Author's Note:

A newer version of Return of Some Old Villains', with new plot lines and a revised edition.

A beam of red light landed behind a dumpster in a dark corner. The beam dissolved just within a few seconds revealing a tall and muscular teenage boy with a green backpack. This boy was dressed in a red tee shirt and khaki pants. His brown hair fell to his shoulders and it was in a half up pony-tail. The boy walked out of the dark corner and took his first steps on to the gymnastics campus.

On this campus, he could be anyone, or maybe no-one at all. The young athletes flowed like rivers, never stopping for any obstacle, but swirling around them. All of them were walking with their heads down moving at a fast speed. This campus was crammed with more bodies than he could even begin to count, even if he took a picture of it. He tilts his head to the sky. The empty blue gave him the strength to walk at the pace of the crowd. Once he made his way through the crowd he sat down on a bench and pulled out an envelope. He neatly smoothened it out and pulled out a letter that he had received earlier that day.

September 2nd, 1996

Dear Tommy,

I hope things in Angel Grove are going great and I hope you are enjoying your senior year. I know that you are expecting an invitation from me to come see me in the Pan Global Games taking place in January. But, I may not be able send you one. Things were going great until a month or two ago. Training got demanding and I was up almost every night doing homework and only got a few hours of sleep. I passed out in the middle of practice twice already. But, today I passed out again and Coach Schmidt told me to leave practice for the day. He told me that he is going to give me until Friday to prove that I'm still good enough to be on the team. I must meet with him Friday afternoon after practice to talk with me about if I will continue training or not. I fear I may be kicked off the team and if I am I must leave the campus. I would come back to Angel Grove, but I am scared to show my face because I am so embarrassed. I don't know if I can ever show my face in Angel Grove Again. But, even if I don't come back to Angel Grove, I'd never break up with you. I love you too much and I always want to have you in my life. Tommy, this has been the hardest letter that I've ever had to write, but I know you would understand even if no one else does. Please, please, please call me when you get this letter.

Love,

Kimberly

Tommy felt his heart begin ache once more. He would describe his heartache like music to an orchestra. At times it was quiet allowing him to function, there were other times a violin would be playing making him sad, and then at other times it would rise to a crescendo and his anger would burst out of his chest. Now, a flute was playing allowing him to think of the girl he loved and missed like crazy. He thought of her Carmel hair that he loved to run his fingers through, her pink clothes, doe eyes, and beautiful smile, which often.

In the workout area of the gym were six girls spilt into groups two. Half of them were on one side working with two of Coach Schmidt's assistant coaches on the parallel bars. The other group were practicing on the balance beam with Coach Schmidt watching them. Tommy looked all over the gym to find Kimberly's signature color. But, there was no one wearing pink anywhere in the gym.

Not wanting to attract attention, Tommy went under the bleachers, crawling over spider webs, cobwebs, and a dusty floor to the other end of the bleach. Once he reached the other end, he took a seat on the floor watching the three girls on the balance beam.

"Okay, Ms. Hart, you're up," Coach Schmidt informed watching a girl with Carmel hair dressed in a black leotard sitting on a chair with a green and white towel around her neck. Her hair was tied into two French braids, more serious than he had ever seen it. Her legs appeared to be wobbly and she was moving slow. She stood up on the beam and just stood there. "What are you doing? We haven't got all day!"

Tommy watched as she made a weak turn on the four inches wide balance beam. Kimberly's toes slipped from their original position and her left foot following them slipping off the narrow piece of wood, tumbling on the blue mat. She stood up and turned to face Coach Schmidt.

"Ms. Hart, go collect your stuff and get out!" exploded Coach Schmidt as he threw his clip board down. "I can't have you on this team! I should have kicked you off earlier this week!"

Kimberly ducked her head and ran out. Once everyone else got back to practicing, Tommy broke out in a run to catch up with her.

Kimberly tried to rearrange her face into a more calming looking expression to walk back to her dorm room. But, the whole time she cleaned out her gym locker, she cried. Her dream of competing in the Pan Global Games went up in flames and never again would she get a chance to try out again. "Has he received my letter?" she asked herself when she changed into a pink tee short and pink denim shorts. Kimberly threw her gym bag over her shoulder and glanced down at her watch. It was nearly 4:00 and she would normally be getting done with her gymnastics at 8:30. At least it would give her time to pack up all her stuff and leave the campus.

Feeling disappointed and heartache about her broken dream, Kimberly opened the gym doors and headed into the warm and sunny Florida weather. All she could think about was Tommy. Even though they visited each other on school breaks and talked on the phone once a week, her heart ached every time she thought of him because she missed being with him. As much as it pained her, she wondered if maybe her real dream was right in front of her the whole time she was a ranger. When she left for Florida he said he didn't want to lose but didn't want to hold her back from her athletic dream. But, she knew he really didn't want her to go. Why hadn't she asked him to come with her? But, they would have had to have waited until they were both of age. When she was alone, she'd look at photo albums and find herself in tears.

She wasn't paying attention until she bumped into someone. "Oh, I am so sorry," she apologized. "I should have been paying attention to where I was going. But, I've just been-"

"-you don't have to explain, I watched it happened-"

"-Tommy! What are you doing here?" Kimberly interrupted throwing her arms around Tommy's neck. "Did you get my letter?"

"That's why I came down here," he replied as he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. It had been three months since she returned home to spend a week with him.

"I hope I didn't disappointed-"

"I understand what happened," he assured her. "You got the chance to train for the Pan Global Games and that's something to be proud of. Not many get a chance to have that opportunity. Why don't we go pack up your stuff and go back to Angel Grove?"

Tommy let go of his neck and reached into his pocket and dropped a sliver ring with pink and white stones in her hand. "It's my mom's engagement ring," he started as tears were streaming down Kimberly's face. "I want you to marry me someday."

"-my answer is yes," Kimberly smiled as Tommy whipped her tears with his thumbs. "I never want to leave you again."

Author's note:

In my original version of "Return of Some Old Villains," in the very first chapter, Tommy and Kim meet again. Kim reveals she wrote the break up letter because her Coach told her she wasn't good enough to compete in the Pan Global Games. And Tommy and Kim started to build a relationship again. I decided in this version, I'd have Kim write Tommy a letter tell him the truth about what was going in Florida. The next chapter will be a few years later when Tommy and Kim are married and are in Reefside.