Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.

Chapter 11

"Wake up," Ashley whispered, leaning down to caress his hair. "Andros..."

He twitched when she laid a hand on his shoulder and shook gently, slowly responding to her voice in his ear. "Ash?" he mumbled groggily.

"That's me," she murmured, grazing the side of his forehead with her lips. "How do you feel?"

"Better." He paused and gave his head an experimental shake. "Just a headache, now."

"I got you some breakfast, if you're hungry," she offered, sitting down beside him. "Or are you feeling sick again?"

"I'm okay," he assured her, slowly rolling over onto his back and stretching his arms and legs without feeling so much as a twinge from his ribs. "And breakfast sounds great."

"Good," she said, and bent over to pick up a tray from the floor. "Eat; I'll be back later, okay?"

He nodded and took the tray from her, smiling to show his gratitude. "Thanks, Ash," he said quietly.

She only smiled at him. "Eat," she repeated. "I'm going to go see how Cassie and TJ are doing."

Andros picked up his fork and studied the food she'd set in front of him, only looking up when he heard Ashley giggle. He didn't have to wonder what was so funny for long; a moment later he was shifting his food out of Oddball's reach.

"You two look cute together," she grinned. "Keep each other company; I'll be right back."

Andros sighed loudly when the kitten looked up at him and meowed quietly. Oddball wouldn't stop sniffing the air, and Andros had a hunch that he wanted to do more than just smell food. He tried to eat quickly.

He set the tray on his dresser when he was finished and grabbed up a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom for a quick shower. Ashley sat cross-legged on his bed when he returned, Oddball curled up in her lap and sleeping soundly.

"Hey," she said cheerfully, her voice quiet so the kitten wouldn't wake. "You really are better."

"Why wouldn't I be?" He paused. "How are Cassie and TJ?"

"TJ's arm will take another day or two to heal, but Cassie should be back on her feet in no time," she said, frowning slightly. "Just hope there's no attack between now and then..."

"Seems like a waste of hope," he commented darkly, sitting down to brush the tangles out of his damp hair. "They know we're weakened and they'll take advantage of that."

Ashley considered that for a few moments before scrunching up her nose at him. "You," she said finally, "have got to learn to be more optimistic. Even if you're right--and you probably are," she admitted, "what's the point in sitting around and waiting for something bad to happen?"

"There isn't any," he conceded, and sighed. "But I'm not very good at being optimistic."

"It's easy," she smiled. "You just don't assume that the world's going to end every day."

"Hey," he protested indignantly, though he was smiling. "I don't think that every day... at least not anymore," he added quietly, and she giggled.

"Oh really?" she teased, gently scratching between Oddball's ears. "Since when?"

"Since--" Andros stopped and considered that seriously for a few moments. "Since a few weeks ago," he answered finally. "Ever since Zhane and Karone rescued you guys and brought you here."

Ashley laughed and shook her head. "Are you serious?"

"Well, maybe a few days after that," he said thoughtfully, shrugging slightly. "Sometime around then. Hey, Ash?" he asked abruptly. "Yesterday, in the med bay, there was something bothering you and Zhane..."

"Oh, that." Ashley was suddenly fascinated by her kitten. "Look, Andros--"

"Ashley, Karone and Zhane wish to see you on the bridge," Deca broke in, and relief washed across her face before she could hide it.

"I'll be right there."

Andros didn't say anything as she eased Oddball out of her lap and stood. She left without saying good-bye and he sighed, wondering what it was that was so important.

He smiled slightly when the kitten meowed after her, reaching out to stroke the soft fur gently. Oddball was comforted by the gesture and Andros sighed again, this time pulling the still tiny ball of fluff onto his lap. He didn't really think Ashley would mind if he dumped the kitten into her arms--and he really wanted to know what was going on with the rest of the team.

Without a word, he scooped Oddball up and left his room, heading for the bridge. He heard their voices float down the hall and frowned when he distinctly caught the phrase, "should tell him..." Andros slowed his pace to almost nothing and hoped to sneak in quietly enough that he wasn't noticed, but Oddball meowed loudly and the four huddled over one of the consoles broke apart.

