Chapter Forty-nine

For Whom the Bell Trolls

"Where'd you guys go?" demanded a bewildered Ethan as they approached. He was standing with Conner about ten feet from a miniature riot in the middle of the aisle. Currently, Zack was on the receiving end of one of Rocky's airborne hugs, Adam was exchanging an old-school secret handshake ritual with Jason, and everyone walking or driving past was staring at them.

"Trent was defending his territory," Kira deadpanned.

"What?" Conner looked at her, confused.

"Never mind," Trent said, smiling at them innocently.

"Guys!" Jason called, waving them over. Shrugging, they crept closer. "These are the Dino Rangers," he whispered to Adam and Rocky.

"We've already met Kira and Trent," Adam said. "So those two must be Red and Blue?"

"I'm Ethan," Ethan said, extending his hand. "I'm the Blue."

"Adam, second Black, Green Zeo, first Green Turbo."

"Rocky, second Red, Blue Zeo."

Ethan frowned at him. "You're a Red… and a Blue?"

"There have only been two of those before, Ethan, don't worry," Kimberly said, struggling not to laugh. "And they were both Red first, not Blue."

"Me and T.J.," Rocky said, nodding.

"You're the second Red ever?" Conner asked. "Wow." Rocky grinned at him.

"So you're Black now, huh?" Adam asked Tommy. "Humph. Didn't you have enough colors?"

"I was Green long before you were, buddy," Tommy mock-growled.

"Well, if you'd stop switching around, the rest of us wouldn't have to find new colors," Adam retorted with a grin. "Makes the wardrobe selection pretty difficult."

"Hey, try having four colors, pal."

Rocky and Adam both grimaced and looked down at their outfits.

"Hey, question," Kira called, raising her hand to get their attention. "Where's the second Yellow, anyway?"

"Aisha? Er… there was this time-travel incident and she became a veterinarian in Africa… long story. She doesn't often get to come back to the U.S.," Tommy explained.

"Actually," Adam said, "I called Tanya on our way over. As soon as she heard Billy was back, she swore she'd be at Power Rangers Day, and—"

"I thought she was visiting Aisha in Africa right now," Tommy interrupted, confused.

"She is. I was going to go too, but I was kind of wiped from my last film and I wasn't too keen on getting all the malaria shots. Besides, Tanya's really busy with fundraising for the poor and trying to get Aisha to record an album with her." He smiled; Tanya was always begging Aisha to collaborate on an album, but Aisha was happy in Africa and wasn't very interested in fame. "When I contacted her to tell her about Power Rangers Day and Billy, she said she and Aisha would fly back on Friday; they've got some major fundraiser tomorrow."

"They're coming all the way back from Africa just for Power Rangers Day?" Kimberly asked, surprised but pleased.

Adam shrugged. "Why not? Tanya's got enough money to fly all of Zimbabwe here for Power Rangers Day. And Aisha got all excited about Billy and hoping that you might come, Kimberly."

"I haven't seen her face-to-face since I left," Kimberly said, nodding. "I'm still not clear on how she ended up in Africa, exactly. Trini keeps trying to explain…"

"Maybe Sha can do a better job when she gets here, since, you know, it happened to her," Rocky suggested. "If I hadn't been there, it would have gone right over my head, too."

"I can't wait to see her," Billy said happily. "I haven't seen either of them since Jason's wedding, and things were so hectic then."

"I probably had the only wedding in the world attended by aliens, Power Rangers and pop stars," Jason said ruefully.

"You forgot the paparazzi," Trini pointed out.

"The paparazzi came to your wedding?" Kira asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Until we found them and threatened to kick their butts," Jason growled. "At which point, they left. My wedding was utter chaos; we didn't need the media running around. With the exception of Kimberly, the Galaxy Rangers and a couple members of Time Force, every Ranger on the planet was there, up through Wild Force. And Trey, the guy I took the Gold Ranger powers from, he swung by with a bunch of important people from Triforia, his planet—"

"They look fairly human, but they dressed oddly and there were seven or eight sets of triplets with his group," Trini said. "Something about being tri-fold beings."

