"Hey, Andros, isn't that Astronema?" TJ patted him on the shoulder and pointed. Andros stopped laughing at the joke Zhane had made and followed the blue ranger's finger. She wasn't alone though.
"Who is she with?" Ashley asked, though not to anyone in particular.
His sister was standing with the girl he had met at the meeting, and she seemed to recognize him as well. "Karone?"
Karone looked scared and confused, probably because she didn't know that the others had said it was all right for them to go along with their plan.
Then again, it could be because Kimberly was shooting daggers at the team.
"Kimberly?" He continued. She didn't reply but only blinked. He frowned. This couldn't be the same girl he had met before. She was acting too different and hostile towards them. Before, he had thought she was surprised but not hateful when she found out he was a ranger. She had made no effort to capture him. He had been confused as to why she was there and had figured she was a spy as well, but now he was even more puzzled that she seemed to want nothing to do with them.
"Andros?" He heard Cassie start from behind him. "Are you sure this is the best place?"
Andros inwardly agreed, but he needed to make sure Karone knew everything was all right. "Karone, you don't need to worry about anything."
The uneasiness softened in his sisters eyes; she seemed to understand the point he was trying to get across.
"Astronema?" Kimberly nudged her out of her daze.
"I know. We'll talk about it later, Andros." She said firmly and pulled Kimberly away. The two girls stopped about fifty feet away from them and began speaking rapidly. Kimberly seemed to be angry about something, and Karone was calmly explaining the answer.
Andros hoped that if Karone was telling Kimberly anything that was going on, that it would be the right thing to do. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was different from the last time he had seen Kimberly. She seemed darker and almost scarier.
He froze when Kimberly's gaze met his again. She glowered, and a cerulean fog enveloped around her. He shuddered as he tried to push her angry eyes out of his mind. Karone turned to them and waved before disappearing herself.
"Who was that?" Ashley asked again, this time directed at Andros.
"That was the girl I told you guys about." He clarified.
"You mean, the girl at the evil villain meeting?" Carlos added and waited for Andros to acknowledge the fact. "But I thought you said she seemed good?"
"I said I wasn't sure about where her loyalties lie." Andros rectified. "Something is different now than what was different before."
"She seems…burdened by something." Zhane inserted his own opinion. "Something tragic must have happened or is happening right now."
"When did you become so intuitive?" Cassie joked.
"I have my moments." He smirked proudly.
Andros laughed at his best friend and thought of everything that had happened in the past few days. Looks like things were looking up for him and the other rangers now that he had found his sister and Karone had come out of her Astronema persona. One issue still concerned him in spite of this: Kimberly. He wanted to help her or at least understand her. He made a mental note to drill his sister about her apparent best friend later and joined the conversation that Carlos had struck up.
A few days later Divatox barged into Kimberly's room. She had a very stern look upon her face. "Did you hear?"
"Hear what?" Kimberly asked, guessing it was about Astronema's disappearance.
"Astronema was captured by the Power Rangers, much to my joy, but now she's escaped and is worse than ever! She just banned me from driving a spaceship again!" Divatox whined.
"Looks like she did the universe a favor. You were never that great of a driver anyway." Kimberly replied yawning. I guess she changed her mind about crossing over. Weird that she didn't tell me though. "Um, I'll be right back. PMS." Kimberly lied.
She ran out of the room and found the nearest window to climb out of. There was no tree, so she just jumped out despite the height and prayed that she could teleport quickly. Luckily, she had performed the act enough to do well under pressure.
She landed in a crouch in Astronema's room in the Dark Fortress. She grinned when she saw Astronema sitting in front of her vanity. Kimberly noticed that her hair was cut extremely short and was colored red. She snuck up on her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Boo!"
Astronema jumped and grabbed her staff. She whirled around, knocking Kimberly onto her butt. Kimberly frowned in bewilderment. "Don't ever do that again!" Astronema glared at her with more venom than Kimberly had ever seen before.
