Chapter 8- Revelations of Pink
Tommy's stomach gave another more insistent growl which caused them both to laugh, and Kim stood from her box.
"I'd say you've earned some pizza, we better get up there before you shrivel up from starvation." Kim relented starting up the stairs.
The thought of food was temptation in itself but Kim's words had reminded Tommy sharply of the life-force extractor, and there was something very important he needed to discuss with her.
"Wait Kim, there's…uh, something else I need to talk to you about."
"Uh oh, what have I done now?" Kim said teasingly as she turned back around to regard him quizzically. It was easier to try and be light with each other after how heavy their talk had been.
"This could take a while." Tommy told her, as she was hovering in the middle of the stairs thinking it would just be a brief chat.
"Oh, okay." She shrugged and jumped back down the stairs to stand in front of him, sliding her hands into her jeans pockets. "What's up?"
"It's just something Mesogog showed me when he captured me. Do you remember what happened when you left here a couple nights ago?" He asked as way of a lead in.
"Of course, it's not like I could forget. I got lost in those annoyingly large woods and then got attacked by the weird-lizard patrol. Then as I recall it your three team mates joined the party. And somehow I think you're very aware of all this and are trying to get somewhere really slowly. What's really going on here Tommy?"
Tommy sighed heavily. "Come and have a look here." He motioned for her to join him as he seated himself at one of the consoles and began to type in something. What displayed was an overhead map of the woods near his house, similar to the one Mesogog had shown him.
"You left here just after six, and got lost. The Tyrannodrones appeared around six-thirty and attacked you soon after, the Rangers appeared around six-forty and left the woods around seven. Let me show you an energy representation." He input something else into the keyboard and the display switched to something resembling a heat-vision picture, it was of her jeep and the timer display at the bottom of the screen showed it was about 6.25. Kim frowned, not understanding his point, but she looked over his shoulder at the monitors anyway. A glowing pink energy was emanating from the Jeep, and between the grainy outlines of trees could be seen things with a fainter glow of dark purple energy, which could only have been the Tyrannodrones.
"Your energy readings as a former Ranger are higher than that of a normal human anyway, but the potential energy inside you is even greater than that. Here's where the Tyrannodrones attack you…" They both watched as purple glows swarmed the jeep, two managing to jump on top of the vehicle as it crashed through the trees. The pink glow had substantially increased in brightness, and as Tommy focused in on it, it was almost white in the centre with pure power.
Kim frowned. "T-that's me? All that energy in there?" Tommy nodded.
"Right, and it seems to increase whenever your adrenaline gets flowing or you are in a heightened emotional state. When you are near the 'drones or the Rangers, the energy is stronger and more focused, as if the power inside of you is responding to their powers."
"And how does Meso-ugly fit into this?" Kim queried, watching the screen as the Rangers fought the Tyrannodrones as three red, blue and yellow blurs of energy.
"Because when you were in the woods, his scanners picked up a reading of your energy, and so he sent down the 'drones to find out what was causing this surge of power on his system. If I had been monitoring the scanners too, I'd have noticed that they picked up the influx of power, which usually they only register when they find a new Dino-gem like the one I used today. Mesogog thought that I was using a human carrier to store all this raw energy in and wanted to know who or what it was. But it turns out it was just your energy readings all on your own."
"How do I have so much of this energy?" Kim asked with a raised brow, "I mean, my energy readings are higher than Kira, Conner and Ethan's."
"I guess- and I haven't really figured it all out yet myself, that because, although you gave up your Morphin' Powers, and then they were destroyed as many other teams of Rangers' were, you and I, and Billy, Adam, Rocky and Aisha have something that no other teams tapped into." Kim finally made the connection after a moment of thought.
"The Ninja Powers."
"Exactly. And because those Powers were formed from our connection to the unique Spirit Animals we have inside us we were building on something that couldn't be taken away from us. That's why we were so strong."
"But I gave my Power Coin to Kat, she became the Pink Ranger and the Pink Ninja powers went with it." Kim reminded him, "How do I still have any power left?"
"Because the crane was your spirit animal, it was never Katherine's, she just assumed the mantle you left. But her connection with the Power wouldn't have been as strong as yours was, as the crane was solely yours, it was an animal representation of you, built from elements of your heart and soul. So even when you gave her your coin, the spirit of the crane never left you. And although your power was forgotten, and had lain dormant as you thought you had given it up, it's still inside you. Being a Ninja Ranger tapped into all this power, it's still there. And that is what Mesogog is after."
