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.
lil sis: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I've already told you that it is an annoying habit of mine. Thanks for the review and for letting me throw my ideas around with you.
Blondi aka Lucius: Thank you for the review and sorry for the wait on this chapter.Daisyz: Thank you so much for the review!
Ghostwriter: Thanks for reviewing this story again!
jedi4jesus19: Thank you so much for the review and I will try to keep up the good work, but I can't guarantee that.
Kimberly: Thanks so much for the review!
Now on with the story!
Rocky's ThoughtsOnce we returned to the ship, it became more obvious that rest was the first item on Jason, Tommy, and Kim's agenda. I, myself, was hoping that Kim would tell us everything that happened because I know that I didn't understand half of it and I witnessed the battle between Nicarni-Aso and Kim. They, the fighters, went down to the sleeping quarters almost immediately upon boarding the ship, while the rest of us took our timewandering downstairs. I was the last one that remained out on the deck and I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if we hadn't defeated Nicarni-Aso. She wasn't what I expected her to be, but under all of her stupidity, there must have been a bigger threat. Zordon would have never sent us on such a treacherous journey, for some small evil to be defeated.
Kitchen"They all seem to be fine, exhausted, but fine none the less," Billy said, as he sat down on a stool, feeling completely worn out. He had just come from examining the three sleepy rangers more extensively and concluded that they would be fine if they could get some rest abroad the crowded vessel.
"That's good," Aisha said, as she fixed herself a cup of coffee. She was feeling tired, but was trying to stay awake long enough to get a good idea of what everyone was feeling and what was going to occur when they returned to Earth. "I was beginning to worry about them for awhile there."
"You weren't the only one," Adam said and then yawned. He had to admit that he was just exhausted right now. "I don't know what I'd do without all of you. We're like a family, if you think about it long enough."
"Yeah, we have our problems, but everything usually works itself out in the end," Trini said, staring through the doorway to look at the sleeping rangers. Tommy and Kim had fallen asleep in each other's arms, which only proved Trini's point about everything turning out the way that it needed to. Jason, however, was sleeping just as peacefully by himself. "Well, most of the time it works out."
"Do you know what Jason wanted to talk to you about earlier?" Aisha asked, as she watched Billy struggle to keep a mouthful of water down. Aisha had always thought there was something more than friendship between Trini and Jason, but because they never acted on it, nothing was ever said about it.
"No, I can't say that I do," Trini said and looked over at Billy, who had somehow managed to regain his composure. "I can say that whatever it is will probably change things for some of us."
"Okay," Aisha said, "is anyone hungry?"
"No, I think I just want to get some sleep," Rocky said, which was surprising considering his usual appetite, he had never been one to turn down a meal for any reason.
"Same here," the other rangers chorused, looking thoroughly exhausted.
"I'm with ya'll," Aisha said and they all went to turn in for the night.
The Power Rangers didn't know that an old friend had been watching them as they battled and was most pleased with the result of their combined efforts. Alpha 5, who had been told of this evil by Zordon, was most glad to see that it was gone forever this time. Zordon had not thought it wise to disclose one piece of information to the rangers, he knew that they were likely to not fight if they known. Nicarni-Aso had been the sole keeper of the Nonatorian curse.
This curse had been used on rangers in the past and it made them turn against their very livelihood, themselves. When she had been locked away, the ability to perform the curse had been taken away from her. Upon her escape, the use of this curse was the first thing she aimed to regain, but lucky for the rangers she had not gained enough strength to do that, yet. This was why the rangers had to fight her early on, but this was something they would never be told, unless Alpha 5 saw them again and he doubted that one.
Tell the WHOLE Story, Kim"Oh," Kim moaned as she rolled closer to Tommy. Although she had slept soundly, she was not completely rested, as she had expected to be, but Billy would probably tell her that she was a fool to think she would be rested after only one night of sleep and the fight they had just been through. "I don't want to get up."
