Disclaimer: I love thunder. Do you ever have days where you get to the end and wonder, "What just happened?" Sometimes my days start out like that, and it makes me laugh. If life came with an instruction manual, we'd need 623 separate enforcement agencies to make sure people followed it. SOPTR.

Pass Fail
by Starhawk

It was the guilty look on Zhane's face that did it. That and the fact that he pushed Andros away, glancing awkwardly in her direction before averting his gaze. It frankly wouldn't have surprised Ashley to see the two of them kiss; they were that close. But Zhane's response wasn't the reaction of a best friend to a casual embrace.

Andros only looked confused, and for a moment she hoped his words had been as innocent as she'd thought. Maybe it was only Zhane that had read something more into them... but when Andros caught her eye, alarm flickered across his face, and there was no denying the source of the tension between the two Rangers.

In that single heart-wrenching instant, she knew she'd lost him.

Ashley turned away and came face to face with a set of fangs bigger than her head. She stared for a moment, her brain frantically trying to catch up with her eyes. Smooth, pointed, very white, very large--

Teeth! She heard Zhane yell for his Super Silverizer and the crackle of Astronema's staff reminded her that Kerone's reflexes were impossibly fast for a non-Ranger. She herself was frozen to the ground, conscious of the flash and snap of weapons' fire behind her but equally aware that the fangs only inches from her face hadn't budged in the slightest.

She couldn't breathe. She lifted her eyes, very slowly, and flinched back from the narrowed golden slits staring down at her. She turned her head to the side instinctively, reacting more to the impression of "feline" than "monster". Baring her neck in as unthreatening a posture as she could manage, she prayed that she was gaining rather than wasting valuable seconds.

Its paw came up to her knees. Ashley swallowed hard, realizing that its claws were fully extended and half-buried in the ground at her feet. How something that big had managed to sneak up on them--several somethings that big, from the sound of things behind her--she had no idea. But they certainly weren't in any hurry to leave.

A low rumbling sound made her cringe, until she realized she wasn't sure whether the thing looming over her was growling or purring. Drawing in a slow, unsteady breath, she let it out in an inquiring purr-mimic. She felt silly as soon as she did it, but it had always made the kittens lift their tails in greeting.

The golden eyes blinked lazily, eyelids drooping and then lifting again in an expression that was somewhere between startled and appreciative. The creature lowered its giant head further, the fangs disappearing as it butted its nose against her face. The impact was enough to knock her to the ground, and the eyes stared down at her curiously as she tried to catch her breath again.

*Andros!* There was no other way he'd hear her over the sound of battle. Battle... she flinched as she realized that Zhane and Kerone had probably provoked the creatures, however accidentally, by drawing their weapons. *They're not the enemy!*

With a roar, the arm length claws retracted long enough for a colossal paw to lift itself off the ground, and the claws flashed out again as the creature took a swipe at her. It was an easy gesture, almost casual in its deadliness. She squeezed her eyes shut.

The sound of crunching metal and an agonized whine penetrated her consciousness before the fact that she was still alive. Her eyes flew open, and she found the bulk of an angry cat still towering over her. But its attention was directed past her, and when it lashed out again the grinding of metal was proceeded by a tremendous boom.

She scrambled to her feet and whirled, eyes wide as she took in the formerly peaceful scene. Andros and Zhane stood back to back, blades flashing against wave after wave of foot soldiers. Ty was crouched off to one side, a stungun braced on his right arm while Kerone and her staff guarded his back. There were velocifighters everywhere.

Even as she watched, her unexpected guardian downed another of the little fighter ships, setting off an explosion that blew an impressive hole in the foot soldiers' ranks. She caught sight of three or four more fanged behemoths, but they were making no effort to aid her or the others. They weren't participating at all, aside from the occasional and apparently indiscriminate potshot whenever something got too close.

A single quantron got past Kerone. Ashley saw Ty falter, and she ran for him without conscious thought. Her slingshot materialized in her hand but Kerone was faster, swinging her staff over Ty's head and launching an arc of lethal electricity designed to give them both some breathing room. Ty's weapon started picking off soldiers again, causing explosions that were most decidedly not the typical results of a stungun.

Three velocifighters swooped in, disintegrating the moment they passed above Kerone, and Ashley's eyes widened. Then the ones heading for her fell victim to another paw strike, and she realized the ground was shaking from more than the crash of ships and quantron explosions. The cat was following her.

She didn't even see Andros and Zhane coming but suddenly they were almost on top of her, silverizer and sabre in perfect synch as they took up a flanking position to the cat's right. "Get Kerone!" Andros yelled to her, and she spun her slingshot in the sorceress' direction.

The bolts of yellow lightning made Kerone whirl, her staff fairly snapping with energy as she sought the source of this new threat. When she caught sight of Ashley she shouted something over her shoulder to Ty, and he started to back up without turning. Zhane and Andros ventured out of the cat's protective sphere long enough to run cover for them as Ashley turned her weapon upward, helping her protector to clear the sky.

