Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. Only Hygelac.
I'm walking down the line that divides me somewhere in my mind -Green Day
Dear Kimberly,
Please come visit me this afternoon! I am in dire need of your opinion on something. See you soon!
Astronema
Kimberly reread the letter. How was she going to visit Astronema without Divatox finding out? She bit her bottom lip while contemplating the various ideas. It was highly unlikely that Divatox or Hygelac would not notice her absence if she disappeared for a few hours. She could tell Hygelac, but she wasn't sure if he would understand her growing friendship with Astronema seeing as her purpose of being here was to destroy that very person.
Unexpectedly a gust of wind entered her room giving her a chill. She turned to close her window when she saw the pages on the Book of Spells fluttering. It had been closed before, but then again it was a magical book. A grin appeared on her face as she sat on her bed. The page was bordered with green vines with leaves that were enchanted to move as if a breeze were hitting them. Two girls stood on the bottom left corner of the page; they looked like identical twins. Kimberly focused on the spell and gasped at its contents. This was perfect!
Angels of the Sky
Spirit of the Night
With this lock of hair; spring of life
Beet leaves; a cashew
Duplicate me in two.
She could create a copy of herself to last only a few hours! "Thanks!" She whispered to the script. She grabbed the book, making sure to bookmark the page the spell was on, a cup, and headed outside.
Kimberly stealthy made her way to her and Lac's spot, making sure the coast was clear. When she was certain she was the only one around, she placed the book on the large rock and studied the spell. She grabbed her samurai sword, which she had gotten used to carrying, and took a strand of her hair.
She dropped the strand of hair. Cut her hair? Goodness, this was going to be hard. But I have to do it in order to see Astronema, so…She took the lock of hair again and sliced threw it with the sharp blade, closing her eyes as she did so.
Finally, it was over and she smiled triumphantly. After memorizing the incantation, she filled the cup with the tresses, water, which should be the spring of life, and added the other ingredients. She grinded them together until it was a murky brown color. She stated the first line and looked up at the sky.
"Angels of the sky" The sky began to cloud over. "Spirit of the Night" Now the clouds darkened until the sky seemed to be completely black. "With this lock of hair, spring of Life, beet leaves; a cashew…duplicate me in two."
Frowning with disgust, she brought the potion to her lips and gulped all of the contents. A strange feeling overtook her body as black light outlined her skin. She examined the light around her hands and grinned. At least she knew something was working.
She cried out as a sharp pain coursed through her chest. Her body throbbed as the pain grew until she felt she could bear it no longer. She buckled to her knees and contained the next scream that would be sure alert others. What did she do? Did she say something wrong? Get the wrong sort of ingredients?
Then, something surprised her. A foot stepped out from inside her body. She stared as the foot, followed by a leg, and soon a full body exited her ribcage. She gasped for air and caught herself with her hands before collapsing to the ground.
After regaining her senses, she carefully stood up and saw before her a girl. Kimberly stared in awe as she looked at the girl identical to her. Everything was the same, including the metal device on her eyebrow. There was only one difference: she did not have a missing lock of hair. The girl in front of her smirked.
Kimberly's eyes glinted mischievously and she mirrored "her" expression. "Hello…Kimberly."
"Hello."
"Oh. Kimberly! You made it!" Astronema exclaimed and hugged her. "How did you get away so soon?"
"Of course I came. What are friends for?" Kimberly pulled back from their embrace.
"Friends." Astronema sighed deeply. "I've never had any friends other than Ecliptor, and he's more like a father anyway."
A slight frown appeared on Kimberly's face. She'd never had any friends? "I'm sorry."
Astronema perked up. "Don't be! It'll be fun having another female around for once! First, let's go to my room, then we can get on to business." She stopped. "What happened to your hair?"
Kimberly blushed and pulled at the strand. "Well, that's partly the reason why I was able to get here so quickly."
Astronema raised an eyebrow. "Really? How so? Op, this is my room."
She led Kimberly into a dark room and hit a button that closed the sliding door. It was a dark and somewhat creepy room with only a few pieces of furniture including a bed and a wardrobe. She followed her purple haired friend to the bed and sat down beside her. "I needed this lock of hair to perform a duplicating spell on myself. As we speak, Divatox is probably screaming at a clone Kimberly."
"A clone? That's genius!" Astronema giggled. "Are you some sort of sorceress?"
Kimberly shook her head. "No, nowhere close, but I'm practicing." She pulled on the shorter hair again. "Right now I'm kind of bummed that my hair is so lopsided. I look so horrible!"
