"Tommy, you still haven't really explained this to me," Trini said as she landed in the room and looked around at all of the people gathered there. She did not recognize several of the people, but she knew that they must have been rangers at some point in time.
"Well, it all started on Murianthius," Tommy said as Trini looked over at him.
"The last time that they were evil? Come on, how could that effect them now? That was something like eight, ten years ago, how the hell is this happening?" Trini yelled as Tommy and Billy exchanged a glance.
"It was not a complete cure, Trini. No matter how much we thought that everything was solved, they were pulled back into it by some freaking monster that I'm not even sure the name of. Trini we are up shit creek right now," Tommy said as Trini stared at him, scared to death. She knew that getting them back was going to be a hell of a fight. Jason was one of the most stubborn people that she knew and the most stubborn was Kimberly, so this was not going to be pleasant. "I need you…there is no way I'll be able to do this without you."
"What am I going to have to do?" Trini asked as Tommy handed her a communicator. "I'm going to be a ranger again?"
"No…I don't have enough powers for that…what I do have is the ability to teleport you and myself. We have to go to them," Tommy said as Trini just shook her head. "They'll be in there if this doesn't work."
"Newbies? Tommy you have to be kidding, they have no clue what Kim and Jason are like…" Trini trailed off as Conner cleared his throat.
"We're the ones that have been facing them for the past month…like hell we don't know what they're like," Conner said as Trini straightened up and covered her face.
"The last month? Tommy, Jason hasn't acted any different towards me when I've called him," Trini said as Tommy nodded, when he was alone with Kimberly, it was very much like the evil was not in her either. The problem was, when they were together, the evil bonded to their spirit and they fought them with a vengeance.
"I'm sure, Kimberly is perfectly peaceable, except when she is with Jason. Trini, we have to fight something that is not really concrete," Tommy said as the alarm sounded in the Command Center and Trini looked over at the screens and closed her eyes to try to fight what her heart was telling her was happening.
"How can I get to him?" Trini asked as Tommy looked over at her and saw the determination in her eyes. "I'm not losing Jason to that, even if we're just friends."
"Just friends my foot," Billy muttered under his breath as Trini looked back over at him and he smiled innocently enough. He did not want for her to let out any of her aggressions on him at this moment.
"Come on…but let me warn you this isn't going to be pretty," Tommy said as Trini nodded that she understood. She knew that things in the ranger world were seldom pretty, especially when it came to evil rangers.
"Him again," Kimberly muttered as she stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave, pulling back on her t-shirt as Jason let out a groan of displeasure. It always seemed that there was some disturbance to come along just when they wanted most to be alone. "What does the bastard want this time?"
"Your heart Kimmie, haven't you figured it out by now?" Jason said as he pulled up his jeans, aggravated that they had been interrupted yet again.
"My heart will never belong to that bastard…after all I did to try to love him…he just keeps me away," Kim said, bitterly, as they emerged from the cave and were faced with not only Tommy, but for the first time Trini as well. They had suspected that she would eventually show up, but they had thought they still had a few more weeks to play with before she arrived. "We have a new bitch to play with."
"You mean I have a new bitch to play with…you run along and have fun with Tommy," Jason said as Kim snarled and then headed for Tommy. Trini had never quite seen Jason look like this before and she was sure that this spelled out disaster for her. She was not prepared to deal with him now, but she knew she had to put forth her best effort. She couldn't lose Jason just because she was afraid of what she would have to say to bring him back.
"Jase…listen to me…" Trini pleaded as he headed towards her, eyes ablaze.
"Why should I listen to you Trini? All you have ever done is throw me to the side…now I can have something better…" Jason snarled as he reached out to smack her, but she firmly grabbed his arm and felt the strength leave it.
"You are not ever going to get over me," Trini said as Jason stared at her…it seemed that with the both of them there that Kim and Jason could bring themselves out of the fog.
"Why would you say that?" Jason asked, dropping the evil as quickly as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Jase, what's going on?" Trini asked, bluntly, as he looked at her and then his eyes narrowed. He had hoped to be able to pull her over to his side, but it was obvious that she was not going to come. "What do I have to do to get you back?"
"You'll never get me back now, Trini…you don't care enough to do what would have to be done," Jason said as Trini released his arm as she only stared at him.
"I don't care? Why the hell would I be here if I didn't care?" Trini yelled as Jason looked down at her.
"To please your lover boy…" Jason said nodding towards Tommy and her eyes widened. Whatever this monster had done had messed him up more than anything else that she had ever seen.
"Tommy is a friend, your best friend, he'd never do something like that and you wouldn't do this to him either if you'd just come back to yourself," Trini said as she looked over at the other two, who had stopped talking and were now fighting in honest, although Tommy took every chance that he could to wrap her up in a hug and force her to listen to words of caring. He just hoped that it would break her out of it sometime soon. He couldn't continue to live his nights with dreams of her coming back to him and to be greeted with this reality each morning.
"And I was only a friend as well…you'd never let me be anything more than that," Jason said as he slapped her to the ground and she fell with a thump, but managed to push herself back up.
"You never asked…if you had things would be different…you are just as much at fault as I am…" Trini growled as the tears flowed from her eyes. She could tell that her left arm was of no use to her now, as he had popped the shoulder out of socket, but she had to keep him distracted. Keep him talking, hoping that she would find somewhere within him the Jason that he used to be. "I'd still have in you a moment, Jason."
"But you are too late…" Jason said pulling her dangerously close, before slinging her away and this time Tommy landed beside her in a pile as well.
"We have to get out of here," Tommy said as Trini barely nodded as the pain continued to escalate and she desperately tried to hold in her tears. "You okay?"
"He knocked my left shoulder out of place," Trini said as Tommy shielded her from another blow that had been headed her way and then grabbed a hold of her so that they could teleport away.
"That was not what I hoped for," Billy said as Trini crumpled to the floor in pain. "I'll set it right, Tri…"
"What the hell!" Trini yelled out as all of the rangers looked at her and Billy took a step back. "Why the hell would he even think that?"
"You both have denied yourselves of what would make you truly happy. Now this evil has found a way to use Kim and Jason against you by playing at that insecurity," Billy said, calmly as Trini stared up at him with a tear stained face as she just shook her head.
"I love him…only him…" Trini managed as another sob racked her body and he reached down and quickly popped her shoulder back into place, which caused her to yell out, but the pain then fell away.
"Maybe you should tell him that, not me," Billy said as Trini looked over at him and smacked him hard on the side of his face.
"Don't tell me that…" Trini said, deathly serious as Tommy and Billy stared at her, scared at how she was reacting. "If he doesn't come back to me when I say that…I might as well go ahead and join him."
"Tri, don't say that," Tommy said as Trini looked up at him and then stood up.
"Well what do you suggest Tommy, because I didn't see your solution working either," Trini said as Tommy stared at her.
"Tri, we both have to convince them…I've been working on Kim a lot longer and when she's not with Jason I can reach her. We just need you to reach him now," Tommy said as Trini sat down on the couch and sobbed. That was the one thing that she was not sure that she would be able to accomplish. He was far too distant from her and she didn't know if she would be able to bring him back.