Disclaimer: Power Rangers and related characters, items, etc. belong to Saban. Although I don't know who the majority of the Spices belong to, just know that they aren't mine, except Jenny.

Author's Note: As in the last Flashback story, the dialogue enclosed in *these things* indicates dialogue in the flashback coming from the present.

I Remember Way Back When…
By Crypt

Part I

The Space Rangers and Spice Club members had set up a simulation in the Simudeck. It was the simulation of a snowy mountain. The heroes were doing a variety of snow activities up there. However, most of the Spices needed a little information.

"Now, is everyone ready to have fun?" Ashley asked.

"Fun? I can't even move," Fulgore complained. He had a foot buried in snow.

"Spinal, why don't you go first?" Cassie suggested.

"Me?" Spinal asked nervously.

He moved over to the slope slowly on his skis. He pushed himself forward and immediately went out of control.

"WHOOAAAAA!!!!!" he screamed as he went down.

The skeleton warrior struggled to keep his balance with absolutely no control over his direction. His hairy ride ended when he collided straight through a bush. He slid out, several twigs stuck between his ribs. The other Spices laughed insanely, applauding Spinal's miserable performance.

"That's exactly why I never wanted to ski," Jenny said.

"Poor thing….." C.C. mumbled.

Later on, Fulgore and T.J. decided to do some sledding.

"Okay Fulgore, here's what you do," T.J. said. "You just get on the sled and slide down on your belly."

"Hey, who do you think you're dealing with?" Fulgore asked. "I'm an Ultratech cyborg. You think I can't steer a sled? Sheesh!"

"Okay then. Follow me!" T.J. got onto his sled and went down the hill. "Yahoo!!"

"This should be a piece of cake," Fulgore told himself as he followed T.J.'s moves.

"Yahoo!!" T.J. called again. He sledded across a cabin porch and stopped at the bottom of the hill.

Fulgore also sledded across the cabin porch, but he stuck his claws straight up, slicing the deck in half as he went by. When he left the porch, he found himself airborne for a second. He landed back in the snow, which gathered at the front of the sled. Fulgore suddenly tumbled forward, picking up snow as he went down. By the time he stopped next to T.J., he was nothing more than a giant snowball.

"Oooh, nice ride!" T.J. called. "Couldn't you have left the deck of that house in one piece, though?"

Fulgore stuck his head out from the snow. "I planned it that way," he said.

"Sure you did," T.J. said. "Say, I wonder how Carlos, Ruth, and Spinal are doing on the ice?"

"Spinal's a lightweight little guy. I'm sure he's doing as well as I did on the sled."

So they went to join the others on the ice. Ruth got a pair of large ice skates for Fulgore, and he slipped them on. But he was afraid to go onto the ice. Instead, he sat in the snow, while Ruth tugged on his arm.

"I can see standing in water, but not ON it!" Fulgore cried.

"Trust me," Ruth said.

"It won't work; I know it," Fulgore went on. "I'm too heavy. I'm going to sink as soon as I step out onto that ice."

"Fulgore, this ice is really thick," Ruth told him. "The weight is what helps you skate."

"Well….here goes nothing….."

Fulgore stood up on the ice cautiously. As he headed toward the middle, he found out that his prediction couldn't have been more accurate. The ice cracked under him, and he sank halfway into the water.

"Whoa!" Ruth screamed.

Spinal laughed. "Nothing is right!" he called as he skated around them.

"Easy for you to say, showoff!" Fulgore called back.

Spinal skated around like a professional. He leaped and spun around like those figure skating champions. As he landed, however, his foot slipped, and he crashed violently on his back. The spikes on his shackles and belt had him stuck.

"Face it….." he grunted as he tried to get up. "Some of us have it, and some of us don't….."

The next thing he heard was Fulgore's laugh.

"Nice going, you showoff," the cyborg called as Ruth pulled him out of the water.

"That was great, Spinal," Ruth said.

"Cut it out…..and give me a hand, you two," Spinal pleaded.

"Okay. Come on, Fulgore; let's go help Spinal out." Ruth and Fulgore skated over to the prone skeleton. "Hey, you're doing it! You're skating!"

