A/N: Chapter 12. Rangers begin to try to put their team back together.

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

Chapter 12 – Mending Fences

Monday, June 21, 2004

8 p.m.

Angel Grove, CA

The storm had died down, but the smiles were still a mile long in Zedd and Rita's household.

They had all watched the storm race across the California skies for 10 minutes straight and the Earth shake; then the storm and the "quake" had died out. They all knew what it meant, though.

They were almost certain that the Falcon and Crane, the heartbeat of the Ninjetti, were one once again. And somewhere, they knew that whoever wrote that letter was hating these developments. But they didn't care.

"What do you think they're doing right now?" Finster asked as he turned a page of his latest science magazine.

"Probably kissing their faces off," Zedd said. "I certainly don't mind it though. I'm telling you, when they come face to face with whoever did this they are going to wipe this person off the face of the universe where he or she won't be recognizable."

"Yeah, I don't envy that person at all," Selena said. "Do you even imagine how pissed they are right now?"

"Yeah, but I hope they don't rush things," Rita said. "I hope they meet whoever it may be on their terms."

At that very moment, the doorbell rang. Rita, Zedd, Selena and Finster all looked at each other intently.

"Do you think that could be one of the Rangers?" Selena asked.

"Could be; I'll answer it," Rita said as she walked to the door. Selena's attention span in particular rose just a bit as the door opened and she saw who was on the other side.

"Well, hi, Adam," Rita said. "I didn't expect you to come knocking on our door, but I guess considering the circumstances…"

"Yeah, I guess it's a surprise to me too. May I come in? I need to speak to all of you, but in particular I need to speak…to her," Adam said, as he looked at Selena right at that very moment.

"Uh, sure," Rita said as she let Adam in the house. "Would you like something to drink?"

"A beer would be quite nice, thanks," Adam said. "I think I'm going to need to drink my ass off after what I have to say. Tanya's working late so I don't need to be home for the next couple of hours."

"You do look like you've been through a war or something, your face is all red," Zedd said.

"Probably from all the tears I and some of the other Rangers have cried over the last month. Tommy and Kim may be back but not all is completely well right now," Adam said as Rita tossed him a beer which he gratefully accepted. "Tanya and I have talked about this and she's tried to reassure me that everything's OK, but I'm not convinced and I'm not even sure she's convinced. This is sort of a Mirror of Regret lite situation."

Zedd gasped a little bit and formed a look of concern; he more than anyone else in the room except Adam knew the meaning of those words.

"So, after our meeting last month Rocky, Billy, Kat, Tanya and I met and we decided that at some point one or all of us was going to have to go before all of you and talk to you about what's going on and really iron things out," Adam said. "We decided that because I have as many demons to slay as all of them, that I would represent them, and our entire team for that matter. All of us have demons to slay but aside from Tommy and Kim, none more so than me."

With that, Adam sat down in the vacant chair and popped his beer open; he was feeling the need to drink already.

"First of all, I do bring good news; our Falcon and Crane are back together, hopefully forever," Adam said. Smiles came from ear to ear in the room; everyone in the room sensed it had happened but to hear it from one of the Rangers was like the cherry on the proverbial sundae.

"The other bit of good news is that Zordon's alive," Adam said. "Not only that, he's out of his warp."

This caused everyone in the room to drop their mouths in shock; they couldn't believe what they heard.

"He told us how; he said that his sacrifice freed him from his time warp that you put him in, Rita, and he said that the restoration of the Falcon and Crane and the Ninjetti powers restored his link to this world," Adam said.

"That actually does make quite a bit of sense," Selena said. "I know my brother and think he was never the same after the letters."

"However all this good news is not without its scars," Adam said. "And I think I share as many scars as anyone on our team. You see, I'm not sure if you guys realize this, but tonight isn't just No. 3050 since…that. But tonight is night No. 3500 since…that day in 1994. Zedd, Selena, you were there, you remember."

