A BRUSH WITH DESTINY

DISCLAIMER

Power Rangers belongs to Haim Saban and Nickelodeon. I only own the subplots.

It was late in the afternoon as Alpha worked in the Command Center. Come on, come on, come on, he thought to himself as he watched the Green and White Energies merge. Please hold, please hold, please hold, please hold, he silently pleaded. He tensed as the two energies crackled. Then, they melded together into Green and White stripes.

"YES! IT'S FINALLY HOLDING! HOORAY!" the robot exclaimed.

"Good work, Alpha. Now Tommy can use both energies to work as one," Zordon approved. Meanwhile, Jason, Bulk, and Skull entered the youth center and were met by Lt. Stone.

"Listen up you three. After you help set up tonight, your job will be to guard the paintings for the art gallery and make sure nobody steals them until the time you have to go to school and your relief guards come. Is that understood?" the man questioned.

"Yes, Sir," they all chorused.

"Good," Lt. Stone said. "Stand alert and remember: you're representing Angel Grove's finest," he continued.

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir," Bulk replied, saluting the man. The man nodded and then walked off. The trio began helping other officers to set up.

"Man, this benefit is gonna be a blast," Jason said.

"I don't know. It's not really my kind of thing," Bulk answered. "Although, my dad will probably like it."

"Yeah, my mom likes certain paintings. Of course, she's more of a Van Gogh fan," Skull stated.

"I didn't know that," Jason commented.

"It's not something we brag about," Skull told him. Before Jason could respond, Tommy and Aisha walked up.

"Hey," Aisha said, playfully swatting Bulk's arm. He turned around and grinned.

"Hey," he greeted. "You're looking very nice," he continued, looking at her outfit, which was a purple shirt and black pants.

"Thanks," she grinned shyly.

"Do you guys need any help?" Tommy questioned.

"Nah, we got it, Bro. Thanks, anyway," Jason answered.

"Yeah, enjoy," Skull added.

"Thanks, but I'm kind of with you guys. It's not really my thing," Tommy replied. Richie, Angela, Curtis, Justin, Tina, Chris, Hilary, and Zane walked in.

"Wow. This art benefit is going to be really cool," Hilary stated.

"Yeah, I'll say," Tina agreed. Then, "Hey, there's Kim!"

"Kim!" Hilary called. Receiving no answer, they walked up to her.

"Kim?" Aisha asked.

"Anybody home?" Tommy asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Oh. Hey, guys. What's up?" she asked.

"You look really bummed out," her boyfriend noted. "You okay?"

"Well, I have good news, and I have bad news," she told them.

"Well, I always like the good news first," Aisha commented.

"My mom is engaged to be married to a French painter," Kimberly stated.

"Hey, that's awesome," Justin said.

"Yeah, I didn't even know she was seeing somebody new," Tommy added.

"Well, she had been keeping it low key in case it didn't work out…which obviously it did," Kimberly explained.

"Makes sense," mused Chris.

"Congratulations," everyone said.

"Thanks," Kimberly responded. "That's him over there showing his painting of an artist mole in the benefit," she continued, pointing him out.

"Ooh-la-la, he's kind of cute," Hilary stated.

"Yeah, he's really nice, too," Kimberly agreed as her voice became slightly sad. She turned and waved to the two, who waved back. "I like him a lot."

"So, what's the problem?" Richie wondered. The girl sighed deeply.

"Well, he lives in Paris," she answered and then turned back to her friends. "Mom says we're all moving there…for good," she continued. Everyone stared in surprise.

"M-moving?" Tommy repeated. What? No! I can't lose her! he silently protested. Then, Okay, calm down, Tommy. She doesn't need that kind of pressure on her, he reminded himself.

"Hey, don't worry. We'll figure this out," Tommy assured. Bulk glanced over his shoulder.

"Hey, they all look upset," he noted. Confused, Skull and Jason followed his gaze.

"Yeah, they do," the Red Ranger noted. Concerned, the trio walked up to them.

"What's going on?" Jason asked and Kimberly once again explained what had taken place.

"Oh, man," he sighed, raking his hair with his fingers. This isn't good. Kim's gotta be freaking out. And what about the Rangers? he wondered.

