AN: I usually don't begin my chapters like this, but I feel compelled to respond to one particular review.
To Whoever You Are: I do appreciate your opinion of my story because that is what I asked for, but I am going to respond to some of the comments you made in other areas. I do know about Katherine's character and this is probably the only instance that she will be used in this story. My opinion of her is just that my opinion. About the plot, I don't like things that aren't happy, usually. I would also like to remind you that these stories are fictional and this one comes from my mind, which means it may or may not offend some other people. As for its originality, read the rest of the story and then make your decision, because you are looking at an incomplete work. If you ever choose to review any of my stories in the fashion that you did, please leave your screen name or some other means for me to get in touch with you. That way, I won't feel as if I have to bitch at the whole community for one person's actions.
Ghostwriter: Thanks, I really appreciate your review, and the little part at the beginning is from Kim's POV and any other similar parts will be from her POV, unless noted.
Pinkie: I'll try to stretch things out, so if you will please review to this chapter and see if it is any better. The first chapter may be rewritten later because of the fact that the more I write; the more I might find a need to change things. Thanks for your input!
Now, on with the story!
"Tommy, get your ass in here, now!" Rocky playfully yelled, sticking his head out of the doors.
If he hadn't done this now, Kim and Tommy would have probably been at it all night and they did need their help, although they hated to admit it. He also wanted to see, in person, that they had not imagined what had happened on the viewing globe. It almost seemed to good to be true after waiting this many years for them to resolve their problem, but they were all sure that some kinks still remained. You couldn't erase all that time in a few minutes and a kiss.
"You really should turn that off if you don't want him to get mad," Jason said, as the others scrambled to make the globe go blank and to not look guilty. They were sure that Tommy would figure it out, but they could only hope that it would take him a few minutes.
"What do you want?" Tommy asked, running in breathless, his face flushed. The sun was just beginning to go down behind Tommy and they were able to see a smaller shadow following him towards the command center, at a much slower rate.
"Just trying to prevent any further problems," Billy said, with a mischievous smile, as he looked up from his work. He may not have seen them very often, but he still knew that most of them were the same as they had always been.
"What types of problems?" Tommy asked, becoming aggravated that they had taken him away from 'making up' with Kim some more.
"Well, kissing might lead to other things with the two of you, considering how long it has been. We wanted to take the necessary precautions," Aisha said, smiling and tilting her head to the side, as an attempt to hold in the laughter that was forming inside of her. The silent laughter seemed contagious, as Zack and Adam began to battle it as well.
"What…how did you…no you wouldn't do that," Tommy said, staring at the globe and then at the seven rangers in the room. By this point, Aisha, Zack, Rocky, and Adam had started laughing and Trini, Jason, and Billy seemed to be very tempted to join in, even if they might receive a death glare from Tommy. They finally broke down and joined in as well.
It really was funny to see him mad about that type of thing again. He would have been furious about it in high school, but they had thought that he would have let up a little on that by now.
"I wouldn't put it past any of us, considering what the two of you have put us through over the past five years," Jason said, smiling as Tommy's face had turned bright red, which had always happened when Jason mentioned anything about Kim to Tommy. As an afterthought Jason added, "Plus if the two of you had started fighting, we had to be ready to break it up."
"Good point, but can I go back out there?" Tommy asked, heading towards the door and putting one hand on the handle before Billy called him back.
"Hold your horses," Billy said, laughing out loud at Tommy's anxiousness. The five years had not only seemed to make Tommy fall harder, but had made him much more needy for what he had once had daily. They were going to have to find a way to control that energy, at least until they were finished with the mission that lay in front of them. "We need your help with making the morphers, now. Where, exactly, are we supposed to harness these new powers from?"
"Supposedly from 'within ourselves', but just in case that doesn't work, Zordon left us these," Tommy said, finding a box of glass, hidden under a counter. The old, wooden box seemed useless to those without a chance of having the powers it contained, but to those who did, this box meant everything in the world to them. Even Zordon, who called it a mysterious miracle, did not know how the powers were there, only that they were and that is what was important to them. "They are supposed to form the owners name in their new color, see it forms mine in white."
"So, we have to fish all of the white pieces out and make a morpher?" Billy asked, as he saw how these pieces seemed to float on top of the now swirling mixture of glass and some odd liquid.
"Basically, but no one else can touch the box while some one is trying to get their pieces. The colors will mix," Tommy said, taking a few of his shards out at a time and placing them in a pile on the open counter space.
"Okay, so you get yours out of the way and then the rest of us will start sorting our own," Billy said, as he continued to see what else would have to be done before their powers could be fully reinstated.
