Chapter Twenty-Seven

Rangers Back In Time

Flashback

Kimberly sat dejectedly on the swing, not even bothering to swing properly. No Trini, and Mrs. O'Connell had said Billy might need therapy. Kimberly wasn't sure what that was, but it would probably take a very long time. Maybe even days.

First grade wasn't going so well. Of course, it was only the second day of first grade, but still. In kindergarten, there had been a lot less work and a lot more playtime, and even naps (most of her classmates didn't enjoy those, but Kimberly had always spent that time dreaming about meeting Prince Charming and having him carry her off on his pretty white horse, maybe even unicorn). And now she and Trini weren't going to be in the same class. At least neither of them would have to be in the same class with Farcus this year, though. (Trini's mother had made sure of that. On numerous occasions, Farcus would annoy Trini for reasons unknown. He was especially fond of pinching and hair-pulling. And Trini was fond of kicking him in the shin, and punching if it came to that. Trini's mother had always gotten Trini out of trouble by saying that Trini's teachers were forcing Trini to handle his harassment herself—which was true. But it didn't console Farcus's parents to know he'd spent half of kindergarten hopping around on one foot. So Farcus was hopefully never going to be in the same room with Trini and Kimberly again.)

Kimberly was so lost in her own depressed thoughts that she didn't even notice the group of fourth-grade boys approaching her swing until they had her surrounded. One of them, a beefy kid with a rattail, got right up in her face, jolting Kimberly back to reality.

"Hey, kindergarten baby," he sneered. "You're on my swing."

"It's not your swing," Kimberly said irritably. "And I'm not in kindergarten."

"You still look like a kindergarten baby to me," he retorted.

"That's because you're stupid," Kimberly replied. She would have stuck out her tongue, but he was so close she might accidentally lick him.

"If you've got something to say, say it to my face," he growled as his buddies snickered.

"I just did say it to your face," Kimberly said in confusion.

He thought about this for a second, then shook his head as if trying to shake off water and glared at her. "I think you need to be taught a lesson."

"I think you're too stupid to actually teach me anything," Kimberly said, now slightly nervous. He was an awfully big fourth grader.

"HEY!" someone shouted. "You leave her alone!"

Kimberly pushed the big kid away, hopped off the swing and turned to look for her rescuer. But there was no rescuer. Just a short, skinny boy who couldn't be any older than she was, and was actually an inch or two shorter.

"Uh-oh," Kimberly muttered with a sigh. Unless this kid was a superhero in disguise, they were both in big trouble now.

"Who's gonna make me?" the kid demanded.

"Me," the boy said, marching forward. Two boys parted ranks to let him through, as if not quite certain how to handle a majorly squishable first grader with an attitude.

"You and what army?" the kid snorted.

"Me and the one-man army of Jason Lee Scott!" he said proudly, coming to stand with his fists up in between Kimberly and the big kid, his eyes flashing death at the kid two feet taller than him.

The kid snorted again. "Out of my way, twerp."

"I'm not going to let you pick on her! Only weak, stupid, mean people pick on girls!" Jason said defiantly.

"Look," Kimberly said desperately, "I'm off the swing. You can have it. I'll just go swing on another one."

"You better leave her alone, or else!"

"Or else what?"

"Nice shiny swing!" Kimberly yelled, grabbing the chain and shaking it at the big kid.

"Or else I'll have to teach you a lesson!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Shiny, empty swing!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"I don't even like swings!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"YEAH!"

"Okay, if Trini was here, what would she do?"

"Oh, yeah?"

"YEAH!"

"Oh—OW!"

Kimberly had kicked him in the shin with her brand-new pointy-toed cowgirl boots as hard as she could, just like Trini had often done to Farcus. The bully was responding the exact same way Farcus did—by grabbing his leg and teetering dangerously and screaming. Jason looked at her in awe, startled at her intrusion into the time-honored tradition of hero and villain exchanging angry words. Kimberly grabbed his hand and prepared to run—to drag him off if necessary—when the fourth grader made a wild swing. Jason pushed her down and out of the way, dropping to his knees and slamming his fist into the kid's gut. The kid went down, howling, possibly crying.

Jason grinned proudly, but before he could gloat another fourth grader dove at them. Jason let out a karate yell and punched him right in the groin. The kid screamed and dropped beside his fallen leader. Jason turned to Kimberly, only to see her whacking another member of the gang of fourth graders upside the head with a large pink purse. Jason looked at her in respect for a moment before facing the remaining fourth graders, dropping into the stance Sensei Mike had taught him and letting out another "Hi-ya!"

