Prologue 1 Part 1
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Power Rangers series.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, here's our final gymnast of the final event of the competition. Representing Team USA here is Kimberley Hart!" Sixteen year old Kim heard the applause of the crowd as she stepped up to the balance beam. This was her strongest event, but her hardest routine. If she did well, then the Pan Globals would be hers… depending on the judges, of course. She took a deep breath and stepped up to the beam. She then bowed to the judges and then to the audience. She saw her best friend and her secret crush, Jason, standing next to her coach, cheering her on. Their eyes met and he nodded encouragingly.
Looking into his eyes, Kim just knew that no matter what happened everything would be okay. Even if she lost it'd be okay because he would still be proud of her and that was all that mattered to her. She smiled back at him and then turned away, concentrating on her routine. She didn't remember doing any of her routine, she didn't remember if she got anything right, all she remembered was his eyes, watching her and smiling, full of pride just for her. No matter what had happened, he was proud of her and he was there to support her. That was all she cared about.
Kim had always known that Jason was very special to her, but lately he had started to become even more special to her. She'd been devastated when he'd left for the Peace Conference, but he had promised to keep in touch and had yet to break his promise. He was still her closest and dearest friend.
After he'd left, she'd gotten closer to the others, but it was still Jason who she ran to with her problems. With him gone, she'd been able to become her own person without her knight in shining armor. She knew that Tommy had wanted to be that for her and she felt guilty that she did not feel the same way. She'd learned from Kat and Aisha of his crush on her and that had helped her to realize just how deep her own feelings for Jason ran. She'd confronted Tommy about his feelings and she'd tried her best not to hurt him. Besides, she'd let Kat help him get over her and Tommy had moved on with Kat. They had been dating for nearly a year now and they were becoming serious.
She looked over the crowd once more. All of her friends had shown up to this special event. She hadn't seen them in a year or so. They were no longer the Ninja Rangers, now they were Zeo Rangers and Jason was back on the job as the powerful Gold Ranger. After the Pan Globals, Kim was retiring from gymnastics, even if she got the gold, and she would be joining her friends in Angel Grove. Aisha, Kat, and Kim were going to share an apartment and Kim couldn't wait. Of course, most of the reason why she was so excited was because Jason was going to be there as well. She sighed happily, thinking about the drop dead gorgeous object of more than just her affections.
Kim shifted her focus back to the present. She needed to finish this in order to go home and start dropping hints to Jason that she wanted to be more than just friends. She couldn't wait to do that. All she had to do now was finish this one last routine. If she scored well, she was basically guaranteed the gold.
She looked over the crowd one last time and once more, her eyes were drawn to a pair of very familiar chocolate brown eyes. Looking at those eyes, she knew that no matter what happened this day, everything would be okay. So, she threw herself into her routine and performed her heart out. The entire time, her focus was on those brown eyes staring at her, not once leaving her. She finished, sticking the landing.
She walked off the mat to her coach and friends in a daze. All she could see was his eyes and the smile that he saved just for her. She was completely satisfied with her routine and she could hear her coach congratulating her from a distance. She didn't pay attention to anything else. She focused on him and his smile until she was right in front of him.
"Hey," Kim said, looking up at her best friend. Jason smiled broadly at her.
"Hey yourself. You were awesome Kim. I'm so proud of you." Jason replied, hugging her.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, the score for American gymnast Kim Hart averages up to a grand total of 9.80 making her the gold medalist of this year's Pan Globals!"
"AHHH!" Kim screamed as Jason spun her around in circles, holding her tightly. She could see the cameras flashing, but she didn't care. The gossip column would definitely be full of her tomorrow. Besides, if things went the way she wanted them to, it wouldn't be gossip for very long.
"You did it Kim! I knew you would." Jason whispered in her ear as her put her down. His lips brushed against it and caused her to shiver.
"Thanks Jason. You never doubted me once, did you?" Jason shook his head. "You know that I never could have gotten here without you, right? Thanks soo much. I love you." She said wondering if he knew that she meant it as more than just friends.
"I love you too." Jason replied, kissing her forehead. The cameras flashed once more.
"No Jason I-" Before she could finish, Kim was bombarded by her friends and teammates.
