Personal Affairs
Part I: The Grand Commencement
by MegaSilver

Kimberly Hart, USA, stood at the corner of a huge floor in a stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. Around her, crowds went wild but their voices did not register in her head. Nor did she recall the name of the event she was competing in. All her brainpower was focused on clicking together the moves she was about to execute for the vault.

The competition was tight. Ivanna Petrov of Ukraine, the gymnast to beat, had just scored a 9.8. But that didn't worry Kimberly.

I practiced for a 10.

Moments later, the buzz came. Kimberly took off running.

Sprint. Roundoff. Back handspring. Another back handspring. Leap. Three hundred and sixty degrees.

Sixty seconds later, standing on a corner of the mats, her arms up in the air, Kimberly gradually became conscious of her surroundings. The cheers of her compatriots—her family somewhere among them—flowed into her and made her heart thump even louder and faster. Her breathing became heavy as she stared across the room at the judges' table, where the scoring cards were ascending.

9.6—10—9.8

I did it.

The cheers became louder and more enthusiastic. Out on the side, Coach Gunther Schmidt called, "Kimberly, you've done it! Next stop: Global Games 1998!"

I won. I won first place. I won first place at my first international exhibition.

Kimberly stood in the middle of the gym floor clutching the trophy to her chest as the crowds began to dissipate, too overwhelmed to be aware of her surroundings until she heard a voice call out her name. She looked around and saw her parents, stepfather, brother and maternal grandparents rushing out to greet her, followed by—

"AAAAAAH!" Kimberly screamed, clasping her hands over her mouth. Along with her mother, father, brother, and grandparents came who else but Jason Scott, Zack Taylor, and Trini Kwan.

"Oh, my gosh, what are you guys doing here!" exclaimed Kimberly, jumping down from the block and hugging Trini.

"We didn't have anything scheduled for a few days," explained Zack as Kimberly embraced him, "so we thought we'd make it a weekend and catch a train up to Copenhagen!"

"It is so good to see you all!" Kimberly squeezed Jason.

Jason smiled and gave her a hard pat on the shoulder. "You too, Kim. Congratulations!"

"Kimberly?" The victorious athlete whirled around to face her mother, Kris Rougé. "What about your family?"

Kimberly laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, Mom," she sighed, hugging her mother.

"Congratulations, Kimberly," said her father, Terrance Hart, offering his daughter a bouquet of twenty-four roses. "One dozen from each side of the family," he added as he kissed her on the cheek.

When she had taken hugs and congratulations from the rest of her family and from her coach and teammates, Kimberly turned once more to her longtime friends. "Guys, I really want to catch up. How long are you going to be here?"

Zack looked at Trini. "We have to leave Monday, right?"

Trini nodded. "We have to be at a seminar back in Geneva on Tuesday morning and it's a long train ride."

"Okay," said Kimberly. "My family's taking me out to dinner after I get changed and we have a team lunch tomorrow. After that, I'll be free. You guys want to go get coffee and go shopping and maybe have dinner?"

"Sure, sounds great!" answered Jason.

"Great! What's your room phone number?"

"We don't have one; we're staying at a hostel. Why don't you just come by when you're ready?" Jason wrote the address and directions on a slip of paper.

"Oh, good!" said Kimberly as she looked at the directions. "That's not very far from where we're having lunch! I'll be by around two tomorrow. See you then!"

Luciano Pavarotti's Latin rendition of a familiar Christmas hymn poured softly from the speakers of the trendy but intimate and relaxed café as Kimberly took a well-appreciated sip of a tasty blend of coffee she couldn't remember the name of.

But it was hot, and right now that was all she cared about. "Oh my gosh, jumping right from Florida to Denmark in December is a killer," she remarked.

"I'll bet!" exclaimed Zack, who sat next to her. "Our first winter in Switzerland we thought we were going to die."

There was a pause as Kimberly put down her coffee cup and sighed contentedly. "Guys, it is so good to see you here."

"It's good to be here," agreed Jason. "If only Billy and Tommy were here, too, it'd be just like old times."

At the mention of Tommy's name, Kimberly forced a smile and looked down into her cup. "Yeah."

"How are they?" asked Trini. "I mean, have you talked to them lately?"

"About a month ago," answered Kimberly, still staring at her coffee. Finally, she lifted her head to face her friends. "I guess I should tell you guys. I broke up with Tommy."

"Oh." Jason seemed a bit surprised, even taken aback, by the news. "When did this happen?"

"Around Thanksgiving. I—I wrote him a letter." Just saying it made her feel like a bitch.

"A letter?"

Kimberly wasn't sure if that was an indictment for not calling him instead, but she gave the defense anyway. "I just couldn't do it over the phone. Every time I'd talked to him in the last few months it had been like there was less I could say to him. I didn't know…" Her voice trailed off and her lips puckered up.

