Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. I do own the characters Nicarni-Aso, Zefoid, the asoriods, the amephors, and the planets Asoriotan and Nonatasion. I also own the armor flexor, invisashield, and any other weapons that you have never heard used on the Power Ranger series.
jedi4jesus19: Thank you so much for your review.
Daisyz: Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I hope that this chapter justifies leaving the last one a little bit open ended. I also seem to have a tendency to end chapter with cliffhangers, so I will go ahead and apologize for any other chapters that might be left in the same fashion.
Ghostwriter: Thanks for the correction and I'll make sure to change it soon.
Rhony Lynn: Thank you so much for the review and I'll fix the name, I promise!
sarasidle3: Thank for the review and for correcting me.
Kimberly: Thanks so much for the review and for the correction on the name of Tommy's sword.
Now, on with the story!
When Aisha and Rocky first teleported into the battle, they were quite surprised at the scene playing out in front of them. The three rangers, who looked very battle worn, had somehow managed to get the asoriods down to about fifty, but these last fifty asoriods seemed to have dug in even harder to the rangers attack. This very fact made it even more obvious that they had not arrived a moment too soon, as they could tell that their friends were very close to giving in and giving up.
"I have never been so glad to see you," Kim said running to give the green ranger a hug, before trying to pull him towards the battle, which was taking much more effort than normal. They would usually just come along, but for some reason today, they were not moving that fast and she needed for them to do that. "Tommy and Jason are in trouble, come on."
"Coming," Rocky said, as Aisha and he sprinted after the little pink ranger. They were surprised that she had that much energy left, but as soon as she was with the others, they could tell how much of a show she had been putting up in front of them.
"I've brought help!" Kim yelled, to Tommy and Jason, who were still fighting, but just barely at this point. Aisha found herself becoming apprehensive; their protective suits seemed to do nothing to shield the blows that the asoriods were dealing out to them and from the looks of things they still had a long fight left to get all of them to leave.
"Thank God," Tommy said, rolling over and slowly standing up. His protective suit, which was once white, was now covered with multiple rips and soot marks from the asoriods' fire attacks, which was something that they had not been expecting. They had never used fire on Earth and they had had no clue that weapon was in their arsenol.
"Look out!" Aisha yelled and ran to fend off an asoriod from attacking Kim and Tommy, which was not something they needed to happen right now. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine, but we have to keep on fighting. It's the only way we will accomplish what we came here to do," Kim said and then kicked an asoriod in the back and watched it disintegrate. "Tommy!"
"Kim don't!" Jason yelled, as Kim threw Tommy out of the way and took the full force of the blow by herself.
"Now they have really pissed me off," Tommy said, standing up and thinking for a few seconds about which weapon he was going to call to help protect them. "Power blaster!"
"Tommy, our powers," Jason said, as he continued to fight with an asoriod. Jason could see out of the corner of his eye that Aisha was making her way over to check on Kim and he knew that Tommy's reserves had to getting as close to empty as his own. They needed to last as long as they could, that way the others would only have to come in and finish a few off.
"Screw the damn powers," Tommy said, as he fired at an asoriod. They had now hurt Kim and he didn't particularly care what it took to destroy them now. "We have the power boosters and I am going to use mine to the fullest of its capabilities."
"Okay," Rocky said, and shook his head in amusement, as he went into fighting the asoriods along side Jason and Tommy. He knew better than to argue with Tommy and he trusted that the rest of them would be able to take care of all of this, otherwise Zordon would have sent more of them.
"Kim, are you okay?" Aisha asked, as she saw the other rangers teleport in from Nicarni-Aso's lair, but they were still a good ways off. Kim had not moved much since this last blow had thrown her into the sand, but she did respond when Aisha said her name.
"Yeah," Kim said, standing up very slowly and knowing that she had to go back to fighting. "Power bow! Aisha, you have to continue fighting. Tommy, Jason, and I will be fine, we've already been through the worst that could happen to us."
"Jason! No!" Trini yelled, as she saw the red ranger fall to the ground with a single harsh blow from an asoriod.
