Different Paths
Chapter 1
Kimberly was sitting in Tommy's room, nervously picking at her finger nails as he was downstairs preparing some lunch for the two of them. Anymore it was becoming difficult to be apart from him, as the usually strong willed young woman was severely affected by her near death experience. The group had yet to tell her who caused her accident but she had her own ideas as to who was behind it, who else would be giving her trouble constantly? Rita and Zedd weren't one for murder without giving her an opportunity to fight back. But to light the youth center on fire while she was unconscious inside was low...even for those messed up space freaks. Rubbing her temples she groaned in pain as yet another headache took hold of her. "Everything alright beautiful?" asked her white knight as he came into the bedroom with a tray in hand.
"Just another head ache..." she droned, knowing it would be normal for the next while according to the doctor she had spoken to before leaving.
"I told you to lay back down."Tommy told her in a stern but ever loving voice. He set the tray on his nightstand and sat on the bed next to her, drawing her petite form to hers. "You're shaking...should I call the doctor?"
"No, I'm just...I'm scared Tommy..." she whispered softly, hiding her face in his chest for a moment whilst gripping the material of his white t-shirt.
"I know..it's okay. I'm done letting this happen. I should have never left you in the first place when you went to the gym. From now on, you stick with me until we can get this sorted out." It was then that his communicator signalled and a groaned slipped by his lips. Raising his wrist he spoke, "Go ahead Zordon."
"Tommy, we have grave news of the attack on Kimberly. Can you warp anytime soon?" he asked.
The leader was not so sure but when he went to reply Kimberly was already up out of bed and changing. "I'll be there Zordon.," he shut off communication and stared at his girlfriend. "And where do you think you're going?"
"I'm coming with you of course, there's no way I'm missing a meeting because of a headache. I promise I'll come right back to bed. But I know you, and if it's something bad or that might hurt my feelings you won't tell me. I want to hear it for myself." She pointed out; knowing she was right and Tommy had no defence.
Huffing he stood up and waited for her to be ready before he signalled alpha to warp them to the command center. The group, including the old rangers, had gathered in the center and were facing Zordon. Kimberly was leaning against Tommy and he had his arm around her while they were addressed. "What did you find out?"
"It will come to no shock that your suspicions were correct rangers." The mentor spoke solemnly as he gazed upon the group of teens. "It appears Katherine has been working willingly with both Lord Zedd and Rita. Though now she acts alone and without their direction to try and kill Kimberly."
Kimberly looked to the ground and felt the tears coming on. She was friends with the girl, or so she believed. She had introduced her to her friends, invited her to hang out at the beach and the juice bar. The first time she believed the other had been under a spell but now...she was doing it with her own choices. She simply felt the hand on her waist squeeze firmly as his other hand was clenched in a fist at his side. His gaze was like fire as he glared at the floor. "Tommy?" she asked softly, trying to draw him from his trance.
"I swear to God Kim, she's going to pay.." he whispered before he felt her hand on his cheek and was forced to meet her eyes.
"We have to be careful with this Tommy, maybe if we can get her here we can talk to her."
"Are you sure it's safe for her to be around you Kim?" Trini asked, coming to her best friend's side and looking worried to the rest of the team.
"We can't let her get away with it but what evidence do we have of this even happening? Think about it, how would we tell police? We have a magic globe that lets us observe and we saw Katherine try to kill Kim...because that's definitely plausible." Zack pointed out as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Point taken..." Jason nodded in agreement and looked to Tommy who was seething but trying to remain calm.
"Okay...we bring her here, but we keep Kimberly hidden. I don't want her anywhere that Katherine could influence, and at this point Zed could get to you too. There's no doubt they've been watching you in your weakened state." Tommy then pulled her closer to his chest, "I can't risk this happening again. None of us can." He whispered, clearly this danger to his love was taking a toll on him.
"But how are we going to get her alone so we can ambush?"
Tommy looked to Kim and knew he was going to have to get Kat's attention. "Kimberly, stay here in the command center, its the safest pace for you to be protected right now. Adam and Aisha, stay with her, make sure she rests. The of use will go get Katherine..." Tommy sighed, "I really do hate this..."
"Not our fault she fell ass over tea kettle for ya hot shot." Kimberly pointed out, trying to lightening the situation with her usual spunk. The group teased their leader who felt like he was going to his death bed.
They worked out a plan that Tommy would go to the high school and find Katherine on his own, proceeding to ask her to a see a movie, saying that Kimberly wasn't feeling well and he didn't want to go alone. They would go to the theatre and once they got her out of a sight they would warp her to the command center and begin the interrogation without the worry of outsider involvement or the fact that Zedd and Rita could see them. What was killing Tommy was the fact that he actually had to lower his pride enough to ask her on a date...a fake one but it still kind of counted. "It's not like you actually have to go on the date, we'll interrupt before it even starts but you have to make it seem real." Kimberly said, trying to convince him that it was ok. "Maybe we can talk her out of this madness..."
For someone who had almost committed murder only a few nights before Katherine was extremely calm as she walked down hallway. Her books were hugged tightly to her chest and as she came into the cafeteria she saw a large card that was set up for people to sign that would be given to Kim at the end of the week. Gritting her teeth she signed it anyway, not wanting to seem out of place to anyone, since those at the school knew she was friends with the group. As she went to sign her name she felt a hand tap her shoulder. Turning around she was met with that gorgeous face that took over her every thought. "Oh, hi Tommy..." she whispered with a smile.
