Author's Notes: We're finally back (and relatively unscathed) from Power Morphicon. It was absolutely awesome, especially the part where Austin St. John bent over while standing six inches in front of me and the part where Firass Dirani asked me to psychically predict what color panties he was wearing, even if we did almost get wrongfully arrested for smuggling in Oklahoma (never going there again). The story of my version of what happened—titled "How Austin St. John Almost Got Me Arrested (Twice)"—will soon be found on deabryn, and I'll put the link in my profile when it's ready. I have to say, it's really different to write PR fics now that I've met the real versions of Jason, Zack, Rocky, Adam, Bulk, Skull, Kira and Anton, not to mention Eric Myers, Nick, Madison, Xander, Boom, Phineas, Norg, Sky, Bridge, Z, Sydney, Mack, Will, Dax, Ronny, Rose and Miratrix (most of whom we plan on featuring in OLaB or its sequels at some point). Despite the surreal feeling that now comes with trying to capture the characters' essence thanks to the actors' personalities, we're full of new inspiration and plot bunnies, and I'm sure we'll be back in the flow before long. And my apologies for how long this took to post; our Internet connection took a dive bomb shortly after our return from California.

Chapter Seventy-six

High Five

"So that's everything?" Billy asked, looking the packages over with a critical eye. He was out several thousand dollars, and the shelves of the store were rather empty, save for random spots where games like Barbie Horseback Riding and Extreme Bass Fishing were still fully stocked, stacks of them jutting out forlornly.

"No idea how you'll carry them all," said George. He, Phil and John had been forced to start an assembly line. The cases on the shelves did not contain the actual game disks and cartridges, in an attempt to prevent theft, so the amount of games Billy had bought took quite a long time to package. Phil was ringing up the sale, John was finding the disks, and George was putting the games in their boxes. Ethan was doing the bagging.

"Oh, don't worry," Trini said lightly. "We've got friends."

Just then a blur of green and pink shot towards Trini and slammed against her, almost knocking her over. It took her a moment to realize that Kimberly had just flung herself at Trini, wrapping her arms around Trini's neck and burying her face in Trini's shoulder.

"Trini! Rats!" Kimberly wailed. "Gerbils! Hamsters! Guinea pigs! Rats! Rodents, Trini, rodents!"

Bewildered, Trini put her arms around Kimberly consolingly. Looking up, she realized George, Phil, John and Ethan were staring at the scene in shock. "Um, in fact, here's one of our friends right now," Trini joked with a nervous laugh.

"Kim, what happened?" Billy asked, hurrying over to them.

"Rats! Rats in my shirt! How could he, Trini? How could he?"

"Is she crying?" Billy mouthed to Trini as Kimberly dissolved into nonsensical muttering.

"Not yet," Trini mouthed back, as she was unable to feel any damp spots starting on the shoulder Kimberly's face was nestled against. Billy worriedly began rubbing Kimberly's back while Trini held her tightly.

Kira came into the shop just then, a black expression on her face and dozens of shopping bags clutched in her hands. She stomped over to Ethan. "Hold these," she commanded, holding out the bags to him. Ethan set down the game he was holding and took them. Kira looked over at Trini and Billy. "You guys got her for the moment?"

"Yeah, but what—?" Trini began.

"I'll be back," Kira said darkly, and marched out of the store.

Tommy, Jason and Zack's lust for adventure had been sated for the moment, and the three were currently browsing through camping gear at a store that had given them supplies for many of their forays into the wilderness. Joking and laughing about Zack's inability to get along well with vultures and moose for reasons unknown, they failed to notice Kira's approach until Tommy suddenly went flying into a shelf of sleeping bags.

"Ow," Tommy complained, more startled than hurt. Jason and Zack watched in surprise as a blur of black and yellow rushed at him, shoving him back against the shelves just as he'd started to right himself.

"Never again!" Kira roared, absolutely livid. "How could you?"

Tommy stared at her in disbelief. Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent never went straight at him like this. They were all well-aware of the fact that not only was he an authority figure, he was also a very experienced martial artist and fighter, not to mention a legendary Power Ranger. Kira's failure to defer to him made the situation far more serious than being shoved into a shelf would ordinarily be.

"Don't you ever pull a stunt like that again!" Kira screamed. "Gerbils? My god, you're an adult! Act like it!"

