I know many of you have really been waiting for this chapter, and I was going to upload it Friday, but due to problems with I haven't been able to upload it until today. I know you will enjoy this chapter greatly, as many of you have been waiting for Trini's appearance. Oh yeah, and Rita's baaaaack. Enjoy!
Chapter 7 Yellow Sensible, Pink Depressed
Unknown to Kimberly, Rita Repulsa had occasionally been keeping tabs on her throughout that entire day. The little boy disgusted her and he could change Kimberly's mind before the seeds of depression were fully sown. She had to strike now before the old yellow Ranger showed up for a visit. She had more sense than any of the Rangers and Rita knew that Trini could ruin her plans for revenge.
"Goldar! Did you see what I saw today?"
"A little boy with Kimberly."
"Yeah, she's going for 'em awfully young," interrupted Rito, laughing at his own joke.
Rita smacked her brother with her staff. "Shut up you bumbling idiot! I did not ask for your opinion!"
"Well I gave it anyway so nyah!" muttered Rito as he left the area before he incurred any more injuries from his sister.
"Today I saw happiness in that girl. Happiness that could ruin our plans, Goldar. I don't want my plans ruined before I even get to put them into action."
"But I thought we had already started…" began Goldar.
"That's just the beginning! That was more a pre-phase plan! My grand plan isn't ready for action just yet. The moment isn't right," contemplated Rita. "And no I'm not leaking it to you either so don't even try it."
"I wouldn't think of asking my queen," responded Goldar.
Rita did not look convinced. She had more important things to deal with besides Goldar. She turned to face Finster, who had been sitting in a nearby corner, tinkering with one of his devices. "Finster, I need the Dream Intrusion device."
"But it has to charge again! You used most of it power…" protested Finster.
"Finster did I ask for your excuses?" asked a very ticked off Rita.
"Well, no, but using the Dream Intrusion device when it's charging could be bad! I've never used it when it's charging!"
"Then how do you know it'll have a bad effect? Give it now!"
Finster reluctantly handed over the device to a very grabby Rita. She quickly hooked up the device to her forehead, but looked at the knobs that Finster had controlled so easily earlier. "Finster get over here and fix this so I can get into her dreams now!"
"Coming, coming," answered Finster as he began walking over to the table. He quickly set the controls to the proper setting before retreating to his corner again. Rita pressed the intrusion button as soon as she made sure Kimberly was asleep.
Kimberly's Dream
Kimberly found herself watching a gymnastic meet. Instead of being one of the competitors, she had become one of the viewers. She gazed down at the current events taking place, but focused mainly on the bars. She never took too much notice of the people who were around her, until a finger tapped her arm. Kimberly turned to her side to address the person who had tapped her and gasped.
"Hello again Pinky," said Rita.
"Rita… what are you doing here? Why is no one getting rid of you? You don't belong here." Kimberly was confused. Her enemy was sitting here, yet no one was doing anything to stop her. It was as if she blended in.
"I should ask the same of you really. You should be down there competing, yet here you sit and no one is doing a thing to stop you."
"Stop twisting my words you vile witch."
"Can't take a little salt to the wound? Too weak? Where's your precious Tommy to save you now? Isn't that what he always does? Comes to poor Kimberly's rescue because she's too much of a princess to save herself."
"Leave Tommy out of this," whispered Kimberly.
"And why should I? Did I touch a nerve? Did I speak the truth perhaps?"
Anger was growing inside of Kimberly. She couldn't remember a time when she'd felt so angry. Her hand flew out and she slapped Rita across the face. "I said leave Tommy out of it!" she yelled.
Rita rubbed her cheek. "Didn't think you had it in you to do that. You must be hiding something deep inside."
"I'm hiding nothing and I don't think it's any of your business either."
"Denial is always the first stage."
"I'm not denying anything," Kimberly huffed.
"You're not denying anything like I'm not pushing you down these bleachers," cackled Rita.
"Huh?" was all Kimberly could say before Rita gave her a shove. Without the use of her legs, Kimberly was unable to stop herself. She tried reaching out to grab the railing, but failed each time. The other spectators acted like it was nothing, ignoring the entire scene. Kimberly was bruised and battered by the time she hit the gym floor. She was crying in pain and her head was throbbing. She heard laughter and looked up. Tommy was sitting there, laughing at her. And beside him…. Jayden! Jayden was standing and laughing.
"Look at the cripple!" yelled Tommy.
"She can't even get up!" added Jayden.
The crowd began to take notice now and began adding more catcalls to Jayden and Tommy's. Kimberly looked at them, pointing and laughing at her. Even the competitors were watching and laughing. Kimberly watched as one of the girls came closer, swinging a gold medal. "Look what I won from Pan Globals. Without you there to compete, I was the star. I've got something you'll never earn now!"
Kimberly kept her head close to the floor. She didn't want the others to see her tears of shame. She didn't want to be humiliated anymore. She already felt lower than dirt. "I didn't ask for this," she mumbled.
A voice began to call through a haze that suddenly appeared in Kimberly's dream. It was soft, but determined. "Kimberly? Kimberly wake up. You're having a nightmare. Come on, you have to snap out of it. It's time to wake up," called the voice softly.
