I've got Chapters 36-37 written. I got half way through 38 last night, but determined I really didn't like the direction the story took. Too much angst. Not enough humor for my liking. So I'm currently reworking it, despite the fact that the angst will continue at the current moment (at least till they get Kim back).

For my guest reviewer who asked why Tommy didn't immediately start searching for Kim even though she came to Reefside. Here's the thing. The Kim who came to Reefside on Friday and the Kim who got kidnapped on Sunday have a fundamental difference. The Kim who came to Reefside didn't remember meeting Dr. Oliver, didn't remember the talk where he told her that it was her fault that he distanced himself from everyone in his life. She didn't remember hiding the letter. She didn't remember kissing Dr. Oliver. The Kim on Sunday knows all of those things, and Tommy knows that. When she didn't immediately contact him like everyone else, he figured that she actually now wanted nothing to do with him, and since he blames himself for that, he doesn't seek her out. Hope that clarifies things.

So, onward

After they'd kicked him out, Tommy had gone back outside to his jeep to grab Billy's bag and bring it in the house. He needed to be doing something to keep his mind off of the fact that thanks to him, Kimberly had been kidnapped. He hated himself at that moment, but at the same time, there was almost a bit of relief in his emotions. Maybe she didn't hate him after all. Maybe the reason he hadn't heard from her was that Mesogog had already kidnapped her when her memories came back the day before. Granted, his relief was short lived, as either way, it still meant that Mesogog had her to do who knew what with.

Tommy brought the bag inside and proceeded to his spare bedroom, where he found Aisha sitting on the end of the bed, humming a lullaby, as she brushed a stand of hair out of Katie's face. He paused in the doorway, setting the duffle bag down, and watched her, until she realized she wasn't alone. When their eyes met, Tommy could see the worry in hers.

"Should they continue to sleep?" he asked her, nodding to the two children on the bed. Aisha gave him a slight smile and nodded, standing up and walking towards him. He stepped back to let her leave the room.

"Luke still sleeps on and off all day. Katie missed her morning nap," she explained. She glanced over her shoulder at the two sleeping children, before walking out of the room completely. Tommy followed her back into the living room. "How are you holding up?" she asked him, as they fell into seats. Tommy back in his arm chair, Aisha on the couch.

"I could ask you the same thing," Tommy stated, avoiding answering her question. "He'll be alright, you know," he added.

"I know," Aisha stated, her eyes drifting back over to the door where Katie and Luke slept.

"You're mad at him still," Tommy stated. It wasn't a question, but Aisha nodded. "For morphing?"

"No," she said. "And yes. He realized something I didn't."

"What was that?"

"That Reefside was dangerous," she stated, matter of factly, looking up and meeting his eyes. She sighed and shook her head, trying to get her thoughts straight. "When our memories came back, all we could think about was finding you and the teenagers. I didn't think about the fact that Mesogog attacked you guys on a daily basis. Rocky did," she stated, and paused. Tommy didn't interrupt her. He knew she needed to say what was on her mind. Instead, he clasped his hands in front of him and inclined his head, not wanting to meet her eyes. "He brought his zeonizers. He decided he needed to be prepared. But that doesn't matter," she added. "If it was just us, we could handle it."

"But it's not just you," Tommy did interrupt. He knew what she was getting at. "You put Katie and Luke in danger for me."

"And you don't deserve that," she told him, anger in her voice. "I mean, they're innocent. Mesogog could have chosen them instead."

"He wouldn't have," Tommy assured her. Mesogog didn't know about their trip to the past. He was confident of that fact. They'd destroyed Chronosaurus in the past. Elsa thought they'd been dead. No one knew where they'd been. Therefore, there was no way Mesogog would have thought to attack Rocky and Aisha's family as Tommy had no connection with them anymore. But Mesogog knew about Tommy and therefore, knew Kim was his weakest link.

