I do not own Power Rangers, if I did Kim would have never sent that damn letter!
Warning: This is an (A.U) and will likely earn its M rating.
Travelers: Prologue
It was a normal beautiful day in the city of Angel Grove. The California Sun was shining bright, birds were singing, the Sky was blue and cloudless. It truly was a beautiful day.
'At least it started out that way.' Fifteen year old,Kimberly Surmised, as she was drowning her sorrows in one of Ernie's world famous Smoothies at the Angel Grove Youth Center. Well... Maybe world famous was a bit of a stretch, but they were most certainly famous among the youth of Angel Grove. And right now she needed one!
"Don't be sad, Kim." Said Kim best and only female friend, Trini Kwan. "Matt's a jerk!"
"Yeah!" Agreed, one of Kim's best guy friends and big brother figure, Jason Scott. "You don't need that two timing Scum Bag!"
You see, upon arriving at school that morning. Kim started to notice people were pointing at her and whispering, what was even odder still was more than a few were giving her sympathetic looks. It wasn't until she ran into Trini that she found out why.
Apparently Matt Carver, her boyfriend of six months. Was caught hooking up with Linda Peterson, at a party over the weekend. Needless to say, Kim was now single.
"You know you can do WAY better than him, anyways." Added another of her guy friends, Zack.
"You guys don't understand." Said Kim forlornly. "He said it was my fault. That if I wasn't making him wait, than it wouldn't have happened!"
Jase growled low in his throat upon hearing that. I was well known in AGHS that if you messed with Kim, than you would feel the wrath of Jason Scott. Who just happened to be one of if not the best Martial Artiest in Angel Grove.
Ignoring Jase's over protectiveness, Kim carried on. "Do you guys think he was right? I mean, I'll be Sixteen next month and a lot of girls our age have already lost their V-Cards. Maybe I am being too prudish."
"Kim I will say again, Matt's a Jerk!" Stated Trini. "And apparently, a world class one at that! And encase you forgot, I'm still a Virgin. And you don't see Jase cheating on me, do you?"
That was true. Trini and Jase were still going strong, and they had been together for almost a year now.
"I must concur with the others, Kimberly. While I make no claims to be an expert of teenage relationships. It stands to reason that if Mathew had truly loved you as he claimed, than he would have had no problems waiting for you to be ready." Said Billy the boy Genius. Who was always the most logical of her friends.
"Thanks, guys." Kim said with a soft sad smile. "That's sweet of you all to say, but I really just need to be alone right now. I think I'm going to head home."
"Are you sure?" Asked Jase. "One of us would be more than happy to walk you."
"I'm sure, but thanks for the offer. I'll see you guys at the park tomorrow." Said Kim as she grabbed her bag and headed outside.
She couldn't believe just how rotten this day had turned out! Really was it to much to ask, for a White Knight to come in and sweep her off her feet? Instead she had to end up with a jerk like Matt!
As she walked out of the parking lot and started to take her usually short cut through the park to her house, she had no idea just how much worse her day was about to get. At lest until she heard a sound that anyone who had ever watched a movie would recognize. The click of a gun hammer being cocked back!
"I don't know, guys." Said Jason looking his friends. "I know she wants to be alone, but I don't think she needs to be."
"Yeah!" Agreed Zack. "It don't feel right to let her suffer alone."
"Come on." Said Trini as she stood from her seat. "Lets go catch up to her."
The others all nodded in agreement and likewise stood, and headed out to try to comfort their friend.
"Don't scream and I won't kill you!" Said a masculine voice from behind her. Kim felt her heart about stop, as fear flooded her being. "Turn around nice and slow, and put your hands where I can see them!"
She did as she was told and raised her hands above her head, and started to turn around. Scanning her surroundings hoping that someone would help her. But it was no good, the trail she took home never really got many visitors. As she finished turning around she got her first glimpse of the man behind the voice.
There holding a hand gun pointed at her face was a man of about 5.9. Dressed in dirty ripped jeans, brown shirt, and stained black and gray jacket. She could really only see the bottom of his face, as he had a New York Yankees cap pulled down low on he forehead which in the setting sun cast a long shadow over the top half. But what she could see was that he was sporting what looked like a two day beard. And looked in his twenties or thirties.
"P-Please don't kill me!" Whimpered Kim, as she stared down the cold unfriendly barrel of the gun. "You can have whatever you want, just take it!"
"SHUT UP!" Snarled the man. "Just shut up and do what you are told, and you just might live through this!"
