Chapter Three: Students are a Necessity
"You ready to go, Squirt?" Kimberly looked over at Jason as he stood there, arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. He leaned against the door frame patiently as she finished zipping up the last bag and nodded.
"You're sure you don't mind if I leave some stuff here for now, Jason?" She asked. "I mean, furniture is one thing since we were sharing that, but I can take more time to get everything else out."
Jason shook his head. "Nah. I don't plan on getting another roommate until Trini's back and she won't mind. You might not get it back for a while though." He walked over to her and held his arms out. She quickly took the hug he was offering and they were silent for a moment. "I'll miss you too, Kim."
"You'll come and visit, right? And you know that you don't have to do anything for the gym, other than let Anna in so that she can train her girls. And if something goes wrong, you can call. And…" She probably would have continued babbling, but Jason covered her mouth with his hand.
"Yes, I'll visit. Yes, I know and stop worrying," he said gently before giving her a serious look. "Let me know if Tommy and you need help. I know he won't ask. Stubborn son of…"
"Oh, help," she said, half annoyed and half amused. Jason winced. He knew where this was going. "Like, say, if we need to go to the moon to take on Serpentera?"
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" He asked and she sweetly smiled.
"Not on your life. Still, I'll call," she promised. They stood there for a moment. "I should get going."
"Probably. And Kim? Would you mind checking over that video that he was creating? I don't want to look bad," he mentioned, grinning. She laughed and nodded as they headed out to her car. She didn't mind at all since she agreed with Jason's worries and wanted to make sure that the pink ranger looked good on camera. One last hug good-bye and Kim was permanently on her way to Reefside.
"Kim!" Hayley's call reached over the music of the café to the former pink ranger's ears. The two girls quickly reached each other and hugged before Kim told her about the ride up. They moved through the café, got Kim a smoothie, and settled down to talk.
"It's been a while, Hayley. Last time I saw you, I think was after you finished the cycles," Kim said. After a while, it had become unnecessary for Kim to visit every weekend and she'd come up every month instead. "I thought Tommy was going to kill us."
"Serves him right," Hayley muttered. "After that last moon stunt, we deserved to shake things up for him. Besides, did he really expect us to give untested vehicles to minors?"
Kim laughed. "I don't think he was thinking about that. I think he was thinking about the two of us testing vehicles that could get us across town in about a minute and a half. The look on his face was worth it," she answered. "So, first day of school for our little Tommy, huh?"
Hayley nodded, relaxing into her seat. "He seemed nervous. He's supposed to be finished at 3:00, so we could probably head over there at 4:00. Surprise him."
"Sounds good to me! Jason says I'm supposed to look over the video he made to make sure he didn't put in anything embarrassing of him," Kim said, laughing as she said it. Hayley joined in.
"Well, I wanted to put in that picture of Jason after their moon ordeal, you know, the one with the tequila, the table, and the fish, but Tommy made me delete it," Hayley pouted. Kim laughed even harder. They joked around and talked about this and that before Trent, Hayley's worker, showed up. After politely asking him to watch the café, and with it getting close to 4:00, the two women headed toward the door, getting into Kim's car and driving out to Tommy's house. They parked the car in the back where Tommy usually put his jeep and headed toward the front.
Hayley opened the door and headed in. "You know, former ranger or not, you'd think he'd lock the door."
"Nah. That would mean he'd have to remember," Kim joked as they headed over to the skeleton on the table. Hayley looked at Kim, who nodded, and they opened the door to the lab. "Jeez, Girl! It looks better every time I see it!"
"Well, this should be the final showing for you," Hayley said with a shrug. "I'm finished for now."
Kim looked around the room, nodding to herself as she scoped out some of the new additions. Finally, she headed over to the rock in the middle of the room as she usually did to look at the gems. It was more habit now than anything, but she still tended to look to make sure that they were still there and just because they were beautiful in their own right. The steam poured out, dissipating into the air quickly, but there was something different. "Hayley, did Tommy move the gems?"
"No, he said he likes them there. Sort of as a centerpiece," Hayley answered, working on the computer. She paused and turned the chair around. "Why?"
"They're not here," Kim answered.
