In Chapter 17: Kim's home dimension has been sacrificed to the evil empire because of Thomas's intervention in saving her life...but that's the least of her worries.

All things Power Rangers belong to Saban and Disney. All things Carri belong to KJ, with many thanks. Demonking belongs solely to Daniel White. Teeg and Rexo belong to KS & me. The premise of the Coin Series was inspired from a story written by Terry, Chris, Daniel, Brice, Katey and myself, but has seriously digressed since then and bears little resemblance to the original.

All events in The Coin Series take place in an alternate dimension

Power Rangers: The Coin Series
"Facing Armageddon"

For the first time in a very long time, Kim transported herself out without a clear idea of exactly where she was going. There was no pain, no grief, just an overwhelming sense that the impossible had happened. She refused to register it, refused to accept what was happening around her, refused to acknowledge that things had turned so quickly to the impossible. If she denied it, it wasn’t true and she simply could not face the idea that the last thirty seconds of her life had actually occurred.

She landed near the old foundation of her grandfather’s house. It was a reflex. The house had become home. Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, she realized that she was extremely lucky. She could have gone anywhere, any when, but she had returned to the place of her last happy moment with Tommy. She stared at the side of the house, now moved to its new foundation, and at last the numbness began to recede and the overwhelming pain of loss crawl slowly through her consciousness.

Reality didn’t crush her suddenly, it poured through all her senses like boiling oil. Just as destructive in its damage, but far more torturous and painful than any physical wound she’d ever suffered. Teeg had Tommy. He wouldn’t survive. The guardian in her knew that cold reality and refused to allow her consciousness to believe otherwise. The orbs were not designed for humans. Tommy had speculated that the combinations of his morphers, the black dino gem bonding with his DNA, his encasement in amber, and everything else he’d experienced in his short tenure as Zordon’s heir, had altered his human genome nearly as much as the Muirantian Pit of Eternal Fire had altered her and Jason. Now his only hope lay in the possibility that he was right. A human would survive no more than a few minutes, a morphed Ranger possibly a little longer, but Tommy on his own? Only the Great Power itself knew for sure and Kimberly’s connection to it now was seriously hampered by the very real human grief and despair pouring through her.

She collapsed to the ground and sobbed in huge wailing, spasmodic gasps. Dimly, she was aware of the old grid reaching out to question her, but she shut it away from her mind. It wouldn’t understand, couldn’t understand. It viewed death as no more than a mortal release. Greif was a useless and wasteful emotion to it.

Numbly, her eyes focused on what her mind refused to; the huge black tower looming down upon Angel Grove and the surrounding communities. It was taller than any building ever built on Earth and a thousand times more indestructible. It was a specialty of Teeg’s. Not only was it a manufacturing plant for hundreds of thousands of claybots, it would begin to destroy every natural resource in the area…and she knew from experience that thousands of them would have sprung up all over the Earth’s surface; heating the atmosphere to boiling and killing all life on her planet. Every blue world she’d ever closed out, at least where Teeg was involved, and Teeg appeared everywhere Kemora did, eventually suffered the fate of those towers.

Slowly, agonizingly, the guardian in her took control of her senses; refusing to allow her to be consumed with the numbness she so desperately wanted to retreat into. Something wasn’t right. She was new, in the scheme of things, to interdimensional travel and corrections, but one thing was certain, she knew her home timeline. The towers only appeared when the Kimberly died early; either on Muirantias or by Kemora’s possession. She had survived, and therefore, so should her world.

What had happened, had happened far too quickly to be considered a natural shift. Something had been artificially altered. Methodically, cell by cell, the numbness was replaced with cold, hard anger. Anger was a good thing at this point, it kept the despair at bay. No one had ever successfully defeated this kind of attack, but she wasn’t just anyone. She had an edge that none of her alternates had; she had only to fully embrace it as Kemora had. She wasn’t afraid, the insecurity and terrors she’d held at bay for a decade died the moment she accepted that Tommy was gone. She would never be allowed to live as a normal human ever again; her world would die if she continued to cling to that dream. She was ready now, angry enough now, to embrace the unthinkable.

Her mind drifted to Tommy and their short time together, to her family, to her friends and to her world in general. Then her eyes focused on the tower and all that it represented, all that she knew would happen if she didn’t relinquish what was no longer hers. Anything and everything that had been mortal in Kimberly, the last little cling to her humanity, died in that instant.

Someone had interfered with and was attempting to kill her world, the only life that afforded her the tiniest amount of peace and security. She would not allow it. As she stared at the black tower overshadowing all she loved and held dear, she willingly released all that had bound her to her old life and openly embraced the raw power of the Muirantian pit that she had held at bay for more than ten years.

As the energies she had fought for so long surged through her like an arching live wire, she was at last, fully and for all time, Maligore’s daughter. Far away, across the Nemesis Triangle, in the tiny temple of power that had been created on her last visit, the cold stone statue eyes of the guardian phoenix flared to life.

When Carri and Jason returned to the Command Center all chaos had broken lose. Alarms were blaring and Rocky, Adam, and Tonya were trying desperately to help Billy track the transport beam that had taken Teeg away and make sense of the unfathomable sensor readings on the black towers.

“I don’t get it.” Rocky said, shaking his head. “According to this, the temperature across the globe has risen five degrees Celsius in a matter of minutes…that’s huge…it can’t be right.”

“It’s right.” Carri said slowly, walking in to join her friends. Rocky swung around to say something, then paused. Never, since he’d met her, had he ever seen the beaten looks that both his girlfriend and Jason carried. The air of defeat hung so heavily around them both that everyone in the Command Center paused and turned to them.

Carri stared back at the man she loved with a sad air of resignation. He would fight until the end, just as his alternate had done on the blue world she’d helped to close out only a few days before. He would fight, they all would, and they would die. Both she and Jason knew with heavy hearts the outcome the towers meant. As she looked into his eyes, she had the briefest thought that she was glad to have loved him, if only for a short time. At least the end would come quickly; it always did.

“There’s nothing that can be done.” She said simply, the fight simply drained from her. “The towers are manufacturing plants for the claybots, they’ll drain the area of its natural resources and heat the atmosphere until all life on the planet simply burns or boils away.”

“Then we have to stop them.” Adam said firmly. He had refused to obey Billy’s orders to stay in the medical bed. Fresh from surgery, he might not be able to fight or even walk for short distances, but he could still think and he could still sit behind a control panel. Carri simply nodded at him, as if she knew he would give that answer.

“What’s going on?” Rocky asked, surprised and unsure why his friends were behaving so strangely. In the back of his mind, he wondered if Teeg or Kemora had effected them somehow. Perhaps they were under a spell or maybe they were hurt worse than the scanners had indicated. They had raced out to fight the monster with only their Ninjetti powers; perhaps they had been knocked around more than anyone in the Command Center had realized.

“The towers spell the end of a world.” Jason said simply. “Kim, Carri, and I have fought them more than once, there’s really no good outcome to be considered.” He said in such a defeated tone that the others simply stared at him.

“The fight’s not over.” Rocky growled at them, taking a step forward and clenching his fists. He was getting angry, the battle had only begun and his friends were acting as if the whole war was lost already. “We can do this. We’re the Power Rangers.”

Carri and Jason glanced at each other and nodded, as if both were acknowledging the reaction of their comrades as the normal course of things, but also as if both knew there was little to be done.

“If you’ve encountered these devices before.” Billy said brusquely, also angered by his friends reactions, “Then let’s begin by briefing the team on what they are, what their capabilities are, and what strategies have already proven unsuccessful.”

Jason nodded and reached hand out to gently steer Carri forward. She moved numbly and with little energy. When she sat down next to Rocky, she gently took his hand and he half marveled at the lack of strength in her grasp. It scared him and when he looked up at Jason, his friend refused to meet his eyes. A wave of terror poured over him. Carri and Jason were some of the strongest Rangers he knew. Their resignation didn’t sit well with him; it didn’t sit well with him at all.

On the moon, Kemora watched in disgust as Rita and Zedd celebrated their apparent victory in the throne room of the lunar palace. Rita held the orb containing the Mystic Mother high above her head and spun around in her own version of a touchdown victory dance. It was pathetic. Kemora was no stranger to this kind of warfare. She knew what the use of Teeg’s tower’s meant, but was fairly confident the villain hadn’t informed the two idiots in front of her that there would be nothing left of the planet for them to rule. Not that she cared, she wanted the Pit of Fire on Muirantias. She hadn’t been able to get past Lerigot’s Nemesis Triangle in ages. Once she re-took the island, nothing would stop her, but for now, she bided her time and played the well behaved little underling to Teeg.

The artificial body she was encapsulated in had its advantages. She was thinking clearly again for the first time in eons and she was incredibly, physically strong. Its restrictions however, were claustrophobic. Not since she’d been sacrificed to Maligore in the Pit of Fire had she been forced to take orders, wait upon, and obey the will of another like a pathetic little dog. Long buried memories of Zordon and her former life as a Ranger sifted gently to the surface of her mind as she watched Rita and Zedd continue to howl and dance around.

What a pathetic little puppy she’d been. She’d dutifully done all that so-called great master had told her. Great master, her mind sneered. She’d been a fool. Lapping up the so-called wisdom of an ancient floating head. She’d done her duty, she’d followed all the rules, bought into every party line, and what had happened to her? He’d betrayed her. He’d promised her everything would be fine if she left, that she needed to go, that she could come back. No sooner had she left than he’d brought the blond bimbo in. She’d been replaced as quickly and easily as if she’d never existed. Her Tommy had also replaced her just as quickly. Men were all alike. They were a pathetic, worthless species. She could almost hear the echo of his traitorous young voice telling her how he’d found true love and asking her to be happy for him. What a pathetic joke.

She’d been so confident they’d save her when she’d been kidnapped. The Rangers were always in time to save the day, but she obviously hadn’t been important enough for them….to him… They’d had other things to worry about that day and the trusting little mortal she’d been had burned to death in Maligore’s fiery pit. Only then had they come after her, but it was to destroy the demon she’d become, not to rescue the trusting little dupe she’d been.

She’d gotten her revenge; she’d slaughtered the lot of them. Slaughter wasn’t the word for what she’d done. The extermination had been brutal, barbaric, and complete. She’d left her Tommy alive the longest, forced him to watch as one by one she’d cut the others down, cruelly dragging out their deaths with prolonged torturous techniques. What she’d done to her dimension’s Katherine had confirmed for all time her transmutation into demon spawn. It had been particularly dreadful… and utterly euphoric. The smell, the look, the fear, and feel of the warm blood had been a rush like nothing she’d ever encountered; she’d reveled in it.

That’s when the  killings had begun. Once she started, she couldn’t stop. The thrill of it had been like a drug, giving her more pleasure than she’d ever known. She’d traveled all across her home galaxies, glorying in the slaughter until even the most brutal acts had become mundane. When she’d discovered her powers allowed her to cross dimensions, the original thrill had returned in force. She could put all the pathetic little Kimberlys out of their misery and experience the joy of murdering the Rangers, of torturing Tommy, all over again…but still, nothing had been as satisfying as that first horrific slaughter.