She had been watching from Nicarni-Aso's lair and had seen them go through most of this already. This time it seemed that the asoriod had managed to knock Jason out, which scared her. The other rangers had somehow managed to get it down to ten asoriods, but these were now fighting with much more ferocity than before. Kim, Tommy, Rocky, and Aisha did not know that Nicarni-Aso had appeared on the scene mere minutes before and was hiding herself within the cluster of asoriods.
"My God," Billy whispered, as he took in the battle that was raging right in front of him. Billy quickly followed Trini to where Jason was lying and could tell that he would be all right, but this day had obviously been much worse than they had thought it would be on 'the fightering force'.
"Billy, we need your help!" Rocky yelled, Adam and Zack had already joined the battle, much to Kim and Tommy's relief, who found themselves becoming increasingly exhausted. They also were now wondering how much longer it would be before they joined Jason, knowing that they were pushing themselves well over the normal limits of their powers.
"You gonna be alright?" Billy asked, looking down at the purple ranger, who had already started tending to Jason.
"Yes, I can still fight for myself Billy, now go and help the others. I'll watch after him ," Trini said, standing up to look Billy in the eyes.
"Okay," Billy said and ran off to help the others with the remaining asoriods. For the next thirty minutes or so, the battle was in a dangerous limbo between going to their advantage or the asoriods taking control of the battle.
"Tommy, watch out!" Kim yelled, too late, as Tommy was dealt a blow that threw him a good fifteen feet. When he didn't get up, there was a reason to worry and Kim knew without going to check that he had been knocked out, as well. "Trini keep them safe, please!"
"I can do that!" Trini said, dragging Tommy over to be a little bit closer to where Jason was lying. Jason had not moved a bit over all of that time and Trini found herself on the verge of tears, knowing that this was not a good sign.
"They're mine," Kim said, as she dug in to fight the last asoriods with all of the might she could muster, as she couldn't help but feel fury running through her veins as Tommy was now lying on the ground next to Jason.
The other rangers stood there for a few seconds as the shock sunk in. Kim had never made a threat such as this before, and knowing her, she was going to take care of every asoriod left in front of her. Nicarni-Aso, who now sat in the middle of the cluster of asoriods, was preparing herself for this final battle, which she had the sinking feeling would be to the death. It had obviously come to the point in her mind that it was either kill or be killed; she would never go back into a tiny box again if she could help it.
"Rocky," Zack said, as he watched Kim destroy two asoriods. "She has lost it, hasn't she?"
"No, she hasn't. She's just ready to kick ass," Rocky said, destroying an asoriod for himself and seeing that there were only five left to defend their leader. In the distance, they heard the bomb detonate, which unbeknownst to them, made many of Nicarni-Aso's powers disappear immediately. The five asoriods that were left managed to hold on for another hour, before they joined all of the ones that had gone before them.
"Little rangers, who wants to try and destroy me first?" Nicarni-Aso asked with an evil grin upon her face, as she stood to face them. "Your best fighters are unconscious, who dares to try and attack me now?"
"I do," Kim said, stepping forward, despite the obvious disapproval coming from the remaining rangers. Nicarni-Aso could tell from looking at her suit that she had been the most battle tested that day and suddenly had the gut sinking feeling that she might be about to meet her match. "You forgot to knock me out with the two of them and I will gladly destroy. They did not deserve what you did to them and now it is your turn to pay."
"You will be nothing for me to destroy, but as you wish. How would you like for this to go?" Nicarni-Aso asked, confidently although she was silently cursing herself. How could she have been so dumb as to leave the only remaining fighter conscious? Kim had been the one that she had thought would be easy to destroy; of course, this had been before she had managed to piss Kim off.
"Kim, this isn't wise," Zack said, stepping in front of her. He knew if Tommy had been conscious he would have been trying to stop Kim and since he wasn't he thought that he might as well try to keep her from fighting Nicarni-Aso, alone.
"If something happens to me, tell Tommy that I love him and I'll always watch over him. I have to do this ," Kim said, trying to walk past Zack.
"I won't let you go alone," Zack said, and stopped her from progressing any closer to Nicarni-Aso. She caught how he felt about all of this, but she still knew that there might be the chance that they would have to let her fight alone.
