Captain Blues: Welcome to the show, Katherine!


Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Final Mix
Episode Eight: Double the Pink (Part One)


[Location: Rita's Palace
POV: General]

The body of the Green Dragon Ranger lay before the table, where Rita and her team stood in front of it.

It had been a week since Knasty Knight returned from the North Pole with the body of the Green Ranger but they had yet to do anything with it yet.

"Lady Rita…Do you think it is wise for us to awaken him from his spell?" Goldar asked his Empress.

Rita nodded.

She knew that this was a risk for them too. When they found the ranger in critical condition after his battle with Zordon, Rita had to perform a lot of intricate magic to try and keep him alive, and undoing it could lead to his demise.

But she had no choice.

Despite getting closer each time to defeating Zordon's pesky warriors, the rangers always seemed to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat, and now she had enough.

It was time to swing the victories her way.

With a strong grip on her scepter, Rita held it up in the air and said "For 10,000 years after the great war, you have laid dormant within the cold glaciers of the North Pole. But now I, Empress Rita Repulsa have freed you from your prison. Now Barza, Holder of the Dragon Ranger powers, awaken!"

Just as Rita shouted, the ruby within her scepter shined hotter than the brightest sun, causing the three monsters to shield themselves from the fierce light. Just then, red lightning shot out from the ruby and slammed into the golden armored chest of the ranger on the table.

The entire body began to hum as wisps of crimson energy flowed from the aura around the body but then it faded away.

The four around the table waited with bated breath in wonder but after five long minutes, the ranger didn't move, nor did the ranger take a breath.

Rita sat down her scepter and said to Finster "Check if he has a pulse." Finster nodded and placed two fingers against the ranger's neck then at both wrists before shaking his head.

"I'm afraid not lady Rita. It seems the spell did not work," Finster stated with a small sigh. Rita growled and dismissed her scepter and rubbed the bridge of her nose with shut eyes.

"I'm getting a headache," she angrily muttered.

Why hadn't it worked? She had done it correctly, hadn't she?

Rita held up her scepter again and repeated her speech and after another crimson bolt of lightning struck the chest of the ranger, nothing changed.

"No…I cannot believe it didn't work…" Rita muttered but she said "It is no matter. We will have to go to the alternative."

"Clone Dragon coin," Goldar stated while crossing his arms.

"Yes. It'll be significantly weaker but it will be strong enough to defeat the Rangers. But now we have a new issue…" Rita drifted off but Goldar was quick to continue her words.

"Finding the one worthy of the coin…"

Rita nodded and turned to both Swan Song and Knasty Knight and said "Listen, Goldar and I will be searching for our ranger. You two will be battling the Rangers. How the two of you do this, I do not care. I want it done."

Knasty Knight and Swan Song glanced at each other before the two nodded to Rita and bowed as well.

"It will be done," The two said in unison.

Rita nodded and walked off with Goldar following behind her.

Swan Song immediately turned to his partner and said, "Listen, I don't like this any more than you do but if we are going to get this done, we will need to work together."

Knasty Knight growled, moved away from the shape-shifter, and said, "I don't need your help. I can do this on my own."

Swan Song scoffed at his words then replied, "Look how well that turned out. You failed your mission."

"And you didn't?" Knasty Knight replied scathingly. "My mission was postponed due to interference by his escape. You wound up nearly killed by the enraged Yellow Ranger."

"And yet I nearly got two rangers to kill each other," Swan Song calmly retorted. "The fact is, we managed to nearly kill two rangers. If we work together, we can scratch out the word "nearly" and just kill."

Knasty Knight remained silent for a moment before he nodded. "You are right…So what is the plan?" The knight questioned.

Swan Song smirked.


[Location: Ernie's Juice Bar
POV: General]

"Here you are, Jason. Four Ernie's specials with four strawberry smoothies on the side!"

"Thanks," Jason told Ernie as he took the large saucer filled with food and drinks back to the table where Billy, Kimberly, and Trini sat.

"And here we are," Jason announced as he sat the saucer down in the middle of the table. Once he sat down, the four of them wasted no time in grabbing their plates and smoothies and chowing down.

"So Billy, how are Matt and Angela doing?" Jason asked curiously.

Billy gave a tiny smile.

Zordon was originally disappointed that Billy's plan involved Angela finding out about them being rangers and at first opted to erase their memories but then decided to speak to the teens himself.

Needless to say, Angela and Matthew were awed into silence by the sight of Zordon. Once it wore off, the two swore to not only keep the secret but they would help the rangers in any way they could.

"They are doing great," Billy replied with a small smile. "I'm glad that they have each other. Angela will be a much better partner for Matthew to deal with his parents than I would."

"It must suck to see someone you loved with someone else," Trini softly murmured.

"Admittedly, I feel sad at times," Billy admitted. "But, we talked about it and decided that it would be best. His parents and my—" Billy paused, almost unable to speak of her. "—mother would never approve of our relationship. But, Matthew and I are working on trying to rebuild our friendship, and for me, I couldn't ask for more."

"How has Angela been treating you?" Kimberly asked.

"Angela has been wonderful to me," Billy replied with a wide smile. "I had the thought that she wouldn't want to interact with me, or want me to be friends with Matthew, considering our past, but she's been a wonderful person. She even invited me to her birthday party after they come back from Reefside."

"That's great!" Kimberly happily replied. Outside of their group, Billy didn't have a lot of friends so while she didn't like Matt too much due to him actively trying to hurt Billy, she knew Angela was a legit sweetheart, so she knew Billy was in safe hands.

"I'm surprised you aren't worried about being replaced," Trini cooly noted.

"Angela is quite nice and in time, we can be great friends," Billy noted. "But Kimberly has been my best and longest friend. I would never replace her."

Kimberly stuck her tongue out at Trini.

"I thought that once before about Zack," Trini murmured. "But things change. People change. You never know what the future might hold."

Kimberly glowered at Trini and opened her mouth to respond. "Kim, why didn't you go to Reefside for the meet?" Jason swiftly interjected, not wanting to deal with another argument.

"The same reason Billy didn't go for the wrestling meet," Kimberly told Jason. "We're literally the last line of defense for Earth. We need to be around, you know?"

"Very true," Jason said.

"Speaking of that," Trini began. "I just hope we can start defeating monsters again instead of humans within monsters."

"Or humans within ranger suits," Kimberly said, a hint of sly tone in her voice.

Trini gritted her teeth at Kimberly's comment but willed herself to remain silent, opting to ignore the Pink Ranger.

Billy gave Kimberly a look before he said, "I just hope we get a small break before the next big thing begins."

The three rangers nodded in agreement and took a drink of their smoothies in near unison. Once they were finished, Jason turned to Billy and asked, "Any word on Kat's arrival?"

Billy shook his head, leaned back in his chair, then vocally answered, "Not yet…I hope she shows up soon. I'm very interested in her."

Kimberly paused and glanced at Billy and saw the wistful look on his face and couldn't help but scrunch up her nose a bit.

Kimberly didn't have a problem with Billy wanting to meet his pen pal but to see that look on his face made her feel strange in the chest but she couldn't explain what it was.

Jason couldn't stop the grin on his face as a question appeared in his head. "Even if she's as ugly as Goldar?" Jason asked playfully.

Billy laughed.

Despite all of the letters the two had sent, Billy always forgot to send a picture of himself and he never bought up asking for a picture of her. But despite this, Billy didn't care what she looked like.

Despite the mess with Matthew dredging up past feelings recently, All he knew was that he could not get her out of his mind, and the thought of finally being able to meet her after all this time was exciting.

If anything, the fact he didn't know what she looked like made his interest in her double. He just hoped he wasn't hyping up their meeting too much.

"Even if she looked like Goldar," Billy replied with another laugh, causing Jason to clap his shoulder.

"That's my boy. It's all about the inside, not the outside," Jason stated with a wide grin on his face, clearly proud of Billy's reply.

Just as Jason finished his sentence, Zack skidded through the door with a large smirk on his face.

"Guys! You will not believe it!" Zack yelled as he leaped over Kimberly's chair and landed on Jason's lap, causing the two rangers to blink in surprise but as Jason grinned at his arrival, Trini frowned.

"Oh Zack," Trini started. "Did you forget our agreement?" She softly questioned.

Zack shook his head and gently replied, "No, I didn't forget but I have something to tell you guys and it couldn't wait until later. I hope you don't mind the one-time breach in the agreement."