"You guys, how can I just leave?" she wondered. "I mean, it's not like I can just quit being a Power Ranger. I love it too much," she continued quietly. I know what you mean, Jason thought as he nodded. He loved being a Ranger too, but the Junior Police Patrol would take up a lot of his time and it wasn't fair to the others to have a leader who was only in a battle half way.

"Look, why don't we all just meet in the park tomorrow before school? I'm sure we can think of something," Aisha comforted.

"Okay, that sounds good," Kimberly agreed. "I-I better get back to them," she said.

"And we gotta continue-" Jason gestured towards the gallery.

"Gotcha," the others said. They all went their separate ways. Unknown to them, Zordon and Alpha had heard the whole thing over the viewing globe.

"Oh! Ai-yi-yi-yi! Poor Kimberly. Such a tough dilemma," Alpha exclaimed.

"Yes, but it's something that we can work around if she so desires," Zordon answered. A couple of hours later, Kimberly drove to her uncle's house and knocked on the door, which was soon opened.

"Kimberly, what is it?" Steven Hart asked. He hadn't seen her all that much these last two years, being busy with his flying business and her with her own life.

"Uncle Steve, can I talk to you?" she questioned.

"Of course," he answered, letting her in. They went to the family room and sat on the couch. "So, what's going on?"

"Well, you know that Mom and Andre got engaged, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm really happy for her, but I don't know if I really want to move to France. I mean, all of my friends are here, my school's and-" she took a deep breath, stopping before she inadvertently said something about the Rangers.

"Have you told Caroline any of this?"

"No, absolutely not. Uncle Steve, I haven't seen her this happy since she and Dad got divorced, and I don't want to ruin things for her." He smiled fondly. That was Kimberly for you. Always putting others before herself.

"But she's not going to be happy if you're not."

"I know, but-I don't really have a good reason for not moving to Paris, and the last thing I want to do is sound like a spoiled brat."

"Kimberly, she would never think that…but I can understand where you're coming from." And he did. He remembered his niece confiding that she had felt like she had caused the divorce even though she knew that she hadn't, a fact that both her mother and father constantly reassured her of. He hugged the girl.

"You want to sleep here tonight?"

"You won't mind?"

"Of course not. I'm pretty sure you still have some pj's in a drawer in the guestroom."

"Thanks, Uncle Steve." She sighed and went to the guestroom, where she found a pair of pink pajamas, just as her uncle thought. She quickly changed and then slipped under the covers. She closed her eyes. Kimberly walked through a vast space. Where am I? she wondered.

"Sure Mon Cherie, you will find that the French here is so much more-how do you say-complex," Andre said in his French accent.

"Oh? How is that?" Carline asked. Andre laughed.

"I will show you!" he exclaimed and then turned into a mole dressed as an artist. Kimberly gasped and then lunged at it. there was no way she was going to let this goon hurt her mother! The mole just laughed and then pinned her to the ground.

"You're going to love Paris, Kimberly!" the mole laughed.

"No way! Forget it! I'm not going!" she responded. "And you're not going to hurt my mother! I won't let you!"

"And how are you going to stop him?" she heard herself ask. Surprised, she turned to see the Pink Ranger staring back at her.

"Au revoir, Kimberly. Have a nice life," she smirked and then disappeared.

"Face it, my little Croissant. You're through," the artist mole laughed. Kimberly moaned and clutched her pillow. On the moon, Finster rushed to Rita, nearly knocking Scorpina down.

"Hey, watch it, Finster!" she snapped.

"My apologies, Scorpina. I just have a wonderful gift for Empress Rita," he apologized.

"A gift for me?" Rita repeated. "What is it? What is it?" she asked.

"This device I've just created allows us to watch the dreams of Earthlings, such as the nightmare Kimberly's currently having. There's no sound, but from what I can gather, she's been told she has to leave Angel Grove," Finster answered. Rita made an interested noise when she saw the artist mole. "Awww…the poor puny, Pink Twerp. She doesn't want to leave home," she mocked.

"Finster, find a way to make that creature real," Zedd instructed. "We'll turn Kimberly's own dreams against her."

"Yes. I love it," Rita approved. They all laughed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I read in the episode guide on www . tv . com, that there was supposed to be a scene where Kimberly and her Uncle Steve had a heart-to-heart about the possibility of her moving to France but it got cut, so I thought I'd give it a shot.