Carlos tossed restlessly, his sight held hostage by the darkness. He'd been fading in and out of consciousness for an indeterminate amount of time, his exhaustion no longer thick enough to overwhelm the strangeness of his surroundings. He burrowed farther under his blanket, hoping to block out enough of the rustling that he could slip back into sleep again.

Rustling meant movement. He threw his covers back as that realization hit him, forcing his eyes open once more. The darkness was unrelenting, but his blind gaze turned toward the sound nonetheless. "Aura?" he whispered hoarsely. "You okay?"

The rustling stopped, but her voice sounded breathy when she replied. "I am well."

She was awake. And, unless he totally missed his guess, she was lying through her teeth. Fumbling for the flashlight he'd lifted from the front office, he put his hand over the top and flipped it on. In the muted glow of light through his fingers, he could just make out Aura's shadowy form sitting up on the couch.

"What are you doing awake?" he mumbled, levering himself upright.

"I could ask the same of you," she replied. She still sounded out of breath, but his sleepy brain couldn't figure out why. "You should be resting."

"I was," he muttered. "You woke me up."

There was a brief pause. "Is there a place where I might obtain water?" she asked at last.

The plaintive note in her voice got his attention, and he blinked the rest of the sleep from his eyes. "Sure," he said, aiming the flashlight at the floor before taking his hand off of it. "There's a water fountain out in the gym. Come on; I'll take you."

She got to her feet without a word and followed him out of the phys ed office, treading as carefully as he did in the dark. He tried to keep the flashlight between them, but it helped that he knew where they were going. She was more apt to stumble, first over the lip of the doorway and then again on the walking mats in the hallway that led to the locker rooms.

When they reached the fountain, he took the water bottle from her hand and handed her the flashlight. He demonstrated, pushing the handle on the side of the water fountain and filling the bottle for her. "There you go," he said, recapping it and holding it out.

She just gave him the flashlight back and stepped up to the water fountain herself. He frowned, watching her bend over and scoop up the trickle of water in her hand. She splashed it against her neck, baffling him, then did the same thing with her other hand. She took a deep breath and repeated the process, not seeming to care that her shirt was getting wet.

"Thank you," she said at last, letting go of the water fountain and reaching for the bottle he had filled moments before. "It is adequate."

Without waiting for him to take the lead, she made her careful way back toward the office. She managed, even with him and the flashlight behind her, and Carlos took the hint. She lay down on the couch, her back to him, and he didn't ask again.

The next time he woke, the grey light of dawn was creeping into their room through a single window near the ceiling. He shifted on the exercise mat that had been his bed for the night, feeling the blanket tangled around his legs. The air conditioning had been shaky the day before and it had apparently cut out entirely during the night.

Suddenly he realized what had woken him, and he sat bolt upright on his makeshift mattress. Aura was convulsing on the couch, breath rasping in her lungs as she clutched at her neck. He was at her side as fast as he could move, registering the empty water bottle on the floor a moment later.

"Aura?" He touched her arm hesitantly, not knowing what else to do, but she didn't respond. "Aura! Are you all right?"

It was a stupid question, he reflected in retrospect. If she were all right, she would have told him by now. Taking hold of her wrist, he pulled her right hand away from her neck and gasped at the angry cuts that had appeared in her skin.

It took a moment for the fact that they weren't bleeding to sink in. The reminder that she wasn't human crashed home like a physical blow and he flinched involuntarily. He remembered her gulping water in the truck the day before, and splashing water on her neck last night when it had been too dark to see anything.

"I don't comprehend your physiology," she had told him. "Do not presume to understand mine."

They weren't cuts at all, he realized at last. They were gills.

"Can you stand?" he demanded, not sure whether she could hear what he was saying. If she made any sign, it was lost in the shudders wracking her body. He dragged her to her feet without waiting for anything clearer--if she had gills, then she wasn't just hurting right now. She was suffocating.

He pulled her out into the hallway, stumbling toward the locker rooms with her and praying there was no one in there this early. She wasn't easy to support, he reflected grimly, cursing as he lurched into the doorway. She was too short for him to duck under her arm, and without the Power he wasn't sure how far he could carry her.

Carlos could hear the water running before they took two steps into the womens' locker room, and he growled in frustration. "Everybody out!" he shouted, from the safety of the changing room. "You have to the count of five to get out of the shower! One!"

There were exclamations of surprise and at least one irritated sounding grumble, and he couldn't help wondering why women got up at godawful hours of the morning to shower. Didn't they know that the world had almost ended yesterday? Couldn't they disrupt their cleaning routine for one measly morning?

Aura doubled over, almost slipping from his grasp before he got his arms around her. She wasn't making any sound anymore, but her eyes were wide with fright as her mouth opened and closed frantically. He hadn't thought he could feel any more helpless, but somehow he did.

"Five!" he yelled, pulling her forward again. They burst into the communal shower with no regard for the glares and indignant yelps of people who typically counted three numbers between one and five. The glares turned to looks of concern and uncertainty as he drew Aura under one of the showerheads and cranked it up, but he paid no attention.

His own breath deserted him as the cold water hit his skin, and he found himself gasping as hard as she had been earlier. He couldn't breathe, but he couldn't let her go either, so he stayed under the icy waterfall and held her up until she tilted her head to the side and let the water run down her neck. He stared, transfixed, as her gills flared under the cascading liquid sheets.

Carlos could hear people murmuring, but he didn't register anything other than the Aquitian Ranger's abrupt inhalation. Closing her eyes, she opened her mouth and let her head fall back. It would have choked a human, but she just gulped swallow after swallow of water as though returning from too long in the desert.

"Is--is something wrong?" he heard someone ask. He rolled his eyes, but the immediate danger seemed to have passed and he really did owe some sort of explanation.

Aura lowered her head, her grey eyes fixing on his. Water still rained down on them, slicking her hair to her shoulders and soaking his clothes. He could feel the water droplets making trails through the grime he had been too tired to wash off the day before, and they dripped off of her nose in a way that made her serious expression almost comical.