Two of the fourth graders bolted. The third looked at the two kids writhing in pain, then at the one Kimberly was still beating, then at short, crazy Jason, and decided retreating was the best idea.

"And don't come back!" Jason shouted after them, pumping his fist in the air, only to feel a hand close tightly around it. He looked up in horror to find the principal glaring down at him, holding Kimberly back with his other hand while she continued to wave her purse threateningly at the sobbing kid on the ground.

Mrs. O'Connell fought off a groan as the principal dragged the two first graders into the office. She knew little Jason fairly well; while Mrs. Waverly had always dealt with Kimberly and the Trini/Farcus war, she'd left Jason—who'd gotten into several fights last year—to Mrs. O'Connell. Jason's parents had a tendency to lecture him before leaving, and that was going to be even more annoying with Kimberly added in.

"These two," the principal growled, "fought three fourth graders."

"These two?" Mrs. O'Connell repeated incredulously.

"Yes, these two. The nurse is tending to the fourth graders."

Kimberly's awfully good at falling in with the weird sort. At least she isn't sobbing yet, Mrs. O'Connell thought grimly, a full two-point-four seconds before Kimberly burst into tears.

"It's not our fault!" Kimberly wailed. "These big mean kids tried to make me get off the swing and Jason rescued me and that one kid tried to steal my purse while Jason's back was turned and they were mean and scary and I didn't know what to do!" she finished in a shriek. "I didn't want to fight them! I didn't mean to hurt him! He was trying to steal my purse!"

The principal's face softened. He looked at Mrs. O'Connell. "Has she ever been in a fight before?"

"No, not that I know of. Well, other than when she gets caught in Trini Kwan's crossfire."

He paled. "Trini Kwan… as in Truc Kwan, the parent most likely to call the school board?"

"Yes, that's her. Little Trini is Kimberly's best friend."

"Oh, dear," the principal muttered. He nodded at Jason and Kimberly, releasing them. "You two, go back to class, and stay out of trouble."

Jason stared at him. "But… aren't you going to call my dad?"

The principal arched an eyebrow. "Do you want me to call your dad?"

Jason shook his head violently. "No, sir."

"Good. Then go to class."

Jason walked out behind Kimberly, rather dazed. As soon as they got out into the hallway and the office door closed behind them, Kimberly stopped crying and smiled. "Works every time," she said in a self-satisfied sort of way.

"You planned that?" Jason said, shocked.

"Well, yeah," Kimberly said sheepishly. "But I only do it when it's not my fault."

"That was awesome," Jason told her, utterly impressed and relieved. His father was never very happy when Jason got sent home from school, and his mother's disapproving frown was worse. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

Kimberly beamed. "My mom," she said proudly.

"Do you think you could teach me how to do that?"

"Well, actually, my mom says it's kind of a girl thing," Kimberly explained apologetically.

"Oh. Darn. Well, thanks for getting me off the hook."

"You're welcome. Thanks for saving my life."

Jason shrugged modestly. "It was nothing. You were pretty good with your purse, too."

"Aw, thanks!"

Jason held out his hand. "I'm Jason."

Kimberly shook it. "I'm Kimberly. Who's your teacher?"

"Mrs. Dowagiac."

"Bless you."

"I didn't sneeze, silly, that's her name. She spent a whole hour teaching us to pronounce it yesterday."

"That's the funniest name I've ever heard!" Remembering Billy's speech patterns, she asked, "Does she teach the gifted class?"

"Gifted? No. We haven't gotten any gifts."

"Ah. Well, my friend Trini's in the gifted class… and so's my friend Billy." Kimberly looked down at her feet, a little saddened by the thought of poor, brave Billy. "You'd like them. They're both really brave. And Trini's the only other person I know who can fight like you do. She takes karate."

"Really? I never met a girl who took karate." Jason looked rather interested by this.

"She's supposed to come over and play with me today. Would you like to come, too? I'm pretty sure Trini won't mind."

"I'm supposed to play with Zack today. He's my best bud. But maybe I can ask if we can come over to your house instead. Can I bring him?"

"Sure!" Kimberly fished in her giant purse and pulled out a fuzzy pink pen and a pad of Sleeping Beauty stationary and scribbled something on the pad. "Here. Call me at three o'clock, okay?"