"Ok…So spill," Jason quickly said, wanting to stop the intense glaring contest that he was sure Zack and Trini would enter. "And get off my lap," Jason added, his mind now reminding him that Zack was snuggled up comfortably on his lap.

Zack stuck out his tongue with a playful grin. "You weren't saying that last night, Jase. Why must you play with my heart so much?" Zack teased.

Jason couldn't help but shake his head at the puppy dog eyes Zack was giving him and almost scoffed when Zack added a small whimper.

"You're lucky I love you," Jason responded with a laugh as Zack raised off his friend's lap.

"Stop messing with Jase and tell us what's up Z'," Kimberly admonished with a light smack on the Black ranger's shoulder.

Zack pulled a spare chair in between Billy and Kimberly and asked, "Well, you guys remember how I had to take my uncle Alphonse to the airport today?"

Jason, Billy, and Kimberly nodded at this.

"Well while I was there, I bumped into a cute little number. She was waiting for her parents, who were in the bathroom. We got to talking for quite a while when we happened to get to if she knew anyone here."

Zack then paused enough to snag a few fries from Billy's plate, which made Billy move his plate in the middle of them to share his plate with a smile.

"I love you, buddy," Zack said with a grateful tone to Billy, who beamed in response. "So turns out, she did happen to know someone up here so I asked the girl what her friend's name was, and let's just say…I was surprised at who she was looking for," Zack finished, after swallowing his fries.

"Get to the point, who was she looking for?" Trini asked impatiently, causing Kimberly's eyes to narrow at her.

"Well…She should be coming in right now to answer that," Zack answered.

Seconds later, the Juice Bar door opened and the five watched as a platinum blonde-haired female walked into the area, her sea-blue eyes soaking in the sight of the juice bar.

Zack quickly got up from his chair and rushed to the teenager that just entered and began to chat with her, all while the four looked on.

"Zack wasn't lying. She is a cute little number," Jason admitted before he shrugged. She was pretty and if he was into blonde girls, he would be over there introducing himself to her.

"That black and purple sundress doesn't hide her curves at all," Kimberly said, admiring the female's good choice in dresses. "I'm a little jealous I didn't think of wearing a sundress…" Kimberly added with a sullen look, not liking the fact she decided to wear a pink tank top with jean shorts.

"She's ok," Trini added while sipping her smoothie once again.

"She is…Wow…" Billy murmured in awe, unable to keep his eyes away from her. Kimberly couldn't help but frown a bit at Billy's awed look.

She had never seen

The rangers watched as Zack and the girl walked towards the table and then the two stopped before the group of four, Zack said, "Mr. Billy Cranston…May I introduce to you, A Miss Katherine Hillard."

Billy's eyes widened while the remaining three rangers' jaws dropped in shock.

The three rangers watched as Billy stood up from his chair and felt his face heat up a bit from the look Kat was giving him.

"H-Hi," Billy stuttered out shyly.

A large smile appeared on Kat's face before Billy found himself in a tight embrace from the Australian female. "It's about damn time I get to see your face," Kat said while squeezing tighter, excitement in her voice.

Billy blinked but then he smiled and returned her hug, all while the smirking Zack nodded his head in approval.

Kat separated herself from Billy and said, "Who would have thought that I would find you so soon after I landed."

"Well…I was curious to know when you would arrive but I wasn't expecting today of all days for it to happen," Billy replied as he adjusted his glasses, something they all knew he did when he was flustered.

"Truth is, I wasn't expecting to be on the first flight out here but my parents were in such a rush to start their new job," Kat explained. "Now I already met the super awesome Zack Taylor.…"

Zack couldn't help but smile at the title while Trini rolled her eyes.

"…Do you mind introducing me to the rest of your friends?" Kat finished, her eyes glittering with happiness which left Billy breathless.

"S-Sure…" Billy replied with a stammer. He adjusted his glasses and motioned to Trini. "This is Trini Kwan. The resident martial arts master." Billy then moved his hand to Jason. "This is Jason Lee Scott, the leader of our group."

Trini raised her cup to Kat and said, "It's nice to meet you."

Jason shook his head, flustered from the title of "leader" and replied, "It's nice to meet you Kat but I can't claim the title of leader. We don't need a leader in this group. We're all equals here."

Billy smiled widely when he motioned his hand to Kimberly and said, "And this is—"

Unlike Jason and Trini, Kimberly stood up and put on her best smile as she held out her and said "I'm Kimberly Ann Hart. Cheer Captain of the Angel Grove Saints and Billy's best friend."

Katherine's hand clasped Kimberly's own and gripped it slightly as she said "It's nice to meet you, Kimberly."

"Likewise…" Kimberly replied with narrowed eyes, returning the squeeze.

Billy, Zack, and Jason traded subtle looks as the two girls stared each other down, totally aware of the sudden tense feeling in the room.

Trini merely smirked and drank her milkshake in silence.


[Location: Rita's Palace
POV: General]

"So that is your plan?" Knasty Knight asked, his eyes focused on the image of Kimberly and Katherine staring each other down.

Swan Song nodded and crossed his arms.

"Oh yes. And trust me when I say...This will be far too easy…"


[Location: Ernie's Juice Bar
POV: Kimberly Ann Hart]

Kimberly's right eyebrow twitched as she watched Katherine and Billy talking at the juice bar counter, a sour look on her face.

It had been three days since Katherine had arrived and Kimberly had found herself feeling more alone than she had ever felt before. Yeah, she had Zack and Jason spending a lot of time with her but Billy was her closest friend.

And to see him spending all of his time with little Miss Purple was driving her crazy. Kimberly sighed and leaned up against the pillar beside her, her eyes locked on the two teens she was watching.

She shouldn't blame Billy for ignoring her like this. He was just being his normal, friendly self. It was Katherine that was hogging all of his attention. And while she felt that Billy would never abandon her, she couldn't shake off Trini's words from a few days ago.

"Whoa, Kimberly, you seem mighty tense over here," A familiar voice said.

Kimberly sighed as Bulk and Skull appeared on the right of her and the left of her respectfully. "Perhaps we could help you relax?" Skull suggested with a flirty grin.

Kimberly bit back the scoff that wanted to leave her lips and replied, "Thanks but no thanks, you guys. I just want to be by myself for a little while."

The two teens nodded in understanding but Skull said, "I'm surprised though, you're usually attached to the hip with Cranston. This is honestly the first time I've seen you without him."

Kimberly chuckled, albeit weakly, and replied, "His friend recently moved here so he's spending time with her." Kimberly then noticed that Billy moved away, which left Katherine alone at the bar.

With a sneaky grin, Kimberly pointed at Katherine and said, "Why don't you two go talk to her? Seems like she's all alone…"

Bulk and Skull turned and stared at Katherine with wide eyes. The two quickly said their goodbyes to Kimberly and ran off to harass Katherine.

Kimberly let a small smirk form on her face but it was quickly wiped away when she saw Zack shaking his head in shame beside her.

"How cruel of you to sic Bulk and Skull on Katherine. I know you don't like her but that's just plain unnecessary. For all of them," Zack told her, a hint of amusement and disappointment in his voice.

Kimberly turned to face the frowning teen with a look of guilt already formed on her face. "I know, I feel terrible…" Kimberly replied as she lowered her head in shame.

Zack placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Then why did you do it?" Kimberly watched as Katherine laughed genuinely at one of Bulk's lame attempts at a pick-up line and frowned to herself.

"I…I just…" Kimberly honestly tried to put her feelings into words but she couldn't. How could she tell Zack that she was jealous of Katherine spending so much time with her Billy?

Yeah, she hung out with Trini, Jason, and Zack himself and she didn't feel threatened by Katherine taking her place at all but the minute Billy comes near her, this possessive feeling begins to run in her veins.

Kimberly then sighed and turned to Zack and asked, "Have you ever had someone that you cared for, and then out of nowhere they start ignoring you or worse?"

Zack chuckled and motioned to the gym mat where Trini and Jason were sparring and replied, "It feels like your heart is being ripped out of your chest. And no matter how much time passes, those feelings never truly die…No matter how much the person you shared them with wishes they never happened."

Realization appeared in Kimberly's eyes at his words.

It couldn't be her…

"From the look on your face, you realize who I was talking about," Zack stated with a sad grin on his face as he watched Trini flip Jason over her shoulder.