Eventually, there were those who tried to stop her; for the most part she’d simply stopped them. The resistance to her had been almost humorous at times, occasionally interesting at others. Thomas had proved the most efficient, but even then, he and K were not much more than annoying.

Thomas was a butcher, just like she was; there was something mildly erotic in that. It was a shame they both wanted to annihilate one another. K was a different story. She had seriously underestimated that little bitch. But, then again, she shouldn’t have been surprised. K was just like herself, a Kimberly turned demon spawn. Unfortunately K still tried to embrace her so-called human spirit; that pathetic little mewly character that held all the Kimberly’s from achieving the greatness she had. Love…what had love ever accomplished for her but pain and suffering, disappointment and betrayal. In the end, K was nothing, would achieve nothing, just like all the others; she didn’t deserve to live.

A slow smile spread across her cold lips. Teeg would soon deal with K, she mused. He double had crossed the wrong villain there. Once K was disposed of, she could easily handle Thomas on her own. With the power of Maligore’s pit behind her, she’d be able to shake off Teeg’s leash and go back to the only desire she’d known in eons…she’d butcher them all.

Her eyes lazily left the revelry and sought out the cat-like woman who insisted on controlling her. She was obviously equally revolted by the behavior of her underlings, but like Kemora, she held her peace and allowed the duo to act like the idiots they were. In her hand, she slowly twirled the containment orb holding K’s Tommy. Kemora’s eyes narrowed on the orb, anger and hatred slowly boiling through her artificial veins. K’s Tommy. What a prize that little man would be…the ultimate thrill…to kill the soul mate of her doppelganger might prove almost as satisfying as slaughtering the boy who had spurned her all those eons ago. It was almost worth the consequences Teeg would extract for her defiance. But how to do it? Teeg wasn’t likely to hand over that big of a prize. She hated Kimberly almost as much as Kemora herself did.

Tommy. The very sound of the name was like warm blood on her tongue. The mighty and pious Tommy, who had once been as evil as she…a slow smile spread across her artificial lips. The evil Tommy…the vicious evil green ghost that haunted him…slowly, she rose from her position and began to glide across the room, just a hint excitement tingling up and down her spine. At her approach, Teeg diverted her gaze from the moron’s in front of her and warily regarded the demon.

“That’s quite a prize you’ve managed to score.” Kemora all but purred, using her best, innocent Kimberly look. Teeg’s eyes narrowed, but she refused to answer. “Is he dead yet?”

“He sleeps.” Teeg answered simply.

“I wonder.” Kemora crooned quietly, just above a whisper, as if  she found the very words an erotic caress. “You know him as the love mate of your adversary, the successor to your greatest challenger,” She paused and caught Teeg’s eyes, licking her lips slightly, “But do you know his whole story? How he got his infamous start in the world of the Rangers?”

Kim felt Thomas’s approach several seconds before she heard the zacada noise. She squelched her anger and, using techniques learned long ago under her tenures with Zordon and Dulcea, carefully controlled the Muirantian energies coursing through her. The grid wasn’t fooled though, she could feel it question her actions, even if it respected her wish not to openly communicate with her. It was an old grid and as eccentric in its ways as any human of extreme advanced years; disgruntled with the young and firm in its belief that the old ways on Eltar were better.

As the zacada sound grew louder, she turned and cautiously regarded Thomas’s approach. If he was curious by her demeanor, he didn’t show it. He approached her calmly, only the slightest hint of dismay visible in his eyes as he came to a stop in front of her.

“Have you come to apologize?” She asked evenly, the slightest trace of bitterness edging her words. He shifted his stance at her words, regarding her curiously. She realized she’d caught him off guard and steeled herself against the slight smile that tugged at her lips. “I was called in to locate you after your disappearance.” He said evenly. “Tommy wasn’t meant to be captured by Teeg; you were.”

“So you’re responsible for the Equaline wave? For altering my planet’s history?” Her voice was almost serene, but there was no mistaking the venom in her words. It was a guess, a gamble that the artificial time adjustment had been used on her dimension, but one she was fairly certain of. The history of her world had definitely been altered; the question remained by whom.

“No.” He answered plainly. “That decision wasn’t mine to make or argue. History was altered by allowing you to live the last time.”

“I was under the impression,” She said, eyes beginning to glow red, “That particular indiscretion of yours had already been mitigated.”

“So was I.” He answered, eyes narrowing a bit. She hadn’t been surprised to see him, hadn’t come running to the zacada sound as he’d expected. He had anticipated her to be more upset, she knew what the towers meant, they both did. Yet she regarded him coolly, without tears or any evidence of anxiety. She hadn’t flung herself into him or begged him for answers he couldn’t give. Something was amiss, but he wasn’t sure what.

“So what happened?” She snapped, the words betraying a little of the anger she felt.

“It was appealed. Netau and a few others argued that the green-line was forced artificially and, by law, that kind of interference demanded the world be given to the other side.”

“Nice of him.”

“It’s the law Kimberly.” He said, using her full name.

“So now I’m Kimberly to you?” She said in a voice that seriously disturbed him. It was hard and yet silky and bore more than a little resemblance to Kemora in the early years when she was still sane.  She stepped forward and he surprised himself by backing up. “I don’t think it’s the law at all.” She continued, voice growing harder. “I think you sold me. I think you gave me up in order to keep the evidence of your other little…interferences…from scrutinization.”

Thomas’s eyes narrowed at the accusation, fists clenching at his sides. “There was nothing I could do.” He said brusquely. “The decision was made, I could comply and find you after you disappeared or face the moderators and undergo an investigation of my tenure.”

“So you sold me and my world.”

“You had already been sold. The deed had already been done. If I came to your defense again the others would suffer and more worlds would be unfairly claimed.” He answered defensively.

“Is that why you made it a point to show me the other’s who survived Kemora? Her last victim that you transplanted and the other one who parallels me even though she wasn’t sacrificed on Muirantias? So that I’d forgive you somehow and willingly sacrifice my world for the greater good? Or that I’d know your work will go on with another Kim?”  Her words were harsh and accusatory and penetrated his defenses more quickly and efficiently than either realized they would.

He stared at her open mouthed, astonishment plainly showing on his face, until she realized she wasn’t entirely correct. “You haven’t gone back in time yet to show me those alternates.” She said, voice softening a little. “You really were trying to help me, you just haven’t done it yet. That’s why you told me to be careful, not to trust anyone…especially you.”

Thomas had closed his mouth, but continued to stare at her incredulously. K was special to him. He had begun to admit that to himself when he’d interfered, against the DG’s wishes, and given the information of how to save her to the Mystic Mother. He had told himself, and the moderators, that it was out of curiosity; nothing more. Her Tommy had to make the choice to forgive not only Kimberly, but the Mystic Mother as well, and then had to actively seek out the Mystic Mother to obtain that information. He wasn’t sure it would work, but he had made the gamble because he cared about his friend. The news that the appeal had been successful and her world would be sacrificed, that she would be sacrificed, had been devastating. It wasn’t like losing his wife all over again, but it was like losing his son. Equally devastating, but for different reasons.

He had watched K from the time she was born, had convinced Zordon to allow her to be taken to Muirantias even though the old master had been incredibly fond of and attached to this particular Kimberly. He had thrilled at her survival after the pit of fire and her transformation back to the good. He had molded her into the perfect weapon against her doppelganger, but, in the process, he had become attached to her himself. Perhaps that was why Zordon had allowed him to take her. The old master had known he didn’t have long to survive, perhaps he knew that this particular Kimberly could touch him as none of the others had. She had broken the armor he had built up after unfathomable years. Through her, he had begun to feel again.

As they stared each other down, he realized he wanted to help her, that he needed to help her. That help would go against every rule he had sworn to operate under, but he honestly didn’t care. “They cheated.” He said simply, emotion filtering through in his voice. Her eyes narrowed, both at the words and by the feeling behind them. “They’ve been cheating.” He continued in a voice barely above a whisper. “The DG is being manipulated from within in order for the forces of evil to gain the upper hand when the final timeline is reached…they know I know.” He finished. His eyes held hers and Kim honestly wasn’t sure if he was willing her to understand or acknowledging that he’d help her fight the verdict that had doomed her.

“Well done Thomas.” A serene, oil like voice said from just behind him. It startled both of them, but the reactions were well hidden. Kim’s eyes glowed fiercely as she recognized the intruder.

“Netau.” She hissed, the anger and loathing for the creature in front of her more than apparent. He smiled placatingly at her and simply blinked an acknowledgement as the red glow in her eyes turned deadly.

It was rumored that, once upon a time, Netau had been human. Where he’d originated from was now unknown, but he was a thin shell of a humanoid; hairless and with eyes that seemed permanently dilated. He didn’t have an odor about him, but his mere presence produced something noxious enough to send Kim reeling with nausea. Technically, he served the forces of good, but Kim had never seen anything good come from him. He had a reputation for being exceedingly fair in his judgments and vocation, yet Kim had always found him cruel and inhumane. She had mused more than once that she was labeled the demon spawn among the DG, but Netau was far more demonic than she.

She hated him and not just because he had been overly strict with enforcing penalties in the few instances he’d caught her breaking the rules. There was something unexplainable about him that sent her hackles crackling up her back and her temper flaring. He made no bones about the fact that he believed she should have never survived Muirantias, that a demon was a demon, and had argued for her execution ever since. Any little oddity or infraction he could find, he would immediately attributed to her. However, to the credit of the council, in recent years the powers that be had listened less and less to his whining, as Kim called it. This had infuriated the older guardian and set him on the warpath against her. She was correct in assuming Netau felt a certain amount of glee at her imminent demise. He hated her as much as she hated him.

“Your assistance in locating the demon spawn will be duly noted.” He said, nodding slightly to Thomas.

Thomas said nothing, made no reaction, simply stared at him, which caused Netau’s eyes to narrow slightly. He shifted, as if preparing for a possible fight. Neither of the creatures before him were high on his list. Thomas was too curious for his own good and to say K’s survival had been inconvenient for him was to put things mildly. Netau had an agenda. There were forces that needed to be appeased and the two before him had made his life exceedingly difficult lately.

“Step aside Thomas.” Netau hissed. “Your work here is done. The demon spawn will be contained. Unless, of course, you plan to resist the council’s decision?” There was almost the sound of hope in his raspy voice, as if it would please him greatly for Thomas to openly defy the Dimensional Guardians.

Thomas didn’t answer, but he turned and met Kim’s eyes head on. There was an unreadable look in them; one not even Kim could translate. Without a word, the zacada buzzing noise began, and then he was gone.

“Poor little demon.” Netau hissed, causing Kim to actually look at him. “Even your mentor has given up on you.”

