Kim ran, her heart betrayed her as she knew Jason was ok and then she remembered that one of her closest friends, Kat, lay dormant back in the lab where no one could reach her, where there was nothing, and now she was going to help Tommy, the person she'd promised to bring back his love.
She felt weak, she knew why, the connection to the Dino Gem was wearing off, just like Hayley had predicted, it confused her even more, but at least she knew and was sure that that's where at least the weakening feeling came from.
In fact, it wasn't the Dino Gem, it was merely a part of it, a piece Hayley had found that had broken off, she had scanned it and came to the conclusion that it had come off just before Conner touched the whole piece, which was his destiny his to have, Hayley had made sure not to touch it herself, she wasn't sure why, but she had kept it, hidden from Tommy and the rest of the team, in case of an emergency.
Since the Gem had a Morpher, Hayley built one for the small piece of Gem, just like Conner's, in case of emergency, mainly she thought it'd be her who would use is not anyone else. But she had never touched it and since the larger piece of the Gem had bonded with Conner she wasn't sure how it would react to anyone else if it were to be touched by another, yet when Kim touched it, the Gem bonded with her and Hayley had somehow been able to tap into Conner's auxiliary weapons for Kim to use. The Zord couldn't exactly be made of much use to Kim, it would only respond to Conner. The Gem was small though, and it didn't contain the power of the original which was Conner's, Kim would only be able to have the power for a limited amount of time, till it would refuse her and then she'd be left without powers, Hayley didn't giver her a time frame, but now Kim understood, the energy she needed to give a boost in the oncoming battle began to leave her and she didn't want to fight anymore, in way she felt satisfaction, she had helped to the fullest.
Tommy fought off to her right against Elsa, Jason was to her left taking on the much weaker, yet strong Tyrannodrones, she had made it to them and was taking as many Tyrannodrones as she could, shaking off the fatigue she felt.
Kira and Ethan also fought Tyrannodrones, it seemed with them there, that the numbers kept winding down, then too suddenly, she unmorphed and Jason called out to her, she tried morphing again like he told her too, but the Morpher wasn't responding, she took the small piece of Gem out and tried touching in the way she had the first day Hayley had given it to her, but nothing happened.
From somewhere behind her came a voice she didn't exactly recognize, but she knew she had heard it before, "Thanks for taking care of the team, pretty lady, time to take back my power." The voice of the Red Ranger said, she assumed it was Conner, took the Tyranno Staff out and began fighting just like any other red ranger.
She turned and met Jason's eyes, she could barely contain herself, she ran to his side. The Tyrannodrones still attacked them, but having seen Jason gave her a boost and she made it to him. Jason pulled her close and then shared an awkward hug as there were still Tyrannodrones around them, he tried laying a kiss, but it was difficult, it reminded her of the time they had been at Muranthias.
She now felt a little stronger as she understood that the once small bond she had with the red Dino Gem erased, and she was back to her normal civilian self.
She noticed that the Tyrannodrones were pretty much gone and now Elsa fought off the rangers, Kira, Jason and herself fought off the last three Tyrannodrones and then all too quickly Elsa was huge, she knew that Jason and herself would have to leave. Kira took off and then the Rangers were summoning up their Zords.
The fight was over, Tommy rushed with every fiber in his being to get to the lab, his heart pounding, the teleportation system took but a few seconds to get him to the lab, but it felt like an eternity, then we was back in the lab. He looked around and saw Kim and Jason holding on to each other as Hayley was bent over Kat's sleeping body, the cot was set up near the far right hand corner, there were machines, a heart monitor and a drip set up, the needle poking into Kat's left arm. He shook at the thought that she'd be anything but like this, he was hoping that when Kim had told him that they had gotten her back safely into the lab that she was ok, awake and maybe shaken by the experience, but not like this.
He walked to her, with every step he took, he noticed the blueprints scattered around the machine, then more notes, with Hayley's handwriting, his eyes began to see nothing but blurred watery tears after that and then he broke down.
Somewhere he heard Kim and Hayley's voice from either side of him, but they were not the voice that he wanted to hear, he wasn't sure why he was crying, but he knew this much, Kat was not awake and his friends were counting on him to be strong for Kat.
"What's wrong with her?" He asked Hayley as he got up and kneeled by the bedside, holding Kat's hand and bringing it up to his face, she was warm and soft just like always.
"Well, her heart seems to be functioning correctly, she looks pretty healthy, but…" Hayley trailed off, "coma." was as all he heard, his heart and brained didn't seem to be connected, his heart ached for her and he wished it was he who was laying there, instead of her. He tried making himself be strong for his friends, but he didn't care, all he wanted was to have Kat back.
"Tommy, I'm not saying she's in a coma, its just that she seems to be sleeping, but there are no brain waves, I've scanned her brain and there's nothing, its like she's empty."
"What do you mean?"
"We don't have her memories, we didn't place anything back in her, we didn't retrieve those, we only got her back. So you see, Kat isn't Kat, she's like a blank slate, nothingness," Kim informed him and he turned to Hayley. He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a questioning look.
"What used to make Katherine herself is completely gone, there is nothing we can do unless we have memories to implant, she doesn't have anything."