Kimberly saw the grin on Zack's face and couldn't stop herself from opening her mouth. "Do you love her?" Kimberly asked.

Zack shut his eyes and let out a small, bitter laugh but he didn't answer her question at all, which concerned her.

Zack couldn't be in love with Trini…Could he?

She had nearly killed him during that whole "Mistaken Identity" saga which was still being felt at this moment in time.

Zack turned his head away from Trini finishing off Jason with another throw and said, "You should ask yourself the same question. Are you in love with Billy?"

Kimberly instantly shook her head.

"Of course not. Billy is my best friend in the entire world. Besides, he and I agreed that we wouldn't risk our friendship like that," Kimberly strongly replied, clearly convinced in her words.

"And yet you're jealous of Katherine taking his attention," Zack responded skeptically. "Look, you can't act like a baby because Billy is showing interest in someone other than you, Hart. Let him experience life. I'm sure he didn't act like this when you were talking about that guy Timmy or whoever it was."

Kimberly glowered at her friend's words but he was right. When she went on about the handsome guy she had met during her visit to TwilightValley. She went on and on about the guy but Billy never got jealous.

All he did was encourage her to reach out to the mysterious teen she had met but she never did reach him.

"His name was Tommy, Zack," Kimberly responded with a small pout.

"So not the point," Zack stated with a roll of his eyes. "Kim, I know that it is painful to see your best friend give all of his attention to his new friend and it's even worse because she is returning that attention tenfold but Billy isn't like some people who would drop you like a bad habit. He loves you and he will always remember who was there for him during all of the good and bad times and you know that when you need him, he'll come running. Just like he has before. So stop thinking that Katherine is going to replace you because it's not happening."

How could Kimberly argue against that?

Billy had seen her at her highest of highs and the lowest of lows and not once has he ever told her that he couldn't deal with her anymore as some of her exes had done.

"You're right…" Kimberly said slowly, a small smile forming on her face. "It's just, Trini's comment getting into my head. I haven't been able to shake it. I shouldn't be so jealous. Billy has never let me down before when I needed him. He even proved that when he was in a quasi-relationship with Matt. Why would he start now when Katherine is here?"

Zack smiled proudly and once again patted her shoulder.

"Our little Pink is growing up…I'm so proud." Zack sniffled, much to the amusement of the pink warrior beside him.

"Oh hush," Kimberly responded as she elbowed her friend in the stomach. She watched as Billy and Katherine resumed their conversation, while Bulk and Skull respectfully walked away to leave them be, and frowned. She would need to get over her feelings so Billy could be happy.

But doing that was easier said than done.

But just as she saw Zack was going to leave her side, she gently grabbed his arm, which caused him to stop completely. "Zack…" Kimberly murmured, her brown eyes gazing at his face.

"You never answered my question. Are you in love with Trini?"Kimberly softly asked, unable to keep her eyes off of his face, which instantly changed into a forlorn look.

"Even if I could tell you, Kimberly. It won't change what happened…Trini wants nothing to do with me and I have to accept that…." And with that, Zack walked away from her, his hands buried in his pockets.

Kimberly lowered her hand and watched him walk off with a sad expression on her face while she whispered, "Zack…" But Kimberly's attention was quickly drawn to the sound of Billy's adorable/dorky laugh along with Katherine's giggle.

Kimberly glanced at the two smitten teens and tried to tell herself not to worry but she couldn't stop her fists from curling up into a fist.

But if Kimberly had been paying attention, Kimberly would have noticed a nondescript teenager hiding behind a pillar with a cruel grin on his face, his eyes flashing a bright yellow.


[Location: Rita's Palace
POV: General]

"So...It seems jealousy is the driving force for discord between the rangers," Knasty Knight noted angrily with his arms crossed.

Swan Song had alluded to it a couple of days ago but now he was seeing what his fellow monster was speaking.

"Perfect? Is it not, Knight?" Swan Song stated as he strolled behind his rival, clearly pleased by his recon mission on the rangers.

"It's pathetic but I do see the potential in your plan," Knasty Knight responded as he twisted his body around to fully face the annoyance known as Swan Song.

"The mass potential," Swan Song corrected while poking the monster on the tip of his nose, causing Knasty Knight to swat his hand away.

"You tried this before with the Yellow and…Him…" Knasty Knight said, not even bothering to say the color of the ranger who had escaped his wrath. "This psychological warfare. How do you know it will work this time?"

Swan Song laughed cockily.

"The heart of these humans overpowers their intellect. If we can make them act on their emotions instead of their minds, they screw up and we can rid ourselves of them for good," Swan Song told the taller monster.

Swan Song then moved close, placed a hand on the Knight's chest, and whispered, "And we both know how much you want them dead. Especially the Black Ranger…"

Knasty Knight hissed as he moved away from the master manipulator and walked to the balcony to look at the planet Earth.

The damn monster was right.

Ever since his battle with Zordon's new Black Ranger, the knight had been itching to battle the ranger again and now that he was fully healed, he was truly ready to slay his opponent once and for all.

But he did not want Swan Song to manipulate him into doing it. He wanted to be able to fight and kill the ranger on his own.

Swan Song walked behind him, placed both hands on the knight's shoulders and seductively whispered, "Help me…Help me with my plan and I promise you that I can get the ranger you want, dead at the end of your blade."

"Fine…" Knasty Knight hissed out nastily, causing Swan Song to grin in glee.

"Good…Because I know the perfect monster that can help us," Swan Song swiftly answered as he moved away from the knight and shouted, "Finster! I need your monster book and hurry it up! I have an idea for a monster!"

Finster appeared by Swan Song's side in an instant, holding the monster book in his arms.

Swan Song took the book and flipped through it and saw a simple glowing rose and let a smile form on his face as he remembered the last time he had seen this rose.

The Death Rose had been fighting Zordon's Aura Pink Ranger and it was a fight filled with desperation but in the end, both the Pink Ranger and Death Rose had killed each other in one powerful strike.

And when that Pink Ranger died, it had caused a serious blow to that stupid sage's forces, especially since it was just ten hours after the Aura Black Ranger's death against the Knasty Knight.

"Ah…The Pink killer, the beautiful Death Rose …Arise for us!" Swan Song shouted out as he tapped the page with grabbed a piece of the ruby that came from Rita's scepter, causing the image to glow brightly.

The image floated out of the page and a few feet away from the three monsters then with a flash, a monster familiar to the three was seen kneeling on the ground.

The monster had a female humanoid white face with pink make-up on its eyelids, pale red eyes, pink lipstick on its lips, and blond hair that looked as if the wind was blowing it to the side.

The monster's left leg was made with thorns which were also on the right side of her stomach while the right leg was a turquoise color with sparkles on it as well as on the left side of her stomach.

And finally, a large blooming rose took up the top half of her body, leaving her head right in the middle of the blooming red rose body.

Death Rose looked up and saw Swan Song, Knasty Knight, and Finster and blinked in confusion. "Ah, my beautiful Rose, it has been far too long," Swan Song said as he leaned down and caressed her cheek, causing the monster's face to wake up.

Death Rose shook her head and said, "It has my magnificent Song."

Knasty Knight groaned and turned his back on the two, deciding to stare at the Earth once again.

"So, what do you need of me, my Song?" Death Rose whispered with a bowed head, making the monster before her smirk.

"Simple…We have a mission for you…" Swan Song replied while pulling her up to her feet. "You see, Lady Rita has awakened after thousands of years to take over Earth. The downside is that Zordon has returned with brand new rangers…"

"Such an old fool!" Death Rose growled. "Didn't he learn after we bested his rangers before?"

"He did because they are giving us tons of trouble. But here is the good part, they are fragile humans…" Swan Song said as his eyes shined brightly. "Humans who need a rose to sway their beautifully weak emotions."

Death Rose let a cruel smirk form on her face as she caught exactly what Swan Song was hinting at. "Just tell me who and I work my magic," Death Rose told him.

Swan Song pulled out a picture and showed it to Death Rose and said, "Let's just say…These two rangers will be very easy targets…"

And on the picture was Kimberly with her hand gripping Zack's arm.


[Location: Ernie's Juice Bar
POV: Katherine Hillard]

Katherine Hillard was very pleased with herself.

It had been three days since she had come to Angel Grove and she already met a lot of awesome people.

The first was Zack Taylor.

She had met him at the airport when he was dropping off a family member and he did everything he could to make her feel comfortable in a new country and he did it very well.