"O-Okay." Said a trembling Kim, who now had tears welling up in her eyes. She was so scared that she would never get to see her mom or dad, or even her step-dad Pierre.
"Now, you are going to follow me nice and easy into those trees. And if you try to escape or draw anyone's attention, then your funeral will be closed casket!"
The fear inside Kim quickly turned to out right horror, as realization of what was about to happen dawned on her.
"M-Mister, please." Kim tried to beg.
"Shut up!"
"Don't d-do this." She said, in nearly full blown hysterics. Which is why what happened next came as just as much of a surprise to her, as it did her attacker.
"I Said SHUT UP, YOU CUNT!" He went to slap her with his right hand, and inadvertently moved the gun in his left away from her face by a fraction. Which is just what someone who had been watching from the shadows was waiting for.
Kim watched in shock as in the blink of an eye, a blur of movement slammed into the side of her attacker. Sending both of them to the ground. Unfortunately this also caused the gun in the mans hand to go off, which caused Kim to let out an ear splitting scream!
"Jase, man. Maybe we should head back." Said Zack. Not really liking being in the woods with the sun setting.
Jason shook his head, without really turning to look at him. "No. She always takes this short cut home. It comes out about three blocks from her house."
"Jason's right." Said Trini. "Plus she didn't get that much of a head start on us. So if we hurry, we can catch up to her."
Before anyone could say anything else. They heard a loud gun shot echo from up the trail, followed by a loud scream of terror that they all recognized.
"KIM!" Shouted Jason, as he took off in the direction of the scream. The others hot on his heals.
Quickly pinning the man's gun hand down. Kim's rescuer landed two quick blows to the stunned man's face, followed by a crushing elbow that sent the would be rapist into unconsciousness. Kim watched as her savior stood up and kicked the gun away from her attacker. Before stomping on the man's crouch with enough force to make even her wince in discomfort.
"There, that should make it where he won't be able to try and pull this stunt again." She heard her savior say, before he turned to face her.
Kim couldn't help but let out a gasp. He was one of the most handsome guys she had ever seen! He looked around her age, maybe a little older. He stood at about six feet, with long dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He looked kind of like he might be of Native American decent, which would explain the arrowhead necklace he wore.
He had on a dark green Army Jacket over a black tee-shirt that did little to hide his muscular chest. He also wore Black cargo pants and what looked to her, like combat boots. But what really caught her attention was his eyes.
They were a dark brown and had a look of someone guarded. It was the same kind of look that she had seen in the eyes of her Great Uncle Tim, who was a Vietnam War Vet. Like they weren't so much looking at you, as they were looking through you. His eyes made her believe that whoever he was, he had lived through a lot!
And yet the hardness of his eyes were completely offset by the softness of his face. Which at the moment was showing nothing but concern. Concern, for her. It took her a moment to realize that his lips were moving. He was saying something to her.
Kim shook her head, bringing herself back to reality. "I-I'm sorry, what did you say?"
The stranger gave her a soft smile. "I asked if you were alright? Are you hurt? Do we need to get you to a doctor?"
"N-No, I'm fine... Thanks to you." She replied, blushing at the last part. "You saved me. I don't know how I can ever repay you!"
He smiled at her again, and this time his eyes softened just a little. For some reason, this caused her stomach to do a little flip.
"You don't have to repay me, Miss-"
"Kimberly!" She interrupted.
"Hm?" He questioned.
"My n-name, it's Kimberly." She answered, hoping he would tell her his name in return.
"Oh! Okay." He said with comprehension. "Well, you don't have to repay me, Kimberly. There was no way I was going to let him do to you, what he was wanting to."
He looked like he might say something else, but at that moment something on his wrist started to beep. At first she thought it was just a wristwatch. But when she looked closer at it, it looked like no wristwatch she had ever seen before. For one thing it was to big. It was about the size of a pager, but seemed way to advanced to be a pager. Where had he gotten it? And what did it do?
Her curious nature getting the better of her, she was about to ask. But at that moment she heard her friends yell her name as they rounded a turn on the trail and were making a beeline for her. She felt her heart expand at the sight of her friends. They had come looking for her!
"HEY GUYS! IT'S OKAY, I'M OVER HERE!" She yelled to them with a wave of her arm letting them know she was alright. As here friends neared she turned to her rescuer to ask if he would like to meet her friends, only to notice that he was gone! She looked just in time to see him disappear around a turn in the trail.
