Disclaimer: If you haven't seen it on Power Rangers then it's mine. If you have though then it's Mr. Saban's.
Suggested reading: The above 14, Zeo Disaster, and Defenders.
Time frame: Day after A Friend in Need Again.

Mysterious Strangers
By

Dana

So learn the truth
Though most folks they'll keep lying
There will be an answer
Just you give yourself time
"Savior Child."- by Sophie B. Hawkins

Alexis woke up. She felt awful. She didn't know why. She and some of the others had been fighting a monster they defeated it and came back up to the Talorn. She went to bed because she felt tired. Now her throat was sore and she had a huge headache. She coughed a few times. 'I'm sick.' She realized.

Dallas jumped off her bunk and looked down at her roommate who was looking at her wearily. "You feeling alright Lex?" She asked. Then like a mother she placed a hand on her friend's forehead. "You're burning up!"

"I will be fine." Alexis said and sat up and was dizzy.

"You just stay in bed today." Dallas said.

"But we were going to go out…" Alexis started to say and ended up in a coughing fit.

"Not with you running a fever! Now lay down." Dallas said.

"You sound like a mother." Alexis said lying back down and closed her eyes.

Dallas quickly changed into her flight suit and left the room as quietly as she could. She found the others in the eating area.

"Morning Dal. Where's Alexis?" Zhane asked.

"She's not feeling well. She's got a fever I think." Roland got up to leave. "Let her sleep Roland." Dallas suggested. Roland nodded and sat back down.

"I hope she's all right. She hasn't been sick a day in so many years." Zhane commented.

"Everyone gets sick now and then." Andros commented.

"True." Roland said. The alarms started going off. "Not now!"

"It's like Astronema knows when we are down or something." Dallas remarked as they ran into the Control Room.

"What is it Dimitria?" Zhane asked.

"THERE ARE TWO MONSTERS ATTACKING THE SHOPPING CENTER." Dimitria informed them.

"All right. Dimitria make sure Alexis doesn't come down to fight." Roland said before getting into position.

"It's Morphin Time!" Zhane yelled. They quickly morphed and went down to take care of the monsters.

From her room, Alexis could hear the alarms going off. Alexis got up on wobbly legs and prepared to Morph.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING ALEXIS?" Dimitria asked.

'Wait how did she know?' Alexis hit her communicator. "Dimitria how did you know I was preparing to leave?"

"UM…" Dimitria started to say.

"You're the security leak we've been looking for!" Alexis said cutting her off. 'When Astronema was on the ship she must have put a bug on her.'

Alexis was now determined to get to her feet. She didn't wait for a reply. She teleported into the Control Room and approached the consoles. She started opening one and trying to see if she could find the problem.

"ALEXIS YOU'RE VERY ILL. YOU'RE IMAGINGING THINGS." Dimitria said.

"I think I found it." Alexis said aloud but very weakly. She was losing the strength to stand. She almost fixed the problem when everything went black as she hit the floor in a dead faint.

A young man sat in a small room watching a young woman lying on the floor in a place he didn't know of. "Tierl?" Tierl turned around and saw a very worried person.

"Camie?" He asked.

"Is something wrong? Who is that girl?" Camie asked.

"I'm not sure. She's came up on the screen twice in less then twenty-four hours." Tierl informed her.

"Do you think she's one of the…"

"No. I thought we found all of them." Tierl said.

"Maybe we should ask Chrisman."

"I guess. Maybe there's just a problem with the monitoring system. But I agree. We probably should ask Chrisman."

Alexis woke up in confusion. She noticed she was strapped down to some table. She thought she was still on the Talorn. She saw someone else was in the room. "Hey!" She called.

The figure turned around. She wasn't sure who it was because the person's hair was in their face. "Feeling any better Alexis?" The figure asked.

"Where am I?" Alexis asked.

"It won't matter when I'm done with you." The girl said moving her blond out of her face.

Alexis now knew who the person was. "Emily you don't want to do this!" Alexis saw the tool Emily had in her hand and immediately started trying to get loose. 'How did Emily get here anyway?' Then she remembered Dimitria. She somehow got an arm free and knocked the device out of Emily's hand. With Emily distracted, Alexis got herself free and ran out of the room. She looked around and realized thankfully that she was sill on the Talorn. She started punching buttons and locked Emily in the room. She found one of the control pads and overrode Dimitria. Alexis was now in charge of the ship. Her illness was quickly catching up to her. She had to contact the others. She hit the communicator. "Zhane come in!"

"Alexis? Are you all right?" Zhane's question came through.

"We've got a problem up here. Could some of you leave the fight?"

