Amends
Chapter 2- Blast from the Past
A.N: Wow, thanks for the overwhelming support guys, really makes me feel loved. I'd like to thank the Academy *sniff* oh wait, wrong speech! Due to the wishes of the reviewers, and myself if truth be told, it will be my pleasure to continue this! I want you to tell me how you think it's going, give me any suggestions and inform me if there's anything you'd like to see included that I can stick in to make you happier! This chapter will be more of a Tommy centred chapter, with appearances from the Dino Rangers! Apart from that I just hope you enjoy chapter 2 as much if not more than the first!
*
Kim wiped furiously at the hot tears flooding her cheeks with the heel of her left hand as she used the other to drive as fast away from Tommy's as possible. She had been expecting him to either be as calm as possible or to blow up at her as he did, she still hadn't quite decided which she would've preferred.
*This was the worst idea in the history of really bad ideas ever.* She admonished herself, reaching for her bottle of water, suddenly realising her mouth was as dry as the Sahara after her little encounter with Dr. Oliver, PhD. She stuck the bottle between her knees for security as she untwisted the top and took a swig, this was followed by a forlorn sniffle as she got her emotions in check.
She took a right down a dirt path and glanced to the seat beside her for the map. Just then her car went over a bump in the road and the water flew everywhere, coating her, the car and her map, so that her map had gained a nice little water feature and the city of Reefside now looked like it had transformed into a lake.
"Crap!" She exclaimed, sticking the water into her drinks holder and reaching frantically for the dripping map, now quite beyond rescue. The colours had faded and blurred, and the water had weakened it so it looked about ready to tear completely.
"Oh God, now how'm I supposed to find my way out of this damn forest?" She moaned, continuing down the path, realising with dismay that it had soon become dark while she was at Tommy's.
She looked to her cell phone on the dashboard, where Tommy's new home number had carefully been stored in there by Jason a few weeks prior, 'just in case'.
"Noooo way, I am not calling him for help, especially not now!" She countered her own thought train out loud. "I will get out of this mess myself, I was the first Pink Ranger for heavens sake!" Still, she couldn't help the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she drove further into the darkening woods.
*
Tommy slowly removed his hand from the plasterboard of his wall, kinda glad he hadn't tried to hit the pinewood part of the décor. As it was he was simply bleeding at the knuckle, rather than dealing with broken bones. He was rather ashamed of himself for losing his world renowned composure after he was so sure he had come to terms with his past. But damnit, Kim still managed to do things to him that no-one else in the world could do, even after all this time.
Before Kim had arrived he had just been making himself some coffee and was about to go and start grading papers from homework assignments. He had been quite blissfully unaware that a rather large part of the past he had tried hard to forget –unsuccessfully- was driving up his driveway for a much postponed reunion.
He had heard that cheery little tap and froze, it stirred in him memories he didn't need and didn't expect, but brushed it off as his imagination. At the more normal tap he had gone to open the door, perhaps it was one of his new Power protégés come to pester him about all the things he had yet to explain to them about. He had swung open the door and to his surprise- and somewhat his horror- Kimberly Hart stood there, beautiful as the day she left him. The hair was different, blonde highlighted, but it brought out the brightness of her eyes. She had much the same figure as she had when he saw her last, after rescuing her and Jason from Divatox, perhaps she was a little taller or maybe that was because of the kitten heels she wore. Same fashion, dark denim jeans and a pink long-sleeved v-neck shirt, that nicely accentuated her curves…*whoa, no need to go there Oliver!* he chided himself, he was over Kim, she had left him, and he had moved on a long time ago. At least he thought he had. No, he knew he had, he decided firmly, it was merely nostalgia creeping up on him.
He still hadn't found his voice through all this, his mind a whirlwind of questions. Why was she here? What did she want? How had she found him? Was someone in trouble… why did she still look so gorgeous to him? He opened his mouth to attempt one of these questions, but unable to decide on one, shut it again promptly. He was quite unaware of her babbling and attempts to salvage the one sided conversation, simply drinking her in like a heady wine. After all, he was still only human.
