JSLF – It's gonna be a while before the blue ranger is revealed. It'll be a familiar character.


"Azel!" Zhane cried out.

Her eyes were closed, and her pulse was faint. Zhane picked her up and headed towards the town. He rushed into the salon and came in screaming for help. Immediately, Gowon recognized Azel and signaled for a medic and instructed Zhane to take Azel to the back.

Once in the back, Zhane laid Azel on a table, on her stomach. The medic ripped open her top garment. He took out a scanner and scanned the wound. He then reached for a tool, which looked like a metallic, thick chalk, and turned it on, which began to emit a blue light. He placed it an inch over Azel's wound. After less than a minute, the bullet came out and attached itself to the tool. He put away the magnetic tool and pulled out another tool, this time, rectangular, thin, and the size of a person's hand. The medic placed it over the wound. The bleeding began to stop. Once the bleeding at stopped, the medic closed the wound and put her to sleep, to rest.

"That was close." Said Gowon.

Zhane grabbed Gowon by the collar and tossed him against the wall.

"Where did they take him?!" Zhane demanded.

"Is this how you show gratitude?" said Gowon.

"Andros is gone. Azel said he was taken. Where was he taken?"

"Renosar. It's a planet far away. Deep within the Serylic cluster." Gowon answered.

"Who took him?" asked Zhane.

"I don't know. But it was Darkonda who put up the bounty." Said Gowon.

Zhane released Gowon. "I need you to watch over Azel, please." He requested.

"I will." Said Gowon.

Zhane rushed back to the cargo ship and left the planet. He set a hyperrush course for Earth, and then opened a com channel with the Megaship to explain the situation to Karone.


Karone was devastated. Her brother, who she had not seen in over a month, had been captured. She was so excited to see him again, after what seemed like so long, but he was taken from her, just as she was taken from him when they were young.

"I'll be there in three hours." Said Zhane over the com.


Three hours had passed. The cargo ship dropped out of hyperrush and entered the Megaship. Karone waited at the door for Zhane. As soon as Zhane left the bay and entered the corridor, she hugged him tightly. She was in tears. Zhane held her in his arms, to comfort her until they finally separated.

"We'll get him back." Zhane said, trying to comfort her.

"How?" she asked.

"Gowon told me." Said Zhane. "He's being held on Renosar."

"We're going to need some help." Said Karone.

"I'll talk to Ashley and Carlos." Said Zhane.

Karone looked away, with a slight look of pessimism on her face. "I don't think they'll help." Said Karone.

"We have to try talking to them. I'll go talk to them." Said Zhane.

"All right. I'll make the necessary preparations for the operation." Said Karone.


The last bell rang. School was over for the week. Ashley was looking forward to going shopping with her friends. She went to her locker, put in the books she didn't need, took out the books she did need, and began walking towards the exit, to freedom.

Once she was outside, she closed her eyes and took a moment to breathe in the fresh air. She opened her eyes again, but did not see what she wanted to see. She saw Zhane, across the street, near a tree. She wanted to ignore him, but began to have a bad feeling. She began to walk away, knowing Zhane would follow her. She didn't want to talk to Zhane so close to the school, near all her classmates. She crossed another side of the street and walked over to the public library. Once across the street, Ashley went to the trees to avoid being seen. She turned around and waited for Zhane to catch up.

"What is it?" she asked.

"We need your help." Said Zhane.

"I'm not a ranger anymore." Said Ashley.

"I know, but we don't have the man power for this operation. Karone and I can't do this alone." Said Zhane.

"What are you talking about? What about Andros?"

"That's the mission. Andros was captured by bounty hunters, and we need to rescue him. We can't do this without you and Carlos." Said Zhane.

Ashley didn't know how to respond. Ashley wanted to hate him. She didn't want to forgive him. But deep down, she still cared about Andros. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to leave him to suffer, but she also didn't want him to suffer. She took some time to think before making her decision. "Fine." She said.

Zhane took out the yellow Astro morpher and handed it to her. "You're going to need this."

Ashley slowly reached over and grabbed it from Zhane. She felt as if she was getting a part of herself back. It was a feeling which Ashley didn't like, since she had wanted to separate herself from the life of a ranger.

"Okay. Now we need to convince Carlos." Said Zhane.


"No way!" said Carlos. "You want me to risk my life for the guy who killed my best friend?! Ashley, how could you even agree to this?!"

"I'm doing this for Earth. If we save Andros, it'll really help with the war effort. As much as I hate to admit, we need him, or else we might lose this war." Said Ashley, trying to change Carlos's mind.

"After this, we won't ask for your help, I promise." Said Zhane.

Carlos looked at Ashley, and then sighed. "I can't let you do this alone. I'm all you've got, after all."


A/N – What's going to happen to Andros? Will he be fine? Not so fine? Will the rangers save him before its too late?

I needed a reason to bring the rangers together again…well, together is being used loosely. I also wanted to twist the story to fit into a plot I have coming up.

I know you guys want Ashley and Andros together again, and I kinda want that too. However, for the story's sake, I can't let that happen so soon. But I promise. Before the end of the fic, they'll be together again. This is a promise I can make and keep.

As for Azel, I didn't need her around anymore, so I wrote her off, but I thought, I'll let the readers decide. But in the end, I decided to keep her around for insignificant reasons.

As for the plea for help, I was thinking of having Ashley and Zhane argue, and then have Zhane yell at Ashley and tell her all about how miserable Andros was, but, I chose not to.

Also, don't forget, you can always request things to be added for the fic. Like Carlos getting a girlfriend, or the appearance of Ecliptor. Or even a conversation between Karone and Ecliptor. Just let me know what you want, and depending on what it is, I'll probably deliver...unless you request slash...go to JasonScottLeeFan for that

Here's the preview for the next chapter.


"I'm going to kill you when I get out of these restraints." Andros threatened.

Darkonda pressed the button once again. Andros, like the last two times, screamed in pain. Darkonda pushed the button again, stopping the torture process.

"That's assuming you don't lose your mind first." Said Darkonda.