"Sure we'll be right there." A few minutes later the rest of the Defenders minus Andros appeared. Zhane immediately noticed the open consoles. "What happened?"

Alexis, who was leaning against a wall for support, answered quickly. "Dimitria has a bug in her system. I had to override her." She saw the others were looking at the locked door in confusion. "Emily's in there. She was going to kill me I think." 'Which is hard to do.' She thought mentally.

"What do you mean she was going to kill you?" Jason asked in confusion.

"She's under a spell Jase." Tommy answered him quietly. "She's been under a spell for who knows how long." Tommy looked at Zhane who shrugged as if to say oh well.

"So what do we do about her?" Sora asked.

"She's not getting out of that room until the spell is broken. And I'm going to try to save her." Jason said with determination. "Lex let me in." Alexis looked at him wearily before hitting the keys to unlock the door. Jason walked into the room. Zhane and Tommy followed.

"Come on Lex. You need to rest. I don't think this is the safest place though." Roland said with concern.

"She could stay at my house." Sora suggested. The others nodded. "My parents would be happy to see her."

"I agree." Dallas said. Dallas, Sora and Alexis teleported off the ship in flashes of purple, blue, and orange flashes of light to the Meyerson's home to take care of Alexis.

When they landed at the side of the house, Alexis almost passed out again. "We better get her inside right away." Dallas said grabbing Alexis's arm to keep her friend steady. Sora walked in front of them and quickly opened the front door. They walked in and Dallas led Alexis to the couch. "Lay down." She said softly but in a commanding voice. Alexis complied. "Sora could you get a cold wash cloth?" Dallas asked. Sora hurried to do so.

Denise Meyerson came into the room and saw Alexis and Dallas. "Hello girls." She said with a smile. However, her smile quickly disappeared when she watched Sora put a washcloth on Alexis's head. "What's going on?"

"Alexis is sick. Can she stay here for awhile?" Dallas asked her mother choosing not to tell her mother about the problem on the ship.

"No problem. I'll even make a doctor's appointment for her. Denise said. "I'll go do it right now." She said and left the room.

"Thanks mom." Sora said and turned to Dallas. "If Alexis is in control of the ship, how are we going to run it if she's down here?"

"I don't know Sora."

Back on the Talorn Jason, Tommy, and Zhane slowly approached Emily. Emily was currently throwing things around the room. She glared at them. "Comet Ranger thought she was smart by locking me in here. Now you will all pay."

"Emily you've got to calm down." Jason said holding up a hand. "We can help you. You just have to calm down. You're under a spell."

"Oh shut up Jason." Emily said glaring at all three of them. She raised the object and prepared to fire at them.

'Too bad Andros is on Earth. We sure could use his telekinesis right about now.' Then Tommy turned his mental attention to Emily. 'Come on Emily! You don't want to kill us!' Emily seemed confused so Tommy continued. 'Don't you like Jason?'

Emily eyed Tommy then fired her gadget at him. Tommy fell to the ground in a heap. She started to walk closer but Jason tackled her as Zhane checked Tommy.

Jason tried everything to keep Emily down. "Em it's me Jason! I can help you if you let me. You're under Rita's spell. I've been under it, and Tommy's been under it. You've got to fight it! I know it's hard but you've got to try. I love you." Jason whispered the last sentence.

Emily stopped struggling and looked at Jason in surprise. "You love me?" Jason nodded. She sat up and went to kiss Jason. Jason thought the spell was broken and didn't notice Emily swing the gadget. Jason was knocked out. Emily pushed him away and got to her feet. "Two down one to go." She said approaching Zhane. Before she could do anything, she was teleported away.

Tommy started to sit up and seemed confused. "Tommy!" Zhane said in surprise. "Are you okay?"

"Zhane? Why are we in here?" Tommy asked. Then he saw Jason was laying on the floor unconscious. "What happened to Jason?"

"Tommy what's the last thing you remember?" Zhane asked deciding to avoid the second question for the time being.

"We got back from Edenoi and we all decided to go to sleep." Tommy informed him.

"Tommy that was yesterday. You don't remember anything about today?"

Tommy shook his head no. "What happened to Jason?" Tommy repeated.

"Emily was on the ship. She fired a gadget at you and you passed out. Then hit Jason with it. The gadget I'm presuming was meant for Alexis." Zhane informed him. "Mind giving me a hand getting Jason out of here?"

Tommy didn't answer he just grabbed one of Jason's arms. He and Zhane pulled Jason to his feet. The door swung open and Roland helped them get Jason to the infirmary.