"So that was about thirty-five Triforians, plus the six Aquitians that came in with Billy, and Wes and Eric showed up with practically an army of Silver Guardians," Jason finished. "You'd think they, at least, would have acted normal, but they wouldn't stop saluting me and Trini and a couple of the others whenever we walked by. My mom even asked me why the Silver Guardians kept whispering that I was a hero."

"Jason's always been practically worshipped by other Rangers, especially Reds," Rocky explained, a tad enviously. "And Trini has her own fan club of Yellows. The two of them getting married? Chaos. Even the Alien Rangers were there."

"Boy, were they," Billy muttered. The wedding had been his only trip back, other than the one to collect his stuff shortly after leaving, and it had been spent primarily running around keeping the aliens from freaking out the normal humans. Even though the other Rangers had caused quite a few awkward scenes, the antics of the Aquitians had overshadowed them all.

"Only Cole came close to causing the mess they did," Trini said. "Remember how he sat down and had a conversation with my grandfather's seeing-eye dog?"

"Yeah, that was great," Jason said, grinning. Cole had become one of his favorite successors, mostly because Cole wasn't shy about admitting how awestruck he was in Jason's presence.

"So why were the paparazzi there?" Conner pressed. "I mean, Ranger identities are all secret, right?"

"Except for the Space Rangers and Lightspeed Rescue," Adam replied. "Trouble was, we were all trying to chat with other teams without letting any civilians know what we were talking about, so we definitely didn't want the media sitting next to us. They were there because, well—"

"There's quite a few famous ex-Rangers out there," Trini finished. "T.J. and the Space Rangers are famous just for being Rangers, but then there are people like Tanya."

"What's she famous for?" Conner asked.

"You've never heard of Tanya Sloan?" Tommy asked incredulously.

Conner's eyes widened. "Tanya S—?"

"Tanya Sloan?" Kira interrupted with a shriek. "THE Tanya Sloan? She's a Ran—a Ranger? A Yellow Ranger?" Kira demanded, barely remembering to keep her voice down in time.

"I take it you've heard of her," Adam said with a grin.

"Are you kidding me? She's only one of the most amazing singers alive! I love her music! She's got such a beautiful voice! And she's a great person, always donating money and time to charities in Africa. I even have her biography."

"You bought her biography?" Adam asked.

"Yeah! It's amazing. It talked about her living in Angel Grove, but I didn't think she was a Yellow! It's a great book. Even came with all these color photos, most of which include her really hot boyfriend…" Kira paused, slightly embarrassed that she was ranting, and she certainly hadn't meant to mention the fact that she thought Tanya Sloan's boyfriend was hot in front of Trent, but the thought that Tanya Sloan had once worn her color was rather overwhelming. Then she glanced at the blushing Adam and a sudden thought struck her. "Her boyfriend… come to think of it… looks…" A rising feeling of dread was building in her stomach.

"Looks a whole lot like Adam," Rocky finished, struggling not to laugh. "They've been together since our Ranger days."

"Mortified" didn't begin to describe Kira. "Can I die now?" she asked in a small voice.

Tommy cleared his throat. "And ignoring that completely awkward moment, we move on." Adam and Kira nodded vigorously, though Adam looked like he was torn between smirking and cringing. Trent was now staring at him with something close to dislike.

"Wait a second," Rocky said. "As long as we're in the middle of an uncomfortable moment, can I ask when you started hanging out with Kim again? We were gonna ask when Trini called, but we got kinda distracted when we heard Billy was back…"

There was a long pause as everyone looked from Tommy to Kimberly in expectant nervousness. Kimberly blushed and looked down at her shoes.

"If I can't ask, feel free to hit me," Rocky offered quickly. "I'm totally cool with that."