Kimberly looked up toward where she thought the voice was coming from. She felt her body left from the ground as she floated toward it. It was as thought she was going for the light. The higher she got, the cloudier her dream became; soon there was nothing but a sudden flash of light and Kimberly closed her eyes.
End Kimberly's Dream
As Kimberly worked to wake herself, she continued to hear the voice the entire time. She opened her eyes, which she promptly covered again because of the bright light. She realized she'd been crying again, and began to remember her dream. Fortunately, she didn't have much time to focus; she felt a hand on her arm and jumped. She quickly turned her head to see who it was, thinking it was her mother or Dr. Matthews, but it wasn't. "Trini! When did you get here?"
Trini reached over to hug Kimberly tightly. "About an hour ago. You were still sleeping so I just slipped in. You then started calling out in your dream and I had to wake you up; you were crying hard."
"It was a terrible nightmare Trini. I've had them a lot since I've been here."
Trini hugged Kimberly tighter. "Well, I'm just glad that one's over. You had me worried there for a second."
"Sorry. Usually no one is around when I wake up."
Trini's face grew more serious. "Now are you going to tell me why you've kept everything a secret?"
Kimberly sighed. She knew Trini wouldn't beat around the bush. "It's a long story and it started with my mom…."
"I like long stories, Kim. There's no way you're getting out of this one."
"It's just…. I don't want everyone to have to deal with me like this, or to have to worry about me. I don't even want to deal with me like this."
"Kimberly, we're your friends. We care about you. We're not going to care whether you're in a wheelchair or not."
"You say that now, but you don't know how much my life has changed."
"I may not be able to understand that, Kimberly, but have you seen me abandoning you yet?" asked Trini.
"No, but you're my best friend."
"Kimberly, why haven't you told the others, like Jason? He's like your big brother and family to you. Why would you keep it a secret from him?"
"It's complicated Trini. It's just… I'd be too much in the way. I can't really explain how I feel. I just know that I don't want to tell them. Not now, not yet. Please don't try to force me either."
"I'm not going to try to force you Kimberly. You've just confused me so much that I'm trying to put together reasons why. So far, these reasons don't add up. Why haven't you told Tommy? I'm sure he's worried he hasn't heard from you in days."
"He is worried," answered Kimberly. "My roommates told me he left messages for me. I told them not to contact him."
If Trini had been shocked before, then she was ready to drop dead upon hearing this. How could Kimberly keep Tommy out of the loop? Tommy would want to know. She knew he had to be worried sick. As far as she knew the two had always talked nightly unless there was a reason. "Kimberly, how could you do this to him?" Trini asked softly, her eyes staring intently at her friend. "He loves you more than anything."
"Not like this he wouldn't. I'd be taking away his independence. He has other things to do besides worry about a cripple like me."
"Kim, I can't believe you're saying this… you know Tommy doesn't think that way. And if by other things you mean his Ranger stuff, that won't last forever. Eventually, Tommy will also pass on his power to another. Kim you need to call Tommy and tell him everything," Trini stated calmly.
"I can't…" whispered Kim, turning her head.
"What do you mean you can't?"
"I've done something to prevent that."
Trini was confused. "What did you do?"
At first, Kimberly didn't want to tell Trini at all, but she reluctantly decided that she had to. She knew Trini would drag it out of her otherwise. "I… I can't say it out loud."
"Then whisper it to me. No one else will hear." Trini was dying to know exactly what Kimberly had done. She feared it to be the worst.
Kimberly propped herself up using her elbow and leaned over to Trini, who leaned closer to her. Kimberly began to whisper her secret and Trini's eyes grew wide. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't believe it was Kimberly telling her. She couldn't believe what Kimberly had done.
When Kimberly was finished, she lowered herself back to the bed and turned away from Trini. She didn't want to see the look on her friend's face, nor deal with her at that moment. She wished she could crawl under a rock and hide instead of having to deal with what Trini would respond with.
It turned out that she didn't have to. She heard the chair Trini had been sitting in scoot across the floor and her door open and close. So that was it for now. Trini didn't even want to deal with her after this. She was being abandoned even by her best friend, but could blame only herself for it. Tears fell softly as she cried herself back to sleep.
Trini stood outside of Kimberly's door, leaning against the nearby wall. Her arms were crossed and she stared intently at the floor, perhaps hoping that could shed some light on what she'd just heard. She had figured that Kimberly was in some sort of depression, but she hadn't thought it'd be this bad or cause Kimberly to push everyone away. This wasn't like Kimberly, but Trini knew that the shock she'd been put through the past few days could totally change any person's mind and make them think irrationally. Trini wanted Kimberly to snap out of her depression, but knew she wouldn't. Her friend was just too stubborn to be that easily convinced. Trini needed to clear her head.
As Trini walked back through the lobby, she couldn't help but remember the thoughts that had run through her mind as she came closer to her friend's room. She could never have guessed that her thoughts would have been completely wrong and that Kimberly would take her totally by surprise. Trini walked out into the humid Florida day and began walking down the street, realizing that it would take everything she'd learned at the Peace Conference to try and help Kimberly. That is, if Kimberly let her help at all.
Thus ends chapter 7. Sorry folks, but no preview of chapter 8 right now. It's a surprise and I don't want to give it away. Three characters we haven't heard from do make an appearance though. That's all I can tell you. Leave reviews, and chapter 8 should be up by Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how I feel :P