"Hey girl, congratulations. I'm so proud of you." squealed Aisha. "By the way, we didn't interrupt anything, did we? Because if we did, I'm sorry. We tried to hold everyone off as long as possible." Aisha added with Kat who was nodding furiously next to her.
"No," Kim lied shaking her head sadly. "You didn't interrupt anything." Kim said staring at Jason. She sighed. She suddenly didn't feel so great about wining anymore. Maybe they just weren't meant to be together. Kim thought sadly, lost in her own world. Unbeknownst to her, Jason was having similar thoughts. 'I love you so much Kim, more than you'll ever know. It's too bad that you'll never know.' Jason sighed.
"Jason. JASON!" he snapped out of his thoughts. Rocky was waving his hand in front of him.
"You coming or what?" Rocky asked.
"Yea, yeah. I'm coming." he sighed heavily and followed his friends out of the gymnasium.
A FEW MONTHS LATER…
Kim, Kat, and Aisha walked around the shopping mall, having fun. They'd decided to have a female rangers' night out, but in the back of her mind, Kim couldn't help but worry about Jason.
Recently, Jason had been losing weight and he'd been very weak. He seemed to always have a sickly pallor about him. He'd even passed out once after a battle. It had turned out that the powers he was holding were slowly killing him. His body was rejecting it and the rejection was having a terrible effect on him.
When they had found this out, they'd all made him promise not to use his powers anymore until they found a cure. Jason had reluctantly promised. However, Kim was still worried. Kim was scared to death actually. Her greatest fear was that King Mondo would somehow find out about Jason's weakness and set up a trap that would force Jason to use his powers. She wanted to prevent that in any way possible. She could not afford to lose Jason. Anyone else, she'd survive through, but Jason… she'd die as well.
"Kim, Kim!" Kim snapped out of her thoughts. Kat and Aisha were looking at her curiously.
"Are you okay?" Aisha asked. Kim nodded, smiling weakly.
"Yea, I'm just you know, worried about the usual stuff." Kat smiled gently.
"Oh Kim, you know that nothing's going to happen to Jason. You worry too much. Even if something did happen, we would take care of it and make sure that he's okay." Kim nodded.
"I know, but sometimes I wish that I was a ranger again just to make me feel better. No offense to you guys, but I would feel more secure if I was able to do something if something should happen to him, you know what I mean?" The others nodded. "Besides, I can't help it. It's natural instinct to worry about him. If anything ever happened to him because of me…" Kat shook her head.
"Kim, you're hopeless. You should just go tell Jason already that you love him." Kim shook her head furiously.
"Are you kidding me? He'd never feel the same way. We've been friends for so long, if he'd ever felt that way for me, he'd have made his move ages ago."
"Well what about you? You haven't made a move yet. What if he's like you?"
"No way. Jason's not scared of anything." Aisha interrupted her.
"Yes he is. His greatest fear, Kim, is losing you." Kim stopped in her tracks. However, before she could even reply, they were suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion from outside the mall building. The girls exchanged looks before they went into a hidden part of the mall and Kat and Aisha morphed. Then all three of them ran out the mall doors to the vast parking lot.
They came upon a very familiar scene. There were Cogs attacking the area and wreaking havoc, but this time, instead of one monster, there were two of them. One was tall and human like. In a freaky way he sort of looked like a green Edward scissor hands. The other one just looked like a giant Venus Fly Trap gone wrong. It had vines that were twisted and tangled all over it and his head was so much larger than his body.
"Ah, lady rangers, you are just in time. My name is Muscipula, but most of you know me as the Venus Fly Trap. My friend here is called Schizor."
"What do you want?" asked Aisha in an angry voice. She and Kat stood in front of Kim, trying to protect her.
"Well that's very simple: you." Muscipula replied and then Schizor's scissor hands suddenly reached out and grabbed each one of them by the neck. Immediately, the three girls started struggling.
"I knew this would happen, so we planned for this. You see, you two are rangers and therefore protected by the power. Unfortunately, your little friend here is not. So, if I were to attack you guys while my friend Schizor held you guys, your friend would die. How unfortunate. So, you have a choice rangers, you can all surrender, or you can continue fighting and I'll just kill her." Kat and Aisha looked at each other helplessly. There was nothing they could do and help didn't seem to be coming.
"Okay, we give in. Take us." Kat said helplessly.
"Good. This is just perfect. Our plan is just going so well."
