Chapter 117

Rita's Seed of Evil

"What's a Scorpina?" Tori asked nervously.

"Scorpina was Rita's friend and general," Adam replied, not taking his eyes off the girl as he spoke. "I only met her once, and let's just say it didn't go well. That's her human form, Sabrina."

Tori's stomach dropped as the situation sank in. Thousands of civilians and a powerful evil villain in human disguise? "What do we do?"

Adam shook his head. "Not sure yet. I need to think this through."

Tori nodded and they lapsed into a silence so tense that Tori couldn't help but break it. "Can I help you think?"

Adam made a frustrated sound. "We can't fight her here, out in the open."

"We could call the Space Rangers," Tori suggested.

"They don't use the same communicator frequency as I do—Andros modified their communicators once they became Space Rangers. I could call their cell phones, but I don't know if they'd answer when they're in the middle of signing autographs; their phones might be off, and the same goes for Lightspeed and Time Force. Besides, if I draw any of the public ID guys out here, they're not going to know what Scorpina looks like unless I talk to them directly and point her out, which is still dangerous to my identity and even if it wasn't, it's not a good idea to fight a monster as powerful as Scorpina in a field full of civilians. I think my best bet is probably to go Zeo and fight her myself without risking talking to a public ID Ranger, but I have to get her away from all these people first, and for all I know the moment she sees me she'll transform into her villain getup and attack me, at which point I'll have to morph and fast, and all these people…" He sighed. "Anyway, I've got to wait for backup. Kat forgot her morpher in Australia and Tanya's chatting up a news crew, but Rocky, Aisha and I can probably take Scorpina, especially since me and Rocky have Zeo powers instead of Mighty Morphin, but if she grows we'll be in trouble. I'm not even sure she can grow, though. Argh, what kind of idiot evil villain shows up at Power Rangers Day?"

"Evil villains aren't known for their smarts," Tori quipped. "Well. Maybe we can—"

"Where is she?" demanded Aisha, stomping over like an enraged bear. "I'm gonna kill her like she's never been killed before. I'm gonna destroy her. I'm gonna eliminate her. The thing with the duffel bag? Tying me to a tree? I'll show her. I'm gonna—"

"Shh! She's right over there," Adam hissed, pointing.

Aisha started to charge towards Scorpina, but Adam grabbed her arm and held her back. Rocky came jogging up, looking worried. "Hey! Are you sure it's Scorpina?"

"That's her, all right," Aisha growled before Adam could answer. "I'd know that ugly mug anywhere."

Rocky glanced around until he spotted her. "Huh. She looks exactly like she did that time she seduced Adam," Rocky commented. "I guess evil alien creatures don't really age, huh?"

"Let's do it," Aisha snarled. "It's morph—"

"SHH!" Adam clapped a hand over Aisha's mouth. "Calm down! We can't attack her in broad daylight in front of all these people! We have to come up with a plan!"

The moment Adam removed his hand, Aisha said, "Fine. As long as our plan involves me getting to stomp her. Nobody messes with my Adam."

"What exactly…?" Tori began.

Adam winced. "Don't ask," he said, but Rocky spoke over him.

"Oh, Adam needed a date for this dance and Scorpina tried to ask him," Rocky supplied brightly. "In her human form, of course. The three of us were new to the whole Ranger gig so we didn't know her. It ranks number three on our list of weirdest evil villain plans."

"Most inappropriate evil villain plans," Aisha corrected him. "Weirdest evil villain plans is the one with the pachinko."

"Oh, right," Rocky said. "I always get those confused. You'd think I'd remember what with most inappropriate being the list where Zedd wanted Kimberly to be his queen and everything." He laughed. "Ah, that cracks me up just thinking about it. Wish we had gotten to see that one go down."

Adam snorted. "Yeah, Kimberly dressed like Rita is pretty high on my list of things I wish I hadn't missed."

"Um," Tori said, "that sounds really interesting and all, but about Scorpina…"

"Right," Aisha said, clapping her hands together. "I'm going to kill her. You guys wait here."

