Crossroads
A.N: Semi humour fic that really came to me one random day. I seem to have plenty of those around…I hope this is funny. I really haven't tried my hand at humour yet so forgive me!
Anyways, imagination came from Terrific Tina's 'Talk Show' where she mentioned that there were universes with different pairings…that got my mind spinning. Also partially inspired by Psycho Tangerine's fic 'The Four Tommies Meet'. There's gonna be an awful lot of 'Kat' in this fic, so try not to get lost!
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers
Kat groaned, before stretching her tense muscles, letting out a sigh of content as they loosened.
Today was yet another typical day at the S.P.D. Academy, filled with the usual 'monster attack on helpless civilians' drama (why they wouldn't attack some of more value Kat would never understand) and more team problems again. Doggie was still mad over the Squad's issues with each other (and his wife being still alive as well) and had been unusually brief and business-like with her today.
To top it off, her lab had not been blown up once, twice but three times, one when Bridge and Boom wired their newest creation wrongly, a second when RIC had chased a rogue cat around the lab and finally the latest when a pair of young cadets discovered that mixing certain chemicals together without knowing what they were typically was a bad thing. In this case, the two cadets escaped with minor burns (and a substantially amount of hair loss), leaving the lab blackened and charred for the better part of an hour before it was finally cleaned.
Yes, it was a normal day at S.P.D., which was about to become even stranger for Kat…
At 10 'o clock at night, Kat was still up and working. Most of the cadets too were most likely to be up in the Rec Room or going out, being a Friday, which Cruger had decided to allow most people off at night. B-Squad were most likely fighting amongst themselves with a game of lightball, using their own genetic abilities to alter the course of the game, Cruger was working as usual and Boom…well, Kat had little to no idea where Boom was. Not that she wasn't curious—Boom more often than not did overtime with her, sometimes under orders, especially when it came to developing newer weapons, sometimes just because he wanted to keep her company.
This time of night, alone with her thoughts with only the occasional beep of the computer to disturb her, Kat let her mind wander away from work to other things. Things like relationships within the B-Squad…and herself.
It was no secret that there was something going on within the B-Squad. Rumour mills were filled with anything from Sky secretly dating Syd or Z, to any one of the B-Squad dating another. Rumours at times even involved her. As far as Kat was concerned, she'd be staying single for a while and she'd prefer it.
At that point in time, the lab lights flickered slightly, enough so that Kat glanced up at them momentarily, before they came back on. Brushing it off, Kat returned to her work. When the door opened, Kat looked at the new arrival, and stared in shock.
"You're…me," she said.
She was staring at an exact copy of herself.
"Kinda strange, isn't it?" the other Kat said. "Seeing you…me, again."
"What do you mean?"
The other Kat scoffed. "I mean in this point in your…my, our life."
"Why would that be?"
"Because at this point…"
They were interrupted by another identical Kat seemingly appear out of nowhere. The only differences were in clothing.
"Hi."
The two previous Kat's stared at the new Kat.
"Hello," said Kat, having dubbed the first Kat to arrive 'other' Kat.
"Nice to see myself again before all this," the newest Kat said.
Within moments, even more Kat's had appeared, until no less than seven Kat's, not counting the original Kat, were gathered in the lab. Kat glanced around in confusion.
"Why are all of us here?" she asked.
They all turned towards her.
"This is the point where you choose who you fall in love with," they all answered.
All the colour drained out of Kat's face at a surprising rate.
"…what?" she said softly.
"We're all you, except different," one Kat said. "I at this point chose to go out with Boom. Such a sweet guy."
The others gagged.
"Why him? Doggie's who I had to go with," another Kat responded.
"But he's married!" the single Kat said.
"His wife died in the final battle. I ended up comforting him on the Observation Deck, and things just happened from there," the Kat said.
"Come on, I got it on with Jack!"
"Jack! What do you see in him? Sky's the one!"
"I could say the same for you! What do you see in Sky? Bridge is much more dedicated than him!"
"What? Bridge? As if, how could you not fall in love with Z?"
"Z? That's gone too far: Syd is I don't know how many times better than her!"
It should be noted at this point in time, the single Kat was feeling exceptionally confused and perturbed.
"Wait a second, you mean all of you went in a different direction?"