"I'm…sorry?" Kimberly stammered.
"What are you doing here?" Astronema cut her off before she could say anything more.
"I came to say hi! I heard about the whole Ranger thing and wanted to know the details!" Kimberly began to get up, but Astronema pressed the end of her staff into Kimberly's chest to push her back down.
"You are not welcome here." She murmured forebodingly.
"What are you talking about?"
"You are everything I was raised against, Power Ranger." She spat out the last words with acrimony.
"But, I'm not a Power Ranger anymore, Astro…" Kimberly began but was again shushed by her alleged best friend.
"Do not speak to me as if we are equals. I am the Princess of Darkness, and you, well, you are nothing." She derided. "Get out."
Kimberly used her elbows to push her backwards and nodded. She stared at her now former companion completely baffled by her behavior. She noticed a metal device on her forehead, much like her own yet a smaller version, and frowned at the sight. What was wrong with her?
Astronema thrust the staff forward warningly and continued to glower. Kimberly decided against questioning her and pictured the back steps of the castle.
After appearing there, she stood up cautiously as if Astronema was still pointing her staff at her. She walked to her room, looking at the tiles, trying to contemplate what just happened. Kimberly flung her doors open and jumped when she saw Divatox sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Sorry that took so long; you know, girl problems." Kimberly paused. "Or do you?"
She couldn't remember if Divatox had ever told her where she was from, and if she was indeed an alien if they had the monthly friend like women from earth did.
"I had one more thing to tell you." Divatox said tersely. "Let me recall it."
"Shoot." Kimberly concurred as Divatox tapped her finger to her chin.
"Oh, yes, I had to pay a nice visit to Dark Specter this morning. Something to do with a defiance against a certain Princes of Darkness?" Divatox's eyes darkened. "What did you tell Astronema?"
Kimberly froze. "What's it to you?"
Divatox grabbed Kimberly by the hair and yanked her out of bed. "You're coming with me."
"Ow! That hurts!" Kimberly winced as she was dragged across the castle.
"This'll teach you to deceive me!" Divatox yelled throwing her to the floor. Kimberly winced as her shoulder made contact with the hard stone floor. She pushed herself up with her forearm, but was pushed down again by Divatox's boot. A familiar device was in her hand. "I never used this full blast before. The highest I ever used was the 5th level and on a giant." She glanced at Hygelac who had just appeared in the door. "And his mind was completely fried. I wonder what level 10 would do to a human girl?"
A horrified expression formed on Kimberly's face as the world seemed to close in on her. She was going to die today. Why did Astronema betray her? She had been so cruel before, but to actually sentence her to death by giving up information she had trusted to tell?
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hygelac start for Divatox as she raised her finger to press the button, but he was too late. Her finger was much quicker than his feet. Everything was happening too fast for Kimberly to comprehend, and before she knew it Divatox was firmly pressing on the button with a malicious sneer decorating her features.
When she had been "electrocuted" previously, it had started as an itchy feeling from inside of her head, but this time the pain came immediately at full force. Everything suddenly went silent except for a buzz in the back of her mind, and Kimberly's head fell back so that her face was staring at the ceiling. She tried with all her might to force her head to face the woman whose name she could not remember at the moment, but instead she fell backwards onto the floor. It was like she was detached from her body; she knew something horrible was coursing through her body, but she could vaguely feel it. She began thanking God for inventing the little thing called "going into shock" when in immense pain. Her vision blurred in and out until the buzzing sound halted and the pain increased rapidly. The last thing she could remember before blacking out was her mouth opening and a shadow peering over her body and calling something out to her.
Kimberly shot up and let out a deafening scream. She swiped at the sweat that covered her face and looked around only to see a white blur. She looked at her trembling hands and brought her fingers to her mouth to chew on the nails. Her surroundings finally came into focus; she was in her bed and the birds were chirping much to her annoyance.