Tommy just shrugged, forcing himself to appear utterly calm. "We all got together on Saturday," he said nonchalantly. "Turns out they're expecting the White Ranger to show up at Power Rangers Day, too. So Kim and I both came into town, and here we are."

"Well, as long as no one's going to smack me for being the blunt one," Rocky said carefully, looking from Ranger to Ranger as if making sure no one was indeed going to hurt him, "are you two uh, you know…?"

"We're friends." Tommy smiled weakly.

"So Aisha and Tanya are coming in for Power Rangers Day?" Billy said loudly, with the desperate tone of one trying to salvage the conversation.

"Yeah. Should be here Friday evening. You know, we were actually going to swing by Jason's tonight and see which of us you wanted to wear the Blue suit," Adam said quickly.

"You know, because we figured there wouldn't be anyone to be Blue. And Adam was going to make me do it," Rocky added.

"You are a Blue," Adam pointed out as if continuing a previous argument.

"Yeah, but I'm a complete different size than Billy, especially ten-years-ago Billy. No way would I fit." He paused and looked Billy up and down. "Hey, man, have you been bulking up?"

"A little," Billy said with a shrug. He frowned. "Hmm. I hope my improved physique will not have negative consequences regarding my attendance at Power Rangers Day."

"Same old Billy," Rocky said happily. "My brain just automatically shut off after the sixth word or so."

"I got to eight," Adam said proudly. It wasn't that their vocabularies weren't large enough to process; it was just that something about the way Billy spoke shut off their brains in preparation for a nine-syllable word involving science and/or electronics. The only reason they'd been able to survive the days post-Trini was because Billy had toned it way down, and whenever he had to tell them something scientific they'd begun to practice "Billy-editing," wherein they focused on the words they did understand and looked the rest up in a dictionary later.

"We should have Billy try on the suit when we get back, make sure it still fits," Trini said. She looked speculatively at Conner, Ethan and Trent. "I suppose there's a chance that someone else will have to wear it."

"Wear the original Blue Ranger suit?" Ethan asked eagerly.

"Maybe," Billy said, a little defensively.

"I'm sure it'll stretch. It's spandex," Tommy told him reassuringly. "Or, well, some mystical version of spandex."

"Speaking of the Ranger suits…" Adam suddenly smacked Zack upside the head.

"Hey! What was that for?" Zack demanded.

"For leaving your ringer off all night when you people were making my morpher go haywire."

"Oops," Zack said, pulling out his cell phone and flipping it open. "Thirty-three missed calls… what the…?"

"I did not call thirty-three times," Adam said quickly. "More like… um… twenty or so."

"When was the last time you had an incoming call?" Jason asked Zack suspiciously.

"Um…" Zack shrugged helplessly. "I don't remember. I put it on silent when I went to the movies last Friday and Curtis called during the previews so I turned it off after I hung up and…"

"Of course." Adam sighed. "What about you, Tommy? Your phone was off earlier."

"That was Zack's fault, too. He locked me out of the room and by the time I got back in, I'd forgotten about charging the phone."

"Thanks a lot, Zack," Adam growled, playfully shoving Zack.

"Hey, at least you weren't in public with your cousin and two hot chicks at a VERY expensive restaurant when someone decided to morph with a damaged Power Coin, despite the fact that they could have easily morphed into Zeo Ranger Three."

"Four, Zack," Adam replied in exasperation. "I was Four. Rocky was Three."

"Whatever. Why'd they even bother numbering you, anyway? In case one of you went colorblind?"

"I don't think you can go colorblind," Conner said thoughtfully. "I think you have to be born that way."

"My point exactly," Zack said. "You didn't have to go ruining my date. Or setting my butt on fire."

"Your butt was not on fire! And for crying out loud, I said I was sorry."

"I'm just saying—"

"The exact same thing you've said sixty times already," Adam interrupted.

"Yeah, well—"

"Anyway," Rocky said, "Carlos called us not too long ago, said he'd heard from T.J. and that the Walter mess was straightened out."

