After Darkness Falls

"Rangers Reborn Part One"

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, that is owned by Saban/Disney.

A/N: Carri and all things related to Carri, including the yellow panther ninjetti and Jason's green cougar ninjetti, belong to KJ with many thanks. This is a seperate story from all the others I've previously written. This story assumes that the movie is canon, not the Ninjor storyline, that after the Power Chamber was destroyed in Turbo and that it was later rebuilt after in Space and that Billy came back to Earth after Lost Galaxy and rebuilt it. It also assumes that Tanya was replaced on the Zeo team by Carri Hillard, KJ's own character (again thanks), and that Kimberly took over the Turbo powers after Kat made the decision to leave.

Kim rubbed her eyes, she and Carri had been waiting up for Jason the previous night, and eventually he returned but by that time it was too late to get any sleep as they had to get to work. Jason had left after learning that Sarahna, the woman who wanted him dead, arrived on Earth and stole the remaining Terra morphers. Both she and Carri had tried to help him calm down, but it didn't was no use. In the end he decided to take a walk to try and clear his head. Whether or not it worked was yet to be seen as they had to leave for work about the time he got back.

It was almost time to go home, and she couldn't wait. The first thing was going to do was go straight to bed. She felt as though she had auto pilot all day thanks to staying up all night. She probably lost a few customers because of it, but at the moment she didn't really care, she just wanted sleep. The more minutes that passed the more she could feel the softness of her pillow as she lay her head on it, she started to nod off just thinking about it.

Just as she was about to pass out she heard the bell over the door ring. Forcing her eyes open she saw her old friend Rocky walk in. As he walked closer to the counter she felt a lump grow in her throat, she was pondering over what to tell him about Carri if he asked. She wondered if she should tell him that she was back or not, it'd be the right thing to do. But as far as Carri knew he had most likely moved on and she didn't want to ruin whatever happiness he had.

"Kim?" Rocky said, both amazed and surprised to see his old friend.

Kim flashed him a smile and said "Hey Rocky, how've you been?" She was trying to act as though she hadn't been gone for nearly a decade, if that was possible.

"Good, good. I've opened my own martial arts school, and I'm thinking about opening a second one. I just need an instructor for it." He replied, still amazed to see his old friend here of all places. "What about you? Last I heard you just up and vanished."

Kim thought about the best way to answer that, should she tell him that she had been trekking across the galaxy, or should she make up some story? "I've been...travelling the planet. Going here and there. I saw a lot of really great places." She mentally shrugged, it wasn't a total lie. She had been travelling, and had seen a lot of really cool places, just not on Earth.

Rocky could tell that something was wrong, he just didn't know what, and he didn't want to pry just in case it was personal. "Well that's cool. Oh, I forgot why i came here. I here to pick up a plant for my girlfriend. Uh, the names Dana Moore."

Kim looked through their orders, found the name, and went to fetch the plant. She came back saying "She's lucky, this was the last one we had."

As he watched her ring it up and he payed for it he said "Yeah, well, it was nice seeing you again after all these years. if you see Carri tell her I said hello."

"Will do!" Kim called out as he exited the shop. Looking up at the clock one last time she sighed, it was finally time to go. "Time now to go get some much needed rest." She said to herself as she lockd up.

As Rocky walked down the street to his car he began to think about things, seeing Kim again brought so many memories of Carri. He began to wonder if she was back as well, and if she was, why hadn't she tried to contact him? He thought about turning around and going back to see Kim, to ask her if she knew anything, but he figured she probably wouldn't, seeing as how she left long before Carri and Jason did.

Jason sat in the living room of Carri's house, thinking about how he messed up. He felt as though he failed in his mission to destroy Sarahna, and now she was here on Earth and had the reamining Terra morphers. The more he thought about it the more he realized that if he was to have any chance of defeating her for good he would need a full team of at least five rangers. He knew that he would be one, and that Kim and Carri would most likely volunteer too, but that still left two, and the Terra powers were gone for the most part, so they would need a new power source a well. "Billy." he said to himself, he knew exactly what he had to do. It was just a matter of finding his old friend Billy Cranston. Using his old Zeo communicator he teleported to the old Power Chamber in the hopes of either finding Billy there, or finding a way to find him.

