Scorpina had travelled long and far to Eltar to do the bidding of her new empress, Kirai. She would have much rather have been participating in the final conquest of Earth, but her mistress gave her this new duty and she would fulfill this task. That task being to bring the power of the Green Ranger back under the thrall of evil. And nothing would stand in her way of doing that.
After years of waiting victory over the Power Rangers finally was at hand. On her way to Eltar, Scorpina could not help but think of all the times Rita Repulsa had been close to victory and have it snatched away by a pack of prepubescent humanoids. Having avoided the energy wave created by Zordon, she believed that all had been lost. That was until the child of Zedd and Rita found her and recruited her.
Now, nothing would stop them. For years they hid, allowing the Power Rangers and the humans swell with pride and victory. They hid, waited and trained. During that time of waiting, Kirai honed her powers and created new and stronger creatures of strength and horridness. With Scorpina's help she recreated her fallen Goldar, but fully restoring him was another matter entirely. But it did not matter; a pivotal cog had been added to Kirai's powerful war machine. Even the once mighty Machine Empire had fallen under her mistresses' power.
And now, finally, all that stood in her way of ultimate victory was some clumsy looking android. Not only was the Green Ranger Power on the other side of the door, but there was the extra added consolation prize that a Power Ranger, one of the originals was here as well. She could smell the fear and the desperation coming off the Pink Ranger. Soon she would feel her sting. And the power of the Green Ranger would server her new empress well.
Scorpina tore the arm off the android and then used her blade sword to cave in its head. The machine fell to the ground. It had struggled well, but it was obviously not built for combat at all. The machine desperately tried to grab at her ankles, but she used the severed arm to beat in the robot's body some more.
"…win…you..can…no.." Beta One tried to say. Scorpina delighted in finally smashing the saucer head into the hard marble floor. Her dark mischievous eyes stared down the hallway at the door, the door that separated her from the Power Coin and ending the life of the Pink Ranger. After all these years, finally she would kill a Power Ranger. She would savor these final few moments as she strode down the hallway confidently, and then began to beat down the door.
Inside the Power Coin Foundry
Kimberly rose from the floor, the sounds of fighting becoming distant behind her. She stared ahead, the entire room before her illuminated in green light. She turned and saw the green flame, it looked strong, stronger than ever. It burned brightly, almost drawing her closer and closer to it.
The flame sat suspended in a cylinder glass case. Upon further inspection, the power was only mimicking fire. It was power, pure electrical like power. Kimberly stood mesmerized by it for a moment. Kimberly smiled with victory. Soon she would be able to return and help her friends back on Earth. But first to the matter at hand: restoring her powers.
A loud clang against the outside walls woke Kimberly from her reverie. "Don't forget what it has cost." She said to herself while thinking of Beta One's sacrifice for her outside. She would make Scorpina pay.
Kimberly unzipped one of her breast pockets and reached in to remove the blank power coin. She held it securely in her hand and looked at the billowing green power.
"Here we go." Kimberly said to herself. She held up the coin and placed it against the glass. Nothing happened. Kimberly's heart skipped a beat.
She held the coin in her palm and held it up again. Nothing happened.
She held up the side of the coin between her thumb, fore and middle fingers. Nothing happened.
She tapped the coin against the glass. Nothing happened.
She held it full up against the glass. Nothing happened.
They said this would be instantaneous! Kimberly thought frantically to herself.
Tears started to spill down Kimberly's cheeks as she banged her hand against the glass cylinder. "Please, please come on!" She begged. Outside, the door began to crack, causing a loud metal moan inside the foundry. Kimberly grabbed her laser sword and banged it against the glass. The cylinder did not crack or break. Kimberly cried and fell to her knees. The bangs against the door began to get louder and louder. The door strained against the attack. Scorpina was coming.
Kimberly's eyes became thick with tears and she held the unchanged coin in the palm of her hand while the power hung in the air, unchanged and unmoved. "Please," Kimberly whispered through tears. "Please don't let it end this way."
The failure of her powers to take hold back in the Astro Mega Star Ship ran through her mind. She had no idea what to do or how to make the power transfer over. She and death were literally separated by a door. And the fate of the Earth hung in the balance because she could not get the power.
"Kimberly." Her eyes shot up, looking for the sound of Zordon's voice. It sounded as if he were standing in front of her; it was clear and strong, but not as strong as when she had first met him.
"Kimberly, my dear, do not despair."
"Zordon? I can't…I can't retrieve the power, please help me." Again the door strained from the force of Scorpina's body.
Zordon replied, "Be calm and be still, Kimberly. I am here, and I will help you." Kimberly's nerves settled and she began to become hopeful, but she could not see Zordon.
"Where are you?" Kimberly asked.
"I am here, Kimberly. I am the power that you have come to collect."
"What? Are you in it? Can you come out?" Kimberly asked in disbelief.
"No, my dear. What you hear before you is the last of my power and consciousness. It is all that remains of who I once was."
"I don't understand." Kimberly said
"Your powers and the powers of the other rangers were all extensions of my own. A part of me went into the creation and design of each ranger's power. It was how I was able to assist you all so many times in the past, by giving you an extra charge.
"What you see and hear is the last of my consciousness, I knew you and the other rangers were in trouble, by restoring my original morphing grid, it has allowed me to transcend time and space to speak and help you one last time. After this exchange, my dear, I will truly be no more."
