Personal Affairs
Part VI: Something That's Unholy and Illegal
by MegaSilver
Zedd marched up to the altar and shoved Finster aside so that he could look the face in the eye. "Nice entrance! Who are you?" Apparently this was not part of the rite.
"I am a messenger from the Cimmerian Planet," said the face in a deep, echoing voice. "I am here to serve you a summons, Lord Zedd!"
"A summons? Well, you couldn't have picked worse timing!"
"You are to report immediately to the Tribunal for Internal Disputes to receive initial counsel and scheduling regarding a complaint against you. Failure to comply will result in your nullification within twenty-four hours!" With that, the face dissipated.
"What in outer space WAS that?"
"My lord, i-if I may," offered Finster, "I have only minor experience with the central structure of the United Alliance of Evil, but the energy signature emitted from that messenger was, I assure you, quite authentic. I think it would be highly imprudent to ignore this warning."
"Oh!" Zedd growled. "Well, this shouldn't take too long… internal dispute, humbug! Goldar and Finster, you'll come with me! Scorpina, you stay here and guard my fiancée!"
"No!" whined Scorpina. "Why do I have to do the babysitting?"
"Because I'll need Goldar in case there's foul play—and who do you think will guard her, Squatt and Baboo? If anything goes wrong, you'll be burned, do you hear me?"
"Hey!" growled Goldar. "That's my wife you're talking to!"
"Silence!" thundered Zedd. "Come on, you two. We're going!" Before exiting the chapel, Zedd turned towards Kimberly. "I'll be back, my darling Kimberly. And believe me, Scorpina is more than competent to keep everything under tight control! When I get back, you'll be glad it's me and no longer her!"
Kimberly swallowed her combination of rage and fright and just kept silent as Zedd and his two henchmen left. She sat on the steps in front of the altar for a couple of minutes, contemplating how to make her move. There were two long wooden torches burning at the nave of the structure, but Scorpina stood between Kimberly and the closest one, and the one on the other side was equidistant to her and to the Tengas in the front pew. Maybe luck would come through.
It sure did. Squatt and Baboo were seated near the back of the chapel, playing "Rock-Paper-Scissors" across the aisle. Their shrieks and giggles became increasingly boisterous, resonating throughout the structure until at last Scorpina cracked. "You two!" she snapped. When they didn't listen, she started to march over. "If you don't calm down I'll—AAAAAAAAAAH!"
Scorpina's screech was a reaction to the burn of the torch on her tail and up her back. Kimberly had profited from Scorpina's momentary inattention to grab the torch. Immediately the Tengas were upon her and her combat instinct kicked in. She whipped one out of the way with her foot—thinking those high-heels might not have been so bad, after all—and smacked another with the sharp end of her torch. Now there was just enough of a gap for her to make a dash down the main aisle, and she did.
By this time, Scorpina had recovered at least enough to shout, "Seize her!"
Squatt and Baboo attempted to block Kimberly's path, but she was swift enough with the torch to twirl it forward and pull the hot end just close enough to herself to force them to roll aside as she blasted through.
"AAUGH! Ooch! Ouch!" she heard them cry as she dashed out the door. She heard the Tengas rushing behind her, but far enough back that before she went any further, she spun around, hurled the torch at the altar like a javelin and thereby set the structure ablaze.
Immediately Kimberly dashed off to her left into the woods. Now she was definitely grateful to have her own boots on, but the darkness was near total and the thicket kept grabbing at her dress. She moved as quickly as she could feel tree trunks in front of herself to hold onto for safe leverage. She had no idea what if any civilization lay beyond the woods, but no doubt she could sweet-talk her way into it whatever it was. It couldn't be worse than where she was now.
Then, she stepped off into a ravine and tumbled to the ground. She landed on her face, intact but a bit sore. Once she managed to reposition herself and look up, though, she saw the shadowy figures Scorpina and the Tengas standing over her.
Great… so this is it.
What next? A spell, perhaps, and then a Satanic wedding ceremony.
Suddenly the whole world turned white around her.
When Kimberly could see again, she found herself on the floor inside a metallic, high-tech structure. It wasn't a place she recognized, but as she glanced around she saw familiar panels and switches that evoked friendly memories. Then her eyes came into contact with a three-dimensional panel displaying the figure of the Pink Ranger.
Her heart leapt. "I'm—I'm home!"
"Kimberly?" called a familiar voice from around her.
Kimberly whirled her head around. "Billy!" She pulled herself up off the floor and barrelled into her friend, giving him a hug.
