Here's the new chapter!
Enjoy!
The next morning, Kim awoke to her cell phone ringing. She quickly answered it so as not to disturb Tommy next to her. They had only been asleep for a few hours, following the night, or morning rather, that they had.
"Hello?" Kim said softly and groggily. She shifted a bit to get more comfortable
Tommy opened his eyes when he felt the bed move and heard her voice. He didn't say anything.
"Do you know what time it is?"
Kim paused to whoever she was talking to replied to her.
"Are you on your way home, yet? The others know a little. They were asking questions."
Tommy perked up at this. He only knew of one person that Kim could be having a conversation like this with.
"Nothing. They know you're gone...I didn't say anything about what you were doing. That's gonna be your job. I really don't know why you didn't tell them anyway."
Kim paused again.
"I told them that I haven't spoken to you since you got there. When are you coming home?"
Tommy shifted a little to prevent his arm from falling asleep. He heard Kim lower her voice even more, though Tommy could still hear her.
"Adam, please be careful. I wish I was there with you guys."
When Tommy heard Adam's name, his suspicions were confirmed.
"I would not," laughed Kim. "Is that Kira I hear in the background? What is she saying? You still can't believe Tommy's a doctor?"
Tommy began to imagine different scenarios in which Adam could be, each of them more far-fetched as he continued to think. 'What could he be doing?' he thought.
"I love you, too. Tell Kira I said hello. Good night."
Tommy resolved to ask Kim about the phone call later. He figured she would let them all know, since she had finally heard from Adam. He drifted back to sleep as he felt Kim settle down next to him once more.
Tommy walked down to the kitchen, listening to hushed voices. He knew the others were in there, probably all discussing Kim and Adam. Tommy sighed, wondering if he should even mention the early morning phone call to them.
"Hey guys," Tommy said, taking a seat at the table. Aisha pushed a mug of coffee in front of him. "Thanks, 'Sha."
Aisha raised her eyebrows in response. "Kim awake, yet?"
Tommy shook his head. "She's in the shower."
"I know I really shouldn't be angry, but..."
"We tell each other everything," Trini finished. "I don't see why they had to hide anything, especially after--" Trini glanced at Tommy. "We've made...so much...progress...with each other."
"And it's really not like Adam to up and disappear," added Rocky. "I wonder what's up."
They all quieted down again as they heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Kim smiled at them, waiting for somebody to say something.
"Here's some coffee, Kim." Aisha handed her a mug as she did with Tommy earlier.
"Thanks."
"Kim, we...I...well, all of us, really..." Aisha trailed off as the phone rang. She answered it since it was the closest to her. "Hello?" Aisha furrowed her brow. "Hello?" she said again. "Is anyone there?" Aisha hung the phone up. "Nobody." She turned back to Kim. "Well, like I was saying earlier..."
"Hang on a sec," Kim said. She looked around for her cell phone, hearing the tone that signalled a text message. She found it on the kitchen counter and opened it to read it:
Left earlier than expected. Will be home today. Meet at park at 1:00. Your spot. See u soon.
Kim frowned a bit at the message. She glanced at the clock on the microwave, showing 12:30. Kim widened her eyes at the time. "Sorry guys, but..." Kim didn't even bother giving an excuse as she ran out of the house, pausing only to put her wet hair in a ponytail.
Kim paced up and down the stone. She looked at the clock on her phone. 12:58. Kim silently scolded her clock for going by so slowly. She wondered why Adam and Kira were ending up in the park. She figured that they must be teleporting somehow, but Kim didn't know why since they both said that they would be flying back. She looked at her clock again. 12:59. Kim rolled her eyes. She paced up and down the stone some more. Kim looked out onto the lake for a bit, thinking of Angel Grove. She looked at her phone again. 1:00. 'Finally!'
She jumped a bit when Kira appeared on the floor. Kim reached down in front of her to pull her up. "You okay?" she asked with a smile.
Kira nodded. "So that's how you guys used to get around and stuff?" Kim nodded. "It hurts!" She and Kim hugged.
"You get used to it," said Adam behind Kim.
Kim turned with a stern look on her face. She was about to say something when she noticed a familiar-looking robot next to him. "Alpha?" she asked uncertainly.
Adam nodded. "Alpha 6. Remember him? After Zordon and Alpha 5 left. After you..." He raised an eyebrow at her.
Kim nodded. "I remember." She hugged Adam and gave Alpha an awkward hug. "I'm guessing this is why you guys didn't come by airplane." Adam nodded. The four of them began to make their way to Kim's car. "So how was it?"
"It was awesome!" exclaimed Kira. "I know it hasn't been that long for me, but it was just great. Now I know why Dr. O kept coming back!"
