A bright whitish sliver moon was high in the midnight sky giving off the only light the starless sky as if stars were positioned behind dim gray clouds. On top of the moon sat a tall palace sitting thousands of feet away from the earth. The palace was pointed with many towers giving it a spooky appearance with an irregular crown. Its walls were a blackish sliver stone and the roof was a grey slate. Around the walls were ironed spikes and guarded it around the clock.
In the throne room sat stone like chair sitting on small circular stage with white smoke around it. Although this King's seat was impressive, it was a stool just a stool bathed with darkness of those who fought to claim it as theirs and all the bitterness, wickedness, anger, and sadness in their hearts.
"Oh, I have a head ache!" Rita cried turning away from her telescope. "Katherine has teamed up with the rangers. And to make matters worse, Billy has asked her out."
"Don't worry, Rita," Zedd assured her when he got up from his throne. "I've got a plan that the power rangers won't see coming. I am going to send Tommy and his precious Kimberly back in time-"
"It's prefect!" Rita approved with an evil smirk on her face. "Things would have been better if she left. But the rangers will find a way to rescue them like always-"
"I'm afraid you are mistaken," Zedd corrected leading her into Finster's work shop. "Finster is going to make me a monster to help us."
"What kind of monster?"
A Scottish terrier wearing overalls and glasses walked into the room. "My queen, I've got it taken care of," Finster promised as he started to work in clay. "I'm creating Magnet Head. He has power to remove power morphers and communicators from any rangers in battle."
"I just want it to attack Tommy and Kimberly!" Rita requested watching Finster make his sculpture. "When will it be ready?"
"I'm afraid once he is made, we'll have to charge him up to make his magnetic force powerful," he explained.
The coastline was gleaming in the morning sun with its snow powder white ribbons of cliff, curved and jagged, shrink into the distance. Below those cliffs were beaches of rocks made rough and sharp by barnacles upon them. Each beach was divided by groynes that stretched out to meet the fast-coming waves. In the distance a spit expanded out in the sea and upon the end was an abandoned lighthouse. The bubbly crests of the crashing waves were the only sound other than the cries of the seagulls.
The sunlight shined through the grey blinds, presenting the warm morning sum against Jan and James' face. They both let out a yawn as they rubbed their eye lids opened. "Good morning, dear," Jan whispered giving James a kiss. She turned to the two small folding cots laying across the room. Tommy had spooned Kimberly up in arms and both were still sound asleep.
"Good morning," James greeted giving Jan a kiss. He got out of bed and pulled up the covers that Tommy and Kimberly had kicked off. "They remember me of us when we were their age."
"I think so too," Jan agreed as she grabbed her magenta swimsuit and went into the bathroom to change. "Ever since he learned she was going to have to move to Paris at the end of the year, he had talked about buying her an engagement ring."
"Remember you did the same thing with me when we were that age," James reminded her as he put on his blue swimming trunks. "I was about to be put in foster care and you proposed to me."
"James, we have been best friends since we were children," Jan breathed after she finished brushing her teeth. "I wasn't going to let you go to strange foster home where you may or may not be treated good."
"I would have done the same for you," James added while he combed his dark brown hair. "I wish we could have had wedding-"
"-James, we eloped and we did what we had to do," Jan assured him when he started to brush her toffee brown shoulder length hair. "My family was there and so were our friends."
"I know that. We're just as married if he had a white wedding. And I love you so much." James smiled twisting Jan's hair up into a tight ballerina bun and he used a magenta hair scrunchie to hold it in place. "You are still so beautiful. I can't wait to see what you will look like in your new swimsuit."
"Hold on," Jan urged as she stripped out of her pajamas and put on her swimsuit. Her swimsuit had high just legs and a very low-cut bodice. "How do I look?"
"You are so gorgeous," James approved giving her a kiss. "But you always look beautiful, no matter what."
"Mom, I can wait to see what Kim looks like in her new swimsuit," Tommy stated. "She said wanted me on deck before she would change."
"I bet she wanted to surprise you," James answered. "Remember how you were late for the Valentine's Day dance-"
"They gave my order mixed up and I had to go back and exchange it," reminded Tommy. "Apparently a lot of boys propose to their girlfriends on Valentine's Day. I had to wait in line half an hour before I could exchange it. It was also her birthday and I wanted to give the prefect present."
Kimberly slowly walked out in a pink open front cover up beach dress. Just stepping out in the open made her breath rapid and shallow. She could feel her pulse pounding in her temples. It was going to be a relief to sit down in a lawn chair, because between her legs and heels shaking, she was afraid she'd trip.
Hearts appeared in Kimberly's eyes when she turned the corner. Tommy wasn't in a long pair of swimming trunks like she was used too. Instead he was in a pair of green jammer shorts. They came down to his thighs and they had a form fitting design. "You are so cute and handsome," Kimberly blurted out loud for Tommy and his parents to hear.
