Disclaimer: Any reference to the Nova Rangers or K and her world are property of KSuzie.
Power Rangers: Legacy
"Learning Curve"
The light faded from within and Kim found herself standing on grass. She wasn’t quite sure what happened or how she got there, and she could only assumed that it had to do with her Muirantian powers. Slowly she looked around her surroundings. She had been deposited in Angel Grove Park. Letting out a little sigh she started to walk around.
It could have been worse. Her first time teleporting herself could’ve been a disaster. At least she wasn’t too far from Carri’s place. She’d just walk back and finish packing and for the moment forget the entire incident even happened. Of course she’d have to address it, figure out how she did it and how she could control it. She wasn’t sure what to do at the moment, perhaps she’d end up going to see Dulcea.
She glanced up briefly and examined her surroundings as she looked around the park. For a moment she stopped. She knew exactly where she was in the park but something wasn’t right. The scenery was slightly different. It was still familiar, only more like a memory to her than reality. Kim shook her head. She wasn’t sure what she’d gotten herself into but she didn’t think it was going to end up being good.
As she walked around the park she spotted a figure darting through and toward the lake. A figure Kim easily recognized. Quickly she moved out of the way and hid behind some bushes as the figure called her name. After she was safely hidden out of view she looked the figure over. He was young, wearing a green shirt with long hair. Not as long as she’d seen it get, but much different from the short cut he currently sported.
Suddenly a figure in pink rushed into Tommy’s arms. She, of course, was the girl in pink. Kim tried not to laugh out loud as she took in her pink sundress and the biker shorts, paired with pink boots and crew socks. She had forgotten what fashion meant when she was in high school. She had always been a trendsetter, but looking back she couldn’t believe what had actually passed for fashion. What she had let pass for fashion. Carri would just die if she saw her like this. That is, of course, assuming that New York hadn’t followed California’s lead and Carri wasn’t in her own world wearing her own sundress and boots combo.
That thought slid away as she watched Tommy and Kim share in a kiss. She vaguely remembered that kiss. It was one of their early ones, young and sloppy, but it made her tingle in her youth. She smiled as more of the scene unfolded in front of her.
"Hey bro." a voice called. Kim turned to the source of the voice to find Jason and the others jogging over. "Are we going to play or not?" he asked holding up a volleyball
"Of course we’re going to play." Tommy said as he went to hold Kim’s hand
Kim looked them all over and early ninety’s fashions flooded her thoughts again. Billy stood in his overalls with his blue shirt, wearing the glasses Kim always thought were a size to big for him. Zack was wearing a shirt with big bold vertical stripes and black pants, while Trini wore a simple yellow shirt and white shorts. Jason was more than dressed the part of their jock leader in his red sleeveless top and jean shorts.
Memories of those times came flooding back to her. Memories of that particular day came back to her. That’s when it started to process. These were memories, her memories of events that happened years ago. Yet here she was watching them as though they were current events. That could only mean one thing. One not so good thing. That somehow she had teleported herself back to the past.
Kim took a few deep breaths. She had to stay calm and not freak out. She knew she would develop these kinds of powers. Of course that didn’t mean she was going to be ready to use them when they surfaced. Who was she kidding, she’d never be ready. Sure she was trained by Dulcea but the fact that she could do these sorts of things still freaked her out. Here her powers were fully developed and she had no idea what to do. K told her that it would take time, that she would learn and that there would probably be some mishaps in between. Well this was a major mishap.
First things first. Kim knew well enough that she had to stay away from herself and the other rangers. God knows the last thing she needed to do was influence them to do something that would alter the course of history as she knew it. She didn’t even know how her subconscious mind sent her there in the first place.
It may have had something to do with how had been thinking about the growth of her relationship with Tommy shortly before she disappeared. The strange thing was the fact that she wasn’t concentrating on the early days of her relationship. Those had been more of a side note, what she was really thinking about were the days when their relationship started to heat up. Those thoughts made her smile as they crossed her mind. Now wasn’t the time but she couldn’t help but think about it as she leaned into the bush she was hiding behind.
Without warning she found something tickling her nose again and she began to sneeze. Before she could stop herself she opened up another portal from within and teleported herself away.
Kim suppressed a groan as she quickly realized she’d teleported herself somewhere else. A brief glance around was enough for her to realize that she was in her old apartment, the one she shared with Jason, Carri and Billy while she was in college.
She could hear noises coming from the couch. Quietly she leaned over the countertop and tried to get a good look at what was going on. It didn’t take long for her to realize that it was herself and Tommy making all the noise on the couch. She smiled as she noticed that his hair was longer than before and her fashion sense had improved.
Watching them for a moment she suddenly recalled this particular session on the couch. It got her feeling giddy and wanting her own Tommy, wanting to feel his touch on her skin and his lips against hers. The moment passed when it clicked that this was another memory. That she was still in the past.
Part of her panicked. In the park there were lots of places to hide. Here she didn’t have many options. She couldn’t slip out or try to make it to the bedrooms because they’d notice. And once again she wasn’t going to mess with the timeline. She took a deep breath as she sunk down to the floor, pressing herself against the cabinets in the corner and hoping that they wouldn’t find any reason to come into the kitchen.
Her mind was racing as she thought of all the things she could say if they caught her. This team was older than the last one she’d watched. Their Zordon had already been captured so the conversation would be between her and a team of past and present rangers as she remembered how Billy and Trini would most likely be involved. At least they were older and it wouldn’t be hard to convince them that she was from another dimension and had landed here on accident. Or something like that. Anything but the truth.
