After Darkness Falls

"Looking Back"

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, that is owned by Saban/Disney. Carri and all things related to Carri (including Jason's cougar ninjetti power) belong to KJ with many thanks. Everyone else belongs to me.

A/N: Kim's powers were inspired by KSuzie, but unlike KSuzie's she cannot travel between dimensions, only time.

Jason sat there, listening intently to what Kim had to say. She told him about what happened during her training for the Pan Globals, how she was told to write the letter to Tommy by Zordon. Their old mentor knew that she was meant to have a greater purpose than just being a the first pink ranger of Earth. He discovered this when she was sent back in time to the old west. Apparently when the Wizard of Deception sent them back to Colonial Angel Grove some of his power somehow stuck to her. Zordon claimed to know nothing of this and was just as surprised as she was. Zordon hadn't wanted Kim to write the letter, but he knew she had to in order to fulfill her purpose. He felt certain that once she had done everything, they would be able to reunite, and he was almost never wrong.

After the Pan Globals were over she called to let Jason know she was coming back to Angel Grove for a few days. He suggested they go scuba diving like old times, and she was quick to agree. That was when they were captured by Divatox and taken to Murathias to be sacrificed to Maligore, which they were. She didn't remember a whole lot about her time under the volcamic demons influence, but one thing she would never forget was the hellish pain she went through in the pit, it was as though her flesh had been slowly seared off her bones and regrew even slower. After the Turbo Rangers saved the two of them she went to watch Jason and the others in the Martial Arts tournament, and Kat, seeing that Kim was back and thinking she was going to stay, handed the pink Turbo powers over to her. Kim graciously accepted them, thinking that this was what Zordon had meant. But she was wrong. Her time on the Turbo team had also been like hell, Tommy had always kept his distance from her during that time, and she was never able to explain herself to him. Things got worse after Zordon left and Dimitria arrived. She no longer had her father figure to look up to for guidance, and Dimitria, seeing the strain that Tommy and Kim were putting on the team, decided it was time for them to retire as rangers and go their seperate ways in life. Kim hadn't wanted to hand over her powers again, but was glad she did when her successor, Cassie Chan, eventually helped save Earth from Dark Specter and Astronema.

After leaving the Turbo team Kim began to find powers emerging within her during college, much like Jason had, except hers enabled her to travel through time, not just across physical distance. Towards the end of her freshman year she left Earth, seeking to learn how to control these powers, learn who had attacked her, and without Zordon to turn to as he had been captured by Dark Specter and she no longer held any ranger powers, she turned to Dulcea just as the Phaedosian was about to summon her herself. Dulcea was the person who gave her and her friends the powers of the Ninjetti. She explained everything to Dulcea, who already knew. The warrior then in turn explained to Kim what ahd happened to her. When Divatox sacrifed her in the Pit, it killed her and she was then reborn as a Muranthian, able to live for thousands of years. As long as Zordon, Zedd, and Rita, if not longer. It took some time for Kim to finally accept that, she had known that the pit had done something incredible to her, scary but incredible, but she never imagined that. She remained on Phaedos, training with the Phaedosian Warrior for two years, until the years 2000. She learned how to focus her energy on ehr powers, how to control them. After a year or so she gained complete control over them. But, like Jason, she had yet to master them and probably wouldn't for a few centuries. Once her training there was complete, Dulcea explained that she had nothing left to teach her, and as a parting gift she bestowed upon Kim the powers of a Phaedosian Warrior.

After leaving Phaedos Kim began to travel the universe, searching for the items that she was told held the key to reviving Zordon. She had heard of his death while on Phaedos, and both she and her mentor had been saddened by his loss. But, after travelling to Eltar to pay her respects on her old mentors home world, and finding a damaged Alpha 5, Kim learned of the items that could revive him. He would still be trapped inside the time warp, for if he were ever freed he would begin to age rapidly as he had done when Ivan Ooze shattered his tube years before. But he would be alive if anyone ever needed him. Along her travels she met a twerp named Ninjor, who she learned was the true creator of the Ninjetti. Due to the stench of Maligore still residing within her he was cautious at first, going so far as to sending her away from the planet at first. But after she proved herself to him through her words, and her actions by saving him from an army led by the tyrannous Xix, he welcomed her into his temple and restored her Ninjetti powers. Though her outfit was now red, rather than pink. Ninjor explained to her that through her extensive training with Dulcea she had gained the knowledge and power that came with being a red. After having her Crane Powers restored, she decided to to learn more about Power Coins, and how to recharge them.

