A/N: Hello everyone! I was feeling a little creative tonight so here at THREE chapters for you. We are getting down to the end here. In these, there will be talk of Tommy's Zeo and Turbo powers. Again, I've never watched them so I am only going off what I've read on the Wiki.
As always, thanks for R&Ring! I own nothing but gratitude.
Kimberly
Morphing is the greatest feeling in the world. I would even feel okay saying that it's better than any kind of orgasm one could have. It is like every single nerve ending in your body is filled with something amazing as the power wraps itself around you. I had almost forgotten the feeling as I felt the uniform appear on my skin in a burst of light. The helmet appeared on my head as well, the visor darkening the room around me. The morpher went from my hands to the front of my belt line. Looking down, I flexed my gloved fingers. I now understood why Tommy felt the need to jump back into action so much. Every single ache and pain I had in my body seemed to vanish as I stood, ready for battle. Suddenly, I was sixteen again and ready to take on the world.
"Kimberly, your powers will need to be charged in order for you to teleport to the moon." Zordon stated. "Billy, please begin the recharging process. Trini, Jason and Zach, would you please check on Kimberly to see how she is doing?"
"Sure, Zordon." Jason replied. The three of them walked out of the room as I undid the clasps of my helmet. I pulled it off, tucking it into the crook of my arm. Alpha walked over to Billy and assisted him with entering a number of sequences on the keyboard of the control panel. I felt a small buzzing begin throughout my body and a shot of energy ran through me.
"This will only take a few moments." Billy said, giving me a small smile. "I will go check on Kimberly with the others. When I get back, you should be good to go."
"I'll come with you." Tommy said. The two boys left the room, leaving me standing in front of Zordon alone.
"Kimberly, this mission is of great importance. You will need to ensure that Rita is not killed." He said. I gazed up at him, confused.
"Wouldn't it be better if she's killed?" I asked. Secretly, it had been my plan. I know that it's not really much of the Power Rangers ethics. It was highly stressed to us as teens to not take lives but rather than save them. Every situation has an exception though.
"It would be too much of a drastic change for the timelines." He answered. "By destroying Rita, you will prevent her from being released and from you and your friends becoming Power Rangers. It would collapse our timelines and could mean the end of the world."
"Alright." I sighed. "So, I just seal her and bring her back here?"
"No. You need to seal her and send her off into space of her own timeline. By this course of action, we will be correcting the timelines across the universe. She will crash and be found on the moon in the year she was destined, and you will be summoned to serve as Rangers."
"You mean, I'm the one who will seal Rita from before we were Rangers?" I asked. He nodded. My head was starting to hurt from figuring out all of this time shifting talk. All I knew was that Tommy needed to be saved, regardless of which moon she had him on.
"Correct. Once you have sealed Rita, you will have a small window of time to send her back to her present day. After, you and Tommy can return here, and I will transport you back to your timeline."
"How does the dumpster work? Do I have to save a spell or something?" I questioned.
"No. Since she was already sealed inside, it will sense her magic. Once she is close enough, it will be able to pull her inside and you will be able to seal it." There was a loud beeping and Alpha pressed a button.
"You're fully charged!" He exclaimed, the buzzing feeling vanishing. "You will be all set to teleport to the moon."
"Thank you, Alpha." I said, smiling at him. I turned my eyes back up to Zordon. "I'm going to leave while the kids are gone. Please don't let them follow me."
"We won't. Be careful, Kimberly." Alpha said.
"Yes. You're a great ranger. May the Power protect you in your mission." Zordon said, his eyes filled with pride as he looked down at me.
"If I don't make it back…" I heard my voice crack as I felt tears form in my eyes. Shaking my head, I looked down at my feet. There had to have been a hundred different memories I had of standing in this room, ready to head off to some dangerous fight. I had never felt what I was feeling right now though. Deep in the depths of my chest, a part of me knew that there was an extremely likely chance that I could not come back. That I wouldn't be able to save Kim from the spell and I wouldn't exist anyway. Her and Tommy were the only things I could think of right at the moment. I needed to make sure she has a chance to grow up and make mistakes. I also needed to make sure that Tommy didn't die trying to save me.
"Good luck, Kimberly." Alpha said. "I'll tell the others you left after you do."
"Thank you." I whispered, blinking back my tears. I gripped the helmet and pulled it back on my head, tucking my hair inside before securing the clasps. I placed both of my hands on the morpher.
"Alpha will teleport you to the location of the dumpster. You will need to head to the palace once you have it in your possession." I nodded as Zordon spoke. Alpha pressed some buttons on the panel in front of him and pink absorbed me. I felt that familiar pull as I left Earth.
Walking on the moon takes some adjusting. All of the commenters at the games who had classified me as graceful would be sadly mistake now if they saw me stumbling and drifting off in different directions as I landed on the surface. I fell forward, nearly landing in a deep crater on my left. I sunk my fingers into the dust on the ground to stabilize myself. It took a minute or two to get used to the feeling that nothing was holding me down. Dust particles floated around me as I was finally able to stand straight up. That was as coordinated as a baby learning to walk. Looking around, I saw the vast emptiness of space around me. I could see several planets off into the distance, the sun behind the Earth as it rotated. The Earth looked like a beautiful green and blue marble, the swirls of clouds looking like wisps of cotton on the surface. Unlike Earth, the moon was cold. Very cold. I was thankful for the thermal power of the suits because I felt I would have frozen to death without it. The same was to be said about the lack of oxygen. Whoever designed these suits knew what they were doing, that's for sure.
