All things Power Rangers belong to Saban and Disney. All things Carri, including Jessica, belong to KJ, with many thanks. The scene with Thomas and Kim in an alternate universe is adapted from KJ’s Legacy Series, Chapter 5. Demonking belongs solely to Daniel White and hopefully I’ve kept true enough to that story. The Demon King is NOT an Org, I’ve just drawn a parallel which suggests that the Orgs might have descended from a seriously mutated strain of the Demon King virus; MIGHT have. 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….And I totally made up the Ranger website Rocky’s talking about; to my knowledge, it doesn’t exist in our dimension.

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

Name change: Kanara is now Kemora 

Power Rangers: The Coin Series
Thunder Rolls

“The navigation and communications systems are completely down.” Pryce said, banging his fist against the grey panel. The Nova’s white Ranger was not known for an easy temper on a good day, but now it was flaring. “They weren’t taking any chances, we’re dead in space and have no way to call for help.”

“According to the readings I’m getting from up here.” Xemmas said with an irritating calmness, eyes still focused on the flurry of numeric readings scrolling rapidly across his screen. “We can’t even get into the core utility access itself. Vivcore boxes are nearly impossible to disarm, even if we had hours to concentrate on it, but I’m fairly certain Kav and Stenton would also set the device to trigger if anyone tries to accesses the panel; I doubt we can even safely reach it.”

“Then it’s definite?” Garan asked. “Stenton is Kav’s accomplice?”

Xemmas turned to him, the hue of his blue skin darkening just a little with emotion. “I’m afraid so.” The blue Ranger said with a mixture of frustration and regret. Stenton had been his friend and companion; the betrayal was unfathomable. “The scanners have positively identified him as the second human in the escape pod that just  launched.”

“If I’d only been a little faster we could have caught them before they escaped.” Kee muttered angrily, wanting desperately to stomp her foot, but she held still and pretended to be far calmer than she was.

“If you hadn’t notified Elemi when you did we’d be all in serious trouble right now.” Aaron, the Nova’s black Ranger said calmly. “At least we have time to conduct an orderly evacuation.”

“Damn.” Jaxan said, digging his fingers into his short hair that was nearly as bright a yellow as his shirt. Next to Kee, he was the youngest member on the team. “Stenton just finished upgrading the weapons systems on the zords…I mean, just finished them a few hours ago; I was right there.” He said, voice raising up nearly an octave. “ We’re supposed to run checks on them tomorrow morning.”

“Which means we can assume the zords are contaminated or booby trapped as well.” Aaron said angrily.

“This is wasting time.” Elemi growled. “Send the order for a general evacuation. Xemmas, Jaxan, get down into the zord bays and run diagnostics, I want those zords cleared and out of this ship in less than seven minutes.”

“Sir,” Garan protested as his friends gave each other slightly panicked looks. “Xem and Jax aren’t going to have nearly enough time to scan all the zords as fully as they need to. Stenton and Kav were the best engineers we had on board. Wouldn’t it be best if each of the Rangers probes his or her zord individually? We’re not experts, but we know our zords. If anything is even minutely wrong, it’ll be much faster for us to communicate directly with them.”

Elemi nodded his consent sternly and turned to Kee. “I have to oversee the ship’s evacuation. You’re in charge of my red razor until I can join you.”

Kee nodded and took off with the other Rangers. There would be no time for saving personal possessions, but there was one item she couldn’t, under any circumstances, leave behind.

“Where are you going?” Garan asked as she veered off towards the officer’s quarters. “We have to clear the zords.”

“Kimberly’s crystal.” She said. “I’ll catch up.”

“No, wait, what crystal?” Garan asked, holding onto her arm.

“Kimberly left me a communications crystal. If there was ever an emergency and I needed to get to her fast, she said to use the crystal. I almost always have it with me, but I took it off because I didn’t want my brother to think I …” She paused just slightly and gave him a helpless look. “I didn’t want him to think I had expensive jewelry as well as a new position in life. I can contact Kimberly with that crystal; she can send help. Without it we’ll all be floating in deep space for days before someone picks up on the emergency signal the pods send out. Even then, we aren’t going to know if anyone responding is friendly…and with no weapons…”

“Go get it.” Garan said nodding, then surprised her by leaning down and quickly kissing her cheek; stunning her with the public display of affection. As the general evacuation order was given, the alarms in the corridor began blaring loudly. “I love you!” He shouted over the alarm, then turned to race down another hallway.

Kee stood there for a moment, grinning, before the alarms brought her back to the reality of the situation. She turned back around and raced toward her quarters.

By the time she made it back to the zord docking bay time was seriously running out. The others had already discovered that the zords weapons systems had been severely damaged and their navigation control and communications systems wiped clean. When Elemi arrived to announce the crew was in the clear, they had less than three minutes to launch and clear the bay. None were positive that the zords wouldn’t simultaneously explode, but no one could wait any longer either.

It took the Novas three tries to manually pull together and form the megazord, but they managed it somehow, collecting the tiny escape pods containing the crew like marbles and shielding them against its armored chest. The Ensway, pride and joy of her captain, exploded with a force that stunned all of them, catapulting them far into deep space.

Fortunately, Kee’s message to Kimberly had gotten through and all were amazed to see not only her, but an entire armada of rescue ships appear after only a few minutes of drifting. Still in shock, they began the long and arduous process of putting their lives back together again.

Carri dropped her purse on the little kitchen counter and kicked off her heels. She felt horrible. She hadn’t slept a wink all night, which, including the mission Kim had taken her on through time, meant that she’d been awake for almost two days. The business lunch with her dad hadn’t helped matters either. She liked eating at La Bernadine, but the lunch had been marred by business technicalities and problems as well as disagreements on casting and, after her father had run off to his tennis match, Josh had taken her out for coffee and then enjoyed informing her, in excruciating detail, of everything that Rocky had said while he was drunk off his ass.

Josh had a tendency  to do that. He was very good at getting people relaxed and drunk and then grilling them for details…and his little sister’s boyfriends were a particular favorite. She’d sort of known what he was up to last night, but she had also hoped she was wrong. Apparently her brother was still as cautious as ever of her taste in men. Fortunately, he liked Rocky, and so did her dad, but there were a few details exposed last night that Rocky needed to be seriously pounded for. She looked up as her boyfriend in question stumbled out from the bedroom holding his head. He moaned loudly and she grinned despite herself. Then again, he looked to be in enough pain as it was.

“What time is it?” He moaned.

“Almost four thirty.” She said dryly.

“You serious?” He said, coming up to her and kissing her temple. “You look nice.”

“Business lunch with my dad and Josh. We’re casting for Boutique Style and the new season of Hidden Adventures.”

“Josh actually made  it to a business meeting?” He asked incredulously. “God, I barely made it to the head this morning without passing out again.”

“Josh drinks a lot more than you do.” She said evenly, and, she thought to herself, he does a lot of other mood altering activities that I’m pretty sure you never exposed yourself too before either. She didn’t think her brother would slip Rocky anything, but she wasn’t positive and that bothered her. Rangers were on call twenty-four-seven, they couldn’t afford to do anything they couldn’t shake off immediately when they needed to; of course, Josh didn’t know that. One look at Rocky’s bloodshot eyes and she had less and less faith in her brother’s insistence that he’d only gotten him drunk enough to start spilling stuff.

“Jesus, that’s obvious.” He said, lifting the coffee pot out of its holder and then putting it back when he realized it was nearly empty and stone cold. “Do you uhm…do you by any chance remember what happened last night?”

“What part isn’t clear?” She said sardonically.

“Basically almost everything after Josh’s arrival is a little fuzzy.” He admitted.

“Well…let’s think about this a second….hmmm,” She said dramatically, putting one finger to the side of her mouth. “ At this point, maybe you should consider the idea of memory loss as a blessing.” She said with an odd tone to her voice; not quite sarcasm, not quite sticky sweet, but generally fairy pissy.

“That bad huh?” He asked, wincing, then putting his head in his hands with a groan as she simply raised one eyebrow at him.

“Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll make a little more coffee.” She said a little too sweetly, dumping the last remnants of the cold coffee out in the sink and making a new pot. “It’s gonna be a long day. Dad’s plane arrives to take us home at three AM, so that means we should leave for the airport about one-thirty. No point in going to sleep until we take off.”

“So what happened?” He asked cautiously, standing where he was instead of going into the living room and sitting down.

“Which part?” She asked, not exactly shoving the coffee pot back in its holder, but not exactly being gentle either. “The part where you told Josh I’m one damn good Power Ranger or your affair with someone named Jessica?”

Kim heard the phone ring exactly twice and rolled over as Tommy’s voice answered it. Good, she thought. She had no intention what so ever of getting out of bed. She’d bent time too steeply and too many times yesterday and was severely paying the price.

The Nova’s were safe, for the moment, but she’d had to race off and bend time once again to save them. Tommy, worried about her fatigue, had gone with her to Edenoi, the closest friendly planet to the Nova’s position at the time the Ensway had been sabotaged. She had taken them back in time exactly one week in order to give Dex’s ships and rescue crews enough time to assemble and reach the stranded crew. The Nova Rangers had been able to get the zords out and form a megazord, shielding the tiny escape pods from the worst of the explosion, but the sabotaged zords lost power quickly and all were stranded in space when they found them.

She hadn’t told Elemi she’d formally married Tommy; although her new husband hadn’t wasted any time in officially recording their union in the Intergalactic registry on Edenoi. It was entered and confirmed by a very happy Alpha Five who assured them over and over again that Zordon would have been overjoyed to witness their union.

Kimberly had insisted they all keep the news quite out of respect for her ex-husband and his crew. She had quietly informed Kee, but told the girl to keep the news to herself for a while. It had been too hard on Elemi to lose his ship due to the betrayal of his own crew and for once her husband listened and agreed with her without arguing. They’d stayed just over two weeks, one to assemble a rescue mission and reach the Ensway’s crew and one until Elemi had procured another ship and begun the hard work of adapting it to their needs, but bending time so narrowly on the return trip twice in a row had taken its toll on her.

She’d gotten them back to Angel Grove just after one-thirty in the morning; barely fifteen minutes after they left. She hadn’t taken any chances and had played by the rules, but the dizzy, slightly nauseating feeling of jetlag indicated her circadian rhythm was out of whack anyway. She wasn’t an expert, by any means, of chronobiology, but she knew she was abusing the basic principles when her biological rhythm refused to instantly readjust to her home time zone. Her stomach lurched and she rolled over into a fetal position, head pressed firmly into the pillow. The room was still dark and she groaned, wondering who the hell would call them when it was still dark outside anyway.

With a feeling somewhere between resignation and annoyance, she heard Tommy’s bare feet walk across the bedroom carpet and felt him sit down on her side of the bed. “Good morning Beautiful.” He said softly, voice slightly amused. She growled and pressed her face more firmly in the pillow, ignoring his chuckle of amusement. “Were you supposed to meet your mother this afternoon?”

“Not until noon.” She moaned, face still in obscured.

“Sweetheart, it’s one-thirty.” He replied.

“What?” Kim asked, sitting straight up and immediately regretting it as her stomach lurched. Rubbing her eyes, she stole a look at the curtains she’d recently covered the bedroom window with. They were drawn closed, shutting out most of the light, but she could clearly see the bright outline of the afternoon sun beyond. “Oh crap.” She said, pulling her snarled hair off her face. “Is she pissed?”

Tommy grinned and simply showed her the phone. Her shoulders slumped as she took it from him and he chuckled slightly, climbing over her and laying down on his side of the bed.

“I am so sorry.” She said into the waiting receiver. “I was up really late last night.”

Tommy humphed in amusement as she answered her mom, only half listening to the one-way conversation. He was tired too. He vaguely remembered she was going out with her mom today but he’d had no intentions of waking her up earlier. She’d been so soundly asleep, hardly moving at all, and he honestly didn’t want to touch her until she’d slept herself out.

He was worried about her. He loved her dearly, but she sacred him. He didn’t know all that much about how she timed things through the portals she generated, but he did know there were basic rules of how close she was supposed to cut her returns and he knew first hand that she ignored those rules; often cutting the time arc way too close or timing two or three missions into the space allotted for just one.

Shortly after they’d returned home from the her mom’s house on Thanksgiving, they’d been called back through time to the late nineteenth century. They’d been gone over six months, but Kim had returned them to the present in less than six hours. When he’d questioned her, she’d simply shrugged, saying that the time values, arcs, and standard calculations were for beginners and idiots; of which she was neither. As soon as she’d said it, she took it back and abruptly warned him not to try it himself or to encourage others to do it, but she hadn’t been the slightest bit contrite about it. A daredevil Tommy might be, but he was no fool. He knew what very few beings did; that Kim was unique. Her powers of teleportation hadn’t started with Muirantias, but with the acceptance of her first power coin; which was probably why Jason couldn’t also do what she did. Strange abilities were known develop in those with predispositions to certain traits upon the acceptance of a morpher, he himself was living proof of that, but it made him wonder all the more if their first group had all been chosen as randomly as Zordon said they were.

Zordon had eased over the one documented adventure she’d had while he was the white Ranger, claiming it was a time anomaly that had taken her back in time to an eighteen-seventies Angel Grove. At the time, he’d been painfully young and hadn’t known much about the oddities and variances of the universe. It made sense to him and he accepted Zordon’s word on it. He now knew it was Kim’s developing latent ability and not a random event that had opened that portal. It made sense in retrospect. He’d always wondered how random time events could be so exceedingly rare and yet  happen all the time around Kimberly. How many other time adventures she was responsible for, he didn’t know, but he did know it had been part of her for a much longer time than she admitted.

He rolled over, leaning his head against the edge of her pillow, and reached out to her. She was sitting up, one arm out for balance while she talked to her mother and, with a wicked grin, he scooted closer and threw his leg over hers possessively, playing mischievously with her pajama top and caressing her ankles with his foot He half listened as she answered her mother’s questions, grinning and half amused simply from her half of the conversation.