"How did you know?" she asked at length, her voice sounding stronger than it had since early yesterday.

He shrugged, his gaze darting inadvertently to her neck. The gills were less prominent now, but they were still clearly visible. There was no way he could have missed them, and yet... "Lucky guess," he said at last. Lifting his eyes to hers again, he studied her expression. "What happened?"

"I was careless," she said stiffly, her eyes focusing on something past his left shoulder.

He turned, aware as he did so that he was drenched and his clothes probably wouldn't dry for hours. At least the water had finally warmed up; that was something. Or was it? Looking at the curious, towel-clad forms were peering at them with as much outraged bemusement as a human face could muster, he thought the temperature of the water wasn't much consolation after all.

"Hello," he said, sighing as he stepped out of the spray. "I'm Carlos." Was there anyone in the city that didn't know that, after yesterday? "Sorry for disrupting your shower like that. It was kind of urgent."

"Are you... an alien?" one of the girls asked, staring past him at Aura.

"No," the Red Aquitian Ranger answered. She sounded faintly cross. It was so subtle that Carlos hoped it wasn't noticeable to anyone else. "It is you who are alien, so far as I am concerned."

She looked remarkably dignified, Carlos decided, for someone who was standing in a shower dripping and fully clothed. Nonetheless, she didn't seem to be in a particularly good mood, and he suspected she didn't much care about the ambiguous nature of the Rangers' reputation in Angel Grove right now. Without even meaning to, she might tip the balance against them.

"Are you all right now?" he asked, shifting his weight on the tile floor. His stocking feet made ripples in the standing water of the shower basin, and he shoved his wet hair out of his face impatiently. Where was he going to get dry clothes?

"I am," she said warily, sensing the change in his demeanor.

"Then let's go." He slogged toward the edge of the shower and stepped out, ignoring the puddles he left behind him as he headed for the door. "Sorry," he added over her shoulder for the benefit of the onlookers.

He didn't see how reluctant she was to step out of the water, but he heard her padding behind him as he squished down the hallway toward the water fountain. Shucking his shirt without a second thought, he held it over the fountain and twisted it as tightly as he could. He glanced back at her while he rung it out, and the incongruity of her appearance struck him suddenly.

"Why aren't your clothes wet?" Carlos demanded, not sure whether he was more curious or irritated. Whatever had happened was her fault, after all, yet he was the one who was dripping.

She looked down at herself as though she hadn't noticed. "They were not made to retain water," she said at last. "It is not that kind of fabric."

He shook his head, pulling his socks off and repeating the procedure. "Well, I'm going to have to find some dry clothes. If you want to go back to sleep, I can wake you up later."

"That is not necessary." She watched him shake his damp t-shirt out and put it back on, grimacing as it clung to his skin. He opted against the socks, deciding it couldn't be more uncomfortable to wear sneakers barefoot than it would be to wear them over wet socks.

"Thank you," Aura said abruptly, startling him. "I appreciate what you did."

He stopped, staring at her in confusion before he realized what she meant. "Oh," he said, at something of a loss. "Well... you're welcome. I'm just glad I figured out what was happening." He frowned at that, studying her more closely. "What was happening?"

She looked away, and his eyes slid to the curve of her neck. The skin there was smooth, unmarred and apparently normal. That explained why he hadn't seen the gills yesterday, then. They must disappear when she wasn't using them. But then--

"The air is too dry," she muttered. "I suspect my lungs are suffering an adverse reaction to the constant irritation. I ought to have expected it."

"All that dust probably didn't help, either," he said slowly, considering it in retrospect. "Sorry. I shouldn't have been so harsh yesterday. You have your own planet to worry about--"

"People in need are the same no matter where they are," she interrupted. "We must help where we can."

Carlos looked at her for a moment, wondering if he would be as selfless in her place. He had the sudden urge to find out. Maybe he could visit Aquitar sometime, and try to repay the precious hours its Red Ranger had spent offworld in a time of crisis.

His communicator beeped, and he lifted his wrist automatically. "This is Carlos," he said, wrenching his attention back to the present.

"It's TJ," the Blue Ranger answered. "Glad you're awake. We need to regroup."

"I have to get home first," Carlos said firmly. "I haven't even tried to find my folks yet, and there's some things I need. Including breakfast."

"Adelle's going to feed us," TJ told him. "Karone and I did some checking last night. Your brother was seen at the dojo yesterday afternoon, and your mom registered as a volunteer at the orphanage. I haven't been able to track down your dad, but the building where he works was evacuated before the worst of it hit."

"What about the others?" Carlos asked, trying to ignore the lump in his throat. He wouldn't think about what it meant right now; he couldn't. He just wanted the facts.

"I talked to my uncle this morning." TJ's voice was measured, as though he was just as detached. "He hasn't been able to reach anyone from home. Half the phone lines were knocked out in the attack, and the other half are jammed. People with military clearance are the only ones getting through.

"Ashley's dad was at the house when everything went down, and he holed up there with a few others--none of her family, though. Her mom was checked into the hospital yesterday, but no one's heard from her brother. Cassie never gave anyone contacts for her relatives, so..."

As TJ trailed off, Carlos felt a gentle pressure on his shoulder. He looked up to find Aura's hand on his damp t-shirt, her touch warm and her gaze openly sympathetic. The expression was so different from the one she usually wore that he swallowed, trying to smile in thanks but not quite managing it.

"Can you meet us at the Surf Spot in an hour?" TJ asked at last. "There's a lot we need to talk about before we do anything else.

He didn't miss the warning note in his friend's voice, and Carlos frowned. "Something I should know now?"

"It can wait until we eat," TJ answered, but the implication that it couldn't wait longer was obvious. "Tell Aura that Aquitar's been calling nonstop. Is she okay?"

Without a word, Carlos held out his communicator to her.