She trained with Ninjor for another two years, meeting many new faces, some friendly, some not. One of the friendly faces was none other than Andros, the red Astro ranger. he had met Ninjor while searching for Zordon and stopped by every now and then to say hey. During his last visit while she was there he informed her of a meeting being held on Earth that concerned all red rangers. She declined to go after learning that Tommy was the leader. But Andros, knowing what she had been learning, asked her to atleast recharge a few of the older rangers powers. Finally giving in and agreeing she hopped into the Megaship and together they took off. After arriving on Earth Andros gathered the three powers that needed recharging; the original Tyrannosaurus Power Coin, the red Zeo Crystal, and the red Turbo morpher. Although she was only able to temporarily recharge the coin and crystal, Lightning Cruiser was able to take her little recharge and make it a permanent recharge for the red Turbo ranger. After doing what was asked of her she left Earth again, having found one of the keys.

As she continued her search for the other five keys she developed her powers further, being able to summon objects from far away, as well as send them away. Over the course of the next year she met many other rangers, some a full team, others like Andros had been, a loner. The ones who were alone had lost their teams to Xix. Deciding to take a break from her journey and find out more about this Xix, she banded toagther the rangers who left from his destruction of several planets. In the end they were a team of five. Herself, with nothing more than Ninjetti powers, Kai, a Solar ranger, Xad, a Lunar ranger, Flay, a Beastial ranger, and Zorx, a Gem ranger. After getting over the initial distrust of each other, the four remnant rangers joined with Kim and togetehr they staged an attack on Xix' palace on the planet Klart. After days of battling his forces they finally came face to face with him, Xix. He reminded Kim of Prince Gasket, he had attaked Ninjors temple once while she was there, and she helped the "wise old sage" to defeat him for good. After a fierce battle they managed to defeat Xix by combing their powers and blowing him to pieces. Afterwards the four remnant rangers each went threir seperate ways, and Kim returned to her journey.

Along the way she managed to find two more of the keys, each one held a special place in her heart. One was full of good memories, while she other was filled with both good and bad memories. As the next five years passed she wasn't able to find any of the other three keys, just lots of trouble. Being the newly form red ranger that she was she helped out where ever she could, until finally in 2008 she ran into two old friends, Jason Lee Scott and Carri Lauren Hillard. She had been estatic to see them after so long. She listened to everything they had to say about their own journey, she had heard of Aulyan from both Dulcea and Ninjor. He was supposedly as powerful as Zordon, if anything like thatwas possible. She had given them a vague overview of her journey at the time, only telling them that she too had been attacked by the Courtadrones, but hadn't thought much of it as there were plenty of people out there who would kill to take out a ranger, even a former ranger. She decided her quest could be put on hold, after all, she had centuries for it.

"...And you know the rest from there," Kim said as she finished her explanation to Jason. She could tell by the look on his face that she had told him things about himself that he didn't even know.

"So..." Jason began, unclear on how to phrase his question. "If you were dropped into the pit, and you have centuries to live, then since I was dropped in the pit, does that mean...?" He didn't even finish his question. The look on Kim's face said it all.

Kim nodded and after seeing the flash in his eyes she said "Now calm down Jason. There's no point in getting angry over that. Aulyan probably didn't tell you because he couldn't find the right words, and I didn't tell you because I thought maybe you knew. Now just calm down." She hoped her words would have some effect on him, and seeing the flash in his eyes dim she knew they had.

Jason sat there for a few minutes, he was still pissed that he didn't know about his extended lifespan sooner. But he knew that it wouldn't do any good to get angry over no one telling him about it, he would just have to accept it and move on. "Hey, you never did specify about those keys. What are they exactly?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Kim smiled, she hadn't told anyone about that yet and she also hadn't shown them her power of summoning things. She held her hand out and Jason watched as red lightning sparked across it until a rectangular wooden box appeared in her hand. "These. Take a look," she said as she handed him the box.

"You sure I won't get struck by lightning?" he asked jokingly as he took the box.

"I haven't developed that power yet," she replied with a smile "and I doubt I will."

Jason looked at the box that he now held in his hands, inside it lay the answer to his question. Slowly, he opened the box and his mouth made an "O" shape at what he saw inside. Of all the things in the universe, that was the last thing he expected to see. "So that's two of the keys huh?" he asked, gesturing towards the contents of the box.

"Yes," Kim said as she snapped her fingers and sent the box back to the house. "Now you know what I've been searching for all this time."

Jason nodded his head and looked out over the lake, changing the subject again he said "Look at the moon tonight. Doesn't it look awesome?"

Kim looked up, noticing the full moon for the first time that night and the light it was giving off. "Yeah, it is beautiful, isn't it?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that. But it is pretty cool," Jason said as he turned to smile at her. "But hey, I think I'm going to head back to the house. Maybe you should do the same so your not a zombie tomorrow at work."

