The Unmasking of Rex Red and Wolf McBlue
By: PernDragonrider (with major help from psav2005 and Ghost Zero)
Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Note: I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to psav2005, Ghost Zero, and Silverline Scimitar for their help with this story. Kudos accompanied by massive amounts of bowing and scraping at their feet. Without them this tale would have never been written. Psav2005 stepped up to the plate when Ghost Zero lost his net connection for two weeks and provided the information I desperately needed to continue with this tale. Ghost Zero has gotten back on-line now and his help is just as appreciated. Silver Scimitar has graciously sat thru my poor attempts at making this tale work and giving generous comments and constructive criticism when needed. Any mistakes on what goes on with the characters from the wrestling world are mine alone. Also thank you all so much for the generous reviews for this tale. You all know who you are and if I haven't gotten around to replying to your review, I will get to it when time permits. ENJOY! Now on with the tale…
Chapter Ten – The Ranger Space Surprise!The cavalcade of vehicles approached the very large building that housed the Ranger Space Club. The line for admittance was stretched almost two blocks long when Jason, Zack, Trini, Tommy, Kimberly, and Kat in Jason's Hummer. Billy drove his with Jessica, Adam, Rocky, Aisha, and Tanya on board. The wrestlers were riding in the Club's limo and followed behind the two Hummers.
"Do you guys want the red carpet entrance or the sneaky way in tonight, Mick?" Jason asked as Mick Foley and the rest of the wrestlers climbed from the limo.
"I think the sneaky way tonight, Jase." Shane answered as all the others agreed with him. "I mean I heard about this place from the others a week ago and I wouldn't mind getting a tour at some point; but I think the less obvious we are the better it will be. Especially with your and Bill's unmasking tonight. Let's let that die down some before going public. Like next week in New York."
"Okay, sneaky way it is." Jason said with a sly grin and an authoritative tone. "Carlos! Let Ryan know that we'll be using the back entrance. I'll meet him in the office after I've gotten this bunch settled in the VIP room."
"Got it boss man!" Carlos said with a smile as he closed the limo's doors and jogged up to the front door.
"BOSS MAN?" Kimberly almost squealed with a combination of panic and surprise in her voice. "What the...? Jason Lee Scott how the hell do you come off having Carlos calling you 'boss man'?"
"Well, Kim." Jason started as he backed slowly away from the petit angry first pink ranger. "I own this place. That's why Carlos called me boss man."
"YOU WHAT!" Almost every voice from wrestler to former teammate was heard after Jason's somewhat quiet statement to Kimberly. Tommy was having a hard time keeping the former Pink Power Ranger from killing his best friend.
"Yeah, well." Jason said blushing slightly. "It's kind of my tribute to the heroes that kept my hometown safe for quite a few years."
"You really own this place?" Adam asked almost choking on his laughter as he remembered meeting Rex, Wolf, and few of the other wrestlers in the club a week ago.
"Yeah, Adam." Jason said his blush still in place. "I really didn't expect it to be this packed tonight or I'd have arranged for Ryan or Andros to let us in the back door. But Billy helps out with some of the stuff too. He's a partner in the Ranger Space just like Ryan, Andros, Zhane, Ashley, and all the others before and after."
"All the ones before and after?" Tommy choked slightly as he held tightly onto Kimberly to keep her from killing Jason until she'd calmed down somewhat. "How did you manage to do that, bro? You mean you know who the ones in Angel Grove were from the beginning?"
"Well, not really." Jason said with a smile on his face. "Look I'll explain everything later but let's get into the club before we draw a huge crowd." Jason turned and started toward a door that could be seen near the back of the building and everyone followed him in various stages of shock.
Jason used a key from the key ring in his hand and opened the door. He led everyone through the employee entrance and into the club proper while Billy with his arm around Jessica's waist was the last to enter the building. Ryan, Andros, and Carlos met them just after the large group got into the main area of the club all with bright smiles on their faces.
"Greetings everyone and welcome to the Ranger Space." Ryan said with a bright happy voice. "If you'll follow me I'll take you to your private lounge for your gathering tonight."