She looked out her open window and glared at the bluebird that was chirping away. To her surprise it stopped in mid-chirp and fell out of the tree. She cocked her head to the side and climbed out of bed to take a look. Kimberly peered over the edge and saw the bird lying motionless on the grass. A laugh bubbled from her throat, and she marveled at the resonant sound.
A draft entered the room, and she realized she had nothing on. She casually walked to the closet and stepped into a pair of leather pants, forgetting the underwear. Next she put on a leather tank top and laced the sides. To complete her outfit, she pulled knee high, high heel boots on.
Hmm. What to do on a lovely day like this? She exited her room and began walking towards Divatox's throne room only to bump into Hygelac on the way.
He let out a breath and grabbed her biceps. "Kimberly, you've awakened!"
"Of course I have." She shrugged his hands off her arms. "How long have I been out?"
"For a few days." Hygelac replied sullenly. "I thought you had died."
Kimberly snorted and waved her hand carelessly. "It will take a lot more than electrocution to kill me off. Tell me, why did Divatox end so soon?"
Hygelac's head dropped as he blushed slightly. "I shoved her after she pressed the button. She killed my brother using that device. That was the giant she was talking about."
Kimberly's eyebrows furrowed. She had killed Hygelac's brother? Was that the reason why Hygelac served her now? She glared. He would not be enslaved to her long, nor would she. She gently pushed Lac to the side and strolled to the library.
She entered the room boisterously and sniggered when she saw that she had startled Divatox.
"You're still alive?" Divatox exclaimed.
Kimberly ignored her and headed to the fiction novels. She was in no mood to talk to that…thing at the moment.
She tapped each spine of the books until she found the one she wanted. "Ah, here you are." She whispered to herself and smiled satisfied at her finding. She opened the book and began reading as she walked back towards her room.
Don't you mess
With a little girl's dream
'Cause she's liable to grow up
Mean
Later that night, Kimberly plopped down on Divatox's throne and carelessly swung one leg over the arm. She opened a book she had grabbed and continued to read. As she read, she also thought about her day- from the moment she woke up to this very second.
Something was different about her. She could feel the darkness in the pits of her stomach. It was as if a part of her, from the very depths of her, had been released when Divatox had sent those thousand bolts of electricity through her body. Something almost evil. She knew that her thoughts had been the cause of that bird's death this morning, not just some freak occurrence. However, she was definitely not complaining at the new aggressive manner she had.
Divatox entered the room and scowled at the brunette. "What are you doing?"
"I was just wondering what it was like to sit in the Seat of Power." Kimberly replied innocently. "Why? Does this bother you…master?"
The leg over the arm bounced up and down, further agitating the diva.
"No." Divatox replied tartly. She cocked her head. Hygelac entered the room, but remained near the entrance. Something peculiar was going on. "What book are you reading now?"
Surprise you to find that I'm laughing?
You thought that you'd find me in tears.
You thought I'd be crawling
The walls like a tiny mosquito
And trembling in fear.
Kimberly smirked but continued reading. "Oh, it's Star Wars. It's very interesting. You should read it."
"An Earth book? Interesting?" Divatox didn't know why she was asking; she felt compelled to. The leg kept her in some sort of trance. Up and down.
"Yes, do you know what it's about?" When Divatox shook her head, Kimberly elaborated, "In general, it's about space wars. But that's not the interesting part. What really intrigues me is the part about the enemy Darth Vader. He was good once, but then he was driven evil. Even more interesting, he surpassed his master and later killed him." Kimberly finally looked up from her chapter with a glint in her eye. Her leg stopped bouncing. She closed her book and threw it aside then stood up. "Isn't that fascinating?"
Divatox glared at the brunette. "Sounds great." She paused as Kimberly circled her slowly. "What are you doing?"
Well, you may be king for the moment
But I am a queen understand
And I've got your pawns and your bishops and
castles
All inside the palm of my hand.
"Studying you." Kimberly responded slowly.
Divatox's head rotated with Kimberly. "Why?"