Kim smiled and said "I'll leave in a minute." She watched as Jason headed back through the park, and through the darkness she could hear his motorcycle crank up and she listened to his engine roar off into the distance. "It sure is peaceful here right now."

A few days later Billy sat in the Power Chamber, making adjustments to the Power Cannon he had made for the rangers. As he turned away to go back to the back room Trini teleported in. Startled when he turned around, he said "Oh, hey Trini. What's up?" He was nervous, and he knew she could tell it because she held in a giggle. He had had a crush on her ever since middle school, but once she left for the Peace Conferences he thought he had lost his chance to be with her. But as time progressed he became okay with that, eventually he met Cestria. He thought he had been in love with her, but he later realized that he was just projecting his feelings for Trini onto her. But he had found himself unable to leave her for fear of hurting her. That changed once she started to treat him like shit, after about a month of it he had had enough and left. She had begged and pleaded for him to stay, but he refused.

After returning to Earth after Zordon's death he began to spend much of his time in the newly rebuilt Power Chamber, keeping a constant eye over Angel Grove in case anyone was ever needed to defend it again, like now. After rebuilding it, he ventured into the lower levels of the Power Chamber where the Zeo Crystal had been put into storage and the Mighty Morphin suits sat. In 2002 he ahd been visited by an old friend, Tommy Oliver. Tommy had been on vacation in Angel Grove when he recieved a phone call from Andros regarding Serpentera. He had somehow found out about the original blue rangers return, to this day Blly still wasn't quite sure how he did it, though he ahd his theories. Tommy had asked him about his Zeo Sub-Crystals charge. Billy had explained that due to it being inactive for so long it would need to somehow be recharged, and that he would need time to build a device that would allow a temporary recharge.

After building the device for Tommy, he was again visited by another old friend. This time it was Jason Scott, who asked about somehow recharging his power coin. Billy had succeeded in recharging that too, though still temporarily. After about five years passed he found Kimberly in the Power Chamber. She had somehow been able to fix it so that his device could permanently recharge power coins and old morphers. How she had learned this he didn't know, but would later learn. She had learned the ability to recharge items temporarily, unless through a machine that would then make them permanently recharged, from a wise old sage named Ninjor.

From there on he had been all alone, rarely going into the city. He had a synthetron installed in the Power Chambers back room, which eliminated the need to go out for food. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that he had heard from old friends, namely Jason again. Since then Trini had returned into his life, though she was now married he was still glad to just be aorund her again. It made him feel like a teenager again.

"Jason invited us out to lunch. I told him I'd come and try to drag away from the Power Chamber," she replied with a smile. It was nice being around Billy again, she had felt bad about leaving for Switzerland, leaving no one who could really understand his techno-babble. Though it was more than that, she could tell that he had liked her ever since middle school, and that he was too shy to make a move. Over time she found herself developing feelings of her own for the nerdy blue ranger, but any chance they may have had was blown away when she chose to Switzerland. Now that she was married, soon to be divorced, and around Billy again, hopefully that spark would re-ignite.

"Well," Billy said with a sigh "I guess I can take a break. I have been working a lot lately. Sure, why not." He shrugged and together they teleported out in two streaks of white light.

Jason sat in a booth with Carri and Kim. Apparently Kim had informed Carri on everything as well, which was good. He wasn't quite sure how Tommy or even Rocky would react to what she had been up to. But that wasn't what they found themselves talking about, or rather, what Kim and Carri found themselves talking about. Jason wanted to just get out, but he wouldn't dare teleport in front of all these people. He was glad that Carri and Rocky's date had gone well and that they had been on others since then and were together again, but he felt like he was in the middle of a chick flick and that he could, and would, pass out at any minute.

"...And the best part was how romantic he was." He heard Carri say as he woke up from being elbowed, hard, by her. "Don't you even think about falling asleep during my story, Jason."

Jason rubbed the sleepyness from his eyes and said "I'm sorry, but hearing about your dates just isn't my idea of a good time. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you. But couldn't you two have girl talk some other time?" He just watched as Carri stuck her tongue out at him and continued talking about her dates.

He watched as Billy and Trini walked in and were seated by Skull. A first he thought that maybe they would move onto other subjects, but then Carri started her tale all over again to Trini and he and Billy just sighed and shrugged their shoulders, ready for a long afternoon.

Sarahna sat in her throne room, contemplating what monster she should send down. There were a few of Rita's old monster molds lying around, and she had already sent down three monsters this week since the mahcine was through being repaired. She looked along the shelf and said "Only one mold left..." She picked up what looked like a humaoid eagle and handed it to Xanar. "You, make him into a monster. Now!"