She tried to stay calm as she listened to the noises coming from the couch. The emotions of that particular day started to come back to her and as she sat back and closed her eyes she heard the doorknob rattle. The noises on the couch stopped as the door opened.
"Hey guys." she could hear Carri greet the duo from the doorway
"We weren’t interrupting anything were we?" Jason asked and a flash of the mischievous grin she remembered Jason having came to Kim’s mind as she heard Emily hush him and Rocky laugh.
She found herself picturing the scene from the floor. The rest of that day started flooding back into her memory. Jason, Emily, Rocky and Carri had all gone to lunch and an afternoon movie. Tommy had been with his brother that morning and she’d had a meeting with some of the students in her communications group which is why they didn’t go. They had more than enjoyed having part of the afternoon to themselves. And if this was going the way she remembered it going, she thought she may be alright. Relief came over her as she thought about how just maybe she could make it out of this without being spotted.
"The sun came out." she heard Carri state. "Which means there’s a beautiful, almost guaranteed to be uncrowded beach out there waiting for us."
Kim recalled a time when she and Carri were almost always on the beach and she’d never turn down the chance to go. Just as she suspected, her younger self jumped at the opportunity.
"Great let’s go." she said eagerly
"We were going to come by, change and pick you two up then go get the boys suits." Carri continued
"Let’s do it." Kim replied
The older Kim sat in the kitchen and listened as four sets of feet made their way down the hallway, leaving Rocky and Tommy alone in the livingroom. She, Kim and Jason had gone to their rooms and Jason had taken Emily with them as she’d kept spare clothes for the rare night she spent at their apartment.
Kim ignored the sounds of the boys chatting as she thought momentarily about Jason and Emily. She was over there as much as she could’ve been as she worked and in the latter part of their relationship went back to school. Jason spent more time with her in Angel Grove, something Kim never quite liked. Sometimes on the weekends she was free and he couldn’t get away she wouldn’t come visit him.
She’d had excuses and at the time they hadn’t phased Kim a bit, she had no reason not to believe her. But looking back she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d taken those opportunities to mess around behind his back. They were in love once, she wouldn’t argue that fact. But the way they fell apart Kim found herself losing a lot of faith in a girl that she considered to be a friend. Emily had swore that it had only been the one guy the one time but Jason didn’t care and now Kim wasn’t so sure.
At any rate she was glad that it had ended and she hadn’t dragged Jason along any longer than she already did. It was hard for him but Kim always thought it was for the best. She never thought he fully recovered, but she and Carri had spent a lot of time lifting his spirits back up and finally he was back to the old Jason, at least in most aspects. To this day he still carried relationship issues but she couldn’t blame him.
Kim was pulled away from her thoughts as doors started opening and the footsteps headed back in the direction of the living room. "Are we ready to go?" Rocky asked
"Just let me get some water." Kim replied
The older Kim took a deep breath as she heard her younger self’s sandal clack against the linoleum floor. "Don’t worry about it I thought ahead. I’ve got a case in a cooler in the car." Carri told her
"Alright. Let’s go." Kim replied. The sandal once again scraped against the floor before making it’s way to the front door.
Kim listened as the door opened and the rangers went through, their voices fading until someone shut the door. She waited until she heard the lock catch before letting out a sigh of relief. "Shit." she said to herself as she thought about what a close call that had been.
Although the younger rangers were gone, that still didn’t solve any of her problems. She still found herself sitting in the kitchen of the apartment she resided in more than eight years ago with no real knowledge of how she got there besides a power she knew nothing about, and no way to get home.
At least she knew her powers were basically fully developed and ready to go. She had the ability to teleport herself she just had no idea how to use or control it. Perhaps there was a way to get to Dulcea. She was her mentor, she’d be able to help her. She could always sneak into the Command Chamber when she thought it was clear and teleport herself to Phaedos. Of course there was the possibility that she’d change something there. After all it was a few years before she showed up on the planet for training.
Who was she kidding. She needed to get to present day Dulcea, she just had no idea how to do it. She leaned her head back hard against the cabinet. As she did the dish towel that had been haphazardly thrown up on the counter fell down into her face. It tickled her nose and she found herself starting to sneeze again. She tried not to, she tried to will herself not to do it, but it was to late. Within seconds she was gone.
As the portal from within disappeared, Kim felt the warm sun on her cheeks. She blinked a few times as she opened her eyes and adjusted them to the natural light. One look at her surroundings told her exactly where she was. She had taken herself slightly inland on the beaches of Phaedos.
She let out a sigh as she realized finally something she wanted to do came out right. Well she really just wanted to go home and finish packing, but she was well aware of the fact that the emergence of this new power meant that she had to have a conversation with someone who knew more than she did.
Looking around she found the familiar path that would lead her to the ancient ruins, the location where Dulcea spent most of her time and would probably already be waiting for her. The hike to the ruins wasn’t the easiest, but she had done it so many times it didn’t phase her anymore. She knew what to watch for and where to step, and before long she found herself climbing up the side of the ruins themselves.
As she peered over the top she found her mentor waiting for her. "Dulcea." Kim greeted the Phaedosian Warrior.
"Kimberly." she replied. She had a feeling she knew why Kim had come there. She’d sensed the formation of her Muirantian powers several weeks ago and she felt it when she used them to teleport to Phaedos. Whether or not she’d done it on purpose was unclear, but she still did it and now she was here seeking her help.
