Note:
* Cynthia is the Godmother of this fanfic, I do so proclaim! ;) Yup, it was her challenge that did inspire this little piece of work and she has also helped me when certain characters *cough, Maya, cough* chose not to write themselves. *winks* Also, Suzy beta-read this fic for me in record time. So thank you to both Cynthia and Suzy. :)

Reflection Of Love
Written By: WhiteZeo

"You're kidding?!" Maya laughed gleefully, leaning back against the trunk of the tree she was sitting in. "Which two?"

The Wolf Galactabeast, to who Maya had been chatting with, growled and grunted a reply with something resembling a grin spread across its mouth.

"No!" Maya gasped in surprise, also grinning now. "Lion and Wildcat?"

Her zord nodded an anxious and happy answer to the Yellow Ranger's question.

Maya jumped down from her perch on a branch high up in the tree and laughed, gazing up at her friend. "Wait 'til Leo and Karone hear about this!"

"...nine, ten! Ready or not, here I come!" Leo Corbett announced loudly, lifting his head up from his arms Slowly, climbing from the chair he had been sitting in, he glanced around the empty-looking park.

"Where is everyone?" he feigned a bit of confusion, and when he did a few giggles emerged from behind a bush a few feet away from him. Leo grinned to himself in silent triumph. "Now," he crept towards the bushes and peeked behind them to see two children crouching, trying to stifle their giggles, "see! I found you!"

The two children tried running away, but Leo scooped them up into his arms and swung them around once before setting them down on the grass. They scurried away giggling, as the young man went on with his job of finding the rest of the hiding kids.

"Yoohoo!" he cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered. He spotted three more kids behind a park bench and moved towards them, trying not to let on that he knew where they were. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

Creeping on his tiptoes, Leo stealthy surprise the little children by crying out, "Here you are!"

"Hey!" one little girl climbed up on the bench and stood nose to chest with the Red Galaxy Ranger. "You cheated!"

"What?!" Leo sputtered out in shock, laughing.

Before the girl could answer, an older voice called out, "Molly! Time to go!"

Leo spun around to see a group of parents heading towards them, while most of the kids started jumping out of their hiding places and ran to meet their parents. "Bye!" he waved good-bye to all of his little friends, while some of the parents and children also waved good-bye.

Once they had all gone and the small area of the park where they had been playing was pretty sparce, Leo sighed and plopped onto the ground happily. "Looks I won the game today," he chuckled softly to himself, running a hand through his hair.

For a minute or two, he just sat there musing upon the day's events when a whisper gently caressed his ear. "You haven't found me yet..." the voice trailed off in a teasing manner.

A slow, deliberate grin curved onto his lips. "You know that really drives me crazy," he remarked, his voice soft and smooth. "It's not fair. You have magic and I don't."

"Deal with it," the feminine voice retorted playfully. "If you come and find me...I'll stop."

Leo did as the voice demanded of him and stood up off the ground, brushing some of the grass off of his jeans. "Where are you?"

"Leo, we're playing 'Hide and Seek'. The point is for you to find me without telling you!"

"Oh, alright," he relented with a small laugh, as he started looking around the area for his hiding friend. He wandered around the small area for a few minutes, looking behind each tree, bush and bench and didn't find her. "I give up!" he exclaimed with a sigh, falling onto his back underneath a tree. He gazed upwards, and then let out a whoop of laughter.

Up in the branches of the tree was the elusive Karone.

"You didn't look hard enough," she teased, jumping from the tree and landing directly beside Leo's lying form. She kneeled beside him and gently brushed his bangs away from his forehead with her fingers.

"You always say I don't look hard enough," Leo whispered gently into her ear, pulling Karone down to lay beside him. He took her hand into his own, caressing it softly.

"And you always complain about it," she murmured back, rolling her hand through his hair, gently messing it.

They both were silent for awhile, relishing the loving touches each was giving the other. Then slowly, Leo slid him arm around Karone's waist, pulled her in closely and kissed her passionately. Karone had expected the gesture and quickly retaliated by returning the kiss full-force with her own equal passion.

The two rolled around in the grass like mad lovers for a long time, kissing each other anywhere they could find a piece of bare skin. Soon enough, Karone pulled away and rested against Leo's chest. Her breath ragged, she murmured softly, "Maybe we should go somewhere?"

Karone brushed her lips gently against the base of Leo's neck and his eyes slowly flickered open to stare up at the clear ideal blue sky of the Ocean Dome. Gradually, he could feel her lips glide up the side of his neck and jaw. "Hey, Sleepyhead," she murmured with a sweet smile, her tongue drawing along his lips.

Leo grinned happily, planting a kiss upon her forehead. "Hey to you too," he whispered softly, slipping her arm around her bare back. He sighed in content as blonde wisps of her hair flew upwards, stroking his cheek.

The two laid quietly on the beach for a long time, until Karone finally blinked in confusion and looked down at herself. "What is going on here?!" she shrieked wildly, jumping off of Leo's body and onto the sand.

Startled by the Pink Ranger's scream, Leo also glanced at himself and Karone, a sudden light dawning upon him. He slowly sat up, reaching behind himself to sweep the sand off of his back. "We were playing Hide and Seek, I kissed you and we came here..." he trailed off, blushing a powerfully bright red. "Oh, no...I can't believe it."

Karone, who had instantly run to retrieve her clothes, stood a few feet away from him. "Well, believe it!" she retorted while struggling to squeeze herself back into her leather pants. "It MUST have happened...I mean, both of us were nude, TOGETHER."

Leo shook his head, still somewhat dazed at the entire thought of him and Karone being...intimate with one another. "Look, I don't know what actually compelled me to kiss you, but I'm sorry," Leo apologized in a flustered fashion, running his fingers through his hair over and over again. "I'm sorry about this entire...incident."

"I'm sorry too," she replied, now slipping her leather top back on and tying it. "It wasn't only you back there. I could have pulled away from the kiss, but I simply didn't. It was like I wasn't in control at all," the former villainess mused lightly, thinking back to the moment when Leo had kissed her.

"Same thing here," he piped up with a deep sigh. "I just wish I could go back and stop it all. Everything is going to be all awkward now..."

Now fully dressed, Karone locked her solemn gaze upon Leo as he sat there gazing off into the horizon, completely confused and screwed up. He was cute...in that boyish way, and she did like him. But she wasn't ready for any type of relationship or commitment. Coming off of her broken engagement with Zhane...she hadn't wanted to deal with the complexities of men and sex for awhile, but she ended up having to. What was worse was she KNEW that this had been Leo's first time...

"Leo, you had better get dressed before anybody comes out here and sees you," she finally spoke up softly, tossing Leo's red tank top in his direction. He slowly turned to look at her. "I'm going to get going, alright?"

Leo nodded mutely, returning his eyes to the ocean. Karone frowned to herself sadly, picking up her boots and running up the shore to the paved path that led out of the Ocean Dome. They had teleported to the dome earlier and Karone almost thought about teleporting out of there herself, but decided on walking instead.

She needed time to think.

Leo could hear Karone run up to the path as her feet kicked up the sand and carried her away. Once he could no longer hear her, he grabbed his clothes and put them back on. Slowly, he began to wander down the ocean's shore.

He tried desperately to make sense of the jumbled emotions, thoughts and memories from the last four hours, but it was simply an impossible task for him. The easiest things were escaping the powerful Red Galaxy Ranger's mind...they weren't COMPLEX things, and yet Leo couldn't decipher them at all.

He knew he ached terribly. That was the only thing he probably knew at that very moment. Not his body, but his heart ached. Karone had seemed so cold to him when she had left him alone on the beach...the girl he had a crush on, the girl he had lost his virginity to, didn't give a damn about him.

"Maybe it's better off this way," Leo muttered to himself as the tide slowly nipped at his toes while he continued to walk along. "This whole thing was a mistake after all. If she knew that I liked her as more than a friend..."

His mind flashed back to Karone's initial reaction to the thought of them together. "She'd just be more angry," he told himself, watching the sun gradually begin to descend behind the horizon.

Leo gazed down at the sand and kicked some of it up with his foot. "I wish this would have never happened!" he cried out angrily, tossing his shoes a few feet away from him. In his moment of anger, he collapsed to the sand to lie down on his back once more. "Why does all this bad stuff happen to me?"

"Maya?" Karone stumbled into the darkened quarters she shared with the Yellow Ranger. "Maya, are you here? I've REALLY got to talk to someone," she moaned, her feet terribly sore.

"Computer, lights," she ordered and the lights dawned upon the room allowing the blonde to navigate her way to the sofa and collapse onto it.

She kicked off her boots, which she had put on halfway through her walk when her feet started to blister, and leaned heavily into the cushions of the sofa. "I wish I knew where everyone was," she complained, scanning her eyes around the room. That's when her eyes caught upon a piece of paper hanging off the kitchen counter.

Hesitant to stand, Karone simply waved her hand and pulled the note towards her with the use of her telekinesis. The note fell gently into her lap and she picked it up, reading it out loud:

Dear Karone,

We were waiting for you and Leo to meet us at the Mountain Dome for some training exercises, but neither of you showed up. So we went on without you. We came back here to see if you guys were here, but no one was so I'm leaving this note. All of us are in my quarters.

Kai

"The guys quarters?" Karone groaned unhappily. That meant she'd have to stand up again! "Oh well. I'd rather be there than all alone in here," she muttered, standing up and pulling her boots back on. "I just hope Leo doesn't decide to show up...I really don't want to see him right now."

Leo felt his heart beat faster and faster as Karone's lips roamed body. His hormones were raging and he was moaning like there was no tomorrow. "Karone..." he gasped as she nuzzled into his neck deeply.

"Yes?" she replied playfully, her voice touched with seductive overtones as she laid on top of him. "Did you want something?" she winked, dragging her fingers down his chest.

He nodded eagerly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "I want you," he groaned heatedly, kissing her strongly and fervently.

Leo was abruptly knocked out of his remising when the elevator lift came to a stop on Deck Two and the doors swished open, allowing two GSA officers inside the lift.

He grunted, almost unpleasantly, when he was forced to stop drooling over his memory. He watched the woman cautiously as she announced, "Computer, Deck Three."

Ultimately, Leo gave himself a good mental slap that he hoped would last for the rest of the ride up to the quarters he shared with Kai and Damon. He knew he would need it desperately after his last flashback.

After recovering from his initial anger about his encounter - as he had chosen to call it - with Karone, he realized just how much he had enjoyed it. He sort of understood why men were called pigs when it came to sex finally. He thought the term kind of fit actually...and was partially ashamed to admit he was one.

He felt even worse about how his encounter with Karone had taken place. It hadn't happened because of this deep love they both shared, but it had happened because of a little sexual tension and an immense loss of self-control on both of their parts. It gave him this awful gut-wrenching feeling to know he had taken advantage of Karone. She probably felt worse because she was the older of the two of them, he reasoned earlier to himself.

Leo was jarred out of his thoughts once more when the elevator stopped at Deck Three and the two GSA officers exited, leaving him alone once again. When he didn't leave the lift, the doors closed and it resumed its course up to Deck Four.

He tried thinking about everything and anything BUT what had happened only a matter of hours ago between him and Karone. He thought of the last battle he had fought against Trakeena's Stingwingers...and how Karone had been there and how she looked absolutely gorgeous in their form-fitting suits...

"NO!" Leo shouted out loud, his voice echoing through the small room. "I have to stop thinking about her. Maybe I should go talk to Mike or something..."

The elevator stopped for the third time at Deck Four and this time Leo exited it and began walking down the corridor towards his quarters. He hoped desperately for Mike to be there. If anyone, he could talk to his brother about this...

"Karone!" he yelped out for the second time in the last five minutes. He couldn't help it though. There she was, getting ready to ring the doorchime to his quarters.

"Leo?!" Karone snapped her head to ogle at Leo, completely flustered. She quickly covered that expression up with a cold glare. "Why are you here?" she huffed, slightly annoyed.

He quickly made his way to the door and pushed the doorchime for her. "These are MY quarters," he scoffed gently, also covering for the awkwardness he was feeling. "What are you doing here?"

Before Karone had a chance to answer his question, the door slid open and Damon Henderson appeared before the couple. "It's about time you two got here!" he greeted exasperatedly, grabbing them and dragging them inside.

"Yeah, we thought you two got lost or something," Mike Corbett chuckled as leaned back against the sofa, Maya sitting beside him and nodding in agreement.

Both Leo and Karone grinned uneasily as they stood side by side. "So what did keep you guys?" Kai Chen asked incredulously as he stood in front of the stove in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot.

They were quiet for a moment, searching their minds for the perfect excuse. "Uhhh..." Karone stalled for time, racking her brain.

"Ummmm...we were helping Alpha fixing something and..." Leo began to weave the lie, hoping his companion would continue it. "...but we figured you would understand," Leo picked up where she left off, finishing their horrid lie.

Funny enough, Kai shrugged and took the lie at face value, not at all suspecting. "Oh," he replied as Karone zipped off to sit next to Maya on the sofa and Leo sat beside Mike.

"So...did we miss out on anything this afternoon?" Karone asked hurriedly, trying to strike up a conversation to distract everyone's attention.

Damon sat down his bunk and stretched slowly. "Nothing much. Just same old routine," he answered with a slight yawn.

"Well, it was same old routine until you..." Karone slowly tuned out Kai as he started to chew out Damon again. She had gotten the exact distraction she had wanted.