"Tell them I am well," she told it, taking her hand off of his shoulder. "I will contact them shortly. Ask Billy whether Sirethian suffers from loneliness," she added, casually enough that it almost sounded like an afterthought. The request was so deliberate, though, that Carlos had no doubt it was an identity check her teammates would recognize.

"Sirethian," TJ repeated, clearly catching the significance too. "Will do. We'll see you in an hour, then."

"We'll be there," Carlos agreed, glancing down at his sopping wet jeans in distaste. As he lowered his left wrist, he wondered whether his car had made it through the attacks. They would be hard-pressed to make it in the time allotted on foot, especially if they ran into anyone--and it seemed unlikely that they wouldn't.

He underestimated the citizens of Angel Grove. He and Aura stopped long enough to fill her water bottle and collect his sneakers before taking the back exit out of the high school gymnasium, but they hadn't even made it past the soccer fields when a car pulled over and offered them a ride. When Carlos told the driver where they were headed, she didn't bat an eye. "Hop in," the woman told them without hesitation.

Whether she recognized him or had just seen too many aimless pedestrians was impossible to say, but Carlos didn't argue. She waved away his thanks, letting him direct her through the residential side roads until they were practically at his front door. The car slowed, and once more she refused to accept his thanks.

As the vehicle drove away, he wondered briefly if he would ever find out who she was. His thoughts flashed back to the searchers he had worked with the day before, and he realized he might never see them again either. Even if he picked up where he left off, they would no doubt be distributed differently today--

He shook the thought away, turning toward the house and noting with detached relief that his car was in the driveway. The door was locked, but the key was hidden under a ceramic pot on the front steps. He let Aura in and followed before it occurred to him that there was no visible velocifighter damage on the entire street. He peered back through one of the front windows before pushing the puzzle to the back of his mind.

"I'm going to take a shower," he told Aura, unhooking his car keys from the rack by the door and tossing them on the hall table. "A real one, with soap. Want one?"

She looked torn. "Is it--would it be an inconvenience?"

"Of course not." He led the way upstairs, pushing open the bathroom door and showing her how the faucet worked. "I'll get you a towel--and some clean clothes, if you want."

She nodded hesitantly, and he grabbed a towel out of the linen closet. "I'll leave the clothes outside the door," he told her. "I'll meet you downstairs whenever you're done."

"Thank you," she said, somewhat awkwardly.

Pulling the bathroom door closed behind him, he headed for his own room. Nothing of his was going to fit Aura, but Ashley had been wont to leave her cheerleading uniforms at his house in the past. He supposed the yellow t-shirt with the "A" on it might raise a few eyebrows, but with some of his mom's jeans it wouldn't be too out of place. He dropped the clothes in the hallway outside the bathroom door and headed back toward his parents' room.

The first thing he noticed when he emerged from the master bath almost ten minutes later was that the water at the other end of the house had stopped running. Toweling his hair off, he poked his head out into the hallway. Sure enough, the bathroom door stood open and the clothes he had left were gone.

"You're the only woman I know who takes a faster shower than I do," he told her when he caught up with her in the kitchen. She didn't turn, and he walked over to see what she was looking at.

His mother had left a note on the table. It hadn't even occurred to him to check when they first arrived, but now he took in every word. She had stayed at the orphanage overnight, and she wrote that his brother was helping at the community center across from the dojo. She wrote, too, that his father had been recruited as an ambulance driver and EMT and planned to spend the foreseeable future on call at the clinic.

He let out a breath he was sure he hadn't been holding, and he felt Aura stir. "From your family?" she asked quietly.

He nodded, giving her a quick glance. "You can't read it?"

She shook her head wordlessly.

He picked it up, for no other reason than that they felt closer that way. "My mom says everyone's all right," he said, staring down at the paper. "She says they're worried about me, but they saw me on some news broadcast..."

He trailed off, not sure what to make of that. He should have expected it, really, but he couldn't remember any cameras in the last 24 hours. "She also says she's sure they'll hear from me soon," he added, with a wry smile. "She can lay on the guilt without even being here."

Picking up a pen from beside the phone, he realized the light on their answering machine was flashing. Did he really want to know? TJ had said the phones were down, so who could have left a message? With some trepidation, Carlos pressed the "play" button.

"I'm calling for Carlos Vargas," a vaguely familiar voice announced. It had a no-nonsense air of authority about it, and a moment later he realized why. "This is General Norquist at NASADA," the voice continued. "I need to speak with one of the Power Rangers on a matter of extreme urgency. You can contact me at--"

Carlos cut the message off with more violence than was necessary. Turning back to the table with his pen in hand, he caught Aura's odd look. "Well, it wasn't urgent enough for him to tell me about it, was it?" he demanded, embarrassed by her inquisitive gaze.

She studied him, then replied calmly, "Your family is more important."

"Damn right it is," he muttered, leaning down to scrawl his own note at the bottom of his mother's. He couldn't call and he really didn't have time to stop by the orphanage, but if she came home at all today she would see the message.

Straightening up, he tossed the pen down and opened his mouth to say something about the Surf Spot. Only then did his eyes catch up with his brain, and he realized that he was staring at an alien in a cheerleader's tee and jeans. His lips twitched as he took in the sight, and she folded her arms defensively.

"You look nice," he said quickly, not wanting to upset her. "Sorry there's nothing red."

"It is adequate." They were the same words she had said the night before, and he hoped they were truthful this time. He didn't have time to ask, so he took her word for it as he went to retrieve his keys.

"Ready for some breakfast?" Carlos asked, glancing over his shoulder as she joined him in the hallway. He held the door for her, and she stepped out into a surprisingly clear morning.

"Much better," he said appreciatively, trying to ignore the haze that still rolled across an otherwise blue sky. "Let's get going. The others must be starving by now."

"I'm not saying you should eat if you're not hungry," Andros was telling her.

"He's just saying you should be," TJ interjected, pushing his way into the room and depositing two bowls full of pale lumpiness on the table. "You didn't even eat dinner last night!"