Tommy got up from his lawn chair and walked over to her. "Hey Beautiful," Tommy greeted when he walked over to her.
"Tommy, how do I look in a bikini?" Kimberly asked when she let her cover up fall to the floor.
She was dressed in a bright pink halter triangle bikini top which exposed a lot of cleavage; and there fine narrow straps holding up the top. The back of the top plunged until it reached the band where it fastened in the back. Her matching bikini bottoms were high cut. "You are just so...so... beautiful," Tommy swooned.
"Thanks," Kimberly blushed as he took her hand and lead her over to the lawn chairs. Kimberly took a seat and her eyes shifted to her left hand there was a sliver ring with a pink princess cut gem in the center.
"Kimberly, I don't you'll ever realize how much my son loves you," James started when Tommy lifted her into his lap. "He talks about you all the time."
"He'll never realize how much I love him," Kimberly confessed as she rested her back against Tommy's chest. "I was so over joyed when he proposed. I have dreaded going to Paris, because I hated the thought about being away from him. But it doesn't seem as bad now, knowing that Tommy and I will be spending our senior year together."
"Kim, what did your mom want when she called the other day?" Tommy questioned.
"Oh, she just said that since we were going to be married in the fall, she's going to let me stay in Angel Grove," Kimberly quickly answered trying to keep a straight face. "I'm happy about it since I don't like Pierre anyway. I can't imagine having to live with him full time."
"We were in their position too at this age. They both seem to be in love like we were at their age."
"Tommy, did we ever tell you how we ended up marrying?" asked Jan and she lean back into James' chest.
"No, I don't think you have," Tommy acknowledged raising a brow.
"When your mother and I were Juniors, my parents got in trouble with the law," James admitted hugging Jan closer to him. "I never had a good life growing up as child. My parents always fought over how the other one spent their money. They wasted their money and had trouble pay bills and they were always taking advantage of people. And my parents cheated on each other."
"Are you serious!?" Tommy gasped tightening his grip around Kimberly.
"We're serious," Jan sighed as a tear ran down her cheek. "Both of James parents worked at a bank. They bought a huge expensive house boat and were having trouble paying off the loan. They both were having trouble paying off the loan and were going to lose the house boat. James' parents were in with a group of criminals. All of them went around robbing banks and used the money for their own use. Eventually, his parents decided to rob two banks so they went to two separate banks. But they got caught and were arrested."
"What happened to you, James?" Kimberly cried with a pair of tears streaming down her face.
"I was going to go to foster care," James spilled as Jan gazed into his eyes. "I wanted to get away, I really did. But I didn't want to leave Jan. No one liked my parents and teachers gave me a hard time. All of my classmates were advised to stay away from me. So, Jan was the only friend I had growing up."
"My mother worked at that bank too," Jan broken in and James gave her a kiss on the head. "My mother was friends with James aunt growing up. Helen was sweet and loving just like James. But I didn't know how special James was until second grade.
September 1967
Jan Brooks never saw James Oliver as being lonely. Instead she viewed him as a trouble maker, just like his parents. His parents worked at the bank with her mother they were rude, they were nasty, they took advantage of people. Everyone stayed away from James, so he must be the same way too? But her mother kept telling her that James's Aunt Hellen wasn't like that. How did she know? He was never at his aunt's house much. She probably didn't like him either. But James was a nice look boy. He was tall and had dark shoulder length brown hair. And he wore green tee shirts all the time. Looks could be deceiving though. James would talk to anyone who would pass him. However, she always seemed to be person he wanted to talk to. It was bad enough she had to sit by him because they teacher put them in alphabetical order. Every time, they had a project James hurried up and said he wanted to be paired with her. Why didn't they ever ask her who she'd like to be paired with.
At least she was liked by all the girls and was perhaps the one of popular girls. She had the prefect family and nice clothes. All day she had been receiving complements on how nice she looked in her new pink dress.
"Okay, class it's time for recess," Ms. Thomas announced.
"Jan, will you play with me?" James whispered taking hold of her hands.
"No, I've told you to get lost!" Jan hissed when everyone turned to stare at them.
"I can't believe Jan likes James!" cried a tall little boy with blonde hair. "I knew that there was something going on between them."
"You can't play with us anymore," informed a little girl with dark blonde hair. "We don't want anyone who associates with James-"
"-Elizabeth, please," Jan begged as everyone was going out the door. "He likes me. But I don't like him."
"I know you like me," James corrected squeezing Jan's hand.
"Go play with your new friend!" Elizabeth shouted as she ran to catch up with her friends. "We don't want nothing to do with you!"
"Elizabeth, I promise you I don't like him!" Jan shouted back trying to get James to let go off her hand. "He's the last person, I'd want to be stuck with."
A heavy seat woman dressed in orange with salt and peppery curly hair had her eyes on Jan Brooks. Last year, she had been a teacher. But she was in with group of criminals who paid her more money. Her job was to kidnap Jan and hold her for ransom. Jan's mother was the owner of the bank and would pay her big money to get her back. Trixie Moore looked around and making sure no one was watching.