“No I understand…” She was saying into the phone while making faces at him to quit what he was doing. She tried to move her leg, but he trapped it by wrapping it around his own and she gave up the struggle after a few seconds with a roll of her eyes. On the other end he heard her mother’s muted voice rambling on and on.

“Yes, the wedding was beautiful…” She answered, struggling a little to keep her voice calm as he mischievously tried to reach his hand under the back of her pajama top.

“Yes, Aisha and Zack both flew in…yes Jason was there…no he didn’t bring a date…” She said, slapping his hand as it reached around where it shouldn’t and giving him a stern look.

“Yeah Carri was there too…” She said, stifling a squeal as his hand, banned from under her shirt found other areas to explore while his leg wrapped more tightly around her, keeping her firmly pinned in place.

“Of course she came with Rocky…no, I told you, Jason’s fine with it, they’re all friends…” Kim put her hand over the receiver  as Tommy’s hands began to probe a little less playfully in areas that seriously made her squirm and she hissed at him to cut it out.

“Ok…” she said, turning her attention back to her mother and trying in vain to scoot away from him. He sat up and firmly wrapped his arms around her from behind, leaning over to kiss her shoulder, back, and arm seductively.

“Sure…no that’s totally fine, go see the house with Andre…no I’m sure, I still have to shower and get dressed…. Yes that’s fine,” She said, grunting a bit as she managed to successfully bat his hands away from her with a slap that actually stung him. He shook his hand in a mock imitation of pain, pouting a little, and she shot him a harsh, un-repentive look. He chuckled and laid down on his side of the bed, idly reaching out one index finger to tickle her rib.

“So we can just meet at the photographer’s at three and then have a late lunch or something…. love you too…bye.”

Kim hit the end call button and fell back onto her pillows with a loud moan of frustration, causing the small bed to rock a little. She slammed the phone onto her night stand and rolled over, using the momentum to slap her husband firmly across the arm and chest. “That was my mother on the other end of that phone.” She chastised, then snuggled into him. He wrapped his arms around her and chuckled softly again.

“She mad at you?” He asked, hands wandering more seriously now that she was off the phone. According to the calendar, they had been married just over twenty-four hours, but thanks to their little excursion, she’d been his wife for just over two weeks. It was mind boggling when you really thought about it. The newness of it hadn’t, by any means, worn off yet, but the idea of it was far more easy for his mind to process. She was his wife. She was his and no one was going to take her away.

“No, she’s amused. She told me Thursday when we arranged to go out that I’d probably oversleep…what with the wedding and reception yesterday. I never sleep much anymore.” She said, rolling away from him to stretch and yawn. “I’m always really good about time…I just overdid it yesterday.”

“Probably.” Tommy said, an amused look on his face and taking full advantage of the stretch with his eyes. “Does your appointment with the photographer mean you plan on keeping the May date?” He asked cautiously, hands pausing for a second while he waited for her answer. Kim groaned loudly and rubbed her face, trying to shake off the last of the jetlag feeling.

“Yeah, why not.” She said after a slight pause, smiling at the grin on his face. “My mom’s going to town on this thing and we’d just loose all our deposits. Besides Carri’s all pissed…I know Aisha’d be if she knew. Hell, Jason’s pissed as well, but for other reasons...why not. I guess it was a stupid idea to try and elope quietly.”

“No, not stupid.” He said scooting closer and kissing the top of her head. “You were worried about it and you’ve got enough to worry about.”

“I was scared it was going to be a huge, life changing event.” She admitted, rolling into him and intertwining her fingers with his. “I’ve had too many life changing events hit me recently. They always tend to land like a ton of bricks on my head.”

“You don’t think getting married was life changing?” He asked.

“I don’t feel one bit different.” She admitted. “Kind of anti-climactic actually.”

“Hey.” He said in mock offense and she squeezed his hand.

“I meant I thought I would have this huge epiphany and realize I was bound to another person forever…lose my identity…be Mrs. Oliver instead of Kimberly… but I don’t feel one bit different. I feel exactly the same…not one ounce more grown up than I thought I would.”

“I don’t know that you ever feel grown up.” Tommy said, eyes twinkling as he laid his cheek against side of her head. “You just kinda realize it in stages…mostly when you see the next generation pulling the same shit you did. You want to tell them to grow up, then you realize that’s the adult in you talking.”

Kimberly disengaged from him and sat up. “You are and always have been the most grown up person I know.” She said seriously and he laughed outright. “I’m serious,” She insisted. “I don’t think you were ever really a little kid. You always had everything all planed out ever since I’ve known you.”

“No. I’m not grown up at all.” He said, still chuckling. “Planning things out and actually being and being grown up are very different things. I over plan things ‘cause I’m scared I’m gonna screw up. I plan too much really.” He said, thinking back across his life. “I need to chill a little more.”

Kim grinned at him wistfully. It was kind of nice to know he didn’t see himself the way others did; that he had some of the same insecurities she did. She leaned down and kissed his forehead quickly. “I need to shower and get ready.” She said, starting to slide off the bed, but he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back down and pinning her under him.

“Not just yet Mrs. Oliver.” He murmured, kissing her neck in a way that very obviously exposed his intentions.

“I’m gonna be late again.” She said, half protesting.

“Beautiful.” He said, kissing her suggestively down to her shoulder and sliding his hands down to pull at the buttons of her pajama shirt. “One thing I know very well…time is not an problem for you.”

As the blue orb of Earth slide into view on the screen in front of her, Teeg felt her heart jump and beat a little faster. To either side of her were Rexo and Kemora, standing at attention, but ignoring both Teeg and each other.

It was almost time, she thought excitedly. She loved the hunt, loved it even better when the prey wasn’t expecting to be killed. This was not the most complicated attack she’d ever planned, but it was one of the more brutal. Kimberly was no fool. She’d have to strike quickly, without warning, and from all sides simultaneously. The girl was a young opponent, but she was proving herself fairly resourceful. Teeg should have taken two coins away with her on her last trip; she’d scored only one. Half was not good enough and she wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Kimberly’s weakness lay in two places; her reliance on her friends and her devotion to her world. The attack she was planning was overkill and she knew it. This kind of warfare should be reserved for later in the game, but she wasn’t going to take chances. The girl might not be fully grown, but she was damn good at being resourceful. Teeg was about to cut her resources and leave her completely stranded. Without backup, she was only one little girl.

Teeg growled silently to herself. That one little girl had thwarted her too many times, but she had been lazy, hadn’t taken the her seriously. Now Kimberly was about to realize just who she was up against.

“So tell me about Jessica.” Carri said flatly, handing Rocky a cup of coffee and walking past him to the couch.

“Carri.” He said in an almost panicked tone. “Are you sure Josh didn’t take the Ranger comments seriously?” Tommy was going to murder him when they got back. He hadn’t been that drunk in a really long time; if ever.

“I told you.” She said patiently, sitting down on the couch. “He just thought it was interesting. You were apparently going on and on about how sexy I was in yellow spandex, so I told him it was just a play acting scenario we did in the bedroom. I was so shocked, and I know my face was hot enough that I was obviously blushing, so I’m sure he believed me.”

“Are you positive?” He asked, still worried. It was unbelievable that he’d let that secret out.

“Trust me. My brother’s totally into that role-playing shit, he wasn’t fazed by that explanation at all.”

“Didn’t he and Kim date?” He asked cautiously.

“Don’t go there.” She warned icily and he avoided her eyes and took a sip of his coffee. “Who’s Jessica?” She asked, redirecting the conversation with a cold venom that made him wince.

“It was about six or seven months before I met you.” He insisted, sitting down on the couch next to her, and swallowing hard as she raised a speculative eyebrow. “She’s a former student of mine that grew up and when she came home from college, she decided I was more than a crush to her. I was dating Marie and things were…well they were ok. You know I wasn’t really happy in that relationship.”

He paused and took another sip of his coffee, looking at her hesitantly. “I was really flattered. She’s five years younger than I am and really beautiful and…Carri beautiful women just don’t come on to me. I mean, she was a swimsuit and calendar model when she was in college. That just doesn’t happen very often to a guy.” He gave her a look that asked her to understand, then continued on. “ We had a lot in common, including teaching and martial arts…I dunno, I’m not proud of it, but it happened. Marie kinda got wind that something was up and I ended it. She went back to finish grad school and I went back to making it up to Marie. I think I stayed with Marie a whole extra six months because I felt so guilty and I honestly tried to give that relationship more genuine attention because of it.”

“And this was all before you ever met me.” Carri said evenly. It was a statement and not a question and he was slightly irritated that she didn’t seem to believe him.

“Way before I met you.” He insisted. “It happened over her Christmas break; we’re talking almost a year ago. My god Carri, I can barely keep up with you…how could I possibly have someone on the side and not keel over?” He was half serious and very relieved when she cracked a partial smile. “I never lied to her.” He insisted. “She knew I was in a long term relationship with Marie, it was just a…thing. She took it way more seriously than I did and was crushed when I had to end it…I told you, I’m not proud of it, but it happened.” He paused again and took another large gulp of coffee. “The only good thing that came out of it was that I wasn’t totally intimated by you when you came into my life. I mean, before her…I don’t think I’d of even had the guts to talk to you…you’re so far out of even her league.”

Carri rolled her eyes slightly and ignored the last little bone he’d thrown out to her vanity. That was bullshit and they both knew it. She’d wanted Rocky and had gone after him with a vengeance once she’d learned Marie was out of the picture, but right now she wanted to keep this conversation on track and then bury it; one way or the other. “Then why were you talking about it being weird to be around her again and all worried I’d find out if you left your phone unattended?” She asked with a hard set to her jaw.

“She’s broke.” Rocky admitted, putting his empty coffee mug on the table and sitting forward a little. “She got fired from her job in Sunnydale and between her apartment and her student loans she was going under. She moved back to Angel Grove to live with her sister and asked Archer to give her a job. She’s a really good teacher and I’m short instructors; Archer didn’t know we’d had a fling. He didn’t think I’d object, so he hired her. This all happened the day before we left. I didn’t find out about it until we were packing. Archer gave her my cell and by the time we got to the airport she’d left like twenty messages. I haven’t called her back yet because I honestly don’t know what to say and yeah, I was a little scared you’d hear those messages and wonder what I was up to…so it took the battery out and said I forgot my charger, which I really did, so I wouldn’t have to deal with it until we got back.”

Carri took a sip of her coffee, but didn’t say anything. Josh didn’t think he was having an affair, but he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like Rocky was actually a coherent drunk. She’d had way too many boyfriends cheat on her and to hear Rocky might have cheated too didn’t sit well. She was deeply in love with him and the potential for getting hurt at this point was huge. Of course, better he cheat on Marie than her and yes, there was a little smug satisfaction in that. Besides, it was nice to know she wasn’t the first to take his eyes off his former girlfriend. Not that she felt in the least bit guilty or responsible about that, but she had wondered occasionally if their meeting might have instigated the breakup.

“Carri it’s the truth. I’m not lying to you.” He said honestly.

“Oh I believe you.” She said easily. “But I want to know what you plan to do about her being back in town and working at your school.”

“I don’t know what to do.” He said honestly. He was relieved that Carri believed him, but his head was pounding and he really couldn’t think straight. “The thing is, she’s a really good instructor; one that doesn’t have to be watched or told what to do all the time. I need more teachers like that right now with me not being there full time.”

Carri frowned and drained the last of her coffee, standing up to get a second one and ignoring Rocky’s empty mug. She didn’t agree at all, this girl had to be totally watched, but she’d already interfered enough with Rocky’s family life. She didn’t want to be accused of dictating how he ran his business too. Hell, if he had any idea how many of her ex-boyfriends still worked for her father or for her own production company, he’d have a shit fit. The difference was, she didn’t see them on a daily basis and had staff deal with them when they needed to communicate with her.

“She wants you back?” Carri asked simply, sitting back down and looking him straight in the eye. He blanched, which gave her the answer she didn’t want to hear.

“It’s different now.” Rocky answered. “I’m in a relationship where I’m really happy. I’m not interested in playing around, honestly. I mean, yes, I did it once, but it totally wasn’t worth it.”

“Uh hummm…” Carri said sardonically.

“Carri…” He started, but she cut him off.

“No.” She said firmly, a hard edge back in her voice. “I’m not going to tell you how to run your businesses Rocky, god knows I hate it when people try and step in and run mine, but I’ll tell you what I’ve told every other man I’ve ever dated: You cheat, it’s over. I’ll walk faster than you can blink. All my life I’ve watched my father play around with his pretty little friends and my mother turn a blind eye to it. I won’t live that way. The only thing I will ever demand from a relationship is respect; unfaithfulness is not respect.”

“Carri, I have no intensions of screwing this relationship up. It’s too important to me, you’re too important to me.” He said insistently. “ My god, didn’t Aquitar in some little way prove that to you? I love you damnit. I’ve never loved anyone as much as you, I’m not gonna screw this up.”

Carri rubbed her hands against the heat of the coffee mug, twirling it gently back and forth. “I believe you.” She said. “But I also would have preferred hearing about this from you rather than hear from my brother that you disconnected your phone so I wouldn’t accidentally pick up messages I shouldn’t know about.”

“I’m not perfect Carri.” He said defensively. “I didn’t know how to handle the situation, but I did know you’d fly off the handle if you heard some of those messages. I’ll be brutally honest if you want me to, she went into some pretty graphic detail. Hell, you can listen to them if it’ll make you feel better.” He paused and made an exasperated sound. “I don’t know what to do. I feel really guilty that I used her. It’s not her fault I decided I didn’t want to be a good guy for once then found out in the process I didn’t like what I was doing. Now she’s in trouble and I feel like I need to at least help her in some way, but I don’t want it to screw us up in the process. I’m sorry if that makes me look guilty in your eyes, but I’ve done nothing wrong except ignore it and run away from her for a few days.”

