Ranger Tales

Chapter 3: Love and Evil

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. This fic takes place somewhere between "The Power of Gold" and "Revelations of Gold". In this fic, Tommy and Kim have not broken up.

Also, let me know what you think, I appreciate it. Thank you for reading.

It was around the middle of Summer vacation and Tommy was gone, he'd left to visit Kim in Florida as a surprise for the weekend. The others had decided not contact him if there was emergency, they'd still have five Rangers with that mysterious Gold Ranger running around. Zordon said that was for the best, he wanted Tommy to have a nice weekend alone with Kimberly.

Friday afternoon after Tommy had left for the airport Rocky and Carri had gone over to the beach to enjoy the rest of their day. Kat had gone to teach her dance class, and Adam to had volunteered to teach a few Martial Arts to some kids at the shelter.

Rocky looked down at his girlfriend, he honestly had never seen anyone more beautiful in all his life. It had only been a couple of months, but he was really falling this girl, she was fun, funny, they shared a lot of the same interests, and she was able to take a joke, which made her easy to pick on.

"So what now?" Carri asked, snapping Rocky from his thoughts.

"Huh?" he asked, he'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't been paying attention.

"I asked what we were going to do now," she repeated as she looked up at him.

"Well I had thought about maybe exploring that cave over there," he pointed to a small hole in the wall.

Carri made a face. "Why?"

Rocky looked down at her and smiled. "You'll see," he said as he lead her over to the cave. It was only a couple feet deep, and sitting within it was a picnic basket and a blanket that had already been spread out.

"So what? You're Yogi and I'm BooBoo, and together we're gonna swipe a pic-a-nic basket?" she laughed, she knew what he was doing.

"No you goof, I set this up for us earlier," he replied as he gestured for her to sit. She did so and he handed her a sandwich. Carri looked over at her boyfriend and smiled, he was so nice to her. Much nicer than the jerk she'd left in New York. Another thing she was glad for was that she had convinced her parents, well her dad anyway as she didn't care if her mom liked it or not, to let her stay in Angel Grove. That, along with Rocky and becoming a Power Ranger, made her the happiest girl alive.

She had been wanting to get out of New York for as long as she could remember, it just feel like home for some reason. She liked to live by the beach, and have warm weather, not like in New York where it was almost always freezing. Her thoughts drifted back to Rocky as he handed her a Jell-O cup after she finished her sandwich. It was her favorite, cherry.

"You're incredible, you know that?" she asked with a smile on her face as she took the cup and opened it.

Rocky raised an eyebrow and asked "Yeah? How so?"

"Well my ex never would've done anything like this for me for one thing," she said as she took a bite.

"Well I'm not your ex, at least, I hope I'm not. Last I checked we were still together," he joked, and she smiled as she leaned over and kissed him.

"We are you goof, I meant my ex in New York. All he ever thought about was himself, and for some reason my Mom loved him, she felt like he was perfect. So when I broke up with him, and told him never to show his face around me again, it broke her heart as well. If she had one to begin with."

"Carri!" Rocky said in shock, he knew she didn't exactly get along with her Mother, and that her Mother was a bit of a bitch, he found that out when he answered Carri's phone for her once. Boy was her Mom pissed, she even cursed him out for reasons he didn't even understand. But still, to say her Mom had no heart was going a bit a far, he thought.

"Well it's true, she never let me do aything I wanted as a kid, well, one thing, but that was only because we were in New York and she believed everything she saw on TV about it."

"What was it?" Rocky asked, he didn't know too much about her when she lived in New York, she didn't like to talk about it.

"Karate," she beamed, she knew that was something they had in common, but he didn't. Well, now he did.

"You took Karate? No wonder you fight so well in battle," he replied. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I wanted to keep it a secret, I plan on challenging Oliver on the mats one day just for fun. Don't say anything, k?" Rocky nodded his head. "Good, I want it to surprise him, give me a slight upper hand. Hopefully." She knew how excellent a fighter Tommy was, he wasn't one to taken lightly.

The duo spent the rest of their afternoon sitting by the beach, other than Rocky's comment about her being a good Ranger, they managed to stay away from the topic. It had been a nice afternoon, Mondo had apparenty taken a day off. Rocky hoped he'd take the weekend off.