"Oh, hey, Andros," Carlos was the first to speak up. "What are you doing here?"

Andros pointed to the kitten, who promptly squirmed down out of his arms and ran off. "He wanted Ashley. What are you doing here?" he continued without pausing, eyeing each of them warily. He crossed his arms across his chest when no one answered, waiting without much patience for someone to speak up.

"Shouldn't you be in bed or something?" Zhane asked finally, his eyes straying to the others for help.

Andros glared around the room. "Someone explain."

"I will," Ashley volunteered, but she didn't look happy about it. "Yesterday in the infirmary, you said that for a few seconds you thought you were one of them."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" he sighed, and then shrugged. "And?"

"And right when you froze up, Deca's monitors recorded your Power surging up and down like crazy," Ashley told him. "That might not be so bad, but if it's true that you thought you were evil, then she has this theory and it's not really very good..."

She stopped babbling and Andros sighed again. "Okay," he said finally. "What is it?"

"Well," Ashley began, and then glanced up at Deca's camera. "Deca, you explain."

"When Cosmos first acquired the red morpher, he would have been unable to harness the Power," Deca explained. "The Power by nature is good and by choice he is not. It would have taken a great deal of energy, likely magical, to allow him to control the Power and over time, it would have adapted to his nature which now renders it incompatible with yours."

Andros rubbed his forehead as he tried to make sense of that. "What?"

"Cosmos turned the Power evil and now the Power wants to turn you evil," Zhane supplied helpfully.

"What?" Andros couldn't think of anything else to say. He glanced down at his morpher automatically, carefully raising his wrist for closer inspection. It looked exactly the same as it always had, felt exactly the same on his wrist.

"Of course, we don't really know if it's true or not," Zhane added softly. "It's just our... most likely theory," he admitted reluctantly. "But not our only one."

"And there's still problems with it," Karone broke in thoughtfully as he just stood there, slightly dazed and not truly hearing her. "Ashley, for one. Lyra had that morpher for six years and Ashley's never had anything like this happen."

Zhane frowned, considering that. "Maybe... the Power fixed itself? Or Zeah fixed it? Nothing strange happened to her, either. I don't think we have to worry about it, though."

"No, probably not." Andros managed to find his voice again, glaring down at his wrist as he spoke. "But how do I fix this?"

"We don't know," Carlos spoke up for the first time. "We don't even know if that's what happened."

"Deca?" He looked to her nearest eye reluctantly, willing to accept whatever she told him as the truth, however unhappy it made him.

"Carlos is correct," she agreed. "Assuming that my theory is correct, which is likely, until I know for certain what was done to the Power, I know of no way to reverse the effects."

"So until we do," Zhane added cautiously, "we were hoping that you might consider, you know, not fighting..."

Andros hesitated, his head spinning. He could understand perfectly why they wouldn't want him to morph. He wasn't sure he wanted to himself if this was the risk that he was taking. But if they fought another battle like the one they had yesterday and they were short even one ranger, he wasn't sure that they would all survive. They'd barely made it through even with him, and they were all still recovering from their injuries. He didn't know how long they could fight like that.

"No," he said firmly. Karone opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off. "I'll be careful," he promised. "But after yesterday, we can't afford to be short even one member."

"True." Zhane sighed. "But I don't like this."

Andros didn't either. "I'll be careful," he promised again, determined to keep fighting somehow. "If it gets too much, I'll... leave or something."

"In the middle of a fight?" Carlos asked skeptically.

"If I have to," he agreed reluctantly. The idea of abandoning his friends when they needed him didn't appeal at all, but if he didn't leave and lost control of himself... He didn't want to hurt anyone. Or worse. Again, his mind whispered cruelly, but he quickly shook off the pangs of guilt. That was different, and he didn't have time to think about it now.

