Author's notes – Welcome to part six!

Years ago, when I started trying to become a professional novelist (unsuccessfully, I'll point out), I came up with all these original heroes. And I thought about settings and their supporting casts and love interests and even their villain galleries.

Unfortunately, I never really did anything with all those unique characters ... but since all of my stories take place in the same world, I thought it would be cool if the Rangers ran into these characters, every now and then.

So in this story, the Rangers have a team-up adventure with the Genin, a ninja-warrior who lives in the coastal Australian city of Springfield. The Rangers have met the Genin before (in other stories I haven't written yet), and there's been a few references, in a number of stories, to the Rangers learning to be better at missions requiring stealth and sneakiness. The Genin is the guy who taught them a few things, and they're quite fond of him.

Enjoy!

Part Six

Chapter One

6 months ago

It was already a warm December day, Kimberly thought to herself, as she washed her face and ran a brush through her hair. And it was barely eight o'clock! Leaving her hat on the dresser so she wouldn't forget it, she made her way down to the kitchen for breakfast. Christmas had been and gone, and everyone had drifted into the hot, lazy week afterwards that still felt like it should've been a holiday. But it was time to pack up the festive decorations, take it easy, and begin making plans for New Year's Eve.

"Good morning!" Kim called as she stepped into the kitchen.

Kim's mother looked up from the morning newspaper. "Sleep okay?"

"It's already too hot," Kim said, reaching for some juice and glancing to the clock above the fridge. "And I need to get moving, I'm totally running late."

"Heading out with the gang?" Ms Hart asked.

"It's been a while since Angela left," Kim began. "Zac's still pretty bummed. The council's set up this obstacle course in the park, something for people to do over the holidays. We thought we'd take Zac, just to take his mind off things."

"Sounds fun," Ms Hart replied. "But don't forget to give him some space. Not all wounds get healed by time."

"We'll probably be out all day," Kim said. "See you tonight?"

"No, I'm going out for dinner," her mother replied. "You'll never guess. I ran into an old school friend, Beth Sheffield. At least, that was her maiden name. She's in town on holiday. We were going to catch up tonight."

"Did you know her well?" Kim asked.

"Oh, we were best friends back in the day," Ms Hart replied. "I'm looking forward to seeing her, but I'm also a little nervous."

"How come?"

"It's been so long," Kim's mother explained. "You think you're so close when you're kids. But life and careers and marriages get in the way. The next thing you know, you're living on the other side of the country and you haven't seen each other in a decade. It's kind of sad."

Kim's face fell. "Really?" she asked. "You break apart? Just like that?"

"I'm just saying, it goes fast," Ms Hart continued. "And it's always much faster than you think."

"And that's what she said," Kim finished, relaying the story to Tommy and Trini. "Then I had breakfast and rushed out the door to meet everybody."

The three Rangers were standing in the shade by some trees, watching as the rest of us bounced and climbed our way through a giant inflatable obstacle course. It was a good turn-out. There were hundreds of people there enjoying the morning, and the park was filled with the sounds of cheers and laughter. Even Zac didn't seem too down, sharing a few laughs with the other competitors as they explored the course. In the back of her mind, Kim thought that maybe the day would do the trick?

"You sound a little freaked out," Tommy said.

"Yeah," added Trini. "Are you okay?"

"I was an hour ago," Kim replied. "I can't deal with how casual she was about it. Like, one minute, you're best friends, and the next, you're kilometres apart."

"You don't think that'll happen to us, do you?" Trini asked.

"I didn't used to," Kim said, and nodded to Zac. "But Angela moved away, right? Like, that's the point of college. We got what we needed out of high school, and now we're starting to see where our lives might lead. Are we always gonna be the twelve of us? Here and together? I had a great opportunity in front of me once."

"But you turned it down," Tommy said.

"But sooner or later, one of us won't," Kim said. "Or someone will get married, or move away, or whatever."

Trini frowned. "You really think we'll break up?" she asked.

"No, but what would Pete say?" Kim asked, pointing to where Jason and I were clambering through some bouncy hollow tubes. "The fellowship won't hold strong forever, will it?"

"I guess that's true," Tommy said.

"Powers or not," Kim added, "giant robots or not, it scares me the thought that this is fragile. This, as in, us. That one day, life will just get in the way."

Tommy and Trini turned to each other blankly, at a loss over how to reply, when their communicators chimed that ever-familiar six-note tone. Immediately business, the Rangers stood in a circle, and Trini raised her wrist.

"Trini here," the Yellow Ranger said. "Go ahead."

"Rangers," Zordon's voice echoed through the device. "I need you in the Command Centre. It's a matter of urgency."

"We'll just go round up the others," Tommy said.

"Thank you," Zordon replied, and the communicator fell silent.

They looked back to the obstacle course, trying to spot the rest of us in the maze. "Duty calls," said Kim softly, and they dashed over to the course.

To be continued.