“I wonder.” Kim said calmly, backing up a step. “What’s in this for you?”

Netau grinned, showing needle sharp teeth in blood red gums, poking out in sharp contrast to his blue grey lips and white skin. “Resistance is pointless.” He said smoothly, mistaking her backward motion for fear. In his hand appeared a white containment orb. Kim glanced at it and backed up another step, Netau matching her motions smoothly.

“Admit it.” Kim said, watching the orb carefully. “You’ve been helping to sabotage the timelines in favor of the evil empire.” She said, and again backed away from him. She was cautious, not afraid, but she knew her adversary was too full of his own victory to notice she was steering towards a particular destination.

“Foolish little girl.” He said in a placating voice. “You have quite a limited understanding of the universe don’t you?”

“What’s in it for you Netau?” She snarled, eyes blazing.

“It matters not.” He said simply, but his eyes twinkled a bit, if that’s what you could call it. “You’re going to go to sleep now.” He said, voice taking on an edge that made her skin crawl. “I’m told it’s relatively painless.”

“What did they promise you to kill off the wrong twin before she was born? To make sure the other one survived to become Kimberly? To name the wrong twin Tommy and then place him in Zordon’s path? To alter how many countless trivial little details just enough to make everything go wrong and send the world spiraling towards a dark outcome?”

“Thomas is intelligent.” He answered, eyes narrowing. “But misguided. He seeks only to raise his dead wife from the grave;  a liability that will be his undoing in the end.”

“The end will come when you and yours are caught and all that power you’ve been promised slips through your sweaty little fingers.” She snarled and felt a moment of victory when his eyes blazed back at her and his breathing increased. Bingo. He’d been promised power. She backed up two more steps as he raised the hand holding the orb, but she’d already reached her destination, she was directly above the old grid. It crackled with energy, silently acknowledging  what she was doing and in the process agreeing to help her.

“It won’t work.” Kim said defiantly. “It’s all about to come tumbling down around you.”

“You underestimate me.” Netau hissed. “Say goodbye to your world demon.” The orb began to glow brightly, the light edging toward her, but Kim had also begun to glow. A warm red light surrounded her hands as energy from the grid reached upward out of the ground and through her legs. She could see in her mind’s eye the phoenix guardian on Muirantias flare to life and add the pit’s power to the grid’s. The two combined and flowed upward through her in a way she’d never experienced before. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

“I don’t think so.” Kim growled. As the light from the orb shot forward, Kim reached out her arms as if to block it, causing Netau to grin wickedly, but instead of being consumed by the orb’s force field, red energy shot forward from her hands and blocked its advance. Slowly, methodically, the orb’s field edged backward. By the time what was really happening registered on Netau’s face, it was too late, he was not only fully consumed by his own, blue white, containment orb, but incased as well in a red one made of Kim’s energy.

Slowly, she relaxed her shoulders, breathing heavily, and stepped forward, bending to the ground to retrieve the red orb. “It’s you who underestimated me.” She said wickedly, watching as his thin figure pounded against the glass enclosure of the first orb within an orb. “Game over. I win.”

“And that’s everything Jason and Carri have been able to share with us.” Andros finished. He paused and let the Red Assembly digest what he’d just briefed them on. Tommy, his former student Kira, Zane and Carri’s brother Josh had all been taken captive. Andros had informed them what the Zeo’s knew, which was that Teeg had three Power Coins and was probably planning on using three of the captives as evil Rangers, but he had omitted the fact that Tommy had been encased in a containment orb and would, according to Jason, most like have perished by now. The Zeos had decided to withhold that information, stressing instead that Tommy was mostly likely too powerful as an evil Ranger for Teeg to control and that he had a higher value as simply a hostage.

None of them knew how well the Assembly would function without its founder, but so far the Rangers seemed eager to face the challenge their world was facing. They had responded quickly and en masse, and all were resolved to rescue those kidnapped and save their world. It was a strong focus for them and no one wanted to spread the insecurities and sense of loss the Zeos were feeling.

Billy estimated the Earth had two to three days before the atmosphere became hazardous to the plants and animals living on it and about five or six before the polar ice caps completely melted and absorbed the coastlines. It was very little consolation that the majority of people in the flood zones would already be dead if things progressed that far.

In just three hours, storms had already begun forming in the tropics and lightening was starting wildfires all across the globe; none of it boded well for them or for future of the planet. At the moment, no one outside the Rangers knew what was going on, but the media was quick to associate the towers with the odd weather patterns and the automated response system was jammed with inquiries. Several high level government offices were also trying alternate communications routes and it was only a matter of time before they demanded a better answer than the computer systems generated; Tommy had been right, they needed a person to communicate with the public. However, the Zeos were lost without their powers and still in shock by how quickly things had turned on them. There was a tenuousness a kind of uneasy aura hovering over those in charge that all present could sense, if not directly name.

“Has anyone found a way to destroy the towers?” TJ asked from the back row.

“What we need is to rescue the Mystic Mother.” Nick insisted from further down and to the side. “That’s where Rita’s getting the power to alter those coins.”

“We need to go after Kemora first.” Cole Evans insisted, standing up and seconded by two of the Wild Force team that had come with him. “If she gains control of the Temple of Power on Muirantias, she’ll also gain control of the animal spirits on both that island and on Phaedos. Animus brought the Wild Zords to Earth from Phaedos. If she controls those sources of power, she could take control of the them on the Animarium. This is exactly what Kim warned Dulcea and Animus about.”

“But people are gonna die if we don’t take out those towers first.” Mack Hartford argued from the opposite corner where three of the Overdrive representatives sat. “We need to combine what strength we have and destroy them before they kill the planet.”

“You guys go do that then.” Nick said, standing up and facing off against the Overdrive red. “We’re going to get our Mystic Mother back.” Those with him agreed loudly and the room erupted with various reds shouting over one another.

“You can’t do a direct assault on the towers.” Jason argued, standing up in the front and raising his hands to silence the debate that was about to start. His eyes found Carri in the back of the room and she rolled her eyes dramatically, as if to indicate the fallacy of the male species in leadership. In this instance, however, he agreed with her. “And dividing up in separate groups is just as deadly.” He said firmly, staring down the two young reds who had begun the shouting. “It won’t work.”

“Then we shift our focus and find another way to win.” Kim said from the doorway. All eyes turned toward her as she stoically proceeded down the steps and into the front of the Assembly followed closely by Jen Collins. Wes’s eyes instantly fixed on his wife, who was supposed to be keeping a low profile, posing as her ancestor, and who wasn’t supposed to know anything about the Power Rangers, but she kept her focus on Kim as she followed her down the steps. “Jason’s right, no one has ever fought the towers and won, but none of us have ever had this much time to prepare for Teeg’s full assault before…and no one has had the added advantage of this Assembly...or my experience with both Teeg and Kemora.

She addressed them head on, demanding their attention, then turned and caught Jason’s eye, knowing what he was thinking; that there had been worlds where the Red Assembly had existed and those worlds had perished.

“There have been worlds who’ve combined the forces of their retired Rangers,” She continued, more for the benefit of Jason and Carri than those before her, “But those worlds were more intent on destroying the towers than saving the people.” She looked up at Mack Hartford and gave him a hard enough look to make him shift uncomfortably. “Or they broke up into small groups and put themselves at a serious disadvantage.” She added, giving Cole and the Mystic Force Red a hard enough looks to make them sit back down in their seats.

“If we can’t destroy those towers, this world will be lost in a matter of days.” Carri spoke up from her place next to Rocky in the back. “It won’t be habitable.” She finished. Kim nodded her head, acknowledging she knew her friend was right.

“Which is why we won’t focus on their destruction.” Kim said firmly. The room around her erupted with comments and she raised both hands, waving everyone silent. “I’m not saying we won’t attempt it,” She said, regaining their attention, “But where the others went wrong was making it their sole focus until it was too late to do anything else. This is a long fight, a full assault on the entire planet by more than one enemy…this is exactly the kind of fight Tommy was preparing us for when he formed the Red Assembly.” She paused again slightly, letting her words sink in. “On the other planets, by the third day, when all hell really breaks loose and the atmosphere is no longer habitable, the other teams lost because they lost their organization, they lost their focus, and lost the time they needed to plan anything else. By the last, crucial hours, their focus was no longer on winning the fight, but on the loved ones they were letting down; those who had died or were dying because they didn’t have the time they needed to find the right solution.”

“So what are you suggesting?” Carter Grayson asked. “That we allow these enemies to destroy our world?” His tone was bitter and  Kim paused until the murmuring around him had come to a complete silence. She then waited a few more seconds, until all eyes were totally focused on her again.

“Andros would be the first to tell you, that it’s the people, not the planet, that makes a world. His people learned that lesson a long time ago. I’m not sure we can save this planet, but we’ll give it our best shot. However, our focus needs to first be on securing the safety of the population, or as much of the population as we can, as well as finding a place for them to go if we fail. Only then do we begin our counter attack.”

“So that’s it? We just give up and hide until Teeg leaves then hope someone takes us in?” Conner jumped up and demanded. “Some of us have friends who were taken.” He said caustically and a few others added their voices to his disgruntled opinion.

“My husband was taken.” She snarled in return, losing her cool momentarily. At her cold stare he slowly sat back down and the voices around him silenced.

“No.” She said firmly, shaking her head and turning back to the assembly with a voice that indicated she wouldn’t allow them to interrupt her again. “I’m not saying we give up the fight before it starts, but I’m saying we don’t make the same mistakes at the onset that the other Rangers in our position did. We need to understand what’s happening here. Teeg knows Rangers, she’s gone up against master Rangers that make our combined forces look like a Kindergarten class. We are not going up against a would-be conqueror, too full of his own importance to keep from getting in his own way. Teeg has no interest in keeping this world alive to conquer, she’s out to kill as many Rangers as she can and she’s going to do it by killing what we hold most dear; our families and our world.” She paused and let her words sink in. “This isn’t just one attack, but several. Kemora is after power, but she isn’t above reveling in a little destruction on the way. Rita and Zedd are annoying, but they shouldn’t be underestimated either. We have multiple attacks being coordinated by different enemies; we have to maintain our focus… or we lose everything.”

“Then it’s true what you said in the park.” Carri interrupted, ignoring her friend’s warning look not to interrupt. “You already know how to defeat Teeg and those towers.” Her words started the reds murmuring again, but the sound died quickly as all eyes focused back on Kim.

“I know how to win the battle we’re facing.” Kim said simply, purposefully sending her friend a look that meant not to interrupt again. Carri’s spine stiffened, but she remained silent as Kim continued. “You know the forces we’re up against. Teeg has begun to lay the groundwork for her assault with the towers. Kemora has been sent to reclaim the Temple of Power on Muirantias and yes,” She looked at Cole, “Through this Temple she will be able to reach Phaedos and the Animarium, but although the Wild Zords and other powers she’ll obtain will be a huge bonus to her and devastating for us, I believe Teeg’s primary objective in sending Kemora to Muirantias is that she thinks I will be rendered powerless if Kemora gains control of the Temple there; but she’s wrong on that front.”