"I didn't want anything." Karone stared at the bowl TJ slid toward her, then looked up as the door banged open again.

"No brown sugar," Ashley said cheerfully, joining them in the small room with two more bowls of unidentifiable goo. "But I found something almost as good!"

TJ reached for the box under her arm just as she danced out of the way. "Nice try," she told him with a grin. "Me first!"

"You don't even like raisins," the Blue Ranger protested, as his teammate handed one of the bowls to Andros and set her own down on the table.

Ashley shrugged, popping the box top open. "I don't like oatmeal, either, but it's better than no breakfast at all. Did you get the spoons?"

"Ye of little faith," TJ teased, swinging his chair around and settling into it backwards. "Everyone else gets a spoon, but don't expect yours until you hand over the raisins."

Ashley rolled her eyes as TJ passed spoons to Karone and Andros. "Do you honestly think I'm going to eat the entire box?"

"I wouldn't put it past you to try to improve oatmeal by adding it to the raisins instead of the other way around," TJ informed her. "Hand them over."

She smiled sweetly at him. "How am I supposed to get the raisins out without a spoon?"

"Pour, like everyone else."

Ashley turned the box over. Nothing happened. "It's too hot," she explained. "They're stuck together."

With a long-suffering sigh, TJ passed her a spoon. "Save some for us," he reminded her.

Ashley reached into the box and tossed a raisin at him in reply. "There's your raisin," she said with a giggle. Scooping some into her bowl, she asked, "Want some, Andros?"

"Not if you're going to throw them at me," Andros answered, grinning at her.

She wrinkled her nose at him, and Karone couldn't help smiling. It was nice to see her brother so happy. Even as Astronema, she'd known that the Red Ranger carried a lot of repressed hurt. Of course, when she'd thought he was her enemy she'd considered that a good thing, but now she was glad to see him letting go of some of it.

"Karone?" Ashley asked, holding the box out to her. "Raisins for your oatmeal?"

Ignoring TJ's indignant protest, Karone looked down at her bowl doubtfully. "What's... 'oatmeal'?"

"It's--" Ashley glanced down at her own bowl, then shrugged a little. "I don't know, actually. I think it's oats and water, or milk, or something. I guess that makes it like wet, gluey bread."

TJ stopped chewing, his spoon halfway to his mouth, and gave her a reproachful look. Andros took the opportunity to snatch the raisin box from Ashley's hand while she was distracted, pretending not to notice her exclamation. He had already downed almost a third of his oatmeal, and Ashley's description didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

"As good as you make it sound," Karone said, pushing her bowl away with a slight smile, "I'm not really hungry."

"You have to eat something," TJ protested, turning his attention back to her. "I haven't seen you eat anything since Andros brought you off of the Dark Fortress yesterday."

She saw Andros and Ashley look at her in surprise, their mock fight over the raisin box momentarily forgotten. "Karone," Andros began.

"Look," she interrupted. "It's not like I'm used to eating all the time, okay? Food was a luxury on the Dark Fortress. Most of the soldiers there didn't eat at all."

"Yeah, because they were machines," Ashley pointed out. "You're not like them. You're one of us."

"That's right," TJ agreed. "And if we have to listen to Ashley complain about the food, so do you, so eat up."

"Hey!" Ashley picked another raisin out of her oatmeal and threw it at him.

TJ ducked, raising a hand to ward her off, and Ashley laughed. TJ's spoon clattered to the table as he grabbed a raisin from Andros' bowl and chucked it back at her. "That'll teach you to throw fruit, young lady!"

"Raisins aren't fruit," Ashley protested, scrambling out of her seat and taking the box of raisins with her. "Who's got the ammunition now, huh? You'd better be nice to me!"

TJ and Andros exchanged glances. Something must have passed between them, for they both lunged from their chairs at exactly the same time. TJ went for the raisin box while Andros grabbed Ashley from behind, tickling her mercilessly as she shrieked and tried to wriggle free.

It was onto this scene of chaos that the door swung open once more, though Karone was the only one to notice right away. Carlos stopped in the doorway, watching TJ try to wrestle a cardboard box away from his teammate while Andros held her as best he could. Ashley put up an impressive fight for someone who was too convulsed with laughter to stand up straight.

"And these are the esteemed Astro Rangers," Carlos deadpanned, as he stepped into the room and held the door for the Ranger behind him. "Protectors of Earth and KO-35. They saved this planet from the wrath of Dark Specter and the power of Astronema."

"While they fought among themselves over gluey oats and dried fruit," Karone remarked, watching Andros laugh as Ashley stumbled into him. "I should be ashamed."

She saw the Aquitian Ranger from yesterday shoot a sharp glance in her direction, and she remembered how TJ had introduced her. Could it really be that difficult to figure out who she was? The magical glamour had been part of Astronema's image, but she couldn't believe she was that hard to recognize without it.

Something stung her skin, and she started. Tensing as she tried to isolate the threat, she didn't at first grasp the significance of TJ's smirk. When he flung another raisin in her direction, though, she lifted her hand instinctively and it dissolved into a flash of violet light before she could think.

TJ blinked, looking a little startled. Before she could say anything, though, he objected, "That was cheating!"

"At least someone still has their power," Carlos muttered, sliding into the seat Andros had vacated. He didn't seem at all taken aback by her magic display, but his companion was eyeing her warily.

Ignoring the other Ranger, Karone looked at Carlos. "You don't--but you still have your morphers," she said, frowning. A quick glance at his wrist made her hesitate. "Don't you?"

Carlos followed her gaze, but it was TJ who answered. "Yeah, we do," the Blue Ranger said, scraping his spoon along the inside of the raisin box. "They just don't seem to do anything anymore."

Carlos understood the part of her confusion that TJ had missed, and he twisted his left wrist casually. An astromorpher appeared where his silver watchband had been, and he caught her eye with a grin. "They just look like that when we're on Earth," he said by way of explanation. "Makes us less conspicuous."