She leaned over discreetly and whispered into Maya's ear, "I need to talk to you. Alone. In private."

Maya was considerably startled by Karone's request. "Why?" she whispered back.

"I had sex with Leo this afternoon."

"What?!" Maya hissed in utter unbelievable shock, at the thought of Leo and Karone intimately together and the fact that the Pink Ranger had been so blunt her in telling.

"I'll tell you when we get back to our quarters," Karone retorted sounding very much annoyed with herself.

Leo studied the two girls as the walked out of their quarters, Karone feigning illness as the reason for leaving so soon. Of course, Leo knew better and he was actually quite thankful towards the blonde for finding a legitimate means of "escape". Now, he could talk to Mike without feeling all tingly and flustered with her around.

For a few moments, Leo sat beside his brother in utter silence, debating himself on how he was going to explain it all. Then, he slowly spoke up. "Mike?"

Mike quickly turned his attention to his little brother. "Yeah, Leo?"

"I need to talk to you about something," Leo declared, experiencing a small bout of embarrassment. "It's about this afternoon...why me and Karone were late."

The older Corbett brother sensed the embarrassment in Leo's voice and almost immediately knew what had taken place between the two. "Come with me," he tugged on his little brother's arm, pulling him off of the sofa and towards the door. Mike glanced at Kai and Damon, who were hovering over the pot of food that was still cooking. "We'll be right back," he told them in a neutral voice.

"Sure," Damon acknowledged as the two walked out into the corridor, the door sliding shut behind them.

The two walked down the corridor in silence until they came upon Mike's quarters. The senior GSA officer pushed the button below the doorchime, allowing the door to the room to slide open easily. He then entered and motioned for Leo to follow him inside.

"Computer, lights," Mike ordered with a soft and rather tired voice. Once lights illuminated their surroundings, Mike sat down upon a stool and stared at his little brother who was standing awkwardly before him. "Care to tell me the entire story, Leo?" he questioned with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

Leo met his brother's gaze. "It's not what you think," were the first words that he blurted out.

"Try me," Mike remarked, leaning against the counter beside him.

"Alright," the Red Ranger sighed. This wasn't exactly how he planned to talk. The LAST thing he needed was to recount what had happened during his "encounter" with Karone. Every touch and feel...nope! He really did not need to go there at that moment. "Well, Karone and I were playing with some of the kids and the daycare center earlier today. We were playing Hide and Seek when the kids' parents arrived and they all left. Karone and I were still playing Hide and Seek...when things got a little out of hand..." he trailed off uneasily, glancing Mike's way.

"Who kissed who?"

"I kissed her and it kinda just dominoed from there," Leo admitted, without going into deep detail. "Neither of us had meant to though. It was an accident!"

A hush fell over the two and Mike took that quietness to consider his brother's words. Mike knew his little brother damn well and knew Leo wasn't the type to take advantage of a girl. Besides, the way Leo felt so awkward and sheepish about what had taken place...Mike was pretty sure Leo was telling the truth.

Not that he doubted his brother, but ever since Leo had told him he had a crush on Karone, he had felt very uncomfortable about it. Mike liked Karone too, but he felt sort of protective for his brother. She was a woman with a longing for her childhood, while on the other hand Leo was just simply still a kid at times.

"I take it you want my advice on how to deal with her?"

Leo wandered over to the window, gazing out at the mysterious and unfamiliar stars littering the background of space. "I was hoping for a little bit of advice," he mumbled, reaching with his fingers to touch at the glass somewhat longingly. "That, and I just needed to get it off of my chest." He turned around, his face filled with an unusual devastation. "After we "woke" up, Karone she was just...this totally different person. She was so cold and shut off...she wasn't the same person I knew."

Mike leisurely approached his brother's side, letting Leo muse for a little bit. "You've only known Karone for a month," he pointed out as set his hand on Leo's shoulder. "You don't exactly know her every reaction and mood. Besides, she was the QUEEN of Evil at one time in her life; she's bound to have a dark side. And what if she was just so shocked, she didn't know how to react so she shut herself off?"

"Maybe..." Leo took Mike's words to heart. "It felt like something else though."

Mike chuckled softly at his brother. "Leo, with women, EVERYTHING is something else..."

"You're kidding me, right?"

Those were first words out of Maya's mouth as the door to her and Karone's quarters slid shut behind her. "You and Leo? Together?"

Karone moaned out, "Yes" and then quickly kicked off her boots, moving to lie down on the sofa.

Maya literally skipped over to where Karone was and sat down on the floor. "So this isn't a joke?" she queried one more time, simply making sure. The thought was simply mind-blowing!

"Part of me wishes it was," she replied, lying back and propping her feet up with a pillow on the other side of the sofa. "The other part of me savors what happened on that beach and wants more. Least to say, I'm suppressing that part."

"So what happened?" Maya prodded slightly, knowing Karone was eventually going to tell her anyways. She had managed to become semi-serious about the subject now that her mind had stopped running wildly.

Karone sighed, closing her eyes. "You know how me and Leo sometimes hang out at the daycare center, playing with the kids?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we were over there this afternoon playing Hide and Seek with the kids. Then their parents showed up and we kept on playing between the two of us; Leo was looking for me and found me. Then he kissed me, and I kissed him back. The kiss was pretty good, now that I think about it," she let a small smile play upon her lips at that memory. "Next thing I know, we're both nude on one of the abandoned beaches in the Ocean Dome."

Karone turned onto her side and propped her head up with her arm, looking over at Maya. "You know what was the strange thing about the experience, Maya?" she remarked lightly, while just recalling a little fact. "When we first kissed, I felt this blast emotions run through me and NONE of them were mine!"

It took a second for it dawn upon Maya, but when it did, she was gawking. "Oh my..." she muttered, placing a hand to her open mouth. She glanced at Karone, who was confused by her friend's reaction. "I am SO sorry!"

"What?!" Karone was now sitting up on the sofa, still in the dark.

"I meant to tell you and Leo this earlier, but it slipped my mind," she gasped. "The Lion and Wildcat Galactabeasts are in a relationship together."

Even with this new information, the Pink Ranger was still stumped. "And that means...?"

"The Galactabeasts have a kind of mental connection to their "masters", as they call us," Maya tried explaining, so she could get her point across. "They can reflect emotions onto us sometimes. Emotions like love."

Finally taking in all of the facts, Karone gasped and held her head in her hands. "So you mean, this whole thing with Leo probably happened because of our Galactabeats?" her voice shuddered in shock.

Maya nodded solemnly as Karone collapsed backwards onto the sofa.

Karone tossed and turned as she tried to sleep that night, but her thoughts wouldn't relent and quietly go to sleep like she wanted them to. They ran rampant, stimulating every part of her brain and driving her to the point where she thought she was going to go insane.

One common thread that her thoughts had all contained was one person...

Leo.

Leo was always there. She recalled him fighting Stingwingers and helping her out of a tight spot. She remembered him smiling and laughing when he found her hiding in the tree. Sometimes, she even thought of his kisses and how smooth and hot they were.

Basically put, she had FAR too much of Leo on her mind.

"Probably an effect Wildcat is having on me," Karone muttered quietly to herself, turning onto her side on her bunk.

For awhile she remained silent, slowly watching the many Leo-oriented thoughts pop up into her mind. She was like that until she simply decided enough was enough. Karone crawled out of her bunk and headed towards her closet to grab some decent clothes.

Usually she'd wear her leather top and pants, but for once in a very long time, she didn't feel like wearing the material that felt like second skin to her. After all, she had worn for most of her life. So instead, she pulled out another familiar set of clothing and quickly slipped them on.

For a second, Karone turned to glance into the mirror next to the closet and sighed. "Oh, Zhane," she murmured, sliding her hands down her skirt colored in earth tones. "If you only knew about this lovely mess I've gotten into. You'd have a ball with it."

She smiled sadly at her reflection on the shiny object. It was pitiful to know that what had taken place between her and Leo was simply a reflection of love. Maybe, just maybe, when she had been ready for love again, Karone would have thought of Leo in that manner...on her own. Right now, there was no way to tell what was going on in her mind. Was Wildcat in control or was she?

After slipping on her sandals, she crept towards the door quietly trying her best not to possibly jerk Maya out of her peaceful sleep. That and Karone didn't want Maya thinking she was going to Leo or something.

Once she was out of her quarters and standing in the nearly empty corridor, she sighed contentedly. "Just me and the walls," she exuberated, striding down the corridor with a slight spring in her step. "Exactly what I was looking forward to."

Karone quickly wandered over to one of the elevators on the deck and stepped in, the doors whooshing shut after her. She was merely looking for the solitude she could find anywhere. At that moment, she found solitude inside the silent moving elevator.

"This is great," she moaned, closing her eyes and leaning against the railing behind her. "No thoughts about Leo, no thoughts about sex, no thoughts about anything. A blank mind."

Her happiness quickly flew out the door when it opened up to Deck Five and the one person she had thought she had escaped from entered. "Not again..." Leo moaned, stopping directly in the middle of the elevator's doorway.

"I think we have magnets in us," Karone groaned, equally disappointed. "You're south and I'm north."

"I think I'll agree with that," Leo nodded, entering the small room and standing beside her in the elevator as it began its decent.

The two stood quietly and stiffly in the elevator as it slowly rolled downwards back towards Deck Four. For them, the time it took for the elevator to even start moving downwards FROM Deck Five felt like an eternity. From then on, the sexual tension between the couple grew stronger and stronger until finally Karone simply couldn't take it anymore.

"Geez, this is totally insane..." Karone muttered as she grabbed Leo by the shoulders and pushed him up against the wall, kissing him as hard as she could possible with all her strength.

Leo let out a stunned cry that was muffled by their kiss and slowly faded away. He slid his arms around her and sunk to the cold floor, Karone in his lap. They kissed wildly and freely, hands and lips roaming each other's bodies wherever they pleased.

That is until the doors of the elevator swooshed open to reveal Deck Four's corridor to their view once again. They broke away from their intimate touches and stared out at the low-lit and empty deck. "To hell with it," Karone mumbled fiercely, literally overridden by the intoxicating feelings of love and lust. "I want you," she panted to Leo, their foreheads leaning against each other. "Right here, right now."

Leo breathed his response just as the doors shut, gently lying Karone to the floor and kissing her.

Sometime later, the common sense hit Leo to groan out, "Computer, seal elevator doors!"

"I can't believe we did it again!"

"And this time you don't have yourself to blame for initiating it," Karone remarked unhappily, leaning against the wall as she pulled on her skirt. "Why is Wildcat having this much of an effect on me?!"

Tugging his red shirt up and over his head, Leo peeked out at the blonde in confusion. "What do you mean by Wildcat having an effect on you?" his voice was piqued with interest about his companion's words.

Karone smoothed out her skirt now that she was fully dressed and slowly replied him, suddenly shy about the situation they were tangled in. "Well, I kinda told Maya what happened between us yesterday..."

"Maya knows about the beach?!"

"Yes! Calm down, would you? It's not like she's going to spread the news all over Terra Venture or something!"

Leo sighed, slightly reluctant. He should have known that Karone would tell Maya. She was close to the Yellow Ranger and besides, if he had needed to talk to Mike about what happened, what Karone did should have been expected by him. "I guess you're right," he shrugged, feeling stupid in a way because of not considering Karone's needs to express her jumbled emotions. "I told Mike about what happened too."

He looked awkwardly towards her, the flush of embarrassment rising in his cheeks, yet to be surprised with the gentle smile that had graced Karone's face. "I figured you would tell him."

Unfortunately for Leo, he quickly watched the smile flop off of her face. Her light gleeful mood disappeared and the disappointed and frustrated mood returned to Karone. She ripped her gaze away from him and stared towards the cold floor. "I wish Wildcat would stop doing that," she groaned unpleasantly. She then glared up at Leo, not so much angry as she was upset: upset with him, upset with Wildcat, and upset with herself for falling prey once again to the GalactaZord's emotions.

"What are you talking about Karone?" Leo prodded once more. Why did she keep on mentioning her Galactabeast? "What does Wildcat have to do with anything?"

As the elevator continued on its rise up to Deck Four, Karone hesitated on telling Leo about the Galactabeasts' involvement. There was an uneasy pause as she debated over the subject. If she didn't tell him...well, the encounters that had gone on between them could continue. If she did tell him, he could just totally call her crazy and that would be the end of the conversation itself. She couldn't help but think that it sounded crazy too...the Galactabeasts making them have their primal urges of lust?

She was going to tell him anyway. It didn't really matter if he thought she was crazy...Karone already felt like she was going insane! Two different emotions fighting control over her mind and body; sometimes it was just simply too much for her. "Leo," she finally voiced, getting his attention. "Maya told me something last night about Wildcat and Lion."

"Does it have something to do with us?" he asked deliberately, trying not to be forceful in any way.

"Yes," she allowed the answer to escape her mouth gradually. "Lion and Wildcat apparently are in a relationship together. All of our Galactabeasts have a kind of telepathic connection to us and sometimes through this link they can reflect emotions that they are feeling. Even love."

Leo gaped for a moment, until he felt the elevator stop beneath his feet. Quickly, he announced, "Computer, unseal elevator doors."

The doors instantly unlocked themselves and slid open to show to the two a dim view of Deck Four, still empty. Leo took Karone's hand and pulled her out of the elevator, into the corridor. "Come on," he tugged her gently in the direction of her quarters. "I wanna go talk to Maya. We need her to find out if there's a way to stop this from happening from Lion and Wildcat. They've gotta have an answer."