Adam and Kim laughed. "So do you guys still have...?" Kim left the question open-ended so she wouldn't attract even more attention to the small group with Alpha in their midst.
Adam nodded. "Yeah. And I brought this little guy home because I know Rock and Jase need help in the dojo. Especially when Tommy goes back to school."
"Well, you two have a long story to tell."
"Sorry about that." Adam put an arm around Kim. "At least it only lasted two weeks, right? And of course, everything would come up when they get back from their honeymoon."
"And then I kind of left them hanging again when you texted me."
"And sorry for hanging up on Aisha earlier."
"Tell her, not me."
Adam laughed. "Do you think I should've told them?"
Kim opened her mouth to speak.
"Nah. Then everyone would've forced their way to come," Adam concluded.
Kim rolled her eyes. "So, what happened?"
Kira laughed as she got into Kim's car. "Well..."
"Where the hell could she have gone?" Jason wondered aloud. He looked at the faces of his friends around him. "And why didn't she say anything?"
The eight of them gathered in one area in the pool in the backyard.
"Well," started Tommy. "This morning...Kim got a weird phone call." Everyone looked at him expectantly. "From Adam."
Aisha and Trini looked at each other.
"Is that Kim?" Aisha asked. "I heard a car."
Everyone became silent. Rocky looked back at the house, with the doors still wide open, with only the screen preventing bugs from going inside. They heard Kim's high-pitched laughter, accompanied by the soft-spoken sound of Adam's voice. Everyone stared at the doors as they saw Kim and Adam emerge from the house with laughter etched on their faces.
"Hey guys," started Kim, uncertainly once more. "Adam's back."
They all looked at Adam, but didn't say anything.
"Guys," Adam said. "Kim...don't be mad at her. I made her not say anything. I didn't want you guys to be worried or whatever."
The eight sitting in the pool looked at each other, questions in their eyes.
"So, what has been going on, Adam?" asked Rocky, with a hint of an accusation in his voice.
"Well" started Adam, "A day before the wedding, the day of the rehearsal dinner, actually, this weird, light thing came to me. Incidentally, Kira also saw that light thing."
"What?" started Jason.
Adam held up a hand to silence Jason and he and Kim sat down at tge water's edge, putting their legs in the pool. At the same moment, Kira walked out with Alpha, holding three bottles of water. They appeared to be laughing about something.
A collective gasp echoed around the pool as Adam and Kim smiled knowingly.
"Alpha?" Tommy asked, uncertainly.
As he did earlier, Adam nodded. "Alpha 6," he confirmed.
"Hello former rangers," greeted Alpha.
Everyone murmured their return greetings and looked expectantly at Adam. Kira helped Alpha sit in a lawn chair. He looked around, making surprised sounds at everything he was seeing. Kira then settled next to Kim and handed her and Adam a bottle of water, each.
"Well," continued Adam, "So, we saw this light thing. It came on the same day as the rehearsal, as I was saying earlier-"
And I saw it after Adam, the morning of the wedding, when I was setting everything up at the reception place," chimed Kira.
"Anyways, it called itself the 'Sentinel Knight'. It said that the most current ranger team had their powers severed with the morphing grid. And they needed our help."
"And old habits die hard," said Tommy, with a wry smile on his face. Suddenly his hidden resentment evaporated. Noticing the looks on his friends' faces, he concluded that they felt the same way. Trini, Jason, and Aisha shared the same apologetic look. Kim looked at the three of them with an inviting smile, indicating that all was forgiven.
Adam nodded. "Kim could tell something was on my mind and so I told her. She wanted to come, but I insisted against it. I didn't want the two of you to know, obviously," he looked pointedly at Rocky and Aisha, "I didn't want you to be separated from Kim," he said, glancing at Tommy. "I knew the two of you were knee-deep in work, so I couldn't ask you to give everything up at the drop of the hat,"" Adam looked at Trini and Jason. He looked at Billly and Zack. "And the two of you are on vacation. You haven't seen your friends in years. I could not let you guys go." Adam paused a bit before continuing. "Anyway, the Sentinel Knight was able to restore our powers-"
"Wait," interrupted Zack. " He was able to restore the power in the coin that was destroyed?"
Adam nodded. "And in Kira's Dino Gem that was destroyed. The Sentinel Knight used some of his remaining energy to restore them."
"So, who was the Sentinel Knight? Or what?" asked Jason.
"The Sentinel Knight is the guardian of the Corona Aurora jewels. The operation overdrive team, the latest team, vowed to protect them. Thrax severed their tie to the morphing grid, taking their powers away."
