Kimberly waited as the Rangers waged war against the putty and tenga army Rita and Zedd had raised. They stood up on a mountain top waiting for the right moment. As the Rangers she knew best fought their way to the front and got closer to Rita and Zedd, she watched from her perch on the higher, adjacent cliff for Tommy's signal. He would raise Saba, his sword and point it at them. She watched and she waited with baited breath. The battle was immense and she crouched there for hours, it felt like.
Finally the signal came and she took a running leap, guided downward by her magic as she chanted words in a dead language. Rita and Zedd faced Tommy and the other rangers as Kimberly landed, in a crouch behind them. They turned and looked at her in horror as her fingertips sank into their chests and the electric storm erupted between the three bodies. She never broke the spell and the Rangers watched in anguish as the pain crossed her face and her nose began to bleed from the pressure of the power that it took to perform such a high level of magic. Finally, Katherine and Jason were sent flying backward as Kimberly let out a painful cry and fell to her knees.
Tommy caught Katherine and he demorphed as she landed in his arms.
"You okay," he asked, "Are you, you?"
"Yes," Kat said, catching her breath, "I'm okay. I'm me. I can't believe she did it." Tommy turned to Jason who sat close to Katherine.
"I'm good bro," he said, "it's good to be back." Tommy's eyes shot to Kimberly who was still on her knees, her arms outstretched at her sides and her head twitching back and forth as she fought internally with the two other entities within her for control. She rolled her neck back and let out an inhuman growl and then it snapped back as she whispered to herself, her lips moving unnaturally fast. She worked her magic fast and suppressed them but it wouldn't last long. She rose to her feet and wiped the blood from her face. She walked to Katherine.
"I need to give you something," she said, reaching to touch Kat's eyes but Katherine pulled back.
"No Kim," Katherine said, "We will find another way. Jenny needs you." Kimberly smiled softly at her blue eyed friend as tears filled her eyes.
"No, now she needs you," Kimberly said and touched Kat's eyes. Kimberly knew that Tommy planned on ending their marriage after learning of the affair between Katherine and Jason, but she knew that Kat would still keep her promise and try her best to be there for Jenny. Katherine saw flashes. Memories. And when Kimberly let go she staggered backward and fell into Tanya. Their friends had all demorphed, knowing what was coming.
"Kim, what's going on," Tommy asked, touching her arm as she struggled to keep Rita and Zedd surpressed long enough to say goodbye. She looked behind her to see that Billy had opened the portal to banish them all to purgatory, it's electric field shooting lightening in all directions. It was out of Tommy's view, everyone's view, just below the edge of the cliff but they could see the lightening bolts that shot in all directions from it. She looked at him, tears filled her eyes as she touched his face.
"No," he whispered, horror and anguish crossed his face as the realization that she was about to say goodbye hit him like a freight train, "No Kim, no. You...you can't..."
"It's the only way to keep you safe," she whispered, in the most loving way, "Tommy, I have too."
"NO! There has to be another way. We can find another way," he pleaded, as his own tears fell. She held his face in her hands and touched his forehead to hers.
"Ssshh," she whispered, her lips trembling as tears fell, "It's okay. It's going to be okay."
"Stay with me," he begged, tears falling like rivers. Her own did the same. She ran her fingers through his short, dark hair and held her forehead to his. Her hands brushed a short lock from his forehead and then slid down to his cheeks where she brushed falling tears away and she looked at him with immense, unmeasurable love.
"I will always be with you," she began.
"NO," his voice trembled his objection.
"Listen to me, I love you," she said, as her tears fell faster but she never let go of him and she held his eyes with her own, "I love you. I have always loved you. You've been my strength and half of my heart all my life. I need you to be strong now, for me. I'll live right here." She placed her hand over his heart. He sobbed as she stopped talking to fight with the spirits inside, trying hard to take over. She fought them into submission again.
"Don't leave me," Tommy begged, covering her hand with his own on his chest, "I still need you." Kimberly smiled gently and nodded to their friends, "And they need you. I love you Tommy. You've always been my gravity. My reason to keep fighting. I will always be with you."
"Please Kim," he begged, the words catching in his throat as they came, "Please, don't. Let's find another way. Please. Please, I'm begging. I need you. Please, you can't leave me..." She replaced her hands on his cheeks and held him against her forehead, closing her eyes as tears escaped.
"I love you," she whispered and then she kissed him, passionately. It was the kind of kiss that made you weak. Tears poured down her cheeks as she tried to express all she had ever felt for him in that kiss.