"What?!" Hayley asked, racing over to join the other woman. They quickly began to search the floor frantically and make sure that nothing else was missing. Both women panicked, knowing what would happen if evil had somehow shown up and taken them while they were unaware of its presence, not just in the lab but in general.
"Tommy," Kim blurted out. "We should call Tommy."
"Right," Hayley agreed, both hoping that Tommy had set them aside somewhere and forgotten to tell them. Kim pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number, waiting for him to pick up, but Hayley groaned. "Not again!"
Hayley led the way upstairs where, sure enough, Tommy's cell phone rang on the table. Both women rolled their eyes and it was Kimberly's turn to groan. They threw themselves down onto the couch and sighed, wondering what they were supposed to do now and nearly jumped when they heard the door open. "Kim? Hayley?" Tommy asked as he came in. "I saw the car outside and…"
"Did you move the gems?" Kim asked, not even pausing to say hello. She'd leapt up and headed over to him, Hayley on her heels. While she didn't need to add anything, her arms were crossed and Hayley wasn't much better with worried expression on her face. Tommy looked confused.
"Hello to you too. No, I didn't move them. Why?" He asked.
"They're missing," Hayley answered. After that, neither woman needed to worry about their lack of polite greetings as Tommy raced down the stairs. Both women quickly chased after. Like they had done, he searched the floor and anywhere else he could think of. They just stood back and watched as he finished doing what they had done earlier. Finally, he shook his head and hit the wall. Hayley jumped and Kim twitched, but all three felt the anguish of losing the one hope they had right now for protecting the world.
"Maybe we can find them on the computer? You know, who has them or whatever?" Kim suggested. Tommy looked a little surprised and Hayley had a 'why didn't I think of that?' look, but they did quickly nod. The three quickly got to work on looking for where they might have gone, each a little preoccupied so that they didn't hear any intruders until they heard the door to the lab open. All three looked at each other and Tommy motioned over to where he was, hidden and out of sight. It was a good idea to see what they were facing before they tried to face it. All of them kept quiet and listened.
"This is the same place!" One voice called out, surprised. Kim looked a little surprised as the voice sounded younger, like a teen. Hayley smiled a bit, recognizing the voice, but she'd decided to remain hidden even if the other two came out of hiding. For now, she wanted to be the silent partner.
"Are you freaking out right now?" A second voice asked.
"Yeah," came the answer from the first. "I'd have to say I am."
Tommy looked furious as he headed out. Kim stayed by Hayley, not quite sure who the boys were, but she could tell that the former technicolored ranger did. "If you're looking for extra credit," he snapped. "You're in the wrong place."
Kim's eyes widened. Of course! She thought to herself. They're his students. She suddenly felt horribly bad for these two boys as Tommy didn't seem to be in the best of moods right now and more than likely would take it out on the two teenagers. Then again, they were trespassing, but they seemed decent enough. She waited as they tried to explain themselves.
"Dr. O, before you go off, can we explain why we're here?" The first voice asked and Kimberly could hear the teenagers backing up. Yep. Definitely feeling bad for them.
"Dude, he's just going to laugh if we tell him," the second boy half-whispered.
"It's the truth!" The first exclaimed with the naivety of someone who believed that just because it was true, people would accept it. "He'll believe us."
"Alright," the second said, though not thoroughly convinced. "Kira's gone."
"She got taken by these weird looking dinosaur things," the first boy added. Kim could hear the worry in their voices and she knew that Tommy was feeling guilty considering that he'd helped to make those creatures. Therefore, they were all on a worried guilt trip which was probably the last thing this girl needed right now.
"He doesn't look convinced," the second boy half-whispered again. There was a pause before Tommy headed away from them. Kim relaxed a bit, knowing that the teacher's change in direction was definitely a bonus for the boys.
"They're called Tyrannodrones," he said regretfully.
"And you would know that because…?" The first boy asked.
"I helped create them," came the answer. Kim winced as there was definite guilt in that voice she'd have to convince wasn't his fault later.
"Oh, class project?" The first asked, his voice filled with sarcasm.
"It's a long story. For now, we've got to figure out what they want with Kira," Tommy said.