"The two of you resolved your problem, didn't you?" Trini asked, as Kim walked in after composing herself.
"I guess, if this is what you call resolved," Kim said, shaking her head slightly.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Aisha asked, by the look on Kim's face it seemed that she had lost all confidence in her heart's choice of suitor. "He looks happy enough with the results."
"There's really no reason, I'm just afraid that some more questions will come up later and that he won't like the answers to those," Kim said, taking a glance at Tommy, who was helping Billy sort pieces of the communicators into piles of their own. He still had the silent leadership, but there was something more there, something Kim couldn't quite put her finger on.
"What type of questions?" Rocky asked, who had been standing a few feet away. "Sorry, I couldn't help but over hear."
"The usual, mainly all the ones he didn't bother to ask," Kim said, as her face turned into a look of sadness.
"That's because he didn't need to, you decided that you would go ahead and answer them. Trust me, I have heard all the questions that he would ask and you figured it out on your own," Rocky said, as they walked over to join the others. "At least that is how it would be for me. You don't need to worry about it, for the time being be happy that the two of you can speak to each other without steam coming out of your ears. That is a huge improvement right there."
"Maybe, that's true, but have you ever wondered why Zordon cut it off at the nine of us?" Jason asked, as the others approached and began listening to their conversation. Jason had always wondered why it was them, but now that he was around the others, he was hoping to see what they thought about their current situation. "There are others that could do this, too."
"Yeah, but there was a reason behind everything he did," Zack said, trying to remember the way Zordon thought. It was not something that they understood, but they had at least tried to grasp it somehow. "Even if the things he did, didn't have the best results for all of us."
"Yeah, you're right on one thing," Aisha said, sighing. She had been happily working for an engineering company and because of her unscheduled 'vacation', was forced to quit her job. There was nothing else she could do and she didn't know if being a ranger really paid off this much. She knew that she would be broke if she continued to be a ranger for a long period of time without a job, but surely she would be able to find one once she came back. She just hated to think that her old company might be spreading her name in the mud. "We don't get any payoff for quitting our jobs and coming back here, though."
"Other than saving the world we all love," Zack said, putting his arm around her, as his one attempt to comfort her. "That's our payoff."
"You're right," Aisha said, looking up at him, with a gracious smile. "It is, I guess I shouldn't be complaining about being here. I wouldn't want another group of rangers to try to do what we are doing."
"We're all human," Zack said, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. He knew that some of the others didn't know about them and they didn't want to shock them too much at the moment. "I think that we all would expect this for at least one of us."
"When am I going to get my powers back?" Kim asked, sneaking up behind Tommy and putting her arms around him. She was anxious to get back in uniform, so she could help everyone with something she should have never left in the first place.
"You're just gonna have to wait a little while," Tommy said, smiling down at her. Kim still had the same affect on him and he was surprised that he was still able to hold himself upright after the surprises of this afternoon.
"All of these have to be sorted to their owner," Billy said, indicating the colored glass shards he was picking up. It was a tedious job and it was something they didn't have time for, in his opinion, but what choice did they have? They couldn't go against any evil without powers and this is what they had in front of them. They had to use it, even if it did take way too much time.
"That sounds like loads of fun," Kim said with a laugh and a shake of her head.
"It's just wonderful," Billy said with the slightest bit of sarcasm, shaking his head while hearing laughs that had too long been absent from this circle of friends.
"There's been another attack," Adam said, grimly walking over to join the others. He had been keeping an eye on the viewing globe and it had appeared only seconds before. "Is there any way that some of us can go ahead and get our powers back, now?"
"Not that I can tell, it's either we all get them back or none of us do, whether we like it or not," Billy said, looking over the notes that he had in front of him. He had done some research and was prepared for this to happen, even though he had hoped that some of them would be able to activate their powers sooner. "But, we all had some residual powers left in us when we lost our powers, we could possibly use those for the time being, thing is I lost mine a long time ago."
"Same here," Trini, Adam, Aisha, Jason, and Rocky said, as they all wore the same longing expression, to be able to go into the battle.
"Billy, it might not be very wise for the rest of them to use what they have left," Trini said, showing her true dislike for this idea. She did not like the idea of sending anyone into battle without any real powers to protect them, especially knowing who had not answered that question.
"Yeah, but it is their choice, Trini," Jason said, looking over at the ones who had not said anything. They all seemed to be in deep thought, which didn't surprise anyone, going in with only remnants of their old powers could possibly leave them in critical condition or worse, if they weren't careful.