When he arrived he sighed a sigh of relief, standing there, hunched over the computer was the original blue ranger. "Billy!" He called out, startling his old friend.

Billy jumped at the sound of his name, he wasn't expecting anyone to drop in today. But as he turned around he couldn't believe his eyes. Standing there before him was his old friend, the original red ranger, Jason Lee Scott. It had been years since he last saw Jason, right after the Dark Specter fiasco. He had returned to Earth after having a falling out with Cestria, she would always order him around and she treated him more like a slave or a pet than as a boyfriend. Of course, it hadn't started out like that, for the first six months or so she was loving, kind, and caring. One of the sweetest women he had ever met, second only to his long time crush Trini. But over time she became cold, and seemingly uncaring. Delphine had witnessed this on one occasion, just before Divatox invaded, and helped him to get back to Earth. Cestria was quite unhappy with his disappearance, and she constantly contacted him after he rebuilt the Power Chamber. He eventually had Delphine set up her own private line of communication so that he could block Cestria's transmissions on the main computer. Ever since then he had been living peacefully, updating information on the Power Chambers computer, adding information on each new set of Rangers, and doing research for NASADA to support himself.

"Jason! What're you doing here?" He asked, still a little surprised to see his friend.

"I'll explain later, right now I need you to contact all the former rangers and have them gather, well, somewhere, say tomorrow, that way we can give them time to get here. Can you do that?" Jason asked, the quicker they all got together and formed a team, the quicker they could defeat Sarahna.

"Yes, of course. I know of a special ranger room at the NASADA compound where we can all meet. I assume you'll explain to everyone at once?" He watched as Jason nodded. "Alright, I'll send the address and everything to everyone at the same time. In the mean time you're more than welcome to just sit around and wait."

"Thanks, I owe you one." Jason said as he went and took a seat by one of the computers.

As Billy went to work on sending the message out he couldn't help but think about what Jason had said. To Billy, he was repaying a debt to Jason and as far as he was concerned the original red ranger didn't owe him anything. Jason had befriended Billy, he didn't make fun of him, he had asked to explain things more clearly though, but he never made fun of him. He excepted Billy for who he was, and he always stood up to Bulk and Skull for him. So, to him this was just one way of repaying his own debt.

Carri sat back in her chair, her day had been pretty much the same as Kim's, except that she had fallen asleep quite a few times while going over the notes. She was grateful that this was one of her short days at work, it would soon be time for her leave and go home for a nap. Luckily tomorrow was Saturday and neither her or Kim worked weekends, Josh was kind enough to give her the weekends off and Kim could choose whetehr or not to come in on the weekends. Once she got hom she was going to plop down on either the couch or her bed, which ever she fell on first, and go to sleep. "Stupid Jason..." she muttered as she began to nod odd again in her chair.

Josh entered her office and caught her nodding off again. "Again? Geez, this is the third time today. Carri!" He said as he clapped his hands, making her jump.

"What? What is it?" She said, kind of slurring her words as slowly sat back in her seat again. "Did I fall asleep again? Sorry."

Josh sighed, he thought about telling her to go on home, but with the way she was nodding off the last thing she needed to do was drive. "Come on, I'll take you home."

"Okay..." Carri breathed as she stood up and headed over towards the door. Normally she would've argued, if only to argue with him, but she was too tired right now. Alle she wanted to do was sleep.

The next day up on the moon Sarahna watched as the once glorious Lunar Palace was nearing completion. Soon, she thought, soon the palace will be better than ever and I will have Jason in the palm of my hands. She laughed as she thought about the destruction she would bring to the Earth, and how it would effect Jason. She thought back to the final battle on Vega, she hadn't been expecting them so soon. The three meddlesome rangers had caught her off guard and defeated her. She was determined not to let that happen again. "Cairus!" she bellowed.