"Nov. 21, 1994. The day where I got my indoctrination papers and learned that Rangering isn't all fun and games; the day I got betrayed in Angel Grove Park and almost lost my first battle," Adam said, looking at Selena. "For the record, Selena, I took that really personally. I went to the dance 12 nights later with a volleyball player, but the scars still remained. I felt cheated and betrayed. It was probably the lowest I felt about you, Zedd or any of your kind."

"Fast forward to Valentine's Day 1996; when Tommy got that letter," Adam said. "I was in the Youth Center and was the first to read it. I'll regret my actions after that probably for the rest of my life; I refused to talk to Kimberly any more after that and the rest of the Zeo team did the same; they all rushed to Tommy's defense and Tanya didn't know better."

"As you all know, the letters were not written by either of them; as it turns out, Adrianna Repulsa did that," Adam said.

"I knew it," Selena said. "Rita, Zedd, I told you guys it was her all along. I wasn't there with you guys while you were hiding from the Machines but I had a feeling all along. Those are the games she plays."

"For the record, she has a sixth sense like no one I've ever seen. She's been telling us all along it was her," Zedd said. "I knew those were the kinds of games Adrianna plays, but I wasn't willing to say she did that; I figured Master Vile might have done it knowing how mad he was at the time. Adam, please continue."

"Uh, yeah," Adam said. "So, pretty much everyone on our team rushed to Tommy's defense and it created a rift in our team. Kat is taking this really hard too, because of who she replaced and because of who she hurt by her decision making. Billy took it hard enough that he left for Aquitar partly because he couldn't deal with it anymore."

"But I think I of all people feel the worst about it because now I feel like a complete hypocrite," Adam finished.

Everyone in the room gasped; hypocrite was not a word used to describe a Ranger very often and was certainly not a term very often used to describe the mild-mannered Adam.

"I feel like a hypocrite because…I did the same thing to Kimberly that Selena did to me after I judged the hell out of her, and in a lot of ways what I did was worse; it created a rift in our team," Adam said. "It was a rift that nearly destroyed it; Selena has the excuse of being under evil's pull and not knowing what she was doing. I know I've reclaimed my animal spirit, but my actions almost made me want to turn in my morpher permanently."

"My teammates did the same thing and I think they are still doing some soul-searching too," Adam said through choked tears. "I guess what I'm saying is that while you are closer to Tommy than the others, none of us has any reason to judge all of you anymore, least of all me. Kim forgave me and all of us but that doesn't make me feel that much better."

"Zedd, Rita, if I may," Selena said. "Adam, let me first of all say that you and your teammates are anything but hypocrites. You made a mistake, but we all make them. You made a very bad mistake, but it seems that you're already in the process of learning from it. None of you could be blamed for any of your actions."

"It took a hell of a lot of guts to come here and say what you just said, Adam; a real man does admit when he makes a mistake, but I can't say that about too many people. Certainly, I don't think it's to the point where any of your team should turn in your morpher for something like that," Rita said. "Neither you nor anyone on your team has anything to feel sorry about. The only person who should feel sorry is Adrianna, but I'm sure she isn't."

"Be optimistic, Adam; at least you guys have the chance to make things right as they should be. Not many get that chance. I've watched you since we went our separate ways and I've been beyond impressed with your development and maturity," Selena said. "If you and your teammates let us help you, we'll be there with you every step of the way. No one knows about what Adrianna is capable of more than us; she and Master Vile ruined our lives too just like they tried to ruin yours. It's no one's fault but hers."

"I think if you polled us, we'd like that," Adam said. "Really, we're all in this together now. You have as much stake in this as we do."

"Before you go, Adam, I have two favors to ask of you," Selena said. "First of all, don't lose that wife of yours Tanya; she's a special one that doesn't come too often."

"I don't plan on it," Adam said.

"And if you see Mercer's kid Trent, tell him that I'm not joking when I say that I like him. I think he sort of thinks it's a joke," Selena said.

"You like the new White Ranger," Adam said.