"You can't know that," she fired back. "Look," she stated, "I get why you pushed us all away," she added, with a sigh. "Having Luke and Katie to worry about lets me understand it. Hell, I worry every day that someone will target them because of my and Rocky's past. Rocky was the one who talked me into having them in the first place. And if it wasn't for them, I'd tell you that you were the biggest idiot in the entire world for removing us from your life."

"But you can't, because this has reminded you of how dangerous being a ranger really is. It's not all fun and games and monsters that spark when you hit them hard enough," he stated, nodding, his eyes downcast to the floor.

Aisha nodded. "I'm so confused," she told him simply. "Part of me wants to grab the kids, and Rocky, and run the hell back to Angel Grove and stay there. But the other part of me can't abandon Kim," she paused, "or you," she added, a few anxious tears hitting the floor.

"Aisha," Tommy stated, leaning forward and looking up at her. "I'm sorry," he stated. "For everything. For not staying in contact with all of you. For ignoring your and Rocky's invitations to your wedding. For missing Katie and Luke's births. For you feeling like you needed to rush out here and fix things. For causing you to be scared for the kids safety. For putting you in danger." She looked up at him, and Tommy sighed, moving over to sit beside her on the couch. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him. "Please believe me when I tell you that Mesogog will not lay a hand on either of those two children. I will kill him with my bare hands before I let that happen," he added. Despite her quiet crying, he felt Aisha nod against his chest.

"I feel so silly," she stated, after a few minutes of silence. "I was a power ranger," she stated.

"And now you're a mom," he told her, as she pushed back out of his hold. "I don't blame you for being scared for their safety. I understand why you're mad at me. This is my fault."

"Not completely," Aisha stated. "If we'd been in contact, we wouldn't have needed to rush out here. We could have waited to come see you after Mesogog was defeated."

"Why don't you go now?" Tommy told her, and Aisha glared at him. "It'd be safer."

"Kim's in danger," Aisha replied simply. "And you know there is no way in hell Rocky or I are going to leave now," she added, glaring at him. "You can be so stupid sometimes," she stated, although she was smirking at him. Tommy gave her a sheepish look and a nod.

"I'm beginning to realize that," he told her, a slight grin on his face. "We're ok?"

"We never stopped being ok you dumb ass," she laughed at him. "But if we're going to be in your life, it needs to be permanent. Rocky and I can handle rejection, but if you hurt my kids," she threatened. Tommy backed up, holding his hands up in surrender.

"No chance of that," Tommy told her, genuine fear of her in his eyes. "I swear on Zordon."

"You'd better," she laughed, leaning against him, he head on his shoulder. They both sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before it was interrupted by Haley's voice calling from the bottom of the stairs.

Both Tommy and Aisha moved from the couch to the basement as quick as they could. "You found something?" Tommy's question was more of an anxious statement. When they'd reached the lab, they found the three zeo rangers unmorphed, and everyone gathered around the main computer terminal. Billy and Haley each sat in one of the three chairs, while Tommy fell into the third. Aisha immediately went to Rocky's side, holding onto his arm.

"Yes," Haley stated. "Took a bit, but I finally matched the energy signature from the electricity bolt at the soccer fields this afternoon with a recent opening of an invisiportal outside Cyberspace."

"When?" Tommy asked, watching as Haley typed a few commands into the keyboard. A surveillance camera image opened that showed the sidewalk outside the cyber café. At first nothing happened, but then Tommy saw her. Kimberly, wearing a skin tight pink dress and white heals, looking angry enough to kill, walking towards Cyberspace. Just before she entered, an invisiportal opened, releasing tyrannodrones, Elsa, and Mesogog himself. The seven adults watched as the tyrannodrones easily incapacitated Kim. They couldn't hear the exchange, but could tell Kimberly wasn't giving in easily. Her face showed clear definiance, even as they carted her off back through the portal.