Karone followed him down the corridors silently. She suddenly felt so awkward being with Leo and not feeling anger or love towards him. She felt like...herself again.

As the neared her quarters, Leo also felt the awkwardness that Karone was feeling. He simply suppressed the feeling, something that he always usually did. Leo would much rather look strong than show any weakness. That hadn't been the case since yesterday. He felt defenseless in a way around Karone. He probably knew him better than anyone else did...even Mike. That little piece of information nagged at him now; it bothered him.

Soon enough, the two of them stepped to stand in front of Karone's front door and she pressed the keypad, allowing the door to slide open. "Maya?" Karone called out in the darkness.

"Yeah?" Maya's voice quickly replied her roommate's. "Hold on a second. Computer, lights." The lights instantly flashed on at the brunette's command, shedding light onto the room and revealing Maya. She sat expectantly on the sofa, fully dressed, as if she was awaiting Karone's return.

Karone blinked in part confusion, part surprise. "I thought you were sleeping!"

Maya simply shrugged an answer. "I'm a light sleeper." She gave the couple a soft smile. "Besides, I kinda put two and two together and..." the Yellow Ranger trailed off knowingly, but not with one of those "I told you so" grins. She looked more solemn about the fact that her friends were in such emotional turmoil over the entire mess.

Leo winced slightly at Maya's comment and at the reality of his situation. They really needed to figure out how to stop this madness. Karone and him couldn't go around having sex when they pleased, wherever they pleased! "Maya," his voice was tender, calling for help, "we really need your help. You've got to talk to Lion and Wildcat. We need to know if there's a way to stop them from inadvertently reflecting their emotions upon us."

"Are you guys okay?" Maya's face took on more concern while her gaze flashed between Karone and Leo.

Karone nodded. "We're fine," she sighed, almost sounding as if she wished she wasn't fine. "We just did it in an elevator this time."

Maya hastily swallowed the urge to let out a giant gasp. She suddenly felt as if time was of the essence and that if her friends didn't get help soon there could be an...outcome, from it all. "Why don't I go talk to them right now?" she suggested, standing up from the sofa. "I mean, it's not like they should be sleeping...at least I don't think they are."

Leo, who had been standing next to Karone awkwardly with his hands clasped behind his back, immediately piped up, "Sounds like a plan. I'll go with you," he insisted anxiously, his wandering gaze falling upon Maya.

With a nod of her head, she acknowledged Leo's words and then glanced towards Karone. The Pink Ranger looked rather uneasy more than awkward. "Karone," Maya gently questioned her blonde friend. "Do you feel alright? Maybe you should stay here."

"Maybe that'd be a good idea," she spoke softly with a tired voice. Karone moved achingly towards the sofa and plopped down on it, peeking up at Maya and Leo. "You guys go ahead and find out what we can do about this. I'm just gonna take a nap."

"Alright, if you say so," Leo reluctantly agreed as he and Maya headed towards the front door once more. He wasn't exactly ecstatic about leaving Karone by herself, especially when she looked ill, but he truly had no choice this time.

For all Leo knew, if he stayed, he would probably loose ALL self control.

Karone eagerly kicked off her sandals after her two friends left and padded her way over to her bunk, lying down. Slowly, she navigated her way to slip underneath her blankets and relaxed her head on her pillow.

Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander to important thoughts; thoughts that needed to be thought about. "What am I going to do about Leo?" she moaned out softly, her eyes still delicately closed.

Karone knew if Wildcat and Lion knew a way to kind of "block" their reflections of emotions upon Leo and herself, things would be awkward between them, to say the least. It was already awkward. It was just going to worse and forge a gap in her friendship with Leo.

The last thing she wanted to loose was her friendship with Leo, in spite of all the things that had taken place during the last twenty-four hours. But she was prepared to loose his friendship because she had had first-hand experience that when you have sex, there was no turning back.

Zhane had been her first-hand experience. Before she had decided to on her "crusade" of sorts, Karone had been engaged to Zhane. They were blissfully in love and never wanted to be apart. That was, until Karone felt the need to right all of her wrongs done as Astronema by doing good across the universe.

She had come absolutely close to convincing Zhane to come along with her, telling him it was something she needed to do with him by her side. In the end, Zhane resisted her offer to come along, surprising Karone. She had always thought he loved the fight of being a Power Ranger and traveling through space; what she had planned was nearly just that, but somewhat different.

Her fianci rejected her offer straight out, claiming that the wild life was no longer for him. That he had experienced it already and that he wanted her to stay on Earth with him.

Karone knew she didn't want to stay on Earth. She had spent her life as Astronema roaming the universe; she wanted a chance to roam the universe as Karone. So, on one fateful night, Karone left with a small bag of her belongings and ended up on Aquitar.

She stayed on Aquitar for a few months before hearing the news about the Pink Quasar Saber being in the wrong hands on Onyx. Without a second thought, she dropped everything and caught the next transport that would pass by Onyx. "And here I am," she sighed softly to herself, opening her eyes and staring up at the bunk above hers. "Maybe if I had stayed on Earth with Zhane, this wouldn't have happened."

As she rolled over onto her side, Karone dismissed the thought quickly. If she had stayed on Earth, she would have never experienced the many wonderful things she had. The good definitely outweighed the bad in her situation.

Karone was silent for sometime, trying to calm her thoughts so that she could go to sleep. But that was hard because of the odd feeling that she felt within her; it was that feeling that was causing her to feel ill. She couldn't pinpoint the exact feeling or what was triggering it, but the magic in her blood was telling her something was going on inside her. Something new, something different.

The magic in her blood just wasn't sure WHAT it was.

As Leo drove the little car down the dark empty streets of the City Dome heading towards the Mountain Dome, he broke the silence that had fallen upon him and his passenger. "I hope Karone is feeling better," he commented nonchalantly, trying to strike up some kind of conversation.

Maya nodded her head gently in the darkness. "Your feelings for Karone go deeper that the Galatcabeasts' emotions, don't they?" she questioned softly, not trying to put Leo on the spot but simply trying to confirm one of her hunches. The car quickly rolled through the connector tunnel that linked the City Dome to the Mountain Dome.

Leo had a look of unbelievable surprise on his face, which he hastily tried to disguise from her view. It was already too late though because she had been paying close attention to Leo's expression and had been able to discern it even in the dimness. "It's alright," she ensured. Leo was able to hear the true sincerity in her voice. "I won't hold it against you. Does Karone know?"

"No, she doesn't." He glanced over in the Yellow Galaxy Ranger's direction for a moment, driving straight ahead. "I sort of don't want her to know though; especially with all of this stuff that had just happened recently."

"I understand," Maya reassured him in her comforting way. "You don't want Karone to think..."

"...that I have a one-track mind," he filled in as they entered the Mountain Dome, the unpaved dirt road rubbing against the vehicle's tires. A sudden thought entered Leo's mind at right about that moment, one he was quite surprised that hadn't occurred to him to ask even Karone before. "Maya?"

"Hmm?"

"Has Karone ever, well, talked to you about her former...boyfriends?" The uneasiness his voice could be clearly heard, but Leo wasn't quite worried about that anymore. He wanted to know about Karone's sexual past; he kind of felt in an odd way he DESERVED to know about it.

Quite stunned by her companion's question, Maya looked to Leo and realized he was actually pretty serious. She considered flat-out refusing to answer his question because of the privacy she shared with Karone. They had had a few chats at the beginning when Karone was trying to adjust to life on Terra Venture: the Pink Ranger explaining her tainted past to the only person on Terra Venture who had never experienced her wrath.

Maya also saw where Leo was coming from although, and knew he would eventually hear it from Karone when the time was right. It wasn't her place to stick her nose where it most certainly did not belong. "It would be better if Karone told you that, Leo," she paused as the car came to a stop along the side of the dirt road near a grove of trees. "She'll tell you when she deems it fit."

"Alright," Leo easily sided with her decision. He respected Maya's respect for Karone's privacy and he hoped one day, after their mess was taken care of, that he could be privileged to be able to have that respect for Karone.

He turned off the car and the two undid their seatbelts quickly, climbing out of the car and heading into the grove of trees before them. Soon enough, they came out of the gathering of trees to stand at the very periphery of a large grass field, which was where all the Galactabeasts resided.

"Wildcat?" Maya called out to the animal. "Lion? Wake up!"

Leo heard a few snorts and grunts resound from far away, while Maya heard words. He turned to see her shaking her head, almost disapprovingly. "I KNOW you're awake...Leo and Karone are awake too because of you two!" she replied the grunts.

A grunt that almost sounded like a surprised exclamation to Leo's ears sounded once again and Lion and Wildcat padded into the two rangers' view finally. Lion growled a few times and snorted towards Leo, leaving him confused. Leo instantly turned to Maya, who translated, "He says sorry."

"All that to say sorry!?" Leo muttered off to the side, before gazing up towards his Galactabeast and replying. "Can you possibly stop this from happening? Karone and I don't exactly...savor it as much as you and Wildcat may."

This time Wildcat was growling at Maya; Leo guessed that she was answering his question for her lover. "What'd she say?"

Maya laid her eyes upon his and he quickly noticed that they weren't exactly looking hopeful. "Wildcat says there is no way to block the telepathy bond. She said the last Galaxy Rangers never had this problem," the brunette sourly recounted. "I'm really sorry, Leo."

"It's alright," Leo declared in a rather monotonous tone. He let a small courteous smile grace his features, returning his gaze to the two Galactabeasts. "Thanks for your help anyway," he acknowledged.

Wildcat roared softly, replying Leo's pain with a comforting "word" of her own. "Come on, we'd better get going," he prompted Maya, dejectedly heading back into the grove of trees. "I might as well face Karone and tell her there's no way to stopping this madness. If I tell her now, maybe she might not feel the need to kill me with one of her reflected moods later."

Leo sighed pathetically to himself, obviously very disappointed by his fallen hopes. "Leo," Maya's voice called out to him and that's when he realized that she hadn't been following him back to the car. "Leo, can you come back here please?"

Leo sighed heavily, his shoulders slouching. "Maya, I'm really tired and I just want to go home and get some sleep. Do you-"

"Leo..." a familiar voice whispered gently, a ghost-like feel to it.

The young man instantly spun around at the sound of the voice and gawked. "I can't believe it," he breathed, creeping closer to Maya. "It can't be..."

There, bridging the gap between him and Maya, was Kendrix Morgan.

Trakeena rose from her bed without a second thought and glided across her chambers to activate her viewscreen which monitored all ranger activity on Terra Venture. She had this...feeling that something was brewing down on the human colony.

"What are you doing, Trakeena?" a voice called to her as she sat before the viewscreen.

"Checking up on the rangers, that's all," she dismissed, pressing her fingers along the console.

Soon enough, the blank viewscreen lit up with a picture of the Mountain Dome, near where Leo and Maya were presently. She quickly took notice of their silhouettes in the dark picture and zoomed in on them. That was when she finally saw the ghostly figure floating between them. She balled her hand into a fist and slammed it on the console fiercely. "Damn that girl! Damn her!"

Her companion jumped up from where he lay on Trakeena's bed, startled. "Who is it, Trakeena?"

The young villainess swiveled around, her face coated his anger. "That Pink Ranger - the one who died - she is speaking with the Red and Yellow Rangers!" she cried out in resentment. "Helping them, most likely. Something I do not need her doing!"

"May I suggest sending down a group of Stingwingers?" he suggested, trying to calm down the might rage of his queen.

A smirk befell Trakeena's lips and her anger melted away, revealing a conniving woman. "That would be an excellent suggestion, Villamax. A very good one indeed..."

"It is me," Kendrix grinned, as she floated before him. "Not exactly in the flesh, but it's me; Kendrix!"

Leo crept even closer, finally believing what was being shown to him. "Kendrix!" he cried, stumbling around for words until, "Whoa!" finally came out.

The three of them all laughed together at Leo's clumsy excitement. "It's wonderful to see you again, Kendrix," Maya whispered happily once their laughter died away. She struggled to hold back the slow-forming tears in her eyes.

Kendrix smiled widely at her close friend. "It's wonderful to be seen again," she replied humorously, "but as much as I may wish I was here for a social call, I'm not. I'm here to help you guys out."

"Help us?" Leo repeated, not quite comprehending until he actually thought for a second. "Oh, you mean about the situation between me and Karone..."

Kendrix nodded, almost in mild regret. A little part within her good soul yearned and wished she had been in Karone's place at that moment. For Kendrix cared ever so deeply for Leo, but had never gotten the chance to speak her feelings to him. However, now that she was no longer restrained to a corporal body, Kendrix could go back and forth through time and she knew that Fate had never meant for Leo to be hers. He was destined to live a long and loving life with another woman.

That didn't matter at that moment though. Right now, she was there to help her friends and help them she was. "Yeah, there is a way you can control yourself against the emotions from telepathy bond," she began to explain to Leo slowly, but before she could continue, a group of Stingwingers descended upon the vicinity.

"Stingwingers!" Maya cried out in sheer surprise.

Kendrix quickly floated farther away from her two friends and towards the trees, as she watched them prepare to morph. "Quick!" Leo shouted, and near moments later Maya's voice joined him.

"Go Galactic!"