He then realised belatedly that she was walking away, probably too embarrassed to face him any longer, and he finally got over his disbelief enough to call her back.
"Kimberly, wait!" Her name rolled off his tongue in that same old way, a not altogether unwelcome blast from the past, but he pushed those thoughts away too. Every time he thought of Kim he thought of that Letter, the one that had destroyed him utterly in a way being robbed of his powers and out of the Ranger team never did. He looked at her guardedly, not wanting to give any thoughts away. He had perfected that art over the years, growing more adept at hiding his feelings as he finally had to grow up and join the world of adults rather than being locked in a cycle of kicking evil butt in high school.
He noticed, upon her pointed glance down that he was spilling his coffee onto his shoe and jerked it back up, mentally scolding himself. That little display probably didn't make him look like the most composed of ex-boyfriends in the world. Still, ten years was a long wait for a reunion, he decided that he was hardly expected to take this in his stride. Upon being suitably embarrassed internally about the coffee spillage he had invited her inside, with some reservation. She sat on his couch, as nervous as he was only less skilled at hiding it. Kim had never been good at hiding things from him, he recalled, but that was before she sent him a letter revealing the one thing she had been hiding very well was another guy. Tommy wasn't angry anymore, he had moved on from that with the slow acceptance that things couldn't always stay the same, change was inevitable and his 'Beautiful' Kim was bound to move on sooner or later.
He had always considered himself inadequate for her in high school, he couldn't even hold on to a Power source for God's sake, and being recruited as Rita's evil Ranger, then being stripped of those Powers twice didn't do a lot for a guy's self esteem. Still, the way Kim had committed the deed really twisted the knife for him, Kim certainly didn't make the break up any easier. He would have much preferred her to say that things just weren't working out between them long distance and she couldn't explain yet, rather than her being deceptive and cagey about her replacement for him.
She had said he had always been like a brother to her! That was wrong on so many levels, they had been better than best friends, but the affection they shared could hardly be called brotherly/sisterly. He wished Jason could have given him some word, some warning, surely Kim would have told him if she had met someone else. But Jason had been as clueless as Tommy, which had really thrown Zeo Ranger 5 for a loop.
But anyway, back from that digression, their chat started friendly enough, for a moment it almost felt like old times, with them joking around about his PhD and all. Then he had to ask, and man he regretted where that question led.
"Kim, why are you really here?" He really just had to ask didn't he? God, of all the bombshells she could have dropped, that was the one that threw him the most.
She lied?! After all they had been through together, she couldn't trust him enough to confide her worries about them, her insecurities about Kat, about her guilt for keeping him tied to a girlfriend all the way in Florida. That hurt more than if there had been another guy, at least she would have been being honest, and respecting him enough to not continue when there was nothing left, but they had always been so open with each other. And Kim was right, Tommy would've waited for her to finish the training, would have gone to support her at the Pan Globals, he wondered how insecure must she have been feeling to have doubted that?
Tommy realised with a somewhat sinking feeling that perhaps he had contributed to that insecurity. Sure he had written back to her every week or so, but he rarely had time to call her after a hard days Rangering, after homework had been done, and he had not been able to visit her in Florida as much as he'd hoped, perhaps Kim really did think that she'd already been replaced and it was just Tommy's way of telling her they were over. This was as hard to handle as her news, because if he had thought that he was in any way responsible for the break-up, things might have ended differently after all. He might've questioned her decision, made excuses and become more attentive. Being faced with this thought, Tommy's anger had returned, he didn't want to deal with this now when he had been so happily ensconced in his new career in this new place, and Kim had pretty much ruined his retreat.
After letting rip on Kim for her selfish behaviour, that which he'd never thought her capable of, Tommy told her to leave. He didn't feel nice about it, seeing her crumble from the inside, the tears welling in her eyes like a flood, but in a way it gave him a sort of satisfaction. Now she knew what he had felt, how devastated he had been and how much well aimed words could hurt. After she had left and he had calmed somewhat, Tommy felt disgusted with himself.