There were fewer velocifighters than she had originally thought, because the sky did clear and she had at first thought it a hopeless task. Her arm was on fire with the strain by the time she had a moment to think again, and her muscles screamed in protest as she dropped into a defensive crouch. She had counted on the others to watch the ground even as they trusted her to fend off the air attack, and now it was time to finish the job.

The ground was clear. The sparkle of Andros' last strike was fading by the time she managed to take it in, and when the final quantron threatening him dropped they all shimmered into nothingness. Every fallen foot soldier and piece of wreckage vanished as though it had never been, except for the ache in her body and the lingering presence of her Star Slinger.

"Man," Ty said, breaking the silence with a sharp exhalation of disgust. He tossed his weapon to the ground and folded his arms in protest, though a wince belied the ease of his movement. "The last test was a lot more comfortable."

His irreverent grouchiness made Ashley laugh, but it was a breathy giggle that even she knew was tinged with hysteria. "No one said being a Ranger was easy," she reminded him, rolling her shoulders in a futile effort to deepen her breathing. The last thing they needed was for someone to pass out *without* enemy intervention.

"Is everyone all right?" Andros demanded, his eyes pinning each one of them in turn as though he could draw the answer out of them without words. It might have been her imagination that made her think he stared at Zhane a little longer than the rest of them, but then, he was the only one who didn't return Andros' gaze when it was offered.

"I'm fine," Kerone answered, and she sounded it. Of all of them, she was the only one who seemed perfectly collected. She wasn't even out of breath. "Ty?"

"I'm all right," he agreed quickly. He reached up to scrub sweat from his eyes, making no effort to hide his exhaustion. "Thanks for keeping me alive out there."

"Thank you," Kerone countered. She was giving him an appraising look. "You're a good shot."

"Ash?" Andros asked impatiently. He hadn't given Ty more than a cursory inspection, and now all his attention was focused on her. "You okay?"

She nodded, but she wasn't sure how to answer beyond that. When their eyes met she saw only a concerned leader, not a solicitous boyfriend, and though he had always adopted that persona in battle she wasn't sure she liked it right now. Why wouldn't Zhane look at anyone?

"I'm okay," she said at last, but her voice sounded too quiet even to her. "You?"

"Yeah." He was staring at her with frank curiosity. "How did you know about the cat?"

She saw Kerone look over at that, and even Ty lifted his head. Ashley shrugged self-consciously. "I didn't," she admitted. "I just didn't have any choice. It was too close for me to shoot..."

She glanced around, noticing the gigantic creature's absence for the first time. "I think if it had gone for me I would have tried to run, but it didn't. Which is good," she added ruefully, "because I wouldn't have gotten very far. So I didn't move, and it didn't move, and then all of a sudden it was smashing velocifighters."

"We'll have to be more careful about who we assume is the enemy here," Kerone murmured thoughtfully. "Have you ever seen anything like that, Zhane?"

"No." Zhane response was as curt as Andros' had been moments before.

"Where are we, anyway?" Ty asked, studying their surroundings. It was hard to tell if he was really distracted by the environment or just pretending to be, but either way it got their attention.

"The desert outside the Power Chamber," Ashley offered.

At the same time, Andros answered, "The Mega V base."

She gave him a surprised look, only to find him frowning at her in confusion. "Where?"

"Our old Turbo base," she said, pointing toward the ruins. "It was destroyed by Divatox a couple of years ago. I know you're not very good with landmarks," she added, unable to resist, "but even you can tell the difference between sand and moon dust."

Andros gave her the Look, and her lips twitched. "I know you don't know much about space," he retorted, "but I thought even you would recognize a place you've been a hundred times before. The Mega Vs are right there," he said, pointing in the same direction she had just indicated.

"Excuse me," Ty interjected, almost idly. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm definitely not seeing whatever you're seeing. This looks like an old rec site, to me. Maybe even the eastern headquarters; it's hard to tell.

"Astrea?" Ty turned to her when they both gave him baffled looks. "Back me up here."

Kerone shook her head slowly. "Sorry," she said, frowning a little. "I still don't see anything. It looks like the Simudeck when it's shuffling programs or something."

"You don't see anything at all?" Zhane seemed to take an interest in the conversation for the first time. "When you said 'not much' before, I didn't think you meant literally nothing."

"But you saw the quantrons," Ashley protested. "Right? You fought them!"

Kerone gave her an odd look. "Quantrons?"

"You saw quantrons?" Andros repeated. "I thought we were fighting cogs and spitters."

Ashley threw up her hands. "I don't even know what spitters are!"

"They're the things that were flying at us from the rafters," Andros said with a sigh. "The things you were shooting at?"

"I was shooting at velocifighters!"

They both looked to Kerone, but she just shrugged. "I thought they were militia troops. Possessed, of course," she added quickly when Andros glared at her.