She paused and gathered her thoughts momentarily before continuing. “The Mystic Mother, protector of the Mystic Realm has been captured by Rita and is being held in the Lunar Palace. She’s already transformed herself into a being of light energy, so she’s in no danger of expiring, however, her powers are now at the mercy of whomever controls the containment orb she’d been placed in. This is Rita’s grab for power. Rita will be able to use her power to place the power coins Teeg’s captured under an evil spell; effectively creating evil Rangers. Without the boost of power from the Mystic Mother, I don’t believe she’s good enough to get that job done for Teeg. Tommy, two retired Rangers and a the brother of the current Zeo Yellow have been taken hostage. However Teeg doesn’t take hostages. It’s my belief that Teeg will utilize Zane, Kira, and Josh as evil Rangers. Tommy, she’ll keep alive long enough to see if I’ll behave…and then she’ll kill him in hopes of breaking me and sending a message to the Rangers that she’s powerful enough to kill Zordon’s heir.” She paused, swallowing hard, but no one made a sound. “So you see, this is a simultaneous attack by several villains, but it’s also the well orchestrated strategy of one brilliant enemy.”

Kim took a deep breath and paused, as if considering her words. “What you don’t know, is that none of this was supposed to happen.” She turned and met Jen’s eyes as the room began to murmur again. She turned and walked backward, toward the side of the front podium and jerked her head toward the assembly. Jen gave her a hesitant look and then stepped forward, but the conversations only grew louder.

A shrill, piercing whistle cut through the throng and almost everyone quieted at once. “Are you people the slightest bit interested in learning what’s happening or do you want to waste more time in useless conversation?” Carri growled. More than a few eyes turned back to her in the back of the room and she jerked a finger toward the front as if directing a group of wayward little boys.

“Thank you for your attention.” Jen said with more than a little asperity, taking her cue from Carri’s tone. “Most of you who are familiar with Tommy’s histories know that Time Force, with the exception of the Silver Guardians, returned to the future. Most of the thousand year history they brought with them, returned as well; but not all.” She paused and glanced at Kim, as if to ask permission to continue and Kim nodded back at her. This gesture wasn’t missed by either of the Silver Guardians, who regarded Jen with a cautious curiosity. If Jen revealed she wasn’t her ancestor, but the Pink Time Force Ranger from the year three thousand, she risked expulsion from the current time period or even execution for altering time and disobeying the very laws she’d sworn to uphold. This didn’t sit well with Wesley at all. He loved his wife and had every intention of keeping her with him.

“Several hours ago, a phenomenon known as a Equaline Wave originated and began to spread forward through time.” She paused and took a deep breath, obviously steadying herself. The effect was obvious and immediate with the Rangers in front of her. None of them had heard of this phenomenon, but it was evident that this was not a good thing. “No one thing creates a wave like this. I’ve never seen one, just read about them in Time Force research. This one began with the capture of the Mystic Mother and the arrival of Teeg. It possibly began when Teeg and Kemora joined forces. The end result is that, as of about ten minutes ago, Time Force as we knew them ceased to exist, as did the year three thousand.”

This time there was no eruption of commentary, the Rangers simply stared at her in eerie silence. No one knew what to say, what could be said. Jen nodded, as if understanding their reaction, she’d had a similar one. “In a sense, everything that is happening now, is because the history that was and should be, has been sabotaged. Yes, we have to save this planet, yes we have to stop Teeg, Zedd, and Kemora, but the primary objective, if we are to survive as a race, is to put time back on target.”

“How do we stop this wave?” Eric said stoically.

“I’m not sure.” Jen admitted. “But we have to try and reset it.” She looked around the podium area and found a small extension cord. Laying it out in a flat, straight line, she bent down in a squatting position and looked back up at the Assembly who were readjusting themselves in their seats to get a better view of what she was doing. “If you think of this cord as the timeline, with this end,” and she help up the end of the cord nearest her, “As the present time. Then you snap it.” She jerked her wrist and the cord arced like a whip, the line changing positions. “The wave alters the timeline so it’s now pointing to a different outcome. If you snap it again.” And again she jerked the line and it snapped and twisted haphazardly in another direction. “You don’t put it back to where it was, so we can’t just start another one right behind it. We have to find a way to strategically arc the line back, knowing only the details that we managed to preserve before the wave.” This time the room did erupt in loud conversation and it took two more whistles from Carri to quiet them down. “The wave originated, in the scheme of things, only a short time ago. It’s very possible that if we act quickly, we can snap it back into place with the timeline Time Force told us is supposed to exist.”

“That’s…that’s impossible.” Karone said from her seat by her brother.

“To those who possess the Great Power, all things are possible.” Kim said calmly. Jason met her eyes, his back to the assembly,  the look in them clear that he thought she was promising them too much. She met his gaze head on, almost, but not quite, instilling hope into his pessimistic attitude. “Once upon a time.” Kim said in a louder voice, one that rang, filling the small amphitheater up to the very last row. “Once upon a time, when I was a girl, Zordon lay dying and Ivan Ooze was about to take control of this world. The Mighty Morphin Powers that we had all taken for granted were gone, disintegrated, and the Power Chamber was in ruins. Without any hope of returning home if we failed, Tommy lead us across the galaxy to Phaedos. There, he led us on a quest to find new powers. On faith alone we persevered and returned home to defeat Ivan and reclaim our world.” She paused and considered her words. “Today we face a similar crisis, from not one, but several fronts. We are without sufficient power to fight this battle head on. We are without the leader we have come to depend on for guidance.” Here, her throat caught and the strong dialogue faltered slightly, but she caught herself, and after only a  moment’s hesitation she continued. “But we are not without hope. All of us.” And her voice strengthened as continued, taking them all in. “All of us have touched the Great Power at sometime in our tenure. Although most of us our now powerless compared to our active days, we are all still Rangers. We cannot forget that that Power will still be there when we need it the most. Just as we all learned in our earliest days as Rangers that it takes a whole team, a combination of strengths working in unison, to win the war… we must now join all our forces, learn to work together, in order to defeat this enemy. We must move forward blindly, on faith, knowing there is no way back, but that the fate of all we hold dear lies in the balance. We must reach inside ourselves to where that Great Power still guides our lives and draw forth that power. Together, we will face this challenge, defy these odds, and together….and only together… we will persevere.”

“Even with the Great Power on our side, we’re still short on morphing powers and zords.” Mack, the newest of the reds, said uneasily. Kimberly shifted her gaze to him, eyes holding his firmly.

“Morphing powers and zords will help.” She said firmly, a slight wry edge to her voice. “But they are not necessary to win this war.” She released her lock and gazed purposely at each and every section of the room until all felt she was looking directly at them. “Morphers and zords didn’t help the others who have faced these towers, who have faced Kemora. They’re tools, nothing more. The true power lies within each and every one of us. If you haven’t learned that by now, you’ve failed as a Ranger.”

“And how do accomplish all this?” Cam asked.

“We organize.” Kim said simply. “We do what Tommy intended for us to do. Represented in this room are twelve ranger teams, the others not on this planet have no way to reach us in time and some of us have served on more than one, but all of us have assembled today because we are Rangers and we are needed. This isn’t a fight for three or five or six Rangers to fight individually. For just one team to step forward and rise to the challenge by themselves. This a fight for every team to come together as one mega-team, to unite our forces just as we united with our teammates to form one megazord. From the many, we will form one mighty force and reclaim our planet. This is what Tommy had in mind, although I promise you it never occurred to him he wouldn’t be here to see it to its conclusion, to lead this fight. We cannot let him down, we cannot let our world down, we must finish this fight and finish it together.”

Watching her from the sidelines, Jason wondered if Tommy or even Zordon could have imagined the flighty little pink Mighty Morphin would have morphed into the woman rallying a room full of red Rangers; even he was beginning to draw hope from the cavernous despair that had engulfed him for the last few hours. He knew she was grieving, he could feel it. He knew the source of the grief, knew what the others didn’t…that Tommy was most likely already dead. Under the calm, steady demeanor, she showed before the other reds, she was shaking with grief and loss and he marveled all the more about what she was about to pull off. In his mind’s eye he could almost see Zordon’s pleased smile and he knew his friend would have been very proud of her…he would have also shared Jason’s wry amusement over their favorite little girl’s maturation.

“We have to take one issue at a time.” Kim was saying to them now. “We can’t leave until Teeg deactivates the force field around our planet and the population won’t survive on the surface long enough for us win this conflict; that’s Teeg’s ace. That’s also the trump card we play against her. We need to set our mindset in the beginning that it’s the people we need to save, not the planet. That will free us to do all we must do to finish this battle. Once our loved ones and as much of the population as possible are safe and hopefully have a place to go if we fail, then and only then, can we be totally focused on destroying those towers and reclaiming our world.”

Kim paused as several Rangers caught the fighting spirit and cheered her and voice their support. “We start at the beginning. We have forty-eight hours to get contingencies worked out before Teeg will be ready to begin a full assault.” She continued. “By that time, if we wait, we’ll have less than twenty four hours to save the world before everyone in it begins to die. We already know what’s going to happen. Do we choose the foolish route and use path that our predecessors chose in hopes our outcome will be different?” She paused and looked every Ranger in the room in the eyes. “Or do we shift our focus and make contingency plans for the civilians who are trusting us to save them?”

“Are you suggesting?” Master Watanabe asked calmly. “That we evacuate an entire world?”

“We can’t leave.” Kim said simply, “But we can get as many people as we can into underground shelters until the storm passes. Then, if the Rangers fail, we can at least offer them hope of a new life elsewhere. It’s the best shot we’ve got.”

“There aren’t enough caves and shelters on the planet to put the population of Earth into.” Cam said incredulously.

“We save as many as we can.” Kim said seriously. “I realize I ask the impossible, but the cruel reality is that we need to secure the families of those who are about to fight what might just prove the last battle for Earth. I need each and every person who is committed to this task one thousand percent focused. That’s not going to happen if people start bailing at the last second to save loved ones.”

Master Watanabe held her gaze purposefully for a moment and she returned it calmly, silently asking him to understand that she had already considered the ramifications of her actions. “Tommy created this Assembly for one purpose and one purpose only, to defend our way of life. We need to be prepared to accept that that life may need to be continued elsewhere with whatever survivors we can save.”

“If I might make a suggestion?” A quiet but strong voice asked and Kim was surprised to see Odonna sitting with the other representatives of the Mystic Force team. She hadn’t seen her friend earlier and wondered how she’d managed to blend in with all the male faces around her. “The islands of Mikumur within the Mystic Realm. They’re isolated, unpopulated, and avoided by those within our borders because magic cannot be practiced there. We could temporarily host large numbers of refugees; in the short term anyway.”

