Kim and Tommy walked through the park, talking and laughing. They came up to a picnic table and sat down, Tommy sitting on the table part, and Kim between his legs, her elbows propped up on his knees.
"So she's me?" She asked finally as she watched the lake. Tommy leaned in kissing the top of her head.
"Yes and no, I mean she's you in every aspect of the way you look, identical, I mean even I would have a hard time telling you apart." She looked up at him. "Well might, but I know you so well, it would be easy to tell."
"Good answer." She smiled. He laughed and let his chin fall onto the top of her head, his arms hanging loosely over her shoulders.
"I can't believe we're just waiting around to be attacked." Tommy sighed and Kim shrugged.
"Yeah kinda weird huh, like a bunch of sitting ducks."
"More like sitting rangers." Tommy corrected her and she nodded, leaning back against the table.
"Yeah rangers, wow its crazy to be considered a ranger again." She smiles. "Sorta like a dream come true."
"I was going to ask you how it felt, you know to go from being…" he paused, not wanting to say it.
"Powerless to having power again?" she filled in, he nodded, glad that she could still sense what he meant. "It feels…good. The Panther has such power Tommy, like you wouldn't believe! I felt so free with the crane, being able to soar, but the panther…"
"Makes you feel stronger?" he finished. She nodded and turned slightly to look at him.
"Being the crane gave me the ability to fly, to soar, but with the panther, it's like more power."
"Yeah I know what you mean." He smiled down at her and she laughed lightly.
"Yeah says the winged lord of the skies." He rolled his eyes and she poked him playfully. "You know its true! That's what you are! If I remember correctly, Dulcea said…" she gets a serious look on her face and mimics Dulcea's accent. "And you Tommy are the Falcon, Winged Lord of the skies."
"Thank you Dulcea Junior." He kissed the tip of her nose softly. She batted him away playfully then got up when he lunged for her. She laughed and began running.
"Ha! The panther can run faster than the Falcon can!" He had his arms around her waist in no time and she gasped.
"But the falcon can fly." He murmured in her ear and she smiled. "Plus it has pretty good eye sight." She turned around to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Couldn't agree more handsome, couldn't agree more." She leaned in to kiss him, in which he happily returned; they stood embracing each other, locked in their kiss for a few minutes.
"Crap." Kim muttered and pulled away. Tommy looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Something wrong?" he asked moving a strand of hair from her face, she shrugged.
"We're just going to be late to meet the others, its twenty minutes past and you know I hate to be late." He shrugged and smiled down at her.
"Its me beautiful, they're counting on me to be late." She laughed and pushed him.
"Two things I missed most, your faulty memory and your lack of punctuality."
"Hey!" he called out as he picked her up and carried her out of the park, much to her giggles and shrieks of protest.
***
"Late again, I told you he'd be late, even with Kim." Adam grinned and Rocky groaned.
"Yeah whatever Adam." He gave the other male a five-dollar bill and Aisha shook her head.
"Making money off our leader? Now that is just wrong, what would your momma say if she saw you?"
"That my lack of gambling experience against Adam has gotten worse?" Rocky laughed and took a sip of his smoothie.
"Wow Rock, big words, nice." Adam snickered and Rocky glared over at him, shaking his head.
"Adam, Rocky is capable of constructing a sentence with larger words than his more capacity usually allows him." Billy nodded shortly, Rocky looked over at him, a confused look on his face.
"Yeah really didn't pick up much of that, but thanks Billy, I think?"
"You're most welcome Rocky." He smiled and looked over at the door that just opened, Kim and Tommy both walking laughing.
"Its good to see him so happy." Kat smiled and took a bite of the apple she had in her hand.
"Yeah it's a good look for him, you know smiling and all." Aisha laughed and munched on a few fries.
"Well, well if it isn't the geeks." Bulk sneered as he walked by their table. Aisha and Kat shared an eye roll while the guys ignored their comment.
"Good to see you two haven't changed much." Kim laughed as her and Tommy walked up the few steps, hand in hand. Skull elbowed Bulk and smirked.
"Well if it isn't Miss Kim." Bulk looked over at Kim and Skull nodded.
