Andros helped Carlos into the medical bay, furious with himself. The black ranger had taken a hard hit fighting against Ecliptor, and it was all his fault. If he hadn't gone without telling anyone . . . if he had told them about Karone . . . but he hadn't and this was the price to be paid.
"I'm fine," Carlos protested. "Just a scratch."
"Carlos!" Cassie cried, running in with Ashley and T.J. not far behind. "What happened?"
"Ran into Ecliptor. Took a few hits and Andros thinks I'm dying." Carlos made an attempt to shrug it off.
"I didn't say you were dying. I said you were injured." As always, Andros's face was expressionless, and his eyes and voice were cold, but Ashley detected an anxiety in his movements. "Injuries of any nature should be taken seriously."
"Fine," Carlos said. "Then let Alpha look at your arm."
"It's nothing," Andros said. "I can barely feel it."
"Sit down, both of you," Ashley snapped. "Carlos, you get the bed, you're hurt worse. Quit being idiots, no one will think any less of you if you're in pain."
This was so unlike Ashley that both Carlos and Andros obeyed without further objections. Andros allowed Ashley to bandage his arm while Alpha ran a medical scanner over Carlos.
"You'll be fine," Alpha assured Carlos. "You're a little beaten up, and you might have broken a rib, but you should be fine in a few days. Ay yi yi yi yi, you should be more careful."
"I promise, Alpha," Carlos said, looking affectionately at the little robot. "Don't worry about me so much."
"If he didn't worry about us, he'd have too much free time," Ashley teased, joining them.
Andros slipped out of the room as soon as Ashley turned away from him, and leaned against the wall with a hand over his eyes. How could he have been so stupid? He hadn't even heard Ecliptor come up behind him. Not being alert had already cost him one friend. He couldn't live with himself if he made another mistake like that again. Carlos would be fine, but next time would it be Cassie who saved him? T.J? Ashley?
And he had been so close! He could almost feel Karone there. If Ecliptor hadn't been there to stop him, he would have found her. She had to be there. She wouldn't have known that KO-35 had been abandoned two years ago when Dark Specter attacked.
He hesitated. He could go back down and finish searching. He could hurry; the others wouldn't even know that he was gone.
"Deca, I'm going back down," he said, running for the jump tubes. "Don't say anything to anyone."
Ashley left the medical bay to go search for Andros. She could feel his guilt. He needed a friend right now. Her face reddened slightly as she remembered what Cassie had said earlier.
Did she like Andros? She couldn't tell. He had been so distant at first. Now there were short periods of time when he seemed more like them. He had been almost human last night, when he was trying to teach her . . . before she had started reading his thoughts. Karone must have been one of the two that he could hear, she realized. She wondered who the other was.
"Deca, where's Andros?" she asked. He knew the ship better than her. If he wanted to hide, she wouldn't find him.
Deca said nothing.
"Deca?" Ashley tried again. "Where's Andros?"
Still no response. It didn't take long to figure out what he had done. Ashley groaned. Sprinting back to the medical bay, she grabbed Cassie and T.J.
"He went back," she panted.
"Let's go," T.J. said, and Ashley and Cassie followed. With Andros gone, T.J. was in charge.
"Ready?" he asked, as they positioned themselves in front of the jump tubes. "Let's rocket!"
They jumped at the same time.
Down on KO-35, Andros detected no signs of Ecliptor. Or Karone, for that matter.
"Karone?" he shouted. "It's me, Andros. Karone, are you here?"
"No, but I am." Andros froze as he heard Ecliptor's voice. "And this time, you're all alone."
"Spiral Saber," Andros cried, whipping around to face his old enemy.
"You make my job easy," Ecliptor sneered, drawing his sword. He charged first.
Andros missed the block, taking this hit on his right shoulder. He dropped his Spiral Saber and Ecliptor kicked it out of his reach. He drew his Astroblaster. He doubted it would do much good, but he would never stop fighting.
Andros managed to land several shots, but Ecliptor wasn't fazed. He had an unlimited supply of energy. Andros didn't and it soon showed. He was slow dodging blows and too sluggish in firing. Ecliptor saw it coming every time and evaded every shot.
Exhausted from his earlier battle, Andros was about ready to collapse. He spotted his Spiral Saber lying on the ground and knew that it was his last chance. Ecliptor followed his gaze and positioned himself so that no matter which way Andros ran he couldn't get to it.
He couldn't evade the next blow, and he fell to his knees. Every inch of his body was a dull ache, and he had no energy left to fight. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the blow that would kill him.
Instead of feeling Ecliptor's sword slicing him in half, he felt himself being grabbed by each shoulder and hauled to his feet. He opened his eyes to see Ashley and Cassie supporting him on both sides and T.J. striking Ecliptor with his Astro Axe. He drove Ecliptor back enough to retrieve Andros's Spiral Saber and joined them as Ashley yelled, "Deca, teleport four to the medical bay!"
He shrugged them off on the Megaship and refused to let Alpha examine him. Muttering, "I'm fine. Leave me alone," he limped off in the general direction of his room.
"Should we bring him back here?" Cassie asked.
T.J. shrugged. Ashley's eyes glazed over for a moment before she answered. "He'll be okay. He just needs some rest."
"How do you know?" Cassie asked.
Ashley shrugged. "I just do."
Cassie laughed. "You like him."
Ashley didn't bother to protest.