"So, you don't want this to be a fair fight, do you pink ranger?" Nicarni-Aso asked, knowing that this would make the battle one on one, no matter what anyone else said. "You should be fair, since that is what you stand for."
"Let me do this, Zack. I know that I can," Kim said, and Zack slowly let her go and returned to the other rangers, knowing he really had no choice.
"She's going to fight alone, isn't she?" Adam asked, awed at what was possibly going to happen. They had seen Tommy do this in times past, but seeing Kim do it would be a completely different experience.
"Yeah, but Nicarni-Aso is making her play by our rules. We have to let her, even though I don't want to," Zack said, watching as Kim squared up to Nicarni-Aso, who was at least four inches taller than her.
"Fire bulb," Kim mutter, as a glassy sphere appeared in her hand and it was Billy's turn to be stunned. He had never told Kim about this weapon and it didn't belong to her anyway, it belonged to Tommy, who was currently lying on the ground some twenty feet away. That mere fact did not seem to translate to her not knowing how to use it, quite the contrary actually, she seemed to know exactly its use.
"Holy shit," Zack said, as he looked at the weapon Kim had called to use in her defense and then turned his gaze towards Billy, knowing that they were thinking that same thing.
"Yeah, I know, don't ask me how she did that," Billy said, continuing to watch as Kim and Nicarni-Aso stood readying themselves for the others attack. "Don't tell Tommy, he'll freak if he knows that she can use his powers, too."
"Now, what were you going to say?" Kim asked, finding herself becoming more furious with Nicarni-Aso as the minutes slowly ticked by.
"That you are going to die," Nicarni-Aso said and then tried to send a fire blow at the pink ranger. She then discovered that all of her powers had seemed to be wiped out and she was now defenseless against the pink ranger's first attack, which happened to be heading in her direction quite rapidly. "Oh!
"Score: Us 1, Nicarni-Aso 0. Shall we continue?" Kim asked and laughed as Nicarni-Aso landed after her short flight. "Billy, prepare the holding chamber."
"I will not go back to being held in some small box," Nicarni-Aso said with all of the fierceness she could muster and stood up quite shakily. The girl did know what she was doing, although she was taking her time in executing everything. "I would rather die than have to face a life in a box like that one."
"I can easily accommodate that," Kim said, daring to steal a glance at Tommy and Jason. They both remained unconscious and this made the need to let Nicarni-Aso feel the pain they were feeling much more evident in Kim's mind.
"You shouldn't do this, Kim," Aisha said, trying to talk some sense back into Kim, who looked as if she was poising herself to kill.
"Let her," Rocky said, knowing that if they allowed Nicarni-Aso to build her powers back up, they may not be able to take care of her in the future. This was therechance and they had to take it. "We have no choice, it's not just us in danger anymore. It's all of the people we love on Earth as well."
"Alright," Aisha said, and they all went back into complete silence as Kim tried to think of what to use next.
"Power sword," Kim said, as Jason sword appeared in her hands and she began steadily walking towards Nicarni-Aso. "Thanks for the advice, Zordon."
"How did she do that?" Adam asked, looking around at the others. The fire bulb was one thing, they all knew that Kim and Tommy had a special connection, but Jason's sword was a completely different matter.
"I have no clue," Billy said, as he watched Kim strike Nicarni-Aso with the sword and then send it back into Jason's possession.
"Now, it is time for you to suffer the way you have made so many suffer before," Kim said and called one final fire bulb into her grasp and launched it towards Nicarni-Aso. The explosion that followed was much more powerful than any that they had seen before and they got the chance to watch this evil disintegrate, like all of her weapons had over the last few hours.
"Thank God she has been destroyed," Trini said, as she watched the explosion, while tending to the unconscious Tommy and Jason. Tommy seemed to be coming around some, but Jason had not done anything yet.
"Pink ranger, power down," Kim said, before falling to her knees. Kim, looked much worse than they had imagined, her arms and legs were covered with multiple bruises and cuts. During the battles that she had been through today, her clothes had been torn to shreds, this made Billy thankful for the extra clothing he had made them pack, although she seemed to be in no condition to change her clothing.
"Kim," Zack said, rushing over to try to keep her from joining Tommy and Jason, while he managed to power down.