"Kimberly!" came a squeaky voice.
"Oh, Alpha!" Kimberly gave a side hug to the robot on her right.
"Hey, Kim." The voice was Adam's. Adam stood on her left, accompanied by Rocky, Katherine, Tanya and—Tommy.
Before Kimberly could greet the Rangers, an electrical sound pierced through the structure. Kimberly looked toward the sound and saw a familiar blue face inside a column.
"Welcome, Kimberly, to our next generation Power Chamber!" bade Zordon.
Kimberly was overwhelmed. Suddenly all the decisions, all the doubt, everything just dissipated. It didn't matter, not for a few minutes, anyway. "Oh, my gosh, Zordon! You guys—thank you so much for getting me out of there! As soon as I saw those portraits over on that wall I knew where I was and—oh!" She looked from Ranger to Ranger, to Alpha and then back to Zordon. "Thank you."
"Sorry it took so long for us to get your messages," said Billy. "The Machines have been doing us quite a number the last few days. They almost destroyed the Zords completely. We only just got them off our backs early this evening—then we got home and saw you'd called and right away we were all back in here."
"What was going on, exactly?" Adam asked.
"Yeah, you were really far away!" remarked Billy. "What did Zedd want with you all the way off on Noctana?"
Kimberly groaned and rolled her eyes. "The stupidest thing you can imagine. Zedd was trying to marry me again!"
Rocky's eyes were the size of dinner plates. "Marry you? What about Rita?"
Kimberly chuckled. Actually, she had been so stunned from all the action that she hadn't even contemplated Zedd's words about "the Grim Reaper" until just now. "I don't know… like, he said she was dead!"
Katherine covered her mouth. "I'm sorry!" she said. "I'm really having a hard time not laughing at that!"
Kimberly snorted a little herself. "I know, right?"
"Well, he was pretty slick about it," remarked Billy. "He must've known he'd have to be discreet not to attract any attention. Our sensors didn't even pick anything up until we started actively searching."
Kimberly stopped smiling and became concerned. "Do you think… maybe he'll try to get the jump on me again?"
"Well, he and Rita tried something on Tommy just a few weeks ago. Same story: really discreet movements and it wasn't until Tommy went missing that we were able to get to them. But now that I know Zedd's still trying to make trouble and it's more than just one isolated incident I'll be setting our sensors up to keep a closer look out for his energy signatures—and I'll make sure we keep an eye on you, too, just in case."
Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."
Zordon interrupted. "Rangers, I am sure you would like to catch up more with our old friend, but it is very late and I must speak with Kimberly alone before sending her back home.
Home. But wasn't—oh, right. Home to Florida. A thank you to the great friends who had saved her behind despite her thumbing their leader—and then she could just get back to her glamorous, cosmopolitan sport-and-beach fling.
But that's not all that it is! It's—
"Bye, Kimberly," said Billy.
"Bye!" called the other Rangers—even Tommy.
"Bye, guys," Kimberly whispered. A moment later, they were gone.
"Kimberly," said Zordon, "I sense that your mind is fatigued and overactive. Are you ill at ease about something?"
Boy, does he know me. Kimberly wondered, should she tell him exactly what she was thinking? Probably should. Couldn't hurt. "It's just… I spent nine months away and everything started looking so different. I had a different life and all this—the Rangers, everything—just didn't… seem so important to me anymore. But now… something like this happens, and I owe my life to having been a Ranger and to getting saved by the Rangers but I couldn't come back the same way… and I feel guilty for leaving it at all and I wonder if maybe I'm supposed to want it all back." She took a deep breath, her first since beginning that monologue. "I broke up with Tommy, too."
"Yes, I know. When you are apart from the people and the things you know, things change rapidly. The people and the things that occupy your thoughts and the priorities are different."
"It just took me by surprise, I guess," said Kimberly. "Even when my parents divorced I stayed in the same school. And when I became a Power Ranger I went into it with the people who were already my friends, but now… I've just never been through a rupture like that."
"Kimberly, you were a most excellent Power Ranger. However, that is not your present occupation, and you should not burden yourself with the sense of duty that comes with the Power. That civilians get caught up in this fight is unfortunate, and something that we take great pains to prevent, but we are not omnipotent."
"Look, I don't blame you or any of the Rangers for this," promised Kimberly. "I know there's always a risk."