"I need your help." Kim said confirming Dulcea’s thoughts. "I’ve gained these powers, these Muirantian powers, and I don’t know how to control them."
"You were wise to come see me." Dulcea told her. "I can help to show you what powers you have and to teach you how to use them. We have already been through training so it will be easier. But it will still take years of practice for you to learn to master your new abilities."
"I figured as much." Kim said remembering K’s words to her. "I didn’t expect to leave here with mastery of my powers, I want to learn control. Sneezing makes me teleport myself everywhere."
Dulcea smiled at her as she realized she knew nothing about these powers. "It has nothing to do with you sneezing. Your emotions were running high and when you sneezed you jarred your inner balance, causing your powers to activate."
"Good so I don’t have to make myself sneeze to teleport." Kim mused smiling at Dulcea
"No you will access your power from within to teleport." Dulcea assured her. "It will take a while to learn how to access the power to teleport you where you want to go. But I can teach you how to control yourself so you are not teleporting accidentally."
That was what was most important to Kim. If she could learn how to control her powers and learn how to use them, she’d work on her own time on mastering them. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long to learn how to control them. She had to get back home, there were people counting on her. "What about my duty on Earth?" Kim question. "We still have Callisto and Rhianna to deal with, I can’t spend that much time here."
"Do not worry about that." Dulcea told her. "When we are finished here I will help you teleport yourself back home to a time only moments after you left."
"Great." Kim said eager to learn about her abilities. "Then let’s get started."
Kim spent the first few weeks with Dulcea learning about all the powers she may develop that were connected to her Muirantian abilities. She was surprised about all she could do, all she might be able to do in the future. Most of her abilities were a matter of learning how to use them, which was something Dulcea would show her in the coming weeks.
Not that she would be good at any of them, but by learning about them when the time was right she’d be able to try them out and hopefully one day master them. They were first going to worry about her ability to teleport herself. That was the one that was most prominent at the moment, and that was the one that would cause the most commotion if she accidentally used it on Earth.
Dulcea had already spent a lot of time teaching her how to center herself. It was a technique Kim quickly got a hold of and had learned how to keep herself centered over the last few weeks. The sensations she felt when she was in control of her powers were amazing, like nothing she’d ever felt before. She could feel the power flowing through her veins, feel her connection with the pit, the source of her power. When she was centered she could keep herself from accidentally teleporting off somewhere. But that was only the surface of the powers she could feel growing within her. She was anxious to see where they would take her.
Of course it was a problem that sometimes things around her would rock her powers and throw her out of control, of out balance and that’s where problems could be created. But Kim was working hard to be able to quickly recenter herself to avoid any major catastrophe. Now that she was getting good at being able to quickly center herself and control her teleportation power, Dulcea was ready to teach her how to use that power. It was going to take a lot of practice for Kim to learn how to access that power on command, let alone figure out how to take herself where she wanted to go. Dulcea was preparing for the mishaps and once she was ready the training would begin.
Kim was doing her exercises on the top of the ruins while waiting for Dulcea to determine that she was ready to start trying to access her teleportation powers intentionally. As she focused on what she was doing a white owl flew across her line of vision. Seconds later it transformed into Dulcea. "Are you ready for some more training?" she asked
"Yes." Kim replied as she stopped the work she was doing. She was excited to get to work some with her teleportation abilities
"Before we begin, do you still have the staff I gave you on your last training visit?" Dulcea questioned knowing full well what the answer was
"Of course I do." Kim replied. She was a master at using the staff as a weapon and accessing the little power it held. But once she left Phaedos and continued her search for Rhianna she rarely called for it as her ninjetti powers were much more effective in battle.
"Would you call for it?" Dulcea requested of her
Kim nodded and reached her hand out. It wasn’t long before her staff fell into it. The moment she touched it she realized something about the staff was different. The plain white crystal that sat atop it was now red and she could feel her Muirantian powers connecting with it, coursing through it.
"The staff now has powers of its own. Magical powers you can call upon if you need them." Dulcea informed her as she watched her look at it in amazement
"What can it do?" Kim asked curiously
"I will teach you about your staff just as I will teach you what I can about using your other powers." Dulcea assured her. "It will still fall to you to use and master it."
That’s what Dulcea was telling her about all her powers. She could teach her but it fell to her to understand how to use them and learn how to master them. It was fine with her, it meant she wouldn’t be spending much time on Phaedos before she could get back to life on Earth. After all, she had done the bulk of her training years ago. This session was just to show her the powers she had access to, she could work on mastering them on her own time.
Kim made a face to herself as she thought about time. Once upon a time it was a simple concept to her. Everything was liner, it went from point A to point B. Things that took time progressed as you got older. But time for her was different now. She would be able to manipulate time. It would take time to fully learn these powers. It would take decades to master every power she obtained from her encounter in the pit.
Yet if she chose it the time didn’t have to be liner. She could disappear in the middle of the night and return an hour later, only to have spent decades traveling worlds in order to master her powers. All the while she wouldn’t be getting older. Sure she’d gain years on her life like everyone did, but her years were different. Her years wouldn’t age her like they would her friends. In what would be mere hours to her friends she could become just as old and just as much of a master as K was. Her seemingly twenty-eight year old self could be two hundred fifty and noone would know. Noone would ever notice. Her friends would age normally and pass away, and she could be hundreds of years older than them and still look like she did standing in front of Dulcea today. She closed her eyes and forced the tears to stay back as the reality of what she had become sunk in.
