"Ashley, wait!" Andros cried, but she never stopped.
Cassie turned to Andros, "We need a plan!" She cried.
"Are you crazy? We don't have time for a plan!" Carlos said as the rest of the psychos advanced towards them.
"Well we need to think of something, fast!" TJ cried.
"I've got it! Guys, follow my lead. Okay?" said Andros.
"Got it." They said in agreement.
Andros and the rangers took off to meet the psychos half way. TJ braced himself for the blow he knew psycho blue would throw, but he was stopped in his tracks when Andros jumped in front of him and began to battle psycho blue instead of psycho red. A wave of confusion washed over TJ before he realized what Andros was doing. He turned and ran for Psycho red.
"Astro Axe!" He cried out. He swung his axe and hit Psycho red directly across his chest and sent him backwards. Psycho red quickly jumped back up.
"What? I'm not supposed to be fighting you. I want the red ranger, not the puny blue one!" Psycho red hissed.
"Oh, I see. You're scared to be beaten by the blue ranger." TJ laughed.
"I'm not scared to be beaten by anyone, especially not you."
"That's too bad. You really should be." TJ took his fighting stance. Psycho red charged at him. As he began to fight the psycho, he wondered when it became so easy to fight a psycho ranger. Psycho red was barely keeping up with him, but TJ wasn't complaining. He delivered a hard blow to psycho red that sent him flying backwards. The psycho ranger laid on the ground for a moment before he tried to pick himself back up. TJ took a moment to glance around at the other rangers to see how they were doing. Andros was using his Spiral Saber to get an upper hand on psycho blue as he struck him repeatedly. Carlos had psycho pink at the end of his Lunar Lance and used it to throw her over his shoulder. Cassie had her Satellite Stunner and put psycho black on his back where he struggled to get back up. He then turned to Ashley and gasped at what he saw. She was lying at the bottom of the stairs once again, and psycho yellow was above her with her foot on top of Ashley; crushing her chest.
"Ashley! Hang on!" He cried, seeing as he was a far distance away. As he began to run towards her, Psycho yellow snapped her head up at him. She pointed her hand out towards TJ and shot energy blasts at him. He held up his Astro Axe in front of him and held his breath as he concentrated. Using his Astro Axe, he ricocheted the blasts and watched as they struck Psycho Yellow. She was sent flying backwards a good distance away from Ashley. When he made it to Ashley, he knelt down beside her and put her arm around his shoulder to help her stand. She had her hand over her chest and was breathing heavily. "Are you alright, Ash?" He asked.
"Now I am. Thanks TJ." She was glad TJ had seen her. Who knows what Psycho Yellow would have done if he wouldn't have rescued her. They looked up at Psycho Yellow as she pulled herself off the ground.
"Are you sure you're alright? Can you still fight?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I can handle her." She was standing on her own now, trying to convince TJ she was okay.
"No, I'll take care of this goon." He stepped in front of her and took his fighting stance.
"What about psycho blue?" She asked.
"Andros has him on lockdown. Don't worry. You go take Psycho red and I'll handle Psycho yellow."
"Well, if you say so… Thanks TJ." She turned on her heels and ran towards Psycho Red. He was barely able to get himself off the ground when Ashley made it to him. He was smoking from the clearly visible slashes TJ had made with his Astro Axe. 'It shouldn't be too hard to finish him off now.' She thought to herself. "Looks like this is your final battle, Psycho red. It's time to finish you off." She said.
"That's what you think, human. You forget, we have the power of the Admira jewels. We're indestructible!" He laughed and stretched his arms out in front of him. The other psychos stood up and followed his motions. Ashley gasped in horror as their chest began to glow. It spread and took over the psycho's entire bodies and Ashley had to quickly shield her eyes from the brightness. Ashley and the rangers saw the light fade and they uncovered their eyes.
"No way…" Carlos breathed. The rangers observed the new transformation of the psycho rangers. All slashes and cracks had been removed from their armor. They looked brand new, as if there never was a fight.
"You pathetic rangers managed to get the upper hand against us this time, but only this time." Psycho black hissed.
"You got lucky your friend saved you, yellow ranger. But don't hold your breath; you won't be so lucky next time." Psycho yellow spat. With that, they disappeared. Ashley looked around at the other rangers.
"Ashley, are you okay?" Andros asked as he stepped beside her. He and the other rangers had demorphed except for her. She tried to look at him, but she felt dizzy and the world was spinning.