"Go with Ryan guys." Jason said with a small smile on his face. "I've got to run up to the office to take care of some business for the club. I shouldn't be more than a half hour at the most."
The large group including Billy with Jessica still held firmly to his side, followed Ryan and Andros. Carlos brought up the rear of the group behind Billy to make sure they weren't followed to the largest of the private lounges the club boasted. Ryan unlocked the door to the huge VIP suite and smiled as he saw the looks of shock crossing the faces of Jason's guests. "You're server will be in shortly. Anything you want is on the house tonight, boss's orders. Enjoy." Ryan told them as he closed the doors after everyone was inside the still spacious room after the thirty people had entered the suite.
"Andros?" Ryan asked as the doors closed behind the large crowd. "Who's on the schedule to take the VIP room tonight. It will have to be one of the more knowledgeable servers. I'm sure this crowd will have some hard questions that need to be answered."
"Ashley said that she'd scheduled Rachel to cover the room tonight." Andros replied with a smile. "She's originally from Angel Grove and knows quite a bit of Ranger history. Surprisingly she's really up-to-date on all the teams since too. Even the ones that weren't in Angel Grove."
"Good, they're in great hands then." Ryan sighed in relief. "I'm so glad that Ashley hired her for this job."
"You and me both, Ryan." Andros said with a smile. "She's quickly become one of the best waitresses we have; besides Cassie and the rest of us."
"Definitely." Ryan answered as he and Andros left the area while Carlos stationed himself at the door as a guard.
Meanwhile in the large, plush VIP lounge, the entire group was making themselves comfortable. The room was almost completely divided with wrestlers on one side and the former Rangers on the other. The huge room was decorated to look like the interior of the Power Chamber's main room except for the fact that there were low tables with very comfortable chairs and couches arranged around them in conversational pit areas.
"This place has to be massive." Shane sighed as he sat down in a black leather-covered chair. "This room had to have cost a small fortune to decorate alone. Now I know why Jason is always broke all the time."
"Not broke, Shane." Billy said with a smile from where he sat on a small blue leather loveseat with Jessica. "The initial investment for the club wasn't small; however we've slowly built up the large lounges and VIP areas by reinvesting the club's profits back into the club."
"Make sense." Stephanie said as she made her self comfortable on a pink leather couch and smiled when Triple H sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "Reinvesting profits is the quickest way to build something large out of something small."
"Jason took a page from dad's book, then." Shane said with a smile at his sister and her boyfriend. "That man needs to stay in wrestling and so do you Bill. You're contracts are going to be up in six months. You are staying in aren't you?"
"Jason and I have not discussed our plans past this event, for now, Shane." Billy replied with a smile at one of his bosses. "I told Jason earlier that all I wanted to do was to get through out very public revelation of identities and that we'd see how things went before making any decisions. Give us a month or so to see how the crowds respond to our team up for tag-team. Then we'll sit down and discuss contracts again."
"Fair enough, Bill." Shane said with a serious tone and nod to let Billy know that subject was dropped for the time being. "I'll pass along that information to dad when I call him tomorrow afternoon. Until then I'm just going to enjoy relaxing in the very comfortable room."
A short, five foot three inch tall, woman with bright red hair entered the room dressed in a pair of silver pants, red low cut tank top, and a silver bolero jacket that looked something like the outfit the Astro Rangers wore before morphing into their Ranger armor. Every male eye in the place was drawn to the tight fitting pants and tank top that showed off her hourglass figure very effectively. "Good evening everyone." The woman said with a happy smile. "My name is Rachel and I'll be your server tonight. Part of my job is to answer any questions you may have about any of the Power Ranger teams; however I cannot give out the identities of those Rangers that were not widely know to be Power Rangers. So the identities of the Mighty Morphin, Ninjetti or Ninja, Zeo, Turbo, Lost Galaxy, Time Force, and Wild Force teams cannot be given out until those Rangers give permission for us to do so. Now before I start taking orders for your drinks and food selections; does anyone have a question about the décor of this room or any Power Ranger related question?"
