Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related tidbits are trademark of Saban Entertainment, although the alter-ego characters and the alternate dimension are from my own imagination. Please don't sue; I'm trying to save up for Christmas. :P RIP Thuy Trang.

Note: Thoughts are contained in underscores (_ _).


"Here Today, Where Tomorrow"
By: Pyra Tenil



"Trini, pick up the phone! It's for you!" called Mrs. Kwan. It was four 'o' clock in the afternoon, and Trini was reading a book on her favorite style of martial arts, preying mantis kung fu. She was sitting in her room, and her feet dangled off the side of the bed. The phone on her bedside table was lifted to one ear, but her eyes did not trail from the book in her lap.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Trini." Kimberly's voice chimed, but behind the cheeriness was a noticeable touch of boredom and loneliness.

"Oh, hiya, Kim. What are you up to?" The book's cover was tipped over to close it. The speaking teen leaning against the wall, prepared for a long conversation.

"Oh..., nothing. My dad's doing a lot of paperwork and wants me to go do something, so I won't 'hinder his progress'. Wanna go play frisbee at the park?"

"Frisbee?" There was a brief pause for thought before, "Well, I'm not really in the mood for that. How about we call up the guys and play some scrimage?"

"Alright. I'm gonna go ahead and head to the park. Will you call them up and remind Jase to bring the ball?"

"Sure thing, Kim. See you there!"

"Later. *Click.*"

After they hung up in unison, Trini began to call the others while Kimberly jogged out of the house, only stopping to quickly tell her dad where she was going. Her dad replied with only a small grunt and a nod. When she got to the park, she leisurely walked to the north side of the lake, waiting on the others. After a moment or two, she quietly sat on the picnic table and filed her nails.

***

"Oh..., that's okay. I'm sure Kim will understand."

"Thanks, Trini. Afterwards, would you care to drop by and help me with the mechanisms?"

"Sure thing. See ya, Billy." After hanging up the phone for the last time, Trini laced up her sneakers and dashed out the door, having told her parents earlier. Like Kimberly's dad, they both just grunted and nodded while engrossed in daily chores.


*Slowly, the daring girl was advanced upon from behind. She could not hear his shoes on the floor, so she was not prepared for the hands that grabbed one side of her throat. The other hand jabbed a syringe filled with poison into her abdomen, the sting of the needle felt as it pierced her skin and muscles. As he threw her down, she gasped, her vision becoming blurry as her life began to moderately drain from within her...*

Zack stopped reading when he reached Kim at the park, muttering a single word, "Morbid."

Kim looked up from filing her nails. "'Morbid'? What've you been readin'?" She queried after glancing at the book in his hand. It was the hardback kind with the title and author on the binding with the rest of the information only on the inside.

"Hey, Kim! Oh, it's nothin' much, just a spy novel. Remember the book report for lit.?"

"Oh, yeah! I completely forgot! Wanna go to the library with me after football to help me pick out one?"

"Nah, sorry; can't. I have to go teach a Hip Hop Kido class in about an hour. Jase hasn't found one yet, though, so you might wanna ask him."

"Oh, `kay. Thanks anyway."

Trini jogged to the group, offering Zack a brief wave. "Hey, guys. Jason'll be here in a few, and Billy can't come. I guess two-on-two will have to work. No ref., so you'll just have to be fair about it!" This last part was directed to a smirking Zack,

"Yeah, yeah..."

The three were quiet or a few moments, then Kimberly brought up the topic, "Why isn't Billy coming?"

"He's working on another invention. He's trying out different tests and studying equipment for dimentional, err, 'storyline' travel. He says that even Zordon is helping him with the research."

"Can Billy do that? Make something to do with.. um... dimension travel?" questioned a skeptical Zack.

Trini shrugged, "Beats me, but you know Billy -- if it's impressive, he's gonna do it!"

Looking up at just the right moment, Zack suddenly found a football resting in his arms against his chest. He blinked, then glanced around for the thrower.

"Nice catch, bro! I thought you were offguard for sure!" Jason chimed as Zack tossed the ball back to him. He neared the table, momentarily draping his arms around the girls' shoulders. "Hiya, Trini! Hey, Kim."

Zack backed up, hands outstretched. "Hey, man, throw a long one!"

Jason came out from inbetween Trini and Kim and reared back the football, taking several steps back. The ball was released in a swift throw and soared to Zack. He caught and returned it in a hastier throw, letting it go too soon; the ball flew high over Jason's, Trini's, and Kim's heads and into some thick woods nearby, landing in unseen thicket.

Jumping off of the bench, Trini and Kim announced, "I'll get it!", then sprinted into the dense woods. Zack shook his head and shuffled over to the picnic table, taking a seat while Jason looked on until the girls disappeared in the foliage, heading fairly deep within. "Sorry, man."