"Hey, I wanna help," Rocky complained. "Anyway, you don't have your full powers."

"Yeah, but I can still fight, and she was horrible to me," Aisha argued. "She was—"

"I made out with her," Adam interrupted. Rocky and Aisha stared at him, apparently shocked by this revelation. "When I went to meet her for the hiking trip we started kissing and I heard Aisha calling for me and I pulled away and we went hiking and then the tree and Goldar and I never saw her again but the fact remains I made out with Scorpina."

Aisha let out a huff. "All right, fine. You can kill her."

"Can we help?" Rocky begged.

"Of course you can," Adam said, a note of exasperation entering his voice. "In fact, I'm not sure just the three of us can take her. And we're down a Zeo Ranger with Tommy up onstage and I doubt Tanya can slip off without being missed and I don't know where Kat is—she doesn't have her cell or communicator."

"I can control water," Tori offered, as the three seemed to have forgotten her. "And I've got my own team if we need backup." They regarded her with surprise. "Yes, we—I'm helping too," Tori added firmly. Rocky, Adam and Aisha looked at each other and shrugged. "I think if you want to get her into the trees, then I should go. She doesn't know me, so I've got the best shot of luring her out of sight."

"True," Adam agreed. "Any ideas on how to do it?"

"I was thinking lame excuse and then when that fails, a ninja-streak," Tori said. "I'm pretty sure I can grab her and streak into the woods before she knows what hit her, if I have to, but I'll try the lame excuse thing first."

"Tell her that a guy in a weird costume named Goldar was looking for her," Adam suggested. "She and Goldar were pretty tight back in the day, from what I've heard—I don't know if he's dead or alive, but regardless she'll be curious to see him if you say he's in the park. And call her Sabrina; that's probably the name she'll use in human form."

"Got it," Tori said. "Follow a few feet back. Don't morph until we're out of sight."

"Sure thing," Aisha agreed.

Tori tossed her hair back, squared her shoulders and started across the meadow. Scorpina didn't notice her until Tori was almost within arm's reach, at which point she broke into a smile. "Hello, Power Ranger," Scorpina said. "Can you direct me to the Ranger named Adam Park?"

Tori blinked stupidly at her. "Huh?"

"I'm looking for Adam Park," Scorpina explained. "I've come to find him. You wouldn't know where he is, would you?"

"…Actually he sent me to ask you to meet him in the trees," Tori admitted, figuring she might as well run with it.

"Great. I wondered how we could have a decent conversation with all these humans around." She made a face at the word "humans," as though she were discussing a cousin of the cockroach. "Lead me to him."

There was no way Tori was letting an evil ex-villainess get behind her, so Tori very carefully turned towards the woods and motioned for Scorpina to start walking. Scorpina nodded and fell into step beside Tori, seemingly without a care in the world. Tori wondered if Scorpina was powerful enough not to worry about Tori being a Ranger, or just too stupid to feel threatened. Maybe she should have asked Rocky, Adam and Aisha for fighting tips ahead of time; Tori didn't even know what Scorpina's powers were.

"So," Tori asked hesitantly, "how'd you know I was a… you know…" She didn't want to say the word, even though the crowd was pretty thin at this edge of the meadow.

"A Power Ranger? I get the newsletter."

"There's a newsletter?" Tori asked in confusion.

Scorpina nodded. "It features all sorts of information about Ranger teams throughout the universe and mentions which planets are vulnerable, things like that."

Tori frowned. "It isn't called The Galaxy Gazette, is it?"

"You've heard of it?"

"My friends Marah and Kapri have a subscription," Tori muttered. She hadn't known the subject matter of it, but both girls had referenced it at one point or another.

"Oh, Marah and Kapri," Scorpina said, a tad sadly. "I was disappointed to hear they were ninjas now. We all had high hopes for them, what with their connections and background. Their father is so embarrassed. I heard he got laughed out of a tavern on Onyx and there are rumors that his minions are looking for a new overlord."