"Then don't," Tommy said, putting an arm around her in an attempt to get her to go back to sleep, he did not want her to move as he was very comfortable in that position and it felt very good to be propped up against her.
"We have to get some food sometime today and I don't like the idea of some of these people trying to cook an edible meal," Kim said, sitting up to find the Tommy and she were the only ones left in the sleeping quarters. "Come on, we better get up."
"Fine," Tommy said, wincing as he sat up on the edge of the mattress and wondered how only yesterday he had been waking up to complete some additional weapons and today he was so sore that he could barely move.
"Hey sleepyheads," Trini said with a bright smile, as most of the others seemed to have smirks on their faces, satisfied that neither had yelled at each other since they had woken up. "It's great that you finally got out of bed."
"What time is it?" Kim asked and then yawned. If it wasn't too late, Kim was seriously thinking about going back to sleep, as she did not feel as if she had slept any the night before.
"It's nearly noon," Billy said, trying to suppress a laugh. Tommy and Kim had never looked more horrible in their lives, but both of them seemed to be happier than they had been in years, which helped explain them sleeping so long. The fact that they had fought the previous day had absolutely nothing to do with how long they slept, if you asked any of the other rangers, except Jason who would say that was the only reason.
"But we don't blame you for sleeping late," Zack added, quite quickly, as several of the others nodded in agreement. They didn't really want either mad at them, but they knew it would be alright as they had smiled at them, some.
"I'd have done the same thing if I'd had someone to cuddle with," Jason said; glad that he still had the ability to make both of their faces turn deep shades of red, which was what they were doing right now.
"Can I just get some coffee?" Tommy asked, trying his best to ignore Jason's comment and make his blush disappear.
"Sure," Aisha said and got up from her seat to go fix Tommy a cup of fresh coffee.
"So Kim, how about you fill us in on what happened after we were knocked out?" Jason asked, as innocently as possible. He had become more curious than he though possible over the last few minutes, as they were being very stubborn. "They won't tell me anything, so I'm guessing you're the one that has been selected to fill us in about it all."
"Fine, Jason," Kim said with a sigh, as she looked between Jason and Tommy. Neither one was going to like this at all, "but we need to wait until Aisha gets back."
"Okay," Jason said with a satisfied grin.
"Here you go," Aisha said, handing Tommy his cup of coffee and taking a seat next to Zack.
"Are all of you comfortable?" Kim asked, knowing that there was a distinct possibility that this story could take several hours to complete.
"Yeah, we're good," Jason said, as all of them turned their attention to Kim, which was quite suspicious to Jason and Tommy, but they shrugged it off as their imaginations playing a trick on them, as they still were exhausted.
"Jason, after you got knocked out the rest of the rangers arrived to help us with the remaining asoriods. We fought with them for about an hour before Tommy was knocked out and during that period of time, none of the asoriods were destroyed. So we kept on fighting," Kim said, as plainly as possible.
"So, Nicarni-Aso didn't appear until you got rid of all of the asoriods?" Jason guessed, having overheard a little bit of the others conversation the earlier that morning.
"Yeah," Kim said, looking down to try to avoid the prying eyes.
"How did all of you defeat her?" Tommy asked, grabbing Kim's tiny hand with his much larger one and making small circles with his thumb against the back of her hand. She seemed more nervous than he had seen her in awhile, but there was no reason for her to be nervous, they just wanted her to tell the story.
"That is what Kim needs to explain to the two of you," Billy said, as Tommy dropped his, now empty, coffee cup at the realization of what Billy meant.
"Tell the whole story, Kim," Trini said, knowing that her friend was likely to leave out some important details on 'accident'.
"Fine," Kim said, not liking this idea at all. She would now have to reveal a lot more to them than she wanted to because Jason and Tommy could read her like a book. "When Nicarni-Aso appeared she asked which one of us would like to fight her and I said that I did."
