A/N: So I know I said I was keeping the update schedule to three days but for some reason the Angel Grove section gave me so much trouble. I am honestly still very unhappy with it and it's so short because eventually after the 5th rewrite i decided I was just putting it in there to get this chapter out. Please be kind, I'm sorry that section is terrible.

Chapter Text

"So it's true, when all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love."― E.A. Bucchianeri

Scott Apartment, New York City, Planet Earth- Sector Six

Trini Scott very rarely called out sick from work, able to count the number of times she had done so in the past five years on one hand with fingers left worked to her advantage in that her husband didn't in any way question the cough that had sprung up out of seemingly nowhere, nor the fever that she refused his offer to get the thermometer for him to check. His alarms would have been raised if she had told him she needed to take the day off but couldn't share with him the why of it. The instincts of the Power Rangers original leader died hard.

Kimberly had been the unspoken ghost between them all since the Turbo switch. The first yellow ranger could remember with stunning clarity the angry phone call she had gotten from Zack only a few weeks after Jason had come home from Angel Grove. Their friend had been trying to get a call through to her after what had happened, wanting to check up on her after being turned evil and talk about the Olympics the year before, but the number he had for her was suddenly out of service, and when he had made contact with her mother, thanks to a number his mother had, Caroline had gently informed him that Kimberly had actually forbidden her mother to give out her new number to any of her old friends. It had been a blow and the first in a year long series of every one of them trying every fathomable way to contact her possible. Jason had even taken a trip to France to try and surprise her, but Caroline had told him that Kimberly moved out and hadn't told her mother where she had moved too.

For her to suddenly have been only a few streets down taking on monsters would not be something that could be handled without at least first feeding Jason a full blown feast. Not only would the food coma and a little bit of wine make him more mellow, but it would hopefully ensure he couldn't go running off to try and find her.

So Trini waits about a half hour after her husband has left to throw off the blankets and collect herself. She'll spend the rest of her day turning the simple ingredients that her mother used to grow in their backyard into comfort food.

When Jason lets himself into his apartment building after a particularly long day, his sensitive nose is assaulted with the smells of his wife's home cooking. The man couldn't help being surprised since when he left her this morning she was very sick and laying on the couch, not in any mood to be cooking the complex dishes he could smell.

"Okay who died?" he said half jokingly as he walked through the door of the apartment, eyebrows raised as he looked around their kitchen. The last time his wife had stress cooked to this extent, had been when Zordon was killed during the Countdown.

"Go get changed and then sit down. We have to talk." The tone of her voice leaves no room for argument and in true Red fashion, he stands stock still, the door closing softly behind him.

"What happened, Trini? Is it my mom?" he keeps his voice level, even as his hands shake slightly. Last year, Ramona Scott beat her long struggle with breast cancer, and he could only assume that the dire tone in his wife's voice and the stress cooking was because it had come back.

"Firebird surfaced" she said quietly, almost mournfully

His eyes widen in stunned confusion, feeling like he had just been stabbed through the chest. The stress cooking, the mournful sound of her voice, and his experience as a cop in one of New York City's worst precincts lead him to only one conclusion; someone had found her body. He hadn't watched the news that day, there had been too many calls and too much work but Jason is sure if he turned it on now there would be some news anchor talking about a dead Olympic gymnast. "Where did they find her?" He asks softly, his knees threatening to give way as he voices the long held fear among them all.

"It was about four days ago. On seventh avenue. Aisha caught the video and managed to download it before whichever powerful friends of hers had it scrubbed. Brought it to Justin to verify that night then brought it to me yesterday. You're the first one to know." her tone stays even as she explains it to him, knowing that her calm will only help to hopefully keep him calm.

"Wait Tiger are you saying she's alive?" His confusion is greater now, anger starting to bubble hot and fast.

His wife opens the laptop that was sitting on the counter, pulling up a file and then turns it around so he can see it. She presses play and at first he's not entirely sure what he's watching. Jason gripped the top of the breakfast bar chair closest to him, using it to steady himself as he watched it all play out. His grip was so tight that he could feel the metal start to give way under his impressive strength, face starting to tingle with his signature color. Rage like the volcano he had been thrown into on Muranthis boils over

"Fucking bitch." he swore, tossing the chair to the ground and surprising not only his wife but himself as well. He stood for a moment in shock, staring down at the chair before finally looking up at her, tears shining unshed in his eyes.