The scaley fox-human came scurrying in, he knew that when she bellowed it was important to show up immediately, or else. He had never seen the "or else" and he never wanted to. "Yes my Queen, what can I do for you?" He asked in his deep, gravelly voice.

Sarahna stared at her henchman as she thought about what she wanted him to do. "Take a small army of Courtadrones down to Angel Grove. Destroy everything in sight, if Jason tries to stop you, stop him. But don't kill him. No, I need him alive."

Cairus was somewhat puzzled, the last he heard she wanted him dead, but he would listen to her. "Yes, of course. Is that all?"

"For now." Sarahna said as she twirled her hair through her fingers. "Now get out of my sight."

Cairus quickly exited the room, afraid of what might happen to him if he lingered. He enjoyed working for Sarahna, as long as he stayed on her good side. He'd seen the damage she'd done to various planets in the past, he'd enjoyed torturing the inhabitants, but the things that she would do scared even him. He made his way to the room where the Courtadrones were being held and gathered about six or seven of them. He figured this was only a mission to let Jason know that they were still here, and they would be staying a while.

Jason was making his way to the NASADA compound that afternoon when he caught sight of the Courtadrones and Cairus attacking. Looking around quickly, he morphed and dove into action. Using his ice staff he froze three of the Couratdrones to even the odds a bit, for a little while anyway.

"Ah, as predictable as ever." Cairus said in his gravelly voice as he turned to face Jason.

The black ranger watched as Cairus' finger nail grew into claws with which he used to attack. "Well if I'm so predictable then you should know I'm about to hand you your ass!" Jason said as he leaped into the air and kicked Cairus in the stomach. As the fox creature flew backwards Jason turned his attention to the remaining three Curtadrones. He flipped one over on its back before strikin it in its weak spot, just below its chin, and dismantling it. As he went to work on the other two, the three he ahd frozen were beginning to thaw out and soon they broke free and joined the fight. Courtadrones were tough enough one on one, but now he had five to tangle with, plus Cairus.

Jason managed to strike and dismantle another Courtadrone before Cairus jumped back into the fray and began attacking. Just as he was about to strike another he heard "Jason, cover!" He instictively covered his eyes as Carri used the reflective material from her suit to temporarily blind both the Courtarones and Cairus.

"Thanks for the heads up." Jason said as he made his way out of the group. He didn't think he'd ever been so happy to see her.

"No problem. But we'd better hurry and dismantle the rest before my blinding effects wear off." Carri said as she ran and struck two more of the Courtadrones.

"Right." Jason agreed as he dismantled the last two. When they looked up Cairus was gone, probably fled due to the Courtadrones defeat. "How did you know I was here?"

Both rangers powered down and Carri replied "I didn't. I was just on my way to the NASADA compound for the meeting when I happened to spot you."

"So you saving my butt was a total fluke?"

"Yeah kinda. Well, shall we go?" Jason nodded and the two rangers continued on their way to the NASADA compound.

"So," Carri said as they reached the compound, finally breaking the silence. "You think Rocky will be here?"

Jason nodded "I asked Billy to notify all former rangers. So there's a good chance, yeah." He knew she was a little worried about facing him, she never stopped loving him in all the time they'd been apart. He could kind of understand that, after all he had found himself thinking about Emily every once in a while.

"I see..." was all she could she could think of to say. For once Carri was at a loss for words.

"Look, I'm sure everything will be fine. You said yourself that Rocky was somewhat okay with you leaving." Jason said, placing his arm around her shoulders and giving her what he hoped was a reassuring hug.

"I know. But what if he's moved on. What if seeing me fills that happiness with doubts, or what if I realize I'm unhappy?"

"Well, we'll just have to see how things go and then go from there, now won't we?" Carri nodded and sighed, she knew Jason was right, but she still couldn't help the thoughts she was having. "Where's Kim anyway? I thought she'd be coming with you."

"She went on ahead. I wouldn't wake up when she wanted me too, it was too early."

"Ten-thirty?" Jason questioned with a laugh as he raised his eyebrow.