"Yesterday afternoon," Haley stated simply. She'd already watched the video before she'd called him down. Now she searched his face, waiting for his reaction to what she'd found. Adam, Rocky, Aisha, Tanya, and Billy, all looked sick. Tommy's expression was unreadable as he finally had proof that Mesogog's message was for real. The mutated monster had Kimberly. He'd had her for over twenty four hours. For a brief moment Haley thought she saw despair. But Tommy quickly replaced it with a calm mask over his emotions. "I'm sorry," she told him.

"You should be," he replied simply. He didn't turn to look at her. If Haley'd told him that Kimberly was in Reefside, she wouldn't have been alone. He'd have been with her, and then Mesogog wouldn't have been able to kidnap her.

"Tommy," Billy stated. "Don't blame Haley."

"I don't, not really," he stated shaking his head. "I blame myself. It's my fault you all are here right now. My fault that Haley thinks I'd be better off without Kim. My fault Kim's here in the first place, alone. And my fault that she'd been kidnapped."

"I'll agree with you on a few of those," Adam told him. "But the only thing at fault for Kimberly's kidnapping is Mesogog. And you know it," he stated. He was angry. Not at Tommy, but at that creature. The only good thing was that he could morph and wouldn't have to sit on the sidelines when they did rescue her.

Tommy sighed and nodded, listening to Adam's words and actually taking them to heart. He turned to Haley. "I didn't mean what I said," he told her. "But when this is over, we're going to have to talk about you thinking you always need to protect me; It's partially my fault, too," he added, sternly. Haley's expression didn't change, but she did nod once.

"So now that we do know Mesogog has Kim," Tanya spoke up, "what do we do?"

"We can't do anything until we know where she's being held, and what Mesogog wants," Billy stated. Now that they were discussing things, he felt a bit more like his old self. He could keep his cool in a time of crisis. Once a ranger, always a ranger. The color had begun to return to all of their faces. "For now, we can only rest. I doubt we'll be successful if anyone is exhausted," he added in.

"Billy's right," Tommy stated. "I'll contact the kids and let them know that Mesogog really has Kimberly. Then all we do is wait."

"I'll go order in pizza for everyone," Haley stated, and Tommy gave her a small smile of appreciation. Adam was right; the only one at fault for this was Mesogog. He couldn't blame Haley. He'd been the one to tell Haley about the letter. He'd been the one to tell her everything about his past. He couldn't put all the blame for her not telling him about Kimberly on her. It was partially his own fault. He watched her go for a moment, before bringing his communicator to his wrist, and pressing a button.

"Connor here," Connor replied, almost instantly, as if he'd been waiting for his communicator to go off.

"You're all there, I take it," Tommy stated, knowing the four teenagers well enough. Silence was the acknowledgement he needed. "Right then. Mesogog took Kimberly from outside Cyberspace yesterday."

"So he definitely has her?" Ethan's voice came though.

"What are we going to do about it?" Kira asked.

"Nothing right now," Tommy told them, but continued before they could protest. "We don't know what he wants yet. But he'll tell us soon. She'll be ok until then."

"You'll keep us informed?" Trent asked.

"Yes," Tommy stated. "I think it's going to take all of us to get her back. Try and get some rest."

"We will," Connor stated. "You too," he commanded. Tommy smirked slightly, and nodded, knowing the teenager couldn't see him.

"I promise I'll try," he added, cutting the communication. He looked up at his friends, meeting each of their gazes. "I don't even know what to say," he started.

"There's nothing to say," Rocky told him. "We're here and we're going to get her back."

"Thanks," Tommy replied, and all five of them nodded, before they walked out the same exit as Haley to go eat something. Until Mesogog told Tommy what he wanted, there was nothing they could do about the situation.

Tanya walked out of the bathroom of the hotel room she and Adam had checked into, only to find her fiancé sitting in the arm chair, looking out the window. It was late. Not at late as it had been the previous night, but late enough that she'd expected to find him in bed. Sighing, she walked around the room's king sized bed, and over to him, laying her hand on his shoulder and pulling him out of his thoughts. Adam gave her a hesitant, welcoming smile, as he opened his arms, inviting her to him. She wrapped her arms over his shoulders, and sat down on his lap. Adam pulled her in closer.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him, and Adam shrugged in response.