"I have a question for you, Rachel." Justin said with an appreciative look from her feet to her head before he continued. "You said that the identities of the Turbo Rangers couldn't be given out; but everyone knows that the Turbo Rangers chased Divatox into space and became the Astro Rangers along with Andros as their leader. How can their identities remain a secret?"
"A very good question, sir." Rachel said with a smile for Justin's scrutiny. "There is a slight misconception in your statement however. There were two teams of Turbo Rangers. The second team of Rangers, after the first passed the torch to a new generation of protector, was the team that chased Divatox into space and to search for their kidnapped mentor, Zordon of Eltar. It is the identities of the first team of Turbo Rangers that the public is not privy to and will not be until those Rangers give permission for their identities to be released. Alas I fear that that we might never know who those brave men and women truly were."
"Wow! You are good! How long did you have to study to learn that information? Most people don't even know about the first team." Tommy asked with a low whistle of appreciation for her knowledge.
"Actually I didn't have to study and learn that." Rachel answered with a smile and a wink at Tommy. "I grew up in Angel Grove and graduated from High School about the same time the Turbo Rangers made their first appearance there. I could tell from the news releases when the team changed. I'd watched most of those brave men and women protect our town and our world from the first team that showed up just after a really bad earthquake that was caused by, according to the news reports, an evil space witch named Rita Repulsa."
"You attended Angel Grove High School?" Tommy asked as he and all the other Rangers in the room took a good look at her.
"I lived in Angel Grove most of my life." Zack said with a smile at Rachel. "I don't remember going to school with anyone that looked like you."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't look like this in High School." Rachel said with a blush at Zack's comment. "I was very over-weight and didn't really have a large group of friends that I hung out with. I sort of tried and succeeded in blending into the background. I do recognize some of you from my High School days. Tommy, Kimberly, Kat, Billy, Trini, Adam, Tanya, Zack, and Aisha. I don't see Jason with you, but he can't be far behind if the rest of you are here. You were almost inseparable during high school. But I'm not here for a reunion. What can I get everyone to drink and what would you like from the kitchen?"
The large group gave their order and Rachel wrote them down with seemingly calm fingers even though inside she was shaking like a leaf. "Why did I wear my necklace today? If Tommy gets a look at it I'm as good as dead, even with all these strangers in the room; he'll freak if he sees it. Damn!" He thoughts were chasing around and around even as she managed to take the drink orders and get them down without showing that she was absolutely panicking inside. She didn't even hear the doors open and Jason enter the room until she was standing before him and his familiar baritone was ordering a drink.
"I'll have a strawberry banana smoothie, Rachel." Jason said and smiled as her eyes flew up and met the smile on his face that reached his eyes. "Ashley told me she hired a new waitress a few weeks ago. I check out everyone that comes to work at the Ranger Space. Welcome to the club."
"Thanks, boss." Rachel said with a surprisingly soft and even tone of voice. "Anything from the kitchen for you tonight?"
"Actually Ryan and Carlos are going to be bringing in the food for the group. All of that was prearranged." Jason answered the smile still in place in his tone and on his face. "So the drinks will be all we'll need for now."
"Right away, boss." Rachel answered and quickly left the room to get the large drink order filled as quickly as possible. "I'll serve Tommy and Kimberly their drinks last. That way I can get out of the way and back to being in the background like I'm used to. Damn I knew I shouldn't have worn my good luck charm today. Something just told me to leave it at home; but the last time I did that I almost got squished by a monster the Astro Rangers were fighting against. Shit! Can't win for losing Rach. Just keep it together until after the drinks are served. It's never come out of the tank top before. It won't this time either." Rachel started assembling the drinks on a small serving cart as the bartender finished making them. Unknown to her, her 'good luck charm' did come out of the tank top and was prominently displayed against the dark red background of her shirt. She continued loading the cart and once all thirty drinks were there; she returned to the largest of the VIP rooms were her boss was entertaining a large number of guests.
