GinaStar: Interesting is a mild term, I think. I'm excited to find out what the parents will say, too. I may be the author, but everybody knows that these stories have minds of their own.
Blazing Fire: Thank you so much for all the reviews! You must have had quite a day of reading yesterday, since I noticed you had reviewed on Rainbow of Friendship, as well.
Chan-Valerte: Always great to hear from you! I'm glad you still enjoy the story; keep reading!
Slytherin-Angel44: And it's great to hear from you, too! I was debating about the whole spell thing for a really long time, but then decided it had been too long since any baddie had made a pass at Kim, and just to go with it. Hope you enjoy the results!
Jps1926: Yeah, I didn't see an evil Jen and Kim coming, either; it just sort of happened. Anyhow, hope you enjoy the results!
A/N: Just a warning: there is a character death in this chapter. And no, it's not Vile! I hadn't meant for this character to die, it just happened that way. You'd think, as the author, I'd get some say in this, but it just doesn't work out that way. Also, at someone's personal request, I am opening up my universe to other writers. If you have a story idea and would like a complete list of couples, their locations, and the rules for these stories, then please email me.
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"Morphin', Zeo, Turbo, Lost Galaxy, Lightspeed, and Time Force," Tommy began. "You grab the goons. Wild Force, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, and Mystic Force, you grab the parents and teleport them back to the Command Center. Don't tell them yet why they've been taken there until we all meet later. Wes and I will grab Kim and Jen."
"Tommy, I don't want to fight against my fiancée," Wes argued.
"Which is why we're switching. You take Kimberly, and I'll take Jen. I'll explain why later."
"Tommy, may I make an observation?" Billy requested, glancing sideways at his leader and – hopefully – future brother-in-law.
"What's that, Bill?"
"I don't see either of my parents or my stepfather in that group."
Tommy glanced hurriedly through the mass of scared parents and, sure enough, did not see either of the Dumas' or Dr. Cranston. "Globbor's missing, too," he observed. "I'm sorry, Billy; unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do about it until we find out where they've been taken."
Billy would have responded, but was distracted by the onslaught of charging aliens. "You and Wes take care of Kim and Jen; we'll do our parts with Vile and Divatox," he responded instead.
Tommy and Wes nodded before flipping over the nearest Tengas, Putties, and Z-Putties and landing in front of Kim and Jen. The two Pink Rangers chuckled lowly before turning their attention to their male counterparts.
Zack, Billy, Trini, Aisha, Kat, Justin, Tanya, Carlos, Ashley, Maya, Kendrix, Dana, Chad, Joel, Kelsey, Angela Rawlings, Angela Taylor, Lucas, Trip, Katie, and Eric engaged the Putties, Z-Putties, Tengas, Piranhatrons, Putra Pods, and Robot Warriors in battle, allowing the other Rangers the ability to move through.
Once they had gotten past the foot soldiers, Jason and Rocky approached General Havoc, Adam and TJ approached Rygog, Carter approached Elgar, and Eric approached Porto. Master Vile and Divatox had escaped somewhere; presumably back to the moon.
The aliens lunged at their human counterparts, the Rangers dodging swords and blocking blows. Cole, Taylor, Max, Danny, Alyssa, Shane, Dustin, Tori, Cam, Blake, Hunter, Conner, Ethan, Kira, Trent, Nick, Xander, Chip, Madison, and Vida slipped past, occasionally blocking a stray punch or kick, stopping in front of the frightened parents.
"Don't worry," Shane assured them. "We'll get you guys somewhere safe." Each of the Rangers grabbed two parents, leaving Captain Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Winslow, Mr. and Mrs. Grayson, Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings, Sensei, Dr. and Mrs. Mercer, Udonna, and Leanbow behind for the moment.
Jason and Rocky executed twin side kicks to either side of Havoc's face before flipping backwards and pulling out their weapons – Rocky using his Ninjetti Swords, and Jason using his new Power Staff – to ward off the blows created by General Havoc's sword. Jason rammed his staff into Havoc's stomach before smashing the end of it into the side of the alien's skull. Havoc raised his arm and fired an energy beam, sending the former Red Ranger flying. Rocky picked up the slack and brought his swords down on Havoc's shoulders, pulling them down amid a shower of sparks.