"Yeah, T.J. called me right before Trini called you," Jason said.

"How cool is that?" Ethan said, grinning in what Conner called his "Geek Mode" way, all his teeth showing and a squeal threatening to follow. "Our science teacher, legendary Power Ranger, sent his friend to beat someone up."

"I know!" Conner exclaimed. "That's so awesome. Too bad we can't tell anyone about it."

"I'll put it in my comic book," Trent said. "Carson and I are going to turn it into a whole series. It's gotten kind of popular. Come to think of it, this vacation would be some great material, and—"

"Ahem!" Tommy said loudly.

"Sorry, Dr. O," the three boys chorused automatically.

Rocky shook his head. "Figures Tommy would get tagged as the first Black Ranger. Just after his gig as the—what is it? Fifth?—Black Ranger."

"I don't get it," Tommy complained. "What did I do in a past life to have karma like this? I was the first Green. I was the first White. I was the third Red. I was the fifth Black—sixth, if you count Corcus. How did I end up as the first Black?"

"Don't worry, Tommy, I'm sure everyone will have forgotten about it by the time you become the first Orange," Jason deadpanned. The others laughed. Tommy punched him in the arm hard enough to make him stagger.

"As much fun as this is, can we go to the carnival now?" Conner asked.

"Oh. Right," Trini said. They'd been having so much fun chatting in the middle of the parking lot that she'd forgotten her mission of the day.

"Amen that," Rocky said fervently. "Let's go." He nodded at Conner. "Conner, right?"

"Yeah."

"Red Dino. That's so cool. Did you have a Tyrannosaurus?"

"Yep."

"Awesome. I didn't get to use the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord. By the time Jason left, it was the Red Dragon. Only tyrannosaurus I got to use was saying it in the morphing call and while summoning the Red Dragon. But a Tyrannosaurus zord… man, does that sound cool."

"I got to use this Triassic Mega-Rover thing too. It had a Megazord mode, and this cool Wheel Spin Attack—"

"They're going to get along famously," Tommy said, smiling slightly as he followed the two towards the entrance.

Kira plucked up her courage and pushed her way past the others to get next to Adam. "So. You're Tanya Sloan's boyfriend."

"Yes," Adam said, somewhat resignedly. Tanya was a huge star… so he'd been forced to get used to this sort of thing.

"What's she really like?" Kira asked. "Is she as nice as everyone says she is?"

"Um… well, yeah. She's a really sweet person," Adam agreed, trying to think of a way out of discussing Tanya. It didn't escape his attention that some of the others were smirking and chuckling… or that Trent was Watching Him.

"Is it true her parents were like kidnapped for years and years?"

"You know… you're going to get to meet Tanya on Saturday," Adam said, hoping this would deter further questioning.

"Oh my god!" Kira screamed. "I'm going to get to meet Tanya Sloan! Trent—"

"I heard," Trent said, wincing. His ears were now ringing, in fact. He knew Kira had a tendency to get star struck, and that he should keep his distance when she was discussing one of her idols with someone who knew said idol, but his newfound leeriness of Adam had overruled his common sense. He searched around for something to distract Kira from further ranting, knowing his eardrums couldn't take it. "Hey, Dr. O! Are you paying for our tickets, or are we?"

"I will," Tommy replied, fishing in his wallet for Anton's credit card. Under his breath, he added, "If I'm going to be tortured all day, at least it'll be free."

"You don't think that same person will be working at the entrance, do you?" Jason asked suddenly, looking worried.

"What same person?" Adam asked, trying to escape now that Kira was busy squealing to Trent.

Tommy sighed. "Just some random weird woman. Told Kim that she should make me pay."

"And I said he was going to make up for it by winning me lots of stuff," Kimberly said. "Like that pretty blue mirror, and that big stuffed tiger, and that cute little—"

"Kim was right," Tommy interrupted sheepishly.

