Chapter 10: Helping Him

The next day, Tommy had just dropped Kylie off at school and he had arrived at the high school. He got out of his jeep and to his surprise, he saw Kimberly standing there with a smile. "Kim, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Well, I heard about this little field trip, maybe I can come along," she replied.

"You don't like the dirt," he commented.

"I was always in the dirt."

Tommy smiled as he and Kim talked, but they didn't know that Cassidy and Devin were watching. "This would be a hit on the news. Science teacher and stranger in Reefside High Parking lot," she stated.

"Uh, Cass, are you sure you want to go into his private life?" Devin asked.

"If he didn't want his private life to be barged into, then he shouldn't be out in the parking lot flirting with this girl," Cassidy insisted.

Tommy looked over to see them and sighed. "What is it?" She asked.

"We're being caught on camera," he replied quietly.

"Huh?"

He gestured to look over to the side and she saw Cassidy and Devin standing there. "What do we do?" She asked.

"We just ignore them," he replied.

"Wait, I've got a better idea."

"Would you like to share with the class Miss Hart?"

She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to her. "I think I would love to," she replied. They looked over to see that Devin was having a hard time keeping the camera focused.

"Okay, Cass, I'm really not in the mood to see our science teacher make out," Devin insisted. Cassidy sighed and had him cut the camera.

"Fine," she sighed irritably.

They walked away and Tommy let her go. "Now, how was that for timing" He asked. She smiled and walked out of his embrace.

"I think I will join you on this little field trip you've put on for the kids," she stated.

"I won't argue with that. Now, you'll see what I did before I become a science teacher."

Kimberly sat in the classroom waiting for Tommy to dismiss his class to the bus. She smiled at him, she knew that there would always be something special between them. She just hoped that they would get it back one day. "All right. There's only so much you can learn in a classroom. Who's ready for some field work?" He asked. The class got up and walked to the bus. Then Cassidy and Devin walked over to him as Kimberly stood next to him.

"Dr. Oliver, may we have permission to film today's dig for Journalism class? It's just that I think it'll be good for my career if I start focusing on more exciting things like nature and science," she informed.

"But Cass, I thought you said that stuff was as dull as dirt?" Devin asked.

"Uh, actually, Devin, I think I was talking about our last conversation," Cassidy insisted.

Tommy chuckled at the two students and stopped Cassidy before she went ahead. "Relax, Cassidy. You can film the dig," he told her. Kimberly watched as the two students walked out of the classroom.

"That was sweet, Tommy. Speaking of kids, how was Kylie last night?" She asked.

"She did fine. She was practicing her gymnastics last night," Tommy replied.

"She loves to practice."

"Just like her mom."

Kimberly smiled and when they went to leave, they saw Principal Randall standing there all decked down in gear. Kimberly placed her hand over her mouth to disguise a giggle with a cough while Tommy talked to her. "Principal Randall? Are you in a play?" He asked.

"No, I'm here to join you on your field trip," she replied.

"I didn't know you were into dinosaur bones," Tommy commented.

"You'd be surprised of what interests me."

"Yeah, I probably would."

"Shall we?"

"Yeah, the bus is right outside."
"You can dazzle me with fascinating fossil facts on the way."

They watched her leave and Kimberly let out a small giggle. "You can dazzle me with fascinating fossil facts on the way," Kimberly mocked.

"Be careful, Kim, that is my boss," he reminded.

"Yeah, a boss that looks like she's going into a jungle."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they walked towards the bus.

When they got there, Kimberly and Tommy were working in a dig site while Principal Randall stood by the site. "Look what I found...This is a trilobite. It's from the Paleozoic era, which makes it about 300 million years old," he explained. Kimberly smiled at the fossil and then he handed it to Randall. For some reason, she looked familiar to the Pink Dino Ranger.

"Amazing. Well, it doesn't look a day over 200 million," she laughed.

Tommy and Kimberly looked at each other and when Tommy was about to get out, Randall helped him up. Tommy helped Kimberly out of the pit after having Randall stop trying to wipe his face off. They looked over when Kira ran to them. "Uh, Dr. Oliver, we need some help identifying something. We think it might be a...morphosaurus," she told them. Tommy and Kimberly looked at each other before following Kira to their site.

They found a dino zord egg. Kimberly looked at it in awe. She had never seen one of these before, so it was fascinating to her. To the others, it was just another egg. Kimberly gasped when Randall started talking, startling her. "Ooh, a discovery. How exciting," she commented.

"Uh, no, uh, we're not sure what it is," Tommy told her.

"It looks like a prehistoric egg. May I?" She asked.

Tommy was a little hesitant, but then he let her hold it. "I should really get to the school lab to examine it," he stated.

"Of course," she agreed.

She was about to hand it over to him when Tyrannodrones. Tommy watched as Kimberly started to fight them off along with Connor, Ethan, and Kira. He started fighting them, too, but then there was that thing with Principal Randall being there.

Kimberly was feeling a bit of jealous when she saw what Randall was trying to do. She wasn't going to lose Tommy to her like how she lost Tommy to Kat. Even though the Tommy and Kat thing was her fault, but that wasn't the point, she wasn't going to lose Tommy again. Kimberly did a back flip and landed a kick on one of the monsters. When one grabbed her shoulder, she grabbed the arm and threw it over her shoulder. "Nobody messes with me," she snapped. She looked over to see that Tommy had just caught Principal Randall from falling, that's not bothered her, what bothered her was that Randall was lying right on top of him. The Tyrannodrones disappeared and she ran over to Tommy to make sure he was okay. Then Randall stopped the three teenagers. "Would you mind explaining to me where you learned to fight like that?" She asked.