"It might have something to do with these," the second boy said, sounding guilty. Kim's eyes closed and even without really seeing the boys she knew what he was holding. Still, she did feel better about the whole thing. She was happy that the gems had fallen into the hands of teenagers instead of the hands of evil and this would just save time on trying to find someone to take them. Perhaps it wasn't the ideal way of finding some new recruits, but they'd come looking for help when someone else got hurt. When one of their newly formed teammates got hurt, or at least in trouble. Kim was hoping she wasn't dead and was just captured right now. Whether they realized it or not, they were already on the right track and she felt a sense of relief that the boys seemed like good enough teenagers. So, when she heard what Tommy said next, her eyes narrowed. Hayley had the good sense to move out of her way.
"…Don't call me 'Dude'. Second, as hard as this may seem, you two need to forget all about this. I'll find Kira," he told them, heading for the door, ignoring the two boys at this point.
"Thomas Oliver! Freeze!" Kim said coming out of the shadows, arms folded and eyes filled with anger and annoyance. He did as she commanded and turned to look at her. Both teenagers backed up a bit, not quite sure what was going on, but glad that it wasn't them in her line of fire. "You arrogant, blind..."
"Oh no," Tommy said, taking her head on without backing down. "Not them. They were in detention, Kim."
"They took the gems, they held the gems, and more than likely, the gems have already started bonding," she snapped and turned her attention to the two boys, both of which had their hands up in front of them and the deer in the headlights look to them. She tried to soften her expression a bit, not wanting to scare them off. "Have you two had any odd experiences? A new feeling?"
They both looked a little embarrassed. The first boy, a young African-American, looked at the other, a young Caucasian teen, as if to ask what to do. The Caucasian shrugged and ran from one side of the room to the other, quickly. The African-American shrugged. "I have tougher skin," he offered weakly. Kim nodded.
"They're chosen, they're our responsibility and they're coming with," she said. She motioned to the door and set the two boys in front of her as she started out. "Come on, Doctor."
Tommy groaned, but followed. They needed to save Kira anyway.
They were on their way when Kim turned around in her seat to look at the boys. "I'm Kimberly, Kimberly Hart. You two can call me Kim, if you like, or Kimberly, or Ms. Hart. Whichever makes you feel the most comfortable. So, do you two have names?"
They looked at each other before the Caucasian spoke up. "Connor McKnight."
"Ethan James," answered the second. Kimberly nodded.
"It's nice to meet you both. Since I know he'll take forever and take his eyes off the road while he's at it, if there's a question he doesn't like, I'll fill you in. The gems bonded to you. They're yours now. The Tyranndrones, along with a lot of Dr. Oliver's experiments created with a man named Anton Mercer were supposed to be destroyed when the island was destroyed. Obviously, didn't happen. Someone's changed them, not hard when they're technology and dinosaur mixes. We're not sure what else is out there either. If one experiment survived, well… Anyway, Mesagog was the one who attacked the island, we thought he was dead, we were wrong, we have to stop him and we'd like your help. Any questions so far?"
"Uh… lots?" Ethan said, trying to sound as sincere as possible so she didn't wring his neck. Fortunately for the boys, however, she seemed calm enough toward them and only slightly irritated now with their teacher at this point. "We'll just ask later. We need to find Kira. It's not like she's just going to fall out of the sky and land right in front of us…"
No sooner had he said those words than they watched a young woman fall out onto their hood. All five of them looked at each other in shock for a moment before reacting. They leapt out of the car, Kimberly getting there first and gently helping her up. The boys quickly gathered by her and they started talking about it, but Kim had that feeling in her spine that said something wasn't quite right. The same feeling that she'd managed to near the end of her tenure as a power ranger. Usually, it was right before putties showed up. She was knocked out of her thoughts when the girl's attention fell toward the woman.
"Who are you?" Kira asked, looking at Kimberly.
"That's Kim," Ethan answered. "She's cool."
"Well, still, guys, way to show up when I don't need you anymore," she snapped. Kim ignored it, understanding how getting kidnapped could lead to a bad day and since no sooner had the girl said those words than Tyranndrones shown up anyway, there wasn't much time to dwell on it. All three teenagers stood ready, but Tommy and Kim stood in front of them protectively. Considering their day, the teens weren't complaining.