"Hey, what are you up to?" he asked, trying his best to pull the best acting job of his life.
"Just signing Kim's card, it's horrible what happened to her. But what on earth are you doing here? I would have thought you'd be off with Kimberly." She tried desperately to keep the venom out of her voice.
"Well she didn't want me sitting there all day and frankly I was getting bored taking care of her every whim. I was planning to take her to the movies tonight, but with her not feeling well I'm stuck flying solo and this extra ticket. I was thinking about taking you." He suggested. "I mean, I feel bad about accusing you before really knowing the facts about Kim. I let my anger get the best of me, I know now you would never do that." He lied thickly, placing his hand on her waist. "Would you mind joining me?" he asked softly.
Katherine was swooning at his every word, completely falling under his spell and from around the corner the group watched carefully. "If I didn't know any better I'd say he was actually hitting on her..." Adam whispering to Jason who was glaring.
"Yeah, I just hope she honestly takes the bait. We need to find a way to get Kat to stop attacking Kim at every whim, we get enough of that from Zedd and Rita."
Within the next few hours Tommy had pulled up at Katherine's house and beeped the horn as she came running out to the vehicle. She was dressed in a light pink tube dress, a white knit sweater and white flip flips and her hair left down. She had tried her best to look right for her first, kinda date, with Tommy Oliver. She got into the passenger's seat and smiled to him, tucking her purse in her lap and sitting there sweetly. Tommy tried his best to smile but he couldn't wait to get this over with. He started the car and pulled out of the lane way, driving through town. He saw the look of confusion on Katherine's face when they drove passed the theatre. "Don't worry, we just need to take care of something first." He told her as they drove to the park and he stopped the vehicle. He helped her out before she was turned to face all the rangers who were standing next to their parked cars.
"What is going on?" she asked shocked as she turned to Tommy.
"We have evidence Katherine, we know your involvement with Kim's incident in BOTH cases." Jason replied.
"That's impossible, I told you! Rita had a spell on me for the first one and I wasn't anywhere around the youth center when it lit on fire!"
"Too bad Alpha ran the tests we asked him too. He didn't find anything like what was going on with Tommy when he was under the spell. And as for the second one, we have video of you doing it Kat. It's over." Billy explained, watching the girl unravel.
"I can't believe you were going to let her die in there!" Trini screamed, glaring at the girl as Jason put a hand on her shoulder. She was usually so calm but she couldn't help it! How could you stay calm when the person who tried to kill your friend was standing right there!
Katherine glared at the group, there was no getting out of here without help. But quickly she smirked, "sorry Rangers, but I'm not going to be stopped so easily..." she didn't need to say any more as the Rangers found themselves surrounded by Putties.
"God dammit I don't have time for these shits!" Tommy cursed as he pulled out his morpher. "It's morphing time!" he called out as most of the group transformed and the old rangers still took a stance.
But the point wasn't to fit. Katherine got away from the group and took hold of a Puttie before they were summoned again by Zedd. "Looks like talking to her isn't going to work..." Rocky sighed and Aisha nodded alongside him.
"Let's gather at the Command center, we officially have a new villain, and Kim will need to know."
"Hello there Kitty Kat." Rita cackled as the girl came walking into the main room.
"Hello Mistress Rita."
"So the rangers know of your evils. I don't see a point of keeping you around.." the woman only needed her to infiltrate the circle and now that it seemed pointless why keep her around?
"I'm still in the school Mistress and my new found hatred for the rangers fuels me to only wish to serve you." She bowed in submission, a smile on her face.
Turning to Zedd and the evil over lord nodded in agreement. "Alright Kitty, you're in!"
"She what?" Kimberly said in shock.
"She went to the other side, so to be speak. God that sounds cheesy" Zack groaned but it was the only way he seemed to be able to put it.
"What on earth is going on in her head?"
"Nothing that isn't her own choice, Billy was running the scanner the entire time; nothing was changing her thought process. She's evil Kimberly," Jason explained, sitting next to her on the couch she was currently resting on in the command center.
The group was quiet for a long while and Kimberly looked up at Zordon. "How will we get my power coin back? We need to be at full strength if we have a new enemy." She pointed out.
It was then that the space leader announced "Rangers, you will have your same powers, and I have created new zords for the returning rangers. Kimberly is correct in saying that we need to be at full strength. Jason, the gold ranger, Zack the silver ranger, Trini the bronze ranger. As for your power coin Kimberly, you will continue to feed from the other coins until we can safety infiltrate the dimension. For now, you must return and get some rest."
The group split up as they went home but Kimberly was immediately tucked into Tommy's bed as he got under the blankets with her. They chose to simply watch a movie but the entire time Kim knew his mind was reeling. "Tommy?" she asked gently, moving so sit up fully as he was leaning against the head board. He raised an eye brow and she motioned for him to sit up. Slipping behind him she leaned against the pillows, his form between her legs and leaned back as she rubbed out the tension in his shoulders.
"Kim you don't.."
"I know, but I want to. It`s been hard on everyone, even more so on you. You have to lead the team but you want to protect me with all your strength, I understand. Just relax ok.."
"How can you be so positive, you're their target."
"It's just how I am..." she leaned down and brushed her lips to his. "I love you handsome..."
"I love you too..."
tbc