"Kimberly? Is everything alright?" Dulcea asked as she noticed the shift in her mood
"Everything’s fine." Kim replied as she opened her eyes. She supposed she should be able to express these concerns with Dulcea who was hundreds of years older than her. For a moment she couldn’t help but wonder how many loved ones she’d seen pass away in her lifetime. She gripped her staff tightly and tried to shake the thoughts off. Now was not the time to worry about any of that. Now she had to finish what she set out to do and get home. "Let’s get back to the training." she said simply, her mind refocused and ready to go
Several months passed on Phaedos while Kim continued her training. She learned about what she could do, had accessed several abilities, but knew a lot about none of them. The teleportation she was starting to get the hang of. She wasn’t close to getting herself to where she wanted to go, but she knew how to access the power and make herself disappear.
It was coming to a point where Dulcea could no longer teach her anything. It would be up to Kim to take what she’d been shown and put it to use, to practice her knowledge to work toward the mastery of her powers. Dulcea was quite pleased with her progress, she had done well. Most would take years to get this far, but Kim did already have the advantage of being trained on Phaedos.
It was because of this that Dulcea decided it was time for Kim to get back to where she belonged. She was as prepared as she would be and she had her own planet and her own battles back home that would require her assistance. Dulcea headed to the ruins to find Kim practicing as usual. "Kimberly." Dulcea greeted
Kim was surprised by her visitor and was momentarily distracted. She took a deep breath and quickly pulled herself back into focus. "Dulcea." she replied nodding in her direction. "What’s going on?"
"There is nothing more I can teach you here." Dulcea told her
Kim nodded. She had suspected as much. For the last week Kim had done a lot of her own training, working with her abilities and trying to figure out how they worked. "So it’s time for me to go home?" she asked although it was more of a statement than a question
"Yes it is." Dulcea replied nodding at her
"How am I going to get home?" Kim questioned. Dulcea promised that she would help her find her way back but at the moment she wasn’t sure how she was going to do that.
Dulcea held out her hand. In it sat a small crystal. "Take this." she said simply as Kim reached out and grabbed a small crystal. "That is a teleportation crystal. If you use your Muirantian powers to activate the crystal it will take you back to a time close to that of the time you departed Earth." She paused and watched as Kim nodded in understanding. "Keep that crystal with you while you practice your teleportation abilities. Until you learn how correctly return to your own time, the crystal will always take you back close to the moment you left the correct timeline."
"Thank you." Kim replied. That was something she had been worried about recently. Dulcea helped her so that she could return to Phaedos while she was practicing. She was worried that until she got a better grip on that ability she would be practicing at home and teleport off, unable to get back to the correct time. Depending on how far off she was that could be a disaster.
"You are welcome." Dulcea replied. "Good luck Kimberly." she said as she watched her hold the crystal and the crystal start to glow. "And may the power protect you." she spoke as in a flash of light she was gone
When the light faded from around her she found herself back in her bedroom in Carri’s house. She glanced briefly over at the clock. She couldn’t have been gone more than ten minutes, twenty tops. The door to her room was still shut and all her boxes still there so it was a safe assumption that Tommy hadn’t gotten there yet.
She let out a deep breath as she sat down on the bed. It was starting already. It had only been a short time on her world but she had been on Phaedos nearly six months. Here she stood six months older than she should be. In real time she should be celebrating her twenty-ninth birthday right about now. But in her timeline it was only the end of August and she still had almost six months to go before she’d officially age another year. So now here she sat, accomplishing a feat that she would have once thought to be impossible. She was older than some of the other rangers that had been born before her.
It was a hard thought to swallow but it was one she’d have to get used to. She had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time she bent time to get something accomplished. She had a lot of work to do and once she got a hold of her teleportation powers it might be beneficial to take off some and work on mastering her abilities.
She didn’t plan on taking off for long periods of time. In the time she’d been gone she’d terribly missed everyone back on Earth, especially Tommy. Fortunately she didn’t have much time to think about it as she had to focus on the task at hand. But when she laid there at night trying to rest she thought about how much she longed for him to hold her. And once he arrived she wanted nothing more than to jump into his arms and show her love for him.
However she wasn’t quite sure she could do that, not without admitting where she’d been. And she didn’t think she was ready to admit it to Tommy yet. She’d tell him that her powers were developing further, she wouldn’t deny that. But the fact that she’d been gone for so long in practically the blink of an eye, that was something she wasn’t sure if she would fill him in on. Did he really need to know that she could be gone for years in her time and moments in his? Did she need to be elsewhere worrying about him worrying about her? She didn’t think so. Not now anyway. She’d tell him eventually, she had to. But for now it would be her secret.
Kim looked around the room and saw the few things that needed to be packed. She stood and walked over to them, picking them up and tossing them in one of the open boxes. As she did she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." she called
The door cracked open and Tommy’s smiling face greeted her. "Hey. I hope you don’t mind me letting myself in."
"No of course not." Kim replied flashing him a smile. It was definitely good to see his face again.
Tommy walked over to her and gave her a kiss. "So are you about ready to start hauling this stuff out and start getting you moved?"
"Close enough." Kim replied gesturing around the room. "I just have a few things left to pack."
"Here let me help." Tommy said as he started picking things up and handing them to her. He was more than a little exited to be helping her box the remainder of her possessions up to take to his apartment. He and Kim were moving in together. Not that they hadn’t lived together before, but this time would be different. They were both more focused on each other this time and they didn’t have the distractions they had the last time they lived together.
