AN: Hey guys. Sorry about the long wait. I know that I promised to update soon, but life got in the way. I'm hopeful though because school is almost done, then I'll have 3 months to work on this story the way it deserves. Hopefully I'll update at least once more before finals, but I make no promises!

Thanks to Alana for doing me the favor of being my beta! If this is a smooth reading for you guys, it's because of her! Thanks!

Chapter 12: Team Talk

It was Sunday evening. The rangers were all in different areas of the Command Center, enjoying their last day off before heading back to school. Aisha and Kat were in Aisha's room talking about what had happened the past few days. Adam was talking with Rocky, letting him know of all the stuff he had missed while he was unconscious. Billy was working on some stuff in his room computer, and Tommy was sparring alone on the exercise floor.

Kimberly was currently speaking with Zordon in Noitat Idem, discussing the different powers, which she now possessed.

"In time you will be able to do many things Kimberly. Some of the earlier powers to appear will be telepathy, invisibility, telekinesis, and levitation. There will be others, but those require the mastery of the basics. Right now I just want to focus on these four." Kimberly nodded her head, absorbing all of the information. "Now, I've noticed that you have developed a strong telepathic link. As you found out earlier, you can change many aspects of yourself when you are communicating telepathically. All you need to do is focus on what you want to change and so you shall. You will be able to communicate with individual people, as well as small groups. The more you practice and the stronger you get, the group you will be communicating with will be larger.

Invisibility also seems to come naturally to you. You already understand what you need to blend in with your surroundings. Both of these feats are hard to accomplish, as it takes many weeks just to discipline the mind. But you have managed to do this in just a few hours. You truly are a very powerful ranger. I could not have picked a better person to be my heir."

Kim smiled at Zordon. "Thank you. I promise I'll make you proud."

"I know you will. But now we must focus on you learning to control all of your powers. To do this, we must learn your limitations. All of your powers require energy that comes from you."

"But how is it possible that for me to use my powers for more than a couple of hours at a time? I mean a human body can only have so much energy right?"

"You are correct in that your body has a limit to the amount of energy it contains. However, there is energy anywhere that there is life. Your powers work when the energy being inputted comes from you, but you are allowed to borrow energy from your surroundings. As long as the energy borrowed goes through you into your powers you will be fine. And as long as the borrowed energy is returned."

"How would you return energy?"

"I will teach you how to borrow energy from your surrounding and return it as your lessons progress. First you must learn how to use the energy from your own self. Contrary to popular belief, the human body and the human spirit have a large energy reserve. But because most humans don't have powers, these reserves are not used. You must work hard and learn just how much energy you posses in order for you not to drain yourself completely. I do not wish for you to get hurt."

"I know. Hey Zordon, can I ask you a question."

"What is it?"

"Can you teach me how to get here? I mean, I don't mind using the pills, but taking them is getting a little bit annoying. And I don't want someone mistake them for medicine by accident if they find them in my room."

"Very well. It really is not too difficult. All you need to do is focus on where you wish to go. It is a form of astral projection. As your powers grow and you learn more about this plane, you will find yourself better acquainted with ways of arriving here."

"Ok. I guess all I can do is practice and get better." Kimberly took a deep breath and mentally prepared for what was coming next. "Zordon, could you call the others and send them to my room. I want to speak to them."

Zordon, knowing what she was going to do, merely nodded his head. "Very well." He began the process of returning Kim to her body. Once Kim was adjusted, she changed back into her pajamas and got settled into bed.

"Rangers, please come to Kimberly's room at once." Zordon's voice rang throughout the Command Center. Tommy immediately sprang from his bed and headed to Kim's room. The others too quickly left what they were doing and headed to Kim's room. As they arrived, they saw that Tommy was struggling to open the door.

"Kim? Are you there? Are you okay? Open the door…please…" Tommy said loudly as he knocked.

"What's up Tommy?" Billy asked. Adam and Rocky were right behind him, with Adam helping Rocky walk.

"The door is locked and Kim won't answer." He said knocking again.