"Don't worry about it. `Shouldn't take too long for them to find it." His hands slipped into his pockets while they waited.


Kimberly and Trini looked around, bending back branches and avoiding the troublesome roots reaching up from the ground to penetrate the dirt, threatening to trip them. Heading further within, they didn't notice a Keep Out sign shielded by leaves and thin branches.

"Tell you what; we'll cover more ground if we split up. Meet you back at the table!" Kim piped, then ran off before Trini could protest. Soon alone in her paused position, Trini blinked, then continued looking around, shuffling her feet along the the floor of the forest to brush back leaves and keeping her eyes to the baring treetops.

Kimberly glanced through some low branches quietly, the only thing heard being the leaves rustling with the autumn dryness. Upon spotting the football in a branch, she spied a uniquely colored leaf. It was colored like the rainbow, pulsing slightly as it rolled the shades off of the tip, emitting a faint glow. Fascinated, Kimberly reached out and touched it, hoping to take it back to show the others once it's plucked from the stem. Once her fingertips made contact -- FLASH! The unsupported football fell to the ground after the shaft of light disappeared. Kimberly was gone.

Trini looked up, peering intently to the right after the flash of light, thinking she heard Kim in that direction not too long ago. "Kim?" She asked with increasing volume, "What happened?" She jogged through the thickets, dodging thorn bushes while she made her way to the point in question. The dried, fallen leaves crumbled under her sneakers with a crinkling sound. Gazing all around upon reaching the spot, she found the football lying on the ground. Her gaze kept alert and curious after the ball was safely cradled in the crook of one arm, and that's when she saw the odd leaf.

At first, she hesitated, then inched her hand towards it, fascinated - just like Kim. "Whoa..." She uttered just as her hand made contact; -- then, FLASH! The leaf had intrigued another victim. Trini had disappeared as well; the football fell back to the ground.


"What's takin' the girls so long?" Jason thought aloud. They had been gone about ten minutes, and Zack was reading more in his book. The reading young man lifted his head and gave a brief sigh. "I dunno."

"It's about 5:15... Let's give them a few more minutes, then go look for them."


When Kimberly regained her senses after the flash of light, she was laying in an air duct. Confused and having an odd determination to get out, she crawled forward. A few minutes later, Trini appeared in the same air duct, blinking several times as she examined her surroundings. They both had on different clothing, however. Kimberly was clad in a formal black dinner dress, her high-heeled shoes abandoned several yards and twists back. Trini was crawling in the other direction, dressed in all conservative black with with various hidden weapons in her slightly-loose satin clothing, somewhat-hidden buttons running up and down her blouse. The only visible armament was a katana strapped to her back. Not yet realizing their change in appearance, they scrambled off in different directions, unprofessionally bumping the sides and squeezing around tight turns.

There was a loosened, well-sized vent in Kimberly's path, so she eagerly removed it, placed it to the side, dropped out of it with hardly a glance, not thinking. She, actually, jumped down and smoothed down her knee-length dress in front of four guards. "Oops..." They appeared to be guarding a large set of double doors, and her shoeless entrance prompted them to follow orders, seizing her by the arms and dragging her through the corriders of the mansion. "Let go of me!" She didn't give up without a fight, of course, but a small tranquilizer in her shoulder severely limited her kicks and struggles, knocking her out like a light.

Trini, however, began to think clearly after having glanced at her clothes once the panic subsided. She, too, passed a vent to freedom, but cautiously looked down it first.

There were two people in the room: a hasty scientist and an ordering, impatient man. The scientist was trying to concentrate on a formula, but the officer kept pacing and breaking his conversation with the annoying sounds of his boots and wind passing from between his lips.

She leaned closer, pressing her ear to the conductive metal, and caught some of their dialogue.

"--Man, hurry it up! Did you not hear the messanger? They caught Cap. Lentuse just moments ago! Colonel Kali Trang must be close behind to get her back. None of these -- what, TRINKETS, -- will work against their combined expertise!" It sounded more like he was a fan of the aforementioned people than something an opposing officer would say. Compliments? Buh?

The scientist replied calmly, "On the contrary; once she's caught, things will be in our favor. Even though catching her's the hard part, it can be more easily done if, one, we damage her honor and break her confidence. The second is to threaten to kill Natilie Lentuse, although we plan on it anyway after I get my turn to 'play' with her, and the third..." He dusted off his white lab coat after placing a few graduated cylinders in their wooden holder. The glass clinked slightly; the carefully measured chemicals didn't dare slosh over the tops. His eyes lifted from his work, and one side of his mouth curled up into a crooked grin. "The third... is to make her mortal."

