Once she was alone again, Beth let out a sigh. On her wrist was once again a powerful morpher. She did not want to be a ranger again. Hadn't she done enough? Couldn't she ever a normal life? Apparently not.
Beth decided to spend the rest of the day shopping for laptops. Heaven knows, she needed a new one. But she didn't regret giving her old one to the shelter, they needed it more. The girl was finished rather quickly. The workers were surprisingly helpful. She took the laptop home, ate lunch, and fed Arda. Then she left to find the gym.
She found it exactly were Kelly said it was. Beth entered and was immediately greeted by a rather ragged old man. "Hey, you lassie, if your lookin' for lessons, you better inquire with the new owner, iff'n ya ain't, you better inquire anyway." Having said his piece, the gray-haired elder hobbled away.
"Thanks!" Beth shouted after him. She looked around the place. It was a full set up, with events for both men's and women's gymnastics. Composing herself, she knocked on the bare office door.
The words "It's open!" sounded from within. Beth opened the door and was greeted with a pleasant surprise. Inside, in all her glory, was five time Olympic medalist, gymnastics legend, and Beth's mentor, Kimberly Hart.
"Kim?" Beth asked timidly, afraid to trust her eyes.
"Hannah?" The woman's response was even more unsure, if that was possible.
"It's Elizabeth now, I changed my name."
"I see," The two stood there a moment, then Beth ran to hug the young woman.
"I missed you Kimmy. I just moved here and it's so nice to see a familiar face. Do you know that your cousin Kelly lives in this city? I'm really glad to see you. I was adopted again, and my new brother lives here and I moved in with him, and I'm back in the silver business, with a brother again, and I graduated college, like two years ago" Beth took a breath.
Kim seemed amused. "I'm glad some things haven't changed," she mused. "I missed you too, but what did you come here for?"
"Oh, I was coming to see how expensive it would be to practice here."
"I'll make a deal with you. You can use the gym free of charge if you agree to teach one class a day for me."
"I'll have to check with Kelly, my other boss, but I think it'll work, though I may have to leave suddenly." Beth flashed her morpher to emphasize her point.
"Poor Bethie can't get a break, can she?"
Beth grinned at the familiar nickname. There had been so many Hannahs, that everyone started calling her Bethie. When Beth had changed her name, after her adopted parents died, the nickname stuck.
"I'm going to put my leotard on, let's see if I still got it, eh?" Beth asked with a teasing grin.
When Beth came back, wearing the silver leotard with pink stripes on each side, Kim's eyes watered.
"You kept it?" she asked.
"Yeah, I may have been mad at you for breaking Tommy's heart when I know you still love him, but you're my sister from another mister. Besides, I think I understand now."
"You fell in love?"
"No, but I realized I can't ever date, or fall in love, so I understand about hard choices."
"Wait, how do you know about me still loving Tommy?"
"Besides the fact that you just admitted it, you have a picture of him in your office." The two left the conversation at that, and started practicing, spotting each other and giving advice.
Dustin and Tori were walking by the gym and spotted Beth on the beam. They walked in as Beth preformed a round-off back-handspring dismount.
Beth and Kim started chatting, as they took a water break, "Just like old times, eh Kimmy?"
"Yeah, except Trini and the boys aren't here, and you're not nine years old anymore."
"Hey Lizzy!" Beth rolled her eyes as the yellow clad brunette shouted to her.
"How come he gets to call you Lizzy, you told me you don't like the nickname!" Kim exclaimed.
"Pick your battles Kim," The girl chuckled. "This is my new brother Dustin and Tori, a new friend. Guys, this is Kim, an old friend from high school, and one of my mentors. She's also very… pink."
Kim's eyes were drawn immediately to the morphers on their wrists. "Well Bethie, I see what you mean, trouble does seem to follow you around"
"Kim, I think I'd better get home, I still have stuff I to do."
"Oh, all we had left was the vault, your specialty!" Kim argued.
"Okay, I'll vault," Beth relented.
Beth stepped up to the run way, applied a little chalk, and ran at the vault, where she promptly launched herself into the air with her hands, preforming a one and a half twist. Dustin and Tori stared amazed.
Beth grabbed her bag and walked past the gawking duo, ignoring them completely. When she returned from the changing room, she was once again sporting a tunic, leggings, and running shoes. "Kim, it's been wonderful to see you. I'll let you know when I am available to help out. You should come by Storm Chargers, where I start work tomorrow. Your cousin Kelly owns the place."
"I just might!" promised Kim.
"Bye, Waldo, Tori, Kim!"
As Beth left, Kim turned to Dustin. "You take good care of that girl. She's been to hell and back in the past 11 years, and might have to make the trip again. I know she can survive alone, but you promise me she won't have to, alright. She means the world to me, and several other people. Promise me you'll have her back Yellow Ranger."
Dustin blinked. "She told you?"
"She didn't have to, you did. I'm Kimberly Hart, original pink ranger." Kim extended her hand politely.
Dustin saw how serious Kim was. "I promise," he vowed, shaking Kim's hand.
"I'll look out for her too," Tori promised.
"Good, but remember, if you break your promises, 'Hell, hath no wrath like a pissed off pink ranger." Kim left them and closed the office door behind her dramatically.
"Now I see what Lizzy meant by overprotective siblings," Dustin commented.
When Dustin arrived home, close to an hour later, he was greeted by the sight of Beth bustling around the kitchen. She had spaghetti, green beans, and garlic bread, all ready. It seemed that she had made enough for a small army.
"You made so much, why?" Dustin asked.
"Apparently, the rest of the team decided to invite themselves over, and Cam was appalled by their manners, so he called half an hour ago. It wasn't hard to through this together." Just as Beth finished explaining, the doorbell rang. "Right on time," she commented. Dustin answered it, as Beth got out the plates and cutlery. Everyone piled in, and Beth instructed them to serve themselves.
When everyone was settled, Cam began the conversation. "So Beth, I never got to ask why you called yourself Livs when we communicated over the computer."
"Livs is an anagram of the first four letters in both my last name, and my color, silver. The beauty of it is that it looks like an ordinary nickname."
"Oh, that's creative," commented Tori.
"Thanks, it took me ages to think of it."
The conversation turned to Beth's ranger past. She told the several funny stories that seemed to amuse her. Eventually she was asked why she wasn't in charge.
"I am bound to follow the red ranger. I may be very experienced, but the power never chose me as red for a reason. You are more than welcome to ask for advice though; I know from experience that all rangers need help sometimes." Before their very eyes, Beth's eyes grew tired and distant. Her shoulders slouched and her smile slipped off her face.
"Are you alright?" Dustin asked, concerned.
"Honestly no, but I'll be fine. I'm just weary. I've had a rough life." Beth smiled sadly. "Do you want to see a picture of some of you predecessors?"
"Sure," they responded.
Beth left and returned with a silver picture frame. The picture was of six teenagers, a young girl, and a robot. There was a head floating in a tube in the background. "The youngest girl is me, the robot is Alpha 5, and the floating head is Zordon. The teenagers are Billy, Zack, Tommy, Jason, Trini, and Kim," Beth explained.
"You looked cute in pigtails," commented Tori.
"Thanks, Kim or Trini usually did my hair. I swear, Kim probably thought I was a living doll or something, she bought me so many clothes," Beth chuckled.
Soon, everyone was gone, and Beth cleaned up and took Arda for a walk before going to bed.