"Indeed. And when you went to Florida, you took a risk as well, and by all accounts it seems to be working well for you. The woman you are becoming as a gymnast in Florida may indeed live a very different life from that of the girl you were as a Power Ranger. But no one can into a new situation and thrives without something behind her. That you could start building a new life where all is unknown to you is the proof of just how solidly formed you were by your past experiences.
"As for Tommy, perhaps one day it will be helpful for you to talk with one another and come to terms with what has happened. But the only solution to your internal disquiet is this: you must try to accept that although fighting as the Pink Ranger is no longer what you do, the Power is part of who you are."
Kimberly nodded. "You know, right before Christmas I saw Jason, Zack and Trini in Europe and Trini said a lot of what you're saying right now. It helps me, though, to hear it from you—to know that you don't think I betrayed you or Tommy or the others."
"I am well aware that no one can be a Power Ranger forever. Very few could become Rangers to begin with. It is a demanding and dangerous occupation."
Kimberly chuckled. "Tell me about it! You guys got me out just in time. Zedd had gone to run some sort of errand in court, Scorpina was guarding me and I had to wait until she was distracted, torch her and run out of the chapel… and even then they almost caught me."
"The fact that you could hold out so well is further confirmation of your strength, and only reinforces my solid belief that I chose well when I chose you. If you show yourself to be that strong of character in your new life in Florida, I have no doubt you will live a very good life, and continue to brighten the lives of all those who know you. You have certainly brightened ours.
"Now, it is nearly one-thirty in the morning, and nearly four-thirty where you live. It is time to say goodbye once again."
"Umm… Alpha, can you teleport me to the Port of Miami? I kind of… left my car there."
Zordon intervened. "I think that, given the hour and the circumstances, it would be best to have Alpha teleport your car back to your grandparents' house."
Alpha pressed a few codes into the console. "Are you ready, Kimberly?" he asked.
Kimberly nodded. At long last, she was ready. "Good-bye, Alpha."
"Good-bye, Kimberly! And good luck!"
"Farewell, Kimberly," bade Zordon, "and remember that the Power will always protect you."
Kimberly smiled. "Like I could forget that after tonight!"
The alarm jolted Kimberly out of her sleep at 9:30 AM. Far too soon, but she had something to do today. She opened up the window and felt outside. Not really cool, but not so warm that she couldn't sport her nice new brown leather jacket. And sunny!
Ô là là—I'm seeing today through Christian Dior shades!
Quickly she showered, did herself up, got dressed and bounced down the stairs.
"Good morning!" called her grandmother from the kitchen when her steps hit the ground floor. "Would you like some breakfast?"
"Umm, no thanks; I'm gonna go out and grab something!"
"You won't be having lunch, then?"
"Uh… no. Dinner, yes."
"All right. See you at dinner."
"Bye!"
Outside, birds tweeted and the air smelled fresh and citric. Kimberly longed to grab an orange from the tree standing in the front yard, but she'd already learned the hard way that that fruit was strictly ornamental.
She pulled those designer sunglasses down over her eyes. She'd be having excellent orange juice pretty shortly, anyway.
"Hang on," came a weary voice after Kimberly knocked on Brendan's door.
Oh, good, he's okay.
Moments later, Brendan creaked open the door, beaming when he saw his girlfriend. "I was praying every step to the door it'd be you!" he exclaimed, pulling her into an embrace.
He was still wearing the same clothes from the past two days and he smelled of Jack Daniel's, but Kimberly couldn't fault him that. Not this time. Besides, she could always use it as leverage in the future.
They just stood there for a minute. When Kimberly didn't say anything, Brendan pulled back and looked into her eyes, looking concerned. "What is it?"
Kimberly felt her stomach growling furiously. "Umm… well… nothing. I mean—are you hungry? I was thinking an Irish breakfast sounded really good." She paused. "My treat."
"Ach, no, Kim! My treat! Come on in; I'll get a shower and then we'll go get some grub!"
Lord Zedd waited impatiently near the front of the courtroom, Goldar by his side. "I can't believe Rita would actually go so low as to sue to uphold our marriage! Just when I thought I was rid of her! Ooh…" He began to glow. "And that TRAITOR FINSTER went and represented Rita in the hearings!" he growled, loudly enough for Finster to hear.
Justice Ivilov, a toad-woman of sorts, burst into the courtroom, took her bench and whacked down her gavel. "Order! Order in the court!" She cleared her throat, put on a pair of spectacles, took ahold of the sheet of paper she had carried in, and began reading aloud. "This matter comes before the Court on the plaintiff Rita Repulsa for a declaration of validity and a restraining order. After reviewing and considering the materials submitted by the parties, and hearing oral argument, the Court adopts the following order.