"You're right! I am doing it!" Fulgore exclaimed. "This is really fun!" He skated around Ruth and Spinal several times.

"If you think that was fun, wait `til we show you all about snowballs," Ruth said.

Fulgore stopped and helped Spinal up. "Snowballs? What are snowballs?"

No sooner than he asked, a snowball hit him in the back of his head.

"That's a snowball!" Zhane called with a laugh.

"Zhane, watch out!" Jenny called out of nowhere.

Zhane turned around. Brooklyn stood behind him, holding a giant snowball above his head. He dropped it on top of Zhane.

"Is that one, too?" he asked.

"Uh…..yeah….." Zhane sighed.

"Brooklyn, pick on somebody your own size," Ruth said.

"Like me," Fulgore added.

Now all the Rangers and Spices were throwing snowballs at each other. They were having a great time! Fulgore was struck in the face with another snowball.

"That's it! That's what really burns my circuits," he growled.

As Zhane threw more snowballs, he laughed. He suddenly became engulfed in a shadow. He turned around to see Fulgore holding a snowball even larger than the one Brooklyn had. It was big enough to bury a house.

"Whoa!" Zhane stammered as he staggered over to the others. "Oh no……Fulgore!!!"

Fulgore stood over the group. Ruth grabbed onto Carlos.

"Everybody's throwing snowballs, huh?" Fulgore asked. "Maybe I should throw one, too!"

"Uh-oh!" Zhane cried as Fulgore dropped the snowball on them.

Fortunately, everyone managed to pop their heads out of the ice.

"Sheesh! What a sorehead!" Zhane cried.

Fulgore laughed insanely. Jenny chuckled.

"Somebody get me the license plate number of that Ultrazord…." she sighed.

C.C. and Spinal got out and moved over behind a tree.

"Isn't the snow beautiful?" C.C. asked.

"Yeah….." Spinal agreed. "It's incredible."

"Spinal……I want to kiss you."

Without waiting for permission, C.C. kissed him passionately. They embraced each other affectionately. As they were engulfed within each other, Fulgore hid behind the very same tree. Without warning, he kicked the trunk, causing the snow on the branches to fall on top of the lovers. Both screamed in surprise.

Jenny decided to try her hand at skiing anyway. She waited at the top of the hill while the Rangers waited at the bottom. Jenny was still nervous.

"Okay, Jenny, just push!" T.J. called.

Jenny pushed herself quickly, not giving herself a chance to think about it. After hopping over a large rock, she lost her footing and tumbled forward. She couldn't stop at all; she tumbled again and again all the way down the hill. She finally stopped when she got to the bottom where the Rangers stood around her.

"Ouch….." she mumbled.

"You okay?" Carlos asked.

Jenny sat up, breathing heavily. "Stop simulation!" she called wearily.

The snowy mountain disappeared and the heroes found themselves back in the Astro Megaship environment. Jenny stood up and lowered her head, letting the remaining snow fall to the ground. The Cryptkeeper shivered.

"Oooh, that was cold!" he exclaimed. "Let's go get some chow!"

"Goodie! I'm hungry!" Hallie cried.

The group went into the dining room and pulled out their meal from the synthetron. Zhane sat next to Jenny. His meal looked like a seashell with spikes surrounded by a mess of Jell-o. Jenny stared at Zhane's meal, just waiting for it to crawl over to her and say hello.

Hallie went to her locker and pulled out the photo album. Then she sat next to Jenny.

"What's in this album?" Fulgore asked.

"Pictures," Hallie said. "It has pictures of the first night."

"What is this `first night' that you guys keep talking about?" Carlos asked.

"Uh-oh…..he asked the question….." the Cryptkeeper sang.

"Okay, I'll tell you guys," Jenny said. "But not because you asked. It's the night when we first got possessed. It started as an innocent little Halloween party at a funeral parlor in the middle of nowhere. There were only seven of us at the time. There was me, Hallie, C.K., Bat, Cammy, Marvin, and this other girl named Jasmine. Also, Scorpina, the Saliguana, and the Soccadillo attended our party for some reason."

