Jason knew they were walking past a large group of people with chaotic energy all around them, yet he found he couldn't stop looking at the girl next to him. Seeing this Kimberly, somehow struck him as more strange and confusing than even seeing the alternate version of his own self.
Jason surmised this was because he knew how to feel about the dark version of himself. He was evil and his feelings matched accordingly. With this version of Kimberly though things were different. It was the woman he loved, his oldest friend, except... it wasn't.
Jason noted how Kimberly's eyes moved around to all the different people seemingly seeing if there was anyone she could immediately help. He smiled. She hadn't spoken much as they walked along the streets of the broken neighborhood. Just allowed him to explain where he was from and who he was.
"So..." She spoke and commanded Jason's full attention. "He is in your timeline?"
"Yeah, he and Zedd," Jason answered as the two moved in unison up on a sidewalk and down a path leading to the Angel Grove park.
"And you made it out alive?" Kim continued as she made eye contact with him for the first time since they began their walk.
"I did..." Jason answered with a nod.
"And everyone else?" Kim inquired as the two rounded a bin that was all too familiar to Jason, even if he was not in his own world anymore. He smiled briefly seeing the Juice Bar way off in the distance. Kimberly stopped and he instinctively did so as well. He realized she was waiting for an answer to her question.
"Everyone is still alive," Jason finally answered her. She furrowed her brow and shook her head slightly. "The other Rangers I mean."
"So..." Kim ran a hand through her hair and shifted her feet. "Why are you here again?"
"He has continuously overpowered us, the Turbo Rangers... you have those powers here right?" Jason asked. Kim nodded. "Also the original team, we got our powers restored but so far we have been unable to stop them."
"So far?" Kim questioned.
"The battle is still going on... when I left both teams were set up to guard the Power Chamber," Jason explained. Kim turned and began walking again, slowly and not putting much distance between them before turning to him again.
"So why are you here?" Kim asked.
"For you," Jason answered. Kim's expression was one of confusion tinged with fear.
"What do you mean?" Jason stepped closer to her, noting the slight flinch when he did so. He chose to ignore how that made him feel for sake of continuing the conversation.
"We need your help," Jason stated. Kim shook her head and started to walk away from him. He moved to keep up with her. "Hey..."
She stopped as he moved to stand slightly in front of her. He watched her for a moment to see if she would look at him. He tentatively reached a hand out to hold hers. No recoil and instead she moved her gaze up to him.
"We... I think..." Jason began to speak.
"Come with me," Kim cut him off to his surprise and there was silence for a moment before Jason nodded.
(****)
"Why isn't it coming any closer?" Adam asked as he pointed in the distance at the hulking presence of Serpentera.
"I don't know, but everyone stay alert," Tommy answered looking around at the army of Rangers on all sides of him.
"Don't worry, I have no desire to sneak attack you," The voice from the middle of the group sent chills down Tommy's spine as he turned to see the dark reflection of his best friend standing with his arms crossed staring directly at him. All the Rangers moved into defense mode as they began to slowly circle around their unmorphed foe. Dark Jason smirked.
"I must admit though... the voices in my head... they don't care if things are fair," Jason made a small move toward Tommy. The other Rangers started to move but Tommy held his hand up for them to stop as he allowed Jason to get in his face. "What are the voices telling you, Tommy?"
"Why are you doing this?" Tommy asked, ignoring the taunt. "You have got to fight it."
"Like you did?" Dark Jason countered back raising his eyebrows. "If it wasn't for me... you'd have taken out my whole team with no remorse."
"No..." Tommy's response was quiet as he felt anger welling up in him.
"You deny it?" Dark Jason questioned.
"I couldn't..." Tommy stopped glancing around to avoid staring directly into the dark eyes directly in front of him.
"Yet you set here and ask me to do something you couldn't," Dark Jason chuckled. "Of course there are a lot of things I have always been able to do that you couldn't."
"Really?" Tommy mentally scolded himself for being taunted and giving in. He clenched his fists.
"Yeah... for one thing..." Dark Jason moved an inch closer. "If I hadn't decided to step down from the team... none of this would be happening."