"I will. Nice meeting you," Jason said, stuffing the number in his pocket. He paused, a sudden thought occurring to him. "If me and Zack can come over… don't let him use your Play-Doh, okay?"

Present Day

"Hey!" Zack exclaimed. "Is that why Kimberly always pretended she didn't have Play-Doh when I saw a big case of it under her bed?"

"Told you he saw through that," Trini said. "After all, you had every other toy on the planet."

"Well, Jason was really adamant about the Play-Doh thing."

"He ate ALL my red Play-Doh!" Jason complained. "Like it was candy or something!"

"I said I was sorry! Your mom said it was snack time!"

"You guys were weird kids," Ethan said.

"Oh, like you never ate Play-Doh," Conner said.

"No, I ate cookies like a normal kid," Ethan retorted.

"Yes, Ethan, because you're oh-so-normal." Conner paused. "Eric used to eat dog treats. But I liked Play-Doh. It wasn't as crunchy. And it was saltier and—"

"So… let me get this straight, Kim," Kira interrupted. "You beat up a fourth grader… with your purse?"

"Well, he was really big, and it wasn't like I was a third-degree black belt at the time," Kimberly said sheepishly. "I was six years old. Give me a break."

"Besides, she keeps a lot of crap in her purse," Tommy said without thinking. "She dropped one of them on my foot once and I thought my toes were broken."

"Oh, yeah, when we went out for our first anniversary," Kimberly said. "You asked me to put the purse back in the car and I kept running back out to get things from it."

"And then you wouldn't put the purse down when we were m—" Tommy stopped, horrified, suddenly realizing what they were talking about. "Um, when we were… back in the car."

"Oh, yeah," Kimberly said, eyes widening and face reddening. She wanted to kick herself. She should've just defended her purse's contents, not brought up the fact that she'd dropped it on him while on a date, let alone on their anniversary. They'd just crossed one of the most important invisible lines. Pretending to start over didn't really work if one brought up the parts of the past that defined the past as there.

There was a long, ugly silence. No one knew what to say. Tommy and Kimberly stared firmly at opposite walls.

"Anyway, that's how Zack and I fell in with Trini," Jason said desperately. "Through Kim."

"It was love at first sight for those two," Zack said. Realizing that the awkward Tommy and Kimberly moment wasn't quite over, he added, "For Trini and Jason, I mean," which of course just made matters worse.

Trini smiled brightly, hopping in with fervor; saving the day with well-placed words was what Trini did best. "Jason did seem really taken with me, looking back."

"Hey, you thought I was cool, too," Jason said, looking a tad put out at that comment.

"Yeah, I did. But you were all amazed with me."

"You were amazed with me, too," Jason insisted.

"All right, fine, I was," Trini said, though it was uncertain if she meant it or if she was placating him.

"That's right, you were," Jason said firmly, sliding his arm around her shoulders. He grinned. "My dad was so nervous about the fact that I wanted to go play with girls. Didn't want me to pick up bad habits, like playing with dolls or something."

Trini grinned. "Good old Mr. Scott. Not exactly a chauvinist, but he certainly has a well-defined sense of 'guy things' and 'girl things.' My mother loves beating him at arm-wrestling. So does Dad, really."

Jason shook his head. "I remember I told him that you took karate so you probably weren't a real girl. He got a bit calmer after that, but he was still kinda freaking out."

"Is that why your dad asked if I really wanted to go play with girls?" Zack asked.

"Yeah. To which you replied, I believe, 'Depends. Does she have Play-Doh?'"

Flashback

Jason waved enthusiastically to Kimberly through the window of his father's truck as he as Mr. Scott pulled into the driveway. "That her?" Zack asked, struggling to see out the window over Jason.

"Yep. She's really cool."

"Remember what I told you," Mr. Scott said worriedly.

"No dolls, no dress-up, no makeup, no kissing," Jason recited dutifully.

"Yeah, no dolls, no dressing, no making, no kiss-up," Zack repeated absently.

Jason and Zack unbuckled themselves and hopped out of the truck, Mr. Scott close behind. Kimberly was standing on the front lawn, straining against her mother's hand, which was firmly clamped to hers.

