Chapter 104

Truth and Consequences

Angel Grove was approximately 128.4 miles from the gymnastic center.

Tommy made it there in one hour and twelve minutes, despite rush hour traffic on a Friday.

Adam had no trouble keeping up, and spent most of the drive muttering about how the car's limitations were slowing him down. Zack was only a few moments behind, but it didn't really matter, considering that the three cars split up upon arriving in the city and began scouring it for Skull.

Bulkmeier's was a bust, as was the zoo and Skull's apartment. It was only when, in an attempt to save time, Trini called information to obtain Bulk's house number that they caught a lucky break—Connie, Bulk's live-in girlfriend, answered the phone.

"Hi," Trini said pleasantly. "You must be Connie, right?"

"Yes…?" Connie's voice came hesitantly.

"This is Trini Kwan. Trini Scott, now," Trini added, hoping to ease any suspicions her calling might cause for Bulk's girlfriend by making it clear that Trini was married. "I'm an old friend of Bulk's from high school. I'm sure he's mentioned me."

"So that's where he got the name Trini for a girl."

Trini's eyes narrowed. "You were going to name your baby 'Trini'?" Remembering the ruse, she injected a falsely cheerful note into her voice and added, "How sweet."

"I'm pretty sure it's going to be a boy," Connie said, "but he's really set on the name."

"So he'll want to call it Eugene, of course," Trini said, hoping to sound knowledgeable enough about Bulk that Connie would feel comfortable divulging personal information about his whereabouts.

"Of course," Connie agreed.

Trini smiled. "Well, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm only in town on a layover at the airport and I was supposed to have drinks with Bulk but I can't for the life of me remember where we said to meet…"

"Oh, he just left about half an hour ago," Connie said. "He was heading for the Youth Center with Skull."

"The Youth Center, right! That's where…" Trini winced as Tommy pulled a U-turn, took a corner on two wheels, and sped off towards the Youth Center. "Of course. We used to hang out there all the time when we were kids. I haven't seen him in years. Well, I'd best be going if I'm going to meet him on time—you take good care of yourself, now. I'm looking forward to meeting you the next time I'm in town."

"Great, you too," Connie said, and hung up.

"Youth Center," Trini reported as she ended the call. "Skull's there, too."

"Not for long," Tommy growled as he blew through a red light to turn left onto Main Street.

"Youth Center," Jason called into his communicator. "Same drill as the gymnastics center. I want the Dino Rangers in front of the doors."

"Copy that," Zack's voice came cheerfully.

"I'd be there already if I was in the Aston Martin," Adam complained.

"Call Ernie," Billy suggested. "Tell him to make sure they don't go anywhere."

"Good idea," Jason said. "Trini?"

She started dialing. Kimberly, who was mostly occupied with removing the tape from her skin, shoved another wad of duct tape into a plastic grocery bag unearthed from the recesses of Tommy's Jeep. "What if it's not him?" she asked.

"It is," Jason muttered. "I can feel it."

"If it's not him, we'll find out who it is," Tommy said blandly. "He won't be expecting us, won't have a line of defense in place. He won't be able to cover himself without us seeing through it. If it's him he'll crack, and we'll crack him. If it's not, we'll just go figure out who is responsible."

Jason's communicator beeped and he answered it. "Yeah?"

"Jason?"

"Tanya, hi! What's going on?"

"I was about to ask you the same question. Adam's phone is off."

"Yeah, it died earlier. He was making some calls for us."

"Yours is off too. And Zack's. And Tommy's. Kim's rang, but it went to voicemail. Trini didn't answer; I tried her a second ago."

"She was on the phone," Jason explained. "It was important. We're having a bit of an issue right now."

"I figured, considering no one came to pick me and Aisha up at the airport."

"Sorry, Tan!" Kimberly called.

"Yeah, sorry," Tommy added sheepishly. "Busy day, and, you know…"

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, um… we're in Angel Grove, is all, trying to go find Skull…"

"But what about the party?"

"Party?"

"The Ranger party? At my house? That started fifteen minutes ago?"

"Oh, yeah, the party," Jason said, cringing. "Kind of slipped our minds."

"It slipped Adam's mind, too, and he lives here. Carmen called me when I landed and started freaking out that he's been gone all day and something about the Space Rangers and… I don't even know what. She went running out for supplies and Sha and I took a cab home and found the Time Force Rangers trying to sneak in through the window, they set the alarm off…"

"Time Force Rangers? You mean Wes and Eric?"