It also helped that he was a very charming person and she knew that he was going to be her best friend.

And it helped that he knew the object of her obsession, William "Billy" Cranston. The minute she had laid eyes on him, she was even more smitten with him than she was before.

At the beginning of their friendship, Billy was her school project and it was a project she didn't take seriously at all. She just wanted to complete her task and move on so she could focus on her swim meet.

But somehow, she found herself waiting for his letters by the mailbox, and soon, she found herself thinking about the smart teen more and more, especially after his sweet actions after her cat passed away.

And now after being able to see him, see his blue eyes light up in excitement as he told her about his creations or the large smile he would get when he finished up a story about his friends, she found her obsession intensifying.

But she could feel someone staring at her the entire time she spoke to the teen genius before her. She knew it couldn't have been those two goofballs that came when Billy stepped away. They had left when Billy came back but still, she felt these eyes.

It wasn't until she spotted Zack leaving with Kimberly chasing after him that she realized who was causing that feeling.

It was Kimberly.

Katherine didn't want to think it was due to her and Billy but at the same time, it would make perfect sense. Billy was Kimberly's best friend and vice versa and with her taking all of his attention, she was feeling jealous.

Katherine didn't understand why.

Billy was talking about his friendship with Kimberly to her at this very moment and she found this cute.

Even in his letters, she could tell how much Billy loved all of his friends and cherished all that he does with them, and even now, as he talked away about a prank he and Zack had done on Kimberly when they were younger, she could see that.

If Kimberly was jealous because she was taking her spot or whatever, she had nothing to worry about. She was not here to take Kimberly's place as his best friend at all.

What she wanted was to get to know her obsession and his friends and maybe…If things continued to grow between her and the blue-eyed genius…She could see herself truly falling deeper for him.

But before that, she needed to clear the air between them.

"Hey, Billy…I'm going to freshen up, ok?" Katherine asked.

Billy nodded with a bright smile on his face. Katherine felt her cheeks heat up as she thanked him then she jogged away and headed after Kimberly.


[Location: Angel Grove National Park
POV: General]

"Zack!" Kimberly called out as she finally spotted her teammate sitting on a bench in front of the park, a sullen look on his face.

She had been looking for Zack for twenty minutes since his sudden departure from the Juice Bar but she had finally found him.

Kimberly saw Zack's shoulders slump a bit as she sat down beside him and said, "You move really fast when you want to,"

"I was always the fastest out of all of us…" Zack murmured. "I know why you followed me and I know what you're going to say and I honestly don't want to hear it… It is what it is and nothing is going to change that."

Kimberly pursed her lips together, narrowed her eyes briefly, and responded, "I know but I don't want to see you hurt Zack-man."

She watched as Zack shook his head, shrugged, then said, "Don't sweat it. I've held back my feelings on this matter for a long time now. No sense in bringing it to the surface. I don't want to hurt her or any of you more than I already have."

Kimberly opened her mouth to respond to this but an unknown voice stated, "Now my darling, I believe that is exactly what we must do!"

Zack and Kimberly glanced at each other and turned around on the bench to see Death Rose with a band of Putties swarming around her.

"Tch, I knew it had been too quiet around here lately," Zack scowled as he leaped over the bench and onto his feet, his eyes narrowed with anger.

Kimberly walked around the bench with her arms crossed and added "Well that was something we should have expected. They usually come when our guard is down."

Death Rose chuckled then cracked her whip down on the cement beneath her hard, making a spider web crack from below it. "Don't sound too happy to see me, my darlings. I just came to get you both to fight by my side against your friends," Death Rose told them.

"No way in hell!" The two screamed out, enraged at the mere suggestion of betraying them.

"Now now….You'll both warm up to the idea once I defeat you. Putties, attack!" Death Rose yelled with a point to the two rangers. The Putties quickly swarmed Kimberly and Zack.

The two rangers glanced at each other and quickly charged to attack the putties head-on. Zack was the first one to meet the foot soldiers and the first one that tried to attack was met with a knee to its face, sending it flying into the putties behind it.

Zack landed on his feet and caught the arm of a putty that was attacking from his left, kneed it in the stomach before spinning around and throwing it into the two putties to the left of him, sending them all to the ground.

Zack then caught the fists of two putties that were aimed at his chest and kicked the putty on the right of him down to the ground. Zack then let go of the right putty's fist only to grab the body of the left putty, lift it into the air, and slam it on top of the right putty, taking them both out of the action.

But as Zack turned around to fight the next two putties, he was suddenly struck hard by the clay-made sword of the putty to his right, causing him to growl in pain.

The sword strike had gone fairly deep but he wouldn't go down due to this. Zack ducked the next two swings of the putty's blade, grabbed the wrist of the putty, and kicked it back hard enough to rip off its arm and for it to bend the light post behind it upon impact.

Zack fell to one knee as his side began to bleed.

Kimberly used her agility to dodge the strikes from the putties in front of her. She jumped over the head of the putty in front of her, grabbed its head as she went over it, and when she landed on the ground, she used all of her force to launch the putty at the three racing towards her.

Once those four putties were down, Kimberly quickly flipped to the side to avoid the clay blade of the putty and then kicked it away from her. She swayed back to avoid the swing of a putt's clay blade, which caught her on the cheek.

Blood slid down her left cheek as she nailed the putty in the side of the face with a high kick.

She then cartwheeled in between two putties, hopped into the air, wrapped her arms around the necks of the two putties behind her, and the pulled them to the ground hard. Kimberly walked backward and quickly ducked to avoid two putties that were sent flying over her due to Zack's kick to their faces.

Kimberly rolled to Zack's side and felt her back press against his as ten more putties swarmed around them. "Great…more of them," Kimberly noted with a wry smirk on her face, eyeing the swarming foot soldiers of Rita's.

"Well we aren't doing so badly," Zack panted out. "I hope you aren't getting tired."

Kimberly laughed softly at this and noticed that Zack was holding his bleeding side and asked "Will you be ok?"

Zack opened his mouth to respond but the sudden shriek of, "What in the hell are those things?!" caused the two to blink in surprise.

The two of them quickly turned their heads to see the stunned look on Katherine's face as she took a step back in terror.

"Katherine! What the hell are you doing here?" Kimberly asked in a panicky tone.

"I came to talk to you but I was unaware of this going on! What the hell is going on?!" Katherine exclaimed.

Zack growled at this question and shouted, "Does it matter?! You need to get out of here before you get hurt!"

"Oh look," Death Rose said with a coy smirk on her face. "Another rat has entered the fray…Putties…Attack her as well!"

"Shit Katherine! Go!" Zack exclaimed to the purple-wearing teen, who quickly turned around to run away but a band of putties appeared before her, swarming around along with their strange, otherworldly garbles.

Katherine took a step back in fear as the putties continued to advance toward her. Zack and Kimberly tried to get to her but putties got in their way as well and began to attack the two.

Zack kneed the putty on the right before moving his leg to kick the putty on the left but was quickly struck in the chest but the putty that appeared before him. Zack fell to the ground and flipped back up to his feet but was struck in the jaw, sending him falling to the ground spinning.

Zack tripped up the five putties that had come around him, got up on his knees, and rolled away to avoid the clay swords of the foot soldiers.

Meanwhile, Kimberly hopped over a few putties and landed on the ground, but two putties grabbed her ankles the moment she landed and then pulled hard, which made her fall to the ground face-first.

Kimberly turned around with a sneer, shook her right foot free, slammed her foot on both of the putties' faces, then rolled to her feet to try to get to Katherine.

But as Kimberly tried to make her way to Katherine, three putties were sent flying past her, causing the teen to slide to a stop in surprise.

Kimberly watched in amazement as Katherine's body swayed from side to side to avoid the strikes of the five putties before the Australian lashed out with her left fist and hit the torso of the putty in front of her then followed up with a headbutt, sending it to the ground.

Katherine swayed to her left to avoid the punch of putty and followed up with two swift jabs to the face, pulled it into a clinch, then kicked it back into three more putties.

Katherine then leaned back to avoid the wide kick that was aimed at her head only to grab the leg and pull the putty close to her to punch it in the face, sending it crashing to the ground.

Katherine dashed beneath the sloppy right hook of the fourth putty in her way and slammed her right fist square in the middle of its face, knocking it into the fifth putty behind it, sending them both to the ground.

