"Kimberly? Why on Earth would we need Kimberly," Over the various sounds of whiring devices and beeping computers, Katherine's voice sounded almost small, as she asked her question. Climbing to her feet she rose from her spot beside Tommy on his sick bed and descended the small stairs toward the main area of the Command Center. All eyes turned toward her, it was as if everyone else in the room had forgotten she was even there.
Suddenly faced with having to admit the truth that they had all felt from the beginning, seemed so hard to the pure hearted and honest teens. For months they had kept their opinions to themselves about Tommy and Kat's relationship. Bit their tongues about how it had seemed a bit too convenient and more like a matter of opportunity than romance. They had all known that their leader hadn't been truly the same since Kimerbly had left for Florida and that even his relationship with the agile Australian hadn't seemed to bring him back to his old self. They had kept quiet out of respect for Tommy and his choices, and because they hadn't wanted to hurt Kat.
But now… Now it seemed they had no choice.
Swallowing down the parts of him that didn't want to break his friend's heart was a bit easier for Billy than it likely would be for the rest of the Rangers. He had above all things the ability to look at a situation from the outside, breaking it down to Science and Math, facts and figures. To remove emotion from the problem and decipher the best way to solve it. In this moment, when explaining his idea to Katherine, he had to take their friendship out of the equation to do what was best for Tommy, "Kimberly was his first love, Katherine. I don't believe that love necessarily ended with their breakup. Or Tommy's subsequent romance with you,"
From the very first moment she had laid eyes on Tommy Oliver, Katherine Hilliard had been incredibly possessive of the White Ranger. And while she would have liked to blame that selfish emotion on the ministrations of Rita and the spell she was under, the pretty blonde knew that wouldn't be entirely honest. Her jealousy of Kim and Tommy's relationship had been real from the beginning. The handsome martial artists had been so friendly and kind. And those sexy dark eyes and amazing smile had caught her attention from the off.
No perhaps she wouldn't have gone to the length she had to destroy Kimberly and win Tommy for her own without Rita's manipulation. Though she probably would have done her best to flirt and insinuate her way between them more subtly. The seed of resentment had been there already, just waiting to be exploited by the evil witch for her own twisted gain.
With Kim gone however it didn't ease Kat's possessiveness at all. In fact, now that she had Tommy as her own, she was even more territorial than ever, "So you think, Tommy loves Kimberly more than me," She asked, her accent deepened by the emotion that bubbled under the surface of her heroic facade.
"I think," Adam broke in trying to defuse the situation before there could be one, "What Billy is trying to say is that Tommy loves you differently than he loves Kimberly," Being sure to emphasize the word differently to stress that they weren't comparing or weighing their leader's feelings for either girl. All they cared about was doing what they had to, to get their friend better.
"But after all she did to him. Leaving him here to move away to Florida… Breaking up with him by a letter. Cheating on him," Remarked Kat, her posture becoming more tense.
This time it was Rocky's turn to try to convince their Pink Ranger that they needed to exhaust all options, and at that moment, Kim was their best, "Kat you didn't see Tommy when Kimberly was losing her powers. He was a mess thinking he was going to lose her,"
Though it went unspoken every man, woman, machine and morphological being in that room, knew exactly who it had been that nearly cost the White Ranger his girlfriend, and Kim her life. Something Rocky hoped would jolt Katherine into agreeing, even if it was out of guilt, "He would have done anything and did, to make sure she got better. Don't you want to do the same for him,"
And there it was. The truth was laid out on the line. Not exactly too subtly either. If she chose to fight them on this, the Rangers' would respect her wishes, Kat knew that. With Tommy still in his slumber, they wouldn't be able to afford dissension in the ranks. But she also knew they would never forgive her if their leader didn't recover. She would never forgive herself.