"I'm sizing you up." Kimberly admitted. "How come, with all my training, I have never sparred against you? How did someone like you become the Queen of Darkness? I have never seen you fight."
"I earned my way up." Divatox did not like how this conversation was going.
"How? You must know some pretty important guys." She stopped moving and folded her arms.
"I didn't sleep my way to the top if that's what you are suggesting." Divatox defended herself. She might be evil, but she had dignity.
Laughter burst through Kimberly's lips. "Like anyone would want that."
Divatox rumbled. On impulse, she slapped the girl before her, the sound echoing throughout the room. Kimberly's head was still turned to the side, a surprised look on her face. Gradually, she returned her gaze to her master.
Instead of retaliation, like Divatox thought, Kimberly looked as if nothing had happened. The only reminder was the redness forming on the right side of her face.
After a few moments of silence, Kimberly opened her mouth and stated menacingly, "Wouldn't it be funny, if the book became reality?"
While you were looking the other way
While you had your eyes closed
While you were licking your lips
'Cause I was miserable
While you were selling your soul
While you were tearing a hole
in me
I was taking control
Divatox glowered. "What?"
The two stared as if they were participating in a staring contest, and the loser would be executed. In this case, that ending may be the case.
"You know I don't repeat myself. I was loud and clear." She turned her back and examined the room, "Now, what would it be like if I added some pink in here. This place is so dreary."
"Over my dead body." Divatox warned ominously.
Kimberly looked over her shoulder with a sly smile. Divatox shuddered at the cold stare. She was not used to being on the receiving end.
This is beginning to feel good
Watching you squirm in your shoes
A small bead of sweat on your brow
And a growl in your belly
Your scared to let through
You thought you could keep me from loving
You thought you could feed on my soul
But while you were busy destroying my life
What was half in me has become whole.
"As you wish." Kimberly now completely faced her opponent. "Let's see if you really deserve to be the Queen."
Kimberly took advantage of Divatox's perplexity and kicked her in the stomach sending the pirate lady back into a wall. The impact made a crunching sound and the older woman winced. She had not fought in years, mostly because there was no need to.
"This is your biggest mistake, girl." Divatox warned, clambering to her feet.
"We'll see about that." Kimberly readied herself for an attack.
Divatox wasted no time before charging with a warrior call. Kimberly anticipated her rush and stooped over. Before Divatox could change her course, she found herself colliding with the smaller woman, and rolled over her back. She landed on her own hind side and grimaced. Kimberly took this moment to kick her in the ribcage.
Instead of climbing to her feet, Divatox swung one of her legs and grunted when it made contact with Kimberly's knees. Kimberly cried out as her joints locked, forcing her to stagger backwards. Her back hit the wall, and she began to worry seeing that she was now backed into a corner. Divatox pulled herself up by grabbing onto a tableside and started towards Kimberly step by step, as if this was not a serious predicament.
"So, Kimberly, you must now realize how stupid you truly are." Divatox began shrewdly. "Too bad you won't be able to improve yourself this time."
Come a little bit closer...
Let me look at you
I gave you the benefit of the doubt, it's true
But keep in mind my darling
Not every saint is a fool!
Kimberly glanced at her sides, her mind working overtime to figure out way of escape. Something bright on the wall caught her eye and without thinking, she grabbed and hurled it at Divatox's advancing body.
Divatox shrieked in horror as the torch hit her and the fire caught her outfit. She thrashed aimlessly trying to put out the flames that were spreading towards her face. She screamed again and again until she found a pitcher of water. In one swift movement, she grabbed the pitched and dumped all the contents onto herself. Smoke immediately replaced the flames. Divatox dropped to the ground and heaved in great breaths, taking a few moments to recuperate.
As all this was happening, Kimberly could only stare at her adversary in complete wonder that she had been able to do such a thing to another being. She, in fact, found herself enjoying Divatox's screeches of agony, a feeling that was entirely new to the former heroin of the world.
