Kim was still coming down from the high of feeling a morph and teleportation again when she opened her eyes and they widened in horror at the scene in front of her. Putties clouded her vision on every side. A sea of ominous gray that overwhelmed her senses.
A groan from behind her that sounded way too familiar for her liking broke her attention from the army surrounding her. She quickly spun just in time to catch a glimpse of Jason having a lid to a sinister-looking device slammed over him. She quickly surveyed the scene and clenched her fists.
"Hey!" Kim called out. Her anger overriding any concern she might have otherwise had for her well being. It was then all eyes focused solely on her. She took a step forward. "Let him go Zedd."
"Well... long time no see Pink Ranger," Zedd responded as she squared his body to face her fully. "I am afraid I can't do what you are asking though."
Kim saw the pod Jason was in glowing from within with energy and she held her hands out, praying her trusty weapon would still appear for her. She smiled as she saw the pink energy form her bow. She took a quick and aim and fired at the pod. Her heart sunk as she watched Goldar slash her arrow out of the air with his sword with a low growl.
Kimberly was on instinct now as she charged at the pod. She just had to get to it and try to get him out. She felt arms gripping her and turned to see the gray army had descended on her and was trying to hold her back. She used all of her strength to throw as many of them off her as she could. They eventually overwhelmed her and brought her down to one knee. She looked up helplessly as the pod remained just out of reach.
"Let me go!" Kimberly screamed between grunts of trying to break free.
A loud explosion came from behind the army of putties and caused them to scatter. Kimberly fell onto her hands and turned just in time to see Trey running up to her with a large gun of some sort still smoking in his hands.
"Trey... we got to get him out," Kimberly said as he reached her and helped her to her feet. He nodded even as Goldar stepped in front of them and swung his sword in a warning.
"Get to him... I'll distract them," Trey replied as he stepped in front of Kim and the blaster in his hand transformed into a golden sword not too dissimilar to the one Goldar was wielding.
"You stand no chance," Goldar sneered as he charged Trey, and the two engaged in a sword battle. Kim glanced behind them to see Zedd peering down into the pod. She summoned her bow and fired another arrow, this one exploding hard into Zedd's back.
Kim was slightly disheartened when he didn't go down and instead turned and fired a blast back at her with his staff. She managed to dodge it and roll clear dispatching a few stray putties in the same motion. She stood up and ran towards the pod again.
"It's too late for him Pink Ranger, you should save yourself," Zedd taunted as he fired a couple more blasts at Kimberly's feet impeding her path.
"Don't play with her... end her," Rita said stepping up from behind Zedd and firing a blast with evil intention directly at Kimberly's head. Kimberly dropped to the ground face-first in order to avoid the contact. She stole a glance at the pod that was glowing brighter now. She cursed as she got to her feet and went into a series of flips to throw off her enemies.
"Be still!" Rita screeched as she blasted away in a blind rage, tearing the ground up but never hitting her intended target. She was eventually surprised to see a white boot rise up from beneath her chin and make contact sending her stumbling back into her husband.
Kim was satisfied the blow bought her enough time as she scrambled over to the pod and tried to yank the door open. To her dismay, it would not budge. She yelled in frustration before producing her blade blaster and striking the glass as hard as she could. One strike. A crack. Two strikes. The shattering sound music to her ears.
A blast of energy knocked Kimberly backward. She landed and quickly rolled over and reached up into the pod feeling a burning pain engulf her body as she grabbed Jason's prone body and pulled him as hard as he could. His body came tumbling out, landed on her, and rolled out of her grasp.
"Jason!" Kimberly called out to him as she crawled over and took his helmeted head into her hands. The energy crackling over his body ceased and she reached for the clamps on the helmet to remove it. A large hand engulfed hers and yanked her up to her feet.
"You fool!" Zedd bellowed his voice shrill to Kimberly that close to him. He moved his hand to her throat and began to squeeze. Kimberly began to hit his arm with all her might but he didn't release his grip but continued to squeeze. Kim looked for Trey but saw him being thrown to the ground by Goldar.
A groan from beneath Kimberly prompted Zedd to become distracted enough for her to wiggle herself from his grasp and roll away from him. She fought losing consciousness as she tried to regain some air. She glanced up and saw Zedd standing over Jason's body.
She felt her heart jump a little as he began to move his arms. Zedd stepped back and focused his direction towards Finster who was standing nearby.
"Was it enough?" Zedd asked.
"I am not sure," Finster responded.
Zedd refocused his attention on Jason who was moving more now. Zedd reached out a hand for him. Kimberly felt her heart sink when she saw Jason reach for him and allow himself to be helped up.
"No," Kimberly's voice was barely audible as she got to her feet. She barely noticed Trey join her side as he too watched the scene in front of him.
Zedd turned to face both of them as the Gold Ranger straightened his posture. He shook his head a few times.