Tori had no idea what to say to that, so she didn't comment. She and Scorpina entered the trees and Tori headed for the clearing where the group of Rangers had hung out earlier, not knowing where else to go. "So, um… you're evil?" Tori asked, just because Scorpina's serene expression was a little disturbing.

"No. A few years back Zordon's life force was freed from its confines and it swept through the galaxy, removing a lot of negative energy—including mine. Now I'm normal."

"Ah." Tori wondered if it would be rude to ask what "normal" meant exactly, and decided not to risk upsetting Scorpina when Scorpina was currently nonviolent. Still, a little clarification of her motives couldn't hurt. "So you're not, um, you know… trying to take over the world?"

"Oh, that was all Rita's plan," Scorpina replied, waving a hand dismissively. "She's always been a bit dramatic. I was only in it for the fun, but it didn't stay fun for long. There were other planets to conquer—ones without superheroes defending them. Of course, that was while I was evil."

"What do you do now?" Tori asked.

"I'm an intergalactic mercenary."

"Oh. I see. And you're here to challenge Adam?"

"Who said anything about challenge?" Scorpina asked, appearing genuinely surprised.

"Um…"

"Scorpina!" came a sudden roar from behind them. Tori and Scorpina whirled around to see the Green Zeo Ranger flanked by the Blue Zeo Ranger and the Yellow Ninja Ranger, all of them in fighting stances.

"Adam!" Scorpina exclaimed happily. "It's so good to see you again! Why are you morphed?"

There was a pause, during which Tori carefully backed away from Scorpina. Finally Aisha shouted, "You're going down, you twofaced witch!"

Scorpina glared at her. "Honestly, Adam, do you bring her everywhere? I need to talk to you alone."

"Not a chance," Adam said flatly. "And don't try to trick me into demorphing, either. Tori's watching our back—" Tori hadn't been, actually, she'd been watching Scorpina, but she took Adam's suggestion and trained her eyes on the area behind them, looking for threats— "so don't bother trying to get your minions behind us. Let's just fight and get it over with."

"Yeah, how 'bout you be up front for once?" Aisha taunted.

Scorpina ignored her. "I don't want to fight, Adam. I came to apologize."

Adam snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Didn't you hear about Zordon's sacrifice?" Scorpina demanded. "It made the news pretty much everywhere with technology. It wiped out entire planets!"

"…We heard," Adam said slowly, sounding uncertain for the first time. "The Gold Ranger sent word through the Space Rangers about Rita and Zedd."

"They said to give you their regards, by the way," Scorpina said, as though just remembering. "When they heard there was going to be a Power Rangers Day they decided to take a second honeymoon. They said they wanted to put as many galaxies between them and Earth as possible come Power Rangers Day."

"Good to know," Rocky muttered. "Evil or not, the last thing we need right now is those two showing up."

"Anyway, I'm not evil anymore," Scorpina announced. "Neither are a lot of the people you used to fight. I've been looking for you for quite some time, actually, but you're not an easy person to find."

"Also good to know," Rocky said.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you," Scorpina continued. "I feel terrible about accepting that contract from Zedd. You have to understand—it wasn't me, though. Not entirely. I'm normal now."

Adam exchanged uneasy looks with Rocky and Aisha. "You don't have powers now?" he asked.

"Oh, I have powers," Scorpina said. "Those were always mine. The evil, though—that was caused by Master Vile, when he first became corrupted and set out to conquer the universe. He offered us a potion, said it would boost our power—we didn't realize it it would corrupt us as well. But Zordon's energy destroyed all that. Now I'm just me, and I've come to ask your forgiveness and to tell you how much I care about you."

"How much you… what?"

Aisha snorted, dropping her fighting stance. "You're not seriously trying to pull that lame trick again, are you? Cuz there's no vice-versa dance coming up and none of us are going to believe you really have a thing for Adam."

Scorpina favored Aisha with a disdainful glance before refocusing on Adam. "I swear it's true. I'm no longer corrupted. Everything is different now. Now we can be… I mean…" She sighed. "I know it will be hard to see me for who I am, but I'm willing to prove it to you. If you just give me time, you'll come to see that I am not an evil villain anymore. Besides, we had fun, didn't we? Don't you remember that time at the park when we kissed, before she showed up?" Scorpina glared at Aisha again.