Trini had a sympathetic look on her face. "It's okay, Kim. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, I probably should," sighed Kimberly. She just had to explain it to someone from home. "It's just—when I first went to Fort Lauderdale—or, Broward County, anyway—, I thought I'd just train, compete, get back to Angel Grove, and it'd be like nothing ever happened. But I couldn't just go slip back in. I'll be in Florida at least another year and a half before the Pan Global Games. High school will be over. Plus, Coach Schmidt's already talking about Sydney in 2000. And it wouldn't be fair to ask Kat—Katherine, the new Pink Ranger—just to give up her place on the team all of a sudden.

"And the more I thought about it, the more I decided I had a new life for me there in South Florida—and it was time to say goodbye."

A pause. Then, "I did meet someone… someone else, in Florida."

"Oh." Her three friends nodded. An awkward silence followed, and Kimberly wondered if they were waiting to arrive at a proper "judgment" of her decision before reacting.

Mustering up confidence, Kimberly sipped a little more of her coffee and qualified. "We're not—we've only just started dating. There's no way I can tell whether anything'll come out of it, but… maybe something will. I just felt like… I felt like I was growing apart from Angel Grove and Tommy." She took another, harder swallow of coffee.

Zack placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Kim. We all felt the same way when we left home. You and Tommy were tight, but we're all still young. People change. But, hey—you can still talk to us about it."

Kimberly smiled. "Well, I'd hope I can still talk to you guys! I mean, I've known you guys like, forever. Billy, too. I should probably call him."

"Yeah," said Trini. "I'd really like to talk to him, too—it's just too expensive to call often."

Kimberly sighed again. "So, yeah. I might not be welcome in Angel Grove at this point, anyway." She laughed a little.

"So you want to tell us who the lucky hunk is?" Zack asked, grinning mischievously.

Kimberly grinned and blushed a little as she pictured her new boyfriend. "His name's Brendan O'Driscoll. He's Irish—I mean, he's from Ireland—with the accent and everything."

"Whoa, cool!" Zack and the others got wide eyes at that news.

"He'll be twenty next month. He went to the states after he finished high school a year and a half ago, and he just started taking classes at Broward Community College. He's a waiter-slash-bartender at this Irish pub we went to one night in Fort Lauderdale."

Jason leaned forward, frowning. "An underage bartender?"

"Oh, no—you can serve alcohol at eighteen in Florida." At that, Jason leaned back and looked pensive. Kimberly sensed his protective older brother instincts toward her coming to the fore; he looked like he wasn't sure he approved. "Come on, Jase. Don't be such a Puritan."

"What?"

"He's not an alcoholic or anything. It is possible to serve drinks and even drink responsibly—not that I do either!"

"I didn't say anything!"

Kimberly tried in vain not to smile. "I could tell it was on your mind."

Jason had to smile himself. "All right. It's just—Kim, you know me. Both of my parents went through detox and I've never had anything to drink. I just have to hear the words 'beer,' 'bar,' or 'alcohol' to get a mental image I really don't like."

"I understand." Kimberly rubbed her hands and sipped her coffee. "I don't drink, though, and, well, he is a couple years older—but I hadn't even considered dating him until months after we'd met. Besides… we're a pretty new couple."

Jason sipped from his own mug. "I'm sorry," he offered. "You've just changed a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"When we were younger you were always so bouncy and into all that pink and sweet stuff and—I kind of worried you were a little naïve and some punk would take advantage of that, so I always felt like I should keep an eye out for you. But then, well… everything that happened with Rita and Zedd, and you dating Tommy and now—" He stopped himself abruptly. He had obviously not meant to bring up that last bit.

"Right." Kimberly nodded.

"… now your gymnastics thing…"

An hour later, the girls were trying on apparel in an upscale clothing store while the guys browsed winter sports equipment while down the street.

"Trini, do you think Jason's kind of mad at me?" Kimberly asked, placing her hands on her hips in front of the mirror. She couldn't stop admiring the pants she was trying on. The months of intensive gymnastics training had taken the little bit of edge off her waist, hips, rear, and thighs. She looked great, but now she was at the bottom end of the clothing rack. Finding pants or dresses in her size could be a real headache.

"Hmm?" said Trini from the dressing closet. "Why would he be?"

"I don't know, just… he and Tommy have always been close and—I'm wondering if I don't look like kind of a traitor now."

Trini emerged from the closet in a rust-colored silk shirt and a black skirt. "I can see him feeling a little defensive about Tommy. But he's known you longer. He understands you've changed. We all change—especially when we're apart."

Kimberly licked her upper lip before removing the purple cashmere sweater she wore and reaching for a green one on the stool beside her.

Trini leaned down to catch her friend's eye. "Why would you think you've betrayed anyone?"