"Worse. Ten." Carri said with a slight laugh. She smiled, somehow Jason always made her forget her troubles, if only for a little while. In a way he was more of a brother to her than her own brother, Josh.

"Same old Carri." He teased as they entered the door, rubbing his arm and laughing after she smacked him.

Kim stood off to the side of the podium out of sight. She had left early so that she wouldn't have to worry about running into Tommy while trying to get in. She took a peek out into the room and saw a multitude of colors. My gosh, she thought to herself, there must be at least a hundred rangers out there. She leaned back off to the side and sighed. "Where are they?" she asked herself. As she thought about how Carri could still be sleeping she heard the back door open and watched as her two best friends walked in. "Where have you two been? You know I hate standing in front of a huge crowd by myself, at least when my ex-boyfriend is in it!"

Jason rubbed the back of his head and said "Sorry, we got held up by Cairus and his goons. But we're here now."

All previous thoughts aside Kim asked "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but my arm may be bruised from friendly fire." Jason joked, looking over at Carri who stuck her tongue out in response.

"Yeah, you're fine." Kim said. She was glad to see that Jason had calmed down after the other night and was back to his usualy self. That side of him she saw the other night was just scary. "Now, can we get started?"

The trio walked out towards the podium and as they did they heard a few gasps of surprise, they figured that they were from old teammates who had thought them missing. As Kimberly looked out over the crowd the first person she spotted was Tommy, and what she assumed was his Dino Thunder team. She had heard about them from Dulcea, she kept tabs on all the rangers that ahd visited her over the years. She was about to send Kim to help the Dino Thunder team deal with Mesogog just before they defeated him by exhausting their Dino Gems. As she continued looking she spotted other teammates, Rocky, Adam, Zack, and Trini. Aisha must not have been able to make it, she thought sadly. But mostly her thoughts were on Tommy staring, glaring was more like it, at her. She couldn't tell if he was happy, mad, or relieved. In fact, she didn't know how she felt about him at the moment, it had been so long ago when they last saw each other, adn throughout their tenure on the Turbo team they hadn't been that close. Not like they had been...

Carri first spotted Rocky, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to face him after the meeting or not. It had been so long since they'd seen each other, and the fact that she had left with the man that Rocky ahd once been jealous of probably didn't help matters none. But it wasn't like she left with him to be with him. Sure she liked Jason, but not like that, he was like her brother. But she didn't know if Rocky would actually ever understand that. He had been jealous of their relationship in high school and college, but he accepted that she was just more comfortable confiding in Jason first and getting his opinion. She kind of hoped that he was still single, so that they could be together again, but she doubted it. As she continued scanning the room she spotted Ashley, Cassie, Carlos, T.J, and Andros. She had seen Andros recently, just after their return they apologized for keeping his ship so long and explained everything to him. Thankfully he had been understanding of the situation since it was related to Dark Specter and his brother, Maligore in a way.

Finally her eyes fell upon her cousin, Kat. She and Kat used to be very close, but when she started hanging out with Kim more after she moved back to Angel Grove they kind of went their seperate ways. Kat had seen the looks that Tommy gave Kim, and decided to break up with him and turn in her morpher, ironically she gave the power back to the person who originally gave it to her, Kim. Kat hung around for a while after that, but as the two cousins relationship dwindled, so did Kat's reason to stay in Angel Grove. Eventually she moved to Los Angeles for a while, and after all the monster attacks in Angel Grove stopped she decided to move back.

Jason stood at the podium, ready to speak, but before doing so he took in all the familiar faces, he recognized some of the rangers. The ones he served with, all the red from the Serpentera mission, minus Aurico and Leo who couldn't make it for obvious reasons. He assumed that at least one member from each team was there, as Karone was there with her brother and his wife. He tapped the microphone before speaking. "First of all, thank you all for coming. I understand that the Alien Rangers and the Lost Galaxy Rangers couldn't make it, well, most of the Lost Galaxy Rangers anyway." He corrected, noticing the look he got from Karone. "Anyway, thank you all for coming. I''ve asked you all here today because of and evil known as Sarahna. She started attacking me and my friend Kimberly years ago. For those of you who were either present for or have heard stories of the Serpentera mission, I was first attacked just after we got back from the moon." He paused, letting them take in that little bit of knowledge. "Sarahna is not someone for newbies to take on, which is why I'm asking for a group of veteran rangers to help deal with her. We had a box with extra morphers, but she managed to get her hands on it, leaving only the three we have. Luckily she's unable to open that box due to not being chosen. But we have other powers." I hope, he thought to himself. "I know I'm going to fight, so we need at least four more."