"Yeah Bulky, Kim, hehe." He repeated. Bulk looked over at this companion and shook his head.
"I don't need an echo Skull, I know what I said." Bulk rolled his eyes and looked back at them. "There's a new power ranger in town and we plan to find out who it is!"
"And how do you suppose you're going to do that?" Kim asked, crossing her arms over her chest, an amused smile on her lips. Bulk looked over at her and narrowed his eyes.
"How do we know you won't just try and track them yourselves?"
"Yeah, track them yourselves!" Skull repeated and Bulk glared at him. "Sorry Bulky." He apologized and Bulk nodded.
"We'll just be on our way now, later losers." He scoffed and walked out, Skull following behind him. They all laughed.
"I'd really like to see them try." Adam muttered and Aisha snickered, shaking her head.
"They wouldn't know the rangers if they were standing right in front of them…"
"Hey Sha…" Tommy said in a hushed whisper. "They were." They all broke out into laughter.
"They still have yet to get a clue." Kim concluded and sat down, Tommy doing the same. They were all talking when their communicators went off. Tommy looked around and motioned for them to walk to a corner.
"This is Tommy." He replied and waited for an answer, the others crowded around still keeping a lookout for anyone.
"Ay-yi-yi-yi Rangers! Just as we suspected, Goldar has brought down Kimberly with him, but Rangers, she's not doing too well…"
"RANGERS REPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTER IMMIDATELY." Zordon's voice interrupted Alpha's.
"We're on our way Zordon." Tommy nodded.
"Ay-yi-yi Rangers hurry! We don't have much time." And with that they looked around one last time then teleported out.
***
Alpha was pacing back and forth when the rangers arrived. Kim ran over to him and put a hand on his robotic shoulder.
"What's wrong Alpha?" she asked worriedly, the little robot looked highly upset. She looked up at Zordon. "What's going on that he is this upset?"
"KIMBERLY, IT APPEARS THAT THE TRAVEL TRHOUGH TIME AND THE DIFFERENT ERAS HAVE TAKEN A TOLL ON YOUR PREDECESSOR."
"What do you mean?" she asked letting go of Alpha and standing up straight, her eyes locked with his.
"SHE'S BECOMING WEAKER, AND IS NOT DOING WELL AT ALL." Zordon said sadly. Kim gasped and shook her head.
"So she's dying? No, this can't be happening." Tommy wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned against him. "What do we have to do?"
"AS HARD AS IT MIGHT BE, TRY TO SAVE HER FROM GOLDAR, THAT IS HER ONLY CHANCE OF SURVIVAL." He told them and they nodded.
"Wait! Goldar doesn't know much about this does he?"
"About what Kim?" Adam asked her. She smiled and looked at the others.
"Well that I was thinking was, we make a trade, her for me. If he thinks we're connected in some way, that I could also be affected, meaning…"
"If you act that way, they think they've won because they actually have a ranger when in reality you're fine and can kick butt and get yourself out of there!" Aisha finished and Kim nodded.
"Exactly, so what do you think?" she looked around at the others for their answers.
"I can't let you do it Kim, its too dangerous." Tommy said finally. She turned to look at him, and shook her head.
"I can't believe you, come on! This is the only way it's going to work! We can't do anything else, we won't get her back alive if we don't do this." She pleaded with him, he looked down and sighed.
"Fine but if anything happens, I wont be able to forgive myself." He shook his head and she got on her tiptoes, kissing his cheek lightly.
"Thanks handsome, I'll be fine I promise, I just need some help from Alpha." She looked over at the robot. "Tell me that you can make my morpher and communicator invisible."
"I can try, follow me." He replied and walked over picking up a few gadgets and began toying with them. Tommy watched as Kim and Alpha made her things invisible and shook his head.
"She'll be fine, we all know that she's strong." Aisha said trying to calm him down. He nodded and shrugged.
"I just don't want to risk losing her." he looked over at her. "She's one of the people that I care more about than life itself, and if she's gone, half of me will disappear." He sighed and Aisha leaned her head against his shoulder.
