Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers or anything related to the series. I do own the character of Alex Myers.
Words in this writing indicate dreams.
Kim's POV
Kimberly Hart found herself walking through Angel Grove, once again, being able to gallivant on its peaceful streets. As the moments passed, she found herself longing for something, although she was not quite sure what it could be, as everything seemed normal. Her fellow rangers were around her, but she knew one was missing and was beginning to worry about him, although this was not unusual. He always seemed to be late for things, even the important things that went on in his life.
"Jason, what's going on?" Kim asked, but Jason continued to walk, as if he had not heard anything that she said. They were all talking with each other and seemed to be happy, as they were before she left and came to Miami. So, why were they ignoring her like this? She was there, wasn't she? "Jason!"
It was then that she noticed two people coming from a distance, leisurely walking towards the group. As they neared, she realized who they were and could not believe that this was happening. Tommy and Kat were walking towards the group and she could still see the faint sadness in his eyes, although she was sure that he could see her there. He had to see her there.
"Hey, has it been peaceful?" Kat asked, as the remaining rangers nodded their heads. It seemed as if they had had their powers taken away and that when the peaceful times came, they were rejoicing that they had it. "Up for a picnic?"
"No, have to go to the Youth Center. I've missed to much work there lately," Tommy said with a smile and then he turned. Kim followed him, not knowing why she was compelled to do so, but knowing that it was the only thing that would curb her curiosity about the situation. Surely he would see her soon; out of all of them, he would be the one to recognize that she was there.
"Tommy!" Kim yelled and he turned around, but not because of her voice, but because of a sound he had heard in the nearby bushes.
"Lovely to see you here," a being said, as it came up on Tommy and just as it was about to fire its weapon, the whole world seemed to shift back to reality.
"No!" Kim yelled out it her sleep, as Alex rushed over from the couch and shook her shoulder to wake her up. He had been told by her roommate that she was having nightmares and he had hoped he would be able to get them to stop. It had affected her at practice before and the last thing she needed was for the coaches to come down hard on her again. She had had a bad couple of weeks and if it didn't get better she was going to be asked to go home and he didn't want her to leave yet.
"Kim, wake up," Alex said, as he continued to shake her shoulder.
When she finally opened her eyes, she began to cry; knowing that what she had seen might very well be true. The rangers didn't seem to have any powers anymore and the evidence had been all over the news lately. They hadn't been fighting and the media across the country was wondering where the Power Rangers were.
"Oh, God no," Kim muttered, as she continued to cry and Alex sat there, wondering what sort of dream would bring her to tears like this. "Not him."
"Shh. It's alright, nothing has happened," Alex said as he rocked her back and forth. He remembered the dreams she first had when she came here and he couldn't help but wonder if they were back. But why would they come back in the first place? Nothing bad was going on around here. "Come on, I'll fix you some hot chocolate."
"Kimberly, what is wrong with you today? Your concentration is somewhere else. You have been sloppy and this is completely unacceptable. I expect you of all people to do better than that," Coach said as Kim lifted herself up from the mat that she had so ungracefully fallen face first on, just a few seconds earlier. She had to admit her mental status was disturbed but she couldn't tell him why.
It was the news that caused her to be this way. There had been attacks in Angel Grove over the last weeks days and the Power Rangers had not showed up to help any. She hadn't even seen them teleport in a single time. It made no sense to her why they were not showing up and she couldn't help but wonder if she needed to go back to Angel Grove. She was worried about her friends, but she was mostly worried about Tommy, who she had heard was still not doing all that well by means of Trini's hotline. She hadn't talked to Jason since he arrived in California and she got the feeling that he had to be very busy at his new post.
"I'm sorry. The news just bothered me this morning," Kim said, as she walked back over to the balance beam and prepared herself to try the routine again. She doubted she would be able to stick it the way that her mind was wondering, but the least that she could do was try.
"What news, Kimberly?" Coach asked, as he knew some of the history of the town in California that she had come from.