"BACKGROUND—Lord Zedd was the holder of the Ducal Empire of Zedd, from whence he draws his common name. Among the other holdings of this duchy was, de jure, the planet Earth. Although the United Alliance of Evil recognized and upheld internally Zedd's claim on the planet, Zedd never managed to wrest de facto control over the planet Earth from its human occupants.
"In the course of Zedd's attempts to conquer Earth, he married his former subordinate Rita Repulsa of Vile, granting her the title of the Ducal Empress Consort of Zedd. Throughout a period of about two Terran years, Zedd's ducal empire was slowly conquered by the rebellious Machine Empire and since about seven Terran months, Zedd has effectively held all his titles in the capacity of pretender.
"During a failed attempt to hijack the Machine Empire around its present main court near Earth, the titular Ducal Empress Consort of Zedd passed away. Initial investigations carried out at the behest of the Vile family, who implicated Lord Zedd in her killing, ultimately concluded that the cause of death was a stray blade fallen haphazardly into the moon's gravity from the Machine Skybase.
"Immediately after his wife's death, Zedd began to court a new prospective wife in the form of one Kimberly Ann Hart, human, former Pink Power Ranger and resident of Angel Grove, California, U.S.A. on Earth, now civilian resident of Coral Springs, Florida, U.S.A. on Earth. Meanwhile, shortly thereafter, Rita Repulsa of Vile was revived thanks to a total life sacrifice of her father into the fires of hell.
"On 3 January 1997 by the Terran calendar, Repulsa of Vile came to this Court to request a validation of her certificate of marriage to Zedd as well as of her title of Ducal Empress Consort of Zedd. Repulsa of Vile further requested that the Court issue a restraining order prohibiting Zedd from any further interaction with the human Kimberly Ann Hart. Zedd has filed a counter-claim arguing that their marriage should be proclaimed null.
"LEGAL STANDARD—No marriage can be considered legally valid without at least the formal consent of both parties, as shown in Dread Bones vs. Scathing Voice. Manipulation so as to coerce another party is not considered force, owing to the particular ethics of our evil society (Scarred Lott vs. Red Butter). A party who has been coerced through force or through outright lies rather than through manipulation may receive a declaration of nullity (Alled Nore vs. Luis) but not if it can be shown that, upon the removal of the force or the discovery of the lie, the party continued to live in the marital state and pay the marital debt (Igor vs. Malatox). Finally, marriage legally contracted is by statute considered valid until such time as one party dies, but in the case of a resurrection, Lia vs. Darkonda, Sr. shows that any title received through a matrimonial union is reinstated at the resurrection, for since divorce does not exist in the UAE, the title is bound to the person and not simply the marriage.
"With regards to restraining orders, Maligore vs. Daryl established that restraining orders can be fitted by one party against another either as a matter of protection for the plaintiff or as a matter of public good, if the plaintiff has discovered actions particularly menacing to the interests of the UAE on the part of the defendant.
"DISCUSSION—In order to claim that his marriage is null, Zedd must show that he was coerced into the marriage by force and that he left the marriage when the force ceased to apply. He has succeeded in showing that he was coerced through a love potion; however, it has also been shown that subsequently an antidote was applied, and that Zedd continued to live with Repulsa of Vile in the capacity of husband and wife for over one year after receiving the antidote, even defending Rita against charges of fraud by his own minions. His marriage cannot therefore be considered null on the grounds of coercion."
Zedd stood up. "Objection!" he shouted.
"Overruled!" Justice Ivilov shot back. Clearing her throat, she continued:
"Zedd has further claimed that, even if his marriage had been valid, it was dissolute with Rita's death and therefore no longer exists. However, this Court considers that if a title received through a matrimonial union is reinstated upon resurrection, then so must be the marriage itself. Therefore, Zedd's marriage cannot be annulled on the grounds of death, since Rita Repulsa of Vile is, as we can all see, alive and well here today, and therefore able to claim her title of Ducal Empress of Zedd."
"WHAT?" thundered Zedd. "That is insane!"
Justice Ivilov slammed down her gavel. "You will demonstrate order in my court!
"With respect to the requested restraining order, Repulsa of Vile has not shown that the prevention of adultery is sufficient cause to protect her own interest, particularly considering that her family's pact with the devil makes it unlikely that she will die before Zedd fathers a child with her… if he ever fathers any children. Lovecraft vs. Sentinel established very clearly that adultery was rotten, upsetting and in every way consistent with our propagation of evil—provided that the statute prohibiting inheritance by illegitimate children be upheld, so as to maintain some semblance of order.
