Author: Jadelyn Tate
Story: Begotten
Characters: RJ, Kim
Disclaimer: I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.
Summery: A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.
Author Notes: I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!


"She can't do that!" Dominic yelled. After her startling and somewhat confusing statement, Kimberly had walked into her room and shut and locked the door. It was only RJ and Casey holding him back that had stopped Dominic from bursting her door down and forcefully taking back the morpher.

"Dom…" RJ sighed but Dominic wouldn't listen.

"She can't just take my morpher and tell me I'm not a ranger until she says so! Who the hell does she think she is?!"

"Our Guardian."

The quiet statement from Theo made everyone quiet down. They looked at him, confused. Theo eyed the group.

"Did you hear what she called herself? The Jungle Fury Guardian," he reminded them. "Our Guardian."

"What does that mean?" Lily asked.

"Who cares, I just want my damn morpher back!" Dominic growled.

"Well you can't have it back till she says so, so stop whining!" Theo snapped, his temper fraying as he finally understood everything they had been putting her through each time they accepted a new ranger. Casey and Lily exchanged surprised looks as Dominic glared at him.

"That's it! I'm going to get it back!" Dominic growled, moving towards the door. RJ dashed forward, intent on stopping him when the door to Kimberly's room opened. Kim moved to the doorway, her face pale, lips white, and eyes bloodshot again. She glared at the group even as she swayed.

"Hydro," she said, pointing a hand at Dominic. As everyone watched, water shot from Kimberly's palm in the form of a hellowand doused the Rhino master. "Maybe that will calm you down cause if I hear you bitching one more time while I try to sleep this goddamn morpher off, it won't be water I'll be throwing at your ass!"

With that, she turned on her heel and slammed the door. RJ gaped as Dom simply stood frozen, confusion and slight fear radiating from him.

"What is she?" he asked his voice quiet. Casey, Lily, and RJ turned to Theo who glowered.

"She's a Guardian. Our Guardian," he answered again.

"Which means, what, exactly?" RJ asked, confused. "And how do you know all this?"

"She told us she was the Guardian. And I know about Guardians from the book Billy gave me when he and Adam trained me," Theo informed them coolly. He was angry at RJ for not trusting Kim, angry at himself for not seeing it sooner, and angry at Dominic for being an insensitive and pigheaded jerk. Casey frowned.

"You're gonna have to tell me after you tell them," he informed Theo and the blue ranger nodded as Casey left the room. For once, the two male rangers were in complete understanding of what needed to be done, even if Casey didn't know why.

"Where's he going?" Dominic asked and Theo raised an eyebrow at him in an eerie imitation of the original pink ranger.

"To call Tommy, Adam, and Billy," Theo replied

"Who are they?" Dominic almost demanded as RJ's eyes widened and guilt filled them. Knowing he finally got it, at least some of it, Theo glared at Dom.

"Three guys you don't want to mess with, especially since you're the whole reason we have to call them in the first place," he almost sneered. He may have agreed with allowing Dom to join the team during battle, but seeing his reaction to everything now, Theo wasn't feeling particularly supportive of him getting the morpher back.

"Theo, what is a Guardian?" Lily asked quietly. Theo swallowed and gingerly began flipping through the book he had gone and grabbed while Casey and RJ kept Dom away from Kim.

"Here it is," he said, handing it to Lily. "Third and fourth paragraphs."

Lily gingerly accepted the book and looked down at where he had pointed. She began reading aloud.

"The Guardians are the connections between Cosmos and the Grid. While morphers, coins, gems, crystals, etc. are the conduits through which Rangers harness the power of the grid, the Guardians are physical, living conduits through which the Grid harnesses the power of Cosmos. Because there are so many ranger teams, The Grid chooses one or two Guardians to look over each team; all Ranger powers are approved and created by the Guardian(s). Sometimes, when a new team is formed, a Guardian isn't chosen immediately. As many Rangers have said in the past; when it comes to The Power, coincidences don't happen. The Guardian will eventually find their way to their new ranger team, but for a time they may not realize why they are so drawn and accepting of the team.

"As said before, when a new team is formed within the Grid, a Guardian for that team is chosen. How Guardians are chosen is mostly unknown. Temples on Eltar, Phaedos, and Triforia teach acolytes the Ways of the Guardians but most of those acolytes are never made Guardians. Many rangers retire after a time, and some end up finding themselves as Guardians. These two facts have lead many researchers to the theory that the Grid itself chooses its Guardians, just as the Grid chooses who will wield its power as Rangers. Others argue that this cannot be the case, due to the Guardian being more than a protector of a ranger team; Guardians, as mentioned before, are the conduits through with the Grid derives its power from Cosmos."

