Kim walked silently next to Tommy as they neared the Angel Grove Park. She looked up at the guy she had fallen in love with, or who she thought she was in love with and smiled at him. He looked up from staring down at his hands and smiled back at her.
"What's wrong Tommy?" she asked as they neared a bench. He sat down and motioned for her to follow. She sat down next to him and gazed at him, a hint of worry in her eyes. "Tommy?" She prompted.
"Nothing's wrong Beautiful, I just have to tell you
something." He looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile. She returned it
and put her hand over his.
"Well tell me then silly, you have me all worried." She said softly. He nodded
and sighed.
"I really don't know how to say this." He started then looked over at the lake in front of them, then back at her. The sunlight cast a glow around her and his smile widened. "God, you're so beautiful." He murmured. She blushed and looked down at their hands.
"You're not so bad yourself handsome." She replied. He laughed lightly and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. He looked away from her and sighed again.
"Kim, I'm not from around here..." He began.
"I know, you moved here a few years ago, I know that."
"No that's not it, I mean, not from this…era." He sighed and looked up at her, her face was a mask of confusion.
"What are you trying to say?" Kim said softly looking at him. He looked down at the ground and began explaining to her all that was going on and why he and the others were there. He looked up at her to see what her reaction would be.
"So you're not Tommy?" she said after a few minutes of silence. He sighed and nodded.
"I am, just not the Tommy you know." He replied and looked at her. "Kim listen I know this comes as a shock to you but…"
"No, don't say anything. Just stop, where is my boyfriend?" She asked, her calm face no longer as calm.
"Well I'm sort of his temp while we finish this assignment." He said helplessly, not able to think of any other way to put it.
"I want Tommy back! I want my friends back!" she sniffled and looked at him. "I want you to leave, and I want my Tommy back."
"I understand beautiful but…"
"Don't call me that, so you need my help? Well fine you have it, but don't call me that, and stay away from me." She stood up and looked at him. "Get your friends and tell them to meet back here. I need to go home and change, call their parents and see what I can do." She looks away from him and begins to walk off.
"Kimberly wait!" He calls out. She stopped mid-step and looked at him.
"What?" she said a bit harshly, crossing her arms over her chest, and diverting her glance to her shoes.
"Thank you." He replied softly. She shrugged and got back to walking towards her home. He sighed and bit his lip to keep from lashing out. Bringing his left wrist towards his mouth, he pressed a button.
"Rocko, its Tommy, you read?" he barked.
***
The others were all sitting around, trying to kill time when a familiar six-tone jingle filled the air. Rocky looked at the others then down at his communicator. He pressed the side button and listened to Tommy's message.
"Lets move." Kat suggested as they stood up and walked towards the side exit. They had to side step running into Bulk and Skull, or rather their predecessors on the way out. Once in the clear Rocky responded.
"Clear channel you can talk freely." He replied. The others waited for the response from their leader.
"She'll help, I…" he paused and a sigh was heard. "She said she would meet us here at the park, I wanted to see if our communicators worked and they do, I don't know about teleporting or morphing, but we can try when you guys get here."
"Got it, see you in a few." Rocky replied and cut off the transmission. Billy cleared his throat.
"Well if just going by the way his tone sounded, I do not think confronting Kimberly went well."
"Did you think it would?" Kat replied before they all pressed the teleportation button and to all their surprises, it actually worked.
***
Tommy was pacing when the five colored streaks arrived in the park. The others looked around, smiles upon their faces.
"It worked!" Adam said happily as they neared Tommy. He gave a brief nod and cleared his throat.
"Well let's get down to business." He announced and Aisha snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Why am I not surprised, alright, let's do it." Tommy looked around then grabbed for his morpher.
"It's Morphin Time!"
"The Ape!"
"The Crane!"
"The Wolf!"
"The Bear!"
"The Frog!"
"The Falcon!"
They morphed into their uniforms and looked at each other. Aisha's grin was hidden beneath her helmet.
"Well all-freakin-right! It worked." She exclaimed, and it was followed by a tiny gasp from behind them. They all turned to see Kim, still wearing the same top she had been but with a pair of black flood pants and white keds, a pink scarf was tied around her neck, and her hair was up.
"Kim, you came." Tommy said from beneath the helmet. She simply nodded and walked up to them.
"I could've sworn it was all some sick joke, but this confirms it, jeepers." She said in awe as she looked over each and every one of them in the suits.
"I'm glad you came, but we have to go on a quick sweep to find this monster." Tommy said matter-of-factly, getting back into leader mode. Kim nodded quickly.
"I called your parents, did the whole 'switcharoo, your child is here, your child is there' thing with your parents, so its ok, they won't worry."
"Good and now that we don't have to worry about that we can go, come on, before it gets too late and we can't track him down." Adam said firmly. Tommy nodded and placed a gloved hand on Kim's shoulder. She moved away, edging over to Billy. The look of hurt on his face was hidden by the helmet and he silently said a prayer of thanks for it.