Hallie turned to the page. There was a photo of her with her eyes open wide. She held lipstick and a piece of broken glass. There was also smoke protruding from her mouth.

"That was when the demon spirit flew into my mouth while I was doing my lipstick," she said. "So I was the very first one to be possessed."

"Jenny, I thought you were first," the Cryptkeeper said.

"No, I was second," Jenny told him. "Okay, here's how it went….."

~*~

[Begin Flashback]

The party poopers were standing in the living room of the funeral parlor as the demonic spirit flew around examining each of them. When it saw Hallie standing with her mouth open, it flew right inside. Hallie's eyes grew wide as the fire in the fireplace grew bigger and brighter for a few seconds, then returned to normal.

"I don't like what's happening here," Jenny said.

"What do you mean?" Scorpina asked.

"I know what she means," the Cryptkeeper said. "This isn't the most happening party I've ever been to."

"What DO you mean, Sis?" Hallie asked in a low voice.

"Those noises we heard; there were three of them. And then that awful stink, and then the chill," Jenny explained.

"It's not cold now," Cammy said. "It must have been a draft."

"The odor's gone, too," Scorpina observed.

"But we all experienced them!" Jenny cried. "The noise, the stink, and the chill. They're all signs of demonic infestation."

The Cryptkeeper snickered.

"Demonic what?" Scorpina asked.

"Demonic whatchamacallits!" the Cryptkeeper said. "Jenny's only trying to put the old ooga-booga on us, okay? Yeah, Jenny, I'm sure you're right. Or maybe the Soccadillo had too much cold beer and blew us that cool, stiff breeze right out of his butthole!"

The other Spices laughed.

"I don't care what y'all think!" Soccadillo cried. "Lord Zedd is terrible; I know better than to be messing with this stuff. This is a house of the dead, and I'm getting out NOW, before it's too late."

He started toward the front door.

"Would you guys listen to me!" Jenny cried. "They're not ghosts! This place is not haunted; it's possessed!"

"What's the difference?" Scorpina asked.

"A haunted house has ghosts in it; the spirits of people who've died," Jenny explained. "But the spirits in a possessed house have never existed in human form. They've only existed in spirit form. They're pure evil; they're demons."

"Come on! You can't really believe this place is possessed!" the Cryptkeeper said.

Saliguana chuckled. "Nah, just repossessed."

Silence filled the room.

"Maybe Soccadillo's right," Cammy said. "Maybe we should leave."

"Come on, let's hang out!" Marvin declared.

"Yeah! Eat a bowl of puke!" the Cryptkeeper cried. "I am here to party!!!"

The group began laughing insanely.

"Me, too," Hallie said, still in her low voice. The laughter immediately stopped. "Just because one lame wuss wants to bail, doesn't mean we ace this party."

"I want to go, too," Jasmine said, standing next to the Soccadillo.

"We'll need a ride," the monster said.

"Don't look at me," the Cryptkeeper said. "My cruiser's sitting in a ditch two miles from here. Of course, you could always spend the night there. Whooo……"

"Here, Soccadillo, take Jenny's car!" Hallie called, tossing him the keys.

"HEY!" Jenny screamed. "What the hell do you think you're….."

"Chill out, Sis," Hallie said, cutting her off. She did not look like her sweet self at all. "It's your party, you ain't going anywhere."

"Thanks, Hallie," Soccadillo said.

"Don't mention it," Hallie said. "I don't care if you're chicken shit. Just remember to open the gate BEFORE you drive through it."

"Drive careful, you guys," Scorpina said.

Jasmine and the Soccadillo left the house.

"Let's party," Hallie said flatly.

"Awoo!!" the Cryptkeeper yelled.

"You guys can count us out," Marvin said. "Scorpina and I have some exploring to do."

"Great idea; let's see what kind of action we can dig up in this glorious old dump," Bat added.

"I don't know, Marvin," Scorpina said.

"Oh, come on, Scorpina. Who knows; maybe we'll be able to find a little privacy." Marvin turned to the others. "We'll catch you guys later. Don't do anything stupid while we're gone, huh?"

"Yeah right," the Cryptkeeper said. "Y'all say hi to Casper for me."