Katherine slid next to the stunned Kimberly and said, "I know you guys told me to run but I doubt I could do that to you guys."

"Y-You know how to fight?" Kimberly asked.

"Yes. My parents wanted me to learn how to fight to defend myself against major threats…Seems like this is a major threat," Katherine responded just before Zack rolled over to the two of them, sweating and bleeding up a storm.

"Well that's good because we are going to need all the help we can get at this rate," Zack groaned out as he forced himself to stand on his two feet before he charged forward and kicked one putty in the chest, which made it stumble back to the charging putties.

Zack jumped and dropkicked two more that had jumped over the first putty but due to the damage he had taken from earlier, this proved to hurt him more than his attack had done the two putties.

Zack was pulled to his feet by both Kimberly and Katherine as Kimberly said, "You need to be careful. You aren't in any condition to fight."

Zack nodded as he shrugged out of their grasp and staggered backward before leaping forward to punch two putties in their chests then head-butted, which sent it to the ground. Zack then jumped and kneed the third putty in the chin, which made it collide with the band of putties behind it.

But before anything else could be done, Zack was suddenly taken off of his feet by three putties and was thrown backward against the bench, which caused his back to bend around the top of the wooden bench before he slammed to the ground.

Meanwhile, Katherine ran forward and leaped into the air to deliver a solid knee strike to a putty's face then when she landed, she punched two more that were behind that one but was then punched in the stomach by a fourth putty. Katherine flew back against the bench Zack had been launched into seconds before and held her stomach.

Kimberly slapped two putties in the face then pushed them back then bowed to avoid two putties that had come running behind her to punch in the head then walked backward and pushed them to the ground.

"Zack! Katherine!" Kimberly yelled in concern before she ducked two strikes from two putties and kicked them both. Kimberly then caught the third putty's right leg and shouted, "I'm coming!"

Kimberly hopped over the outstretched leg and slammed her right ankle against the putty's head, making it soar to the side.

Kimberly flipped back to her feet and started to backflip her way to Zack and Katherine and once she did, she knelt by Zack's side and panted out, "Are you alright."

Zack groaned, "Can anyone get the name of that truck?"

Kimberly gave him a weary smile and then looked ahead to see Death Rose and her putties advancing towards them slowly.

"This isn't good…" Kimberly whispered.

"This isn't good at all…" Katherine followed up nervously.

They needed help and they needed it fast.

Without warning, Three beams of energy shot out and collided against Death Rose and the putties, causing them all to fall to the ground in pain.

Kimberly's eyes looked up to see Blue, Yellow, and Red flip over the bench and land right before them.

"Oh my god," Kimberly heard Katherine whisper in shock as three of the five rangers stood before them but Kimberly couldn't help herself but let out a laugh of relief.

Meanwhile, Katherine was in a state of awe.

In front of her were three of the five Power Rangers, and to make things better, they had saved her, Kimberly, and Zack before they were killed by these horrible monsters.

She knew that the reason she moved out to Angel Grove was that her parents were looking to replicate the technology that the famed Power Rangers had at their disposal and she knew that monsters would happen.

But never, in her wildest dreams, would she think she would be near the Power Rangers themselves.

The only downside to this was that she was near these ugly, putrid monsters herself. 'Mum and Dad would die to be in my place,' Katherine thought with narrowed eyes as she was taken out of her revere by the gasp of pain that left Zack.

Zack!

How could she forget her friend, who was hurt by these hideous things?!

"Kimberly," Katherine hissed out to her pink-wearing ally.

Kimberly turned her head and asked, "What is it?"

Katherine looked down at Zack's form, causing Kimberly to follow her gaze before it landed on Zack and the pink-wearing girl's face went from smug to sad immediately. "We need to get him out of here," Katherine said as she held Zack's bleeding side.

"You're right…There must be something we can do," Kimberly muttered but Katherine could barely hear her over the battle between the three rangers and those disgusting monsters.

Katherine looked around, clearly looking for something as well until a flash of lavender caught her eye from the distance and when she focused on the lavender color, she smirked.

Sitting down the street was a lavender pickup truck, sitting innocently in the parking lot nearby.

"If we can make it to that truck, we should be able to get Zack to the hospital," Katherine said as she slung Zack's arm over her shoulder and began to lift him off the ground.

Kimberly looked up and saw the truck as well and asked "Is that your truck?" Katherine shook her head and had a look of concern on her face as a putty fell a few feet from them, felled by the mighty kick of the Yellow Ranger.

"Does that matter? Zack is bleeding out and these monsters could get to us. I'd rather steal a truck to keep him alive than stay here and die," Katherine stated with a small frown on her face.

She didn't want to steal the truck, she didn't even want to admit she knew how to hotwire a truck but Zack's life was on the line and there was little time to waste.

Kimberly quickly followed her lead and took Zack's arm and placed it over her shoulder and together the two ran as quickly as possible but that's when they heard the female monster's voice.

"Where do you think you two are going?!"

Katherine quickened her pace down the road with Kimberly following suit but the two instantly stopped when the Rose monster landed before them in a crouch.

The monster slowly turned around and said, "How cute, you are trying to escape but I won't let that happen!"

The monster unfurled a thorn whip from around her waist and sent it flying towards them. Katherine shut her eyes expecting the strike but when she felt nothing, she opened her eyes and saw the Blue Ranger standing in front of her, holding the end of the whip that would have struck them.

"What are you two waiting for?!" The ranger shouted at them while he looked back at them. "Get out of here!"

Katherine nodded to Kimberly and the two quickly ran to the truck but Katherine glanced back at the Blue ranger engaging in battle with the rose monster and thought, 'His voice sounds familiar….'

Once the two got close to the truck, Katherine quickly moved away from Zack to go to the driver's seat and swiftly broke the glass with her elbow before unlocking the doors and shouting, "Hurry up!"

Kimberly opened the door, lifted Zack into the car, and pushed him into the backseat, which was fairly difficult for her but she managed it.

Once she got him fully inside, she shut the door and made her way to the front seat but two putties came charging towards her.

Kimberly kicked the truck door hard to nail the first putty hard enough to knock it down before she shut the door of the truck, grabbed the head of the second putty, and rammed it through the window of the passenger door, shattering the window completely before she jerked the putty away for it to fall to the ground.

A few seconds later, the engine roared to life and Katherine shouted, "I got it on! Let's get out of here!" Kimberly nodded and got into the truck and Katherine quickly drove away, swerving hard to the left when a putty tried to lunge for the truck.

"I have to say, that is something I never expected to do today," Katherine said as she drove down the road with a frown on her face.

"You're telling me," Kimberly panted. She then narrowed her eyes at Katherine and asked, "You just hotwired a truck…Where did you learn that?"

Katherine narrowed her eyes as she defensively answered, "My parents taught me when I was twelve so if I ever got into a dangerous situation, I could hotwire a vehicle to get away."

"Seem your parents taught you a lot of things," Kimberly noted softly.

Katherine hummed briefly before she replied "I suppose but knowing these skills allowed me to assist and to help our getaway. Now, where is the hospital?"


[Location: Angel Grove National Park
POV: General]

"Rose whip!" The monster yelled out, summoning her weapon into her hand, and with a snap, she whipped the whip forward and caught Blue with a strike to the chest, which made him fly back onto the ground.

Then with a twirl, Death Rose not only managed to hit Yellow and Red but she managed to destroy all of the putties that were around her, causing them to disperse.

The three rangers popped up to their feet and then charged forward, but Death Rose's whip lashed out and struck Yellow in the chest, Blue on the left side of his chest, and Red in his helmet, which caused the trio to fly back onto the ground.

"This is no challenge. Ho, Ho, ho ho!" The monster laughed, the back of her hand going inches away from her mouth as she did so.

"I'm getting so damn sick of this thing," Yellow murmured in anger as she slammed her fist against the ground and rose to her feet to pull out her blade blaster and began to fire it.

Death Rose merely let out a laugh and began to spin her whip in front of her, deflecting the blasts from striking her before sending the whip towards her.

Yellow swiftly rolled out of the way of the tip of the whip and jumped in the air, switching her blaster to its blade mode and striking the monster in the chest, causing it to stumble backward.

But this monster was a crafty one. Death Rose pulled back the whip quickly, causing it to strike Yellow's back, forcing her to fly towards her outstretched hand and catch the Ranger by her neck.