"Ok. If I were a space dumpster, where would I be?" I muttered, clicking on the flashlight attached to the helmet. It lit a small beam of light from the top, the light flooding the area about a foot away from me. Shifting my head back and forth, I strained my eyes to see anything that resembled it. I had a fuzzy memory of what I was looking for from the time Bulk and Skull accidently found it in the park. Stepping forward, I kept sweeping the area, hoping it would appear. I was just about to give up hope when the beam hit something that glinted to the right. Turning, I saw that it was the very top of the dumpster, the lid askew to the side. Running as fast as I could in zero gravity, I slid to my knees in front of it. Grabbing the lid, I put it on top of the dumpster. It was embedded into the side of the moon alright. It almost looked like it had grown out of the ground rather than landing there over a year or so ago. Gripping the edges of it, I yanked. It didn't budge at all. Swearing, I tried again. This time, it shifted a few centimeters.
What the hell was I supposed to do if I was unable to get this fucking thing out of the ground? No one had said anything about it being locked into place. Sighing, I rested for a moment, trying to figure out what would work. I had the power blaster, but I would chance hurting it and giving myself away from Rita. Shaking my head, I grabbed it again and pulled. It moved more than before but not by much. Now, it slid left and right in its hole. Inspiration came to mind as I kept turning it to the left. My arms ached from the repeated motion but sure enough, it started to unscrew from the moon like a lightbulb.
Standing up straight, I heaved the dumpster out of the hole and was amazed at how light it was. Then I remembered I was on the moon and everything weighed like a feather here. Hugging it to my chest, I turned to face north where the Moon Palace was. I could see it's outline in the shine from the Earth. Jumping high, I soared through the air as I headed in that direction. As I jumped, an idea was beginning to form on how to trap Rita. If I hid the dumpster on the balcony and somehow managed to get her out there, it would suck her up inside without any issues. I'm sure it would be easy once she saw me out there. For the first time since Rita kidnapped me, I was feeling optimistic about my chances.
As I neared the castle, I stopped jumping and decided to walk the rest of the way. There weren't many lights coming from the structure, just that from the throne room and the windows near the balcony. I knew she would be there. She had a flair for the dramatics and it was the same place she had forced me to record that message. It suddenly dawned on me that she had made me record it to send to the Tommy in my time, not this Tommy. She must have planned to take both versions of him, but her plan failed when younger Tommy showed up and helped us escape. That's when she probably decided to send Tommy the video I had made. She lured him into a trap. Damn it, Tommy.
Under the balcony, I searched for an entry way that was clear of anyone. It was odd not seeing a putty or any of Rita's normal creatures milling around. I had asked Hermes this when I had been captured. He stated that he was the only other henchman in the whole place besides Goldar. What had this Rita done with the Rita of this time? Was she here too, somewhere in hiding in hopes of aiding her younger self? It made sense. It sounded a lot like what Rita from any time area would do. I found a semi-hidden door way along the west wall of the palace. From the doorway, I could still see the balcony and it seemed empty. I suddenly wished our powers included super high jumping. Even with the added help of no gravity, there was no way I could make that leap while carrying this. I would need to go inside and find my way there.
The door was on the smaller side and made of wood, cast iron nails holding it together. There was also a cast iron ring for a handle that hung on the right side of the door. Gripping it in my free hand, I pulled on it and the door slowly opened without the slightest trace of noise or resistance. It made me worry with its ease. Rita couldn't be this stupid. As I slipped inside, I kept the hand I wasn't using to carry the dumpster on the handle of my power blaster. I found myself in a long stone hallway that was lit with torches that actually had flames on them, oppose to her orbs when I had been here last time. Behind me, the door swung shut with a soft thud and suddenly, there was gravity again. The dumpster grew twenty pounds heavier and I nearly dropped it. Quickly, I was able to steady myself again, but I now needed to use both my hands to trek it up the hallway.
"Ah. Kimberly. I'm glad you've returned." A voice said from my left. I froze, afraid to see who was there. Shifting my head, I saw Hermes standing in the doorway off to the side. He smiled at me, a pleasant gleam in his eye. Crap. Bending down, I set the dumpster on the floor and pulled my weapon from my waist. I pointed it at him and he nodded. "I don't blame you, dear. I would probably do the same. I promise on my father's life I won't let Rita know of your arrival. She isn't expecting my presence any time soon anyway." I eyed him for a second, unsure if he was telling the truth. "Your friend is here. Rita has him upstairs in the throne room, trying to convince him to join her crusade."
"Isn't it your crusade too?" I asked. He shook his head, sighing.
"Goodness, no. I only work for Rita because of my family's debt to her. She granted us survival after her father took over our planet. Since then, we've been forcing to work for her. Since our time goes in reverse, after I'm gone my father will be taking my place." And I thought our time issue was confusing.
"That sounds awfully complicated." I replied, lowering my gun. "I'm sorry that you and your family have to go through that."
"As am I. I do apologize for what she has done to you and your family as well." He said. "If you cut through this door, you will end up at the back staircase to the throne room."
"Where is Goldar?" I asked.
"She sent him back to their time to heal. You hurt him pretty badly." He smirked, winking at me. "She was hoping that he would be back by tonight but unfortunately, my time travelling powers are almost tapped out."
"Your powers? It's your powers she's been using?" He nodded.
"I'm afraid so. It's part of my imprisonment with her. I haven't had the time to recharge though. I will die if I try again." He tucked his hands into the pockets of his white apron. "Would you like me to watch your pot while you fight?"
"Huh?" I questioned, confused. He nodded towards the dumpster at me feet. "Oh. No. I need this to stop Rita. Actually, Hermes, I think I've got an idea but I'm going to need your help."
"Your wish is my command, Miss Kimberly!"