Chapter 4: Old Nemesis, New Enemy
"Rita!" Tommy and Kimberly gasped simutaneously as the source
of the voice stepped into view. Standing in front of them was none other than Rita
Repulsa herself. She was their first enemy as part of the original power team and
a real challenge as their opponent.
"Well if it isn't the little pink ranger Kimmie! How sweet...reunited
with your sweetheart...make me sick." Rita said sarcastically making Kimberly
snort in agitation. "What happened to your little kitty Kat, Tommy? Did she run
away from you too?" she continued cackling like a hyena. Her hair was in its
traditional cones and she still wore the ugly brown dress she had worn for years.
"What do you want Rita!?" Tommy demanded, stepping protectively
in front of Kimberly. Keeping his hand on his morpher key, he waited for a
response.
"I want the black Dino Gem! With it I can rid myself of you power
brats once and for all!" she screeched. "Putties retrieve the black dino gem!"
Slamming the bottom of her rod into the ground six putties appeared in her place.
Flailing their arms and legs around like drunken chickens and making a noise
resembling a drowning turkey they moved toward the couple. Splitting up,Tommy
and Kimberly attempted to divide the putties into separate groups.
"I never thought I'd see these guys again!" Kimberly said taking a
fighting stance. It had been a few years since she had practiced any martial arts,
but years of gymnastics had left her limber and flexible with moderate muscle.
Putty attacks were always clumsy and uncoordinated, so her agility, fexibility and
speed gave her, her only advantage since she no longer had any powers. "Tommy
watch out!" she yelled as a putty prepared to throw one of the stone flower pots
from around the fountain at him. Ducking, Tommy barely escaped being hit in the
head. Kicking a putty square on the big Z on it's chest, Kimberly panic'd when it
wasn't destroyed. When the putty she had kicked got back to its feet it joined the
other two as they formed a circle around her. They were cooperating and even
stranger they were strategizing.
"Tommy I don't think these are ordinary putties! I think Rita and
Lord Zedd made some modifications!" Kim said, yelling over her shoulder to
Tommy who had also noticed the difference.
"I think you're right, but I'm pretty sure they had help! I have a
feeling Mesogog also had a hand in it." He yelled back as he skillfully dodged
an attack from behind. Making a funny face, Kimberly stopped and tried to
imagine what or who Tommy was talking about.
"Who is Mesogog?" she asked as she tripped one of the putties before
it could grab her. "Let me rephrase that...What is a Mesogog!?" she asked stepping
out of the way of a second flying flower pot. Neither Tommy nor Kimberly had
noticed, but as the fight progressed they had gravitated toward the outer edge of
the garden. Grabbing at the morpher on his wrist, Tommy stopped short when
he saw two putties forcing Kim backward. Behind her was a short guard rail set
to protect guests from fallind down the side of the small hill that the garden sat atop
of. The slope on the other side of the rail was short but steep and very rocky. It
was then he realized what they were doing.
"KIMBERLY!" He yelled foreseeing exactly what was about to
happen. Before she could hear him she had already stepped back catching her foot
on the guard rail, falling over it backward and down the rocky decline. Just as
Tommy lunged forward to go after her, one of the putties snatched his morpher off
of his wrist. When the morpher was retrieved all six putties disappeared in a quick
flash. Reaching the bottom of the hill, Tommy found Kimberly sitting up. She was
covered in dirt, scrapes, and little bruises from head to toe but was other wise
unharmed. " Maybe you should stay at my place tonight? I don't think its safe for
you to stay here. I will take the couch and you can have my bed." he told her as he
helped her up. Dusting herself off, she cringed alittle when her hand brushed a
slightly larger scrape on her arm.
"Some times I wish I hadn't given up my powers...now is one of
them." she said wiping the small trickle of blood off her arm that had escaped the
scrape.
"You alright?" Tommy asked reaching a hand out to touch her arm,
it was then he noticed his morpher was missing. "My morpher! It's gone!" he said
starting to panic. Taking a hold of his hands, Kimberly spoke calmly and softly.
"We will get it back, but first we need a plan." she told him as she
rested a small hand on his cheek. Taking a deep breath Tommy relaxed. Giving
her a soft smile, he leaned in and kissed her.
"Rita Repulsa...Lord Zedd tell me what you know about Tommy
Oliver." Mesogog demanded in a low raspy voice.
"Tommy!? That's the little twirp that controlled our Dragon Zord
before and after he broke our spell over him." Rita answered in her usual
ear-splitting tone. "He lead those power geeks against us for years and always
gave me such a headache!" she moaned holding the sides of her head.
"Tommy has been a thorn in my side for ages. Why he destroyed
some of my best monsters!" Lord Zedd said swiveling his Z staff in his hands, the
bare uncovered muscles of his hand flexing when he moved.
"Tell me about this Kimberly that seems to have joined the
picture." Mesogog demanded once again, as he paced up and down the floor.
"Kimberly Hart. She was his little girlfriend until she sent him a
letter and broke his heart. That was one of my favorite days. The two of them
were part of my worst nightmare...the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!"
Zedd growled as he remembered all of his beautifully devious yet foiled attempts
at conquering the earth. Taking in all of the secrets Dr. Oliver had failed to share
during their years of research, a smile started to spread across Mesogog's boney
face.
"Ah...Elsa what news do you bring me?" he asked the younger
villianess as she entered the lair with her cyborg counter-part Zeltrax.
"It seems Master Mesogog, that Tommy and this Kimberly still
share feelings for one another. It also appears that your bioenhanced...uh...putties,
as these two call them, were successful!" She sneered at Rita and Zedd, while
holding up the black Dino Morpher.
"I am pleased with you Elsa, now give me the morpher!" Mesogog
snapped, stretching a long arm out to recieve his prize.
"What about me, Master Mesogog? I helped too!" Zeltrax said,
reminding everyone of his presence.
"You've been replaced you worthless tin can!" A deep rough voice
said from the shadows. Stepping into view the voice was revealed to belong to a
part cat, part monkey, and part bird like creature wearing golden armor with large
black wings.
"Goldar!" Zedd and Rita chimed excitedly.
"Rita being back is bad news. If she is back it means Lord Zedd and
Goldar aren't far behind." Tommy said shaking his head in frustration.
"Ok, so wait...I thought Rita became good after she was turned
human?" Kim asked, as she sat on Tommy's couch. She was wearing black sleep
shorts and a pink cami-sleep top after a much needed shower, and her cuts and
scrapes were all treated. She and Tommy were both sipping on cups of hot herbal
tea.
"She did. The Rita you saw earlier was a clone that retained the
real Rita Repulsa's memories. Mesogog must have retrieved some of the real Rita's
DNA." Tommy explained from his seat in the chair opposite of Kimberly.
"Ok so who is Mesogog? Why does he want the Dino gems?" Kim
asked as she fiddled with the spoon in her tea cup.
"Mesogog is actually my old research partner Anton Mercer. He
was mutated into a half human and half dinosaur hybrid after an accident in our
lab. Mesogog, his dinosaur half, wants the dino gems so that he can take the whole
planet back to the dinosaur ages. His son Trent is the white Dino Ranger, who
happens to have a thing for Kira." he said laughing slightly making Kim smile. For a
moment they just sat and stared at each other, a light grin playing at their lips. It
was almost as if nothing had changed between them, they were as comfortable with
each other now as they had been in high school.
"So what are we going to do? Five rangers isn't near enough to
take on Mesogog, Rita, and Zedd!" Kim asked finally breaking the silence. Suddenly
without warning, Tommy stood up and started digging through one of his desk
drawers. When he sat back down he was holding a small wooden box with the
power rangers insignia on it in his hands. Inside it was two sets of very familiar
gold coins. They were power coins and Kimberly recognized them immediately.
"Tommy those are the power coins to the Thunder and Ninjetti
zords! I thought the thunder zords were destroyed!?" she gasped as she lifted her
old firebird and crane power coins out of the box.
"Billy and Trini have been working for the last three years to
repair them. They just finished a few months ago. I was afraid something like
this might happen which is why I made a back-up plan. I didn't know wether you
would come if I asked for your help but I kept your coins just in case. We can use
the dino-gems to recharge these, but like the dragon zord it will only be temporary."
Tommy explained as he set the open box down on his glass top coffee table.
"Do you think we will be able to get everyone to put the suits on
one more time?" she asked putting her coins back in the box.
"I sure hope so! We are really gonna need them!" he said
with a heavy sigh. "Question is...are You ready to put it on one last time!?" he
asked her in all seriousness. Taking a deep breath, Kimberly stared at the warm
liquid in her cup as she thought about what it would mean to be the pink ranger
again.
"Once a ranger, always a ranger." she smiled shyly as their eyes
met. Slowly Tommy leaned in for a kiss and was surprised when Kim met him half
way. "We should go to bed its late." she blushed as they pulled apart. Tommy's
cheeks, matching hers, were bright red. Smiling softly she headed down
the hallway to Tommy's room as he settled into the couch.
"So...your Kimberly?" Conner asked, not sure what to make of
short brunette.
"Kimberly Hart to be more specific." Kim said offering a
hand-shake.
"Not 'The' Kimberly Hart!? The gymnast who won the gold on
the balance beam and silver on the uneven bars at the Pan Globals?" Conner asked
sounding scarily similar to an over-excited fan girl at a Twilight saga convention.
"One and the same." Kimberly laughed finding Conner's
enthusiastic attitude amusing.
"What!? So I like to watch very flexible woman in spandex.
I'm a guy what do you want, besides gymnastics is a sport." he defended as the
other four erupted in laughter.
"What did I miss?" Trent asked as he came down the stairs and
joined everyone in the lab. "Who is this?" he asked cautiously but politely as he
became very aware of the new presence in the group.
"Hi Trent!" Kira blurted nervously "This is Kimberly, she used
to be a power ranger like Dr. O. They were part of the same team. They are also
kind of togethor." she explained, trying desperatly not to scramble her words
too much.
"Kim this is Trent Mercer. I told you about him last night. He
is also one of my students." Tommy said continuing the introductions.
"Hi Kimberly, it's nice to meet you." Trent said nicely "Now,
can you tell me who...They!...are?" Trent asked pointing at the stairs after
making a shy glance at Kira. Not paying any attention to what was going on,
Conner looked up to catch a glare from Tommy for staring at Kimberly's butt.
Embarassment plain on his face he turned his attention to the stairs where
everyone else was already staring. A few moments later a man in a blue t-shirt
and jeans with dirty blonde hair and glasses, and a skinny oriental girl wearing
a white shirt and a puffy yellow skirt appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"TRINI! BILLY!" Kimberly shrieked excitedly when she
saw her old friends.
To Be Continued...
Sooo sorry everybody for the long wait for this one. Been really busy the past few
weeks. Sorry if its hard to read, it always gets posted in a different style from
how i actually write it but im working on fixing that so please bare with me. This
chapter was a pain because i wasn't real sure where to go with it, hopefully it still
fits to the earlier chapters alright. Again thanks sooo much for the reviews I
really enjoy them. Please feel free to critique, or correct me if I wrote something
wrong or was inaccurate on something. Any ideas are very welcome, so anything
you want to read in the future chapters please let me know and I will do my best
to incorporate it.