Lily frowned, not quite getting it but knowing they had someone messed up from Theo's pinched expression. Dom looked completely bewildered but RJ was growing more agitated as he grabbed the book from Lily's hands and continued reading.

"Whatever the case, it cannot be ignored that Guardians are equal in power to Rangers; in fact, they typically have more power than Rangers though they are hard pressed to harness it. The Guardians have the power to completely shut off their ranger team from the grid, and if motivated, it is believed that the Guardians could even shut off the link between the Grid and Cosmos as well, leaving the Universe with no Power Rangers.

"In the reverse, it was found during the Little War that when a Guardian is killed, their Ranger powers are destroyed as well. Due to this, the identities of the Guardians are kept even more of a secret than rangers' identities. During the Little War, there were twelve Guardians and twelve ranger teams spread throughout the universe. By the end of the war, Ivan Ooze had killed off all but three of the Guardians and destroyed nine ranger teams. It was then that the remaining Guardians, Zordon of Eltar, Ninjor of the Coins, and Dulcea of Phaedos, made the decree that the Guardians would forever be kept in absolute secrecy. Since then, the only known Guardians were the three of them, with all other Guardians generally unknown to even their teams."

"So that's why she didn't tell us," Lily realized when RJ trailed off. "She really wasn't allowed to unless she absolutely had to."

"Keep reading RJ," Adam's voice came from the doorway. RJ looked up and swallowed as he saw Tommy and Adam standing there, arms folded as they glowered. Billy hurried past them to Kim's room, a metal blue case in hand. Adam and Tommy remained with the current rangers. RJ looked back down to the book.

"Guardians are completely in tune of their ranger teams and the creation of a new ranger typically causes the Guardian discomfort and great illness depending on the power of the ranger. This is why some Guardians do not allow the creation of more than six ranger powers and why most ranger teams are forbidden from making new rangers without the express permission of their Guardian. The illness and discomfort a Guardian experiences is generally worse if a ranger power is created without their knowledge. In a few cases, the Guardian was inadvertently killed because their bodies were not prepared to handle the assault of raw power it takes to create new rangers.

"A curious side effect has happened on Earth, interestingly. Many of the Earth rangers are completely unaware they even have a Guardian. When new rangers are created, they typically do so without permission from their Guardians because they are unaware of the Guardians place in the ranger power. In one occasion, a Guardian wasn't even located in the same time period as his ranger team, though he did travel back in time to "assist" when he believed he was needed. It should also be noted that out of Zordon's chosen twelve,** at least four are suspected of having become Guardians themselves, with a fifth said to be showing the signs. The identity of these five is not known outside of the Council of Guardians."

RJ let out a deep shuddering breath as he finally understood why Kim was so obsessed with him trusting her and not creating new powers without informing her beforehand. Without a word, he handed the book to Lily and left for the kitchens. He needed something to keep his mind off the fact he may have accidentally killed his sister due to his desire to have his old friend on the team.


"How is she?" Casey asked an hour later when Billy and Tommy finally left Kimberly's room, Adam remaining. Both looked exhausted.

"She's out of the red, at least," Tommy told them, flopping down on RJ's chair, completely uncaring if he objected or not.

"So she's going to be all right?" Theo asked and Billy shrugged.

"She'll survive the process, but she'll be sick again for a week or so," he answered and Fran grimaced as she came in and sat down by Lily. "The process is hard on the body."

"Adam said he went through the same thing?" Fran asked, remembering and Billy nodded.

"He somehow ended up the Co-Guardian of the Overdrive team with Spencer," he replied. "He and the old butler both went through it when Mack and the others got reconnected to the grid, though it didn't hit him nearly as fast."

"I went through it three times and the first time nearly killed me; three morphers were activated then. The only thing that saved me was I had prepped myself beforehand," Tommy told them with a grimace.

"You're a Guardian too?" Lily asked, surprised, and Tommy nodded.

"Of the Dino Thunder team."

"And I was the Guardian for the Zeo's though none of them knew that till a few years ago," Billy added with a smile.

"I would have thought it would have been Zordon," Casey mentioned, knowing the history through Kim and the other Ninjetti's.