“I’m not familiar with those islands.” Kim said frankly. She was surprised actually, she knew a great deal about the Mystic Realm and the Mystic Mother’s rule there.

“I’m afraid your refugees wouldn’t be very comfortable. It’s a hot, wet climate, but one that supplies ample drinking water, food, and shelter. However, there are more than twenty islands in a large arc across the Gossamar Sea. Each stretches from several hundred to several thousand tempats.”

“What’s a tempat?’ Jason asked.

“Just over a mile…more or less.” Kim answered, nodding at Odonna. “Your generosity on behalf of the Mystic Ream is welcomed. We’ll discuss the details later.”

Kim’s mind was reeling. Even with all the shelters on Earth and the generous offer of those islands, she knew that millions would still perish, but it was the only option that hadn’t been explored. The truth was, she’d cheated. She’d used her powers to go back over and over again across dimensions, spent months studying what had caused the others to fail. After nearly a year of travel, she was barely closer to an answer than she had been before she’d encased Netau in her orb.

Returning back to her own time just three hours later, she then made two more short trips. The first nearly a week prior to the tower where she’d briefed Cole on the Animarium and asked Princess Shayla to assemble the Wild Force Rangers in defense of Muirantias. She didn’t know Animus except by reputation, but Animus knew Dulcea; and she was Dulcea’s student. It hadn’t been that hard of a sell and she knew Cole and the others were simply awaiting her order to proceed. The second trip had been a jump back to just three days prior, to explain the oddities of what happened to Wes’s wife, Jen Collins. Jen owed her a favor, Kim had been able to convince the local time guardians that she was actually her ancestor and had helped her to find a suitable identity as her ancestor in the twenty first century. But nothing had prepared her for the reality of what she was about to do. To order the Rangers into a plan of action that had never been tried before. Never tried…but never failed either. She wasn’t even sure they’d listen to her, she wasn’t Tommy, but at least they seemed to be listening.

She turned to face the Rangers at the podium and took a deep breath, She knew Jason could feel the conflict in her. She also knew he was beginning to sense the changes in her too. The anger had tempered, but the power lay just below the surface and was still difficult to hide.

“First thing first. We have three days before Teeg is ready for a full assault across the entire planet.” She said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “We have a good twenty-four hours to get the population to safety, twenty if you deduct the four we’ve wasted gathering and briefing everyone. I need every Ranger in here to contact the others on his or her team. I then need one representative from each team…not the red…who will coordinate the evacuation of the family members.”

“Why not the red?” Mack asked.

“Because once the families are settled, I need at least one representative on each team to remain behind and help coordinate things here and deal with the issues of putting a large population into a very small space while the rest of us take up other duties. This will be a huge undertaking. We need to stay organized and set up a chain of command among ourselves with many of us taking on double, even triple duties.”

She paused and turned to the small group behind her. “Andros. You and Ashley will lead the family evacuation and handle the organization of the Ranger families. If we fail against the Towers, you two are responsible for staying alive and seeing them relocated.” It sounded harsh, but Andros came from a race of people who had already suffered this scenario, he was the best person to take the lead should they lose. He was also the first of the retirees to have a family and Kim knew there would be enough orphans on the planet before Teeg was done. “Settle them close, on level eight itself if possible… there’s also the bunkers behind the Zeo’s Command Center. You have about six hours to get them completely settled before we start informing governments that they’re going to need to evacuate their populations and chaos truly reins on this planet.”

“We can’t get level eight and those bunkers ready in six hours.” Billy interrupted and she turned to him. “The security measures required to keep them out of the places they shouldn’t be in will be complicated enough, but then we have to stabilize the caverns and make them habitable.” He argued. “There’s waste facilities, food storage and preparation sites, heating/cooling, sleeping quarters…”

“You’re right.” Kim said plainly. “You have about four hours to make your modifications and about an hour and a half to cram everyone in.” She gave him a hard look he’d never seen on her before and she turned back to Andros. “I also want you stretching your diplomatic skills farther than you’ve ever reached before. We can’t leave, but I can make you a limited communications orb like Zordon once had. You need to use it to negotiate for KO-35.”

“For Earth’s use?” He asked incredulously. “That’s not going to go over very well.”

“They’ve opened it up to non-Kaoan colonization and Mirinoi’s going to balk at the numbers we’re gonna throw at them. I need you to play every card you’ve got and then some. Earth has more Power Rangers and Ranger families than any other planet in the known universe. Use a massive guilt trip if you have to, the Kaoans would still be living nomadically in caves if the Rangers hadn’t kicked Dark Specter’s ass into oblivion. They owe us. Make sure they damn well know it. It that doesn’t work, promise them all the asbestos on the planet; that’s the one substance that we know will survive Teeg’s assault. Money talks when good will doesn’t.”

She turned her back on him, effectively dismissing him, and faced Cole Evans. “ Power up.” She said simply and he and the two men with him jumped up and left the Assembly.

Turning to the Mystic Force group, she ignored Nick and looked directly at Leanbow. “Outside and to the left, down about four doors is conference room eight-C. Meet me in there and Jason and I will give you everything we have on the Lunar Palace.”

She then walked over to the Silver Guardians. “Initially, I need the Silver Guardians to help organize the public evacuations. You’re better equipped and set up to take on that responsibility; even though you’re going to have to seriously divide your forces. Get your families settled and then I suggest you join forces with the Ninja Academy. Get every student ninja they’ll lend you and merge them with your forces. After that, coordinate with the Overdrive team, they’re a new team, but they know this planet fairly well. Their Command Center is also set up for world operations. Divvy up by continents and start people moving. This is a huge responsibility and I’d rather have two senior reds that are used to working together coordinate it, but I’ll also understand if the two of you want to join your former team mates and work on the Equaline Wave.”

“What do mean work with our former teammates?” Wes asked, standing and shifting his focus between Kim and his wife.

“That would be us.” The familiar female voice of Katie said saucily and Wes and Eric look up to see not only the entire former Time Force team, but the reformed Nadira and Ransik. “Cole told us to come on in.” She said, cocking her head to Kim, who nodded.

“How?” Wes asked in amazement. “I thought the year three thousand didn’t exist anymore.”

“Kim was able to get us out just before the wave hit and wiped everything out.” Trip answered with a grin. “Talk about a rough ride back...”

“How?” Wes asked again, turning to Kimberly.

“I cheated.” Kim said with as close to a snarl as anyone who knew her had ever heard. “Catch up and then decide how you’re going to proceed.” She said roughly, indicating with her hands that they should also exit.

“Carter.” She said with a military authority that made him grin. “Lightspeed and NASADA need to open their books to each other and share data...willingly. We’re gonna need zords. Lots and lots of zords. Enough for an entire team to fight each of those towers. Take Hailey and Dino Thunder’s former blue….Ethan…Ethan James.” She said, closing her eyes and fumbling for a second on his name. “Don’t get original, we just need machines to do the brute work and as many Rangers as you can get into uniform to man them. Once the families are settled, you and Lightspeed will lead the reds on the actual attack against Teeg’s towers.”

“What about morphers?” Hayley asked, coming up from behind her and moving in Carter’s direction.

“You make them, I’ll charge them.” Kim said simply, squelching the knee jerk reaction to admit that she wasn’t positive she’d be able to pull that feat off. 

“We need a grid.” Haley said matter of factly. “It’s not your Zeo crystals that have the virus, it’s the grids. They spread it between themselves and shut down within a matter of minutes from each other.”

“All of them?” Kim asked, astonished, looking at Jason, who nodded solemnly.

“Then we’ll figure that out when the time comes.” She said simply. Hayley nodded once to her, as if she completely expected that answer, then to Carter as if to say they needed to get to work.

“What about me?” Billy said. “I’ve got a thousand new designs at minimum in my lab’s data banks.”

“Then release the designs to Hayley.” Kim said, with a look of sympathy that gave him just enough of a nod to indicate she understood that wasn’t going to be easy for him. “I need you in the Zeo’s Command Center figuring out how to place everyone inside our doors and then keeping everyone organized. You’re the only one I know that is completely capable of managing that kind of organized and diverse chaos.” She said firmly and he nodded, not exactly pleased, but understanding what his role would be.

“Theodore.” Kim said, turning with a grin towards Tommy’s friend TJ.

“Yes ‘mam.” He answered, coming down the center aisle. “I know you’re part of the Astro team, but I need you to take Conner and the Dino Thunder white and get Turbo up and running. Justin Stewart shouldn’t be too hard to get a hold of and I know he’s got a certain car that he shouldn’t…as do you. You three and whoever you can grab will be in charge of coordinating evacuations of the world governments themselves. That means working with the Silver guardians, but you’ll be in charge of making sure the governments stay intact as they go underground, not the civilians. That’s where Justin comes in, he needs to find a way to stabilize the computer systems of the banking and world trade organizations so that we can hopefully keep them from crashing and then get them back up and running again like nothing happened. You’re going to have to work the fastest and then tell the other teams where to take people.” Then, seeing the look on his face, added. “Don’t panic, you’ve got a lot of good people to draw from in the in the older guard, Turbo had two full teams, contact them and put them to work. Off the top of my head I suggest you get Kat dealing with Australia, Tonya and Aisha with Africa, and Trini with Europe; yes, I know.” She said off to the side at Billy’s raised eyebrow, “She’s Mighty Morphin and we need her down here, but she can give him a lot of good advice during the planning phase.” She paused and took a deep breath, thinking hard about something. “ I think, but I’m not sure, that Hartford on the Overdrive team has connections in India and the Middle East, but you better check me on that; I’m only going on a side comment of Tommy’s. Anton Mercer and Wesley’s father also have government connections. After that you’re on your own to handle things as you see fit.”

She turned to the rest of the room and located her current teammates. “I need the current Zeos, who just happen to also be mostly Mighty Morphins minus Zack, to figure out the best way to brief the world leaders on what needs to happen and then oversee the all individual evacuation teams. This isn’t going to be easy, there’s gonna be a lot of questions coming at us fast and furious and we need to be able to make fast decisions. The good news is that we won’t have time to deal with the mistakes until long after it’s already done.” She scanned the room again and called after Karone, who was about to leave with her brother. “I need you with the current Zeos.” She explained when Karone returned.

“Why me?”

“Because we’re going to be coordinating the initial contact with the world leaders. You once convinced the entire legion of evil to work together. If you can do that, you can handle a room full of Earth’s heads of state. They need to understand this isn’t a joke and we don’t have time to persuade them nicely to trust us. Once the evacuations are underway, I need you to help Billy keep the chain of command in tact; there are very few who will argue with you when you’ve got your hackles up, but at the same time you can keep your temper in check. It’s a trait you share with Tommy. We’ve got a diverse groups of Rangers who have never worked with one another. Toes are gonna get stepped on and more than one red is already scared of you.”

“And what’s my assignment?” Jason asked, turning to her as Karone turned to follow her brother and the conference room emptied.