Within flashes of bright red and yellow lights, Maya and Leo morphed into their Power Ranger uniforms and started kicking Stingwingers left and right. Even as they fought hard, Kendrix noticed more of Trakeena's henchmen flying towards the battle scene and realized that the Yellow and Red Rangers' were going to be overwhelmed soon if they didn't get help.

So, Kendrix did the ONLY thing she could do: Get help.

It had only been about a half-hour after Karone had finally drifted off into the magical and wondrous place of dreamland, when a resounding voice echoed through her head.

"Karone!" the voice, feminine, yelled hollowly. "Wake up, Karone!"

The Pink Ranger murmured incoherently in her sleep and tossed herself onto her side, trying to block the voice out of her mind and get some more rest. As hard as Karone tried though, the voice continued to plead. "Karone!" it cried frantically. "You've got to wake up and help Leo and Maya!"

"What?" the blonde nearly popped up in her bunk, almost hitting her head on the bunk above hers. Karone didn't even question the voice, for she could sense the faint vibe of trouble in the air now that she was fully aware.

She jumped out from underneath her blankets and quickly activated her communicator/morpher, which was still strapped to her wrist. "Kai! Mike! Damon!" she alerted her fellow teammates through the speaker. "Leo and Maya are in trouble!"

Leo quickly jabbed a Stingwinger in the midsection with elbow, releasing himself from the bug's clawed grip. He ran over to Maya's side to help her get rid of the many henchmen that had descended upon her.

"There are too many!" she shouted over the buzzing noises the Stingwingers were producing. "We need help!"

"Well then, help has arrived!" Damon's voice boomed from behind them.

Leo and Maya snapped their heads around to look behind them to see Damon, Kai, Mike and Karone fighting off the many Stingwingers that had retreated from them and started attacking the four new arrivals.

Unfortunately for the Stingwingers, they quickly and easily became overpowered by the strength of the six rangers together and flew off into the darkness of the night. "What was that all about?" Mike muttered with a tired yawn as he lowered his sword.

"I have no idea," Leo replied in truthful amazement. "How did you guys know we were in trouble? We couldn't even get to our communicators before they attacked us!"

"Karone called us and told us you two were in trouble," Kai replied clearly, motioning towards Leo and Maya.

The Red Ranger's gaze shifted to fall upon Karone, who in turn, looked directly at Maya. "I sensed something in the air," she shrugged absently, as if it was no big deal. "I guess having magic has its advantages."

For a moment, the group was simply quiet and in the darkness of their surroundings crickets and other nocturnal animals could be heard as they went about their own business. "What were you two doing out here anyways?" Damon finally yawned, speaking up for himself, Kai and Mike who were nearly oblivious to what was going on.

Before Maya could even speak up to spit out the truth, Leo responded to the question in record time. "Maya thought she heard something funny with the Galactabeasts. I was up when she called, so I decided to come with her to check things out."

Fortunately for Maya, none of them could see her face filled with guilt of lying beneath her helmet. "When we came out here I realized it was nothing," she quickly backed up Leo's alibi.

Kai and Damon once again excepted Leo's lie at face value while Mike knew something was going on with his little brother. He wasn't about to pry at Leo just then though. Mike knew he was going through a lot of stuff at that time. "Come on," the Magna Defender urged his friends, "it's almost sunrise and we've all got things to do."

Everyone sort of quietly agreed with Mike as they began walking through the grove of trees once more...everyone but Leo. He hung back uncomfortably, looking around the small clearing, hoping to find any indication that Kendrix's spirit was still there. He badly needed to know, wanted to know, what could stop his meaningless drive of emotions that caused him to feel for Karone the way he did.

Karone could sense Leo's desperation. It was the same kind of desperation that she herself felt, but refused to let out. Magic was kind to a person in these ways, letting them conceal certain emotions to an extent. But simply knowing Leo was just as desperate as she was, she couldn't help but see him as a kindred spirit...as a friend wading through the same exact muck that she was, but having a harder time of it.

The Pink Ranger after walking about halfway through the cluster of trees, hearing her own footsteps swish through the fresh grass, turned around completely and started heading back towards where Leo was back out on the empty field. "Karone!" Maya whispered quietly as the blonde lingered away, trying to stop her friend from making another mistake. She grabbed for Karone's arm, but Maya's fingers narrowly missed her.

Another arm closed on Maya's shoulder and she spun around to find herself staring into the Magna Defender's helmet. "Let her go, Maya," Mike advised gently as they continued to walk forward. "Leo and Karone need time to talk alone."

The Yellow Galaxy Ranger gawked for a second, realizing Mike knew almost everything she did. "But what if they..."

He shook his head and hushed her. "They NEED this time. We just have to have a little trust in them."

"Kendrix?" Leo hissed softly, roaming around the small area. "Are you still here?"

He silenced himself for some time, listening for a response. "Leo?"

He literally jumped, half expecting to see Kendrix, but instead saw Karone standing before him with her helmet head securely beneath her arm. She appeared almost like a lost little child, wandering absently, looking endlessly for her parents. "You're looking for Kendrix?" she spoke with a delicate tone sounding as if she spoke louder Terra Venture would crumble to pieces.

"How did you know?"

"She called to me in my sleep," she confessed the truth to him. "Kendrix told me you and Maya were in trouble."

"That was kind of her," he shrugged, letting Karone's words roll off of him. He hadn't wanted to deal with Karone, and yet there he was. Did Fate have it out for him?

Karone stood silently, watching Leo as he searched high and low for the former Pink Ranger's spirit. "Did you want any help?"

"No thanks," Leo commonly brushed her off again, hoping she would take a hint and leave him, but Karone was playing dense. She wasn't about to leave especially when she knew she could help somehow. She didn't care what Leo thought; she wanted to be there with him.

"Leo!" a voice scolded the Red Ranger. "Since when did you ignore people? Maybe I should ignore you!"

Both Leo and Karone snapped around to see Kendrix floating delicately before them. "Kendrix! I've been looking for you-" Leo was instantaneously cut off by the beautiful and young spirit.

"The first thing to blocking the telepathy bond is restoring your friendship with Karone. Now, that's not going to exactly work out if you keep on ignoring her," Kendrix berated in a gentle manner. Leo gaped beneath his helmet, almost mortified.

Karone grinned faintly, touching his shoulder with her hand assuring him that she hadn't been offended by his actions. "So, there is a way to fix this?" she asked the former Pink Ranger confidently. "We can stop this from happening again?"

"There is a remedy," Kendrix answered, a small grin tugging at her light lips. "Before it can work though, you've both got to fix everything; the rift that's forged between you and ruined your friendship. You have to be able to trust one another again."

Leo unlatched his helmet, and gazed up at his friend with his brown eyes filled with bleakness. "How can we trust each other if we both know that at any moment either one of us could loose control?" He spoke truthfully, though knowing that he could no longer trust his OWN instincts tore him apart.

Kendrix bowed her slightly, a grim straight line now upon her mouth. "That's all part of trust, Leo," she replied, her voice echoing as she slowly faded into the darkness. "You must find it in your heart to trust each other again for everything to be set right..."

The couple silently watched as their friend gradually faded away, her words left for them to ponder upon.

For the longest time, the two of them stood there in the silence of the trees until Leo glanced at Karone's hand set upon his shoulder, and then met her gaze. He could see how Karone's beautiful eyes pleaded with him, begging for him to try and learn to trust her once more.

Solemnly, Leo nudged her hand from his shoulder and walked off into the morning dawn alone.

"This is interesting," Trakeena grinned wickedly, her nails tapping upon the console before her as she lounged back in the chair she had a seat in over twenty minutes before.

"What is interesting?" Villamax queried curiously, finally vacating the bed he had been laying in and coming up beside Trakeena.

"It seems as if Karone and the Red Ranger are having "trust" issues," she commented flippantly, ideas churning within her mind. "I think I may know a way to deal with this."

"How?"

Trakeena smirked, resting her hand beneath her chin. "Let it play out, of course," she relayed to Villamax quite easily, his hand sliding to rest upon her shoulder. "You, of all people, should know that the weakness AND strength of any team of Power Rangers is trust. It is what binds them when strong and what exposes them when weak."

"Karone's here! Karone's here! Karone's here!"

Karone couldn't help but let a gigantic grin light up her dreary face as she walked up the paved path that lead towards the daycare center, the little children sitting at the window anxiously waiting her arrival so they could have someone to play with.

Back in her normal leather clothes, the blonde opened the door to the center and was literally sucked inside by all the children's hands. "Whoa!" she cried out, shutting the door behind her. She quickly glanced across the room to see the other two teachers that worked at the daycare and waved to them.

For awhile, the kids were content with simply tugging at Karone's arms until one little boy shouted out, "Where's Leo?"

Soon enough, ALL the children started chanting, "Where's Leo? Where's Leo? Where's Leo?"

Karone quickly bit on her lip, forcing herself to not get all emotional over what had happened between Leo and her mere hours ago. She kneeled down to the children's height and motioned with her hands to them to calm down, which they immediately did. "Leo's not coming here anymore," she gently relayed to them.

Instantly, all the children looked somewhat sad. "Why?" another little girl piped up.

She was slightly taken aback by the question herself. Karone hadn't expected them to actually need an actual justification of why Leo wasn't coming around anymore. She knew WHY he wasn't coming around anymore, but it's not like she could tell the children what he had told her...

"Leo?" Karone looked quite surprised at his presence at her door. "What are you doing here? Do you want to come in?"

He leaned casually against the doorframe, dressed in his normal uniform of blue jeans and his leather jacket. Karone wanted so badly to reach out and touch him, hug him and for him to say that everything was okay; that they were still the closest of friends. But the next words that came out of his mouth somehow told her that wasn't simply to be.

"No," he replied with a somewhat detached voice. "I'm not going to be working at the daycare center anymore, Karone."

Karone instantly looked stunned. "Don't tell me this is because of what...happened yesterday," she groaned slightly. "Leo, please don't distance yourself away from me. If anything we've got to work this out and Kendrix said..."

"Never mind what Kendrix said."

"But Leo, the kids love you!"

For a moment, Karone watched as an unsure look overrode his cold, stony disposition for a split second and then disappeared. The look in his eyes told her that he didn't want to leave the kids, that he loved the children at the daycare center too. But she knew his mind told him that being with her was a no-no and simply could not happen. His mind overruled his emotions in this case. "They'll just have to love you now, Karone," he simply shrugged with a monotonous voice and walked away from the door, down the corridor.

"...Leo had to go do some other stuff for awhile," Karone blandly told the children. After all the time she had spent as Astronema, she still was horrible at coming up with lies. Luckily, they didn't even notice. "He may come back later on though."

"YaY!" the chorus of high-pitched voices cried as the went scampering all around the room once more to where they were playing. A few children stayed behind and tugged on Karone's hand.

"What's up?" She pushed Leo to the back of her mind quickly, turning her attention to the boys and girls. They were here now, Leo wasn't.

"Can we go play "Hide And Seek" in the park?" Molly chirped giddily. "Leo cheated yesterday!"

Karone couldn't help but grimace at the innocent suggestion from the child. Last thing she wanted to do was revisit the park, but Molly and the other kids wanted to and she wasn't about to deprive them of their fun just because she was uncomfortable. "He sure did cheat," she muttered lowly underneath her breath and then spoke up happily, "Sure! Let's go out there right now!"

Leo inhaled the fresh breeze as it passed by him as he sat atop a beautiful black horse, letting it trot around the dirt track. He sighed quietly, not exactly content but not exactly unhappy. "This is much better than being around Karone constantly," he muttered, just loud enough that the horse could faintly hear him.

After Leo had left Karone, the first place he headed to was Terra Venture Stables. Maya worked there part-time as well as at Terra Venture Gardens, and after his connecting with the one of the horses there who helped him nearly defeat one of Scorpius' lackey monsters, Leo realized he rather liked the stables. Of course, he had never followed up on the chance to work there until that morning when he came to the final conclusion he could NOT work alongside Karone anymore.

He talked with the owner of the stables, and lucky for Leo, the owner took quick to his anxious attitude and gave him a job on the spot following a little bit of paperwork. Leo would basically be working an early shift from the morning to the mid-afternoon, taking care of some of the horse's needs. Not too much of a job, but one that Leo jumped at eagerly.

"Karone doesn't like animals," he mumbled once again, stroking the soft, combed mane of the horse. Karone had told him that once and said it was because of the way she was raised as a child. She never really saw animals before she was freed from the evil that possessed her. Somehow, the thought of knowing that Karone would never come around to the stables reassured the Red Ranger.

Leo wasn't angry with Karone, not in the least, but he was almost positive that she thought he was after the way he confronted her at her quarters.

Leo was simply hurt and confused.

Kendrix had told him to try and trust Karone again, but the words never even registered in Leo's mind. What was trust? Had Karone and him HAD trust before their encounter? Could he trust? Did he even know HOW to trust someone? Those were the questions that continued to haunt his thoughts.

As far as Leo could remember, he had been a very friendly and open child when he was younger. Mike even told him stories about when he was little and used to run up to strangers in the street and right there would start conversations with them. He would have trusted Trakeena if he had known her back then.

Something hardened him though. Leo was never really sure what had caused him to become that way, but when he got older he just was like that. He learned to be wary of certain people, bad people supposedly. But nothing hardened him more than what had happened to him only a few months ago.

