Disclaimer: I don't own any of Saban's characters, or for that matter, Joss Whedon's. I'll notify you if an original pops up in here somewhere.

A/N: So, okay, I know it's been done to death, right? PR/Buffy  X-overs, I mean. And I'm pretty sure there are a few Kim as a Vampire Slayer ones out there. I may have seen one. But ever since Faith came on the show, this plot has been eating my brain alive. What if Faith didn't exist? Or she did, and she just wasn't a Slayer? What if someone like Kim was called? What would change, and would Kim go bad? How would this affect Buffyverse and PR-universe? Well, that's what my fic aims to answer…and I'm sorry if people think I'm lacking, but this is too damn fun to stop! By the way, it's set right after Kim returns from the whole Maligore episode, and right about a week before Season Three, episode one went into play. R/R!

I Am a Chosen One-the Kimberly Hart story by biggerstaffbunch

Chapter One: "Saying Goodbye"

Angel Grove, California, 1999

The sun above was dying to a dim golden-brown glow, a pinkish-red haze painting the sky among smears of indigo and cream. Kimberly Hart sat atop the jagged rock cliff that held the Power Chamber, her feet wedged into a crevice, chin propped in her hands. Her brown hair waved in the fragrant California breeze, mahogany eyes gazing pensively into the distance. Sighing, Kim rearranged her faded pink sundress so it covered her legs, drawing her knees up against her chest. All was still and silent, until-

"Kim?"

"Wha-?" Flailing her arms as the peaceful mood vanished, Kim felt her body lurch backward. Unable to regain her balance, Kim felt her body wham into the dusty ground with an audible thump. Closing her eyes and regaining her composure, Kim growled. "When I open my eyes, it had better not be you standing there, Tommy Oliver." The teen opened one eye suspiciously, zeroing in on the guilty visage of the Red Turbo Ranger.

Tommy gave a little wave. "Um, hey?" He winked, holding out a hand and giving a warm smile. Kim shook her head and took the strong palm, anchoring herself onto the lanky teen as she struggled to get up.

"Tommy, you will never change, will you?" Kim grumbled, her eyes rolling good-naturedly. "You're late!" She looked down at her watch, hiding a grin. "Twenty minutes, to be exact!" she said sternly.

Tommy ducked his head, his puppy-dog brown eyes peering out at her from beneath his dark hair.

It's gotten really long, Kim thought absently. Really long, but I like it.

"No escaping judgment this time, Oliver! Your puppy dog eyes have no hold on me!" Kim winked, giving a bright smile and plopping down on the ground, sending dust up all around her. "Sit down," she insisted, giving him a forgiving look.

"There?" Tommy's nose wrinkled jokingly. "Won't you get your dress dirty?" He patted Kim's head and slid down gracefully, Indian-style.

Kim swatted his hand away. "I don't really care, Tommy. I'm not that shallow, am I? It's not like I'd care about a dress getting dirty!" She glared at him for a minute before breaking out into giggles.

"Kim, calm down!" Tommy said theatrically, holding up his hands. "I was just kidding, please-don't-hit-me!" Tommy fended off several mock punches, finally pouncing on top of Kim, wrestling her to the ground. The two friends sat like that for a moment, Kim wriggling underneath Tommy, both of them laughing and screeching. Heaving, Kim pushed Tommy off of her.

"Oh, Tommy." Kim gave a laugh and wiped a tear of mirth from her cheek. "It's beautiful here isn't it?"

Tommy looked at Kim for a moment, noting the way the sun caressed her face, the way her eyes twinkled. "Yeah," he said softly, "Beautiful."

They were silent for a moment, both watching as the sun went slowly down, the sky turning into a royal blue, stars scattered here and there. Kim pointed to the sliver of the moon that watched down on them.

"It's weird," she said, grinning, "But sometimes I look up and I wonder if Rita and Zedd are up there, plotting to destroy us all sometime in the future. Would we be ready?" Her face fell a bit, and she looked down at her hands. "Would the rangers in the future be able to handle them?" She played with her fingernails, absently chipping off the pale pink polish.

"Of course we would," Tommy said easily, lying back and propping himself up with his elbows. He craned his neck to look at Kim, his dark hair spilling onto his shoulders. "We would whup 'em good. We've encountered worse."

Kim was silent. "I meant the rangers after you guys," she said quietly. "Y'know, when we're-older." She shrugged, her eyes misting over. She was vaguely aware of Tommy's eyes on her, but she didn't want to look at him. After all, it'd been a while since she'd talked about giving up her powers, and she didn't want to talk about it with Tommy of all people.

"It really ate you up, didn't it?"