"This is too much to take!" Kim said, slumping back into another of the console chairs and running a hand through her chestnut hair. "So Mesogog is after me because I still have the ninja spirit of the crane inside me?"
At Tommy's nod she frowned.
"And I'm guessing it he wants my energy for not so friendly world domination purposes?"
"Yeah, and if he got his hands on it we'd be in a world of trouble, that much raw energy would make him almost unstoppable." Tommy said gravely.
"Well thanks for that cheery prognosis Dr. Oliver." Kim quipped. "But I don't get it, why aren't your readings the same, you have the power of the falcon inside you."
"My readings will be substantially more than Conner, Ethan and Kira's, but as I've been through so many power changes and swaps, my connection to the falcon is dimmed, as I didn't need it any more. The power from the Black Dino Gem is probably pushing it down anyway. But the Crane seems a little more reluctant to let you forget it, maybe it thinks you need it more." He smiled.
"I'd agree with that. So let's say Mesogog did get his claws on me, what would he do?"
At this, Tommy remained silent as he remembered the crackling energy of the life-force extractor and his eyes fell, not wanting to voice the implications of it to Kim.
Kim took his silence as it was meant and nodded grimly.
"So I'm guessing he won't sit me down for tea and crumpets." She shrugged, "Fair deal, I've had my share of unattractive guys after me before, though Mesogog does sound more scary than Skull. Though he doesn't look any worse than Zedd."
Tommy looked at her and sighed again. "Believe me, he's worse."
"Are you really sure I have this Power inside of me, it's not just a fluke? I mean I felt that Power loss for ages, how would I have if I had it inside me all along?"
"You felt the loss of the Power Coin, which weakened your tie to the crane, as Kat was using the Pink Powers I guess, and they were linked to the spirit of the crane that was in you. But now that the Morphin' Powers aren't used anymore, its full strength is inside you. But there's only one way to be sure you still have it in you. It will take a lot more energy than it would do if you still had the coin, and I doubt you'd be able to maintain full body armour or power a Zord, but with your readings, it just might work." Tommy smiled as Kim caught the implication and her eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you remember how to?"
"Of course." Kim grinned, and moved away from the console to give herself some room. Tommy watched with interest, half of him hoping that Kim could pull this off, but the other half praying that she couldn't, so she wouldn't become a target for Mesogog.
Kim closed her eyes, took a deep breath and held her arms in front of her. She stayed still for a few moments as if finding her centre deep inside. Then she gracefully swept her arms through the air- trailing pink energy in their wake- and extended her hands in front of her, pointing her index fingers out.
"Ninja Ranger power, now!" And in a flash of pink energy she stood clothed in the pink Ranger Ninja suit, a hood obscuring her all features, except her bright brown eyes. Where her power coin would have rested on her chest was just a glow of pink energy filling the hole. It dulled and the groove was simply filled in pink the same colour as the rest of her suit, with a golden outline of a crane imprinted where the coin once sat.
Kim brought her hands up to see her gloves and she touched her face and looked herself over in disbelief.
"Pinch me Tommy, I feel like I'm dreaming!" Kim breathed and Tommy grinned.
"Awesome." He uttered quietly, feeling as if they were back at the Temple of Power receiving the Ninja powers for the first time. And almost as a reflex the two moved together and embraced tightly, the joy each one felt with the return of their powers was infectious between them.
Tommy's arms came to lock comfortably around Kim's mid-back which kept her pulled close to him, and Kim's arms were stretched up around Tommy's neck, her head resting against his chest as if she had never left him. Tommy was hit, even through her uniform with the familiar scent of vanilla and roses which always followed Kim and a small sigh of contentment escaped his mouth. It was a welcome jolt of nostalgia and the two were unaware of quite what they were doing until they were doing it.
"Are we interrupting something?" A voice called cheekily from the stairwell, and the two jumped apart from each other as if they had been shocked with electricity.
Kira, Ethan and Conner- the one who had shouted- were all stood on the stairs looking down at them somewhat befuddled.
"Who is-…Kimberly?" Ethan was about to question the strange womanly form in pink who had been clamped onto their teacher, but as they neared they recognised the build and brown eyes.
"And she said she wasn't a Power Ranger any more!" Conner grinned, with an accusatory tone as if the two elder Rangers had been conspiring against them.
"Yeah, how'd this happen?" Kira asked as the three ran down the stairs to examine Kim in her new Ninja form.
"Guess the power was just inside of me all along." Kim smiled, her eyes flicking over to Tommy who had retreated back to the consoles in embarrassment at having been caught in the act by his students. Luckily for him he had gone unnoticed in their excitement.