Kim started shoving things in boxes any way they would fit. "Thanks." she said as she flashed him a smile
Ten minutes later they had the remainder of Kim’s things packed up and ready to go. Tommy walked over toward her and put his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. "Shall we get this into the cars?" he asked as he nuzzled into her neck
"We might as well keep moving." Kim replied. Although feeling him against her body put wicked thoughts in her head that had nothing to do with her moving.
Tommy pulled back and looked Kim in the eye before kissing her on the forehead. "Great. Let’s get to it. Then we can go home."
Kim smiled at him. Home. That sounded good to her.
While Kim and Tommy were dragging boxes out of the house, its owner was standing up in front of her seat in a packed stadium with another ranger screaming at the top of her lungs. "Go go go!" Carri encouraged the base runner. She watched as he slid into third, then sat down as her body tensed up. "Safe?" she questioned
"Safe." Rocky replied as the umpire gave the signal and Carri relaxed, sliding back down into her seat. He put his arm around her and smiled over at her. It was nice going to a Dodger game with her actually cheering for the Dodgers. Which was pretty much any time they didn’t play the Astros.
"Good." Carri said. It was early in the game but any time you could get runners into scoring position it was good. "Only one out. They should get him home."
"I would hope so." Rocky would be highly disappointed in his team if they didn’t. He looked out over the field as the game continued. He was glad that they’d made it on time, they almost didn’t. He had spent way too much time at his Stone Canyon school then he’d had an issue to deal with at the Los Angeles school. It was minor, but it took up his time all the same. By the time he met up with Carri, gotten up there and gotten snacks and drinks, the game was starting. It was the bottom of the second and they were just starting to settle down and get into the action.
The ball flew out of the pitcher’s hands and over the plate. There was the distinct noise of the ball hitting wood, then it flew out into the outfield. "Fall, fall." Carri chanted knowing that the ball was lingering too long for that
As the left fielder caught it close to the wall the runner on third tagged up and raced for home. He made it in time, giving the Dodgers a one nothing lead. As the cheers from the crowd died down the next batter came up, hitting the ball lazily to short for an easy out. The crowd settled down and Rocky spoke.
"So how was your day?" he asked casually. He had a lot he wanted to talk to her about and figured that the question was as good as any to get the conversation started.
"Good. I had an interesting lunch with Matty. I met up with my co-hosts, bounced some unofficial ideas." she told him. All in all it had been a relatively easy day if one didn’t include the monster battle that they’d kicked it off with. "Yours?"
"You have an idea about mine. Spent most of it in Angel Grove before traveling to the other to schools and having interesting times at both." he replied thinking about how he was going to get to the first point he wanted to talk about
"Define interesting?" Carri asked turning her attention from the field and glancing over at him
"You know about LA." he said pausing before he went into the rest of it. He noticed the Dodgers jogging back onto the field as he continued. "I had a run in with Jessica at Stone Canyon."
"Christ. What now?" Carri asked rolling her eyes into the back of her head and letting out a noise indicating she was anything but pleased
He had to come right out and tell her. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t do anything, if she found this out some other way flip out and kill him. "She kept trying to distract me and make a big deal out of the fact that she’s pregnant."
"She’s what?" Carri asked the alternate universe flooding her memory
"Don’t worry." Rocky said hoping that she wasn’t going to boil over. He was afraid he only had seconds to calm her down before she exploded. "It’s not mine. It can’t be. We haven’t slept together in six months."
Carri breathed heavily for a moment. "You’re right. She is a little slut." she said as she calmed herself down. There was no need to get angry over it. And she was glad to hear it from him rather than hear it from someone else. "Besides it can’t be yours."
From the way she spoke the last line Rocky picked up on the message. That if it was his child he would suffer all the hell and fury that Carri could possibly bring on him. "You’re right, it can’t. Who knows with her how many guys she’s slept with in the last month or two."
Carri nodded and turned toward the game, watching as the first batter dropped a ball right over the second baseman’s head, landing him a single. She declined to comment further, he knew how she felt and she had nothing more to say. She could care less that the little slut was running around getting knocked up, as long as it had nothing to do with Rocky or her.
"Hey is Kim still moving out tonight?" Rocky asked changing the subject
"Yeah." Carri replied. She was sad to lose her roommate and it showed in her response. At the same time she was thrilled for her that she was going to move in with Tommy. "It’s ok though. I’ll get used to not having her around."
"Maybe you could replace her?" Rocky suggested. He had thought about it for a long time. If Kim was moving out, perhaps he could move in with her.
"Replace Kim? With what? A dog?" she asked sarcastically. Kim was her best friend. She couldn’t exactly substitute her with a plant or an animal.
Rocky laughed. "That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind." he said as she looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "I was thinking maybe with me."
"You want to stay in my guest room?" she toyed with him
Rocky put his arms around her and pulled her as close as he could in the stadium seats. "You know what I mean."
Carri thought for a moment as she watched the next batter hit into a double play. It would be nice to have him living with her. They lived together before and it was good. But there were other things to consider. "Don’t you have your own place?"
Rocky had thought it all out and thought he had pretty good answers to anything she could ask him. "I was thinking that you could help me go through my stuff and figure out what to keep and what to store. Then I’ll keep paying rent until I can get someone to take over my lease."