Tommy had often compared Kira to the other Yellows he knew well—Trini, Aisha, Tanya, Ashley. Her personality, her hobbies, and her attitude had reminded him of one of his Yellow friends at one point or another. Yet she had never seemed more Yellow than she did right now, facing him down without fear, shouting at him, berating at him, waving a finger in his face and making some long-dead part of him—a part that could most accurately be dubbed his "fear response"—awaken and urge him to run for it, even though logically he knew there was absolutely no cause to do so; she might be infuriated, but if push came to shove she wouldn't be shoving him far.

Tommy knew that. Kira knew that. Jason and Zack knew that. Yet that knowledge was not enough to stop the screaming.

"Seriously! You do not pull stunts like that! You do not order me to be held down and dragged around a clothing store! And for what? Just so you can pretend you've got the emotional maturity level of Conner! If you ever pull a stunt like that again I will make you bleed from arteries you didn't know you had! I just spent the last hour coddling and comforting and sticking my hand up your little lover girl's shirt and I swear to god, no matter how long it takes, I will make you pay for that!"

"I'm sorry," Tommy blurted out, his tone dripping sincerity. "I am so sorry that I upset you. That I upset Kim. You're right. It was stupid, it was immature, it was wrong… I don't know what came over me. I'm so sorry. I promise, Kira, I'll make it up to you. To you and Kim. Please, don't judge me from one moment of stupidity. Just… I'm really sorry."

Kira glared at him for a long moment. "Never again," she hissed.

"I promise. Never. You have no idea how much I regret it. How much I was already regretting it when you came in here."

She continued to glower blackly at him. "You owe me. You so owe me. Gerbils, damn it, gerbils!"

"I know. It was just… Conner and Trent somehow set them loose all over the second floor and Zack—"

"Hey!" Zack complained, from a safe distance of about thirty feet.

"—had this dumb idea and Jason and I went along with it and I'm really, really sorry. I really am. Please, Kira… it won't happen again. I swear it won't."

Kira stared him down for a long, tense moment. Then she sighed and flounced away without a word.

Jason and Zack waited until she was safely out of the store, then moved to stand beside Tommy, staring after her. All three of them silently watched her disappear into the crowded mall. Then, as one, they burst out laughing.

"That was great," Jason cackled as the three of them slapped palms and shoulders, congratulating themselves on a diabolical plot well-executed.

"Can't believe you tried to blame it on me," Zack complained jokingly.

"Oh, I take full responsibility," Tommy said mock-seriously before cracking up once again. "Yes, I'm a bad, bad man."

"Yes, you are," Jason agreed, shaking his head. "Did you see her face? She was furious!"

"Kim's probably a wreck!" Zack added gleefully.

"She's so going down," Tommy announced smugly. "I kicked her ass. I so totally did."

"Think she'll ever forgive you for the gerbil thing, though?" Zack asked thoughtfully.

"Oh, of course," Tommy said, adopting a solemn expression and tone, though his face twitched occasionally, giving away the fact that he found the whole thing as amusing as hell. "See, now that Kira's bitch-slapped me, I've seen the error of my ways. I've realized how immature and rude I was being. Me and Kim, we really do just need to take things slow. I've just been so stuck in the past and confused that I wanted to rush things, and all I really did was make things more difficult. I can see that now, Kim. And I'm really sorry. Please forgive me. Please let me try to make things right between us, because after all, all I really want is your friendship."

"You are evil," Zack said with a grin. "Seriously evil."

"No, Zack," Tommy told him, "I'm just a guy with a mission."

By the time Kira returned to EB, Kimberly was far more coherent and muttering angrily, which in Kira's opinion was a vast improvement over the whimpering in horror. "Everything okay?" Ethan asked Kira worriedly. While Kimberly was coherent as far as Kira was concerned, she still wasn't making much sense to Trini, Billy, Ethan or the shop clerks.

"Fine," Kira said. "I just totally read Dr. O the riot act."

"Good," Kimberly announced. "I can't believe him. Can you believe him?"

Kira sighed. That sounded a little too much like what Kimberly had been saying yesterday about Tommy trying to seduce her at the carnival. "I know, Kim. I know. I had to remove the damned gerbils, remember?"

"Thank you, by the way," Kimberly said. "I don't think I've said that yet."

"It's okay," Kira told her. "I know you were upset. And I was glad to do it. We're friends, right?"

"Of course!" Kimberly agreed, then sighed heavily. "God. I just… ugh."

"I know. But, let's not dwell, okay?" Kira said as she went to take Kimberly's shopping bags back from Ethan. "I mean, I think he's learned his lesson. I scared him pretty badly. Might have even given him a few bruises."