Later that night Rocky took Carri back to her cousins house, where she was staying. He walked her up to the front porch to say goodnight, he kissed her before she went in and he took off. He had to be at work early in the morning, so he needed his rest.

As Carri entered the living room she found Kat watching TV, and she plopped down next to her on the couch. "No Rocky?" Kat asked, sounding disappointed. She'd been looking forward to grilling them both for details.'

"He has to get up early for work tomorrow," Carri explained.

"Ah. So, how was the date?"

"It was great, I had a really nice time. You really need to get you a boyfriend so we can both go out sometime."

"Yes, well..." Kat let her voice trail off. She wanted a boyfriend, but unfortunately the guy she wanted was taken at the moment and it didn't look like that was going to change any time soon. Especially since he just flew across the country to see her.

"I know, I know. You want Tommy."

"I do not!" Kat protested, she didn't know she was so obvious about it.

"Yes you do, I've seen the way he looks at you. He may not notice, and Rocky and Adam may not notice, but trust me, I notice." Kat just blushed and excused herself, saying she was tired.

Carri sat quietly on the couch and looked to see what was on TV, she knew she had her cousin pegged.

Earlier that afternoon, across the country, Tommy Oliver just got off his plane and grabbed his luggage. Kim's coach, Gunthar Schmidt, had ageed to pick him up as a surprise for Kim. Tommy wasted no time in finding the gary haired man as he was in a hurry to see his girlfriend. After a short car ride to Kim's place he said his goodbyes to Gunthar and proceeded to go upstairs. Once in front of her door he took a deep breath and knocked. He heard a "coming!" from the other side and prepared the gift he had for her.

As Kim opened the door she made a disgusted sound, there was a man standing there with his face hidden behind a bouquet of flowers. "Robert, how many times do I have to tell to you I have a boyfriend?" she asked firmly.

"Well I may not know a whole lot, but I do know my names not Robert," Tommy said as he moved the flowers and smiled at her.

"Tommy!" she squealed as she threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss. "What are you doing here?"

He continued to smile as he spoke. "I thought I'd surprise you with a romantic weekend, just the two of us."

"But my coach-"

"Said its okay with him," Tommy cut her off. She gave him a confused look and he explained "I called him earlier this week and talked to him about it, he said it was alright for you to take the weekend off and get away." Kim smiled and kissed him again.

"So what's first on the agenda then?" she asked, eyes fixed on him. She still couldn't believe he was here, though he always had been a spontanious romantic. She should've seen this coming sooner or later.

"Well first I was thinking of dinner at a really nice restaraunt, though you'll have to tell me the nice places around here. And after that I was thinking maybe a movie, then to finish up for the night how about a stroll down on the beach?"

Her smiled widened and she said "Sounds like a plan."

Mondo looked down at the Earth and said "So, the Rangers are without their leader for the weekend? Perfect. Klank!"

"Yes your highness," Klank said in his Scottish accent "what can I do for you?"

"I want to you get me a monster that can take out those pesky Power Rangers once and for all."

"Right away sire," Klank said as he bowed and took his leave.

"What are you planning dear?" Queen Machina asked her husband.

King Mondo chuckled and replied "You'll find out soon." He had a plan for dealing with these Rangers, and also for possibly getting his hands on the Gold Rangers power. If all went according to plan the Earth would be his by morning.

Early Saturday morning Carri heard her alarm clock go off, she looked at the time, seeing it was only seven-thirty she threw it to the floor. She was just about to drift back back off when her communicator went off. "Son of a bitch," she groaned as she sat up and reached for it. "Go ahead."

"Ay yi yi, Carri, Mondo has sent down some Cogs in the park," Alpha replied quickly.

"On it," she yawned. "It's morphin' time, Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"

A few minutes later the Yellow Zeo Ranger was on the scene, as were the Blue, Green, and Pink Zeo Rangers. She jumped into the fight, making quick work of the Cogs. "You guys kept me from going back to sleep!" she yelled as she dismantled two of them.