"Hi Jason!" Kimberly shouted, waving so hard she nearly whacked her father, who was standing on her other side. "Welcome to my home," she added in a more lady-like, rather rehearsed tone before switching back to perky mode. "This is my mom. And my dad. Trini isn't here yet. She has karate today, so she won't be here until four-thirty. Want to play Candy Land? Or Clue? I like Clue. Or we could watch TV. Or we could play on my swing set. Or we could play house. Do boys play house? Mom says boys don't play house. And Dad says boys don't play house until they're married and thirty. Hi you must be Zack!"

Kimberly extended her left hand for him to shake, as her mother was still holding the right. Zack tried to figure out how to shake her hand, but he wasn't too good at distinguishing his right from his left yet and couldn't figure out why his right hand couldn't clasp hers properly, so Kimberly's mother finally let her go, shaking hands with Mr. Scott instead and introducing herself and Mr. Hart over the kids' heads. Kimberly shook Zack's hand enthusiastically and then hugged Jason. Startled, he hugged her back.

"Do you have cooties?" Zack asked Kimberly as she pulled away from Jason.

"What? No. I don't think so."

"My cousin Lamar says girls have cooties."

"Well, I don't have cooties. I could get some, though. Mommy, I want cooties!"

"We'll see," Mrs. Hart said noncommittally, shrugging. Mr. Hart grinned, putting his fist against his mouth to hide it.

"I like your hair," Kimberly told Zack. "How do you get it so poofy like that?"

Zack patted his hair, which extended about four inches from his head. "It just sort of does it."

"It's very cool hair. Trini has cool hair, too. Your hair's cool, too," she added as an afterthought to Jason. "Mommy, can you make my hair look like Zack's?"

"Eh, maybe tomorrow," Mrs. Hart said, fighting off a smile.

"Do you have Play-Doh?" Zack asked.

"Oh, ye—"

Jason shook his head frantically.

"No. No I don't."

"Oh." Zack's face fell, but he quickly brightened. "Can you dance?"

"Of course I can dance," Kimberly said importantly. She put her arms over her head, ballerina-style, got up on her tiptoes, and turned a circle. "See?"

"That's not dancing," Zack said, confused. "This is dancing." Zack bopped his head and moved his legs and swung his arms around.

Kimberly stared at him. "That's not dancing. Here, try this!" Kimberly stood on one foot, stuck her leg straight out back, put her arms back over her head as gracefully as she could and went up on her tiptoes again.

Jason and Zack shrugged and tried it.

"AHH!" Zack yelped as he fell into Jason.

"OW!" Jason complained as the two sprawled on the front lawn.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Maybe we'd better try it your way," Kimberly said, helping them up. "My way's too dangerous. That's really advance ballet, you know. I saw it on TV."

Mr. Hart snorted into his hand, struggling not to laugh.

"I think I've had enough dancing for one day," Jason said sourly, rubbing his shoulder.

"Well, we could play on the tramp'line. Do you like tramp'lines?"

"We don't have a tramp'line," Jason said.

"What's a tramp'line?" Zack asked.

"Ooh, come on, I'll show you!" Kimberly grabbed their hands and pulled them towards the backyard.

"Told you she'd be fine," Mr. Hart told Kimberly's mother.

Mrs. Hart pursed her lips. "I'll go keep an eye on them."

Mr. Scott and Mr. Hart looked at each other. "Nice truck," Mr. Hart commented.

"Thanks. Nice, ah, station wagon. 82, is it?"

"That's the wife's," Mr. Hart said hastily. "I drive a Chevelle."

"Really?" Mr. Scott perked up.

"Bought it the day I turned sixteen; it's still in perfect condition. Come on, I'll show you; it's in the garage."

Mr. Scott looked nervously in the direction the girl had dragged his son, then shrugged. She didn't seem so bad, for a girl.

Trini skipped into the backyard, her dad now arm-wrestling Mr. Hart and Mr. Scott in the garage. She was curious to meet Jason; he sounded pretty cool, from what Kimberly had told her over the phone before Trini had gone to karate.

"Hi, Trini," said Mrs. Hart absently, avidly watching the three bouncing kids on the trampoline.

"Hello, Mrs. Hart," Trini said.

"TRINI!" Kimberly yelled, leaping off the trampoline. Zack and Jason scrambled down after her, both looking winded; neither boy had wanted to jump down before she did, but they'd been on that thing for over forty-five minutes.

"Hi, Kimmy!" Trini called.

"Trini! You're okay!"

"It was just a little milk," Trini said as Kimberly flung her arms around her.

"Is your dress okay?"

"Mom's still soaking it in the washing machine."

