Here's the new chapter.
Kim opened her eyes and grinned. 'CHRISTMAS!' she thought. Christmas morning has always brought her back to her childhood and she always acted like a kid on Christmas morning. She looked to her left and saw Tommy still asleep. She fought the urge to wake him up and scream "IT'S CHRISTMAS!"
She looked at her phone for the time and saw a new text message. She opened it and saw that it was from Amy about ten minutes ago.
"Coming home a couple hrs early. Will be there in time for b-fast. Your place, right?"
Kim opened a reply and sent a message.
"YES! See u soon. Merry Xmas!"
Kim sat up and stretched her arms. She fluffed up her pillows and looked at Tommy, still deep in sleep. She grinned as she placed a hand on his shoulder. She was so happy that Tommy has come back into her life. And her friends. And meeting Hayley. Kim felt like she was in high school again. Except she had more freedom. And no powers.
Kim thought back to being a power ranger. First, she thought of Adam and knew that he had to tell Amy about their past or else they would end. She knew Amy has been extremely patient with Adam and the rest of their group of friends and she also knew that Amy knew something was up between them. Kim thought about how they would sometimes slip up and mention something and then they would have to cover it up. And their cover up was never good. She loved Amy and she knew Adam loved Amy and she hoped to see wedding bells in the future. But she knew it wouldn't happen unless Adam told Amy that he used to be a power ranger. And that he actually still had powers from the last time, when he helped the overdrive rangers.
'He's so lucky,' she thought.
Kim had given Kat her power coin. At the time, she thought it was for the best. Here was Kim, ready to live out her dreams and compete in the Pan-Globals. Kim thought she was ready to leave Angel Grove. That she was ready to give up being a power ranger. But once she set foot in Florida, she knew she was wrong. Kim thought about her accident and her friends moving out to Florida to be with her. They were her family. Her closest friends. She knew there was a bond closer than blood holding them together.
A beep emitted from Kim's phone, signaling another text message. She opened it and read through it.
"Be there in about 30."
Kim smiled as she read Amy's reply. Amy was certainly a new addition to the team. She doesn't know about their past. She doesn't have the same bond that everyone else shared. But she fit in as well as any other person.
Again, she thought back to Adam and Kira leaving to help the overdrive rangers. Kira had told her about all the new ranger teams since Kim had left. All Kim knew was her own team the powers that Tommy and the others received after she left. The Zeo and Turbo powers. Adam filled her in on what's been going on, too. Kim was about to laugh when she remembered that Adam said a lot of the new rangers had superpowers while he still did everything basic.
Kim looked at Tommy as she felt him move next to her. He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her looking at him.
"Morning, Beautiful." He stuck out his hand and stroked her face.
She grinned in return. "Good morning." Then she jumped out of the covers and started jumping on the bed. "IT'S CHRISTMAS!"
Tommy jumped up, all the sleep gone from his eyes. "How long have you been waiting to do that?" he asked, with a smile.
"Feels like forever." She shrugged before jumping off the bed. "You know, everyone becomes a kid on Christmas morning again." The two of them laughed. "Aisha and the others are gonna be here soon." She ran toward the window that faced the outside. "And Amy's coming home earlier than expected. She'll be here soon, around breakfast, instead of at dinnertime." Kim pressed her face closer to the window. "Wait. There's 'Sha. What's she doing here so early? I knew I would regret the day I gave her a key!"
Tommy laughed as he joined Kim at the window. "Why don't you jump in the shower and I'll go and..."
"Calm her down? You know she's gonna be a big nutcase."
Tommy laughed again. He nodded and looked out the window. "Is Rocky there?"
"I don't think so. It looks like it's just 'Sha."
Tommy nodded again. "Go shower. I'll go and head off 'Sha."
Kim nodded and gave Tommy a kiss before running into the bathroom.
By lunchtime, Hayley looked at Kim. "Can we go now? My hands are rubbed raw from washing these dishes."
"You? I have small hands and I'm over here, drying everything."
Hayley and Kim giggled softly. They glanced around the kitchen. Aisha and Amy were cutting vegetables, Billy was once again, folding napkins, Trini was running in and out from the dining room, putting out different place mats for everyone, Zack was singing along with the song playing on the radio. They could hear the jeers and catcalls from Tommy, Adam, Rocky, and Jason sparring with each other in the living room.
Kim put the plate down and looked at the bottles of soda and everything else on the counter.