"Nothing, and everything," he told her, shaking his head. "I know, it doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it does," she replied.

"You've been great through all this, you know that," he told her, kissing her forehead. "From Saturday night till now. You have flinched once."

"Adam," she laughed, "it's not like I'm a stranger to crazy," she told him. "Once a ranger, always a ranger."

"I didn't think it was going to be literal," he told her, but Tanya shook her head.

"Yes you did," she added. "Maybe not because Kim was kidnapped," she told him. "But you and I know well and good that the three of us brought our zeonizers along because we knew they'd be needed."

"I'd hoped they wouldn't," he replied simply. "But I suppose you're right. It did feel kind of good to fight alongside them again," Adam told her. "Strange as it sounds, it was like reliving my past."

"When they time traveled, it became part of your past," Tanya told him, snuggling closer. "It makes sense that you now feel like you missed fighting with them."

"It was only a few times," he laughed, "and the last time, I wasn't exactly myself."

"No," Tanya giggled, agreeing with him. "You were Kira," she chuckled. Adam couldn't help himself. Despite the blush that crept onto his cheeks, he laughed as well. "Sweety," she told him, "yellow is not your color."

"Maybe I should try pink next time," he replied. Around Tanya, he could laugh at himself. Around her, he was no longer self conscious. She knew everything about him, and it just made being with her easy. She was right, he'd waited forever to ask her out. They should have already been married. Maybe even a little one or two like Rocky and Aisha.

"Very few people can pull off pink. I doubt you're one of them," she told him, with another giggle. Adam smirked down at her, but tightened his grip on her in a hug. "Did you get to talk to Tommy last night?" she asked him. Adam nodded. "And?" she asked.

"He admitted to being an idiot," he stated. "We both apologized."

"You forgive him?"

"Yeah," he stated. "I understand him a little. It's in the past. That's where it should stay. You'll forgive him too?"

"I never really felt I had to," she stated. "He did what he thought was right. Stupid as it was, I always understood him. I'm just happy you're going to let him back in."

"You were worried I wouldn't?" Adam asked her, a bit of surprise in his voice. Tanya nodded against his chest, her head tucked under his chin. "I suppose that was a legitimate concern," he stated after a moment of thought. "But you're right. His reasons are understandable. Especially since he was kind of right. Mesogog is using Kim against him."

"But Mesogog might not know about us. If he saw the ending of your little battle this afternoon, he probably thinks the powers you and Rocky used took you out," she replied. "He might know we're here, but I doubt he's going to be expecting eight fully powered rangers."

"True," Adam stated, letting a smile cross his lips. "And that might be exactly what we need to take advantage of to get Kim back. Come on," he told her, unwrapping his arms. "We'd better get to bed. Who knows what this reunion will have in store for us tomorrow."

Connor, Kira, Ethan, and Trent were antsy the entire next day at school. They couldn't focus on their classes, always waiting for their communicator to go off and for Tommy or Haley to tell them something. That morning, right before homeroom, Tommy had assured them he would contact them immediately if anything happened. They knew the older rangers were spending the day at Tommy's house with Billy. There was no safer place for them to be. Unfortunately, their communicators didn't sound all day. So either their science teacher was hiding something, or Mesogog hadn't tried anything yet. They didn't know which option they hated the idea of more. That Tommy would hide something, or that Mesogog was biding his time.

Connor met up with his three teenage teammates in the hallway outside of their science classroom, as they regrouped for their final class of the day. "Hey," he said simply, as the four fell into step beside one another. "How are you all holding up?"

"I wish he'd just attack already," Kira complained. "Just get it over with so we can figure out what's going on."

"I know what you mean," Ethan replied, and Trent nodded. They hated the sitting around and waiting game. They felt helpless. Trent led the way into the classroom, and immediately, all four pairs of eyes landed on Tommy at his desk at the front of the room. The man was studying his cell phone, but he looked up when he felt their gaze. He met their eyes and shook his head no.