Carri sighed deeply. One of the biggest things that had attracted her to him was that he was a good guy and lord knew she’d used that guilty streak in him to her own advantage more than once. Unfortunately, she didn’t want him to be a good guy in the instance. She wanted him to be a tough SOB who told this little tramp to hit the road; she could starve to death for all he cared. But she knew he wouldn’t do it. He had a huge heart and this bitch was going to take advantage of it.

“I guess it all comes down to how much I trust you.” She said softly, taking another sip of coffee. “Which I do. I love you Rocky, I’ve never had anything as good as what’s between the two of us, but I’m not very good at trusting men. I have my father and my brother to thank for that. I love them both, but they take infidelity to a new art form. I will tell you this though.” She said, pausing and meeting his eyes squarely. “You can be the good guy and take care of her until she gets on her feet again, but if I ever come face to face with her over you, I’m gonna smash her face in ‘till there’s nothing left of it.”

She rose and walked over to the bedroom door. “I need to change and then you’re taking me shopping before we have dinner.”

“Not that I have any intentions of arguing with you at this point.” Rocky said cautiously, relieved they seemed to be done talking about it for now. “But didn’t you say you shopped yourself out the day after Thanksgiving?”

“That was before I knew you told Cestro to turn up the dial on my boobs.” She called over her shoulder, closing the door behind her.

“I think that was productive.” Molly said with a satisfied smile as she and Kim walked out of the photography studio and down the sidewalk to the car.

“It was expensive.” Kim said. The cost of putting on a wedding was mind boggling. She knew, through Carri, bits and pieces of the details of Kat’s wedding; staying interested, not because she wanted to copy it, but because she wanted to make sure hers was as different as possible. She didn’t know how Kat was paying for everything she was doing; she had to have been saving for years.

“You get what you pay for.” Her mother said simply, clicking the lock release and opening her door.

“But, mom…seven, almost eight thousand dollars for a couple of albums?” Kim asked from the other side. “That’s a lot of money.” She added and Molly paused, facing her daughter squarely over the roof of the car.

“Kimberly, these aren’t just pictures, it’s your wedding album. I think that’s a very good price for what we’re asking for. There’s your portrait, your album, three parent’s albums, and tons loose pictures to give away, not to mention everything else the photographer was willing to throw in.” She said, then sat down behind the wheel and started the car.

“It’s just a lot of money.” Kim said, sitting down in the passenger seat and pulling her seat belt on. “I keep thinking of my budget for the house, seven thousand goes a long way toward installing one of the bathrooms upstairs.”

“Kimberly this is your wedding, not a remodel.” Molly said testily. “You can remodel your house anytime you want over the next twenty years. Weddings don’t happen very often in your life; at least I hope they won’t.”

“I just hate to see you spend so much money on me.” Kim said.

“Since when?” Molly laughed. “When I think of the tens of thousands of dollars I spent on gymnastics training and traveling to competitions…my god Kimberly, this is nothing.”

“Mom...you and Andre have already spent so much on me; Andre still has two daughters and Charlotte who are going to want weddings. Honestly, I’m fine with just a simple reception like Trini had. I mean, her wedding yesterday was incredibly beautiful and everyone had a wonderful time; but her parents really didn’t spend that much money on it.”

“Sweetie, you only get married for the first time once.” Molly said simply and Kim bit her lip. She wasn’t entirely sure if her mother had forgotten or was ignoring her quick marriage and annulment to Elemi or if she was casually suggesting that she didn’t think her marriage to Tommy would last that long. Stomach rolling nervously, she wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to tell her that she and Tommy had already eloped the previous day.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as her mother pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. “Are you sure you feel up to a late lunch?”

Molly sighed and gave her daughter a whimsical look. “I’m perfectly fine for a forty-eight year old woman about to have her fifth baby.” She said in a tone that Kim wasn’t quite sure how to take. “I should be looking forward to grandbabies…” She added in a sour tone. “But that’s not the life God intended me for I guess.”

“What do you mean?” Kim asked.

“It’s nothing sweetie.” Her mom said dismissively. “I’m not a very good pregnant lady; never have been. Lord knows I’ve been pregnant enough to know the cycle. I get very morbid and depressed, but I’ll be fine.”

“What do you mean?” Kim asked again. She had never known her mother to be morbid or sad. Even with everything she’d been through in life, she always had a smile on her face and something encouraging to say. “I don’t really remember Michael, but with Charlotte you were really happy.” She added. Her mother sighed heavily and was silent for a while.

“Sweetie you were too young to remember how I was with Michael and with Charlotte…well, you were under so much pressure getting ready for the Pan Games…and you were also too young for me to burden you with things. The truth is I’ve never enjoyed being pregnant. It’s always made me incredibly tired and ill and even though they say every pregnancy is different, it’s always been the same for me.” She paused again as she merged and turned left across a busy road and then continued.

“Don’t get me wrong Kimberly, I love all my children absolutely to pieces, but I would really have enjoyed it if I could have had just a little time to myself. I had you way too young sweetie, I never got time to really be a kid myself. Then came Michael and then the divorce…just about the time I thought I could really have a little time for me…well, then came Charlotte. I love your sister, I really do, and I’m glad Andre and I have her, but God help me she’s twice the handful you and your brother were combined…or maybe I’m just older, I don’t know. Now, I finally get Charlotte to an easier stage…and here comes the next one. It just never ends. I’m going to be sixty-seven when this one leaves for college.” She said with a frustrated cluck of her tongue.

Kim was silent the rest of the way to the restaurant. She had always considered herself close to her mom, but Molly had never opened up to her about her inner feelings like that before. Molly had been a strict parent, but she had also been a young parent and they honestly enjoyed a lot of the same things and got along pretty well; at times acting more like girlfriends than mother and child. Hearing her mom talk openly about something as intimate as pregnancy…it was like seeing a whole new side of her mother that she never knew about. It surprised her and she wondered what else she didn’t know.

“Tommy and I are still planning to have the wedding,” Kim blurted out suddenly as her mother began to park the car near the restaurant, “But we’re already married.” She winced hard, knowing that wasn’t exactly how she wanted to say it, but glad that it was out.

Her mother slid the gear shift into park and gave her daughter a hard look. “Excuse me?” She said in the same tone that Kim absolutely hated to hear when she was a teenager. It was the tone she’d get when she admitted she’d screwed something up.

“I just don’t want you to spend a ton of money on me when we’ve already gotten married.” She said in a rush.

“Kimberly… tell me honestly, are you pregnant?” Her mother asked her seriously.

“No.” Kim said firmly. “I got scared mom. I thought that somehow getting married was this huge life changing event and that I’d have this massive epiphany and realize I was a completely different person; I didn’t know how I’d handle it with all those people watching me. I was building it up in my mind to the point where I was literally panicking during Trini’s rehearsal… and that’s just not like me. I honestly really want something simple and between you and Tommy’s mom it’s turning out to be a huge event. Between the Rush’s and the Oliver’s and the Hart’s and the William’s and the Girard’s…I’m going to end up with more guests than Katherine Hillard’s having if they all come….and that doesn’t include our friends. So when Tommy went back to Reefside on business yesterday, we just went to the courthouse and got married; just the two of us.”

“Oh my God.” Molly moaned, leaning her head against the steering wheel. “Your trust fund…you do realize you could completely lose your trust fund by running off like that.” She had fought tooth and nail for four years to keep her husband’s hands off her daughter’s trust fund, if Kim had nullified it by marrying that boy prematurely, she would physically be ill.

“Tommy signed the Hart pre-nup and we had it notarized before we went.”

“Thank God for small miracles.” He mother muttered. “At least you two had enough sense to do that.”  She opened the door and got out of the car, waiting patiently for her daughter to do the same. Kim got out of the car slowly, watching her mother closely and waiting for the tirade. She closed the door and walked around the car expectantly, but Molly simply hit the lock button and turned toward the restaurant door.

“That’s it?” Kim said cautiously and her mother turned to her with a questioning look.

“That’s what?” She asked.

“That’s it? No lecturing, no bemoaning the fact I ran off?”

“Honey you’re almost thirty years old and have been married twice.” He mother said simply. “The only thing I care about is that trust fund staying in your name; which it wouldn’t have if you hadn’t had the sense to annul that first one right away. It might not be important to you now, but as you get closer to my age and start thinking about retirement, you’ll be very happy to have that income coming in.”

“That’s all you’re worried about?” Kim asked incredulously.

“You said you’re still having the ceremony right?” Her mother countered and Kim nodded. “And you still want me to plan it?” She asked and Kim nodded again. “Well then that’s fine sweetie, you got married legally now and you can have a minister finalize it in May.” When her daughter continued to stare at her she added. “Honey, this is your second marriage. You didn’t realize the first time that a marriage certificate only makes things easier legally? That you change your name, but you stay exactly the same person you were before?”

“The first time wasn’t really a marriage.” Kim said numbly. “It was more…it was more like a…”

“Like a hiccup?” Her mother asked with a wry look and Kim nodded. “Well at least you realized your hiccup right away. It took me fifteen years to get rid of mine.” She said as she opened the door and gestured for her daughter to enter. “Now, about the flowers. I found this incredible place in Coral Cove, the woman is an absolute artist…and I know art…”

Tommy shook his head as he walked out of Billy’s lab and caught sight of Jason on his way in. He wondered if his friend would try and ambush him this afternoon and he was right. He nodded in greeting and Jason nodded back, coming up along side of him.

“I hear congratulations are in order.” Jason said in a tone that wasn’t necessarily friendly. Tommy paused and regarded him cautiously. He didn’t have much time to talk right now and needed to get a few things done before he met up with his wife for coffee.

“Thanks bro.” He said easily, choosing for the moment to ignore Jason’s attitude. Kimberly had told him Jason wasn’t exactly thrilled by their marriage. Not, she insisted because he wasn’t happy for them, but because he felt Kim had been pressured into it. Tommy held a different opinion on the matter, but kept it to himself.

He and Jason had always been good friends, nearly as close as brothers, but even brothers sometimes had to endure a little competition between themselves; theirs went all the way back to the posturing over just who had been in charge of leading the Rangers and their pack at school. He was confident that Jason had never wanted Kim for himself, but he was also more than a little sure his friend thought, on some level, that he was stealing her away. Kim and Jason had always been close friends, becoming even closer after their adventure on Muirantias. Even as teens, when she was very definitely his girlfriend and not Jason’s, the two had still jockeyed a bit for the bigger share of her attention.

The truth was, Jason wasn’t very good at sharing and Tommy was horrible at it; so it was bound to trigger things occasionally. There was also the fact that now Tommy had a wife and Jason knew they were going to try and start a family. That was two one-ups on the friendly rivalry board that he didn’t honestly think his friend was just going to roll over and ignore.

“Hey, I just realized we’ve been ignoring those mats in the conference room lately.” Jason said casually. “How ‘bout we get a little sparing in today?”

“Thanks,” Tommy said, starting to move away. “But I’ve got a full evening on my plate. Maybe later.”

“I insist.” Jason nearly growled, putting his hand firmly on Tommy’s shoulder to keep him from leaving. Tommy turned and regarded him again, shrugging off the hand. He knew exactly what kind of sparring Jason had in mind and he also knew his wife would kill them both if they hurt each other. Then again, better they get things ironed out between them now rather than letting it fester.

“Alright.” He said in the same tone. “Give me a second to change.”

As Conner trudged up the last steps to his apartment, a familiar blond head came into view and he groaned with far more annoyance than he actually felt at seeing his friend, once again, on his doorstep.

“Took you long enough to come home.” Kira said scoldingly.

“I work.” He said plainly. “Maybe you’ve heard of it?”

“I’m trying.” She said with a moan. “It’s not as easy as it sounds.”

“I take it your call back didn’t go well?”

“No, it went great; awesome actually. But now they want me to come back tomorrow when the producer’s gonna be there to screen the final call backs.”

“So you need a place to crash?” He asked. She smiled brightly at him in response and he gestured for her to stand up and go to the door.

“Have you eaten?” He asked as he opened the door and she walked inside. “I missed lunch.”

“ I was going to.” She said, turning around and walking backwards. “But that kinda requires money. People get kinda nasty if you eat and then don’t pay them.”

“You came all the way out to California from New York without money?” He asked. “And they call me the dense one.”

“Hey, I had money.” She said defensively, “I just didn’t expect to be out here for three days.”

“Three days? You’ve been out here for three days?” He asked.

“Well two, tomorrow’s the third day.” She said, leaning against his kitchen counter as he walked past. “I thought I could, you know, stay in Reefside and then commute down here with my mom’s car.”

“So what happened?” He asked, sitting down in an ancient, stained, and decrepit Lazy Boy and indicating for her to sit on the same old and falling apart sofa she’d dozed on last night. She hesitated a moment then sat down.”

“Nobody home.” She said simply. “My mom’s over at my aunt’s house because my cousin’s having her baby…or rather just had her baby…and I just feel really weird staying there with my step dad and his son. Dr. O has apparently moved down here, but I don’t know where, and Hayley was out of town too.”

“What about Trent?” Conner asked, referring to her on again, off again boyfriend. She winced and he was immediately sorry he asked.

“He uhm…” She paused. “He had company when I called him.”

“Oh.” Conner said lamely, not really knowing what else to say. He knew some sketchy details about their odd, long distant relationship since high school, but he honestly didn’t want  to know too much. “Uhm, well Dr. O’s here in Angel Grove. He moved in with his girlfriend and they’re building a house or something.”

“Dr. O’s dating?” She asked in animated surprise. “Nobody ever tells me anything anymore.” She complained.