Rachel dispensed the drinks all around the room with a smile and quick lithe shimmy out of the way when one of the wrestlers tried to give her a playful squeeze. She was blushing so brightly by the time she'd delivered all the drinks that her face almost matched the color of her shirt perfectly. Rachel continued to serve the drinks as needed for the large group. About two hours after they'd arrived, the wrestlers left with good byes for everyone. The large room now only held the former rangers, Jessica, David Trueheart, Rachel, and Justin's girlfriend from college, Liz.
Unknown to Rachel, the entire time she was serving drinks to everyone her good luck charm was displayed in the open for anyone that cared to take a closer look. She bent over to exchange Kimberly's empty drink glass for a new one when a male hand shot into view and grabbed the charm and chain roughly. The male hand then jerked hard on the chain and Rachel almost fell over the table with a grimace of pain.
"Where in the HELL did you get this?" Tommy's angry scream seemed to echo around the room even as he continued to pull on the necklace. His jerking and tugging on the chain around the back of Rachel's neck cause it to dig in deeply and uncomfortably.
"OW!" Rachel cried out as the chain was again given an almost vicious jerk and it cut deeper into her neck. "I've had it for years." Tears formed in Rachel's eyes and spilled over to run down her face. She raised her head slightly and her sad eyes made contact with the shock and blazing anger that was almost beaming from Tommy's chocolate eyes. She looked down at the chain and the attached charm that was hidden in Tommy's tightly closed fist. Rachel sighed sadly as she leaned even further over the table and then ducked her head and allowed the chain to slip over her head. Her voice was so soft and sad when she finally spoke that it brought tears to Kimberly's eyes. "It's yours now; always has been."
Everyone looked between Rachel and Tommy with varying degrees of confusion and shock showing on their faces. Now that she could stand up straight; Rachel turned and almost bolted from the room. Jason, an angry and stern expression on his face, called out, "Rachel! Stop!" His command tones and deep baritone echoing harshly around the room. The former teammates and even their dates looked on in wonder as Rachel continued out of the room as if Jason had never spoken.
Tears obscured her vision as Rachel turned and walked quickly toward the employee's locker room located at the back of the large nightclub. As she passed through the archway that led into the employee only areas of the club; Rachel felt a wave of power flow over her and she found herself to be standing in a large room that looked like a posh executive boardroom. Her tears still flowed down her face and her right hand still held the towel she'd been cleaning up with against the deep cut on the back her neck the necklace had made when it was repeatedly jerked. She looked around and even her tears couldn't fully obscure the sight of Andros, Ashley, and Zhane standing about three feet away with almost matching angry and disappointed scowls on their faces.
"I can't believe you thought you'd get away with stealing from the club's displays, Rachel." Ashley said sharply; her disappointment and disgust almost dripped from words because of her tone.
"Steal what? From where?" Rachel asked in disbelief even as her tears still flowed down her pretty heart shaped face. "I've never even stolen a dime from the club, Ashley."
"Then explain how THIS came to be around your neck?" Jason demanded harshly as he, Tommy, and Billy entered the room through the doors behind where Ashley, Andros, and Zhane stood. Jason stepped around the three blocking the only exit from the room, extended his right arm, and opened his hand to display Rachel's necklace and good luck charm lying in the palm of his hand.
"I didn't steal it." Rachel said quietly even as she saw the looks of disbelief flow over the faces of the six angry people around her. She seemed to shrink slightly as her shoulders drooped and she continued in a quiet, sad voice; "I bought the charm, a dagger, and a rectangular shaped device, I think the charm fits into it somehow, from an antiques shop in Angel Grove. I've had my 'good luck charm' and the other two items every since two or three weeks before graduating from high school."
Jason was ready to roar in frustration when he was brought up short by Cassie's voice issuing from the hidden speakers in the room as well as from the communicator that was strapped to Andros's left wrist. "Andros!" Cassie said calmly.
"Go ahead and report, Cass." Andros said with a sharp angry edge to his normally calm voice.
"TJ, Merrick, and I have checked all of the displays in the club, Andros." Cassie's frustrated sigh could be heard as she continued. "The locks, seals, and security systems haven't been tampered with that we can discover. Also there is nothing missing from the display that holds all the memorabilia from the original Green Ranger. Don't know what you think was taken; but it wasn't taken from anything we've been entrusted with safekeeping."
