Hi everyone, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I've had a super stressful week and I actually think this chapter reflects that. I must confess it's not my best, but I promise the next one will be more exciting. I'm hoping to get it done this weekend. I really appreciated the reviews from last time and I hope this chapter doesn't scare you all away! So, I guess try to enjoy and please check back for more.

"Cut out that racket!" yelled the gold beast as he shoved the rusted key in the lock, which had assured Kimberly would remain in the small cell through the night.

Kimberly quickly shoved her hand down the front of her light pink spaghetti strap dress before Goldar had a chance to notice. She had been feverishly working for the last couple of hours at her plan to basically stay alive. First things first though, making Lord Zedd believe the black dino gem was destroyed with the pink power coin. After Kimberly had been relieved of the evil and everything that came with it, including the costume she realized that maybe she wasn't so helpless after all.

Staring at Tommy's dino gem she noticed the bracelet had relented its grasp on her and the clasp appeared once again. The only problem was that once she got the bracelet off it was too bulky to hide on her person. There wasn't much you could conceal under the skimpy little dress. Why oh why out of all of the garments in her extensive wardrobe did she have to wear that dress on her date with Skull? She didn't even care to impress him; it just must have been a rule that when you're evil you have to be sexy too.

So, the only way to conceal the gem was to separate it from the bracelet. Kimberly undid the clasp quickly and removed the silver hardware from her wrist. She first examined the set of the gem and immediately discovered that there was no prying the thing loose. Deciding that Tommy probably hadn't been the one to construct the bracelet, given his lack of skill in shop class back in high school, Kimberly was left with no one to blame. Maybe Haley? It was stupid to care about that now and yet she was still jealous of the woman.

"Jealous of a female Billy," Kimberly said to herself out loud, "I can't imagine how this experience could get any stranger."

But, Kimberly's sense of humor was still not enough to shield her from her frustrations. Finally, she declared, "Oh the hell with it," as she began to slam the bracelet onto the hard marble floor repeatedly for at least a half-hour. Once she pulled it up from under the cloud of fog, which she absolutely loathed at this point, she noticed that there had been little to no damage done to the bracelet. But, determined to free the gem she simply found a different surface, the steel bars. That was about when Goldar approached her. Just as he appeared the gem had been successfully knocked loose and this time she wasn't taking any chances and made sure to catch it before it got lost in the white cloud. Reacting fast the dino gem now sat safely nestled inKimberly's bra. 'Tommy, the things I do for you,' she thought.

"Get up," yelled Goldar once again as he entered the cell and effortlessly pulled Kimberly up by her left arm. She was now aware that she had in fact been barefoot this entire time, the floor was freezing. Tommy must have removed her shoes when he put her in his bed after she 'fainted' the night before last. 'Don't think about that now Kimberly,' she thought trying not to remember what had occurred shortly after she had 'awoken'.

"What happened?" Goldar questioned accusingly. "Why aren't you morphed? Where's the power coin?"

"None of your damn business," Kimberly snapped as she struggled to break free.

"Lord Zedd is not going to be happy about this," Goldar said obviously not phased by Kimberly's hostility.

He commenced to drag the girl kicking and screaming up several flights of stairs to reach the main corridor. Kimberly knew that her struggles were useless, but why make the dumb ape's job easy on him?

As the pair entered the familiar lair Goldar tossed Kimberly to her knees in front of Lord Zedd who was perched on his throne with Rita at his side. Kimberly stood up immediately after gathering her bearings. She had no reason to bow to the emperor of darkness now.

"I see you have decided to rebel," began Lord Zedd, not at all surprised by Kimberly's defiance. "I suppose it's for the best."

"What?" screeched Rita.

"Well, my dear," he answered, "you have to admit Kimmy was a rather big let down as my Pink Ranger."

"You can say that again," said Rita glaring at the woman. "Now give it up girlie! We want our coin back!"

"Well, you can't have it back," said Kimberly as a smile grew across her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear," cut in Lord Zedd, "you must be confused, my wife is demanding that you return that coin to me this very second!" His voice erupted into echoes that sounded throughout the craft.

"No, you must be confused," returned Kimberly, holding her head high, "you can't have the coin back because it no longer exists."

"Zeddy," screamed Rita, "I don't like what I'm hearing make her give it back!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Zedd leaning forward in his throne.

"You heard me," replied Kimberly, "it's gone, poof, goodbye, nonexistent, no more," she continued sarcastically and loving every second of it.

"I don't believe you," said Lord Zedd, "that's impossible."

"Oh contraire, Zeddy," said Kimberly cutely, "It was destroyed by your favorite human of all time, Tommy Oliver."

"What?" gasped Zedd, "How? When?"

"How!" added in Rita.

