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Chapter Ten ; Ranger Games

Thursday, Nov. 27 2001

10.30 a.m

Moon Palace

Takes place the same time as Revelations

"I'm tired." Kimberly complained from her place on Tommy. She was sprawled over the other evil ranger, her hair covering his face and her small body on his chest, his arms wrapped around her.

Tommy lifted one hand and pushed her curled to the other side, a smug look on his face. "Of course you are. We just got through sparring, followed up by a sex marathon." He smirked, "Hell, if you weren't tired, they'd be something wrong."

Kim rolled her eyes and smacked his chest, or attempted to. She was curled up like a kitten, too tired physically to do much of anything. "I meant that I'm tired of working. All we do is work, work, work and none of it is ever fun." She pouted at him.

"I'm tired as well, love, but there's not much we can do if we stick to the plan," Tommy replied, his hand moving once more to draw circles on her naked back. "We can't show ourselves to the rangers until the last possible moment."

Actually, Tommy had no intention of ever letting Kim get close to her former teammate, at least not anymore. The other day, when she defended the rangers, saying that both she and Tommy could have been part of the team? That worried him. Normally, Kim would have agreed with him, since she hated the Power Rangers, or claimed to.

He had no idea how strong the witch's spell was, if the bonds of friendship and teammates were conquered by the spell. If the spell broke and the Power Coin returned to its taint-free state, then Kim would leave him. The space witch who'd done said spell was dead now, so that no one could ever break the curse, or even know what the curse was. So, if Kim returned to the side of good, then he would lose her forever. That wasn't acceptable.

"Its all fighting and work with you, isn't it." Not a question. "I meant that we should go out and have fun. Maybe have a date?"

He met her eyes, a slow smile crossing his face. "Are you asking me out?" He teased.

She huffed in a breath, "Of course not." A sniff, "I"m telling you that you should ask me out."

"It's the same thing," Tommy told her, shifting a bit.

"Not, it's totally not. When a girl asks out a guy, it's not all that romantic. When a guy asks a girl out, it's totally romantic." Kim lectured.

Tommy rolled his eyes at her, "Why do you want to go out, anyway? We're already married."

Kim glared at him, "Does that mean that we can't have any romance in our lives? Besides, we're only married in space terms, not in earth terms."

"Only because you didn't want a white earth wedding," Tommy pointed out, "You called the ceremony silly and stupid and a waste of our time."

Kim shifted, turning to that her cheek rested right above her lover's heart. "Because it is," She defended herself, "But that doesn't mean all the romance in our lives has to die."

Tommy sighed, "Fine. Kimberly Ann Hart-Oliver, do you want to go to dinner with me?"

Kim beamed at him, and Tommy couldn't help but feel like he'd conquered the world. "Of course I will, handsome."

"Good," Tommy informed her, then twisted them so that she was pinning under him once again. "We can go out after you finish thanking me."

"You are so-" She didn't finish her sentence, as his mouth cut her words off without any warning.

They could always eat dinner tomorrow.

Thursday, Nov. 28 2001

12.05 p.m

Moon Palace

"So what's on the menu for today?" Kim asked as she breezed through the doors to the throne room. "Besides dinner, that it."

Tommy stood and stepped over the maps of Angel Grove that he'd been surveying. "Well, I haven't decided on anything so far, but I have a rough sketch."

Kim wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a light kiss on his lips. "And what would those rough sketches include?"

Tommy's mouth curved under hers'. "I was thinking we could start things out with a few Quantrons, then send our newest weapon out..."

He shrugged, and Kim pulled back with a squeal. "Does this mean I get to join the fight? As one of them?"

Tommy paused, biting his lip. He really didn't want her near them. He didn't want her even thinking about the other rangers. "I'd rather you not."

Kim froze, eyes narrowing. "Why not?"

"I don't wish to reveal that you're alive, just yet," Tommy lied smoothly, feeling like crap for doing so.

"That's not the reason, and we both know it." Kim growled, crossing her arms, "But I'm willing to listen to you under one condition."

"And what condition would that be?" Tommy asked, face blank, not that it helped. He and Kim could read each other, no matter what was trying to be hidden or how well.

"I get to watch, and if I think you're in danger..." Kim spoke, shifting her weight.

Tommy didn't plan to get hurt, and the rangers weren't powerful enough to hurt him. "Agreed."