What pushed Katherine over the edge however was when Zordon spoke. The holographic being which had always seemed more like a video game than a person to her, revealed a moment of human emotion, "After all Tommy has done for the world, don't we owe him every chance,"
"Alright," Spoke the Aussie in a voice that showed she was resigning to her fate. If she allowed Tommy to remain under Rita's spell simply because of her own insecurities, she would be a terrible girlfriend. However if it took the kiss of another to awaken her Prince Charming, maybe she was one already. And should the outcome be the most awful of possible options and Kimberly couldn't save him, at least Kat would know they tried, "Find Kim, get her here. Just save Tommy,"
Suddenly the Command Center was once again alive with noise, as Alpha and Billy began flipping switches,pushing buttons and tapping on every keyboard they could find. Lights were flashing, things were spinning and it appeared that every system in the was running, "Ay yi yi yi yi. It is easier said than done, Pink Ranger. Without a power coin or communicator tracking Kimberly is very difficult, we will have to do a sweep through the entire Morphing Grid,"
"Not necessarily Alpha," Aisha said with a smile, "We know Kim's in Florida, that should cancel out a great chunk of the search area," Granted Florida wasn't exactly a small place, but the Yellow Ranger was right. It did make it a lot simpler than scanning an entire galaxy for their former teammate. Stepping over to one of the computers Aisha teasingly hip bumped Billy out of the way and began to narrow in on the specified part of Earth.
Moving over to another control panel the blue eyed brain of the group to start entering new information into the database, "We have Kimberly's biomechanical readings on file. If we can input them into the scanner we might be able to get a lock on her and teleport her here,"
Arching his eyebrow slightly at his friend's suggestion Rocky pointed out, "What if she's driving a car or something? That could be dangerous, Billy. Not to mention what if she's in the middle of a crowd and just disappears." With Tommy temporarily out of commission, leadership of the team automatically transferred to the Red Ranger and Rocky was taking that responsibility to heart. The normally headstrong young man wanted to make sure everything that happened under his command was done responsibly.
"Rocky's right," Aisha agreed, whether out of her loyalty to her friend or because she genuinely agreed they couldn't tell, but without her support, the idea of teleporting Kim directly to them fell to the wayside, "Why don't you and I teleport to her Billy? We can scout a secluded place on the viewing globe and then beam in undetected."
After a few minutes of discussion it was decided that Aisha's plan would be the best course of action. She and Billy were chosen to go on the mission as they were the closest to Kimberly in the group, aside from Tommy himself. It was agreed that this would be the safest and least mentally traumatic way to go about things for Kim as well. And while the yellow and blue Rangers were out of pocket, Rocky, Adam and Kat would stay behind to keep an eye out for trouble in case Rita and Zedd chose to attack, taking advantage of the fact the teens were without the White Ranger.
"And you'll let us know if there's any change in Tommy's condition while we're away," Billy asked, as walked to stand near Aisha, so they could teleport together. Though it was he that suggested that they find their former Pink Ranger, the last remaining original member of the team did feel a bit guilty leaving his ailing and unconscious friend's side.
But Alpha confirmed that he would keep them in the loop with any new information, "You will be notified the second I have any new information," Then the small robot tapped on a series of keys on the computer, before Aisha and Billy vanished in a stream of yellow and blue smoke.
The pair landed in what appeared to be a deserted corridor of a school, which puzzled them both. They had figured with all the training that Kimberly had been doing to the Pan Global games of the last year, she was bound to be receiving private tutoring, not attending regular classes. In fact they had suspected they were going to end up materializing in the back of a gym or perhaps a dorm room. There was something odd about this place.
Before the two teen heroes could exchange much conversation about it though, a loud bell in the hallway rang out as a floor of young women began to spill out of classroom doors, crowding into the space shoulder to shoulder. When out of the corner of his eye, Billy saw it. A petite, athletically built, brunette, with hair pulled up into a tight ponytail and fastened with a bright pink scrunchi. She was carrying a stack of books in one arm, and over her shoulder was her favorite light blue backpack, the same one she'd used at Angel Grove high.