Leo trembled visibly for a few moments as he recalled the experience that had caused him to be so wary and skeptical. Of course, it didn't show when he was around his friends...of all people he didn't want them to know about what had taken place. They would hover around him like someone who had been through something horribly life-changing.

The experience was life-changing, but simply not THAT much. Or at least he believed that.

The days flew by swiftly, much to the surprise of both Karone and Leo. For an entire two weeks they had managed to avoid each other completely. Two weeks without the sight of one another didn't do much for their thoughts, which were continuously occupied with the thoughts about each other.

Karone became more solemn and Leo became more shut-off. The more the two denied what had happened between them, choosing to not make amends, the more they weighed upon each others mind...and the more the telepathy bond had influence over them.

Of course, Karone wasn't avoiding Leo by her choice. If she had it her way, she and Leo wouldn't be avoiding each other. They would be talking, trying get past what had happened in their encounter and salvaging their relationship. But then, at that time she had NOTHING going her way.

Ever since that night she had felt something new and vibrant within her, she had felt sick to her stomach. The loving and warm feeling and turned into somewhat of a wretched feeling as Karone continually felt as if she was going to vomit, but never really did. She simply dismissed it as a side-affect of the telepathy bond: nothing too bad to worry about. Karone had enough to bog her down already with Leo.

Leo, on the other hand, had become cold and silent. The isolation from Karone had literally caused him to shut himself off from everyone. He had to become hard and rough to block out the pain, hurt and loss or it would simply penetrate him and kill him softly.

Kai stirred at his newest culinary delight brewing inside of a large pot sitting upon the stove as the front door slid open and let Damon inside. "What for dinner this time?" he queried, laying his tool belt aside and moving over to the sink.

"Something new I found while searching through some databases late last night," Kai commented, setting the wooden spoon on top of the pot and sitting down on a stool. "Speaking of last night, have you seen Leo around today?"

Damon flipped on the kitchen faucet, water pouring down upon his hands as he washed them thoroughly of the grease and grime that he had been working with. "No, actually," he answered his friend, to his own surprise. "Usually I see Leo everyday, but lately...I haven't seen much, if any of him!"

"Neither have I," the GSA officer agreed and was about to go when suddenly the subject of their conversation stormed into their quarters with Mike hot on his trail.

The two young men fell silent staring at Leo as he stomped halfway through the room and then turned around, sneering at Mike in irritation. "Why can't you just back off, Mike?!" he yelled crossly. "It's none of your business!"

"It is my business, Leo!" Mike snapped back insistently, grabbing the younger Corbett by the shoulders and giving him a good jerk. "You're my little brother! This thing is tearing you up, but you aren't doing anything to solve the problem; you're only making it worse!"

The Red Ranger gritted his teeth, trying the best to keep his anger to a minimum and not make a scene, while also trying to not hit his brother at the same time. "Well then, if I CHOOSE to do what I am doing then that's my choice, now isn't it!" he yapped back, pulling away from Mike and literally running out of the quarters once again.

Kai and Damon watched dumbfounded as the front door slid shut behind Leo's escape. "Mike?" Damon gawked at the Magna Defender, trying to warrant some kind of answer from him.

Mike sighed heavily and plopped down onto the sofa before he answered the question. "I can't explain what just happened without telling you guys everything, and I think it's about time you guys heard everything so...here I go."

For the next fifteen minutes or so, Mike went about in detail describing what circumstances had unfolded between Leo and Karone in the last two weeks, starting with their encounter and ending with the argument that Mike had had with Leo. It had been about the same thing they had continuously argued over for the last few days: him choosing to not deal with Karone.

"That doesn't sound like Leo at all," Kai mumbled as he slowly absorbed all the information that had thrown in his direction. "I mean, he'll usually take the blame maybe, but got off his handle like that?"

Mike nodded in agreement. "It ISN'T Leo, and his whole new attitude towards Karone didn't just evolve from what happened between them. I have a feeling it goes past that, maybe to something else that happened to him. I'm sure nothing bad happened to him when we were on Earth, so must of happened while he was on Terra Venture."

All three men mused for awhile, until slowly Damon slipped, "Well, we never DID find out what Trakeena did to Leo for those three days he was captured..."

Kai literally jumped up from the chair he had sat in during Mike's retelling of events. "That kinda explains what was going on with Leo last night," he piped up, his features taking on a worried expression for his friend.

"What DID happen to him last night?" Damon queried, glancing at the Blue Ranger. "You were about to tell me before Mike and Leo ran in."

"Right," Kai acknowledged Damon's words. "Well, I was up late last night sorting through Terra Venture's database as well the Astro MegaShip's when I heard Leo mumbling his sleep.

"At first I kinda dismissed it, since lots of people talked in their sleep sometimes...even Leo. But a few minutes later, I actually heard Leo sobbing in his sleep," the Blue Ranger paused, watching their skeptical reactions. "I didn't believe it either until I walked by Leo and saw him. Tears were pouring out of his eyes and he kept on mumbling the words, "No, Trakeena, no!" over and over again. After awhile he calmed down and fell back into his sleep.

"I didn't want to mention it to him this morning because I was sure he'd think I was sticking my nose into his business, but now that you've mentioned it Mike, I'm worried about him," Kai finished his explanation, tugging at his sleeves awkwardly.

Mike looked thoughtful for a moment, staring beyond where Kai and Damon sat in front of him and at the wall. The emotions splayed across his face were hard to discern, but it was fairly clear that one of them was sadness. "I'm glad you told me," he allowed softly, as if distracted by other larger thoughts; which he was. Mike quickly stood up from his chair and headed out of the quarters. "I'd better get going, I've got a meeting with Commander Stanton soon."

The older Corbett brother vacated the room quickly, the doors shutting behind him. "It is me or does Mike look worried about Leo?" Damon chimed softly, his face full of concern for his friend.

Kai glanced the mechanic's way. "It's not just Mike, it's all of us..."

Karone came stumbling out of the bathroom late the next morning; face pale and clutching her stomach painfully. She sorely managed to walk over to the sofa and fall onto the piece of furniture, moaning sickly. "I don't think I should have eaten those eggs..."

"Did I cook them wrong?" Maya queried, sounding absolutely guilty for Karone's sickness.

"No, you didn't," the blonde weakly smiled, assuring her friend. "You've cooked them before and I haven't gotten sick like this. I don't know, maybe I ate something wrong yesterday."

Maya's faced lightened slightly with some hope. "Well, I hate to leave you like this, but I'd better get going," she told Karone. "Do you need anything before I leave or anything? I can stay if you want."

Karone faintly smiled at her friend's generosity and kindness. "I think I'll be able to manage. What did I do to deserve a friend like you, Maya?"

Maya blushed gently as she headed towards the door. "Don't worry about it, Karone. You're such a good friend; I'm simply returning the favor."

The blonde woman nodded her head, waving as Maya exited their quarters and headed off to her job.

After a few minutes of relaxing on the sofa in complete silence, the urge to vomit came over Karone once more and she rushed to the bathroom, regurgitating what was left of her dinner from last night. "Aughhhh..." she moaned for a second time, moving over to the bathroom sink and splashing her face with fresh cold water.

She grabbed a nearby towel and patted her face dry, looking directly into the mirror that was above the sink. Karone stared at herself and sighed heavily. She looked awful...actually she looked far worse than awful. Her flat blonde hair limply framed her wan face as her tired eyes expressed the deep hurt that she carried within her. "There's no possible way I'm going to work looking like this," she laughed pathetically at her reflection in the mirror.

Karone turned to stumble out of the bathroom once more, moving towards her bed to lay down, but instead found herself walking into the living room and picking up a picture of her and Leo that had been standing on the coffee table. It had been taken a few days after her becoming the Pink Galaxy Ranger; the first day she started work at the daycare center.

Her weak fingers ran across the smooth surface, almost as if caressing the picture. Then, with all of the strength she possessed within her, Karone hurled the picture frame to the other side of the room, allowing it to land to land on the carpeted floor with a soft thump.

Suddenly, she collapsed to the ground, all of her energy sapped from her. She didn't WANT to hold it in anymore. She was sick of being strong for her own good and trying to play by Leo's rules. Karone wanted him to come to her and realize what an idiot he had been for the last two weeks. She wanted him to beg her for forgiveness and tell her that they could still be the best of friends. Those were her rules.

She just wished badly Leo could follow them.

"Mike! Wait!"

The young GSA officer stopped striding down the corridor and spun around to see Maya jogging up to where he stood. Soon enough, she was standing at his side and they began walking together. "How is Leo?"

Mike couldn't help but heave a heavy sigh at the mention of the Red Galaxy Ranger's name. The two of them came to a stop in front of the elevator and stood waiting. "He's no better than he was yesterday morning," Mike grumbled, slightly irritated with the younger Corbett. "I just wish he'd stop being so...stubborn about it! I mean, if he has a problem, why doesn't he just let us know; we can help him get through it!"

"Well..." Maya trailed off abruptly as the elevator doors slid open and a few people exited it, allowing them to enter. Once they both were inside by themselves and the elevator had started to move upwards, she began to speak again. "Well, I haven't known Leo for a long time, but for the time I HAVE known him, he always had some sort of valid reason for his actions. He must have a reason behind not telling us about his problem."

Mike nodded his agreement, but his face still remained sour. "I know that, but this is tearing Karone apart! His actions...he hasn't yet seen the full result of them and Karone has made sure he won't," he paused, leaning against the small room's wall.

"Karone respects Leo's choice, no matter how much it hurts her."

"She's going to keep on getting hurt if she doesn't fight back against Leo!"

Maya stared intently at her companion, somewhat appalled by his recommendation. "Computer, stop elevator," she ordered and the machine came to a halt. "You don't understand, do you Mike?"

"Of course I understand!" Mike's eyes blazed with a fierce anger. His anger was not directed at Maya though. Mike was simply angry and frustrated with the situation his brother and Karone had gotten into. He cared for them both deeply, and watching them endure the pain over their choices made him hurt just as much. He wanted to do something, ANYTHING, to help, but they weren't letting him and THAT was the source of his anger. "Leo's acting like a gigantic idiot and Karone's taking the repercussions without a fight. They've got to do something...and if they won't do it on their own, I'll help them. Heck, I'll FORCE them to make amends and fix this!"

The brunette shook her head vigorously, her long curls sweeping into her face. "No, you DON'T understand," she spoke with a petite and hushed tone, which instantly calmed Mike down to a degree. "Karone has spent half her life as a servant to evil. She fought long and hard against good, never succeeding in her many attempts. Only when she finally STOPPED fighting, did she really win.

"Karone has CHOSEN not to fight Leo because she knows she can only win that way," Maya explained softly, still staring Mike down, but with a soft gaze now.

Mike absorbed her words, before countering them with his own thoughts on the subject. "If you don't fight, that always doesn't get you anywhere either. You can't just expect the things that you want to always come to you!

"It's just like when we fight Trakeena. We fight, because we know it will help us stay free for another day. And usually we DO succeed! You can fight and still win...Karone must at least know that!"

Maya was quiet and a dead silence fell over the two. "Computer, resume elevator," she at last voiced naturally. The elevator began to move upwards once more to Deck Five and she looked at him. "Fighting works, but Karone has her own way. I don't exactly see eye to eye with her decision either, but I DO respect it and understand that she needs to do things her way," Maya searched for some sort of acceptance from Mike in his eyes. "Can you respect it too?"

The elevator suddenly stopped and the doors slid open to reveal the brightly lit corridor of Deck Five. Mike nodded gently. "I can respect it," he replied Maya in assurance. "It hurts seeing two of my friends so torn up though. I feel like I need to help."

"So do I, but they've got to sort it out on their own terms or it just doesn't work," Maya sighed in agreement, folding her arms across her stomach somewhat sadly.

She watched as a solemn Mike exited the elevator and the doors slid closed after him, the elevator lowering her down once more. Realizing she was alone, the Yellow Galaxy Ranger propped herself up against the cold wall and let soft, small frown coat her lips. She frowned because she knew one thing was for certain.

Leo and Karone were in for a long bumpy ride.

Leo stared up at the clear blue skies, the sound of the willful waves crashing against the shores of the Ocean Dome filling his ears. He shivered slightly at the beautiful noise...the noise that reminded him of the woman he longed to hold.

He had just seen her that night too. When Kai had called an emergency meeting in their quarters. Everyone had been there, but Mike who had been working on trying to get full power up and running again on Terra Venture after the episode with the Galaxy Book blowing out some of the transformers.

They had been sitting around the coffee table by candlelight and he was able to stare intently at her without her really noticing. It was all Leo could ask for. The soft light highlighted her pale and gaunt face, which may have looked awful to anyone else, but to Leo it looked absolutely beautiful. Of course, it pained him to see her in that manner, but he had no choice.

Kai had then began blabbing about how a man who had tried to steal the Galaxy Book claimed to be the book's guardian and needed it; Kai wanted to help him. The other four rangers had instantly protested, but then relented when Kai told them that he believed it was his destiny.

"Maybe I shouldn't have let him go on with what he was planning," Leo mumbled to himself absently, slipping into leader mode for a moment. He quickly shook of the thought though, placing him back into his blue mood.

His thoughts shifted and he remembered what Mike had told him the last time they had talked, which had been over three days ago. Well, Leo wouldn't have exactly called it talking. "More like screaming at each other," he snorted out loud to his surroundings, lying in the sand on his back.