Had it been anyone else, it would have seemed strange, at the very least to be talking to themselves. But working at S.P.D. gave Kat a different sense of the norm. After all, it was the only job around where Kat monitored Rangers fighting monstrous oversized aliens on a daily basis, had her lab blown up daily and was attractive to over half the Academy (the other half tended to revolve around B-Squad).
They all nodded at the same time.
Kat's head was spinning.
"I think we should sit down, and talk this through," she said.
Again all of the Kat's in the room nodded, and sat down in various places.
"After I finish this…" Kat said, glancing at the screen.
"We'll help."
Such problems had never been a trouble for Kat. However, with seven additional minds, all of the same calibre as hers, the problem was quickly completed, and once again, Kat found herself staring at the seven copies of herself sitting arrayed throughout the room.
At that point, Kat soon found differences between them all, differences, though minor, and helped her differentiate between all of her selves.
The Kat that had gone with Boom wore different clothes that had more white than the others.
The Kat that had fallen in love with Doggie wore darker clothing than the rest.
The Kat who had gone for Jack had a small but visible red ribbon on her shoulder, and in general wore much more normal clothing than the others: jeans, shirts and sneakers.
The Kat that had gone with Sky (Kat really had no idea how that had worked out) similarly had a blue ribbon on her shoulder and wore more professional clothing.
The Kat who was dating Bridge also had a small green ribbon pinned to her shoulder. Other than that, there was nothing strange or peculiar about her.
The Kat who was somehow dating Z (again, Kat didn't know how that worked) wore clothing with a bit more yellow than the others, and previously had a pair of earphones in her ears before taking them out.
And finally, the Kat who was dating Syd (that was something that really disturbed her) was sitting on a desk, dressed fairly normally (even though Kat knew she would never wear a skirt that short unless for formal reasons) and glancing at her glossy pink fingernails.
Kat quickly glanced at her own fingers, if to make sure she wasn't wearing any nail polish. As usual, they were neatly trimmed, groomed and perfectly normal, not a hint of nail polish anywhere on them. It seemed that her respective partners had all rubbed off on her in one way or another.
Taking a deep breath, Kat did her best to steel herself for the next few minutes/hours.
"Can you explain how I got into these…relationships?" she asked. "One at a time, of course."
The Kat/Boom Kat spoke first.
"You know how things went. Doggie, well, he's happy with his wife, and Jack and Z enjoy a relationship."
"What?" said two incredulous Kat's, the one who had been going out with Z and Jack.
"Stop interrupting. We'll never get through everyone if you keep interrupting. I thought Jack was happy with Ally," Kat said, frowning.
"They broke up soon after. Anyways, Sky was good with Syd, Bridge somehow got together with Ally and leaving Boom feeling kind of lonely. Funnily enough, Boom actually asked me out on Valentine's Day. He told me that he had spent some of his overtime watching me, trying to see what was wrong. It actually worked out quite well," she shrugged. "We have a nice fairly quiet relationship. The lab doesn't blow up as often now," she said with a smirk.
"I see," Kat said. The prospect of having the lab blow up less was certainly appealing. "Let's continue."
The Kat/Cruger Kat spoke next.
"What is there to say? I found Doggie watching the stars one night after Gruumm's defeat. The rest of B-Squad were all together, Bridge with Z, Sky with Syd and Jack with Ally. He lost his wife and was taking it hard. He actually had a bottle of Vodka with him," Kat said with a small grin. "It didn't take much persuasion to get him to let go, especially since the bottle was three-quarters empty."
"And you took advantage of him? I would have thought that I'd be better than that," said another Kat.
"He started it," Kat said with a shrug.
"Anyways, continuing on," the single Kat said. She was starting to get confused with all the Kat's around.
The Kat who was dating Jack spoke up.
"Jack came to me crying one night," she said. "Ally had cut off their relationship. All the others were out, and I was feeling a little depressed as well. One thing led to another, and now we're dating."
"That simple?"
"It was almost accidental," she said with a grin.
"Right. How about you?" Kat asked, directing her question at the Kat who was dating Sky.
She surprisingly grinned. "It was a very interesting start to a relationship, I'll tell you that."
"What do you mean?" Kat asked.
"The entire relationship was accidental: it started out as a one night stand," she said, much to the shock of the others.
"One…night…stand?" Kat echoed in disbelief.