Kimberly took a long, deep, shuddering breath to calm herself. "You're right. I don't want to think about it, anyway. But before I let it drop, there's one thing I have to do first."

Tommy, Jason and Zack were walking along the lower level, joking and laughing about their newest victory, preparing to head to EB and pick up Billy, Trini and Ethan, when they heard Kira shout, "Hey, Dr. O!"

They paused and looked around, but failed to spot Kira. Finally she called, "Up here!"

Tommy looked up, and without warning a giant cinnamon roll fell from the sky and hit him full in the face, icing-side first.

Jason and Zack scattered as Tommy wiped the icing out of his eye area. He saw the bun rolling away out of the corner of his eye before fixing his gaze on the second floor's balcony, where Kira and Kimberly were laughing uproariously and giving each other high-fives. "See you around, Cinnamon Buns!" Kimberly yelled, before the two disappeared from view.

Tommy turned to find Jason and Zack, who were standing safely underneath the second-floor balcony, out of the line of fire from the upper level. Tommy smiled through the mess of icing coating his face. "See? What did I tell you?" he said cheerfully. "I've got her right where I want her."

"If you say so, bro," Jason said, cracking up at the picture Tommy made.

"Hey, Tommy?" Zack said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Hmm?"

"You got a little something on your face, bro." With that, Zack dissolved into hysterical laughter.

Kira and Kimberly hung out on a bench outside EB while waiting for the others, sharing the tale of the rodent attack and the cinnamon bun counterattack with Trini, Billy and Ethan. Conner and Trent arrived first, both in completely new outfits and wearing dark sunglasses and hats pulled low over their eyes. Trent had some small amount of success in pulling off the look, but Conner looked like a wannabe gang member.

"How's it going?" Conner asked.

"Good, except for the rodent thing," Kira replied.

Trent winced and stomped on Conner's foot, hoping that if he could keep Conner quiet then whatever Kira's bad experience with rodents was, it wouldn't be traced back to them. Conner yelped and glared at him. "Dude, I need that foot," he complained. "Soccer star, remember?"

"But I suppose you know all about the rodent thing," Kira continued. "Dr. O said you and Conner set them all loose."

"Conner set them loose," Trent said firmly.

"Hey!" Conner complained incredulously. "I seem to recall someone breaking a display case and tossing hamsters all over the place."

"That was maybe twenty hamsters! Thirty, tops. You freed like a hundred in hamsters alone. Not to mention the gerbils."

"That was an accident! Not an attempt to give them all destinies!"

"So I guess I have you two to thank for three gerbils ending up in my shirt?" Kimberly asked coolly.

Conner's eyes widened in horror and he gaped at Trent. "Dude, you threw gerbils down Kimberly's shirt?"

"Of course not!"

"No, that would be me." The group turned to see Tommy, Jason and Zack arriving. Tommy still had icing stuck in his hair, but he'd managed to get his face clean.

"Hi, guys," Zack said cheerfully.

"Hey," Jason said, throwing an arm around Trini's shoulder. "How's the evil plan coming?"

"Not as evil as some people's," Trini said, failing to return his smile. She held up a bag full of electronics for him. Jason took it without complaint, realizing Trini was, in her own way, yelling at him. "So, I guess we should go drop these off at the car."

"Won't be any room for us in the cars if we do," Zack said, staring in disbelief at the mountain of packages surrounding them. "Damn, Billy, what all did you get?"

"Pretty much one of everything," Billy said sheepishly. "Kimberly, I'm afraid my clothing budget might have been drastically diminished during—"

"Save it, Billy," she interrupted sternly. "You're buying what I say you're buying. After the day I've had, I could really go for some power shopping."

"Power shopping?" Billy repeated faintly. Kimberly nodded. Billy sighed and glared at Tommy. "Thanks a lot."

"Sorry," Tommy said sincerely, cringing in horror as his memories of power-shopping resurfaced. "Couldn't resist."

Billy grumbled something in extreme techno-speak. Trini burst out laughing. Ethan looked a little startled, maybe even nervous. Tommy made a mental note to look up what Billy had said at the first available opportunity.

It took all ten of them to carry their purchases to the car; most of them had only bought an item here or there, but between Conner and Trent's clothes, Kimberly's numerous bags and Billy's complete electronic library they were lucky they managed to make it in only one trip. It took some careful planning to get the packages back into the Escalade and Jeep while still leaving room for everyone to sit on the return trip. Finally, they headed back into the mall.