Mike's words, even as much as Leo hated to admit it, had hit home...and hit home hard. He was making the problem worse, but he couldn't help it. He loved Karone ever so deeply, but he couldn't be with her.

And it wasn't because he couldn't trust her that he couldn't be with her. No, that certainly wasn't it. "I trust her more than any other person I know," he breathed softly, slowly shutting his eyes to dwell in his morose mood. "I just can't trust myself anymore and I can't open up to anyone. I can't let her know about what happened between me and Trakeena..."

Leo slowly rose from the pit of unconsciousness he had been thrown into. His vision was distorted as he quickly blinked his eyes, trying to make sense of his surroundings and his last conscious memories.

He remembered being held back by at least six Stingwingers, if not more...and Trakeena. Yes, Trakeena had been there and so had Villamax. Villamax had knocked him out and before he lost consciousness Trakeena had said something...something that didn't quite make sense to Leo. "'Savoring the capture before its time is done...'?" Leo mumbled, as his blurry vision finally cleared up allowing him to see clearly.

"Oh, yes," a sensual voice crept up upon him.

Leo's head darted left and right on the canopy bed he now realized he was laying on. The room itself, as he looked at it, was cold and dark. The only light that lit the room was a single flaming torch in one of the corners of the room. Off to one of the sides of the bed was a large console, which was where he saw a woman standing.

But as this woman moved closer towards the bed and more into his view, he instantly identified her as Trakeena, wearing nothing but a thin and slinky green gown. As much as Leo tried to close his mind and eyes to the image, he couldn't. "You're...beautiful," he stuttered out to his own disbelief, as she settled down on the bed beside his still form. Leo was even more shocked that he hadn't even tried to bolt for the nearest exit!

The villainess let out a small evil chortle, her hand cupping his chin gently and caressing his skin. Leo shivered at her touch to his own disgust AND enjoyment. "You're wondering why you haven't run away yet, aren't you?"

He tried ever so hard to not answer her question, but Leo found his mouth disobeying every other muscle in his body. "Yes, I am," he answered monotonously.

"Do you want to know?" Trakeena grinned almost impishly, letting one of her long nails trace a path down the contours of his jaw. "Because if you did, I would tell you..."

Leo wanted to say yes badly. He desired to know what was going on and why his body wasn't responding to him. He willed for his mouth to answer yes with every shred of energy he had within him, but it still didn't help him any. "No," his mouth replied as if it were another sentient being entirely. "I don't need answers. I just need you."

If it hadn't been for the fact that Leo was laying on his back, he would have vomited. Answering "his" words, Trakeena loomed over him with a hungry passion that he could see within her dark eyes. She quickly straddled him and proceeded to inch her face closer to his. "I'm glad you need me," she whispered throatily, firmly pressing her lips to Leo's.

Leo's mind immediately went into chaotic panic. He was withering underneath Trakeena's slimy kisses and her cold hands that roamed his body. He wanted scream out for help, or push Trakeena off of him or do anything to remove him from the situation that he was in, but his body refused.

His body followed Trakeena's...in all the acts she performed.

Slow and hot tears poured from Leo's eyes at the memory...the oh so tainted memory of the night he had spent with Trakeena.

He knew that he had been under some kind of magical spell when he had been with Trakeena. It was more than obvious; but that didn't seem to ease the shame or the pain that came with the experience. "Nothing ever will," Leo whispered softly, his voice blending with the ocean breeze.

Karone was the first woman he had experienced without protest, which is why he said he had truly lost his virginity to her. Of course, it was under the emotions of his Galactabeast, but that didn't come into account. Leo was sure he would have wanted to be with Karone just as much, without the little help he got from Lion.

However, that didn't erase the fact that Trakeena had been the first "woman" Leo had experienced, period.

Karone had magic running through her blood. If he got close to her, opened himself up to her, she would certainly find his secret or at least feel it. He couldn't risk that factor...he REFUSED to. It had to be his secret and no one else's. He couldn't possibly ask someone to bare that burden, could he?

"Are you sure that's all you want to have?" Mike stared skeptically at Karone as she stirred her glass of water absently with the straw. He hungrily chomped down on his hamburger and chewed.

The blonde nodded weakly, glancing up at him as he swallowed his food and then at his hamburger sitting on the plate before him. "Yeah, I'm fine," she murmured, wincing ever so slightly. "Watching YOU eat is actually kinda making me queasy."

"Well, I did bring you to this cafe to eat lunch," he grinned, motioning to the many tables around them in, which were almost all empty except for a few other GSA officers. "And I sure NEED to eat. I wasn't able to get around to eating breakfast this morning; got so caught up in working on the repairs and reading all the reports."

"I bet," Karone offered softly, still playing with her water. "You guys have done a good job in such a short time though. Nearly half of Terra Venture is fully-powered I hear."

"Yup," Mike agreed, somewhat proud of the quick work the repair crews had done. "Hopefully we won't have anymore trouble with the Galaxy Book."

She nodded yet again. "Kai's working on it," she replied, gazing off into the distance. Karone quickly returned her attention to him though. "Kai told you about what he was planning, right?"

"Yeah," he answered, taking another bite of his hamburger, chewing and then swallowing. "I hope it works."

"Me too."

A silence hushed over them both after the Pink Ranger's meek response and during that short period of time, Mike stared at Karone in concern.

She continued to stir her water with the straw it had come with, occupying herself with the littlest thing; as if she was trying to distract herself purposely. Her face looked pasty and bony and her eyes terribly tired. Her wrist moved with a continuous repetitive motion, turning and turning and turning.

"How do you feel Karone?" the question finally popped out of Mike's mouth, after much debate within his mind on prodding the tender subject.

"Horrible," she answered with one easy word. "Exhausted and sick."

"So Maya tells me," he voiced, his words embedded with loads of concern. He leaned a little closer to Karone and whispered, "Does this have anything to do with Leo?"

"It may," Karone spoke in her normal tone, meeting Mike's eyes. "I'm not quite sure yet."

For a moment, he was confused. However, once he understood what Karone meant, Mike's eyes instantly went wide with surprise. He never really had thought about the consequences that could have spawned from what Karone and his brother had done. "Do you think it is...?" he trailed off, questioningly. "I mean, couldn't you be just experiencing something else? Maybe the flu?"

Karone shook her head. She may not known two weeks ago, but she was almost positively sure now. "Have you ever eaten ice cream with cottage cheese before?" she queried innocently, but having a point to the seemingly off-topic question.

"No."

"Well, I have," she declared sincerely, the smallest of smiles gently touching her lips, "and it's pretty good. If you add some salt it's even better..."

Mike's stomach lurched as he listened to Karone describe her new-found delicacy, and immediately held his hand up for her to stop. "Okay, I believe you," he relented with a sigh. "So are you going to go see a doctor?"

"If I see a doctor it will be too much of a hassle. It's a miracle I can maintain a normal life here and I'm not about to jeopardize that," she explained, referring to her "celebrity" status. "I was going to see Alpha after our lunch."

"Then I release you from lunch early," he chuckled, glancing at his watch. "I'd better get back to work myself."

Mike was about to stand up from his chair when Karone reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently. "Mike, thank you for caring and being my friend. Leo couldn't have a better brother," she smiled, the smile bigger than before.

He returned her smile with a soft one of his own. "You're welcome," he acknowledged, walking away from the cafe and back towards the GSA tower.

Karone watched him fondly and slowly placed a hand to her stomach. "I hope you're more like Mike than Leo," she laughed ever so gently to herself.

Karone walked down the empty corridors of the Astro MegaShip by herself, recalling the many memories she had made on that very ship.

She shared her childhood memories and exchanges with Andros. She talked avidly with Cassie and Ashley about everything they could think of. She was taught to work the MegaShip's controls by Carlos and TJ. She fell in love with Zhane...and fell out of love with him.

Of course, Karone hadn't known then when she fell out of love with her former fiance. Her heart still dully ached for Zhane's presence slightly, until that one day when Leo, bruised and bandaged, stumbled off of the medical bed and towards her. He nearly fell when he reached her and she gingerly wrapped her arms around him, supporting him as he stared at her in dire need.

Karone could now look back on that one instantaneous moment and say that that was the very second she fell out of love with Zhane, and fell in love with Leo. She had no doubt about it; just like she had no doubt that she was pregnant with Leo's child. That had been what the magic had been telling her that very first night, and she trusted her magic because it was a force beyond her; a force that had CHOSEN to bond with Karone.

"Karone!" Alpha Six's voice rang out as she turned into the Medical Bay. "You're here! Now, what was so important?"

Karone grinned gently. She knew Alpha knew about what had happened between Leo and her, and that he wouldn't pry about it...no matter how horrible she looked. After living on the MegaShip for two years before donating it to Angel Grove, she figured Alpha and DECA knew her habits fairly well. "I was wondering if you could run a general scan on me; I'm not feeling too well," she sighed, seating herself on the medical bed.

"Of course I can," Alpha quickly replied, picking up a scanner from a nearby tray and running it down Karone's body. "Anything that's been bothering you in particular?"

"Nausea..." Karone tried being fairly inconspicuous about knowing that she was pregnant, but finally decided enough was enough and came out with the truth. "Alpha, I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant, I just came to check to see if I was right."

"Well," Alpha laid the scanner aside and looked at the reformed villainess, "you are pregnant, Karone-"

The little robot was cut off by DECA's sudden announcement. "Kai is being attacked by Deviot in the Mountain Dome," her voice intoned throughout the MegaShip.

The Pink Galaxy Ranger immediately hopped off of the bed, racing towards the exit. "Karone, wait! You shouldn't go! Alpha cried after her, but it was no use.

She was already gone.

Trakeena drummed her long nails on the handle of her throne in great satisfaction. She had the perfect plan to destroy the Power Rangers now that she knew the Pink Ranger's little secret. "It's quite sad actually," she scoffed to herself, grinning wickedly, "the former Queen Of Evil is now reduced to being good and carrying the spawn of the leader of the Power Rangers." She shivered. "Ugh...I'm glad that's not how my saga will end. It will never end of course, because I will rule the entire universe forever..."

She sighed, daydreaming about the day when the universe would be in her hands; there for her to mold and shape into any way she desired it to be. Trakeena knew it was no longer a dream, now that she had concocted this masterful plan of hers to destroy the rangers and Terra Venture after that. It was simply a matter of timing and execution now.

"TRAKEENA!" Villamax's voice rumbled from the hall and soon enough he appeared, running onto the bridge of the Scorpion Stinger. "Trakeena!"

"What? Is it something important?"

"Yes, it is my Queen," Villamax heaved as he approached the beautiful villainess' throne. "Deviot has gone down to Terra Venture without your permission. He has activated the Kionta Spell from the Galaxy Book!"

"WHAT?!?!" This time, Trakeena's tone was not one of annoyance but one of anger and shock. Her gaze quickly shifted to the rotating vision of Terra Venture on her viewscreen. "HOW DARE HE GO DOWN THERE WITHOUT SPEAKING TO ME! He has betrayed me!"

"What do you wish me to do, my Queen?"

"Get down to Terra Venture before that fool is destroyed and stop the rangers from defeating him," she gritted angrily through her white teeth. "Legend says that if the one who activates the Kionta Spell is defeated, the Galaxy Book and the surrounding area will be thrown into the Lost Galaxy. I will NOT allow that to happen...I MUST defeat those Power Rangers!"

Villamax nodded his head curtly and left the room hastily. As he left the room though, Trakeena saw the colony of Terra Venture suddenly blink out of sight from the viewscreen, leaving nothing but space to be seen.

"NO!" she screamed out in terrible anguish, smashing her fist down on her throne.

"The Galaxy Book..." Maya breathed, as the five Galaxy Rangers approached the book where the mutated Deviot had thrown it to the ground. They had just defeated Deviot in a mean Zord battle and now returned to the original site where the villain had recited the Kionta spell.

They were about a few feet away from it, when they all stopped to stare a the book from afar for a moment. It sat wide open on the ground, the dirt scorched around it and some the pages' fringes were scorched also by the lightening. After a moment, Kai dared to approach it and lifted it from the ground into his outstretched arms, scanning over the open pages as if he was reading the foreign language.

All was calm for an instant, and then suddenly the sky of the Mountain Dome grew dark and cloudy, lightening striking down around them randomly from the artificial skies. The wind abruptly picked up in speed and Kai found his body being pushed back into the group of rangers as they huddled around trying to stay grounded.

The sky flashed with lightening a few more times, then stopped. The wind slowed down and the dome sky was back to its normal clear blue color. The group of five exchanged confused glances with one another, all glancing at the Galaxy Book clutched in Kai's hands at least once.

No one spoke until Leo finally broke the speechless communication that was taking place between them. "Come on!" he voiced, jogging towards the connector tunnel between the Mountain and City Domes.

Everyone quickly followed his lead, Karone following last as she lagged behind slightly.

Within a few minutes they were standing in the connector tunnel, gazing through the clear tunneling around them at the space surrounding them. "I can't believe it..." Damon uttered, completely blown away by what he was seeing.

The once bleak and black empty areas of space around them were now sparkling with vibrant colors. Swirls of pink and green and blue were splayed over the blackness, and stars glittered ever brighter. It was obvious they weren't where they had been just before.

"Where are we?" Leo mumbled just loud enough for all of them to hear barely. He leaned against the clear tunneling, staring outside with wide eyes.

Kai pulled open the Galaxy Book once more, his eyes speeding over the words written on the very page which Deviot had read from. He gasped. "We're in the Lost Galaxy..."