“I need you to take charge as red leader and pull this off.” She answered curtly. “Someone’s gonna have to have the final word on things and you’re the original red Ranger.”

“Oh no.” Jason responded shaking his head. “This is your baby sweetheart.”

“No.” Kim said, shaking her head as well. “I just found a direction that hadn’t been tried. I’m not Tommy and I’m not you. Once my family is settled, I need to go to Muirantias and help Cole, then I have to search out a power source strong enough to crush those towers. The reds need a strong leader at the helm or this will never work.”

“They have a strong leader.” He said firmly, then poked his index finger roughly in her shoulder. “You.”

“Jase, that’s not funny. I don’t have time to argue this. I’ve set it up, I went back in time and found most, if not all the answers we need, but we don’t have time to play games. You need to lead this, not me.” She said insistently. “You’re the senior red, you have the experience needed, and you’re well respected by the other red leaders. They’ll listen to you, I’m not strong enough to keep them in line during the critical hours.”

To her dismay, and also to her disgruntlement, he laughed at her. Her eyes flashed an angry red and he held up both hands as if to keep her at bay.

“Kimberly, did you listen to anything you just said? Do you even know what you just did?” He asked and her forehead knotted in confusion. “You came in and took charge with every bit as much authority as Tommy. You told them what we were going to do, didn’t allow anyone to argue with you, then you handed out assignments, and each and every one of them jumped up to follow your orders.”

“Jase…” She started in an argumentative tone.

“No.” He said decisively, cutting her off. “This is no different than when you and me and Carri got swept up in that time portal that took us back six thousand years to Ivan’s first attack. You took charge, provided answers when there weren’t any, and gave everyone hope.”

“That’s totally different.” She argued, voice rising in frustration.

“How?”

“For one thing,” She sputtered, “I already knew the answers. I knew how we found Ivan six thousand years later, what worked and what didn’t when fighting him, how he was contained, and I knew how Tommy eventually defeated him.”

“And this time you also provided the answers everyone was looking for.”

“But this is so totally different it isn’t even funny.”

“How so?”

“I...” She answered, mind reeling and looking for the right thing to say to convince him how utterly wrong her was. “I don’t know how this is going to turn out.” She confessed and winced as he laughed outright at her again.

“Kimberly!” He bellowed at her. She was reverting into ninny mode and he fully intended to slap her out of it. He’d seen her in action as a red, knew she could do it, saw the same things in her that Tommy and the others had, but for some weird reason, she didn’t see it in herself. That could be deadly for all involved if she didn’t snap out of it. Every red doubted themselves at one point or another, it was part of the job, but now was not the time.

“What?” She asked, giving him a dumbfounded look. He regarded her sternly for a moment, allowing a silence to settle in the room. Almost everyone had left, but Carri, Rocky, Billy and Trini had lingered behind.

“How much time did you borrow to research this out?” He asked plainly. He wasn’t sure what the right term for it was, but he knew there was bending time and then there was out and out abusing the concept to your own advantage. He’d felt the changes in her from the moment she’d walked into the room. Her powers had matured far too rapidly for her not to have been off doing something coercive for far longer than the few hours that had passed. She starred at him blankly, obviously caught, but unwilling to admit just how long she’d been gone. “All right, I’ll rephrase it. How many alternate worlds have you studied in regards to the particular situation we now find ourselves in?”

“Enough to realize what won’t work and come up with a plan that might.” She said defensively, not meeting his eyes until the last word was said.

“In this situation.” He said sternly, holding her eyes. “You are the experienced red. You’re the only one who knows what you know. You’re the only one qualified to make the kind of knee jerk commands in those critical moments that are necessary to win this war and keep as many Rangers as possible alive. The rest of us will fall back on the tried and true, you’re the only one who knows this situation backward and forward and you know what’s gonna work and what won’t.”

“I can tell you what you need to know.” She said, shaking her head. He didn’t know what she was going to have to do to destroy those towers and fix the Equaline Wave. If she stayed, they’d need her to be alive to lead the final attack and that was something she just wasn’t planning on. Tommy was gone, there was no reason to stay on Earth now, and just maybe things would go back to normal if she sacrificed herself.

Thomas said history had changed by her survival; she could change that. By following Zordon’s precedent, she could give them the power they needed and possibly fix the wave at the same time. She would do her best for the Rangers and her family by seeing them safely evacuated, then she’d get them the power they needed to win the fight and destroy Teeg. Jason didn’t understand yet the price that would be demanded for what had to be done; she did…so had Zordon.

“Sweetheart, we don’t have time.” Jason said gently.

“Tommy once said that time would never be an issue for me. I can make the time to teach you what you need to know.” She argued and again he frustrated her by chuckling.

“He was right.” Jason acknowledged. “But so am I. Whether you like it or not Kim, you’ve made yourself head red. The others are all out following your orders and when the time comes it will be you, not me, not Andros, not Carter…it’s you they’re all gonna look to. Tommy’s not here,” He continued, placing a hand on her shoulder as she blanched at the mention of her husband’s name. “God help me I wish he was, but he’s not, and everyone is now looking at you. I’ll back you up sweetie, we all will, but you’re calling this one; no one else.”

“I agree.” Carri said, lending her voice to the conversation. “I fought with you against Ivan, I’ve worked with you cross dimensionally. You’re the only one who can take on both Teeg and Kemora at the same time and you know it.”

“I concur as well.” Billy said slowly. “You’ve fought all three of the enemies we face. You’ve apparently already worked with more than one of the teams represented here, and the reds seem willing to follow your orders. Delegation is the key, I believe, if we are to effectively utilize our strengths, and you‘ve mastered that aspect very well.”

“I can’t.” Kim said decisively. “I have to get things going here and then leave to find the power source we need to pull this off.”

“That’s the thing about being the red.” Jason countered just as firmly. “Even when you can’t, you still do.”

The others nodded and formed a circle around her. Kim placed both hands on either side of her face and closed her eyes tightly. She wasn’t Tommy, she wasn’t sure at all she could pull this off and there was absolutely no wiggle room for any error.

“Sweetheart,” Jason said gently and she opened her eyes to look at him. “If you’re not scared, you don’t understand the situation. You can do this. We all believe in you.”

Again, the others nodded and she sighed helplessly. “Alright.” She said softly. “Let’s get started.”

When Kim found her mother a half an hour later, she and Andre were unloading groceries in the driveway of their borrowed house.

“Kim!” Her mother said with relief, rushing towards her and hugging her tightly. “I’ve been calling your cell phone since this morning. Where have you been? Have you seen the black monolith? The news says they’re all over, there’s even one outside Paris, I’m so worried about your step sisters, they’re supposed to fly in later this evening and I don’t even know if their plane took off…”

“Let’s go inside.” Kim said softly with a tense smile that made her mother pause.

“Andre and I went to the store and stocked up on water and canned foods.” Her mother continued as Kim gently turned her around and guided her toward the house. “Andre thinks I’m over reacting, the news doesn’t say anything about stocking up yet, but I’ve lived in Angel Grove before. I’m  not the only one thinking this way either, the store was packed.”

“Have you heard from Michael and Uncle Steven?” Kim asked in the same calm tone as they crossed the doorway.

“Yes.” Her mother said, nodding and moving into the family room where Charlotte was sprawled across the couch watching a Hanna Montana DVD. “Charlotte turn that off, we need to keep the news on honey.”

“But the news is sooo boring.” She responded with an exaggerated groan. “All about the monolith and the weather…over and over…blah blah blah…” She said dramatically as she rolled off the couch with a thud, then bounced up to grab her DVD out of the player. “I’m gonna watch this in my room.” She said with a huge pout, breezing by Kim as if her sister wasn’t even there. “Even if the TV in there is super tiny and I can’t see anything on it.” She stomped down the hall and closed the bedroom door with a thud.

“It’s not like she hasn’t watched this same disk thousands of times.” Andre said in his heavy accent, giving Kim a dry look. “So what has brought the most elusive little of our girls out of hiding this morning eh? Your mother has been very worried.”

“Sit down.” Kim said and gestured for them to sit on the couch. Only when they were seated and staring up at her expectantly did she sit in the recliner across from them and turn to face them seriously. “What I’m about to tell you is strictly confidential. I need your word that it doesn’t go past this room.”

“Kimberly, what’s this all about?” Her mother asked in a tone that she had often used on Kim as a teenager.

“I’m deadly serious mom. What you are about to hear can go no further than this room.”

“Alright.” Andre said, giving her a far more serious look than her mother. “We promise to keep whatever it is you have to tell us to ourselves.”

“I’m afraid that’s not good enough.” Kim said, her face stern and detached. “I need you both to give your word to me individually and you will both be held individually responsible for your secrecy.”

“Kimberly, this is ridiculous.” Her mother said, standing. “I have a trunk full of groceries to unload.” She said dismissively, beginning to move past Andre. He held out a hand and moved her quietly, but firmly back in to her seat. He gave her a firm look and she exhaled loudly. “Fine. Ok, I promise not to say anything.”

“As do I.” Andre said, nodding his head.

“I need you to pack enough food and clothing for two weeks.” Kim said without preamble. “Pack for cold as well as warm weather. You’ll also need blankets, pillows and utensils.”

“What?” Her mother asked and opened her mouth as if to say more, but Andre hushed her.

“Pile everything in an eight by eight space, nothing bigger. Start with mattresses with the linens attached. In exactly four hours, at…” She paused and looked at the digital display on the DVD player. “At exactly twelve forty five, be on top of that pile and don’t move…not for anything. Don’t be late, don’t go to the bathroom, don’t go to answer the phone. Stay right there and don’t move. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back here to help you, but if not, just hang tight and hold on.”

“What?” Her mother asked, puzzled. “ That’s it? That’s you’re huge secret that we can’t tell anyone?”

 “I can’t stay.” Kim said, ignoring the question and standing up. “I still have Michael and Uncle Steven to visit as well as Grandma. Remember, not a word to anyone.”

 “What the hell is going on here?” Her mother asked, eyes blazing. “What are you talking about?”

“The planet’s being evacuated.” Kim said in a hard tone that neither her mother nor Andre had ever heard before. Standing before them, she didn’t look like Kim at all, she looked hard and fierce, like a soldier. Almost like, her mother mused to herself, the boy she’d married. “I managed to find limited space for most of my family, but I can’t take everyone. Not a word about this to anyone.” She warned again.

“My girls…” Andre began in an almost panicked tone, but Kim nodded and cut him off.

“Have already been taken out of Paris to a secure location, as have Isabelle’s husband and his parents.” Kim answered, referring to her middle step sister and her husband.

“Kimberly Ann Hart.” Her mother said with an angry tone. “I asked you tell me what this is all about.”

“I told you, the planet’s being evacuated.” She said, turning for the door. “And my last name is Oliver.”

