***************************Billy, Kim, Adam and Justin's room****************
"Adam? What do we do?" Justin asked, his voice very quiet. Kimberly's screams for Tommy to save them had stopped but now she was crying and sobbing. Her body shaking like an autumn leaf in the winter wind. It scared him.
Broken... something inside Kimberly had broken. They all could feel it. Something in the room had changed, like the air before a storm.
"Poor Kim..." Skull whispered. He hated seeing her like this, a shell of herself.
"Don't just stand there. Go to her you idiot." Bulk hissed at Adam.
"What? Why me? You've known her longer." Not that he didn't want to help but what would he say to the hysterical girl?
Bulk looked away sadly. "Because she doesn't needs toys right now or a kid." His eyes flicked to Justin then back to Adam. "She needs you."
Something inside Adam's heart broke at that statement. Bulk was right. He was being a coward. God, when had he become so selfish? Just letting her cry like this? Adam started over to her. "Kim?" he called softly.
She didn't acknowledge him. Not even when he sat down beside her on the floor. He reached out to touch her shoulder but stopped with a thought... she had been touched too much today... and against her will.
Adam frowned. He was so dumb. Billy had been right, they were practically strangers. And he was her slave. Kimberly had been nothing but decent to him and clearly he had foolishly over stepped. Adam opened his mouth, he had to apologize "Kim? I..."
Kimberly threw herself into Adam, clutching at his chest while sobbing hot tears into his black tee shirt. Very carefully, Adam encircled her with his arms, rubbing gentle circles on her back. "Hey... it's okay. It's okay. Come on back to us Kim. We need you." He whispered soft reassurances and let her cry until her eyes held no more water.
She sniffed, rubbed her runny nose with the back of her hand before finally pulling out of his lap. "Sorry."
"No Kim, I should apologize for everything. I was being too friendly. I know I over stepped. Justin and I, we live or die by what you or Billy say or think and..." Adam was cut off mid- ramble by a finger to his lip.
Kimberly shook her head. "You're my friend Adam, so is Justin and Bulk and Skull. You didn't do anything wrong. No one did. Well except Billy. I don't know what's wrong with him." She got to her feet and noticed Justin bending over something. "Justin, what have you got there?"
"I didn't touch it!" Justin shouted from his place on the floor, examining what Billy had dropped.
"It's okay, I'm not mad at you. Never could be." She smiled before her eyes fell on the round golden object. "Alpha!?"
A red light flashed, making Justin jump back slightly. "K...K...K...Kim...Power levels critical."
"It's a talking tin can!" Skull shouted from the bed.
"Whose Alpha?" Adam asked.
"He's our robot friend. He helped run the command center. Where we did ranger stuff from." Kim was on the ground beside the robot head. "I have no idea how to plug you in Alpha."
"Power at... 3%..."
"Justin, can't you help?" Bulk asked.
Adam and Kimberly both blinked, at the round wooden toy. "Justin's just a kid." Adam said.
Bulk shook his head. "He's a genius, probably just as smart as Billy."
Both Adam and Kimberly looked at Justin in a new light. The boy in blue blushed a bit. "Well I mean... I'm not that smart."
Kimberly picked up Alpha 5's head. "Help me fix him? Please Justin?"
There was a spark of blue in the boy's eyes as he nodded. "Bring him over to Billy's stuff. I think I saw a matching power conductor."
Kimberly watched Justin go to work. He absolutely was a pint sized Billy. She couldn't even begin to follow what he was saying and doing. "There, he should have enough power now to..."
"Kimberly! Oh thank the stars you are alright! Ai-Yi-Yi-Yi!"
"Oh Alpha its good to see you to. What's been happening? What did happen? To the command center and to Zordon?"
Alpha 5 went quiet for a long moment. "Is it... safe to talk?"
"Oh!" Kimberly exclaimed, "I'm sorry. This is Adam, Justin, Bulk and Skull. " She sighed. "And yes they know I'm a... er... was a power ranger."
So Alpha began to talk about all he remembered. He spoke of Zordon and how he was still alive in his crystal dimension. That brought a smile to Kimberly's face, albeit a small one. When Alpha was done Kimberly began her story. About the fall of the earth, of Billy, of Jason's death, about how she was treated, meeting the others and of Tommy coming. Of course she did her best to keep her story PG. After all, Justin didn't need to know everything.
"But something's wrong with Billy. Can you get a message to Zordon? I... don't know what to do." Kimberly admitted.
There was a warm smile in the robots voice as a beam of light shown on Kimberly. "Recording now."
"Hi Zordon. It's Kimberly. I need help..."
***********************Falcon Zord****************************
"Tommy are you alright?" Katherine asked. Tommy had left the dinner table so abruptly that Katherine had gone after him.
"No. I feel like my heart is breaking."
Katherine's face went pale. "I'll get the others!" She turned to run for help when Tommy snagged her arm.
"No, its not... It's nothing wrong. Just a feeling." His eyes gazed back out at the locked hanger doors. His heart was aching. It was as if Kimberly's very soul was calling for him. "We have to get in there Kat."
"I know but without the door code..."
Tommy growled and hit the glass falcon eye with his fist. "I know but Kimberly is right in there. She's right there, calling for me and I can't help her! Damn it! Kimberly!" Tommy shouted, knowing that she would never hear him, could never hear him.
She might already be dead by now.
"What's wrong?" Rocky rushed in, clearly ready for a fight with Aisha and Ninjor hot at his heels.
Tommy flushed red with embarrassment. "Nothing, just frustrated." he said turning his back to the group. "Are you sure you can't remember the code Ninjor?"
"I'm afraid not yet." Ninjor's shoulders dropped sadly.
"Too bad its not something easy like 'speak friend and enter.'" Aisha said.
"Aisha, what did you say?" Ninjor asked straightening up.
"Speak friend and enter? Its from Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien."
"Mellon!"
"Yeah that was the word. How did you know?" Aisha asked but Ninjor was already at the controls typing. The symbols on the outside of the hanger began to turn, bit of collected moon dust fluttering away and the doors began to open. "Your friend Tolkien was quite clever Aisha to know the ancient language of the moon people."
Aisha simply nodded. More questions than answers in her head.
"Alright gang, let's get the falcon inside and see what we have to work with." Tommy commanded. I'm coming Kimberly, he promised. Hoping in his heart that somehow she would hear him.
**************************Dark arena****************************
The ranger of nightmares did another set of kicks and back flips. The putties sent to spar with him were no match at all. Plies of clay lay strewn about the area. "Come on! Is this all we have? I need a challenge!" he shouted, knowing well that high above this little arena Goldar and a few other monsters would be watching. "Come on!"
"You go!"
"No You!"
"Well someone has to fight him."
"How about you?" Goldar smirked, tripping one of Finster's newly made and fully formed monster over the top, sending it into the pit where Billy was waiting.
"Now wait a second." The monster shouted as it got to its crab like legs. "Hold on! I'm not ready!"
Billy said nothing. There was a flash and a scream. The monster who had just been standing was no more. Cut to ribbons, blood splattering on his chest and helmet. But the nightmare ranger paid it no mind. "Another. Give me another!"