"Zordon probably hasn't unlocked the door yet." Adam spoke. They all piled up outside of Kim's door waiting for further instruction. Alpha was heard as he made his way, the rangers turning in his direction.

"The reason why the door is still locked is because Kimberly wanted everyone together before speaking to any of you." This caused Tommy to frown. He was hoping to be able to talk to Kim alone first.

"Please wait here." Alpha turned his back to the group, putting something in front of the door scanner. There was a confirmation beep and soon after a click was heard, signaling the unlocking of the door. Alpha walked in and shut the door behind him. Just as Tommy was about to open the door and walk in, there was a click and the door was once again locked. Tommy pushed against the door but it wouldn't budge. The rangers just stood there, waiting to be let in.

"Kimberly, here is your new communicator." Alpha handed her a replica of her old communicator. Kim tried to remove the bracelets in order to put on her communicator, but they wouldn't budge. She looked up at Alpha quizzically, opening her mouth to ask a question before Alpha beat her to the punch.

"Just place it above the wrist bracelets. This is only a replica of your old communicator. The bracelets can be removed, but you must do it telepathically. It is like they have a mind of their own, yet they are under your command. It is best if you leave them on at all times. This way the damage from the battle against Zed will be concealed as well as help speed up the healing process. Instead, focus on making them blend with your skin." Kim focused on the bracelets, willing them to blend with her current skin tone. As she focused, the bracelets started to shimmer and disappear. After a few minutes, the bracelets seemed to be gone. Only those whose knew what to look for and paid close attention could see them.

"Like I said, this communicator is a replica of your old one. Although it won't help you morph, you can still use like your old one. No one will be the wiser of its lacking functions."

"Thanks Alpha. Are the others outside?" Kim asked as she put on her "new" communicator.

"Yes, and they are all anxious to see you."

"Can you please let them in?"

"Of course. I will see you later. Let me know if you need anything."

"Okay. Thanks Alpha!" Alpha nodded and headed towards the door. He waited a bit so Kim could get situated before opening the door.

"Rangers, you may come in now." They waited until Alpha was outside of the room before rushing in. The rangers hadn't really seen Kimberly since the last battle, so they were glad to see she was looking much better. All of them had tried to come and see her at different times, with no luck, as the door still remained shut. It seemed that Zordon had told Kim not to open the door to anyone. Either that, or she truly was asleep. She acknowledged Alpha once more as the robot left them to discuss pending matters.

"Kim," Tommy was the first one at her side, enveloping her in a hug. Kim however, didn't hug him back. Tommy noticed this and quickly stepped back.

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine Tommy. Please, sit. All of you." Tommy and the others were in awe of their pink ranger. They were all confused and wondered why Kim was acting this way.

"How are you Kim? How are you feeling?" Billy asked.

"I'm good Billy. Just a little sore." She replied with a big smile.

"So Kim, Zordon called us here. Do you know why?" Rocky asked.

"I'm glad to see you're doing better too Rocky. And yes I do. Zordon called you here because I asked him to. I wanted to talk to you guys." The rangers had all seated themselves around Kim by this point. Tommy and Billy sat to Kim's left, while Aisha and Kat were by the foot of the bed, and Rocky and Adam to Kim's right.

"Where are Dana and Daniel?"

"Zordon said during the battle, Daniel thought it would be best to take Dana home. He said she could stay some other night. Zordon had Alpha teleport them home." Aisha said.

"Okay. Well, before I say anything, I must ask all of you to not interrupt. If you have questions or comments, please let me know once I finish." They all nodded in understanding.

"First of all, and I don't mean to sound rude as I say this; but, what is up with you guys? Why are all of you so cold and distant with Zordon and his daughter? We are rangers! Zordon is our mentor! He is like a father to all of us. Why would you disrespect him like that?!" The rangers all looked guilty and ashamed.

"Kim, wha-" Tommy began to interrupt, when Kim turned to face him.

"Especially you. Right now, you are the person whom I'm most disappointed in Thomas James Oliver!" Tommy looked hurt and confused at this point. "You disrespected Kimana and in doing so, you have disrespected Zordon."

"Who is Kimana?" Katherine asked.