It was always being attacked by some demented creature and it seemed to him like every time things were particularly bad in California, Kimberly's skills were particularly bad in Florida. He just hoped that she would be able to get out of that routine, although it did seem rather hopeless to make that wish, as it did happen every time.
"The attacks by the monsters and no sighting of the Power Rangers. It just doesn't seem right," Kim said, as she knew that her coach had heard of the rangers, but he did not know much more about them. He just knew that they were the ones to fend off the attacks. He had seen that when he had come to California and he knew what they did. He just didn't know that she had been one of them.
"Oh, well, I think I have my answer as to when you will be back to normal," Coach said, as Kim looked at him, completely baffled. He had figured out that she was always fine once her boyfriend sent her a letter to assure her that things were really okay out there and that all of her friends were fine.
"When is that?" Kim asked, as she walked away from the beam, sensing that her coach did not really want her to continue with her routine anymore at the moment.
The balance beam took more concentration for her than anything else and he would always pull her off of it on a day like this. He did not want any of them to be injured and he knew her history with the apparatus.
"When you get a letter from Tommy, telling you that they are all fine out there and nothing has happened to any of them," Coach said, as he saw a cloud come over her eyes at the mention of Tommy's name. "Oh, you don't expect a letter from him this time?"
"No, we broke up," Kim said simply as Alex walked into the training facility and saw Coach talking with Kim. He didn't think that it was too bad, as Coach was not yelling, but the look he saw in Kim's eyes told him that she was thinking about things that were far more hurtful than him yelling at her.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know. Why don't you go work on your floor routine and we'll tackle this part later in the day," Coach said, as Kim gave him a gracious smile and sprinted off towards the floor mat. He had never seen another athlete's mood change so quickly, but he got the distinct feeling that her emotional changes stemmed from a past that no one else here knew about, even him.
After Practice
"Hey, what was coach talking to you about?" Alex asked, as he walked up beside Kim. She looked like she had taken a beating today and he couldn't understand why, but he was sure that he would be able to find out about it.
"Why my focus was off," Kim said, as she hurried back to the dorms, almost at a dead sprint. She was hoping to catch the news and she could only pray that everything had calmed down or that the rangers had reappeared. If not, she was seriously considering calling Jason tonight and asking about what was going on out there.
"Well why is it?" Alex asked, as he was concerned about her as well.
He knew it must be pretty bad if she was running like this and he could only hope that he could somehow help her mood. She had not smiled at him at all during practice today and he knew that meant she was either really concentrating or having a horrible day. He had voted for the horrible day since the beginning, considering the way she woke up this morning.
"I saw the news this morning. Angel Grove is being destroyed by monsters and the Power Rangers haven't showed up," Kim said, as she had told Alex about the frequent monster attacks. She just hadn't told him that she had fought in most of the attacks as a ranger. She still felt the need to uphold the code of secrecy and who was going to believe her if she told them that anyway?
"Well, maybe they are taking a break. It is possible that they got tired of crime fighting," Alex said, as Kim gave him a stern look. He got the feeling that he had just put himself in a cup of hot water and he was not sure how he was supposed to pull himself out of it without risking further injury.
"They don't take breaks, Alex. It just doesn't work that way," Kim said and it was his turn to give her an odd look.
She always talked as if she was an authority on Power Rangers, as if she really knew what they thought and did, in all situations. He was not quite sure how to take these conversations, as he always said something to make her ill. If he didn't know any better, he would think that she had been one herself, but she would tell him something that important. Or at least he hoped that she would tell him something like that.
"Okay," Alex said, as Kim switched the television station to the news, which caused the groans of several of the other gymnasts. They had been happily watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when she walked in and they had hoped to finish the show, for once.
"Come on, Kim. We don't need to know how beautiful Angel Grove is doing this evening," Jamie, Kim's roommate, joked as Kim turned around to allow her to feel the implications of that statement. Kim was going to watch the news every night until the rangers showed up again. She wanted to know if one of them was hurt while they were fighting without powers.
