CHAPTER SIX: CAPTURED
Kimberly and Adam were at a small bistro just outside of Newtech City. After running into each other at the clothing store, Syd suggested that they should catch up with each other. Smiling deviously, Adam instantly agreed, leaving Syd lost amid the vast, chaotic sea of her shopping bags.
Now Adam sat across from his old friend, at a loss for words. He and Kim had not spoken in years, and truth be told, Adam was a little nervous. He was sitting across from the woman he had secretly loved from the moment he met her, and he had absolutely no idea what to say. So he just stared at her while he drank his coffee.
Kim had aged well. There wasn't a touch of gray in her hair, and she'd kept herself in shape. That thought finally gave Adam something to say.
"Are you still doing gymnastics?" he asked.
Kim shook her head, and launched into the story of everything she'd done over the years. Winning at the Pan Globals, training with Olympic coaches, and going on to earn the silver medal in the 2020 Olympics. (She smiled at this.)
"But that sounds amazing!" Adam exclaimed. "Why'd you stop?"
Kim's smile faltered. "One of my best friends went missing. After that, it was pretty hard to concentrate on anything, least of all gymnastics. He… was never found."
"I'm sorry," Adam said, holding her hand in his own. This guy must have been really important to her if it caused her this much pain to remember. "Did I know him?"
Kim let out a choking laugh at that.
What's so funny about that? Adam thought, confused.
"Adam," she said. "It was you." Adam froze. Me?
Kim took something out of her purse. It was a piece of paper, which was very old, by the look of it. It was wrinkled, even torn in certain places. Kim unfolded it and handed it to Adam.
It was a poster, dated 2010.
His face was on it, and MISSING was typed across the top in bold lettering. There were dried blotches on the poster, where Kim's tears had fallen over it, all those years ago.
Adam was dumbfounded. She'd cried. Cried. Over him. She'd kept his picture.
"Adam," Kim asked softly. "Where have you been all this time?"
"I've been here," Adam said. Kim raised an eyebrow.
How does she do that? he wondered, then shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
"This morning, I was in 2010," Adam began. "One of my Rangers was hurt, and Cruger and I had had an argument. I was in the medical bay, visiting, when the Sentinel Knight came to me.
" 'Adam, your world is once again in grave peril,' he told me. There was a flash of light and the next thing I knew, I was in 2027, being dragged around by a shop-a-holic Pink Ranger."
Kim laughed, and Adam smiled; it'd been a while since he heard her laugh.
High above the Earth's surface, in a castle long thought to have been abandoned, the evil essence known as Lord Zedd watched the reunion between the original Pink and Black Rangers.
Insects, Zedd thought grimly. They will soon be crushed.
"My lord," a voice said. Zedd shifted his ephemeral self to face his soldier, the newly recreated Lizzinator.
"My lord, we've found him!" Lizzinator exclaimed, clapping his hands and hopping around. "We have him at last!"
"Bring him to me," the shadows rasped. Two putties entered the chamber, the Sentinel Knight bound and beaten between them.
"Where are the jewels?"
"They are safe," the Sentinel Knight replied. "You will never find them."
"Tell me where they are."
"I will never tell you."
The black mass that is Lord Zedd glided over to the Sentinel Knight, and ever so gently, enveloped him.
The Sentinel Knight screamed in pain, his armor began to corrode.
"Yes, you will." Zedd released the Knight from his hold: he continued to decay.
Zedd turned his attention back to Earth.
Enjoy this respite while you can, Black Ranger, he thought malevolently. It will not last.