Kat was struggling with four footmen surrounding her: Tengas had hold of both her arms, and a Z-Putty and a Robot Warrior were closing in on her from the front. The Robot Warrior punched her in the gut, causing her to bowl over momentarily, but she recovered quickly and executed a split sit-kick, knocking out the Z-Putty and the Robot Warrior, before flipping the Tengas over her hands and soccer-kicking first one, then the other.
Tommy blocked Jen's double-edged Chrono Saber with Saba in one hand and his Ninjetti Saber in the other. Trying to use only enough force to defend himself and not actually harm Jen was difficult, especially when she was frustrating him beyond belief with her shield – none of his blows were getting through. Jen raised her Chrono Saber and sent an energy beam towards Tommy, who dodged out of the way.
"Looks like it's time to fight fire with fire," he muttered darkly. "Saba, do you think you can even the score a bit?"
"Absolutely, Tommy," the saber responded, shooting energy beams from his eyes. Jen's shield flew out of her hands, landing at the edge of the quarry.
"You will pay for that, White Ranger," Jen growled, separating her Chrono Sabers and lunging at Tommy.
Wes, with his Chrono Sabers in lance-mode, blocked Kimberly's saber with one end of his weapon, then the other, before pushing her saber away and ramming his lance into her shield. She jumped back, regained her footing, and sent an energy beam from her shield that Wes rolled away from.
"Give up, Red Ranger," Kim warned. "Your fight is hopeless."
"Come on, Kim; snap out of it!" Wes shouted. "You of all people should know that the fight is never hopeless."
"I didn't realize how much it really is until Master Vile showed me the error of my ways. He can do the same for you, if you will let him," she offered seductively.
"Never! I would die before I would betray Tommy, Jen, or my team that way," he answered forcefully.
"That can be arranged!" She sent another energy beam towards him, sending him sprawling. When he lifted his head, Tommy was beside him, helping to pull him up. He noticed that all the parents had been teleported back, and the Rangers were finally making headway with the aliens.
He also noticed that Kimberly and Jennifer were now standing side-by-side, facing him and Tommy. They had their sabers crossing their chests, double-fisting the handles.
"Pink Ranger Energy Strike!" they heard the women shout. "Fire!" Jen and Kim extended their sabers, bolts of pink energy shooting from the tips of their weapons. Wes and Tommy braced for impact, but it never happened. Glancing up, they noticed that the energy beams were being directed into Chip's Mystic Wand, and from there, as lightning bolts into the ground.
Eventually, the Rangers heard a gurgling and felt a slight rumbling of the ground beneath them. It was so loud that even Kim and Jen stopped shooting from their sabers and glanced around, trying to find the source of the disruption.
An upwelling of water emerged from the hole in the ground that Chip's lightning bolts had created, and Madison took her place. She raised her wand and the water spouted up, washing over Jen and Kim. Madison concentrated all her energy on the water, willing her magic to work.
Kim and Jen fell down, sputtering and coughing as the fountain of water stopped and Madison took a hesitant step forward, as the remaining aliens disappeared and the remaining Rangers approached. Kim noticed and turned towards the Blue Mystic Ranger. "Neat trick," she commented wryly. "You'll have to teach me how you do that sometime."
"Count me in on that lesson," Jen muttered, swiping the water off her uniform as best she could.
"Beautiful?" Tommy asked.
"Babe?" Wes echoed.
Kim stood up and shuddered. "Tommy, I'm so sorry! I should have-" But she didn't get a chance to tell him what she should have done because he had taken two steps forward and hauled her into his arms; Wes doing the same with Jen.
"It's OK, Beautiful," Tommy soothed. "It's not your fault. But we can talk about this later because we still have a few alien asses to kick," he added, joking.
"Yeah, too bad Vile's back on the moon, though; I'd like to kick his ass for what he's done to us," Jen responded.