"Thanks, Cassie." Jason said sternly. "Let the others in the Power Chamber Room know that I'll be back to join as soon as I can. We've found ourselves in a bit of mystery here."
"No problem, Jason." Cassie replied. "Oh, Carlos just returned from dropping of your other co-workers back at the Coliseum. He wants to know if you need anything."
"Tell him to come up to the boardroom." Jason answered. "I might need him to drive someone home for me."
"Got it." Cassie said and the communication stopped.
"Sit down everyone." Jason said with a snap of command showing in his voice. "Rachel, you sit here." Jason indicated a chair on his left while he motioned for the others to sit on the other side of table.
Rachel eased into the chair and hissed with a small amount of pain as she removed the towel she'd been holding to her neck. Zhane jumped up immediately when he was the first to see the blood that had soaked into it.
"I'll get the first aid kit!" Zhane said with some alarm, as he almost seemed to teleport from a sitting to standing position; so fast did he rise at the sight of the blood soaked towel. "Why didn't you say something about being hurt, Rachel?"
"Quite possibly it was because we never gave her chance to tell us about her injury." Billy said with a nasty look at Tommy's scowling face. "I would surmise that the lightweight, yet very strong, platinum chain Rachel's 'good luck charm' was hung on is responsible for the injury to her neck.
Zhane returned in seconds with a large first aid kit in his hand that he passed across the table to Jason. Jason lifted Rachel's long red hair gently as Andros came around the table to help. Andros took the pony-tailed heavy mass of hair from Jason's hand. Jason gently cleaned the dried blood from around the long gash across the back of Rachel's neck. Her hiss of pain as the alcohol on the sterile wipe seeped into the thin cut had Jason drawing in a sympathetic breath with her. "It's okay, Rachel." Jason said quietly and gently as he continued to clean the wound. "It's not deep enough for stitches; but this might leave a little scar."
"What's one more to add to the collection?" Rachel sighed as Jason covered the cut with a large gauze pad and gently taped it into place. Jason nodded at Andros and the Red Astro Ranger released Rachel's ponytail and allowed it to fall back into place.
"One more to what collection?" Jason asked in confusion as he repacked the first aid kit and handed it back to Zhane.
"One more scar." Rachel sighed again as Jason scowled. "Growing up in Angel Grove with all the monster attacks happening, from the beginning of high school until getting saved from Astronema's goons by that wave of light, meant that most citizens of that fair Californian city have scars, Jason. Heck the last day I didn't wear my good luck charm; I almost got squished into the pavement by one of Astronema's monsters. Have worn that necklace ever since. Today is first chance I've had to return it to its rightful owner."
"Rightful owner?" Tommy squeaked in surprise at her soft words. "What the heck do you mean, woman?"
"I know, all right?" Rachel said with a small smile for the shocked looks she received from Tommy, Billy, and Jason. "Not because of working here. Andros, Cassie, TJ, Merrick, Ryan, nor any of the other former Power Ranger employees have said a word to me. I've known since Tommy attacked Jason with some weird green beam in the hallway at the high school. After that I just put two and two together and got six people always dressed in red, green, black, red, blue, yellow, or pink. Wasn't hard to know when the teams changed or colors changed in Tommy's case."
"That long?" Billy asked with a small understanding smile gracing his face and his eyes twinkling with merriment. "You never gave away even a small hint that you knew; even when we were lab partners for an entire semester."
"Why would I tell anyone, Bill?" Rachel asked with a wry and sad tone of voice. "It wasn't like anyone ever talked to me; unless they had to, even you when I was your lab partner. I was either ignored or teased worse than Bulk and Skull did to you. So why would I tell something like that? Besides, it could have gotten you into trouble if I did."
"You said you had a dagger and a rectangular device that you bought with your charm, right?" Andros asked bringing the conversation back on track; however he noticed the stunned almost pained expression that covered Tommy and Jason's faces when she'd talked about how she found out about their identities.
"They're at home, in a display case my grandfather built for me." Rachel told Andros with a sad smile. "I'll give Carlos my house key and he can go and get them. They truly belong to Tommy and he should have them. I just feel fortunate that I was able to keep them safe until I could meet him again one day."