Astronema leaned forward with a smile on her face. A look in her eyes told Kimberly she had something going on in her mind. "I can fix that for you. It just so happens that an expertise of mine is metamorphoses. I can teach you how!"
"Really? Metamorphoses? Like shape-shifting?" Kimberly asked, her spirits perking up. She thought of the things she could do if she knew how to transmute into something else.
"Well, not really shape-shifting, since I rarely ever do that. I never had any reason to do so. Anyway, I've stuck with only changing my hair, which is actually why I asked you here today, ironically." Astronema tapped her finger to her chin. "I was wondering, what would it look like if I went with black and short? Like…this?"
Kimberly's jaw dropped slightly as Astronema's hair magically shortened to her shoulders, the front ends becoming bangs, and straightened out. Then, black ink spread from her roots to the ends until all her hair was jet black. Kimberly slammed her jaw shut quickly.
"Like Cleopatra?" She inquired.
"Who?" Astronema posed innocently and fluffed her hair. "This is a huge change, usually I go for the long, lush looks."
"No, I like it. It means power and business." Kimberly paused. "Yet, sophistication and beauty. All the right stuff."
"All right. To fix that awful haircut, Kimberly, it will take a lot of meditation the first few times." She pressed her fingertips to her temples and closed her eyes.
Kimberly followed Astronema's position and pushed all thoughts and emotions to the back of her mind. "Now, focus completely on your hair and what you want it to look like after the change."
Kimberly did so and waited for anything to happen. After a few moments she heard Astronema squeal. "Look! It's working!"
Kimberly opened her eyes and grabbed the mirror Astronema was holding. "That took forever for only a few inches!"
Astronema shrugged. "It's hard at first. You'll get better, don't worry."
Kimberly smiled at her reflection and closed her eyes once more. She let all thoughts escape her brain and concentrated only on slim red and blonde highlights. Oh how her hairstylists would kill to be able to do this. She gazed into the mirror again and grinned as the subtle highlights accented her dark brunette hair. "What do you think?"
"Good." Astronema grinned and jumped up. "I think it's time for a makeover!"
-------------------
A few hours later, a few trips to Earth, and a few new looks, Kimberly and Astronema collapsed onto the bed, giggling like they had lost a few years in their lives. "You look so…dorky!" Astronema pointed at Kimberly's baggy track shorts and oversized jersey. Her hair was pulled into two braided pigtails, but the rest of her head was covered with a large trucker hat.
She moseyed across the room as if she was on a catwalk and twirled a bit. "Step off, sista, or I'll busta cap." Before she could continue, she burst out laughing and fell to the floor. She never had been a great actress.
"What is…busta cap?" Astronema queried with a puzzled look on her face.
"Oh, it's not important." Kimberly said from her place on the ground. "It's slang talk for gangstas."
"Your Earthan cultures are so weird." Astronema carried on sitting up. She herself was dressed in a sheer hippie styled gown. Although, she had morphed her hair into long brown wavy locks. Kimberly sat down behind her and began braiding the sides of the Princess of Evil's hair.
"Not any more weird than wearing the same outfit everyday." Kimberly replied lightly. She twisted two braids from each side of Astronema's head together and tied them into a knot for security. "Tell me, Astronema, how did you get into this?"
Astronema situated herself so she was facing Kimberly. "What do you mean?"
"This!" Kimberly gestured around. "This taking over the world business. Does it run in the family or something?"
Astronema blinked and looked at her fiddling fingers. "Oh. That." Her eyes contacted with Kimberly before she turned away again. "I can't remember anything except a few flashes of pictures before I was seven. The only reminder is this locket." She fiddled with something underneath her dress and revealed a locket that Kimberly had never noticed before.
Kimberly took the locket, still fastened around Astronema's neck, and studied the intricate designs. "It's beautiful. Whose pictures are inside?"
Astronema yanked the chain out of Kimberly's hand hastily. "That's only for me to know."
Kimberly pulled back slowly and confused. "All…right. That's fine."
Astronema smiled a bit. "Thanks. It's just important that I keep something to myself."
"I understand. I know exactly how that feels." Kimberly agreed with a small nod.
"So, how did you get into this business?" Astronema changed the subject.
Kimbelry bit her lip wondering how much she should tell her. After a few moments of hesitation, she decided, What the hell? It's not like I'm going to deceive Astronema now. And I never told Divatox I'd go through with it. "Uh, promise you won't get mad?"
