It was Valentine's Day and Lord Zedd was celebrating
the way he celebrated every holiday. He was fuming. "Twice now I have tried
to marry off my daughter. Twice now, the Red Ranger has stopped the ceremonies.
His resourcefulness is beginning to annoy me."
"He'd make an excellent ally," Goldar mused quietly.
"Yes, he would. However, his loyalty to Zordon is
unbreakable. He is too infused with Light to ever accept the Dark. I don't
think I could convert him except...." Lord Zedd broke off as he remembered
something. "He has a temper. A rather violent temper. Perhaps that can
be used to our advantage. Goldar!"
"Yes, my lord?" Goldar asked, dreading the coming
command.
"Go and capture the Red Ranger."
"As you wish." Goldar bowed and transported out.
At the juice bar, Billy was handing Christina a long
red velvet box. "I saw it and it reminded me of you," he said as she opened
it. Inside was a sterling silver chain with a pendant in the shape of toe
shoes. Christina fastened the long chain around her neck.
"I love it, Billy," she told him, kissing him on
the cheek.
Tommy came to stand behind Kimberly. "Happy Valentine's
Day, beautiful," he whispered in her ear, presenting her with a small box
of chocolates.
"Thank you," she squealed, hugging him. "Oh, I
left your present at home. I'll bring it to the dance, okay?"
"Hey, is this a private moment or can your friends
barge in?" Aisha asked, converging on the table with Trini, Jamie, Zack,
Rocky, and Adam.
"C'mon and join us," Billy said. "Jamie, have you
seen Jason? He's late for the decorating committee's pre-decoration meeting."
"Actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen him.
Maybe he just got held up at home," Jamie replied, unsure.
Jason was running late. His mother had put the shirt
he'd been planning to wear in the wash, so he had to wait for it to dry
before he could leave. Running to the juice bar, he glanced at his watch
again. "Man! I am going to be so late!" he exclaimed, picking up the speed.
He decided to forgo the paths and just head straight
through the parks. As he ran through a secluded area, Goldar and a group
of putties landed in front of him.
"What do you want now, Goldilocks? I don't have
the time for this!" he shouted, exasperated.
"You'll have lots of time...in Zedd's dungeon!"
Goldar laughed, encasing Jason in a force field and transporting him to
the Dark Dimension.
"Make yourself at home, Red Ranger!" Zedd's image
greeted him. "I hope you enjoy the accommodations, because you won't be
leaving!"
Jason looked around for something, anything,
he could throw at the image. He knew it wouldn't do any good, but it would
certainly make him feel a lot better.
"What are you planning now?" he demanded from the
image.
"You are personally invited to my daughter's wedding."
"Who are you planning to marry her off to now? Squatt?
Baboo? Finster? What makes you think she'll be any more receptive to this
goon than she was to any of the others?"
"Because, Red Ranger, this time, you are
the goon!"
Jason did the totally unexpected. He laughed. "You
have got to be kidding me. I know you don't like me."
"You're correct, Red Ranger. I don't like
you. That's why you'll only be Jamie's second husband. Goldar shall
be her first husband, ruling over her...and you."
Goldar appeared in the image. "I will enjoy seeing
the Lady Jamie bowing in submission to me!" Goldar crowed.
"You wouldn't!" Jason shouted, his temper flaring.
He picked up a pedestal he saw on the ground and hurled it at the image.
As the image dissolved, a dark mist flowed out, enveloping Jason, infiltrating
through his anger and settling in his mind. His dark eyes grew darker.
The Dark was controlling him.
"Now to release him," Zedd declared, in the throne
room. He transported Jason back to earth.
Jason teleported to outside the juice bar. Entering,
he saw Jamie on a stepladder hanging balloons. "Here, Trini," she called
out, tossing a bag to her across the room, "have some streamers!"
"Look out behind you!" Trini called back. Jamie
whipped her head around too quick and fell off the ladder, directly into
Jason's arms.
"Nice to see you still care, he said, kissing her.
"Where have you been? We've all been worried sick!
And put me down!" she protested.
"Mm, nope."
"Jason, put me down. Now." Usually when Jamie used
that tone of voice, Jason complied. Not this time.
"I have something I want to show you," he said.
"Let me finish with that row of balloons and I will."
"No, now." Jason walked out of the juice bar, Jamie
still trapped in his arms.