Marvin, Scorpina, Bat, and Cammy left the room.

"I think I'm going to find the bathroom," Hallie announced.

"Good idea," Saliguana said. "I'll go too, to protect you."

"No thanks. I'd rather take C.K."

"C.K.?"

"You heard the lady!" the Cryptkeeper said. "She wants a REAL man guarding her charm!"

"C.K.'s a dead pig," Saliguana said.

"Maybe I'm in the mood for rotten pork tonight," Hallie said.

The Cryptkeeper snorted. Hallie turned to Jenny. She approached her older sister calmly, grabbed the back of her neck, and kissed her. Hallie's mouth completely covered Jenny's. Jenny stood with her eyes wide open. The Cryptkeeper and the Saliguana gave each other a confusd look. The fire once again roared for a second, just like before. Hallie moved back to where she was. Jenny closed her eyes tightly and clutched her stomach, as if to fight a stomach ache.

"I'm in the mood for all sorts of things tonight," Hallie said.

"I'll tell you what," the Cryptkeeper said as he followed Hallie out of the room. "I'll hold yours, and you hold mine."

"I don't believe this," Saliguana mumbled as he realized that he was alone in the living room with the weirdest woman on the planet.

Jenny, who had been staring at the floor, looked up at the big green lizard. She smiled.

[End Flashback]

~*~

"So, that's how it happened," Jenny said.

"I should have known," the Cryptkeeper said. "I really should have."

Fulgore looked through the photos of the party. "Looks like all hell to me."

"It was all hell, especially for Scorpina and the Soccadillo," Jenny said.

Fulgore turned the next page and saw a photo of Tommy and his brother David.

"Who're those guys?" he asked.

"That's Tommy, the guy who killed my father," Jenny said. "And that's his brother David."

"David once got captured by the Machine Empire," the Cryptkeeper said.

"We foolishly believe that he would be a bit nicer than his brother, but we couldn't have been more wrong," Jenny said. "We saved him from the monster, but he had no gratitude whatsoever, the bastard."

"It was another unsuccessful attempt to earn people's respect," Spinal added.

"I managed to get David out of a horde of Cogs, then teleported him to a safe spot," Jenny explained…….

~*~

[Begin Flashback]

Jenny and David teleported to a safe spot in the middle of nowhere. The other Spices stood off to the side.

"You okay?" Jenny asked.

"I'm fine," David said. "But what about my brother? They must have kidnapped him like they kidnapped me."

"No, Tommy's fine," Jenny told him. "Come on; we'll take you home."

"No!" David screamed. "My brother is in danger; you've got to find him!"

"Tommy is safe at home!" Jenny said. "He's waiting for you."

"How do you know!?"

"Because he sent us out here!"

"You're lying! Get…..just get out of here!" David demanded. "I don't want to see you guys again! I hate those misfits over there; but most of all, I hate you!"

Jenny stood silently. She clenched her fist tightly. As fire flashed in her eyes, she sighed and walked back to her friends.

"Let's go home," she said softly. "He's as bad as his brother."

The Spices teleported away.

[Pause Flashback]

~*~

"So we had no choice but to leave him out in the middle of nowhere," Jenny said. "He obviously wasn't going to let us take him home."

"So what happened next?" Cassie asked.

"Well, David was attacked by the monster again, and Jenny went back out to fight it," the Cryptkeeper said. "It nearly beat her to death."

"In fact, David actually believed that she was killed in that fight," Spinal added.

"And after that, he regretted his words," Jenny said.

~*~

[Resume Flashback]

David sat in the Youth Center with Tommy, telling him of the events.

"I feel terrible," he said. "I can't believe I just blew up at her like that. I mean, the last thing I said to her was, `I hate you.' And then she sacrificed herself for me. How could it end this way?"

"Well….." For the first time, Tommy was unable to give advice. "At least now you learned something."

[End Flashback]

~*~

"We never saw David again after that," Jenny said. "Good riddance. I hate him, I hate him; I hate both of them!"

C.C. turned the page. "Oh, I remember that picture!"

It was a picture of Jason. His face was scarred, and his eyes were missing.

"What happened to him?" Ruth asked.