"New Goldar?" She asked Tommy.
"That would be my guess," he answered.
"You don't know?" Kim's exclaimed. "I thought you built these things."
"Well, I didn't build that!" He answered, indignant over her tone.
"Come peacefully or suffer the consequences," the creature growled.
"I'd have to say no," Tommy said and Kim scoffed.
"As if," she added. Once the battle had begun, however, Kim was starting to realize why Zordon chose teenagers and half-way wished she was stuck in a tube. She was definitely getting too old for this. Still, she was holding her own well enough, using the same style fighting she had used in her ranger days. If nothing else, it surprised the Tyrannodrones and kept them guessing. A glance at Tommy and she realized that she wasn't the only one who struggling, though he seemed to get back in the scheme of things quicker. It was little wonder why as the former male ranger had been a ranger longer than anyone else.
She also noticed that the three teens were doing well enough on their own and when she heard Kira's Ptera Scream, she was starting to definitely feel she was right about these teens. All of them, including Kim, regrouped behind Tommy and the creature left along with the Tyranndrones. Kim relaxed a bit at that, still remember how often it happened when they were rangers.
"Let's get you guys home. It's getting late and I don't want your parents to worry," Tommy mentioned.
"I'm sure you don't. Then you might actually have to explain something," Ethan snapped.
"I'll fill you guys in tomorrow after school," he promised.
"I'll hold him to it, but he's right. It is getting late," she said, sounding tired. "Are you three alright?"
They looked themselves over and nodded and she ushered them back to the jeep. "I'm glad to hear that. Come on, guys. Who's closest?"
After dropping the teenagers off, they headed back to the house, finding a note from Hayley. She had borrowed Kim's car to get back to work in order to lock up, promising that she'd pick Kim up the next day to give it back. Kim would be able to move into her apartment then as well. She was feeling more than a little grateful that Hayley wasn't expecting her to work until the end of the week. As Kim was having to help mentor, they decided that a job that was easy for her to leave if she needed to would be beneficial especially with Tommy as a teacher, so Hayley had invited her to work for her which Kim quickly accepted. That way, Kim didn't have to explain, there wasn't a long list of unexplained emergencies to a boss that had no idea who she was, and Kim was at least able to help if Tommy couldn't get away.
Once she read the note, Kim collapsed into a chair and Tommy wasn't far behind. "I'm going to have to stay here tonight," she told him, showing him the note. He just nodded, but his mind was on a different topic.
"We need to figure out how this mentoring is going to work," he told her. "For instance, how you're not allowed to yell at me in front of them."
"Will you settle for a most of the time?" She asked. "Because, I'm not sure I can promise for all the time."
"Fine," he answered. They sat there for a while, both trying to figure out what to do. Finally, Kim sighed.
"Well, we're not going to be able to be exactly like Zordon. He had years of patience and we have, like, none." Both of them looked at each other at that realizing how much they really didn't know about mentoring new rangers even if they had been rangers. They were also learning that they didn't have Zordon's desirable traits constantly handy to them such as patience or staying almost completely calm all the time. "Especially you."
"Me?!" Tommy exclaimed.
"Yes, you. We've been waiting for someone to use the gems. It was a simple concept: evil shows up, the teens use the gems, and we mentor. Three teens land right in our lap, bonded and ready to go and you were ready to throw them out the door!" She yelled.
"Why them, Kim? Huh? Why them? Why are you so ready to just decide that they were the ones who were supposed to get those?" He yelled back. Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her fists.
"Because the gems chose them. Because they came back. Because they did what we did! They left and when they got into trouble, they came here. They trust you!" They were getting louder and louder now, though still sitting down. Fortunately, the pain they were feeling wasn't allowing for them to get up and throttle each other.
"Maybe I wanted to choose! Maybe I wanted to talk to them about it! Maybe I wanted…" he started and stopped, but Kim, calming down, took over.
"For them to have a choice?" She asked and he nodded once. "You feel responsible, don't you?"
"They were my gems, Kim. They were in my house and I practically told them to take them when I promised no more detention if they found 'something prehistoric'," he told her.