"You were too late," Zedd taunted over at Kimberly. "You have lost him to us."
"This is bad..." Trey spoke as he gripped his sword tight. He turned to Kim. "It... it's too late we got to get back and warn Zordon."
Kimberly shook her head.
"No... no..." Kim said. "It can't be too late... we can't just leave him."
"I understand how you feel but..." Trey responded.
"I don't think you do," Kimberly said as she took a glance over at him before turning back to Jason. She took a deep breath and began to approach him. A group of putties began to cut her off but a dismissive wave from Zedd cleared her path. She watched as Zedd took a few steps back and planted the sharp end of his staff in the ground and allowed her to approach.
She was within a few feet of him now. So close she could hear his heavy breathing under the costume. She stopped when she was close enough to touch him.
"Jason," Her voice was soft even as she kept herself at the ready for what might happen. It was not her first encounter with a loved one gone evil. She reached up and put a hand on the golden armor surrounding his chest. "Talk to me..."
No response from him prompted her to become bolder. She reached up and unclasped her helmet. She slowly removed it and allowed it to fall to the ground. She glanced at Zedd and Rita and saw the satisfied smile on Rita's face. She took another deep breath and reached tentatively up to the helmet covering Jason's head.
She jumped when Jason's hand moved up to clasp around her wrist. She heard Trey moving in from behind her but she held up her hand for him to stop. Although Jason had gripped her it was not tight. She continued to move both of their hands towards his face. Her fingers reached the clasp on the left side of his helmet and she clicked it open.
Jason tightened his grip momentarily as it released before he lowered his hand completely. Kimberly wasted no time to in undoing the other side and then calmed herself as she reached both hands up to clasp his helmet as it made her more vulnerable now. She lifted it from his hand moved it up and over so she could see him.
She held a gasp as she saw the red flashing from his eyes. His face was twisting somewhere between sinister and confused. Kim tossed his helmet down next to hers.
"Jason... please... look at me," Kimberly implored him. A low growl from deep in his chest frightened but did not deter her. "Please... I know you are still in there."
"I..." Jason started to respond. The low register of it disheartened her. She shook her head.
"Please... you have to fight it," Kim said as she reached down and took one of his hands in hers.
"No..." Jason spoke. Kimberly embraced him as hard she could.
"Please," Kim was now practically begging.
"You..." Jason began. For a moment his regular voice broke through and Kimberly felt her heart swell she pulled back to look up at him. The red left his eyes and he looked down at her. "You have to get away from here... I can't stop this."
"Jason... no..." Kim shook her head feeling a tear welling up. "Fight it... I know you can... you can!"
"I am... but..." Jason stopped. His eyes flickered red.
"Kimberly!" Trey's voice rang out from behind Kim and she glanced to her side just in time to see Jason's hand come up over her head and start to come down. She heard a blast over her head and the impact knocked her away from Jason. She glanced up to see him stagger backward with the Golden Power Staff gripped firmly in his hand.
"No!" She didn't want to believe what was happening. She fought the urge to run to him again even as another blast from Tray's blaster hit Jason squarely in the chest dislodging his footing again.
She saw Jason reach down and pick up his helmet and put it back on as he squared up to take another blast. This one he knocked aside with his staff.
"Don't make me do this," Kimberly said quietly as she retrieved her helmet and then her bow. She watched as Jason began to charge Trey who was in the process of converting his blaster to a sword once more to block the blow from the staff coming down at his head.
Kim saw he wasn't going to make it in time and she fired an arrow that exploded in Jason's back. He lowered his arms and squared his posture. He cocked his head and turned it over his shoulder at Kimberly. He started to turn but delivered a powerful kick to Trey's chest that knocked him to the ground.
"Jason... please... stop!" Kim called out to him as she moved into a defensive stance as Jason fully turned to her. "You don't want to do this and neither do I."
Jason didn't respond and instead charged at her. She barely had time to roll clear to miss a flying kick from him. She landed and found he was already on her again. She threw a kick designed to put distance between them but found her foot connecting with his chest only served to knock her back off balance and she fell down and found herself looking up at Jason as he moved to stand over her.
She let out a startled cry as he knelt down and clutched her by the throat and lifted her to her feet. He pulled her in close to him to their helmets were almost touching. Kimberly felt her heart breaking as she realized what he was about to do. She leaned forward and allowed her helmet to rest on his.
"I love you," Kimberly said as she felt his grip on her neck momentarily loosen. The words seem to hang in the air over them for a fleeting moment before his grip tightened again and she felt herself being slammed into the unforgiving ground beneath them.
If all the air had not been knocked out of her his quick movement of jerking her back off the ground and tossing her effortlessly through the air into the side of a nearby hill would have stolen her breath.