Carri surprised him by putting his head in her hands and giving him a kiss. "Let’s do it."
It took a moment for Rocky to absorb what she’d said as he was a little startled by her reaction at first. "Great." he said giving her a smile as they both settled down and focused their attention back on the game
Jason parked his motorcycle and hopped off of it, grabbing his helmet as he headed inside. After he’d seen Emily he’d driven around for a while to clear his head before finally deciding to come home. He didn’t think the drive had helped any. As he headed inside thoughts of Emily were still bouncing around in his head.
Sitting down on the couch he tried to will those thoughts away but they wouldn’t leave him. He was starting to have second thoughts about going to see her. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea, maybe he should’ve just let her be. But of course it was too late for second thoughts. He had seen her and remembered how much he missed her and now he couldn’t get her off of his mind. The more he thought about her, the more he thought about how maybe he should call her or drop in at her house.
It was possible he could find access to that information about Emily through the Command Chambers files. He hadn’t looked before but he felt inclined to now. There was something tugging at him telling him not to do it but there was an even greater force encouraging him to go. Not sure if it was the right decision, Jason stood up and teleported himself to the Command Chamber.
As he arrived he was surprised to be greeted by two of his friends. "Jason?" Trini questioned as she and her husband looked up at him. "Is something wrong?"
"Wrong? Uh, no, nothing’s wrong." he stammered. He couldn’t believe that there was someone in there, he’d expected it to be empty.
"What’s going on? Did you need to see me for something?" Billy asked. The rangers never just popped in without having some sort of ranger related purpose. The Command Chamber wasn’t exactly a hang out spot.
"Oh, no." Jason quickly assured him as he shook his head. He paused for a moment while he tried to think of a good excuse for his appearance in the Command Chamber. "I just like to come up here sometimes. By myself. And look over recent battles and information we have on Callisto and Rhianna. It helps me work things out in my head. You know, future strategies and such. Once a red, always a red." he smiled after that and prayed they believed him
"Oh, ok." Billy replied rather surprised by his explanation. Not that it was a big deal but he couldn’t believe that Jason was in and out going through files and he was unaware. It made him think that he needed to step up security. The filters on the building wouldn’t allow anyone evil on the premises but it was always better to be safe than sorry. "We’ll be leaving shortly. We just stopped to check a few things and then it’s off to dinner."
"That’s fine. I can just come back later." Jason replied. He had no plans of coming back. If there was a higher power this was its way of saying it was bad enough to go to her work address, he didn’t need to snoop for her home number or home address as well. He would forget about all of this and limit himself to driving by her work on his way home to see her.
"Are you sure? We won’t be long." Billy assured him
"It’s fine. I have other things to do anyway." Jason said as he teleported himself out
Trini turned to Billy once the last flashes of black light disappeared. "That seemed odd." she said. She knew Jason well and she had gaged his reactions carefully. Something wasn’t quite right but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
"It was." Billy agreed before thinking for a moment. "But all of the rangers are stressed and worried about Callisto and Rhianna and they all have different methods of dealing with it."
"I suppose so. It just seemed as though he had something else on his mind." Trini said as she went back to what she was doing before the interruption
"It has been my observation that he has been acting differently since he and Michelle ended their relationship." Billy pointed out. Jason kept saying that it didn’t bother him but those around him could tell that it did. Carri and Kim had said privately that if he didn’t snap out of his funk and try dating again, they were going to try setting him up.
"It’s understandable. Heartbreak is hard. And he’s seen a lot of heartbreak." Trini replied. She was fortunate that she hadn’t experienced much heartbreak. The last time she’d been hurt by someone she was young and still at the Peace Conferences. It was hard but Zack had been there to help her through it. Soon she was back on her feet and casually dating again. And it wasn’t long after that she had flown home and started dating the love of her life.
"You’re right." Billy replied as he glanced over at his wife and thought about what she said. He made eye contact with her briefly before smiling. He hadn’t really experienced any heartbreak. His most serious relationship before Trini was Cestria, and that dissolved itself before he even had a chance to be heartbroken over it. He was lucky that he and Trini had come together so young. They dated for a few years before they had gotten married. She finished school and thanks to his superior intellect he was able to fly through college himself, earning his doctorate while working for the company he was currently with. He proposed to her while he was still in school and it wasn’t long after he graduated that he was promoted into his current position and was able to buy his house and have a huge wedding with Trini. Turning back to his work he supposed he owed the rangers for him being so well off. It wasn’t hard for him to get his foot in the door of his company as he was easily able to show how much more advanced he was than everyone thanks to his time working with the rangers and his time spent on Aquitar.
A silence fell between them as they both continued doing the work that needed to get done. As Billy made the final adjustments he wanted to make he turned toward his wife and spoke. "Are we ready to go to dinner?"
"Of course." Trini said, standing to take her husband’s hand. The duo teleported off leaving the Command Chamber empty.
Callisto sat in the dark in silence, dwelling on that morning’s attack. Moldinator was a silly children’s toy monster, but it had actually packed quite a bit of fire power. The electric slime molds had been Rhianna’s personal adjustments and she was surprisingly impressed with them.
She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised. Rhianna was learning quickly and was more than willing to absorb any advice on being an evil tyrant that Callisto had to give. She had a feeling that one day Rhianna would be a better sorceress and more evil than either of her parents had been. That was, of course, assuming she survived the power that Callisto was going to see to it she got.