"But if you don't let her do this, the other Kim dies, Rita and Zed can go back into time screw around with it and our Kim wont be around then, are you willing to risk that happening?" he shook his head. "I thought so, then let her do this, we'll get them both, I promise."
"Thanks, I needed to hear that Aisha." He smiled at her and she shrugged giving him a short hug.
"Anytime Tommy, just keep your head up and show her that you're ok with this, I know she's hurting because you don't want her to do this." He nodded and made his way over to Kim, who was strapping on her now invisible communicator and morpher.
"Hey." He said as he stood next to her. She looked up at him and smiled briefly.
"Hey there yourself, listen I know that you don't want me to…"
"Kim, I'm ok with it, I just want to know that you're going to be safe and not get hurt." He interrupted her. She smiled and threw her arms around him.
"I promise I won't get hurt, I just need to act really well." She smiled up at him. The alarms went off and Tommy looked down at her.
"Time to put those acting skills to work." He nodded and her and she went limp, pretending to have fainted. He picked her up in his arms and held her close.
"RANGERS BE VERY CAREFUL, MAKE SURE GOLDAR DOESN'T SUSPECT A THING, KIMBERLY…" he waited for a response from the 'unconscious' ranger. She opened an eye and looked up at him. "MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU." She nodded and resumed her unconscious state.
"Lets do it guys." Tommy said finally and the others nodded, they teleported out to the park where they would make the 'trade.'
***
The rangers arrived at the park, already morphed. Goldar turned and looked at them.
"Nice of you to show rangers." He sneered and looked at them. The putty patrol walked up behind him, pulling the other Kim, who looked like she was about to faint.
"We're here to make a trade." Tommy said reluctantly. "Our Kimberly for yours." Goldar looked over at him.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked. Aisha came to Tommy's side, her fists clenched.
"She's dying, just like yours is."
"Why would I want her then?" he asked them.
"Easy, we take the other Kim back to her time and our Kim will still be with you, therefore can be yours to deal with." She answered him. He seemed to think about it then give a nod.
"It's a deal, hand over the girl!"
"Not till we get her first." Adam pointed and the other Kim. Goldar looked over at them, not trusting them.
"A ranger always keeps their end of the bargains up." Rocky stated. Billy and Adam walked over to the putties and took the other Kim in their arms while Tommy delivered their Kim to Goldar. He looked over her and signaled the putties to take her.
"Tommy don't." Kat put her hand on Tommy's shoulder as the putties began walking away with the unconscious Kim. Goldar laughed.
"Foolish Rangers, now you'll have one of your own against you." And with that he disappeared.
"Kim." Tommy whispered and let his head fall forward. Billy and Adam were holding onto the other Kim.
"Tommy, lets get back to the command center, see if we can do anything with her." Adam said as they all stood together. He simply nodded and they teleported back.
***
Rita looked at the unconscious ranger in the cell and sniffed. "I really don't see what's so special about her, I mean she's the same!'
"No your cruelness, this is the actual ranger. The others made the trade with us." Goldar explained what had happened down on earth and Rita smirked.
"This is excellent! We will finally destroy those power brats with one of their own!" she cackled and walked away from the cell, Goldar following. Kim opened an eye and looked at her surroundings. Putties would come in to give her water in a bit; she had heard that conversation so she's play opossum until then.
***
Alpha had already set up a bed in the medical bay when the rangers arrived. Tommy laid the unconscious Kim on the bed and sighed. Alpha began hooking up various wires to her body, which were connected to large machines.
"I'm going to find some good old smelling salts to bring her to, nothing like the smell of that stuff to wake you up." Aisha had announced after they powered down. Billy and Adam dispersed to go monitor some of the machines or see if Kimberly had tried making any contact with them, while Rocky went in search of some water and a washcloth to put on Kim's head.
"Alpha, do you know where Tommy is?" Kat asked looking up from her spot near the bed. Alpha's metal head looked around then shook.
"Not a clue Katherine, I haven't seen him since you arrived." She nodded and stood up. Then got an idea.
"Alpha I'll be back, I'm on the communicator if she wakes up." The robot nodded and got back to working on what he was doing. Kat moved away from the center of the command center and teleported out to the place Tommy would probably be.