"Zack, Tommy, Kim, what do you want to do?" Billy asked, as the remaining six faced the three that had some powers intact.
"I just don't know, my powers aren't completely gone, but I don't feel comfortable doing this. I'm not at the full strength I once had and we're going to need all of us healthy for this," Zack said, very quietly. He didn't want to feel like a coward for backing out of this mission, but he did anyway. There was too much to risk to go into a fight like this with minimum resources.
"I'll go, my powers are all still there. I've never had a reason to use them like the rest of you," Kim said, after glancing at everyone, except Tommy, whom she was sure would adamantly try to keep her put.
"Oh no, you won't," Tommy said, instinctively grabbing Kim's hand and then let go of it with the realization of what he had done. They may have made up, but he was not sure he was ready to make the next jump just yet. "I just got you back and I'm not going to lose you again."
"How can you stop me, Tommy? This is my choice, I wasn't here when all of it started and I want to help now. All of you have been going through hell lately, just let me do this," Kim said, heading towards the door, as her legendary stubbornness shone through. He would not stop her from saving some people that would surely get in this monster's way. "Now, you can come with me, if you want to try to guarantee that I won't get hurt by these things."
"You don't leave me many choices, do you?" Tommy asked, now following her to the door. He was not willing to let her out of his sight if she was going to go on some crazy mission. "We'll be back in a little while. Where exactly are they attacking?"
"Reefside Park," Adam said, as Tommy ran back outside. "Typical, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Billy said, as he walked back to where the skeletons of the morphers were sitting and sighed, this was going to take a very long time. He had not expected to have to construct everything from scratch, but that was what was facing him at the moment. "You might want to keep an eye on them in case someone has to teleport in to bring them back."
"I didn't think we had that power, yet," Trini said, walking over to help him, as she was feeling the sense of urgency as well.
"You will soon, go ahead and pick out your shards," Billy said, handing the box to her with a wink.
"I guess I'm in for a color change," Trini said, as her name was formed in purple shards. They had never had a purple ranger before, but there was always a first time for everything.
"That color will suit you fine," Billy said with a smile, and went back to his work.
"It's about time some one showed up to test their limits against me," Nicarni-Aso said, as Tommy and Kim walked into a rather chaotic scene. Nicarni-Aso's creatures were destroying anything that came within ten feet of them, which was scary with the amount of people around, trying to find some sort of shelter. They had hidden under park tables and benches, which were some of the worst places, but because of fear they did not run any further away. "Let's see how you are able to handle these."
"Oh shit," Tommy said, as a creature that seemed to be part bird and part puddy roamed around in front of the two of them. It then turned its attention towards them, with the realization of what their leader wanted them to do. He did not think that they were capable of battling them right now. "I think you should go back."
"I'll be fine. What are those things any way?" Kim asked, sizing them up and hoping that they didn't have the sense or strength to use any of the park benches as weapons. She was sure that those could cause more damage than they could imagine.
"Well, we call them Asoriods, but you are free to call them what ever you want to. To da loo," Nicarni-Aso said and vanished with a sinister smile on her face.
"They are tougher than I thought they would be," Kim said, getting thrown by one of the riods into a tree. The creatures proved to be strong, even if they were not very intelligent. That was how they were going to have to defeat them, by outsmarting them.
"You wouldn't have happened to find any weakness, then?" Tommy asked, as he landed close by in the grass and quickly scampered up to continue fighting. These creatures would not beat them, no matter what.
"Not a single one," Kim said, landing a kick squarely on one of their stomachs, before it stopped her next attack.
"This is not going to be good," Tommy said, as Kim got thrown again and then he kicked one of them in the back and it disappeared from sight. "Kicking them in the back works, Kim."
"Alright," Kim said, landing in a kick of her own and the riods then all left. It seemed that they only wanted to test their abilities and not put them through a full fledged fight.
"Guess they didn't want to wind up like the other two," Tommy said, walking over to where Kim was standing.
"Guess so, we had better get back before they attack again," Kim said, rubbing her elbow, which was bleeding slightly. "I don't have many of those left in me."
"Neither do I," Tommy said, putting his arm around her, as an attempt to shield her from any other attacks that could be sent.
They, the Power Rangers, didn't know that Nicarni-Aso was not satisfied with her Asoriods attempt. The two of them were not supposed to make it out of the battle, basically unharmed. Nicarni-Aso's worries were now what caused her ideas for new and more dangerous battles, yet to come.
AN: Tell me how you like or dislike this chapter! As long as you don't add insult to injury I will never write another reply like the first one I did, but I feel like I needed to clear this up quickly. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed!