Power Rangers: The Alternate

Chapter Four: Poles Apart

Disclaimer: The Power Rangers belong to Saban and Disney.

"It's just so creepy." Aisha said. "She looks like Kimberly, her voice is Kimberly, but she talks and acts so different."

The Rangers were gathered in the hallway of Angel Grove High, by the lockers where Tommy had been waiting a good ten minutes for Kim before heading off to lunch. He'd missed her before the opening bell and all their classes were pretty much on opposite sides of the school until the second part of the day. He was anxious to see how things were going for her and shifted from one foot to the other while he waited. He wasn't sure why he was feeling so worried and protective, but he knew in his gut that today wasn't going to be easy, so he made everyone hang around by the lockers before they headed into the cafeteria.

"I don't know why we're waiting on her." Rocky said, his stomach growling. "She's never wanted to sit with us before."

"Guys, we need to remember that, as hard as this is for us to adjust to, Kim isn't dealing with the substitution of just one friend and team member. Everything on this world is a substitution for her. She's all by herself and she needs us."

"I concur. The trauma done to her psyche will be far more significant than the underlying difficulties we may be experiencing." Billy offered. "But based on the initial encounters, I must admit I find this version far more amiable." He added.

"So I take it science lab went well this morning?" Aisha drolled.

"She asked me if I would agree to tutor her." He replied smugly and Tommy grinned.

"She did what?" Rocky asked.

"She asked me to…"

"We got that part." Rocky cut him off. "That's just so… un-Kimberly like."

"I don't think Kimberly's ever asked any of us to help her." Adam added. "I mean, wouldn't her mother pay for tutors?"

"I agree." Aisha said, shaking her head. "Between her mom and her grandmother, I'm sure they have all kinds of tutors lined up for her."

"She asked me." Billy insisted, feeling the others didn't believe him.

"Guys," Tommy interjected. "I told you, she's a lot different than our Kimberly. She was really close to her team members and she really misses them. She's gonna need our help and we need to make the effort to be there for her."

As if on cue, Kim walked out of a classroom door and made her way lethargically down the hallway; automatically going to one locker and then remembering it wasn't hers. She closed her eyes in frustration and sighed deeply, looking very lost along the familiar corridor, but then Tommy waved and her face brightened a bit. She hurried over to the rest of the team, sighing heavily and shoulders relaxing some of the tension that had built up there during the morning.

"You guys have absolutely no idea how glad I am to see you right now." She smiled in relief, but it was obvious she was close to tears. "This school is nothing like mine." She confided softly so the others in the hallway couldn't hear her. "I mean, almost all of the people are the same, but everything's different. I mean, the Vikings discovered America?"

"They did." Aisha said plainly.

"Yeah well, where I come from Columbus discovered America."

"Who's Columbus?" Adam asked.

"An explorer in the 15th century who claimed the geographical area now known as the Florida Keys for Spain." Billy provided.

Kim closed her eyes and shook her head. Not only was the history slightly different, some of the fictional books she'd read had different endings, and the way of calculating math was different too. There was no borrowing or carrying of ones, it was all set up to think in columns of ten with the rest figured out after. The answers were the same, it was just a different method and it totally blew her mind. All her classes were like that. She'd go in, walk to the instructor, be handed an exam, and then be told where to sit. She had failed everything miserably so far. The only exception was Art class, where she'd been given a large piece of paper and charcoal and told to choose an object to draw.

Drawing was second nature to Kim. She'd begun after her mom died and sketched constantly. It was a form of release for her, a way of expressing her emotions and capturing the feel of the moment she was in. She'd been grateful for the break from her alternate reality and mindlessly sketched the classroom and all its activity. There was the teacher, who was looking completely unfulfilled in life, a few students diligently completing the sketching assignment, girls giggling over something funny and guys goofing around, and there was even someone sound asleep and drooling on his paper. By the end of the hour, she was feeling more like herself again. Sighing with contentment, she'd signed her name at the bottom, handed in the paper, and gone to wash her hands in the corner sink.

But the teacher had still held her after class, just like all the others, insisting that she quickly sketch out the silk flower on the top of his pen. She'd done it quickly and efficiently while the instructor watched her in amazement. Apparently the other Kimberly had been as talented as a doorknob when it came to art. She would turn in stick figures and basically considered Art class a social hour where she didn't have to think too hard. Kim had groaned inwardly, knowing the two sketches she had produced were beyond good and that she was caught red handed. If she had known, she could have faked it for a while, but there was just no way someone could go from drawing stick figures to what she produced in a few days; brain injury or no.

She'd shrugged it off to the teacher, but confided the blunder miserably to Tommy as they walked toward the cafeteria. "What am I gonna do?" She asked miserably.

"It'll be alright." He reassured her, stopping with her just outside the door while the others filed through ahead of them.

"It's not going to be ok." Kim moaned. "Cherry Pingly is apparently my best friend in the whole wide universe. I hate that girl." Kim hissed softly. "I thought for a while maybe things would be different, but Power preserve me Tommy, that's about the only thing consistent in my life right now…I still hate her….and I'm apparently the most popular girl in school? How the heck am I supposed to keep a low profile and adjust to my new life if everybody's coming up to me and ogling me?"

Tommy stared at her for a moment and then chuckled softly. He'd been a little worried that, once she got to school and began hanging out with the other Kimberly's friends, she might change her mind about getting to know the Rangers better. He kind of liked this new Kimberly; they had a lot in common beyond the guilt that they felt over their teammates. In talking with her in the early hours of the morning, he realized she wasn't a Ranger by chance, she sounded like it was her whole life and she had been as dedicated to her service as his Kimberly had been to gymnastics.

He would never, ever, actually wish for a battle, but he had to admit he was a little eager to see how she fought. This Kimberly took martial arts as seriously as he did and the conversation had flowed freely and easily. Before they knew it, the sun was coming up and they'd had to very quickly cut the conversation short and run back to their respective homes.

"Just hang in there and remember to be yourself." He said, as they joined the lunch line.

"Being myself is causing a lot of problems." She said doubtfully. "What's gonna happen when the Mr. Mosner tells my mom how good I am? She's an art dealer for goodness sakes."

"Maybe it'll come as a relief after everyone else tells her how badly you failed your other exams." He offered and she made a face at him, all but slapping him with the plastic tray in her hands.

On the other side of the cafeteria, the Rangers regarded them curiously. "Is it just me," Aisha said, "Or do those two look suddenly joined at the hip."

"Kimberly….and Tommy?" Adam said, making a face at Rocky who was too busy eating to notice.

"Uck." Aisha said dramatically. "Now that's just too weird."

The Rangers weren't the only ones who noticed Kim's odd behavior. It was the hottest topic of the day among everyone at school; no matter what group you were in. Kimberly was far too popular to be dethroned over a head injury and odd behavior. The fact that she'd received that injury in a monster attack and had been rescued and cared for by the Power Rangers had catapulted her status so high no one could touch her.

Tommy Oliver was not unpopular, Cherry Pingly had been after him for months, but he never showed much interest in falling in with the jocks or flirting with the cheerleaders. He had his own pack of friends that included everyone from a star baseball player to the king of geeks… and that was just the way it was. Kimberly had always been friendly to him, acknowledging him in the halls and such, but to be seen publically joking around with him in the lunch line was unheard of and was the active topic at just about every table. In fact, no one could ever actually remember seeing Kimberly walk through the lunch line at all, with anyone. She usually sat at the cheerleader's table with a Tootsie Pop during lunch; which had become a kind of fad among some girls.

All eyes in the cafeteria followed the pair as they sat down at the same table and the buzz around them increased noticeably. After a few minutes, Cherry Pingly gave the group of six girls around her an imperial look and they rose as one to follow her to the table where Kimberly was sitting. Kim looked up at their approach and steeled her expression, but none of the Rangers missed her look of annoyance.

"Kimberly… why are you sitting here?" Cherry asked sweetly. "Our table is over there sweetie."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked innocently. The last thing in the world she was going to do was spend her entire lunch period with Cherry Pingly and her goons.

"We mean, why aren't you at the head table with us?" A girl named Marcia explained unnecessarily.

"Yeah, what's going on, why are you all of a sudden hanging out with Tommy?" Another girl named Chrissie added.

"Tommy?" Kim asked, genuinely taken back. It never dawned on her not to eat with Tommy and the other Rangers. For the millionth time she wondered just what kind of a stuck up little snot her double was. Not sit with her team mates?

"Yeah, you like, walked right past me in the hall and didn't even acknowledge me." Chrissie whined. To be snubbed by Kimberly in public was devastating, even if she did have some kind of brain damage.