"What made you want to do that?" Tommy asked, as Jason sat there in silent shock, which was something he rarely did. Jason knew that Kim had always had guts, but this was even extreme for her, especially considering the fact that she had just gotten on good terms with Tommy again.
"You being unconscious," Kim mumbled, as she wiped away the tears that had now formed at the corners of her eyes. This action made it obvious that a lot more emotional baggage had been attached than they thought would be to her decision to fight Nicarni-Aso.
"Not that we didn't try to stop her, Tommy," Zack said, coming to the defense of the rest of the rangers. Zack did not want to deal with an ill Tommy, any time of the day, especially knowing how little sleep he had gotten last night, "but she is a lot more stubborn than the rest of us."
"Yeah, she is," Jason said, finally regaining his voice, after a prolonged silence as his mind tried to work out some of the crazy details. "Tell us the rest."
"Well, Zack tried to stop me from fighting her alone, but she used the oldest trick in the book to get me to fight by myself. She reminded me of the duties that I had pledged to uphold when I first became a Power Ranger, so I felt as if I had to fight alone. She decided to strike first, but whatever she wanted to do didn't work, I guess the bomb destroyed her ability to harness powers from that generator that you said she had, Billy. I called on the fire bulb to attack her with and it did its job," Kim said, as Tommy cut into her story.
"How did you get that weapon?" Tommy asked, now understanding why the others were so eager to hear her side of the story. This weapon was supposed to belong to only him and no other weapons had ever been transferred between rangers before this battle.
"I remembered something Zordon had told me a long time ago," Kim said, knowing that she would have to fully explain herself later.
"Kim..." Tommy said and then found himself cut off by her hurried explanation of everything else.
"After she was thrown by the fire bulb, I asked Billy to bring out the container we were going to put her in and she said that she would rather die than have to go back in there, which I was more than happy to oblige. I called upon Jason's power sword next and then attacked her with it," Kim said, as Tommy and Jason could only stare at her with wide eyes, while the rest of the rangers saw their chance to ask a burning question.
"What were you thinking when you did that?" Billy asked, knowing that the others would probably be unwilling to voice this question, to the intimidating little ranger.
"That she was now paying for everything she had done to all of us and so many others. The only other thing that kept flashing through my mind was the site of the two of them unconscious and that they could possibly die because of her, so I wanted to insure that she suffered as much as they did," Kim said, in a voice raw with emotion. "Can I finish this? There's not much left to tell."
"Okay," Tommy said, in a voice barely above a whisper, as he fought the urge to wrap his arms around Kim in a tight hug. He was now more thankful than he had ever before that she was safe and it hadn't really dawned on him until now that he had almost let Kim down in the way he had always feared.
"After that, Nicarni-Aso didn't have much of a will to fight anymore, so I called another fire bulb and finished her off," Kim said, simply. While everything was sinking in, they sat in a very uncomfortable silence. There were so many questions that needed to be asked, but which ones would be deemed acceptable to be answered? After a few more minutes of debating, the first question leaked out, giving way to the onslaught of other questions soon to follow.
"What did Zordon tell you that he didn't tell the rest of us?" Jason asked, breaking the deafening silence. "It's pretty obvious that it affected you a great deal or you wouldn't have been able to do that yesterday."
"I went, one day, to talk to him about my breakup with Tommy and he started asking me weird questions," Kim said, glad that Jason had decided on a rather easy question to start with. "He asked if I had ever noticed how much stronger the connection between Tommy, you, and myself was when we were morphed. I had never noticed it, much less thought to ask about it until then. I asked him how that could be and he explained that sometimes friends could have a connection that goes farther than they know. When I asked how this would help me, he told me to think about it and that was what I came up with. Our powers are interchangeable. Why? I don't know, he never told me that. I never got the chance to ask, he died soon after I talked with him."
"Does it work both ways?" Zack asked, truly interested.