"Zordon's daughter." All the rangers avoided looking Kim in the eye, as all of them were ashamed of their actions. They knew they had overreacted and most of them wanted to apologize. The only problem with that was that they didn't know where she was staying and none of them wanted to face Zordon.

"Kim, you have to understand -" Tommy began arguing.

"NO" Kim countered in an eerily calm voice. "Tommy, you were the most disrespectful. As the leader of this team, it is your job to set the example. Yet you were the worst one! Why?"

"Because…" Tommy refused to answer here and avoided looking straight at her. His face had slowly changed from hurt to angry.

"Why?" Kim asked again putting a little more emphasize in her question.

"I ALMOST LOST YOU!" Tommy yelled. Kim just remained quite as he exploded.

"That does not excuse you. There will always be times where we will be stressed out and emotionally unstable. It's part of this job. But you cannot start biting people's heads off right and left because of it! I understand how you feel, and I know you were in pain. I felt the same when you lost your green ranger powers. However, we are rangers. We must always keep our cool and have a clear mind or else the forces of evil will prevail!"

Tommy couldn't believe it. He glared at Kim, who had kept her cool and refused to show any sort of emotion. He looked at her straight in the eyes, scowled at her, and stood up. He looked at the rest of the team before leaving the room. Billy got up to go after him, but Kim grabbed his arm.

"Let him go."

"But - "

"He needs to calm down and I'm not finished. Tommy wasn't the only one who was wrong. What happened with all of you?" All of them remained quiet. Adam finally summoned up the courage to speak.

"We were scared. We saw you take a blast at close range from Zedd to protect Dana. We had stopped breathing. When we found you, you were covered in blood, your power suit was practically gone." All of the rangers were starting to get emotional as they recalled memories of the incident. "Billy came out of the medical ward covered in blood, your blood. And when we were finally allowed to see you, you were so pale and looked so weak. Most of us didn't know how to feel. We were blaming ourselves because we should have been there with you, to help you. And then you had to go and save our asses yet again, when you weren't even at a quarter of your full strength. We felt as if we had failed you." Adam tensed up, refusing to shed the tears that were threatening to fall.

"When we had to go into battle for the third time in less than 2 days, we were all worn out, both physically and mentally. All we wanted to do was give up. But somehow we couldn't, because you were able to do so much more when you were the one that had been on the receiving end of the worst attacks to date. And then, all of a sudden this ranger comes out of nowhere and beats such a pathetic monster. A monster, which we could have handled ourselves if we been in the right state of mind. By this point we didn't know what to do. When we came back, Zordon had this look of immense pride and joy, yet we didn't know why. I guess in a way, we resented him and we were angry that anyone could be even remotely happy, with everything that had been going on. So we responded in a really bad way. But we're really sorry and we know better. This won't ever happen again."

"It's not me to whom you should be apologizing. It's Zordon. I understand why you acted the way you did. I probably would have too, but not at Zordon. All this time, he's been nothing except a father figure to us, helping us and trying to protect us. He hadn't said anything about Kimana before because he had just found her again. Zordon's family is gone, his people are too far from Earth, and he's stuck in a time warp. We are his only family now. This is why he wanted to share this moment on joy and happiness. Because he wanted you to be happy for him and share in this momentous occasion. You should also apologize to Kimana." They all nodded in recognition of the truth Kimberly's words held. Aisha looked up at Kim.

"We'll apologize to both of them. I promise."

"Thank you." Kim smiled for the first time since the beginning of this conversation. "Now that this has been cleared and sorted out, what's new?"

The other rangers quickly smiled too, jumping into different conversations of what had happened in the last few days. The group chatted for a bit before Zordon appeared. The others apologized sincerely, which caused Zordon to smile. He forgave them and let Kim know that she was well enough to return to school the next day. Soon after, the rangers left for their own rooms, leaving Kimberly to her thoughts. Everything's alright. Well, almost. Now to go and get my falcon to listen. Kim got out of bed and made sure her room was locked before teleporting out of the command center.

AN2: So there you go. Another chapter done. Hope you guys liked it. Don't forget to review!