There was a sound suspiciously like a chuckle, and Andros turned his glare on Zhane. "Well?" he said sharply. He didn't sound particularly pleased to find his best friend laughing at them.

Zhane shrugged, as casually as Kerone but with the boneless grace that was, for him, an unmistakable sign of fatigue. "We're in the morphin grid," he said, as though that answered all their questions. "It's not a physical place, so everyone perceives it differently. That's just the way it is."

"Some people would argue that the universe isn't a physical place," Ty put in unexpectedly. He gave Zhane an inquisitive look, as though he had asked a question instead of making a statement.

Zhane looked back at him in surprise. "I'd say that everyone perceives the universe differently, too," he remarked, studying Ty as though he had never seen him before. "But here we can put the differences we see into words that mean something to the other person."

"Did everyone see the cats?" Andros interrupted. "We need to be able to agree on something, here."

Mrrow, Ashley thought, then bit her lip to repress a giggle. It gave her some small amount of satisfaction to see Andros so easily ruffled by Ty. Andros had never been one to turn philosophical in times of crisis. Or ever, for that matter.

"I did," Kerone said, surprising her.

Ty nodded in agreement, but Zhane was staring toward the horizon again. He did a good impression of being bored for someone who had just been on the verge of debating the nature of existence with his fr--lover. She mentally corrected herself, ignoring the part of her that wanted to rail at Zhane for turning everything upside down. There would be time for that later... and if there wasn't, well, her world would be a simpler place.

"Zhane?" Andros' voice was dangerous. The avoidance routine was obviously wearing thin fast.

"Yeah." It was impossible to tell from Zhane's tone whether he was answering the question or just acknowledging Andros' presence.

Andros narrowed his eyes, but he persisted. "Yes, you saw the cats?"

"Well, thanks for letting me know," Zhane commented lightly. There was a flicker of amusement in his eyes, but he still didn't lower his gaze from the horizon. "Why did you bother asking?"

"Zhane, did you see the cats or not?" Kerone wanted to know.

He didn't move, not even to glance in her direction. "Why yes, Astrea, I did."

"What do you see now?" she asked matter-of-factly, ignoring Andros' furious expression.

He hesitated, and for a moment Ashley wasn't sure he would answer. Finally, though, he replied, "The old Astro Hangar in Keyota."

That didn't mean anything to Ashley, but she saw Andros turn away abruptly. Kerone frowned, but all she said was, "Well, since the rest of you can see, you probably have a better idea of which way we should go than I do. Unless we're just supposed to stay here until we get attacked again?"

Her tone was so doubtful that Ashley thought she might be serious. And when it came right down to it, she didn't have any better idea what was expected of them than Kerone did. Ty too was at a loss, and Andros didn't seem to care, so that left only one person.

"Zhane?" Ashley prompted uncertainly. "Should we stay or go?"

"Go." He didn't seem to have any doubt. "We have to find the Power ourselves, not wait for it to trip over us. Who has the key?"

Ashley and Kerone exchanged puzzled glances, but then Ty's voice interrupted, sounding just as confused as she felt. "Uh... I guess I do."

Ashley looked over at him just in time to see him pulling the key out of his pocket, and he added, "How did that happen?"

"It must like you," Zhane said flippantly. "Throw it up in the air."

Ty looked startled. "What, straight up? Why?"

Zhane shrugged. "Why not?"

Ty actually smiled at that. "That's what I like about you, Zhane. You're always there with the answers."

"Sure am," Zhane agreed with a grin. "They're not always good ones, but I have plenty of them."

Ty tossed the key casually, just a quick jerk of his wrist, fingers still extended to catch it when it fell. It didn't fall. Instead it burst into a white glow and streaked away, zipping past Ashley too swiftly for her to register much at all and then disappearing into the faroff horizon.

"Looks like we're going that way," Zhane said cheerfully.

Ty gave him a suspicious look. "Did you know that would happen?"

Zhane smirked at him. "How impressed would you be if I said yes?"

"If we're going to follow the key then let's go," Andros interrupted. "It's only getting farther ahead of us the longer we stand around talking."

"Can we really 'find' the Power?" Kerone asked, as she fell into step behind Andros. He had turned away without waiting to see whether anyone would follow, and she seemed to be doing her best to smooth the rough edges between them. "I thought we wouldn't get it until we'd proven ourselves 'worthy' or something."

Ashley could practically hear the quote marks around the words. She wondered suddenly how Andros had talked her into coming at all: Kerone had always claimed she didn't want the Power. What had changed her mind?

"Semantics," Zhane said shortly, and Ashley blinked. He'd gone from careless to irritated in the space of a heartbeat, and to top it off he was using words like "semantics". She'd swear that lately he was getting more moody every time she saw him.

Of course, if the look he'd given Andros earlier was any indication, he had reason. She swallowed hard and tried not to think about it. Don't blame Zhane, her mind chanted, over and over again. She wasn't sure it was working.