Adam stared at her, completely frozen for so long that Rocky finally elbowed him, making Adam give a start of surprise. "Um," Adam said. "Um, power down."

His suit vanished. "Adam! What are you doing?" Aisha demanded. "You're not really buying this crap, are you?"

"It's not that hard to morph again if I have to," Adam mumbled, "and I'd rather not have any civilians come walking up while I'm in morph."

Rocky and Aisha hesitated for a moment, but they both followed suit and powered down. Adam stood there, frowning thoughtfully at Scorpina. Tori inched closer to the Rangers, uncertain of her next move.

"Let me get this straight," Adam said slowly. "You're here to tell me that not only are you good now, but you have feelings for me?"

"I've always had feelings for you," she replied, looking startled. "That's why I didn't kill you that day in the park. After I first met you, I went to Lord Zedd and said he could keep my fee if he gave you to me once he had the other Rangers. He said he thought that evil Power Rangers were all the rage and promised I could keep you so long as I dealt with the others first. When Goldar and I failed, I realized that between the new Thunderzords and that irritating White Ranger and the rest of your team making a mess of things… well, I decided it wasn't worth the effort and I left, but when the evil inside me was erased, I came looking for you. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find one earthling."

"It took you six years?" Rocky asked.

"Did it really?" Scorpina frowned. "I don't really notice things like time. I just know that it wasn't until I heard about Power Rangers Day in The Galaxy Gazette that I knew where you might be. Did you have any idea how many people are named 'Adam Park' on Earth alone? Also the Phantom Ranger refused to tell me anything, even after I saved his life that time on Centaur B, and the Gold Ranger said he would only tell me if I won a duel against the Triforian champion, which was completely unfair—there were three of him. You Rangers are annoyingly tightlipped."

Adam's face scrunched up and he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Um… I'm not sure what to say here."

"Say you'll give me a chance," Scorpina urged him, and even Aisha had to admit that the hope in Scorpina's eyes looked sincere. "That's all I want. I was just paid to kill an army of Junar monks that had invaded Liaria and I have more than enough money to waste a few decades on Earth and I've been reading all about human culture and I think I can handle this whole human disguise thing until—"

"I'm seeing someone," Adam interrupted apologetically. "We're in love."

Scorpina's face twisted with rage. "Who?" She glowered at Aisha. "That one?"

Aisha's eyes widened and her nostrils flared; Adam caught her wrist just as she began the arm motions that accompanied her ninja morph. "No, not Aisha," Adam told Scorpina, with just enough of an emphasis on "Aisha" to imply that he was reminding Scorpina of her name. "Someone else. But I'm very happy with her, and if you're really not an evil villain anymore then you'll respect that."

Scorpina continued to glare at Aisha for a moment, and then she burst into tears.

Rocky's jaw dropped. Adam looked alarmed. Even Aisha was too busy being amazed to be angry.

"Okay, then," Scorpina choked out through her sobs. "I suppose it was never going to last, even if I did go through a lot of trouble to buy an eternal life curse for you. I just… I'm really sorry. For everything, Adam. I never meant to hurt you."

"Right," Adam said, looking utterly wretched. "Um… it's okay. I'm… I forgive you."

Scorpina smiled through her tears. "Thank you, Adam. I'll… I'll leave you alone now. But… but if it ever doesn't work out between you and… and this girl you love…"

"I'll… come find you," Adam said uncomfortably. "Scorpina's probably a less common name than Adam Park."

"In this galaxy," she agreed, and turned to go.

"Hey!" Aisha called. "Where's my apology?"

"Oh, um—sorry, Ada." Scorpina hurried off through the trees, picking up speed with each step until she was running. The four of them stared after her for a long moment, then—

"Ada?" Aisha repeated incredulously. "ADA? Excuse me? HEY! Come back here!" With that, Aisha went charging off after Scorpina.