"Oh," she agreed, not sure what else to say. Karone hadn't realized until yesterday morning that the Power Rangers' identities had been kept secret from the inhabitants of Earth. Rueful thoughts of how much damage she could have done if she'd known that beforehand still flitted through her mind from time to time.

"So where did breakfast come from?" Carlos wanted to know. "Did you run out after four bowls?"

"Adelle's got someone making it in the kitchen," Ashley gasped, wrenching away from Andros with a breathless giggle. "I'll go get you some!"

"I'll help," Andros offered, but TJ caught his arm when he would have followed Ashley out the door.

"Sit down," TJ said firmly. "I don't trust either of you alone together after that."

Andros all but rolled his eyes, but he allowed TJ to drag him back to the table. "It was as much your idea as it was mine," he pointed out, leaning back to pull the other two chairs over to the table with him. "I already had raisins."

Karone saw Carlos raise his eyebrow at that, but he didn't comment.

TJ held up the raisin box and shook it. "Recognize these?"

Andros shrugged, gesturing for Carlos to move over. "Here," he told the Aquitian Ranger. "Have a seat. Ashley's getting some oatmeal."

"Yeah, to escape you," Carlos added, not missing the way Andros had avoided the question. "Since when do you guys have tickle fights?"

Andros pushed Ashley's chair down too, and TJ moved closer to Karone without prompting. Finally done rearranging chairs, Andros sat down and pulled what was left of his oatmeal away from Carlos. Carlos picked up his spoon and held it out, but when Andros went to take it the Black Ranger pulled it back. "Well?" he demanded.

"What's wrong with tickling someone?" Andros wanted to know, snatching his spoon out of Carlos' hand. "It's a nonviolent method of incapacitation."

Carlos rolled his eyes. "Only you could make something that's one step down from kissing sound like a tactical maneuver."

"You don't consider kissing a tactical maneuver?" Karone inquired, burying her spoon in her oatmeal. She considered the gooey mess for several seconds, aware that every eye in the room had turned toward her. She wasn't sure she dared to take her first bite under those circumstances.

"You do?" Carlos asked incredulously.

"Of course," she said, lifting her head. "Kissing is an excellent method of distracting or disarming an opponent. And, in some company, it has a surprise value totally unrelated to its physical effects."

"Right," TJ said, the hint of humor in his voice implying that he didn't know whether to take her seriously or not.

Knowing she'd never get him to meet her halfway, Karone put a hand on TJ's shoulder and leaned forward, pressing her mouth full against his. She felt him flinch in surprise even as she pulled away, settling back into her chair with a small smile. The others were staring at her in shock.

"TJ and I are the only ones facing the door," she explained. "Not only did I make him look away, I also made sure that none of you would look over your shoulders until it was too late. Anyone could have entered the room just now, and you wouldn't have even noticed."

As she'd expected, TJ and Andros automatically looked toward the door, and the person who'd been standing in it laughed.

"That was interesting," Ashley admitted, joining them at the table and letting the door swing shut behind her. Setting down the bowls she was carrying, she passed Andros an apple with a wink. "I got you a present."

Karone watched with interest as Andros blushed, but Ashley continued as though nothing had happened. "It looks like you could teach us a few things, Karone."

"I could teach you a lot," Karone corrected, lowering her gaze to her oatmeal and giving it a half-hearted poke. "But most of it you probably don't want to learn."

There was an awkward silence. As Ashley handed extra spoons to Carlos and the Aquitian Ranger, he broke into the quiet with his thanks. "Sorry it's your first introduction to California food," he told the alien at his side. "Better than nothing, though."

"What is it?" the other Ranger asked, seeming oblivious to the tension in the room.

"It's mixed grains," TJ said, giving Ashley a warning look. "It's good for you."

The Aquitian Ranger studied him. "Are you sure?"

TJ started to shrug, then frowned. "Oh. No, I'm not."

She did a credible imitation of his shrug before lifting her spoon to her mouth. "So long as I know what I am risking, then."

Karone smiled to herself, and she saw Carlos glance around the table. "Aura, do you know everyone?" he asked suddenly. "I forgot that you didn't meet Andros and Ashley yesterday."

She swallowed her oatmeal and gave him a quizzical look. "It appears you have answered your own question."

TJ chuckled, and Carlos shot an irritated look in his direction. "This is Andros," he said, pointedly ignoring TJ. "He's our Red Ranger, and that's Ashley, the Yellow Ranger."

"Hi," Ashley said with a smile. "I think you're wearing my clothes."

Karone took a closer look, noticing for the first time the similarity of Aura's attire to that of the Astro Rangers. Only then did it occur to her that Aura now wore yellow, though she had been introduced to Karone as the Red Ranger. She tried to remember ever seeing the Astro Rangers in something other than "their" colors, and she found she couldn't.

"It's just your shirt," Carlos was telling his teammate. "The jeans are my mom's."

Aura's downward glance was a self-conscious gesture, and Ashley noticed immediately. "I'm glad someone's getting some wear out of it," she assured the other Ranger. "The 'A' works as well for you as it does for me."

Aura tilted her head. "I do not know what you mean," she confessed, a curious glint in her eyes.

"It's Aura, right?" When she nodded, Ashley smiled. "In our language, your name starts with an 'A'. That's the letter that's on your shirt. So does mine."

"So does 'Angel Grove', which is what it actually stands for," Carlos put in. "Ashley and I usually go to soccer games together, so we sometimes leave our uniforms at each other's houses." This last seemed to be for Andros' benefit more than anything.

"It's an honor to meet you," Aura offered, apparently unsure what to make of that information.

"You too," Ashley said cheerfully. She pushed the raisin box across the table. "Want some raisins? It makes the oatmeal easier to eat."

Spoon in hand, Aura regarded her bowl uncertainly. "Does it?"

"Well, it does for me." Ashley glanced at Karone's bowl. "I tried to warn Karone about oatmeal earlier, but she didn't listen."