"Oh yes. Sky told me after it was a bet of sorts: the others betted that he couldn't bed some girl within a couple of days. He took the bet, and came to me, without telling me about it," said Kat.
"And you agreed to it?"
"I think I had some of that Vodka that Doggie was having," she said sheepishly. "Anyways, afterwards Sky periodically came into my lab. He kept asking me if I was okay, if I was pregnant…"
Kat gagged.
"...and actually asked me if last night was any good!"
"Great," Kat said, not wanting the image of her and Sky in bed together.
"He's not bad really. Just takes sometime to get him to cool down and chill out a little."
"Chill out? Where did you pick that up from?"
"Somewhere," the other Kat shrugged.
"Alright…" Kat said, still trying to get rid of images of her and Sky in the same bed. "Your turn," she said.
"Whose?"
"You…me, with Bridge," Kat clarified.
"It just happened," she smiled. "I was working on the Flyers, when Bridge came in. He wanted to have a talk, and I in a way asked him out. It was accidentally, because I kissed him that night."
"Right," said another Kat dubiously.
"It's true! Things then went off from then. Doggie gave them the week off, and he tried to take me out whenever he could, which was a few times," Kat said.
"Is that all?"
"Apart from the fact that Syd stays single, Doggie stays with Isinia, Jack stays with Ally and Sky and Z get together, that's about all I have to say," shrugged Kat.
"That's the most normal sounding one I've heard tonight," said Kat, shaking her head. If her being with Bridge could sound the most normal, then she wouldn't want to know what herself and Z or even Syd would be like!
"Do you want to know about how Z and I got into a relationship?" asked the second to last Kat.
"I don't think I want to know, but since everyone else has done theirs and I'm still alive, I think I'll live," Kat answered.
"Sure. It actually stemmed from something else," started Kat. "Jack and Ally were together as usual, but Sky and Bridge had fallen for each other!"
"What?" Kat's jaw would have dropped.
"Yeah, surprising, I know. I think I walked past their room too many times at night to too many moans," Kat said. "Anyways, Z came to me for help one day, and ended up inviting me to lunch. Nothing was going on yet," Kat quickly said.
"And?"
"Well, it actually only started about a week or two later. Z came back into the lab crying about something. I comforted her and all, before another series of events brought us together," Kat answered.
"My God," Kat mumbled, burying her face in her hands. The other Kat's in the room were just as shocked. "You're telling me that I could possibly be gay?"
"Lesbian," another Kat corrected.
"Whatever," Kat waved it off. "Anyway, how did I end up with Syd of all people?" she asked herself, the one who hadn't spoken much yet.
"Kind of similar to hers," she said, motioning at the Kat who had gone with Sky. "It all started out as a dare."
"A dare?" Kat asked sceptically.
"Yes. Jack dared me to kiss Syd," replied Kat.
"And how much alcohol did you…I, drink before taking that dare? Because I know that I would have never taken it."
"An okay amount. Anyway, moving on, after that event, Syd came to me one day and asked if that kiss meant anything."
"Doesn't Syd already have like a third of the Academy fantasising about her?"
"And don't we have half?" another Kat shot back.
"So anyway," Kat continued, inspecting her nails again. "Soon after, Syd gets a little adventurous and wants to date me."
"Please, I can't take it anymore," Kat groaned.
"Fine fine."
"Still, me and Syd? What do you call that?" Kat asked.
"Every male in the Academy's wildest fantasies come true," the Kat who was dating Jack replied.
Silence reigned for a few moments as Kat let all the information the Kat's had given her sink in. Never had the prospect of staying single looked so good.
"So you are all here to persuade me to bond with a particular someone?"
"We were, but I have to get going now. Bye!"
With that, one after another, the number of Kat's in the room slowly diminished, until it was only Kat, and the first Kat to come in left.
"You know what?" Kat asked as the other her started to leave.
"What?"
"I think I'm going to stay single."
A.N: Hmm, not exactly a humour-ish fic, more like my attempt at rationalising every kind of Kat pairing that there is, save for Kat and Felix. Which is why I put this under a combination of humour and general. I hope you didn't get lost with all the Kat's. And yes, I did use Serene Reflections and Serene Relations to explain the Bridge/Kat part.
I hope you enjoyed, and review! Oh, and next chapter of Sect of the Reaper is coming Thursday!
See ya then!