"That's not an answer," Kerone was saying. "Could you use that word in a sentence?"

"We prove ourselves worthy by finding the Power?" Ty guessed, trailing a little on Zhane's other side. "Or are you using 'prove' and 'find' interchangeably?"

"I'm not using them at all," Zhane pointed out. His tone had softened, but he still sounded a bit churlish. "Those are Astrea's words. I'm only here because she said 'please'."

Andros was walking quickly, but long practice had taught her how to overtake him when she had to. Under cover of Ty and Kerone's questions, she caught up to Andros and matched his stride as closely as she could. The desert terrain was surprisingly even in this direction, and the stone was easier underfoot than sand and scrub. She wondered briefly what the others were walking on.

"Hey," she said quietly, when Andros didn't seem inclined to speak.

He glanced sideways at her, and she smiled a little. His mouth quirked, but his eyes didn't change. "Hey."

"Want to talk about it?" she offered.

Andros was silent for a moment, and she ducked to avoid a wind-shaped tree that she was sure hadn't been in her way before. If they all saw something different, did that mean it could change at a moment's notice? She didn't think so, but then there were the quantrons, and the cats, and her Star Slinger for that matter. It was gone and she hadn't even noticed when it disappeared.

"Do you?" he asked at last.

"Yeah," she said softly, staring down at the ground. Just so she wouldn't trip over any fast-appearing rocks, she told herself. Not to avoid his gaze. "I kind of do."

She got the distinct impression of a shrug from him. "Okay."

She should have known better than to expect him to volunteer anything. "What did you see in your vision?" she asked, trying a different tact.

"I saw us," he answered neutrally. "All of us, together on the Megaship. The Astro Rangers--the old Astro Rangers--and Kerone and Saryn."

She couldn't repress a smile. "I saw all of us at college together. Kerone tried to cheat us out of money on our dinner order."

"You and she were plotting to take over the universe in mine," Andros responded, and she could hear a hint of real humor in his voice.

"Not really," she said, glancing at him skeptically. "Really?

She thought he almost smiled. "You were kidding. At least I think you were. She was pretty convincing."

Looking back, Ashley saw Kerone and Ty lagging a little farther behind with Zhane. They were still talking, arguing by the looks of it, but there were clearly two groups now instead of one. It gave them the semblance of privacy.

"Ash..." Andros sounded troubled again, and she moved a little closer. He too was aware of the others, and he glanced over his shoulder before looking over at her. "I want you," he said, studying her intently. She was clearly supposed to hear more in that than he had said.

"You have me," she reminded him, trying to keep her voice even.

He sighed, and it was a frustrated sound rather than a relieved one. "In my vision... for some reason, in my vision, I was with Zhane."

There was nothing easy about this, but there was no avoiding it either. "You love him," she said softly. It was all she could do to sound supportive and sympathetic, when what she really wanted to do was tell him that the vision was meaningless and of course he wasn't supposed to be with Zhane. Andros was hers.

"I've always loved him," Andros muttered, as though it was a given. "Not like this. In the vision, I saw us... we were the way we used to be. But it was now. We weren't kids anymore, and it--it meant more than it used to."

The admission of love from Andros made her heart ache. Once, she had been the only "always" he knew. But Zhane had prior claim, and with that knowledge it was painfully clear to her what must have happened. The boys' fierce and exclusive dependence on each other had led to more than just friendship, and three years hadn't been enough to snuff out the memory of that childhood romance. Now that they were old enough to define it, their relationship was tearing Zhane apart even as Andros tried to deny it.

"You grew up," she said quietly. There was nothing she could do to conceal the regret in her voice. She had never believed "change" had to mean "loss", but lately the two seemed to be all but synonymous. "It happens."

"I grew up to be with you!" Andros protested, his voice low enough not to carry but harsh enough to be vehement. "Zhane was gone! I fell in love with you, and that hasn't changed, any more than--"

He broke off, his eyes widening as he came to an abrupt halt. She tensed, scanning their surroundings for any sign of a hostile force. She came up empty, and with a sinking sensation she knew that his shock came from within, not without.

"Anymore than the way you felt about him?" Ashley filled in the rest of the sentence for him, and he turned wondering eyes on her.

"He must hate me," Andros breathed. Anguish crept into his expression, and he added, "You must hate me. God," he whispered, closing his eyes. "Why am I so stupid?"

She heard footsteps encroaching on their space, and she tipped her head to one side in a silent "go on" gesture. Kerone nodded once, passing them without question, and Ty followed. Zhane gave them each a worried look, but he too passed without a word.

Would she have been able to do as much if it had been him? Until today she would have said yes, but now she felt a flare of jealousy at the mere thought of Zhane comforting her boyfriend. How many times must Zhane have repressed that same feeling? It was a wonder he could even speak to her, let alone consider her a friend.

When she glanced back at Andros, she found him staring after the others as well. The stricken look on his face hadn't faded, and she reached out to touch his cheek gently. "I don't hate you, Andros. This isn't your fault."

