Cat: Hey all! No, Lord Zedd is not the mysterious figure, nor does he even make an appearance in this fic. However, the figure will be revealed this chapter. In fact, it'll be revealed in the first few paragraphs of this chapter so hold on to your underwear.

Disclaimer: If I owned the Power Rangers you'd know. Trust me.

"—try and…" Maya trailed.

Elsewhere turned out to be a sandy beach with forlorn grasses growing every here and there, as well as a few scraggly trees. From their position on the top of a hill, they could see that they were on a small island, no bigger then the clearing on the Animarium.

"Where are we?" Kimberly asked in her usual, curious manner.

"You mean you don't know?" asked a voice. They spun around, to see Trent grinning broadly.

"Trent?" Kira and Kimberly asked in unison. Kira in disbelief, Kimberly because she had only briefly met the Ranger and honestly wasn't sure it was him.

"I knew you'd recognize me." He said. "Eaglezord didn't do such a good job of recognizing the Dracozord when he attacked him. Blamed it on Pterazord, imagine that."

"You set us up." Kira accused.

"Possibly."

"From the very beginning, didn't you? You're the one who gave the press that tape." Trent examined a cuticle idly.

"I knew you'd figure it out eventually."

"Why? What was the point?"

"The point?" Trent repeated. "The point was to have you rangers destroyed."

"Why?" Maya wondered. "What did we ever do to you?" Trent shrugged.

"It's this whole Dino gem thing." He was positively delighted about being evil and Kimberly was in shock. "See, it turns out, when you thought the spell was broken, it was really just altered. So, instead of attacking insanely and nearly getting myself killed all the time, I've devised a plan that will leave me a powerful, respected ranger. The only Ranger in fact."

"It will not!" Kimberly shouted. "Even if you do destroy us, there are other rangers on the Animarium who'll finish you." Trent laughed.

"If the zords go to war, do you really think that they'll survive? Not a chance. Your friends are pawns in their fight, and the zords themselves are merely pawns in my plan."

"What about Dr. O? He'll figure it out and then you'll be in trouble." Kira said.

"There was recently a very violent explosion down in the Ruins. Very tragic." Kira was gaping at him, and Kimberly looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Oh," Trent said looking up. Dracozord descended quickly and Trent grabbed onto his beak. "This is my ride out of here. I'll see you guys later."

"What?" Maya asked, desperately trying to think up any reason for him to stay. If they were abandoned on such a desolate rock they were toast. "You're just going to leave? What if we escape?"

"You'll have to do it fast." Trent said casually. "The human body can only live about three days without water." Then Draco took off and they were both gone. Kira immediately turned on her communicator.

"Haylie?" She asked. "Haylie are you there?" Her voice cracked and she swallowed hard. "Dr. O? Jason? Trini? Anyone?" There was only static.

"Try someone else." Kimberly encouraged. "We know what your communication system is down, but maybe you can get through other places." Kira nodded.

"Cam? Tori? Are you there?" There was only static.

"It must be the island." Maya said, having just tried the other Galaxy Rangers.

"We're doomed." Kimberly muttered, sinking to her knees in the sand. "It's over."

"What?" Kira asked in surprise. "You're Miss Perky. What's wrong with you?" Kimberly looked up, and Maya was staring too. " We don't have time to waste. We've got to get back to the Animariuim and stop the zords from killing each other. Then we have to get in touch with Dr. O and tell him about Trent. After that we have to find a way to stop Trent." Kira said. It wasn't until she said it out loud that she realized just how impossible it sounded. Still, she refused to show just how daunting it all seemed.

"Kira's right." Maya said and Kira beamed. Pulling Kimberly to her feet Maya continued. "We're Power Rangers. If we don't give up, we'll get through this." Kimberly swallowed hard, then nodded. "Great." Maya said. "We need food, fresh water, and shelter if we're going to survive." Her face dimmed. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"I read Island of the Blue Dolphins once." Kira offered hopefully. "Humans and animals can't drink seawater, so we need to find a river or lake. If we find that, then we're home free." She hated to admit that that was the extent of her knowledge.

"But there isn't a river or lake." Maya said, biting her lower lip. They stood there for a while, Kira staring at the sand at her feet, as though it would magically produce an solution. Maya was chewing on a fingernail absently, and Kimberly was staring off into the distance. When someone finally spoke, they were all surprised to find that it was Miss Perky. "There." She exclaimed, pointing out across the water. There was another island there, which appeared as a blur of green. Maya was shocked she hadn't thought of it before.

"There's nothing here, maybe there's something over there." Kimberly said proudly.

"Back up." Kira instructed. "Are you suggesting we swim?"

"We've got nothing to loose." Maya said.

"Unless we drown." She argued pointedly.

"Would you rather starve?" Maya shot back, equally pointedly.

"Come on Kira. You're the one who said that we don't have time to waste." Kira sighed deeply, they trudged to the edge of the beach. She closed her eyes tightly.

