A/N: Chapter 6. Includes some surprises and the lead-in to the Fighting Spirit part of this story.

A/N 2: I own nothing. Power Rangers once belonged to Saban, then they went to Disney and belong to Saban again.

Chapter 6 – Two Shades of Kimberly Ann Hart

Thursday, December 4, 2003

Very late that night

The Oliver Home

Reefside, CA

As Tommy lay in bed, tossing and turning all that night (while in his uniform) he tried to shake the dream that was infiltrating his mind, but just couldn't do it.

It was…her…or at least it looked like her.

Inside Tommy's mind

"Hello, Tommy," the young woman said.

"No way…it can't be," Tommy said. "How in the world are you here?"

"As much as you want to be excited, I am not…her, Tommy, at least not the real her," the young woman said. "I look like Kimberly, but you may call me Ms. K, as that is what I prefer to be called."

"That still doesn't answer the question; who are you and why are you here?" Tommy said. "How can there possibly be two Kimberlys?"

"As I said, I am not…her. I am but a manifestation of her, a spirit form of her if you will. I have a body, but at the moment, I am not of your world. But Tommy, I see everything. I see what has happened to you, I see what has happened to your teammates and I see everything that goes on in this world and in other worlds," Ms. K said.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase…why I am here?" Tommy said. "Why now? My focus right now is Mesogog, not Kimberly. That and the other focus is trying to get out of this uniform."

"Your main focus right now is Mesogog, sure. But the time is drawing near when you will find out the truth and you will have to go before your friends…including my spirit sister in the flesh and hope that your team can come back together," Ms. K said. "But let's face it; I think we all know what the truth is. You haven't used that scanner, but I think you know in your heart what the truth is…and if my spirit sister is smart enough, she'll realize it too. As far as Mesogog, worry not about him. He will not stand in the way of your quest."

"Do you think we can all come back together? It's been some time," Tommy said.

"Honestly, Tommy, I don't know. There are hundreds of different Ranger universes, Tommy. I'll give you the cliff's notes version; in some universes the letter doesn't happen at all and in others, it happens and the team never comes back together," Ms. K said. "You are in a particular universe where it's truly a coin flip; where nothing is determined. I can say this though; I believe you have taken all the necessary actions to bring her back and your team back."

"Have I done all I possibly can do? That's all I ask, I can't control any more than that," Tommy said.

"A very different Tommy from 10 years ago; I like it," Ms. K said. "Yes, you have gone far above expectations. If the team and my spirit sister doesn't accept you back and this world is doomed, it is hardly your fault."

"Thank you Ms. K," Tommy said.

"And you, too. May the Power protect you, Tommy Oliver."

Saturday, December 6, 2003

The Oliver Home

Reefside, CA

"So what you're saying is, you had this dream two nights ago," Rita said, "and that in it, was a manifestation of Kimberly herself, but in spirit form."

Immediately after the dream Tommy had two nights ago, he had called a meeting of those who had been closest to him. Those present included Hayley, Billy and Kat, Rita, Finster and Zedd and Jason and Trini.

"Yeah, and I can't put together all the details or give a lot of things away," Tommy said, "but she said something about different universes where the letter, or letters, don't take place, and there are others where they do happen, but the team never comes back together and the team and planet gets destroyed. She said I could call her Ms. K."

"She also said that I had done everything I needed to do to bring the team back together one day, and that if it happens, it's hardly my fault," Tommy said, "that we're in one of those universes or whatever where it could go either way."

"I think I have heard this before too," Finster said. "I'm more familiar with science than magic, but I've heard of these dimensions or parallel universes."

"I don't know, but somehow I think we need more information," Trini said.

"The problem is, she didn't come back last night," Tommy said. "So if anything I doubt I'll be seeing her again for some time."

The room remained silent for a couple of minutes, when Finster suddenly popped his head up.

"Then it's a good thing I've saved something, and brought it with me," Finster said as he pulled out a hand-held device. Tommy and Billy nodded knowingly, while Hayley, Kat, Jason and Trini furrowed their brows in confusion.

"Bingo, the dream device that brought Artistmole out of Kimberly," Tommy said. "I didn't think you'd saved it."

"A dream device?" Jason said. "That's a new one. Kim never told me about that back in the day."