"I suppose it would, but we've never had a reason to try that," Kim said, knowing that this was only going to frustrate them more. She couldn't help that she didn't know any more, the only person who could have explained it to them, had died. "I had never had a reason until yesterday to even attempt it and I'm glad that it worked. I wouldn't have been able to defeat her alone."
"Why did you break up with Tommy in the first place?" Aisha asked, while several of the Power Rangers had looks of complete shock plastered on their faces. Tommy and Jason both knew that Kim would probably not tell everyone, but it was going to be interesting to see what she did say.
"I was an idiot when I did that," Kim said, looking over at Tommy, who smiled reassuringly at her, "I really don't know what was going through my mind, other than what we all went through after losing our powers."
"Excuses, excuses," Jason said with a smile, knowing that probably only Tommy and he knew the whole truth of the matter, which was fine with him.
"She doesn't have to tell everyone," Tommy said, squeezing Kim's hand. In all honesty, he didn't want to have to relive the truth when he hadn't gotten a good chance to talk to Kim about it, alone. "I've forgiven her and that is all that is important."
"Why did you put yourself is so much danger?" Trini asked, knowing that Tommy and Jason had left that particular question out because of a fear of being decked if they asked.
"I wasn't thinking rationally at the time. I was mad, upset, exhausted, and being worried about the two of you didn't help matters any. So I did the only thing that had been getting me by, I fought," Kim said, knowing that this wouldn't be a good enough answer, but hoped they would take it without too much opposition.
"Kim, is that really why you did that?" Tommy asked, hoping he would be able to get an honest answer out of her.
"No, but it's hard to explain. It just felt like something took me over and I can't explain what it was," Kim said, knowing that this was the closest to the truth that she was going to get with some of the rangers, others would find out everything. "I really can't."
"Okay," Trini said, sensing that Tommy, Jason, and Kim were becoming increasingly tired, again. "How about some food?"
"That would be great," Tommy said, putting his head down on the table. "I'm starved."
"So am I," Kim said, laying her head down to go to sleep as well. "Can you wake me up when it's ready?"
"Yeah, we can do that," Billy said, as he watched Jason, Tommy, and Kim go to sleep. "Did that answer any of your questions?"
"Some," Aisha said, "but I don't think that we will ever know the whole truth."
"I don't know if Kim knows the whole truth," Rocky said, "she wouldn't lie to us about this, would she?"
"No, she wouldn't," Trini said, surprised at how perceptive Rocky could be at some times. He may have been the one that got them to laugh so often, but when things like this happened, he could read into them much better than anyone would think. "I think a lot of it has to do with not wanting to remember what happened to all of us yesterday. I really don't want to remember it myself and she knows something the rest of us don't."
"Yeah, she knows Tommy and Jason's greatest fears," Billy said, remembering the research he had done on the aisle of deception, which was what they had, had to deal with first. "I wouldn't want to have the obligation to keep that a secret."
"I hope that isn't what Jason wanted to talk to me about," Trini whispered, as Zack shot her a suspicious look.
"Probably not," Aisha said, grabbing a bag of chicken out of the freezer. "Baked or fried?"
"Fried, we need the extra energy and I don't see the sleepyheads having a problem with that," Zack said, jokingly. He had never been a huge fan of healthy food, but was forced to eat it through the years because of different people in his life, but Aisha was a lot more flexible about things like that. "But it may be best for us to leave and let you cook by yourselves."
"Yeah, I would suggest that," Trini said with a smile and shoed them out of the kitchen. "Boys."
"Don't wake them up," Aisha said, talking to their backs.
"We won't, we are not as dumb as we appear to be sometimes," Adam said with a smile and thought about how great it was for all of them to be together again.
"What else do you want to fix?" Trini asked, getting out a bowl and some flour.
"I don't care, they will eat almost anything we put in front of them," Aisha said, as she began pulling out the items needed for a salad. "When are you going to talk to Billy?"
