Ashley looked from Andros, to Karone, to Zhane and back again. She could sense something wasn't quite right, like someone was hiding something. "Sure, what's up?" Ashley replied. Karone's gaze quickly flitted to Zhane as she sat down across from her friend and brother.
"Well...we've been thinking," Karone began, motioning for Zhane to join her so he could back up.
Thinking about what?" Andros asked quickly before Karone could continue.
"Well…when I was still Astronema, she was planning on making her own version of Power Rangers, to combat you and try and defeat you. The only catch was it used Dark Spector's powers…and it would slowly drain the power from him, until he died," Before Karone continued any more she took a deep breath…hoping it wouldn't be too hard to convince her brother about what she was planning. "I know the plans, and how she was going to do it…I was thinking that we could still create them…but have them on our side,"
Andros stared blankly at his sister. She couldn't really mean this could she? It was crazy. "You can't be serious," he blurted out.
"Why would you even think of doing something like that," he continued.
"Andros, were you not just listening. We can get rid of Dark Specter. If we do that then we have a chance of saving Zordon," Zhane interrupted.
"You are agreeing with her on this?" Andros snapped at him.
"Well it is a good plan," Zhane snapped back at him. "Zordon can be saved!"
"Well that doesn't mean we can go off and do this without Dark Spector knowing!" Andros shouted. Ashley put a comforting hand on his shoulder, warning him to back down.
"Why don't we see what else Karone has in mind to do this," Ashley said calmly.
"We can create this other Rangers from Dark Specter's energy and then every time they do something good it will drain his power. The more good they do, the more power they use the more power he loses. And the more power he loses the safer Zordon is," Karone explained in one breath.
"It is a good plan," Ashley agreed.
"You don't have to go back to the Dark Fortress do you?" Andros asked, eyeing his sister.
"No. I remember the plans. We should be able to do it here," she answered.
I guess we can try. But we need to talk to Cassie, Carlos and TJ," Andros sighed.
"Thank you!" Karone squealed, throwing her arms around her brother's neck. Andros was glad that his little sister was happy, but he couldn't help but feel like she had another ulterior motive besides saving Zordan. He'd talk about it with her later, after she was done explaining it to the rest of the team.
The foursome went in search of the rest of the team, finding them in the engine room. Andros looked at Karone, silently asking her if she wanted to tell them or not. She just shrugged.
"Guys, we might have a way of defeating Dark Specter," Andros announced. Carlos nearly dropped the clipboard he held in his hands.
"Really? How?" he asked. Cassie looked up intrigued, also interested.
"Karone had an idea…" Andros started, and then let Karone go ahead and explain it. Karone nearly rolled her eyes, on having to explain it a third time.
"Yeah, so while I was Astronema, she had a plan to fight you guys, basically creating evil duplicates of the Power Rangers. The only catch was, she wanted Dark Spector dead, so every time they did something evil, he would drain his powers. So since I still remember how she was going to create them…I was thinking that we still create them, but make them our allies, and have them drain Dark Spector's powers every time they did a good deed," Karone explained quickly.
"You really think that could work?" TJ asked.
"Well we hope so. I mean not only would it get rid of our biggest enemy but we'd also have a shot at saving Zordon," Zhane explained. He was hesitant to mention Ecliptor for fear of Andros throwing another fit.
"Ok...so what do we have to do?" Carlos asked, looking ready to jump into the project.
Andros began to pace back and forth, trying to think of a way they could create these robotic rangers and how they would drain Dark Specter's energy. Karone watched him pace, starting to get irritated.
"Could you stop that? I already know how we're going to create them," she said, as if reading his mind.
"We're all ears," Zhane spoke.
"Well Astronema was going to model the exterior after Andro's battlized armor. So if we can just duplicate that say...oh...six times, we should be good for out framework," Karone began.
"And then we can worry about all the other inside stuff later," She added.
"So I'm guessing you need me to suit up?" Andros asked and Karone nodded. He flipped open his morpher and the appropriate button, giving a small roar as the armor covered his body.
"Dude...was the scream really necessary?" Zhane asked.
"Adds dramatic effect," Andros replied.
"You're so lame," Zhane coughed loudly into his hand. Karone snickered and tried to cover her mouth so Andros couldn't see her laughing at him, but of course he did.
Ashley walked up to Andros, and whispered in his ear, "I didn't think it was lame,"
Ashley's comment only made Zhane laugh harder. TJ and Carlos just looked at each other and shook their heads. Karone finally managed to compose herself enough to speak.
"Ok...we need to get that off you now and find a way to duplicate it," she stated, turning to Cassie.
"Cassie...do you think you can get Alpha to help us with this?" she asked. Cassie nodded and headed in search of the quirky robot. In her absence, the rest of the team began struggle with the armor covering Andros. He popped the helmet off.
"Sure he does the easy part," Carlos teased. Zhane circled his friend.
"Oh look guys, he's got buns of steel," he commented.
"You read too many super hero books," Andros shot at his friend, taking a swing playfully.
"God you guys need to get a room," Karone said jokingly, as Cassie came in with Alpha. The robot scuttled around; shaking his head, still not understanding what this playful banter they were doing.
"Ay yi yi yi," Alpha muttered to himself as he started to help Andros out of the suit.
"Ok once we copy the suit…we need to be able to set a level for how much each of the robots will drain," Karone explained. She was glad that the rest of the team was actually going with it, and didn't put up a fight about the plan.