Back on Earth, the fight between Astronema's monster against the Astro Rangers and the Wind Ranger was going strong. There was a flash of light and in its place were the Lightning, Sound, Sun, and Star Rangers.

The monster took the moment of confusion and fired one of its arms towards Cassie. "Cassie look out!" TJ yelled.

But it was too late. The monster had Cassie and was draining her. Billy came over and used his Spiral Sabre to free Cassie. The monster hissed in pain as it dropped Cassie who was weak on the ground.

Zhane turned to TJ. "TJ get Cassie back up to the ship!" He yelled.

The others got out their weapons and prepared to fire at the Monster. It connected and sent the monster flying. It hit a tree and was destroyed.

"Let's go see how Cassie is." Zhane said. The others nodded and teleported onto the ship.

They hurried into the infirmary as soon as they landed. They found Jason, TJ, and Roland standing around talking to Cassie. They turned around as soon as they heard them enter.

"How is she?" Dallas asked with concern.

"That monster drained her powers but she'll be okay soon." Roland assured them.

"Hey where's Alexis?" Tommy had just realized Alexis wasn't in the room. Roland and Zhane informed Tommy that there was a fight going on, on Earth and that he and Zhane needed to go down and help.

Zhane saw the others look at him strangely. "Tommy Alexis is pretty sick. She's staying at the Meyerson's." He turned to the others. "He doesn't remember anything that's happened today."

"We think it has to do with the gadget Emily had. It was meant to be used on Alexis. I guess they wanted to prevent her from telling us Dimitria had a bug in her." Roland filled in.

"I still want to know how we are going to operate the Talorn if Alexis is on Earth? She did take control of the ship." Sora said.

"She took control away from Dimitria. I took a look at what she did while Jason, Tommy and Zhane were dealing with Emily. We can still keep the Talorn going." Roland said.

Cassie started to sit up and TJ put a hand gently on her shoulder. "You've got to conserve your strength Cass." TJ reminded her.

Cassie nodded and stayed lying down. TJ took a seat next to her.

The other Rangers started talking quietly to each other. "I'm going back down to my parents house and see how Alexis is doing." Dallas said.

"Tell her I hope she gets better. I'm going to stay up here and check on Dimitria." Roland said.

"Will do." Dallas said and teleported away.

In the doctor's office, Alexis and Denise Meyerson were quietly talking while waiting for the doctor.

A blond woman in her late thirties came in. "Hello my name is Dr. Howard." She said then looked up from the sheet. "You must be Alexis Verte." She said with a warm smile and then looked back down at the piece of paper. "There isn't much info here. How old are you Alexis?"

"Twenty-two." Alexis said.

"Uh huh. It says your 5'4" 110 lbs. Blue eyes blond hair."

"Uh violet eyes." Alexis corrected.

Dr. Howard looked closer. "So they are. Don't see many people with violet colored eyes. It says here; you've been running a temperature of 103.4. Open your mouth." She said taking out a tongue depressor. And started writing things down. 'Back of throat slightly red.' Then she took out her ear instrument to check ears then she checked the breathing. 'Slightly ragged. Might need to take blood to see if it's pneumonia. X-rays will be needed too.' Then she put the paper down. "Okay Alexis. I'm going to need to draw blood and take some x-rays in hopes to rule out pneumonia. Follow me." She said leading her into another room. "Raul will draw the blood then lead you into the x-ray room."

Thirty minutes after Alexis was led back into the examination room, Dr. Howard came back in the room. "Well Alexis it looks like you just have a bad case of the flu. I'd say bed rest for a few days and take this medication." She paused while writing out a prescription. Then handed it to her. "There was something interesting about your bone structure though. That's why it took so long. I haven't seen anything like this before. Alexis it seems that you may look like a twenty-two year old on the outside but your bone structure is not of a twenty-two year old." The doctor paused.

'Oh no I knew something like this would come up one of these days.' Alexis thought.

"Oh?" Denise asked.

"It's the bone structure of a thirteen-year-old. It's so strange. I'm going to send the x-rays and the blood work to a lab and have them evaluate it. Until then Alexis you get plenty of rest and drink a lot of liquids." Dr. Howard said. "You can pay down the hall."

Alexis followed Denise out of the room and patiently waited while she paid the bill. They didn't talk much on the drive home. That was fine with Alexis because she slept almost the whole way. She sat up when the car made a sudden stop. "What's going on?" She asked sleepily.

Denise didn't answer for a minute deciding whether to tell Alexis. "There's a monster in the middle of the street."

"Oh okay." Then Alexis fully became alert and sat up. "Did you say a monster?" Denise simply nodded. "Pull into an alley I need to morph."