Klank appeared before Mondo with a monster in tow. "Sire, allow me to introduce Evilizer. He can take anyone he zaps and turn them into your evil pawns."

"Perfect," Mondo said "send him down at once!"

"Yes sire!"

Back down on Earth the Rangers were easily defeating the Cogs, why Mondo kept using these pieces of scrap metal they didn't know. Just as they finished with the last Cog, more appeared along with a monster.

"Do these guys ever give up?" Carri asked, looking over at the two senior members of the team, Adam and her boyfriend, Rocky.

"Never," Adam shook his head.

"Haha, what's this? Only four Rangers? This'll be a piece of cake!" Evilizer laughed.

"Four is three too many to take you down," Rocky shouted, taking a step forward.

"We'll see," Evilizer laughed. He began running towards the Rangers to attack.

"You guys take care of the Cogs, we'll handle this guy," Adam said, motioning to himself and Rocky. Kat and Carri agreed and went over to attack the Cogs. Adam jumped up and kicked the monster, while Rocky threw his weight into a punch. Together they knocked the monster a little before drawing their Zeo Laser Blades. Together the two began attacking Evilizer, putting him on the defensive.

Carri and Kat had their hands full with the army of Cogs, they were no tougher than normal, but there was a greater number of them this time. The two continued their assault on the Cogs when they heard someone shouted "It's time for a Gold Rush!" Instantly a black streak flew through the air, taking out at least half of the Cogs.

"Look, the Gold Ranger!" Kat exclaimed as the mysterious Gold Ranger came to a stop behind the Cogs.

While they were focused on defeating the Cogs they heard couple of screams, before they could turn to see what was wrong they heard Adam shouted "Zeo Flying Power Kick!" His boot connected with Carri's helmet, sending her flying.

"Adam! What the hell was that for?" Carri shouted as she jumped back to her feet.

"A taste of things to come," he replied. "Zeo Power Axes!" He summoned his Zeo weapons and began attacking Carri.

Rocky had summoned his Zeo Power Hatchets and begun and assault on Kat. The Gold Ranger was quick to jump in and help her, getting hit in the process. He fell to the ground and rolled away, those weapons really packed a punch. Kat retaliated by throwing punches and kicks at Rocky, she didn't want to hurt him, she didn't even know what was going on. She looked around for the monster, but he was no where to be seen. "This is not good," she pointed out.

"Ya think!" Carri shouted as she jumped back from Adam's attack and kicked him into a tree.

"Let's regroup at the Power Chamber," the Gold Ranger suggested. The Pink and Yellow Rangers nodded and together the three of them teleported out.

Adam looked over at Rocky and shrugged, then they teleported back to Mondo's ship.

Billy had been monitoring their fight and filled them in on what happened, Evilizer had zapped Rocky and Adam with two extendable tentacles on either side of his chest. The initial shock is what turned them against their friends. "Do we know how to counteract it?" Carri asked, she couldn't stand seeing her Rocky evil.

"Maybe. I have a theory, maybe if you cut of his tentacles, then the effects will wear off."

"Then let's do it," Carri said, eager to get Rocky back.

"It's not that simple, you have to wait until he extends them, meaning one of you will have to act as bait to get him to send them out," Billy explained.

"I'll do it," the Gold Ranger said, he didn't know these Rangers well, but he did know they were good people, and that good enough for him to stick his neck out for them.

"No I'll do it," Carri argued "it's my boyfriend that's been turned evil. I should be the one to stick my neck out for him."

"Sorry Carri, but I have to agree with our friend here. Let him be the bait," it wasn't that Billy didn't like the Gold Ranger, he did, he just didn't know him too well and he'd rather not have the plan go up in smoke and have an evil Carri running around. He knew what her temper was like, and that she always kept it in check. An evil Carri wouldn't be so nice. The alarms started sounding and Billy turned his attention back to the screen. "It looks like their waiting for you, you ready?" The Gold Ranger nodded and teleported down.

Kat and Carri had their Zeo Laser Blades drawn out so they slice mid-teleportation. As soon as they saw the flap covering his tentacles open they teleported down.