"Uh, Thrax?" interrupted Trini.
"Rita and Zedd's son."
"Rita and Zedd had a son?" exclaimed Rocky. "That must've been one ugly--"
"Oh, he was," assured Adam. "Seemed to inherit his parents' worst qualities, too."
"But...how could Rita and Zedd have a son? They were turned good," said Tommy.
"He was apparently imprisoned by the Sentinel Knight. He somehow got free and formed an 'alliance of evil' with the rest of the bads."
"Why?" asked Trini.
"What else? To destroy the power rangers," answered Kim. She laughed a bit and waited for Adam to continue with his story.
"So anyways," continued Adam, "The Sentinel Knight asked us to step in to protect the jewels. He restored our powers so that we would be able to protect them. They're hidden all around the world."
"Well, the overdrive rangers tried to take on some of the bads at Stonehenge," added Kira.
"Yeah," agreed Adam. "Gotta admire their drive. For that part at least," he added as an aside. "Anyways, get this: they were like...enhanced or something." He laughed at the confused faces in front of him. "One of them had super strength--"
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with that," argued Kira.
"Yeah," agreed Tommy.
Everyone laughed.
"Anyways," continued Adam, "The Corona Aurora jewels. It grants the owner of them supreme power. There were a lot of different bad guys that were after them, so with the overdrive rangers out of commission, they were unprotected."
"A lot of different bad guys, huh?" said Jason. "Names sure have changed a lot."
Adam rolled his eyes. "Shut up, there were so many of them that I didn't catch all of their names, only Thrax."
" Alright, well, we get the whole 'protecting the jewels thing," said Aisha. "Was it just the two of you?"
Adam shook his head. "There was also Xander Bly. He was the green ranger for that mystic force one."
"And Tori!" exclaimed Kira. " Tori Hanson, the blue wind ninja ranger."
"And Bridge Carson," said Adam. "He's the red S.P.D. ranger. From the future. He used to be the green and the blue and now he's the red. Or he will be." Adam looked a little confused with himself. "He said something about a dog and a bird." He looked at his friends, none of them understanding. "Well, then there was me and Kira, of course."
"And so we, you know, started saving the world and protecting the jewels and stuff," said Kira. "But since they--the overdrive team-- didn't have their powers, they felt as if they weren't needed. And they didn't think that they would ever get their powers back since the morphing grid wasn't tied to them. And Andrew Hartford, sort of the mastermind behind of a lot of it, couldn't fix it."
"So we went to Angel Grove real quick to pick up Alpha since he was the only one that could fix the morphing grid." Adam gestured towards the robot. "And, of course, we were ambushed. The five of us put up a fight aqnd sent them packing." He paused and smiled. "All these kids" he glanced at Kira, "were all doing their cool little magic powers that they got when they became rangers. I kicked it old school." He leaned forward and dapped Jason and Rocky.
"The only way to do it, man," said Jason.
"Tommy's not sure, though," said Rocky. He laughed as Tommy gave him a dirty look.
"Hey!" exclaimed Kira. "I resent that!"
"And you should see their new morphing dances!" Adam laughed.
Jason laughed along. "Yeah, I remember seeing all of it when we did the red mission."
"I think we are getting way off based here," Kira said, annoyed.
"Right, Kir."
She rolled her eyes at him. "So the overdrive rangers went back to their lives before they became a rangers. Well, all except Mack Hartford. He's Andrew Hartford's son and the most current red ranger. He stayed behind and decided to go after the Sword of Excelsior. The only thing that could destroy the Sentinel Knight."
"Naturally, Thrax wanted it. He wanted to destroy the Sentinel Knight." said Adam. "But he wasn't worthy."
"And the red ranger was?" asked Trini.
Rocky and Jason both wore identical smug looks on their faces.
"Actually no," said Adam. Immediately, the looks on Rocky and Jason's faces vanished. Tommy noticed this and laughed. "None of the rangers got the sword out by themselves. They did it together. They did that while we were off fighting some monster that doesn't die. Compliments of Thrax. It even grew."
Kira looked back at Alpha. "Alpha fixed the morphing grid and the overdrive rangers got their powers back. Then it was--"
"Rumble in the park," said Adam, triumphantly. He nodded toward Kira. "They danced, I morphed and we fought the bad guys. The Sentinel Knight returned to his form after receiving the sword from the rangers and joined us. So he wasn't a big, weird light thingy anymore. He destroys Thrax and since they got their powers back, we came back home." Adam looked at his silent friends, all trying to take in the tale. "And now we're here," he added unnecessarily.
Rocky shot him a dirty look and splashed water at him.
