The next day, the Rangers attend school as usual. They make their way to their classroom where Kimberly was surrounded by boys basking in her beauty. "Is anyone else getting sick of this?" Trini commented. "I think it's just you. I just see everything as normal, regardless." Billy said. Zack pulls a bouquet of roses from his bag.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna join in." he said before trotting off towards her table. "Hey, slow down there, that's my girlfriend you're giving those flower to." Jason said as he grabbed Zack from his shirt collar. "Girlfriend? Since when?" Zack asked. "Since forever." Jason replied. He pulls Zack away and walks towards Kimberly himself.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Zack exclaimed before standing up. Trini and Billy watch as the two tugs on each other as they try to get to her table first. "We still haven't figured out how she got like this. Maybe we should speak to her parents; maybe they know what happened to her." Billy suggested. "Good idea, later after school you go over to her house and speak to them." Trini planned. "I'm… I'm not really good with speaking to new people. Maybe you should do it." Billy denied.
"Come on, it's just her parents." Trini insisted. "Nah, I think I'm fine. I'll… do something else." Billy said. "Okay then, I'll go to her house. Happy?" Trini settled. "Yeah, okay." Billy said. Mr. Kisaragi enters the room and sees the boys gathering at the back.
"Oi, back to your seats!" he yelled to the students. They all comply and sit at their seats. "Now that I think about it, Mister Kisaragi is here because Miss Appleby is in the hospital. Do you know what happened to her?" Trini asked Billy. "Hit by a truck. I've been visiting her for some time." Billy answered. "Is she okay?" Trini asked.
"Yeah, unconscious, but okay." Billy answered. "Isn't that a little suspicious to you? She's conveniently put out of commission as Mister Kisaragi showed up." Trini noted. "Next time when you visit her and she wakes up, ask her about what happened." she instructed Billy. "Okay. But I can't guarantee that I'll be able to talk to her." Billy accepted. "Kwan-san, Cranston-san, are you paying attention?" Mr. Kisaragi yelled to the back.
Later after school, Trini drops by Kimberly's house and knocks on the door. Opening the door for her was Maddy Hart, Kimberly's mother; an Indian woman in her forties. "You're Trini Kwan, right? You're one of Kimberly's friends." she identified Trini. "Hi, Kimberly's mom, may I come in? I need to ask you something about Kimberly." Trini asked. "Sure. And please, call me Maddy." Maddy agreed. They sit themselves down in the living room on opposite-facing chairs.
"Do you want anything to drink?" Maddy asked. "No, I'm fine." Trini politely refused. "What is it that you want to talk about?" Maddy asked. "It's about Kim… did you notice anything strange about her?" Trini asked. "Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one who noticed. Since Monday she started acting… polite. She addressed me as 'mother', she offered to do chores after school, and she bought different shampoo. Another thing that I noticed is that she started flirting with every man and boy in the neighbourhood, regardless of age. Thank goodness her father is out of town." Maddy explained worriedly.
"She started seducing every boy in school, they're basically her minions. Me and my friends are worried about her." Trini added. "I thought she was taking some kind of new drug, but she doesn't seem to be in euphoria. It just seems like she just… changed." Maddy added. "Anything else you noticed? Has she been meeting anybody?" Trini asked. "I heard her speaking Japanese over the phone occasionally. I'm a little rusty, but I think she's been speaking to someone called Haru." Maddy answered. "Haru, huh?" Trini said under her breath.
"I hope you and your friends get to the bottom of this." Maddy said in concern. "Don't worry, we will." Trini assured. She leaves the house and waves to Maddy before walking away. As she walks down the sidewalk, an Asian woman wearing a yellow kimono and holding a paper umbrella watches her from under a tree. At the hospital, Billy visits Miss Appleby in her room as she lied unconscious and covered in bandages.
"Good afternoon, Miss Appleby. I brought some flowers, this time they're gypsophila, most commonly known as baby's-breath." Billy said to the unconscious woman. He places the bouquet on a nearby table and sat down next to her. "Your substitute teacher, Mister Kisaragi, is a nice guy. He tries making friends with his students and helps them out sometimes. Just last week, he saved Richie's parents marriages, and he helped organize a birthday party for Angela's sister. He's a good person, just like you." Billy said to Miss Appleby. Upon finishing his sentence, Miss Appleby's eyes start to flutter open. "Cranston…" she said weakly.
"Miss Appleby, you're awake!" Billy said in relief. "What happened? Where am I?" she wondered. "You're in the hospital; you got hit by a truck last Thursday." Billy informed her. "What day is it?" she asked. "It's Tuesday." Billy said.
"I heard what you've been telling me the past week. This new teacher sounds like a swell guy." Miss Appleby commented. "Do you remember anything from the day of your accident? Did you see what truck it was?" Billy asked. "Why do you want to know?" she asked. "I'm just curious." Billy said. "Heh, well… I can't remember much, but I think the truck driver might be a Transformers fan. There was one of those symbols of the good robots on the front; I think they're called the Autobots… yeah." she answered.
"Did you see the driver?" Billy asked. "I think it must be the concussion speaking, but the driver looked like a mannequin with a hat. His face was smooth-looking and wore a trucker hat." she described. The Rangers return to Zordon's ship to share their findings. "How was your visit to Miss Appleby?" Trini asked Billy. "She woke up." Billy replied.
