Ranger Tales

Chapter 2: A Zeo Beginning

A/N: This story is set in an alternate universe where the Alien Rangers arc never happened, although the Alien Rangers do exist. I'll find another way to explain to eventual Zeo Crystal search. Carri Hillard and all things relating to Carri belong to KJ with many thanks. I used Phaedos as the source of the Ninjetti Powers, but Ninjor exists and is the acknowledged creator of Ninjetti. Also, this story has nothing to do with my previous two. For this chapter, I'm not going to go into any details about them finding the Zeo Sub Crystals, the adventure will be the same as in the show, just they'll be adults instead of kids, and Carri's crystal is found in the same place as Kat's.

It had been two weeks since Carri had joined the team, but to everyone it seemed as though it had been years. Everyone became fast friends with her, especially Rocky. The two found out that they had at least one thing in common, Baseball. Rocky, Adam, and Carri would go out to the fields just to hit a few balls, and to their amazement Carri managed to strike both of them out every single time. Rocky was certain now, he wanted to ask this girl out on at least one date, he hoped she wouldn't turn him down.

It was a nice Thursday afternoon and Rocky had just got off work. He'd been working as a volunteer lifeguard at Angel Grove Lake for a week now, and he enjoyed it. Though between work, and his Ranger duties he didn't have much free time. Zedd and Rita had been sending nothing but Tenga's, along with the bumbling duo Goldar and Rito, for two weeks now. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't attack two or three times a day. It was beginning to drive him crazy. He finally had some down time, so he decided to head to the Youth Center, as he figured that's where everyone would be. Sure enough, when he walked in he saw Tommy and Adam over on the mats, with Kat, Carri, and Billy watching. "Hey guys!" he said as he approached the table.

"Rocky, hey how are you?" Kat greeted him with a smile.

"Swamped. Sorry, but can I borrow Carri for a second?"

Carri looked over at Kat, who smiled and nodded. "Sure," Carrie said, getting up.

"We'll be back," he called as he lead her off. He was nervous about asking her out, and if he was going to get shot down he wanted it to be in private.

As soon as they were out of earshot she asked "So whatcha need?" Although she was pretty sure she already knew.

"Well..." he began, letting his voice trail off, "well I was wondering if-" he was cut off by their communicators chirping. "Son of a," he began, but stopped. "Go ahead Alpha."

"Rangers, Zedd and Rita have sent Goldar and Rito down to the park with some Tenga's," the little robot said.

"We're on it," Rocky replied. He looked around to bee sure no one was around. "It's morphin' time! Red Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

Rocky and Carri teleported down to the park, followed by the others. They began attacking the Tenga's while Goldar and Rito watched from the sidelines. Tommy knocked two Tenga's together, then kicked a third out of his way as he headed for Goldar. "When you ever learn?" he asked the big gold ape.

Goldar ignored his question and thrust his sword at the White Ranger, Tommy easily dodged it and countered with a kick. Goldar stumbled back. "You'll pay for that White Ranger!"

"Yeah, that'll be the day!" Tommy said, jumping into a kick.

Rito had approached the Red Ranger, Rocky, and began swinging his sword around wildly. Rocky brought his Power Sword forth and began attacking the walking skeleton. Rocky kicked Rito's sword out of his hand and knocked the bag of bones into a tree. "Easy as always," he said with a grin. He looked over to see Carri surrounded by Tenga's, as well as some gold beings he didn't recognize.

"What're they doing here?" Goldar snarled, pointing his sword at the gold creatures. Tommy used that opportunity to attack, knocking Goldar to the ground.

Rocky jumped over to help Carri out, knocking the Tenga's and other creatures out of the way. "Thanks," Carri said, running off to help Kat.

"No problem," Rocky replied. He ran over to give Billy and Adam a hand with the new creatures. They were stronger than the Tenga's, but still fairly easy. Have Rita and Zedd got new foot soldiers? he wondered. He grabbed one of the creatures and threw it into another, they made a metallic clank when they collided. "Well that's strange."

The battle wasn't getting any easier, and the gold creatures continued to come down, some in aerial vehicles, which were firing at the Rangers and Tenga's. "This is too much!" Tommy exclaimed, Zedd and Rita had never mounted an assault this massive before.

"We need to report to the Command Center, find out what's going on," Billy agreed. Together the six teens teleported out and back to their base.