"No, I mean the other guys. Jen, Lucas, Katie and Trip are all here, along with a guy called Marcus and some girl named Manx, Kat Manx…"

"Oh, wow. Cool. Wes'll be thrilled. Have you talked to them yet?"

"Ain't nobody here yet. Just Max and Danny and the Time Force Rangers. Adam said six, but so far nobody's answering the phone or the communicator, even Adam…"

"Yeah, he's driving right now. Quickly."

"What happened?"

"Um—"

"It's coming up," Tommy called.

"We'll tell you later, Tanya. Just… we'll be there as fast as we can."

"If you're in Angel Grove, that won't be for hours at least—is Adam with you?"

"He's in the other car. Rocky, Adam, Zack, Billy, Hayley, Trini, Kimberly, Tommy and the Dino Rangers are with us. We'll… um…"

Tommy careened into the Youth Center parking lot. "I've got to go, Tanya," Jason said. "We'll explain soon. Promise."

"Okay. Be safe, y'all. And tell Adam to stop setting his butt on fire in public; it made Variety."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Jason was too preoccupied with rushing towards the door of the Youth Center to let that comment sink in. "Bye."

Jason ended the connection just as Tommy reached the front door. Zack, who had been closest, was already there, waiting for them. Adam parked haphazardly a few moments later with no regard for silly things like parking spaces and Billy, Hayley, Rocky and Adam joined them as they rushed through the door.

Bulk, Skull, Ernie and seven other customers were scattered around the Youth Center. Bulk and Skull were apparently trying to regale Ernie with the tale of how the Power Rangers had taken one of their tours in the hopes that Ernie would post flyers around the Youth Center to help them advertise. Ernie was rolling his eyes but still listening, probably to honor Trini's request to keep Bulk and Skull from leaving. He smiled in relief when he saw the Rangers' group approaching the counter, then frowned as he took in their slothful appearance—wandering around in pajamas with un-brushed hair at six o'clock in the evening wasn't something the group had a reputation for—and scrutinized their expressions, which ranged from furious to worried. Ernie was just about to call out a greeting when the first of the Ranger group reached the counter, grabbed Skull by the arm, spun him around, seized the front of Skull's shirt and slammed him bodily against the counter, glaring down at him.

Skull stared numbly up at Adam's murderous face. Bulk spluttered a bit, instinctively wanting to haul Adam off Skull but intuitively wanting to run far, far away.

"Uh… hey, Adam," Skull said, confused and nervous. "Long time no see. How's it going?"

"Talk," Adam snarled darkly, every bit as terrifying as an evil super villain.

"Uh…"

"Adam," Tommy called, his tone wounded and petulant. "He's mine, remember?"

Adam twitched, looking for all the world as though he wanted to argue with that assessment, but, with great effort, he managed to uncurl his fingers and, releasing Skull, he stepped back.

"Now then," Tommy said pleasantly. He walked over to Skull, seized the front of his shirt, and slammed him against the counter. By the time Skull landed, Tommy's gaze was even more frightening than Adam's had been. "Talk."

"Let's all calm down here," Ernie said soothingly as two of his customers darted out the door.

"Not happening," Adam growled.

"Hey. What's going on?" Ernie asked.

"Unhand him," Bulk said, his voice a little too nervous to sound imperious.

"Sorry, Bulk, no can do," Jason said. "We've got a little something to discuss with Skull."

"Like how he used to write letters," Trini said. "Letters to Tommy."

"Letters to Tommy from me," Kimberly added.

Skull went oddly still. "You guys know about that?"

Tommy drew back his fist. Zack leaped forward and wrapped both of his hands around Tommy's clenched fingers. "Hey, hey, hey," Zack cajoled, "remember what we agreed before we got here? No one hits Skull."

"Yeah," Jason said, glaring at what little of Skull's scared face he could see. "Because once we start, we probably aren't going to be able to stop."

"Guys, guys," Skull whined, "what's going on here? So I used to write letters to Tommy and Kimberly in their handwriting. So what?"

"So you sent one of them to Tommy breaking up him and Kim!" Zack said, still holding on to Tommy's fist.

Skull frowned. "No I didn't."