"You're outmatched, Yellow Ranger. I cannot be defeated by the likes of you." The monster whispered coyly before throwing Yellow backward into the air.

But as Death Rose reared her whip back to strike the airborne ranger, Blue stormed towards the monster, slammed his shoulder against her stomach, and slowly picked her up off the ground and slammed the monster on her back.

Meanwhile, Red jumped into the air, caught the airborne Yellow, and landed on the ground in a crouch.

"You alright?" Red asked in concern as held Yellow in his arms.

Yellow nodded as Red sat her down on the ground gently but when she stumbled, he quickly grabbed her forearm and said, "No need to be tough. Hang back if you're hurt."

Yellow glanced at her leader with a frown. "I'll be fine…." Yellow responded as she turned away from his gaze to watch as Blue slammed the monster on its back with a German suplex.

"Let's just beat this thing before I go insane," Yellow murmured before noticing that Blue was holding the rose monster in the air as if preparing to slam her again.

"And I think we finally have an opening," Yellow said, a smirk being heard in her voice before she began to run, with Red following behind her.

"Put me down, you foolish Ranger!" The monster screeched but without warning, the bottom of Red's and Yellow's boots came dangerously close to her face sending her out of Blue's arms and sailing into a bus stop sign, causing it to bend from the monster's body.

But as the monster got up on her feet, Yellow and Red quickly jumped on Blue's shoulders and slammed their fists into the monster's face, making it slam back into the bent metal behind her but then they quickly grabbed both monster's arms and bent it backward.

Blue summoned his Power Lance, charged forward to the trapped monster and began to ruthlessly strike its chest and head with his weapons, causing sparks to fly from its wounds.

After striking the monster twice with his weapon, Blue twisted his body and aimed his trident-shaped blades at the monster's head, but Death Rose forced her arms free from the other two ranger's grasp and caught the lance when it was just inches away from her face.

"What a naughty ranger," Death Rose said with a laugh before she gave the lance a hard tug which caused Blue to stumble forward right into a hard kick to his chest, making him soar backward on the ground.

With a laugh, the monster used Blue's lance to strike Red and Yellow in the chest before breaking it in half and throwing it at the two rangers, causing sparks to fly from their chests as well as sending them to the ground.

The monster merely laughed while the rangers forced themselves onto their feet but she leaped in the air and opened her arms. "Blossom Storm!" The monster exclaimed.

The rangers watched as rose petals gently floated out from the monster's body and gently floated down in all directions at a slow pace.

Suddenly, the gentle petals landed on not only the ground but on many objects, including their bodies, and exploded on impact, causing a huge shower of sparks to shoot out of their suits with every explosion that took place which was accompanied by their screams of pain from the attacks.

Death rose floated to the ground and watched as the three rangers fell to the ground as lighting from their bodies started to glow their respective color before exploding in three brightly colored flashes, revealing their battered original forms, and slowly, the three fell to the cement below.


[Location: The Command Center
POV: Zordon]

Zordon and Alpha watched in horror as the rangers lay defeated on the ground, unable to form a single word as he watched Death Rose approach the rangers as she cackled.

It was happening again.

He was going to lose his team once again.

He had already lost so many rangers, from his team, his son's team, and Grace's team. He couldn't let this happen again!

"Transport the rangers here now!" Zordon commanded with a hint of desperation in his voice.

Alpha nodded, shuffled to a group of buttons, and began to type as fast as possible. "Please be ok rangers," Alpha whispered before he pressed the final button.


[Location: Angel Grove National Park
POV: Death Rose]

"Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho!" The monster laughed again, her right hand lifted so her fingers were covering her lips. "Lady Rita told me that you Rangers were a challenge. Such pity that things had to end this way."

Just as Death Rose was going to strike the unconscious rangers with her whip, their bodies dematerialized into particles of energy, which left Death Rose alone in the park.

"Well…How rude for them to leave before I was able to kill them," Death Rose lamented. She then felt a certain pressure in the air and smiled. "Knasty Knight…I didn't expect you to be here watching my show."

Behind her, Knasty Knight walked into view from behind a tree, his eyes glowing in the shadows. "I wasn't expecting you to allow both groups to get away," Knasty Knight countered as he stared at her with annoyance.

"Well I wasn't able to stop our targets from leaving but I did damage the rangers enough and besides…" Death Rose then let a smirk appear on her face as she held up a metallic rose petal, which showed the image of the purple pickup truck driving on the road.

"I will know exactly where they are going…"


[Location: Streets of Angel Grove
POV: Kimberly Ann Hart]

"So this is a thing!" Katherine exclaimed as her stolen vehicle slammed into the side of the main ride the Putties were within.

"Yeah, I wonder why they are on us like this!" Kimberly shouted in return as she looked around the car for something to throw.

She knew she could also morph but Katherine was in the car and there was no way she was willing to spill her secret, and by association, the identities of their friends.

Sure they had Adonis and his girl knew the truth but that was due to him finding out Billy's identity and she didn't want the whole damn world to know!

But as the car took a hard hit from the tank-like vehicle, which nearly caused the car they were in to slam into another car that was parked on the side, Kimberly knew she had to do something.

But what?

"Hey, Kimberly! If you have any good ideas, now would be the time to share them!" Katherine yelled as the car took another hit from the large tank, which caused the car to swerve sharply to the right, which caused their right tires to drive on the sidewalk.

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" Kimberly shouted in annoyance as well as panic as her mind raced to find the perfect location.

"Well think faster because sooner or later, we're going to crash or end up in a wreck!" Katherine ordered but as the car blew passed the traffic lights, the sounds of police sirens were heard behind them.

"Oh, now they come! Maybe they could do something about these bloody things chasing us," Katherine said as she took a sharp left turn.

Kimberly glanced behind her and saw the putty tank slam into the police car, sending the car sailing through the air and into a beauty shop and let out a woeful moan and lamented, "I had an appointment there...Guess that's canceled."

Katherine turned to Kimberly with a look and then stated, "Really? That's all you can say to that? We're being chased by these freaks who just rammed a police officer into a shop that could have injured and/or killed people and that's what you say?"

"I need to have some levity in this situation. Panicking isn't going to help us," Kimberly retorted, her body hitting the passenger door as the putty tank slammed into the car from the right once again, causing the car to veer onto the sidewalk.

"Shit! That was close!" Katherine shouted as she quickly got back on the road and slammed the car back at the tank before she added, "In that case, I had an appointment there at 4 pm tomorrow for a French curl. I doubt I'll be able to go there now."

"It is, they can do a French curl like no one's business as long as you get Kana. Anyone else would suck," Kimberly responded as Katherine hit the car breaks hard when she got between the tanks, causing the two to speed past her and the moment they did, she quickly did a U-turn and drove off as quickly as possible.

"What are you doing?" Kimberly asked in concern.

"Simple, we need to get rid of this car and get to mine," Katherine said with a frown on her face. "I mean don't you find it weird that they knew what car we were in despite the rangers distracting them?"

"Yeah, I found it strange as well," Kimberly replied with a frown of her own. "We could have been tracked."

But if that was the case, then that meant that they were completely serious about obtaining her and Zack but why them of all people?

I mean, she would never want them to come after her friends but out of everyone on the team, them wanting her and Zack confused her greatly.

"But I wonder why they would want the two of you," Katherine said with a thoughtful tone in her voice. "I mean…You guys are just normal people, it's not like you guys are the Power Rangers or know the Power Rangers...Right?"

Beads of sweat formed on Kimberly's face when Katherine asked that question.

Of course, Kimberly couldn't answer this.

She and her friends being rangers needed to remain a secret and the fact that Katherine was achingly close terrified her.

"I don't know, maybe they need humans as hostages or something?" Kimberly responded with an unsure tone but she saw the skeptical look on Katherine's face.

Just as the blonde was going to open her mouth to reply, the vehicle was once again slammed by the putty tank.

But unlike the other times when Katherine was able to keep her truck steady, Katherine was unable to control the vehicle and before the two knew it, they found themselves slamming through the walls of the Angel Grove mall.

Once they crashed through the mall doors, the car sailed into the large water fountain, the front of the car crashing into the marble statue of the Angel Grove mascot, Angie the Falcon before slamming into the water below sharply.

The passenger door to the car was kicked open and Kimberly came stumbling out and slammed into the water while the driver's door was opened slowly and Katherine fell into the water as well.