"What?" Adam asked, trying to splash him back.
"Another mission? Another mission and again I miss it?" Everyone started laughing.
"Well, at least you had a good reason this time, Rock," Kim said, laughing. "It's not a burger." Everyone laughed again.
Tommy shook his head, grinning. He looked at Kira and Adam. "New rangers, huh? I've never heard of the overdrive team."
Adam nodded. "Andrew Mackford discovered the Corona Aurora, which made all the bad guys come out and fight them. He chose five teenagers--"
"He's their Zordon?" Aisha asked, confused.
Adam furrowed his brow. "Yeah, I guess. In a way. But there's also the Sentinel Knight and Spencer."
"Spencer?"
"He's the Hartford's butler," answered Kira. "Andrew Mackford even modiified the rangers' DNA so they could fight."
"Their cool little magic powers," said Adam. "Mack has enhanced strength. Will Ashton, the black ranger, has enhanced hearing and sight. Dax Lo, the blue ranger, has super agility. Sometimes it looks like could fly."
"Ronny Robinson has superhuman speed. She's yellow," said Kira, proudly. Trini and Aisha grinned at each other, while Kim rolled her eyes at them. "And Rose Ortiz is pink. She has the power of invisibility." Kira cocked her head towards Tommy. "And Tyzonn is the mercury ranger. He could turn into mercury. And he's Mercurian."
"Wow," said Jason. "Superpowers, huh?"
Everyone sat in silence for a couple of minutes.
"So, uh, why..." Rocky looked at Alpha, who was still taking in his surroundings.
"He didn't want to be cooped up in a box anymore, so I thought you and Jase could use him at the dojo to help out and stuff," Adam answered.
"Alright," answered Rocky. "Thanks, man."
"No problem." Adam looked around and squinted at the sun. "You guys should've seen this dude, Thrax. He had horns and half of a mask, on his face, like Zedd. And he even had a staff with a "Z" on it! And he was imprisoned in a dumpster-type thing and was released on the moon." His friends looked at each other.
"So you guys were off saving the world all this time?" Tommy asked. Adam and Kira nodded, sheepishly.
"Sorry, Kim," said Aisha.
Kim shook her head. "Don't worry about it." She grinned at Aisha.
Rocky shook his head. "So unfair. Everyone gets a mission, but me."
"WHAT?" exclaimed Billy, Zack, Trini, Aisha, and Kim at once. Jason, Tommy, Adam, and Kira started laughing.
"Uh, you do remember that we haven't been back, too?" said Trini. "Just these losers who can't seem to give it up.
"Hey," argued Adam. "This is my first time coming back."
"Mine, too!" added Kira.
Aisha pointed at Tommy and Jason. "So, it's really these two losers!"
Jason shot Tommy a look. "Well, at least I've only had two colors in my whole career. That one over there is stealing everyone's."
"I know!" said Zack, Adam, and Rocky simultaenously.
Tommy rolled his eyes. "Well, next time one of you discover some new power or whatever, remind me to yell at you for taking green or white."
Everyone laughed again.
"That would be so cool, though," Trini thought aloud. "I mean, not for the world, but you know, to get the power back again."
"So, how's everything now?" asked Tommy.
"Fine," answered Kira. "The overdrive rangers are back, protecting the jewels with their own powers and we're here, living life again." Kira paused a bit. "You should've seen their base, Dr. O. Nothing compared to your lab. We should've put a pool table down there." Tommy shot her a dirty look. Kira shrugged her shoulders. "What?" she asked, defensively. "They have one and it was cool!" Adam nodded in agreement.
"Well, I think that you have all shown your bravery admirably," said Hayley. "And that you've all hung up your morphers for good." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Alright, but, next time there's a mission, I'm going!" said Rocky. Everyone started laughing again. "I don't care what the hell's going on. The birth of my first child, any of them, actually--" Aisha threw him a dirty look and splashed water in his face. "One of you guys are getting married or something's up with any of the schools, I'm going to that damn mission!" Rocky finished his proclamation with a smack on the top of the water.
There you go! Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry it took pretty long to get out there. Let me know what you think about it.
I got the idea for Kira and Adam going on that mission when I read online that the two were going to be in a team-up episode of Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive. I was about to add the storyline in the last chapter and then I realized that the episode didn't air, yet. So, in the interest of not wanting to spoil anybody who watches the curent season, I waited. And wanted to see exactly what happened during the episode. I watched for Adam. He kicked some serious butt out there. I loved seeing him as the leader. The story that Adam and Kira tell is what happened, more or less, in the episode "Once A Ranger" for the overdrive season. You guys should check it out, it was pretty good.