"You did too!" Rocky exclaimed. "We were there. We saw it; we read it! You sent it to Tommy hoping to break up him and Kim!"

Skull's frown deepened. "Why would I do something like that?"

Tommy dropped his fist, which made Zack let go of it. Instead of reaching for Skull again, Tommy uncurled his fingers and slipped them into his back pocket, then pulled them out clutching a piece of battered white paper.

It was creased and wrinkled, and looked as though it had been wadded up into a ball on more than one occasion. Tommy unfolded it with a flick of his fingers and held it open an inch from Skull's nose. "Recognize this?" he hissed.

Skull stared at it for a moment, then nodded. "Kinda, yeah. I think that's the one that I lost in the Youth Center."

A moment of extremely tense silence ensued. Tommy's one-handed grip on Skull's shirt went slack and he backed away, shocked. Skull, engrossed in the letter's contents, reached up and took the letter from Tommy's numb fingers. Skull straightened up and read it some more.

"Yeah, this is it," Skull said cheerfully. He held it out to Bulk, who was watching the assembled group with wary mistrust. "See that stain there, Bulky? That's from the second time you tried to eat one of Ernie's twelve-foot party subs. The mustard squirted out and we went to go get the stains off our shirts and when I came back the letter was gone. I figured someone must have thrown it away. You guys stole it, huh?"

They all stared blankly at him, unable to fathom what Skull was saying. "It was in the envelope, folded up," Skull continued. "The mustard must have soaked through. But this is the one I wrote that day and I had it in the Youth Center and then…" He shrugged. "All the rest are in a drawer at home."

"The… the rest?" Hayley asked faintly.

Skull nodded. "I used to do that all the time. Still do, but they're not all about Kimberly anymore. I got over it, you know?" Skull shrugged.

"Wait, wait, wait," Kimberly said, frowning. "You mean… you used to write letters from me to Tommy a lot?"

"Sure," Skull said, giving her a sheepish smile. "I was mad about you, Kimberly. I had the biggest crush. You remember?" She nodded, dazed. "I got it from this book, How to Make Your Dreams Come True."

"I've read that one," Zack said. "Jason got it for me for a Christmas present."

Skull grinned. "Cool, huh? It's called an affirmation." He pronounced it poorly.

"You mean… an affirmation?" Conner asked.

"Uh-huh. Basically, you write down what you want, with as much detail as possible. Writing 'I will marry Kimberly' wasn't working so I started getting creative." He grinned. "I'd write letters from her to Tommy, letters from her to me, letters from me and Tommy to her, one where Bulk got—"

"You didn't do it on purpose?" Jason demanded.

"Do what on purpose? The affirmations?" Skull asked, confused.

"Break up Tommy and Kim," Zack clarified.

Skull gaped at them, then looked offended. "I would never do that. I've changed, you know! Bulk and I helped save Earth from Astronema, for crying out loud! I'd like to see you geeks try that!"

Everyone stared at him for a moment, shook themselves and ignored it. Behind the counter, Ernie stifled a laugh.

Skull gave Kimberly a wounded look. "I thought we were friends."

"We were," Kimberly assured him, shocked at the hurt in Skull's eyes. "I mean, we are. I wrote you all the time from Florida, remember? You wrote me right up until Bulk boarded Terra Venture and then you said you were going after him and I never heard from you again."

"I lost your address when we got back from the Lost Galaxy," Skull admitted. "Sorry." He returned to looking sulky. "I wouldn't break up you and Tommy, Kimberly. I would never do that to you. Especially not when you wrote me about how upset you were that he dumped you." Skull glared at Tommy. "What's the matter with you, anyway? How could you let someone like Kimberly get away?"

Tommy just gaped at him, beyond words. Conner stepped forward. "Hey, what's going on?" Conner demanded. "I thought Skull wrote Dr. O a letter from Kimberly saying Kimberly was dumping him."

"Yeah, and then Dr. O wrote Kimberly a letter saying he understood why she was breaking up with him and she thought he was breaking up with her," Ethan added.

"Come on, man," Bulk said with a snort. "Everyone knows how Tommy and Kimberly broke up. Skull said he dumped Kimberly in a letter."