"This is Zack and Jason!"

"Hi." Trini waved.

"Funny, you look like a girl," Jason said, frowning.

"I am a girl, silly," Trini said.

"But you take karate," Jason pointed out. Kimberly had told them Trini's life story already, in addition to what she knew of Billy's.

"Girls can do anything boys can do," Trini said fiercely.

Jason was about to reply when Zack fell right over. They all clustered around him, concerned.

"Zack! Buddy! Speak to me, man!"

"Oh, no! I've killed another new friend! That's the third one I've hurt today!"

"Zack, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"No more trampoline," Zack groaned.

Trini helped him sit up. "You okay?"

"Could use some Kool-Aid," Zack said faintly.

"Kim, go ask your mom," Trini said. Kimberly ran off. "Ew, you're all sweaty." She took the edge of her T-shirt and wiped his forehead.

"Good thinking," Jason said solemnly. "I don't think he's cut out for trampling."

"Not everyone is," Trini admitted. "I'm really good at it, though," she couldn't resist adding.

"How good are you at karate?" Jason asked.

"Pretty good. I'm a yellow belt."

"Me, too. …Who's the coolest Ninja Turtle?"

"Well, Donatello is the smartest, and he's funny, too. But the team is nothing without Leo."

"Leo's my favorite, too." Jason paused. "Who's the coolest character on Scooby Doo?"

"Velma."

"I like Freddy best."

"Well, Freddy's real important, but Velma's the one who solves all the mysteries in the end. But Freddy's good at planning and saying 'Let's split up, gang.'"

"Yeah, I guess they're both pretty important."

"Of course." She tilted her head to the side. "Do you like Scooby or Shaggy best?"

"Shaggy's funnier. And I can understand what he says."

"I can understand Scooby really well, but I like Shaggy better, too."

"What's the best food in the world?" Jason asked, a note of challenge in his voice now.

"Ice cream, of course."

"Do you play video games?"

"I'm the best!"

"Can you roller skate?"

"Sure. I can even do tricks."

"Bicycle?"

"Oh, yeah. No training wheels for me!"

Jason nodded. Now for the final test. "Favorite Kool-Aid flavor?"

Trini thought about it. She liked lemonade best, but lemonade was lemonade, not Kool-Aid. "Red," she said finally.

Jason stared at her, awed. "Kim was right. You really are cool."

"Thanks! You're cool, too."

"And you're pretty."

"Thanks. You're pretty, too."

Jason frowned. "I am?"

"Sure you are."

"Um, thanks. Kim was right about your hair. It's very cool."

Trini tossed her head proudly. "Thanks. I—"

"KOOL-AID!" Kimberly fairly screamed, thrusting a giant pink cup in Zack's face.

Present Day

"You forget just how things worked when you were a kid," Trini said. "How easy it was to make friends, what was truly important—"

"Freddy was way more awesome than Velma," Conner said.

"No way, dude. Velma was the best," Ethan said. "Plus she had that cool catchphrase. 'Jinkies!'"

"I forgot all about that 'fro Zack used to have," Kimberly said with a grin.

"What is it with you and hair?" Zack demanded, touching his braids gingerly. Trini nudged him, giving him a warning look. Tommy cleared his throat.

"My mom teased my hair way out for Halloween that year, remember?" Kimberly asked, ignoring Zack.

"Of course I do. You were the only fairy princess with bride-of-Frankenstein hair," Trini replied, laughing.

"So… when did you guys meet Billy?" Trent asked Jason and Zack.

"A few days later, at recess. Billy didn't come back to school for a couple days, and Zack and I had both gotten blamed for Zack's Play-Doh fetish, so we had to eat lunch in the classroom—something about not getting the privilege of eating with friends until we could learn how to eat actual food," Jason said. "I want to say it was that Friday."

"It was. I remember because it was my last karate day before I moved past yellow belt," Trini said. "And we all had a sleepover that weekend."

"Oh, yeah, in Trini's living room," Kimberly said. "With Mr. Cranston on the couch."

"He was a little leery of new people, considering how often Billy got beat up," Zack said.

"Although after he started hanging out with me and Kim regularly, no one really messed with him until middle school," Jason said. "Everyone knew us as the Psycho First Graders after that day on the playground, but once middle school came around only half the elementary school was still around to remember it. We had to stake out a whole new rep."

