I can't believe I forgot to make a disclaimer last time. Oh well. Here it is now: I don't own the Power Rangers.
"Fai, are there any messages from Earth?" Billy asked his coworker as he poured a cup of coffee.
The Aquitarians used to laugh at his incapability to function until he had his morning espresso, but that was before Billy had allowed them a taste of their own. Now he had everyone addicted to the tasty rich substance. He chuckled to himself as he remembered Cestria's reaction to "that one Earth drink" as she had called it. Immediately following the thought, his face darkened. His heart was still unable to bare the pain that Cestria's untimely departure had brought upon the planet. She had been a great doctor and warrior. She was outnumbered, and the one time she needed him, Billy was unable to save her.
"There are no messages from Earth, Captain." Fai answered.
Billy frowned. He shook his head as a shiver ran down his spine. That couldn't be right. Kimberly, always the worrywart, had checked on him everyday since he had repaired the communication systems years before. Everyday. She never forgot. Something had to be wrong. No, that couldn't be right. She probably had an emergency conference or her coach is making her spend extra time at the gym and she's too exhausted to have a conversation. "Are you sure, Fai?"
"Yes, I am quite sure. I will report Kim's message the moment in comes in." Fai swiveled around in his chair and looked his captain in the eye. Fai's features softened as he spoke, "I'm sure she's all right, Billy." Fai rested a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Yes, I know." Billy nodded, his face still grim. "I just have this...feeling."
"If it will put you at ease, I will locate her current position as soon as I finish this update." Fai suggested and promptly began typing at his computer.
Billy let out a deep breath. "Thanks, Fai."
She groaned. Her bed had never been so uncomfortable before. Her ribcage ached. Maybe I left a hanger on the bed yesterday morning and forgot to take it off. She rolled onto her back. Her bed felt like concrete. Maybe that's why she had such a horrible dream. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up.
"Goooood morning, sweets!"
Her hand froze in mid-rub, and she opened her eyes. In her vision was self proclaimed Evil Queen of Style and the hulk man from her dreams. "This wasn't a dream?"
Hulk Wannabe laughed. Kimberly retaliated with a glare. Normally, she was a morning person. In fact, she rarely ever slept in after 7 AM. However, this was definitely not the type of scenery she wanted to wake up to.
"Of course it wasn't a dream!" Divatox stated indignantly. "You should be ecstatic to be in my presence!"
"How fortunate." Kimberly said dryly.
Divatox pursed her lips, but brushed Kimberly's mordant attitude off. Hulk Wannabe grunted. "Oh, how silly of me! I forgot to introduce you two! Kimberly, this is Hygelac."
"Is he your right hand man these days?" Kimberly questioned. When Divatox nodded, Kimberly added, "Watch your back, Hygelac. She's not known to be trustworthy towards her so called teammates."
"Don't listen to her, Hygelac. I am very trustworthy." Divatox stared angrily at the former ranger.
Kimberly snorted. "Yeah, right, and I'm the Queen of France. What happened to your pet, hmm?"
"That's not important. Have you come to a decision?" Divatox ignored Kimberly's inquiry.
"I just woke up!"
Divatox waved her hand. "And I care because...?"
Kimberly huffed. "Well, your answer is no! I won't betray my friends like this."
"But you won't be betraying your friends, dear Kimberly. You won't be betraying anyone. You were never friends with the villains I want you to take care of." Divatox persisted.
"I don't care. By giving in to evil, by fighting beside you, I'd be betraying not only my friends, but everything I have fought against my whole life!" Kimberly refused; she would not be weak. She added, "I will not be your toy, Divatox."
Divatox's eyes, and Kimberly almost feared her. Almost. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and stood tall. "Fine. I tried to be civil. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Divatox lifted the remote control and switched the power on. Kimberly didn't feel any different, but when Divatox pushed another button, the most excruciating pain she had ever endured filled her whole body. She couldn't hear anything except a deafening frequency. Suddenly, it stopped, and Kimberly fell to the ground. She sat up, and found she could breathe again.
"Still don't want to change your mind?" Divatox questioned.
Kimberly gazed her enemy in the eyes. "Go to hell."
"Now, now, Kimberly. What happened to your pure heart?" Divatox smirked. "This will hurt you more than it will hurt me." Kimberly braced herself for the next jolt. This time, the pain came much slower, a different kind of torture. It was like an itch on her back that she couldn't reach. She expected Divatox to stop at any moment, but that moment never came.