"What plan? Your plan to trap the rangers? Well guess what, you don't have the guys." Snapped Kim angrily as her, Kat, and Aisha were being collared by some sort of energy ray and then cuffed by it.
"Actually, I do believe that Dammar, Lucedale, and Saydan took care of them. Oh and you forget, this is not our plan to trap the rangers, it is merely a ranger." Kim gasped.
"No… Jason." Kim began to struggle violently against her bindings.
"Very good little girl. That's exactly what we're doing. Trapping him and then using his own powers to kill him. Imagine that, can you? Oh it'll be so perfect." Muscipula said giddily. With that, Schizor and Muscipula took the three girls and disappeared into thin air.
Meanwhile…
Tommy, Rocky, and Adam were outside at the beach simply messing around. All three of them were in swimming trunks and different colored wife beaters: red, blue, and black respectively. The three of them were engaged in a splashing war when a sudden explosion throughout the ocean sent a tidal wave that took them under the water. They all came up gasping for air and searching for a source.
They found the source in this monster that was literally walking on water towards them. In unison, the three rangers flipped backwards onto the shore and morphed. They stood waiting as the monster came to them.
"Ahhh ranger, so good to finally meet you. Prepared to be defeated."
"What are you freak face?" Rocky snapped angrily. The monster was really ugly. Its face looked like one of a person who was drowning and there was water flowing over it. He had a fin coming out of his back and a long shark like tail behind him. His legs didn't seem very proportional in size to the rest of his body because they were so small. Along his back were smaller ridges that went all the way to his tail. He had ugly warts here and there and two long arms that weren't proportional to his body either. They went from his shoulder all the way to the ground and they dragged a little. It was weird.
"I'm Dammar. Allow me to introduce my brothers: Lucedale," another monster appeared next to him. It was a mess of scales and rough edges all over the place. He was the color of puke and smelled like it. He had wings coming out of his back and tiny horns on his head. His teeth were fanged and he had a tail that looked like a pitchfork that had its teeth bent in. He had one arm that was a giant seashell cone or something and the other looked like some sort of reptile.
"And Saydan." Dammar finished and another monster appeared on the other side of Dammar. This one looked like a mound of dirt on top of rocks. His face wasn't very visible because of the dirt. His arms were gnarly and branched like tress. Hit torso looked like a never ending sandstorm. The sand was moving around and the movement seemed to make his torso. His legs and were stones and rocks of various colors and sizes put together to form a poor excuse for legs. He was altogether an ugly monster.
The two sides attacked simultaneously. The monsters were soon easily overpowered by the rangers and were about to be destroyed when there was a noise and all three rangers were knocked down.
"Now rangers, I'd rethink that decision. Otherwise, you may have to pay the price." a monster said from behind them. They all whirled around.
"What can you do to us? There's three of us and one of you." Adam called boldly.
"Really? How about killing these girls here." he snapped his fingers and immediately another monster appeared with Kim, Aisha, and Kat in tow and in chains, struggling against them.
"Kim. Kat. Aisha. No!" Tommy shouted in shock. Muscipula cackled happily.
"You have a choice rangers. You can either surrender, or watch your friends die."
"Tommy, Rocky, Adam, no! You guys can't give in. It's a trap for-" Kim was cut off by Saydan covering her mouth with something that looked horrifyingly like dirt. She struggled even more furiously against her bonds as she tried to warn them. Kat and Aisha were struggling as well. Still, even in their morphed forms, they were helpless against the powerful bonds. Tommy, Adam, and Rocky looked at each other, assessing their choices. Then they nodded together.
"All right, you win. We surrender." Rocky, then Adam, and then Tommy dropped their weapons.
"Hahaha. Excellent." Muscipula laughed as Schizor chained up the rest of the rangers with the same rays that he had used for the girls, "our plan is going perfectly. Now we need to send a message to our favorite little DYING Gold Ranger." Adam, Rocky, and Tommy gasped in horror. Suddenly, the plan was all too clear to them and they began struggling against their bonds.
"Hmmmm… let's see, I know. Lucedale, take that watch off of the girl." Kim fought against the bonds as the monster took her communicator off of her wrist. Lucedale handed the device to Muscipula. Muscipula took it and wrapped it up in a role of parchment that Dammar had been writing on. Then, Saydan put it in an arrow and handed it to Schizor who in turn aimed it somewhere and it went off, flying.
