Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers. So don't try to buy them from me. Please don't get all offended because I mocked your favorite Ranger. I try to mock them all. Besides, it's just for fun. I really do enjoy the show :). 'Hi" to all from AFPR…especially my fellow Psychos. Please let me know if I make any errors. I have no difficulty with receiving constructive criticism. Thanks to Joe Rovang and SirStack for their Writer's Guide to the Power Rangers Universe, which I rely on a lot. Also thanks to the makers of the Power Rangers Central Database.

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

This is story number 35. It was requested by Psycho Tangerine. Yep, I wanted to do this pairing.

Vida and Carlos

By

Eileen (Psycho Tangerine)

Vida gagged as she continued to scrub the walls of the RockPorium. Toby hadn't been too happy when customers kept running out in disgust. But there was no way to explain that Chip had decided to smear everything with garlic and to draw chalk circles everywhere because he wanted to catch another vampire. So Toby had simply blown his top and demanded that someone stay late and clean the mess. Vida growled the thought of her so-called friends and even her dear little sister stepping back when he asked for someone to step up. Of course, she did owe them for trying to kill them with those poisoned apples, but still…

Tap tap tap. Vida looked up and noticed something tapping against the window. Probably a branch, she murmured to herself as she tried to pry a wedge of garlic from a crack in the wall.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap bang bang bang bang bang CRASH! Vida jumped in shock at the sound of glass breaking behind her. "I'm not paying for that!" she cried as she whipped around. "What are you? Some kind of nut?" she exclaimed at the sight of the intruder.

A slightly older man was standing there. He wore a store-bought Halloween Vampire costume. "Well, it's not my fault you didn't answer the window."

Vida rolled her eyes. "Most people knock on the door. Most people don't try to get into a store in the middle of the night. She glared at the costume. "What kind of joke is this?" she demanded. "Did Chip put you up…no wait; he's just too simple to be this mean. This smells more of Xander."

"Vampire bats don't knock on doors," remarked Carlos, holding up a handmade paper bat. "Do we, Viktor?" he asked it almost affectionately. "And I had to get here to talk with you before the sun rose."

"It's seven in the evening, the sun won't rise for another ten hours or so." Vida picked up a broom and held it threateningly. "And you have exactly three seconds to explain why you are making fun of me."

Carlos cleared his throat. "Velcome, uh wait, excuse me for a second. I forgot something." He began patting all his pockets. "Ah, there they are." He pulled something from his back pocket and placed it in his mouth. "That's more like it," he said, this time around a pair of fake vampire teeth. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Velcome Vida, velcome to our special Vampire Ranger team."

Vida stared at him incredulously. "Oh, that does it! Xander put you up to this, didn't he? He's going to get it!" Vida thought about canceling the date he had begged her to go on this weekend, but then she considered her other options. Toby was way too old, Chip would most likely wear one of his many homemade superhero costumes, and Madison left death threats on her bed anytime she even simply talked to Nick. No, she would simply kick Xander in the balls next time she saw him.

"Xander? Xander who?" asked Carlos. He mentally went through the information he had snuck from the Megaship Mark II's computer. It was easy to bribe Deca. He just wasn't sure where he was going to find this "Hal" computer. "Oh yeah, Green Mystic Force Ranger, right?"

Vida narrowed her eyes, even more suspicious now. "How the hell do you know…Calindor! Is this another one of your evil disguises?" She pulled out her morpher, quickly morphed, and began a flurry of hand strikes at Carlos. "I'm going to kick your ass all the way to…hey, wait a damned second," she paused in mid-strike, "I thought you got destroyed as Imperious."

Carlos, who was now out of breath from blocking all the blows, ducked behind the store's counter. "I have no idea what you're even talking about. But you are soooo perfect for my new team. Strong, determined, cool, and a vampire to boot."

"Hey! I'm not a…"

"And you look great in black," Carlos finished.

"That's what I've been trying to tell Udonna!" Vida was pleased to see someone else finally realize what color she truly should be…pink indeed!

"I'm Carlos, by the way." Carlos held out his hand, but then pulled it back when Vida simple glowered at it. "You don't know who I am?" he asked in a miffed tone. It was always like this after the other Space Rangers and he had revealed their identities. Andros won the first 'Cutest Space Man' contest ever held. Ashley now had her own fashion line. And it didn't matter how lousy her clothes were, if the rich and popular wore them, then they were what everyone wore. TJ had begun racing in Lightning Cruiser. He had even bet Tommy in a few races. Of course, TJ's predecessor had then sued him for "cheating by using a sentient car." Cassie had been interviewed many times, each time begging in tears for the Phantom Ranger to come back to her. But when he finally came to Earth to visit her and took off his helmet, she booked him and his warty face a cheap flight back to Eltar. And Zhane, to his confusion, had inexplicably been made to endorse hair-lightening products. But Carlos had been totally ignored. He was never asked for interviews nor given anything to endorse.

"Well, you could be Carlos Mendez, or Carlos Gonzalez, or plain old Carlos Smith," responded Vida.

"Carlos Valerte," Carlos began. I'm the…"

"Black Space Ranger!" Vida exclaimed. "Now I remember!" But she still felt a bit suspicious. "But you haven't been a Ranger for what? Eight years? Why are you bothering me now?"

Carlos sighed. "I miss being a Ranger. I mean really miss it. So I thought, why not create my own team. And thinking back, the one special thing that had happened to me as a Ranger was getting turned into a vampire…well, actually I had also gotten turned into a giant space bug, but that's not as cool."

Vida perked up at this. "Necrolai put you under a spell, too?" Finally, someone with whom to discuss the guilt she felt over trying to drink her friends' blood.

"Who? Never heard of her. Divatox had turned a Space Bat into a monster and he bit me. But when I was a vampire, I had these cool teeth, and I could stay up all night, and I had enhanced strength."

"…and couldn't be out in the sun, and had to drink…eccchh…blood, and had to watch out for garlic and stakes," finished Vida. She studied him. "But then why aren't you a vampire now? Why the fake get-up?"

"I am too a real vampire!" cried Carlos. "See my teeth?" He bared his teeth and they fell out.

"Yeah, those are about as real the Super-de-duper-colossal-strong-speedy-invisible-man costume Chip wears every Sunday to Church."

"Oh, who am I kidding," groaned Carlos. "I looked everywhere for another space bat and I couldn't find one. I thought that maybe if I found out how you became a vampire then I could become one that way."

"Oh, you could never do that!" exclaimed Vida.

"Why not?" asked Carlos. "Do you think I've developed some kind of immunity to vampire attacks?"

"No, it's not that," responded Vida.

"Then is it because you don't know where this Necrolai is?"

"No, it's not that either."

"Then why don't you think I can be a powerful vampire again?"

"I never said that," Vida responded. "But there's no way you'll be able to do that while in jail!" She indicated the police officers who had just entered the store and were now standing behind Carlos. "Toby has an excellent silent alarm system. You should never have broken in like that."

Carlos gasped as a heavy hand was placed on his shoulder. He kept trying to turn into a bat as they clapped the handcuffs on him and dragged him away.

"Wanting to be a vampire, indeed," scoffed Vida. Then she paused in thought. Extra strength and immortality? And always getting to wear black? What had she been thinking?

"Necrolai!" she called as she ran out of the RockPorium and headed for the woods. "Necrolai, where are you? I've changed my mind!"