"Well...if you said we're going to have these robots drain Dark Specter's energy, then don't we need like...part of him to drain from?" Carlos asked, sounding a bit confused. Karone looked at her friend.
"Yeah...that's going to be the risky part. We need to get the robots built first. We'll worry about getting the energy later. I did the calculations and we'll need to set up the ratios so that each robot will drain 16 and 2/3 of his power," Karone explained.
"Should I be worried that you had this all planned out?" Andros asked, finally out of the armor.
"Not really. We're doing good things, Andros. We're saving lives," she retorted, rolling her eyes at him.
Andros kept staring at his little sister, trying to see what she was hiding about getting Dark Spector's powers. "What is it Andros?" she asked, as she looked at the duplicates of the suits.
"How are we planning on getting the power from Dark Spector?" he asked her quietly. Karone stiffened, but continued to look at the robots.
"I'll explain it when the suits are ready…" she said nervously.
"Karone…" Andros said in a parental like voice.
"I said I'll tell you later," Karone repeated firmly. She wasn't planning on going back to the Dark Fortress. But the mission would be very risky and dangerous.
"No, you're going to tell me now," Andros demanded.
"Stop being so controlling. It's my plan. We do it my way," she snapped, turning to Alpha.
"Alpha, we need to make the suits each color to match," she informed the robot.
"Right away, Karone," he squeaked.
"Hey, Karone. There's only six suits. But there's seven of us," Ashley commented.
"I'm not creating one for myself. It's better Dark Specter not realize that I'm a Ranger now," Karone replied.
"He'll find out eventually," Zhane muttered.
"Yes, but hopefully by then it won't matter," she answered.
"God I swear if Andros keeps pestering me about the suits, I am going to knock him on his controlling ass," Karone muttered to herself, as she saw Andros glaring at her.
Cassie couldn't help but overhear Karone muttering to herself and had to stifle a small chuckle. She had to agree, Andros was starting to get on her nerves as well.
"Hey Alpha, how is it going? Do you need any help?" Cassie asked the robot.
"Why thank you Cassie. If you could just hold this wire right there," Alpha answered, pointing to a thin black wire. Cassie nodded and held the wire in place while Alpha welded the wire to the frame. Karone couldn't stand being under Andros' glare anymore, and headed towards Cassie and Alpha.
"Hey Alpha, how is everything coming over here?" Karone asked.
"Very well, Karone..ay yi yi. I am almost done with this one. Zhane and TJ are working the two over there," Alpha replied.
"Great. So we should be ready to go soon," Karone muttered more to herself than her companions. She didn't notice Andros leaning over the table whispering to Zhane.
"What's she not telling us?" Andros interrogated his friend.
"What are you talking about?" Zhane asked, eying Andros closely.
"She's planning something and it's not just to save Zordon. I know you know what that plan is," Andros accused.
"Excuse me, I only know as much as you do," Zhane quietly snapped back. "What's got your panties in a bunch is beyond me,"
"What is it she wants besides to save Zordon?" he asked again, clearly ignoring Zhane's last comment. He had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with Ecliptor, but he wanted to know for sure before he made a bigger scene.
Zhane rolled his eyes. Andros just wouldn't give up.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask her," Zhane hissed.
"Hey, Alpha, these three are done. We're going to start on the last two," TJ informed the diminutive robot, ignoring his friends' bickering. He would have dragged Zhane along but Carlos was already eying the suits, wanting to get involved.
Karone turned to see where Zhane was…and saw Andros pestering Zhane about something. She openly rolled her eyes. She loved her big brother, but pestering their friends about whatever he was pestering Zhane about wasn't right. Still not in the mood to talk with Andros, she called out, "Hey Zhane, could you come over here for a minute?"
"Sure," Zhane said back, and pushed past Andros. "What's up?"
"Saw Andros pestering you about something, thought you would like to get away from that. Sorry he is getting all overprotective and being…you know…"
"Nah it is fine," Zhane said.
"Well you don't deserve to have him interrogating you every time I don't give him an answer that makes his giant sized ego happy," she quietly whispered, making sure Andros didn't overhear them.
Andros watched the other Rangers and Alpha work on the suits. He felt awkward. His sister wasn't speaking to him and neither was his best friend. He quietly slipped from the room, thinking no one had seen him but he was wrong. Ashley noted his absence instantly and headed after him.
"Hey, you ok?" she asked, catching up to him and wrapping her hand around his forearm.
"It's just…" he started, but then he stopped. He didn't know what to say.
"It is ok Andros you can tell me," Ashley said giving his arm a comforting squeeze. Andros looked at Ashley and she gave him a reassuring nod.
"I...know Karone was hiding something…possibly having an ulterior motive for the ideas of the suits," Andros started. "I tried talking to her, but she won't even give me five minutes, or a straight answer why. She is talking to Zhane, but he won't give me an answer either," Andros sighed.
"Well maybe she's not ready to tell you yet?" Ashley offered. It probably wasn't the answer he wanted but she wasn't going to lie to him.
"I guess. I just don't like not knowing," he sighed.
"I understand, believe me I do," Ashley murmured, leaning up and giving him a gentle kiss on the lips.
"Hey guys, the suits are done!" Cassie called out to them.
"Come on, maybe Karone will tell us what she wasn't before," Ashley prompted,dragging Andros back into the engine room.