He had no right to do that to Kim, who had come for the right reasons, but had done it completely wrong. He realised belatedly that he was not quite so over the whole Letter as he had first thought he was, but he could still not get past her betrayal of his trust. Her selfish actions- however well founded she thought them- had still desolated him, and he was certainly not ready to forgive and forget, though he wished he could.
He felt he was far too old to be so petty and hold a grudge against one of his oldest friends and his first love, but that didn't make the feelings go away, and it didn't make it any easier. Still, Kim was gone again and probably had no lingering desire to ever see him again, which at this point suited Tommy fine.
Fighting the beginnings of a pounding headache, he sighed and glanced down at his coffee, now half empty with a nice soggy stain on his shoe as testament to this. He realized he still had to grade those papers and sat down at his desk wearily, not really in the ideal mindset to think in any great depth.
Suddenly a bleeping- that to anyone else would sound like an innocent enough oven timer- (except that Tommy didn't know how to use an oven timer) began to shrill and wearily Tommy flipped open his laptop, and connected to the rest of his defensive Power Ranger mainframe. This displayed on screen for him a force of Tyrannodrones in the forest by his home, apparently looking for something in the most violent way possible, tearing trees and bushes apart in their search. He typed in an access code on the keyboard to contact Conner, Ethan and Kira, connecting him to their communicators. He was all business again, Kim momentarily forgotten when in his mentor role.
"Guys, we've got a problem. Tyrannodrones are in Reefside forest, near the base. I don't know if they're trying to locate my lab or whether Mesogog has uncovered some of my research he's trying to get his claws on, but we need to stop him."
*
Conner-McKnight was in the park, and had been for some hours. He was practising his soccer skills, smirking in satisfaction every time he pulled off the more difficult tricks. A small noise sounded, but this was not loud enough to break him from his reverie. At the next, more insistent sound, his winning streak was cut short as the ball fell to the ground seizing his distraction as an opportunity for escape. With a growl of annoyance at this loss Conner kicked his soccerball up from the ground into his arms and then acknowledged Tommy's call.
"Got it Dr. O, I'm on the way." The Red Ranger replied coolly, before ducking behind a tree to morph.
Kira and Ethan, who had been on the way to meet Conner, also heard the call and moved off the path into the neat line of trees to listen to Dr. Oliver's message.
"We're there Dr. O, no sweat." Ethan affirmed and glanced at Kira who nodded back, checking the coast was clear before they struck their pose.
"Dino Thunder, Power up, ha!" Once morphed, the three soon met up in the darkened woods near Tommy's lonely house. The three looked around a little lost, glancing at each other uncertainly.
"Err, Dr. O, its a little dark out here." Conner noted, straining to see through the trees in the gathering gloom.
"It's alright, your helmets have inbuilt night-vision, I'll activate it now." Tommy informed them and the formerly black forest suddenly became crystal clear, if now coloured in eerie green and black.
"Sweet!" Ethan exclaimed, interested at this new piece of hardware.
"C'mon dude, it's not like we've never heard of night-vision before." Conner tutted derisively.
"Just because you're too much of a dumb jock to understand the complex logistics that go into creating this stuff-" Ethan countered but Kira cut them off.
"Don't make me send you boys for a time out, c'mon, we've got work to do." She scanned the area and picked up the crashing sounds of Mesogog's goons up ahead. "This way kids." She pointed, leading the way, as Conner and Ethan followed, still bickering.
*
Kim was now well and truly lost. She was sure she had taken a wrong turning or twenty and this forest seemed to go on and on.
It was now she was really lamenting having a banger of a car so old that global positioning systems seemed like something from another planet.
"This is all Tommy's fault." She snarled, turning her headlights on full power and picking her way through the mass of branches and bushes that seemed to converge on the small dirt road.
She thought she saw something move in the light of the headlights, a dark figure, but she dismissed this tiredly, moaning to herself,
"Man, I really wish I hadn't watched the Blair Witch Project now. C'mon Kim, keep it together, no point letting your imagination run away with you!" But she saw it again, no, more than one, dark, lizard like creatures illuminated by her lamps. They turned beady eyes towards her and one opened its mouth and snarled.