"Wow, do you have special powers too in this form?" Conner asked enthusiastically.
"Sure, as Ninja Rangers we can slide-teleport to get to another place really fast, and use decoy-suit tricks to make attackers believe we're one place when we're someplace else. As well as some other perks of the job, although I haven't tried them out yet." Kim grinned at the younger three's exuberance, feeling the years fall away from her as if she were a hopeful teenager with the world ahead of her once more.
"What are you three doing down here anyway?" Tommy turned back from the monitors having composed himself enough to face his new team mates.
"Well you'd both been down here a while and it had gone a little quiet so we wondered if Kim had killed you and was trying to find someplace to hide your body." Ethan explained.
"Yeah, we came down to help her out." Conner quipped.
"As flattering as that's not, maybe you three had better head home, I'm sure you have plenty of assignments to complete for Monday."
"No, it's okay Dr. O we're happy to stick around." Kira grinned, knowing the three of them were making him very uncomfortable.
"Yeah, we didn't want to miss any more of the action." Conner said with a smirk. "I told Hayley to put in some popcorn."
"Conner!" Tommy used his best stern teacher voice and the three knew playtime was over, for them anyway. "Get going, before your parents come searching with burning torches and pitchforks."
"Alright Dr. O, we're gone! We'll catch you bright and early tomorrow for training, or y'know we could postpone it 'til later in case you guys are tired from 'catching up' or whatever." The Red Ranger winked.
"Conner!" Tommy growled and Conner's eyes widened and he backed up the stairs, Kira and Ethan following with a wave to Kim as they departed hastily so as not to be confronted with their teacher's wrath.
Kim had pulled her hood down so that her face was clear once more, those outfits could get a little claustrophobic if you weren't busy and the room was hot. Tommy came back down from the monitor display's platform looking embarrassed as before. He scratched the back of his head and rather sheepishly murmured,
"Sorry." Kim wasn't sure whether he was apologising for the hug or for his students but Kim didn't mind either way so smiled,
"No problem." Tommy nodded and rubbed his chin with his thumb thoughtfully.
"So, what's the plan, if I'm on Mesogog's hitlist?" She asked, before sweeping her arms once more. "Power down!" She called and went back to sit on her box as her Ninja outfit disappeared.
"I think you should stay in Reefside for a while." Tommy told her, coming to sit on a box opposite.
"What, why?" Kim raised a brow.
"If you're Mesogog's target, he'll stop at nothing to find you, especially now that he's lost the fourth Dino Gem to me. At least if you're here in Reefside you'll be near to the Rangers and me."
Kim nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense, but how long for? I do have a business to run."
Tommy shrugged and looked troubled. "I don't know, until we know that Mesogog's lost interest in you or has been destroyed."
"Tommy, who knows how long that could take?!" Kim gaped. "What if he doesn't lose interest, it took years to get rid of Zedd and Rita, and that wasn't even the Power Rangers it was the Machine Empire that did it!" She shook her head. "I can't leave the gym for that long."
"I know, and we'll figure something out, but Kim, if Mesogog got hold of you, there wouldn't be a gym for you to go back to. There wouldn't be anything except death, destruction and a lot of dinosaurs."
This quieted Kim's protests and she nodded.
"Alright, what else?"
"I think you should book out of the hotel, for how long you'll be staying it would be a waste of resources and you'll still be in danger."
"Why?" Kim frowned. "I'm here in Reefside what more can you do?"
"If Mesogog managed to locate you- which he will given time- he could attack and snatch you before we even knew what happened, and it would be too late." He left it there, Kim knew the implications of this statement from his earlier silence when she had asked what Mesogog would do to her.
"Well where am I gonna stay, I don't exactly have enough free money to buy another house, here in Reefside." Kim reminded him. She was comfortable from her gymnastics studio and her win at the Games, but she certainly couldn't afford to even rent another place for goodness knows how long.
After a moment lost deep in thought, during which he quite resembled a lost child with the weight of the world on his shoulders, Tommy looked back up at her.
"…You can stay here with me." He said decisively.
"Whoah, wait, what?" Kim's eyes widened. "An hour ago I didn't think you'd want to see me again, now you want us to be house-mates? Are you sure you need that?"
"Kim it makes sense, it's in a secluded location, Mesogog doesn't know you're here and doesn't know the connection between us, I'm close by to make sure nothing happens, and the other three can be here in seconds. Plus this place is big enough for more than one person. If it makes you uncomfortable, I can ask Hayley, or I suppose you could find a place to rent nearby." He offered with a shrug.
