Neo-Ninjetti
Chapter 21: Different Shades
"Dulcea we have to do something," Rocky stated as they watched as Angel Grove was destroyed.
"Our city is being destroyed," said Jason angrily.
"Can't we form the MegaZord without Kim?" asked Trini. "I know they were able to form it without Tommy."
Alpha shook his head. "I am sorry rangers, but if you go against Stonethrower then you will only be able to fight singly."
"I'm not so sure about that," muttered Haley who had been teleported to the Command Centre along with the Dino Thunder Rangers when the Ninjetti Rangers had pulled out of the confrontation at the lake. "If I make some adjustments to the base code…"
"I see what you're doing," muttered Billy as he looked over Haley's shoulder. "Trini," he stated turning to his friend. "A little help?"
"Ethan," Haley said as she looked up briefly. "We need you too."
And so, the four smartest people in the room worked away and rewrote the base codes for the Zords that the Ninjetti had acquired.
--
Mistress Chaos nodded. "Kay," she began turning to her lackey. "Destroy her."
Kay/Katherine smiled wickedly. "With pleasure mistress…" Kay thought that she would take Kim off guard, but the first pink ranger was ready and waiting and as she and Kay battled it out Kim met every blow and dodged every attack.
Lady Threya meanwhile watched with no amusement as a MegaZord made up of the Bear, Ape, Wolf, Frog, Elk, Otter and Turtle appeared in Angel Grove and began defeating the now large Stonethrower.
"Um… grandmother…." Lady Threya began in a quiet voice. "Mistress Chaos?
"What is it?" snapped Mistress Chaos as she turned to look at the looking glass, noticing that the rangers destroyed her granddaughter's monster. "Never mind that- we have more important matters to look at."
With that Mistress Chaos and Lady Threya turned their attention back to the two ladies in pink who were fighting. "Why don't you give up?" Kay asked as she tossed Kim to the ground. "You have nothing left to fight for."
"I'm fighting for my city," Kim muttered as she countered Kay's attack and sent her flying to the ground. "And I'm fighting for my planet….I'm even fighting for you Katherine," Kim continued as she managed to trap Kay's hands behind her back. "You were my friend once,"
"I was never your friend," Kay countered as she broke free of Kim's hold. "I only wanted Tommy- from the very beginning…and now I have him," she finished as she threw Kim against the wall so hard that she demorphed. "And I will always have him,"
"No," Kim winced as she clutched her side. "This can't be happening."
"Oh but it is," Mistress Chaos answered with a laugh as she sent tendrils of dark energy out to Kim. "Soon you will be one of us…."
"NO!" Kim cried out as the tendrils wrapped themselves around her. "Don't do this! Tommy!" she cried, opening her eyes enough to look at the man that she loved once, and still loved. "Tommy! Don't let her do this!"
But it was no use; there was no sign of recognition behind the mask and as Kim squeezed her eyes shut she fought off the dark energy with all her might. 'I will not let her win,' she thought frantically to herself. 'I will not let her win. I will not let her win. I will not let her win. I will not let her win. I will not let her win. I will not let her win.'
And so Kim kept repeating that mantra over and over again as she felt the tendrils fighting to take her memories just as they had taken Tommy's. Yet she refused to let them go, and as they flashed through her mind she found herself reliving the most memorable and special moments with Tommy all over again. She remembered the first time that she had seen him at the youth centre. He's really cute she had told Trini and it was one of those moments when she just knew that she was meant to be with him. She just knew. And she remembered how Tommy had been a sweetheart and rebuilt her model float with Alpha's help.
Kim remembered how on the Island of Illusion Tommy had been the first one to congratulate her when she had defeated her self-confidence issues. But you've got to Kimberly, try! He had told her, and she did. She had seen the fear in his eyes at the prospect of losing her and she hadn't wanted to lose him either- despite the fact that they were only friends at that moment.
And then there had been her worst day ever when it rained and things just kept getting worse and worse. Tommy of course hadn't been phased at all. How about I walk you home after school? He had asked at her locker, Kim had been shocked at his offer. You know, she had said anything could happen. Tommy had just smiled at her. Hey, I'll take my chances.
