By: PRWriter
The reunion taking place in the dungeon of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa's moon palace had been long awaited, especially for Kimberly and Jason. Their last meeting ended with Jason speaking the words "I love you," and sending Kimberly into a state of confusion. Did he really love her? Or was it just something he said to keep her mind at ease. If that was the case, her mind hadn't been at ease one bit.
Kimberly dug her face into Jason's neck as the two of them embraced through the cage walls. Feeling his strong arms around her once more made her feel comfortable, and it didn't matter that it was happening in the palace of a dark lord. She'd been enjoying herself so much, that she'd almost forgot that Billy was there too.
Billy, who didn't want to interrupt the reunion between Kimberly and Jason went around the dungeon searching dungeon keys, hoping that one of Zedd's henchmen had been stupid enough to leave them hanging on the walls. However, he found himself without any luck…and it proved that Zedd wasn't going to take any chances.
"Jase?" Kimberly whispered into Jason's ear. She'd always done this when the two of them would hold each other when they were younger. It was innocent, but at the same time, there was something more that was never established when they were kids. However, she'd always whisper little antidotes into his ear if she became too embarrassed to say them out loud.
"Mmhm?" Jason answered.
Kimberly gulped, afraid to ask… but she knew inside that she had to, before it killed her. "When I left to search for Billy, you told me you loved me… and well, I was wondering if that meant you loved me like a sister, or if you loved me as something more,"
Before Jason could answer, Billy came running back into the core part of the dungeon panting. "You guys, Rito Revolto is headed this way,"
"Rito Revolto?" Kimberly asked. "Why would Zedd send him down here…"
Billy shook his head, not knowing the answer to Kimberly's question. "I don't know," he replied. "But the way I see it, this would be a great chance to get dungeon keys off of him, if he is carrying any. Rito Revolto is an idiot and can be persuaded by anything,"
"All right, well we're going to have to do something fast," Jason replied. "You two take care of Rito, and I'll awake Zack, and Trini,"
Billy and Kimberly nodded, agreeing with Jason's plan.
"Where are you?" called Andros, trying not to sound worried.
Waist deep in a marshy bog, Andros was cold and miserable. He couldn't believe they'd allowed Astronema to foil them into believing Zordon was being held in the Lost Galaxy.
The Astro Rangers had arrived in the Lost Galaxy a few days earlier, following a message from Dimitria telling them that Dark Specter's forces had taken Zordon to the moon Dusque. There were only two cities on Dusque, and the Rangers had chosen the one that had been deserted ages ago.
"Who'd want to live in this swamp?" moaned Ashley, as she swam around in the thick mess. Ashley swam over to Andros and grabbed his hand for support. "I haven't seen such a overgrown planet in a long time,"
Cassie Chan chuckled at her remarks. "First off, remember that this is a moon, not a planet," she corrected Ashley. "And jeez Ashley, we're only teenagers… so nothing is really a long time," And then she smiled at her.
Ashley shot a dirty look at Cassie's way. The search for Zordon was really beginning to get to the Yellow Ranger. The Rangers had left the abandoned city prior to their search for clues of Dark Specter's forces. The locals had been hesitant to give out any information in fear of being punished by the forces of evil. It was apparent that the citizens of Dusque were very superstuous when it came to such things.
"Ashley…come with me for a second," Cassie whispered, pulling Ashley off to the side.
"What do you want to know?" Ashley asked.
"I overheard your conversation with Andros last night, and well…" Cassie explained.
"Cassie!" exclaimed a shocked Ashley "You were eavesdropping on my conversation with Andros?" She got a worried look in her eye, and her answers became more guarded.
Cassie's expression turned to sorrow. "There's no need to get upset with me Ashley… I'm your best friend, and well, best friends are supposed to know these kinds of things. And besides, I'm happy for you. Andros is a great guy,"
"Do you really think so?" Ashley asked, her tone lightening up.
Cassie nodded. "Speaking of romances… do you know what really has got my heart in a bundle right now?"
Ashley thought for a minute before she answered. "T.J.? I noticed how close the two of you have become,"
"T.J. is a great guy…but no, that's not it. And it's not Carlos either," Cassie clarified before Ashley could guess again.
"Then who is it?" Ashley asked.
"The Phantom Ranger," Cassie answered.