"Actually, that's not real," Jenny said. "That's Jason; he's perfectly fine. This picture is just part of a little something we cooked up for our dear friend."

"Which dear friend?" Fulgore asked.

"Tommy, who else?" Hallie said.

"We got him good with this gag!" Jenny cried, laughing. "See, Tommy stayed at school late to study for an exam, and we slipped something into his juice. It gave him this really bad nightmare. He dreamt that he came home after a very important quest only to find out that King Mondo had taken over Angel Grove while he was gone. And when he and whoever was still alive went to set things right again, everything literally went to hell."

"So what happened?" Carlos asked.

"I'll start describing the dream from where Rocky, Adam, and Tanya entered Mondo's castle from below, and Tommy, Hanim, Jason, Earl, and I entered from above……"

~*~

[Begin Flashback]

The group entered the castle from above and snuck around the garden.

"This is terrible," Tommy said. "I can't believe that King Mondo would do this much damage."

"Wait; I'm picking up something," Jenny said out of nowhere. She peeked into a screen on her device. She saw Rocky, Adam, and Tanya surrounded by Cogs. They simultaneously fired energy blasts from their eyes. When the flames cleared, the three Rangers were nothing but ash.

"Adam, Tanya, and Rocky are gone," Jenny announced sadly.

Suddenly, Cogs popped out of the bushes and surrounded the group. The fighters immediately went into battle, taking out their attackers. Jenny stood by the wall, shaking her fist in triumph. Suddenly, the wall behind her opened up. Two Cogs stepped out and grabbed her. They were back inside, and the wall closed before anyone could help her. Tommy raced over to the wall, pounding on it ferociously. Jason limped toward the wall, but a downed Cog fired lasers from its eyes. The shots struck Jason in the back, causing him to crash into the wall next to Tommy; then he fell down. Hanim took out the last Cog. Tommy took Jason into his arms.

"Jason…..hang on. We'll get you to the Power Chamber," he said. "You'll be all right."

Jason looked up weakly. "Oh yes…..the Power Chamber….." he mumbled softly. "Do you see it, Tommy? It's beautiful….." Then his entire body dropped as his life left him.

"Jason……" Tommy dropped down, sobbing on Jason's shoulder. Earl put his hand on Tommy's shoulder. Tommy sighed and stood up straight. The three remaining fighters rushed inside the castle.

"MONDO!!!!" Tommy screamed, his voice echoing through the castle. "SHOW YOURSELF!!!!"

Nothing.

Suddenly, they were imprisoned within a yellow force field, and they flashed out of existance. They reappeared in a cyberspace dimension.

"Tommy! You came at last!" a female voice called from behind.

The heroes turned around. They saw Katherine and C.C. suspended and bound in glowing purple rope.

"Well, well, look who's back," a familiar robotic voice. "Welcome to cyberspace."

"What have you done!?" Tommy demanded.

"What does it look like, you fool!?" Mondo asked. "I've taken over this pathetic planet while you were running around!"

"Now that's the coldest thing I've ever heard," Earl said.

"Well, this should melt the ice," Mondo said, throwing an unavoidable beam of energy at the group. As it passed through them, Tommy, Earl, and C.C. turned to stone. However, it had no effect on Hanim or Kat.

"Well, Jungle Spice," Mondo said. "You didn't turn to stone. Therefore, you get to suffer."

He fired energy blasts at Earl and C.C., shattering them to bits. Hanim gasped in horror.

"NOOOO!!!" She leaped on King Mondo in a blaze of fury. The Machine King only pinned her to the ground and filled her body with a harmful energy. Hanim looked back at Tommy.

"Tommy……listen!" she groaned. "This world is not real. It's controlled by the mind. If you just concentrate…..you can defeat him."

Tommy's stone fingers began to twitch. Mondo turned up his power, vaporizing Hanim.

"Well, that's that," he said.

Tommy, still made of stone, grabbed Mondo's wrist. "No, it is not," he said in a low voice. "It ends now, King Mondo."

Suddenly, Mondo transformed into a top with spikes. He spun around rapidly, grinding Tommy's stoned arm. Tommy stared at it for a few seconds, then attacked again.