"Goldie, what're the Cogs doin' here?" Rito asked as he made his way to Goldar.

Goldar growled and said "I don't know, but let's retreat for now." Rito agreed, and they began to teleport back to the Lunar Palace. Before they could really telepport though a Quadrafighter attacked them, and they disappeared.

Up on the moon Rita, Zedd, Squatt, Baboo, and Finster were all running as fast as they could to Serpentera. "I can't believe he's attacking us, was his own galaxy not enough?" Zedd grumbled, adjusting his case.

"Zeddie, we have nowhere to go, where are we going?" Rita whined, she didn't want to leave any more than he did, but they knew that their forces were relatively weak compared to their attackers.

"I..." Zedd trailed off before admitting "I haven't thought that far ahead..."

"I know of a place, hopefully," Rita said as she contacted the one person she hoped would give them a place to stay.

"What? Who? Oh no, I forbid it!" Zedd said as he saw the image of Master Vile appear before them.

"Nice to see you too Zedd," Vile said, "Rita my daughter, what is it? You interrupted my nap!"

Rita cleared her throat "I'm sorry Daddy, but Zeddie and I need a place to stay,"

"What happened to the palace?" Vile interrupted her.

"The Machine King has begun attacking us," she whined.

"The Machine King? Well..." he thought for a moment "alright. And I suppose you'll be bringing that husband of yours, just don't wake me when you arrive!" With that Vile took his leave.

"I still say that this is a bad idea," Zedd grumbled.

"Like he'd ever know a good idea," Baboo whispered to Squatt. Squatt covered his mouth and snckered in response.

"What's so funny?" Zedd snapped, turning to face the two morons.

"Oh, uh, nothing your excellence!" Baboo quickly replied.

"Right, nothing," Squatt echoed.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Zedd groaned. He didn't want to go live with that thing he called a father-in-law, they hated each other with a passion. When Vile attempted to destroy the Rangers, and nearly succeeded, it drove Zedd mad. Years of failed attempts, and Vile comes in with one fell swoop and nearly succeeds. It was maddening. And now, now the Machine King of all people was coming, the only person Zedd hated more than Vile, was Mondo.

The Rangers arrived back in the Command Center, and immediately Tommy asked about the new foot soldiers.

"They are called Cogs, they serve under the Machine King Mondo, leader of the Machine Empire," Zordon explained.

"What do they want with Earth?" Rocky asked, Rita and Zedd were enough to deal with, but now they had this Mondo guy too?

"And what about Rita and Zedd?" Billy asked.

Zordon looked down at his Rangers and said "Mondo wants to conquer Earth and add it to his empire, as for Rita and Zedd, do not worry. They have fled in terror of the Machine King."

Tommy and the Rangers let that sink in for a moment. Rita and Zedd were gone, the two villains that they had fought for years, were gone. Finallt Tommy broke the silence. "This King Mondo must be powerful to make Zedd and Rita run with their tails between their legs."

"Indeed he is, I am afraid he more powerful than both Zedd and Rita," Zordon replied, he knew this was bad. The Ninjetti powers would not be enough to combat Mondo and his army, they needed new Powers, and he knew what they needed. Before he could speak though a tremor passed through the Command Center.

"An Earthquake?" Carri asked, she hoped that's all it was.

"I'm afraid not Rangers," Alpha said as he turned to the viewing globe. "King Mondo has sent his army to attack the Command Center!"

"He's bold, I'll give him that," Tommy said, "Ready guys?" he was answered by a chorus of ready's. "Back to action!" Zordon watched as his six Rangers teleported outside to try and stop Mondo's attack.

"Alpha, prepare it," he said. He knew what was likely to come, and he had hoped they'd never have to use it.

"Right away Zordon," Alpha replied as he made his way over to the console.

High above the Earth, in his ship King Mondo was watching the attack on Earth. "Isn't this just grand my dear?" he asked his wife, Queen Machina.

"But of course, Zedd and Rita may not have been able to defeat those teenagers, but we most certainly can!" she said.

"Of course we can, my Dad's the greatest! No one rivals him!" their son, Prince Sprocket, piped up.

Mondo laughed "Yes, it's true. Those Power Rangers have met their match, we have found their base, and we will destroy it along with their precious leader Zordon!"

The Rangers teleported outside the Command Center to stop the attack. When they landed they saw a full scale army of Cogs, and dozens of Quadrafighters surrounding the Command Center. "This, us, this doesn't look so good," Carri stated the obvious.