"But… but…" Kimberly began. "But…"

"You mean to tell me," Adam said quietly, "that Skull left that letter lying on the counter and Ernie saw it, handed it to Tommy, I read it out loud, Tommy sent her a letter to say he wasn't mad that she was breaking up with him, she thought he was breaking up with her, and no one talked about it for eight years?"

"Pretty much," Hayley agreed. "That's what it looks like."

"But Skull only wrote that thing as part of some kooky self-help course?" Jason shouted.

"Hey. It wasn't kooky," Skull said, wounded. "That guy's sold over ten thousand copies! It says so right on the book."

"He didn't mean to do it," Trini breathed.

"That would explain a lot," Billy muttered.

"Like why she'd never mentioned another guy before," Rocky added. "Why her choice of words were so strange."

"None of it was like Kimberly," Billy said. "From the intent to the sentence structure."

"I don't believe it," Trini groaned. "It was an accident. He broke up Tommy and Kimberly and never even realized…"

"I broke up Tommy and Kim?" Skull asked, confused. "I… no. I tried for a few years, but I got over it. I stopped."

"It was an accident, Skull," Zack said. "Ernie found your letter and gave it to Tommy."

Tommy glared at him. "You shouldn't have been writing those things anyway."

"Hey, I was in love with Kim long before you came along, pal," Skull growled, giving Tommy an angry shove.

"Yeah," Bulk spoke up. "It's not like he meant to do it or anything. Cut him a break."

"It's my fault," Ernie mumbled. "I should have known… I wondered why the letter was on the counter and all…"

"It's nobody's fault," Kimberly said, her voice sounding strangled. "It's… it's—"

"It's Skull's fault," Tommy snarled.

Skull swallowed and looked at Kimberly. "Kim… you're not… mad at me, are you?"

Kimberly forced a smile and shook her head. "No, Skull, I'm not. Hey—you and me should catch up one of these days, huh? I never did get to hear about your mission to bring Bulk back to Angel Grove."

"It was awesome," Skull said, grinning.

Kimberly started to say something else, but just then Tommy turned and stomped out of the Youth Center. Several of the others started to follow, but Kimberly called, "Wait." She turned to Skull. "See you at Power Rangers Day tomorrow?" Skull nodded. "Cool. Bye Skull. Bulk, Ernie…"

The others called out a goodbye and Kimberly chased after Tommy alone.

Jason sighed and looked around at the assembled ex-Rangers. "Well, guys," he said glumly, "now what?"

"Guess that's up to them," Adam muttered, and they all turned to watch as Kimberly caught up with Tommy just outside the door.

Blinding rage washed over Tommy as he stormed across the parking lot. "Tommy!" Kimberly called. "Tommy, wait!"

Tommy rounded on her,. "How can you forgive him?" Tommy demanded furiously of her. "How—?"

"Tommy, stop it," Kimberly chided sharply. "It's not his fault."

"How is this not his fault? He—"

"I know Tommy, but he didn't meant to. It's not his fault. If it's anyone's fault it's ours."

Tommy gaped at her, aghast. "How do you figure?"

"Because," she replied gravely, "we gave up, Tommy. We gave up." She stepped closer to him, biting her lip. "It's our fault, Tommy, not his. We gave up."

Jason's words from the carnival came back to him and Tommy felt sickened, knowing it was true. It didn't matter if she'd really dumped him, if he'd really dumped her, if Skull had meant it or not, because in the end they were the ones responsible. He hadn't argued with the letter, and she hadn't argued when she'd gotten that letter from him. They had let it happen. Despite what they'd meant to each other, they'd just given up on their relationship.

Somehow, it hurt worse coming from Kimberly than it had from Jason, to hear it out loud from her. This time it hit differently. This time it hurt, far worse than it ever had before.

Tommy slid down the front wall of the Youth Center, coming to a stop on the ground with his back against the brick beneath the window and his forehead against his knees, eyes squeezed shut. Skull's words—"How could you let someone like Kimberly get away?"—were now ringing in his ears.

"We gave up, Tommy," Kimberly repeated, her voice never wavering in spite of the pain in her tone. "Neither of us demanded why, or tried to stop it. We just curled up and let everything we had die." Kimberly sank down next to Tommy, and when she spoke again she seemed to be talking to herself more than to Tommy. "How could we do that?"

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Tommy whispered. "Letting you live your life, without me. I thought it was what you wanted."

