A/N: The evil Ranger part of the story continues. Huge bombshell is dropped. Next chapter is the last one of the evil Conner arc.

A/N 2: I own nothing. Power Rangers once belonged to Saban, then they went to Disney, now they belong to Saban again.

Chapter 26: Red With Evil VI

Saturday, Oct. 9, 2004

Dino Thunder Lair

Reefside, CA

"You said you have your suspicions," Jason said as he looked at Divina, interest clearly crossing his face. "It isn't anyone in this room, is it?"

"No, not a chance. Rita and Zedd told me many times that when the Machines came to Earth, they pretty much gave up the ghost on destroying Earth. I am almost certain they are not involved."

"All I know is this: There is one person that I know of who constantly got in the way of relationships and lives and did it not just to further her own interests, but to do it for her own personal amusement," Divina said. "I was going to marry Trey...yes, that Trey, until my prime suspect stopped it and eventually turned me to the dark side. And if my suspicions are correct, she played a large role and Tommy and Kimberly's separation."

"Have any of us met her by chance?" Adam said.

"Tommy met her...once, and it was a nightmare. It was also right before he retired the first time and began his seven year quest," Divina said.

As soon as those words were uttered Tommy's face turned seven shades of pale and Kim had to catch him to keep him from blacking out.

"Great, now Tommy can't tell us who he thinks it is," Rocky said, as Kimberly took him upstairs.

"He can't but I understand why this freaks him out," Kat said, addressing the throng of Rangers. "Guys, Divina's prime suspect almost ended Tommy's life by dumping him into a vortex. He told me everything that happened before I left for London. If this is who Divina thinks it is, we are in a whole lot of trouble. A trial will be the least of our worries if Divina is correct."

"Indeed, Katherine is correct, Rangers," Zordon said. "Most of you have never met Divina's prime suspect but I have faced her and she is very dangerous. I don't know if it is her, but I get where Divina's headed."

"Keep this in mind also," Divina said. "My prime suspect has always been very close to Master Vile and his family. This would be right down her alley."

Meanwhile...

Upstairs in what was normally the sanctity of Tommy's bedroom, it had taken a few minutes but Kim had finally successfully revived Tommy.

"Wakey, Wakey handsome, it's me," Kimberly said. Tommy groaned as he finally revived. He was still somewhat pale but not near as pale as when he'd just blacked out.

"Oh, God can someone get the name of that license plate...Kim, thank God," Tommy said as he finally regained his bearings.

"You gave me quite a scare there, flyboy," Kimberly said. "You blacked out and turned all kinds of pale when Divina was talking."

"Oh yeah, that," Tommy said, fixing his gaze on the other half of his very soul.

"Kim, I was the one more than any other to meet Divina's prime suspect. She tried to end my life before I could start on my quest to get you back," Tommy said. "If it hadn't been for TJ and Cassie...no Tommy Oliver."

"If this is her, my God we're in a whole lot of trouble. She hates me more than any other Ranger and she is obsessed with destroying me," Tommy said. "She freaks me out enough that I dare not speak her name."

"Well, back then she didn't have to deal with me," Kimberly responded. "Lest you forget I have a stake in this too. If some alien freak had the audacity to impersonate as my mother for seven years, then I will make them wish they were never alive."

"Whoever this freak is may have weakened you back then but you were without your other half. I'm here now and nothing comes between us...ever again," Kimberly said.

"Please don't make promises you can't keep, Kim," Tommy said. "I just got you back and we've gotten our ass kicked twice by one of our own. I'm so close to having what I want...I can't lose you again. How in the world do we get him back? Who's to say we won't get it kicked a third time?"

"For now, we stick together," Kim said. "The team crumbling in the wake of adversity would be exactly what Adrianna wants, what this freak who's been messing with us would want, it's what Mesogog would have wanted...when he was still alive."

"And no matter how long our lives last, we'll always have each other. We can't be without each other, that's just fact. I'm never going away ever again...even if our lives have to end tomorrow," Kimberly said.

"Which they won't."

Finally, Tommy's mind was put at ease again.

The thought of an old enemy potentially still out there trying to destroy all they held dear...did not matter at the moment.

Right now, the Lord of the Skies had his Lady, and the Lady of the Skies had her Lord and they were together like they felt it should have been all along.

No matter how long it lasted, they were going to enjoy every moment together that they could possibly have.

And with a little luck, maybe just maybe they could still have the life they wanted.

Fortunately for them, things that had seemingly gone wrong over the last eight years, were about to go right and they didn't even know it.

The mood, as a wise man from Brooklyn once said, was about to change.

Downstairs back in the lab, no one noticed (because they didn't see it because it was stowed away in a safe place where no one could find it) the red Dino Gem begin to glow.

Adrianna Repulsa's Palace, her bedroom

Same Time

Goldar hadn't been kidding when he said Adrianna would want time with Conner.

The second he'd come back to her palace, Adrianna had whisked her soldiers away after complimenting them for a job well done, and then when she was alone with her "man," she'd taken him to her bedroom and they'd made love ever since. It'd been a really long session too...normally this would have been dinner time but she was having so much fun with him that she didn't want to stop.

That was, until all that sex had made her tired. She'd crashed into the bed, Conner's arm draped over her naked, wet body.

Her dreams were now filled with endless possibilities. What was once a guy who would only last until the Rangers were destroyed (at which point she'd destroy this young one herself) were now dreams of him ruling by her side. Master Vile was no longer here, but she liked Conner and not just as a plaything. He was just stubborn enough, had learned about the ways of evil quickly and was getting better with each day.

She was so lost in her thoughts about her "man" that she didn't notice the faint, glowing red light across the room. Conner, however, did as he tossed around in the bed, and looked at it curiously.