"Can't blame it on anyone else," he muttered, lowering his gaze to glare at the ground. "I'm such an idiot."

His chagrin couldn't conceal the wistfulness in his voice when he added, "He's waited for me all this time... and when he finally brings someone else home I act like he's betrayed me."

"You didn't realize," she said quietly. It hurt that he worried for Zhane and not her, but she reassured him as best she could and tried not to let it show.

"I didn't want to realize," he corrected, looking up to search her expression. "I had you, and I love you so much... Maybe I thought I could have both."

She didn't know what he saw as his hazel eyes bored into hers. It must have been some echo of her true feelings, though, because he concluded in a whisper, "But I can't, can I."

"You'll never lose me as a friend," she murmured. She had to fight to get the words out past the lump in her throat. "But I can't share my boyfriend, Andros. I just can't."

He looked frightened as he asked softly, "Not even with Zhane?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking away. The expression on his face was as heartbreaking as the words. "I don't think I can do it."

There was a shout from up ahead. They were moving before she had identified the voice, but it sounded like Zhane and the thrill of adrenaline lifted some of the heaviness from her heart. They should have known better than to let the group divide like that. She berated herself even as they ran to catch up.

"Whoa!" Zhane caught her arm and yanked her to a halt, causing her to stumble back from a precipice that she hadn't been able to see until she was almost on top of it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ty hauling Andros back as well.

"We're not getting past it that way," Zhane was telling her. "I did think of that, but it's not really jumpable."

The canyon before them looked almost as wide as the Megaship was long. She stared at it in dismay, wondering how long it would take them to climb all the way down--and worse, back out again. They certainly wouldn't be going around.

"Where's the key?" Zhane asked, jolting her out of her distress. "Someone must have it. Astrea?"

"It's not me," Kerone reported. "Is it supposed to show up when we have to make a decision?"

"It's supposed to guide us." He looked at her, and Ashley slid her hands into her pockets quickly. "It won't tell us how to get there, but it should show us where to go."

Somewhat to her surprise, her searching fingers encountered the resistance and she pulled the key out in surprise. "I have it," she said, looking to Zhane for direction. "Do I throw it again?"

He only shrugged. "Can't hurt."

Ashley bounced it against her palm, and as soon as she let go of the key it took off again. It arrowed straight across the canyon and vanished in a flash of light. There was no question about which way they were supposed to go, but how to get there was another matter.

"So what's the problem, again?" Kerone wanted to know. "What do you see?"

Zhane gave her a look of sheer disbelief. "You don't see this, either?"

"See what?" she demanded. "You act like there's a giant hole in the floor or something."

"To us there is," Ty put in ruefully. "You're lucky you can't see it. There's a pretty substantial ravine about four steps from where you're standing."

Ashley glanced at Andros out of habit, and she found him looking back. "How could she have seen the soldiers if she can't see this?" he wondered aloud.

"They were an active threat instead of a passive one?" she suggested, frowning. It was the only thing she could think of. "I don't know why that would make a difference."

"Astrea!" Ty's gasp got everyone's attention.

Ashley looked up and froze where she was. Kerone was still four steps from the precipice. The only difference was that she was now four steps on the other side, standing on thin air with an enviable disregard for gravity.

"There's nothing here," she insisted, looking a little impatient with their obvious shock. "Whatever you're seeing can't be real. Maybe it's another trick, like the visions."

"Some trick!" Ty's eyes were wide, but he didn't back away the way Ashley would have liked to.

"Zhane?" The Silver Ranger had moved a little closer to the edge, and Kerone was looking at him expectantly.

He took a deep breath, then shrugged once. "Why not, right?"

"Zhane--" Andros broke off as Zhane took a step, and then another, and his feet didn't follow the sharp drop of the land. The Silver Ranger kept his eyes on Kerone as the gorge fell away underneath him. He remained suspended in midair, as though traversing an invisible bridge.

"Nice," Ty breathed. He followed more hesitantly, watching the ground as though determined to catch the exact moment when it changed.

Ashley caught Andros' eye, and he smiled ruefully. "Or maybe she can't see it because it isn't there."

She shook her head, unable to brush it off so easily. "Looks like it's there to me," she murmured. "Heights are one thing, but this..."

"I know." He held out his hand to her, and she hesitated. His smile faded, and his expression was unreadable as he asked softly, "Do you trust me?"

She swallowed hard. "Yeah," Ashley whispered. She took his hand, letting him draw her closer to him--and to the edge of the cliff. "You know I do."

Andros stepped out into the air.

A jerk on her hand brought her stumbling after him, and she glared at him reflexively. His lips twitched, but he did his best to look repentant. "Sorry," he said, clearly fighting to hide a smile. "You okay?"

She couldn't help looking down, and she caught her breath. Closing her eyes, she nodded once. "Fine," she muttered. Only when his fingers squeezed hers in return did she realize how hard she was holding on to his hand.