Thursday, Nov. 28 2001

11.50 a.m

Angel Grove Park

"Hello, Ashley," A rich voice from behind her spoke, and if she hadn't recognized him immediately, she'd had jumped and shrieked.

"Hey, Andros." She smiled warmly, but didn't turn, keeping her eye on Justin, the boy she was babysitting. "Whatchya been up to lately?"

The alien man took a seat beside her, lounging against the bench. "Nothing important. Mainly just trying to take over earth, kill a few millions, that sort of thing."

Ash sucked in a breath and turned to look at him with wide eyes. Then her eyes narrowed as she caught the curve of his mouth. She couldn't see his eyes behind the dark glasses, but she was pretty sure he was laughing at her. "That's soooo not funny!" She told him, though she was smiling.

"I found it amusing." He shrugged, then turned his gaze back to the jungle gym full of kids. "What are you doing here?"

Ash smiled fondly and pointed to a kid in blue, "That's Justin Stewart, the kid I'm babysitting today. His father gave me permission to take his out to the park, let him play around some."

Andros nodded, "Sounds...fun."

Just then, Justin jogged towards them, panting. "I'm ready to go, Ash." The boy announced, though his eyes were evaluating Andros with eerie intelligence. "Who's this?"

"My name is Andros." The big tough guy, with his hair in a ponytail, a leather jacket and dark glasses, smiled at the kid and held out his hand for a handshake. "You must be Justin. Ashley has said many wonderful things about you."

"Really?" Justin went bright red, then paused. "I haven't heard anything about you, and Ash has been my friend for a long time."

Ash butted in, "He's my almost-not-quite boyfriend, Justin."

Justin blinked, taking another look at the guy in the red muscle shirt. "Oooohhh." Then he frowned, "Well, if you make Ash cry, then I'm going to kick your butt. I'm a brown belt, you know."

Andros nodded solemnly, "I promise to do my best to prevent Ashley from crying. That way, you will not have to beat me up."

Justin nodded, and Ashley giggled a bit. "Come on, you two. Lets go see what else we can do."

Thursday, Nov. 28 2001

12.00 p.m

Angel Grove Park

Jason shook his head at Zach's antics and flopped onto his back, adjusting his sunglasses to block out the harsh sun. It was hot, it was bright, and it was the second day in a row that they hadn't had to fight anything. Those three reasons, Trini had said, were reason enough to have a picnic in the part.

"Are you two going to lay there and sunbath all day?" Jason popped one eye open to look up at the silver ranger.

Zhane and Karone were fast becoming part of the team. Karone was becoming his true second in command, something he hadn't had since Kim. Kim had been the one to sooth the team, back up his orders, and take command when he was gone. Zach had tried to step in and do the same, but he just wasn't...it just didn't work. The black ranger had been pleased to give up those duties to the purple ranger, and no one felt like she was replacing Kim.

Zhane, on the other hand, was the best pilot Jason had ever seen, maybe better than Kim herself, their wings on the team. They'd all trained together yesterday, and everyone on the Earth team had been blown away when Zhane had hopped in one of the auxiliary Zords and managed to fly circles around every other Zord.

"Not sunbathing," Jason replied, his voice lazy and content, "Just relaxing."

"Shoo, Zhane, you're blocking my sun." Karone threw in, and Jason snickered.

Zhane rolled his eyes and flopped down between them. "Maybe I'll sunbath with you." Jason winced as Zhane brushed up against him, then rolled to his feet.

"Okay, okay, I give. I'm getting. Now go get a room!" Jason yelped, hands raised as he backed a few steps away.

Zhane rolled over a bit, a smirk on his face, "Aw, Karone, we scared the fearless leader away."

"You scared him away," Karone corrected. "I merely sat here and let it happen."

"Hey, Jason!" Zach yelled, standing a few yards away and holding a tie dye soccer ball "You gonna join our game?"

Jason smiled and jogged their way, "Sure. Who's team?"

"Mine, since Zhane totally bailed on me," Zach replied, giving the ball a kick that send it straight into the red rangers foot.

"Let's play!" Trini shouted, smiling as she fell back beside Billy.

Thirty minutes into the game, Karone and Zhane joined the game, Zhane on Zach and Jason's side and Karone with Billy and Trini.