Little did she know it was to be the beginning of her downfall...and the downfall of her accomplice.

'You must come with me young one,' a faint voice from the direction of the light said. 'There isn't much time.'

"The heck...who are you?" Conner murmured.

'I am you and you are me, Mr. McKnight. Come, follow me, before Adrianna wakes up.'

Shrugging, Conner unlatched himself carefully from Adrianna, quietly climbed out of the bed and started following the light out the door. He found it curious that the light was moving as if it had a mind of its own.

He followed the faint red light down several flights of stairs; 99 percent of the way it was just the light and Conner.

After what seemed like forever, the light took Conner down into a cave and as he stepped in, the opening to the cave sealed shut. They appeared to be below the palace itself.

The first thing Conner noticed was that the magic of the place was overwhelming. The good magic, certainly. It was also cold in the cave especially for Conner since he was completely naked.

Not more than two minutes inside the cave, Conner began clutching his head in pain. Still, he willed himself to keep following where the red light was headed, and kept going even through the he pain.

As he walked, the pain remained although it dulled. What he didn't realize was happening was that the magic of the cave was eating away at Adrianna's hypnotic spell.

Before he could do anything else, he rounded a corner and suddenly, the light stopped.

There, in front of him, was a woman in such bad shape. She appeared to be an older woman in her lower to mid 50s. Conner didn't know anything at that point except that a woman was in trouble and he had to help. He felt around for a pulse and found one, though it wasn't that strong. Conner surmised that only the magic of the cave was keeping this woman alive.

"Who...who is this," the woman said in a broken voice. "Can you help me?"

"I'll do anything I can, Miss..."

"Hart-Dumas," the woman said. "I've been prisoner in this God awful place for years and I just want to go home. To go back to my daughter and tell her I am sorry. If I'd have known she was a Power Ranger I'd have never treated her like I did."

"Is there any way to get this woman out of here?" Conner seemed to ask out of thin air.

'Have her press the button that glows and it will teleport her out of here,' the faint voice said. The older woman had heard too and she noticed a faint glow on one of the buttons. She pressed it and it teleported her out of the cave without anyone noticing it.

'Now then, young one you must go back up to Adrianna,' the faint voice said.

"Why? I wasn't in control of my actions when I was with her," Conner retorted.

'True enough but if you don't go back up there, Adrianna and those of her ilk will suspect something is wrong,' the faint voice said. 'At the next battle, your soulmate, your team, your mentor and his Crane will guide you home.'

"Fine," Conner said. "Will you at least come back up with me?"

'Definitely. I am you and you are me,' the faint voice said. With that, Conner followed the light out of the cave and back from whence he came.

The Dino Thunder Lair

Same Time

Everyone had left the lair to go blow some steam off around the house, but Zordon, Divina and Hayley had remained.

"Honey, come look at this," Hayley said as she beckoned to Zordon to come over to the computer where she was at. "I'm picking up something that just teleported into the atmosphere...and it landed in the forest not too far from here."

"Bring it up on screen," Zordon said. The image that came up made both Zordon and Hayley's heart break.

The same woman who had acted like such an ass at a funeral not two months before had reappeared, only this lady was much different. In fact, this version of that lady, the real one, had not been at that funeral at all. In fact, she hadn't even been on Earth in many years.

"Is that Kim's mother? She looks like she's crying," Hayley said.

"I think it is. And it looks like she's in really bad shape," Zordon said.

'That's because I brought her home...convinced the one I am bonded to, Conner, to let her go free,' a voice said from out of nowhere.

"Is the Red Dino Gem really talking to us, Hayley?" Zordon said.

"Remember, the gems are bonded to that person and it's permanent. If the need arises, the gems can act for the benefit of their chosen ones," Hayley said.

'Hayley is correct but that isn't important right now. You need to bring Mrs. Hart-Dumas in here before Adrianna or her goons suspect,' the voice said. 'Mrs. Hart-Dumas carries something very important and not just being Kimberly's blood mother... she carries the identity of Kimberly's fake mother.'

"Press the white button on your right, Hayley," Zordon ordered. Hayley did as she was told and moments later, the older woman was dumped on her ass in Tommy's lair. She was in very bad shape and Zordon and Hayley could see she was lucky to be alive.

"Check her pulse," Zordon ordered.

"It's faint," Hayley responded. "I can't imagine how long it's been since she's been fed any food or drank anything of substance."

Hayley also noticed she was talking, very faintly.

"If...this is a safe place...tell...Rangers...tell...Cherie...Mama D...destroy her...she's in Paris..." the real Caroline said before she blacked out.

"What did she say Hayley?" Zordon said.

"A lot of gibberish that I couldn't understand, something about telling the Rangers, telling her Cherie, something about Mama D..."

"I knew it!" Divina cried out. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! It just made too much sense!"

"What do you mean?" Hayley said.

"As you know, I knew Mama D all too well. She was always close to Master Vile's family and when Vile failed to conquer Earth it made not only Adrianna mad but Mama D mad as well. That's why she's obsessed with destroying Tommy and anyone close to him."

"To her, Tommy as the leader made him responsible for Vile's failures on Earth as well as anyone close to him and that includes Kimberly and Adrianna feels the same way," Divina said.

"It would not surprise me if they hatched a plan where Adrianna sent the letter then captured Kimberly's mother, and allowed Mama D to go to Earth and infiltrate the Hart-Dumas home and finish off Tommy by sealing him in that vortex," Divina said.

"Too bad she's going to lose then because the Morphin Grid always looks out for its own, like what happened just now," Hayley said. "Do we call the Rangers back down here?"

"No. absolutely not. We will tell them first thing in the morning," Zordon said.

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