"Alright, that is enough!" Zack stepped up next to Tommy. Dark Jason turned to him. "You got anything you want to say to me?"
"Nope," Dark Jason said as he put his hands up and stepped back before crossing them again. He glanced around at all the Rangers. "The only thing I will do..."
They watched as Jason opened his hand and revealed the Tyrannosaurus coin. He closed his hand around it and soon he was clad in the Red Ranger suit.
"I am going to give you all a chance to surrender your Morphers to me and go on home," Dark Jason continued. "Live your lives in peace and forget all about ever being Rangers."
"You are delusional," Rocky spoke up shaking his head.
"You have my word that we will be out of here as soon as we have the power," Dark Jason said, ignoring directly responding to Rocky.
"No chance of that, buddy," Adam answered him.
"What say you, Oliver?" Dark Jason questioned with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You know me... you know what my answer is," Tommy answered him stepping a few steps closer to him.
"Yeah... yeah, I guess I do," Jason replied before swiftly connecting with a kick to the Red Turbo Ranger's chest that sent him tumbling back across the sand and rock. Dark Jason grinned as the rest of the Rangers began to close in on him.
(****)
"Where are we...?" Jason started to question Kim as she had been leading him toward the city for some time now. He stopped though when after they reached the top of a hill she pointed in front of them. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
Before him lay the crumpled and wrecked heap of both two Megazords. He cursed as he followed her down the hill. There were pieces of individual Zords strown about leading all the way up into the heart of the city as best he could tell. She stopped and began to run her hand over one in particular.
"You..." Jason paused as he looked along the length of the Pterodactyl Zord in front of him. "You got your powers back too?"
"Mhmm," Kim answered turning her back to the Zord and facing him. "It didn't matter."
Jason walked up to her and placed his hands on either of her shoulders.
"Listen..." He began to soothe her.
"You don't get it," Kim cut him off, her tone more forceful. "He took everything from me... they are gone..."
"Everyone?" Jason swallowed a lump in his throat.
"We were fighting and I never saw the first blast coming but the second and third I watched as it hit them... and it just kept hitting them..." Kim began to recount. Her words coming faster as she went on. "I rolled clear and ducked behind my Zord and I saw them all taking direct hits from Serpentera... after... it seemed like forever, everything went quiet..."
Kim crossed her arms in a motion Jason recognized as trying to comfort herself.
"It... they left and then I went to them," Kim continued as a tear rolled down her cheek. "There was nothing... there was no one... just this."
Kim gestured around them and then made eye contact with Jason. Her watery eyes were more than Jason could take as he felt his own welling up.
"I'm so sorry..." Jason spoke softly, his voice nearly betraying the strong front he was holding onto. He moved to embrace her and was comforted by the fact she allowed him to. He held her for several moments as he glanced around and fully took in the carnage around him.
"So..." Kim's voice was above a whisper and if Jason hadn't felt her breath on his neck he might not have even noticed she spoke. He broke the embrace and waited for her to continue." I don't know what you think I can do... but I have nothing to give..."
Jason studied her intently as he tried hard to find a way to appropriately and sensitively broach the topic of why he came to get her.
"He um..." Jason hesitated. "He spared you."
Kim shook her head, not sure what direction Jason was going.
"I mean... he could have..." Jason stopped himself. The words didn't feel right to say.
"He killed them all... he is a monster and he knew that I couldn't do anything on my own," Kim dismissed Jason's words.
"I don't think that is all there was," Jason countered.
"What are you saying?" Kim asked bluntly.
"I think for some reason he spared you," Jason reacted.
"What reason?" Kim threw her hands up.
"I..." Jason stopped. "I don't think he could bring himself to..."
"But for them he could?" Kim gestured once again to the broken Zords around them.
"I...I... can't explain his actions fully," Jason replied. "I just know that for whatever reason you are still here."
Kim folded her arms and shook her head.
"Do you still have your coin?" Jason asked. Kim waited for a bit before nodding in the affirmative.
"It is useless though... all the power is gone," Kim stated. Jason walked past her to move into the middle of the heap of Zords. He walked over to what would be the cockpit of the Mastadon. He knelt down and looked inside. He studied it for a moment before turning back to Kim who was looking off in the distance, seemingly in an effort to avoid looking at any of the remnants of the battle.