"However, this Court finds that Repulsa of Vile is most astute in asserting the potential danger to public order posed by the presence in the court of one of our foremost-ranking emperors a former Power Ranger who maintains close ties with the forces of good on Earth. The Court would be remiss not to further point out that Kimberly Ann Hart's civilian status, not to mention her apparent residence in a locality quite far removed from the command center of the activities of Zordon of Eltar, could easily provoke the Power Rangers into considering our invasions to have escalate, and thereby invite swift and merciless retaliation on our own dwellings before we are adequately prepared to resist.
"CONCLUSION—The certificate of marriage between Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa of Vile is to receive the official Seal of Validation, as is the Act of Entitlement of the Ducal Empress of Zedd for Repulsa of Vile. This Court further orders that Lord Zedd keep a distance of at least 10 miles away from the Terran human Kimberly Ann Hart as well as her direct ascendants and descendants, siblings, and other non-Ranger associates, pending a hearing after the first of January 1998 by the Terran calendar.
"IT IS SO ORDERED." Justice Ivilov slammed down her gavel one last time to dismiss Court.
Zedd sulked a bit right outside the courtroom, waiting for Rita to come out. But the first to come sailing out was Lady Vile, who promptly slapped him across the face with such graceful poise that one had the impression she had been preparing to do so since the moment she had gotten up from her seat. "I never wanted her to marry you to begin with," she hissed. "But if you EVER try to cuckold my daughter again, it will be a dark day for you, you lout!"
Rita followed her mother out. Zedd grabbed her. "You think you're so slick. You and your whole Satan-lapdogging family! Well, no matter. You may be my wife, but you are now and forever more banished from my court, and from my sight!"
"So that's how you want to play, huh?" Rita snarled. "Well, ain't that a shame! As far as I'm concerned, you can boink every infected tramp in the universe until your little pee-pee rots right off, but just remember: if you father any bastards, they get nothing! Unless you father a child by me, all your holdings become royal demesne on your death! You want to bounce around and make your love life a whole series of 'personal' affairs, the UAE'll have nothing to say about it!"
"Oh!" Zedd growled, glowing redder than perhaps he ever had before. It was bad enough to have had a judge to toss him the Law Bomb; for his wife to do so was unbearable. He turned to Finster, who stood beside his client. "And as for you, you weasely traitor… if I ever see you again, I will kill you, and no one will care!"
"I acted as my conscience dictated!" Finster insisted indignantly.
"Fine!" grumbled Rita. "Banish the both of us! And then see how well you do without a spellcaster or technician to back up your skinless patootie!"
Just as Rita finished, the communications screen on the nearby wall flickered to life, revealing Dark Specter's image. "Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd! I would like a word with the two of you in my throne room."
*Epilogue I*
So good to be back home.
Tuesday morning at 6:15 AM, Kimberly was taking a nice, fast-paced run under the South Florida Sun through North Community Park before heading off to school and then gymnastics practice. It was a grueling routine, but it was her routine. It was everything she'd worked for.
It was her life. It was who she was, and for the time being, it was what she did.
All of a sudden, lightning accompanied by ferocious, familiar thundering sounds pierced her running path and lifted her off her feet. Kimberly yelped out as she sailed through the air and toward the turf off-path, rolling to avoid injury when she hit the ground. At that moment a sense of dread brought a tremor of nausea to her stomach.
"Not again!"
The nausea only worsened when she pulled herself up and found that she was standing nose-to-nose with none other than Rita Repulsa. Before Kimberly could complete a defensive stance, she found herself having to dodge the nasty metal staff the villainess was trying to pound down onto her head.
It all happened so fast. Kimberly managed to avoid the cranial blow, but she did get whacked in the shoulder hard enough to send her tumbling backwards onto the ground. She cried out and rubbed her shoulder. It stung, but she didn't think she'd been hurt badly enough to put her out of practice, thankfully. She cast a sharp glance at her old nemesis. "You?"
"Thought I was dead, didn't ya?" snapped Rita through a wicked grin. "Couldn't even spare a rotten petal from your pretty little garden for condolences, huh? So much for gracious adversaries!"
Suddenly it occurred to Kimberly that she hadn't even remembered that Rita was supposed to be dead. The discovery that she was now alive scarcely fazed her, either: she realized that the veracity of Lord Zedd's announcement of Rita's death interested her about as much as the explanation for how Rita would have gotten back, which was very little. Stranger things had happened before.