Connor scowled, and Kira gave him a slight comforting look, as the four teenagers proceeded to their seats, trying not to draw attention to the fact that they had lingered near their teacher. Just like every one of their other classes, the four teenager rangers barely paid attention. Tommy began a lecture on the evidence that dinosaurs were more closely related to birds than they were to reptiles. Ethan did his best to take notes, but they were nowhere near as detailed as they normally were. Kira spun her pencil on her notebook, casting her eyes up to the clock every so often. Trent was doodling on the edge of his notebook. Connor just stared into space, his eyes looking past Tommy as he lectured.

Granted, the four teenagers weren't the only ones distracted. Tommy found himself needing his notes more often than he usually did. His other classes had been hard to get through, considering his cell phone and communicator had remained silent all day, but now that the teenagers were in his class, and he couldn't focus at all. He felt his own anxiety and worry reflected back at him as he watched them.

The last hour of the day crawled by slower than normal for all five rangers, but finally the shrill sound of the school bell reverberated around the room. The sound was enough to snap him out of his stupor slightly. "Don't forget to read chapter 30 and answer all of the discussion questions by Friday," he told the class, although they probably didn't hear him. He turned his back on the class and went to his desk, beginning to pack up his own belongings. It didn't surprise him that the dino thunder teenagers were the last ones left in the classroom. "Stop looking at me like that," he told them, "you've been with me for the last hour. I know nothing more than you do," he added, with a bit of amusement in his voice. It would have been a lot funnier if he wasn't so scared.

"Sorry," Connor stated, running his hand through his hair. "So what now?" he asked, his expression stating he was unsure.

"I'm going back to the house. I want to check on everyone."

"We'll come," Kira stated, her three teenage teammates nodding. Tommy shook his head.

"Connor," he stated, "don't you have soccer practice? And I know Trent has work this afternoon." Both boys looked at him as if he was crazy to suggest they had other obligations. "Listen, if something happens, I swear, I'll call you, but for right now," he trailed off.

"Dr. O is right," Ethan stated, looking back and forth between Trent and Connor. "We can't just put our lives on hold. Haley, Billy, and the others are doing what they can, but we can't really do anything until Mesogog chooses to tell us more."

"I guess," Trent stated, hesitantly. He looked at Kira who nodded.

"You should go to work," Kira told him. "I'm sure Haley will let you off if the situation changes," she added. "And you're going to practice," she rounded on Connor.

"But," he started to protest. Kira shook her head at him, and Connor sighed. "Fine," he added, reluctantly. His friends laughed at him nervously. They'd never seen Connor look so dejected over the idea of playing soccer.

"What about you two?" Tommy asked Ethan and Kira. Both teenagers shrugged.

"We'll keep ourselves busy," Kira stated, indicating that she knew he wanted some more alone time with his old team. "Go on," she told him. "They'll make fun of you if you're late again," she added in, as the five members of the current ranger team left together. Tommy glared at her, but nodded. They walked with one another as far as the parking lots and then split up. Connor took off towards the soccer field, waving goodbye to his friends, while Trent made off to the student parking lot, and Tommy headed towards the faculty lot where his jeep was parked.

"Now what?" Ethan asked Kira, as the two began walking in no particular direction. "Cyberspace?" he asked her. Kira shook her head.

"If we were gonna do that, we could have grabbed a ride with Trent," she laughed, pushing her book bag higher on her shoulder. "Besides, if I go there, I'll fall further behind on my homework."

"You two have been spending a lot of time together," Ethan agreed. Kira shrugged, but smiled. "Reminds me of how Tommy, er Dr. O was with Kim back in ninety five," he laughed. "I'm surprised he hasn't gone nuts yet over this," Ethan added in, as they walked.

"I think the others being here is what is keeping him calm," Kira stated. "Well, relatively," she added.