With the haunting way 'mortal' was muttered, Trini felt her skin crawl, spine tingling, sending a shiver through her nerves. Gulping due to a reason unknown to anything other than her subconsciousness, she began to hurriedly crawl away, much more careful than before with her movement.

A few minutes later, Trini had come to another vent. Looking down it, she felt her anger flare. "Kimberly! Hang on; I'm here!" She half-yelled, half-whispered, trying to aim her voice to the figure that looked like Kim. However, four guards were accompanying the returning-to-the-conscious-world friend down a long wooden staircase.

Trini leapt down from the vent, landing behind the guards. Before they could manage to turn around in the tight staircase, she flipped back, kicking the rear-most guards in the back, her hands positioned on the upper stair to keep her balance. "Hi-yah!" The guards stumbled forward abruptly, bumping into the others, failing in catching their balance and pushing them down with them. Trini grabbed one of Kim's arms and the railing to keep from following the guards after she carefully lowered her feet and straightened. Half-dragging her, she turned and climbed back up the flight of stairs, having a feeling that downstairs was a dead end.

They made it up the stairs before they started to do an all-out run. During so, Kim tried to talk to her interestingly-dressed friend, "What happened? And why.. are we in such.. weird clothes?" Her words were choppy from dashing.

"I can't.. answer any of your.. questions, so don't.. bother to ask! Just run!"

At the precise moment her words ended, a door in front of them opened. Out of it backtracked a muscular man with cropped brown hair and in army pants. A small white towel dabbed at his face and bare chest, and his back faced them as he flipped the end of the towel over his shoulder, resting it there. The combat boots on his feet made barely audible *thud*s as he backed out of the room, calling back, "Find them!" He ordered, "If you catch Colonel Trang, send her directly to me. Do not harm either until I tell you to. Now stop slacking and move out!"

Kimberly was pulled behind an ornate pillar of cream-colored marble by her friend, who was hurriedly going through strategems mentally. The chestnut-haired young woman tried to calm her counterpart with an excited whisper, "Don't worry; it's Jason! He must know we're here and is gonna help us!"

She jumped out at 'Jason' before Trini could get a better grip on her arm. _Did she not hear what he just said?!_ Glancing around hastily in all directions in an attempt not to get caught as well, she snuck behind another pillar during the distraction.

"Oof!" The man was knocked to the floor with the pouncing hug, taken completely offguard. Lifting his head, his eyes widening in recognition, he pushed her off and grabbed her shoulders, calling the guards. "Guards!" Several men scrambled out of the exercise room, grabbing Kimberly's biceps and forearms, baffling the briefly-happy unmorphed Pink Ranger.

_Ah, man, dejavu big-time! I'm so not dressed for this..._ "But, but, Jason--!" She tried, but his next order cut her off,

"Shut her up!" One guard reached into his pocket and retrieved a somewhat sweat-laden cloth, stuffing it in her mouth. She made a face, struggling to spit it out. He circled the restrained, disgusted female with a smirk on his lips.

"Well, well, well... Seems Miss Trang's tactics have finally pushed you over the edge, Nat. Better luck next time. ...Oh, wait, there won't be a next time, will there?" He smirked again, tempted to laugh in her face. He turned to the guards, "Remember my orders. Now, take her away." The uniformed men turned and carried Kim, who was still kicking and trying to talk, out of sight. _Well then, it seems as though the infamous spy and her apprentice have already infiltrated our citadel. Since Kali knows better than not to split up, she's probably not around here..._ He thought to himself.

For some reason, Trini heard this, blinking several times in slight confusion. Then again, she couldn't see his lips, so she just assumed that he was thinking aloud. But this confusion and conviction was an outrage, so her thoughts were along the lines of, _Good. Then you won't expect me yet._ She was beginning to get the idea that everything thought Kimberly was Natilie, so that must mean that she's...? _Kali, huh? I feel like I've heard that name before somewhere, but where? Some goddess of death and destruction? But what religion? Hindu, right? I can't think straight! Gah, my back hurts..._ In tune with her thoughts, she arched back a bit, still trying to remain out of sight. He was just standing there, appearing to think to himself, glancing around curiously. He braced himself unnoticeably.

Her muscles tensed before she jumped out from behind the pillar, - "Hiyah!" - pressing her hands into his back in mid-leap and forcing him to the ground. It was much easier than she expected, however, her strength amplified in an awkward imbalance. He was facing away from her and didn't have time to spin around, grunting as he fell to the ground again, _This is turning out to be a bad habit!_ Her left hand clamped over his mouth as her right hand reached back to unstrap her katana from her back. Scooting her legs over a bit, she rolled him onto his back and held one side of the blade underneath his Adam's apple, sitting on his chest.