"Keep walking," Andros urged. A hint of humor entered his voice when he added, "I won't let you bump into anything."

She almost smiled. "Thanks. That's very reassuring."

"Since when are you afraid of heights?" Zhane demanded, and she felt him falling into step on her other side. "Every time I turn around you're jumping off of something. Or skating at the skyport! I'd have given you stronger antigravs if I'd known what you and Kerone were going to do with them."

"This is *not* the skyport," Ashley informed him. She almost opened her eyes, but common sense won out and she kept them shut. "And I'm not afraid of heights. It's falling from them and breaking into millions of pieces that worries me."

"So you're saying you trust your skates to keep you from falling more than you trust me?" Andros sounded downright amused. "Now I know where I stand."

Ashley squeezed his hand in reproof. "Shut up," she muttered, trying not to smile. "You're not helping."

"He's doing better than Zhane," Kerone remarked. "Even I know you're not supposed to ask people about their fears when they're confronted with them."

"Since when has that stopped you?" Zhane wanted to know.

"Since you flipped out on me in a Mega V zord in the middle of a sandstorm," she shot back.

There was silence for a moment, and Ashley got the distinct impression that Kerone hadn't let that slip by accident. The sorceress could be provoked, but it wasn't as easy as it had once been. She had said what she said on purpose, not because Zhane had made her mad.

"Scared of sand?" Ashley murmured, smiling a little to show that she was teasing. She hadn't forgotten the other Zhane's reaction to tunnels on Eltare.

"No." Zhane sounded uncomfortable, but he didn't change the subject. "Small spaces, actually. I got stuck in one a long time ago, and the fear never really went away."

"What about you, Tixe?" Andros' tone was a little too casual. "Scared of anything?"

"You," Ty replied immediately, and Ashley had to giggle.

Zhane chuckled too, but Andros sounded disgruntled when he muttered, "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not frightening."

"Ecliptor would disagree," Kerone commented, which only set Zhane off again.

"You can open your eyes," Andros said, deliberately ignoring them. "We're on visible ground again."

She did as he suggested, and sure enough the canyon was behind them. Or it was behind them for a brief moment, about as long as it took her to register the fact that they had actually crossed it. Then it began to ripple and fill, smoothing into solid ground even as she watched, and soon there was nothing to show that there had ever been an obstacle there.

"I'm not sure whether it's reassuring to see these things vanish or not," Ty said at last. "It's like what we did doesn't matter."

"Sometimes that's the way it is," Zhane pointed out. "I guess we have nothing to show for a lot of the things we do in our lives. That doesn't make them less important."

"That's what scares me," Andros said abruptly. She looked at him in surprise, but he was frowning down at the ground where the gorge had been. "I think that's what my fear is."

It was Zhane that responded first. "Not having anything to show for your life?"

"No..." Andros didn't look up. "Not mattering." He shrugged self-consciously, but his voice was distant. "What if I died and it didn't matter?"

"That's crazy," Zhane told him. "Of course it would matter!"

Finally, Andros lifted his head and favored Zhane with a half-smile. "No one said fear was logical," he said quietly.

They stared at each other for a long moment, until Kerone broke the quiet with a curiously innocent tone. "I'm afraid of sleeping with aliens," she offered. "Do you suppose that counts?"

Ashley couldn't help it. She laughed, and Kerone's deadpan expression melted away. "Well," the other girl said with a shrug, "It's sort of true. I thought if we were being honest with each other you might as well know."

"I'm afraid of snakes," Ty added, not as though it mattered. "Is that on the same level?"

Zhane was laughing now too. "When did it become a competition?" he wanted to know. "Who has the scariest fear! Are we going to vote on this or something?"

"I vote for Kerone's," Ashley put in, and the sorceress winked at her.

Just like that, they were gone. She was standing in the middle of the desert alone--or not quite alone, because suddenly her cat was casting its massive shadow in all directions. She held absolutely still. An insect trilled in the distance, and then she was even less alone.

Jeff stood in front of her. The way he looked at her made her hesitate, though, and something told her that her brother was no more real than the canyon had been. For some reason, this illusion was less convincing than that one had been.

"The choice to bestow the Power is yours," he said, and when he spoke it was Jeff's voice, too. "Who will you have on your team?"

She drew back in surprise, but it was too good a chance to pass up. "Andros," she said without thinking. "And Kerone."

She made herself stop. It was tempting to name all of the old Astro Rangers, but she couldn't do that. They had their own lives now, and she had no right to interfere with the choices they had made. And she couldn't exclude those who had chosen to come this time just because it would make her life easier.

"Zhane should be on the team too," she added, hating her reluctance even as she recognized it. "And Ty. All five of us went on this quest, and all five of us should receive the Kerovan powers."

Jeff was gone as though he had never been, and in his place was a thoroughly confused looking Ty. "What was that all about?" he wanted to know.