"Hey, 'Sha?" Kim said. "How many was I supposed to buy? I think I forgot some."
Aisha looked up quickly and looked at the countertop before glancing toward Kim.
"I noticed that earlier, so Rocky and Jason went to buy some. They probably left it in the car."
Kim looked at at Hayley, with a defeated look in their eyes. Billy and Amy looked at them, smirking.
"Rock!" Aisha called. She went to the living room. "Rocky! Get everything you guys bought out of the car!"
Rocky looked at Aisha and nodded before taking his stance again Adam. "In a second, 'Sha."
Aisha rolled her eyes and returned to the kitchen. She found the others looking outside the window at the pool.
"I wish it snowed here," Kim was saying. "Not that it ever snowed in Angel Grove, but you know...I wish it snowed."
Trini laughed. "Me too."
"I'm glad it doesn't," Amy said. "It snows in Virginia and driving back there and back was hell for me."
"Well, I'm glad you're safe, Amy," said Kim. The others nodded in agreement.
"I don't miss the snow, either," added Hayley. "I grew up in Colorado. The skiing and snowboarding was fun. But try getting stuck in the snow in your car in the middle of what seemed like nowhere. I hated it. And it happened quite often." Everyone laughed.
Amy turned to the others. "Do you guys miss Angel Grove?"
"Yeah," Trini answered almost immediately. "I think it's because I left so abruptly. I never felt like I had a proper goodbye, you know?"
Zack and Billy nodded in unison. "Yeah," said Zack. "It's the place I grew up. My family still lives there, though. I miss them, too. Life is pretty hectic in LA. Everything is practically nonstop."
"For me, it's more the nostalgia," said Billy. "I met my best friends there. We all spent grade school, middle school, and high school together. Leaving Angel Grove was pretty sad, but...it was something that had to be done." He looked at his friends. "I do miss hanging out at Ernie's after school."
Kim smiled. "Yeah. Not to mention all of our extracurricular activities after school."
"Like what?" Amy asked.
Aisha cleared her throat. They all turned back from the window, somewhat guiltily. She smiled at her friends.
"Well, Kim used to do gymnastics at Ernie's. You taught a class, too, right?"
Kim nodded. "They were some fun kids, too. I'd like to see how they're doing now."
"And we were involved in clubs and we had so much going on in Angel Grove," added Trini.
"And Billy was always inventing some new thing or another," said Zack.
"We had some event for every little thing in Angel Grove," Kim said. "And Jason and Tommy participated in a lot of martial arts competitions. A lot of it was held at Ernie's."
"Ernie would make the best strawberry banana smoothies," said Aisha. "And especially with a cheeseburger to go with it. That was the best."
"And remember the Halloween party? And the peace parade?" said Zack.
"Was it weird being in the same town as the Power Rangers?" asked Amy. "I remember hearing a lot about Angel Grove and the Power Rangers back then. Adam said he's crossed paths with them before. You guys did too, right?" she said, looking at Kim, Aisha, and Trini. They nodded. "Did you guys ever see them?" she asked Zack and Billy. "Probably, since you all hung out with each other, huh?"
Billy nodded. "We've crossed paths before."
Kim and Aisha stole a glance at each other.
Zack nodded also. "Everytime something happened, they were always there to save the day."
"Not always, Zack," said Trini. She looked at Amy. "The Power Rangers were human, too."
"I remember being fascinated by them," Amy said, looking nostalgic. "I hated seeing the monsters and stuff, they use to show that on the news all the time, but the way they'd come in and save the day. I loved trying to find everything out about them." Amy thought for a bit and looked at them. "A little crazy, isn't it? Here I am, reminiscing about the Power Rangers, who I've never seen nor met, just heard about on TV."
Hayley smiled. "They are pretty fascinating. Saving the world is." She looked at the others.
"Do you think they were really teenagers? They must've been. There were those teenagers that transformed in front of everyone awhile back."
Zack looked at the others in surprise.
"The Space Rangers," Billy whispered to Zack, an exchange that didn't go unnoticed by Amy. "Seriously, Zack, where have you been?"
Zack shrugged.
"Yeah," Amy said. "They called themselves the Space Rangers. And they were from Angel Grove, weren't they? Did you guys know them?"
"Ashley was a couple of grades below us," said Kim. "I remember her hanging out at Ernie's with some of her friends. Never knew her very well, though."