"Karate club," Ethan replied.

"Do we even have one of those?" Randall asked.

"I don't know, I'm still new here," Tommy replied.

Kimberly walked away when Tommy came up to her, leaving him confused.

Kimberly picked Kylie up after school and drove her home. Kylie knew her mother was mad, so she didn't talk. "Did you have fun, sweetie?" She asked.

"Yeah, I did, mom," Kylie replied.

"Sorry, sweet heart, I have a mission, I have to drop you off at home. Uncle Rocky and Aunt Aisha are there."

"Yay!"

Kimberly smiled and dropped her daughter off at the house. Then she did a sharp u-turn and went back to Tommy's house.

She came downstairs and found Tommy and the rest of the team looking at the egg. "I can't detect any signs of life," Ethan informed.

"Do you think it's a dud?" Kimberly asked.

Tommy stared at it. "This is weird, I'm going back to the dig site where we found the egg," Tommy informed.

"I'm going with you," Kimberly stated.

She followed him and they got into his jeep and drove off. "Kim, why have you been ignoring me all afternoon?" He asked.

"Sorry, I didn't want to bother your little date with Randall," she mocked.

"What? Principal Randall, you think I like her?"

"No, whatever gave me that idea."

"Listen, Randall's my boss and besides, she's not my type."

Kimberly looked at him with a smile before he stopped the car. They climbed out and started walking around. They got into a fighting stance when Zeltrax appeared. "Zeltrax, I thought I smelled something," Tommy stated.

"I believe that would be your imminent demise," Zeltrax threatened.

"You are way in over your head, Zeltrax. How about you just turn around and go back to your precious master," Kimberly sneered.

"I don't think so, Pink Ranger."

"We don't have time to trade insults. Now out of our way. We have something important to do," Tommy snapped.

"That will have to wait. First, we must attend to your destruction," Zeltrax snarled.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," Tommy told him.

"Ready Kim?"

"Ready."

"DINO THUNDER POWER UP!"

"BRACHIO-POWER!"

"STEGO-POWER!"

They got into a fighting stance and Zeltrax started fighting them. He grabbed Kimberly's arm and threw her against a tree. She groaned and stood up. Zeltrax was about to bring his sword down on her when Tommy grabbed his arm. Kimberly stood up and did a side kick into Zeltrax's stomach. Tommy stood next to her. "BRACHIO-STAFF, WIND STRIKE!" He yelled. Kimberly pulled out her twin swords.

"STEGO-SABERS, FIRE STRIKE!" She yelled.

They hit Zeltrax dead on. Zeltrax stood up and then he knocked Kimberly backwards and knocked Tommy to the ground. "If you know what's good for you, you'd leave her alone," Zeltrax snapped. Just then, Zeltrax was pulled into a invisaportal. Tommy stood up with a confused look.

"What's his problem?" He pondered.

He powered down and ran to Kimberly. "Are you okay?" He asked. She nodded and he helped her stand up.

"What was up with that?" She asked.

"I have no idea. Come on, we better get back to the lab," he insisted.

Kimberly nodded and they went back.

They were watching the fight and saw the Rangers trying to fight the monster. "I don't think the Thundersaurus is powerful enough. You need something that can break through his armor," Tommy told them.

"Like what?" Connor asked.

Kimberly watched as he thought about it for a second and then she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Like a blade, or a saw. Wait a minute. You got to use the Dimetro zord," he replied.

"What?" Connor asked.

"The Dino Zord you were just fighting," Tommy replied.

"Dr. O, if you haven't noticed, he's not exactly been playing well with others," Connor stated.

"Let me see if I can do something about that."

Kimberly watched as he touched the bracelet and it turn into his morpher. "Hold on you guys," she told them.

"We're trying Miss Hart," Kira told her.

She looked at Tommy and then the faceplate turned into the Dimetro Zord for a second before turning back to the Brachio Zord. "Yes, you got him," Tommy announced. They watched the fight with grins on their faces. Once the monster was destroyed, Tommy jumped out of his chair. "YES!" He exclaimed. Kimberly laughed and then she wrapped her arms around his neck as he spun her around. They realized how close they were and he let her go. Kimberly blushed and looked back at the rangers.

"Way to go guys," she congratulated.

Tommy smiled at her before having the Power Rangers come back to base.

The next day at school, the teenagers saw Tommy talking to Principal Randall when they walked over to them. Principal Randall walked away. "Man, that woman is cold-blooded," Ethan commented.

"Remember, Dr. O's got a thing for dinosaurs," Connor pointed out.

"I think it's a perfect match," Kira agreed.

"Don't get started on me guys," Tommy insisted.

"Forget Randall, I think Dr. O has a thing for Miss Hart," Ethan stated.

"I guess so, I mean he can hardly take his eyes off her," Connor teased.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be in class now?" Tommy asked.

"We were hoping you could give us a pass," Connor replied.

"Dream on," Tommy teased.

As they walked through a door, Tommy was starting to think about the beautiful gymnast that captured his heart.