"Yes, I love him; I don't know if he's got a girl but if he's on the market, I'd like to have a shot," Selena said.

"I'm a man of my word; next time I see him, I'll let him know it's no joke," Adam said. "I have to get home; on behalf of some of my teammates thank you for listening to me."

"Absolutely; come back any time, Frog Prince," Rita said. "May the Power protect you."

Reefside, CA

8:15 p.m.

Though it was rather late for normal people to be going out to dinner, Tommy and Kimberly had caught a break.

Because the lightning storm and earthquake they had created hadn't done any damage to anything in the city, the restaurant still remained open.

It was also advantageous because said storm and earthquake had literally scared everyone away; the Falcon and Crane were literally the only two people in the place aside from employees. The establishment had almost been ready to prepare to shut down for the night, but decided to allow Tommy and Kimberly in.

As Kimberly sipped on her wine that she'd ordered, she looked at Tommy intently.

"I think you are handsome any way you come, but honestly you looked better when you had the ponytail," Kimberly said.

"Well, I couldn't be in front of a bunch of students with a ponytail," Tommy said. "Once I got done with undergrad at A&M, I knew I was gonna have to cut it off."

"Yeah, I guess, but I miss that look," Kimberly said. "This kind of brings back memories, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, except in high school we weren't in this fancy of a place," Tommy said. "My adopted folks took us to some pretty upscale restaurants but not quite to this level."

"Those were 800 of the greatest days of my life, and I'm sure yours," Kimberly said. "Speaking of you and your family, as you know David is my lawyer now. That guy's got some fire in his belly."

"Yeah, I think he's actually even more outspoken than I am," Tommy said. "He and I haven't been in touch for a while; obviously we've had our own lives."

"Yeah, that's a profession where they don't get a whole lot of time off," Kimberly said.

"I want to know something," Tommy said as he sipped on his water; he'd rather have had a beer but the place's specialty was wine. "How did you get to my place, two hours away without Adrianna finding out? Surely she has been watching you right?"

"Yeah she probably has, but there isn't a damn thing she can do and I think that she knows it. Steps were taken beforehand to make sure I would be safe," Kimberly said. "Two days after I got back from the Day 3000 meeting, on that Tuesday, Rita called me at work and asked if she could come for a little chat."

"Considering the history between you two that took some guts," Tommy said. "Were you surprised?"

"Quite a bit, yeah, and Rita even admitted to me on the phone that she was nervous but that she needed to talk to me, and she asked if she could come over for a little chat," Kimberly said. "I admit, I had some reluctance, but I knew she'd done some good things in town so I let her in."

"So she and I talked for a good hour or two, and she let me know that I got lucky, and that you got lucky that neither of us were attacked; my guess is that Adrianna was elsewhere and couldn't focus completely on us," Kimberly said. "Because Rita was the original Pink Crane, as she informed me when we first met, she has the ability to do certain things where I am concerned, so she put a powerful spell on me so that Adrianna or her goons couldn't come near me. That's why I didn't get attacked."

"What's the status between you and Rita now, I'm just curious," Tommy asked.

"She is a very close friend and supports my business quite a bit," Kimberly said. "She's even given me some of her money so that I can have some extra things in my business."

"I've been impressed with the growth of your business," Tommy said. "What is your business, three years old or something?"

"Yep, it's three years old and yet I've been training potential Olympic athletes," Kimberly said. "I lived my dream by going to Pan-Globals and Olympics and now I want my students to have a chance to achieve that same goal. Coach Schmidt and Coach Breaux have really been great influences for my teaching style."

"Both of those individuals are no doubt two of the best at what they do," Tommy said. "They've both been around for quite some time."

"They have and I've taken everything I've learned from them and put it towards my business and my life," Kimberly said. "If I'm being real honest though, I'm now back where I belong; with you."

"I'm serious though when I say I'm glad we let you go chase your dream even though it caused a lot of heartbreak," Tommy said. "Both of us had to learn to live without each other and it was not easy."