"Do you think she was really good now?" Rocky wondered aloud as Aisha vanished into the trees.

"It's possible," Adam said. "And if this is an evil scheme, her bursting into tears and running away is a pretty lame plan."

"I wonder where you buy an eternal life curse," Tori mused.

"According to the Space Rangers, you can get all kinds of things on various black markets in the universe," Adam said. He sighed. "I think I'm gonna go find Tanya and tell her how much I love her."

Rocky shrugged. "Should probably warn her that your ex-girlfriend the super villain's wandering the park."

"That, too." Adam sighed and headed for the meadow, Tori and Rocky following.

"So," Rocky said, "what was it like to kiss Scorpina?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "Rocky…"

"What? You should hear some of Zhane's stories about Astronema."

"Karone," Adam corrected him.

"Her, too."

Adam sighed. "Look, I just broke Scorpina's heart. I—" He stopped in his tracks. "I broke Scorpina's heart," he whined, sounding quite sure that this should not have happened to him.

Tori smiled sympathetically at him. "Well, hey, at least you were right. There is always something weirder."

"Unfortunately," Adam said ruefully. He started walking again. "Although I definitely don't want to know what could be weirder than Scorpina professing her love for me and then crying when I told her I was in a relationship."

Rocky and Tori chuckled. "So that was one of the big bad evil villains you guys faced, huh?" Tori asked. "She didn't look so tough."

"We only fought her the one time," Adam said. "Like I said, we were pretty new the one and only time we met her." He sighed. "What was I supposed to say, huh? She shows up out of nowhere, tells me she was going to buy me off Lord Zedd in exchange for killing my friends, and then asks if I want to go out sometime? Who does that?"

"That was sad, man," Rocky said. "I almost feel bad that we let Aisha go after her."

"Eh, knowing Aisha she'll yell until she gets everything off her chest and then comfort Scorpina," Adam said. "Remember that time you accidentally shaved all those animals at the shelter she was responsible for?"

"That wasn't my fault!"

"I'm so not asking," Tori said.

They emerged from the trees and had only made it a few steps into the meadow when someone shouted, "There they are!"

Rocky and Adam froze, their heads turning automatically towards the sound. Tori copied them, and saw, to her complete surprise, no less than two dozen clowns and another dozen miscellaneous circus folk staring directly at Rocky and Adam. All of them looked furious, and most of them were armed.

"Oh, god," Adam muttered. "They've got reinforcements."

Rocky began glancing around wildly. "Can't fight them here. Too many people."

"You know these guys?" Tori asked, confused.

"We beat some of them up on Wednesday," Adam replied, biting his lip.

"Just where Elena said they'd be!" one of the clowns shouted triumphantly.

"Stupid psychic," Adam muttered.

"What are we waiting for?" yelled a small clown in the front. "Let's get them!"

The small army of carnies charged. Tori yelped and turned to Rocky and Adam for guidance, only to discover that they had disappeared. It took her a few seconds of glancing around before she caught a distant glimpse of Rocky's Red Ranger costume through the trees, and before she could start to follow the carnies went tearing past her with a dull roar worthy of any angry mob. Tori stared after them in disbelief.

"Huh," Tori commented. "Adam really was right. There's always something weirder."

End Notes: Huge thanks to ijnfleetadmiral for the idea to have Scorpina show up! We'll be seeing more of her in OLaB. And thanks also to viennacantabile, for inspiring a clown fight rematch. You guys rock.

By the way, we're running dry on titles and are expanding our list to include other seasons of Power Rangers that are featured in this story—Turbo, In Space, Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force, Wild Force, Ninja Storm, and possibly S.P.D., Mystic Force and Operation Overdrive. I don't think we're going to be able to squeeze Lost Galaxy in (at least, not to this story, maybe later if we do sequels or prequels), so we'll only take titles from there if we're desperate. You'd be surprised how hard it is to apply a Power Rangers episode title to a chapter of OLaB. It's been one of the most challenging aspects of the entire fic.