"It's true, back in the day after you, Trini and Zack left for the Peace Conference and shortly after the Rangers gained their Ninja Powers, Kim was having awful dreams about Caroline moving her to Paris; as it turned out, Finster was in the process of making this device which could watch others' dreams," Rita said. "We took advantage of that and created a monster named Artistmole from her dream. It ended up being a very tough monster for the Rangers to beat."

"I haven't used it in several years and thought about scrapping it several times, but somehow something told me I needed to save it," Finster said. "It's a good thing I did."

"Speaking of Caroline, I have a theory and one that might be far-fetched, and we can save this for another time," Jason said. "We all agree she's a bitch and she's all about herself, right?"

Everyone nodded their heads; they knew that Caroline Dumas was all about herself and didn't think much of Tommy…or the rest of Kimberly's friends for that matter except for Jason and Trini. And that was because Caroline had been close with Jason and Trini's families in the first place.

But deep in the recesses of their hearts, not even Jason and Trini cared for her that much. Pierre was an OK guy though; they'd traveled to Paris and met him once while still in Switzerland. He deserved a better wife than Caroline for sure.

"Well, I think a small part of the reason Kim has stayed far away from us since the letter days, except for a few of us like me and Trini," Jason said, "is that Caroline's still angry that Kimberly's occupations kept her from moving to France, so she allowed her to stay in the States as long as she had no contact with most of us. I don't know this for sure, but I can smell a rat from pretty far away."

"That's a good theory, but we'll have to save that for another time. Keep that on your brain, Jase," Tommy said. "Right now, Finster needs to bring Ms. K into this world."

Finster nodded and brought his device out. "The only thing about this is, I don't know how well it still works. Like I said, I haven't used it in several years. Hold still, Tommy, and try to recall the dream from Thursday…OK, found it. Here it goes."

Finster then pressed a button and a green ray shot from the machine and stunned Tommy briefly, but didn't hurt him.

"Did you get it?" Tommy said.

"Yep, sure as shooting," Finster said. "Now we can bring her into this world. Here she comes."

As he said this, an appropriately pink light materialized in the room, reforming into the young woman Tommy had in his dream.

"Woo, so glad to be out of there!" Ms. K said. "The spirit world is a lovely place but it cramps on my style and gets boring sometimes. Hey, Tommy, good to see you again! And is this the reformed Rita and Zedd, and Finster?"

"Yes, and that's Jason and Trini, and Billy and Kat," Tommy said.

"It's so good to meet you all, finally, as I see you all in the dream world every day," Ms. K said. "It has been a joy to watch everything you have done over the years and a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Ms. K, or whatever your name is," Jason said. "I have a question."

"Yes, Mr. Scott?" Ms. K said.

"Is there anything we need to know that Tommy didn't just recap?" Jason said.

"Not really, except that the time is drawing near where Dr. Oliver will have to try to bring the flock together again," Ms. K said. "Like I told him, I'm not sure it will happen, as this appears to be a universe where it's a 50/50 proposition. I also heard what you guys just talked about before Finster used that device, and I largely agree with your suspicions. I couldn't prove them until we hear it from Kim, but I largely agree with them."

"The problem is that even if I wanted to go see Kim, I couldn't because I'm stuck in my damn uniform," Tommy said.

"I don't know, I kind of think you look cute in black," Ms. K said.

"Shut up," Jason glared at her.

Touché, Mr. Scott, especially since you get all the girls' attention, even when married," Ms. K said. "In all seriousness, don't worry about Kimberly, or her mother, Tommy. I will be having a conversation with them both at one point or another. Your focus needs to be getting rid of this punk Mesogog for now."

"Then what can you do at this point?" Tommy said.

"It's pretty simple; I can go to Angel Grove and blend in with the people there until the time is right, since the real Kimberly lives there," Ms. K said. "Since I'm from the spirit world, I can also come and go from that world whenever I please. The beauty of it is, everyone will think I've taken a vacation."

"That's great; this will be a big help for us," Tommy said. "Finster, this time the dream device worked in our favor. This is a good card for down the road."

Little did anyone in the room know how useful that card would be.

"Hey, I almost forgot to mention, the conversation Ms. K and I had also occurred on Day 2850, which also brought her into this world eventually," Tommy said.