Billy was beyond frustrated and it showed on both his face and in his tone with the others. After snarling at the group of intruders who had set up shop to do zord research in the back of his lab, he sat down with a thud behind his main computer consol and virtually attacked the keyboard with a venom that made it nearly rebel on him.

There were far more refugees coming in than they had space for; and this was just the first wave of family members that they were dealing with now. They had arranged to meet with as many heads of state as could be organized and once word got out, it would be a panic the likes of which Earth had never seen. It was mind boggling.

But it was the families he had to focus on now, that was the task that Kim had assigned him to deal with first. If he got too far ahead of himself he’d simply crumple. The small task of organizing them was horrendous enough and they’d only just begun. It was blindingly painful when you looked into a Ranger’s eyes and told them someone had to be excluded, that they couldn’t bring everyone. So far they had caved and agreed to take on more than they should, but where did you draw the line? Your parents? Your grandparents? Your in-laws? Your cousins? How did you draw the line?

When you thought of each team of Rangers, it wasn’t so bad, but then you multiplied it by three to six team members, then added parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents and it became a huge nightmare. The harsh reality that there were going to be millions out there that wouldn’t survived weighed heavily on him.

Not everyone had family, as in Cole Evan’s case, but then you looked at someone like Rocky’s family and the list stretched out forever. A line had to be drawn. He didn’t like it, but getting people into a shelter was one thing, feeding them and keeping conditions sanitary was another. It had fallen to him to draw that line. It was a god-like power he didn’t like and didn’t want. Kim and Jason had both given him long looks of sympathy and had backed him up at each confrontation, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

“Relax.” Trini crooned, coming up from behind him. He actually tensed up harder at her touch and, concerned, she slid her hands across his shoulders and tried to rub some of the knots away.

“Not now.” He bristled harshly, shrugging her hands away. Then, realizing  how curt he’d been, turned around, softened his eyes, and slid his arms around her waist. Leaning his head on her swelling stomach he muttered a sincere apology. At the feel of the baby, he physically began to shake. He would protect his little family with his dying breath, so how could he refuse Ranger’s family? His was an impossible and horrendous task, but he had to focus on those he could save, like his wife and his baby. He couldn’t think of the others, not yet anyway. There would be time for that after the last of battles was waged.

Perhaps, if they were lucky, they’d be able to save their world, but a bigger part of him knew that Kim, Carri, and Jason wouldn’t be going to such lengths if they thought the odds were in their favor. And what would be left of their world if they did? He’d run the data over and over. In just the first few hours it was already impossibly hot outside. Volcanos were erupting all over the place for no reason and the melting rate of the ice at the poles was staggering. Huge tropical storms were forming off the coast of Africa, threatening to tear up the West Indies and head for the mainland in Mexico and the United States. The Pacific wasn’t any better except those storms were brewing lightening and not rain. Lightening would cause fires like it had in the mid-west and when the infrastructure crumpled…

“I have to figure this out.” He said, pulling back, but still keeping one hand on her belly. “If I relax, I might miss something. Level eight is going to be jammed to capacity and those bunkers just don’t want to stabilize. Every level in every complex is going to be jammed with NASADA family members.” He muttered angrily.

The decision by the coordinators to include the staff and scientists at the NASADA complex in the initial family evacuation hadn’t set well with him. Of course, now everyone on every level, not just level eight, was looking to him to figure it out. He felt a bit guilty about being angry and resentful, but a huge part of him just wanted them to figure things out for themselves.

“I don’t like seeing you so stressed.” She said, running one hand in a caress through his hair. “It’s too bad we can’t just double the space on each level.” She murmured, then frowned as he pulled back and gave her an incredulous look.

“That’s it!” He said, jumping up, grabbing her head in both hands and kissing her soundly on her forehead. “You’re a genius!”

“What?” She asked, as he raced out of the lab, but he didn’t stop to explain himself. She sighed heavily and went to seek out the others in the scientific team who had taken over the other half of the lab to research zords and morphers.

He was cold; frozen. That was all he knew. His limbs were like solid blocks of ice; stiff and immovable. He didn’t know where he was; the white, snowy mist around him obscured everything. It settled on his skin like a cold water torture; prickly, cold, and wet. There was no escape from it.

There was nothing here except that cold, freezing mist swirling around him. No sight, no sound, just the blanket of white and the painful feel of the icy sleet. He’d stopped shivering a long time ago, his body accepting that that it would soon freeze. His heart had significantly slowed the rhythmic pumping of the congealing blood through his arteries and he wanted so desperately to sleep.

He was vaguely aware of wondering why he hadn’t already succumbed to the blissful darkness that would take away the painful burning of the arctic air around him, allow him some peace. Then he remembered something. It was the thought he had told himself firmly, in a more lucent moment, that he could never forget, had to remember, but now he wasn’t exactly sure why.

The memory didn’t make sense to him anymore. A pair of doe brown eyes and a distant feeling of something that was warm and comforting. He didn’t understand them, but continued to hold them firmly in his mind. It was a feeling of home, of his life before, but what that life was, he didn’t know anymore; just as he no longer knew who he was or why he had been subjected to the mists around him. He replayed the memory over and over again, just as he had done before the cold consumed him, simply because that was what he’d been doing before. Perhaps later, when the cold left him, he’d remember why.

Numbly, he began to realize that the mist was more wet than cold; the moisture had begun beading against his skin rather than freezing to it. A fierce, aching pain began to shoot through his frozen limbs; the kind of pain that comes when you pour hot water over cold fingers. It was worse than being on fire. It was almost as if the rigid, frozen limbs would snap off; like the crust of a log breaking in two after the flame had consumed it.

That’s when the sound hit him; shrill and penetrating. It tore through his already addled mind, threatening to tear it apart. He tried to cover his ears with his hands, but his limbs were still too frozen and full of the thawing pain to obey him; they remained fixed to his sides in the last place he’d commanded them to stay.

Fervently, he forced his mind to remember the eyes, the feeling of warmth and home. It was a tenuous memory at best now, drifting back into the realm of a dreamlike quality, but still he held onto it fiercely; holding on to it as if life itself depended on keeping it safe and alive within him.

Anger assaulted him then. Anger that someone would wake him from the oblivion that had come to mercifully take him, anger that the reality of the memory was seemingly more dreamlike than real, anger at the pain coursing through his thawing extremities, anger at the screeching sound that tore his mind apart as effectively as a shredder cruelly eating a thin piece of paper.

Like a dog who had been whipped to the breaking point, he lashed out at the pain, only to have that same precious memory of warmth and security mock him from behind those half remembered brown eyes. It was only a dream, he decided, one that continued to haunt him as he slowly emerged back into the reality of life.

He was awake now, he realized as the strident noise ceased it’s assault, but where he was and who had wakened him remained to be seen. Anger, frustration, and even a sadness, a kind of grief over the loss of his dream, assaulted him. Through the confusion, a trumpeting music found its way to his mind, replacing the painful screeching. It embraced him; high and clear and melodic. He knew that music, remembered it with a sigh that reached every part of his body. Dragonzord, welcoming him after so long of an absence.

This was his true homing he realized, not the strange, foreign eyes and soft warmth. A new kind of warmth penetrated him now, hot and unyielding and he thrilled to it as the power coursed through his thawing limbs. He still wasn’t sure where he was or who had saved him from oblivion. All he knew, as the frost melted slowly away from his ice scorched eyes and the dim room around him slowly swirled into focus, was that he was back…and this time he’d destroy them all.

“That’s not gonna leave a whole hell of a lot of head room.” Jason said, eyes perusing Billy’s rough, hand scratched sketches.

“We need capacity, not height. This will allow us to take in everyone on our lists now and then some.”

“But will we be able to power that space? Keep it filtered as well as the huge list of everything else you need?”

“My criteria  shouldn’t need to be altered that dramatically.” Billy said, shuffling through his notes to find the page he needed. He’d been searching out Kim, but finding himself in the middle of a huge crowd, all demanding her attention, he’d turned to Jason and Carri. “I have the ability to filter the main power grid through the Cridarian crystal grid in Zordon’s old storage unit. That combined with the other sources we’re utilizing should boost our own power grid and allow for a limited, but stable utilization on each new sub-level… at least enough to keep the air filtration and sanitation units operational…lighting might be a little dim, but we can make do.”

“Will that compromise the Command Center at all?” Carri asked.

“No, it shouldn’t.” Billy answered. “Not significantly anyway.”

“So you’re proposing that we effectively create a whole new floor on each level of every building.” Jason said, absently rubbing his chin while thinking.”

“It will double the space we have and allow us to use the bunkers to store food supplies and other material.”

“Yeah, but anyone over six feet isn’t gonna be able to stand up straight.” Carri said, thinking of her dad and some of her cousins.

“Well then we’re going to have to choose.” Billy snapped, causing the others to look up from the drawings. “Do we want them to be able to stand up straight or live through this?”

Carri glanced at Jason, who returned her look. “I think the answer is obvious.” She returned.

“Then I’ll get started.” Billy said, gathering his notes. “I’m going to need to utilize most of the Rangers on base to get this done before the families begin to arrive.” He looked up and Jason nodded at him.

“Take whoever you need, but we have to have everyone inside before we brief the world council in New York.” He said gruffly. Billy nodded and turned, leaving as quickly as he’d descended upon them.

“Have we decided who’s gonna do that briefing?” Carri asked.

“Kim.” Jason said firmly.

“Anyone told her that?”

“Nope.” He answered, giving her a wry look. “She’s got enough to worry about right now.”

Kim’s mother was screaming. High and loud and nothing her husband or her former brother in law did could stop her.

“It’s alright…” Trini was saying in an overly calm voice as Kim raced into the transport area. “I understand how frightening the first transport can be, but you’re safe now and we need you to move away from your possessions so the boys can take them to your assigned space.”

 Kim didn’t stop to think what she was doing, she simply marched over to her mother and slapped her hard across the face, causing those around her to protest her actions.

“I’m sorry.” She said brusquely, and she honestly was, but they were already massively behind schedule and she didn’t want her family getting extra time at the expense of someone else’s family. “We don’t have time for this. Pull yourself together. There are a lot of other people waiting in line and they can’t be transported in until this area is clear. Do what they tell you to now and have your meltdown later.”

“I’m pregnant.” Her mother hissed at her. Starring at her daughter as if she were a stranger. Kim was dressed in a grey uniform not unlike those that the Astro team had used years ago, making her look far more severe and authoritative than she normally would have been otherwise. It was simpler, they had decided, and everyone could tell at a glance who was a Ranger and what color they were. “What if that….that…process…harmed my baby.” Her mother stammered.

“Then it would be a first in galactic history.” Kim said sternly, omitting that it still happened in one out of every ten thousand or so transports of pregnant women. “Now pick yourself up and move.” She turned on her heel and would have marched off to deal with the seemingly thousands of questions and demands people were making of her, when her communicator chirped. Oblivious to her family staring at her, she stopped up short and answered it.