"It's not so bad," Karone told her, assuming the remark was meant in jest. "I've eaten much worse on the Dark Fortress. Zhane even cooked for me once," she added, smiling a little.

Ashley choked on her oatmeal, coughing twice before she got herself under control. "He what?" she asked in disbelief.

Karone glanced around the table. Seeing the skepticism in TJ and Carlos' faces, she guessed in a small voice, "He didn't tell you?"

"He said you went on a date," Andros told her, patting Ashley on the back. "He never said he cooked."

Catching TJ's incredulous stare, he offered, "Well, he told me."

"It wasn't as romantic as it probably sounds," Karone said with a small smile.

Ashley managed to regain her composure with a laugh. "Tell me about," she said with a wink. "Zhane's a terrible cook."

It was Andros' turn to stare, and she added defensively, "Well, he tried to make hot chocolate that one time. And then when he tried to make pizza with avocado sauce--"

"When did all this happen?" TJ demanded, not losing sight of the original conversation. "Was I asleep that week?"

A knock on the door saved Karone from having to reply. When Andros asked who was there, a distinctive voice replied, "It's Adelle."

Andros got up to open the door, but Adelle declined to come in and join them. "I just came to tell you," she said, glancing over Andros' shoulder. "General Norquist called again. I told him you weren't here, but he said to let you know he was looking."

"Damn," Carlos muttered under his breath. "He left a message on my parents' machine, too. I forgot to tell you."

Andros sighed. "It's all right. I've been meaning to let NASADA know there'll be an Eltaran ship coming in later anyway. Thanks, Adelle."

"And thanks for breakfast," TJ put in.

Ashley and Carlos added their agreement, but Adelle just waved it away. "It's the least I could do," she assured them. "You need anything else, you just let me know."

As she hurried away, Ashley murmured, "They wouldn't even let us wait in line in the kitchen. When I went in just now, David told me to come up to the counter first and everyone else practically pushed me up there when I tried to argue."

"We tried to wait our turn the first time," TJ agreed. "Everyone kept telling us to go in front of them, and we ended up at the front of the line before we stopped moving."

Andros gazed at the closed door for a long moment before returning to the table, and Karone watched him as he sat down again. He wasn't listening to their quiet commentary, even when Carlos mentioned the way Andros had been saluted the day before. The delegation from Eltar must be worrying him more than he was letting on.

"Hey," Ashley said gently, putting her hand on Andros' shoulder. "Still with us?" She had noticed his silence too.

Tapping his spoon against his empty bowl, Andros gave her a distracted smile. "I'm listening," he assured her. "Just thinking."

"About Zordon?" she asked, sympathy evident in her voice. The table was suddenly quieter than it had been before.

"What about Zordon?" Carlos looked around, spoon halfway to his mouth as he tried to figure out what they were talking about.

Karone glance over at TJ and found him looking back. "Zordon's gone," the Blue Ranger said, redirecting his attention to Carlos. "He caused the energy wave that made everyone good again."

"Everyone?" Carlos repeated, missing the significance of the explanation. "There are more people--like Karone?"

"A woman claiming to be Divatox was discovered on Aquitar shortly before I left," Aura offered. Though she seemed to be speaking to Carlos, she was studying Karone intently. "She managed to go several minutes without threatening to destroy our planet, but whether her identity or her intentions have been confirmed, I do not know."

"She was telling the truth," TJ told Aura. "The wave reformed anyone it didn't turn to sand. Zordon sacrificed his life to make sure all evil would be gone from the universe."

A quiet stillness pervaded the room, but finally Aura tilted her head in acknowledgement. "He would have said the price was small," she said softly. "But we are much less without him."

"Eltar thinks so too," Karone said, unable to stay silent any longer. "They aren't as calm about it."

Carlos frowned at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Zordon asked Andros to shatter his energy tube, and he didn't bother to let his people know." Karone glared back at him, glad to have someone to be irritated with for a change. "Now the Eltarans want to put Andros on trial."

"Maybe it's just me." Carlos was leaning back against the control island in the Dark Fortress' command center. Staring pensively at the far wall, he continued, "I just can't help thinking that if you save the universe, you should get a little credit. A party, or a medal or something. Not a trial."

"Your communicator's all set," Karone said, holding it out to him without looking up. She had ignored the current conversation since it resumed a few minutes ago. Ashley wasn't sure if linking their communicators to the Dark Fortress' comm system really took that much concentration, or if she just didn't feel like talking about it anymore.

"Thanks," Carlos said, straightening up. As he fastened his communicator to his wrist again, he asked the room at large, "Isn't there an extenuating circumstances clause somewhere?"

"The circumstances don't change what I did," Andros told him. "I killed someone, and I have to be held accountable for that."

Ashley opened her mouth to protest, but TJ beat her to it.

"You did not kill Zordon," he said firmly. "Zordon made a decision to sacrifice himself. He asked you to help him carry out that decision, but the choice was his.

"Think about it," TJ added. "Would you have even considered shattering his tube if he hadn't asked you to?"

Andros frowned. "Of course not."

TJ shrugged as though he had made his point. "See? He not only had to ask you, he had to convince you. Zordon's choice was his responsibility, not yours."

"Ashley?" Karone said, holding out her hand.

She squeezed Andros' shoulder reassuringly before joining his sister at the control island. She fumbled with the catch on her communicator for a moment before getting it to release, and she passed it to Karone with a smile of thanks. The other girl didn't meet her gaze, though, and Ashley started to doubt it was just the comm link preoccupying her.

"Are you all right?" she asked Karone quietly, hoping not to draw everyone's attention.

Karone glanced up at that, catching her eye in surprise. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just seem a little... distracted."

A screen to their left lit up with the Aquitian Rangers' logo, and Karone glanced over at it without answering. "Aquitar is trying to contact us," she remarked.

Carlos looked over at them, raising an eyebrow. "She only left two seconds ago."