“Maybe because you moved to the other side of the country?” Conner suggested and she stuck her tongue out at him with a snide face. “It’s weird.” Conner continued, ignoring her. “He’s all gaga over her, which is totally freaky. He stares at her all the time and has this totally moony look on his face.”

“That’s …”

“Yeah, I know.” Conner agreed even though she hadn’t finished her sentence. “It’s creepy.”

“So what’s she like?” Kira asked. She’d been about to say that was wonderful, but that obviously wasn’t what Conner thought about it.

“She’s hot.” He admitted. “She’s a former Ranger like he was.”

“Which one?” Kira asked with interest.

“I dunno, I think she was a pink.” He answered.

“Duh, there’ve been several pinks. He supposedly dated two.”

“He did?” He asked, rather impressed by that knowledge.

“According to Hayley.” She confirmed.

“Her name’s Kimberly, but I don’t know her last name.” He admitted.

“Oh my god, does Hayley know?”

“I guess she does. Hayley supposedly moved into his house in Reefside so he could stay here with her.”

“That is so cool.” Kira said excitedly. “I wonder if it’s the same Kimberly he was in love with for all those years. I guess it would have to be if she’s a former Ranger.”

“So why are you out here again?” Conner asked, changing the subject. It was strange that Kira would know details like that, but, then again, she was always way more into the history stuff than he’d been. It was hard enough to think of his former teacher with a girlfriend, he didn’t actually want  to sit and discuss his actual love life in any detail. Dr. O was, in his opinion, old. The idea of him being all moony over somebody made him feel…well, it was just…weird.

“Oh…well, a friend of mine is involved with this show called Hidden Adventures. He supposedly created it, but now it’s produced and run by a friend of his out here in Angel Grove. Anyway, he called me and told me they were auditioning for the new season and to get my butt out here. I mean, acting’s not really my thing, but at this point any job is a job and it beats the unemployment line. Besides, every host of this show has apparently gone on to do really great things. I figure it’s a good jumping off point and I’m not gonna complain if they want to pay me.”

“What happened to the cat litter thing?”

“Oh…I uhm...” She paused just long enough to tweak Conner’s interest, but then quickly continued. “I had to go help some friends for a couple of weeks and when I came back…well, they didn’t take it very well that I missed a recording session…or four.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah…well, it’s ok. I mean, on to other things, right?” She asked and he nodded his head, humoring her. “I met a lot of really great friends…so it was totally worth it. Didn’t you say something about food?” She asked, changing the subject as her stomach audibly growled.

“Pizza ok?” He asked and she nodded.

“At this point anything sounds good.” She admitted, getting up from the sofa as he stood up and out of the chair.

“Awesome. There’s this really cool place called Bulkmier’s.”

“Hey, if you’re paying, I’m not complaining.” She said as she followed him out the door.

“So tell me something…bro…” Tommy said, wiping the blood from his chin and looking at the smudge on the back of his hand. “What digs at you the most? The fact that I now have the inside scoop on what Kim’s up to or the fact that I have a hot wife and you don’t?”

Jason lunged, but Tommy was ready for him this time. Neither seriously wanted to do much damage to the other, but first blood had been drawn and Tommy wasn’t going to leave it at that. After nearly a half an hour of aggressive one-on-one and snide remarks on both sides, Jason was now taking cheap shots and Tommy’s temper was ready to explode.

He side stepped his friend and then turned, landing a punch that sent the other man stumbling backward off balance. He lost his footing on a loose corner where the mats overlapped and tripped, landing with enough force to propel him through the drywall with a loud crashing sound that surprised them both. It wasn’t exactly what Tommy had been going for, and his face showed it, but he’d take it. He walked over slowly, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the crook of his arm. Leaning in slightly, he offered Jason a hand up.

“I think we’re both agreed…you need to find your own wife.” Tommy said, a bit more harshly than he’d intended and Jason glared at him before accepting the hand up.

“I think we’re both agreed, Kim’s letting you get away with too much.” He said, the heat still in his voice, but most of his anger diffused.

“Then we agree to disagree.” Tommy said evenly.

“What happened?” Kim snapped, marching into the room, Dr. Manx directly on her heels, both staring at the huge hole in the  drywall. She turned accusingly to the two men who’d obviously been doing more than a little friendly sparring.

“Nothing.” Jason said. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Then what’s that?” Kim asked, pointing to the wall that now had a good sized opening into the next room. “We heard the crash all the way on the other side of level eight.”

“Jason decided to do a little remodeling.” Tommy said coolly, then turned to Kim, gently but firmly turning her around. “We need to talk.” He said, giving her a gentle push towards the door. He gave Jason one last hard look and then guided her out the door and into the furthest conference room he could find in Billy’s secretion of level eight.

“What’s going on?” She asked, reaching up to touch his bloodied lip, her forehead furrowed with concern.

“I might ask the same thing. Jason insisted we get a little sparing in.” He said, pausing long enough to watch her wince. “Seems he thinks I’m not treating you very well.”

“Why would he say that?” She asked.

“You tell me.” He said firmly. “What’s going on that I don’t know about?”

“Nothing.” She said with a slight shrug. “I mean, I told you he thinks I don’t stand up to you enough and that I’m letting you push me into too many fast decisions.”

“That’s not enough to start throwing dirty blows on the mat.” Tommy countered, the hard edge in his voice surfacing despite his best efforts to keep it under control. He was pissed, either Jason was playing hero and on the offense over some perceived misdeed Kim had complained about or his friend was way out of line. He wasn’t sure he liked either possibility.

“Tommy, Jason’s emotions are tied to mine; it’s an empathic link we’ve shared since we were both altered. He knows I’m seriously stressing out and I won’t tell him why. All he knows is that you swooped back into my life after swearing we were over for good and now he’s shut out. He doesn’t know why and he’s worried about me. I’ve tried to tell him it’s not you, but he’s not buying it. He sees me caving in on nearly everything we do together and not doing anything about it.”

“Caving in on what?” Tommy asked, exasperated, and she shot him an incredulous look. “What?” He asked again.

“The house for one thing, this new press job for another, and basically everything about moving in together and getting married so fast.”

“The press job I get.” He admitted. “I know I badgered you into that and I’m sorry, but I need you in that position. Getting married, I know we moved into that idea pretty fast, but we talked about it over and over, we weighed all the options and worked everything through. But what the hell does the house have to do with it? It’s your house. I was the one who totally caved when I agreed to give up my house in Reefside.”

“Sweetheart, all he’s looking at is how you got totally involved in every aspect from the outset; deciding how to tear out the old remodel, what should be saved or recycled, what equipment to use.” She held up her hands to stop his protest. “I know, I asked you to, but then when you got pissed at the inspector, you decided to move the whole damn house rather than deal with Stone Canyon anymore…that was obviously not my decision.” She said with an overly patient tone. “I didn’t want the house moved, but I gave in and let you do it because you were so obsessed with it and it was driving you totally crazy when we had other things to worry about… it wasn’t worth it to me to argue.” She paused and held up a hand again as he started to defend his actions. “I like what you’re doing with it and yes, we talked about it and I’m fine with it, but Jase isn’t privy to those conversations, he just sees me roll my eyes and let you do it. And as for marriage, we both acknowledge that we jumped too quick into that decision, but do you honestly want to disclose how long we’ve actually been together and how long we’ve been talking about it since that time?”

Tommy gave her a frustrated look and shrugged his shoulder, silently willing to admit she was right, but unwilling to give up his angst. They had spent over six months in Angel Grove’s past together basically posing as a married couple, which had the benefit of making her far more comfortable with the idea of being married, but unfortunately it wasn’t an experience either could share with the outside world. After six months of living together in a stressful situation, they at least knew they were compatible and the arrangement worked well, but if he was going to be brutally honest with himself, pushing her forward with marriage had far more to do with his need to have a formal and permanent commitment from her than it did with any need on his part to be married.

Even if he accepted and completely believed her story that the DG had interfered with their relationship as teens, and he had no doubt that she wasn’t lying, it still didn’t erase years of insecurities embedded into him by her damn Dear John letter. He wasn’t going to risk getting that hurt again. If he was going to allow himself to fall in love with her again, he wanted to know that she was onboard for good. If he had pushed a little too hard to get her to the Reefside courthouse yesterday, well he would apologize if she ever pressed him on it, but if they were going to go ahead and elope anyway, then he was damn sure gonna do it before anymore of her ex’s came calling.

“You’re my wife.” He nearly growled. “You shouldn’t be running to Jason every time you have a grievance.”

“I’m not.” She said defensively. “I’m barely saying anything at all, that’s the problem. He’s so used to being on the inside of everything going on in my life and now I’m not even telling him ten percent of it. He’s feeling excluded and looking for someone to blame.”

“Then you need to work things out with your so called Muirantian twin.” Tommy said “I’m sick of this. Talk about putting your foot down. It’s him you need to set straight.”

Kimberly inhaled deeply through her nose  and let the breath out slowly; willing herself to be calm and have patience. Honestly she didn’t know who needed to chill more, but if the two were coming to blows, then she supposed she needed to interfere. “What time are we moving the house?” She said simply, changing the subject.

“I dunno.” He said, trying to shake off the last of his frustration. “Around two or three in the morning.”

“Good.” She said, moving closer and leaning into him despite the fact he was rather sweaty and gross. “Then why don’t you get cleaned up and take me out for the coffee you promised. I’ll talk to Carri about Jason, she’s apparently having similar problems. I’ll handle it, I promise.” She said, reaching up and kissing his cheek quickly.

He nodded and returned the kiss, then turned and left the conference room. She sighed deeply as she followed him out the door, turning in the opposite direction back into Billy’s lab. Somehow, some way, she and Carri had to find Jason a girlfriend… and fast.

Rita was more excited than she could ever remember being. It was time. She knew where her predecessor was, she knew how to get to her, and most importantly, she knew how to confine her. Everything was going smoothly and successfully. Teeg needed her and she was ready for what she had to do. It was just a matter of time and she’d be the most powerful witch this side of the known galaxy. She had only to take a deep breath and wait for the signal to begin…

“ I can’t look.” Kim moaned, putting both hands over her face as Tommy and Billy gave the all clear. Through slightly opened fingers, she saw four dark figures move away from the outline of the house and back in their general direction. Trini smiled softly, although in the dim moonlight before dawn it wasn’t likely her friend could see it; even if she’d been looking. She placed an arm around her and Kim leaned into it, pressing her forehead against her shoulder. “Just tell me when it’s over.”

The foundation of the house had been completely disconnected and the insides shored up. Tommy and his brother had gone over every detail one more time this morning even though they’d already triple checked everything the afternoon before. Now Tommy, his brother, Jason and Billy were in the final stages of transporting the house from its old foundation to the new one Tommy and David had built.

“Alright Kat.” Billy’s voice said from the darkness where the boys were standing. “Initiate transport.”

Despite her resolve not to look, Kim’s head popped up, her hands came away from her face, and she watched as her house was engulfed in a bright glow of blue-white light and disappeared, re-appearing almost instantly a hundred yards away on its new foundation. She had expected groaning and popping, but there was relatively little noise; just a sort of wooden sigh, as if the old home had settled its frame into a new easy chair.

“That was easy.” She said incredulously and from the close darkness she heard Tommy laugh.

“I told you,” He said, coming up alongside and wrapping his arms around her waist from behind in a huge bear hug. “I know what I’m doing.”

“You mean you have friends who know what they’re doing.” She countered.

“Come on.” David said, moving past them towards the new location of the house. “Let’s check it out and get things bolted down.”

“Your brother snores more loudly than a fog horn.” Rocky complained, rolling over in his reclining leather chair. Carri groaned then laughed softly as her brother let off another round from behind them. She opened her eyes to see Rocky looking at her and rolled them dramatically.

“Think we should stuff a towel in his mouth or something?” She suggested. Rocky grinned at her, then grimaced as the loud roaring sound behind them got even more intense.

“Jesus Christ.” He swore. He was tired; beyond tired actually. It was nearly five in the morning east coast time and almost two in Angel Grove. “Will we have any time to sleep once we get home?” He asked.

“I doubt I will.” Carri lamented. She’d been up for over two days, by all rights she should be so tired that she didn’t even hear her brother, but Carri wasn’t sure what was louder, the little plane’s jet engines or the thunderous snoring behind them. She was so tired she wasn’t even pissed and that signaled she was getting dangerously punchy. “I’ve got to get over to the office and see what Chris has come up with for the shows.” She said. “God, if I had known casting was going to go so shity this week I’d of never left him in charge. It’s not exactly rocket science. We have a formula, we know what we want, and California is full of actors.”

“What’s the problem?” Rocky asked, pulling up his blanket and rolling over to face her.

“I dunno.” She said with frustration. “ I have a girl I want for Hidden Adventures and I’m not budging. I told Chris to find a guy that works well with her and the one he came up with…they just don’t click on camera; at all. That’s a touchy show to cast. You have to have someone who’s a bit of a daredevil and who doesn’t mind that they’re gonna go off road in the dirt and basically camp out around the world. They get dirty, sweaty, have the runs constantly from local food and water, suffer jet lag and bumps and bruises, and then we want them to work for peanuts and be all perky on camera.”

“You did it for how many years?” Rocky asked.

“Four seasons, but we only filmed it for just over two and a half years.” She rolled her head to the side and met his eyes. “It was insane, but Kim and I didn’t know any different. We honestly had fun together and it showed on camera. That’s why we only cast for one season now before re-signing or changing hosts; the new kids don’t always get along and when that happens the whole season goes down. I’m hoping with this new girl we can put some much needed energy back into it. I’d hate to see it end, but on the other hand, it’s been running for eight seasons.”

“What’s so special about this new girl?” He asked, yawning broadly and Carri grinned at him.

“Adam found her…she’s a retired yellow.”

“You serious?” he asked, eyes a little perkier. “Which one?”

“From what I’m told, she’s one of Tommy’s old students.”