Jason raised his eyebrow slightly as he examined the Zord interior more closely. It was a movement from Kim behind him that broke his concentration and he turned to see her walking away, back in the direction they had come. Jason stood up and moved after her.
"Hey," Jason called to her after reaching a few paces behind her. She glanced back at him. "Listen..."
"I can't help you," Kim cut him off. Jason picked up his pace to move in front of her. She stopped and looked up at him. He locked gazes with her before moving it back up to the wreckage and then back to her.
"I understand," Jason said. Kim cocked her head at him. "I can't force you to go back and help and honestly..."
Jason shrugged.
"I don't want to put you in more danger..." Jason confessed. Kim watched him with a sense of curiosity and felt warm feelings for him rising up in her. He was just like him. Like him before the change.
"I just... I don't know if we can overpower him..." Jason continued. "So I know that he... that I have one really big weakness and I thought maybe... maybe he was like me."
"Weakness?" Kim asked moving closer to him to get his attention to her. It worked and he made eye contact with her.
"Yeah..." Jason responded. "The same thing nearly happened to me... if not for you and Trey coming to save me... but before you did I felt the same energy he did and I know what it was telling me to say and do..."
Jason took a deep breath as he glanced back at the downed Zords.
"I don't know how... but despite myself, I know that I would have done the same thing... I couldn't stop myself," Jason said. His eyes moved back to Kim. "Yet... with all those dark thoughts and everything going on in my head... there was something that... something I couldn't ignore."
"What?" Kim asked, hanging on his words.
"The thing that kept just nagging at the dark thoughts, the thing that wouldn't let them be at peace... that resisted them," Jason took another deep breath. "Was you."
"Me?" Kim shook her head.
"From my time... my world... you there," Jason explained. "I kept thinking about you, I kept hearing your voice... even as my body moved to hurt you, my mind... my heart, Kimberly could only think about what I felt for you... the fact that I love you."
Kimberly felt like time was frozen as the words left Jason's lips. She was trying so hard to process them rationally but she wasn't sure she was understanding it the way he meant it.
"Love me... her... you love her?" Kim finally formulated a question.
"I do," Jason answered.
"Love?" Kim was searching for clarification.
"Yes," Jason's reply was blunt, with no sugar-coating but it was exactly what Kim needed to hear to put it all in perspective.
"You mean on your world, you are in love with me?" Kim asked as she stepped a step closer.
"Yes... I am..." Jason smiled for the first time in a while. "We are in love with each other."
Kim walked toward and then past him as she came next to a tree and placed a hand upon it absentmindedly running it over the rough bark. Jason turned to her and waited for her to speak. He wanted her to be the one to continue the conversation as he was unsure how she was processing the news.
"Here... we aren't..." Kim spoke without turning to Jason. "I mean... I love him and he loves me but I..."
Kim didn't finish but turned to Jason. She eyed him for a moment.
"Do you think he feels... or felt the way you do?" Kim questioned. Jason shook his head.
"I don't know... he has said some things... and then when I found out you were spared," Jason tried his best to explain his reasoning. "I just thought maybe... for whatever reason here... maybe he felt it but..."
"He never said anything to me... ever," Kim finished for him.
"Well..." Jason searched for how to continue. "It wasn't easy for me to accept what I felt either and do anything so I get it... maybe the timing was never right here, or the circumstances."
Kim turned to rest her back to the tree.
"Maybe not," Kim responded, her mind racing.
"And then of course... maybe he knew you didn't feel the same way," Jason suggested with a small shrug. Kim made eye contact with him again as he offered her an unsure smile.
"Maybe..." Kim replied. There were several beats of silence between them before Jason walked up and past her. He turned.
"I won't ask you to come with me..." Jason began. "I understand now that things are different and I don't want to put you through anything else."
Jason summoned his Golden Power Staff.
"I promise though, that I will do whatever I can to avenge them," Jason said nodding in the direction they had left. "I hope there is a way to do it without..."
Jason stopped before raising his staff in the air.
"Wait," Kim spoke just before it began to glow. Jason lowered it. "I'll come with you."
