Chapter Four
Ciarán Bevan and Ecliptor stood on a hill in the park. They had been fighting the combination of Earth Rangers and the White Ranger for a while now, and they were going to train in the open air for once. It was a nice day; chilly, but nice. That is, until Ciarán spotted Karone walking alone in the park. "Ecliptor, have you ever felt that when you look at one of you enemies that they seem familiar?"
"Yes, of course sire, all the time. It's the fear in them; it's always the same." Ecliptor raised his sword. "You ready to begin now, sire?"
"No… it's not fear. I can't remember a time she truly feared me, the White Ranger, I mean. She looks familiar in another way—like I knew her as a child." He then looked to his mentor. "I want to get close to her; maybe I can find a way to destroy her. She is a powerful warrior and I need to find her weakness."
"Be careful, sire, her appearance could be a trick. Remember when you woke up in Dark Specter's personal lair after you were rescued…"
"I remember surely enough. You don't need to remind me of the event that claimed my memory; I have been told so many times the story is boring as heck. The Red Ranger killed my entire home village and anyone I cared about. Scouts have confirmed that over and over. I just want to see what makes a Ranger tick, consider this an experiment." Ciarán started to walk out of the concealed spot when Ecliptor stopped him.
"Sire, you can't just go out there, she would attack the minute you showed your face."
He gazed towards where the White Ranger was sitting on a small slope, gazing at the partially frozen man-made river that drained into a small pond. Ciarán thought the place must be beautiful in the spring and summer with water birds swimming in the waters and flowers blossoming along its banks. Once he conquered this pathetic planet, he would keep those gardens for his own pleasure. Ecliptor had to agree with him that he could be quite romantic at times. Of course, as much as he thought of Ecliptor as a friend, he would never give the creature the chance to disagree with him.
"Oh yes!" he gasped, looking at himself. "How is this?" Ciarán asked, waving his hand in front of himself. His armor disappeared and he stood dressed in Earth clothes. "Could I pass as an innocent Earth dweller dressed like this?" He paused and looked at himself. "Oh, how do they do it dressed like this? They must freeze."
"Sire, I believe the White Ranger is wearing a coat over her Earth garments. And you may want to do something about your hair; I don't think too many people go about with the combination of electric blue hair with silver highlights."
Ciarán glared at the black and green servant and master swordsman.
"I'm sorry sire, I should know better than to contradict you. I will see to it that it never happens again."
"Yes, if you want to keep your life, much less your place of honor in my army, you will learn when to shut that mouth of yours," Ciarán hissed as he waved his hand over his head. "Now, should I go with a light brown? Or maybe this, I believe it was once considered my natural hair color. I found it much too boring, though, don't you think?"
Ecliptor just silently watched his master change to look like an Earth dweller.
"My natural color, as boring as it may be, is a fairly rare coloring even in the galaxy that she may have seen it somewhere and will recognize me. So I think I will go with a light brown. You may answer me now, Ecliptor," he stated.
"Sire, I think it looks very well on you. It is a fitting color on you and I think if the White Ranger has any brains at all she will be head over heels for you, I believe is the saying…" Ecliptor stopped as Ciarán raised his hand.
"Ecliptor, that's enough. Now, what else am I missing… Oh, yes. You said something about a coat." He waved his hand again and he had a brown leather coat over his black tee-shirt. "There, I think I look presentable for this charade and it even fully covers my most identifiable markings," he announced before telling Ecliptor to return to the Fortress to wait for him to return.
Walking down towards the White Ranger, he stood several feet away and leaned against a tree. "It must be a beautiful sight when everything's not so… dead around here," he murmured softly, but it was enough to get her attention.
She stood up and smiled. "I don't think it's dead, just sleeping. Watch, you'll see if you come back by here in a couple months, it will be the prettiest place in town." She then looked at him. "Do I know you from somewhere; are you from around here?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not, just visiting family that we don't often visit," He smiled a slight smile. "She sure seems to be falling for me… but I am starting to worry. I think I am falling for her; no, I must resist it. We are enemies."
"Oh, so you are visiting for the holidays? And let me guess, you felt the house was too small and overstuffed with people so you came here to get some air. What's your name, by the way?" She grinned and sat down near, him inviting him to do so.
"Oh yeah, I guess you could say that. My name is uhh… Shawn." He thought quickly. "What is yours?" He sat down next to her and gazed at the river.
"I'm Karone. I know, everyone says it sounds weird. So Shawn, do you spell your name S-H-A-W-N or S-E-A-N?" she asked with a small smile before blushing and turning away.
"What does she mean?" he thought. "Could this be a trick to try to get me to reveal who I am?"
"Oh… uh… I spell it the first way," he decided.
She laughed. "Good! I never understood how S-E-A-N could sound the same as S-H-A-W-N; it just never made sense. Some people are just weird, don't you think?"