Denise did so quickly. "Alexis you're ill. You shouldn't be fighting!"

"I'll be fine. Here take my communicator and alert the others for me." Alexis said handing her the communicator. Then she got out of the car. She looked around before yelling, "It's Morphin Time!"

"Comet Power!"

Denise watched Alexis run back to the streets before looking down at the communicator in her hand. 'How do I use this?'

She touched a button and heard a voice go, "This is Zhane."

"Zhane this is Denise Meyerson."

"Denise? What's going on? How did you use the communicator? Is Alexis all right?" Zhane said quickly without pausing.

"There's a monster in the middle of the street and Alexis went to fight it. You guys have to help her."

"Will do." Zhane said and cut off the communication.

Denise decided to drive home.

Chrisman turned towards Tierl and Camie. "Tierl you need to morph into go down to Angel Grove and help the Comet Ranger. Your other powers will stir up confusion." Then he turned to Camie. "Camie you will stay up here."

Tierl nodded "Ninjetti! The hyena!" His Ninjetti outfit was black like Adam's was but had the picture of a hyena on it. Without another word Tierl teleported out of the room.

Camie turned to Chrisman. "Why couldn't I have gone down?"

"Ah but its Tierl's assignment. You'll be going to help soon enough." Chrisman said and turned the monitor on.

On Earth Alexis was having a hard time with the monster. The flu wasn't helping her any. A mysterious figure in black appeared and knocked the monster away with a corkscrew kick. "You okay?" He asked helping her to her feet.

"Yeah." Alexis said shakily. "Thanks."

Tierl nodded and went back to the monster. Soon the other Rangers joined them. That is, everyone except Cassie.

Darkonda appeared behind Alexis. "What's the matter Comet Ranger? Feeling a little under the weather?" He taunted.

The others didn't seem to notice Darkonda. Alexis got in position to attack the big monster. She was wearing down even more.

"We've got to help her!" Camie yelled. She was determined to help. She was one of the newest in this but there was a part of her that didn't care if she didn't have the experience.

"Okay you can go down." Chrisman said. "Ninjetti of course."

"Ninjetti!" She yelled. "Panther!" She was now in a purple Ninjetti suit. She teleported down to the fight and fired at Darkonda.

Darkonda was knocked ten feet away. He got up and looked wearily at the newcomer. "Who are you?" He asked.

"You messed with some Rangers so you've messed with me. I'm the Purple Ninjetti Ranger." She said. 'Among other things.'

"Never heard of any Ninjetti Rangers. But I'd be glad to end the idea of them starting with you." Darkonda said.

Billy, Roland, and Ashley came over to give them a hand. Darkonda knew he was out numbered and fled. They joined the other Rangers and Defenders.

They easily defeated the monster and stood there looking at each other. "I speak for everyone when I say thank you for helping us. Helping Alexis especially." Zhane said.

"No problem. We were glad we could help. Maybe we'll see you again." Tierl said. Then he and Camie teleported back to their base

The Astro Rangers and Defenders went back up to the Talorn.

"I wonder who those two were. They were in Ninjetti suits. So they obviously are Rangers." Tommy remarked.

"I'm just glad they were there." Alexis said.

"You shouldn't have tried fighting Darkonda." Roland reminded her.

"I know but someone had to. He was shooting innocent civilians." Alexis said and started coughing.

"You should go back to my house and rest." Sora told her in a calm voice.

"I know. Morphing seemed to make me feel a little better." Alexis said.

"Usually does." Dallas remarked. "Come on Sora and I will both go with you."

They teleported into the house and looked around. It was quiet. "Mom?" Dallas called.

"Dad? Anyone home?" Sora called.

Denise came into the room. "Hi girls. Glad you're all right. Alexis you can stay in the guestroom while you're here. It's all ready for you."

"Thanks Denise." Alexis said.

"Sora, Dallas. Would you two like to stay for dinner?" Denise asked.

"Sure mom." Sora said. Dallas nodded.

Later that night when Sora and Dallas had left to go back to the Talorn, Alexis lay in bed thinking. She wondered whom the two mysterious Rangers were, and where they came from. Tommy recognized the outfit but had no clue who they were. She was really glad they were there. She grabbed the medication and took it. Then another thought hit her. What would the tests say? Of course, she had the bone structure of a thirteen-year-old. Inside she was. She never could understand how she aged on the outside. Part of her knew the tests wouldn't come up with anything. But a part of her was worried that it would.

Tierl stood in his room wondering why the Ranger was of importance. He could understand wanting to help them, but he never helped any of the other Ranger groups on Earth since he joined this group. There was a knock on the door. "Come in." He called.