"Anyway," Trini said, "Billy told me he was scared as hell about the whole thing. Kim and I'd already been hanging out with Jason and Zack all week after school and at recess and during lunch, but he didn't meet them until that day on the playground…"

Flashback

Billy trudged behind Trini as she marched across the playground, Billy's wrist clamped firmly in her hand. He didn't see why he had to meet her new friends. After all, she'd only been friends with Jason and Zack for a few days. Kimberly was one thing—she was nice to anyone that wasn't mean to her first. But boys were a whole other story. Boys always tried to hit Billy, or at least say something rude. There was no kindness for an extremely smart boy who talked funny and dressed funny and now hung out with two girls all the time. And from what Billy understood, Trini had met Jason because he had been trying to fight off a bunch of big kids, so Jason must be pretty strong.

"Hi, guys!" Trini yelled all too soon, making Billy jump. He swallowed as Trini stopped beneath the monkey bars, where Kimberly was hanging by her knees. A strong boy with brown was swinging from bar to bar, heading towards the end away from Kimberly.

"Hi, Trini!" the boy called enthusiastically, releasing the bars and landing in a cloud of dust, still upright; he easily popped back up to his feet. Billy jumped, startled. Billy would never have the nerve to do something like that!

"Hi, Trini!" Kimberly said, waving at her cheerfully, her long brown hair now dangling just about the boy's head. She pulled herself up, grabbing hold of the bars and letting go with her knees, then dropping all the way to the ground as well. Billy stared at her in amazement. He had no idea Kimberly could do things like that! What would she think of Billy when she found out he'd never been anywhere near the monkey bars before? He couldn't even do hopscotch very well!

"GERONIMO!" screamed a voice close by, and Billy nearly yelped at the sudden noise. He looked around to see a boy come running down the nearby slide, as easily as if it was flat ground—a whole lot easier than Billy could run on flat ground, too—and, as the slide ended, he just kept going. He hit the ground running and jogged over to them, breathless as he skidded over to Trini, hopping from foot to foot as though he wasn't quite sure how to stop moving. Billy gaped at him. These rambunctious, tough, monkey-like boys were Trini's friends? They were going to hate Billy! He couldn't even slide down a banister properly!

"Who's your friend?" the boy from the slide asked Trini curiously. He poked Billy experimentally in the chest a few times, as though trying to see what Billy was really made of. Satisfied, and a little apologetic after Billy's odd (well, terrified) stare, he pulled back.

"This is Billy," Trini said. "Can he play with us, too?"

"Sure," said the monkey bar boy, without even bothering to ask the others, though neither Kimberly nor Zack seemed like they wanted to challenge the decision. "I'm Jason," he added. "That's Zack, and this is Kim."

"I've met Kim before," Billy said, struggling to remember what Trini had told him about using small words.

"We were gonna play Scooby Doo," Jason continued. "I get to be Freddy. Who do you want to be?"

"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with that particular form of entertainment."

Jason stared at him. Zack stared at him. Kimberly scratched her head and looked expectantly at Trini.

Billy could have slapped himself. There went his shot at surviving this forced attempt to make new friends. Billy braced himself for their rude comments, praying that Trini wouldn't agree with Jason and Zack's coming assessment that Billy was a dork, that she wouldn't laugh at him and tell him she never wanted to play with him again and—

"Billy doesn't know how to play Scooby Doo," Trini explained.

"Oh!" Jason said. "Why didn't you just say so, Billy?"

"That is what he said," Trini said apologetically. "Billy has an extensive vocabulary, is all."

"Hey, I know that word!" Zack said. "'Extensive' is what my cousin Alisa gets done to her hair!"

"That's extensions," Trini corrected gently. "'Extensive' means 'big.' Billy uses big words."

"I apologize," Billy said sadly, sure he was about to be shunned and still waiting for the moment when they told him to go away. "I become agitated in social situations."

"What?" Zack demanded, frowning.

"Billy says he's sorry, and that he gets a little scared when he meets new friends," Trini clarified.

"Oh!" Jason, Zack and Kimberly chorused.

"Dude," Jason said, flinging a surprisingly heavy arm around Billy's shoulders, "you don't have to be scared. We'll teach you how to play Scooby Doo, won't we, guys?"

"Of course we will," Kimberly said, smiling sweetly at Billy. Billy could have fainted from relief.

"Tell you what," Jason said, "you can play Scooby. I'm always Freddy, and Kimberly's a good Daphne, and Trini's the bestest Velma ever, and Zack's just like Shaggy, but we still need a good Scooby."