"I'll be fine," Kim said, looking over his shoulder to see Tommy and Jason remained unconscious. "I need to check on them."
"No," Billy said, firmly as he walked over to where she was kneeling, but just because Zack was holding her up. "I am going to tend to you first, the two of them should wake up at any time now."
"Alright," Kim said, as Billy started to apply Neosporin and Band-Aids to her cuts.
"How did you do that?" Adam asked, as Aisha, Rocky, and he joined Zack, Kim, and Billy.
"I did it because they deserved some credit in destroying her, just like all of us have credit for destroying her," Kim said, looking around at them.
"But you did this," Rocky said, still amazed at what he had seen happen.
"No, we did this, not me. It doesn't mean anything to me that I got the last blows, we are all important. We all did something today that helped bring her down and everyone should take credit for it, not just me," Kim said as Billy finished bandaging her cuts. "She is gone and we should be thankful for that, it doesn't matter how it happened, now I want to go check on Tommy and Jason."
"Okay, but we all need an explanation about all of this later," Billy said and he wondered what had possessed Kim at the moment she destroyed Nicarni-Aso, but soon decided it best to let that thought drift away and join the others.
"Hey handsome," Kim said, kneeling next to the unmasked white ranger. "The two of you sure got the worst end of this, come on and wake up."
"Oh," Tommy groaned, slowly opening his eyes and looking up to see Kim was no longer morphed and heavily bruised. "What happened?"
"We can fill you in on everything that you missed on the way back to Earth," Kim said with a smile. "Right now we need to get you taken care of."
"White ranger, power down," Tommy said, very quietly.
"Tommy," Kim whispered, shocked at how bloody and bruised he was as well. She knew that she must look awful, but she had never seen Tommy look like this after any battle they had ever been in together.
"What exactly happened to you?" Adam asked, voicing the question that quite a few of them had wanted to know the answer to.
"I don't know, one second I was fighting an asoriod and the next thing I know I wake up to see that the battle is over. Nicarni-Aso, didn't escape, did she?" Tommy asked sitting up quite quickly, before Kim forced him to lay back down.
"No, she didn't," Zack said, smiling at Kim. He knew that he would have loved to get back at that woman, but Kim had done a sufficient job at that. It also seemed that Kim had made her suffer enough and had the right motivation lying only a few feet away, unconscious. He knew that if it had been Aisha over there with the two of them, he could only imagine what he would have done himself.
"How are the others?" Tommy asked, as Kim finished putting the Neosporin and Band-Aids on his cuts.
"Fine, except Jason, he hasn't woken up yet," Kim said, stealing a glance at Jason, who still had Trini tending to him.
"He has to tell her, Kim," Tommy said, while Zack and Adam looked at him as if he had grown another head.
"I know and it probably would be best that the two of you do not repeat that. Jason will probably kill us if you do," Kim said, standing up and then offering a hand to help Tommy up.
"We won't, but who are you talking about?" Adam asked, and got the very clear feeling that he was not going to get an answer. It seemed that Zack had some sort of clue by the way he started to say someone's name, but then stopped after receiving one harsh look from Kim. "Alright, I guess it's best that I don't know."
"Sorry, but I don't want him coming after me once he wakes up," Kim said, doing her best to smile, although it was extremely hard at the moment.
"Tommy, are you feeling alright?" Trini asked as Tommy sat down next to Jason. Kim and he looked banged up, but she had pictured it being even worse from what she had watched.
"I'll be fine," Tommy said, with very little conviction, "has he woken up yet?"
"No, I'm starting to worry. It's almost nightfall and we need to get out of here soon," Billy said, looking around at the others and then down at Jason.
"Why don't we just take a hold of him and teleport back to our ship?" Tommy asked, thinking of how good a bed would feel right about now and he knew that the sooner they got there the better it would be for him and Kim.
"Because, the three of you have been weakened, considerably, because of these attacks," Billy said, as he could guess what Tommy was thinking. "I don't think it is worth the risk."
"Alright," Tommy said, laying his head down in Kim's lap. He was not going to try to argue with Billy about this tonight. "Wake me up when Jason comes to."
