Chapter 19: Surprises and Zafina's Rage

A few days later, Ashley and the rest of the Lightspeed team were having breakfast in the hall when a rose appeared in front of her. Ashley looked over her shoulder to see Andros standing there. "A beautiful flower for a beautiful woman," he stated. She took the rose and gave him a kiss. Andros sat next to her and looked over at the rest of the team. "How's Ryan doing?" He asked.

"He's stable for now, but if he uses his powers again it will kill him for sure," Dana replied.

"There has to be a way for him to get rid of the curse," Ashley insisted.

They nodded then the alarms went off. "Zafina never takes a break," Ashley groaned. They got up and ran to Rescue Ops.

"Zafina has unleashed another monster," Captain Mitchell informed.

They watched as the monster went crashing through the city. "We have to get going," Carter insisted. They ran to the Rescue Rover to stop the monster.

They stopped when they reached the creature. "Stop right there," Carter ordered. The monster turned and looked at them.

"Welcome, Power Rangers," the monster laughed.

They ducked when he blasted energy at them. "SPIRAL SABER!" Andros yelled. He came at the monster with his spiral saber only to get hit. Ashley ran to him and helped him up.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine," he replied.

"STAR SLINGER!"

She was able to call on her star slinger and blast the monster before he could strike them.

Zafina and Vypra laughed when they saw the Power Rangers losing the battle.

Ashley charged at the monster only to have it twist her arm behind her back and it had a sword pressed against her throat. "Ashley!" Andros gasped.

"Give it up, Rangers, or you'll be a Ranger short," the monster threatened.

"Let her go," Andros demanded.

"As you wish," the monster laughed.

Ashley screamed when the monster pushed her over a cliff. "ASHLEY!" Andros yelled. He ran over and looked over the edge to find his wife de-morphed and hanging by a branch. "Hold on, Ashley," he insisted.

"Andros, I'm slipping," she told him.

The rest of the rangers tried to fight the monster while Andros held onto her hand trying to pull her up. "Ashley, you have to pull yourself up," he insisted.

"I can't, I'm slipping," she repeated.

Zafina was waiting for Andros's grasp to fail and have the Yellow Ranger fall to her death.

Just then, someone else reached over and grabbed onto Ashley's other arm. Andros looked to his side to see a familiar girl dressed in pink next to him. "Cassie?" He asked.

"That's me," Cassie replied.

They pulled Ashley back to the ledge and Andros held her. Ashley smiled to see her best friend there. "Thanks, Cassie," she told her.

"Anytime, my friend, now let's go kick some monster butt," Cassie stated.

Andros helped her stand up and she looked over at the monster. "Hey, frog breath," Ashley called. The monster stopped and looked at them. Cassie then stepped forward.

"If you mess with one Power Ranger, you're messing with a whole team," she snapped.

"Mind if we join you?" A voice asked.

They looked over to see T. J. and Carlos standing there. They came over and stood next to them. "Now, you're going to feel the pain of all the Power Rangers," T. J. added. He then looked at his friends. "Are you ready, guys?" He asked.

"Ready," they replied.

"LET'S ROCKET!" They yelled.

Zafina watched in rage. "NO!" She roared. She slammed her staff to the floor and glared as she watched the fight.

All the Power Rangers fought together and then they finally defeated it. Then the Lightspeed Rangers, the Space Rangers, and the Galaxy Ranger powered down. "The rest of the Space Team, this is incredible," Joel commented.

"No kidding," Kelsey agreed.

Carter greeted them and Ashley smiled at Cassie. "Thanks for helping me back there, Cass, I don't think I would've held on much longer on either Andros's arm or the branch," she commented. Cassie wrapped her arm around her best friend's shoulder.

"Don't you worry, you know the Pink Ranger's got your back," Cassie laughed.

She then looked at the Lightspeed Team. "As you can see, I'm Cassie, the Pink Space Ranger," she informed. T. J. then stepped forward.

"I'm T. J., the Blue Space Ranger," he stated.

"And I'm Carlos, the Black Space Ranger," Carlos informed.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Carter Grayson, Red Lightspeed Ranger."

"I'm Dana Mitchell, Pink Lightspeed Ranger."

"I'm Joel Rawlings, Green Lightspeed Ranger."

"I'm Kelsey Winslow, Yellow Lightspeed Ranger."

"I'm Chad Lee, the Blue Lightspeed Ranger."