"Andros? Why are there three of you?" She asked. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Andros lunging to catch her as she fell.
Tommy and Kim were silent as they rode in the Lighting Cruiser. Tommy had placed the coordinates to the first base into Lightning Cruiser, since he had no idea where he was going. He let the car drive itself for the time being. He thought about the night before, how amazing it was. There was never a moment like that when he had been with Kat. She was a very sweet girl, but she wasn't Kim. She could never replace her. The first pink ranger to be at his side, his first true love. Kat would never compare to her. He thought to himself, 'That's probably why she left.' And it was true…
Kat had been at his apartment one day and was waiting for him to get home. He had moved out of his parent's house and used his savings to buy a nice apartment. She had arrived for a surprise visit, but he wasn't home yet. She didn't want to wait outside because she didn't know how long it would take for him to return. She looked around for a while before she found a spare key lying on top of his doorframe. 'Typical Tommy.' She had laughed to herself, 'It's just like him to have a spare key in the most obvious of places. He's too forgetful to put it any other place.' She smiled as she unlocked his door, placed the key back on top of the doorframe, and walked into his apartment. She set her purse onto the table against the wall and then turned and observed the living room. There were a few of his clothes lying here and there, and a stack of newspapers lying on the coffee table in front of the couch. She looked into the kitchen. There were a few dirty dishes in the sink and a couple of cereal boxes on the counter. She was surprised, Tommy was usually much unorganized. She half expected a total disaster, but it was not that bad off at all. She walked down a small hallway and opened the first door she arrived to. When she opened the door she found a very tidy bathroom. He was taking better care of the apartment than she thought he would be. She turned and continued down the hall. On the opposite side of the hall a few feet was another door. She opened it to find a spare room that held all of his equipment; it was practically a gym. Kat closed the door and once again turned. She walked to the last door on the hall and opened it. It was Tommy's room. There were a pile of clothes on the floor by his bed, which was a mess from where he had slept the night before. He had pictures on top of his dresser and Kat stepped in his room to see them. She walked to the dresser and picked up the first picture. It was Tommy and his brother, David. She placed the picture back down and picked up the next one. It was a picture from the martial arts competition that the guys had attended after the rangers had beaten Maligore. Justin was on top of Tommy's shoulders with the young boy holding the trophy over his head. She smiled as she remembered that day; and then set the picture back down. She picked up another picture and gave another small smile. It was the original power rangers all together. They were in uniform except for their helmets and Kat noticed Tommy standing next to Kimberly in the picture. She placed it back onto the dresser. The next one caused her to frown. It was Tommy and Kimberly. She was standing in front of him with his arms wrapped her torso. She was leaning to the side a little and was looking up at him with a smile of adoration on her face. He was looking back down at her while returning the smile. Kat never saw Tommy look at her that way before. She set the picture back down with a small pang of sadness in her heart. She picked up another picture and quickly set it back down. It was another one of Tommy and Kim. Kat picked up the last picture on the dresser and set it back down just as fast. Tommy and Kim again. 'Maybe he just forgot to take them down.' She tried to convince herself. She turned and saw a couple more pictures on his nightstand by his bed. She walked to the nightstand and froze. One picture was of him holding Kimberly bridal style. She had her head thrown back and was laughing with her arms around his neck, and he was looking down at her with the most loving smile she had ever seen on him. She let a tear escape her eye as she looked to the other picture. It was of Tom and Kim, once again, but this time they were kissing. Kat finally lost it. With tears streaming down her face she ran and grabbed her purse, then she stormed out of the apartment.
Tommy never knew she had entered his apartment, and that was why he was a little confused as to why she had ignored him the entire week. When they finally started talking again, she told him she was following her dream of dancing; and that she was moving. He noticed a little while after that he wasn't as upset as he should have been. Or as much as he had been when Kim was leaving.
"Tommy?" Kim called, suddenly snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, Kim?"
"I need to talk to you about something." She sounded nervous.
"What is it, Beautiful?" His heart pounded when he called her that.
"It's about the letter…" She trailed off. She reached up and took her helmet off, and he did the same.
"Kim, do you really want to talk about it? I mean, it's the past. You're here now and that's all that matters to me." He grabbed her hand and held it in his.
"Yes, I do. I just want to tell you the truth about it." She said.
"Okay… But only if you really want to." He didn't want her to feel like she had to explain it. She had left him completely heartbroken, but she was there now. That's all that mattered to him.