Ashley snorted. "The Phantom Ranger? Are you serious?"
"What's so funny about that?" Cassie demanded.
"Nothing… it's just well, you don't even know what the guy looks like, and it just sounds like some kind of weird fetish," Ashley replied.
"Oh yeah?" Cassie responded. "Well… well… at least I'm not in love with a Kerovian!" she mocked, swimming away.
In the other part of the swamp, Andros, T.J and Carlos debated the information Dimitria gave them.
"I really don't think Dimitria would lie to us… unless she was doing it for her life, or if she's under some evil spell," said Carlos.
"It just doesn't seem right to me," T.J. added.
"What if that wasn't Dimitria?" asked Andros. "I mean, are you guys positively sure that was her? Anyone can hold a scarf over their face and pretend to be someone," he added. "And you guys never seen her entire face?"
Carlos shook his head. "Unless the Rangers before us had the chance, she was always so secretive with us, and always spoke in questions,"
"I suppose it was possible that someone was impersonating her, but it sounded just like her," T.J. responded.
"Yeah… that's what makes everything so weird," said Carlos.
Andros had a bad feeling that something terrible was happening back on Earth, and their wild goose chase wasn't getting them anywhere.
"Guys… I think we should go back to the Milky Way Galaxy and protect the Earth for now. It's more then obvious that we're not going to find any information on Zordon here,"
"I think you're right," T.J. added.
"Me too," Carlos chimed in.
Suddenly, Ashley erupted with screams. "Guys! I think I found something!"
As Kimberly and Billy made their way to find Rito, they heard a gurgling sound behind them. Then another. Then more.
"What's that noise?" asked Kimberly. Her brown eyes looked worried.
Billy pointed to the edge of the narrow hallway. "It's a Putty Patrol!"
"Putties?" Kimberly asked. "I thought Rita and Zedd ditched them for Tengas,"
"Guess not," Billy said. "We better take care of them… and look at this, they're not even Zedd's "Z" Putties." He noticed as dozens of the mindless clay fighters surrounded them.
"Like old times?" Kimberly asked.
"Right on!" Billy exclaimed. "Let's take out the garbage," he spun in a circle, taking six Putties to the ground.
Two Putties rushed Kimberly from both sides. She sprang high above them into the air. Instead of hitting Kimberly, the Putties crashed heads and knocked each other out.
A single Putty headed towards Billy, who delivered a spin kick, knocking the clay figure down to the ground.
Afraid of being defeated, the remaining Putties de-materialized and disappeared into thin air.
"If they weren't going to fight, then what was that all about?" asked Kimberly gasping for air.
"I don't know… but man, it's been way too long," Billy joked.
"Come on, we have to find the dungeon keys," said Kimberly.
"Stop right there!" Rito Revolto exclaimed. "Have you two seen any dying flowers around here?"
"Um… I think so, but they were kind of inside a cell with some people. We were going to water them, but we didn't have a key,"
"You mean these?" Rito held up a set of old-fashioned brass keys.
"Yes, those will do," Billy, added.
"All right," Rito replied. "Well, I've got the water… do you two want to lead me to the dying flowers?"
"You know… you're probably busy, why don't you let us do it?"
"Hmm…" Rito thought. "You know, you're right! Ed is always treatin me like his servant, so it's about time I have my own servants." He handed them the water can, and the dungeon keys. "Return this to my office, and don't take too long!"
"We won't!" Kimberly exclaimed.
As the two them turned to leave, Rito finally realized who they were. "Hey… wait a minute!"
"Run!" Kimberly exclaimed.
"Come back here Power Rangers!"
"We've got to get the dungeon door unlocked, and we have to get Jason, Zack, and Trini out of here,"
"Astronema?" a voice called down the portside crew pit through the hum of background conversation taking place. "I've just received a message from Quantrons; the Power Rangers have caught on to our foil means of trickery, and are searching for an open portal back into the Milky
Way Galaxy,"
Astronema, leaning over the shoulder of a crewmember, stationed at the bridge of the Dark Fortress's communication monitor, ignored the shout of her idiotic henchman. "Captain Zurgane, monitor the flow of time," she ordered, tapping her purple fingernails against the display screen.
Zurgane through a questioning glance up at her. "Princess…?"