"Scooby's the dog, right?" Billy asked hopefully. Trini had tried to explain the show to him, but it sounded so ludicrous that Billy hadn't quite grasped the entire concept.

"Yep. He's really cool, and he's really important, and he talks funny like you do," Jason said. "So you'll be a great Scooby."

Billy stared at them, wide-eyed. They thought the fact that he talked funny was cool? Wow, Billy thought, Trini was right!

"See," Jason continued, "the Scooby Doo Detective Agency wanders around solving scary mysteries involving ghosts and witches and monsters and zombies and stuff. And Freddy's the leader, Velma's the smart one, Shaggy's the funny one, Scooby's the… well, the dog… and Daphne… er, she's just sort of there. But she's pretty and she wears pink and she gets into trouble a lot and has to be rescued, so she's a lot like Kim. Anyway, all you have to do is follow Shaggy around, talk real weird, and run like crazy if you get scared, okay?"

"Those duties sound simple enough," Billy said, nodding.

Jason frowned slightly and looked at Trini. "Um… that did mean yes, right?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"Good," Jason said, relieved. "Okay, what should be our mystery?"

"Ooh, can I be kidnapped again?" Kimberly said eagerly. "That was so cool when you guys saved me from the top of the jungle gym!"

"Sure thing, Kim. Okay, gang, Kimberly has just been kidnapped by the Mean Ghost Vampire, and it's up to us to save her! Ki—I mean, Daphne, go lie down on the monkey bars and act like you've been tied to them, okay?"

"Why?" Kimberly asked.

"Cuz they look like train tracks, and villains always tie girls to train tracks," Jason explained solemnly. Kimberly grinned and skipped off to climb back onto the bars.

"Come on, Billy," Zack said, putting his arm over Billy's shoulders like Jason had done. "I'll teach you how to say, 'Scooby Dooby Doo!' the right way."

Present Day

"He can still say it," Trini said, shaking her head. "He does it over the Aqua-phone sometimes. It's a remarkably good imitation of Scooby." Trini smiled reminiscently. "I forgot how quickly I fell into the habit of translating him."

"Back then, Billy wasn't so out of control," Kimberly said. "We'd all almost catch up in the summer, only to lose him again when school started."

"There were whole days in high school when I didn't say a word to Billy," Zack said. "The days when Trini wasn't around. When you went on that one vacation I actually tried to keep up with a pocket dictionary. Didn't work too well. I couldn't spell half the words he said, so I couldn't find them in the stupid book."

"He's not that hard to figure out," Ethan said.

"Now he isn't. Back when I first met him, I don't think even Zordon got him all the time," Tommy said. "He toned it way down after Trini went to the conference, but if you caught him when he was really into something you just sort of stared and waited for him to remember you weren't that smart. He had to really cut back on the techno-speak once his translator was gone. Plus he can't go too far off the deep end on Aquitar; not everyone there speaks his language."

"Besides, Ethan, you're a Blue geek like him," Conner added. Ethan rolled his eyes.

Jason sighed. "You guys think he's okay? Talking to his dad, I mean?"

Trini nodded. "I'm sure he is. He just needs to sort it all out."

"Wonder what Zordon would say about it," Zack said.

"Ah, yes, the three rules speech," Tommy said quietly.

"Not the same thing. Mr. Cranston found out. Billy didn't have to tell him. He already knew," Trini pointed out. "I think it'll be really good for Billy, in the end. It really tears him up that he can't talk to his dad anymore like he used to. Now he can."

Billy had never felt so truly relieved in all his life. For the first time, he was able to talk about everything, not just the bits and pieces that he felt comfortable telling this friend or that friend. Every moment as a Ranger, every problem, every secret thought he'd never told his friends, every bit of depression he'd felt after giving up the power… he'd never realized just how much he needed to get it all off his chest, and while he'd told Trini the most, there were some things he just couldn't bring himself to tell her.

Then, too, there was Aquitar. Much as he loved his friends, he couldn't help but hold back when talking to them about his new home. They were upset about him leaving, he knew, but they were trying to be happy for him; he couldn't bear to tell them about the problems he had with Aquitar. He didn't want them to think that he'd left them for something less than perfect, nor did he want them to feel bad for him. Still, he'd had so much bottled up inside that he hadn't even noticed it until he'd popped the cork. Nor had he felt comfortable telling his Aquitian friends about what was bothering him; they'd tried so hard to accommodate his needs, and Billy was anything but ungrateful for that.