A silence bathed them all, a terrible haunting silence. The news that Deviot had somehow pulled them into the Lost Galaxy with the Kionta spell was extremely disturbing. They were all away from what they knew: different planets, different stars and different challenges. The thought left them all reeling.

Suddenly in the midst of their silence, Karone collapsed to the floor with a loud sob, her weak body shaking gently. "Karone!" Maya cried, instantly at her friend's side. She carefully placed her arms around the woman's shoulders, helping her sit up. "Karone, what's wrong?"

Karone heaved in a heavy breath, leaning against Maya for support as Kai, Damon and Leo created a semi-circle around the two. "I'm tired," she sighed, her eyes blinking slowly, "and I'm hungry and I'm alone. I have no one."

Laying the book aside, Kai kneeled down in front of Karone and placed his to her forehead. "She's feverish," he reported, glancing back at Leo and Damon who stood somewhat behind him. "We'd better get her back to her quarters so she can get some rest and some food in her."

The Pink Ranger stared into Kai's eyes, almost as if affirming his words. "Wait," she murmured faintly, while her gaze gradually moved over to Leo. Karone's own eyes instantly found the hidden worry that existed in Leo's, and with her eyes as her only tool of communication, she pleaded for him to kneel down beside her.

Although he did at first hesitate, Leo couldn't hold out for long as her dull blue eyes compelled him to obey. He squatted beside her as she had asked and waited for her to say something more. Soon enough, she did.

One of her hands feebly reached for his hand and took it within her gentle grasp. Karone pulled his hand to her abdomen and laid it on top of her stomach, sliding her hand on top of his. "Ours," she spoke clearly, trying to make him understand.

For a moment, Leo did the opposite of what Karone wanted him to do and he didn't understand. But as the word finally cross-referenced itself within his mind, he realized what she meant. He nodded his head gently, smiling the smallest of smiles. "Ours," he acknowledged.

"Here," Leo offered Karone a mug of warm tea as she slowly and gently propped herself up in the bunk she was laying in. "This'll fill you up and settle your stomach."

Cautiously, she took the mug graciously from his hands with a smile. "Thank you," she thanked, holding the mug in both of her hands and taking a sip. "Mmmmmm...what tea is this? It's really good."

"A special herbal tea my mom taught me to make when I was younger," he answered easily, sitting down at the bottom of the bunk and watching Karone in utter fascination. "She always made it for me when I was sick; every time I drank it, it made me feel better."

Karone nodded, taking in another taste of the tea and relaxing her tense body. "Leo?" she spoke timidly, leaning against the pillows propped up behind her back.

"Yes," he replied immediately, completely focused on her, "Did you want something else?"

She opened her mouth for a second, then grinned gently. "Yeah. Can I get some more crackers?"

"Of course," Leo allowed, standing from where he stood in her quarters and into the kitchen.

Karone kept her rather tired eyes steadfast on Leo as he walked away, her thoughts trying to sort themselves out.

Leo had carried her to her quarters from the connector tunnel, while Kai, Damon and Maya had decided to go find Mike and tell him about what happened. Karone knew they were leaving more as a favor to her and Leo so they could talk, but so far both of them had danced around the subject entirely; neither one of them wanted to take the initiative, for they still had that awkward feeling around one another.

"Karone?"

She glanced up from her mug and saw Leo hovering above her, holding a bowlful of saltine crackers. "Hmm?" she queried with her weak voice.

"How are you feeling?" he spoke rather awkwardly, sitting down beside her on the bed and handing her the crackers.

"Better," she quickly diverted her eyes, putting the empty mug of tea on the small table beside her bunk. "I feel a lot better."

Another awkward silence fell upon them just like before. Both wanted to break it, but both hesitated so the silence simply droned on and remained even longer. "You know, I'm only three weeks along," Karone commented offhandedly while munching on a cracker.

"I know, " Leo replied, meeting her gaze and retaining it. His features eventually became soft, but still keeping a serious form to it. "Do you want to keep it?"

The pretty and young blonde nodded her head wordlessly. "I do want to keep it. I want this baby more than almost anything I've ever wanted in my entire life."

"Almost anything?"

Karone frowned slightly, looking away from Leo's eyes somewhat embarrassed to tell her deepest want and wish straight to his face. "More than anything else, I want you to forgive me," she mumbled quietly with a rather timid and shy tone.

He stared at her thoughtfully, truly touched by her words. "Karone," Leo reached for her, taking her delicate hand into his own strong one, "you don't have to worry about that. I forgave you a long time ago...it's just myself that I haven't forgiven yet." His words rang sweetly in the Pink Ranger's ears.

Karone turned to face him, leaning forward to get as close to him as possible without leaving the safety of her blankets. "Why can't you forgive yourself?" she asked sincerely, trying her best to not sound nosy. "If you can forgive me, you MUST be able to forgive yourself!" Karone's voice now pleaded with the Red Galaxy Ranger.

Leo blinked his eyes painfully, a glimmer of the experience he shared with Trakeena appearing in his memory. "I can't forgive myself because..." Leo trailed off, fixing his brown eyes on her beautiful blue ones, "...because, I love you Karone. I love you with all of my heart and soul."

"What?" Karone sputtered out instantly, her eyes going wide and starting to slightly water.

Leo took a deep breath and declared, "I love you, Karone. I've loved you ever since that day on the beach." He found the words naturally sliding off his tongue like second nature; much easier to say after the first time.

Her face took on a look of utter astonishment and then she quickly leaned over the side of the bunk and wretched in the trash can.

Leo jumped up from his seat and was at Karone's side, pulling her hair away from her face as she finished vomiting up the rest of the crackers she had just tried to digest. He rubbed her back with his hand gently as she coughed, tears spilling out of her eyes. "It's okay," he assured her with a soothing voice. "Just calm down and you'll feel better..."

Taking the towel that was on the table, Karone wiped her mouth and put it aside, returning into the comfort of her blankets. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, falling into Leo's arms that were wide open for her. Sniffling, she placed her head on his shoulder. "I, shouldn't have done, that."

"Shhhh," Leo slid his arms around her, his hand reaching to stroke her soft blonde hair, "that's okay. You're still sick and I startled you; it's okay."

Karone clung to his shirt tightly, her body wracking due to her heavy sobs. "I'm so tired, Leo," she hiccupped through her tears. "I want to sleep."

He gently pulled her away from his body reluctantly, missing the warmth of her against him. But he knew she needed to rest and regain her strength; she need to be strong for herself and their baby. He lowered her back down to lie against her pillows and draped the blankets over her. "Rest," he insisted with quiet, yet forceful voice as Karone's eyes began to flutter shut.

Within a few minutes, the Pink Ranger was out asleep and Leo bent to kiss her on the cheek with a longing touch. "Rest..."

"So she told you already?"

Damon rolled his eyes as he walked through the corridor with Mike, both inspecting the extra damage that Terra Venture had taken during their shift from normal space into the Lost Galaxy. "It wasn't exactly difficult to tell Karone was pregnant, but when she told Leo it wasn't hard to piece together," he shrugged, a repair crew swiftly running past him.

"How'd Leo take it?" Mike question somewhat warily. Ever since Leo's weird behavior towards the five of them, he couldn't exactly pick out his younger brother's reactions like he could before. There was no telling how he would take to knowing that Karone was carrying his baby. After all, the situation in which he fathered the child wasn't exactly...ideal.

"Pretty well for a guy who has been on the brink for the last three weeks," the mechanic answered quite seriously. "I think that Karone telling him did more good things for his attitude than bad. He carried her back to her quarters, while the rest of us came down here."

Mike nodded, while they entered the bridge of Terra Venture's command complex. The entire room was in complete chaos as a few officers ran from console to console, one of those officers being Kai.

Nearly running head-long into Mike, Kai glanced up at his superior officer and friend, startled. "What's going on?" Mike arched his eyebrow in confusion.

Kai discreetly pulled both Damon and Mike aside, out back into the corridor away from the blinking sensors. "We've detected some kind of alien force out in the downtown part of the City Dome, and to add salt to our gigantic wound, we've temporarily lost all navigation..."

Karone tossed restlessly in her sleep, almost as if her unconscious had her trapped in the most horrid of nightmares.

Leo knew better.

He knew that the magic that was part of Karone could sense evil presences on Terra Venture. He also knew that whenever she did sense it, she was always restless...expecting something to happen but not knowing where or when it would show up. So far, Karone's instincts had been right all the times before, and he didn't doubt that she was right this time either.

It was just a matter of leaving her alone. Something Leo didn't want to do, but knew he would have to ultimately in both body and emotion.

Leo sat rather timidly on the floor next to Karone's bunk, watching the many painful emotions fly across her face. Remorse, anxiety, sadness, fear...they were all a part of her at that time and there they were, laid out for Leo to see and to understand. Yet, he could not understand because to open up and to be with the woman he truly and deeply loved, would eventually hurt her.

He continued to wander through his painful thoughts until a soft hand gently touched his cheek, caressing it. He quickly responded by nuzzling back at the hand. "I can feel their presence," Karone whispered, as he turned to look at her once more. She was now looking much more vibrant, sitting up comfortably in her bunk.

"I know you can," he replied, nodding. "You weren't sleeping very peacefully for the last five minutes."

"Has anyone called?"

"Not yet. But when they do, I'm ready to go."

There was an awkward pause.

"I'm going too."

Leo stared at Karone sternly following her declaration. "No, you're not, Karone. I don't want you out there," he stated quite strongly.

Karone rolled her eyes slightly, annoyed but also flattered by Leo's earnest want to protect her as well as their unborn child. But she wasn't going to let him deny her this choice because she was positive that they would need her. The evil presence she felt within her was fierce and was also distinctly familiar. "You're going to need me," she insisted in a firm voice, staring directly into his brown eyes.

"We can survive," Leo retorted just as his morpher/communicator chimed. Ripping his gaze away from hers, he spoke into his morpher, "Something going on?"

"Some new pirate aliens and Deviot are in the City Dome tearing everything up in sight," Damon's voice resounded.

Leo glanced at Karone, who was still glaring at him in annoyance, and then returned his attention to the conversation he was having at hand. "I'll be there," he responded, shutting off his communicator. He stood up and began walking towards the front door, until he realized that Karone was walking right behind him in the shirt and sweats she had worn in bed.

He spun around, and Karone simply stood calm and still. "I'm going, Leo," she persisted, holding her ground. "You can't stop me."

Leo slowly moved his hand to rub against Karone's face, smiling ever so slightly. Leaning towards her, he cupped his hand against her jaw while gently meeting her lips and giving the blonde a lengthy passionate kiss. She instantly responded to him, kissing back as her arms slid around him and pulled him in closer.

Reluctantly, the young man pulled away, breathless. "Now," he whispered delicately, his thumb brushing along her lips, "as you recover from that, I'm going to go fight Deviot," and with that, he ran out of her quarters.

Karone stood there, her gaze fixed on the front door that just closed. "Damn you, Leo Corbett, for being such a good kisser..."

"Guys, I'm here!" Leo called out as he ran onto the scene of the fight, waving his Quasar Saber up in the air, trying to draw attention to him.

Leo's plan worked easily, seeing as the first monster to charge him was Deviot. "Ah, we meet again, Red Ranger," Deviot sneered, sounding quite satisfied with himself.

"A little happy, are we?" Leo mocked, swiping Deviot's sword away from him.

"I am always glad when I get a chance to destroy the Red Ranger," the monster chortled, slashing at Leo's mid-section with his sword and making solid contact.

Leo cried out in surprise, the impact of the direct hit causing him to completely flip forward over Deviot's sword. The Galaxy Ranger landed hard on his back, one gloved arm clutching his abdomen as a sudden piercing pain shot through him. "What's wrong, Red Ranger?" the evil villain loomed over Leo's squirming form. "Not up to your normal strength today?"

Angrily, Leo bit back an aching groan and with his free hand grabbed tightly at the tip of Deviot's sword, jerking not only his sword but Deviot forward as well.

Recovering, Leo scrambled to stand up, picking his Quasar Saber up off the ground quickly. "I'm just fine, Deviot. And how are you?" he snapped at his enemy as he stood up from his fall.

"I am QUITE alright," the evil man shot back, somewhat pissed off at Leo now. Deviot glanced around at the surrounding fights for a second, finally taking notice of the Pink Ranger's absence. "And where is your reformed Astronema now?"

A snarl instantly morphed upon Leo's lips beneath his helmet. "I'd be more concerned about myself if I were you!" he warned, jumping up into the air and landing before Deviot. The Red Ranger swiftly delivered a blow to the villain's mid-section with his sword, sending him flying backwards.

Slamming into the side of a building, Deviot couldn't help but chuckle as he stood up easily, brandishing his blaster on his arm. He targeted Leo and immediately fired upon the Power Ranger many times until he was lying on the ground. "I'll be back, Red Ranger, and when I am I will not show you as much mercy!"

Deviot and his orange henchmen disappeared from the battle site following his words.

Rolling over onto his side, Leo slowly forced himself to stand up while his teammates rallied around him. "Are you alright, Leo?" Kai asked with concerned, clasping his hand down on his friend's shoulder.

Leo nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine, just a little sore later on. What were those things that were helping Deviot?" he questioned in slight disgust.

"You missed Deviot's grand entrance," Mike chuckled, sliding his sword back into its sheath. "He said he was working with a more powerful force than Trakeena here in the Lost Galaxy. Deviot called him "Captain Mutiny"..."