"So, you know how you would write me letters? Well Jason would write me letters too. But with every letter he sent me, he talked about you and Kat. I began to feel like I was fading out of your life. That's why I wrote you the letter. I thought I was standing in the way of your happiness, and I felt guilty about it. It wasn't because I met another guy. It was because I felt like I was holding you back. There never was another guy. I made that up in hopes that you would forget about me. The guy that I was describing in that letter was you." She took a deep breath before she continued, "I just wanted you to know. I had to get it off my chest." He wanted so bad to just pull her into his arms and kiss her. But before he could say anything, Lightning Cruiser halted to a sudden stop. Tommy and Kim looked around as the other rangers pulled up beside them.
"I think this is it." Tommy whispered as the rangers quietly exited the cars. They were surrounded by large bushes with small gaps in between them. The way the oversized bushes were aligned reminded Tommy of a maze. He put his finger to his lips and waved the rangers to follow behind him. They crept behind one of the large bushes and Tommy barely poked his head around to see what was back there. What he saw, though, surprised him more than anything.
Ashley awoke in the Med-bay later that evening. She tried to stand up, but her mind was still spinning. She began to fall but felt a pair of arms wrap around her and pull her up.
"Whoa, careful. Don't try to stand up yet." Andros said as he helped her sit onto the table. She looked up at him with a confused look on her face.
"Andros? What happened?" She asked.
"The psychos used a lot of the jewel's power, so it drained a lot of your energy." He explained. He picked up a small flashlight and began to shine it into her eyes. She immediately closed her eyes and turned her head away. She looked back at him and then let him try it again. "Sorry, I was checking your pupils. You don't have any trauma from having so much energy drained. So you're okay." He took a deep breath. She gave him a small smile, she could tell he wasn't trying to convince her she was okay, he was convincing himself. He shook his head. "We can't let this happen again."
"It's okay, Andros. I'll be fine. We'll get them next time." She said. She felt her mind clearing up.
"I don't think so Ash. We've already used our best plans. They should have been destroyed by now. But with the jewels, they keep coming back. The more we destroy them the more they use the jewels. But if we don't destroy them then the world would fall to the Psycho rangers and Darkonda." He leaned against the table beside her.
"Well we already know that they can't handle rangers that aren't their color. They only read the minds of the color ranger they wanted. They couldn't handle any one else. We can just do that again." She suggested.
"No, they already know that we would try that. It probably won't work again. There has to be some way we could remove the gems from their circuits. Maybe if we had them, we could wire your DNA out of it and keep it from taking your energy. But it's impossible to get them from the psychos." He ran his hand through his hair. He was getting frustrated.
Ashley began to rub his back comfortingly, "It's okay, Andros. We'll figure something out. We're the power rangers, we never lose." She smiled at him. "The only thing that upsets me is that we didn't get to have our date tonight." He turned and smiled at her, an idea struck him.
"Wait right here." He said as he jumped up.
"As if I'm in any condition to just get up and leave." She laughed. He shot her a smile before he walked out the door.
She sat and waited for Andros to return with whatever idea he had. After a few minutes, he came back into the room. He was wheeling a car with plates, glasses, and silverware. In the middle of the tray was a large plate that had a lid on top of it. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Now we don't have to cancel our date. And I know it's not fancy like a real date, but until we can go out somewhere we can just have it here." He gave a hopeful smile.
"This is perfect." She grinned. He pulled out two chairs and placed them by a small table. He helped her walk to one of the chairs and then helped her sit down. He fixed their plates and their drinks and joined her at the table. They talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company. He listened to her tell stories about her adventures with the rangers while he was gone. Some were funny and others were sad. But he enjoyed every minute of it. When it was his turn to talk, he told her about the Guard Ship and how Zhane was a pain in the butt sometimes. Then he talked about Karone adjusting to her new life now that she is no longer Astronema. He sometimes felt like he was starting to bore her, but the entire time she seemed so transfixed into his stories. She was enjoying his stories as much as he enjoyed hers. After a while, he paused and looked at her with a serious expression.
"Hey Ash, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?" She began to get concerned because of the look on his face.
"What would you do if I asked you if I could stay?"
"What do you mean?" Her heart pounded in her chest.
"I want to stay here, with you. I don't want to leave again. But I need to know from you if it would be okay." He looked her straight into her eyes.
"Of course. You didn't even have to ask." She smiled at him. His heart pounded in his chest, and he finally did what he had wanted to do since the first day he met her.
He kissed her.