The logo disappeared as Karone tapped the console in front of her. An Aquitian face Ashley had never seen before appeared in place of the logo, and suddenly she felt Andros at her side. The woman on the screen nodded as though she recognized the Red Astro Ranger.

"The Rangers of Aquitar wish to thank the Rangers of Earth and KO-35 for the hospitality you have shown to our teammate," the Aquitian woman declared.

Andros nodded in return. "It was our honor to host her, Cetaci. Any of your team is always welcome on our worlds."

"We appreciate your generosity," the other Ranger replied. "You too are welcome here. If we may ever reciprocate, please allow us to do so."

"We appreciate your concern," Andros countered. "The favor was yours, and I hope we can return it someday."

The Aquitian Ranger inclined her head. "Until we meet again."

Andros mimicked her gesture, and the screen darkened again. Karone made an irritated sound. She went back to her work without further complaint, but she had made her displeasure at the interruption known.

"That was weird," TJ observed. When Andros didn't say anything, he added, "Is that normal? For Ranger leaders to call each other and exchange team 'thank you' notes?"

"How did you know she was the team leader?" Ashley wanted to know. She wouldn't even have recognized the Aquitian as a Ranger if it hadn't been for the fact that her clothes were almost identical to Aura's.

"She wore a sash," TJ answered. "Plus White Rangers usually outrank Red."

"Not always," Andros said defensively, but Ashley was too surprised to be amused by his reaction.

"Since when do you know so much about alien Rangers?" she demanded, only half teasing. She hadn't even noticed the white shirt under the Aquitian Ranger's tunic.

TJ shrugged, but his grin acknowledged her amazement. "Since I started working with them," he said, nodding toward Andros. "What do we know about space, remember? So I decided I'd better learn something."

"Here you go," Karone murmured, handing Ashley's communicator back to her.

"Thanks, Karone," Ashley said, and this time the other girl caught her eye and smiled back.

"It's not unusual that Cetaci called to thank us," Andros said, sliding his communicator off and giving it to Karone without prompting. "What's unusual is that Billy sent Aura in the first place."

Ashley frowned a little, trying to decipher that. "Instead of coming himself, you mean?"

"Ranger teams don't usually interfere with each other," TJ put in. "From what I can tell, it's a jurisdiction issue."

"Home guard authority," Andros agreed, reaching out to take her communicator. She held out her arm with a sigh, embarrassed that he had noticed her struggling with the catch but grateful for the gesture. "When Rangers do assist each other, visiting Rangers defer to the resident team."

He fastened the communicator around her wrist, tugging it gently to make sure the latch had caught. Giving her arm an experimental twist, she felt the disguised morpher settle into its accustomed place. She smiled when he looked up, and Andros squeezed her hand.

"But Aura did that," Carlos was saying. His words had the sound of grudging admiration. "She let me tell her what to do, and she took my word for a few things she probably shouldn't have. She was more polite than I gave her reason to be, that's for sure."

"It's not how she acted," Andros pointed out. "It's the fact that she was here at all. From what TJ says, Billy was pretty insistent about getting someone here."

"You said Billy's from Earth," Ashley reminded him. Andros did have a tendency to overreact. "It's no wonder he wanted to know if his home planet had survived Ast--Dark Specter's war."

She just stopped herself from saying "Astronema", and she struggled to keep from looking at Karone to see if her slip had been noticeable. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the other girl still working at the control island, and she hoped that this time Karone truly wasn't listening. She had never been quite sure how Karone regarded her alter ego, and the last 24 hours hadn't shed much light on the subject.

"You helped us," Carlos said unexpectedly. "When Eltar fell, and we lost our powers." Though he seemed to be addressing Andros, every eye in the room turned toward him. Even Karone paused, and when he realized they were all looking at him he shrugged. "I'm just saying sometimes you help the people who need help first, and worry about where they're from later."

"There's no way we need help more than Aquitar does right now." Andros' tone was adamant. "They lost satellites, ground transport, surface cities--"

"Divatox has no finesse," Karone interrupted. "It goes with being a pirate. Not all worlds fared as badly as Aquitar."

"No," TJ agreed grimly. "Some of them fared worse."

Karone passed Andros' communicator back to him without a word, and suddenly it dawned on Ashley. Karone wasn't being aloof--she was being defensive. Her promotion after Dark Specter's demise had placed the responsibility for the continuing war squarely on Astronema's shoulders, and maybe that wasn't as easy for her to forget as she wanted them to think.

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Ashley asked, making a show of shivering as she folded her arms over her chest. She glanced over her shoulder and added, "It's spooky enough here as it is."

Andros gave her an odd look, but Carlos backed her up immediately. "It is spooky... It feels like someone's watching us."

"That's the internal cameras," Karone offered, not looking up. "I brought them back online last night."

"Why?" TJ asked, frowning.

"Do you know how many people there are in Angel Grove?" Karone shot him an exasperated look that was reminiscent of Andros. "It's only a matter of time before their curiosity overwhelms their fear and this place is crawling with civilians."

Ashley exchanged glances with Andros. They should have thought of that. The Dark Fortress probably shouldn't stay here at all, but it wasn't convenient to have it in orbit when they couldn't teleport. And even with their communicators linked to it from the ground, they were going to need some kind of base while the Megaship was gone.

The thoughts flashed through her mind in quick succession, and she could see them mirrored in Andros' face. They were going to have to find a way to seal off the Dark Fortress to anyone other than the Power Rangers, and the irony wasn't lost on either of them.

"The cameras, not to mention the security systems, usually operate continually," Karone was saying, oblivious to their internal dialogue. "But Andros did an emergency shutdown when he brought the Dark Fortress into the atmosphere, and it's taken me a while to get everything running again."

"Emergency shutdown?" Carlos repeated, wandering back toward the other side of the control island. He peered at what she was doing, though whether it was in genuine curiosity or just an effort to appear interested, Ashley couldn't tell. "What did you do that for?"