"Wait a second." Billy said thoughtfully. "I don't understand how you could have purchased those items at an antiques shop in Angel Grove when the Dragon Dagger would have still be locked up in the Power Chamber and Tommy would have been in possession of his old coin and morpher. What the hell is going on here?"
"I can take the coin out of the setting for you to examine." Rachel said with a low shy tone and ducked her head in embarrassment. "I designed the setting cause I didn't want to do anything to the coin that would deface or destroy it. The antique dealer gave me a certificate that said the items were found in during a construction project that was done over an old unmarked cemetery from sometime in the eighteen hundreds."
"The cloned Green Ranger." Tommy moaned as he looked at Billy's stunned expression. "That's the only way an antique dealer could have had those things. Zedd cloned the dagger, the morpher, and me; he then used the Green Ranger's powers he'd stolen with that crystal of his and powered the coin back up. Remember when you guys got sent back in time to the old west of Angel Grove's history? I was in the present fighting against myself; literally."
"But… " Billy started to say and then stopped when Carlos arrived in the boardroom.
"You needed me to drive someone home, boss?" Carlos asked with a worried frown on his face when he saw the occupants of the room. "What's up? Did Rachel get sick or something?"
"Actually, Carlos," Jason said with a relieved sigh. "Would you mind driving over to Rachel's home and bringing back something for her?"
"Not at all. What you need me to get for ya, my doll?" Carlos asked with a wink at Rachel's now brightly blushing face.
"I need the case I showed you a couple of months ago from the bookshelf by the door, Carlos." Rachel said quietly because Jason was growling angrily and glaring at Carlos. "Just use your key and bring me back that display case, okay roomie?"
"ROOMIE!" Jason roared in a completely unexpected jealous rage as he lunged from his seat toward the now shocked and quickly backing up Carlos, even as Tommy and Zhane lunged for him.
Billy blinked in surprised shock at Jason's roar just as Zhane lunged toward Carlos and Tommy almost flew across the table at Jason. He looked up at Rachel's shocked and white face and gave her a small smile as he said; "We appear to have a propensity toward extremely primitive reactions when we discover the one that's meant for us. I surmise that it has something to do with the remnants of the powers we held as Power Rangers."
"Do what?" Rachel asked in surprise even as she rose to her feet in shock and looked wildly for the exit to the room. "Jason cannot be interested in someone like me. He should be with Kimberly or someone like that."
"Don't talk like that, Rachel." Ashley said as she rose from her chair and waddled around the table to take the clearly distraught women into her arms and led her to the other side of the large table. "I've seen this happen before between other rangers. It's something that's left over from the powers. The guys tend to get a little prehistoric when they find the women for them."
"But… " Rachel said and Ashley just placed her finger over Rachel's open mouth.
"Don't say your aren't good enough for him, Rach." Ashley said quietly and with conviction. "The powers have never led a Ranger wrong with a soul deep match before. Look at Ryan and Carlos. Those two were bears around each other until they hooked up as a couple. Now it's like Carlos is whole new person. Just accept and move on. He'll never do anything to intentionally hurt you now that he's found you. I know. Andros and I have had some fights in our time as a couple; but he's never said or done anything that would hurt me. Relax and quit being so skittish around men. Please, for me, try?"
"I… he… me?" Rachel asked as she literally shook with fright in Ashley's arms. "Why?"
The tussle on the floor ended quickly with Zhane and Andros, bodily, lifting Jason off Carlos and breaking the chokehold Jason had on Carlos's neck. Tommy helped and between the three they managed to get Jason back into the nearest chair while Billy rose and quickly checked on Carlos's condition. Carlos moaned softly as Billy helped him into a chair on the opposite side of the table from Jason.
"What the hell brought that on?" Tommy asked glaring angrily at everyone in the room. His temper flared as he saw Ashley trying to comfort Rachel and watched as Rachel's face blanched totally white and she slid to the floor shaking and sobbing quietly.