Xanar backed away in fear at the fierce growl in her voice. He had never been one to shy away easily, but there was something about her, something that made his skin crawl just by looking at her. "Y-yes my Queen, right away." He placed the monster mold on the conveyor belt and started the machine up. A few seconds later the mold was a full-fledged monster.

The monster stretched and said "I am Tenganator, how may I serve you Queen Sarahna?" Tenganator resembled one of Rita and Zedd's old Tengu Warriors, only read and black and with deadlier attacks.

Sarahna smiled, 'Queen Sarahna,' she liked the sound of it. Gathering her thoughts she said "I want you to go down to Angel Grove and attack the rangers, but bring the green one to me. Understand?" Tenganator nodded and disappeared in a flurry of flames. Sarahna smiled and her eyes got wide, she couldn't wait until little Jason was putty in her hands, he had a dark side, and she was going to expose it and use it to her advantage. It was only a matter of getting him to the palace, hopefully her monster would succeed. If he failed and returned, she would kill him herself. "Cairus, go after him and take a few Couratdrones. I'm placing you in charge until I return."

Cairus jerked his head back, he was unaware that his queen was leaving. "Of course, but might I ask as to where you are going my Queen?"

Sarahna's smile widened as she said "Volacia."

Tenganator landed near the old Angel Grove High School and began sending exploding dart feathers out of his wing tips, destroying whatever he happened to see. "This outta get those puny punks out here," he said as he fired on the old school, demolishing one of the walls.

Jason was about to get on his motorcycle after leaving Bulkmeier's when his communicator chirped. "Yeah, what's up?" he asked after looking around.

"There's a monster at Angel Grove High, we need you out here now!" Tommy's voice ordered. Jason's eyes flashed a little red. he could have stopped at "we need you."

"We're on our way," he said as Kim and Carri walked out. "Come on guys, we're needed by the high school." The trio morphed after making sure that no one was watching and teleported to the hish school.

They arrived to see Tommy laying on the ground, struggling to get up after being hit with a few of Tenganator's feathers, and Rocky struggling with Cairus and the Courtadrones. "You guys go help Rocky, I'll see if I can help Tommy," Jason said as he pulled out his sword and used his teleportation ability to appear beside his friend in a split second.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Carri said as she and Kim ran over to join Rocky. "Rocky, we're here!"

The blue ranger turned to see the white and red rangers heading his way, taking out Couratdrones as they did so. "Great, took you long enough," he teased Carri as they got back to back to battle the Courtadrones.

"Oh shut up." Carri kicked one Courtadrone under its chin, and punched another back. Kim jumped up and kicked two of them under the chin at once before running and dismantling another. Eventually they had the others retreating, leaving only the monster and Cairus to deal with.

Jason helped Tommy to his feet and together the green and crimson rangers attacked the monster, both getting hit by his exploding feathers and flying backwards. As he flew back, Jason teleported behind the monster so that he would into it and turn its own attack against it. He succeeded and landed on top of the monster, quickly rolling off.

Tommy saw his old friend teleport like that, how he had done it he didn't know, but now wasn't the time to think about it as the monster picked itself up and told Jason the usual "You'll pay for that" before attacking again. Tommy ran and leaped into his Zeo flying power kick, which connected with the monsters abdomen and sent it flying into the wall behind it, crumbling it down on top of it.

"Nice work bro!" Jason called from a few feet away, and Tommy nodded in response.

Cairus looked around at the three rangers that had surrounded him. Normally he would stay and fight, but for now he was in charge and he knew the odds were stacked against him in this fight. After he left the others went to join Jason and Tommy. "Guys," Billy called through the speakers in their helmets "I finished touching up the Power Cannon, just call for it and it should drop into your hands."

"Right, thanks Billy," Jason replied before Tommy could get the chance. "Zeo Power Cannon!" they all called. The cannon fell into their hands, with Jason standing at the back of the formation. Tenganator picked himself up from underneath the rubble and they heard him say "uh-oh" as Jason called out "fire" a multi-colored beam fired from the cannon and blasted Tenganator to pieces, with feathers flying everywhere.

That night Jason found himself walking through the park again, this time he walked over to finally look at the statue he'd seen. It was a life-sized statue of the original seven rangers, with Tommy's green and white persona's. Across the park on the other side was a statue of the six Astro rangers. He stared up at the red ranger, his old power, and smiled. He still carried that coin around with him, and the morpher. He was glad that when the power was "transferred" from him to Rocky, it was only copied. Really there were two Tyrannosaurus, two Mastadon, and two Sabertooth Tiger power coins out there. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha's were all made from the same material as Tommy's Tiger Coin.

"It's too bad I may just have to give it up..." he said with a sigh.