"Oh… ah, yes, it does sound weird." He smiled. Shoot, she was so beautiful. He thought he had to pull the plug on this, but he just couldn't. She was just too addicting; he was going to get in trouble with Dark Specter if he ever fell for one of the Rangers, unless of course, he could conquer her and make her his personal slave…
Now that would be something, feeling for a slave whose only purpose was to bring him pleasure. No, he couldn't do that, he thought, letting his emotion get the best of him for the first time in his life. That would be like caging a unique bird, and he knew that if you cage a unique bird or any animal, it would die and there was no chance to find one like it again.
Karone looked at her wrist and gasped. "Oh my goodness, I have to get back. My friends, oh, they are going to be wondering. Will you meet me back here about two tomorrow? Is that good for you? I would love to spend some more time with you; you're not like anyone I have ever met." She stood up and held out her hand to help him up.
"Sure, I think two is good for me." He nodded. With the sane part of his mind (or what he called sane), he had a half-hearted idea to ditch her.
However, he knew no matter how hard he tried to ditch her, he would be back by her side at two. He felt something for her that he never felt for anyone Dark Specter had ever tried putting him with, and he found it almost despicable because it made him feel warm and fuzzy—the two things he had been taught to avoid in his training.
Karone walked out of sight and Ciarán watched till he could not see her anymore before going up the hill into the hiding spot from earlier. There he transformed back into his armor. Upon returning to the Fortress, he stalked to his room and threw himself onto the bed.
Elgar walked in about an hour later and nervously addressed him. "Uhh, Ciarán, Ecliptor was wondering if you were back on the ship because you had not yet made your presence known," he said stupidly, rubbing the back of his egg shaped head.
Ciarán sat up from his daydream. "Oh. Uh, what?" he asked, momentarily dazed before realizing who was bothering him. "Of course I am here you, nitwit! Now leave my sight this instant or I will make you play with Scrudly again. I know how much he enjoys it."
"Okay, I am leaving. No need to lose your temper with me, sire." He slunk out of the room before bolting back to the throne room as fast as his clumsy feet would take him.
Laying back down, Ciarán closed his eyes. It was times like these that he wished he had a real human friend who would respect him, and he didn't mean the space witches that were always chasing him around. All they ever wanted was something personal from him and never wanted to just talk like Karone did. They never felt the need to goof off like it seemed Karone could do. That, he realized, was what he missed in life. He wanted that more than to conquer the galaxy.
He let himself sulk for another hour before standing up and straightening his armor and calling Ecliptor in.
"You called, master?" His servant bowed and knelt before standing up.
"Yes, I did. I want to put on hold any and all plans of conquering the Rangers; learning about them is going to take more time than I wanted and if we attack now, it might just ruin it all." Ciarán turned away and brought off the shelf his chess set, fingering the pieces that represented the Rangers. "For now, in the battlefield but off of it, it will be me and the prissy White Ranger," he said, moving his piece and the White Ranger to the center of the board. As he did that he thought, "No, you're not prissy at all, Karone. You are the sweetest person in this galaxy, how come we have to be so different?"
"As you wish, Ciarán." Ecliptor bowed again and walked out of the room. After he was sure Ecliptor was out of sight, he sat at his computer terminal and searched the databases for any intelligence that had ever been gathered on Karone. To his surprise, there was a whole file on her likes and dislikes gathered from a spying mission. Even more to his surprise, there was a picture of her demorphed. Printing out the picture, he stuck it under his pillow so he could look at it as he lay in bed later. Of course it would have to be moved when his servants fixed his room in the morning.
Reading down the list of her likes, he thought maybe there was something he could get her for tomorrow when he saw that she loved chocolate covered fruit. Maybe he could leave a bit early and check out in town to see if he could find her something. He had a small bag of Earth money that one of his nim-wit henchmen had picked up somewhere and given to him in case he ever needed it.
"Hey, Karone," Ashley called out as she entered the rec-room at dinner time. "I've been looking for you all afternoon."
"Oh… ah… I have been in my room thinking." Karone blushed. "Could you give me some tips on Earth dating customs?"
"What… for?" Ashley questioned.
"I think I like someone on Earth. But I have no idea how dating or even talking to a boy is done on Earth. On KO-35, it is very formal and done initially under parental supervision."
"Do I know this boy?" Ashley prodded for more information.
"I don't think so; he is from out of town. He didn't exactly say where, though, but he is here for the holidays with his family. His name is Shawn, spelt S-H-A-W-N." She smiled and blushed.
"Oh? You have it bad," Ashley teased and the other Rangers walked in. "Come to my room after dinner and I can help you out."
Karone nodded and took her seat at the table while Ashley served everyone, seeing as it was her night to prepare the meal.
The next afternoon Ciarán stood in the same place where he told Karone he would meet her. He was already dressed as Shawn and holding the box of chocolates when Karone walked up the path. She looked nervous and he wondered why until he recalled what he knew of Kerovian culture. "Shoot, she is Kerovian. This must be extremely awkward for her, meeting with me alone when she doesn't even know me."