"It's okay, baby." Trini assured him once she had crossed the room and wrapped her slim arms around his broad shoulders. "Just let it out." she coaxed him, trying to rationalize that there had to be a good reason for what Kimberly had done, wanting to believe that the girl who had been her best friend on the planet wouldn't do this for no reason.

Blue Wolf Technologies Headquarters, San Francisco, California, Sector Six

Billy Cranston was not a man prone to anger or violent outbursts of frustration; it was just not in his makeup. He was therefore unaccustomed to the overwhelming rage that sped through him at the video's implication. He had mourned her heavily upon his return to earth; Kimberly had been his first friend after all. One of his first actual memories had been with the shorter girl, playing in the backyard of her parents house as their mothers sat and talked. She had fought off playground bullies for him, offering her hand to help him up and demanding that she come play hopscotch with her, glaring at anyone who dared look at her best friend the wrong way. She had been the one to introduce him to Trini, to Jason and to Zack. There would be no tight knit group, probably no Power Rangers without Kim to have brought them all together.

When his mother had started to get sick just a year before they were first given their powers it had been the pink ranger that had been at his house almost every day, spending time with his mother, picking up take out and sometimes just sitting quietly doing homework with him. When she died a year and a half later, in the middle of them being brand new superheroes, his first friend stayed at his house for a week straight, consoling him when he finally broke down.

The video scrub had been the most curious part of the whole thing, it wasn't easy and as much as he believed she could do anything she set her mind to, something of this magnitude was out of the Kimberly he had known depth. It was technology they didn't really have here on the planet outside of his R&D lab or a ranger headquarters.

"Master Wolf?" Delphine's voice pulls him out of his thoughts, her teasing use of the honorific he hated causing him to roll his eyes. "I assume you did not just call to stare into space."

"Who would have the ability to scrub a video feed from Earth based technology?" He asked, watching her face for any indications that maye she had known about it happening.

"There are a few different worlds with this technology. The Morphin Council would be able to sanction it, if it was in the interest of protecting the Morphin Grid or any rangers. So would of course, the Galactic Council." Delphin chose her words carefully, head tilting as she wondered to herself about the rumor that Zordon's original pink was working for the Galactic Council.

'I can't imagine either Council wanting to scrub something like this Delphine." he had met the council member for the galaxy that Aquitar resided in a handful of times he had been on the planet, even attending a council session to be able to meet with the council member for his home galaxy, and odd man from the planet Juipter who had taken great pleasure in explaining how the galactic government worked.

"Would this by chance involve the pink ranger who came before Katherine?" the white ranger finally ventured to ask

The former blue ranger tilted his head at the woman who had acted as a surrogate mother to him while he had lived on her planet. "How did you know that?" He questioned

"There's been a rumor around for a good amount of years now that Zordon's first pink ranger has been working for the Galactic Council. No one I know knows in what capacity or if it's even true. It could however, explain what you're asking." She smiles encouragingly at him, wishing she could be there to give him a hug, the sadness and strange almost rage emanating from his eyes and body concerning her.

"So if she for instance wanted a video of herself accessing her ninjette powers scrubbed, the Council would approve it?" Billy's eyebrow raised in question

"To my knowledge it would have to be one of the more senior members, the Grand Councilman himself or have come from the Morphin Council. I will endeavor to try and find out more about this Billy." She would start with Cestra, who worked closely with their Council representative.

"I appreciate your assistance Delphine. May the Power protect you." The intoned blessing was something Billy had become used to saying when parting from other rangers, be it current or former, when he lived on the water based planet. He had found it comforting in his departure from Earth.

"May the Power protect you as well my friend." He signed off, a heavy sigh flowing from his lips as he thought of the implication of the information he had learned and how best to share it with the group.

Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo, Monitoring Control Room

"You know Doverian, I'm starting to think it's you tripping these alarms just to see more of me." Jayden teased the other man as he trailed the rest of the team into the control room

"While I'm sure you'd like to believe that Red Ranger, I am otherwise romantically engaged." The gold skinned Captain snarked at his friend

"Watching Jay failing to flirt with the good captain is generally amusing, but we were told this was a priority one." It's Kenale that speaks Kimberly's thought into words

"You asked to be informed of any more attacks with the bio signature from Gratha or in Sector Six Grand Commander?" Doverian looked at her, Kim's cheeks still turning pink even years after being given the title. It had been Andros's idea to name her Grand Commander of the Outpost Ships, putting all 28 of the ships that were currently in orbit under her command. She rotated the different teams between the ships based on where there were conflicts or more frequent surges of activity, oversaw their training and the new rangers assignments. There were a host of below her that did more of the day to day work on each ship and reported in too her daily.