"Jason, what is going on? Look at me!" Jason looked
down at Jamie. She saw the unusual darkness of his eyes, followed by a
slight red flash. "Oh, no," she whispered. "Not now. Not him." Jason activated
his transporter, whisking Jamie away from earth.
Christina sat down heavily in a nearby chair, overwhelmed
by Jamie's sudden rush of mixed emotions. "Christina? Is everything okay?"
Trini asked, seeing her sit.
"No, everything's not okay. We have to get to the
command center now. Jason just put Jamie in danger."
Trini looked at Christina, full of disbelief. "I'll
get the others."
Jamie awoke in a familiar cage. However, this time
it wasn't in the throne room. It was in the Dark Dimension. "What now?
First prom, now Valentine's Day? Zedd, if this is your idea of a joke,
then I'm not laughing!"
"Oh, it's not a joke, daughter." Zedd's image appeared.
"Let me guess. You've found someone else to marry
me off to. It's not going to work. Jason will..."
"Will what? Gather the Rangers together to rescue
you? Not this time." Jason stepped into the Dimension, directly in front
of Jamie's cage. "This time, I've decided to wed you to someone I know
you'll like--the newest Dark Warrior, Jason Scott."
Jason looked at Jamie. "It should prove an interesting
marriage," he said smoothly. Jamie lunged at him, stopped only by the crossbars
in the front of the cage. Jason stood mere millimeters from the ends of
her outstretched fingers. She searched his eyes for a trace of the Jason
she knew but it was useless. It was either gone or hidden so deeply she
couldn't find it. All she could see was Dark energy, swirling in the depths.
She tore her gaze away before she could lose herself in those depths. "Here
we go again," she muttered, retreating to the back of the cage.
In the command center, Christina explained what she
had sensed. "I can't tell where Jamie is right now. It must be between
dimensions. I can find Jason, though. He's turned Dark."
Pandemonium erupted. "Jason? No way!" Kimberly protested.
"It is true, Rangers," Zordon intoned. "Christina
is attempting to contact Jamie."
"I've got her!" Christina exclaimed. Billy turned
on the psychic amplifier and connected it to the audio system.
<<Christina!>> they heard Jamie's mental voice
say. <<We've got trouble...again. Zedd put Jason under a dark spell
and I'm supposed to marry him that way! I mean, I love the guy, but not
when he's like this! His spell becomes permanent at midnight, and if they
marry me off to him before that, I go under, too. Zedd's planning the wedding
in three hours. Hurry!>> Her voice disappeared.
"Well, that gives us three hours to come up with
a plan." Christina said.
"Who needs a plan? We go in, trash the place, and
have Christina break Jamie's spell," Zack said. "If we wait until the wedding,
we can just grab Jamie and split."
"One question, Zack," Trini said. "How do we get
there? We don't know where they're holding Jamie." Everyone in the command
center turned to look at Billy.
Billy slowly shook his head. "I know what you're
all thinking. I'm not Montgomery Scott. There's no feasible way to do it.
It's impossible to get there under these circumstances."
"Nothing is impossible," Christina said softly,
"And you have three hours to prove it."
"I've got it!" Billy shouted after two and a half
hours of work. At his outburst, Tommy, Kimberly and Christina looked up
from their poker game (which Christina was winning), Trini dropped her
book, and Zack fell off the console he'd been napping on. They all clustered
around the strange device Billy had built.
"What is it?" Zack asked.
"It's a sort of psychic dowser. If connected to
Christina, it can find the coordinates of anyone and feed the coordinates
into the computer. The only problem is, it isn't tuned yet."
"We don't have time to tune it! The wedding's going
on in half an hour!" Kimberly protested.
"If it isn't tuned, I can't predict what will happen."
Christina made the final decision. "Billy, how long
will it take to tune it?"
"About forty-five minutes."
"I'll contact Jamie and tell her to stall."
"Stall!" Jamie exploded. "How am I supposed to stall
in this cage?" She started to pace. "But you can bet your morpher I'll
stall." She quieted down as she saw Jason enter.
"Jamie, it's almost time," Jason told her. She saw
something white draped over his arm. "I've brought your outfit." He unlocked
the cage to take her to a changing room. As he opened the door, Jamie pushed
past him and exited the dimension.
She landed in a corridor in the stronghold. Racing
down it, she entered through the first unlocked door she found. Inside,
the room was filled with bars, ropes, and other fitness equipment. "Hmph.