Kimberly hugged the sweater to her chest and swallowed, still not looking directly at Trini. "I feel like I'm a completely different person than I was when I left Angel Grove. It's not like it was before I was a Ranger, either—now I don't even care about all those high school dances and clubs and honors and everything. It's all just happened so fast and now I don't even want to go back—but I've known you guys for years and when I see you now I wonder if I've just completely repudiated everything that was so important to me—to the world—for so long."

Trini rubbed Kimberly's shoulder. "Kimberly, we're still friends. And we're not Rangers anymore, either. Even Billy now, apparently… none of the original team is there. Angel Grove will always be a part of you somehow. If nothing else, it got you into gymnastics and led you to the games. It's because of that that you are where you are now."

At last Kimberly looked at Trini. "I guess you're right. When I look back sometimes I just feel guilty—especially for leaving Tommy, after everything we've all been through." She sighed and pulled on her sweater.

"You just need some time. Understand you're not in Angel Grove anymore—and you shouldn't be. You'll get there eventually. You said yourself you wouldn't want to go back and break up the Power Team by trying to rejoin. And what's done with Tommy is done."

"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Hart," said Jason gratefully as he shook Kimberly's father's hand at the railway station the next morning.

"My pleasure," said her father. "You've all been such good friends to Kimberly so long, it's no problem at all."

Kimberly hugged each one of her friends. "Bye, guys. Thank you so much for coming! It really meant a lot to me."

"Hey, it was a great weekend," remarked Zack.

Trini smiled at Kimberly. "Good luck with everything, Kim. I know things'll work out just fine."

"Thanks, Trini." Kimberly hugged her friend again.

"Don't forget to write!" called Jason as the three boarded their train.

When the car had departed, Mr. Hart put his arm around Kimberly's shoulder and squeezed. "You ready?" When she didn't reply right away, he nudged her. "Kim?"

"Yeah," answered Kimberly. There was a lot to be ready for: to leave the terminal, to leave with her father and her grandparents for Munich that evening—and above all to step into her new life. At first she hadn't been sure which one her father had meant.

Ironically on the feast of Christmas, the final bit of dirt was laid over Rita's casket and patted down. Above it sat a grey headstone reading "R.I.H.": rest in hell.

As Zedd stood pensively, looking down where his wife lay, Master Vile approached him. "You've been perfectly silent for the last three days. I think it's about time we had a talk."

Zedd looked his wife's father in the eye. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Oh, really? You married my daughter and you failed to protect her! I'd say you have plenty to answer for. I am your father-in-law, and you will pay the appropriate homage due me!"

That did it. "EX-father in law!" Zedd thundered, pointing his staff in Master Vile's direction. "Now I see exactly where Rita got it from. You and your entire family are the most inept, pretentious, spoiled bunch of hoodlums ever to join the United Alliance of Evil! You can go off and brag about your clan's pact with Satan all you like, but I know the truth. I know how lazy you've become, taking your evil destiny for granted as if it were some birthright. Well, look how much good it did Rita!

"And furthermore, now that I'm free of any yolk to you and your ilk, I intend to start doing something productive with my life! Finster! Prepare Serpentera for immediate departure!" He did an about face and began to march out of the graveyard, but stopped when he passed Goldar. "Well? Are you just going to stand there? Come on!"

Lady Vile caught Rito looking longingly after Zedd's entourage and grabbed her son by the ear. "Don't you dare think about going with them again, young man! Barbarian land-grabbing scion, the whole lot of them!"

Serpentera snaked its way out of the M-51 galaxy. Inside, Lord Zedd descended from his throne. "Rita's death is of no consequence," he spoke coldly.

"What?" asked Goldar, slightly surprised.

"We cannot dwell on bygones. It is time to move on and to regain the former glory of our empire." Zedd walked past Goldar down the aisle a few feet and gazed out the window. "Finster!" he called. "Set a course for planet KO-35 in the Kerova system!"

"Immediately!" agreed his slavish technician.

Goldar was stunned. He had not seen his master this stone cold in several years—since Zedd had married Rita, in fact. "My Lord, if I may ask what you have in mind… and if I might be of better help if you restored my wings…"

"Oh, we will deal with that in due time," answered Zedd. "But you are my most loyal subject and I suppose I at least owe it to you to explain my plot."

Zedd re-ascended to the throne. "First we'll make a brief stop to pick up a cloaking device so that the Machines can't detect us in our motor base on the moon. Next, I'll work on getting a new Empress who will give me what Rita never did: an heir!" He drummed his fingers, pleased at the thought of it. "Finally, we'll regroup and search for the weakest link in the Machines' imperial galactic chain—and strike! Once I've regained Dark Specter's confidence, I'll be able to appeal for royal reinforcements for the reconquest of my rightful fiefdom."

"An Empress? But my Lord, why base on the moon while you're searching for a wife—unless… you don't mean…"

Zedd stood up. "That's right." He chuckled. "I'm searching on Earth. I'm setting my sights on Kimberly Hart!"

TO BE CONTINUED…