Part One: Tommy and Kimberly's Dating Years

Chapter Ten: A Fallen Comrade
(Sacrifices And Losses)

Date: December 12, 1999

Shock.

Horror.

Loss.

Despair.

Anguish.

Fear.

Desperation.

Grief.

**********

13 year old Vida Rocca woke up with a gasp. Something was very wrong. She just didn't know what it was. She could feel some sort of faint sense in the back of her mind that sent goose bumps shivering all over her body.

"Vida?" came a hesitant voice from the doorway after a moment.

"Yeah Madison?"

"Did you feel that?"

"Yeah."

**********

Trini woke as she was halfway to the floor already. The sensation of loss in both her mind and body prevented her from bracing herself and she hit the floor with a thud.

Jason sat up with a quick gasp, one of his hands coming to rest on his heart. Some Red Ranger out there was in a whole lot of emotional pain at the moment.

"Trini? Honey? You okay?" he called out in the darkness, sensing that she wasn't beside him in bed.

There wasn't an answer.

"Trini?"

"Oh God," came the whispered reply.

"Trini?" Jason asked in alarm, crawling over to her side of the bed. "What's wrong?" There was another pang in his chest that had nothing to do with what he was feeling himself.

Lots of grief. Lots and lots of grief.

"Oh no …" Jason whispered.

"She's dead."

**********

Kat woke up, tears streaming down her face, loss and pain filling her.

"Oh no. Oh God. She can't be …"

She scrambled out of her bed and picked up the phone, dialing the number she had memorized. "Tanya? Did you feel that?"

"Oh God yes," Tanya moaned. "It's horrible."

**********

"Zhane?" came a hesitant voice from outside his door not even five minutes after he had felt something so intense that he had shot up and hit his head on the bunk above his head—which was actually completely useless as nobody shared his room.

"Karone?" he asked in curiosity. What was she doing up now? She couldn't have felt it too, could she?

The door opened and she walked in. "Did you feel that?"

Apparently she had felt the same thing that he had. "Yeah," Zhane said, sitting up. "But how did you?"

"I don't know," Karone said, giving a little sniffle. "It wasn't Cassie, was it? All I could tell was pink."

"No, it wasn't Cassie," Zhane said, though he himself wasn't sure of that. "Come here." He pulled her onto the bed and nestled her against his chest. "It'll be as okay as it can be, Karone."

"But she died," Karone sniffed, a tear trickling down her cheek.

Zhane wiped it away and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Their relationship was still very tentatively awkward due to their issues in the past (namely the fact that they were on opposite sides of the fight), but it was apparent to everyone that they cared deeply for each other. Andros had even grudgingly given Zhane permission to date Karone.

"Karone," Zhane said seriously. "I promise you. I will make this as okay for you as possible. We just have to wait for the others to get back to find out what happened."

Karone sniffled again, and closed her eyes as more tears tricked out.

Zhane held her in his arms as she cried, not even letting her go when she finally fell into a fitful, restless sleep.

**********

"Whoa," Dustin Brooks said. "What was that about?"

He'd been dreaming about winning the X Games when a feeling of loss ripped through him and everything turned pink.

Now he just had to figure out what the hell it meant.

**********

Megan woke up with a small scream. "Oh no!" She buried her face in her hands and began to cry. "No! That's not possible!"

"Megan? Sweetie?" her mother asked from outside the door. "What's wrong, honey?"

"Mom," Megan sobbed, running to the door. "Mom, something horrible has happened."

"What is it?" Laura asked as the door was flung opened. "What happened?" Panic was beginning to set in.

"The Pink Ranger died," Megan said. "She died. And every Ranger felt it."

"How do you know? You weren't a Power Ranger."

"Mom. Zordon told me something in his energy blast. He said I have a connection to the Morphing Grid. And that one day I'll be a Power Ranger."

Laura had a momentary flash of panic at this revelation, but pushed it to the side, instead focusing on the problem at hand. "Then we'd best call your aunt," she finally said.

**********

Somewhere out in the depths of space, one young girl rolled over in her sleep, frowning at the turn her dream was taking. Though she was supposed to be evil, her thoughts and dreams did tend towards the happier end of the spectrum.

She whimpered in her sleep as an intense feeling of loss came over her.

"Go back to sleep, Marah," her older sister muttered from across the room.

**********

By the time Megan and Laura called Kimberly and Tommy's place, Kimberly was curled into Tommy's chest, gripping his shirt tightly as she sobbed. Luckily, Tommy was able to snag the phone from the side of the bed.

"Who's it?" he asked.

"How is she?" Laura asked, not even bothering to explain how she knew what had happened.

"She's … sobbing," Tommy said frankly. "I don't know how hard it hit her, but it must've been pretty hard."

"Megan woke screaming," Laura said.

"Megan felt it?" Tommy asked in surprise.

"Yeah. She said that Zordon told her that she's connected to the Morphing Grid somehow," Laura said. "And that … she's going to become one of you someday."

"She's going to become a Power Ranger?" Tommy asked in surprise.

This startled Kimberly enough to raise her head. "Who?" she asked.

"Megan," Tommy murmured to her.

"She said you all felt that too," Laura said.

"I think we did. Kimberly says all the Pinks felt it and I know I felt it. I'm not sure about how many else felt it other than that."

"Everybody," Kim whimpered. "All Rangers."

"Does she want me to come?" Laura asked. "I can be there in ten minutes tops."

"Kim?" Tommy asked. "Do you want your sister to come?"

Kim nodded and Tommy relayed the information.

"I'll be there," Laura said before hanging up.

Less than ten minutes later there was a knock on the door and Kim took off out of the room. Tommy followed at a slightly slower pace. When he reached the door, Kim was wrapped up in Laura's arms, still crying.

"It'll be all right," Laura said soothingly. "It'll be okay. She's a Power Ranger. Power Rangers don't die."

"But she did!" Kim whimpered. "And oh God it hurts."

The phone rang again and Tommy grabbed it from the kitchen. "Hello?"

"Tommy, man. How's Kim?"

"Jason? She's really upset. Laura's over here now. How are you and Trini?"

"Trini fell out of bed and I keep getting these pangs from the Red out there. He really had no clue he was in love with her," Jason said.

"Aw man," Tommy said. "I'm not really getting any of that. Just a dull ache. Is there any way we can get all the Pinks together?"

"Why just the Pinks? We all felt it," Jason said. "The girls will probably all want to support each other."

"All right. Everyone's probably awake because of it, so let's start calling," Tommy said.