"About what?" Trini asked, shocked at Aisha's sudden change in subject. She had only told one person about her intentions to talk to Billy and Kim had gone to sleep the moment her head hit the pillow last night.
"Jason," Aisha said, cutting up a tomato. "That is what you need to talk to Billy about, right?"
"Yeah, it is," Trini said and found herself becoming more worried about how all of this would turn out. She didn't want to sever all ties with Billy, she just wanted them to go back to being friends. "How did you know that?"
"It's pretty obvious, Trini, but this is Billy we're talking about here," Aisha said, knowing that Trini got the full meaning of this statement loud and clear. The other guys, probably wouldn't have noticed, but it was exactly like Billy to notice a change like this in Trini, without saying anything to her.
"I know," Trini said, as she put the battered chicken in some hot oil. "But that is what makes this the hardest, it is Billy and he's one of the best friends I have ever had."
"He will still be one of your best friends, maybe even a better friend," Aisha said. "Trust me, you won't be like Tommy and Kim."
"So what are we going to do?" Rocky asked, as the walked back into the sleeping quarters. This was the only room that was empty and they had soon settled themselves comfortably around the room. "We've been asked to leave the kitchen and we can't play tricks on them, what's left to do?"
"A lot," Billy said, taking a deep breath. He knew that this was probably the only time he could say what he was about to without being yelled at. "We will have to destroy these powers once we get back to Earth."
"What would be the harm of keeping them?" Zack asked, not liking how this was likely to effect all of them. "It's not like we would ever use them for evil."
"I know, but I am just following through on Zordon's commands. What else can I do?" Billy asked, feeling a huge burden upon his shoulders. He knew that none of the others had been told this and that Zordon had his reasons, even if he didn't agree with them. "He expected us to do what is right and this is the only thing that is right. We weren't meant to take these powers back forever, just long enough to destroy Nicarni-Aso."
"That's wonderful," Adam said, slumping down in a chair. "I was starting to enjoy all of this."
"It's not going to be as bad as last time. I'm sure we'll all want to see each other after this is over and we'll go through the withdrawal together, not alone like last time," Billy said.
"You know the only thing that would make this more like old times is if Jason and Kim were arguing and Tommy was the referee," Zack said with a laugh. "I missed that, these last few years it hasn't been the same with the two of them fighting and everyone else trying not to pick sides."
"Yeah," Rocky said. "Do you remember when Jason and Kim came back for that visit and we were told everything?"
"I do," Zack said. "I went to talk to Zordon about it later and he just made it all seem like this was meant to be, even though those two idiots were fighting and none of us were sure how we'd pull off the impossible if something didn't change."
"Yeah, he did," Rocky said. "But there is no need for us to get depressed because of something that happened years ago."
"The food is ready," Trini said, sticking her head into the room the boys were congregating in.
"Good, I'm starved," Rocky said, quickly standing up from his seat on the floor.
"Of course, you always are," Aisha said, as the boys sat down around the sleeping rangers. "Who wants to wake them up?"
"I will," Trini volunteered, as the others seemed to be very apprehensive about waking them up, not that they were likely to do anything to them. "Come on guys, lunch is ready."
"Okay," Jason said, sitting up slowly and Tommy soon followed suit, while Kim remained in a deep sleep.
"Come on, Kim. Lunch is ready," Tommy said, reaching over and softly shaking her shoulder. The bruises on all of them had become more evident, but the fighters had many more. Billy had already created a type of lotion that would decrease their appearance, so no one on Earth would find the bruises out of the ordinary.
"Okay," Kim said, looking over at Tommy who had now settled his arm around her. "What are we eating?"
"Comfort food," Aisha said, as she set down a platter of fried chicken, while Trini brought in a salad. The table had also been set with, rice, biscuits, and green beans, just to name a few things that Aisha and Trini had decided to prepare, for this spur of the moment feast.
"This looks great," Jason said, as he reached out to start filling his plate.