“Shit…have you told him?” He asked and she shook her head, wincing as her brother let off another sonic blast.

“Nah, I told Kim about her and she said to sign the girl first. He’s apparently really protective of his kids and that contract sucks.”

Rocky rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. That could possibly be a real kettle of worms if Tommy thought Carri was taking advantage. Rocky had no illusions, Carri ran a very tight ship and, despite the fact that she’d started out on the other side of the camera, as a producer she was downright vicious. She put together some really good shows though; just about everything she’d tried her hand at had resulted in some sort of success or another. Still, he had a hard time thinking she’d actually screw over another Ranger.

“Carri, Rangers…”

“Rangers take care of other Rangers.” Carri finished for him. “Don’t worry, part of the flack I was getting from my dad earlier was that I modified the contracts. He’s worried I’m setting a bad precedent, or going soft, but I know what I’m doing.”

“And what’s that?”

“Taking care of a fellow yellow.” She said simply. “…and making sure I keep Oliver off my back.”

Rocky chuckled and reached out to take her hand. She returned his grasp and laid her head on his shoulder. They sat there silently for a while, listing to the rhythmic bombardment from the rear of the plane until Carri finally sighed and sat back in her own recliner.

“What was that package Josh gave you when we boarded?” She asked.

“Uhm…” Rocky answered. “Nothing, just some stuff.”

“What stuff?” She asked, sitting up and turning to him.

“Nothing.” He said, shifting around in his seat. He refused to look at her and, releasing her hand, adjusted the blanket around him.

“Rocky...” She said, not buying it for an instant. The two guys had sat in the rear of the plane for nearly thirty minutes together while she finished up some last minute details on her laptop for her meeting tomorrow.

“Stuff…” Rocky said again, still not looking at her. She leaned forward and turned his head around with her hand.

“What stuff?” She insisted, catching his eyes firmly. Rocky turned around and stole a look at her brother, who was still sawing wood loudly behind them, and then a glance up the aisle, where the attendant had just taken a tray up to the pilots.

“Weird stuff.” He admitted, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. “He apparently thinks we have something else in common since you told him about the Ranger thing.”

“What?” She asked, a little too loudly and he shushed her, looking around again to see if anyone was listening.

“He thinks…aw, never mind. He showed me all these magazines and websites where you can buy stuff to…well you know.”

“Holy shit…” She said, giggling like she was in high school again. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” He confirmed.

“I so do not want to know that side of my brother.” She giggled. “Sometimes I’d overhear him and dad talking…” She shook her head and made a sour face. “I just don’t want to think about them being guys.”

“I didn’t know what to say. I mean if I denied I was into it…I mean, Jesus Christ, the last thing I need after getting knocked around fighting a monster is to role play Rangers in the bedroom.” He moaned and Carri burst out laughing. He shushed her, arms and hands gesturing animatedly not to wake her brother up or attract the attention of the attendant.

“So what’s in the magazines?” She asked slyly and he rolled his eyes making a face somewhere in-between incredulous and mortified.

“Holy crap… I’ve seen some pretty weird stuff but….shit.” He said, shaking his head and giving her a look that said he was baffled by half of it. “You’re brother is one sick dude.” He added. “I can’t believe he and Kim dated, for what? Two  years?”

“I can tell you first hand she’s not into the weird stuff.” Carri said in a definite tone, defending her absent friend. “It was a real problem between them, but I wasn’t very good about listening to her about it. I didn’t want to know and I’d get mad at her for trying to talk to me about it.”

Rocky gave her a look that seemed to say he sympathized and a silence descended between the two for a little while.

 “So what’s in the magazines?’ She asked again after a few moments, leaning forward conspiratorially with a twinkle in her eyes. Rocky shook his head and paused a second, pressing his lips firmly together as if to keep from laughing, then looked over at her with the same sly and amused look.

“One of ‘em has just about every Ranger uniform there is…and all kind of props… including a whole section titled evil doers…”

“Holy shit.” Carri giggled. “Well, at least we know where to go if we need a spare change of clothes.”

“That’s not the slightest bit funny Carri.” He answered, but he was grinning, and his eyes twinkled as brightly as hers did. “It happens to be one of your brother’s favorite sites on the web.”

“Seriously?”

“Oh yeah.” He answered. “He apparently thinks we have that in common now too.” He said, giving Carri a meaningful look. “He went on and on about how he’s got this thing for the pink Mighty Morphin Ranger.”

“No!” Carri answered dramatically “Oh my god…. I feel so bad for him. He had his fantasy come to life when he was dating Kim and never knew it.”

“Oh no.” Rocky said casually, adjusting the blankets and giving her an odd look. “That’s not even the worst of it. Seems the version he liked best was when she started to grow up a little…you know, got taller with boobs…”

“But that was…oh my god!” She cried, both hands on her mouth to keep from squealing. “Oh my god..” She said again. “That’s just so wrong...”

“Yeah.” Rocky said, raising his eyebrows up with a comically regretful look. “Good thing Ranger code keeps me from telling him he’s got a fetish for his cousin.”

“Some things are just better left unsaid.” Carri replied, leaning back in her seat, but grinning evilly. She turned and glanced back at Rocky and the two erupted in mutual soft laughter.

“Ok, we’re all set for the day.” Tommy said, coming out on the porch where Kim was sitting on the step. “Everything checks out and looks good. We should be able to hook up the utilities sometime this week.”

“I can’t believe you moved the house.” Kim said in a droll tone.

“Yeah, but look at that view.” He said, pointing out over the new front yard that showed a view overlooking Angel Grove, which lay slightly down the hills, and directly over to a distant Angel Lake. “That’s gonna be gorgeous at night and you couldn’t see it at all when the house was down in that corner of the lot.”

“You moved my whole freak’n house.” She said again and he grinned at her, leaning over to steal a kiss.

“You sure you’re ok with it?”

“It’s done now.” She said, rolling her eyes. “But, yes, I’m fine with it.” She reached out and cupped the side of his face with her hand and started to add something else just a buzzing zacada sound cut her off. Tommy cursed loudly and with emotion, starting to get up, but she motioned him to stay put. “I’ll only be a few minutes.” She said, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

“Kim…” He started to protest weakly, then slumped his shoulders. It scared him to death that she’d take off somewhere without him, but he understood he couldn’t follow her everywhere. “Power protect you.” He said softly. She smiled and kissed his temple.

“You too sweet.” She said. He turned to hug her, but she disappeared in a flash of red light.

Rolling his eyes and with the high energy he’d felt earlier suddenly and completely drained from his body, he stood sighed heavily. Taking one last look at the view of the rising sun, he descended the steps towards his Jeep.

Kim landed with Thomas in a very familiar looking Angel Grove Park. One look at the cars driving by and she realized they were back in time a good decade or so. At her raised eyebrow, he nodded over to where a pack of very familiar teens bounded down the sidewalk on rollerblades.

“That’s the one I told you about.” He said evenly.

“Kemora’s last victim?” She asked and he nodded confirmation. “How’s she working out?” She asked again, straining her eyes a bit to take a closer look at the girl.

“Better than I expected.” He admitted and Kim raised an eyebrow at him curiously. “She’s very strong.” He continued, “If a bit immature…still, she’s one of only two alternates that have ever survived Kemora’s demonic possession.”

“I wasn’t exactly the most mature person you’d ever worked with either.” Kim reminded him.

“Wasn’t?” He said, completely deadpan and she laughed.

“Did I just hear a joke?” She asked flippantly.

“No.” He said evenly, but she smiled again anyway.

“So what do I need to do?” She asked as the girl in question rolled out of sight with her friends.

“Nothing.” Thomas said.

“Nothing?” She repeated.

Thomas shook his head. “You simply need to know where she is.”

“I beg your pardon?” Kim asked, frowning.

“You have a knack for always knowing where and when you are. If I show you once, you manage to find your way back without any further coaching and then get yourself home again.” He turned and looked at her seriously. “I know you take chances, risks, and I know you don’t play by the rules.”

“Am I being reprimanded?” She asked seriously.

“No, just warned. You have about as many enemies as I do and you’ve been at this only a fraction of the time. You’re good K. Good at what you do…and lucky. That combination always breeds resentments, at best it breeds notoriety, and that’s not always a good thing in our business. You need to trust your gut, it’s remarkably on target most of the time. Primus, the master who trained me after Zordon, always said you had the ability to develop into a very powerful guardian if the others would just leave you alone. You’re stronger than Kemora and always have been. You have a knack for channeling the flow of the Power, keep that close to you. You have the answers, you just need to solve the problem.”

“You’re scaring me.” She said more evenly than she felt. What the hell was he talking about?

“I have one more place to show you.” He said and disappeared.

When they landed again it was in a much more familiar place. The cars and fashions were modern and Kim realized that they were either back in her own dimension or one that closely paralleled it. Relaxing herself inwardly and allowing her sensitivity to commune with how the Power resonated in this world, she realized she wasn’t home, so this had to be a close, but alternate dimension.

“Over here.” Thomas said and turned, walking quickly away from her. “There.” He said gesturing with a jerk of his chin. Kim looked up to see her double emerge from a Starbucks with her Tommy. The two walked quickly through the downtown and whatever he was saying to her wasn’t exactly going over well. The two stopped in front of a modern office building and talked for a moment before the Tommy turned with an undeterminable look and walked away. The Kim, scowling, threw open the glass door and stomped in.

“I stumbled upon her by accident. She’s not a Muirantian, but her life course is remarkably similar to yours.” Thomas said as the two turned and walked away from the scene.

“That’s interesting.” Kim said. As far as she knew, she was an anomaly.

“It’s important, but I haven’t had time to digest it yet.” Thomas said. “She’s your age and yet she has returned to the Rangers multiple times. She was trained by Dulcea and now possesses a Planetary power.”

Kimberly stopped, in turn causing Thomas to stop and wait impatiently for her. “Planetary powers are inter-dimensional powers.” She said. “There’s only one set that exist in all dimensions simultaneously. How could she possess one if she’s not an inter-dimensional being?”

“That’s what I have yet to find out…but, like you, she’s a red Ranger…a leader…and she’s a Phaedosian master warrior.”

“But that means I might not be such an anomaly.” Kim said, just an edge of excitement in her voice. “Maybe we’re both part of a rare, but legitimate timeline.”

“That’s what I’m hoping to prove.” Thomas said. “But I haven’t succeeded yet. She’s not married to her Tommy, they’re definitely not together…both seem to be remorseful at that loss, but neither have shown any indications that the relationship will re-evolve now that she’s back on Earth.”

“But still…in time…maybe they will…” Kim said hopefully. If this dimension held a Kimberly with a similar life pattern, maybe there was hope that her timeline would be more acceptable. Maybe she wouldn’t have to rush into having children just to appease the other timelines.

“We don’t have time to wait and see.” Thomas said with what seemed almost like a growl. “The two of you parallel. We won’t know for sure until after she’s lived her life and the history is written. The important notation is that she possesses an inter-dimensional power, which means you could handle one too; should the need arise.”

“It’s doubtful I’d ever be given the opportunity.” Kimberly mused. Powers like that weren’t handed out randomly and they certainly weren’t given to reformed demon spawn. “Still…I’m glad you showed her to me. It gives me hope.”

“I didn’t bring you here to give you hope.” Thomas said firmly. At her questioning look, he continued. “This alternate has fought Kemora not once, but twice.” He paused and let the significance of that set in. “The first time she was possessed by the demon, she was able to shake her off; surviving to become stronger than ever. That’s unprecedented. I’m wondering if it’s this possession that led her down the alternate path she chose. She wasn’t Muirantian, yet she was once possessed by a Muirantian. Perhaps this residual effect had more of an impact than anyone has given credit to.”

“You think the other girl will follow the same alternate path because she also survived Kemora’s possession?”

Thomas shrugged, but didn’t answer. “The last time this alternate fought Kemora she succeeded in containing her.” He said. Kimberly raised an eyebrow, but waited for Thomas to continue. “I think that was why Kemora disappeared for a while. I don’t think she was hunting Muirantian alternates at all…I don’t think she ever made it past the Nemesis Triangle. I think she was contained somewhere in time.”

“So you think Kemora will go after this Kimberly when she’s done with me?” Kim asked.

“I don’t know, but I firmly believe that there are others out there K, others who survived Muirantias; I just haven’t found them yet. Perhaps they never developed to become as powerful as you and Kemora and this girl, but it can’t be an anomaly to have the three of you develop so similarly.” Thomas stopped walking and turned to Kim. “Revet is in charge of this dimension.”

“Is he the one who brought her to your attention?”

“No.” Thomas said, shaking his head. “This alternate fought Kemora not once, but twice and he never mentioned her; despite the mandate that all sightings of Kemora be brought immediately to my attention.”

“Why? I mean he knows what you’re researching.”

“He never mentioned the anomaly or the similarities of the timelines; not even when it was decided to terminate you.” Thomas said coldly and Kim felt a chill go up her spine. “Remember that Kimberly.” He said, shocking her to the core that he’d used her real name. Never, ever in their long association had he ever called anything other than Kaycea or K. As far as she knew, he never referred to any of the Kimberlys by name unless he absolutely had to, just simply called them alternates. “Trust no one but your own instincts.” He said firmly.

“Not even you?” She asked, tilting her head slightly. She watched his eyes carefully. She could almost always tell what was going on behind his cold masks by looking in his eyes. He was struggling with something. “Especially not me.” He said finally.

 “What the hell is that?” Tommy asked coldly, nearly twenty four hours after she had left him to help Thomas. She and Billy were struggling to contain something on the other side of a force field in his lab as alarms sounded and red lights flashed. He’d received a code red on his communicator and woken to an empty bed once again. Trini watched the scene unfold from behind him and he brushed off  her hand when it reached out to hold him back to the spot in the doorway where she’d been sent.