"I heard him," Astronema replied. "You have an order, Captain,"
"Yes, Princess," Zurgane replied carefully, and entered in the code to peer into the time flow.
"Astronema?" the voice repeated, closer this time. Keeping her eyes on the communication monitor, Astronema waited until she could hear the sound of the approaching footsteps. Then, with all the regal weight of evil training that she'd undergone gave a person with such high authority as herself, Astronema straightened up and turned around.
The idiot pirate's brisk walk faltered; came to an abrupt halt. "Uh, Astrone-" He looked into Astronema's eyes and his voice faded away.
Astronema allowed the silence to hang in the air for a handful of heartbeats, long enough for those nearest to notice. "This is not the bridge of Divatox's submarine. Information is not, and I repeat, not simply shouted in the direction of its intended receiver. Is that clear Elgar?"
Elgar swallowed. "Yes, Astronema,"
Astronema held her eyes a few seconds longer, then lowered her head in a slight nod. "Now, what did Dark Specter tell you?"
"Yes, Astronema," Elgar swallowed again. "We've just received word from the Quantrons we dispatched to chase after the Astro Rangers, have noticed a certain change in attitude. It seems as if they are on to our trickery,"
Astronema sighed. "We can't allow this to happen!" she said grimly. The Astro Rangers were the only known active Power Rangers, and if she allowed them to escape back to Earth, she knew they would ruin Dark Specter's plans.
"Elgar, have Ecliptor report to the bridge, I believe he will be able to stop these pathetic Power Rangers before they find a space warp," she ordered. "And have an army of Quantrons land on the planet the Rangers are on, we can't let them escape!"
"Aye yi Astronema!" Elgar replied, before turning around and stumbling to fulfill his orders.
"Why do I surround myself with idiots!" Astronema mumbled to herself.
Kimberly and Billy reached the dungeon door and quickly searched for the right key. Rito was on their tail.
"Hurry Billy!" Kimberly exclaimed.
"I'm trying Kim," said Billy.
Rito was catching up. "Stop it now, you're going to get me into a lot of trouble with my sis and Ed!"
"I've got it!" Billy said.
"Whoo hoo Billy!" exclaimed Zack.
Rito finally caught up finally. "Hold it right there Power Rangers!"
"We've got this far, and I'm not letting you ruin it for us!" Billy exclaimed, delivering a spin kick, sending Rito against the stoned wall.
"Hey!" Rito said in pain. "You didn't have to do that, you hurt me!"
"Let's split up guys, if we're all captured it's not going to do any good," Kimberly said.
"Right," Billy said. "Kim, you go with Jason. Trini, and Zack you go with me,"
"Aww come on guys! I don't want to chase both of you!" Rito exclaimed.
In the Throne Room, Lord Zedd was attempting to construct a time portal with his staff. He was having no luck however. "Blast this wand!" he yelled angrily.
"What's the matter Zeddy?" asked Rita Repulsa. "Did you break your magic stick?"
"Shut up! You tuttle tort, I am trying to summon a time warp to make sure this mutant doesn't ruin things for us,"
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Rita chimed in.
"What are you on about?" asked Zedd.
"It's a new spell I've come up with, and if it is said correctly…" Rita explained, but was interrupted by Goldar's voice.
"Lord Zedd!" Goldar yelled. "The Power Rangers have escaped, five of them are in the palace!"
"What?" Zedd exclaimed. "Well, don't just stand there like an idiot, cease them!" Zedd tossed his staff forward, causing a energy blast to erupt out of it.
Suddenly, a vortex formed, a vortex of time.
"Yes!" Lord Zedd. "I've finally done it! Now, it's time to act quickly. Goldar, cease the Power Rangers… and Rita, have Finster round up our best monsters!"
The throne room emptied quickly. Kimberly and Jason appeared from behind a pillar. They'd overheard the entire conversation.
"Kim, hurry, we can hide behind Zedd's throne," Jason pointed.
Jennifer Scotts looked up at the bright blue sky, and didn't notice any changes from the year 2001. The sky was bright blue, and still beautiful. They were in the middle of a large park. The park was pretty much emptied, but that was natural considering how early it was.