"Right so lets go." They began walking away from the spot they were at, leaving Kim behind. She watched their retreating backs and bit her lip. She balled up her fists and gave curt nod.
"Tommy!" she called out. The white ranger stopped and turned around to face the petite girl.
"Yeah Kim?" he asked. She ran up and put a hand on the side of his helmet, her other hand moving to unlatch the helmet. The others watched as she unclasped it and pulled it away from him.
"Be careful ok? You might not be my Tommy, but you're the one that's here for now, and I still care." She said softly then stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on his lips. She pulled away and put the helmet in his hands and begins to walk backward.
"Yeah I'll be careful." He replied and put back on the helmet, closing it over his face, and his wide grin. Kim disappeared into the park and he turned to face the others. "Keep your comments to yourself lets go get this guy and get out of here."
"Aye Leader." Kat and Aisha giggled as they made their way to fight the monster.
***
Kim walked in the park, her hands in the pockets of her jacket and smiled lightly. She missed Tommy horribly, and she wanted him back. She shook her head, the day's events playing in her head, Tommy telling her that he was someone else, her friends being other people, and those suits!
"Jeepers." She said again in awe to herself. She had to admit, Tommy was looking quite nice clad in it… "Stop that Kimberly, he isn't your boyfriend!" she scolded herself.
"Well, if it isn't the former pink power brat." A voice snarled. Kim's head snapped up and she looked at where it was coming from.
"Who are you?" she asked her voice had a slight tremble in it. The voice laughed harshly and came out from behind the oak it was behind.
"I'm hurt that you don't recognize me." Goldar said menacingly as he came closer. Kim looked around her to see if she could run anywhere. "You can run but you can't hide Pinky." He drew his sword and stepped closer.
"Get away from me monkey breath!" she yelled and did the only thing she could think of doing at the moment, with one fluid movement her foot made contact with Goldar's midsection, sending him flying back into a tree. "Oh my gosh." She muttered as she watched him hit the tree.
"You better run." Goldar groaned as he tried to sit up against the tree. She took off towards the wooded area and ran into yet another unfamiliar face.
"Well what's this? A human?" the mechanical voice asked. She held back her scream as she looked at the monster that resembled a large clock. She stepped back and her eyes widened.
"What are you?" she rasped out looking at it. It gave a harsh laugh and reached out for her, though she moved away.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Timenator, and I'm here to destroy you." he replied trying to get her again. She backed up against a tree, her eyes never leaving his clock face.
"Oh come on, you really have to come up with better names." A sarcastic voice said from behind the large clock. He turned and Kim sighed in relief.
"And who might you be?" the monster asked, quite annoyed that someone had ruined his plan to get rid of his first victim.
"You're worst nightmare buddy, we're the Power Rangers!" They all got into a fighting stance. Kim moved from being against the tree and ran over to the others, hiding behind Tommy. He looked over at her then turned back to the monster at hand.
"Listen Timenator, we really don't have the time to mess with you, so lets get this done quick." He snapped and pulled out Saba. "Lets take him down guys!" The others charged towards him and Tommy looked at Kim again.
"You need to go hide, make sure Goldar doesn't see you, I promise we'll come look for you when we're done." Kim nodded that she understood and took off towards a hiding spot. Tommy joined the others in the battle with the impending monster.
***
Meanwhile, in Miami Florida:
Kimberly Hart couldn't sleep. She sat up in bed and looked at the clock, the digital face read 3:30. She sighed and swung her legs over the side of the bed, pushing herself up. She tiptoed out of her room and down the hallway of her apartment.
"I really need to get over my minor insomnia." She muttered as she walked into the kitchen. She made herself a sandwich and grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the jar, making her way to sit down at the breakfast table. She poured herself a glass of milk and turned on the little TV, switching it to the news.
"And in other news in our country, the suburb known as Angel Grove in Sunny California is under attack…" the news bulletin made Kim's head snap up and she turned up the volume.
"Yes apparently there are…monsters? Attacking the rural little city, and one can only wonder, where are those multi-colored heroes known as the Power Rangers?" the anchorwoman on location asked.
"That's what I'd like to know." Kim shot up and grabbed the phone, she knew it was late but she dialed Aisha's number, but to her disappointment, no one answered. "Crap." She muttered and watched as the scene unfolded on the TV screen. Putties, Tengas, they were running wild, chasing after people.
"Kimberly! What are you doing up? Its 3 something in the morning." A groggy accented voice asked from the kitchen entrance.
"Sorry Candi, didn't mean to wake you up." She apologized to her roommate. Calandra Monroe shrugged and made her way over to the table and looked at the TV.
"Hey, isn't that were you're from Kim?" she asked when she read the news report's title… 'Terror in Angel Grove.'
"Yeah Candi it is, listen, I have to go make a few calls, I've got to get back home." She stood up and ran to her room, shutting the door behind her. Candi nodded and sat down, still watching the broadcast.