***
It was so quiet and peaceful out, with the cool breeze blowing off the desert-like surrounding. Kat arrived at her destination and smiled, she saw who she was looking for. Tommy's back was to her and she crept up slowly.
"Someone should really teach you the art of sneaking up on a person." He broke the silence. She exhaled and dropped down next to him on the top or the 'roof' of the command center. She pulled up her knees under her chin and turned her head to look at him.
"How did you know I was sneaking up on you? I mean I didn't make a noise." He shrugged and kept looking out at the sand, the moonlight making it an almost iridescent white color.
"I heard you take a breath, it was like the whisper of the wind, though I knew the difference, guess its just luck." She nodded and looked out at the scene before them.
"I've never been up here in the moonlight, its really nice." She said softly, as if speaking any louder would break the solemn ambiance of the mood.
"I know, I came up here by mistake once and found it peaceful, I've been coming here ever since, I'm sure Zordon and Alpha know by now." He sighed and looked up at the sky. Kat looked up with him.
"I think I see the big dipper." She pointed out then looked over at him through the corner of her eye, realizing he wasn't paying attention to the cluster of stars. "Tommy, she'll be back, glaring at the moon isn't going to get you very far."
"I just don't understand why's she not back yet, unless they harmed her." His voice turned from soft to hard and angry. She laid a hand on his shoulder and shook her head.
"Stop thinking like that ok? She's fine, its Kim, she knows how to defend herself, and she will if she needs to, there's no need to worry about her." He nodded and sighed, dropping his chin onto his chest.
"It's hard when all I ever want to do is protect her and I can't, I mean I can't even protect her ancestor without nearly having her killed."
"What's going on with the other Kim isn't your fault Tommy! It's the change! You can't tell me that is your fault, its impossible!" she took his chin in her hand and brought it up so her crystal clear blue eyes were looking into his deep chocolate ones.
"Its not your fault, Kim will be back, good as new, the other Kim will be fine too, and she'll go back to her white knight in shining armor, and all will be good." She finished with a smile, which he returned weakly. Their communicators went off.
"This is Tommy." He answered as him and Kat listened intently to what either Alpha or Zordon had to say.
"Ay=yi=yi! Tommy the other Kimberly is awake and she's calling for you, she's quite shaken!" The robotic voice exclaimed. Tommy stood up and dusted himself off.
"I'll be there in a second Alpha." He replied and cut transmission. He looked down at Kat. "You coming with me?" she shook her head and smiled.
"I think I'll just hang out here for a bit, but call me if anything gets crazy." He nodded and turned then stopped.
"Kat?"
"yeah?" she replied.
"Thanks for reassuring me, I needed to hear that." He smiled then teleported down into the command center. Kat sighed and looked up into the sky.
"The things I do for love." She muttered softly and kept her gaze on the moon.
***
Tommy got down into the command center where the other Kim was previously lying down. Now she was sitting up looking around, her eyes wide.
"Wow oh wow, if Billy were to see this place he'd totally lose it for sure!" she said excitedly. Billy gave a fond smile and looked back down at the console he was at. Tommy walked up to Kim and smiled.
"How you feeling?" he asked putting some hair back behind her ears. She looked at him and smiled, then hugged him tightly.
"Better now that I've seen you." she said softly. Tommy returned the hug, holding back the urge to tell her how much he loved her. This wasn't his Kim, his Kim was on the moon, facing who knows what alone, and he couldn't save her. They pulled away and she looked at him.
"You traded her for me." She said softly. He nodded and she shook her head. "You traded the one person who means the most to you, for me."
"In actuality you are her, well sort of." Rocky corrected as he handed her the warm washcloth. She shrugged.
"Tommy knows what I mean." Tommy simply nodded and walked off as the other Kim began talking to Aisha. He walked towards the entrance to the command center, his eyes closed, refusing to let the others see him cry.
"Come back to me Kimberly." He whispered, letting a single tear run down his cheek. Wiping at it furiously, he turned back around to join the others around Kim, who was still in awe of the place.
***
**Ah! Hehe what did you think of that? Yes yes there's only a bit more to this story and I've really wanted to finish it since I've enjoyed writing it! REVIEW!**