"Fine." Zhane sighed. "But when it's too much, you really had better stop."

"I will." Andros glanced at Ashley, who had been strangely quiet for several minutes now. She was studying him intently, her arms folded across her chest as she caught his eye and held his gaze for several minutes.

"Be careful," she said finally. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

He was more worried about harming her than himself, but Andros only nodded. Ashley stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him then, holding him close to her for a long time. Andros hugged her back, the feel of her arms around him and the sweet scent of her hair reassuring him. As long as he had her, he felt everything would be okay. How could it not be, when Ashley could always find a way to make him look on the bright side?

That feeling vanished the moment the alarm shrilled. "Deca, what's happening?" he demanded, asking more out of habit than need. He already knew.

"The Psycho Rangers are attacking Angel Grove," Deca confirmed.

"Keep Cassie and TJ here," he ordered. "I don't care what they say; they're injured."

"You're sure about this?" Ashley asked one last time, presumably speaking for the entire group. He nodded once and no one questioned him, though he had a funny feeling they would have liked to.

"Ready?" he asked, quickly flipping open his morpher. "Let's rocket!"

Deca teleported them to the battle scene without being asked, and the Megaship vanished from sight in a bright flash. They landed side by side in the business district and spotted their enemies immediately. The seven figures were unmistakable, all striding towards the five of them with their movements perfectly in sync with each other.

Andros swallowed hard, standing straight with his weapon in hand but knowing this wouldn't go well at all, no matter whether he tried Ashley's optimistic outlook or his own more realistic one. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ashley clutching her Star Slinger and Carlos gripping his Lunar Lance and knew that Zhane and Karone were doing the same on his other side. It was almost enough to make him hopeful; they knew as well as he that this battle would go horribly for them and yet they were standing strong and ready to fight.

"Back for more already?" Psycho Yellow laughed.

"You wish," Ashley growled, and with that, they attacked each other.

Both sides met in the middle, but the Psychos outnumbered them and already they had an advantage after reading their minds the day before. Clearly, they'd memorized their every move. Not only that, they were stronger and smarter--much stronger, Andros realized with a pained gasp as he took a knee to the stomach from Psycho Red.

He doubled over instinctively, only to be slammed hard between the shoulder blades by Psycho Blue. Coughing, he hit the ground hard and rolled, arching his back and snapping quickly to his feet. He'd barely regained his balance before taking another hit, to his side this time, and he stumbled. His head pounded and his ribs ached, his freshly healed wounds from the day before flaring back to life.

Andros didn't see the next blow coming and he fell forward limply, tumbling to the ground again and thinking he saw Karone do the same and he put out his hands to break his fall. His strength was draining rapidly, but he struggled to get up nonetheless, knowing that he had no other choice.

He saw his teammates doing the same and somehow that was enough to force him up. His Spiral Saber lay discarded some twenty feet away, right where he'd dropped it. Andros quickly gave up on the idea of lunging for it; he hadn't managed to work in a hit yet and it would be a total waste of desperately needed energy. He reached for his Astroblaster instead and aimed, only to realize that there was no one there any longer. Surprised and confused and expecting a trap, Andros looked around carefully and saw the others doing the same. When minutes passed without the reappearance of their enemies, they staggered towards each other to form a small circle.

"What just happened here?"

"At least they're gone now," Andros said firmly to answer Carlos's slightly dazed question.

"And you're okay?" Karone demanded.

"I'm fine." He nodded and sighed. "How you meant it, anyway; we can't keep losing like this."

"We'll figure something out," Zhane spoke up decisively. "We always do."

Andros smiled slightly when Ashley chimed in with "You're right." From her, he wouldn't have expected anything else and to his surprise, he believed her.

"Deca," he said quietly into his communicator. "Five to teleport."

Author's Note: Okay, here's the thing: I start school again Monday. I'll do the best that I can, but no promises. I want to have this finished late December or early January, though, and that seems to be perfectly doable at the moment, so don't give up on me yet. :grins: Review?