A New Shade of Pink

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Her Life Forever Changed

Laughter broke out across the city park as two teenagers were playing volleyball in the playground, both of them spiking the ball towards the other. One was a tall, blond boy with an easy, charming smile and wide, innocent brown eyes, dressed casually in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. The other was a small girl with long brown hair and bright brown eyes, filled with laughter as she delivered another hit to the blond.

Elizabeth Summers, called Liz by her twin, grinned towards her brother as he threw the ball back over the net and she knocked it right back.

"Oh, come on, Sammy!" she yelled back at him. "You're going on easy on me! If you don't stop, then I'm gonna come over there and hit you where it hurts. Come on, let's get this going already!" she teased, still laughing. "You don't want Theresa to see you losing to your sister, do you?"

Sam grinned back at her, not minding her teasing one bit. Besides being her twin brother, Sam was one of her best friends, the only person that she could depend on entirely.

"You wouldn't," he said threateningly, giving her a dangerous grin.

"Wouldn't I?" she said mischievously, bouncing the ball back from one hand to the other before she hit it towards the sky and caught it. "Now are you going to play or are you just gonna wimp out?"

"Bring it on, little sister. You asked for it."

"I'm not your little sister, Sammy," she pointed out. "You're only one minute older than me. That doesn't count." Sam just grinned as she launched the ball again. It launched off into the sky, landing on the other side and Sam hit the ball back with more effectiveness than he had been doing all morning. "Now, that's better!" she joked.

"Keep it up, kid sister," he warned her, but he was smiling. Liz smiled back at him. "Just keep it up."

Ever since their mother had taken off when they were eight years old, Liz and Sam had stuck together, hardly ever seen without the other, and no one at school ever dared mess with Liz, because they knew what Sam would do if he heard that anyone hurt his sister. The two were closer than siblings and the best friends that anyone could ask for.

Perhaps as a result of being raised solely by her father and alongside her brother, Liz was behind in the make-up and fashion departments. Even at sixteen, she only owned a single tube of lipstick and her wardrobe was limited to blue jeans, t-shirts, and a few jackets. She didn't even own one skirt or dress and Liz didn't particularly mind. She had the best brother that anyone could ask for and a father who would do anything for them.

What more could a girl ask for?

"Sam! Liz!" their father hollered over to them. Liz lifted her hand to her forehead towards where their father was barbequing at one of the barbeque pits that the local park provided while they had been playing volleyball. He waved to them. "Hamburgers are almost ready!" he shouted to them.

"We'll be right there, Dad!" Sam yelled, then looked to Liz, grinning. "Race you," he offered.

Liz opened her mouth to protest, but Sam had already broken into a run and she had to run in order to catch up with him. It did no good to run against Sam; he was a lot taller than she was and had longer legs. So she had long given up trying to race against Sam.

But she wasn't about to tell him that. Liz grinned as she got to where their dad was laying a plate of hamburgers on the picnic table, looking very proud of himself.

"All right, I really think that I've got it this time," he said. Sam and Liz looked at each other; both of them had too much experience of their father's cooking, which is why most nights at home, the twins alternated between cooking and doing dishes. "Hey, I saw that."

"What?" Sam asked innocently.

"That look that you two were giving each other," their father said. Liz grinned as she handed the buns out. "All right, just because I've burned dinner a time . . . or two . . . doesn't mean that I am completely incapable of cooking a couple hamburgers."

Liz nodded, fighting a smile. "Whatever you say, Dad," she said as he lifted a hamburger to his mouth and swallowed. Both twins watched him closely as he instantly forced himself to smile.

"It's . . . not bad," he said weakly. Liz shook her head as she bit into the hamburger; whatever he had done to it made her mouth feel like it was on fire and she forced herself to swallow, wondering if she was going to get the feeling back into her mouth. "How about I go get some hot dogs to cook over the fire? That sound good?"

"Good idea, Dad," Liz said encouragingly.

Their father sighed as he took the hamburgers and tossed them out for the birds to eat, but the first ones who dived for the fresh food moved away the second that they had tried it. He rolled his eyes. "That's pathetic. Even birds refuse to eat my food."

"We didn't refuse, Dad," Sam pointed out. "But we wouldn't have any feeling in our mouth if we had continued to eat them." Their dad made a face at him before he climbed into his car and drove away from the campsite and headed towards town.