"God, I hope there's a different person working there," Jason muttered. "Zack was so broke that I had to pay for his ticket bracelet, and the woman thought we were dating."

"Told me Jason was a keeper and not to let him go," Zack deadpanned. "I promised I wouldn't. If it weren't for that backstabbing Trini, we'd still be together, me and my big, strong hero… oh, Jason, why did you forsake me for that little trollop after all the special things we shared—"

"Shut up, Zack," Jason groaned as the others laughed. "It wouldn't have been that bad, if Zack hadn't made dumb jokes for an hour afterwards."

"And if Neil from the football team hadn't been that woman's… what was it? Nephew?" Billy said.

"Oh, yeah." Jason winced. "Neil thought we were a cute couple. Wouldn't stop cooing about it. Took me ages to convince the rest of the football team that I wasn't with Zack after all."

"I remember that," Zack said with relish. "The guys threatened to beat you up if you ever hurt me."

Jason glared at him. "Yeah. I remember that, too. You tried to hold it over my head."

Kimberly giggled. "Yeah, a couple days later, Jason and Zack were hanging out at my house, and Zack tried to order Jason to bring him a Coke, and then Jason was all 'I'm not your slave' and Zack was all 'I'll tell the football team you made me cry' and Jason was all 'You think I can't take the football team?' and Zack was all, 'Fine, I'll tell them you made me cry and insulted my kissing skills' and eventually Jason knocked Zack unconscious with a can of Coke. It was great."

"Even after I finally convinced them I wasn't with Zack, it took a long time for them to believe that I wasn't even gay," Jason complained.

"Yeah, you got hit on more than I did for a while there," Kimberly said with amusement. "And by cuter guys, too."

"And they wonder why I eventually started blasting holes in the cafeteria ceiling," Jason muttered.

"Oh, please, that was like six months after the whole Neil mess," Kimberly said.

"And anyway, look on the bright side," Zack said cheerfully. "It only took them a few days after they found you making out with Trini in the boys' locker room to realize that you were actually into girls."

"That was a huge sacrifice on my part," Trini grumbled. "I actually got yelled at by a couple of people for trying to turn him straight."

"Hey, at least you didn't have to listen to the team gossip about it," Billy said dryly. "I had to hear all about how Jason was just using you to get people off his back and try to 'sneak back into the closet,' and a whole bunch of rumors about how 'Zack will never smile again' and how heartbroken he was, pining away in his room. One guy even claimed that you were using Jason to get to Zack. It was unnerving, and people kept asking me strange questions."

"I think Neil wrote a play about the whole thing, didn't he?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah. Right when the rumors were starting to die down, Neil and a few of his friends put on the play in the Youth Center. I was mortified, thought it was going to start up again…" Jason shook his head. "Thankfully, though, everyone was just all entranced with the play and thought Neil was the coolest and kept asking him where he got his ideas. He neglected to tell them that he'd just been writing down people's rumors. Trini, Zack and I were completely forgotten."

"That was actually a good play," Billy said fairly.

Trini gaped at him. "Excuse me? My character was some evil, manipulative—"

"Cough choke cough," Tommy said dryly. Trini whacked him on the arm, hard.

"I liked the play, too," Kimberly said. "It made me cry. It was so sad when Jason's character told you he loved you but that he couldn't forgive you for poisoning Zack and stabbed you and then held you as you died… oh, I'm getting choked up just thinking about it…"

"See, Adam?" Rocky said. "I told you our lives aren't as psychotic as theirs."

"I owe you five bucks, then," Adam joked. "Well, last I heard, guys, Neil's off in Los Angeles trying to sell a script. I ran into him in a grocery store a few months back."

"I wish we'd been going to Angel Grove High when all that was going on," Rocky complained. "I'd have paid good money to see that play."

"Shut up, Rocky," Jason said, but he smiled faintly.

"Wow," Kira said. "Someone needs to write a book about you guys. I mean, even without the Ranger stuff, you guys get pretty amusing."

