Disclaimer: Not mine, please don't due me, I have no money anyway.

gobball: Like the surprises? There's still more. . .

GreenDayfan1: No, Andros and Ashley are not related. That would be a little too creepy, even for me.

Jenny: I wasn't counting the author's note thingy at the beginning, but 30 chapters is pretty long. I'm glad you like my rangers. I liked the others too, but I didn't think people would believe that Cassie and TJ were twins. Oh, and I decided that I am going to write a sequel to this. Can I borrow the idea of light cystal thingys? I'll use it totally differently than you did, I swear, and I'll probably give it a different name, but I thought I'd ask, just to be safe.

Ghostwriter: Well, it'll be plenty long, here's more.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Fine with me. Tricks make the story much more interesting.

Juzblue: At least I fooled someone. . . Andros of course goes into protective -older- brother -mode, but who doesn't love Zhane? : )

Chapter 21: The Seventh Ranger

A few months later

"Hey, Aria, can I talk to you?" Karone asked, standing in the doorway to her room.

"Everyone else does," Aria said, not looking up from the book she was reading. "Whether I want them to or not."

"Shut up, you love it," Karone told her sister. She came in all the way, letting the door hiss shut.

"I know." Aria grinned. She put down the book and sat up. "What's wrong? Did Zhane do something? Andros'll kill him."

"No, not Zhane," Karone said. Aria cast her a semi-disappointed look, but shrugged her shoulders. "Ashley."

"Ashley?" Aria repeated. "What'd she do?"

"Do I bother her?" Karone asked. "She acts differently around me than the rest of you."

"Oh," Aria said. "So you did notice."

"What did I do?" Karone asked. "I didn't mean to upset her."

"No, it's not that," Aria said quickly. "Ashley loves you. You just . . . "

She sighed. "I don't feel right telling you. You should talk to her."

Karone pouted at her sister, and Aria rolled her eyes.

"She's not upset, I promise," Aria said. "I just don't think it's my place to tell you."

"All right, I'm going," Karone said, now wondering more than ever what she'd done.

The bridge

"Ashley?" Karone asked. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," Ashley said. She smiled at Karone, but Karone noticed that her eyes were uneasy.

"Do you not like me?" she asked bluntly.

Ashley shifted uncomfortably. "I . . . "

"What did I do?" Karone demanded. "Please, just tell me. It's been driving me crazy."

"You didn't do anything," Ashley said quickly. "It's not that."

She paused, and sighed, trying to think of how to explain it.

"I'm the yellow ranger," Ashley said slowly. "You were supposed to be the yellow ranger. I feel like I took something from you."

"Is that all?" Karone asked, relieved. Ashley nodded. "But I don't want to be a ranger."

"Really?" Ashley asked, surprised. Karone shook her head.

"I'm totally behind you guys," she said. "But I was raised on the Dark Fortress by Ecliptor. I'd fight him if I had to, but I couldn't seek him out to fight."

Ashley looked relieved. "I feel better now. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything before, but I thought that you might . . . resent me, I guess. . ."

She trailed off, and her face paled. Her hands went to her left side as if she was in pain, and she stiffened. An instant later, Karone felt it as well, and alarm filled her eyes.

"Andros," Ashley whispered. "He's hurt."

Karone nodded. There was a flash of red light, and Ashley and Karone looked up to see Andros in the doorway. It took a moment for his appearence to sink in. His face was a mess of bruises and bleeding cuts, and his flight suit was torn and bloodstained. He tried to take a few steps forward, but he staggered, and fell, both arms clutching at his left side. His hazel eyes were dull. Ashley and Karone both reacted at once, kneeling down by his side, and trying to keep him conscious.

"Andros," Ashley said, shaking him. "Talk to us. Can you hear me?"

He nodded.

"Talk," Ashley ordered. "What happened?"

"Attacked," Andros mumbled drowsily. "Was in Angel Grove. Didn't see . . ."

"Come on," Karone said, slipping an arm around his shoulders. Ashley took his other side, and together, they managed to pull him to his feet.

"Andros, keep talking," Karone said. "Do you think you can walk?"

Andros shook his head. "Hurts."

"We'll go slow," Ashley assured him. Dimly, she realized that she felt his pain, but her concern for him outweighed the realization. "Andros, tell us exactly what happened."

"I was in Angel Grove," Andros muttered, his eyes shut. "Heard something behind me. Grabbed from behind. My head. Felt like someone was draining my head. Saw memories."

Karone stopped. "Someone was reading your mind?"

Andros nodded, and winced. "My head hurts."

"It's okay," Ashley assured him. "You'll be okay."

Andros kept his eyes shut, but Karone's panicked look didn't go unnoticed by Ashley.

The medical bay

Deca and Alpha treated Andros, and he fell asleep on the patient bed. Ashley pulled up a chair next to him, refusing to leave his side. Karone paced nervously back and forth.

"Who was it?"

Karone sighed and sat down across from Ashley. "It's all my fault."

"You sound just like your brother," Ashley remarked. Her hand was gripping Andros'. "No one here will blame you for it. Just tell me who attacked him."

"My creation," Karone muttered. "I spent years working on him, and I'd just finished when the rest of you showed up. So I made a few more . . ."