"Hey, Billy," Tommy called, figuring he owed Billy an apology. "I'm really sorry about upsetting Kimberly."

"Sure you are," Billy said irritably.

"No, really. I remember what power-shopping was like." Tommy shuddered. "Let me talk to her, okay?"

"Yes, because that will cheer her up," Billy scoffed.

"No, Billy, let him," Trini said, with a meaningful glance at Billy. "Maybe if he apologizes she'll be a little less focused on your wardrobe selection. You never know."

"Fine," Billy said, sighing.

Tommy smiled at them. It struck him as funny that after the past few days of constantly being herded and tricked by his friends, he'd almost forgotten they had an agenda at all. Well, let them try. Tommy could use a little assistance; nothing like a team's support to make sure the battle was won. He dropped back to walk beside the Dino Rangers, who were still trying to sort out how each other's actions in the rodent wars had affected the others.

They went back in through the main entrance, and discovered that the fountain situation had worsened. Apparently maintenance had restarted the fountain in an attempt to fix its issues, because while water had stopped pouring from the Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Lance and Power Daggers, Saba had somehow been broken as well, and both the saber and the Power Bow were blasting out high-pressure streams into an overflowing pool. The sunken atrium floor was now roughly two feet under water. One manager was arguing with a maintenance guy, who was heatedly explaining that the fountain's control panel was now submerged and he wasn't going to use a snorkel to try and fix it. Another maintenance man was apparently on the phone with the company that had built the fountain, and explaining that if he opened the control panel the electronics would be ruined by the large amount of water all over the place and he'd probably electrocute several people, himself included.

The bucket brigade of concerned citizens was still working doggedly. Everyone was slightly damp, and they had all removed their shoes and rolled their pants up, just in case the flood got any worse. Eight people were standing knee-deep in the water at the start of the line; every time the trash cans (there were now five in use) went past they'd pause and roll up their jeans, shorts or Capri pants a little more. One woman in a long T-shirt had even taken her pants off entirely. A manager was passing gift cards out to the fifty or so people who were helping and one of the stores had donated large quantities of Gatorade set up on a table for those involved in the effort. A few supremely soggy people were resting on folding chairs on the sidelines, sipping their Gatorade and catching their breath. The atrium had been roped off and security guards lined it, warning people to skirt around the edges and continue on about their business.

"Have you ever seen anything more depressing in your life?" Kimberly asked plaintively with a gusty sigh. Jason gripped her shoulder in comfort, while simultaneously rolling his eyes at the strong companionship Kimberly felt with the mall. They carefully moved around the atrium and headed down the hall, Conner keeping his head down and Ethan looking apologetic.

Tommy cleared his throat. "Hey, um, Kim? Can I talk to you in private for a second?"

Kimberly thought it over. "Yes. You can."

Kira frowned. "Kim? Do you think that's such a good—?"

"Yes," Kimberly interrupted firmly. "If I talk to him alone, he's bound to eventually make me angry. And after everything that's happened today, if he makes me angry I'll just hit him with a large heavy object. So I'll feel a whole lot better whether he tries to make things right or tries to make things worse."

"Um… heh," Tommy said, not quite sure what to make of that.

Kimberly jerked her head at the nearest store, which happened to be a Spencer's. Tommy nodded and headed for it. Kimberly glared around at the others. "Now. I'll be right back. You will not eavesdrop. You will not unleash gerbils or damage any sculpture in my likeness. You will not try to help Billy escape to freedom. In fact, you will all hold as still as possible. Because I have decided that anyone who vaguely annoys me at all for the rest of the day will also be hit with a large heavy object. Understand?"

There was a chorus of affirmative responses. Kimberly glared at them each in turn for good measure and then stomped off into the Spencer's. She and Tommy moved towards the back of the store so they would be out of sight as well as earshot.

Trini clasped her hands together. "Evil plan time. Jason, Zack, you guys in?"

"Sure," Jason said with a shrug.

"Always," Zack replied eagerly.

"Ooh, can I help? Please? I never get to be the evil one!" Conner exclaimed.

"Of course. Trent, Kira, you in?"

"I'm hanging back. Plausible deniability," Trent replied.

"Oh, good. Take Mr. Mongolian Gerbil and Ms. Syrian Hamster for me, will you?" Conner said, pulling his two furry friends from his pockets. "I don't want them to get hurt. Could you maybe go get them a drink from the fountain or something?" Trent took them resignedly. The others stared at Conner in disbelief. "What?" he asked.

"…You kept two of the gerbils?" Ethan asked.