"There, now we can set up the perfect trap to destroy the Gold Ranger! This is great! His own powers will kill him as he dies trying to save his friends. Then we'll destroy the anguished rangers forever." Dammar exclaimed excitedly. Muscipula nodded in agreement.
"Well boys, I think that it's time we headed to the cavern. After all, in order for it to be a trap, it first needs to be set. Let's go. Schizor, bring the rangers with you. Lucedale, help him!" Once more, with the snap of Muscipula's hand, the monsters disappeared, taking the rangers with them.
Jason sat around in his room, dying of boredom. Ever since he passed out a month ago, the Gold Zeo Ranger had been MIA. He was bored out of his mind and he was sick and tired of sitting around. He wanted to help his friends and he wanted to protect Kim.
Since she had come back from Florida, King Mondo had been doing everything in his power to kidnap her in order to trap the rangers. He knew that his powers could kill him, but he couldn't just sit around here doing nothing. He was really worried about Kim. She was very vulnerable to attack and although Jason trusted his friends, he knew that he'd feel a lot better if he was the one protecting her himself. With him powerless, Kim and even the other rangers were more prone to attack.
He had to do something. He couldn't just sit here anymore. He had to-
'Swish.' An arrow came flying through his open window and buried deep into his bedroom door with a thud. There was a note and something else attached to the arrow. Jason grabbed the note and he felt weak when he recognized the object. It was a communicator, the ones from the original five. He knew whose communicator this was. There was no question about it. He read the note and crushed it in a fist that was shaking with his fury and rage. The message was simple:
'Come and get her.' That was it. The message was loud and clear. He tapped his communicator.
"Alpha, Zordon, what happened? Where are the others? How did they get Kim?"
"Kim, Kat, and Aisha were at the mall shopping when they were attacked. Tommy, Rocky, and Adam were attacked at the beach around the same time. The girls were easily overtaken because Kim couldn't last very long without any powers, so the other girls surrendered in order to save her life. Then the girls were teleported to the guys. There was a trade-off for the girls' lives for the surrender of the rest of the rangers. Now, King Mondo has them all trapped under five monster. Come to the command center and I'll be able to give you a visual of everything." Jason replied his consent and teleported.
Once he reached the command center, he carefully viewed the monsters in the viewing globe, watching their moves and studying them carefully. He tried to pinpoint various weak points and he wondered if he could take on all five of them in this weak state. He shook his head, he didn't have a choice. He had to save the others. He had to save Kim. She couldn't die. He had to die first.
"Alpha, do you have a location on them?" Jason asked getting ready to gear up.
"Searching now Jason." Alpha paused, "I've found all five communicators and I'm assuming that Kim is with them."
"Alpha, can you teleport me to their location?" Jason asked.
"Jason, you know that this is a trap. They're trying to kill you so that the gold powers will be forever lost. You're in no condition to go." Zordon stated warningly.
"I know Zordon, I know. Just take me there. I have to save them. What other choice do we have? Don't worry, I'll be fine." Zordon sighed helplessly.
"Jason, if anything goes wrong… I mean there are five monsters there and only one of you as powerful as you are… if you find that you're in trouble, remember what…" Zordon trailed off.
"Zordon, I know. Trey told me the gold ranger powers have a special attack. He told me how to use it and when to use it. He said that I should use it only when there was no other choice. He also said that I should use it only if I was willing to make an incredible sacrifice. I don't care if I have to give up my legs or my life. Whatever it is, it'll be worth it." 'I'd give up anything to save Kim.'
"Very well then. Alpha, teleport him to their location." Jason stepped into the middle of the command center and morphed. Immediately, he disappeared in a golden beam of powerful energy. When he landed, he found himself in a tall cavern of a small cave.
"Ahh, Gold Ranger. How good of you to join us. We were just getting ready to begin."
"Let them go Muscipula. It's me that you want."
"Exactly. And they," he pointed at Jason's friends who were all bound along the pathway in the cavern starting with Kat and ending with Kim at the end of the cavern, "are our way of getting you. You see Gold Ranger, you have to work your way to them one by one and set them free. However, in order to get to them, you have to pass all of the roadblocks." with the snap of his fingers, the other four monsters and a bunch of Cogs appeared, blocking the way to his friends.