"Guys," she said, looking at her four friends. "I don't think we're in Silver Hills,"
"We're not," Wes answered. "We're in Angel Grove Park, I had my sixteenth birthday party here,"
"Angel Grove?" Lucas responded. "That name sounds familiar,"
Jen nodded. "It would… in our "Lifes and Times of the Power Rangers" class, we learned that Angel Grove was the resurrection territory for the Rangers of the twentieth century,"
"Come on, we can't mess around… we have to stop Ransik,"
"What are you Stone Canyon geeks doing in our Park?" spoke a raspy voice.
"Stone Canyon?" asked Katie.
Wes looked down at the Stone Canyon football jersey he'd bought at the Silver Hills Shopping Mall.
"Who said this was your park?" Jen asked.
Farcus Bulkmier gasped at Jen. "Well, well little girlie, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,"
"Yeah!" answered Eugine Skullovich. "What he said,"
"Shouldn't you guys be in school?" asked Trip.
From behind Zedd's enmourmous throne, Jason stared back into the twisting vortex that formed from the energy source from Zedd's wand. The vortex twisted into an image, of five teenagers walking in the park... that's when he realized that he was staring at himself, as a teenager, and the others. They were walking beside him. "What's going on?" he thought to himself, as he glanced at Kimberly. The look on her face made him realize that she too was puzzled by the images they were seeing.
Kimberly's mind flooded with intensity, she'd almost forgotten that day, but seeing it again. It was her first day of high school, the day she'd take on the powers of the Pink Ranger. But why had she forgotten it? Had the effects of the time rift taken so much advantage of her emotions? They were questions she couldn't answer. A large shadow hovering over her body interrupted her thoughts, she elbowed Jason. "They've found us," she whispered.
"I knew it'd only be a matter of time!" Goldar hissed at her. "You power geeks have lost your battle maneuvers, and soon, you'll loose your lives!" the golden monkey raised his sword into the air, preparing to strike down on Kimberly.
"No!" Jason shouted. He jumped up quickly and pinned Goldar against the wall. "You're not going to hurt her, monkey brains!"
Goldar broke free from Jason's weakened grip, and clenched him by his neck. "Red Ranger, you're battle tactics you once used on me in the Dark Dimension will no longer fool me. You're finished!"
"Jason!" Kimberly cried.
"Goldar? What's going on here?" Lord Zedd's voice boomed, as the dark being entered the throne room. "Why didn't you inform me that you'd found these two twerps? The others have escaped, and you waited time on a pathetic grasp you've been holding for years,"
"It's now time for me to enact my revenge! Let go of them, I will finish these two once and for all... something I should have done years ago," Lord Zedd commanded, he raised his staff high into the air as Goldar dropped Jason to the ground.
Kimberly glanced at the swirling time portal, and realized it was there only chance for escape. They had to act quickly. "Jason!" she shouted. "The portal, we have to go through it,"
Jason quickly jumped up. "Kim, that's crazy. That thing is a time portal, who knows what will happen to us!"
Kimberly looked over at Zedd's staff, which was building up faster and faster, energy sparks, and lightning bolts. She cried out in horror as the ball of energy came flying towards her. Kimberly screamed.
Jason cried out in horror. "Nooooooooooo!" He reached out, but it was too late. Kimberly had dashed towards the portal and had entered it.
"You won't escape me Red Ranger!" Zedd exclaimed.
But before Zedd could fire upon Jason, he too leapt towards the vortex, entering the flow of time.
"Blast!" Zedd growled. "Remind me to never EVER send your brother to do something. Goldar, tell Finster to hurry up the creation of those monsters!"
Jason and Kimberly landed in the middle of Angel Grove Park, their memories were returning to them, and what ever feeling the time rift had caused were gone.
"Jase?" Kimberly groggily asked.
"Are you all right?" Jason returned.
She nodded and stood up. "It looks like we're in the park," she recognized their surroundings.
Off in the distance two girls headed towards them, one wearing a lot of pink, and one wearing a lot of yellow. The brunette girl in pink was talking.
"So… are you nervous about high school?" Kimberly Hart asked her best friend Trini Kwan.
Trini shrugged. "I don't know.. I mean, I guess I haven't really thought about it, you're really my only "girl" friend.
"Same with me… we hang out with too many guys," Kimberly joked.
"Jase…" Kimberly said, recognizing the girls. "Um… I think we're in a whole lot of trouble,"
To Be Continued…