"No. One's a hamster. I'm still trying to think up names. I want to get them this really cool habitat and one of those ball thingies, too. Can we go to a pet store after this? I don't think I should go back to that one and I already got them some shredded lettuce from the Taco Bell in the food court but they might need food pellets pretty soon and—"

"Okay, okay, not now," Trini said. "There's a limited time window here."

"What are you guys planning?" Kira demanded. "Are you going to upset Kim again?"

"Kira, honey, trust me," Trini said soothingly. "I know what I'm doing. I know you feel protective of Kimberly but you have to understand that she's my best friend and I only have her best interests at heart—"

"No. No, no, no. I'm not going to let you guys—"

"Kira, do I have to restrain you again?" Jason asked with a sigh, managing to sound resigned and even paternal about it, as if warning her that if she didn't clean her room right this second he was going to have to ground her, as if it was her fault he'd restrained her the first time around.

Kira glared at him. "You know, if I had my Dino Gem I'd—"

"Kira!" Conner hissed, stepping in front of her to block her view of Jason. He put a finger to his lips and gave her a horrified look. "You're threatening a superhero."

"Conner, I'm a superhero," she reminded him, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, okay, true, but you're former. Not only does he still have powers, he's the original Red Ranger. The guy's got power and experience and like twenty years of martial arts experience. Sit down."

Kira glared up into Conner's somewhat panicky face for a long moment, then accepted the fact that he was right and flung herself down on a bench next to Trent. Trent stuffed Conner's new pets into his hoody pockets and put his arm around Kira's shoulders while schooling his features into a compassionate expression.

Jason, Trini, Billy, Zack, Conner and Ethan moved a few yards away and huddled together, whispering. Then they split up. Trini and Billy moved to either side of the entrance. The other four fanned out in front of the store and began stopping random mall-crawlers as they passed by. Zack and Conner targeted a pair of girls, while Jason stepped in front of a large group of teenagers and began asking for directions to the new Unicorn Utopia location and Ethan struck up a conversation with a trio of guys regarding the Asteroid Conquest T-shirt one of them was wearing. Before long, Kira and Trent could see neither Trini nor Billy.

"What are they doing?" Kira wondered aloud.

"Blocking our view," Trent said. "And the view of anyone walking by. There's no line of sight from the cameras now to Trini or Billy and the security guards at the atrium can't see them."

Kira raised an eyebrow at him. "What were you doing when you were evil?" she asked suspiciously.

Trent smiled at her. "I'm just guessing, of course."

Kira turned back to look at the store, just in time to see a metal gate come down in front of the store. It slammed against the floor a moment later, barricading the store's entrance with an utterly final clang.

"Now I'm guessing 'uh-oh,'" Trent said with a wince.

"They didn't. They didn't. Trent, tell me they didn't."

"They didn't," Trent lied. Kira glared at him. "Come on, she'll be okay—"

"You weren't there, Trent. You didn't hear her ranting about how the mall should be safe and Tommy and his people had broken it and filled it with water and rodents. You didn't nearly get kicked out of a carnival for injuring a goat. Trent… they trapped her in a store with Dr. O."

Trent didn't reply. Instead, he pulled Ms. Syrian Hamster from his hoody and held her up so that he could look her in the eye.

"Your lot in life is gonna suck, little hamster," he told it apologetically. "Sure, you'll get the colored tubes and the cage will always be cleaned and Conner won't own a Doberman. But you know what? It's not all about the colored tubes. Normal hamsters get a choice, you see. Tubes or dirty cage. You, my friend, you will always get something else. Something special. You are the hamster that the faceless giants will experiment on. You are truly the hamster with a predetermined path through the chaos. You—"

Kira slapped his arm. "Would you stop waxing poetic about hamster destinies and help me figure out a way to get Kim out of there?"

Trent gave her a mournful look. "No. But I can do you one better."

Kira rolled her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I can tell you that no matter what you do, it'll never be enough. You might help her, might cheer her up, but in the end Kimberly knows her place in this world and she knows how to deal with it and she's okay with it. She'll rant and scream and rave and fight it, but she knows. Deep down, she knows."

"Her place in the world?" Kira repeated incredulously.

"Mm-hmm. See, Kira, Kimberly knows that she doesn't get colored tubes or a dirty cage. She doesn't even get tossed to freedom or deposited back in a broken display case with a choice in front of her. Kira… what I'm trying to say is…"

"Yeah?"

"Kimberly… gets Conner's pocket."