"He's not exactly been Mr. Smooth since they got here, has he?" Ethan laughed. Kira shook her head. The two fell into a discussion over how their science teacher had been acting since his memories came back Sunday morning. He'd been a bit sulky, and definitely blushed a lot more. But they weren't exactly sure it was just because of the embarrassing things that had been said. The more they thought about it, the more they thought it had to do with how he remembered them. By this point, they'd reached the park by that point, and found a picnic table to sit at, pulling out their school books and had started working on their homework. "You know," Kira stated, "he had two weeks to get to know us as a teenager too. I don't think he can separate his two different relationships with us anymore," Kira laughed.

"You think?" Ethan asked. Kira nodded.

"I think Dr. O sees us as friends more than just his teenage students," she stated. "I don't think he knows how to handle that."

"I don't know how to handle being friends with Connor," Ethan snorted.

"Give Connor a break," Kira laughed. "He's a good leader. He cares about us."

"You think he'd ever loose contact with us like Dr. O did?" Ethan stated, nodding in agreement with her last statement. Kira shook her head.

"No," she stated. "Connor cares, and I know he wants to protect us," she stated, "but I don't think he'd take it to the extremes that Dr. O has. Especially now that he's seen what it did to Dr. O's old team."

"He's happy they're here though," Ethan stated. "Despite Mesogog grabbing Kim."

"Definitely," Kira stated. "I am too. It's a little weird. Last time we were all together, Dr. O was the odd man out. Now, I feel like we're little kids intruding on something."

"Only sometimes," Ethan stated. "They're all grown up, but they're still mostly the same. But I know what you mean," he told her.

"You think Kim will have changed much? You know when we get her back?" Kira asked him, putting her pencil down and looking up from the discussion questions for Tommy's class that she'd begun to work on.

"You won't be getting her back." Kira and Ethan both jumped, not having noticed that they weren't alone anymore. They both leapt up from the table, and fell into defensive poses, taking in the cyborg in front of them. "Unless of course, Mesogog decides to give her back."

"What do you want Zeltrax?" Ethan growled. The general was alone. No tyrannodrones, no triptoids. Just Zeltrax.

"What else would I want," Zeltrax replied, charging toward the two rangers. Kira and Ethan rolled out of the way, scrambling to their feet. Both rangers looked around, quickly, realizing that the rest of the people in the park had fled.

"Gotta morph," Kira called over her shoulder. Zeltrax was now in between them, having separated them from one another. Ethan nodded, and together they flicked their wrists, bringing them to their chests and shouting "Dino Thunder! Power Up!" The moment they were morphed, they charged toward Zeltrax.

Mesogog's general stopped both of their attacks, catching both rangers at their shoulders. He gripped them both for a second, and then tossed them both away as if they were rag dolls, laughing at them. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" he asked them.

"We're going to need back up," Ethan told Kira who nodded, and went to bring her wrist to her mouth to contact Trent, Connor, and Tommy. Zeltrax fired a blast at her, forcing Kira to postpone her action in order to avoid being hit. As it was, the blast still struck her in the side, throwing her forward.

"Not today yellow ranger," he told her. "I've got a message for you to deliver to your teammates," Zeltrax stated, as Ethan ran to Kira's aide, helping her to stand. "At sunrise tomorrow, you'll meet us at the beach and give us your dino gems. All five of them."

"Why would we do that?" Ethan growled at him, supporting Kira.

"Mesogog's offering a trade. The dino gems for the former ranger," he laughed. "Sunrise, tomorrow, beach," Zeltrax stated, before an invisiportal opened and he leapt into it.

"He's gone," Ethan stated, his face showing surprise. "I really wish Mesogog's people would stop freaking retreating."

"We've got to tell Dr. O," Kira informed him.

"Right," Ethan stated, as both rangers demorphed and grabbed their books, shoving them into their book bags, before sprinting out of the park.

So this is probably the last update for the weekend. Like I said, I'm reworking chapter 38 because I really wasn't happy with how it was developing. Probably have another chapter for you around Wednesday. Hope you enjoyed.

Fateless