Disclaimer: PRiS charecters do not belong to me. Neither do any other PR charecters that get mentioned. This is a slight AU fic that takes place after Power Rangers Wild Force: Forever Red. Awesome episode. Andrea Valertes, Zola andJetton belong to me, just side charecters.(To all of them, "There are no small parts, just small... made-up charecters.")
Author's Note: Words/paragraphs/phrases in italics are flashbacks/thoughts.
Author's Note 2: This fic was inspired by a line that Andros said in PRWF: FR. It was, "But I spent the last few years-" Anyway, it was those three words that started this, the whole thing went uphill from there.
Author's Note 3: Sorry! It's just that, this isn't your regular PR fic, go away if you don't like everyday, drama, romance fics with no actual action. Now, onto the first chapter.
Andros breathed in the fresh air that no Simudeck could replicate. He was in Angel Grove, California. He was…No. He thought. Can I really call this home? It's the other's home. I, my home is the galaxy I've been traveling, fighting evil.
But now, Serpentera had been destroyed and he was free from trailing the Machine Empire. Free to live is life with his sister; best friend; fellow former Astro rangers, and some of the best friends he'd had; and…Ashley. He loved her. He knew that. But he vividly remembered those days roughly one year ago. As he sat down on a bench in Angel Grove Park, his mind took a vacation in a time ship, back to one year ago…
brring! brring! Andros snatched up the phone. Before he could say "hello", though, "Andros. Get down here. Karone's apartment. Now." Then the speaker hung up. Stunned, Andros set down the phone. He could recognize the voice, it was Zhane, but he had said a total of seven words (three+ two+ one+ one) and none of them included "hi" or "bye" or even, "it's me". Still, he'd better go. Putting on his shoes, Andros grabbed or his keys and locked the door firmly behind him.
That was when everything started going wrong. Andros leaned his head back against the bench, in resent day California. The vacation began again…
"Zhane? Karone? What's going on? You sounded pretty curt on the phone."
"Sorry." Zhane spared a quick apology to him. "But Karone picked up a strange transmission on the Comm., directed towards you.
"From…"
Zhane stared seriously at Andros. "From the Alliance."
Ooff. Andros came back to reality with a bump, as a ball smacked him on the leg.
"Sorry." A blond woman came forward with a small girl in tow. She knelt and picked up the ball. Looking up, she smiled, before her eyes widened. "A, Andros!" she stammered.
"Yes?" Andros asked, frowning slightly.
"My name's Andrea Valertes."
"Yes?" Andros repeated, confused.
"I'm married to Carlos Valertes." She said straight out. "Your old teammate." Before he could reply, though, she continued with renewed vigor. "Oh, I've heard so much about you. Zhane has the most stories of course, but Karone's been remembering her childhood memories pretty well. The other's love talking about that period of time when you all had just met. Ashley can say the most about that."
"Ashley?" his head shot up.
"Yeah, Ashley Hammond; one of the biggest names in fashion this century. Of course, when she and Cassie decide to grace us with a duet, she has a gorgeous voice." Andrea hesitated. "I'm babbling, aren't I? C'mon. I'll take you to the others, but Ashley and Cassie aren't here. They're volunteering at the shelter. Karone would have gone, but Zhane talked her into coming. And Karone can't say no to him; Zhane didn't exactly have to beg when he proposed."
"PROPOSED!" Andros cried, in complete shock.
"Yeah, the wedding's scheduled for, ah, June. Since you're back, they can finally get married. Cass' and Ash are doing a lot of the wedding plans. The elite Kevan design team is making dress designs, and the bride's dress is being made and designed by Kevan leader Ashley Kristiana Hammond. Cassie is doing entertainment and food, well, catering. And they're arranging the rest together. But the men have to find tuxes themselves." Pulling him to his feet, Andrea called, to the girl, "C'mon Li, we're going back to see Daddy." Yanking Andros along, ignoring his protests, they came to a small clearing where T.J stood by a grill, Carlos and Zhane were arm wrestling at a picnic table and Karone played with a small kitten while munching an apple. Andros hung back, content at watching his friends. Zhane managed to slam Carlos's hand down to the tabletop and promptly jumped up triumphantly. Karone laughed, leaving the core with the kitten, she stood up and kissed Zhane, quickly, on the lips.
"Hey!" Carlos feigned hurt. "Loser needs a kiss too; comfort."
Andrea pecked Carlos on the cheek. "There!" she exclaimed. "Still need comforting?"
Carlos gave Zhane a mock envious look. "When you are married, you are owned." He declared.
The other's laughed, but Andrea perked up immediately. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Zhane, Karone, you guys can finally get married!"
"But we're waiting for Andros to come back. We can't have the wedding without my brother."
"Andros did come back." Andrea went over and yanked Andros from his hiding spot.
"Andros!" Karone launched herself at him. "You came back! You're here! Oh! Oh! Oh…um, Andros, well, one thing. Zhane and I, are, well-"
"Karone." Andros interrupted. "I know. And I'm happy for you. But, promise me this, if he hurts you, tell me so I can beat him up." The others burst into hysterical laughter. After exchanging hello's they lapsed into comforting conversation.
"Hey!" T.J cried suddenly. "Cassie and Ashley don't know that you're here, right?" Andros nodded in agreement. "Well, Cassie said she would perform at this club tonight and Ashley agreed to duet with her. Why don't we have a little "welcoming" party there? Just, more of an expanded premiering of Andros to Cass' and Ash'."
"Great!" Karone enthused.
"Yeah!" Carlos got into it as well. "Cassie's scheduled to sing every, oh, ten, fifteen minutes. Ashley's going to join her for the big duet at about, um, 7: something. Then, me, Teej, Zhane, Karone, Andrea and I, can take them back to mine and Andrea's condo, it's the biggest. No, wait, Zhane, Karone, you guys go back first to do the last minute touches. We can set up a party and dinner. Cassie and Ashley can cook - sorry Teej- and… Andros, we can have a little present exchange and then bring you out. It'll be a great gift for them. Ashley's missed you a lot and Cassie's comforted her so many times that she feels like she could win a trivia show on "Who Knows Most About Andros and Ashley Other Than Them". Oh, great. Now we have about four hours to plan a party. Well, T.J, get all the arrangements done. Andrea, you can get food and decorations with me. Karone, Zhane, show Andros to our home's, get him used to the new and improved town of Angel Grove and update the personal facts he knows about us. Seriously, we've changed so much. Now get moving people! We don't have much time."
Meanwhile
"No splashing. No. Noooo. Splaaaaashhhing. Good boy! Good boy, Jetton." Cassie grinned at the shaggy sheepdog she had grown quite fond of.
"Ya know?" Ashley walked into the makeshift bathroom the two had devised out of an empty kitchen. "Studies show that talking with oversize sheepdogs increases your loyalty to friends named Ashley. So keep talking."
"And carrying yapping poodles increases your snobbishness. Put that annoying animal back in its cage!" Cassie yelped, staring at the yowling…um… dog in Ashley's arms.
Ashley brought the animal up to face level with a mischievous grin. "You know who Zola reminds me of? Brad…" She drew the last word out.
"Stop it!" Cassie wailed. "I already went to that meeting with you. So shut up about it already!" Suddenly, the two friends found themselves covered in soapsuds.
"JETTON!" Collapsing in hysterical laughter, the former yellow and pink Astro rangers dropped the dogs they were holding in fits of giggles.