Liz shook her head. "How anybody can mess up hamburgers is beyond me," she commented.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Sam said, running a hand through his hair as he looked over Liz's shoulder and Liz glanced behind her to see a beautiful redhead heading through the campsite, directly towards the twins.

"I'm gonna go explore in the woods," Liz said briskly, not about to see her brother embarrass himself as he usually did whenever he was around pretty girls. "I'll be back in about a half-hour, at most."

"Sure," Sam said absently. Liz shook her head, sure that he hadn't heard a single thing that she had said, and walked away, heading down the trail heading into the woods.

Once in the forest, Liz felt something tugging towards her, something primordial, ancient, and almost . . . prehistoric. She couldn't explain what it was, but the further she seemed to get into the forest, the stronger that the feeling seemed to get.

Checking her watch, Liz glanced behind her to see if there was anybody around before she broke into a run, following the tugging through the woods.

It seemed to be further in the woods than she would have thought, further than anybody had even ventured. She had moved off of the trail some time ago and was now just racing through the dark woods, following the intense tugging that grew stronger with every step that she took.

At long last, she saw something bright and ancient ahead of her, glowing with power that seemed to grow even brighter when she walked towards her, her heart beating in anticipation as she slowly moved towards it, slowly kneeling before the glowing rock that lay amongst the leaves and earth.

It radiated pink as she stared at it, astonished by the light that spilled from it, growing even brighter as she moved closer to it. The feeling that she had been following had led her directly to this rock, she realised, suddenly aware of how the tugging was pushing her towards the rock.

She didn't know what it was, didn't know what the feeling was, didn't know what the rock was, but there was something about it that . . . that just . . . Liz couldn't explain it, but she just knew, deep inside of her, that the rock belonged to her. It was hers. There was no real reason behind her knowledge. She just knew that.

Reaching out for the rock, Liz hesitated only for a second, not sure if she should be taking strange rocks from the middle of a park, but her connection to the rock spiked and she closed her hand around it.

The second that she touched it, the rock practically exploded with light, almost blinding her, and she shielded her eyes away from the light until it had diminished. Liz blinked, seeing dots in front of her eyes as she stared down at the little stone in her hand, turning it over in her hands and wondering exactly what it was.

Getting to her feet, Liz stared down at the rock for another second before she slipped it into her pocket and turned around, heading back the way that she had come. As long as she kept going straight, she decided, then she was bound to run back into the trail and that would lead back to the park.

It felt like hours before she finally managed to find the trail again and Liz knew by now her father and brother had to be worried sick about her. She was supposed to be back at the campsite hours ago. Liz broke into a run, racing through the trail and trying to get back before they started panicking.

The sun had already begun to set in the west when she finally managed to reach the end of the trail and spilled out into the campsite, trying to get her breathing in order as she ran towards where her father's car was parked.

"Sam! Dad!" Liz screamed, seeing no sign of them. Desperation and anxiety ran through her as she looked around for some sign of where they could have gone. "Daddy! Sammy!" she shouted. Surely, if they had gone looking for her in the woods, one of them would have stayed behind in case she had come back? "Sammy! Dad!" she shouted.

"Looking for these two?" a sinister, evil voice said from behind her. It was a voice that Liz would never forget for the rest of her life.

The woman that stood before her was the depiction of evil. She had dark hair and dark, evil eyes. Just by looking at her, Liz felt her blood turn cold and if it were even possible, it turned even colder when she saw a bunch of dinosaur looking freaks behind her, two of them holding her father and Sam.

"Sam!" Liz hollered, trying to run to the, but was blocked by the freaky lizard guys. "Dad!" She tried to fight them, but there was too many of them as she looked at the lady. "What do you want?"

"I want the pink Dino Gem," she answered smoothly, holding her hand out as though she expected Liz to just hand it over, a smug, dangerous smile on her face. "Now, little girl, or you're going to have to suffer the consequences," she warned her.

Liz told her to do something that, if these were entirely different circumstances, she never would have said in front of her father. The lady only laughed, her dark eyes glittering dangerously.

"Suit yourself," she said simply and snapped her fingers. Liz was thrown back by the explosion that occurred, landing behind the car. She covered her head as she heard blasts rocket around her and the car shuttered under the impact.

Her breath shuddering, Liz scrambled to her feet, but the lady was still standing there and at her feet—

Liz let out a half-scream, covering her mouth in anguish, horror, and terror. Sam and her father were lying at her feet, neither one of them moving.