"...and he called those things Swabbies," Maya picked up for Mike. "They were harder to fight off than the usual Stingwingers."

After a short discussion on the topic of Deviot, the five Rangers split up going their different ways.

The early the following morning, Karone woke up to a beeping sounds coming from the computer database in the quarters. "Sleep," she mumbled out loud, pulling the covers over her head and trying to drown out the sound.

Of course, the beeping didn't relent and she couldn't go back to sleep. Eventually, Karone lazily dragged herself out of her bunk and headed towards the computer database, but not before looking back at Maya, who was completely sound asleep. "I wish I could do that," she moaned sleepily, sitting down before the computer.

Noticing that the database was bleeping because it held a message, Karone accessed the messages on the computer. She instantly found the newest message, which had only been sent ten minutes before. The blonde opened the message and read through its text, a small smile lighting her dreary features when she finished reading it.

Nearly fully awake now, Karone jumped up and started to get dressed.

"LEO!"

Karone walked through the darkened park near the daycare where she had first kissed Leo. She recalled just how she felt the moment before their lips had touched and a warm smile caressed her lips. "A flood of emotions overcame me," she whispered lightly to herself. "Most of them weren't mine, but that doesn't matter anymore. I love Leo completely and utterly; nothing will ever stop me from feeling that way."

She continued to wander through the quiet morning darkness, quite content. The message she had read on the computer database had been an e-mail from Leo. He had wanted her to come to the park as soon as possible to meet him so they could talk. Karone was somewhat surprised why Leo would be up so early, but she figured his new job at the stables probably started early. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

"Leo?" she called out again, looking for the man she loved. Where was he? He should have been there; after all he was the one who called her!

Karone abruptly heard the rustling of leaves cutting through the near dead silence. The sudden sound didn't frighten her because she was most at home in the darkness, but the sound certainly did startle her a bit. "Leo?" she spoke his name, her voice less confident.

She heard the rustling noise once more, and backed up into a tree. Karone's wide blue eyes darted left and right, searching for the origination of the sounds.

Unexpectedly, a cold hand wrapped around her mouth and the other slinked tightly around her stomach. Karone tried to scream, but her voice was absolutely muffled by the hand clasped over her mouth. She squirmed in the person's grasp for a moment, but immediately stopped doing so remembering her baby and noticing just HOW tight their grip was on her stomach.

"That's was fairly easy, now wasn't it?" an all too familiar voice chuckled as they removed their hand slowly from her mouth.

"Deviot!" Karone tried to scream as loud as she could, but it came out sounding muffled still as Deviot tightened his grip on her abdomen.

Deviot snickered at the Pink Ranger's attempts to try and draw attention to herself. "So you and the Red Ranger are having a love affair now?" he arched his eyebrow in disgust. "Pathetic humans..."

"You sent me that message!" Karone squeaked out delicately, trying to not provoke him into holding her any tighter.

"How smart of you to finally figure that out!" Deviot mocked her then turned back to his questioning. "So why weren't you there yesterday, Pink Ranger?"

"That's none of your business!" she spat heatedly, then bit on her lip wishing she could quickly take back the words that she knew she couldn't.

Deviot's arm squeezed around her even harder. "Watch your mouth, little girl!"

"PLEASE!" Karone cried out as loud as she could, the pain of Deviot's hold around her finally getting to her. "Please let me go!"

"You tell me what I want to know, and you'll be just fine," he snapped her, jerking her to one side.

By this time, the pain was simply overwhelming all of her senses and she simply couldn't stand it any longer. "Alright," she sobbed tiredly in Deviot's arms. She was trying to protect herself and her unborn child, but either way she would have to endanger them: let Deviot crush her or let Deviot know that she was carrying Leo's child and have him come after her continuously. There simply was no easy choice. "I wasn't there yesterday because of Leo."

Deviot loosened his grip ever so slightly, intrigued by the information that Karone was spilling to him. "Why because of the Red Ranger?" he questioned sharply.

Tears gently ebbed from the blonde's eyes as she divulged her secret. "I'm pregnant with his baby," she told him straight out, unhappily held against her will in Deviot's grasp still.

Deviot simply laughed. "What interesting news," he declared as his sword appeared in his free hand. He brought it up close to Karone's neck, chuckling. "Congratulations."

"Wh-wha-what are you doing?" she stuttered in fright, staring down at the sharp blade being pressed to her skin. "You said I'd be fine if I told you why..."

Another chuckle from Deviot cut off Karone and his hand firmly tightened around her abdomen once more. "Dear little girl, you of all people should know better that us villains don't keep our promises..."

Part Four

"...so see now, Karone's having a baby and well, I just can't bare to tell her that I can't be with her," Leo confessed in a mourning tone. "It'll be hard enough to see her again, wanting to be with her so badly."

The Lion Galactabeast softly growled in acknowledgement of Leo's words, after sitting attentively before his master and listening to his problems.

Leo grinned in early morning darkness, lying back on the ground. "It's so good to be able to..." his words suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, a feeling of dread and fright flooding through him. He quickly popped up into a seated position once again. "What the...KARONE!"

"I should've known," Karone growled heatedly, leaning her neck back as far as she could, trying to avoid the sharpened blade of Deviot's sword.

If Deviot was able to grin, he would have shown a twisted, evil grin. "Yes, little girl, you SHOULD have known," his voice was tainted with a deep menace, continuing to press his sword to the blonde woman's neck hoping to draw blood. He eventually did.

A small line of red blood suddenly appeared across Karone's throat, and while she couldn't see it, she could definitely feel the warn blood gradually trickling down her pale skin. She squirmed much more than before, letting out a terribly frightened squeal of horror.

"Come now," Deviot teased her, adjusting his grip on her, "don't be such a human. Scared at the notion of blood...it just isn't befitting of the girl who once claimed the name Astronema."

Karone's wispy blonde bangs blew into her face as they escaped the confines of her loose ponytail. "Astronema is dead," she declared is a cold, yet somewhat hoarse, sounding voice.

"How wrong you are, little girl," Deviot mocked her knowingly. "Astronema simply lies dormant within you. It's up to you to awaken her from-"

"KARONE!"

Karone jerked her head up despite the pain that came with it, grinning like a complete idiot through her tears. "LEO!" she cried back at his red morphed form running towards her.

"I'M COMING! HOLD ON!" he shouted back to Karone, assuring her.

Deviot quickly turned his attention back to his "project" he had been working on before the two lovers cries' had interrupted him. His sword's edge delicately lacerated a gentle, stinging cut to her neck with much more purpose this time around. He felt her fidget and cringe against his body, but she didn't dare scream out again.

Leo slowed his run to a speedy, but hesitant walk. He could see the blonde withering within the devious monster's grasp. "Let her go, Deviot," he commanded forcefully, his voice never wavering to reveal his deep fear.

"Any particular reason I should, Red Ranger?" Deviot slid the question out easily. His voice resounded with amusement towards the Galaxy Ranger's empty threat.

"Besides the reasons that she is in danger and you're just plain evil scum?"

Karone winced as her captor nodded his head eagerly. "Yes, besides those two things..."

Leo's face was covered with utter confusion behind the mask of his helmet. He didn't see the point of Deviot playing mind games with him; after all, Leo was pretty sure that wasn't Deviot's ultimate dream.

He glanced to Karone, making "eye contact" with her. The real hurt in her eyes described the terror he could literally sense emanating from her, emotions flooding all of his senses. Her eyes darted downwards, towards her stomach, then quickly upwards to look at Deviot. He was pretty sure she was trying to signal something to her, but he couldn't understand. That is until a soft voice wafted into his ear, "Deviot knows about..." Leo quickly glanced up to see, Karone slowly mouthing the words and using her magic to enhance her voice.

For a moment, he was silent and in shock, but Leo hastily shook it off and replied Deviot, "Just let her go." He unsheathed his Quasar Saber and held it out defensively. "You don't need her."

"Who says, Red Ranger?" Deviot chortled in a devilish manner. He was attracted by the thought of a battle and moved his own sword away from Karone's neck to meet the tip of Leo's.

Knowing that she had been given a chance to free herself, Karone elbowed her captor in the gut causing him to stumble backwards in surprise. She instantly made a beeline for Leo, who caught her in his arms and held her protectively close.

The two flew away in a teleportation streak meshed of pink and red, just as Deviot lifted himself up from the grass and snorted in satisfaction.

"Did you get the information you required?"

"Yes."

"So you're plan was successful?"

"Of course not."

"You ain't making any sense, Deviot!" Captain Mutiny thundered, quite annoyed with his fellow villain's twisted words.

Deviot shrugged carelessly, walking across the bridge of Captain Mutiny's ship. "I usually don't make sense until the last moment, Captain. If you want my help to get your hands on the Galaxy Book and get more slaves, I suggest you get used to it."

Mutiny watched him leave the bridge and narrowed his good eye at the retreating form of the monster. He was sure Deviot had another agenda going, but he frankly didn't care. Mutiny was happy so long as Deviot kept up his side of their newly constructed alliance and found him more slaves to dig for his many treasures.

"I could kill Deviot for this," Leo growled furiously, marching down the corridors of the Astro MegaShip with Karone by his side.

"I'm sorry," Karone whimpered, the stinging sensation of her cuts hurting even more every time she tried to talk. "I'm sorry I told him."

They both slowed down as they approached the Medical Bay's entrance. Leo slipped his arms around Karone, almost in a self-conscious manner, reassuring her. "Shhh...don't talk. It's more than okay; knowing Deviot you most likely had no choice in the matter."

The two stepped into the Medical Bay and Leo quickly helped Karone prop herself up on the table, then grabbed a dermal regenerator from nearby. "Good thing these are only skin-deep cuts. It's probably the only thing Deviot did RIGHT out there!" he unconsciously snapped in irritation. He gently tipped her head to one side to reveal her cuts, dry blood clinging to her skin. He stroked the nape of her neck with his free hand, trying to give her comfort to counter the pain.

"When did you become a doctor, hmm?" she whispered with a soft laughing tone.

He smiled jokingly, running the regenerator over her neck's side. "I became certified when I spent more than five hours in here and THAT happened about a week after I became a Power Ranger," he retorted playfully, setting the medical device to the side.

The blonde chuckled, reaching up to touch her neck where she had been cut just moments before. "I fell into that trap like a fool," she groaned unpleasantly. "I should have KNOWN you wouldn't be up at this hour; wishful thinking I guess."

"Actually I was up," he remarked off-handedly. "It's always nice to get out and talk to your Galactabeast when you have insomnia."

Karone arched an eyebrow peculiarly and cracked a grin. "What were you telling Lion?"

"Same old, same old," Leo shrugged vaguely, thinking back to earlier that morning when he had made Lion sit down and listen to him rant; even though Leo knew that he would have no idea what Lion was saying if he responded. "About us and how I can't be with you..."

"You aren't very funny, you know."

"Who says I'm trying to be?" Leo grunted dejectedly, jumping up to sit on the medical bed beside the blonde. He paused suddenly searching for a way to explain his thoughts without giving her any of the details of his encounter with Trakeena.

"I love you, Karone. I love you for your spirit, your stubbornness and your strength. I could say that ten thousands times and still it would be true! But circumstances beyond my power won't let me be with you the way you want me to be and the way I want me to be!"

Karone bit her lip tightly, trying to stop the few tears she had from tumbling down her cheeks. She shot Leo a furious glare. "What circumstances?!" she cried hotly. "How can there be circumstances!"

"There ARE circumstances," Leo replied back, being somewhat forceful. "Circumstances you can't know about; that I have to keep to myself."

All was silent and Karone absorbed his words. She had heard the tone in his voice many times before, but not from him. She had heard the tone in herself, just after she died as Astronema and finally reclaimed her "pleasant" life as Karone. Her past had tormented her in those early days and she refused to get close to Zhane because of her deep fear that she would somehow hurt him. She used to argue with him at every chance, telling him they couldn't be together...

"Leo, is there something you aren't telling me?"

Turning his head away from her and staring down at the metallic floor like a shameful little boy, the younger man nodded his head slowly.

She was just about to reach out and touch him, try to get him to open up to her, but she instantly stopped herself. She remembered how it felt when Zhane kept on prodding at her; sure, it helped her open up to him after awhile, but it also made her more determined to push him farther away. So instead, Karone carefully hopped down from the medical bed and stood before Leo. "I understand. I'll keep my distance until you're ready," she promised him fully, knowing that she would be able to keep the promise for Leo's sake.

As she walked out of the room, Karone could feel his eyes peering at her back and her blood stirred within her; a hopeful reaction.

The winds blew a touch hotter against Leo's cheek as the seasonal climate of Terra Venture slowly eased from spring into summer. It didn't quite bother him though, since the weather was quite cool that day and he was out trotting the horses around the track at the stables.

It had been a little over a month and a half since Karone had announced her pregnancy and he had proclaimed his love for her, as well as letting her go. They had returned to being civil friends and teammates, which Leo decided was better than being feuding teammates.

Captain Mutiny and Deviot kept the attacks fairly random on Terra Venture through that time, trying to kidnap people from the colony but always failing when the Galaxy Rangers would arrive to save the day. It almost became monotonous for the team of six as they came to expect attacks whenever.

Leo didn't protest against Karone's morphing and fighting in her condition either. He knew her spirit and he knew her, so