"Did something happen?" She questioned, hand twitching

"More of those Tengu and a being known as Goldar according to the computer. Their strength and energy reading are significantly higher than what was listed into the Morphin Council's files on them. They're in a town called Angel Grove this time." Doverian gave the information as he pulled up the live video feed.

"Significant enough that we're going to need to morph?" Kim asked, hopeful that this could be a very quick battle

"According to the computer analysis, it's predicting your current powers may not be enough to handle Goldar." Doverian hadn't seen many beings like this before, a pit of worry for his friends forming in his stomach.

"Ahh that's never stopped a Power Ranger before Dove." Jayden replies, remembering the stories his father had told him about the Earth bound rangers that had taken on the Zeo powers.

"We'll go in morphed. You five deal with the Tengu and leave Goldar to me." There isn't room for argument in their black ranger's tone.

"Kim you have got to be kidding. Are you seeing the readings on that guy?" Kenale wasn't normally one to question his team leaders orders, but she had been acting weird ever since the encounter on Earth, heighted only by whatever terrible thing she had seen on Gratha. Kim was an incredible fighter but he worried whatever emotional issues she had going on were going to throw her off her game.

"That monkey and I have an old score to settle." Kimberly lifts her morpher, signaling the rest of the group that she's ready for them to get in position. She knew if her friends were able to see her now, they probably wouldn't believe the ranger she had become. She loved Tommy from the moment she laid eyes on him, and if she was honest even after everything he had done, she still loved him, but she had diminished herself for him. Before Tommy had joined the team she had been an adequate fighter on her own, but after she had begun to let herself be the helpless pink princess, always needing to be saved by her white knight. She hadn't noticed it until years later when she looked back on it, and she knows that Tommy had never meant for it to happen. They had been teenagers caught between the things regular teens did and being mature for their age superheroes who fought a three year long war together. Kimberly never wanted to be that damsel in distress ever again. So along with the heightened sense and enhanced strength she had kept from the Maligore Incident, she trained harder than she ever had. It made her an effective fighter and positive that she could go up against Goldar on her own. Jason and Tommy hadn't been able to be the ones to make sure that overgrown flying monkey was destroyed, but she would. For all the hell he had put the ten of them through, for all the night terrors and anxiety he had caused them.

Angel Grove Park, Angel Grove, California-Sector Six

When their boots touched dirt, there were already people running away from the monsters. Kim nods at her team, watching as they run to get people to safety and draw the Tengus attention away from the civilians. Kim calls on her bow, knocking two arrows and letting them both fly at where Goldar was swinging around his large gem inlaid sword. They landed on the ground in front of him which gave her enough time to let off two more arrows aimed at his armor. She gulped inwardly when they caused him to barely stumble backwards. Flipping forward so that she was in a closer proximity to the monster she shot off one more arrow as her body moved through the flip.

"You should have stayed ash monkey breath!" Kim called out loudly, his attention now completely focused on her

"You're not the Rangers I was expecting, but no matter killing you will bring her out of hiding." Goldar taunts her, his pointed teeth smiling.

Kim snorts, eyes rolling under her helmet and wishing the monkey could see it "What's the matter Monkey Man? A change of color and a few deaths make you forget all about me?"

"Pink ranger!" he growls at her, stalking forward and swinging out with the sword. Kimberly flips backwards and out of the way, drawing back her bow and letting off another arrow.

"Kenale" She called out, eyeing the white rangers longsword. The white ranger turned to her, tossing the hilt of his weapon as he watched her black and white bow come out of her hand. Her hand wrapped around the hilt, spinning the blade as much to put some distance as to reacquaint herself with the weight of the blade. Kim struck out at the monster that had haunted her teenage years, telegraphing the thrust so that she could get used to his style of combat. The pair began trading blows back and forth, and Kimberly inwardly has a moment of intense fear. She hadn't been the one to face off with Goldar alone more than once or twice, but she could tell he was light years stronger than he had been back then. Her memory pulls up Dove's warning about the computer analytic oc their powers now being enough and she pushes herself to press forward; thrusting and parrying with all her strength behind them.