“It’s a plant infected with the Master Org spores.” Kim said, hitting several sequences on the computer panel and finally banging her hand against the consol. Billy was also obviously struggling with something regarding the containment field as even more alarms began to blare from all over the lab. Carri, Rocky, and Jason rushed in behind him but Billy shouted at him to keep them back.

“What the hell is going on?” Tommy demanded, Master Org spores? The Master Org spores had been contained and disposed of years ago; at least that was what Cole had told him. As if summoned by Tommy’s thoughts, Cole teleported in and immediately raced over to Kim and Billy.

“It’s breaking through every single force field we throw at it.” Kim shouted to Cole over the alarms. “It was showing absolutely no signs of sentience until about ten minutes ago when it began disabling the security system.”

“It’s beginning its final metamorphosis into a fully fledged Org.” Billy added, then turned. “For God’s sake Tommy, get Trini and the others out of here, we need to seal off the whole lab before it breaks through the last of the security barriers.”

“That has got to be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” Carri said, trying to push her way forward, but Rocky held her back.

“Tommy, Rocky,” Billy called swiftly moving over to them and pushing both Trini and Carri back into the hallway and into an approaching Kat Manx. “Help me get Adam out of here. I transported him over after his surgery this morning because the med-bed is better in here. Tanya won’t leave him and we had to disable the transporter in case that thing gets out.”

“What about Kim and Cole?” Jason asked, pushing his way past the girls.

“They’re going to seal the lab off and kill the org.” Billy said.

“How?” Carri asked, resenting being pushed even further back. “That thing’s pushing past everything you guys are throwing at it.”

“Better not to ask.” Tommy growled, turning to help Billy as the security wall slid down in front of the girls.

Joshua Hillard was not a patient man. He was supposed to meet Kim for coffee just in two hours, but he’d risen unusually early and was now pacing back and forth in his sister’s townhouse. She’d been ignoring his calls for days and, despite his sister’s warnings that his ex-girlfriend was very happy, he had made the long trip out to California only to find out late the previous day that she’d gotten married the day after Thanksgiving. Somehow, that just didn’t seem to faze him and he’d badgered his sister constantly to arrange a meeting, finally refusing to sign off on her casting choices until she got Kim to at least have coffee with him.

He wasn’t bothered at all by the idea that she’d eloped with another man. Some part of him, somewhere, was a little disappointed and regretful, even angry that she’d tied herself to another man when she’d sworn at their last meeting that she’d never marry anyone. For the most part though, he honestly didn’t care. He was certain, once she’d heard him out, that she’d realize her error and nullify the marriage; after all, she’d done it the last time she’d run off and done something stupid like elope. He’d forgive her though, that’s what you did when you loved someone. He was a very wealthy man, even without his dad’s money, he’d have an army of lawyers working on it that afternoon if he had to.

He flopped down on the sofa, expelling excess energy with a huge exasperated sigh, and ran his fingers through his short hair. Kim was the one who had gotten away. He had worshiped her from start to finish and had been completely ripped apart when she’d called it quits. He had adored her, his parents had adored her, his grandmother had adored her, her parents had adored him…it had been an idyllic situation. True, she’d been a little exasperated when he chose to keep himself occupied with female company on business trips away from her, but she had refused to realize that was what a guy did; anyone who believed otherwise was just deluding themselves… or lying. Her own father should have taught her that. Little liaisons, or friendships, as his dad called them happened all the time. It was no big deal. The serious, long term relationship was what truly mattered.

He loved Kim, respected that she drew a very firm line in the bedroom where his appetites were concerned; and yet he still wanted to be with her. If he hadn’t respected her he’d have pressed her to push her comfort zone a little more often. As it was he had totally understood and had been very generous in his understanding; he never once pushed her past the point she’d said no. It was only reasonable then, if he was going to have a serious relationship with one and only one woman, and she wasn’t willing to participate in certain things that he needed…well a guy had to get it somewhere; so he’d had a little fun here and there on the side. Playing around wasn’t a crime and he’d kept it more than quiet; she hadn’t even found out his little ventures until the end.

Josh cursed loudly and threw a small couch pillow at the floor, uncovering a pair of his sister’s underwear as well as her shirt and bra in the process. Grinning, he tossed them onto the coffee table with an amused chuckle. His sister might act the prude, but he knew she was anything but. She was his sister and her father’s daughter and if anyone should have understood his needs it was Carri, but she’d sided firmly with Kim; despite the arguing the two had done throughout that relationship.

Josh exhaled forcibly again and stood up, swinging his arms as he paced. The sun was barely up and his sister and her boyfriend were still asleep. He didn’t know what time Rocky started stirring, but he honestly didn’t expect to see Carri before noon at least. Running his hands through his hair one more time, he headed back towards the kitchen. If he still had two hours to wait, then he’d indulge in another cup of coffee.

“I want answers.” Tommy nearly snarled, giving Kim an angry look, but directing the full force of his angst towards Cole. He understood he was slightly over reacting, the situation had already been remedied, the org was dead, but he just didn’t care. Despite his loud protests the previous night, Kim was determined to meet Carri’s brother, her ex-boyfriend, for coffee; without him. He wanted to strangle that man for coming to California after Kimberly. The only thing that kept him from marching into Carri’s condo and pummeling the guy was the fact that he was Carri’s brother… and, possibly, just one last shred of common sense that hadn’t managed to be poisoned by jealously.

It wasn’t like it was their first argument since moving in together, but he was adamant that he didn’t want her going alone and she was adamant that this was something she needed to handle without him. In the end, he had actually caved and she had tried to make it up to him, but then he’d been woken from a sound sleep; only to find her gone. Now they were in the small meeting area used by the Red Assembly and he was out for blood; he didn’t care who’s.

“It’s my fault.” Cole said, standing up only to have Kim grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him forcefully back down into his chair.

“No it’s not. I came to Cole with the idea of infecting the plant.” She said evenly, glaring at Tommy to get his temper under control. It didn’t help anyone present to have him stalking the small space in front of the chairs; prowling up and down the narrow strip of flooring like a panther choosing which victim it was going to maul to death.

“But it was my proposal to keep it locked in my lab instead of on Muirantias.” Billy interjected.

“We couldn’t keep an infected plant of Muirantias.” Kim stated firmly. “If it had broken loose there and made its way to the power chamber…” She let the rest of her sentence trail off and shook her head, throwing her arms up for emphases. From the other side of the room, Jason humphed loudly and, when she shot him an annoyed looked, he crossed his arms across his chest and lazily rested both his heels on the chair in front of him.

“Why were you infecting a plant to begin with?” Tommy asked firmly.

“For the antidote.” Cole said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“What antidote?” Tommy asked sternly, arms crossed.

“There’s a similarity to the virus infecting Teeg’s viratrons and the virus-like quality of the Master Org spores that infected Dr. Adler.” Kim said in an exasperated tone, even from her seated position facing Tommy down. “It’s not a spore, but it behaves like a spore. It’s not a virus, but it behaves like a virus. It’s an anomaly and yet it’s cousin exists in the viratrons.”

“The viratrons are orgs?” Jason asked.

“Not exactly.” Kim said shaking her head. “But very close. Orgs are a sentient, plant like beings which have a symbiotic relationship with a very strong, aggressive, and I can almost swear sentient, spore like virus infecting their cellular structure. When Adler swallowed the spores, or the virus contained within the spore-like shell of the Master Org plant, it infected a human, a mammal, not another plant; yet it still adapted and infected him. It changed him, very slowly, probably because his cellular structure was so different, until he literally became compatible…morphing in the end into an org-like creature.”

“Wait a minute.” Carri said, interrupting. “Those spores were out in the jungle for how many thousands of years before Adler found them? Why didn’t they just take over the plant life here?”

“Because we don’t have sentient plant-life on this planet.”  Billy answered over his shoulder. “At least none that we consider sentient. It remained in its dormant state until it could find a willing host, theoretically at this point, in the cells of the lining of Adler’s intestines.”

“That’s disgusting.” Rocky said and Carri nodded at him; their eyes meeting and giving each other a silent look of horror.

“Disgusting yes.” Kim agreed, “But important.”

Alder had been a mammalian host just as most of the viratrons started out as human or mammalian prisoners infected by Teeg with a clay-like virus that turned them into sentient, yet completely controllable, drill sergeants for the claybots. Until Kim had made the link between the similarities between the clay virus, as she called it, and the one infecting the Master Org spores, the process of turning a human into a viratron had been irreversible. However, with a lot of help, Kim had been able to make a sort of antidote for the viratrons.  The initial trials had been less than successful, but eventually they had been able to synthesize a form of anti-virus that was effective about ten percent of the time in reversing the process; if it was caught quickly enough.

“Only ten percent?” Rocky asked. “That’s not very good odds.”

“Considering the preliminary stages of their research it’s phenomenal.” Billy answered, turning to face him. “They’ve only been compiling data for a few years…research like this spans a lifetime.”

“The viratrons don’t have a lifetime.” Kim muttered angrily. “Teeg doesn’t take prisoners, she infects her captives with the clay virus and puts them to work.”

“Who do you know that was infected?” Tommy asked, giving her a direct look that said he wanted the answer immediately.

“The scientific team that created the Nova’s zords. Those zords are unique and nearly impossible to re-create. Teeg wanted them, so she destroyed the Nova’s home base and took all but one of the scientists working on there.”

“What happened?” Tommy pressed.

“The Nova’s managed to rescue them, if you can call it that. Only one survived the transformation back into a human….but he’s…well he’s…”

“Effected.” Billy answered for her and she nodded, a sadness clouding her eyes.

“We’ve had much better success since then with the other viratrons we’ve captured, but it was too late for the scientific team.” She said softly. “We thought we’d have more time, that she’d try to torture them and extract their knowledge, get them to build zords for her, but she didn’t wait. They we infected almost immediately.”

“Well she’s not fighting with those kind of zords, so she obviously didn’t get very much information out of them.” Jason offered when a cold silence descended on the group.

“We don’t know how far Teeg got or not.” Kim said angrily. “She hasn’t formed her Ranger team yet.”

Another silence settled over those assembled in the conference room as everyone absorbed that information. The Nova’s zords were far more powerful than the zords the Zeo team commanded, they would be completely out gunned; especially since Elemi had told them his team would be out of commission for several weeks, if not months. All of them knew that Teeg had obtained her third power coin and would most likely begin to utilize them to her advantage. The question was when, not if, she’d attack next.

“Why allow an infected plant to become a Master Org?” Tommy asked at last. Cole and Kim looked at each other hesitantly, then finally Kim looked at Tommy.

“There’s more than one answer to that.” She said honestly.

“Mostly, we wanted to see if the antidote, or the antivirus, would work on the Mater Org spores if they ever infected another sentient creature. So Billy obtained and imported a set of sentient plants that the orgs actually admit a kinsmanship to, they call them their little cousins, and we allowed the spore pods free access to them.”

“And it didn’t work; you got a Master Org.” Carri offered drolly.

“Actually, the plants given the antivirus continue to show no sign of infection.” Billy offered eagerly. “It was the plant that was allowed to become infected and then given the antivirus that continued to develop…but at a much slower rate given the predisposition of the plant to mutate and succumb to that form of infection. On the whole, I’d say the entire phase of this part of the experiment was a brilliant success.”

“But we still don’t have a way to defeat the Master Org.” Cole said in a frustrated tone.

“All of this is really interesting.” Jason interjected, removing his feet from the back of the chair and sitting forward a little. “Aside from all the ethical questions I have screaming through my head right now about infecting a sentient creature with a killer virus to see what happens, but that’s for another discussion…aside from helping Wild Force out on what’s ostensibly a closed mission, why are you pursuing this? I get that your friends were infected with the viratron virus and there’s some sort of link here, but why, in the middle of a current campaign against Rita and Zedd are we risking another Master Org? It sounds to me like you two have a lot more research to do before you start making those kind of leaps.”

“Because Princess Shayla woke up the minute Teeg used her virus to form the viratrons.” Cole said simply.

“What do you mean she woke up?” Tommy asked, the surprise showing through on his face. Cole looked up at him and shrugged.

“She woke up. We don’t know why, she just did. As far as we can tell, she’s not needed, the battles have all been millions of miles away…well, except for the time Teeg came here…but then she left again and the Princess is still awake, so…” Cole shrugged his shoulders and looked at Kim, who seemed to be pondering something quietly to herself.

“You wanna let me in on this little mystery?” Tommy asked, coming to stand directly in front of her chair. He knew that look of hers, she knew something and hadn’t bothered to tell him…yet.

“I don’t know for sure.” She said, looking up at him. “I have a theory, but that’s all it is.”

“Then share.” Tommy insisted snidely. She gave him a hard look to let him know she was annoyed, then brushed it off.

“The claybots are somehow related to the orgs; distantly, but there’s a kinship. The claybot antidote works as an immunization, sort of, to the plants known to be preferential to the Master Org spore pods. I think…” She paused and looked at everyone. “I think, I don’t know, but if I can form a link between the viratrons, who were originally created by the Demon King, and the Master Org, then there’s a good chance I can draw a link between the Master Org spores and the virus that infects the Demon King.”

“The what?” Rocky and Jason asked together, but Tommy’s hands had come up to his face and he threw his head back as if realizing something incredibly unpleasant.

“The Demon King begins life as a sentient virus.” Kim explained. “That’s not the right word for it, but I’ve only come across one or two other references that are a little closer and they’re both in languages that are way too impossible to pronounce for humans.” She paused again and worked her jaw as if re-living years of frustrations and research. “Ten thousand years ago Zordon thought he and his friends had destroyed the Demon King only to discover that the his biological son, a Ranger and warrior sworn to destroy his father, had taken his place. It was then that Zordon realized the Demon King was actually some kind of sembiot. It infects it’s hosts and takes over the body, eventually infecting or eating away the original host cell by cell and morphing into its own creature…that’s exactly what happened to Adler. I think I can draw a weak link here. I think the Mater Org virus/spore … whatever it is… is possibly a stray mutant form of the Demon King virus…much weaker…” She continued as those around her erupted with sounds and questions all at once. “I honestly think it’s a stray… a weaker form that somehow mutated and survived… and Billy will tell you that’s possible… but if it is, maybe we can find a way to kill it before it infects its next host.”

