[Wednesday, October 6th, 1993 11:09am]

Jason walked into Ernie's Juice Bar with a certain confidence in his step. He'd decided that today was going to be the day.

He tried to pinpoint when it started for him, and the best he could come up with was some time in middle school. He and Kimberly Hart had always been friends, and for the length of that friendship, Jason had kept his feelings for her to himself. There was, at one point, about a year ago when he'd found the courage to finally tell her everything. He was going to tell her about the dreams he had about the two of them being together, about the plans he'd made, about the children he wanted to eventually have with her, but he never got the opportunity. On a day much like this one a year ago, he strolled into the Juice Bar ready to tell her everything, only to be introduced to her new boyfriend, David. Jason considered himself a good judge of character, but there was always something about David he didn't like. He assumed it was because he had feelings for Kim; that wouldn't allow him to have a good opinion of this David person, but as time went on it seemed as though his apprehension about David was justified.

Kimberly would call him in the middle of the night and they would just lay in bed and talk. She'd tell him how angry or possessive David was being, or how he'd stood her up for a date yet again. Jason couldn't even begin to understand the concept of someone who had the chance to be with a girl like Kimberly Ann Hart would ever mistreat her. Kim was, in essence, the girl next door, though ironically she actually lived about three blocks over from him. She was sweet, down to Earth, fun loving. Maybe a bit too concerned with shopping, but she had a good heart. She always did.

The Juice Bar was full of its usual activities. On the far right was a chess club that Billy founded. Chess was never Jason's cup of tea, but once they became power rangers, he found the strategy associated with chess extremely helpful. Sometimes, after the karate class he taught, Billy would sit down with him and explain some of the basic concepts of chess. There was another study group on the opposite end of the bar, all of them studying no doubt for a midterm. He'd tried his best to at least be familiar with everyone in the Juice Bar, but as his free time diminished, that became harder and harder.

Ernie himself was behind the counter of the Juice Bar, serving drinks and wiping down his counters. Ernie did his best to provide the students of Angel Grove with a safe haven of sorts. It was the only place in the city where you could come and just hang out. It kept a lot of kids out of trouble, including Jason.

Jason turned his attention to the balance beam, where Kimberly was training. For as long as he'd known her, she wanted to be in the olympics. She'd been training for it her entire life, sticking to a strict diet and regular exercise. She was no longer the clumsy little girl she was in middle school. Now, Kimberly was able to gracefully walk across the beam with beauty and precision. She walked to the end of the beam, did a somersault, landing on her feet almost perfectly. She quickly leaned over, grabbing her towel and patting her forehead slightly to remove the sweat.

"Hey Jase," she said playfully. "Whats up?"

"Hey Kim. You got a minute?"

"Sure."

She followed him over to the counter at the Juice Bar, where they sat at the first two empty spaces.

"Hey guys. Can I get you something?" Ernie asked, walking over to them with a notepad and pen in hand.

Kimberly attempted to respond, but Jason cut her short. "Give us two orange banana smoothies," he glanced over at Kim. "One with whip cream and a cherry."

"You got it," Ernie said cheerfully, walking away.

"You remembered what kind of smoothie I like. That's sweet," Kim said, placing her hand on his arm gently.

For Jason, it wasn't all that impressive. Over the years he'd come to accumulate a wealth of knowledge of the subject of Kimberly Ann Hart. He knew her favorite colors were pink and white, she hated floral patterns and scary movies, but loved romantic comedies. She was allergic to dogs, but had two of them, Sherlock and Watson. Kim was caring and affectionate, but she'd become less affectionate after her breakup with David.

"Of course I remember. How long have we been friends now?" he asked.

She paused to think about it for a moment. "Gosh, I don't know, since like… fifth grade," she mentioned.

Fifth grade, Mrs. Hamilton, Angel Grove Elementary School. Kim sat exactly three seats ahead of him and two seats over. Funny how you remember the little things, Jason thought to himself.

"It's been a long time."

"So whats up? What did you want to talk to me about?" Kimberly asked him.