"You have no idea," Tommy said with a sigh. "Oh, before I forget—Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent. A few rules for the carnival, listen up."

"Rules? Come on, Dr. O, don't you think we're a little old for rules just to go to a carnival?" Ethan asked.

"I think you're all psychotic and your parents have put your lives in my hands. One of you dies, there's going to be uncomfortable questions," Tommy replied dryly. "Now—don't wander off without telling me. If you want to separate, let me know first. Don't leave the carnival grounds at all. Don't do stupid things like spitting off the chairlift or… I don't know, just pay attention to the signs at ride entrances. Don't antagonize people. And if you see a clown, warn us."

"You're afraid of clowns?" Conner asked incredulously.

"No, Kim's afraid of clowns, and Trini hasn't been too fond of them ever since that day one of them turned her cousin into a cardboard cutout," Zack told him.

"Wait—a clown turned her cousin…?"

"Into a cardboard cutout. While I was babysitting. Fake clown. Monster in disguise," Trini explained.

"Oh."

"That was so creepy," Kimberly complained. "I used to have nightmares as a kid about clowns that turned into monsters and tried to hurt me. Next thing I know, all these clowns are turning into Putties and attacking us."

"Glad I missed it," Tommy said.

"That was the day I built those improvisational stilts," Billy added. "I still have them in the garage. They're still a prototype, but come to think of it—"

"It would be an interesting project," Trini said. "I think the problem wasn't the wider base for the feet, but rather the fact that few people are used to using their hands to move their feet."

"Well, I was pondering whether it would be beneficial to create harnesses to prevent the feet from leaving their perch, but the problem tends to be the actual center of gravity, which means that—"

"Guys, they're stilts. They don't need to have remote controls," Jason said in exasperation.

There was a pause from Billy and Trini. Then an explosion of chatter, which none of them bothered trying to understand, save Ethan, who joined in with his own ideas about the practical applications of remote-control stilts.

"You just had to say it, didn't you," Tommy said to Jason.

"Wow," Rocky said, slightly awed. "I never did get to see Trini and Billy really go at it like that."

"It's really scary," Adam commented idly.

"Yup. Outside Ranger stuff, they freak me out," Zack said cheerfully. "Come on; we're wasting time."

Tommy approached the ticket booth and slapped down Anton's credit card. "Admission and—" he began, but his cell phone went off, making him jump badly.

He pulled it out and checked the caller ID—Hayley. Tommy frowned, then hastily put his phone back in his pocket. He doubted there was an emergency; if there was, she'd just beep him on the communicator eventually. He really didn't think it would be a good idea to explain to Hayley that Trini had just dragged him back to the place where he'd had his first date with Kimberly.

"Admission and all-day ticket bracelets for five adults, please," he continued, making a mental note to call Hayley later.

Melissa grumbled to herself as she hopped out of her beat-up car. She'd signed up for online bill-pay on just about every debt she had only to have her laptop's Internet blow up the day before half of her payments were due. Thank god for Hayley's Cyberspace.

Melissa reminded herself to thank the guys who'd told her about Cyberspace, a bunch of freshmen guys who lived on the fifth floor of her dorm and frequented gaming tournaments at the café. For some retarded reason, the computer lab at Reefside Tech had shut down for the week bridging spring and summer courses, so without the café she'd have been screwed. Cyberspace was mostly a high-school hangout, to be sure, but college techies weren't shy about strolling in when need be. The food and drinks were good, the owner was a sweetheart, that Trent guy who waited tables was hot, and the live bands were usually pretty awesome. All she cared about right now, however, was making sure she didn't have to shell out a ton of extra cash for late fees.

Melissa strolled through the swinging doors, already feeling better as she entered. The atmosphere here was so soothing, so mellow, so—

"Where were you on the night of April 13?"

"GAH!"

