Disclaimer: If I haven't already said that it's mine, then it belongs to Saban or Disney or whoever I tell you it belongs to.
Mz. Daydream: Of course Andros is the stubborn one. For some reason, I love writing the sad scenes. Yeah, Karone and the others are looking for the other rangers.
Jenny: Of course I love plot twists. And if you think that was sad, wait until you see the next three or four stories I thought up. :P Uh, I'm not exactly sure what happens to Ximena and Skylar, but neither do they.
erinx0x0x: Thanks. Here's more, sorry for the wait.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: It's all right, my Internet kills itself way too often. I love Magyck too! Or was it Magyk? Whatever. You already knew that. Kill more mosquitoes. They're evil. :P
A/N:I didn't watch half these seasons, so if the characters are a little off, that's why.
Chapter 24
"Karone!" Leo Corbett's face broke into an astonished smile as he took in the blond staring at him on the other side of the comm screen. "How are you?"
"We need your help, Leo," Karone said gravely. "KO-35 has been taken over. Andros and Ashley have been captured."
"What?" another voice cried, and a moment later, Leo's wife had appeared by his side.
Karone smiled weakly. "Hi, Kendrix."
"Where do you need us to go?" Kendrix asked.
Karone hesitated. "You can't go to KO-35."
"Earth?"
After another moment of hesitation, Karone nodded. "We'll all be here."
Leo nodded as well. "So will we."
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"This is the house," Ryan said, glancing apprehensively at the sky as if expecting fighters to descend out of it. "Come on."
Tempest followed him as they crossed the street and headed up the front walk. "Whaddya gonna say? 'Excuse me, but I kinda need you to risk your life so that I can change time and space and keep my parents from dying as slaves?' "
"Something like that, yeah," Ryan said distantly. He pushed his forefinger firmly into the button that rang the bell, stepped back, and waited until the door opened. "Kimberly Hart?"
"Kimberly Oliver, actually," the brunette woman in her early thirties corrected him. "How can I help you?"
"Oliver?" Ryan repeated. This might be easier than he'd planned. "Are you married to Tommy Oliver?"
"I am," she said, starting to eye him warily. Ryan decided he'd better hurry up.
"Four months ago, your husband went on a mission with the other red rangers, didn't he?" he asked.
"How'd you know that?" Kim's eyes narrowed at him. "What do you want?"
"Help," Tempest said, pushing past Ryan, deciding that he wasn't doing a very good job of explaining things. "Will you just listen to us?"
Kim hesitated, but only for a moment. "Come in."
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"Sorry!" Alyssa exclaimed, nearly bowling over a girl only a few years younger than herself. "For a second, it looked like you'd just appeared out of nowhere."
She turned to go, thinking no more of the incident until the girl suddenly stepped in front of her. "I think you're one of the ones I'm looking for. Alyssa Enrile?"
"That's me," Alyssa said brightly. "Do you need something?"
"It's a long story," the girl said, shaking her dirty blond hair out of her eyes. "I'm Mira."
"My name's Matt," another voice said, and a moment later, a boy had materialized next to Mira. "We need to talk to you, and Cole, Taylor, Danny, Max, and Merrick. We need the rangers."
"How did you-"
Matt held up his left wrist. "We're the Astro rangers."
"You can't be," Alyssa protested, falling into a defensive stance. "The Astro rangers were the ones everyone saw at the Countdown. I might only have been nine, but I remember."
"Alyssa, wait!"
She spun around. "Cole?"
"They're telling the truth," the young man in red confirmed, approaching them slowly. "We'll listen."
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"Carter Grayson?" Zhane asked, feeling himself tensing up at the younger man's cool demeanor. "Red Lightspeed ranger?"
"Yes," Carter confirmed. "How can I help you?"
Zhane sighed. "I was the silver Astro Ranger once."
"I remember," Carter said.
Zhane nodded briefly before continuing. "KO-35 has been invaded by an enemy that will be on Earth in a matter of weeks if we don't act now. I need you and your team to help."
Carter paused. "My team can defend Mariner Bay."
"This is bigger than Mariner Bay," Zhane said patiently, although he was tempted to beat some sense into the red ranger's head. "This is bigger than the Earth. This is about the universe. The only way to stop the Overlords is for all the ranger teams to help the Astro rangers."
"Then why aren't you fighting?" Carter challenged, and Zhane groaned with frustration.
"There's a new team of Astro rangers," Zhane explained. He paused briefly, hit with a sudden inspiration. "Listen, you fought with Andros, didn't you? On the Serpenterra mission?"
Carter nodded. "He was a strong fighter."
"He's been captured."
"How?" Carter demanded.
"The invasion of KO-35 was well planned," Zhane said. "Andros and his wife, Ashley, were both captured. They were both rangers, Carter. What happened to them can just as easily happen to you."
Carter sighed. "I'm listening."
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"Adam!"
"Cassie," the former black ranger exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"We need your help," Cassie said, opening her mouth to explain, but Adam was already nodding his head.
"I'm there," he said. "I'll get Rocky and the others on the phone for you."
The Asian woman threw her arms around him. "Thank you!... Why do I have a feeling that the others aren't having such an easy time of this?"
"Others?"
"I'll explain while you're making those calls," Cassie said, shoving a phone into his hands.
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"I don't like this place," Damien mumbled as he followed Melanie and Ciaran from the blazing summer sunshine into the cool air conditioned interior of the building marked with the insignia of the Silver Guardians.
"Quit complaining," Melanie snapped at him. "You're walking through a building. It's got to be better than slave labor, and it's definitely better than death."
Damien opened his mouth to retort, but fell silent as they approaced two men, both dressed in red.
"Are you Wes Collins and Eric Meyers?" Ciaran asked. When they both nodded, he took a deep breath. "This is kind of a long story..."
"We're there," Wes said the instant he'd finished. "I'll call the future."
"Wes..." Eric began, but the other shook his head.
"They need our help, Eric," he snapped. "This isn't about Jen."
Eric muttered something under his breath that likely contradicted Wes's last statement, but shrugged and reached for his own morpher.
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"Remember me?"
"TJ!" the person in question cried. "I haven't seen you in ages..."
"Justin," TJ broke in. "We need you."
"All right," Justin exclaimed. "What's up?"
TJ sighed. "You're going to love this..."