"I'm going to regret this." She muttered and plunged in. The water was icy cold, and sung every bare inch of them. "Oh God, please don't let there be jellyfish."

"Or sharks." Kim agreed. She took a deep breath, steadying herself, then lead on. "Come on." She repeated. The island did not look that far, but about twenty yard in all three realized that as far as swimming was concerned, that island might as well be on a different planet. Still, they'd already agreed that they didn't have any other choice, and turning back would mean they'd still have to swim. There was no where to go but forward.

And as the dreary swim dragged on all three found themselves oddly bored. Completely miserable, but bored nonetheless. And while they swam they had nothing better to do then think about their miseries, which did nothing but draw attention to them and increase them.

There was one interesting part to the entire journey. About two thirds of the way in, Kira found that her prayer for the absence of jellyfish had gone unanswered. Or, more specifically, Kimberly found. She reached out and her arm brushed against something. She panicked, thus causing the creature to panic. And seeing their friend panicking caused both Kira and Maya minor panic as well. Eventually the entire affair was sorted out, though not before Kimberly received several war wounds.

After a while though, they finally flopped down on the far shore, shouting various cries of relief.

"Land!" Kira cried, kissing the ground.

"Solidness!" Kimberly agreed.

"Finally!" sighed Maya. And for a while they could do nothing but lay there in the sun, breathing hard and thinking further about their aching muscles.

They took in what they could without moving. This island was bigger, complete with a mountain—or possibly a volcano—in the distance, and grassy plains in between. There was a light forest and Maya was sure that there must be a creek somewhere nearby. Apparently swimming had been the right choice. Assuming, of course, that they could ever catch their breath enough to ever walk again. Through sheer willpower (attained purely by reminding themselves over and over that they were going to die if they didn't) they got to their feet.

When they stood up again, they immediately started walking. The ability to talk without fear of getting nasty dirty salt water in their mouths did not prevent them from focusing on their miseries. Now they just focused on them loudly.

"Ow. My feet." Kira moaned.

"My legs." Kimberly agreed.

"I hurt all over." Maya agreed.

However, they eventually told her to shut up because as the only one who had any idea how to survive without satellite TV, she was in charge of picking the campsite. Needless to say, neither Kimberly nor Kira was very excited when Maya didn't decide to pitch camp at their feet. Of course they knew that she was right and they needed to find the right spot or they could get eaten by a bear or bit by a poisonous snake, but that didn't make walking any easier.

"Are we there yet?" Kira asked.

"No!" Maya shouted.

"How many times can we ask you that before you kill us?" wondered Kimberly.

"Two." Maya said definitively.

"Are we there yet?" Kira and Kimberly asked in unison. Maya sighed. It was going to be a long hike.

Eventually they found some place that Maya decided was suitable. As far as Kim and Kira were concerned Maya was just being picky and they would have been perfectly happy back over that way somewhere. Maya however, were convinced they'd lucked out.

The three had come across a small cave, there was a small spring was near the entrance and no visible man-eating occupant.

"Are there bats?" Kira asked. "Please tell me there aren't any bats."

"Don't look up." Maya advised. Kira shut her eyes tightly and sat heavily.

Maya said something about trying to find food and left, leaving Kira and Kimberly to try and light a fire all on their own. Kimberly was moving the sticks around restlessly, while Kira had her eyes closed tightly in concentration.

"I remember this." She promised. "We did it with Dr. O this year. Rubbing the two sticks together creates friction, the more speed the more friction." She muttered. "I wish Conner was here, he'd have this thing lit in a heartbeat. Of course, by then Ethan would have rigged up a heating unit from nothing but twigs and leaves." She smiled slightly.

"Do you think he's okay?" Kimberly asked suddenly.

"Who?' Kira started, and then moved over to try out her friction theory.

"Tommy."

"Oh. Him." Kira said. She shuddered again at the use of her teacher's first name. "He's fine. He's always fine."

"How do you know?" There was more then a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Well, he's been frozen in amber, invisible, in a coma, attacked," Kira rattled them off effortlessly. "Chased, strained, put under a lot of stress, been in an explosion—" Just then a spark caught and Kira's fist pounded the air. "Yes!"

"Nice job!" Kimberly said sincerely.

"Wow. I honestly thought this was a cartoon trick."

"Me too."

"Are you worried about them Maya?" Kimberly asked later that night. Kira had gone to sleep hours ago, and the fire was slowly dying. Maya didn't have to ask who 'they' were. It was too obvious.

"Yeah."

"Kira's not."

"Sure she is." Maya replied. "She just doesn't show it."

"I don't understand her at all." Kimberly admitted.

"She's really hard to read. But right now she feels like, if someone points out that the explosion happened and Tommy most likely is dead…well, she just can't handle that right now." Maya glanced at the back of the cave, where Kira's chest was gently rising and falling steadily. "All this stuff with the Pterazord and now it turns out that her ally is evil, her friends are in danger, her mentor might be dead, and she can't do anything about it. She's terrified."

"Maya, do you think they'll be all right?"