Melissa spun and promptly recoiled. A heavy-set man in a bandana and a skinny guy chomping on bubble gum were leaning over her, glaring down at her suspiciously. The big one wore a bright tie-dyed shirt while the skinny one seemed to have a fondness for camouflage, but both were decked out in a lot of black leather and spiky jewelry as well. Melissa hastily leaned away. "E-excuse me," she muttered, edging to the side and praying they weren't going to be staying long.

"Dodging our question, eh?" the skinny one said. "Feeling a little guilty, eh?"

"No…"

"Really? So where were you on the night of April 13?" the big one practically shouted.

"I don't know, I can't remember what I was doing way back in… wait! Party. I was at a party."

"A party? Likely story!" the skinny one barked.

"No, really, I was! Omar's birthday, I had a couple margaritas, didn't come home until three, honest! Wait, why am I even telling you this? Who are you people? Get out of my way!" Something about them seemed to inspire panic.

"Not until you tell us what you were really doing on the night of April 13," the big one growled.

"I. Was. At. A. Party. You. Freak!" Melissa snapped, edging backwards.

"Oh, reeeeally? Because we happen to know for a fact that you and your good pal Tommy Oliver were fighting the forces of evil on April 13!" the skinny one proclaimed.

"Fighting the… are you insane?"

"Are you insane, Pink Ranger?" he shot back.

"Pink Ranger?" she repeated blankly.

"Ah-ha! So you're the Yellow Ranger! Admit it! We've got you right where we want you!" the large one yelled.

"HEY!"

The three of them spun to see Hayley glaring at them from behind the counter, a long line of customers in front of her. "Bulk! Skull! You accost one more customer and not even the Power Rangers will save you from me, understand?"

"Bulk, what's 'accost' mean?" Skull asked.

"You hear that, Yellow Ranger? She just made a threat on our lives!" Bulk hissed, ignoring Skull. "Quick, transform and smack her down, before she can use her evil laser eye beams on us!"

"I'm going to smack you down in a minute," Melissa growled, shoving past him and heading over to Hayley. As she'd suspected, the two didn't follow her; Hayley's wrath appeared to extend for a good five-foot radius around her. "What was that?" she demanded of Hayley.

"My best friend's worst acquaintances," Hayley muttered. "I've been trying to get them to leave all day. If I end up beating one of them with a barstool, you didn't see anything, okay?"

"Correction—I saw him come at you with a twelve-inch hunting knife," Melissa replied. Hayley smiled wearily at her. Scowling in Bulk and Skull's general direction, Melissa went to go use the nearest terminal, determined to get out of the café as fast as she could.

Hayley, meanwhile, glanced back over at the interrogating pair and sighed as they took up their posts on either side of the door. Tommy, you're going to pay for this, she vowed, punching the buttons on the cash register a little harder than necessary.

End Notes: Again, sorry about updating. The carnival flashbacks that were supposed to go here have also been eaten, and replacing them turned out to be harder than we anticipated. However, the next chapter is flashback-free and just needs to be edited; it'll be up shortly. Very shortly. The next few bits of the saga are going to be some of the best, in my opinion.

Wisdom for the day: It is very annoying whenyour mother's boyfrienddecides to uproot the lawnwith a tractor and runs over the cable line, severing all Internet and television connections for four days.

The coming catastrophes:

1) "Dr. O told me no one else was evil as long as I was, except maybe Ryan, but I had my Gem longer, if you catch my drift," Trent continued pointedly.

2) "I've puked on the merry-go-round twice, man," Zack said confidentially to Conner, noticing that Conner looked a little embarrassed.

3) "Heh," Conner said sheepishly. Dr. O's going to kill me for this, Conner said, scanning the carnival for hiding places automatically.

4) "Kim, why would you think Kira is carrying my baby?"

5) Tommy shuddered. "Come on, Trini. It's time for you to do that words-of-wisdom thing. Tell me it'll be okay and that I'll never be Orange and no one will ever be Orange and make me believe it."

6) "Look, if we're not going to let Trini go anytime soon, can we tie her up or something?" Adam asked, exasperated.