Kimberly could hear the panicked screams of the people along with the enraged garbles of the putties despite her head being under the water and hearing this was enough to give her the strength to get out of the water to stop them from hurting anyone.

"This day bites it," Kimberly groaned out as she stood up from the water and wiped her wet hair from her eyes. Once her vision was clear, she could see the putties advancing toward their location.

"They're coming," Katherine whispered.

"That's what she said," Kimberly murmured, which caused Katherine to snort and then frown.

"Sorry, levity," Kimberly apologized.

Just then, the two girls heard police sirens come from outside as well as the sounds of multiple doors being slammed, which prompted them to look up to see a row of police standing at the entryway with their guns drawn.

"Get out of here now!" A police officer shouted to Katherine and Kimberly.

Katherine nodded and pulled out the unconscious Zack from the backseat and wrapped his left arm around her shoulder.

"Come on Kimberly," Katherine shouted but Kimberly was more hesitant to leave. As a ranger, she was supposed to be the one protecting them from these monsters but at the same time…She was running on zero energy after all the hell she was put through.

But she would not allow the police to do this alone…

"Right…Come on Katherine!" Kimberly shouted as she sloshed through the water before taking off at high speed with Katherine running as best as she could behind her, considering the weight of Zack.

But as the two started to run down the hall, the sounds of gunfire and the sounds of alarmed men reached Kimberly's ears, which caused her to slow down to a stop.

"I can't run away…I can't let them get hurt…" Kimberly announced.

It was her duty as a Power Ranger to protect the civilians and running from those troublesome putties, as weak as they were, was not what she wanted to do.

It could lead to them dying.

She didn't want to out herself as a ranger to Katherine but at this point, there were lives at stake and if she had morphed in the first place, people wouldn't have gotten hurt.

"Kimberly, we need to keep moving as quickly as possible. I want to go back and help them too but if we do, we could get hit in the crossfire," Katherine stated with a frown on her face.

"No…Not both of us…" Kimberly said as she reached into her back pocket and grabbed her Morpher but didn't pull it out yet. "Just get out of here and get Zack to safety. I'm the one they want anyway. Not you," Kimberly added with a frown on her face.

Katherine stared at Kimberly then eyed the teen she was holding onto and lowered her head. "No…There is no way I'm leaving you alone to go back. We'll go together…I know it's a risk with Zack like this but I can't leave you!"

Kimberly was stunned by this and even a little touched but she shook her head. Her suit is strong enough to withstand a lot of damage while she was…not and to be honest, she was surprised that Katherine had stayed with her during all of this.

Hell, she was even surprised that Katherine had saved her ass along with Zack's and that was something she wasn't expecting at all.

And Kimberly herself wasn't too kind to her at all during this entire thing so for Katherine to not turn her back on her when she could have made Kimberly feel guilty about her attitude towards her.

No wonder Billy liked her.

But despite this, Kimberly couldn't let Katherine get involved any further.

Kimberly turned her head to where the cops were and said, "You know Katherine…I was wrong about you. I thought you were coming to take my place or something equally bad…But I was wrong…Despite the attitude towards you, you helped me and Zack when you didn't have to and then got tangled in our mess…And I'm sorry for that."

Kimberly saw that Katherine was stunned by her admission but just before she could respond, Kimberly quickly said, "I just wanted to say that before we got going."

Katherine nodded and said, "You know…Whenever someone admits something like that, it's practically an omen for something bad."

"I know," Kimberly replied as she walked towards Katherine and said, "And you'd be right," before she slammed her right fist into Katherine's jaw hard, sending the wet teenager down to the ground. unconscious, along with Zack's body.

"I'm sorry, but I can't have you follow," Kimberly stated before she took a breath and said to the unconscious body. "I just hope you don't think too badly of me for saving your life."

With those words, Kimberly revealed her Morpher out in the open and made sure there were no cameras around.

Once the coast was clear, she quickly placed her hands on her chest with the Morpher in her hands then with a thrust forward, she murmured, "It's Morphin Time: Pterodactyl."

With a quick flash of pink and white light, the Pink Ranger stood in Kimberly's spot. Pink glanced down at the downed Katherine one more time and whispered, "Stay safe," before she turned and ran towards the entrance of the mall.


[Location: The Command Center
POV: General]

"Well...That was humiliating," Trini said with a sigh as she leaned against the healing tank that Billy was currently occupying, his body floating in the strange aqua-colored liquid that was within the pod.

She couldn't shake the fact that the three strongest members of their team were taken down by a rose monster with a very annoying laugh.

And not only that, but the last she saw of Kimberly, Zack, and Katherine, Zack was lying in his pool of blood.

At one time, Trini would have wanted nothing more than to have him like that but...Something about him looking like that had struck her in the chest. She couldn't erase the image from her mind, nor keep the anger back.

"It could have been worse," Jason responded with a sigh of his own, his bare chest expanding from the sigh before he tensed up and held the left side of his bandaged stomach. "W-We could have gotten killed...Plus Zordon got us out at the right time."

"The right time?" Trini repeated with a frown on her face. "Jason, Billy is in a healing tube because of his injuries and we aren't doing so hot either. Not to mention, we are still missing Zack and Kimberly, and last we saw Zack, he was bleeding out!"

Jason could see a flash of fury and concern appear on Trini's face when she spoke of Zack bleeding out and narrowed his eyes.

'So you're worried about him now? Interesting,' Jason thought to himself before his eyes widened in realization. "Wait a minute...You, me, and Billy are here and hurt but not as bad as Zack, and yet he and Kimberly aren't here at all...And Zack was damn near death when we saw him last!"

Trini seemed to realize where Jason was going with this and said, "And yet here we are getting help and Zack is somewhere dying slowly...We need to get him here."

Jason and Trini quickly left the medical room and the moment that Zordon and Alpha became visible in the Command Center, Jason shouted "Zordon, we need to talk!"

Zordon's head swished to Jason and Trini with a frown on his face and asked, "Yes Jason?"

"You got me, Trini, and Billy here but Zack was far off worse than we are and those goons were after Kimberly, Zack, and Katherine so why weren't they transported here?" Jason asked as he and Trini made their way in front of Zordon's tube.

Zordon stared at the two teens and replied, "We have been trying to transport them here but something is interfering with the signal of their power coins."

"Ai-Ai-Aye, it is absolutely dreadful!" Alpha exclaimed, his arms waving up and down in a panic.

"What do you mean? They should be hiding," Jason stated with a frown on his face. Zordon looked to Alpha, who instantly turned on the viewing globe.

The moment Alpha did, Jason and Trini saw a purple vehicle driving erratically down the downtown streets as a group of Putties were behind them on in what looked like a large, steel grey tank which they used to slam into the car, causing it to swerve wildly.

"Are you kidding me?" Trini asked in disbelief, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Jason was in the same boat because his jaw had dropped but he quickly snapped his jaw shut and said, "We need to help them. At this rate, something bad will happen if we don't. You have to send us down there."

"I know Jason but I cannot risk that. The transporting signal is being blocked from their location. We can try to get you two close but I can't you'll be right there," Zordon stated with a frown on his face.

"Then that'll have to do," Jason said with a nod to Zordon before he turned to Trini and asked "Ready?"

"Yes…Let's go save them," Trini responded.

Jason nodded, placed his hands on his Morpher, and shouted, "Perfect. Back to action!"


[Location: Angel Grove Mall
POV: Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger]

Pink could see the police fleeing in terror as the putties, with obvious bullet holes in them came after them but she immediately pulled out her blade blaster and exclaimed, "You looking for me?!"

The putties swiftly turned around only for two of them to get nailed straight in the head by a blast to the head, which caused the other putties to charge her with enraged garbles.

"Come get some!" Pink shrieked as she fired the gun at a group of foot soldiers and managed to hit three of them but the remaining Putties began to run towards her.

But instead of running away from them, Pink ran straight towards them while firing her Blade Blaster, managing to strike four more in the chest before the last three leaped for her with their clay swords in hand.

Pink jumped over the first putty and rolled under the last two and when she got to her feet, she blocked the first putty's blade with her blaster and kicked it in the chest. Pink then turned around and shot another putty that was preparing itself to slash her back.

Pink turned around at the sound of footsteps and was struck in the chest by the first putty she had kicked, sending her stumbling backward to the third one who placed her in a full nelson.