"You're not the only one who was involved, Tommy," she said gently. "Hayley and I helped build this place and I came up with some of the ideas for things. I've been involved with this every step of the way and I'm scared too. Those kids are our responsibility. Our responsibility, Tommy, not just yours. You're not the Zordon and I'm not the Zordon, we both are. Together."
Both paused as they took in what they had been purposefully overlooking. Before now, it had all been just talk. There was no one involved, but now there were three teenagers who had been dragged into the middle of this and were expecting the two adults of the group to help them. They'd always known that Zordon wouldn't be able to physically help them, but every time he'd disappeared or been cut off, they'd worried and felt insecure. He had been their security blanket and they often worried about disappointing him. Under his mentorship, they had become a family, but they had been the children in that family. Now, they were the adults, the parental figures who were expected to have an answer. Even being near thirty years old, they were scared over the concept.
"Well, what about Hayley?" Tommy asked and Kim laughed, though not in a mean way.
"She's like Alpha, except more on the ball. She hasn't been there, Tommy, on the front lines, fighting with everything she has to make sure tomorrow is a better place. She is in charge of the technology stuff and she works with teenagers everyday at the café. She's like a mix between Alpha and Ernie," Kim explained, trying to find a term for their friend before turning the discussion back toward them. "Why don't we take this mentoring thing one day at a time until we figure out what we're doing? We'll explain everything to the kids… sorry, the soon-to-be new rangers, and we'll just try to keep them alive. Beyond that, we'll just make it up as we go along."
"Deal, Ms. Hart," he said, his joking attitude returning. He reached over and held out his hand which she shook.
"Good, Dr. Oliver," she answered back, smiling. After a second, she frowned. "There is just one more problem."
"What?" Tommy asked, immediately worried and wracking his brain to figure out what he'd already forgotten.
"Who's going to cook dinner? I'm starved, but I'm not…" she began, but was cut off by a pillow hitting her in the face. She knew she deserved it for worrying him, but that didn't stop her from throwing it back at him.
"I'll call for pizza," Tommy answered and smirked. "But you're answering the door."
Kim groaned. "No fair!"
"My house, my rules."
"Mean."
"Well, this is just peachy," Kimberly muttered, struggling to make sure everything stayed in place as they earthquake shook the house. She grateful that she was still at Tommy's house instead of at Hayley's considering that meant she could fix anything that broke. She heard her phone ring and grabbed it out of her pocket once she was sure the earthquake was over. "Hello?"
"Kimberly? Do you have any idea what's going on?" Hayley's voice was slightly panicked, but she was still doing better than most of the city whether or not the two women knew that.
"Not yet, Hayley. I'm just trying to make sure… Uh… scratch that. So, that's how the computer works," Kim said as she accidentally turned on the main computer. "Shit! I think I know who found some of Tommy's experiments!"
"Please tell me it was some of the smaller ones," Hayley begged.
"No such luck, Hayley," Kim responded, though she was groaning just as bad as her friend. "I gotta go. I'll check back in with you later."
"Got it. Bye." Hayley didn't even wait until Kim answered, but hung up quickly to give the other woman more time. Kim moved quickly to find the box they'd put the morphers in. At least Hayley and Kimberly had managed to hide those instead of leaving them in plain sight like the gems. She pulled it out and blew the dust off of the case before setting it down. She bit her lip as she prepared, hoping that Tommy and the teens would be able to make it back to the house. She was relieved when she heard them coming down the stairs.
She shot Tommy a quick, relieved smile. "Next time," she teased, "Can you build something that doesn't try to kill us all? Like a kitten or a puppy?"
Ethan looked at the woman and a small smile appeared on his face. "With his luck, it would probably shoot lasers."
Tommy shot him a look, which made Ethan quiet down, but Kim just laughed and held out the box which Tommy quickly took. "We, I mean you guys, will have to tame them," he told the teens who stared at him as if he'd grown another head. Then again, with what he had just asked them to do, he may as well have.
"If it's all the same to you, Dr. O, I'll bbl," Ethan said, heading toward the door.
"Be back later," Kim quickly said, seeing Tommy's confusion. With time, she'd actually gotten pretty good with internet functions on a computer and chatting was one of her favorite activities on it. "Ethan, wait!"