"You…destroyed my beautiful body!" Divatox frenzied.
She quickly recovered and curled her burned leg around Kimberly's ankles, forcing her to stumble to the ground. The Pirate Queen fired a solid punch at the girl's face and threw her head back in laughter as Kimberly was sent rolling.
Kimberly ended the roll on her stomach. She found Divatox's location and stared at her in amazement. Divatox had a look of pure rage and vengeance.
All those things you taught me to fear
I've got them in my garden now and
you're not welcome here
Come here
The smaller girl ran to her opponent with shocking speed and threw a hasty punch after reaching her. A quick roundhouse into Divatox's jaw sent her flying. The gymnast lurched forward in order to be near when Divatox hit the ground.
Kimberly fell to her knees, feeling the exhaustion creeping through her muscles. She crawled closer and peered into the dazed woman's eyes. She raised both her arms up and clasped her fists together. With one last fleeting look, she brought her fists down as hard as she could and shut her eyes as they made impact with the bone of Divatox's face. She continued to beat down on the woman's face until she could no longer feel her arms.
Then she felt something pull her off her former superior's body and drag her back. She pushed the being away and sat with her knees bent to the side.
Kimberly stared at the badly beaten body in front of her, breathing heavily. She wiped the wetness off of her brow and above her mouth. Before collapsing herself, she whispered, "And the student becomes the master."
While you were looking the other way
While you had your eyes closed
While you were licking your lips
'Cause I was miserable
While you were selling your soul
While you were tearing a hole
in me
I was taking control
Okay, Boo. I'm very angered right now. I just had all this edited and replied to all your reviews and when I pressed "save" it DELETED everything I did. Rar!!! I typed a lot in those replies too. Oh well.
I hope this didn't go too fast, because personally I thought it was dragging a bit and felt the need to speed things up. If it it's too fast, please tell!
Goddess Achlys- A new reader!Yay!I'm not quite sure if there will be romance in this story, partly because I don't see any room for it and partly because I have no inspiration to write lovey dove. Hah. Although, that could change tomorrow. ;-)
the online dreamer- me too! Although I have so much written out and the ending planned out, I keep getting more and more ideas everyday, so who knows where this will take me. hah :)
C2- How odd! My sister teaches math for high school age as well. Before everything was deleted, I had this really long chat to you, but I can't remember what it said. :- It was pretty clever and about PrIS. Oh well. I'll remember it sometime hopefully.
Ghostwriter- Well, she still has her memories, they're just clouded with the doubts that Divatox spread and because her mind is becoming twisted with the time that is passing...if that sentence made sense. ::shrug::
Daisyz-Yes, Johnny Depp. He is a fine man. I hope I age that well. Actually, her mother dying will be an opposite effect, and Astronema becomes brainwashed by Dark Specter in PrIS, so that won't convince her either. Darn.
Funky In Fishnet- I think you realize more about my story than I do. It is kind of funny that Astronema, Princess of Darkness, would choose good and Kimberly, basically the heart of goodness (for the original PR anyway), chooses the life of evil. You're almost right about her mother's death being a final straw, but there's still one more thing after freeing herself from Divatox's reign.
foasys.scaper- woo! Another new reader! Good, I'm really glad that you can imagine this. I didn't want to add too much detail because it has always annoyed me when authors don't leave anything for the imagination, but I didn't want to leave everyone hanging either. I just realized that, although no where near the quality, it's kind of like Tolkien's writing; he describes just so much and leaves everything else be. (Then again, he also invents languages and races, and so on)
Lovers of D and J3- A third new reader...in one chapter! YAY :) This makes me so excited. Darn AOL. I used to have it, but it kept freezing up as well...and it wasn't very fast. Now we have roadrunner and I hate the mail system. I guess nothing can ever be perfect though. C'est la vie. Don't worry, I'll definitely be finishing this story. It's been swimming in my head for a couple months now and won't leave me alone until it's done. Stupid mind.
Thanks so much for all the reviews!