"Oh my God!" Kim exclaimed, certainly not expecting to be starring in her own Jurassic Park remake tonight. She stepped on the gas and slammed forward through the trees, hoping to scare the things away or at least scatter them. No such luck, for although some did jump out of the way, one leapt atop her bonnet and another clambered onto her roof.
"Hell!" Kim cursed, swerving the jeep to try and swing the creeps off, but they were persistent and the one on the roof stabbed its claws into her roof, tearing a hole in the metal.
"Whoa. I know I was complaining about the car but I really don't want a convertible upgrade either thanks!" Kim shouted mock cheerily to the beast, who for its part continued trying to tear a great hole above her head.
"I'm sending you the bill for the paintwork buddy!" Kim retorted just before the jeep careened down a steep embankment which succeeded in dislodging the two tagalongs and sending them rolling back into the trees. As the jeep reached the bottom of the hill she stepped on the gas once more but found herself literally stuck in the mud, her two back wheels sunk into the sloppy dirt collected on the forest floor.
"Uh oh, that's so not good." Kim winced as dozens of the creatures spilled down the hill towards her jeep. Kim kept flooring the pedal but no luck, it only succeeded in spraying mud and grime up into the air and sinking her wheels deeper into the mess. Kim turned in her seat to watch the lizards' progress towards her but before they could swamp the car three figures arrived in a blur of bright red, blue and yellow.
"Slow down guys, can we crash the party?" The Yellow Ranger questioned in a distinctly feminine voice, hand on her hip confidently.
In response to this the nearest of the drones hissed, twitching in anticipation of the fight, this action was taken up by the rest and they stood prepared for a battle.
"Whoa, somebody needs a breath mint." The Blue one commented, waving his hand in front of his face as if to waft away the smell.
"Oh sorry guys, I had onions with dinner." The Red Ranger stated apologetically with a shrug.
"Not you genius, the scale-face over there?" The Yellow Ranger sighed sarcastically.
"Oh right, I knew that! Tyranno Staff!" The Red Dino Ranger pulled out his staff and his yellow and blue counterparts did likewise.
"Tricera-shield!"
"Ptera-grips, yeah!" The three wielded their weapons and rushed the group of Tyrannodrones, slashing through them with ease.
"Wow, so these are the newest Power Rangers!" Kim murmured, watching the three go, then snapped back to the task at hand, trying to free her jeep from the mud-trap.
~
Tommy kept a watch on the Rangers' progress as they made their way through the forest and located the band of 'drones, realising slowly that his lab and experiments were not their targets this time.
"Shit, Kimberly." He whispered, watching the Dino Rangers take on Mesogog's troops while Kim tried to get her jeep out from its sticking place. Tommy was unaware that he was now on his feet, hands flat on the desk leaning close to the computer screen to see what was going on.
~
Conner had heard his teacher's murmured expletive as had Kira and Ethan, though hadn't made out quite what he was saying.
"What's got Dr O all hot and bothered?" Ethan queried slamming his shield into the face of one of the drones and side kicking a second.
"I dunno but there's someone in that Jeep, and I guess that's what Mesogog's goons are after." Conner pointed out.
"No shit Sherlock." Kira muttered under her breath as she spun, slashing four drones who had been circling her, and they fell away with a spark of energy. "I'll go check it out." She announced, noting the guys had their lot pretty much under control. She backflipped, kicking an approaching Tyrannodrone in the chest as she leapt over to the jeep.
Peering inside she saw an unfamiliar woman in a pink shirt slamming on the gas.
"Need a hand?" Kira asked, peeking through the open window and noting the holes in the roof.
"Two if you can spare them." Kim said sheepishly, "I really wasn't looking for a sunroof on this old thing." She muttered, giving up on the gas.
"I'll see what I can do m'am." Kira saluted, then felt instantly stupid being swept up into this whole noble ranger tradition, it wasn't really her style, but she supposed it couldn't hurt to get into the spirit.
"Thanks." Kim nodded, looking back as Kira moved behind the truck, interested to see what the rookie Ranger would do.