"You can do this," Tommy encouraged as the boy stopped and turned around. "But you won't have to do it alone. We've had these waiting. Dino morphers. Use these to become power rangers."
He opened the box, showing them the morphers. At all of their looks, Kimberly was once again reminded of getting her power coin and how shocking everything seemed. She also remembered the next step that the other rangers and she had done which was to walk out on Zordon and from the looks on their faces, she realized that they were headed in that direction. Tommy was explaining about the gems, but she just kept an eye on them realizing that this sort of news wasn't easy to handle.
"When I found the gems, I realized their potential and created the morphers. Then I hid the gems so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands," Tommy informed them.
"How do you know these are the right hands?" Connor asked and Tommy looked at Kimberly, remembering their conversation the night before. She just nodded and smiled, trusting him.
"The gems are yours, you didn't choose them, they chose you," he said. "The only way for Mesagog to get the gems now is to destroy the three of you."
Kimberly's look of approval was dashed as she put her head in her hand. Well, on the top list of things never to leave up to Tommy again, this little talk will be right at the top. The next time we get new rangers, I'll do this talk.
She wasn't the least bit surprised at their reactions. "Okay for future reference, that's not a good selling point," Ethan mentioned and the others looked as if they agreed.
"All I know is, I don't remember asking to be a super hero," Connor added, annoyed like his companions. Kimberly had the feeling they were going to lose them at this point, so she quickly added into the conversation.
"I know you didn't," she said quickly. "And I'll let you in on a little secret: Power Rangers never do. They never ask for the responsibility, but they're always chosen for it because of something in them. And it's a scary thought to have that kind of responsibility hanging on your shoulders, but you'll do fine. Rangers always do."
"How do you know?" Connor snapped. "We found the gems yesterday and then we got abilities and…"
"And now you're expecting us to turn into Power Rangers and tame giant cyborg dinosaurs?" Ethan continued.
"This is too freaky," Kira finished. Kim smiled a bit.
"Tell you what," she said. "When this is all said and done, we'll come back here, call your parents, and have some pizza while Tommy and I explain everything. And I mean everything. But we're running out of time and people are dying. Please, just take the morphers."
The teens looked at each other and then at the two adults who were practically begging them to take the morphers. To Kim and Tommy's relief, they grabbed them. Tommy continued. "Alright, now all you have to do is say Dino Thunder, power up and you'll be transformed. You'll know what to do."
"And if you don't, we'll be with you every step of the way to help you," Kim promised.
"Dino Thunder. What, did you come up with that?" Connor asked looking at Ethan.
"I kinda like it," Ethan answered. Connor scoffed.
"You would," he said.
"Less arguing for now, okay guys?" Kim pushed.
"You're going to have to work together and believe in yourselves or this won't work," Tommy added. He looked over at Kim again and at her nod, turned back toward them. "We believe in you."
"Really?" Connor asked and Kim saw the scared boy he was trying to cover up. She saw the fear on Ethan and Kira's faces and she knew that they were definitely going to have to work hard for these kids.
"Really," Kim promised. Tommy nodded in agreement. "Now let's get going, okay?"
They raced out to the jeep and stopped in the middle of downtown. Kim leapt out of the jeep and looked around, she had that feeling again and she wasn't wrong. Before she knew it, the bad guys had arrived, the three teens were powered up, given their weapons, and on a role toward saving the city. She'd always thought that Hayley had overdone herself with those weapons, but as there were only three of them and they were going to need all the help they could get, she was glad the genius had thought ahead. She smiled proudly at bit at their job well done, until they started losing. Her smile faded into worry and she raced over to Tommy.
"They're losing! Now what?" She asked, trying not to panic. Tommy thought for a moment, though he was just as worried.
"Rangers! Combine your weapons!" He decided quickly. He gave a quick shrug to Kimberly who just nodded. It had always worked for them and it seemed to work for the new Rangers as well as the villain, hurt, decided to run, well, disappear into an invisaportal. Within moments and with only a little added encouragement from Tommy, the trio managed to tame their zords. Looking back on it, Kim was glad that hers had come pretamed. Having to deal with new powers, new suits, and then taming a zord would have made for a harder first day than the one she'd had. It was little surprise to her when the teens won. They were already doing a great job. The Biozords went back into hiding as Kim and Tommy motioned for the teens to change back, which they quickly did before all five were back in the jeep and heading home.