Kim sighed. "What ate me up?" She turned to look at Tommy, folding her knees so she sat indian-style, her hands in her lap. Tommy lay looking up at the sky, the darkening sky playing shadows off his strong, handsome face and brightening his coffee-colored eyes. In the darkness, his earring glittered as Tommy wriggled over and lay his head on top of Kim's hands.

"You know," he said conversationally. "Losing your powers. It really affected you, didn't it? We all thought it didn't 'cause you had gymnastics. But it really must have."

Kim moved her hands, bracing her body back as she blew out her breath, staring up into the stars. Tommy's hair tickled her short-clad legs, the hem of the dress she'd slipped on over them dancing against Tommy's forehead.

"Of course it did," Kim said, laughing guiltily. "I'd be stupid to try and pretend it didn't. But Tommy, it wasn't any different for me than Jason and Trini and Zack…and Billy must've missed it even more than me!"

Tommy smiled, his teeth a dull white in the haunting darkness. "But that's not the issue. We never talked about how you felt, giving up those powers."

"No," Kim agreed, dancing her fingers down Tommy's forehead and tapping his nose, "We didn't. We don't have to. It's over and done with, and Tommy, I just don't think you'd understand."

Tommy bolted up, his hair whipping Kim in the chin and his red tank top straining against his shoulder muscles as he heaved himself up into a sitting position. He turned with a liquid lethal grace, his eyes flashing.

"I wouldn't understand? Kim, I lost my powers once too!"

Kim narrowed her eyes. "Yes, but you got them back, and ten-fold! Tommy, you're the only Ranger besides Jason who's gotten their powers back, and honestly? You wouldn't know how it feels to watch your friends be part of this battle that you once were a part of…and…" Kim trailed off, blushing a deep pink as she realized that perhaps Tommy did know a bit. The boy raised his eyebrow and flipped onto his stomach, dangling his legs dangerously off the cliff.

"Don't do that, you could fall!" Kim said automatically. When Tommy did not listen, she sighed and folded her arms. "Anyway, I didn't call you here to fight about power."

Tommy squinted. "Why did you call me here, then?"

Kim shrugged. "I…I guess, to say goodbye?"

There was silence for a moment as the sky darkened even more, a sultry black, crickets chirping and the summer air fragrant. It was warm and inviting, and Kim felt her heart ache at the notion of leaving this serenity. But it was necessary, and Kim was never one to whine.

"Leave?" Tommy's voice was pathetically small, and Kim risked a look towards him, bit her lip as she saw pain twist his features.

"I've gotta, Tommy."

"Why?" Tommy cocked his head. "Why do you have to leave?"

"A friend…a friend of mine needs me in a place called Sunnydale. He…he called me last night, and Tommy-well, things are bad there."

Tommy was in her face in a second, eager to rectify the problem. "What's bad? Ranger bad? I mean, as in Ranger's can help bad?"

Kim bit her lip and smiled at his excitement. There was Tommy, always ready to aid.

"Something like that. You know how we never believed in aliens, Tommy? Well…would you believe me if I told you that there were things called vampires?"

"Duh, Kim. I know what vampires are, but they don't exist." Tommy fell back again, his face hidden.

"Actually, they do." Kim swept her legs underneath her, eager to explain all she knew, finally, to someone. "Vampires have existed since the beginning of time. Evil roamed the Earth in early times, and Good was created to counteract that. Vampires are some of the earliest forms of evil, but in some ways the most evolved. It's a little like humans and apes, 'cept that vampires and their demon ancestors walk the Earth."

There was silence once more as Tommy registered this information. Then, "You sound like you've rehearsed this."

Kim bounced a little. "Not really. I mean, I knew I was gonna have to tell you, but I'm mainly reciting from memory what my friend told me."

Tommy shook his head and tapped his communicator so a little light turned on. In the reflected red glow, his face was disbelieving. "Kim, who was this guy anyways? This friend." He spat out the 'friend' bitterly, and Kim in an instant knew he thought she was talking about the 'friend' in her "Dear Tommy," letter.

Horrified, she stammered, "Oh, Tommy! God, no, not a young guy friend. An old guy friend." Off Tommy's mortified look, she giggled. "Not a romantic friend, either." Tommy gave a relieved sigh.

"Thank God. One girlfriend falls for a dork named Rocky, and another one has me thinking she's a gold-digger." Tommy gave a small smile, and Kim knew he was okay, if he could refer to Kat and Rocky and herself without grimacing.

"Funny, Technicolor Tommy. Real funny. No, I'm definitely not gold-digging, but there is something you should know about me. It has to do with why I'm leaving. Have you ever heard of the Slayer?"