Chrisman stood in the doorway. "Just wanted you to know that you did a good job today. I'm sure the Rangers appreciated the help."

"Can I ask you a question Chris?" Tierl asked.

"Sure."

"What's the importance of the Comet Ranger?" He asked.

Chrisman sighed. "I knew you were going to ask. I will tell you in due time. Don't worry. When the times right you'll know."

"Okay Chris." Tierl said and sat down on his bed as Chrisman left the room. Chrisman had been like a brother to him since the time he was informed of his destiny a few years back. He missed being home but Chrisman helped him feel better.

Tierl remembered the first thing he was told when he joined was he had to get the Ninjetti Power. It was much different then what the Power Rangers of Earth did. There were more tests of skills and things.

Camie had come there just a few months before. She wasn't from the same country Tierl was but that never seemed to matter. She was a nice girl who had a good sense of humor. Tierl thought of her more as a sister then anything else. Now they waited for their next instructions on where they had to go. Tierl was never one that liked to wait but he really had no choice.

A few days later Alexis was preparing to go back to the ship she felt much better. Her temperature was back to normal. There was a knock on the door. "Come in." She called.

Denise and Geff both came into the room. "We just wanted to say goodbye." Geff said. "It's been fun having you around again."

"Yes. We hope you drop by more often." Denise said. "Oh I received something in the mail for you. It's the test results." Denise said handing her an envelope.

Alexis took it and turned towards them. "Well I guess this is goodbye until I see you again anyway. Thanks again." She said and teleported out of the room back to the Talorn.

She landed and noticed it was quiet on the ship. This is almost impossible for a ship that had thirteen people living on it. "Hello?" She called. No one answered so she headed for the Rec. Room. She was kind of hungry. She entered and turned on the light.

"Surprise!" Everyone shouted.

"You guys!" Alexis mock scolded them. "You really didn't have to do this."

"But we wanted to." Roland said kissing her on the cheek. "It's been kind of quiet without you up here making trouble." He led her to the table and she sat down. "We had the machine make a cake."

"You guys are the best!" She said with a smile putting the envelope on the table. The others sat down eating the cake and fruit that were on the table.

Roland picked up the envelope, which was open and looked at the letter. He was shocked. It said, "Dear Miss Verte. As we said your bone structure of a thirteen-year-old is quite rare the blood tests we've done have shown nothing out of the ordinary. We would like to do more tests. Reply as soon as possible." Roland put the letter down and decided to ask Alexis about it later.

Jason was telling her about their unsuccessful attempts at saving Emily. "She hasn't come down here recently so that makes it impossible to help her. I really hate the idea of her being on the Dark Fortress or the Moon or wherever she is."

"We'll save her like we saved Alexis." Cassie said.

"Cass how are you doing anyway? Just a few days ago you were on a med. bed in the infirmary." Alexis said turning her attention to the Pink Astro Ranger.

"I don't feel as weak anymore. My power level's back to normal so I can start fighting again soon." Cassie said.

"Have the two mysterious Rangers shown up lately?" Alexis asked. She hated not knowing these things.

"Not since they first did. I hope it wasn't just a one time thing." Zhane said.

The party went on for several hours more before everyone started heading to their rooms for the night.

Roland stopped Alexis in the hall. "What's this about you having the bone structure of a thirteen-year-old?" He asked point blank.

"I don't know." Alexis lied. "They found something in my bone structure that confused them. Maybe it's being from KO-35."

Roland could tell his girlfriend was lying. She had never been very good at it. "Lex you know you can tell me anything."

"I'm not hiding anything Roland. Trust me okay?" Alexis said with a soft smile.

"Okay Alexis." Roland said and headed for his own room.

Alexis stood there for a moment before leaving also. There was a flash of light, and the next thing she knew she was standing in the park. 'How did that happen?' She wondered.

"Hello Comet Ranger." Astronema's voice greeted her.

"Astronema! What do you want?" She demanded.

"I read the letter those doctor's sent you. I want to know too. How is it possible for you to have the bone structure of a thirteen-year-old?" The evil princess asked.

"Like I'd tell you even if I knew." Alexis spat back.

"Well there are other ways to find out you know." Astronema said with an evil grin.

There was a flash of light, something grabbed Alexis, and she disappeared.

To be continued…

And so I put my favorite thing into another fanfic. Hey I was nice to all of you and didn't put a cliffhanger last story. Things will be better-explained next fic about why Alexis is important. Let me know what you thought of this fanfic at Willow@grrtech.com.