"I just want to see if things have changed since this morning," Kim said, simply, as the news bulletin came up. There had been five reported casualties and no sighting of the rangers. This wasn't looking to good for Angel Grove, but she still held up some hope.
Kim did, however, see six civilians fighting with the creatures and after giving the television a hard look, figured out who they were. Tommy, Jason, Adam, Rocky, Katherine, and a new girl were all fighting, although they didn't morph. What was going on to cause them to not morph at all? That had only happened a handful of times and it was never for a very good reason.
"No, change, huh?" Alex asked, as he had not seen the bright spandex suits dart from out of nowhere to fight the monsters. He had gotten used to seeing them on the screen and he had to admit that he was slightly worried, just because of the way Kim acted. She seemed to know that this was more than just a simple miscommunication among the rangers, it seemed as if something was seriously wrong with the whole situation.
"No, there isn't one. I'm going to go call Jason, alright?" Kim said as she turned to walk out of the room. She knew that it wasn't really her business anymore, but she had to admit that she was worried about the rangers not showing up in uniform.
"Hello," Jason said, sounding exhausted.
"Jase, it's me, Kim. What's going on out there?" Kim asked, cutting to the chase. She knew what it was like to want to go on to sleep after a battle and she could tell Jason felt that way. She'd feel that way to if she had been doing all of the things that they had been doing lately.
"Zordon is holding our powers. We can't morph and I don't know how much longer we can take these battles," Jason said as Kim nodded her head on the other end of the line. She didn't really have anything to say to that, but she didn't expect what Jason said next. "By the way, Tommy and Kat are dating now."
"Good for them," Kim lied as she felt her self sink down onto her bed and gaze across the room and nothing in particular. She said she was over him, to everyone, so why did it hurt so much to hear he was dating another girl? "Jason, I'll go ahead and let you go. You need to get some rest."
"Kim, be careful out there. There's no telling if they won't come after you too. Trini and Zack were attacked the other day," Jason said and then hung up the phone without a good-bye. It was not that he forgot his manners, he was just too tired to understand everything that was going on.
Jason's statement, however, had hit her like a freight train. She honestly couldn't believe that Tommy was dating Katherine. She had expected him to move on to other people, but not to the girl that had replaced her. She just hadn't thought that it would hurt her so much to hear the words that he was dating someone else. It was the first of many reality checks that she was going to have to prove that she loved him, maybe even more than Alex, but would she ever be able to make the choice between the two of them?
That night, the dreams returned only this time she was not so lucky as to make it out of the dream without any harm being seen.
Again, Kimberly Hart, walks through the peaceful streets of Angel Grove, although this time she heads towards the school. As she reaches the school steps the cries of students within are heard. This did not seem to be an ordinary day and she wondered what was happening inside of the, usually happy, walls.
"He's gone. He's really gone," Katherine muttered, as Jason put his arm around her and gave her a quick hug. They all seemed to be consoling one person or another. What had happened here?
"Who's gone?" Kim asked, poking Jason on the shoulder. He, however, continued to not notice her at all. What was going on in this place?
"Adam, take her to class. I'll go talk to the principal, maybe he'll understand this better," Jason said, as he had tried to talk to alll of the other rangers.
"Who's gone!" Kim yelled this time, but they continued to ignore her while someone walked up and reached out to touch her.
"I'm the one that they are crying over," Tommy whispered, as she jerked her head towards him and gave him an odd look. How could they be talking about him? He had just realized she was there and was finally talking to her.
"How can it be you?" Kim asked, as Tommy shrugged his shoulders and turned to walk away, leaving one final word of advice.
"It isn't me yet, but it will be soon," Tommy muttered as he walked away and she stood there standing still, long after he had left her alone.
"It was only a dream," Kim muttered to herself as she jerked out of her sleep for the second night in a row. She knew that the dreams could be preminitions or they could merely be dreams and that was what she desperately hoped that they were.
AN: I am setting up for the final two or three chapters of this story. I know it is short, but I didn't ever plan for it to be an extremely long story. Be patient with me as I write the next chapter and I hope that you will enjoy how it is working up to end.