"We did have a Titanium Ranger, but he's out of the game for awhile," Carter informed.

Cassie then stood by Carlos with a smile. "So, should we go back to base?" Carter asked. They agreed and got back to base.

Ashley sighed as she sat down after having Ms. Fairweather check her over. Cassie sat across from her. "Is it always busy like this?" She asked.

"You have no idea," Ashley replied.

Cassie smiled at her friend and then she looked over at the nightstand to see a picture of all of them. "How's married life treating you and Carlos?" Ashley asked. Cassie laughed at the thought and looked at her rings.

"Well, you can say you're going to be an expecting godmother," Cassie replied.

Ashley gasped and embraced Cassie. "Oh, that's wonderful. How far along are you?" She asked.

"I'm a month along," Cassie replied.

"Wait a minute, if you're pregnant, then why are you out here fighting?" Ashley asked.

"Well, Carlos and I aren't staying as Rangers. We just came here to tell you about the baby."

"Oh, so you're not staying in Mariner Bay."

"I'm afraid not."

"Why's T. J. here then?"

"Well, T. J. was here for two reasons. One was to finally meet the Lightspeed Rangers. And two, he wanted to tell you that he's leaving Angel Grove."

"Where's he going?"

"He got a job in New York. He's leaving once we get back."

"Oh."

Cassie placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's going to keep in touch though," she added.

"Yeah, well, here's some news that Andros and I have planned out since we came here," Ashley stated.

"And what's that?"

"We're not leaving Mariner Bay once Zafina, Vypra, and the rest of the goons are destroyed."

"You're not coming back to Angel Grove?"

"No, we like it here. We've been thinking about it and we would like to stay."

Cassie got out of her chair and embraced Ashley. Ashley hugged her back with a sad sigh. "We both knew that we weren't going to stay in Angel Grove forever," Ashley pointed out.

"Yeah, but we've been together for so long. Now, we're adults and we have to start our lives," Cassie agreed.

Ashley smiled and then they went to Rescue Ops to see her off.

Ashley let him go and stood next to Dana. They watched him leave before Andros turned to his friends. "So, are you guys staying?" He asked.

"Nah, I can't. I have a flight to catch tomorrow," T. J. replied.

"Where are you going?" Andros asked.

"New York got a nice job there."

Andros smiled before shaking T. J.'s hand. "It was great fighting with you," he stated.

"Same here," T. J. agreed.

He hugged Ashley and Cassie before leaving. Cassie walked over and grabbed Carlos's arm. "We've got to get going too. We were really coming here to tell you that you two are expecting godparents," Cassie stated. Andros smiled and patted Carlos on the shoulder.

"That's great news," Andros congratulated.

Carlos nodded before saying goodbye to their friends after Andros told them about him and Ashley staying in Mariner Bay once it was all over. Andros wrapped his arm around Ashley's waist and held her to him. Karone and Zhane looked at them with sad smiles. They both knew that they were going to stay in Mariner Bay and it hurt them. But, they knew they'd be back in Angel Grove for the wedding and for visits, just like how they're going to visit them when Ashley has their first baby.

Ashley sighed as she got ready for bed. Her body ached, mostly her shoulders. Since she was thrown over a cliff who could blame her? Andros came in to find his wife trying to rub her shoulders. "Here," he murmured. He had her sit down on bed and he sat behind her. He rubbed her shoulders and she lolled her head back.

"That feels really good," she sighed.

Andros smiled and placed a kiss on the side of her head. "I love you," he whispered.

"And I love you," she answered.

Afterwards, she returned the gesture, but then they ended up cuddling in each other's arms all night.

Zafina was angry that the rest of the Space Rangers came, but then she was glad that they had left. She watched Andros and Ashley's little moment with a glare. "Andros will be mine," she hissed. Vypra then switched images to show Carter and Dana talking near the pool room. "Ah, I spy two rangers falling in love," she laughed.

"It's too bad we'll have our best three destroy them tomorrow," Vypra laughed.

Then both witches laughed at the thought of destroying the Red and Pink Lightspeed Rangers. Then they would destroy the rest of the Rangers so Zafina could get what she wanted. Andros, Karone, Earth, Miranoi, and KO-35, and they knew that Queen Bansheera might sign a treaty with her once she returned. However, that was a big iffy. They didn't care, they just wanted to destroy the rangers before the queen returned.