"I …I recognized him." Kim said hesitantly. "In the hall outside of Art…I don't recognize very much here."

"Well, if you've got to remember someone, at least you've got good taste." Marcy said snidely, giving Tommy a look that meant she knew how to make him a lot happier than Kim did.

"Shut up Marcy." Cherry hissed. She'd been trying for months to catch Tommy's notice; it burned her to no end that Kimberly had snagged his attention in less than one morning.

"Well I was wondering about that." Kim said seriously, getting everyone's attention. "I mean, about an hour ago, this guy named Skull insisted we were engaged….it was kinda creepy."

It was such an un-Kimberly like thing for her to say, that everyone stared at her for several seconds before Aisha snorted and the other Rangers began to chuckle. The gaggle of girls began to giggle as well and Kim put on her best innocent look.

"What? Was that wrong? Are we?" She asked, eyes wide, and the girls around her erupted in more laughter. Cherry silenced them instantly with a slightly raised hand.

"I hope you told him to go take a flying leap for even talking to you." She said snidely.

"Uhm…no, not exactly." Kim responded, the innocent look becoming so unnaturally overdone that Tommy started chuckling despite himself. "I told him that the monster that did this to me had actually reprogrammed me to be this incredibly destructive force for evil and the Rangers weren't exactly sure they could totally fix me, so if he really loved me, and I was really once in love with him, the best thing for him to do was leave me completely alone before I went psycho again and started ripping people apart."

At her words, Rocky gagged on his food and began choking loudly. Adam immediately stood up and started pounding on his back and Billy tried a relatively unsuccessful Heimlich maneuver, but not even the seriousness of him choking could keep the Rangers from dissolving into genuine laughter.

"What?" Kim asked innocently as Rocky caught his breath again. "Did I say something wrong?" She asked, wide eyed and the Rangers again dissolved into laughter. The only ones not laughing were the gaggle of girls and, although some were trying hard not to giggle, Cherry was keeping them firmly in check. She wasn't sure if Kimberly was joking or not and she wasn't about to risk the other girl's displeasure if this was just another display of her injured memory. She gave her a hard, measuring look and Kim sighed, the frustrations of the day catching up with her.

She stood up slowly and edged up to Cherry with a conspiratorial look. "Here's the thing." She began as if including Cherry in her greatest confidence and ignoring the fact that all the Rangers could obviously hear her. "I'm not exactly feeling like myself." She said and Rocky snorted, Aisha slapping him to be silent. "It's been really hard," Kim confided as if she'd never been interrupted, "You know, with my mom so insistent that I like, go back to things as if nothing happened." Kim nodded her head and Cherry began to nod hers as well. Kim sighed heavily and made an overly dramatic look of frustration and despair. "It's just that…" she paused and looked Cherry directly in the eyes, "I'm over here at this table because just so afraid I'm going to embarrass myself." She whispered loudly.

"Do you want us to sit over here with you?" Cherry asked uncertainly.

"No." Kim answered quickly, then placed both hands square on the other girl's shoulders. "Can I count on you?" She asked seriously and Cherry nodded, completely caught up in the act.

"I…I need you to handle things for a while." Kim said, nodding again and Cherry nodded back. "Just until I can find my way back to being more like…me."

"What do you mean?" Cherry asked hesitantly.

"I need you to take over for me." Kim said seriously. "You know, fill in and take charge of things until I can…well, you know." She said, giving Cherry and knowing look.

"Oh…" Cherry said, the realization dawning on her that Kim was asking her to take charge of their group.

"Just until I can get things sorted out…" Kim added and Cherry nodded seriously. She put her hands on top of Kim's and squeezed them.

"You can count on me." She said gravely and Kim smiled sweetly at her. Sure, Kim thought, she could count on Cherry to be about as backstabbing as Goldar.

"I am so lucky to have you for a friend." She said instead. "Now… I think it would probably be best if you took… them…" She pointed at the gaggle of girls, "… back to our table." She said seriously and Cherry nodded again. "You know… before I do anymore damage to my reputation."

"Just leave things to me Kimberly." Cherry said with authority, shooing the girls away. "I'll take care of everything."

"I'm sure you will." Kim said sarcastically to her back.

As Cherry and the girls walked away Aisha said, "Oh my god, that was…that was…"

"Un-Kimberly like." Kim finished for her with a sigh. Sitting down, she picked up her taco and then tossed it down again. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I just can't stand those girls and, if I'm gonna live here, I refuse to pretend to be nice to them on a daily basis." She finished, picking up her food again and eating it quickly. Aisha started to say something, but she was cut off by the bell.