"Those security systems Karone isn't mentioning?" Andros glanced around the command center as though he expected them to spring into action at any moment. "Yesterday morning would have been a bad time for them to figure out who I was."

"And you didn't know how to turn them off, so you crashed the whole system," Karone finished.

Andros shrugged. "Yeah."

The slightest hint of a smile touched Karone's face as she looked over at him. "Remind me to thank you later."

"Is that supposed to be blinking?" Carlos inquired, leaning over the control island and pointing at a light next to the comm system.

Karone gave it an offhand look, then frowned and tapped in a sequence that Ashley could barely follow. She stared at the console for a moment. When the screen to her left flashed again, she looked up and they all followed her gaze.

The word "ALERT" covered the screen in large orange letters.

"I'm guessing that's a 'no'?" Carlos suggested.

"That's the cryofreeze facility," Karone muttered. Ashley assumed she meant the dimly lit scene that was almost obscured by the warning on the screen. "The safeties must have kicked in when Andros cut the power."

"That's good, right?" TJ didn't sound at all certain, which was unusual for him. Ashley saw him exchange glances with Carlos out of the corner of her eye. "Was someone down there?"

"That's bad," Karone corrected, not bothering to answer his second question. Her fingers danced across the console, and the screen dimmed slightly before going dark. Karone turned and strode out the door without another word.

Puzzled, Ashley looked around and found no clues in the faces of her teammates. No one asked the obvious question. They headed out of the command center as one, the four of them following Karone through the corridors of the Dark Fortress in wary silence.

It didn't take them long to reach the place they'd just been looking at, but the room didn't look much different in person. It actually a little looked less ominous, given that there was no orange warning superimposed over it. Karone came to a halt just inside the doorway and glared, offering no explanation.

"Well?" TJ asked at last. "What's going on?"

"Looks pretty quiet to me," Carlos remarked, venturing past Karone to inspect the cryofreeze pods lined up against the wall. "No insane tank monsters... no green glowing energy webs... what else do we ask, lately?"

"They're empty." Karone's flat tone cut off Carlos' attempt at humor without even a smile of acknowledgement.

"Who was in them?" Andros asked. He sounded as though he didn't really want to know the answer, and Ashley snuck a look at him. He was the only one staring at Karone instead of the pods.

"Not who," Karone said softly. "What."

"Since when do you put machines into cryofreeze?" Carlos demanded.

"They're not machines." Even Karone was gazing at the pods, as though she could will their occupants back. "There was one force that defeated the Rangers over and over again, you know. The only thing that kept them from destroying you utterly was me... and Ecliptor, once or twice.

"Well, that and the fact that they were selfish, short-sighted idiots," she added as an afterthought, and Ashley tried not to stare. That statement, delivered as it was with an unconcerned shrug, was pure Astronema.

Andros' next words drove the thought from her mind.

"We destroyed the Psycho Rangers," he told his sister. "They're gone."

"You destroyed Darkonda, too," Karone reminded him. "Several times, as I recall."

"Wait a minute." Carlos held up his hand in a futile attempt to rewind the conversation. "The Psycho Rangers? They were data cards the last time we saw them! Or knew about them, anyway. Data cards that were blown up along with the rest of Secret City a few minutes later."

Karone seemed to be staring at something they couldn't see. When she finally answered, her voice was distant. "Ecliptor failed me that day," she murmured. "'Guard them with your life,' I told him. He risked his own survival to make up for that mistake."

"He retrieved the data cards," Andros said, watching his sister gaze off into space.

Watching him watch her, Ashley could only wonder what was going through his mind. Was he baffled by yet another example of the loyalty of Astronema's evil bodyguard? Was he saddened by what Karone had lost, or just glad that his sister was free? Would she ever dare ask him about it?

"Yes." The single word fell into the silence like a stone, and Karone's attention returned to them. "Ecliptor rescued the data cards, and I reanimated the Psychos. In a way," she added, gesturing to the cryofreeze pods. "They were much less trouble in here."

"Why didn't you use them in battle?" Ever the tactician, TJ sounded more curious than upset.

"Without Dark Specter to power them, they were just regular monsters," Karone answered. "But there was a perfectly good power source here on Earth... if I could just get your people to turn you in. I wish I'd known you kept your identities secret," she added, looking a little annoyed.

Ashley shuddered, but she felt a smile tug at her lips despite it. "I'm glad there was at least one thing you didn't know," she teased.

"Yeah, where is your crystal ball, anyway?" Getting into the spirit of things, Carlos pretended to look around for it. "We were lucky there was only one of you for five of us. Imagine a team of Astronemas."

Karone looked down, but Ashley saw the smile she tried to hide. "Don't scare me," she admonished Carlos. "I have to sleep at night."

"Not with the Psycho Rangers around." TJ was either oblivious to their attempts to cheer Karone up or too preoccupied to care. "What you're saying is that they were here, they weren't affected by Zordon's wave because they were in suspended animation, and now they're loose in the city somewhere."

"When they take human form," Andros said, not waiting for Karone to answer. "Do they always take the same form, or can they shift?"

"You mean will they look the way they did last time?" Karone looked troubled for the first time. "The ones you saw were influenced by the three of you. I don't know if they'll keep those faces or not."

"You said that without an outside power source, they're just regular monsters," Ashley said, hoping to lighten the gloom a little. "That means they're not the same Psycho Rangers we fought."

At her side, Andros lifted his left wrist. "We're not the same Power Rangers they fought, either," he reminded her.

"They may be regular monsters now," TJ said grimly, "but we're just regular humans. We can't morph anymore. Maybe we could have taken one monster without the Power, but we can't take on five."

"Not all at once," Carlos agreed. "And especially not if we have no idea where they are or what they look like."

"Although," Karone remarked thoughtfully, "there is a bright side."

"What's that?" Ashley prompted, when she didn't continue.

Karone tilted her head to one side, her expression perfectly solemn. "At least there won't be any Psycho Silver."