"And, oh shit, Tommy; my parents!" Kim shrieked. "Globbor took them at Vile's insistence, to be the first ones to be…to be…" She didn't finish her thought, but the others could tell what she was thinking.
"Did he say where he was taking them, Kim?" Billy asked, stepping forward and placing an arm around his sister's shoulders.
Kim nodded. "The cave, on the other side of the quarry," she replied, pointing.
Tommy, Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy, Kimberly, Jen and Wes headed that way, after Tommy had sent the remaining Rangers back to the Command Center.
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The eight Rangers entered the cave slowly, not wanting to alert Globbor yet that they were wise to his location. What they saw shocked them. John Cranston and Stephanie Dumas were at one side, John helping Stephanie up off the floor. Pierre had obviously just pushed her out of the way and was now caught in the line of Globbor's energy-draining powers, and the monster's power was too much for the painter to withstand. Before the Rangers could pull out their Blade Blasters and Chrono Blasters, Pierre crumpled on the ground, unconscious.
"No!" shouted Stephanie, trying to run to his side, but John was holding her tight.
The sound of firepower from the entrance of the cave turned the monster's attention from the parents to the Rangers bringing their weapons to bear again. Globbor noticed the two Pink Rangers among them and narrowed his eyes.
"You two!" he grumbled. "I shall deal with you in a moment, you traitorous vixens!" He raised his sword again, but it was shot out of his hands by Billy, who was on the very end of the line of Rangers and had a decent shot at the monster.
"It's over, Globbor," Tommy announced, taking a step forward. He brought Saba to bear and shot white energy from the saber's eyes. Jason stepped forward and blasted a shot of gold light from the end of his staff. Trini brought out her stun guns and shot bolts of energy through the cords into the monster. Zack tossed his hatchets, striking Globbor in the sternum. Billy and Wes used their lances to strike at the monster, leaving him slightly disoriented.
Kim and Jen stood together, glanced at each other, and nodded. Noticing their uniforms had gone back to their regular forms, they summoned the new forms given to them by Master Vile.
"Pink Rangers, Power Up!" they called. Their uniforms glowed pink for a moment before materializing as the armored versions and shields they had been wearing shortly before.
"Pink Rangers, Energy Strike!" they called again, extending their sabers and sending a jolt of pink energy directly into the monster. "Saber Swipe!" they finished, their sabers now glowing with pink energy and arcing up, around, and back down through Globbor, destroying him amid a shower of sparks and dust.
Billy ran over to Pierre, feeling for a pulse through his uniform. Sadly, he shook his head. Tommy grabbed Stephanie as she began to faint, Trini grabbed John, and Billy picked up Pierre, before they all teleported back to the Command Center.
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"Now that we're all here," Drew was shouting, "Will someone please tell us what the hell is going on?"
"CALM DOWN, DR. OLIVER," Zordon instructed, materializing behind the parents. Drew turned around and went pale.
"Wh-wh-who are you? And h-h-how do you know my name?" he stuttered.
"I think I can answer that," Tommy replied, stepping forward and removing his helmet. The parents of his teams gasped.
"Dr. Oliver," Patrick Ford began. "You're a Power Ranger?"
"Tommy, how could you not have told us?" Jan asked, tears welling in her eyes.
"It's not his fault, Mrs. Oliver," Kimberly defended, removing her own helmet and taking Tommy's hand in hers. "One of our rules as Rangers was to never reveal to anyone the identities of the Power Rangers. We had to keep it a secret."
"That all changed when you became targets," Billy supplied, removing his own helmet.
"Billy! Kimberly!" John Cranston began. "Not you two!"
"Sorry, Dad," Kimberly nodded. "But we've actually been Rangers longer than Tommy has."
One by one, the Rangers removed their helmets. Most of the parents, like the Olivers, Dr. Cranston, and Mrs. Dumas, were shocked to find out that their children were Rangers. Others, such as Anton and Elsa Mercer, Sensei, and the parents of the Lightspeed Rangers weren't as astonished, since they already knew.
"Don't you ever get tired of the fighting and the horrible things you see?" Drew wanted to know. The parents had moved past shock and were now seriously trying to understand their children's decisions in life.