Kim considered it, although it would be awkward, she didn't want to stay with a strange woman, supportive as Hayley seemed, and she couldn't afford a place to rent. She and Tommy were talking now and used to be best friends and confidantes, so she supposed it wouldn't be that bad.
"Alright Oliver, you've got yourself a roomie." She nodded. "Looks like you're back to playing the role of White Knight." She joked.
"Black Knight remember?" Tommy corrected her with a laugh.
"It works. I've paid for my hotel room for tonight, so I'll check out tomorrow morning." She put her hands in her pockets once more and looked up at him hesitantly but sincerely.
"Thanks for this Tommy, I know this must be a pain in the ass for you." Kim berated herself mentally, she and Tommy had such history together, and they hadn't talked for years, what was she thinking to be staying with him after all this time? Did she really believe that they could go back to being how they had been before the mess of their relationship got in the way? And not to mention how strong she had noticed his arms were and how good he smelled when she had hugged him…
At her acquiescence Tommy nodded,
"I'm glad to do it." He smiled but internally he kicked himself. He wasn't sure he could handle being in such close proximity to Kim after all this time, and that hug had been a little too comfortable for comfort. As Kim gave him a humble smile with lips pressed tight together and began to make her way back up the stairs, Tommy watched her with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Just what have you gotten yourself into now Tommy?
MTV, yay, it's my birthday, yay! Ahem, yes, it is my birthday today, and this is my present to you! Unfortunately it's another one of those action-lite dialogue-heavy chapters, but I wonder if that clears up some of your questions and wonderments about Kim. Hope it didn't seem contrived, but hey, the Ninja Powers weren't destroyed and the Crane is skill Kim's spirit animal so I think it works! FYI, I haven't seen the episodes where they all receive their Ninja Powers in the series for many years, so I tend to work with the first movie's Ninjetti powers although these were rendered obsolete by the series. So if I interchange some of the explanations and they seem to be more reminiscent of the movie's storyline, you'll know why, I'm kind of blending the two together. So Kim has her Ninjetti/Ninja powers and can use these without use of her coin (as in the movie) in her Ninja Uniform, but she cannot support being fully armoured into the actual Power Ranger armour (as in the movie) without the coin. I hope this convoluted little explanation makes some sense, as it is past the midnight hour here in England and I'm sleepy! If it makes no sense, ignore all this and just take it all with an open mind! Now, the reviews-
Sayinjinj7- I like the pizza scene myself, it's nice to see a little team bonding. I don't know about Trent yet, we'll see if it fits into the storyline, if I do use him its more likely I'll go the other way and make him bad, the comparisons are just too good an opportunity to miss, but like I said, we'll see if he fits into the flow of the story- I might keep him for the opportune moment, just to make things worse! Thanks for reviewing.
C2- Wow, what a flattering and lovely review! I was hoping to make the talk as realistic as possible, but as it was so anticipated I was a little worried at how it would be received, your reaction was exactly the type I was hoping for so thank you very much for that! I thought I would twist the dagger for Kim with her question about whether they would have stayed together, makes it even more heartbreaking I think. But there may be a future for them yet- thank you for reviewing!
Yami Kero- As soon as I get a spare minute I will check out your story for sure, it's just a battle in between all the revision for my exams to find a spare minute to sit and just read! I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hope this one was also to your liking. Thanks for the review.
Jewel937- The long chapters will probably continue to be long, although this one was tiny by comparison to last! Well I will see what I can do about your hope for a happy ending and a relationship, but it's like the well-used and famous adage, the path of true love never did run smooth! Thanks for the feedback!
Luna23- Ah you got that feeling that something's there too huh? Yes, I did want to play upon the friction, that won't be going away, but perhaps there is something hidden beneath the surface for both of them, it will be explored in the coming chapters, especially chapter 10 I feel. Thanks for revewing!
JTrevizo- Thank you! Beams
Tomgirl27- I'm exactly the same on the memory front, I can practically recite a whole episode of a TV show but I forget where I put something down a second ago, my friends like to call me Tommy sometimes as a testament to how bad my memory is. Hey, there are worse people to be compared to than the legendary- and gorgeous- Power Ranger right? You were right in a sense of new pink Ranger, more like old Pink Ranger, but it works! Although I am intrigued as to what your guess for the 'or something else…' was. Care to share? Thank you for reviewing!
Thanks to everyone who took the time to review, especially for a chapter that I was so worried about, I'll be interested to see the reaction to this chapter too, I hope I didn't disappoint you! So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though there's no real action there is some plot progression and explanations so that makes it alright! Stick with me, it will get a whole bit more interesting in the coming chapters. Thanks for reading!