"Stop it!" He yelled out to them, "She is something, she does have something, she has me, she has my heart and I'm not giving up this easily, stop telling me this, she's going to be ok."
Hayley was up, quickly, she was rummaging through papers, Tommy knew she was trying hard to make an explanation to give him something more than what she had just informed him, but he knew that it was almost next to pointless.
In the commotion of it all, something happened, one of the machines gave a small beep, as he looked up he noticed that the line that had been running straight through had suddenly created a small point. Kim gasped and came to him, leaning closer to him, she made him get up and sit by Kat's right side, she grabbed Kat's right hand and then pulled it up to Tommy's face. It must've taken about five seconds, but the machine did the same thing.
"Hayley, she's responding to Tommy." Tommy turned to meet Kim's smiling look, then he turned to Kat and shed a small tear.
"What machine is this?" He asked pointing to the one that had just made a noise.
"Its the brain scanner Hayley set it up to read Kat's brain waves." Kim informed him, Hayley came next to them and again Kim did the same thing, holding Kat's hand so gently and then laying in on his cheek. Again a few seconds passed and the beep came and went.
"I wonder," Hayley began and took Kat's hand from Kim and then, placed it over Tommy's heart, it took longer, but this time the machine beeped rapidly for a few seconds and then they all gasped, "Its like you're the key Tommy."
He smiled and bent to kiss Kat, their lips met and then her brainwaves, just like before went crazy for a few seconds, but that was it, they didn't keep going.
"I don't understand, she reacts to your touch, that's a good sign, but its doesn't really sustain her brain wave patterns long enough for me see what she sees in her unconscious state." Hayley said coming over to Tommy and scanning Kat's body with a small hand-held scanner.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she reacts to your touch because it stimulates her brain to compose a single image of something she kept hidden while Elsa took her memories and emotions away. Kat is very smart, even if she didn't know, her training as a ranger must've helped her out, she kept something, but I'm not sure what it is, it's a memory, but she hid it well, and I can't access it. You seem to be the only person that she responds to, the memory, thought or feeling she hid away must relate to you somehow, that's why she trusts your touch."
"I'm having this effect on her?"
"Is there anything that Tommy can do to help her come back to us?" Kim asked, getting worried and hoping that Tommy wouldn't get his hopes to high up, she situation seemed at a loss.
"Not sure how we can do that, his touch is the only thing, but it simply doesn't last long, there has to be a way for Kat to have him near her, all that time,"
"Done." Tommy said bringing up another cot next to Kat's and sitting on it and taking her hand in his.
"Well, even if you are around her all day long, who knows what can happen if you bring her back like that, she really isn't herself right now, she wouldn't know who you are, the thing that she hid, is hidden deep in her subconscious, so if she does wake up, she wont' know who you are."
"Is there a way that I can get her to remember me?"
"I don't know, what the blue prints tell me, is that its hard, but there is a way to help her get her memories without us having to get back the disk that her memories are stored in."
"What? How? Why haven't you told me?"
"Well, it's a difficult process, one that has never been tried. I don't know how it works and how to run it efficiently."
"Hayley, please tell me, I need to bring Kat back."
"Well, its tapping into her brain, one of us, probably you, can tap into her brain, by going under and connect with her mind, using the same machine, and then once your in you have to help her bring her memories back."
Tommy's eyes lit up and he smiled.
"But its never been tried. We don't know the outcome, I can't simply risk putting you under for sake of getting her back."
Tommy shook his head and looked to Kim and Jason who held so dearly to each other. "I have to do this, you guys have to understand, if either one of you was lying here like this, and you could do something to help the other then wouldn't you do it?" He turned to look at Hayley. "Hayley, I know you would've given anything to have helped Peter, please let me help Kat."
Tommy touched Hayley's heart, Peter was the love of her life, he was a college friend of theirs who they had met while at college, the three of them were inseparable. Then Peter's life vanished one day, he had a car accident, he was under a coma, he never woke up again.
Hayley nodded and went to the machine, with the help of Ethan, she brought it over and placed it on a table, near the heads of Kat and Tommy.
"Since we really don't know much about this, I'll read up about it, right now, we need you to take it easy, rest."
Tommy closed his eyes, laying next to Kat, he still held her hand as he drifted off to sleep.
It seemed like only five minutes had passed when Tommy was shaken and he awoke to Hayley's sweet smile, he got up, still holding on to Katherine's hand.
"I've done some adjustments to the machine Tommy and I've been able to adapt the machine for two people to connect to each other's brainwave activity. If you are ready we can start, but its all up to you."
The machine looked just like before except in now held two helmet like objects, one was already secured onto Kat's head, her eyelashes flickered and he turned to Hayley.
"The machine lets her dream, something she wasn't doing before, there are certain things you should know before you enter her mind. First, the dream will seem very real, but if you keep your head on straight you should be fine. Second, this is not your mind, so be really careful, don't do anything that might seem out of place for her mind. Last, Kat doesn't know who you are, more than likely she'll freak out, so you'll have to help her keep calm."
Tommy nodded and laid down, Jason and Kim to either of his side, grabbing a hold on his hands and then he closed his eyes, someone secured the rods into place and then he was out.