Beads of sweat began to trickle down her back. The world began to spin. Her body was ripping apart. She knew it, and if not that, someone had set her on fire. Her heart felt as if it were swelling inside her ribcage, threatening to break through at any moment. Her mouth opened, but she couldn't make a sound. Against her will, her head turned upwards and her arms flew back, arching her back. The ceiling turned into a cloud of brown dust. Finally, a piercing scream bubbled out through her mouth. She tried with all her might to stay conscious, but she could feel the comfort of sleep creeping up on her. Finally, she let go, and then...black.
Divatox and Hygelac observed the young girl before them, the former with satisfaction, the latter, great sadness. Hygelac forehead creased as Divatox covered her ears to block the ear-splitting scream filled the room. Her heartbreaking cry came to halt, leaving the silence. A single tear escaped down her cheek. With a grimace, he watched her face contort as her body jerked back and forth.
The veil lifted and darkness fled. She began choking on her own saliva and heaved. She tried to roll onto her side and wipe the mess off her face, but nothing happened. Panic filled her thoughts. Am I paralyzed? Another thought crossed her mind. Am I dead? Is this what the afterlife really is?
She felt her body lift off the ground. I am dead.
"No you aren't." A deep, husky voice informed her. Did I say that out loud? "Your mind has come out of shock, but your body will take more time."
Kimberly looked at her savior. Sputtering, she almost went into shock again. She managed a slight nod to show she had comprehended. She was placed on something soft. "Here you go." He used a washcloth to clean the mess off her face and her neck, and then positioned her so she was sitting up.
"Would you like some water?" He asked, pouring a glass before she could answer.
Immediately, her throat felt like sand paper. He poured some water into her mouth, quenching her thirst for now. She swallowed and croaked a "Thank you."
"Aw, you're up." Kimberly cringed when she heard the villainess's voice. "Mentally, at least."
Divatox sauntered towards the bed Hygelac had laid Kimberly on."Tell me, how are you feeling?"
Kimberly's face hardened. She refused to say anything at all to this monster.
"Shocking isn't it," Divatox grinned, "that something this little can hold so much power."
The brunette snorted. "That has to be up there in one of the worst puns ever."
"Still don't want to join me?"
"I'd rather die!" Kimberly almost shouted.
"Fine! Stupid brat. You'll see that I don't take no for answer! Everyday you say no, will be a day of more torture. You won't last a week." Divatox stormed off, but paused briefly at the door, "And don't even think about contacting your friends. There are many spells cast on this castle, so nothing will be penetrate. You can't contact them. They can't contact you. Come along, Hygelac."
Hygelac followed her, leaving the petite girl alone and vulnerable. Kimberly could hear Divatox's cackle echoing throughout the hallways. She had to get out of here. Divatox was right. She would be a vegetable by the end of the week.
Kimberly looked at her lifeless hand and willed it to move.
It had been a week and still no word from Kimberly. Billy was beginning to worry. He had communicated with Jason, Trini, Zack, and Tommy; no one knew her whereabouts. Fai tried in vain to find her location all week. He gaited to a large blue building made of glass. This was the Aquitarian rangers' version of the command center. Billy set down his coffee and rubbed the back of his head. A migraine had been developing the past few days, and no matter what he took to ease it, the throbbing would not go away.
Inside of the lobby, he pressed the button on the elevator to take him to the third floor. He sighed and leaned his body against the walled area. Aquitarians loved glass, so all except one wall was made of glass in the elevator. As the compartment rose, Billy gazed at the beautiful oceanic view. He had long since gotten over his phobia of fish, which would be obvious considering he now habited on a predominately fish populated planet. He loved where he lived currently, and he loved the work he put into this planet; it felt great to be needed, but sometimes he wondered whether it was worth leaving his friends on Earth. It was more problematical to contact his close companions, which was why he had set up the communicator system the way he did. While the ability of talking to his friends everyday was available now, seeing them was not. He could not get passed this little fact that left him feeling lonesome and depressed during the quiet periods.
He scanned his identification card and entered his destination. Immediately, he noticed Fai was in the control room. Fai was typing ferociously in front of the main computer, with a taut frown upon his face. Billy stood behind him and began reading over his shoulder. He seemed to be cracking a code of some sort.
"Fai, what are you doing?" The young man in front of him jumped.
"Billy! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in." Fai took a deep breath.
"Apparently so. What are you cracking?" Billy gestured to the computer and leaned closer to the screen to get a better look. He may be a genius, but it was like starting a book in the middle.
Fai regarded his work. "This morning I was finishing an update on the attack we received last week. Afterwards, I was checking the messages, and found this:" He clicked a button.
Billy heard a clicking sound then static. He strained to listen; then he heard another clicking sound something that sounded like a voice. Unfortunately, it was too cracked to understand what was being said. "Where did this come from?"