“So that’s why you were trying to find an antidote.” Tommy said evenly and Kim nodded. “But why is Princess Shayla awake?”

“It’s got to have something to do with the similarities between the viruses. I think the princess wakes up anytime the virus, in the form of a Master Org because a simple org isn’t enough to release her, is found to be active again. The Demon King is ten thousand times more powerful than a Master Org.” She explained, pausing for emphasis. “I think, if his containment orb is cracked wide enough for Teeg to get through, then maybe it’s enough to trigger the alarms that wake Princess Shayla up from stasis.” She paused again and shrugged her shoulders, looking around the room. “I mean, Animus was one of the warriors who fought the Demon King before. He brought the wild zords to Earth six thousand years ago at Zordon’s request because the orgs migrated here… it makes sense to me, but it’s just a theory.”

“The orgs are my fight.” Cole said simply, standing up. “But if the Demon King is related to the orgs or if Earth is threatened, then that makes your fight mine as well.” He turned to Tommy seriously, “I have to go. I’ve already been given another mission and by being here I’m neglecting that assignment.”

Tommy nodded his understanding, silently giving Cole his permission to leave, but before he did, the Wild Force red turned to Kim. “I’ll be ready when you need me.” He said with a seriousness that took her aback, then turned and left the room.

“What was that about?” Tommy asked Kim, his humor degrading again.

“I have no idea.” She said simply, the look on her face telling him she was as baffled as anyone. “It’s Cole...” She said shrugging. “Either the life on the planet is ending immediately or there’s a cocker spaniel being used to test human shampoo…it’s all the same to him.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, the lack of humor plain on his face. This day just wasn’t going to get any better.

Josh left Carri’s apartment early. He just couldn’t stand being trapped inside any longer. Writing her a quick note, he closed and locked the door behind him, then hurried down the steps and opened the door to his rental car. There was a park across from the coffee shop where he was meeting Kim, he’d go for a walk and burn off some of his excess energy. Smiling to himself, he pulled out of the visitor parking and turned onto the main road.

“So Mr. Perky over there seems to be in a good mood this morning.” Carri said sarcastically to Kim, nodding her head in Tommy’s direction as Kim stood up and stretched. “What’s up with him?”

“I’m having coffee with your brother this morning.” Kim said simply. “Without him.”

“Well, excuse me, of course he’s not going. Doesn’t he get that?” Carri asked, but Kim only rolled her eyes. “He’s really gonna stay away from Josh right?” She asked in a concerned voice. The last thing she wanted was for Kim’s jealous boyfriend- turned- husband to pound her brother. Josh was a big guy and could take care of himself, but going up against Oliver when he was pissed was a completely different story; even she wasn’t stupid enough to do that.

“Hopefully.” Kim answered, turning and walking towards the door of the assembly room. “But I wouldn’t put it past him to spy on me through the viewing globe in the Command Center. He’s totally over reacting….You hanging around here or going home?”

“Going home. Josh thinks I’m still asleep. Then I’ve got a meeting to get to this afternoon.”

“Sorry to get you up so early.” Kim said, referring to the red alert her plant had caused.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the wakeup call…” She said sarcastically, chuckling a little. “But…”

“I get it, I get it…” Kim answered waving her away over her shoulder as she walked the opposite way down the hall. “See ya.”

“Hey…” Carri called back to her and Kim turned around.

“Don’t be too mean to Josh.” She said. “I know he can be a real pain in the ass, but he’s my brother…and I love him a lot.”

“I promise to be very firm, but not cruel.” Kim answered and Carri shot her a half smile.

As Kim turned around again her thoughts drifted back to Carri’s brother and she allowed herself, for the first time since he’d called her, to think about their past relationship and what it had meant to her. Like any long term relationship gone bust, there were a lot of wonderful parts to it and many not so wonderful things as well.

She had genuinely loved him and had cried heavily for days after it was over, but she’d never once doubted that she had made the right choice. It had still been painful to let him go and she’d remained depressed for months.

Josh had come along at the perfect time. She’d been incredibly lonely and he was very charming company. He’d been handsome, rich, successful, mature, and he’d adored her. She hadn’t loved him the way she had loved Tommy, but it had definitely been the same sort of intense energy between them. Not only had the sex been fabulous, but they had been able to talk about almost everything. Unfortunately, almost everything hadn’t included the Rangers and, unlike most retirees, the Rangers had come calling again; then dominated her life to exclusion of everything else.

She sighed deeply. They’d been apart so long that she’d forgotten about the other things too. The sex had been completely intoxicating; she’d never known the possibilities of what could exist between two willing partners before. She and Tommy had been so young, they’d had fun and it had been overwhelming emotionally at times, but they hadn’t really been mature enough to really know the extent of what they could have together. Josh had  opened her eyes to a whole new realm of possibilities she’d been too shy and too young to explore before; things her current relationship was definitely benefiting from. Unfortunately, it had never been enough for him. He’d always wanted more; more frequency, more daring…just more. When she hadn’t been able to satisfy him he’d gone elsewhere and that had hurt like nothing else she’d ever experienced. He’d blown it off as nothing, the other women weren’t anything serious, just toys…but it hadn’t been fun for her at all.

Still, she didn’t regret it for an instant. Josh’s ardor had prepared her for Elemi’s intensity. Her ex-husband would have scared her to death had it not been for her interim with Carri’s brother. He had been as fierce in his bed-sport as Josh had been wild and carefree. Without her relationship with Josh Hillard to season her to the other side of male appetites, Elemi’s lust would have shocked and frightened her. Instead, she had been able to weather that storm and eventually tame him to a quieter appreciation of lovemaking. Both experiences had prepared her for a second chance with Tommy, who had also grown and developed a different style of love-play from their teen years. He had been thrilled to discover she had a bit of a wild side now and she had melted into his gentle worship of her. She knew now that she had the best man for her tastes, but explaining it was harder than she’d thought it would be…and she honestly thought it better to remain unsaid.

Her thoughts drifted back to Josh and the more subtle and more complicated problems that relationship had endured. He’d insisted on taking care of her to the extent that it left her feeling more indebted than grateful. It had honestly been fun for a while and she really did love being spoiled, but it had worn thin towards the end. Plus there was the added spoiler that, anytime there was a disagreement, he’d throw out how much he was doing for her and make her feel horribly guilty for contradicting him. That kind of power didn’t sit well with someone who’d been taught to make up her own mind. She understood that was how his dad handled his mom, but she didn’t want that kind of subjugated life.

Tommy tended to be just as overriding, she thought ruefully, but he came at it differently. He listened and honestly made her feel like he understood her point of view, often giving way on many concessions, but he still wanted his way all the time and would wiggle around from different angles until he got her to cave; but Tommy never made her feel beholden. If anything, he forced her to stand up and take charge. Yet still, somehow, he’d always managed to win her over to his point of view without her ever really realizing how it happened. It was the same effect, just a different approach.

She really didn’t want to compare the two, she decided mentally, shaking her head a bit to clear it, but she needed to somehow make Josh understand how she was honestly better with Tommy. She had loved him almost all her life. True, that love had changed dramatically over the years. She wasn’t really as giddy about him as she was in high school. Sometimes, it would come in little spurts and those old butterfly feelings would whisper back, but mostly it was as if it was an entirely new relationship. They were different people she realized. Neither was as carefree as they’d been as kids and both were far more intense because of the lives they had led. That intensity had carried over into their relationship.

One thing hadn’t changed though; he made her feel safe. That had been a rare feeling for more years than she wanted to count. There was an easiness, a contentment, that she hadn’t known for a very long time. She liked herself when she was with him and fell asleep far easier and far more soundly knowing he was next to her or in the other room working. She was deeply in love with him and that love showed through in the form of a trust that she hadn’t found in any other man.

That secure feeling was completely unique to him. She knew he didn’t entirely feel the same way and that saddened her a little. He loved her with an intensity that sometimes blinded her, but he didn’t completely trust her. She knew it because of that odd bond between them. It was those briefest of seconds shared when their powers and abilities combined and she could feel everything going on inside him without reservations or hesitancy. As much as she relished those moments, he didn’t at all and steered clear of them anytime he could anticipate them. He didn’t like that closeness, didn’t like the lack of control he felt, and that was the one and only wall he kept between them. She never pushed him on it, but she hoped, in time, maybe he’d embrace that part of their love too.

She shook herself free of her musings and tried to focus more clearly on what she had to tell Josh. She’d been rehearsing things to say nearly all night, but none of them seemed to be the right thing to say. What did you say to an ex that wanted you back even though you were married? You told him you were married and in love and to go home; that’s what you told him. Somehow, she didn’t think that would work on Josh. She hadn’t heard from him in more than two years and knew damn well the only reason he wanted her so badly now was because Tommy had her. But how did she make Josh see that?  She didn’t have much more time to wonder as her thoughts were cut short by an urgent, high pitched squeal from her wrist.

“What’s that noise?” Tommy asked, coming up from behind.

She jumped, not expecting him and quickly looked around the hall. Seeing no one else, she jerked her wrist in a tight, counter clockwise motion, revealing her gold, power coin from Phaedos. “Go ahead.” She said into the thin band, effectively silencing the tiny chirping crystals surrounding the coin.

“Kimberly?” A voice asked.

“Who is this?” Kim asked, a deep frown on her face, eyes darting up to Tommy’s in wary surprise.

“It’s Nick, Leanbow’s son, we met at the Red Assembly.”

“How did you get this frequency and why are you calling a red alert?” Kim responded more sternly than Tommy had ever heard her. She looked and sounded every inch the red leader and for a moment he smiled at her in both amusement and approval.

“I don’t have time to explain.” Nick’s voice said hurriedly. “Leanbow told me how to contact you, we have a huge problem and you need to come to the Mystic Realm immediately.”

“The Mystic Mother doesn’t approve of my journeying too much into the Mystic Realm and I’m forbidden from interfering with anything that doesn’t directly affect the surface world.”

“That’s just it.” Nick’s voice responded, sounding almost panicky. “The Mystic Mother is gone…she’s been forcibly taken out of the Mystic Realm and we don’t know by whom.”

Kim’s eyes met Tommy’s once again, both of them simultaneously experiencing the same sinking feeling. “I’ll be right there.” Kim said with more calm than she felt. Ending the transmission and, without ever breaking eye contact, she said. “I think Teeg’s just made her second move.”

“So I’m totally taking you out to celebrate.” Kira said enthusiastically. “Is there any place around here that has good coffee?”

“Yeah, there’s a place over by the park that Dr. O goes to.” Conner said, grinning at the way she was jumping around. Kira wasn’t much on public displays of emotion and it was kind of cute the way she was animatedly whirling around the apartment.

“Fabulous! Maybe we’ll run into him and I can tell him the good news too.”

“Are you sure you want to do this show? I mean, it sounds like a lot of work for what they’re gonna pay you.” He asked.

“Are you kidding? Nobody’s ever paid me this much  before. Come to think of it, I don’t think anyone’s ever paid me just to travel around and be me….I’m gonna travel!” She all but squealed, causing him to outright laugh at her antics as she spun around, manila information folder in hand. “I’m gonna see the whole damn world…and they’re gonna pay me for it!”

“I think there’s gonna be a lot more to it than that.” He said evenly, but he was still grinning.

“Hey, I’m employed.” She said, sounding a lot more like the practical girl she was. “I’ll deal with the rest tomorrow.”

“Alright then.” He answered, glad to see the depression had finally lifted from his friend. “Let’s go get that coffee and have a short celebration. I have to be at work pretty soon.”

“Work…” She said in a far too perky voice. “I just love the sound of that word.”

“If you’ll just give me two seconds.” Andros said to Zane, grabbing his jacket and kissing his wife’s cheek; she waved at him absently from her drawing table, completely absorbed in her work. He turned around and put his jacket on, nodding at his friend to follow him out the door. “I just want to stop and get some coffee before we drive out there.”

“What’s wrong with the coffee on base?” Zane asked. He’d spent the night on his friend’s couch and absently worked at the stiff muscles in his neck. He hadn’t meant to spend the whole night, but the evening had been fun and he’d gotten a little too imbibed to drive back. Andros made a face at him. “What?” He asked.

“The coffee on base sucks it what.” Andros said, revolted look still in place.

“You’re such a snob.” Zane teased. “You never even had coffee before you came here, now you want to make a special stop to get one particular kind?”

“I am not a snob and I will not be ridiculed because I like a local drink that happens to make me think and function better at my work.”

 “So how long is this little stop going to take?” Zane asked patiently, climbing into the passenger side of the car.

“Only a few minutes.” Andros assured as he strapped his seatbelt on and motioned for his friend to do the same. “Unless the lines are really long.”

“Fine.” Zane answered in an oppressed tone, rolling his eyes. He wondered briefly if his friend realized just how much he’d adapted to his wife’s culture.

Angel Grove’s most popular coffee shop was exactly that; very popular on a very early Monday morning. It was really no more than a little utility shack, formerly used by the Park Authority to store supplies on the edge of the ninety-five acre park and then abandoned when a bigger facility had been built a few years before. The shack, in disrepair and nearly falling down, had been taken over by some very enterprising young adults, with the permission of its owner, and turned into a neuvo-shabby-chic café bar; complete with a few plastic lawn tables for its patrons to enjoy.