This was it for him, the moment of truth. He'd prepared for this moment, dreamt of this moment, and now it was finally here. Jason reached in his pocket, pulling out a small box.

"Jason?"

"JASON?"

Jason looked up, only to find himself in the construction area of Angel Grove. There was a buzzing sound, a ringing that he couldn't identify. He could barely hear the voices over the sound it was so overwhelming.

"Jason?"

This time, his name was accompanied by a slap across the face from Trini Kwan, which was enough to snap him out of whatever daze he was in. He looked over as Zack, who was holding Kimberly in his arms on the ground a few feet away from him. That's when it hit him.

"Oh no, Kim," he gasped, rushing over to Kimberly's side. Zack had removed his shirt and was trying to apply pressure to the open wound in Kimberly's chest as she struggled to breathe. She coughed, and blood dripped down the face of her face. "We're going to get you some help, Kim."

"I don't think we should move her," Zack mentioned softly.

"I said we're going to get her help!" Jason snapped, almost effortlessly picking Kim up in his arms. "Can we teleport?"

"There's still interference from the rift. We can't," Trini told him.

Jason was numb from head to toe. He felt nothing as worry for Kim consumed him. There was regret for never telling her how he felt, but there was another feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't shake. It was there, rising up inside him. It was a feeling he'd never felt before… rage.

"Tommy did this. If I hadn't trusted him, we…" he was cut short.

"There was no way you could have known, Jason. We broke the Sword of Darkness, the spell over Tommy should have been broken, too. I… I don't know what happened," Zack sighed.

Before Jason could respond, four police cars pulled up on the scene, shining their headlights directly at the group. It was one officer who got out of his car with gun in hand, aiming directly at them.

"Keep your hands where I can see them!" he ordered.

On que, Zack and Trini held their hands up and dropped down to their knees, but Jason didn't move. Not an inch.

"She needs help!" he called out.

The officer reached for the radio that rested on his right shoulder. "We're going to need an ambulance out to the old fair grounds immediately."

"Roger. Medical in route."

"What the hell happened here?" the officer asked.

Several other officers hurried over to the scene, handcuffing both Zack and Trini, escorting them over to their cars.

"There was an attack… my friend was hurt. We have to help her!" Jason cried.

He didn't realize how much he'd been crying on how distressed his voice was until he heard it for himself, but it was of no concern to him. Right now, the only thing he wanted was for Kim to get the help she needed.

"Did you do this?"

"Wh-What? No!" he said emphatically.

"EMTs will be here in a moment, we'll get her the help she needs. But you gotta level with me kid, who stabbed her?"

He couldn't very well tell him the truth. Somehow telling this officer that the broke the evil spell of a sorresses over a teenager with an sword that trapped souls inside it wasn't going to go over very well. So, he told him as much of the truth as he could.

"A monster," he sighed.

Monster sighting weren't that unfamiliar in Angel Grove. At least a couple of times a week there was some sort of attack on the city. While they did their best to minimize the damage, sometimes people got hurt. It wasn't too uncommon, and it made complete sense.

"Where is it now?"

"The power rangers stopped it," Jason told him.

Seconds later, an ambulance pulled up, and EMTs rushed over to Kim with a stretcher in tow. One of the EMTS gently took Kimberly from Jason's arms, laying her down on her side gently.

"Looks like the knife missed all the major organs and arteries, but she's in shock and she's lost a lot of blood. We have to get her to the hospital stat," the EMT told him.

The officer nodded as they carried Kimberly away, then turned his attention to Jason, cuffing his arms behind his back.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to need you and your friends to come down to the station and answer some questions. When this is all over, your parents will be able to come get you. Don't worry, kid, if you haven't done anything wrong we'll have all this settled and you'll be back home before you know it," the officer informed him.

Jason could have fought back. He could have easily taken out the officer and even the others who were driving away with Zack and Trini in the backseat, but he knew that wouldn't accomplish anything. The best thing to do was to just play along and let the situation sort itself out.

"Yes officer," Jason mumbled.