"That..." Comprehension slowly dawned, and she shivered as she realized what had just happened. "I think that was our last test." She could tell from his expression that he didn't understand yet, and she added, "Did someone just ask you who you wanted on the team?"

"Yes," he admitted. He turned that over in his mind, and his eyes went wide as the implications began to sink in. "What happens if someone doesn't name all five of us?"

"I don't know," she said quietly. "I guess we fail."

"All of us?" Kerone's voice inquired. "Or just the people who don't get named?"

Ashley glanced at Andros' sister in surprise as the other girl joined them. "What were you saying about us being a team back in Cayeron? What happened to us being in this together?"

Kerone didn't so much as blink at the reproof. "I just like to know what the rules are, that's all."

"I don't know the rules," she reminded the sorceress with a sigh. She shouldn't have jumped on Kerone for being who she was. "But I'm betting it's all for one and one for all. That's what it means to be a Ranger."

"I thought it meant cool toys and a really boring wardrobe," Zhane drawled. "Maybe I'm on the wrong quest. You'd think they would have checked my ticket at the gate or something."

Ashley felt a smile spread across her face, and she felt an arm settle over her shoulders as she started to turn. "What about you, Ash?" Zhane wanted to know. "You sure this is what you signed up for? Everyone looks pretty serious."

"Everyone but you *is* serious," Andros retorted. He stood next to Kerone, and for just a moment their banter was as easy as it had ever been. "I think it's something about risking our lives for a chance."

"You mean a chance to risk our lives some more?" Ashley suggested, and Zhane laughed.

The world flared white before their eyes, an eerie echo of the flash that had brought them here in the first place, and suddenly they were standing amid the hills east of Keyota. Or at least they were among hills, and something about them was more Kerovan than Californian. There was no real reason to think it was the same scene she had seen through the hostel windows all summer.

"Ashley Hammond."

She started at the sound of Dimitria's voice. Belatedly, it occurred to her that this was no more Dimitria than "Jeff" had been her brother... but the ghostly white shimmer in front of her was hard to dismiss. Even if it wasn't the Turbo Rangers' mentor, it must represent a being of similar power. Or Power.

"Andros," "Dimitria" continued. "Zhane." Ashley wondered suddenly if each of the others had heard their own name first.

"Kerone," the insubstantial being intoned. "Ty." She used the name Ty had chosen for himself, Ashley noticed, not the one he had casually mentioned to Andros. A remark he had probably been regretting ever since, her mind added impertinently.

"A Power Ranger may come from any walk of life," Dimitria informed them. "But no matter their background or ambition, every being who wields the Power does so with tenacity, skill, courage, and loyalty. You have proven yourselves worthy of the title, and it is my honor to grant to this team that which it seeks."

Ashley took a relieved breath as the words sank in, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced over to smile at Andros and found him looking as quietly triumphant as she felt. There would be time to celebrate later. For now, she was sure everyone was just glad to have made it.

"The conduit of Power to which your key has brought you is one that predates the frontier," Dimitria was saying. "Even so, it was meant to be wielded by humans. It is difficult to say what the effects on non-human physiology will be."

Ashley saw a frown crease Andros' forehead, and she wondered what "Dimitria" was talking about. "We're all human," he said, echoing her own curiosity. "There won't be any problem."

"One of you is not." Dimitria's tone remained calmly inscrutable even as she stated the impossible. "Your team consists of four humans who will be able to receive the Power with predictable results, and one whose reaction remains unknown. Does this one wish to accept the Power regardless?"

Ty held up his hands as if to ward off their stares. "Don't look at me," he protested. "I don't know what she's talking about."

Ashley traded confused glances with Andros. She was completely unprepared to hear Kerone break the ensuing silence, her voice quiet but sure of itself.

"Yes." The sorceress lifted her chin in a gesture reminiscent of Astronema, gazing directly at Dimitria's translucent form. "I do wish to accept the Power."

"Kerone?" Andros' startled exclamation gave one voice to everyone's reaction.

"Yes," she said softly, not looking at him. "I'm Kerone." With a small sigh, she added, "Just not the Kerone you knew."

"Not the Kerone we knew when?" Zhane wanted to know. He sounded wary, but not as shocked as Andros. "Who are you?"

She might not want to look at Andros, but she lifted her gaze to Zhane's without hesitation. "I haven't lied to you," she insisted. "I promise you that. I'm the same person you've known since Astronema. I'm just... I'm not the girl that was kidnapped from the park, that's all."

"Then who are you?" Andros demanded. "How can you be Kerone if you're not my sister?"

"I am your sister," Kerone murmured, but now she was staring down at the ground. She sounded almost guilty, which was something Ashley couldn't remember ever having heard from her. "Or I was... maybe I don't have Kerone's blood anymore; I don't know."

Ashley felt Andros inhale sharply. She caught his arm and squeezed, hard. "Kerone," she said gently. "If you're not human, then what are you?"