Astronema eyed her suspiciously, but nodded. "About half a year ago I was training to compete for the Olympics—"
"The Olympics? What's that?" Her companion interjected while unbraiding her hair.
"Some of the best athletes in the world get together and compete in different events. Mine was gymnastics. You know what that is, right." She waited for Astronema who nodded again. "Anyway, I stayed late after practice one day to perfect this really difficult tumble, and by the time I was done, it was really dark outside. Of course, me being the tough optimistic girl who thinks she's invincible didn't call a cab and walked home."
"What's a cab?" Astronema asked innocently.
"Okay, don't interrupt or you won't get the story!" Kimberly growled jokingly but added, "It's a service car that takes you anywhere you want."
"Oh. Weird." Astronema asserted.
"Bah, on my way home, I was jumped by I'm guessing Piranhatrons since they are Divatox's goons. Then the next thing I knew, I was in this dark room and had this on my head." Kimberly fingered the metal fixation. "After being jumped yet again by Hygelac, I was brought to Divatox who told me that she needed me for a certain mission that no other could pull off…to assassinate you." Kimberly hesitated to see Astronema's reaction. Nothing.
"I figured she wanted me gone. I just didn't know how she was going to pull it off." Astronema declared.
"Really?" Kimberly looked away. "Are you mad at me?"
"Of course not. You said were friends, and I believe you. Besides, you have had so many chances to kill me in these past few hours, and you have done nothing to force me on the defensive." Astronema discarded. "And now you have told me the truth; honesty is something rare in these games." She paused and looked at Kimberly's wrist. "By the way, what is that?"
Kimberly pursued Astronema's gaze and saw her communicator. "Oh this? It's just a silly old watch that one of my old best friends gave to me." She tapped on the jewel to reveal the time. Her eyes widened. It was almost eight thirty! "Hey, I'd better go! I don't want Divatox to be scolding me and have me disappear right before her eyes!"
Kimberly quickly changed into her jeans and tank top and removed the hat. With a wave she vanished in blue mist.
A moment later she appeared in her bedroom with a heartbroken look on her face. She erected her arm so that the communicator was in her direct line of vision. A thought to all her friends passed through her mind. Why did you give up on me so easily? Was I really of no importance to you?
She didn't even know why she still wore the silver bracelet. It had no significance to her anymore. Her friends were not looking for her, nor did they care that she had disappeared from the Earth's surface in one night!
In spite of that, she still wore it. Maybe to symbolize to trust no one or possibly to remind her of who she used to be. In her heart, she truly did not know how she could still be holding on to that shredded strand of hope that maybe her friends did love her. Maybe this was all a trick or even a dream. Because of that small hope, she wore it: the only connection to her past.
The door behind her creaked, and her head snapped towards it. Her own head peaked through the door and conclusively walked through the door.
"Oh, it's only you." Kimberly sighed with relief.
The clone stumbled across the floor to the bed and heaved in a breath. "I only have a few moments left. Tell me, is Divabitch always that bad?"
"Always." Kimberly confirmed. She watched as the clone fade out of existence and waited for a few moments before moving towards the door. Before she could open it, however, a knock came to the door.
Behind the door revealed Hygelac who looked apprehensive. "Are you all right Kimberly? You looked ill."
Kimberly felt a smile tug on her lips. "Yes. I'm fine." She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you."
Hygelac slowly patted her on the back and replied, "Anything for you, my Krosa."
End Chapter 7! What'd you think? It was kind of a fast write, but I think it's all right. It's building up to something, but I don't think I gave you enough hints to anything yet...so be warned. >:)
C2- You know, it makes me really happy to see that people are even reading this story...but to be lovin it as you said...wow. The feeling is great! Gives me more motivation to add quicker! I'm glad you like it!
Ghostwriter- Don't you hate it when you see that a story has been updated and you can't get access to the new chapter?? It's happening to me right now, and I'm really upset about it! Bah! Makes me so frustrated. Is Kimberly going to be saved soon? Hmm, the line:"If I told you, I'd have to kill you" is appropriate. You'll see in due time.
Funky In Fishnet- I've always loved Kimberly and Jason's friendship and really believed that before Tommy showed up they would end up together...unfortunately, she found Tommy and thus ended that idea. Oh well. I'm satisfied with Tommy and Kimberly(...although the way they wrote her breaking up with him was horrible! and I want to write angry letters to whoever came up with that idea!)