***
Kim was throwing some things into a suitcase when she began to feel tingly all over. This is just what she needed. She grabbed her small bag. "Come on Zordon, don't fail me now." She muttered, praying he was trying to bring her by teleporting her. Her closed her eyes tightly, and sighed, then was gone in a flash of dark pink.
***
"Zordon, incoming teleportation." Alpha said as the streak of dark pink came into the command center. Kim looked up and opened her eyes, her smile was light and she dropped her bag, running over to the small robot.
"Alpha!" she said happily and hugged him, he returned the hug and pulled away.
"Kimberly! I'm so glad you're here." He replied.
"YES KIMBERLY, WE ARE VERY ESTATIC THAT YOU'RE HERE, I JUST WISH IT WAS UNDER BETTER CONDITIONS." Zordon's booming voice added. Kim looked up at him and nodded.
"I was hoping you'd try and contact me, I saw the newscast and I was ready to come home, anyway way I could." She replied. Zordon filled her in on the things that had been happening and she listened intently.
"Wow talk about crazy, so she's trying to destroy us by getting rid of our ancestors? Never really gave the old bat and her bag of guts credit." Kim muttered. "But what am I supposed to do?"
"I NEED YOU HERE TO SAVE ANGEL GROVE, WITHOUT THE RANGERS, IT'S SLOWLY BEING TAKEN OVER BY RITA, ZED, AND THEY'RE EVIL."
"But I'm no longer a ranger, I have no power." She protested. "How am I supposed to help if I can't fight?"
"DULCEA AND I HAVE BEEN CONVERSING ABOUT GIVING YOU A SET OF POWERS TO HELP, THAT IS ONLY IF YOU'RE WILLING TO HELP."
"Of course I want to help! I will not let Rita and Zed take over the only place I can call home." She nodded.
"Incoming projection Zordon, its Dulcea." Alpha interrupted and Zordon gave a short nod.
"WELCOME DULCEA." He greeted his friend. Dulcea appeared in the middle of the command center.
"Thank you old friend, hello Kimberly." She said in her soft voice. Kim smiled and returned the greeting.
"Hello Dulcea, Zordon has told me what you two have been thinking of and I'm willing to help." The projection nodded her head.
"Very well then, Kimberly, I'm going to ask you to close your eyes, and look deep for your spirit animal."
"But the crane is my spirit animal, and I no longer have it." Dulcea's soft chuckle made Kim slightly confused. "Isn't the crane my spirit animal?"
"Someone else's spirit fuels the crane, you now have to find yours again." Kim simply nodded and closed her eyes, focusing. Soon, her outfit was changed, it looked exactly like the regular ninjetti dress except for the fact that is was all black, and the where the seams were a deep pink, like a magenta color. She looked at herself then looked at Dulcea, who was smiling.
"Kimberly, you were once the Crane, very agile and graceful, you now, agile and stealthy, are the Panther." Kim looked down to see that where the crane coin used to be, there was a panther.
"You command the Panther zord, you still possess the blasters and your weapons are the panther whip, and the panther claws." Dulcea informed her.
"What about my journey? Don't I have to go on it?" she asked, still not believing that she had the power back.
"What you've gone through since you left is your journey, use your power well Panther, and may the power protect you." with a slight wave to Zordon and a smile to Kimberly, Dulcea vanished.
"KIMBERLY, THERE'S NO TIME TO LOSE."
"Right, let's wipe these creeps clean." She nodded. She reached for her power coin and realized that it was there. With a smile she grabbed it.
"It's Morphin Time!" She called out. "The Panther!"
***
Tommy was thrown back by the Timenator and hit a tree. "God he's strong!" He groaned and stood back up, charging towards the monster.
"Tommy I got your back!" Rocky called out, attacking along side, as they tried to bring him down.
"Billy, have you found a weak spot yet?" Kat called out as she hit the monster from the back with her power bow.
"I'm trying, I think it's right in the middle." Billy announced as he back flipped out of the way to not get hit.
"I'm going for it, we don't have much time!" Tommy called out and pulled Saba out of its place. "Lets see what kind of batteries you have!" he yelled and plunged the sword into the middle of the clock.
"Oh no! You ruined me!" the monster yelled and blew up. They all ducked for cover then came out slowly.
"You think he's gone?" Aisha asked as she came out from behind a bush. They all walked over to where they had been fighting.
"Well there's nothing left, and that was her only plan." Adam sighed. "I think it's safe to say that it's over with."
"We have to find Kim and tell her." Rocky announced. The others were all nodding when a shrill scream cut through the air. "What the…" Rocky began and saw Goldar come out of the darkness, a screaming Kim draped over his shoulders.
"Well I see that you killed our monster, but I found a little parting gift!" he said, smirking. "I have one thing to say, see you in the future!" and with that he disappeared, Kim screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Save me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Kim no!" Tommy yelled and lunged at Goldar but hit the floor once he disappeared. They all shook their heads.
"This cannot be good." Kat muttered.