"Tommy! No!!" Kat screamed.

Mondo ground up Tommy's other arm. With an evil smile, the Machine King spun around Tommy until everything was a blur. When Mondo stopped, he held Tommy's stone head. Particles floated around them.

"Alas, poor Tommy," Mondo said.

However, Tommy was still alive. "You will not win."

"What're you gonna do? Bite my kneecaps off?"

Remembering Hanim's advice, Tommy began to concentrate. Mondo was confused.

"What's happening?"

The stone particules gathered together, engulfing Mondo. Mondo let out a scream as the stone exploded. Tommy came out, back in his flesh form. He immediately raced over to Kat and freed her, then the two disappeared in a flash of light.

*So King Mondo was finally defeated, and Tommy and Kat were the only survivors?* Fulgore asked.

*Well, they still had to save Jenny…..* the Cryptkeeper said. *Or did they?*

Tommy and Kat found themselves back in King Mondo's castle. They embraced each other to mourn their lost friends.

"Jason…..Earl…..C.C….." Tommy mumbled softly.

Kat lowered her head, but didn't say anything.

"Gone bye-bye….." a familiar voice called.

Tommy and Kat looked up to see a chair hovering around the room, its back turned to them. It stopped in front of them and turned to face them. Sitting in the chair was none other than……Jenny.

"Sorry `bout that," she said with an evil smile.

"Jenny???" Kat gasped.

"I had to keep you occupied while I finished downloading King Mondo's programs," Jenny explained. "In less than a minute, all the world will belong to me."

"It was you all along!?" Tommy asked.

"Yep," Jenny replied proudly. "King Mondo really did die in the fight with C.K. I just kept his memory alive, so that I could run the show unmolested."

"You betrayed your own team!" Tommy shouted, throwing his index finger in Jenny's face.

"You betrayed us!" Jenny corrected him. "You disappeared when we needed you the most! You've lost, Tommy! Even if you destroy this terminal, there are a thousand others all over this city!"

"TRAITOR!!!" Tommy screamed.

Jenny leaped out of the chair and attacked, attempting to strangle him. Tommy simply pulled her away, then threw her into the computer screens.

The computers began to explode, causing a massive flame. Tommy grabbed Kat by the wrist and the two Rangers ran towards the balcony, while the flame pursued them. They didn't have time to think about the fact that the jump could kill them. They leaped off into the night without hesitation. They crashed into the street violently while pieces of the castle fell around them. Kat got up and approached Tommy, who lay on his back.

"She's right. We've lost," she said. "There's only one chance: The Phoenix Gate."

"Even if we could….. go back in time….." Tommy groaned. "I'm too weak to use it….."

"Then let me try," Kat said. "It might be our only chance."

"Here……" Tommy let the small artifact slip out of his pocket. "Take it….."

Kat started to reach for it, then pulled her hand back. "Give it to me."

"If you want it…..take it……"

"Give it to me in my hands."

"Can't…..too weak……" Tommy sighed.

"No, you're not," Kat said encouragingly.

"If you want it….." Tommy repeated. "Take it….."

"Give it to me, now!"

Tommy sat up. "No," he said coldly. He got up, picking up the Phoenix Gate. "You're not Katherine! Who are you??"

Kat grabbed her head. "No! No! Not now!!" she cried.

Their surroundings began to sink in below Kat's feet. Kat was engulfed by a red energy flash to reveal her true identity – Spinal! The skeleton warrior dropped to his knees.

"I was so close, so close!!" he sobbed.

Tommy looked at the blackness that now surrounded him. He even appeared to be standing on air.

"Spinal! This was your doing!? Why?"

Spinal sighed. "My old master was summoning me again. It was time for me to go back to an eternity of slavery, and I can't go back! I figured that if I delivered the Phoenix Gate, he'd grant me eternal freedom, but I had to retrieve it from Earth's most valiant warrior."

"So you had to get it from me," Tommy said.

"Exactly," Spinal said. "But the rules say that I can't just take it from you. I needed you to fork it over!!"

"So that's why you created this horrible dream??"

"Was it a dream? Or a prophecy?"

"I must know," Tommy said.