"James, look what you just did to me!" Jan scolded as tears ran down her face. "Now I don't have any friends!"
"Maybe I can help, Jan?"
"Whose there?" Jan answered in a scared voice. "How do you know me name?"
"I'm your friend and I'm here to help you. I will help you get your friends back!"
"Meaning I can ditch James Oliver for good?!" Jan beamed turning to look at the boy she couldn't stand. "Will you go with me to the playground?"
"Of course. But, can you come over to the bushes so we can talk?"
"I'd do anything to get away from James Oliver," Jan smiled as she walked forward to the bush. "Please come help me-"
"Jan, don't listen to them," James warned as he ran over to her.
"James, just leave me alone!" Jan demanded and she walked closer to bush. "I can't stand-"
Before Jan could get another word in, someone grabbed her by the mouth and pulled her into the bushes. "Jan!" James shouted. He turned around and Jan was gone. "Jan, are you okay!"
"I've got her Jeff!" Trixie said. "We're going to be rich."
"Don't forget me," reminded a woman.
"Kelly don't worry," Trixie assured her.
James peaked around the corner and charged at Trixie and kicked in leg as hard as he could. Trixie fell to the ground and dropped Jan. "James Oliver," greeted Jeff when he watched James wrap his arms around Jan. Her back pressed up against his chest as he held her close. "You can't leave."
"James, let go of me and leave," Jan wept when Trixie, a tall skin woman with black wavy hair down to her hips, and an ugly fat man with grey hair surrounded them. "James, don't worry about me and go."
James ignored what Jan had to say and arms tightened around her.
"Mrs. Oliver, what happened to the two of you?" Kimberly asked when she carefully climbed down the ladder a took a seat in lounge pool float next to Tommy. Jan and James were sitting across from them in the other float.
"I asked him for the second time to let me go. But he wouldn't do it," Jan started taking hold of James hands. "He wouldn't do it. Trixie threw a lasso around us and pulled it tight. We screamed, but no one heard. Jeff wrapped the rope around us several times and tied our ankles together."
"They put Jan and I into a large brown bag and only our heads stuck out. We were thrown into the back of the truck and it seemed like for hour," James looked up at Tommy's face. Tommy's jaw had dropped from shock. "Tommy, your mother helped me out a lot then too. She told me how she was wrong about me and I had shown her that I really did care about her. I promised her that I'd take care of her while we were on our own."
"Dad, where did they take you and mom?"
"They took James and I to an abandoned ware house," Jan sighed as tear ran down her face. "We were in a basement and we had to change into solid orange tee shirts and tight orange cotton pants. After we changed, we had to give them the clothes that we had and they were destroyed. Kelly gave James a haircut. He had a crew cut and I had my hair down to my hips. So, they cut my hair and my hair was almost mid back length."
"At night she was scared to sleep and she ended up crawling my sleeping bag," James blushed and turned to look at Jan. She was also blushing. "I was just glad to have one friend, so I let her sleep with me and held her throughout the night. We were down in the basement for two weeks. Then they decided to move us to a different city one night. But we were able to escape."
"How'd you do that?" Kimberly questioned raising a brow.
"James, wanted to throw them off trail and the back of the truck came open. We were in a forest and it was grizzle bear season. James suggested that we removed our orange outfits and threw them in the forest. We striped down into our underwear and socks. He also suggested that we kept our shoes, I had grown to trust James and I was starting love him," Jan smiled giving James a peck on the cheek. "We saw grizzly bears fighting and we threw our orange clothes at them. Then we got a little further and James grabbed my hand and we jumped out the of the truck and rolled down a hill."
"I had been camping in that forest a few times in boy scouts so I knew my way around," James stated. "There was waterfall behind the cave and there was hot spring inside. But we couldn't stay there because there was portal. Our parents finally found us and were glad to have us back. That day, they made it law not to go around that cave. Many people went made when they were there. They claimed they saw people from the west."
"Anyway, James and I were really close over the years. When he was going to foster care, we were nearly 18. I wanted to marry him. My parents gave us permission since we'd be 18 in the summer. James' parents said he was free to do whatever he wanted because they were through with him."
"And I've been happily married to your mother since then," James smiled giving Jan a kiss. "Tommy, we never told you this but two years ago, we were in the park and were attacked by putties. We witness you, Kimberly, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Billy transform into rangers. Why didn't you tell us?"
Tommy turned and looked at Kimberly. Both had looks of shock on their faces. How were they going to tell their parents? "I guess we need to tell them what Zordon told us when we became rangers," Kimberly gulped.
Author's note: I thought it would be interesting to show how Jan and James got together. And as well them finding out who the rangers were? How will Jan and James take the news when they learn they weren't allowed to tell? Also the portal in the cave has an important role in the story. In the next chapter we will learn more about Kim's mother and step father. Stay tuned!