"No, there has to be a way, Zordon we need you!" Kimberly said.
"No, Kimberly. My time is over, that is the way that things must be. But you are needed and your battles are not won. So in order for you to survive and fight the last of Rita and Zedd's evil, you must draw this power into your power coin."
"I've tried! Nothing is working. I can't claim the power. What do I do?" Kimberly said.
"You must…believe."
"Believe?" Kimberly said in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"I sense much doubt, resentment and anger in you, Kimberly. It is something in you that has grown and matured over time. There was much that you have had to endure in your life, your parent's divorce, becoming a hero and being the target of both Rita and Zedd. But now, what I sense in you is an anger of a different kind. Anger at me, and at your teammates."
Kimberly's mouth hung open slightly, her mouth dry like cotton. She looked back over her life: the night her parents decided they no longer could be married, how Rita had a monster trap her in a bottle, confronting Tommy when he was under Rita's spell, the overtures by Lord Zedd to become his wife.
A deep resentment had welled up in her when she saw Katherine Hillard again. She had repressed the anger and it hurt when it had come to the forefront of her mind. Seeing Tommy again only reinforced her sense of betrayal, and the terrible time she had experienced when Katherine was a secret agent for her enemies. It was compounded even more when the person chosen to help save the Pink Ranger powers was none other than Katherine. What added more fire to Kimberly's anger was that Tommy had seemingly fallen for Katherine. That was a pain that had bothered her for a long time, it had even spurred her on to write the letter that forced the break up between her and Tommy.
Kimberly had needed to escape from the whole series of events, she forced herself into gymnastics and the Olympics. She had forced herself away from her friends, her fellow soldiers. But her sense of resentment had spread even to her friends. She left the team and they kept fighting. They all went on without her. She had felt she had been ostracized and rejected.
Kimberly breathed heavily, feelings of phantom rage filling her heart and mind. She looked at the power and back toward the door, large grooves starting to form in it.
"Oh God! Oh God! Zordon, there's," she gulped hard, "there's...there's no time for this, Zordon."
"No, Kimberly, you must confront the past. You must understand again. You must know, you must remember what an integral part you were and still are! All of you, Jason, Trini, Billy, Tommy, Zack and yourself, were all chosen for a reason. You all each possessed a basic goodness that counteracted all of Rita's evil and selfishness. You were all good of heart, you all cared for one another, you cared for others and you all cared for your planet. That never changed."
"Zordon, I…"
"If you are to gain these powers, Kimberly then you must believe again. You must believe as you did when you first became a Power Ranger. Then as now, you were and forever are part of the team. Each and every one of you was important, and you must believe and know that you still are. You wouldn't be here if you didn't."
It all seemed to make sense, as if an unknown weight had been lifted from Kimberly's heart and soul. It caused Kimberly to lose a breath and more tears to enter her eyes. She had needed to hear that, a graceful reminder from the one being who had been like a father to her in her darkest moments.
" Do you remember what I said to you when I first gave you the power?"
"You said I was 'graceful and smart.'" Kimberly replied.
"Qualities that few possess and you abound in. But another virtue that you possess is determination. You have come so far Kimberly, you came not just seeking the power you need to defeat evil and help your friends, but because something was lacking in your life, lacking in you. Something you have long denied yourself. Open yourself once again and be whole."
The banging on the door seemed distant to Kimberly as she felt lightness; a desire in her heart that pumped through every vein in her body. A sense of life and purpose she had not felt since when she first called upon the power of the pterodactyl. She felt a slight zap of power.
"Yes," she began, " I have been away, and I have been selfish and self centered. I see the error. You made the power to be selfless. I have been the opposite for too long. I tried to push my friends away, all of it – but the fact of the matter…I have been closed off and not fully…alive."
The green flame began to spark and rise. Kimberly's left hand shook, the hand that grasped the blank power coin so tightly. The light became brighter and brighter. Kimberly's hair began to stand on end like it had been touched by static electricity. She breathed hard.
"I want to be a power ranger again! I want…to protect!" The glass case began to stir and shake. The rest of the room shook from Scorpina's attack, but Kimberly was so transfixed that she no longer noticed.
"You are ready." Zordon said weakly but filled with pride. The case opened and the green flame burst with intensity. Kimberly's hand flew open and the power coin flew into the flame, spinning around and around like a small tornado. Kimberly's jaw fell open as she watched the coin draw the energy into itself, absorbing the power. Most spectacularly of all she watched in amazement as an image began to appear on it: the foot of the dragon!
"Farewell, Kimberly. May the power always protect you." Zordon's soft, faint voice said as the last of the fire entered the power coin. Tears ran down Kimberly's face.
"Goodbye, Zordon." Kimberly whispered to the dangling power coin before her. Kimberly reached up and took the coin as the door fell down.
"HART!" Scorpina yelled, "I'VE COME FOR YOU!" The room was dark, but Scorpina could see the girl with her back to her, her arms making some sort of motion. And with one quick turn of her foot, Kimberly faced her enemy. A smile of confidence graced her face. It was a look that startled Scorpina.
"And I've been waiting for you bitch!" Kimberly had kept her right hand behind her back the whole time, "Its morphin time!" Kimberly yelled. Scorpina watched stunned as Kimberly Hart's arms shot forward and her hands gripped her power morpher.
"DRAGONZORD!"