"Hey wait!" She called out as she took off after him. Making her friends who had just about caught up to her, have to chase after her.
"Please wait, I didn't catch your name!" She called out as she rounded the turn. What she saw when she did, however was not what she was expecting.
Where she had hoped to see the boy that had saved her, what see saw instead was something out of a science fiction movie. It looked like a whirlpool suspended in midair. In fact she had seen something like this in a science fiction movie once. What did they call it again? Oh yeah, a wormhole!
But that wasn't what was bad. What was bad, was that this wormhole was sucking her in! She turned to try and get away but the force was too strong.
"HELP!" She cried as she lost her fight with the vortex, as was pulled off her feet. The last thing she saw before she was sucked in was her friends rounding the turn as she had. And subsequently sharing the same fate.
"Ugh!" Jason groaned in pain, as Zack had landed on top of him after they had been sucked into... whatever the hell that was. "Get off me, Zack!"
After Zack had rolled off of him Jason sat up and looked around. All of his friends were splayed out around him groaning and just as disoriented as he had been.
"Is everyone alright?" Jason asked, as he stood and looked around. Whatever it was that they were sucked into it didn't seem to do anything, other than shoot them out real fast. Seeing as they were still on the trail in Angle Grove Park.
"Affirmative." Said Billy, shaking his head as if trying to clear the cobwebs out. "Though I will most likely be sore in the morning."
"What he said." Said Zack with a groan.
"Trini?" Asked Jason in a worried voice.
"I'm okay, Jason." Said Trini with a small smile, trying to reassure her boyfriend. Which might have worked had the smile not turned into a grimace when she sat up.
"Are you sure?" He asked rushing to her to help her up.
"Yes I'm sure." She said with only a small amount of exasperation. She loved Jason to death, but boy could he be over protective at times. "I'll probably be a little bruised is all."
"Okay, if you're sure." Said Jason, looking for all the world as if he wasn't fully convinced. "What about you Kim?"
When he didn't receive an answer he turned to look at her. "Kim?"
"I've lost him." She sounded disappointed, as she stared down the trail.
"Lost who, Kim?" Asked Trini as she made her way over to her bestfriend.
"I didn't even learn his name." Kim mumbled as she stood up.
"Learn whose name?" Asked Jason bewildered. "Kim, you're not making any sense."
"The boy who saved me from being..." She trailed off, unable to bring herself to say it. "I've lost him."
Jason and the other looked at each other. They hadn't really noticed another guy, but that wasn't saying there wasn't one there. They had been so focused on Kim, they didn't even notice that unconscious guy, until they had passed him chasing after Kimberly.
"Come on, we'll help you look for him." Said Trini, sympathetically to her friend. "We might still be able to catch him, even if we don't. This trail's about up, and we need to get to your house and call the cops to go get that creep back there."
"Yeah, and you can tell us what happened while we walk." Said Jason. "And maybe we can figure out what the hell that vortex thing was."
As they walked keeping while keeping an eye out for Kim's mysterious stranger. Kim told them what happened as best she could. But she was having a hard time getting it all out. As when she would get to the part where she figured out what the guy was planing to do she would start to tear up. But the others got the gist of it, the man was going to rape and possibly kill her. But a boy around their age saved her.
To try to get her mind of what happened, they started talking about the vortex. Swapping out theories about what it could have been, each sounding a far fetched as the last. Oddly enough while they were doing this, Billy, the one guy you would expect to have a theory was silent.
The truth was he did have a theory as to what it could have been, he just prayed to a god that he didn't really believe in, that he was wrong! Because if he wasn't, than he and his friends would be in a world of...
Billy froze along with his friends as they exited the trail. None of them really believing their eyes. For what should have been one of the nicest neighborhoods in Angle Grove, was nothing more than a bunch of run down boarded up and falling down houses. It looked like no one had been here in years, like the bustling city of Angle Grove had become a Ghost Town!
….. Trouble! They were in a world of trouble!
(A.N) Will how many of you can guess that I was inspired by Sliders. If so than congratulations! You're probably an old fart like me. LoL just kidding!
But I hope you guys like it. I have another Power Rangers Story planed about Tommy going into Space to 'Find himself' after giving up the power. But if I get enough of a response on this I will put that on hold until I can pump out the next chapter. Oh yeah before I forget, I know that some of you are thinking that Kim is really OOC in this chapter. But keep in mind that this Kim has never been a Power Ranger and there fore not used to life and death situations.
Read and Review... Please.
Sincerely: Reddog24485.