"Oh, I'm real sorry I didn't send flowers!" Kimberly shot back sarcastically. "What do you want, Rita?"
Staring the former Pink Ranger straight in the eye, Rita took a step closer to Kimberly, who pushed herself backwards a compensating distance. "Stay away from my husband, you little pink bitch!" With that, she disappeared in a cloud of smoky flames.
Kimberly could hear her own heart pounding, and it was definitely going faster than it had been when she had been running just moments earlier. She took a moment to catch her breath. Nothing strange, she told herself. In fact, it had turned out to be nothing really that scary, even. Just kind of annoying.
Getting back up, she muttered to herself, "Not a problem at all, Rita. So happy to help you out there." She started back down the jogging path.
And that… was my life, she reflected. A whole different routine, indeed. It had had its good points, but it was past.
Well, mostly…
That was the thing about life. The past always informs the present, always shapes you and helps you to rise up to your present circumstances, even if you no longer do what you once did. Kimberly would always be ready for the fight, even if she would never again possess the power of the Pink Ranger.
… or would she?
*Epilogue II*
Back on the moon, Zedd leaned up against the motor home, sulking as Rita returned from her brief visit to his lost prize. "Well, what are you being so sour about?" Rita snarled.
"Isn't it obvious? In just three days I was robbed by those Power Brats from a distance of five galaxies, humiliated by the most ridiculous legal precedent in UAE jurisprudence and been ordered to launch a raid on the Machine Empire from Earth's moon—with you!"
"Huh!" Rita glared at her husband. "Well, you can gripe, but obviously Dark Specter must not think very highly of me, either, if he stuck me here with you like this!"
"Oh, what a brilliant comeback!" Zedd jumped up to face his wife. "You gripe about me? You were the one who sued to uphold our marriage! And don't you think I know Dark Specter just wanted a way to get rid of me with a trash assignment? Oh, at this point I'm sure he'd love to see the same thing that happened to you back on the moon happen again, to both of us!"
"Yeah, well, you ought to be grateful they didn't have you zapped to death with a ray gun firing squad for sedition after you almost introduced a former Power Ranger into the citizenship structure! What in deep spaces were you thinking, Zeddy? That Kimmy would help you defeat those Machines better than I could?"
"I was thinking exactly that!" Zedd thundered, glowing red.
Rita fliched. "What?"
Zedd's red glow faded a bit. As frustrated as he was, he had about burned himself out of pure rage over the past twenty-four hours. "You know, Kimberly was always my first choice—until you barged back in! Before you came into my life, I was the feared lord of chain of powerful galaxies. Before you came into my life, I terrorized the Power Rangers and Angel Grove as they have never been terrorized before I came or after you came. Before you came into my life, I was OKAY!"
"Oh, YEAH?" Rita looked like she was fuming, perhaps about to whack Zedd with her staff. But after a few seconds, she calmed down again. "Who was the one who wrecked havoc with an evil Green Ranger—twice? Who was the one who managed to rain down a team of evil Rangers to menace those Power Pukes—twice? Whose family brought us the Tengas and destroyed all the Rangers' powers—twice?? Who brought in an evil kitty to steal the Pink Power Coin, the Falconzord, Ninjor and the Pink Ranger herself—and then, which one of us was it who LOST your sweet little Kimmy, huh?
"You might act like such a tough shot when I'm not around, but we both know the truth. Face it, Zeddy. You're lost without me!" Rita flashed a toothy grin.
Not wanting to answer that, Zedd stormed back into the motor home.
THE END
Author's Note: All right, well, I hope you've all enjoyed this little ride as much as I have! I really loved writing this story and I'm really proud of how it turned out! I know I definitely didn't placate any fantasies about "things we'd like to see in the PRU that we didn't see" (Kimberly getting back together with Tommy, Kimberly becoming a Ranger again, Kimberly hooking up with Jason or Billy or Rocky or Skull or whomever) but I hope I've at least provided decent entertainment and valuable character/life insights to leave ye all feeling satisfied. Sequels are in the works and in fact are well underway… yes, I said "sequels," as in, more than one! Hey, why not?… Kimberly's very young and her life is just getting started—and once Tommy and Katherine hand off their powers, they'll still have their whole lives ahead of them, too.
So, anyway, please do review—I love to hear comments and suggestions! If you're one of the people who read this back when it was posted the first round and left a comment then, well… I don't expect double dips but I of course wouldn't object. :)