"A few more what?"

"Rangers," Karone said. "Stronger than you, faster than you, smarter than you. I called them the Psycho Rangers."

Ashley shivered. "They found him?"

Karone nodded miserably. "I think so. I wasn't planning on using them yet. They malfunctioned too much during tests. I don't think even Dark Specter could control them."

She paused. "They were programmed to hate. To kill. They'll never stop until- until-"

Karone broke off, biting her lip. "I made them almost unstoppable."

"What's going on?"

Ashley and Karone looked up to see Aria and Gabriel standing in the doorway.

"Where's Justin?" Karone demanded. "He's not in Angel Grove, is he?"

Aria and Gabriel exchanged uneasy glances. "Yeah, he is," Aria said. "What's wrong?"

"Justin?" Ashley called into her communicator. "Where are you?"

"What happened?" Aria demanded. "Justin, where the hell are you?"

"Psycho Rangers," Karone said. "I made them."

Before she could say any more, Aria had vanished in a blaze of bright light.

"Aria!" Karone shouted. She made to go after her sister, but Gabriel caught her arm.

"Stay here," he said. A black flame engulfed his as he teleported himself off the Megaship.

"Give her ten minutes," Ashley said softly. "Aria is extremely resistent to death. Where's Zhane?"

"Zhane is on the Megaship," Deca announced.

"Thank God," Karone sighed. "Now all we have to do is worry about Aria and Justin."

Angel Grove

Justin sat at a solitary table at the Surf Spot, slowly eating his hamburger. Finally, he had a chance to be by himself, and think. The Megaship was a good place to hide, but he'd been feeling crowded lately. Aria and Gabriel understood him, and read him well. When he wanted to be left alone, they left him alone. Ashley had grown used to his moodiness, and had learned not to pry into his life. Zhane was just a smartass. Then there was Andros, and Karone. He supposed that he'd grow used to them with time, but suddenly knowing who he was after a lifetime of being kept in the dark was overwhelming.

"Brood later."

He looked up, startled, as Aria appeared next to him. She grabbed his arm, and yanked him out of the restaurant.

"Hey, what was that for?" he protested.

"Something's loose in Angel Grove," Aria said. "We've got to get out of here before they find us."

"They?" Justin repeated. "As in more than one?"

"That would be correct, Blue Ranger."

"Oh, shit," Justin muttered as five dark shapes approached. "Not good."

"Observant of you," Aria said calmly. "Ready?"

"Let's rocket!"

If the five Psycho Rangers that had surrounded them had been in possession of mouths, they would have been sneering just then. The rangers had walked into their little trap.

The Psychos charged at once, and Aria flipped out of the way. Preferring the ground, Justin dropped, and rolled. Quick as lightning, the Psychos had cornered them again.

"Dammit," Aria muttered. "They're fast."

"Almost like you," Justin said, grinning in spite of himself.

"Not funny, bro," Aria said. "Satellite Stunner!"

The instant the weapon appeared in her hand, Psycho Pink appeared at her side, snatching it from her. For once, Aria wasn't quick enough, and was hit head on.

"Aria!" Justin shouted. He helped his sister to her feet, and then ended up on the ground himself as Psycho Blue got him from behind.

"I'm fine," Aria said through clenched teeth. With surprising speed for someone who'd just taken a hard hit, she flew at Psycho Pink, managing to actually land several blows with her feet. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and she was repelled back. The other three Psychos had stood back, apparently uninterested in the rangers that were not their own counterparts. Now, however, they moved in more closlely.

"Aria! Justin!"

They looked up as Gabriel landed, morphed, in front of them

"Come on!" he shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

"We're not done yet," Aria said, taking a defensive stance alongside Justing, both ready to continue the fight.

"Yes you are," Gabriel said, grabbing his brother and sister by the arm and teleporting them back to the Megaship.

The Megaship- the medical bay

"Andros!" Justin gasped, catching sight of his brother. "He's not -"

"He'll be fine," Ashley said quickly. "He's just sleeping."

"You know how to build monsters, Karone," Aria said, limping slightly. "Now . . . how do we kill them?"

"Um. . . " Karone said. "I'm not entirely sure."

"We've got to think of something," Gabriel said. "Before we can't avoid fighting them anymore."

Several hours of thinking time later (which were spent actually thinking, seeing as Andros was taking a little nap)

"Okay," Ashley said, frustrated. "You programmed them specifically to combat our particular fighting styles?"

Karone nodded. "Psycho Red sees Andros, and knows immediately what he'll do. Psycho Yellow sees you, and automatically knows how to block you."

"You only made five, right?" Aria asked suddenly. She'd kept unusually quiet throughout the entire discussion.

"Yeah," Karone said glumly. "But I made each one twice as powerful as one of you."

"So we just even the odds a little bit," Aria said. "With Zhane, that's six."

She hesitated, and gave Karone an oddly significant look.

"You wouldn't be fighting Ecliptor."

"He made me a morpher, didn't he?" Karone asked, glancing back at her twin brother.

Justin nodded. "He didn't think you'd accept it, but he had Deca make one anyway."

Karone sighed. "Just this once."

Aria and Justin exchanged semi-relieved glances. They now had a seventh ranger, but would it be enough?