Looks like someone up here keeps in shape." The sound of footfalls in the
corridor sent her scurrying behind a large coiled rope. From there, she
could see out, but Jason couldn't see her.
Jason's eyes scanned the room. He knew that this
was where Jamie was. He could feel her presence. "There's only one exit,
Jamie," he said. "You can't stay hidden forever."
Half an hour later, Jamie was stiff and sore from
staying in her crouched position. She started to shift her weight to give
her legs a rest. Stretching them out, though, caused her to knock over
a pile of shot-puts.
Jason heard the clatter and easily caught Jamie.
"Time's up, sweetheart." He twisted her arm behind her. "Now off to the
ceremony"
"Jason, no. Not like this," Jamie protested, gritting
her teeth to the pain.
"Fine. Let's try it this way." He hoisted Jamie
up into a fireman's carry and carted her off to the throne room.
"Good. The bride has arrived. Now, we can finally
start
this wedding," Zedd growled. However, before any word could be spoken,
a loud bang split the air and six fully morphed Power Rangers appeared.
"Goldar! Putties! Red Ranger! Destroy them!" Zedd cried.
Jason morphed into the Red Ranger and began to attack
the others. In the confusion, Jamie grabbed her morpher from where it was
being kept. "It's morphin time!" she called out. "Chameleon!" She grabbed
Red Ranger's shoulder. "Jason!"
"What do you want?"
"You against me. Come and fight, if you're not afraid
to fight a girl," she taunted. She launched a kick at his head. He countered
with a block and attacked with a volley of blows. She punched him in the
midsection. They fought back and forth for ten minutes. Red Ranger swept
a low kick at Purple Ranger's legs and she jumped over it. "Strike one!"
she gasped.
After another volley of blows, he kicked again, aiming at Purple Ranger's
head. She ducked. "Strike two."
His third kick went over her shoulder. She grabbed
his ankle. "Strike three; you're out!" she exclaimed triumphantly. Purple
Ranger yanked on his leg and Red Ranger hit the ground hard enough to stun
himself. Suddenly, the clock in the throne room began to chime midnight.
"Christina, hurry up! You've gotta break this spell before Jason turns
into a pumpkin!"
White Ranger vaulted over a putty, landing next
to Red Ranger. Pulling off his helmet, she placed her hands on his head.
The dark mist left his body just as the last stroke of twelve toned. Christina
then concentrated on healing Jason's concussion.
"Will he be okay?" Jamie asked.
"He'll live, but you're gonna want to take it easy
on him for the next few days," Christina told her.
"Where'd Zedd go?" Jamie asked. "I want a piece
of him!"
"Looks like he left when it started to get rough,"
Trini said. "Let's get back."
The next morning, Jason sat up in bed, then immediately
wished he hadn't. Waves of pain washed through his head. He forced him
self to go outside and get the morning paper from the porch.
Tied to the porch railing was a bunch of red and
white balloons. One balloon was clear. He could see a note inside it. He
took the balloons inside and popped the clear one.
Unrolling the note, he saw that it said:
You are invited to a post-Valentine's party at
Jamie Zedden's house at noon. Jason, if you don't know how to get there
by now, I'm not reminding you. Be there.
Jason grinned and limped back upstairs to find clothes.
Jason was the last to arrive at the party. He guessed
that everyone else was already there, since he could hear the music as
he drove up the street. An attractive, red haired older woman. "Hello,
Mrs.
Zedden," he greeted her.
"Hello, Jason. How are you feeling today? And I've
told you before, call me Lesley. Everyone's downstairs. Oh, and remind
Jamie that she's cleaning up her own mess and fielding any complaints
from the neighbors. Just go on down; you know the way."
Jason carefully got down the stairs to where everyone
was. Jamie had been busy. She had a huge cd collection sitting by an equally
huge stereo. Card tables were set up along nearly every inch of available
wall space and were groaning under the weight of pizza, wings, subs, chips,
dips, cheese and crackers.
As soon as Jamie saw Jason, she made her way to
him and hugged him carefully. "I'm glad you made it." She gestured to the
room. "Since most of us missed the Valentine's Dance at the juice bar,
this is to make up for it," she explained.
"You're one in a million, you know that?" Jason
said, kissing her lightly.
"Jason? Y'know, the thought of marrying you...well,
if it hadn't been for the spell, I might have gone through with it," Jamie
said.
"Same here," Jason replied, ignoring his wounds
and hugging Jamie even tighter.
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