"It doesn't matter, we have to at least try to protect Zordon!" Tommy said, leadership skills kicking in. When he joined the Rangers all those years ago he swore to himself that he would give his life to save the planet, and to save his mentor.

"Right," Billy and Adam agreed.

"Let's do it," Rocky said as he lead the charge into battle. Kat kicked one Cog aside while Carri kicked another one into it, destroying the two. Rocky and Adam teamed up and used their Power Sword and Power Ax to take out a few, while Billy used his Power Lance to knock six away from him at once. Tommy had called on the Falcon Zord and was attacking the Quadrafighters in the sky, this wasn't going to be an easy battle.

Tommy shot missiles from the Falcon Zord's wing tips, taking out about half a dozen Quadrafighters. Though it seemed that for everyone one he took out, two more replaced it. "Damn!" he cursed as he slammed his fist on the controls. This wasn't working, they needed a new strategy, but what?

The other five Rangers had managed to take out atleast fifty Cogs at this point, but hundreds of them still remained. "I don't think we can hold out much longer!" Kat shouted as she picke dherself up off the ground. The others knew she was right, Zedd and Rita had kept them busy ever since school let out for summer. They were all exhausted from the constant battles. Just as the words left her mouth they all heard a huge explosion. They turned to see the Command Center blowing to pieces, the debris took out many Cogs and Quadrafighters, but that explosion could only mean one thing. "No!" Billy shouted as he watched the Command Center crumble, and ran towards it, getting thrown back as another explosion erupted.

Up in space the Machine King was celebrating. "You did it Dad!" Sprocket yelled with excitement as he jumped up and down.

Mondo laughed "Yes, as I knew I would my son. The Earth is ours!"

Queen Machina looked over at her husband and smiled, what had taken Rita and Zedd years to accomplish took him less than a day, it was perfect.

"Did you see that? He destroyed the Rangers Command Center! He makes my blood boil!" Zedd shouted as he watched the events on a screen within Serpentera.

"Calm down Zeddie, all we need to do is increase our Power and then we can snatch Earth away from him, we just have to be patient," Rita said. Zedd couldn't believe what he was hearing, the queen of impatience was telling him to be patient. She must have a plan, he thought.

Meanwhile on the opposite end of the park from where the fighting had taken place. Bulk and Skull were out on patrol, Lt. Stone had assigned them to watch the park for the day. The two agreed, it seemed easy enough. "Nothing like a nice warm day in the park, huh Bulkie?" Skull asked as he stretched.

"This is by far the easiest job Lt. Stone has ever given us," Bulk agreed, taking a bite of his doughnut. The day was nice, it was warm, there were cute girls around, and they hadn't seen a single monster all day.

"Urr, excuse me," said a deep gravelly voice "can you help us?"

Bulk's eyes grew wide, he recognized that voice, and he didn't like it. "Skull, is that who I think it is?" Skull looked behind them and started noddig his head rapidly. "I was afraid of that."

"Well, can you help us? Huh, huh?" Rito asked as the two former bullies turned to face them.

"Why would we want to help you?" Bulk asked, sounding more confident than he felt. He knew the Rangers would be there any minute to help them. At least, he hoped they would.

"Well, you see," Goldar began "we have no idea who we are, or where we belong."

"And you two look like nice guys, so we were wonderin' if maybe you could help us?" Rito finished.

"Help you?" Bulk asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Help us," Rito repeated. "We'll do anything you want, just please help us." Goldar nodded his head in approval.

"Anything?" Bulk asked with a sly smile on his face, he had an idea.

"Anything," Goldar confirmed. Bulk pulled Skull over to the side and discussed something with him before turning back.

"Alright, we'll help you," Bulk said, the two quickly gave him and Skul a hug. Skull passed out from Rito's stench. "But first we need to get him back to my place," he pointed to Skull, "and then...'

The Rangers looked on in horror as the Command Center blew to pieces, chunks of it falling all around them. "What's going on?" Carri asked as her suit began to fizzle out, followed soon by the rest of them. All the Cogs and the Quadrafighters vanished when the Command Center blew.

"We've lost our Powers," Adam said in disbelief. This was the second time that had happened, the first was when Ivan Ooze destroyed the interior of the Command Center.

"Where's Billy?" Kat asked as she looked around, not seeing the Blue Ranger anywhere.

