Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers.
Author's Note: Well, here it is, the last chapter of When It Rains. And to mark the occasion I have corrupted my 7 year old brother and finally gotten him to like PR. My mother is going to kill me. But at least I'll have reviews to look forward to! I hope you enjoy!
When It Rains…
Chapter 16 - Onward
"He knew," Ch'heeka said when T.J. stopped at the observatory door.
"Yeah," the former Red Ranger said, sitting down next to her.
"Why would he do it? Why would he let us make the shield like that if he knew?"
"Because he knew we wouldn't kill him." Ch'heeka looked at him sharply and he explained. "A while back Andros made this wish that changed reality. I'll tell you the whole story some time but the point is in the end of all of it Zordon ordered Andros to kill him, to smash his tube in order to release all that good energy and dispel the bad. Andros did it, and I don't think he or any of us could do it again if we knew. When we came back from all of that I think we all promised ourselves that we'd do everything in our power to keep that from happening to him again."
"But why would he make us do it? Why would he make us construct the means of his destruction? And for that?"
"For what?" T.J. asked, putting her first question aside for the moment.
"For- for my galaxy. They just rolled over and accepted Dark Specter, it doesn't make any sense."
"Zordon dedicated his life to stopping evil. People often let evil win, not knowing that it's evil. Many of those people probably thought that they were doing good by letting him win because they were keeping their families and children alive."
"Why did he make us do it?"
T.J. sighed. "Because he couldn't do it himself. Because he knew that if he simply ordered us to kill him, we wouldn't. We wouldn't be willing to do that."
Ch'heeka leaned onto T.J.'s shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her. They stayed like that for a very long time.
"Hey," Leslie said.
"Hey," Carlos replied, motioning for her to take a seat in the grass beside him.
"I didn't think you'd be here," Leslie said after a moment of watching the water lap against the shore.
"Oh," Carlos said sadly.
"Not that I didn't want to see you," Leslie amended quickly. "I thought you'd be off in space, fighting evil."
"Nope, evil's all taken care of."
"Really?"
"Yup. Why did you come here, if not to see me?"
"This was the last place I saw you, other than the hospital and I didn't think it would be too romantic to hang around there."
"No, I suppose not."
They lapsed into silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts and the beauty of the day.
"So, can we try?"
"Are you sure you want to? I mean, I do have this condition where the instincts, strength, and speed of a lizard monster may come out at any minute."
"Well, this is Angel Grove," Leslie said, taking his hand, "I'm sure there have been stranger couples."
Carlos laughed. "You have no idea."
"Tell me then," Leslie asked. "Come on, what's the point in dating a Power Ranger if I don't get any amazing stories about the supernatural?"
Carlos pulled his hand away and put it to his chest in mock shock and hurt, "Isn't my company enough?"
"I don't know," Leslie said slowly.
Carlos jumped forward and splashed water from the lake on her.
"Ah!" she cried when the cold hit her. She sat still for a moment, too shocked by his action to move, before rushing forward and splashing him back. Soon the two were knee deep in the lake and soaking wet and still going at it.
"That's so cute," Ashley said. She and Andros were walking on a hill overlooking most of the lake.
"T.J. and Ch'heeka seem to be getting along pretty well too," Andros said as they turned and walked further on. "T.J. just asked me if he could leave us for a few weeks before school starts to help Ch'heeka get her galaxy back on track. And Parix seems to be adapting rather well to life on Aquitar."
"Yeah," Ashley sighed. "Jeff's gone off to fight evil somewhere in the universe, Zhane and Karone have gone to help rebuild KO-35 now that Dark Specter's not coming back, Cassie and Phantom are still on Eltaire, who knew that Phantom and Zordon were related?"
"I didn't. Apparently Phantom is the eldest living descendant of Zordon's brother or cousin or something like that. Anyway, now Phantom is in charge of all Zordon's affairs."
"Who knew Zordon had affairs like a normal person?" Ashley asked sadly. "There's so little any of us knew about him."
The two walked in silence for several minutes before Ashley picked up a piece of trash and threw it in the garbage twenty feet away.
"You shouldn't do that where people can see," Andros chided.
"It was all gross and soggy, I didn't want to touch it."
"You are a very silly Yellow Ranger." Andros pulled her into his arms, holding her tight.
"And you are a very strange Red Ranger." Ashley returned, placing her own arms around his neck and bringing her mouth to his.
"Now that we have that settled," Andros said, releasing her, "let's go get some Chinese."
A special thanks to all who reviewed: Phantom Rogue, Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow (you can guess which part of this chapter was added just for you), SweetSas, MackenzieW, Lady Kimiko, Star Fata, DizneeDol, Arwennicole, Sasja, and even Adam. Thank you all and I'm glad you enjoyed it!