True to her word, while the teens called their parents, giving them some sort of lie that the three had concocted, she ordered pizza for them, including soda. Tommy looked nervous about this, not wanting to tell them who they really were, but Kim would have none of it since she had made the promise. After a silent battle, Tommy turned away leaving Kim the winner. "Give them the bracelets," she whispered. "And I'll do most of the explaining."
"Promise?" He asked and she nodded. "Fine."
He gave them the quick speech about keeping the bracelets with them at all times and how everything was going to change, similar to the speech they'd gotten years ago, before turning it over to Kim. She sat down across from them while Tommy stood over her. She messed with her hair a bit, a nervous habit, before she began. "About ten years ago," she began, "a sorceress named Rita Repulsa came to try to take over the world, starting with a city called Angel Grove."
"I remember," Kira said. "They were constantly under attack, but they had the Power Rangers."
"Right," Kim said. "Well, it wasn't quite as simple as that. See, Rita's worst enemy was a wizard, a good wizard, named Zordon. He'd been trapped in another dimension for over 10,000 years."
She felt a slight lump in her throat that often happened when they spoke of Zordon, especially when she knew that she'd have to explain what happened to him. Over the several years since, they'd all gotten much better, but there were still times like now when she got choked up, especially when she would have given anything to get advice from her old mentor right now. "Anyway," she continued. "There was him and he was trapped and Alpha 5, a robot, and they couldn't do much on their own. So, they looked around and found five teenagers, taking them to the Command Center in order to give them their first morphers. Only, these five teenagers didn't want the power and thought that it was all ridiculous and as a group, they walked out… we walked out."
"We?" Ethan said, looking between his teacher and the woman in front of him.
"Well, not Tommy. He wasn't there, but yes, I was one of the originals. We were attacked and we did go back to Zordon to take the responsibility he'd handed us. It was the scariest moment of my life, but just like you guys, I did it along with my friends and I have never regretted becoming a Power Ranger since. Of course there were times I wanted to quit and eventually, I did, but the time I was a ranger was the dearest time for me."
"Not to say we had to push you out the door when it was time for you to leave," Tommy muttered. She gently smacked his arm.
"Hey! Who's telling this story? Me. Now, shh. Anyway, I completely understand all the emotions you're going through. So does Tommy. He was a Ranger too," she informed them, ignoring Tommy's quiet groans. She just smiled and motioned to his reaction. "He just didn't want you to know yet."
"Thank you, Kim," Tommy grumbled. Kim paused after that, not sure of what else to say. The three teens were quiet for a moment before Ethan spoke up.
"So, how come you're teaching us instead of this Zordon guy?" He asked, regretting the question a bit as the two adults seemed deflated by the question.
"During the Space Rangers battle, he was killed. His death destroyed evil for the time, but not for all time," she answered. "Tommy and I were both retired when we found out and along with the other original Rangers, we agreed to become mentors for future generations: you guys," she answered. Tommy squeezed her shoulder and she smiled at him. "Look, I know it's a lot to take in, but we're here if you need us. If you need to talk or something is bothering you, we've probably been there and we can walk you through it."
She pulled out two extra communicators from her purse as Hayley had gotten the third, but unlike the teenagers' bracelets, theirs were clear and only communicators. She handed one to Tommy and took the other. "If one of us isn't at the computer, you'll be able to reach us through these."
The doorbell rang and Kimberly went to get the pizzas. She struggled to bring everything back, but all three teenagers were on their feet and helping her bring over the food. Once she had set everything down, she turned to the teenagers and smiled. "So, how about a movie?"
Author's Note: This is about as close to an episode as I'm going to get, but it's difficult to break away from the first couple of episodes considering everything is sort of packed into them. I hope I did a sufficient enough of a job of making it go my own way.
Once again, thank you for the wonderful reviews. I really do appreciate them and I make sure to read all of them, so I definitely am looking at all of your suggestions and input to take into consideration for future chapters. Thank you all so much for both the comments and suggestions.