"That's great to hear. Did she say anything?" Trini asked. "She said she heard everything I said while she was asleep and she remembered the truck that hit her." Billy answered. "What did it look like?" Trini asked. "She said it was white and had an Autobot logo on the front. The driver must be a Transformers fan." Billy answered. 'I think I've seen a truck like that around town." Scott commented.
"What did Kim's mom say?" Billy asked. "She also experienced the same stuff as we did around Kim and that Kim spoke Japanese on the phone with someone called Haru." Trini replied. "I think I've seen this Haru before, that guy wearing the white jacket that followed her into that motel." Trini added. "Alpha, Zordon, did you find out anything about the phone?" Scott asked the aliens. "The metal appears to have a cellular-like structure, most likely attributing to its transformation into weapons. We weren't able to hack into its software, but we managed to dismantle it. The battery ran on an unknown power source and had a logo that was absent in commercial versions of the device." Zordon explained.
Alpha then hands Scott the battery with the mysterious insignia on it. "This is the Autobot insignia!" Scott realized in surprise. "What is an Autobot?" Zordon asked. "They're this faction of alien robots from this popular cartoon series called The Transformers. They transform from a robot mode to a vehicle or animal mode, like our Zords but smaller." Zack explained. "Do you think… that the truck was… no… that would be crazy." Scott asked Billy before dismissing the idea.
"You think the truck is an Autobot? Well, there was a driver behind the wheel, according to Miss Appleby." Billy said. "Scott, you said you have seen this vehicle around town, can you investigate it?" Alpha asked. "I last saw it leave town on Sunday, so that's a no." Scott answered. "There has to be a connection to the truck and this Autobot phone. I'm just gonna put it out there, but I think Mister Kisaragi, his friends, and Autobots are coming here from other universes." Zack suggested. "That sounds as crazy as I thought when I came up with it." Scott commented.
"At this point, we can't rule anything out." Trini added. "We still need to figure out why Kim is like this." Billy said. "Billy, remember the surveillance audio you sent to us? You said one of the voices was of that Rider with the train; Den-O. I decided to research more on it and profiled four important characters from the show." Alpha said to Billy. In the centre of the room; four monsters were projected as holograms. One was a red demon, another was a blue turtle humanoid with hexagon-patterned armour, third was a yellow humanoid more closely resembling a muscular male human wearing an open fur coat and a black helmet, and the last resembled Ryukos without her tutu and tiara.
"As you know, these are the monster crew of the DenLiner, Momotaros, Urataros, Kintaros, and Ryutaros. We only saw a glance at their personalities and abilities in Super Hero War, but they share a common ability; they can possess people." Alpha summarised. A picture of a well-dressed Asian man wearing glasses like Kimberly and a blue highlight in his hair is shown. "Their possessions of individuals are evidenced by a streak of their signature colour on their hair, just like Kimberly. Pictured here is the original Den-O's human identity, Nogami Ryotaro, possessed by Urataros; a smooth-talking, womanizing Imagin." Alpha continued. "So you think Kimberly is possessed by a turtle monster?" Trini asked. "With the arrival of a female version of Den-O; it's possible she is possessed by a female version of her." Alpha answered.
"If that's the case with a female Momotaros and Urataros, where are female Kintaros and Ryutaros?" Scott wondered. "Alpha, bring up a picture of Ryutaros." Billy instructed Alpha. The hologram switches to an image of Ryutaros. "Put a tutu on him." Billy instructed. The image is manipulated so that a tutu appears on Ryutaros, making him closely resembling Ryukos.
"I think we already met female Ryutaros." Billy said. "I knew she looked familiar!" Trini commented. "What do we do with all this information? Tell Urataros to get out of Kimberly?" Scott wondered. "I think she would be called Urakos, according to their naming convention." Billy corrected. "We have developed a weapon according to our research." Zordon said.
"Will it hurt Kim?" Scott asked. "It depends." Zordon answered. In the centre of the room, a large paper fan is teleported, suspended in the air. "A paper fan?" Zack said in confusion. "It has frequently been used by another character named Hana, who slaps the possessing Imagin out of Nogami Ryotaro." Zordon explained.
"So, we just hit her with this and she'll turn back to normal?" Scott asked. "I'm confident it will work." Zordon replied. Scott takes the giant paper fan and cradles it in his arms. "Let's get our Pink Ranger back." Scott proclaimed. That night, Kimberly left the motel room she frequented with Haru.
As she walked down the sidewalk, Scott was sneaking behind her. He raised the paper fan over his head, preparing to slap her with it. Kimberly turns around swiftly and blows a kiss into his face. He is frozen in place before being knocked down by Kimberly's index finger. "Assaulting a girl in the dead of night? I thought you were better than that, Scott-chan." Kimberly mocked.
Suddenly, a fishing net is dropped onto Kimberly from above. Trini approaches Kimberly and picks up the paper fan. "Sorry turtle, but we figured you out." Trini said. "Heh, this isn't the last time we meet." Kimberly said. With all her might, Trini slaps Kimberly with the giant paper fan, releasing a blue spectre.
To be continued…