"Well," explained Kimberly, "he didn't like physically destroy it, it's more like his dino gem destroyed it."

Lord Zedd, Rita, and Goldar were baffled and left speechless. Kimberly stood before them rocking back and forth on her heals with the biggest grin on her face.

"Okay," said Zedd finally breaking the silence, "then give me the dino gem, now."

"Sorry, can't help you old man," replied Kimberly, "the gem didn't make it either."

"I really don't care for her attitude," said Rita.

"Silence!" ordered Lord Zedd. "You will address me with respect Kimberly and you will return to me what is mine."

"I already told you," answered Kimberly somewhat annoyed, "they're both gone."

"That's it," declared Lord Zedd rising from his seat, "just remember Kimberly, you brought this upon yourself."

He aimed his staff directly at Kimberly releasing a blast that hit her so fast she never even saw the charge escape from the shinny, silver Z. She was on the ground and unconscious immediately.

"Goldar," demanded Zedd, "search her and then tie her up. I have plans for our former Pink Ranger. She may have failed at destroying Dr. Oliver, but she will most definitely succeed in luring him to his doom."

Tommy was awoken by the sound of Conner and Ethan's chuckles as they discovered their conservative science teacher entangled with the blonde bombshell in his arms. At first he had no idea what was so funny, had he worn only his boxers to bed? They weren't that immature, were they?

"Looks like Dr. O had an eventful night, Ethan," said Conner trying unsuccessfully to choke back the laughs.

Ethan was in such hysterics he couldn't even respond.

"Hey, that's enough guys," said Tommy seriously, afraid that they would wake up Katherine, but it was too late.

Katherine opened her blue eyes and allowed them to adjust to the scenery as she lifted her head off of Tommy's chest.

"Tommy?" she questioned starring him directly in the eyes. "What's going on?"

"That's what we would like to know," cracked Ethan.

Katherine starred at the two boys in confusion and then returned her gaze back to Tommy. He looked so good, even first thing in the morning. His stubble had become very heavy and he was definitely due for a shave, but it was very sexy.

"Don't mind them," began Tommy squirming to get out from under Katherine, "they just barely passed the second grade."

"Third, thank you very much," chuckled Conner as he gestured for Ethan to follow him to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

Everyone else had already convened in the kitchen, with the exception of Trent and Kira. They had all been pleasantly surprised that morning to find Katherine in Tommy's arms. By the couple's position everyone gathered that Katherine had woken up during the night. That was definitely cause to celebrate.

Meanwhile back in the living room Katherine had separated herself from Tommy not wanting to let go, but not wanting to let on to the fact that she had thoroughly enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat the night before.

"How are you feeling?" asked Tommy gently as he swung his feet around and planted them firmly on the floor.

"Well, I'm a little soar, but mainly it's just my head that really hurts."

"Why don't I walk you into the kitchen and Billy can go ahead and check you for any injuries or damage."

"Okay," agreed Katherine allowing Tommy to help her stand up and then escort her into the kitchen.

Everyone was elated when they saw Katherine enter the room. They all rushed her so quickly that she felt like a celebrity.

"Hey guys," interrupted Tommy, "take it easy, she's still not at a hundred percent."

Everyone heard Tommy but, they couldn't help themselves, they still took turns showering the woman in hugs. While the excitement was on Katherine, Tommy took it upon himself to sneak away to head upstairs to check on Trent and Kira, and for a long over due shower.

He slowly eased the door open afraid that he might wake Trent, but he was overtaken with relief when he saw the couple sitting up in the bed next to each other holding hands. They had been quietly discussing Kira's current condition but in spite of the shock and the pain Kira still managed to smile.

"Dr. O," she said excitedly, opening her arms to the man.

Tommy walked over to her and without second thought he engulfed her in a monstrous hug. It was highly inappropriate for a teacher student relationship, but very appropriate for a Power Ranger Power Ranger relationship.

"Are you okay?" asked Tommy overjoyed.

"Well, I guess I've been better," answered Kira, "but I have to admit the day's starting out pretty good." She turned her gaze towards Trent and Dr. Oliver got the hint.

"I guess that's my queue to go," he chuckled, releasing Kira. "I'm just going to grab a quick shower and you guys can head downstairs if you want, the guys are making breakfast."

"Come on," said Trent helping Kira out of the bed, "you won't believe who showed up after you got knocked out."

The two teenage lovebirds slowly exited the room and Tommy headed strait for the shower, maybe things were starting to look up. Katherine had woken up and appeared to be okay, and thank God so did Kira. Not only that, with Kat in commission he could now call on his old white tiger powers. Most importantly though, something had happend last night. It wasn't something he could ever describe or even really recall, but for a split second Kimberly had been with him and he promised himself that next time it would be for real.