"There!" Rocky pointed to a lifeless human body laying near the ruins.

"Oh my God! Billy!" Kat shouted as she ran towards her friend. "Billy speak to me!" she shouted frantically as she tried to wake him. Slowly his eyes fluttered open.

"I'm alright," he said "just a little sore." Kat cried as she hugged him, she was afraid she had lost a great friend.

"Come on guys," Tommy said after he knew Billy was alright. He ran up to the ruins of the Command Center, followed by the others. There was smoke and fire everywhere, the only things left standing were the walls base, and the part of Zordon's Power Tube.

"Oh my God," Carri breathed, she hadn't known Zordon and Alpha long, but she had already grown very attached to them. Zordon was like a second father to her already.

"Do you think they could've survived?" Adam asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"I don't know, I hope so," Rocky answered, trying to comfort everyone. He looked around at everything, it was all ruined. The computers were scrap, wires were hanging out everywhere, and Zordon and Alpha were nowhere to be found.

"Man," Tommy said as he sat down on a rock, he felt like he had let everyone down, like he had let Zordon down. It was then that everyone felt another trmor.

"Not again," Carri groaned, she was not up for another attack now, especially with no Powers. Just as she was about to add something else the ground caved in where they were standing and they began to fall.

"What's going on?" Billy shouted.

"I don't know, but everyone, grab ahold of each other!" Tommy replied, he grabbed Kat and Carri, Rocky grabbed Carri's other hand, Adam grabbed his, and Billy grabbed Kat's other hand. A few seconds later their fall slowed and they landed safely in what they assumed had to be the Command Center's basement.

"Where are we?" Adam asked as he looked around, he spotted a box labeled 'Alpha Four' as they walked on.

"I believe we are in the basement of the Command Center," Billy replied, "that's the most logical answer anyway."

"Yeah, but, why were we brought down here?" Rocky questioned.

"That's what we're going to find out," Tommy replied. He looked down at his Falcon Coin, is was cracked, pieces of it were missing, if he tried morphing wth it, it just might kill him.

As they continued on they heard a familiar "Ay yi yi," Tommy smiled, there was only one person, or robot, who said that, and that was Alpha. He looked around and saw the others smiling as well, Alpha had survuved, so maybe Zordon had as well. "Come on guys, let's hurry," Tommy said as he started run.

"Wait for Billy, he's injured, remember?" Kat called out, she had been helping Billy walk down the path. He was hurt worse than he wanted to admit, but he wasn't about to slow the others down.

"It's okay Kat, we can run," he assured her. She looked at him carefully, then nodded as she scooped him and ran after the others. When they caught up to the others they found them standing before a big gray double door. "What now?" she asked.

"We go in," Tommy said plainly as he opened the doors. Within was gray-blue room, much larger than the Command Center, along the back wall were the original Mighty Morphin' suits, minus the Green Rangers, in cases, with the center case holding the weapons. They saw a couple computer consoles, an empty Power Tube in the corner, and a flat screen viewing globe opposite it. Standing in the center of the room was the quirky little robot.

"Ay yi yi yi yi! Rangers! You made it!" Alpha exclaimed as he hurried over to them.

"Alpha!" Carri and Kat both shouted as they ran over and gave the robot a hug.

"Hehe, you're making me blush," he joked.

"Alpha are you alright?" Kat asked, showing concern for the little robot.

"Of course, I made it down here before the explosion ever occured."

Rocky looked around and asked "Where exactly is here? What is this place?"

"This is called the Power Chamber, Zordon and I built it with the hopes that we would never have to use it," Alpha explained.

"Where is Zordon? Did he make it?" Tommy asked, eager to know what became of their mentor. Alpha looked down at the ground.

"I'm so sorry, I should have told you first. Zordon is-"

"Right here," Zordon interrupted, he wanted to surprise his Rangers. Tommy turned and looked.

"Zordon, you're okay!" he said.

"Yes, thanks to Alpha," Zordon smiled at his friends.

"Zordon, I don't mean to ruin the moment, but what about our Powers?" Tommy asked.

"The Powers you had are gone for good, however," he paused, "there is another power source, but it will be difficult to find. I am fairly confident that King Mondo will not attack anytime soon, he feels that he has eliminated the threat to him and that he can now take over Earth whenever he pleases. But you must hurry all the same."