Kimberly nodded and hugged her knees to her chest. "So did I. At the time. You were in California; I was in Florida. So many people asked me if I had someone, and I'd gush about how wonderful you were."

Tommy swallowed hard. "Were?"

"The worst thing was the skepticism," Kimberly continued, ignoring the interruption. "'Long distance relationships? Those never work!'" she mimicked. "No one was surprised when you dumped me, Tommy, when I thought you had. At least, no one but me. They all tried to cheer me up, to set me up with guys to help me forget about you—it just made everything worse."

"Funny," Tommy said dryly, thinking of Heather, "I had the same problem."

"Then Jason came to me, convinced me to come back to Angel Grove and talk to you. You were dating Kat at the time, and I could have handled that—"

"I would have left her for you."

Silence settled over them for a moment. Tommy was horrified to admit it, to say it aloud, but he'd never felt about Kat the way he'd felt about Kimberly. He'd never felt about anyone the way he'd felt about Kimberly. Kimberly wasn't sure how she felt to hear it; on the one hand, she felt bad for him, for Kat… but part of her couldn't help feeling pleased to know it.

"That wasn't what I meant," Kimberly said softly. "I just… I wanted to talk to you, be friends with you. But that spell was so strong; I couldn't fight it off. I was horrified about what Divatox and Maligore did to me, made me do to you. I remembered kicking Kat in the stomach, ignoring you when you took off your helmet… I didn't know if we could come back from that."

"Didn't you realize I'd understand?" Tommy asked. "The silence was worse than anything, Kimberly. If you'd come to me, I could have accepted the fact that you hadn't meant it, that it was just the spell. I of all people would have understood, Kim. But when you didn't… you know… apologize or even say anything, part of me wondered if you meant it. If you had no interest in me whatsoever, if you never had, if you no longer cared."

Kimberly looked like she just might throw up. "I know. I should have… I don't know. I wanted… I couldn't… everything was wrong, Tommy. Everything was so wrong. I never wanted it to be this way, Tommy, not once."

"I'm sorry."

She looked at him, surprised. "For what?"

"Everything. For what you went through. Not just then, with Divatox, but in Florida, too. I didn't want to hear about the problems you were having, because I was jealous of you. I felt like I had to leave the team, but I wanted to leave, too. I wanted to go on with my life, go to college, be normal again. I just…"

Kimberly gulped. "Do you think we really grew apart?"

"I think that something changed," Tommy admitted. "Whether it was us or the situation."

"Is there a difference?"

He sighed. "Kimberly… you're right. We gave up." He snorted. "We would have had to. Skull couldn't have pulled this off if he'd tried. He couldn't manage it unless it was pure accident."

Kimberly let out a chuckle that threatened to become a sob. "Yeah. Poor guy. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him."

"I can," Tommy said bluntly. "Being madly in love with you and thinking you didn't love me back."

Kimberly looked away. "That's not true, you know. I always loved you back."

"I always loved you," Tommy replied. "Kim…"

"Yeah?"

"The hell are we going to do now?"

They were both quiet for a moment.

"I don't know," Kimberly said finally. "It's a lot to take in. Maybe… maybe we should… put it off for a while. Let it sink in and then—"

Kimberly broke off with a yelp as a loud thud sounded from above her. Turning, they could see every last one of their friends, including Bulk, Skull and Ernie, pressing their noses or their ears against the glass just above Tommy and Kimberly's heads, expressions worried and earnest; the sound appeared to have come from Conner's direction—he'd been knocked off-balance by Ethan and the two were now shoving each other.

Kimberly giggled. "And then," she continued, "talk it out. See where we end up. Let's just take some time to reflect on this, and then go from there."

Tommy nodded and the two of them stood up, brushing the backs of their pants off while their friends tried to look nonchalant on the other side of the window. "Okay. But… Kim?"

"Yeah, Tommy?"

"I meant what I said," he told her. "I'm not giving up on you. I don't care what it takes. I'm not letting you go again. Not ever."

She smiled, but it was obviously forced. "Just… give me some time, Tommy."

He nodded. "It's been seven years. I can wait."

Author's Notes: And that's that. On to more important matters. We've got kegs, closets, crashes and kidnappings, coming up next. Don't go nowhere. By the way, Freyja just wrote an awesome new fic called "Forever Fades Away" centering on Alex. Those who review it will receive good karma.