One of Andros's favorite things to point about why she had been given command of the other ranger teams had been the experience she brought to putting together training regiments. She had lived through three years of a constant tour of duty, that included near daily monster attacks. It wasn't something that any of the current council teams or the veterans rangers who trained the teams would have had to deal with before. Kim had been adamant that every member of the team knew how to use every teammate's weapons not just because they never knew when something could happen, but it made sure that everyone on the team was an equal fighter. She didn't think it served the team well to have a member who always needed to be protected.

Kim's thrown back a half hour into their fight, body hitting the ground hard, her morph receding and leaving her plain clothed and vulnerable to Goldar's attacks.

"Your team can't save you now Kimmy! They're in too much trouble dealing with my new master's Tengu!" Goldar laughed, sword raised high above his head as he stalked toward her.

The former pink ranger struggles to her feet, annoyance blooming in her chest at the thought of needing to be saved from the likes of Goldar. Her hand went behind her back, feeling the morpher materialize like an anchor. Her thumb runs across the face, surprised to find a coin that shouldn't be there. "Pink Ranger Power." she called out, thrusting the morpher forward. Just like when she called on the ninja powers, the world slowed down for the few seconds after she called it out. Then pink exploded all around her and she felt the rush of power, the screech of the crane louder than it had ever been. "I don't need saving from you Goldar." She sneered at him, inwardly whooping with joy when the silent call for her Power Bow yielded the actual weapon. She knocked the first arrow and let it fly, watching in satisfaction as this time, the monkey was sent stumbling back.

The golden armored monkey smiled at her, sharp pointed teeth showing. "Until next time pink ranger." he promised

And then just as quickly and strangely as they appeared Goldar and the Tengu were gone, leaving a lone pink ranger and the Alpha Strike team to wonder what had been the point.

Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo, Kimberly's Office

Kimberly hasn't felt this tired in a long ass time. The fight with Goldar had taken so much out of her that all she wanted to do was take a long hot shower and then crawl into bed. She keys in the code for her office door, annoyed for the first time that the room was connected to her living area and then her bedroom. A startled yelp fills the room as she sees Andros sitting at her desk, looking grim and brooding.

"Do I want to know why you're sulking in my office?" Kim asks, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Oh does she have a headache.

"The fight was a distraction." the red space ranger tells her, voice tight

"A distraction for what Andros? I'm too fucking tired for your cryptic bullshit." She snaps at him without meaning too, the overwhelming emotion of the day leaving her temper short and hot

"We don't know who he was before, except that the boy from Gratha is the new Zedd. He sent Goldar to fight you to keep our attention there while he broke into where Xandred and Mystic Mother hid the staff and just walked out with it."

Now her friend sitting in her office brooding made sense. She had been right, voicing her concern about them being the ones to protect it instead of turning it to either of the governing councils to vault. Kim slams her fist down into the table, pink energy rippling from where her hand had connected.

"Alpha Strike and I will get on it first thing in the morning. I'm gonna kill this little bastard and end this, once and for all." she promised, hoping to get her boss out of her quarters so she could get some rest.

"The Morphin Council wants me to inform them. Thinks it's important for them to know just in case Zedd decides to fixate on one of them" Privately he thinks Zedd already has a ranger to fixate on, but he hadn't wanted to tell the Council that just yet.

"I'll do it." she offers without thinking "Set up the call, let them think it's going to be with you. Tomorrow morning Earth time." If it's her who tells them, she can keep them out of this and keep them away from her.

"You don't have to do that Kim." Andros offers, face softening at her offer to throw herself to the wolves

"Nah it's fine. Maybe they'll be so shocked at seeing me they'll be too distracted to try and coming running in to help." She shrugs, dropping her uniform jacket down on the chair opposite from where the other ranger is sitting.

"Yeah somehow I doubt that. But if you're sure, I'll set it." He stands as he speaks, watching her with curious eyes

"I'm sure Andros. Set it up and let me know the time. I'm gonna go shower and get some sleep in." A look passes over her face and he thinks that maybe she's about to say something else when she shakes her head and turns away, disappearing deeper into the quarters. He wondered about Kim and her relationship with the members of her old team that he had met over the years. None of them had mentioned a missing member of their team and it had always struck him as odd. Someone wasn't telling him something and he had a very bad feeling it was going to come back to kick him in the ass.