"Okay," Kim said and started playing with Tommy's hair.
"When are you going to tell him?" Rocky asked, now that they had all settled themselves in a circle around Jason.
"When both of them are awake. I don't want to have to tell this tale twice," Kim said, not taking her eyes off Tommy's face. "Come on, Jason, we need you to wake up."
"He's going to be fine, Kim," Aisha said, but she knew that Kim wasn't the one that needed comforting, but it was useless to say anything to the person that did need some comfort at the moment.
"I know," Kim said with a sigh, "but he has a lot left to do."
"Like what?" Trini asked, looking up from Jason's face, and caught a glimpse of Billy which made her stomach flip. She knew that she was going to hurt him, but she had almost lost Jason once and didn't want to go on without him in her life.
"Things," Zack said, as Jason moved a little, but did not wake up, which he knew was tearing at Trini's heart.
"Come on Jason, we need you to wake up," Trini whispered and then stood up, knowing that she needed to clear her head. "Kim, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure," Kim said and gently picked Tommy's head up and settled it on the ground before she stood up. "What's going on?"
"What do you know?" Trini asked, as they walked away from the others.
"I promised I wouldn't tell, Trini. I'm sorry but, I can't break a promise to Jason, he has never broke a promise to me," Kim said and watched Trini start crying. "Trini, what's wrong? You know that he is going to be fine and you have Billy."
"Kim, I thought that I would get over Jason by dating Billy, but it hasn't worked. I'm going to break Billy's heart and I don't know if I will be able to stand myself after I do," Trini said, as she looked over at Billy and the other rangers. "He's been so good to me, and this is how I am going to repay him. This isn't fair to him, he deserves better than me."
"Trini, he'll understand all of this, eventually," Kim said, following Trini's gaze. "But there is no need to do what you have to now, Trini and don't be surprised if Billy has already figured it out."
"You're right, we better go back," Trini said and gave Kim a hug. "It's really good to have you back, you don't know how much I have missed all of this."
"I've missed this too," Kim said as they reached the others. "Jason, quit being so stubborn."
"Come on Jase, wake up," Trini said, returning to her place, which was sitting beside Jason. "Please wake up."
"Oh," Jason moaned and then willed himself to open his eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?"
"Jason," Trini whispered and then gave Jason a bone-crushing hug. Billy could tell how Trini felt and began preparing himself for the inevitable. He knew that it wasn't his fault; the feelings Trini felt had been hidden for far too long.
"Trini?" Jason asked, looking down at the girl who was hugging him. He couldn't remember her being at the battle before he passed out, but he sure was glad that she was here now. "You're alright."
"Yes, but you need to power down, Jason. I'm sure you're in just as bad shape as the two of them," Trini said and finally let go of Jason, which was something he did not want to happen.
"Ya'll look horrible," Jason said, casting a weak smile towards Kim and Tommy.
"You need to look at yourself," Tommy said, as Jason powered down. His clothes were shredded in the same manner as theirs and the bruises and cuts were just as multiple as their own.
"Here you go, Trini," Billy said and handed her the Neosporin and a box of Band-Aids to cover Jason's cuts with.
"Thank you," Trini said and began bandaging Jason's cuts.
"Trini, I need to talk to you about something," Jason said, as he watched her bandage his cuts. Jason didn't notice that the other rangers all stopped what they were doing to listen in to whatever he had to say.
"It can wait, Jason. You'll have plenty of time to tell me whatever you need to," Trini said with a smile and looked up to see Billy looking on with a smile on his face as well.
"What happened after I was knocked out?" Jason asked, looking around at the others who all had different degrees on injury.
"It's funny you should ask," Tommy said, as all of the rangers looked at Kim.
"I don't think that it is best to tell you here. Billy please let us teleport back. I accept responsibility if I don't wind up back at the ship," Kim said with a smile.
"Fine, let's go," Billy said, as they all stood up and teleported back to the ship, without any of them getting lost along the way.
AN: That's it for this chapter, but I'll try to have another chapter out within the next week or so. I have gone back and changed Sala to Saba in the previous chapter, so thank you for telling me about my obvious error! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I'll be happy to receive reviews from anyone. Thanks again for reading!