"Ha, you are right," Hayley said. "Now let's hope it works out in our favor."

"It will Hayley…it will work," Tommy said, out of hope more than anything. "I've come too far to watch my dream fizzle out now."

Friday, January 23, 2004

3:30 p.m.

Stone Canyon, CA

Out of thin air, a petite, short body clad in pink and white appeared in the base that she'd magically constructed. Whether Tommy was ready or not, it was time to set things in motion. Ms. K had been watching the whole scenario with Hayley's experiment and trying to get Tommy back to normal.

It had worked, but she'd seen that Tommy had slipped into a coma and she knew what was about to happen; it was truly now a 50/50 proposition that Tommy would ever come back to consciousness.

He would have to fight to stay alive…and he'd need all the help he could get.

Ms. K then hopped into her vehicle of choice, a Ford Fiesta, and drove to where she knew the real Kimberly lived.

In the past month, she'd done exactly what she'd set out to do; blending in with the rest of the populace, and having taken the given name Kimmi Hall. She'd also come and went enough in the spirit world to keep her more than able to go. She'd also found some work to keep her occupied, which also helped her to blend in.

Though she knew this was as close to a life-or-death situation as could be, she was very confident. She was just as sassy as the real Kimberly, and though the real Kimberly was wounded by some of her past, she knew that and knew how to deal with it.

30 minutes later, she arrived at her Angel Grove destination, choosing to park a bit down the street so as to seem less conspicuous. Fortunately, she knew that Kimberly generally took half-days on Friday and would be home.

"It's showtime," she muttered as she got out of her car. It also occurred to her, as she prepared to ring the bell, that it was Day No. 2900 since the end of the Falcon and Crane's relationship.

Now, whether the real Kimberly knew it or not, Tommy's life was most likely in her hands right now.

"Here goes nothing," Ms. K said as she pressed the doorbell and it rang loudly.

Meanwhile…

Kimberly Hart plopped down on the couch, having finally put the groceries away (she'd went on an enormous grocery shopping spree), and then had indulged herself in a nap for a bit before waking up and going to sit down.

Overall, her life had turned out pretty well. She hadn't changed a whole lot, though she had become a bit more corporate with the burgeoning of her business, The Crane Gymnastic Academy.

After the 1996 Olympics, Kimberly had chosen to attend Louisiana State University, and compete for coach D-D Breaux and the LSU Lady Tigers gymnastics team. Unfortunately before her senior year, a serious injury forced her to quit the sport.

With her competing days done, Kimberly could focus full time on her next career option; she'd majored in business while at LSU, with the hopes of one day starting her own gymnastics academy. And thanks to her mentors, she'd been able to do just that.

In June 2001, Kimberly was able to open her own academy in her home state of California, the Crane Gymnastic Academy, which was now constantly rated as one of the top gymnastic academies in the state. It started in Angel Grove, and traveled up the coast quickly. Not even three years old, and it already had nine locations, with a tenth to be opened in the coastal city of Reefside in June 2004.

Reefside, Kimberly thought; that was the place where Tommy was now. There had been reports of a Power Ranger team sighting there and Kimberly had been watching the news reports with interest. She'd watched with even more interest as she knew the fighting style of the Black Ranger by simple memory book.

She laughed at that; Tommy was back in the spandex again, she knew, with a fourth color. What was he going to do next, take the color Pink?

Whether she knew it or not, she badly wanted to see him and the rest of the gang again. But wanting to be in her home state, and wanting to live her life her way had kept her away from her friends.

Kimberly silently cursed the individual that had put that curse over her head, and the sad thing is she knew this person; the only way she was allowed to stay in the States and continue her work was if she had little to no contact with her old friends. It wasn't right, but that was the way it was.

Besides, Tommy had written her a letter, ending it right there. Who does that, anyways?

However, as Kimberly was about to learn starting today, sometimes things are not as they seem.

At that very moment, the doorbell rang and Kimberly's dog, Firebird, perked up. She was a black lab who Kimberly had adopted soon after she'd returned to California, and Kimberly thought the world of her.

Kimberly opened the door and stared in shock. There before her was…her?

How in the world could there be two Kimberly Ann Harts?

TBC…