Disclaimer: Just to keep it simple: A. I don't own Power Rangers. B. I just make fun of them; so don't get upset if I mock your favorite. C. Please review. I don't mind constructive criticism. D. Thanks to Writer's Guide to the Universe and Power Rangers Central for providing a lot of the information that I need.

     If you haven't done so, please read the first hundred and fifty stories in "When Rangers Meet," "More of When Rangers Meet," and "Headquarters Where Rangers Meet."

     This is story number twenty-nine.  It was requested by Psycho Tangerine. 

Leanbow and Merrick

By

Eileen (Psycho Tangerine)

     Leanbow peeked out of the entrance to Rootcore.  He looked left and right.  "Udonna?" he called tentatively.  "Udonna!" he called a bit louder this time.  No answer.  With a sigh of relief, he tossed off the apron and snuck into the forest.  He'd been sweeping the dirt floor for the past seven hours because his menopausal wife kept snapping that it wasn't clean enough.  Spring-cleaning indeed.  Koragg never had to clean.  Koragg never had to bathe.  Leanbow paused at this.  Koragg never could get a date. 

     "Rrrrrraaawwrrrr!"  Someone jumped out from behind a large tree and tackled Leanbow.  "So, you think you're such a tough wolf?  Well fight me, I mean my buddy here, and prove yourself, Cub."

     "Get off me!" ordered Leanbow.  "Or I'll go all Koragg on you!"  He grimaced at the possibility.  The last time he had gotten really annoyed, Madison ended up sitting all night in a tree crying over her smashed up video camera.  But at least she now knew never to film someone who was taking a flea bath. 

      "Zen Aku!" cried Merrick as he reached his alter ego who was sitting astride another man.  "How many times have I told you that is not the way to get a date?"

     "What?!"  With a grunt of effort, Leanbow shoved the wolf creature off him.

     "But, Merrick," whined Zen Aku, "he's got an evil wolf spirit inside him!  I bet he thinks he's top wolf here."

     "Evil?" said Leanbow.  "I'm just Wolf Warrior now and a Ranger.  Koragg the Knight Wolf no longer exists.   I'm not evil anymore."

     Merrick stared at him.  "You mean you're a Wolf Ranger also?  And you were also the bad guy?"

     "What do you mean 'were'?" asked a leery Zen Aku.

     Leanbow decided to ignore the wolf-creature.  "What do you mean by 'also'?" he asked Merrick.  He thought he had gotten the best powers centuries ago when the ancients had chosen him over Daggeron to receive the Wolf powers.  Of course, it hadn't hurt that he had bribed them with some stupid sabers he had found at an ancient yard sale.  Was it his fault the ancients had gotten frustrated with the malfunctioning weapons and shoved them into a large stone on another planet?

     "I mean I have also been a wolf Ranger… the Lunar Wolf Wild Force Ranger to be exact," replied Merrick.  "And I fought against the Rangers as Zen Aku."

     Leanbow snapped out of he recollection of lording it over Daggeron by dancing around him and calling him choo-choo boy.  It was only due to his fiancée's snowstorm that he avoided nasty sunburn from the furious Solaris Knight.  Not that the resulting frostbite made him any happier.  "Oh, really?" asked Leanbow.  "Well, I'll just have you know, I've been around for centuries.  So I'm the original Wolf Ranger."

     Merrick narrowed his eyes.  No way was anyone going to steal his thunder; especially not since he had taken to sneaking onto the Animarium every few nights to play "Sleeping Beauty and the Big Bad Wolf" with Princess Shayla.  Boy that girl really could sleep.  "No you're not, I am!  I've been a Wolf for over three thousand years!"

     "Oh yeah?" retorted Leanbow.  "Well, I've been a Wolf for over ten thousand years!"

    "Did I say three thousand years?" challenged Merrick.  "I meant three million years.  I rode on the backs of Pterodactyls while hunting for Brontosaurus burgers."

     "Ha!" snapped Leanbow.  "I meant over ten billion years.  I helped create the dinosaurs!"

     Merrick stepped closer to Leanbow and glared into his face.  "Well, I…"

     "SHUT UP!" yelled two other voices.

     "Huh?" asked Merrick as he turned around. "Oh, Zen Aku.  I was wondering where you'd gone to."

     "Really?" asked Zen Aku excitedly.  "You mean you missed me?  You really, really missed me?"

     "Pffffttt!" snorted Merrick.  "No, not really.  I was actually hoping you finally decided to leave me alone and let me live a normal life."

     "Well now, we can't have that, can we?  Oh, and say hello to my new friend."

    "Koragg?" gasped Leanbow.  "But, how?"

     "I have my ways," bragged Zen Aku.

      "He snuck into your subconscious while you were arguing and convinced me to come out and be your constant companion," said Koragg in a bored voice.   He looked over to Zen Aku.  "How many snausages a day did you say?"

     "Twenty," replied Zen Aku.   "See?" he said as he patted Leanbow on the shoulder.  "Now you can have your very own evil sidekick follow you around for all time.  You guys can be buddies."  He reached over and pulled Merrick close to him.  "Just like us!"

     "Aaaaah!" hollered Merrick as he shoved Zen Aku off him.  "For the billionth time, we are not buddies!  We are not friends, or pals, or compadres!  I spent thousands of years stuck in that damn mask!  I finally get rid of the curse.  I finally get to be human again.  But can I get rid of you?  No!  I tried everything.  Poison, rocks to the head, mailing you to Timbuktu."  Merrick broke down with a sob.  "But nothing has worked.   I am stuck with this beast forever."  He sniffled.  "And now this poor sap is stuck too."  He looked at Leanbow.  "I am so sorry."

      Leanbow walked around Koragg in a daze.  "Are you kidding?  This is fantastic!"

     "What?!" asked Merrick incredulously.

     "Can you still fight?  Are you still a Wolf Knight?"

     "Of course," replied Koragg proudly.  "But not so honorably.  That part came from you."

      "Even better!" exclaimed Leanbow excitedly.  "Now, tonight you are going to hide in my bedroom closet and when Udonna starts to nag at me again…" Leanbow led Koragg back to Rootcore as he whispered his plans to him.

     Merrick stared after them.  "Come to think of it, Zen Aku, I do have a bone to pick with Willie for kicking me out of his place."  After all, how was he to know that he wasn't supposed to beat Big Vinny and his gang at pool?  How was he to know that the angry men would trash the bar in retaliation?  "Perhaps you could hide in his bedroom closet and…"

     "Forget it," replied Zen Aku.  "You've insulted me for the last time.  Meet my new Wolf Ranger companions."  With that, he stalked off.

     "Zen Aku!" cried Merrick.  "Don't go with those guys!  Purple's not even a proper Ranger color!  Come back!  I promise to be nicer to you!  No!  Don't get into that space ship marked 'Aquitar or Bust!'  Nooooooo!"