Kira thought for a moment, then moved into the mud and braced herself against the jeep to help push it forward. This was helped by the added strength her Ranger Powers lent her. The mud was really getting annoying, so having a thought, Kira unleashed her Ptera-scream, which dislodged the mud from around the jeep's wheels and pretty much blew it all away.
Conner, Ethan, Kim and the drones hadn't been expecting the noise and all clutched their ears at the powerful sound.
"Kira, you've really gotta start warning us before you do that, my eardrums!" Connor made to massage his head through his helmet.
"Sorry!" She shrugged apologetically. "Try it now!" She called to Kim, and as the other two rangers came to join the Yellow Ranger in pushing, Kim hit the gas and was able to get out of the ditch she'd got herself into. "Thanks! Now would anyone happen to know the way to the main road?" She winced, remembering what got her into this situation in the first place.
"You need to hang a right, round this hill and go straight on to reach the main road that'll take you into the city centre." The Blue Ranger explained, pointing with a gloved hand.
"Thanks you guys, you're doing a great job." Kim affirmed, giving them a thumb up out of the window before hitting the gas and following Ethan's pointers towards the main road.
~
"She seemed nice." Conner commented.
"Should we be worried that she didn't scream and freak out over the bumpy lizards that were trying to kidnap her, it seems a little strange." Ethan noted.
"These days, nobody's surprised by that kind of stuff, just goes to show you the crappy world we live in I guess." Kira pointed out.
Tommy sat back into his chair relieved, glad Mesogog's drones hadn't got to Kim, and that the Rangers weren't questioning the encounter too deeply. He really didn't want to open up his past to his three students just yet, especially not his history with Kim.
"Great job guys, lets hope Mesogog's giving it a rest for now, go back to what you were doing. And don't forget to do your assignment for tomorrow!" He reminded them with a smile.
"Like we'd forget Dr. O, what do you take us for?" Conner tutted and the three powered down as they walked out of the woods.
After a pause, Conner groaned.
"Damnit, I knew there was something I had to do." Kira and Ethan looked at him in disbelief.
"What? I had practise!" He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"If the Red Ranger is supposed to be the leader, we should just hand ourselves to Mesogog now." Kira sighed as they checked no-one was around before hitting the button on their morphers to transport them back into town.
*
"Master, the energy signature has disappeared from our sensors."
The look on Mesogog's face could have reduced even the most hardened heart to quivering mush. Fortunately, Elsa was lacking a heart but still, the look made her shiver. She quite enjoyed it.
"What?!" Mesogog snarled.
She dropped her eyes for a moment in contrition and then looked up to explain.
"Whatever the increase in energy was caused by, it has either been lost or moved my lord, it is no longer in the area. The Tyrannodrones were unable to identify the source, the Power Rangers interfered."
At this Mesogog growled violently.
"Those pitiful rangers are fast becoming…an inconvenience. What power source has Dr. Oliver found… if he were to get his hands on it, the consequences would be quite disastrous... He could use it against us, and those Rangers will become even more… irritating. Oliver must not be allowed to get his hands on that power Elsa, do I make myself clear?"
"Of course master, we will continue our search to locate the source, I will not fail you again."
"See that you don't."
*
Dum, dum duuum! Okay, this chapter was pretty damn crappy, but I had to set all this up before I can get into the real flow of the story. I figured adding in a little action as well as the love story element would spice things up a bit you'll have to tell me how you think I did (be gentle, I bruise like a peach). Now I can take the story one of two ways, I can twist the events of Wave Goodbye, Legacy of Power and Back in Black to suit the story, basically mould the episodes to include the repercussions of events here and then take it my own direction after that, or I suppose I could just try and forge a new plot altogether from the beginning rather than giving Tommy the black ranger powers, what do y'all reckon? Please drop me a review or an email, let me know how you think its going or if there's anything else you wanna see included. Next update, the appearance of another old friend, the Dino Thunder Rangers dig a little deeper, and probably a whole lot more Tommy/Kim angst!
Catch ya on the flipside!