"Carlos will live." Zhane said as he too checked on his old teammate. "Jason's rational thinking should come back in ten to twenty minutes. I've never seen anyone react so violently to counterpart shock before.
"Counterpart shock?" Tommy asked in confusion even as he watched Jason stare at the quaking Rachel with an intensity he'd only seen in his best friend when they were Power Rangers together and deeply immersed in a battle situation.
"You saw it in me earlier tonight with Jessica, Tommy." Billy said with a calm tone in his voice. "According to the records from both the Command Center and Power Chamber along with information provided by the Aquitain Rangers, those chosen to wield the powers have often violent, primitive, instinctual reactions when they find the person that best completes them. The need to have and keep this person close to you forever is almost all consuming. I would have probably had the same reaction Jason did to Rachel's words about Carlos being her roommate if Jessie or anyone had said anything about her being with someone else. I think it took about fifteen minutes where I wasn't seeing red every time someone looked at Jessica."
"I really didn't pay that much attention then, Bill." Tommy said with a touch of regret in his voice. "I was still trying to calm down so I wouldn't rip both of your heads off and stuff them down your throats."
"Maybe that's why you went Green Ranger on me in the locker room at the stadium, bro." Jason said with a calmer tone even as he watched Rachel and Ashley like a hawk watches a mouse it's picked for prey.
"Green Ranger?" Tommy asked with confusion.
"Yeah, bro. When you busted into the locker room your eyes were flashing green fire, a green fire I haven't seen since we broke Rita's spell over you. Scared the shit outta me and Bill." Jason said with a teasing note in his voice yet his gaze was still locked on Rachel and Ashley at the other end of the huge table.
The men continued their conversation and gradually Jason's gaze shifted to those he was talking to and not on the two women speaking quietly at the other end of the room.
"Rach." Ashley said softly once Rachel's near hysterical crying had calmed some. "Tell me what's wrong with Jason liking you."
"He's everything, Ash." Rachel said with a sad tone of voice and a sniffle. "He was the best looking and best liked guy at school. I never stood a chance with him back then. He never looked at me or any other girl like he is now. Not even when he dated Emily did he look at her like a predator looks at prey. It's scaring me."
"It's called counterpart shock, Rach." Ashley told her as she helped Rachel into a chair at the other end of the long table in the room. "Those that held the powers of a Ranger experience it after they're no longer active Rangers or have passed their powers over into a another. Remember how Ryan was about Carlos the first day they met. He was absolutely livid that Carlos was sharing the apartment with you. Then after about a half an hour he calmed down and realized that he and Carlos were meant to be and his living with you wasn't going to be the obstacle his counterpart shock made it out to be. We've noticed over the years that those that have held powers drawn from or related to animals have reactions that mimic the animals their powers were from."
"But his last power was as the Gold Zeo Ranger." Rachel almost whined as she whispered with Ashley. "Why would that cause him to react that violently toward Carlos?"
"The power he held the longest was as the first Red Ranger, and that's the power he's used most recently, Rachel." Ashley said with a small smile. "The reds just recently teamed up on the moon to get rid of the last remnants of the Machine Empire."
"Oh." Rachel said with a small gasp of surprise.
"And that's why I was such as ass, Rachel." Jason's soft baritone issued from behind her making Rachel jump and squeak in shock and surprise. Jason placed his large hand gently onto her shoulder and kept her from bolting from the room. "I've already apologized to Carlos, he's accepted, and he understands what happened. Now will you accept my apology for being overwhelmed?"
"I… I… " Rachel tried to say and Ashley helped by smiling up at her boss and saying. "She accepts, Jase."
"Good." Jason said and then eased into the chair next to Rachel with a smile that reached his eye gracing his face. "Now, Carlos is going to get the things you requested. I want to take you out to dinner, next week sometime, just the two of us. Will you go with me?"
A/N: Does Jason get a yes? Are the items Rachel described for Billy, Jason, Tommy, Zhane, Andros, and Ashley the Dragon Dagger and the Morpher that goes with the green coin? How are the others going to react to the surprises Billy and Jason have yet to reveal? Stay tuned and find out in the next chapter! As always please read and review and May the Power Protect You, Pern.