"Yeah, I think we're both better people, but we're even better together. Together, we know no one can beat us, and we've both gotten better since we left each other," Kimberly said. "I'm excited to begin round two."

"I'm excited about us too, Kim. I do have one big concern, but not about us," Tommy said as he took a hot piece of bread. "Are you at all concerned about some of our team members? Did you see the look in their eyes when they expressed some of their regrets?"

"Come to think of it, that's a very good point," Kimberly said. "I saw the look in Adam's eyes and it's like he was scared a little bit."

"Scared would be an understatement," Tommy said. "I've barely seen him since the meeting except for tonight, but I have a feeling he and some of the others are taking this pretty hard. They did become a lot closer to me after Adrianna broke us up."

"I see why they are mad at themselves; they certainly made mistakes, as we all have," Kimberly said. "Your days as the evil Green Ranger were one giant mistake, if I recall correctly. And when Maligore corrupted me, I made one or two enormous mistakes too."

"Yeah, but we all learn from them and I knew at some point after I lost you that if I was going to have any chance of surviving that I was going to have to learn from my own mistakes," Tommy said as they saw their main dinner courses being brought out.

"That's exactly why I decided we're not going to go attack Adrianna right away," Tommy said as the waiter left and Tommy took a bite of his dinner. "We have things to get done before we go kick her ass, and we have a team to put back together; plus, she's counting on me being the old Tommy. I'm not that anymore."

"Yeah, the old Tommy would have stormed in right away like you did when Zedd was draining my Power Coin. That worked on Rita and Zedd because they really weren't truly evil to begin with, but against this snake, that isn't going to work I don't think," Kimberly said. "Yes, I think it's best if we put our team back together. Perhaps we'll piss her off enough that she'll come fight us here. That would be to our advantage."

"Yeah, plus we have that spy up there apparently…whoever it is. Shawna, Ernie and Adrianna's prisoners did look fairly fresh on the viewing globe. That was some pretty bad torture though," Tommy said.

"Yeah and as I said, we need to get a lot of things ironed out before we come face-to-face with her; if we are not one by the time we face her, that's going to be the end of us for sure," Kimberly said. "If she's devious enough to break us apart, then she has to be one tough, tricky bitch to deal with."

"Another concern is with some of the guys on our team, particularly my Dino Thunder Rangers. According to Zordon, her main spell is hypnosis," Tommy said. "I'm not so much concerned about some of our older Rangers, but I'm kind of concerned that unless their heads are cleared that Conner, Ethan or Trent could be vulnerable to being corrupted by her."

"Concern over making one of the male Rangers into one of her toys, I see," Kimberly said. "You have a special connection with them, don't you?"

"I do and I'd hate to see any one of them have to go through what I went through, well, Trent's already been through that," Tommy said.

"That Kira girl reminds me of a younger me," Kimberly said, "and not just because she has my spirit animal. Anyone who has to be the lone female on a team does not have it easy."

"Yeah, Kira really holds our team together," Tommy said. "She is probably the only sane member of my team…aside from me of course."

"I'm not necessarily concerned about them physically," Tommy said, "they are physically able to do the job I think. I think it's the mental aspect I'm concerned about."

"Yeah, I see where you're going; you're concerned about their minds being vulnerable to Adrianna's hypnosis," Kimberly said. "I see your concern; even Rocky was whistling a bit looking at her."

"We're probably going to have to train them pretty hard; not necessarily the physical aspect, but the mental one," Tommy said; a while later, the check came and their plates were taken away. Kimberly had offered to pay for dinner, so Tommy let her have at it.

"We've also got a bunch of other things to get done; have to work to build our relationship back up, we have to keep your mother out of our hair and I've got to go talk to some of my colleagues like Elsa and help them build their self-esteem back up," Tommy said.

"In the meantime, though, let's toast to us being back together, after eight years."

"To us," Kimberly said as they clanked glasses.

15 minutes later, they headed back home, very content with how dinner had gone. There was still work to be done, but they knew that the fences could be mended.

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