"I'm not sure." She said slowly. "Still, I'm almost positive that we aren't the only ones who know that something's wrong." When Kimberly looked at her quizzically Maya continued. "Well, Cam, the Green Samurai Ranger must know by now that something seriously wrong is happening at the Animarium, and I'm sure he's been down to the Ruins to check out the scene there. All it takes is one person and we're off this island and both the Wild Force Rangers and the Dino Rangers are snuck off the island, Tommy gets immediate medical attention, and everything works out."

"Yeah." Kimberly said quietly. "All it takes is one person." Just then the earth shook. Not just a little tremor, but a serious quake. Kira sat straight up and Maya and Kimberly jumped to their feet.

"What's going on?" Kira asked as little pieces of the ceiling began to rain down around them.

"I'm not sure." Kimberly admitted. Kira was on her feet now, and a loud crash informed her that a bigger part of the cave had just fallen in.

"We've gotta get out of here." Maya said and grabbed the nearest person, which just happened to be Kimberly, and ran. They emerged from the cave just as it collapsed completely and they took a second to marvel in their escape. That one wasted second proved to be invaluable though because next they looked up.

Dracozord was staring right at them, and then it took to the air. The zord swooped down at them and the three took off. They more rolled then ran as they tumbled into a ditch, Dracozord crying in their ears. He was right behind them they knew, and they knew it was too late to run and the three girls resorted to desperation. They ducked and covered their heads with their hands, praying as a dark shadow approached. Dracozord settled into the grass beside them.

"Did we die?" Kira asked.

"I don't think so." Kimberly said, looking up. They turned around and their eyes fell on the White DinoThunder Ranger. "On second thought," Kimberly hesitated. The White Ranger laughed and lifted his quill easily.

"You three have to make things difficult, don't you? I guess I'll just have to deal with you myself." He said and prepared to attack. Kira did the first thing that she could think of. She screamed. The White Ranger was caught in the force of her dino power and stumbled backwards.

"Run!" She shouted and they took off. Not spending the time to look back, and not wasting breath on speech, they ran until they found a clump off tall grass near the beach. Diving into it, Kira Kimberly, and Maya hoped that they had not been followed. They heard the White Ranger curse, but his angry shout was far away. Dracozord took to patrolling the island from the sky, and every so often his shape wheeled overhead.

After deeming it safe to speak, and after recovering to the point that they were capable to speaking, Kimberly said, "What was that?"

"Ptera-Scream." Kira said absently, she glanced up, and not seeing the ranger or his zord, relaxed with a heavy sigh.

"I can't believe this is happening."

"How long do you think it'll be before he finds us?" Kimberly asked.

"How long do you think it's possible to hide from a flying dinosaur?" Kira asked dryly.

"We have to get off these islands." Maya declared.

"Any ideas about how to manage that?" Kimberly asked hopefully.

"I'm not swimming." Said Kira forcefully.

"None, but-" the ground shook again and they shot to their feet, trying to look in every direction at once.

"What's happening?" Kimberly asked.

"There!" Maya said, pointing to a spot about a half mile from them. Dracozord flapped back into the sky, then folded back his wings and plunged to the ground. There was another shake and Kira grabbed onto Kimberly for stability, though both were very surprised by it and Kira pulled away immediately.

"He's trying to sink the island." Maya declared.

"Uh uh." Kira said, eyes wide. "Worse." Her eyes were fixed on a large crack that the others couldn't see from their angle. "He's trying to—" She was cut off as Dracozord hit the ground for a third time. The rumble was accompanied by a loud cracking sound and the crack spread. The ground beneath them gave way. Kimberly dropped off the edge. Kira grabbed her instinctively, and Maya grabbed her to keep them both from going over. Kimberly screamed, but stopped after realizing that she was steady. Looking up, she couldn't see Kira's face with the sun behind it, but she could see her straining muscles as Kim's wrists slipped from her grasp. Kimberly shut her eyes tightly. She never wanted to fall off a cliff. She'd actually had a conversation once, where she and her friends discussed the worst ways to die. Having every bone in your body shattered had been almost unanimously agreed upon.

"Kimberly?" Kira asked and her eyes shot back open.

"Yeah?" Great, pleasant conversation while about to drop into a bottomless abyss. Wasn't that perfect? Still, Kira's next words surprised her.

"Do you trust me?" It took Kimberly only a second to decide; though a mere hours ago she wouldn't have been sure. Kira was much younger then she was, inexperienced. Also, she had been less then welcoming towards her. However, her answer was a resounding,

"Yes."

What came next was as shocking as Kira's question, if not more so. Kira let go. Kimberly's eyes widened as she fell. And fell. And fell.

Cat: Oh, cliffie, literally. I couldn't help it. But now you've all got a good idea of what's happening, I could use some feedback and see what y'all think. Yeah, I know that this chapter was all Kira/Kim/Maya, but that's just the way it worked out. You will see other Rangers in the next chapter. A bunch of other Rangers.