"Hello." He greeted with a huge smile.
"Hi, umm, you're early," she said, ducking her head and smiling shyly.
"Oh, uhh, yeah. I got these; they are some of my favorites. I was wondering if you would like to share." He held out the box to her and smiled in his mind when she gasped.
"You like these as well? I absolutely love them!" She tentatively took one from him and smiled before biting into one at the same time that Shawn put one in his mouth.
He smiled and laughed as the juice ran into his mouth from inside the chocolate. Karone smiled and looked at him as he informed her, "Sorry, it's been a while since I had one of these and I can't remember them tasting this good."
He lied to her, though she couldn't know that he had never actually eaten these before. Nothing he had ever eaten had ever tasted this good, but then again, all his servants were mutants and if they even ate normal food, they didn't have very good tastes. Maybe, he thought, he could get Ecliptor to look into hiring a better cook for him.
"Do you want to stay here in the park or walk around town?" Karone asked, grinning slightly. "I'll show you the cool places to hang out."
"Umm, how about we stay here for now? I kind of told my parents I would stay close to the park. They are so worried about me, this town is so much bigger then my hometown." In actuality, he didn't want to risk anyone recognizing him, but that was another story.
They spent a couple hours sitting there, talking and laughing. It wasn't till Karone's morpher beeped close to six that she realized what time it was.
"What was that?" Shawn asked.
Karone thought briefly. What did the other say when their morphers went off in public? "Oh, it was just my cell phone, but I know what it was for so I am not going to answer it. I have to go shortly, almost dinner time, but by me not answering we can have a few more minutes if you like."
"Actually, if it is that time I should probably get going also. Do you want to do this again tomorrow?" he offered.
"Tomorrow I am busy in the afternoon. Do you think we could make it late morning; we could go get lunch somewhere?"
"Alright, I like that idea, I think." He laughed as he stood up, holding his hand out to Karone. She stood up and they walked their separate ways.
Once Ciarán was back on the Fortress, he went straight to his room to find his dinner waiting for him on his desk. Sitting on his bed, he sighed. Was it a good idea to agree to go into town with her?
He decided he was just being silly. If Karone didn't recognize him, then how would anyone else? The idiotic Red Ranger had not been seen since the fall of KO-35 and other than him, she had been the Ranger who had fought him the longest.
Standing up, he poked at his bowl of mush, for that is what it looked like to him that evening. He left it untouched as he turned away to drag out the small box where he had hidden Karone's picture. He ended up shoving it back into place as Ecliptor walked and saw his dishes untouched.
"Sire, you must eat," he commanded. "Your body requires that you eat in order to keep functioning."
"Ecliptor, have you ever tried to eat that? It is tasteless and just simply looks unappetizing. You know what I want? I want a cook that can cook something other than this, and if I can't have that, then I want a synthatron like some of the newer ships have."
"I will look into it for you. I knew we could only satisfy you for so long with this kind of food. You are human, after all; you need something other than this, something that will give you more enjoyment. Please at least eat this tonight and I will get on getting you what you desire." Ecliptor bowed.
"Yes, Ecliptor, you will, if you know what is good for your honor," Ciarán growled from where he stood and pointed to the door, indicating that if Ecliptor wished to leave with his life intact, he had better go now.
As soon as Ciarán was certain that Ecliptor was gone, he grabbed the box and pulled out the picture. He went over to his bed, where he flopped down staring at her beautiful face.
This went on for a few more days. While he was pleased that Ecliptor had come through and procured a synthatron for him, which now delighted him to no end, as he could eat what he wanted when he wanted it, Ciarán started to realize he had to be more careful.
Everyday he was spending more and more time with Karone, and that meant less time on the Dark Fortress. People would start to wonder about his loyalties shortly. He, as promised, had not initiated an attack and that was bound to start turning a few heads. Not to mention, how long could he actually pull off the "I'm visiting family" line? How long did this stinking holiday last?
It was during one of his extended visits with Karone that he knew everything would soon turn upside down. He was walking in the park with her as they normally did and her morpher went off. As usual, she used the cell phone line and ignored it. After beeping twice more she had no choice but to walk away and answer it.
When she returned, she quickly hugged him and told him that she had to go, that it was an emergency. Once she was gone, he checked to make sure no one had sent anything down. It checked negative, so he returned to the Fortress. He had been prepared to betray Ecliptor if it was a monster.
That evening, he lay curled up on his bed, looking at the picture of the White Ranger. He sighed as he traced his finger gently around her lips and gazed into her eyes. He had been doing that for the last half hour. "How long can I keep playing this charade?" he thought. "I want it to end, but then again, I enjoy your company and wish we could go on forever. You have taught me things I never even imagined; if it weren't for our destinies, I would surrender all just for you. How I wish I could make you mine."