This particular morning, the line stretched well down the sidewalk as the busy vendors serviced the steady stream of commuters and holiday shoppers. The shack was decked out in multiple strands of gaudy lights, holiday music played from a small CD player on the counter, and although impatient, its patrons methodically stepped forward one pace at a time for their favorite beverage.

“I’m gonna be so late for work.” Conner mumbled as they took one tiny step closer to the counter.

“We’re almost there now.” Kira observed. “If you have to go, you should go. My plane back to New York doesn’t leave until late tonight, I can take you out later.”

“It’s ok, you don’t have to take me out.” He answered.

“Are you serious?” Kira asked in mocked astonishment. “You’ve put me up and fed me for how many nights? I seriously owe you and, now that I have a job, my mom agreed to put some extra money in my account until I can pay her back.”

“It’s fine, really.” He assured her. “I actually enjoyed the company.” He said and then, at her surprised look added, “But I’ll totally deny it if you tell anyone I said it.”

Kira laughed and started to say something back to him, but she was cut off as a large rumbling shook them and the other patrons to the ground.

“That didn’t feel much like a real earthquake.” Kira commented as Conner helped her stand back up. His communicator chirped loudly and she glanced at him in surprise before both were tossed back to the ground by a second, more forceful jolt. “That was definitely more monster like.” She said, rubbing her elbow as the patrons scattered at full run and the coffee bar quickly shut its window.

“Conner!” A voice called from the crowd. He looked up to see Andros and another man trotting towards him. “An  emergency Assembly’s been called by Tommy, you might want to take your friend home.” He said, nodding at Kira, “Angel Grove Park is nowhere to be during an attack.”

“She’s Ranger family.” Conner responded, accepting a hand up from the sidewalk where he’d fallen. “This is Kira, she was a yellow on the Dino Thunder team.”

Andros nodded at the girl as Zane helped her up and then introduced themselves to her.

“Shouldn’t we try to help?” Kira suggested, but Andros shook his head no.

“Let the local team handle things, that’s their job.” He said. Then, at her hesitant look, he added gently, “It’s always hard to stay out of the fight once you’ve worn the uniform, but it’s better this way, they have the morphers, it’s their turn.”

The three men turned and began to move toward Andros’s car, but Kira remained behind, turning and squinting to see several figures transport and run past the closed coffee shack and towards the center of the disturbance.

“Xander!” She called out and the figures stopped and turned towards her just as the other three stopped and turned to see who she was calling out to.

“Kira!” Xander called, and broke away from the group, trotting over to give her a quick hug. “Am I glad to see you. Does your morpher still work?” He asked with a look between deadly serious and extremely hopeful.

“I guess so.” She responded. “I haven’t tried it in a few months.”

“What do you mean does her morpher still work?” Conner asked, coming up from behind her and giving Xander an almost angry look. Xander backed up a step, more amused than threatened and Kira quickly introduced her group before Xander introduced the Mystic Rangers.

“The Mystic Mother, the current source of our powers has been taken.” Xander explained quickly as his companions nodded. “We traced the people we think are responsible here, but I’m the only one who’s morpher works. I think it has something to do with the way the Sentinel Knight re-charged it.”

“We need to let the current Angel Grove team handle this.” Andros interjected seriously. “They’re very experienced and this is their turf.”

“But that’s just it.” Nick interrupted. “Tommy and Kimberly just left Briarwood, their morphers don’t work either.”

“What?” Conner, Andros, and Zane asked together.

“They don’t work.” Nick confirmed. “Someone named Billy and Manx said their crystals have caught a virus?” He looked curiously at the other Rangers, silently asking if any of them had heard of it, but they simply stared back in astonishment.

“That’s got to be why Tommy called an Assembly.” Andros said for lack of a better answer. “We’d better get there.” He added, placing an arm on Conner’s shoulder.

“Wait.” Conner said, shaking off the shoulder and turning toward Kira. “You’re morpher works?”

“It’s a long story. I told you I went and helped out some friends.” Kira answered as the ground shook again. “Look, it works and Angel Grove is apparently short on Rangers.” She turned to Xander. “We should go help.”

“I’m with you.” He answered, with a nod of his head.

“I don’t think either of you are going anywhere.” A firm, female voice said from the other side of the concrete walkway.

“Kimberly?” Nick asked, frowning deeply at the black leather clad figure haughtily staring them down. “But you…”

“That’s not Kimberly.” Andros said cautiously, putting his arms out and backing the group up and away from the woman. “It’s..”

“Perceptive of you.” Kemora answered nastily. “Teeg said to scan for morphanological energy signatures, but I don’t think she had you lot in mind. Still… a Ranger is a Ranger and if I need three it’s better to fish from a trapped pool than a wide ocean.” She lazily held her hand up and a large red ball of energy spun upwards from it. “Who’s first?” She asked herself aloud, then cackled as the group in front of her simultaneously jumped into a defensive ready stance. “I need a green and a yellow…I think we should go with the ones with the highest energy readings… besides, I’ve always hated blonds.”

Like a picture on a mound, she drew back and thrust the glowing ball towards the crowd of retired Rangers. Zane saw the energy ball head toward Kira and reacted without thinking. He turned and lunged for her, trying to knock her out of the way, but the ball was deceptively fast. Both were engulfed by the red light and disappeared in an instant. The Rangers screamed their protests, but Kemora simply cackled happily.

“A two-fer.” She crowed, congratulating herself dramatically. “Well what do you know?”

At that moment, Josh walked out from behind the other side of the coffee bar. He’d grabbed a table earlier and ducked under it when he felt the earthquakes, watching, stunned, as the huge crowd dispersed in a matter of seconds. He’d heard of Angel Grove’s monster attacks, even seen them on TV, but he never thought he’d be caught up in one. He thought he heard voices on the other side of the now deserted coffee shack, but he honestly wasn’t sure if he should come out from under the table. He’d never asked his sister what to do in the event of a monster attack and had decided, like in a real earthquake, maybe he should just stay put. But then he thought he’d heard Kim’s voice, followed by a loud bang and several angry screams and began to panic. Kim was supposed to meet him there …what if she’d stayed behind to find him?

“Kimberly?” He asked, stunned to see the woman in black leather. She turned to him, ignoring the other Rangers for a moment, eyes blazing red.

“You’re not Kimberly.” He said softly, frozen to his spot.

“My aren’t we an observant group this morning.” Kemora snarled, taking a few steps in his direction. “And just how do you know Kimberly sweetheart?” She cooed evilly.

“What do you mean how do I know Kimberly?”

“Answer me.” Kemora hissed, her voice taking on an eerie, unnatural quality. Josh froze as if he were being held within a force field. He didn’t want to answer, knew he shouldn’t answer, but he couldn’t help it, it was as if he were being commanded to tell the truth.

 “I’ve loved her for years, I want to marry her.” He said numbly.

“Run!” Several of the people behind her were urging him, but he was frozen where he stood, confused and completely at the demon’s mercy.

“Leave him alone!” Carri screamed from where she’d transported in. She ran towards them and stopped just shy of the demon; Kim and Tommy hot on her heels. Kemora rolled her eyes and cackled.

“Leave him alone Kemora, he’s a civilian and of no use to you.” Kim said, moving out from behind Carri and trying to hopefully keep her from doing something stupid in an effort to save her brother.

“My my, a real Ranger reunion going on this afternoon.” Kemora said snidely. “I wonder what I do next? Do I splurge and take the greatest Ranger of all, do I take my enemy’s best friend, or do I take the one who loves my enemy?” She paused, giving Kim a look that chilled her. “Eeeny…” She said slowly, wickedly, “Meany….” She said, red glowing ball forming in her hands as she spun in a lazy circle. “Miney…” She looked Kimberly directly in the eyes and then turned sharply, throwing the glowing ball directly at Josh. “Moe.” She finished bluntly, slowly turning back around to see Kimberly’s reaction as Josh disappeared in a burst of red light. A wicked triumph lit her red demon eyes and she cackled fiercely.

Carri screamed and lunged forward at Kemora, but Kim held her firmly, wrestling her nearly to the ground. Eventually, Carri broke free, just as Kemora disappeared in a flash of red light. What neither of the girls saw was Teeg’s approach as Kemora vanished, but Tommy did. He saw the look in Teeg’s eyes, like a tiger stealthily stalking its prey. Kim had her back to her as Carri broke free, screaming towards the empty space where her brother had once stood.

The next few seconds drug by in slow motion. Tommy saw the white containment orb appear in Teeg’s hand, saw the villain move into position, saw the evil gleam of conquest in her eyes. He turned his head to Kim, who had lunged after Carri. There was no time to yell, no time to warn her, instead he sprang forward, knocking her in a tackle that sent her flying onto the concrete sidewalk just as the white light enveloped him. In an instant, he was encircled within the glowing beam and was gone.

For a few seconds no one moved. All stared at the space that Tommy had once occupied. Even Teeg seemed surprised by the turn of events. Then the villain laughed, a harsh, cruel, biting laugh that left everyone present frozen to their very cores. Kimberly began to scream. At first it was a high pitched wail, slowly sounding out Tommy’s name, then it altered into a an angry, harsh cry of anguish.

“It’s me you want.” She screamed, rising from the pavement and stumbling towards Teeg. “Release him and take me. I’m the prize, not a human male who’s worthless to you.”

“I…don’t…think…so.” Teeg purred slowly. “I think this little boy has a far greater value to me than you would let me believe.” She said, holding up the orb resting comfortably upon her palm. “As long as I have him, you’ll behave…if you don’t, I’ll allow him to die from the cold and lack of oxygen. After that, I’ll have the notoriety of having killed off Zordon’s greatest Ranger.” She looked within to see Tommy glaring at her. He didn’t fight, didn’t beg, didn’t demand his release, just glared at her in defiance. “Yes, I do believe…” Teeg purred, “That his eventual death at my hands will be far more painful to you than any confinement.” She paused and gave Kimberly a cruel look. “What will you do now little girl? The Nova’s can’t help you, the one calling herself the Mystic Mother is lost to you, even now my armies have landed on Phaedos and Eltar.” She paused and held out her other hand, a small stick which looked suspiciously like Lerigot’s wand appeared within her grasp. “Lerigot is also gone and within moments,” She continued in a silky tone, “I shall send Kemora through the Nemesis Triangle to Muirantias.” She hummed slightly, not a purr, but a definite coo of pleasure. “The Zeo crystal has been sufficiently contaminated for the foreseeable future, and your lover is…well he’s about to be completely frozen unless you give up the fight, isn’t he? The orbs were not designed for humans… if you fight back, I’ll make sure he dies before you can rescue him.” She paused as the purring rumble in her chest threatened to obscure her words. “What will you do little girl child of Zordon?” She crooned. “Who will you save, for you can’t save everyone. Will you aid Phaedos or Eltar…I think not, for they’re well defended, but they certainly can’t aid you, can they? Will it be your Muirantian temple of power? Perhaps the poor, pathetic reformed Rita? Your lover? Or perhaps,” And she laughed now, a full, hearty, victorious laugh. “Your world?”

As she spoke the Earth rumbled again, knocking all but Kim and Teeg to the ground. A red glow began to envelope Kimberly and she raised herself a good two or three feet in the air above the shaking and splitting ground. Anger consumed her, not fear. Anger and grief. Teeg was right, the orb wasn’t designed to store humans. It was designed to confined those who would live on after their mortal shells had been destroyed. It cared little for preserving the flesh, it simply held the spirit. But what Teeg didn’t know was how powerful Tommy actually was. Years of morphers had altered his body, strengthened his spirit. He was Zordon’s true heir and stood just as good a chance as any of survival; with or without his body.

“You’re beaten little one.” Teeg purred. “Admit it and let’s be done with this nonsense. Give me the remaining coins and I’ll allow your world to live. As for you, I’ll allow you to join your lover.”

“Never.” Kimberly spat, eyes blazing red defiance as Muirantian energy crackled around her.

“Have it your way.” Teeg answered lazily. As she spoke the ground rumbled harder and the coffee shack collapsed in a cloud of dust and debris behind the small group of Rangers. All around them trees shook and buildings swayed and a thunderous noise blocked all sounds. There was a mighty cracking and popping and the Rangers assembled, except for Kimberly in her orb of red light, covered their ears and howled in pain from the intensity of it.

Teeg seemed unaffected. She lazily toyed with the little shape of a man within the orb. If she thought to get a reaction out of him, she was disappointed. He seemed to understand the situation he was in. He had assumed a meditative pose and closed his eyes, waiting for the sleep to take him. She sighed heavily and regarded the chaos around her. In the not so far distance Kimberly watched in horror as a black tower rose to its final and imposing height.

“You won’t win.” Kimberly said defiantly. “I already know how to defeat you.”

“Hand over the coins girl and save your people the slow death you know is coming.”

“Never!” Kim screeched insolently. “You can’t win like this Teeg. Brute force will only strengthen our resolve.”

“Never underestimate the power of shadow… demon’s daughter!” Teeg hissed, her patience depleted.

“Bring it on.” Kimberly answered boldly, her voice deep and strong despite the fact that she was shaking to her very soul.

“So be it.” Teeg answered evenly. In a flash, both she and the orb were gone.

Slowly, the Rangers rose from the ground and approached Kimberly who, threat gone, had floated back down to the surface. She stared numbly at the space where Teeg had been, as if only now realizing that Tommy was also gone. A grief and loss more powerful than she had ever thought possible enveloped her, drowning her as harshly and effectively a tidal wave. She dropped to the ground and screamed, long and hard and over and over again. The others watched her pound her fists against the ground bleakly, not knowing what to do. Finally, Carri bent down and reached out to her, but even as she stretched out her hand, Kim disappeared in a flash of red light.

In the distance, the black tower loomed eerily and Carri’s thoughts were driven back to the doomed world she had so recently closed out at the DG’s request. Even as she stood there, the dark clouds and odd lightening, so characteristic of the tower’s effect on the atmosphere began to darken and charge through the sky.

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