Alpha walked over to the computer console "Ranger, you must travel through time and find the Zeo Sub Crystal's you hid from Master Vile, then and only then can you retrieve your Power."

"But how do we find them? We don't even know where to start looking," Rocky pointed out.

"Alpha has been doing a scan for Zeo energy signature in the past," Zordon explained "two of the sub crystals have already appeared, one in Latin America nine-teen thirty-six, and one in Korea."

"I'll go to Latin America," Rocky said stepping forward.

"And I'll go to Korea," Adam said. Zordon nodded and a few minutes later the two Rangers were on their way.

Zedd parked Serpentera in the M-51 Galaxy just outside Master Vile's home. Rita found the spare key and let heself and Zedd in, telling everyone else to sleep outside. "Remind me again why we are here," Zedd complained.

"Because King Mondo and Queen Machina ran us off, and we needed a place to stay," Rita said matter of factly. Zedd groaned, he'd been wanting a vacation, but this wasn't what he had in mind at all.

"Pumpkin, did we forget anything?" he asked her as the thought struck him.

"I don't think so,"she replied, then thought for a moment before shouting "Rito and Goldar! Those buffoons never made it back!"

"You think Mondo got to them?" Zedd asked, sounding a little hopeful. Rito annoyed him to no end, and Goldar was about as useful as bird in water.

"I hope not, I may not like Rito too much, but he is my brother. Goldar on the other hand, I've often wondered what fried alien monkey tasted like," she laughed, she didn't mean that, but she had thought about killing him more than once for his stupidity.

"Maybe we should...find them?" Zedd questioned.

"No way, we were lucky to escape Mondo once, I'm not up for trying a second time."

Zedd nodded, that was the answer he had been hoping for. They would keep and eye on Earth, and the moment Mondo let his guard down, then they would strike.

"Rangers!" Alpha called to the remaining teenagers "the other three Zeo sub crystals have been located, one in North America, and two in Australia."

"I'll take the one in North America," Tommy said.

"And we'll take the ones in Australia," Carri pointed to her and Kat. Alpha nodded and Zordon voiced his approval. Soon the three Rangers were gone, leaving only Billy, Alpha, and Zordon. Billy started discussing his future as a Ranger, and Zordon agreed with what he had said. A few minutes later Rocky contacted them, telling them he was ready. He appeared in the Power Chamber with his Zeo Sub Crystal in hand. He told them about he thinks he may have met his grandpa when he was younger, and how he managed to get the crystal before the volcano it was at erupted.

"And that's the whole story," he said with a grin on his face, it had been nice to see his grandpa. He enjoyed the trip, it had been great. He placed his sub crystal upon a pedestal Billy and Alpha had prepared for them.

Not long after Rocky arrived Adam returned with his crystal, placing it with Rocky's and talking about his adventure. He was soon followed by Tommy, who placed his with theirs. he talked about how the sage, True of Heart, helped him in his search. Kat and Carri returned soon afterwards, and the Zeo Crystal was completed.

"Well done Rangers," Zordon congradulated them. "You have retrieved all five shards of the Zeo Crystal, now," as he spoke the Zeo Crystal split into its five pieces, one hovering over each Ranger, except Billy. "Now you will be granted new Powers, Powers capable of defeating Mondo and his army, use these Powers as you have all your others, and as always, may the Power protects you." The Rangers nodded in response.

"Katherine," Zordon began "you will be known as Zeo Ranger I, Pink." Kat smiled and nodded in response as she felt the energy of her Zeo Sub Crystal flow through her.

"Carri, you will be known as Zeo Ranger II, Yellow." Carri made a 'woo!' sound as she felt the Power rush back through her, it felt great having Power again.

"Rocky, you are to be known as Zeo Ranger III, Blue." Rocky nodded, he was disappointed that he wasn't going to be Red anymore, but he'd get over it.

"Adam, you are now Zeo Ranger IV, Green." Adam nodded as he felt the Power bond with him.

"And finally Tommy, you are now Zeo Ranger V, Red. You will continue to lead the team just as you did as the White Ranger." Tommy nodded, and once again swore to not let Zordon down.

"Billy, you're not joining us?" Rocky asked, Billy shook his head.

"There's only five Zeo Sub Crystals, and I opted to retire as a Ranger, don't worry, I'll still be here to help though. I'll just be assisting Alpha in the Power Chamber. I feel like I could do more to help here than out on the battle field."