"Bring it on uglies, I'm ready for you." Jason shouted.
"Jason, no!" Tommy shouted. Jason could hear all of his other friends struggling and yelling at him, saying all of the same things, but only one voice was crystal clear in his mind.
"Jason, No! You can't do this. It's a trap. Besides, your powers, they can kill you. You have to leave this place, now! Get some help. Please, don't do this." Kim shouted at him. Even from the distance, Jason could see the tears streaming down her face and his heart broke.
"Kim, don't worry. I can handle it. Don't cry, I'll be fine. You can't just expect me to leave you guys here, especially you. I'll be done in a few minutes." Jason flashed her a smile. Then, he turned his attention to the monsters coming toward him and he attacked. He spun around in a flurry, blocking punches, kicking, blocking a kick, punching, and giving the fight everything that he had. He easily finished off all of the Cogs that had been surrounding Kat. He quickly broke through her chains and set her free.
"Quick, fight the Cogs around here. I'll work on freeing the others." Kat nodded her head. Jason turned his back to her and started heading towards the next group of Cogs that were with the monster Dammar. The two met in a clash of weapons that echoed across the cave. Jason swung his sword at the monster with all of his might and while the monster was busy blocking his attack, Jason he quickly twirled around and slashed his sword across the torso of the monster. Dammar growled and then grabbed Jason's neck with his super-long arms.
Kat saw this and quickly tried to make her way to him when Jason called out:
"No! Forget about me. Go free the others. I can take care of these guys. Trust me Kat." Kat reluctantly nodded her head and ran up to Adam. She quickly broke his chains and then set about fighting their way through, trying to help the others. After some time, they managed to free everyone but Kim, who was heavily guarded by many Cogs and the two monsters Muscipula and Saydan. Jason had already managed to render Dammar helpless and was now fighting Lucedale, Schizor, and some Cogs. The others were now futilely trying to get to Kim, but they were being severely overwhelmed by the Cogs and the two monsters.
From his vantage point, Jason saw that his friends needed him and he began to debate his choices. Should he use the power that Trey had given him? Could he make some sort of sacrifice? He shook his head. What was he doing? There was no question to ask. He would rather die than see his friends die or be endangered in any way. With that in mind, he resolved himself to his decision. Jason took one last good look at Kim and she seemed to realize what he was about to do.
"NO! Jason, not now! Don't use it now! Don't use it ever. I'm not worth it. Jason!" Kim cried out, tears streaming down her face. Jason turned and broke free from the monsters. Then, he went to the center of the cavern and then did a series of hand motions so fast that they were all a blur. The motions ended with his hands forming a triangle in front of his chest.
"Gold Ranger, special attack power up!" he cried. Everyone watched as Jason began to glow with energy that was focused on the triangle that his hands formed.
"Elive Thil Gnigle Aras!" Jason shouted and then shot his hands straight up. Everyone watched as he screamed in pain and then a bright light shot out from his eyes causing his helmet to explode. The bright light spread across the room and all of the Cogs and monsters began to scream. The light hit them and they were instantly vaporized. When the light disappeared, Jason fell to the ground, his eyes open, but not seeing anything. Blood, was trickling from his nose, his mouth, and the side of his head.
"JASON!" screamed Kim as she struggled with her chains.
Tommy quickly let the struggling Kim loose while the others all ran to Jason. Kim ran all the way to Jason and fell down at his body. She carefully cradled his body in her arms, sobbing.
"Jason. Wake up. Wake up! No!" Kim cried, rocking back and forth. Her worse nightmare was coming true. Jason died saving her life.
"Kim, Kim, it's okay. He's still alive. His pulse is weak, but it's there." Tommy said reassuringly. Kim said nothing, completely numb. Rocky and Adam gently took Jason from her and they carefully held him as they teleported to the Command Center.
"Kim," Aisha said gently touching her shoulder, "let's go. You want to see if Jason's all right, don't you? Let us take you there." Kim silently got up and then they went on to teleport her to the Command Center.
'Never again,' she thought, 'never again. I'm never going to put myself in that kind of position again. No one I love is ever going to get hurt because of me. I won't allow it, especially if it's Jason. I'm not going to be vulnerable ever again. Never again.' Kim silently vowed to herself. 'I swear it.'