His father listened avidly, rarely asking questions, wanting to hear every minute detail. Billy told him everything. He just kept talking, hour after hour, getting it all out. He felt closer to his father than he had felt in years, and suddenly he realized that he was being an idiot. He needed to make more of an effort to come back to visit, money or not. He needed to find a way. Earth was his world, not Aquitar, and he needed to stop hiding on it. He needed to stop working so much, needed to find a way to get money to stay on Earth, needed to make some serious improvements to the Aquitian teleportation device. Once this vacation was over, it was time to work on repairing his relationship with his father, and with his friends. He'd lost too much time already, and he wasn't losing any more.

End Notes: Wow. We had no idea so many people in the world have actually eaten Play-Doh before. The reviews were eye-opening. I now have a creepy urge to taste it sometime. Despite the fact that many of you implied that Play-Doh is rather salty and one or two of you said the different colors actually do have flavors, I was making it all up as I went along; neither I nor Freyja have ever eaten Play-Doh. It just seemed like something Conner and Zack would do.

As for the whole Random Poll about favorite episodes… most of you couldn't pick just one. We couldn't, either. Here are our answers, if any of you are interested. Both of us stopped watching MMPR when we were kids (me shortly after Jason, Trini and Zack left, and Freyja after Kim left), but we got all nostalgic during 2004 and jumped back in. So we just gave a couple of episodes per each season that we've seen a lot of.

Freyja's picks:

MMPR:

"Gung Ho!"—Tommy. Jason. The… well… shirtless.

"A Star is Born"—Tommy psychotically jumping upon the table. Very him. It was hysterical enough that Freyja never forgot it, even after a decade…

Ninja Storm:

The episode where Shane is in his boxers. Not sure what it's called, but have sneaking suspicion that when saying "the episode where Shane is in his boxers," most of you will immediately go, "Oh, yeah! That one!"

Dino Thunder:

"Wave Goodbye"—We first meet Trent. "Isn't he just wow?"

S.P.D.:

"S.W.A.T. Part 1"—Jack does pushups. Enough said.

CrazyGirl47's picks:

MMPR

"Gung Ho!"—See above.

"Calamity Kimberly"—The beginnings of Tommy's shy days, Kimberly's damsel-in-distress days, and the start of the first canon ship ever to hit PR. Whoo.

"White Light, Part 1"—Tommy in swimming trunks. Swimming trunks that were almost skin tone.

"White Light Part 2"—Kim fainted. Tee hee. And the bit with Saba… there's not nearly enough in the fic world about the weirdness of having a talking sword stuck in your belt.

Ninja Storm

I've only seen a few episodes, but the bit where Tori drops the guys off in the woods and destroys their generator was great. Also loved the appearance of Cyber Cam. However, my favorite was "Prelude to a Storm." Cam's exasperation and their stumbling over how to morph was just awesome, dude.

Dino Thunder

"Disappearing Act"—Ethan tangoing with Conner, Dr. O saving Ethan's butt, etc. I also loved the fact that Tommy said Kimberly's infamous "Catch you on the flip side" line right before Hayley doused him with the slime.

"Legacy of Power"—Huge, not just for the stock footage, but for the plot and Tommy's one-liners. I mean, those were some of the best lines ever to come off the show, in my opinion.

"Thunder Struck, Part 2"—Surely I wasn't the only one to cackle maniacally when Tommy said that "Live the quiet life" line, was I? The whole episode was nifty, but that was just… one of those days you remember why you're still watching Power Rangers even though Tommy's always in long sleeves now. (What? Was a tattooed science teacher just something Disney couldn't handle? He wasn't shirtless at all in Dino Thunder!)

"Thunder Storm, Part 1 & 2"—The evil Ninjas were awesome. Trent's jealousy about Kira and Blake was great.

S.P.D.

"Idol"—I love the character of Sky… and I swear, that "wild and wacky" line was just the most beautiful thing ever. The look on Sky's face…

"Endings, Part 2"—Piggy's "show me a sign" speech was just… every single moment of my life. I have never ever related to a TV show, let alone Power Rangers, the way I related to him screaming "Show me a sign that I've done the right thing" right before his café van rolled away and exploded. The rest of the lines were great, too, though, including when Piggy blasted the Krybots for them. Seeing Sky become Red was nifty as hell.