"Do you think that the rangers really had different people fight alongside them?" Amy asked. She looked at each of them. "I mean, I always heard that someone had left and another person had joined. And they got new powers and new rangers and stuff like that."
"I think it's possible," said Billy.
Amy looked out the window again. She thought about the questions she's had for the longest time, but she couldn't bring herself to ask it because she wasn't sure how they'd react. They always seemed a bit sensitive towards the subject. Amy took a deep breath and looked at her friends again. She caught them giving each other looks that said so much.
"Are you guys the Power Rangers?"
Kim and Aisha looked at each other. Trini sighed. Billy and Zack glanced at each other and looked down. Hayley continued to watch.
"No," Aisha said. "We're not the Power Rangers."
"Oh," Amy said. "It was just--you guys are from Angel Grove and you guys just have so many--"
"Amy," interrupted Kim. "We're not the Power Rangers." Kim gestured to herself, Aisha, Zack, Trini, and Billy. "But we used to be."
Amy looked at each of them in surprise. "How come--why--when--" She exhaled. "I don't believe this."
"Well...you must've believed it if you asked us," Trini said with a smile.
Amy looked flustered. She smiled. "You guys know what I mean."
"We were the Power Rangers," Kim said. "Me, Trini, Jason, Billy, and Zack were the original team on Earth."
Amy furrowed her brow. "So, what about--" She gestured toward Aisha.
"We came in later," she answered. "Me, Adam, Rock. When we moved to Angel Grove after Trini, Jason, and Zack were chosen to go a Peace Conference in Switzerland."
"But what about Tommy?"
"He has a bit of a long story," said Kim. "He moved to Angel Grove during high school, turned evil, then good, and decided to fight with us."
"Oh," Amy said. "Cuz that makes sense." She looked at Hayley. "What about you? You don't look surprised."
"I actually helped Tommy with his team," she answered.
"Tommy had a team?"
Hayley looked nervous. "Um...yeah."
"And Kira was a part of it," Kim added. "And Trent, Conner, and Ethan."
"Kira, too?"
Kim nodded. "If it helps, I didn't find out until LA that Kira was one, too. Adam, too."
Amy shot her a withering stare.
"Okay," Kim said with her hands raised. "I guess it doesn't."
"And Adam's been a ranger before?" Kim, Trini, Aisha, Zack, and Billy nodded. "And he never told me? You guys never told me?" She exhaled and looked at them again. "I really don't believe this. You guys were the Power Rangers."
Adam walked in to the kitchen, hearing Amy tell his friends that they were the Power Rangers. He stopped in the doorway, immediately putting a stop to the chatting between Tommy, Rocky, and Jason.
"What's up, man?" Rocky said.
"You guys were the Power Rangers," Amy repeated. She looked up and saw Adam, Tommy, Rocky, and Jason standing behind them, all with a dumbfounded expression on their faces.
She looked at Adam with an accusatory look. "Power Rangers," she repeated again.
Adam looked back at her. "Amy..." he started, walking toward her.
She shook her head. "No...I...can't...I just...I need some time to just wrap my head around this whole thing." She looked at Kim and Aisha. "I just..."
She ran past Adam, Tommy, Rocky, and Jason and they heard the door slam.
Adam looked at Kim. "You promised," he said quietly, his voice laced with anger.
"Adam...I..."
"You promised, Kim. I was going to tell her at the right time."
"Adam, she..."
Adam shook his head. "No, Kim. I told you I wanted to tell her at the right time."
"Adam, we all told her," said Aisha. "Don't place all the blame on Kim."
Adam glared at Aisha. He gave the same look to Billy, Trini, Zack, and Hayley.
"Yes, but she promised." He glared at Kim again.
"Adam, she asked us," Kim yelled in his face. "What were we supposed to do? Lie to her? Then she'd be even more pissed off when she found out the truth."
"I didn't want to tell her like this," he answered.
"Then how were you going to tell her?" she challenged. "You wouldn't tell her every other time you tried. Like when you got back from helping the Overdrive Rangers. You said you would tell her then. But you didn't."
"That was different!"
"How? How was it different?"
Adam glared at her again and rolled his eyes. He shook his head as he pushed through Tommy, Jason, and Rocky, grabbing his keys before running out of the house. Everyone was silent as they heard the door slam again.
I thought I'd somewhat make up for lost time and post this up real quick.
Hope you enjoyed it!