"We're gonna miss you there fighting with us man," Tommy informed him. Billy nodded and said he knew.

"Ay yi yi, Rangers, Mondo has sent Cogs down to Angel Grove, and a monster known as Spiderbait," Alpha informed them.

"Oh gross, not spiders," Carri whined. Big scary monsters she could handle, but not spiders. They made her skin crawl.

"What do we do if he grows?" Tommy asked, as far as he knew they had no Zords.

"I have taken precautions," Zordon replied "Alpha and I constructed Zords that would go along with the Zeo Crystals power, should it ever be needed. If you have to use them, just call out that you need Zeo Zord Power."

Tommy nodded, and using the knowledge obtained from the Zeo Crystal he shouted "It's Morphin' Time!"

"Zeo Ranger I, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger III, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger V, Red!"

With that the five Rangers took off with their new Powers to save the city.

They arrived in the city and began fighting Spiderbait. "What? The Power Rangers? Mondo said you guys were history!"

"Guess again!" Tommy shouted as he went in for a kick. Spiderbait fired a beam at him, which turned into dozens of spiders.

"Oh, gross," Carri said as she began squashing the spiders that came near her, Kat helping her out. Adam jumped and landed a kick in Spiderbaits face, sending the monster stumbling back. Tommy summoned his Zeo Power Sword and began battling Spiderbait. Rocky, Kat, and Carri ran over to deal with the Cogs while Tommy and Adam fought the monster.

Carri kicked a Cog into the side of a building, dismantling it. Kat punched one, causing it to fall into two more, and Adam brought his Zeo Power Hatchets forth and began attacking the Cogs near him, after they wiped out half of them, the other half fled, leaving Spiderbait all alone. "Alright guys, let's do it," Tommy said, calling for the Zeo Cannon. Together they fired and destroyed Spiderbait. Just when they thought they were through they saw a tall skinny robot swinging a smaller robot, a few seconds later Spiderbait was back up, and building size. "We need Zeo Zord Power now!"

The five Zeo Zord came forth and together formed the Zeo MegaZord, after a small battle they summoned the Zeo Saber and destroyed Spiderbait, this time for good.

Up in space Mondo watched as his monster was killed by the very Rangers he thought to be powerless. "Well," he said as he walked over to his wife "it seems as though those Rangers have some fight left in them after all. Maybe conquering this planet will be fun after all."

"Yes dear, you actually have someone willing to stand up to you, the fools," Machina said with a laugh.

"No matter, they will learn in due time that nobody messes with King Mondo of the Machine Empire!"

Sprocket came running up and asked "Dad, why don't you just destroy their base again?"

"Because son, I've already tried that plan, and it failed. I will have to come up with something better, more clever than that."

The next day Rocky met Carri down by the lake, not too many people were out there, most people had to work. "So, about yesterday," Carri said, trying to pick up where they left off.

"What about it?" Rocky asked, trying hard not to smile.

"You were gonna ask me something, now spit it out," she said with a grin.

"Nah, I'm not sure I want to," he teased. She put her best pouty face on and crossed her arms.

"Alright, alright, fine," he said with a fake sigh, "Would you like go out sometime? Say, tonight?"

Carri got a mischievious grin on her face, she wanted to say yes, but she was going to get him back for messing with her just now. "Nah, don't think I wanna," her smile betrayed her words.

Rocky gave her a goofy grin and said "Great, then it's date. I'll pick you up around five." He kissed her cheek and took off to get ready. She smiled and watched him leave, heading to her own place to freshen up. Truth was, she was glad he asked her out. She'd been waiting for him to make his move for a while now.

Later that night Carri home around eight-thirty. When she walked in the front door she found Kat sitting on the couch. "And just where have you been all night?" she asked, not turning around. She wanted to keep her smile hidden.

"Out," Carri replied simply, a big smile across her face as well.

"With who?"

"Someone."

"Tommy?" Kat joked, she knew Carri wasn't interested in Tommy, that was her. She also knew that Tommy had a girlfriend in Florida, so he was off limits.

"No! With Rocky!" Carri exclaimed as she picked a pillow up off the couch and lightly smacked Kat's head with it.

"I know, I was just teasing you. So how was it? Spill."

Carri walked around the couch and sat down "It was nice, I had a great time."

"I said spill, not drip," Kat pointed out. Carri sighed and began to recount the nights events to Kat.