"Can we say the blessing first?" Kim asked, as Jason slowly moved his hand away from the platter of fried chicken.
"Sure," Billy said, wondering when Kim had become so religious. "Tommy, would you please…"
"Yeah," Tommy said, taking a hold of Kim and Adam's hands, as the others did the same. "Let us pray. Dear God, thank you so much for the blessings that you have given us and for Trini's safe return back to us. Please continue to bless us, as you have all of our life and please let this food nourish our bodies and for our bodies to continue in your service. In Jesus name I pray, amen."
"Amen," Kim echoed, very softly.
"Dig in," Tommy said, reaching for the rice and putting a small mound of it on his plate.
"Why did you fix so much food?" Kim asked, as she began filling her plate with her favorites out of the assortment of food.
"Look at Jason and Tommy's plates, that should give you a good idea why," Aisha said with a smile, as Kim looked at the plates that were now overflowing with food.
"I get the point," Kim said with a smile and they all went into a comfortable silence, that can only be accompanied by people who are thoroughly satisfied with their meals.
"So, when is it going to be official?" Jason asked, after swallowing a large mouthful of food.
"When is what going to be official?" Tommy asked, as he seemed to be the only one who had not promptly shoved a mouthful of food in their mouth when Jason began to talk.
"The two of you dating again," Jason said, as Kim choked on some water and Tommy looked at him in shock.
"Don't you think that you are jumping the gun a little bit on that one Jason?" Kim asked, although she was forgiven, she was expecting it to be awhile before Tommy put his heart out on the line again.
"No," Jason said, knowing exactly how Tommy felt. "What do you think, Tommy?"
"You may be on the right track, but I'm not telling any of you anything until the two of us know what is going on," Tommy said, trying to keep a blush from rising to the surface.
"Come on, you're no fun," Aisha said with a smile, as Kim looked at her with a sly smile on her face.
"You're one to talk, Aisha," Kim said, looking from Aisha to Zack and then raised her eyebrow. "Unless I'm wrong, we should be asking you and Zack the same question."
"Before you start throwing food, maybe we should save this topic for a time when we all are a little bit more rested and able to take it," Rocky said, spreading his arms out in front of the two girls' faces. "You can't let good food go to waste."
"We wouldn't do that," Kim said, with a laugh. "Do you remember when Tommy came back and his cake got kicked into Bulk's face?"
"Yeah, but it was good for a laugh," Zack said. "I wonder how Bulk and Skull are doing now."
"Who knows," Billy said. "Anything is possible, look at all of us. I don't think many of us did what we were expected to do."
"You can say that again," Kim said, knowing that she had always though Tommy and she would be engaged or even married by now, but things went a little bit wrong in that plan. "Why did things have to change so much after high school?"
"We changed, some of us moved away and some of us choose to stay away from everything that we had once loved," Trini said, as Kim started to feel extremely guilty.
"I'm sorry for what I did. I know that it had to be hell on all of you having to deal with a moody, depressed leader," Kim said, not being able to look any one in the eye. "It just made sense at the time and then I realized how much I had messed up, that's what kept me away. I didn't want to disappoint any of you ever again."
"I have news for you, Kim," Zack said and Kim finally looked up from examining she and Tommy's hands. "We will all disappoint each other again, but we're friends and we'll make it through. We made it through the two of you breaking up, I think we can handle almost anything now."
"Yeah," Kim said and the conversation went through a multitude of subjects, some funny and others were truly heartbreaking.
Over the next three days, they had many more conversations such as this, which took them back in time to when there only worries were passing Ms. Applebee's next test or getting into the college they wanted to be accepted into. They talked about college, which had gone quite differently than expected for most of them. Who would have expected Tommy to become a science teacher or Aisha to go into engineering? Things had obviously changed, which made them grow more attached to those around them.
AN: Let me know how you feel about this chapter! Thanks so much to those of you that read this story and to those of you who have reviewed me in the past! So, until next time this is it!