The fact that she was obtaining these powers was her secret that she had only shared with Cratus. Should Goldar find out he’d warn Rhianna not to take the powers no matter how tempting they were. Callisto didn’t see what the big deal was. Just because the only documented case of the use of these powers had ended poorly didn’t mean that it would end that way for Rhianna. In fact, although she wouldn’t be sorry over her loss, she hoped that Rhianna’s case ended more favorably. She had a lot of potential, she could rule the universe one day.
Of course she could only rule the universe if she could get past her parent’s purification and deaths as evil beings and see the bigger picture. It would be hard, if anyone knew that it was Callisto. She herself had finally gotten past the need for revenge and just wanted to be a goddess and make a lot of noise. Of course now she had gone back to revenge but that was ok. She was several millennia old and thought she had earned the right to bide her time as she pleased. Besides she had managed to put revenge aside a few times. She’d successfully worked with Astronema. And after the final battle on Earth she had been involved in some conquering and destruction that had nothing to do with revenge.
She actually found herself looking forward to going back and causing random destruction throughout the universe after she was done with the rangers of Earth. She would start from Reiga 4 for payback to the Novas and then go on from there. She could kill more rangers, devastate more planets, it would be fun. As she amused herself with ideas of things to come a figure appeared in the shadows, one that was easily recognizable.
"What are you doing here?" she questioned as the gold armor of the creature in front of her started sparkling from the few beams of light that were bouncing around the room from the outside
"Rhianna wanted to discuss future battle strategies with you." Goldar said simply, glancing over at the figure of the woman in front of her. He still didn’t like her or trust her, but Rhianna was gaining respect for her and she was starting to put more faith in what she had to say and what she wanted to do.
"Of course." Callisto replied as she stood. She appreciated how Rhianna wanted to be involved and know exactly what they were going to do to crush the rangers. She ignored Goldar and walked right past him and through the door, heading off to find Rhianna.
Carri pulled into her garage and hopped out, heading down to the mailbox as Rocky pulled in and parked behind her. The Dodgers had won and they had made it back to Angel Grove relatively early for attending a baseball game.
The second car engine shut off and Rocky stepped out. He had insisted on going back to her house with her, calling it his first official night there. He was more than a little excited to have the opportunity to live with her again. The time he spent living with her was some of his fondest memories. His girlfriend glided by him and headed back into the garage and he quickly followed, putting his hands on her back as she shut the garage and headed into the house.
As she stepped through the threshold into the house she turned and gave Rocky a kiss before tossing her things down and doing a quick glance through the mail. Rocky shut the door and put his arms around her back, kissing her neck as she sorted through to see what was junk and what she needed to keep.
Looking through she found some things addressed to her and some to Kim. She thought about how odd it was going to be to have to keep piles of mail for Kim until she could get it to her. Going though she was surprised to find two identical envelopes, one for her and one for Kim. Both were addressed in eloquent gold lettering and both had seals on the back of them. Setting Kim’s down she broke free of Rocky and went to sit on the couch to open hers.
"What’s that?" Rocky asked as he went and sat down on the couch next to her, nuzzling up closely
"I don’t know." she replied as she opened the envelope and pulled out its contents. Before her was her school symbol and below that in the same writing was "Angel Grove High School Class Of 1997". Smiling to herself she opened it up. "It’s our ten year reunion."
"Ten years? Damn." Rocky replied as she nodded. It didn’t feel like it had been ten years. Most of it flew by like it was nothing. He glanced at the invitation briefly as Carri read it over, assuming that he had one of his own at his apartment waiting to be read.
"October thirteenth." she replied shaking her head. "It’s wild."
"So Kim got one too?" Rocky replied, watching as his girlfriend nodded. It was easy to forget that she had graduated absentee from Angel Grove High School. She had finished her school work with a private tutor in Florida and they had sent her a diploma.
"Can you believe it has been ten years?" Carri questioned. Chalk it up to the rangers, but the last ten years were all a whirlwind and it seemed like only yesterday she was moving into the guest bedroom in her Aunt and Uncle’s house.
"It’s been eleven years since the first time we dated." Rocky pointed out. Almost exactly eleven years as their relationship started within the first week of their senior year.
Carri couldn’t help but laugh. "And my mom always thought noone could put up with me for that long."
"It’s been a challenge." Rocky said shaking his head and trying not to smile. "At least you gave me a break for a while."
Carri swatted at him before leaning in to give him a kiss and nestling herself into his chest. "It will be exciting to see everyone we went to high school with."
"It will." Rocky agreed as he wrapped his arms around her. He paused for a moment and thought about everything he had gotten from high school. It had been amazing. He’d made life long friends, become a Power Ranger, met the love of his life... he laughed as he thought about all the things he and Carri had gotten into senior year.
"What’s so funny?" she asked looking up at him
"Nothing." he replied smiling down at her. "Just thinking about what you and I got into in high school."
She laughed. "We were sloppy in high school." she said referencing the physical parts of the relationship
Rocky snorted as he replied. "I was thinking more along the lines of the adventures we had together and the dates we went on, not the awkward teenaged sex."
"Which was sloppy." she repeated laughing out loud once more
"We were kids." he reminded her. "We were allowed to be sloppy."
"Still." she replied with a shrug and a smile
"How about," he started gently pushing her off of him and down toward the couch, "I make you forget about sloppy."
"Give it your best shot." she joked. She looked up at him and he gave her a kiss before pressing his body against hers and making her quickly forget about sloppy.