Kimberly felt sharp pains all over her body as it crumpled down to the ground. She had never felt such strength. She summoned her bow but could barely raise it and it get off a shot before falling flat-faced again. She saw Jason catch the arrow and break it in his hands. She pushed up from the ground and to her knees and moved her hands out in front of her.
Jason walked towards her and called for the golden staff once more. It appeared on cue and he began to charge it with golden energy as he approached her. Kimberly tried to stand but felt woozy. She found herself introspectively asking if she was a fool to come here. She knew the answer. Yes, she was. But she knew she could never make any other choice. She had to try to save him. She closed her eyes as he reached striking range and raised the staff.
The blow should have hit her within seconds but Kimberly felt nothing. She opened her eyes to see him still standing over with the staff raised over his head. He seemed frozen but she could hear his breathing behind the mask.
"God... no..." Jason's voice came from beneath the helmet. "I am sorry... I can't..."
It was him. It was Jason. Really Jason. His tone but with anguish corrupting its normal soothing quality. She reached up to him. Both were startled when another hand reached out from behind and grabbed the staff. Kim glanced behind Jason to see Trey.
There was a flash of blinding light that engulfed both of them and Kimberly shielded her eyes. When she lowered her arms she saw Jason's unmorphed body fall to the ground in front of her with a Gold Ranger standing behind him clasping the staff.
"What?" Kim was confused but she instinctively crawled over and put her hands on Jason in an attempt to roll him over. She kept one eye on the Gold Ranger. "Is that you Trey?"
"Yes... the power is reclaimed," Trey responded as he knelt down to help her roll Jason over. Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief momentarily before she saw the state of Jason. "Is he?"
"He still has a pulse," Kim said as she took his wrist in her hand. She was trying to avoid panic mode as she glanced behind Trey to see Goldar approaching.
"You have got to get him to wake up, you know what to do," Trey said as she reached his hand out and took Kimberly's free hand in it. With his other one, he placed something in it. She closed her hand around it and nodded. "He will die without it."
With that, Trey stood up to face the army approaching them. He moved to meet them head-on.
"Jason... baby... you have got to open your eyes..." Kim said as she moved her hands up to his head and tried to gently shake him awake. "Please... please..."
A groan from him prompted her to go still as she watched his eyes flutter slightly.
"Jason, can you hear me?" Kim asked.
"Kim?" His voice was weak and she barely heard it above the battle raging behind her.
"I'm here... can you open your eyes?" Kim inquired. She smiled as he did so. No red, just the dark pools she got lost in so often. "I need you to try to sit up."
"I..." Jason began he stopped and looked up at her. He moved a hand up to rest it on her cheek. "I am sor..."
"It's okay... don't... you couldn't help it," Kim replied as his hand wiped away some blood and tears from her cheek.
"I couldn't..." Jason shook his head.
"Can you stand?" Kim asked as she shook her head, wanting to refocus them.
"I think..." Jason took a deep breath and started to sit up. He got halfway and started to collapse again. Kim moved her arm under him and helped him get all the way up to a sitting position. It was then Jason saw the Gold Ranger fighting valiantly against overwhelming odds.
"Listen to me..." Kim tried to compose herself. "Trey says you..."
She hesitated as she couldn't bring herself to say the words.
"I am dying," Jason finished for her. He felt it.
"This is the only way..." Kim said as she reached her hand out to him and opened it. The gold sparkled as she did so. He glanced up at her and back down at her open hand.
"I don't think..." Jason began before he nearly lost consciousness.
"You have to try," Kimberly said, gently shaking him back to himself. He reached his hand up and clasped it over the object in hers. There was a flash of pink mixed with red electricity as their hands met. "Say it."
"T...t..." Jason stuttered as things went black for him again. A gentle shake brought him back around again. And with the last energy he believed he had remaining, he said a word he hadn't in years. "Tyrannosaurus"
Kimberly beamed with hope and pride as she watched the transformation take place her in arms. The familiar red suit never looked as good. She felt Jason's body stiffen in her arms and he moved free from her grip to stand on his own. She let out a small laugh of joy as she stood up to face him.
"Better?" Kim asked reaching a hand up to place it on his chest.
"It's perfect," Jason replied. "Once more for old time's sake?"
"Yes please," Kim replied before the two ran to stand next to Tray's side. All three brandished their weapons as Zedd's army retreated slightly upon seeing their new foe.
"No... this can't be happening," Zedd muttered as he saw the sight in front of him.
"You okay?" Jason asked glancing over at Tray. He turned to him.
"I am now," Trey replied. "It's good to see you again."
"Same," Jason responded.
"We can't teleport out, something on this island is jamming the signal... it was hell just getting in," Trey explained the predicament to Jason. "I think we got to get through them to find out what is jamming it."
"Good," Jason said. "I owe them."
"Right... so let's do this?" Kim suggested.
"Let's," Trey agreed. They waited for Jason's signal and then the three charged together.