Chapter 12: A Second Red Ranger

Kimberly was watching her two girls play in the park, not noticing the Silver Guardian Truck pulling up. "You should've taken Mr. Collins's offer," Eric commented. Kimberly looked up at Eric as he sat down next to her.

"No thanks, I may need money, but my children's happiness mean more to me than ever," she informed.

"And what about those sons of yours? The ones you shipped off to karate school?" Eric asked.

"Hunter and Blake have a great future ahead of them thank you."

Kimberly stood up and grabbed her purse. "Tell Mr. Collins that I won't take his offer yet. I don't plan on taking that offer anytime soon," she informed. She then called to her girls and walked off.

Later that afternoon, Kimberly was looking over her bills when Lucas walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "How's it coming?" He asked.

"Slowly, but I'll be able to pay them off," she replied.

Lucas nodded and kissed the side of her head as he sat next to her. Kimberly smiled as she held onto his hand. Lucas was the one person that made her happy, a feeling she hadn't felt in so long. Jen watched them from a distance and let out a sigh. She just hoped that this didn't ruin Kimberly's future. She walked over to Circuit. "Circuit, I need you to check something for me," she instructed.

"What is it, Jen?" Circuit asked.

"I need you to check the future for Kimberly," she replied.

"Sure thing," Circuit replied.

Jen bit her lip as she waited for the results. "Kimberly's future hasn't changed, Jen," Circuit informed.

"Not even while she's dating Lucas?" She asked.

"Not so far," Circuit replied.

Jen let out a sigh of relief and nodded to the owl. However, Circuit's alarms went off. "Ransik's attacking a dig," Circuit informed. Jen then ran to the table.

"Lucas, we have to go," she informed.

"Right," Lucas answered.

Kimberly stood up as her friends ran out the door. "BE CAREFUL!" She called. She then ran over to Circuit. "Circuit, show me the fight," she instructed.

"Right away, Kim," Circuit answered.

Kimberly watched as the fight went on at the dig and her eyes widened when she saw Eric run off with something. "What was that?" She asked.

"That's the Quantum Morpher," Circuit replied.

"I'm going after him," Kimberly informed.

However, before she could do that, the Rangers came in with a very injured Wes. "What happened?" She asked.

"The monster beat him up that's what," Lucas replied.

"I'll take care of him, get after that mutant," Kimberly instructed.

The Rangers nodded and went back out to fight while Kimberly took care of Wes. After bandaging his injuries, she looked at Circuit. "Where is he?" She asked.

"Eric's in the warehouse by the ocean," Circuit replied.

"All right, watch him, I'm going after him," Kimberly instructed.

Kimberly then ran out of the clock tower without another thought. All she wanted was to get that morpher.

As Kimberly made her way to the warehouse, cyclobots surrounded her. "I don't have the time for this," she hissed. She kicked and punched the cyclobots in front of her before running into the warehouse.

Kimberly's eyes widened when Eric went to put his hand inside the casing. "ERIC, DON'T!" She called. Eric looked up and just then, a blast landed behind Kimberly, making her fly across the warehouse.

"KIM!" Wes shouted.

Kimberly held her side in pain as she watched Eric put his hand in the casing. "NO!" She shouted. Wes then ran over to her.

"Kimberly, are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, Eric has the Quantum Morpher," she informed.

She then pushed Wes towards Eric's way. "Get him to hand the morpher over," she insisted. Wes nodded, but then they heard Eric shout the words that showed that they were too late.

"QUANTUM POWER!" Eric shouted.

Eric then looked over at the injured young woman and looked at Wes before going out to defeat the monster outside. Wes kneeled beside her. "I'll be okay, just go," Kimberly hissed. Wes nodded before running off. Kimberly lifted her hand up to see the blood coming from the injury on her side. She looked over to where she had landed from the blast to see the glass that she had landed on. Before Kimberly could do anything, she had lost consciousness.

(After the Fight)

Eric hurried off before Wes could say anything to get him to turn the Quantum Morpher over to him. "Now where is he going?" Jen asked. Wes then saw where Eric was heading.

"He's going after Kim," he replied.

"Come on," Lucas urged.

They then ran towards the same direction.

Eric entered the warehouse, searching for Kimberly. He looked over to where he last saw her and found the young woman unconscious. He ran over and lifted the hand that was on Kimberly's side and saw the blood on her side and on her hand.As he looked at her, he could seemany more injuries on her body. He quickly checked for a pulse and found one, but it was weak.Eric de-morphed and picked the injured girl up and ran out of the warehouse just before the Rangers came. "They're gone," Lucas mumbled. Something caught his eye and walked over to the pile of glass. He saw blood and Lucas looked at Wes.

"She was injured, but yet you still went chasing after Eric," he snapped.

"I had no idea," Wes told him.

Lucas stood up and look towards the door where he knew that Eric left with Kim through.

Eric had brought Kimberly to the hospital and the nurse brought out a gurney. "Are you all right?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just take care of her," Eric replied.

He looked up when the Rangers came in. "She's in professional hands now," Eric informed. He slowly stood up and looked at Wes, who was pretty beaten up. "Maybe you should have them look at you," he added. Just then, the doctor came out.

"Is she all right?" Lucas asked.

"Who's responsible for this girl?" The doctor asked.

"That doesn't matter right now. Is she going to be okay?" Wes asked.

"Miss Hart has had a few abrasions from the glass she rolled on from the blast. She has a few burns on her back from the heat of the blast. Any longer in that warehouse and we probably wouldn't have saved her in time. With the amount of blood loss from the glass and the blast, she's lucky to be alive."

The Rangers sighed in relief to know that she was going to live. "Can we see her?" Lucas asked.

"One at a time, she's resting," he replied.

"I'll go first," Lucas informed.

They nodded and the doctor led Lucas towards the room.

Kimberly was awake when Lucas came in. "Lucas," she whispered. Lucas smiled as he sat next to her.

"Kim, what were you thinking?" He asked.

"I was trying to get the morpher," she replied.

"Don't worry about the morpher right now. Get some rest, okay?"

Kimberly nodded and let out a sigh. She then realized she had no idea who brought her to the hospital. "Lucas…after the fight…who brought me here?" She asked. Lucas held onto her hand.

"Well, here's the weird thing. Eric did," he replied.

"Eric did?"

"Yeah."

Kimberly lied there confused. For a man who was trying to get he to join a team she didn't want any part of. A man who she could see only wanted power. He saved her and one question rang in her mind. "Why?" She pondered.

Author's Note: Please forgive me for the long, long, long delay. I had been bombarded by stories and I got way in over my head. Since my Andros/Ashley story "My Heart is Yours" is almost over. My Eric/Taylor story "A Hard Relationship" is over. I'll now have more time to update this one. Thank you for your reviews. But please keep reviewing if you please.