“We’ve got a problem.” Jason’s voice came through.

“What now?” She responded, voice weary and exasperated with all that was going on. She had bent time too closely again and way too many times. Between that and the stress of everything going on, she was ready to drop. The only thing that kept her upright was the knowledge that, if she sat down, the pain and loss of grief she was holding at bay would overwhelm her. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to get up again after that; so she kept going.

“Monster.” Jason said curtly. “A rather nasty one too.”

“I’m on my way.” Kim answered and transported out in a flash of pink and red light, leaving her family staring open mouthed behind her.

“How the hell are we gonna fight those things without morphing powers?” Carri asked as Kim transported in.

“What things?” She asked, walking over to join her team mates at the consol. The lack of Tommy’s presence in the room was like a massive void. Everything in it reminded her of him and the grief once more tired to creep through her determination to destroy Teeg and Kemora. She didn’t want to live; it was that simple. The void was just too great and the borrowed time she’d taken hadn’t healed it. All the power in the universe would never be enough to fill the emptiness her husband had left behind. She had fought the pit to come back to him, to join her life with his, now she wanted to curl up in a ball and let life go on without her. Taking a deep breath to strengthen her resolve once more, she reminded herself that she had no time for self pity or grief; no one did. She had a job to do and she would finish it.

“Super charged claybots.” Jason muttered angrily. “The kind the towers produce.”

“Do we have anyone with a working morpher yet?” Kim asked.

“Working morphers we have an abundance of.” Billy answered, busily tapping on his consol. “It’s the grids that are the problem.”

“They all communicate with one another,” Adam said with a frustrated look. “In the past, that was an advantage. You could stabilize one grid by asking for help from another. In this case though, when one came down with Teeg’s virus, they all crashed.”

“Any luck decontaminating them?” She asked hopefully, but Billy shook his head.

An alarm blared and they looked up in unison to the viewing screen to watch the monster tearing up the dock area of the industrial section. Kim started to say something, then stopped as her communicator chirped once again. Her shoulders sank and she closed her eyes, letting out a short exasperated sigh. Her communicator had chirped nonstop the last few hours and she was seriously beginning to hate the sound of it. Steeling herself, she forced her voice to answer politely.

“I’ve had a communication.” Karone’s voice said on the other end. Kim looked up and met Jason’s eyes with a surprised look.

“Transport to the Command Center.” Kim said, then watched as her friend walked out of the beam that appeared in front of her. “What kind of communication?” she asked, but Karone paused momentarily and looked uneasily at the faces around her. “This is no time for secrets Karone.” Kim said, trying her best to keep the frustration and fatigue out her voice. “We need to share data willingly or we put everyone at a disadvantage.”

Satisfied, Karone shrugged. “It doesn’t make any sense.” She said, addressing Kim and ignoring the others. This was her project. She’d share the information, but she didn’t have to like it. “All he said was: There are four colors in the rainbow.”

“Who said?” Carri asked. “And what’s that mean? There are four colors in the rainbow. Some kind of code?”

“Duh.” Karone said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She didn’t know Carri very well, despite the fact the she and Kim were very good friends, and she wasn’t exactly keen on getting to know her either. They’d had one or two run-ins since she’d volunteered to cover for Carri; neither of them had been warm and fuzzy. Carri’s eyes narrowed, but she held her tongue.

“My spy.” Kim answered, ignoring the raised eyebrows around her and thinking carefully. She inhaled deeply and pressed the bottom of her palms against her eyes. “Four colors…four colors…oh my god!” She shouted, hands coming down and eyes meeting Jason’s head on. “Teeg’s got four Rangers!”

“Kemora only took three hostages.” Carri said, jumping down from the unused counter she’d been sitting on and coming up next to Rocky. “And Elemi told you she only had three coins.”

“But Teeg has Tommy…and the Dragonzord coin was the first one she went after when she broke loose from the dimensional barrier.” Kim said softly, honestly not knowing whether to hope or be terrified.

“Teeg would never use Tommy.” Rocky said. “He’s too powerful as an evil Ranger.”

“That’s just the party line we told the others.” Jason said stoically. He had added that phrase as a tribute to his friend; who he thought was already dead. It was something to propagate the myth of the man and propel him further into legend. His mind was reeling. If Tommy was an evil Ranger again…they’d barely defeated him the last time…and this time around they were without their powers. “Where would she get another Power Coin?” He asked.

“There are hundreds of them.” Kim responded, obviously reeling herself. At his astonished look she added what she’d formerly only confided in Tommy. “Zordon had hundreds of fakes, each of them usable to make a Ranger, but only six of them able to unlock the Demon King. Either Teeg’s clued into the fakes, or she thinks she’s ahead of the game.”

“If Tommy’s under her control….how do we fight that?” Carri asked. She didn’t want to face Oliver on the mat in a friendly practice, facing him as an evil Ranger without her own Ranger powers…that was too much to come to grips with.

“We don’t know that for sure.” Trini said. “Teeg could have used Kemora…or someone else we don’t know about.”

“Kemora doesn’t need morphing powers.” Kim said softly, as in a daze. She was still grappling with the idea that Tommy could possibly be alive. Even if he was evil, she’d take it. It meant he wasn’t dead; gone forever beyond her reach. If he was evil, that could explain why she hadn’t been able to feel him, to reach out and touch him through the Power. He’d kept the part of him that he believed was still the evil green Ranger tightly locked away inside him; never allowing her to touch it. It was the reason he avoided those times when the Power merged them together, why he shied away from that total and complete embrace that they occasionally experienced. “And Tommy as an evil Ranger wouldn’t be too much of a burden for Teeg. She’s extremely powerful… you guys have no idea how powerful she really is…”

“We’re about to find out.” Billy said with an edge of dread that they all heard. Coming together behind the viewing screen they saw the band of Rangers appear alongside the monster.

Three of them looked exactly like their Mighty Morphin counterparts: black, yellow, and blue. Their uniforms were nearly identical except for a thick band of black separating the white diamonds from the color. Somewhere, in the recesses of her mind, Kim had the stray thought that they would have been more imposing if their boots and gloves had also been black, but it was a stray thought at best and over in an instant when her eyes focused in on a very familiar form, in a green uniform, with a sparkling gold shield.

“Ninjettis…” She said in a raspy voice. “Prepare to transport. The rest of you stay here and figure out a way to decontaminate those grids.”

Kim was vaguely aware of the hot wind blowing in mighty gusts off the water. It whistled through the industrial section, howling eerily like a swarm of banshees before pummeling into them. Jason and Carri had fallen back to the rear, warily crouching in their Ninjetti uniforms and circling around for the first sign of the Rangers.

Billy had ignored her order to transport them directly in front of the group, instead opting for a tactically better position for the trio to sneak up on the evil Rangers from the side. But sneaking wasn’t on Kim’s agenda. The Ninjetti were no match for morphed Rangers and the Mighty Morphins were more powerful than anyone gave them credit for. They had originated on Eltar and had fought countless battles across the universe before Zordon had brought them to Earth. They were an old team, an old uniform, but that didn’t make them obsolete or the other powers better or stronger.

Tommy wouldn’t be fooled by their transport off to the side. He was unusually sensitive to the Power; both sides of it. He’d know, he’d feel the transport of the three Ninjetti even if he didn’t actually see the signatures. As the other two continued with their cautious approach, Kim walked almost casually, head high, seemingly unconcerned for the danger they were facing.

“That’s far enough!” A male voice snarled and a second later the Ninjetti were face to face with the three evil Mighty Morphins. Kim’s mind whirled, she honestly couldn’t tell who’s voice had spoken to her, Josh or Zane, but it was the black Ranger who had spoken.

“I don’t deal with lackeys.”  Kim said caustically, pulling off her Ninjetti hood and revealing her face. The three stepped back in confusion, obviously mistaking her for Kemora. Good to know, she thought, Teeg hadn’t handed over Lerigot’s key yet. If she had, the three in front of her wouldn’t have recognize her. Unless, of course, Teeg had left them with their memories, but there was no precedent for that and it wasn’t her style. She wanted her fighters completely loyal, not warbling over half forgotten memories of loved ones.

“Then deal with me.” A hauntingly familiar voice growled. Before she had time to react, the green and gold clad Ranger had leapt from nowhere directly in front of her. He landed so close that the other two jumped back, but Kim held her ground. She needed no confirmation of the green Ranger’s identity, even in this evil state her heart lurched. The look of the way he filled his uniform, the way he moved, the very aura he possessed told her more than she needed to know.

“I face you with honor, unarmed and unmasked, and this is how you greet me?” Kim challenged, voice hard and far more confident than she felt. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing. With her Muirantian powers, she was more a match for him than he realized, but she didn’t want to fight just yet. She needed time. They weren’t ready for this unforeseen contingency yet. “What kind of a warrior are you?” She bated.

“We have no need for preamble.” The green Ranger snarled. “We’ve fought one another before.”

“And how do I know this?” She asked in an almost bored tone. Inside she was crumbling, but she kept herself  firmly in check; heartbeat regular. It was like dealing with an alternate. If she could keep her cool, treat him as if he wasn’t hers, maybe she’d have a chance. Tommy couldn’t be beaten by force; he was too powerful. She’d have to out maneuver him, but for that she needed time. “For all I know you’re simply a poor replacement wearing a real warrior’s old uniform; a shadow puppet, doing nothing more than playing by his master’s strings.” Her words were sarcastic and mocking and she could see his muscles twitch ever so slightly below the surface of his uniform.

At her words, Carri and Jason edged forward. She could feel Jason’s silent, burning questions, but she kept her focus and concentration on the unpredictable evil warrior in front of her.

“I assure you, I’m no puppet.” The green Ranger growled, sword brought to ready in front of him. Kim’s eyes narrowed on the sword, taking in every aspect of it. Rita might have taken her predecessor hostage and used her powers, but she wasn’t very original. She edged ever so slightly to the side in Carri’s direction so that Jason could have a better view and the green Ranger in front of her mirrored her motion, wearily ready for an attack.

“If you’re no puppet,” Kimberly hissed, surprising herself with how much she sounded like Kemora “Then prove it. Face me respectfully at the onset of battle without your mask.” The other three evil Rangers again shuffled behind him, but his stance remained firm.

She didn’t know why she said it. She needed no confirmation of who he was, she simply wanted to see him, to know, without doubt, that she wasn’t dreaming, that he was alive, no matter what kind of nightmare he’d returned to.

Slowly, almost gracefully, he sheathed his sword and pivoted backward. He was still ready to spring at any moment, she could see his muscles move tightly beneath the shimmering fabric. He stood there silently, regarding her, then slowly reached up and unlatched his helmet. Lifting it from his head, he stood tall and imposing, eyes cold and hard as ice. The same evil eyes that had terrified her as a girl. The evil eyes he’d hid from in his nightmares for more than ten years.

“Guess who’s back.” He snarled.

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