"Mm-hmm, like I'd tell you," Spinal said flatly. "Wake up!"

[Pause Flashback]

~*~

"Wow…..that sounded scary," Ashley said. "Before you know it, all your friends are gone….."

"The story doesn't end there," Jenny said. "You should've seen the look on Tommy's face when he woke up."

"I know; he was like, `Oh my God!!'" the Cryptkeeper cried.

"It was the best trick I've ever pulled," Jenny added.

~*~

[Resume Flashback]

Tommy woke up in the school. He saw the other Zeo Rangers gathered around him. He sat up and gasped.

"Jason…..Kat…..you're all right!" he gasped.

"We're fine," Tanya said. "How about you?"

"I just had the worst nightmare," Tommy said. "All my friends were dying."

The Spices came into the room.

"What's up?" Earl asked.

"You guys are alive, too!" Tommy gasped as he ran up to them. He gripped everyone's shoulders to make sure they were real.

"What…..what happened?" Jenny asked.

"He just had a bad dream," Kat said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Looks like it really got him good," Rocky said.

Tommy staggered out of the room. The other Rangers followed. The Spices glanced at each other.

"YES!!" they yelled in unison.

[End Flashback]

~*~

Part II

"But that still wasn't enough to atone for the murder of my father," Jenny said. "Occasionally, I continued to terrorize him."

"The Machine Empire period was a pretty hot period," the Cryptkeeper said.

Hallie flipped over a few more pages. Fulgore pointed at a picture of an old man.

"Eeeeuuuwwww…..who's that old geek?" he asked.

"Well……that's not actually an old geek," Jenny said. "He's actually a……young geek."

"That's Billy, isn't it?" the Cryptkeeper asked. "That's him when he had the……aging problem?"

"Yeah. Billy was the teenage scientist; he has the brain of a cyborg," Jenny said. "Although we didn't get too involved in the age thing, we did get involved in all the other crap that King Mondo pulled."

"Even Rita and Lord Zedd got involved," Spinal added. "We had to fight two monsters at once. They actually took control of the Rangers' Megazords!"

"The most memorable thing was when Demona and Lexington built me this…..armor," Jenny went on. "It had like pinchers, and a rocket in its back. It was like a mechanical suit."

~*~

[Begin Flashback]

Jenny had stepped inside the machanical suit and left the funeral home.

*I honestly had no idea what the suit was for,* Jenny said. *The Rangers only wanted me to get fresh water for this machine that would hopefully restore Billy's youth.*

Jenny flew over an open field.

*Of course, King Mondo had this monster called Cog Changer. He attacked me on the way.*

"Out for an afternoon ride, girlie?" Cog Changer called.

He leaped out at Jenny, landing on top of her. Jenny gasped, but surprisingly remained in control. She spun around to throw the monster off. Then she increased her speed. Cog Changer attacked her again. He punched the armor several times, creating a dent and causing the suit to short circuit. As a result, Jenny was electrocuted. Cog Changer listened to the girl's screams as he hopped off the suit. Jenny fell towards the ground, bouncing several times before crashing into a building. The nearby barrels caught on fire. The glass of the suit opened, and Jenny crawled out. She had blood on the edge of her forehead trickling down her face. She stood up and limped feebly away as quickly as she could. Suddenly, the building exploded, the blast sending Jenny even farther from the building. She tumbled on the ground several times, mostly on her head. When she stopped tumbling, she lay on her back completely motionless. The Cogs gathered over her instantly. They just stood over her silently, trying to decide what to do with her. Suddenly, they were tackled by the gargoyles.

"Hey, fellas, what'cha doing?" Brooklyn asked.

As he and Lexington fought the Cogs, Demona picked up Jenny and teleported away with her.

[End Flashback]

~*~

"So my mission to obtain fresh water failed," Jenny said. "So Jason had to do it."

"Didn't you say something about monsters taking control of the Megazords?" Andros asked.

"Yeah, the Super Zeo Megazord and the……what was the other one called?" Spinal stammered.

"Who cares?" Jenny said. "While we were out there standing under the Megazords' feet, Zordon called."

~*~

[Begin Flashback]

The Spices heard their rings beeping, and Jenny answered it.