--
The rangers had taken a chance on the calculations that Haley, Billy, Ethan and Trini had worked on but in the end the Zords had come together in a way that none of them had expected and they had managed to destroy the evil Stonethrower.
"That was SO cool!" Ethan gushed as the rangers teleported back into the Command Centre. "I can't believe it worked!"
Kira laughed. "I can," she had stated. "With you and Hales and Billy and Trini there was no way that things couldn't have worked."
Conner nodded. "That was some impressive fighting."
"Yeah," Zack agreed as he wrapped his arms around Trini and Aisha. "It was great to be back in action."
"But what about Kim?" asked Trini as she turned away from the group and towards Alpha. "Have you found her yet?"
"I'm sorry rangers," Alpha stated as he looked over the controls. "I haven't been able to find her yet."
"We'll help you Alpha," Billy assured as he came up on the other side of him.
"Yeah," agreed Ethan. "I mean I don't know her- but she's a ranger-"
"And we never leave one of our own behind," Jason agreed.
"So we stay," Kira stated as she leaned against the control panels. "We stay until we find them both."
--
What the rangers didn't know was that Kim was collapsed on the floor of the old palace on the moon with memories floating through her brain. The next memory that came was her memory of their first kiss- she was holding on to each memory as hard as she could and while none of them were leaving her, Kim was even more determined not to let this one go. We miss you, Kim had told him as they stood by the pond in the park. You were a team long before I showed up. Tommy had told her with a defeatist look on his face. Everything will be back to normal before long. But Kim was just shaking her head, he wasn't understanding what she was saying. I miss you. She had said and then he had kissed her and it was the first of many kisses.
Of course, despite the fact that they were a couple things were tough. He wasn't a ranger any more and felt incredibly awkward around the gang. He has a really hard time dealing with them always running off and so he had started out hanging out with them less and less and even transferred to Stone Canyon High for a couple weeks.
But of course he had come back only to have his powers ripped away from him again and Kim had felt the need to compose something to make him understand how important he was to her. Down the road…we never know what life may have in store. Kim knew that things changed a whole lot when he came back to the team as the new White Ranger and the leader of the group. Of course, she had been so shocked that he had fainted and the next memory was another one of her more precious memories because it was something out of a fairytale.
C'mon Beautiful, he had whispered to her as he picked her up and she had heard him. Time to wake up. And even though she had heard what her dear Tommy had said, she could hardly believe it. I don't believe it… she whispered fully aware that her friends and mentor were watching with captivated interest. I must be dreaming…is it really you? Tommy had smiled. In the flesh. And things had gone very well after that- sure there had been monsters and memory erasures and fights but all in all Tommy had always been by her side and that was something that she really appreciated and loved.
Thanks for being here Tommy, she had stated when he was by her bedside when she had woken up at the hospital after falling off the balance beam. You have no idea how much this means to me. Tommy had nodded and Kim had thought back to what he had said a few minutes earlier. You had me really scared, he had told her and there was such an honestly and vulnerability in his voice that made her heart reach out to him. With everything we've been though with Rita and Zedd- this has been the worst.
But Kim knew as the memories flashed by that the worst was still to come. When the chance of a lifetime had come her way Tommy had been very supportive. I don't want to lose you Kim he had told her at the Command Centre. But I can't just sit back and watch you give it up. It wouldn't be fair. And thinking back on it Kim knew that it would have been fair if he had said don't go and she would never have felt angry or hurt or cheated. She wished that they had both fought harder- just like he had fought for her.
Kim watched through the evil façade as Tommy took off his helmet. "Look at me, look at me Kim," he demanded, the pain and fear in his voice so evident. "It's me…it's me Tommy." There was such tenderness in his voice that Kim could feel the shell of the spell breaking but then there was a sharp accented voice that just snapped the shell back into place
'I'm not going to let that happen again…' she told herself as she felt the tendrils being pushed away. '…I will not fight my friends. I will not let her win. I will not let her win. I will not let her win.'
And then for Kim it all went dark……