"We're fighting too, so we just need two more." Carri piped up, reassuring Jason on what he already thought about. "Any of you will do, but just warn you, Sarahna is worse than anyone we've ever faced before. She's more ruthless and deadly than Dark Specter himself."

"I doubt that." Karone muttered, earning an elbow from her brother who shushed her.

Rocky sat there, comtemplating on whether or not he should speak up. He had made the decision long ago to leave the power behind when he injured his back and passed it on to Justin Stewart temporarily, then permanently when Dimitria asked them to choose successors. If he joined he would be able to see Carri on a daily basis again, and maybe reconnect with her. For him it was really a no-brainer. "I'll help out." He said as he stood and headed for the podium.

"Me too." Tommy said, standing as well. He had already made up his mind to do so when he saw Kim walk out into the room. He was just waiting to see if anyone else was up to it. Maybe he could get some answers to all of his questions. Questions he was too timid to ask back in high school and in college.

"Count me in. I can provide you with a new power source, and new weapons." Billy said as too stood and made his way towards the front of the room. He hung around the Power Chamber a lot anyway, and it seemed as though this team was going to be comprised of most of his old friends. His only wish was that Trini could stay. He had seen her in the crowd of Rangers, but hadn't had the opportunity to speak to her yet.

"I can help him." Trini piped up from the crowd. In truth she wanted an excuse to stay, a reason to get away from her husband, hopefully ex husband soon, in Switzerland. Joining Billy in the Power Chamber seemed like as good of an excuse as any. She used to have a crush on the blue ranger back in high school, all the way up till she left for the Peace Conferences. It was after she arrived there that she met Jeremy. He had just moved to Switzerland from Ameirca as well, though he was there for schooling, not the Peace Conferences.

Jason looked at both Kim and Carri. He could tell that they were going to have to have a talk later about teamwork with their exboyfriends. "Well, it seems that we have our team now. Thank you all for coming out to listen to us, and sorry it was on such short notice, but we needed a team right away."

"I would drop anything if it meant defending the Earth in any way that I could!" Cole, the red Wild Force ranger said. Jason couldn't help but crack a half smile at his enthusiasm. He had been very impressed with Cole when he first saw him in action, even if he didn't admit it.

"Again, thank you." Jason said as he stepped back to go fill Tommy, Rocky, Billy, and Trini in on everything.

The group of seven had made their way to the smaller conference room that Tommy had originally used for the Serpentera mission so that the group could talk about where to go from here and how to do it. He wasn't exactly sure how thing were going to go on the team between him and Kimberly, or even him and Jason. He had witnessed Carri ad Rocky's relationship throughout highschool and college and he assumed that they would just pick back up where they left off. But only time would tell. "So," Tommy said, gathering everyone's attention as he turned to face Billy, "you said you could provide us with a new power source? How do we get it?" He had to admit that finding a new power source out of the blue wasn't very likely, but it had been done before.

Billy turned to look at his old friend and nodded. "We just teleport back to the Power Chamber. I have it there."

Jason looked over at Tommy, it sounded like he was trying to take command of the team. But he would wait and see if Tommy started barking out orders before he said anything. "Can you tell us what it's called?"

Billy chuckled a little before replying "I found it in the ruins of the Power Chamber after the Turbo's battle against Divatox." He watched as both Jason and Kimberly looked at each other at the mention of her name. "And I believe I managed to recharge it."

"That's great and all," Tommy said, getting impatient, "but what is it?"

"The Zeo Crystal." Billy replied, looking around the table at the five rangers and Trini.