He held her face in his hands for a moment and then wrapped his arms around her petite frame, pressing her against him and she wrapped a hand around the back of his neck while the other held his cheek. He memorized the way her body felt in his arms. The way her lips molded perfectly against his. He committed to memory how her long hair felt when he ran his fingers through it and how she tasted like strawberries. He didn't know it but she was doing the same and more. In that kiss, he saw flashes of Kimberly pregnant, heard her scream as she gave birth, heard their daughter's cry, saw her first words, her first steps, her first day of school, soccer games, ballet, music lessons, high school dances, boyfriends, prom, her graduation, her performing with Kim at a club the summer before college, her hugging her mother in her dorm, their beautiful daughters face as she spun around to greet her mother at her last visit and every memory in between. She was giving him the last part of her she could, her memories. Kimberly pulled away from him and stepped back as he looked at her in shock.
"We have a daughter," he muttered, his jaw hanging open as he looked at her. She had already taken just a few steps backward and he felt her fingers slip from his hand as she did so. She gave him one more brave smile and then she turned and started running. Tommy felt like time had slowed down as she grew further away from him and he started to run after her but only made it a few steps before he was being held back. Every one of her footfalls sounded like a drum in his ears.
"Kim! Nooooo," Tommy screamed as Jason, Adam, Zack and Rocky fought to hold him back, their own emotions running rivers down their faces. Tommy didn't hear his screams, he barely felt the strong arms of his friends around him. He fought against them still, as she grew further out of his reach. Every pound of her feet against the dirt breaking his heart even more. She reached the edge and kept going, leaping forward, arms outstretched like a bird in flight and she disappeared over the edge and into the crackling electric field that floated just beneath the cliffs edge. The pain that coursed through her body felt like she were being ripped apart and then, it was gone and so was she. So were their worst enemies. The portal closed on its own.
Tommy fought free of his friends grasp and ran down the mountain, tripping over loose rocks and falling more than once but recovering and continuing the race to get to her. She was there, lying just at the waters edge on the beach, her long dark hair swaying in the surf, her left arm outstretched into the ocean and her right bent at the elbow where her hand rested on her stomach. Her eyes open and looking out at the ocean while her lips formed the slightest of smiles. Her right leg outstretched, while her left lay crooked at the knee. The water pulled away again. She was the picture of peace. Tommy reached her side, sliding in the wet sand and catching himself quickly, he dropped to his knees. He cried openly beside her. He reached down and gently picked her lifeless body up and pulled her into his lap. He closed her eyes with his fingertips and held her head in his hand, touching her forehead to his lips. He kissed her there, shaking with sobs as he did so. He cried, holding her in his arms. Holding her the back of her head in his palm and pressing his forehead to her temple, he begged her to wake up. To come back to him. He tilted her head up and nuzzled his cheek against her forehead as he openly weeper. The screams that left his body as he held her ripped through the group that followed him down. The agony that curled out of him was enough to break them. Her left hand fell from her side where it landed when he picked her up and into the water as it came rushing back up around them. It was ice cold but he didn't feel it. He cried, shaking his head against hers, begging her to come back.
The rest of his team stood back and cried silently with him. Some shaking their heads as they held onto each other. They watched as their fearless leader broke on in front of them. He was a shattered man on that beach. Katherine stood at the fore front of the group, clinging to Jason and openly weeping for the loss of her friend, for what Kimberly sacrificed to save her, for the loss Tommy felt. They stood against each other, holding one another and watching as their fearless leader shook with the pain of his loss. They had been a family and in this moment, it felt more than a little broken and the pain consumed them all. Their loss couldn't be measured in any capacity. The very heart of their team was gone.
As Tommy cried, he felt sunlight on his shoulders and looked up. The overcast clouds had parted and the sun shined directly onto Kimberly, making her look radiant. Highlighting the soaked thin, light pink, long sleeved sweater she wore and black slacks and making the wet toes of her black boots look polished. He didn't let go though. But the clouds continued to part and he watched a pink glow soar toward them. He heard the cry of the crane as it flew to her and then flew around her body a few times before returning to the sky. Tommy and his fellow rangers watched as the crane reached the clouds and disappeared. As the sun began to retract with the clouds closing around it, he saw her beautiful face. She smiled and then she was gone.
Tommy stood, picking up the lifeless body of his love with him. He carried her toward the group and they parted to give him the lead and they made their way back to the mountain top where they met Dulcea. Tears fell from her eyes upon seeing the lifeless form of her friend in the arms of her only love. She touched the top of Kimberly's head and kissed her forehead. Tommy nodded and Dulcea began the spell to send them all home.