"Hey!" The group turned as someone shouted from the side lines. Ashley Hammond stood there, arms crossed, in shorts and a tank top. Beside her was a boy in blue, and Jason thought he was familiar . She jogged over, "Would you guys like a few extra players?"

Jason smiled, knowing this was their friend's way of telling them that she forgave them. The entire group had apologized, knowing they'd acted wrong. Andros might be not-good, but Karone said he wasn't truly evil, just brainwashed. They'd treated him horribly and hurt Ashley.

"Sure." Jason nodded, smiling. "Hey, kid. I'm Jason." The red ranger held his hand out for a high five.

He got one, and the kid smiled up at him, "I'm Justin Stewart."

"He's eleven, and I'm stuck babysitting him." Ashley said, but her tone was teasing and directed down at the eleven year old.

The kid stuck his tongue out at Ash, then turned to the group, who was, by now, surrounding the two new players. "She thinks she's babysitting me," the blue preteen mock whispered, "But really, it's the opposite."

The group laughed and split into teams again, with Zach, Zhane, Karone and Jason on the left side and Ashley, Trini, Billy and Justin on the other. Justin was apparently in soccer at his school, and it was obvious that Ashley had played in school as well.

"Ah man, I give up!" Zach laughed out an hour later, "There is no way I can win again you guys!"

Billy smiled, "This creates an opportunity to become a braggart, does it not?"

There was silence, then Jason looked at Trini. "Translate?"

"He basically says that he gets bragging rights." Justine informed them, smirking. Then he frowned as everyone looked at him oddly, "What? I've got a really high IQ, okay?"

Trini made a triumphant sound, "This means that I don't have to translate for Billy!"

"Yeah, but you enjoy doing it, almost as much as you enjoying doing," Zach was cut off as Karone, Jason and Ashley smacked the back of his head. "Ow! What the heck, guys?"

"There's a child present," Jason hissed at the back ranger.

Zach looked at them like they were all crazy, "What's marital arts have to do with a kid being around?"

There was silence, then everyone but Zach and Justin bust out laughing. "Wait, what just happened?" The youngest of the group asked.

"Nothing important, Justin." Ash told her charge, smiling. Then she looked up at everyone, "Anyone wanna head over to the Youth Center? Foods on me."

Zhane shook his head and smiled, "Much as I hate to say no to a pretty girl, we've got a picnic basket full of food..." The silver ranger trailed off.

"Any chance you two would join us?" Trini asked, smiling warmly.

"Sure," Ash replied, grinning, "How about you, Justin?"

"Oh yeah, totally," The boy in blue said, staring adoringly up at Trini, "So you do martial arts?"

Trini nodded, leading them all to the picnic area, the group splitting off. Zhane and Karone were busy talking in words other than English, Billy was listening in, and Jason and Zach were talking about the pros and cons of hip-hop karate.."Yeah, I do. How about you? Are you interested in karate at all?"

Justin nodded proudly, "I got my brown belt, and I'm testing for red in a few weeks."

Jason nodded, cutting into the conversation. "That's good. Keep working like that, and you'll be a black belt before you even behind high school."

Justin smirked, "I'm already in high school. They let me skip two grades, since my IQ was so high and I kept learning so fast."

"Really? That's quite interesting." Billy said, looking intrigued. "Do you enjoy high school, or is it hard to be so much younger than everyone else?"

Justin tilted his head back, "Not really that hard. I have Ashley and T.J and Cassie and Carlos to hang out with, and everyone else really kinda likes me."

"They do," Ashley confirmed, "Justin is probably the most well-known and loved guy around campus, if only 'cause he's so darn cute."

Justin stuck his tongue out at her, "I can't help it if all the girls love me."

Zhane chuckled, "And I'm guessing you take every advantage of that fact."

Justin smirked, "Well, of course. What kind of almost-genius would I be if I let opportunities like that pass without taking advantage?"

"You," Karone told Zhane, "Are a little monster." She turned to Justin, "Do not listen to him. Woman like humble men better."

"Wait, really?" Zach asked, totally serious.

Trini rolled her eyes, "Actually, yes. Except in Justin's case. We like him no matter what, right, Ash? Karone?"

Ashley nodded and laughed out a yes, but Karone had frozen, staring off into space. "Guys." The purple ranger finally said, pointing. "We've got a problem."

In the distance, walking closer with every second, were replicas of the Power Rangers.