Chapter 1: Antsy Crane
Wednesday
August 23, 1995
11:49 AM
Coach Schmidt's Gym's School
Shift, shift, shift. Tap, tap. Clank, thump. She is feeling twitchy again, her whole body full of that familiar jittery feeling, overflowing with energy. There is no real way to work it off. Hours of physical exertion gained her nothing and she moves about in her seat as the teacher drones on about basic concepts of American Literature. When the hands of the clock finally line up in the manner that announces the end of class, she almost bounces out of her seat. Her friend laughs, shouting after her about way too many white chocolate mochas. She is unheeding of it as she rushes off, quietly slipping around the crowd until she is near a bathroom. She sets a delicate hand on the handle and pulls the door open with a surprising fury, heading straight for the sinks. She yanks at faucet, cold water splashing down into her open palms and pats her face, droplets running down her cheeks. Finally, she looks into the mirror. She sees unnaturally red skin, eyes gleaming with feral intent and a brow furrowed with worry. Kimberly Ann Hart has a secret, and she has a problem.
She is the Pink Ninjetti Ranger, a member of the elite team based in Angel Grove that fights a villainous alien intent on taking over the planet. The team's identity is secret and its own weapons and powers are alien as well. That is her secret. The problem is that Kim is currently training for the Pan-Global competition in the gymnastics division in a gym compound in Daytona, Florida, and her powers are beating at all her walls to get out.
She gazes around the small bathroom, ignoring the high-pitched sound that tells her that she is currently late for Advanced Algebra, and then she opens one of the stall doors, walks in and locks it behind her. Her right hand reaches for her left hand for what looks like a large digital watch on her slim wrist. She presses a button and brings the watch up to her mouth.
"Billy?" she calls quietly.
"What is it, Kim?" her old friend and Blue Ranger asks, having stepped into a dark niche between some lockers.
"I'm going stir-crazy here," she complains, her free hand reaching up to brush back a strand that escaped from her hair-clip.
"I wish I could help, but the data analysis yielded nothing useful," he says in a resigned voice.
"Couldn't I just teleport when you guys are in battle and help out?" she begs, not for the first time.
"It's too risky. You could be found out too easily," he says with as much firmness as he can muster. "I have to go, Mickey will worry if I'm not in class on time." He clicks off and Kim is left pounding her hand against the stall wall in frustration. Normally she would spend a few minutes thinking about how she will tease him in their next phone conversation, the new girlfriend obviously a viable topic, but currently all she can do is fidget, fidget, fidget.
~*~
7:37 PM
Coach Schmidt's Gym's Exercise Room # 4
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk-thunk-thunk. Kimberly spins around and delivers a vicious roundhouse kick to the punching bag. It sways dangerously, threatening to hit her, but she shifts back and throws a hard punch which sends it swinging back. She wipes her forehead and raises her arms, leaning back, then flipping, her feet flashing in the air, the punching bag passing the space where she just was. She cartwheels back twice, then launches into the air, flipping without basing her hands on the ground. She lands in a split and gasps for air, clean beads of sweat rolling over her lightly tanned skin.
"That was very good Kimberly," comes a rough, heavily accented voice. She looks up and smiles at the coach. "Go home now, you've been working too hard."
"I will, thanks coach Schmidt," she replies but as she gets up, she feels energy flow through her body, her movements light and springy with it. The coach is thankfully stabilizing the still swinging punching bag so she has a chance to control herself, forcing her step to slow, her body to move more heavily, faking an exhaustion she simply doesn't feel. She waves goodbye to coach Schmidt, throws on a very light jacket and steps into the night.
The light breeze whips the strands that escaped the ponytail and she gives a happy sigh as it cools her overheated skin. Still she can't help but fidget as she walks, looking a little like someone hyper on way too much sugar. The energy snakes through her veins, prickles at her skin. She feels as if her body has become a shell, a container for Power and angry tears swim in her eyes.
Then a scream breaks through the silence of the evening. Kim spins around, honing in on the sound, and breaks into a run, turning the corner with wild speed. She dashes into an alley and the faint glimmer from the nearest street light reveals a man crouching over a female form, one hand at her throat and the other ripping at her shirt. Kimberly doesn't spare a moment to think, somersaulting over them and grabbing the hand at the woman's throat. The man lunges at her, thinking the slim girl easy prey but she lashes out with a side kick, knocking into his solar plexus. He gasps for air and throws out his hand in an unfocused punch. She ducks, grabs his arm and flips him over her hip, slamming him into the ground, his head bouncing up on the concrete. She kneels down to check on him but he seems to be unconscious, so she turns to his intended victim.
"Are you alright?" she asks softly, laying a hand on her forearm. The woman shivers but says nothing, her eyes wide and her pupils enlarged. She's shaking and Kim can't help but suspect shock. She pulls her cell phone from her pocket and dials for emergency services. As she waits for the ambulance and the police to arrive she pulls off her jacket and wraps the woman in it. The seconds tick by with Kim constantly checking to see that the man is still out cold, and it's not too long till the sirens break through the silence, shrieking warning. The first policeman reaches the scene and suddenly everything becomes a blur as she realizes that the energy is gone. The rest passes in flashes of lights and voices until she finally loses herself to the dark.
~*~
9:45 AM
Daytona General Hospital, Room 34
She groans and rolls over in the bed, wincing as the sun hits her eyes.
"Kim? Kim, are you awake?"
She makes a face, her nose wrinkling, and peeks open her eyes to the source of the wonderfully familiar voice. "Bia. Where am I?"
"In the hospital," the redhead tells her with a stern look. "The ambulance brought you last night. The doctors say you're exhausted and a bit malnourished." Kim struggles to remember but the first thing she feels is her own body, magnificently devoid of the Power's energy. She jolts up in the bed with a bright smile, her heart hammering inside her chest with excitement. She has found the cure.