"Kimberly," The Blue Ranger called out, hoping to be heard over the din as he and Aisha began to make their way through the crush of students. Hoping they would be able to reach her before she disappeared from sight, "Kimberly, wait,"
The first time her name had been called, Kim had paused in confusion. The voice had sounded so familiar that it had given her reason to stop. Most especially because there were no male students at her school, in fact there were hardly even any male teachers. She had to be imagining things. The second time she heard her name called though, she knew it was real and the voice, it sounded a lot like…
"Billy," The tiny gymnast said quizzically, turning toward her old friend, her eyebrows knitting together. Spotting Aisha there as well a pit instantly formed in the young woman's stomach. This definitely wasn't a good sign, her two friends definitely wouldn't have come all the way to Florida unannounced for a social call. Something had to be wrong.
As the two Rangers made their way to their former teammate, the hall seemed to thin out considerably. It was the end of the school day and most of the students were in a hurry to get out of the building and head back to their dorms. So distracted by their own lives that had hardly even noticed the pair of interlopers in the midst. Considering they were there on a mission to secure Kimberly and teleport out with her as soon as possible, that was just fine with Billy and Aisha. The less people they ran into, the less they had to worry about their secret getting out.
Shaking her head still puzzled by their presence, Kim asked, "How did you two get past security," As her friends approached.
Raising his wrist as if checking the time on his watch Billy gestured hoping that the girl would understand. They had used the teleporting feature on their communicators. While the movement was discreet enough that noone lingering in the corridor would catch on, Kimberly certainly did.
Her large, brow doe eyes went even wider at the realization, and when her friends were standing just a few inches away she whispered in an agitated voice, "You teleported into my school!"
Nodding solemnly, Aish confirmed that they had, "We had to. It was an emergency, Kim. We need your help and we had to get here the fastest way possible."
Looking down at her watch anxious, Kimberly sighed. As much as she wished she could help her friends, now was definitely not a good time. Besides, she wasn't even a Power Ranger anymore, what help could she actually be? They were the SuperHeroes, "Guys, I wish I could help, but I don't even have my powers anymore, remember. I gave them to Katherine," She reminded her fellow teens, "And I really have some place I need to be right now. I can't help you, I'm sorry," Obviously stressed and clearly rushed, Kimberly turned on her heels heading back down the hallway, away from her old classmates.
When his childhood playmate was just about to push open the door and exit the school, Billy knew he was going to have to play hard ball. He just hoped the shot he was about to fire would land as he wanted it to, "We need you Kimberly, Tommy needs you."
At those last three words Kim froze, her dainty hand poised in the air, just about to push the latch on the door and escape onto the public streets. She had almost made it away clean. Almost.
"Tommy… What's wrong with Tommy," Asked their leader's ex girlfriend. Though she hadn't turned to face them, the tone of her voice gave it all Oliver still was her weak spot. Direct hit, Billy had nailed the target.
Knowing they needed to take advantage of their friend's temporary pause, Aisha and Billy quickly jogged toward her again. Each standing on either side to keep her from running off, Aisha said softly, "He isn't good, Kim,"
With the Blue Ranger adding, "But this really isn't the place to talk about. Do you have some place we can discuss it in private," Just as a trio of custodians appeared in the hall, ready to begin their post class sweeping. It certainly wouldn't be good for the secrecy of the Power Rangers true identities if they were overheard but the school staff.
Nodding slowly, her petite hands shaking as she gestured for her friends to follow her, Kimberly led them across the quad. A large brick building in front of them bore a sign that said 'Langston Hall Dorms' which they entered with a swipe of Kim's keycard. And as the two Angel Grove students followed their friend up several flights of stairs and past brightly colored murals that seemed to be painted by children, Billy noticed something. This certainly didn't seem like the type of place someone training for international gymnastic competitions would be rooming. Something was definitely off...