Tommy clicked off his communicator and stuck out a hand for Kim to take. Heaving himself up, he pulled Kim along with him. "Walk and talk, Hart," he said. "It's pretty dark right now." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "And yes, I've heard of Slayer," he said over his shoulder, "Though I'm a country fan myself."

Kim blew her hair out of her face in exasperation, jogging to catch up. "No, , dummy." She caught a hold of  Tommy's arm. "Not Slayer the band, Slayer as in the person."

Tommy gave her a confused look. "What? That's an awful name to be stuck with! What kind of mother-"

"Tommy!" Kim groaned in frustration. Grabbing Tommy's arms, she halted him, spinning the teen so he faced her. "Listen to me, okay? Remember how we discussed evil and how it's existed as long as time? Well, good was created to counterpart that, correct?" Tommy nodded, confused. "Tommy, the good that was created was the Slayer." Here Kim lost her exasperation and adapted a more clinical tone. "One girl, Tommy, in all the world. One girl in every generation, callen to protect Earth from vampires and their brethren. She's the Slayer, a girl with super-strength and speed, powers to rival vampires. She protects the world, Tommy, and she does it alone." Kim added as an afterthought, "Or at least she did protect it alone."

Tommy gaped at her. "One girl? A girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, fighting evil all alone? No way." He was incredulous. "And how come there's only one in every generation?"

"Correction," Kim smiled, "There was one in every generation. Usually when one dies, another one is called to take her place. Slayers are very good at holding off dying, though. However, when the current one-Buffy Summers, from what I was told- died last year, another was called. There was a catch. Buffy drowned, but was revived, so when the other Slayer was called, there were suddenly two."

"Buffy…Slayer..died…okay, alright, I get it. But, how do you tie into this all?"

"Kendra was the last Slayer, the one called to replace Buffy. But she was killed a week ago. Tommy, I'm her replacement."

There was silence as Tommy registered this information. "So, you're a Slayer. An ex-power ranger and a Slayer." A slow smile spread across his face. "So where's the super-strength and spee-"

Tommy was on his back, wheezing, before he could finish.

"I was so waiting for you to ask that." Kim smirked. She laughed and helped Tommy off, dusting his clothes off gently. "Tommy, it was hard for me to accept too, but when Mr Giles called-"

"Who's Giles?"

Kim brightened. "Buffy's Watcher! Every Slayer has a Watcher to, well, watch them. To guide them. And Buffy's called me to tell me that after Kendra died, he did some kind of locator spell. I'm the new Chosen One." Kim coked her head and smiled. "It'd definitely explain the fact that yesterday I gave Jason a piggy-back ride."

Tommy just gaped.

"Kidding, idiot!" Kim laughed. "But in any case, I'm the new Other Slayer, and I've definitely made peace with it, so you should, too." She made to poke him. "And no telling the others when I'm gone!"

Tommy grabbed her hand and let go as if it was a hot coal. "Wait! Where are you going, Kim? And don't you need a Watcher, or whatever, to watch you so you don't get killed? Or, well, kill someone else?"

Kim scowled. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. I'm going to Sunnydale, Tommy. It's where Buffy will be after coming abck from vacation. I need to be there so she knows who she's fighting with. As for the Watcher thing, they've called a guy in from London. He'll be there when I arrive."

Tommy nodded slowly. "You're really leaving, aren't you?" he asked, as they resumed walking, the light from the Power Chamber's motion-detectors shining off his face.

"Yes. Tommy, it's my duty now. Like being a Ranger was, only I can't give up this Power. You see why now, you see why I don't miss it? I have another power, something to call my own." Kim's eyes were shining, and Tommy lay a gentle hand on her cheek.

"Then go, and be safe. I won't tell anyone why you've left…but Kim, it's so weird to say goodbye when it's like I've only just found you this week. You know, after so long." Tommy fumbled and Kim smiled sadly.

"If it helps, Tommy, I do love you." Tommy looked up, shocked. "It's true. I-I almost don't want to leave now that I've said it, but Tommy…just remember when you have to give your powers up that I'm still here. Okay? And according to Giles, a few more sidekicks against evil couldn't hurt."

Tommy grinned. "Sidekicks? Please." He laughed. "I'll remember, Kimmie. I have your teleportation code." They smiled at their private joke. "How are you getting there?"

"Teleporting. Figure I'd make use of this old thing." Kim motioned to her communicator. "One-five-six-two, Sunnydale, USA. Bye, Tommy."

"Wait, you're leaving now-Kim-wait!"

"Catch ya on the flip-side whoooaaa!" Kim's words and her body disappeared in a flash of pink light as Tommy shook his head, trying to process all that was happening.

"Godspeed, Kim Hart," He whispered as the light disappeared. "Godspeed, Slayer."

Next Chapter: "Saying Hello", as our heroine meets the Scooby gang!