"Lunch can't be over already." Rocky complained. "I'm not done!"

"Time flies when you're having fun." Aisha said, gathering her things back on the lunch tray. "And today has certainly been different."

As the group hurriedly finished their lunch and deposited the trays and trash in the right areas, Tommy held Kim back. "We have the next two classes together." He said.

"Finally." Kim said dramatically. "Aside from Billy, I haven't seen anyone all day." She moaned.

"Aisha and I are both in AP classes in the morning." Tommy explained. "We're back with everyone else in the afternoon. Billy's mainstreamed, he doesn't need to be in this school at all, he's just supposed to be here to learn socialization skills; which is why he was in with your lab this morning."

"And the others?" Kim asked, but Tommy shrugged.

"I guess that's just how they scheduled us." He answered, leading her back out into the hallway and directing her to the correct locker.

"The combination's even different." Kim muttered, digging through her backpack to find the paper she'd written the code on.

"I know." Tommy said sympathetically, helping her switch out her books and pick out the right ones she'd need for the next few classes. "I transferred in mid year last year. I thought I'd never figure it all out."

Kim paused and looked at him for a moment, remembering something about her own Tommy. This one was being so nice to her. It wasn't that her Tommy hadn't liked her, he'd just been firmly attached to Katherine Hillard. None of their group had really dated, they were all only just turning fifteen, but since Rita had turned Kat evil and the Rangers had rescued her, they had always included her in their pack.

She'd tried to be friendly with her Kat, but the other girl had been very protective of her "boyfriend" and didn't like Tommy spending time with her. In this dimension, Katherine was an exchange student, and she'd smiled at Kim this morning in English class, but even though this group was a year older than she was, Katherine and Tommy obviously weren't together.

"What is it?" Tommy asked, as the warning bell to get to class sounded.

"Were you green…I mean before?" She asked softly.

"You mean a green Ranger?" He asked and she nodded. "Yeah, I just got my other powers this past summer." He said. "Why?"

"Were you…I mean…uhm…before…were you an evil green?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yeah." Tommy nodded, slightly taken aback. "But only for a few weeks. Why?"

Kim didn't get a chance to answer as Mr. Kaplan caught them both out in the halls after classes had started. "And just what do you two think you're doing out here?" He asked them, hands on his hips.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kaplan. Kimberly was lost… and she's in my class next period, I was just helping her find her way." Tommy explained.

"That was very nice of you Mr. Oliver, but I'll take over for you now."

"But, I'm going to the same History class, I can take her…"

"That won't be necessary Mr. Oliver, Miss Hart's mother has arrived and she'll be taking her home early."

"Really?" Kim asked. Not that she wanted to stay in school, but she wasn't expecting to go home either.

"She was called earlier to discuss the results of your first round of…evaluations." The principle said nicely, smiling at her as if she was an elementary student and not in high school. "Apparently you've had quite an eventful first day back young lady. I think you've had quite enough for now and we'll start again when you've had a little time to rest." He shooed Tommy away and Kim gave him a woeful look as he turned down the hall by himself.

"Am I being expelled?" She asked the principle hesitantly as they walked down the hall to the administration offices.

"No, no, no…" He said easily, waving his hand back and forth. "You're just going to need a little time to get over your…confusion. We're going to introduce you to some very nice people who are going to help you sort things out. Your mother's going to sit in with you, so don't you worry a bit. When you feel more confident about things, then you can return to regular classes."

"That sounds an awful lot like you're gonna lock me up in a nuthouse." Kim said, digging in her heels and stopping dead in her tracks. If they were going to send her away, she was going to bolt then and there. She'd lived at the Power Chamber once before, she could easily do it again. Nervously, her hand found its way to her communicator and she tapped an open link for Alpha and Zordon to listen in.

"No one is going to do any such thing Miss Hart.' Mr. Kaplan soothed in a placating manner. "You've been through a very traumatic experience and we believe, based on your evaluations, that you're not quite ready to return to school just yet. However, between the staff here at Angel Grove High and the experts your mother is going to provide for you, we'll have you back to normal in no time…and then you can resume your regular schedule." He placed one hand behind her back and gently pushed her toward his office.

"Oh God…" Kim moaned uncertainly.