"Alright, you, I want answers. Number one, who are you? Number two, where are we? Number three, how can Ki - err, - Natilie and I get back to Angel Grove?" she hissed in his face, leaning close.

He was in shock for several moments, his mouth slightly agape. He wasn't expecting a back attack or for the beautious creature to be so powerful. It had felt like he was smashed into the ground unstead of pushed. He stared back at her, aghast. He had orders to dispose of her personally by the commander of commanders but had never seen her face-to-face. He was just told that when he saw her obvious characteristics, he'd know who it was. _Now, where are they..?_

She pressed the blade a little more against his throat, not drawing any blood but wanting to scare him. This wasn't normally her persona, but it seemed to fit her current emotions, as though she was a different person to match those clothes. "Answer me!" She hissed, but she was inwardly wondering if she would really have the gall to kill him if things came down to that. After brief thought, she was certain that she could keep it from going that far.

"...K-Kali?" He cleared his throat, assessing his enemy. "I am Commander Scott Oasis. You are in my legion's citadel, as if you didn't know. And about the Angel Grove of which you speak, I have never heard of it."

Thoughts raced wildly through her mind. _Why is everyone calling me Kali and Kim, Natilie? How will we ever find our way home?! ...Heh, he looks just like Jason... Wait! Is this a different 'storyline,' such as what Billy was referring to? If this is what his invention was all about, if I could recreate his notes - that's our ticket outta here! Oh, Billy, you're a genius!_ Jubilant, Trini nodded to herself, caught up in her own thoughts, and let the blade grow slack, slipping it off to the side of his head. She had briefly forgotten the danger, mulling over how he could even conceive of how to do that sort of research. _Maybe they'd have books about it here? Oh, but I can't go anywhere because people think I'm... a..._

Scott didn't move, relaying how he could get up and pin her in his mind, idly listening to her thoughts, prying. _Then who is she? Only one thing proves she isn't Kali; I saw a hint of her fangs when she hissed at me, but vampires are popular in Angelfire. But only one person in all of Starre Metropolis has fangs and WHITE wings... _

Too busy to hear his thoughts, Trini idly began to stand, not really yet aware of what she was doing. Just as one leg began to push up, her katana was smacked out of her hand in a blur of motion; a dull pain in her hand was just beginning to register. Her body feeling as though it was moving in slow motion, her unrestrained black locks swished behind her as her head moved to look at Commander Oasis. Unfortunately, before she caught but a glimpse of him, her body was crushed against the tile floor in a slam, and she was barely able to concentrate on the pain in her back before she was flipped onto her stomach. As his knee dug into the back of her thigh, she finally found her voice, "H-hey!"

A slight *shlink* noise was heard as he drew a simple yet sharp dagger from its sheath, slicing the back of her blouse down to the small of it. _Hmm... --!_ Sure enough, white wings were bound tightly to her back by a tape-like rope, not having shown up against the satin material. Frowning, he jerked the dagger up, cutting the restraints. However, this prompted the wings to swiftly spread, one bony extension covered with down feathers smacking his nose. "Agh!" He stumbled off of her, giving her time to scramble out from beneath him.

"I.. I... Wow..." Her slanted eyes trail over the extended wings in utter fascination. But he was not amused at all, lips having formed a thin line as he lunged forward again, jamming her wrists against the nearby wall. Grunting, she slid her hands down to his, pushing against them. Surprisingly, they seemed to be at equal strength, neither advancing on the other after her knuckles were inches from the stone wall. But before she could enact the thought to knee him in the groin, one of his own knees dug into her solar plexus, and her breath came out in a reversed gasp. As some induced alacrity kicked in further, he grabbed her wrists, tying them together. He did the same for her feet and wings, now wondering why he was so foolish as to cut them free. He reasoned that perhaps he just wanted to really see them.

"Please, I don't belong here! I'm not who you think I am..!" She tried.

"You're right.." He sighed after making sure the restraints were tight around her abdomen and elbows. Then, he began to grin. "..You belong in the dungeon!" He watched her expression falter. "Let's see, how about we begin this with a message broadcast to your general? Because you do know that we've already captured your commander, right?" Both eyebrows arched as one hand lifted mockingly to his mouth, "Oops, did I just spill the bones*? I'm sure your legion would Love to know."

His captive frowned and furrowed her eyebrows, looking away as she tried to think of some way to get free or convince him that she's not this 'Kali'.

"Sorry, cookie. Seems it's Game Over for you." Commander Oasis smirked yet again, emitting a cold chuckle as he resumed dragging her down the halls.


The End? Hardly!

* "Spill the bones" = "spill the beans". Just a phrase to imply that a secret was told, although having a darker twist.