Evilizer howled in pain as his tentacles were neatly sliced off. Unfortunately that didn't reverse the effects on Rocky and Adam as they continued to attack the Gold Ranger. "Well that didn't work," Carri said grimly as she kicked Evilizer out of the way. "Now what?"

"It's time for a Gold Rush!" the Gold Ranger shouted as he blasted through the monster, destroying it. A few seconds later he grew to giant sized proportions.

Carri repeated her question "Now what do we do?" Kat sighed, she didn't know. They couldn't summon the MegaZord with only two Rangers.

"I call upon the power of Pyramidus!" A gold pyramid began flying through the sky and Gold Ranger disappeared inside and began attacking the giant Evilizer. Kat and Carri then began attacking Rocky and Adam.

"Rocky, wake up. This isn't you," Carri pleaded as she dodged a punch.

"I am who I am," he replied as he kneed her in the stomach. The gasped and quickly picked herself back up, kicking him in his chest.

"Rocky you're a good person, don't you remember?"

"Fortunately, I don't," he replied as he struck her with his Zeo Power Hatchets, sending her flying. Within her helmet Carri felt a tear run down her cheek, not because she was hurt, well she was, but she was hurt more emotionally than physically. She tried picking herself up, only to be kicked back. Just when Rocky was about to land the finishing blow he stopped, tossing his weapon aside and scooping her up in his arms. Carri was confused, just a second ago he was going to kill her, it was then she heard the explosion and saw Evilizer falling as Pyramidus retreated to the skies.

"Rocky," she breathed, running her hand along his helmet before passing out.

"It's okay, I'm back," he said as he held her close to him.

Adam looked around, he had Kat pinned to the ground. He quickly got off and helped her up.

Up in space Mondo was furious, he'd lost a great monster and two evil Rangers in one day. He'd forgotten about Pyramidus only needing the Gold Ranger. It was then an idea struck him, one that he would need time to prepare, a few weeks at least.

Rocky, Adam, Kat, and Carri all teleported into the Power Chamber, Carri was still asleep in Rocky's arms. Kat was lucky that she had been able to dodge more of Adam's attacks. As soon as they landed Rocky placed Carri on a medical bed and Billy began scanning her.

"She's going to be alright, she took a powerful hit, but it should be healed in a couple of hours. I think the reason she passed out may have been from fear of being killed," Billy said as he walked over to repeat the scans on Rocky, Adam, and Kat. They all appeared to be fine, which is what Billy expected. He knew that if cutting off the tentacles didn't work then destroying the monster would.

A few minutes later Carri's eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at the man looking down at her with worry in his eyes. "Hey," she said as she slowly sat up. Her body ached, but she figured that was to be expected.

"I'm sorry," Rocky said, looking down at the floor. He felt bad for what he had done, even if he hadn't had any control over it.

Carri placed her hand over his and said "It's okay, you didn't have any control over yourself. I know that you would never hurt me," she paused before continuing "but Mondo and his goons would. And to them it's just one big joke to see me destroyed by the person I care most about." Rocky managed a weak smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Adam and Kat had stayed off to the sidelines, trying to give the others their space. Billy had gone over to the lab to run some tests, he had teleported one of Evilizers tentacle to the Power Chamber for analysis, to see if he could come up with a cure, or a way to even keep them being turned evil again. He figured Mondo may try something like this again.

After Rocky and Carri had their moment the four teens teleported out to enjoy what was left of their day.

The next day, late in the afternoon, Tommy and Kim were sitting out by the beach, he had to leave for the airport in an hour. Kim squeaked as the ocean came up and up and hit her feet. "You should've been expecting that," Tommy laughed.

"Just like I should've expected your visit," Kim said laughing.

"Nope, that you shouldn't have been expecting," he said with a laugh as he pulled her close to him. He missed being able to do this on practically a daily basis, it felt good to hold her in his arms again.

Kim nestled into his shoulder and began to drift off, he smiled and kissed the top of her head as he held her. The sun was about to set, and was seriously considering "accidentally" missing his flight. But he knew he had to get back, Mondo wouldn't let him have his peace forever. For now though, he was happy just sitting there with her as she quietly breathed on his chest.