
"That is so not good." Karone mumbled.
The evil rangers sprinted forward, and the others called their weapons and blocked the attack. Andros pushed TJ away from him and lowered his body to knock the blue ranger off his feet. TJ jumped up and kicked Andros across the head, making the red ranger fall to his knees.
Ashley held Cassie's shoulders, and the pink ranger mimicked the action. They struggled together before Cassie pushed her friend away and pulled out her blaster. The lasers fired, but Ashley leaped out of the way and pulled out her own blaster. She aimed right at Cassie's head before remembering they didn't want to kill them. So she slid her gun back in place and ran towards the pink ranger.
Karone let out a yell as Carlos hit her across the chest with his lunar lance. She felt awkward in the purple spandex, and some of her techniques weren't coming to her. Carlos elbowed her in the shoulder, and Karone fell to the floor. Karone grabbed for her gun and blasted up in the air. She hit Carlos's shoulder and the black ranger stumbled backwards.
'Karone isn't doing so hot,' Ashley told her boyfriend through their telepathic link.
'Hey, I can hear you!' Karone yelled.
'But is Ashley right?' Andros had his back to both of the girls, so he couldn't see what was going on.
'Yes' Karone admitted reluctantly.
'Run to Ashley. Ashley, you take on Carlos. Karone should be able to handle Cassie.'
Karone wanted to yell that it had nothing to do with who she was fighting, but decided to keep her mouth shut. She didn't want to be the one who was seriously injured because she couldn't remember how she or Carlos fought.
Karone blocked Carlos's punch to her stomach and twisted his hand behind his back. She pushed him hard, then turned and ran towards the yellow ranger. At the same time, Ashley kicked Cassie in the gut and backed away. Karone stepped in and Ashley turned her attention to Carlos. Both girls were too occupied to notice Nina and Mind Shifter transport in.
"Ranger against ranger. I just love war." Nina smiled evilly.
"What would you have me do, my princess?" Mind Shifter asked.
"Fire a memory cloud. I don't care who it hits. With your powers fixed, they won't be able to return them to normal no matter what."
The wisps of white spiraled in Mind Shifter's claw, then blew away and made a path towards Ashley. Andros and TJ switched positions, so Andros could see the others. He saw the cloud and broke away from his fight. He pushed Ashley to the ground and was hit with the cloud.
"Andros…" Ashley started to get angry, but saw the lasting effects of the blow meant for her, making Andros stand perfectly still. "What's going on?"
Andros looked down at his gloved hands. He pulled his helmet off to show the utter confusion on his face.
"Who are you? Who am I? What are we doing here?"
"You're Andros!" Ashley scrambled to her feet and grabbed her boyfriend by the shoulders. "I'm Ashley! We're rangers! We love each other! You have to keep fighting so Nina doesn't win!"
Ashley leaned in and kissed Andros softly. But Andros pushed her away, not even reacting to her.
"What are you doing?"
Ashley felt her jaw go slack in shock. Something was wrong. She couldn't help Andros get his memory back anymore.
"It's amazing what fixing a few powers can do." Nina laughed as she walked up next to the rangers. The evil ones stopped fighting and stood still. Karone ran over to see what was going on.
"This isn't over, Nina! We can get him back!"
Nina waved her staff in front of Andros's face. The crystal in the center glittered, and the red ranger began to sway back and forth. His eyes slowly fell shut and he hit the ground. Nina snapped her finger, and Mind Shifter stepped forward and plunged a sword into Andros's stomach.
Ashley let out a sharp gasp and her hands flew up to cover her face.
"Only I can return him to normal. You must defeat my army all on your own. And if you destroy my staff, then Andros will die. You have two hours. Better get to work."
Nina let her staff fall to the ground before she disappeared in a flash of lights.
A/n: I am very sorry about the long wait. You would think with all the free time I have now, updates would be coming out a lot faster. But I had bad writer's block for a while. And now I have a quite mean cliff hanger going on :) Please review!