As Carri and Rocky were enjoying the house to themselves, Carri’s former roommate had just finished eating dinner after spending the majority of the night unpacking. Kim and Tommy took a while to lug all of her stuff out to the car, transport it, unload it and finally unpack it. They both had been exhausted and had ordered a pizza, sitting on the couch to eat it and watch tv.
Now that they were relaxed and full their attention was drifting away from the television and toward each other. Unlike their friends they didn’t have a reunion to talk about as Kim’s invitation was at Carri’s and Tommy’s mail still got forwarded from Reefside. Instead Kim curled up into Tommy and started by asking him how his day was.
"My day?" Tommy questioned as he looked down at her and she nodded. "I moved you. I did some research." He was declining to mention his work with Hayley. She had enough on her plate to have to worry about what he was doing. Besides at this point they didn’t need anything they were working on making it irrelevant at the moment.
"Did you get a lot of research done?" Kim asked
"Yeah I was pretty productive." Tommy replied. "How about you? How was your day?"
"It was ok." Kim said trying to stall so she could remember the day she started so many months ago. The bad day that it was started flowing back. "There was the battle of course. I had my presentation."
"How did that go?" Tommy asked. After moving her he’d almost forgotten the big presentation Kim was supposed to give that afternoon at work.
Kim made a grunting noise. "Let’s see, my coworker stole my ideas and presented them as his own." she started. She could see Tommy get angry and before he had a chance to say anything she continued. "But I told Ashley and she investigated. He got fired and I’m heading the campaign."
"I guess that’s not too bad." Tommy said still wanting to rip the head off of the man who’d stole from Kim. "Sounds like you had an exciting day."
"Yeah." Kim replied letting her voice trail off. She stuck her hand in her pocket and brushed her fingers against the crystal Dulcea had given her. She was debating what she wanted to say to Tommy where her Muirantian powers were concerned. After much thought she decided to ease him into things so he wouldn’t completely flip out on her. "I got some new powers."
"Oh?" Tommy questioned raising an eyebrow. "Anything big?"
"Not really." Kim replied with a shrug. At least they weren’t big now since she’d been trained. "You saw how easily I levitated in battle. And I teleported myself across the room." Which wasn’t a total lie. She was in a different spot in the room from when she teleported out to when she arrived back months later.
"Teleported?" Tommy questioned. He knew she’d get those kind of abilities as K had them, but he wasn’t sure what to think of them. He wasn’t sure what she thought about them. He had tried to talk to her about what was happening to her before but she had just brushed it off saying that until things manifested there wasn’t anything to talk about. Now the serious powers were manifesting and it was time that they discussed them. "Are you ok with that power? Are you worried at all about these powers your getting?" He certainly was.
"Kind of. I mean if I need to I can always go to Dulcea, she can help me." She was speaking in future tense, figuring she could tell Tommy she went to Dulcea in a few months once he felt better about the serious powers forming. She could tell he was worried already by the thought of her teleporting.
"I just think... I mean what’s happening to you, no other ranger has been through it. We don’t know what you’re going to be able to do." Tommy started. She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her short. "I know K and her Jason have Muirantian powers but their situation was different than yours. Who knows how your powers will develop. I love you Kim and I worry about you."
Kim put a hand on his and smiled at him. "I know you worry because you don’t know what’s going on but there are people around who do. I’ve accepted what I’m to become and I’m not afraid." Anymore anyway, she added silently. In all honesty spending time on Phaedos has her somewhat excited about what kind of powers she’ll be able to tap into in the future.
"It’s hard." Tommy admitted looking over at her. "You have powers unheard of in the ranger community. You’re not human anymore, not fully. And you’re going to outlive us all by hundreds of years."
"I know." Kim replied, trying to hide the sorrow in her voice. "But it will be fine I promise you."
"I’m still going to worry about you, as a ranger and as your lover. You’re starting to see hardcore abilities and I can’t help but think of what could go wrong."
Kim leaned up and kissed Tommy on the lips. "Thank you for being concerned. But there’s nothing major going on now and K assured me that I would learn to control all my Muirantian abilities with time. I know there are a lot of unknowns but we will get through them I promise."
Tommy took his hand and placed it on her cheek, gazing into her eyes. She seemed so certain that everything was alright. He couldn’t be that certain but there wasn’t much he could do, he’d have to see how things played out over time. He was madly in love with the woman sitting beside him and he’d continue to be concerned over what was going on inside her body. But as long as things seemed under control he would force himself to keep his worries at bay. At least he finally had a solid reason to share them with Kim and she knew how he felt.
As Tommy was gazing down at Kim, she lifted up her hand and put it on top of his. Gently she removed his hand from her cheek and placed it on her lips, giving it a kiss. "We’ll talk about things as they develop." she promised kissing his hand again. "But for now let’s not let Muirantias ruin our first night living together in your apartment."
Tommy curled his fingers around her hand and took his free arm to pull her body into his. "Deal." he said leaning back toward the couch, pulling her on top of him and firmly pressing her lips to his.
Kim released her hand from his and put both of her hands against his waist as they started kissing each other all over. She felt a tingling sensation down her body as he put his hands under her shirt and on her back, brining them higher until he was able to undo her bra. Suddenly Kim found herself with a flashback of her teleportation incident six months prior. She remembered finding herself in her college apartment, leaning over the counter and spying on her younger self on the couch with Tommy much like they were now. She couldn’t help but smile as she thought about it. Some things never changed.
The End