Disclaimer: As much as I would like for it to be, Power Rangers is not my creation.
JasonLeeScottFan: You asked for Ashely and the others. Well here they are.
Ch. 19 Invites to Dinner
Another year passed quickly for the three remaining rangers and none of them could shake the feeling that something big was about to happen. The feeling kept them on edge most of the time because they couldn't tell if it was good or bad. Even Brytan had a strange feeling but he was sure his was something good.
"Rangers," DECA began, "I have discovered the location of Dark Specter's dinner party. I am also picking up Zordon's energy signature." They all rushed to the Bridge and studied the location but they knew they had to go and attempt to get Zordon back safely.
"DECA," Andros began, "I want you to keep an eye on that party and when people start arriving let us know." It was barely twenty minutes later when she announced that guest were starting to arrive. "Alright, DECA I want you to keep the Megaship away from the party. We'll go see what's going on and try to get Zordon." He turned when he heard someone walk up to the door. "Brytan, I need you to be a good boy while we're gone and help DECA keep the sip safe."
"Yes, sir," he saluted and ran back down the corridor.
"You are never allowed around my son again," Andros informed his best friend. Zhane just laughed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, I figured that, since I have a cloak, I'll go down to the party." He put up his hand when Karone opened her mouth. "You guys will hide out on the orbiting moon. It's the only way we'll be able to see and hear everything. Plus, if I get in trouble I have not one but two people to rescue me."
"Well, for once, brother, you have a semi good idea," Karone replied. "I'll just tell you now we're not going to wait for you to ask for help, we'll be down when I think you need help." Andros nodded and they prepared to go.
"Be careful, Daddy," Brytan whispered as he hugged Andros. "Me and DECA be good."
"We'll be back in a little while," Andros promised as they turned to their jumptubes and left.
It was only a matter of minutes before Andros found himself seated at a table along with some of the most feared people and creatures in the universe. He listened closely to the conversations around him, trying to discover exactly who had been responsible for getting Zordon and where he was now. Pretty soon he heard Divatox bragging to Dagomar and Dahana that she had not only captured Zordon for Dark Specter but she had also managed to strip the rangers on Earth of their powers. Andros barely managed to suppress a groan, if she was telling the truth Earth would surely fall under the control of the UAE quickly. The party continued, everyone telling about the evil accomplishments they had made. Andros felt his anger rise when the deaths of his friends were brought up. Karone somehow managed to keep him calm but the party was about to erupt anyways.
When Andros failed to drink to the toast to Dark Specter Dahana announced, "He's a spy!" Andros stood slowly from his chair, keeping a close eye on the evil beings around him. However, he failed to see Elgar sneak behind him and pull off his cloak. "Red Ranger!" Now Andros knew he was in trouble. He quickly back flipped so that everyone was in front of him. He saw Zhane and Karone land behind everyone but knew that he would have to hold his own until they could make their way to him.
He was able to keep himself from taking too many hits while everyone was in the mindset of trying to destroy him for their own glory but when Dark Specter commanded that they "destroy him or else" they bean to work together. It was then that he started taking major hits. After one particularly brutal kick to the ribs, one that he was sure had at least broken one if not more ribs, he was almost certain this would be his last fight.
'Daddy,' Brytan's scared mental voice came through, 'people are here.' The fear in his son's voice gave him the strength to get back up and he found that Zhane and Karone had made it to him.
'Brytan,' he began, hoping that he sounded calmer than he felt, 'you go hide in my room okay?' Brytan agreed and he told Zhane and Karone about the situation. They hurriedly cleared a path and called for their gliders. "DECA, where are they?" he demanded as the Megaship materialized around them, trying to ignore the burning pain in his side.
"I was able to contain them in the Megalift," DECA informed. "However, I believe it would be a good idea to check on Brytan first." Andros nodded and they headed to his room. He keyed open the door and frowned when he couldn't see Brytan.
He finally heard quiet whimpers coming from the closet and he called, "Brytan?" The door slid open and a little head peeked out.
"Daddy?" he questioned. When Andros bent down in front of him he ran out of the closet. "Daddy! Rone! Ane!" He hugged all three of them and then wrapped his arms back around Andros' neck. Andros stood with Brytan in his arms and began walking towards the door. He made sure to place Brytan on his left side away from the injuries he had sustained. It wasn't long before they found themselves on the Simudeck. "Why we here?" Brytan asked, watching as his father started a program.
"Will you play here why we go and talk to the other people?" Andros questioned and Brytan nodded. "If you need us just tell DECA." With that he, Karone, and Zhane walked to the nearest Megalift. "Bring them to us." Meanwhile, in the Megalift, the strangers jumped as the lift came to life. Any questions they may have asked were stopped when the doors opened and they came face-to-face with three teems, who didn't seem at all happy to see them. "Who are you?"
"I'm T.J.," the guy in red introduced. "This is Carlos, Cassie, and Ashley." He pointed to each as he said their names.
Andros felt an immediate connection with the girl in yellow but pushed it to the back of his mind and demanded, "What are you doing on our ship?"
"We didn't mean to,"" the girl in yellow, Ashley, replied with tears in her eyes. "We were going to hit your ship and then it opened up and pulled us in." None of them looked convinced so she decided to tell them exactly why they came into space. "I know this is going to sound crazy but we're Power Rangers from Earth. We lost out powers but we had to come out here to try to find Zordon."
"Zordon?" the girl in purple asked and Ashley nodded, hoping they were getting somewhere. "You know Zordon?"
"Yes," T.J. answered. "He's the one who gave us our powers." He saw a look of sadness cross her face. "You know where he is don't you?"