Kimberly fielded that question. "I can honestly say that I have never regretted my decision to become a Power Ranger. In fact, the only regret I have is that we didn't get to that cave sooner. Mom, I'm sorry," her voice broke. "Pierre might still be here if I hadn't-"
"Kimberly Elizabeth Cranston, I want you to stop blaming yourself now!" Tommy said forcefully. "What happened tonight was not your fault. The only ones to blame are Vile and Divatox."
"Tommy's right, sweetheart. You may be a superhero, but you're still only human, after all," Stephanie reminded her daughter. "What happened to Pierre tonight isn't your fault."
"And besides, I would need to share that blame with you," Jen finished. "I was turned evil just like you were."
"TOMMY AND MRS. DUMAS ARE CORRECT, KIMBERLY; NO ONE IS TO BLAME FOR YOUR STEPFATHER'S UNTIMELY DEMISE EXCEPT FOR MASTER VILE. IT WAS HIS MONSTER THAT TOOK HIS LIFE; IT WAS HIS SPELL THAT TURNED YOU AND JENNIFER EVIL. THIS WAS NOT YOUR FAULT."
"And if you hadn't have gotten there when you did," Dr. Cranston added, "Who knows how many more people would have been killed? You saved lives today, Kimberly. I'm proud of you, honey."
"Zordon, I think we should have the parents stay here for a few days," Billy suggested. "We don't know if Vile will try to take our parents again, and with Pierre already…I just don't think we should take chances with any more lives."
"THAT IS A WISE SUGGESTION, WILLIAM," Zordon approved. "HOWEVER, THE DECISION MUST COME FROM THE PARENTS. WE, OF COURSE, CANNOT FORCE YOU TO STAY ANYWHERE YOU DO NOT WISH, BUT YOU WILL BE SAFE HERE, AND THE GROUNDS ARE EXTENSIVE. KIMBERLY, ADAM, AND WILLIAM BUILT THE BUILDING; THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH ROOM FOR ALL OF YOU."
One by one, the parents agreed to stay, and Billy went to show them around the building. "You coming, Kim?" he asked, when he saw his sister still standing in front of Zordon.
"KIMBERLY WILL JOIN YOU SHORTLY, WILLIAM; I WISH TO SPEAK WITH HER PRIVATELY FOR A MOMENT," Zordon replied. Billy looked at them quizzically for a moment, but finally nodded and left.
Once everyone had finally left them alone, Zordon turned his attention to Kimberly, who had taken a major interest in the shoes she had chosen to wear to dinner that evening. Had it only been a few hours before that she had been out to dinner with her mother and Pierre, celebrating their anniversary?
"STOP, KIMBERLY. YOU CANNOT CHANGE WHAT HAPPENED; DWELLING ON IT WILL ONLY MAKE YOUR GUILT COMPOUND. OTHERS DO NOT BLAME YOU, THEREFORE YOU SHOULD NOT BLAME YOURSELF."
"I'll keep that in mind, Zordon," Kimberly sighed, a lone tear making its way down her cheek.
"HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT THE REASON I ASKED YOU TO STAY BEHIND."
Her gaze shot up at that statement. "It's not?" she asked, puzzled. "Then, why?"
"I HAVE A REQUEST TO MAKE. BEHIND YOU IS A BOX. OPEN IT."
She did as he requested and found seven small, lead boxes inside. She opened one of them up and was astonished to find six gold coins in them. Zordon waited patiently while she inspected them, then smiled gently when her gasp told him that she had discovered that they were the old Dino Power Coins, and Tommy's Dragon Power Coin.
Glances in the other boxes showed discoveries just as astonishing: the Zeo Crystals and Zeonizers; the Turbo Morphers; the Astro Morphers; one of the Wild Force's Growl Phones; Ninja Storm's Ninja Discs, Wind Morphers, Thunder Discs, Thunder Morphers, and Samurai Amulet; and seven gems of assorted colors.
"What do you want me to do with all these, Zordon?" she finally asked, when she found her voice.