"He was the Guardian for the Morphin team until he somehow switched it to Jason right before he died," Tommy agreed. "We honestly have no idea how he managed that but he definitely did."

"That reminds me, Jason is in there with her and Adam now," Billy told them and they all nodded. "He won't be joining us or showing his face anytime soon cause he's a bit upset."

"A bit?" Tommy snorted. "Billy, he threatened to castrate anyone who came into the room for the next hour unless it was Fran or Adam."

Billy snickered while Casey, Theo, and Lily all winced. Fran jumped from her seat by Lily and dashed through the door to Kim's room, happy to know she could help. From his place in the corner, Dominic swallowed thickly.

"Who is she?"

Everyone turned to the Rhino Ranger, some in surprise. They hadn't realized he was still there.

"She's Kimberly Hart, original pink ranger, Crane Ninjetti, and the Jungle Fury Guardian," Tommy finally answered, seeing how guilty the man looked now that everything was out in the open. Recalling how the man had joined the team, according to a slightly tipsy sounding Kim, he was glad to see the man understood how his actions had affected those around him.

"You'll get your morpher back," he told him finally and Dom brightened a bit. Tommy smiled wryly. "Kim's not going through all the trouble of dealing with the energy just so she wouldn't use the damn thing."

"Just be patient with her, she may want you to prove yourself before she'll give it back," Billy told him. "She doesn't know you and honestly? Doesn't trust you due to that little incident of almost getting a civilian squished."

Dominic winced as all three Guardians stared at him disapprovingly. "How'd you know about that?" he asked.

"Guardian thing," Tommy answered with a shrug.


"Hey Rage," Tommy greeted the man as he gingerly made his way into the kitchen. RJ ignored him as he worked. Tommy sighed.

"Your sister's going to be fine," he told him and RJ swallowed. "She'll be sick like a, well, like a dog, for about a week and half though."

"I should have listened."

Tommy paused at the quiet statement, not able to refute it. He rolled up his sleeves and wentand washed his hands. Moving so he was opposite the purple ranger, he grabbed a handful of the unkneeded dough.

"Everyone makes mistakes they wish they could take back, RJ," he told him as he worked on the white piece of food. "Its part of being a ranger."

"I nearly got her killed 'cause I didn't trust her," he whispered and Tommy nodded.

"Yeah, you did," he agreed. "But you didn't know why she was insisting on you telling her about the damn morphers."

"I should have trusted her; I knew she wasn't telling me to tell her cause she was mentor. I knew there was more to it," RJ muttered.

"You and her half an almost unique set of dynamics among mentors," Tommy said, grabbing more flour. "You're siblings who are in charge of different aspects of mentoring a team of rangers. You're going to have to sit down and lay all your cards on the table once she gets back on her feet otherwise this will never work."

"How'd you do it?" RJ asked, finally looking up. Tommy grimaced.

"I didn't."

"But you were the Dino mentor," RJ argued and Tommy shook his head.

"I tried being Zordon but that wasn't who I am. I gave them advice, I helped them with life issues, and I fought with them, but I tried keeping my distance like Zordon tried and it backfired on me. Badly," he admitted. "I ended up so caught up in my own issues that I ended up a complication they probably didn't need. That's why I think mentors shouldn't be rangers as well."

"But mentors who are rangers can help them on the battlefield," RJ argued and Tommy nodded.

"Yeah, but at what cost to them?" he asked quietly. RJ frowned, confused.

"Conner, my red, turned twenty-one last year," he said. "I brought him, Kira, and Ethan down to my house and we had a party. Conner ended up crashing at my place and I found out just hard it had been on him having me in battle. He was constantly questioning who was leader of the team something I knew was partly my fault. Having a mentor on the battlefield may be good and all, but they tend to overshadow the leader and make the leader doubt themselves. Conner was typically fine when I was in the Lab, giving advice while they fault but the moment I stepped onto the battlefield, he tended to delegate everything to me 'cause he thought he had to. I've noticed from footage that for a while, Casey had the same issue."

"Yeah, but we got over that," RJ agreed and Tommy smiled.

"And that means you're already a better mentor than I was," he told him with a wry grin.

"How does Kim fit into all this?" RJ asked and Tommy shrugged.

"From what I was told, you asked her to teach them ranger ways, to be the ranger mentor while you handled the Pua Zhua stuff," he said and RJ nodded. "Sounds to me like you two need to figure out, once and for all, just what each of those positions entail."