"Yes," she replied. "He's been captured by Dark Specter and his powers are being drained." She suddenly felt a small bit of pain shoot through her side and she turned to her brother. "Med bay now!" She turned to Zhane and said, "Watch them."
After they were out of sight Zhane turned to the group, who looked very confused, and explained, "I'm Zhane, the girl's name is Karone, and the idiot in red is Andros. And we're rangers too."
"Sit!" Karone commanded as she pushed her brother onto one of the beds. When Andros did as he was told without arguing Karone knew he was in serious pain. She pulled out a scanner and ran it over his entire body, knowing that he had probably hurt more than just his ribs.
"What's the damage?" Andros managed through the pain.
"You broke four ribs," Karone began, grimacing as she read the rest of the results. "I'll be right back." She left before he could question and he allowed himself to ease into a lying position.
Zhane frowned when his girlfriend rushed by him, grabbed his arm, and commanded, "Come with me." Zhane refrained from making the comment that he obviously didn't have a choice when he realized just how scared Karone was about whatever had happened to Andros.
"What's going on?" he questioned as she stopped just outside the door of the Simudeck. When Karone didn't reply Zhane pulled her to him and he felt the collar of his shirt dampen.
"He punctured a lung," she whispered. "We have to get him to a doctor fast." Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. "Do you think they know a good doctor on Earth? It is the closest planet."
"I'll go ask," he told her. "You get Brytan ready and then we'll both go handle your brother." Karone nodded and watched as Zhane rushed out of sight. "This is very important. Do you guys know a doctor, particularly, a surgeon who would be able to keep our secret?"
"Actually," T.J. began, "there are two doctors that just showed up in Angel a couple of years ago that have been taking care of the ranger teams on Earth."
"Who?" Zhane asked, hoping that these doctors would be able to help his friend.
"Alden Karovan and Alasdair Shocker," Ashley answered and the she added, "Are you okay?" when Zhane's eyes widened.
"You guys know where their office is, right?" he whispered and they nodded. "DECA, set a course for Earth. Hyper rush 4." He then flashed their new friends a smile and rushed to tell Karone the good news.
"Do the know anyone?" she questioned as he appeared in the doorway of Andros' room.
"Yeah, Alden and Alasdair," he answered, laughing at her shocked look.
"Really?" she asked and he nodded. "At least they already know how to handle him." Zhane nodded in agreement and then gestured towards Brytan's sleeping form.
"What are we going to do with him?" Zhane voiced the one question she had yet to come up with an answer for. "We definitely can't keep him with us when we take Andros. What do you think about our new shipmates?" Before she could completely dismiss the idea he added, "DECA would be here watching them and they have no way to leave the ship." Karone nodded and decided to let Brytan sleep until they arrived. She stood and led her boyfriend to where they had left the others, surprised that they hadn't moved somewhere else.
"Okay," she began, "I'm sure Zhane already told you our names so I'm going to jump straight into the favor we need you to do." At that she pulled out a picture of Brytan and handed it to T.J. "That's Brytan. He's Andros' son and we kind of need you to watch him while we go with Andros."
"Rone!" Brytan yelled, running down the corridor. "They the bad people."
"They're not bad people," Karone explained to her nephew. "They're Power Rangers too."
"They help you?" he asked and she nodded.
"This is T.J., Carlos, Cassie, and Ashley," Zhane told him. "And Karone and I need you to stay with them for a little while."
"Why?" Brytan questioned.
"Your Daddy has to go to the doctor," Karone answered. "You can't go with us and DECA will call if anything goes wrong, okay?" Brytan nodded and Karone looked expectantly at the group in front of her. Finally Ashley nodded, feeling some sort of motherly pulling toward the small boy. "Okay, you guys get to start early. Brytan, you show them wherever you want to play and just have fun."
He hugged her leg and whispered, "Take care of my Daddy." She and Zhane nodded and laughed as he drug all of them along but noticed how he clung to Ashley.
They headed back to the Med Bay where they found Andros sound asleep. They took this opportunity to administer a weak pain killer that would at least keep Andros asleep until they arrived. It was only a few minutes later that DECA informed them that they had arrived. She located Alasdair's office and teleported them directly there after making sure it was empty. Alasdair was shocked when he saw them but when he saw the shape Andros was in he focused on that.
"What happened?" He questioned, as he ran several scans of his own. Karone gave him a general recap of the battle and he nodded. "Well, the best thing would be surgery but I have to have his permission."
"Permission…for…what?" Andros managed, finally waking up and then he realized who he was talking to. "What…are you…doing here?"
"Trying to take care of you," Alasdair responded. "You have a punctured lung and I need to do surgery. Either you say yes or I'll knock you out and ask Karone."
"Do it," Andros forced out. Alasdair administered a sedative and two nurses pushed him into the operating room. Karone and Zhane sat in the room and waited. To keep herself busy Karone contacted the Megaship every five minutes to check on Brytan. An hour later Andros was brought back into the room and he was slowly walking up. "Is everything okay now?"
"Well, I did fix you up," Alasdair replied. "It should be fine within three days but you need to take it easy until them. That means no fighting."
"Okay," Andros agreed, knowing that this was too much pain to be in so he would do anything asked of him. "What about with Brytan?"
"No rough housing and don't pick him up," he answered. "You can hold him in your lap, just let someone else put him there." Andros nodded and then something occurred to him.
"Where's Brytan?" he demanded, looking between his sister and best friend.
"Well…" Zhane began.
A/N: Please Review! Sorry for the wait. School's a killer right now.