"Poor little Lizzie," the lady said mockingly, taking a step towards her. "All alone in the world. Daddy's gone, Sammy's gone . . . what will you do now?" She smirked. "You might want to think about handing over that gem, little girl. We'll be in Reefside, if you change your mind."

What happened next, Liz wasn't exactly sure, but one second, she was standing in front of her, surrounding by the freaky dinosaur looking things, and the next, Liz was alone with her dead family.

Her breath quavering in her chest, Liz moved towards them, falling to her knees as she pulled Sam into her lap and gripped her father's hand tightly.

"Daddy?" she whispered, desperately for him to hear her. "Sammy?"

But neither one of them answered her. And they no longer were able to. Because of that lady's cruelty, her brother's young life had been ripped away from him before he had really lived it. And her father had been killed before he had the change to find happiness again.

Liz didn't know when the cops had arrived or the ambulances or riding to the hospital. Her mind was focused on what had just happened and she knew that there was only one person who might be able to help her.

She walked in a daze to the pay phone, putting a few quarters in and dialling a well-rehearsed number. On the third ring, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Aunt Kimberly?" Liz whispered.

--

Sitting outside of the back steps of her house, Liz stared determinedly into the horizon, her thoughts miles away. She didn't know who that woman was or what was so special about that gem that made it so important for her to get it, but one thing she did know: she would never hand it over. It was important and Liz could feel it, right in her soul. And it belonged to her.

Hearing the back door open, Liz glanced up as Kimberly Hart walked out, taking a seat next to her, drawing her niece into her arms. Behind the two girls, Kimberly's best friend Jason Scott was standing in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest.

"Hey, sweetie," Kimberly said gently, caressing the teenager's brown hair as Liz laid her head onto her aunt's shoulder. Just by looking at them, one might mistake them for sisters or even mother and daughter. The resemblance between them was uncanny. Liz looked like sixteen-year-old Kimberly. "How are you doing?" Liz only shrugged, not really paying much attention as she continued to stare out towards the horizon. "I know that it really hurts right now, but I promise you that it will get better. You just need a little bit of time and then—"

"Time?" Liz pulled away from her aunt, looking at her furiously. "Is that what I need, Aunt Kim? I need some time to get over watching my family get murdered by some psycho?" Kimberly looked at her helplessly, then looked towards Jason. "Look, I know you guys are trying to help. And I'm grateful, I am, but . . . time's not the issue. The cops are never going to be able to find them. No one is. That woman . . . those things that attacked . . . they weren't human. They were something else."

She had told this much to the cops, who thought that she was just delusional because of the trauma. But Liz knew that she wasn't. She knew exactly what it was that she had seen. And she knew that the only two people who might believe her would be Kim and Jason.

"Lizzie," Jason said quietly, "even if they were something else, I don't know if there's anything that we can do. We're not . . ." He took a quick glance around and lowered his voice. "We're not Rangers anymore."

"I know," Liz said firmly. Her aunt had used to tell her stories when she was a kid, about her time as the original Pink Ranger, but she had to promise not to tell anybody. So long as she kept the secret, her aunt told her the most amazing and incredible stories about her and Jason when they were Power Rangers. "But I have to do something. I can't just sit here while that woman and those things attack somebody else and destroy their lives just like they destroyed mine."

Jason sighed and looked sideways at his best friend, who looked back at him before returning her gaze to her niece. "You won't be able to stop them."

"Maybe. Maybe not. That's not the most important thing here. The most important thing is making sure that they don't hurt anybody else." Liz put her hands on her hips, glaring at her uncle. "So teach me to fight them."

"You can't learn karate on a whim. It takes months—years—to become a master and even then . . . I was doing it for years before I became the Red Ranger," Jason told her.

Liz shrugged, keeping her gaze on him. "So teach me the basics," she said firmly. "Growing up alongside a twin brother hasn't exactly made me a weakling, Uncle Jason. I can defend myself. So just teach me what I need to know to fight these guys."

"They're not the same ones that we fought," Jason sighed, but seemed to realise that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. One way or another, she would find a way to get to Reefside, where that lady said they would be, and if she went there unprepared, then he and Kim might be preparing Liz's funeral next.

"Are you sure about this, honey?" Kimberly whispered.

"I'm ready," Liz said firmly as Jason stepped down into the yard, getting ready for hours of karate lessons. "So teach me."

--

AN: Be kind, okay? This is the first Ranger fic that I've ever wrote. Oh, and if anybody knows where I can find scripts for the Dino Thunder episodes, I'd really appreciate it.

Lady Dawson