"Hello."

"Jenny, it is imperative that you summon Auric the Conqueror," Zordon said.

"What!? I will not!" Jenny cried. "Auric can't do anything! Besides, I have a better idea!"

"Jenny, listen to me," Zordon said. "Auric may be our only chance. Zordon out."

"Go ahead and call him, sis," Hallie said.

Jenny pulled out Auric's key. "I don't know. I hate Auric; he always makes me feel so……"

"Frustrated?" the Cryptkeeper asked.

"Helpless?" Spinal asked.

"Stupid?" Sal asked.

Jenny sighed. "All of the above."

The group continued to stare at the key as the Megazords continued to destroy the city.

"Oh, just call him!" the Cryptkeeper finally decided.

"Oh, all right!" Jenny threw they key into the air. "I call on Auric the Conqueror!"

The key was inserted into the tiki, and the gigantic Auric the Conqueror appeared.

"I am Auric the Conqueror, defender of all that is good and true!" he boomed. "Who requires my assistance? Oh……are those the cute little Spices down there?"

"Yeah……it's us. Auric……um……the monsters are controlling the Megazords….." Jenny stammered. "They must be stopped before they destroy the whole city!"

"Not to worry, Spices, I believe I see the problem."

*Then he goes and attempts to talk peacefully with the monsters,* Jenny explained. *Hello!!!*

*You can't talk problems out with monsters,* Hallie said. *It just doesn't work that way!*

*So, what happened?* T.J. asked.

* Well……*

"Won't you two behave and settle this like gentlemen?" Auric asked the monsters.

"Gentle!?" Cog Changer cried. "I hate gentle!"

"No kidding!" Impursonator jumped in. "I've had enough of this guy!"

The two Megazords advanced on Auric.

"Ooops……sorry, Spices." Auric transformed back into his tiki state.

"I TOLD you!!!" Jenny cried.

"Okay, so why don't you tell us your better idea?" C.C. asked.

"I say we get in there and kick the turtles out of their shells!" Jenny raced over to Cog Changer's zord while the Cryptkeeper attacked the other one.

"Hey!" Cog Changer cried. "I killed you!"

"I'm not that easy to kill," Jenny replied. "I have a personal score to settle. GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!" She threw the monster out.

"Hey, what're you doing?" the Cryptkeeper asked Impursonator.

"Just playing with the Megazord."

"Mind doing me a favor?"

"What's that?" the monster asked.

"GET OUT OF THE ZORD!!!!!" the Cryptkeeper screamed. "Out, out, out, OUT!!!"

He clumsily threw the monster out, then brushed his palms together. Then he sat in the plush Megazord chair.

"Hey Zordon!" Jenny called. "We got the Megazords back, and we didn't need that slop Auric the Conqueror either!"

"I wonder what this does?" the Cryptkeeper asked himself, fooling with the Megazord controls.

The Megazord suddenly raised a fist and punched the other in the chest.

"Hey! Watch it!!!" Jenny screamed, desperately clinging to the controls as the Megazord fell.

[End Flashback]

~*~

"So, how did Billy get back to normal?" Fulgore asked.

"The Alien Rangers took him to Aquitar, didn't they?" Hallie said.

"Yeah. And the weird thing is, he didn't want to come back," Jenny added. "He found a girlfriend there."

"Oooh…..that's new," Fulgore said.

"No, it's not. Think of all the other……interplanetary…..relationships," the Cryptkeeper said. "There's Andros and Ashley…….Cassie and the Phantom Ranger……Jenny and Darkonda…….Hallie and Ecliptor……Astronema and Spinal……."

"What!? No way! Shut up!!" Spinal cried.

"More photos will appear in our album as we go along in the war," Jenny announced as if doing a commercial. "Goodnight everybody!"

Fulgore nudged the Cryptkeeper. "Did Billy really have the brain of a cyborg?"

"It seemed that way. He was the very first Blue Ranger. That's why I called him Billy Blue."

"Cool. Tell me more."

"Can that wait until tomorrow?"

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

~*~

The Spices and Rangers called it quits for the night. What new challenges await them???

~*~

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