"I'm not sure. It said it was sent last week sometime." Fai informed his superior.
Billy's eyes squinted as he processed this. He looked at the codes on the screen. "Was this from a planet? Do you think someone else was attacked?"
Fai shook his head grimly. "There's no way to tell. There are no records other than the date it was sent."
Billy looked him in the eyes. "Which means you'll know within the next twenty four hours, right?"
"Absolutely." Fai grinned. Fai was almost a copy of Billy. The only difference between the two was that Fai had dark hair and almost black eyes. He was the only Aquitar Ranger that had not originated from Aquitar; he came from KO35. When the other Aquitar rangers on Billy's team decided to step down, he found that he would rather stay behind the scenes. So he had passed his powers on to Fai, letting him take over as the brains while he mentored. For his ranger team, he was the brain; his specialty: cracking codes. He thought of them as puzzles, just like Billy had when he was a ranger on earth.
In some ways, it was comforting to know that there was someone as smart as he. He knew that Fai would get the job done, and he could relax.
"Good." Billy patted him on the shoulder and sat next to him. "How far have you gotten?"
"Well, when I first found the message, it appeared to be only a small glitch in the system. I was preparing to fix it when I noticed that its serial number was that of a communicator, so I deleted the option of the glitch being a virus or a mistake someone had made while programming. When I finally uncovered the message, there was nothing other than the cackling sound you heard, so I worked further and found that it had been sent last week." Fai pointed at the moving various numbers and letters.
"Was it from a communicator?" Billy queried, hoping that it had been.
"That is what I am about to find out." Fai began typing at a fast rate. "We'll know in a few minutes."
A beeping sound came from the computer, and Fai grinned. "It's confirmed. This was definitely a message from a communicator."
Billy let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. It had to be Kimberly. "Can you locate where it was sent?"
Fai frowned as he looked through the codes. He shook his head. "That's what I was trying to discover earlier when I first noticed it. There is some type of force field surrounding the location that is throwing everything off."
Billy watched him work for a few moments, finding himself in a daze. He hadn't been able to rest properly since Kimberly's sudden disappearance.
"I remember where I've seen these before!" Fai interrupted Billy's thoughts. "This is bizarre."
"What is?" The former blue ranger leaned forward and read the codes himself. These weren't the normal symbols that he was used to reading. Instead of a series of patterns, there were symbols jumping out sporadically, and most of these symbols he had never even seen before.
"This has to be some sort of ancient magic that is messing with the message. I remember studying it during schooling back at KO35. You see that symbol there?" Fai pointed to an arrow-like shape that had a circle on the end. Billy nodded in acknowledgement. "That is a presi."
"A presi?" Billy asked with slight confusion.
"Yes, it means pry. It's some type of old Earth magic. European, I believe."
Billy gave Fai a long side glance. "So whoever sent it is in Europe?"
Fai nodded. "Looks like it."
An idea popped into Billy's head. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of contacting her before. He brought his communicator to his mouth. "Kat? This is Billy. I need your help. Contact me as soon as possible."
"Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly. Why must you torture yourself?" Divatox questioned. "However, I am surprised you've lasted so long.
"Those Power Pukes you rely on so much aren't going to save you. They have their hands busy with that good for nothing Astronema." Her voice lowered at the name of her new adversary.
"Don't you think I know that?" Kimberly returned quickly. "I know that they are busy. I have other friends that will know something's wrong when I haven't contacted them for so long."
That's what she was trying to convince herself. Outside, she was tough and calm. On the inside, however, she felt sick and worried. Maybe Billy wouldn't realize she was gone until it was too late. It had been four weeks already, and still nothing. When she had been a ranger, it had only taken a day or so before the others had rescued her. Maybe they didn't care after all.
So what did you think? Good, bad?
The torture could have been written better, and I'm not completely satisfied with it. I wanted to get the next chapter posted though. How could that be improved?
Wow, I got reviews! People actually read my story. And there weren't any flames. Sweet :)
Cloaked Fox- I never really cared too much about Kat because I stopped watching the show a few episodes after Kimberly left. I've been considering your idea but can't bring myself to write it like that, since I have a lot of the plot planned out already. Plus, I never really saw Kimberly and Kat develop a huge friendship other than Kimberly trusting Kat to replace her as the pink ranger. However, I will give Kat an appearance or two, since you brought it up and gave me a good idea.
Funky in Fishnet- Yeah, I like the stories that have to do with Kimberly turning evil. And this idea has been bugging me for a while now.
majewel- I thought about ending it there, but I have too many ideas.
Thanks for reading; suggestions are accepted!