Kerone looked up, and she smiled tentatively. "Would you believe me if I said 'magic'?"

"I'll believe whatever you say," Ashley promised. "You know I trust you. Are you magic?"

She glanced at Andros for the first time, then looked away quickly. "Kerone wasn't strong enough to survive in Dark Spectre's monarchy," she said softly. "There's a reason most of the troops are monsters or machines. Trying to protect me only weakened Ecliptor, and he knew he couldn't do it for long. So he--he changed me."

"You said a friend of his gave you the magic," Zhane interrupted.

"I never knew much about his friend," Kerone confessed. "All I knew was that she was a sorceress, and that she had been exiled by Dark Spectre because she was a threat to his power.

"She must have owed Ecliptor a lot," she added, when no one said anything. "He would never tell me why she did what she did, but she infused me with all the magic she had. And it kept growing, too, even after she was gone. It kind of... I think it burned part of me away. The human part, I guess.

She swallowed, then continued quickly, "I kept all my memories. Or most of them. Sometimes I remember more than others. But I lost my telekinesis, and my appetite, and most of my need to sleep. Sometimes--I don't even have a heartbeat, sometimes."

Ashley just stared at her, but beside her she heard Andros burst out, "And you didn't tell us?!"

She tossed her head, her long hair sliding over her shoulders. "How did you think I survived?" she demanded. "Luck? You know I don't eat. Zhane knows I don't sleep. You don't get the kind of power I have without sacrificing something, and Ecliptor thought it was worth it to keep me alive."

"So do I," Ashley said firmly, before Andros could answer. "I'm glad you're here, magic or no."

"I like your magic," Zhane added, giving her a secretive smile. "But you knew that."

"Tevi always liked you," Ty said unexpectedly. "And you haven't changed since I met you. I don't mind having a magic friend."

Kerone was still staring at Andros, but he just shook his head when the rest of them fell silent. "I spent a long time searching for Kerone," he told her. "You weren't what I expected when I first found you, and you're not any better now.

"But you're my sister," he concluded with a small smile. "And I guess that's the way it's supposed to be. I'm glad Ecliptor helped you survive." Under his breath but still loud enough for them to hear, he muttered, "I can't believe I'm grateful to a villain."

"Maybe we could send him a fruit basket," Zhane suggested, deadpan.

"Then it is done," Dimitria's voice declared, startling Ashley with the reminder of her presence. "The five of you will be the Rangers of Kerova. Defend it well. Defend each other well. May the Power protect you, Rangers."

Ashley could have sworn she heard a distant roar as the world faded into darkness, and she wondered about it even as her eyes struggled to adapt. This wasn't the blackness of sleep or the opaqueness of teleportation. It was the dimness of late evening when one had just left a well-lit building, and she waited impatiently for the veil of night-blindness to lift.

"Does anyone else think that was anticlimactic?" Ty's voice wanted to know. A flicker of light and the rustle of movement came from somewhere off to her left.

"Were you expecting a parade?" Zhane inquired.

She could make out faint outlines in the direction of their voices, and a hulking shadow to her right that could only be a building. She felt someone slide past her, and by the way he moved she knew it had to be Andros. She wondered if they were still in the morphin grid, and if they were, why it was so dark.

"I was kind of expecting to morph," Ty admitted. His voice was more muffled than it had been, as though he had turned away. "Where are we, anyway?"

A flash of purple light cast their immediate surroundings into violet shadow, and Ashley frowned at the odd illumination. The building was familiar, but she couldn't place it under such bizarre conditions. Ty didn't seem to be having any better luck.

A door cracked open, spilling normal light out into the darkness, and she heard a strange voice inquire, "Who's there?"

"It's just me, Ma," Zhane's voice answered. "Sorry to startle you."

"Zhane!" The door was flung wide, and the light from inside washed over all of them. "We were so worried! Zordon said you were all right, but there's nothing like seeing for yourself... Come in! Are your friends all here? Are you all right? What can we do?"

"Ma..." Zhane sounded mildly exasperated, but he allowed the woman whose face Ashley still couldn't see to embrace him. "We only left this afternoon."

The woman--his grandmother?--pulled away, drawing him closer to the light as she did so. She seemed to be studying him, maybe to reassure herself that he was really there, but when she spoke her words were a steady stream of shock that the speaker seemed to take for granted.

"This afternoon? It's been months, Zhane. No one knew where you had gone! We found the boxes open upstairs and thought you must have been here, but I couldn't imagine why until the Council told us about Andros. Kinwon contacted Eltare, and we eventually got word from Zordon, but it took days to figure out who was missing and what you must be up to..."

She went on and on, abruptly turning to their comfort as she realized they were all standing outside in silence. Numbly, Ashley allowed herself to be led into the house, all the while trying to process that single piece of information. It was going to take some effort to turn it into something her mind could grasp, and she had a sinking feeling that it was going to hurt when she finally made sense of it.

They had been gone for months?