Pink immediately hopped up and kicked the first putty in the chest while simultaneously making the putty holding her fall backward and letting her go. Pink rolled backward off of the foot soldier, took her blaster, and shot it in the head repeatedly until it stopped moving.

Hearing the final putty charging towards her, Pink lifted the dead putty's body and kicked it towards the still-standing foot soldier and when the two collided, Pink summoned her Power Bow and aimed it at the two.

With a smirk, she launched a pink energy arrow from the bow which went through the putties before fading away immediately, causing pink lightning to streak across them briefly before the two exploded into burnt clay.

"And that's that…" Pink muttered as she dismissed her power bow, lifted her left wrist to her mouth, pressed a hidden button, and asked, "Hey guys, can anyone hear me?"

There was a bit of static on the other end until Jason's voice came in with, "Pink! I'm so glad to hear your voice. Are you and Katherine ok?"

"I knocked Katherine out so I could morph and save the police…Who seemed to scatter immediately when I arrived…And before you ask, I didn't have a choice," Pink answered.

"I know, we saw," Jason responded with a sigh. "It couldn't be helped. We're on our way so sit ti—"

Just then, static completely overtook the line, which made Pink blink in surprise. "That's new…" Pink muttered to herself before she tried to transport herself to the command center but nothing happened.

What was going on?

It was then that Pink heard a low chuckle echoing around her.

"Having trouble getting in contact and leaving this place?" the deep male voice said before another low chuckle was heard.

'What the hell is this?' Pink thought to herself as she gripped her weapon tightly, looking from side to side.

The voice sounded amused as it said, "We jammed the signal from you and your pathetic master Zordon. Wasn't hard either…I would think after many years of war, he would have the brains to change the signal he uses…"

Pink was on high alert when she heard a weapon being unsheathed and without missing a beat, Pink leaped to the side as Knasty Knight slammed from above and behind her, his blade slamming into the marble floor hard enough to crack it upon impact.

Pink rolled on the ground, flipped up to her feet, turned around quickly, and ducked a wide swing from the knight as well as a low sweep of his blade before she was kicked square in the chest, which sent her smashing back first against the truck that was still within the fountain.

Pink fell onto one knee in the water below and panted as she watched Knasty Knight advance and narrowed her eyes at the monster.

"While I am primarily hunting down the Mastodon Ranger, you alone will do just fine for our plans, Pterodactyl Ranger," Knasty Knight stated with a dark laugh, which caused her to scowl and pull out her blade blaster.

Pink got back to her feet, charged toward her opponent while she changed her blaster to "Blade Mode," and went to stab the knight in the stomach but Knasty Knight smacked it away with his shield and went to strike her in the chest with his blade but Pink blocked the strike.

"How promising," Knasty Knight murmured as he disengaged from his brief clash with Pink but kicked her hard in the chest, making her crash back into the front of the truck which caused sparks to shoot out from the sides and back of her body.

Pink smacked the ground within the water and stood back up to see Knasty Knight right in front of her, his blade lunging towards her head. Not wanting to become a former pink ranger, Pink rolled to the side at the last second and stood up to slam the front side of her leg into his stomach then moved her leg back and lifted it swiftly to kick his head.

Knasty Knight blocked it with his shield and pushed it away before he grabbed her neck, choked slammed her against the truck, then tossed her away from him, causing her body to bounce off the marble floor before skidding to a stop.

Pink forced herself to stand up on her feet and quickly summoned her Power Bow and fired every arrow she could.

Knasty Knight used his shield and blocked every arrow that came his way, not gaining one scratch on him but he didn't expect her to come flying at him with her blade in her hand so he had no chance to block the three powerful strikes of her blade blaster, making him stagger back.

Knasty Knight laughed as he parried her attacks with his own and when he saw his chance, he placed his sword at her chest and slid it down sharply, causing sparks to fly off of her body but he wasn't done.

He began to tear into her with his sword ruthlessly, causing more sparks to fly from her body, and while she tried to put up a fight, she could not stop the quick swipes of his sword.

After one last hit to her torso, Pink fell onto one knee, changed her blade back into her blaster, and rolled forward to avoid his sword.

When the sword slammed into the ground, Pink got back on her feet, pivoted her body, and fired her blaster, managing to strike him three times in the chest with the lasers but he quickly countered this by taking his sword and tossing it straight at her.

Pink didn't have time to dodge the oncoming sword as it struck her in the chest, which sent Pink crashing against a brick wall. She then fell straight down on the roof of a toy black car, where she rolled down to the ground and demorphed into an unconscious Kimberly.


[Location: Streets of Angel Grove
POV: Katherine Hillard]

Katherine couldn't believe what had occurred…This entire day had been one bombshell after another.

First, she saved Zack and Kimberly from those freaky-looking things.

Second, she went through a huge law-breaking chase which caused countless accidents and thousands, possibly millions, of dollars in damages, and now….The big one.

Kimberly as the Pink Ranger.

Out of all of the people she would have guessed, Kimberly was one of the last people she had expected to be a ranger.

From what Billy described about her and from what she saw, Kimberly was the shopping goddess, head cheerleader, and a gymnast as well and even when they first met, she didn't look the part of a fighter and yet, Kimberly was the Pink Power Ranger. And if Kimberly was the Pink Ranger…Did that mean that her friends…were the Power Rangers?

That Billy himself is a Power Ranger?

It would explain why those things were attacking them.

The more she thought about it, the more she started to see a pattern. In the past few days that she has known them, they all wore the corresponding colors of the rangers themselves.

Red for Jason.

Black/Purple for Zack.

Blue for Billy.

Yellow for Trini.

And finally Pink for Kimberly.

But at the same time, she didn't want to assume anything of the others in case it wasn't true. All she knew right now was that Kimberly was the Pink Ranger and seeing her currently being beaten by this thing that looked like a twisted version of a medieval knight.

And Katherine couldn't stand it one bit.

Sure, Kimberly cold-cocked her but Katherine understood why she did. Kimberly was a Power Ranger and had to protect her identity and her sticking around was endangering not only herself but the police officers that were fighting those things.

And yeah, it hurt like hell but she understood why it had to be done and Katherine knew that if she had disobeyed Kimberly's request, she could have gotten hurt or killed dealing with this knight monster freak.

"You are very impressive…A lot more impressive than your predecessor. You will fit perfectly into our plans," Katherine heard the knight tell her unconscious friend as he approached.

Katherine had to do something!

She then noticed a dislodged brick on the ground. Without hesitation, she grabbed the brick and threw it at the Knight's head as she screamed, "You get away from her you fucking freak!"

The monster lowered the blade and turned his attention to her and for a moment, Katherine was afraid.

This monster's eyes were a bright gold and it seemed as if it was going right through her soul and she froze…But that lasted a mere second because her eyes glanced down at the unconscious Kimberly.

There was no way in the world she would be afraid now when her friend's life was in danger so instead of showing her fear, she glared icily at the monster before and asked, "Got a staring problem?"

"And so another has entered…" the monster stated with an amused tone. "But you are no ranger unlike her…"

"Tch, and that means something to me?" Katherine replied with narrowed eyes.

Knasty Knight laughed at this and retorted, "It should because now you have stepped into an affair that did not need you just yet…but since you have arrived…" Knasty Knight suddenly dashed towards Katherine with his blade glowing bright gold.

Katherine saw this hulking monster coming towards her and shut her eyes tight but then she felt someone push her out of the way before the sound of metal clashing together was heard.

When Katherine opened her eyes, she saw the Black Ranger standing before her with some sort of sword in his hand but the only difference was that his head wasn't covered and when she saw it was Zack, she was happily surprised.

So her theory was true.

"Zack…" Katherine breathed out in surprise.

"So my ranger has revealed himself just in the nick of time," The monster hissed out with both anger and amusement.

Zack gave a pained smirk as his helmet flashed around his head, completing the ranger suit as he said, "As heroes tend to do now do me solid…" Katherine watched as Zack pushed the blade away and struck the monster in the chest with his blade, sending the monster stumbling backward and that was when a large cannon appeared in the ranger's hand. "And never call your ranger again, Power Cannon, fire!" With those words, she watched the Black Ranger press the trigger and a large ball of energy shot out of the muzzle of the cannon and shot towards the monster.

She watched as the monster brought up his shield at the last second and the moment the orb met the shield, the knight was blown back from the impact, his shield shattering from the attack.

The knight slammed down hard against the marble floor a few feet away from Kimberly while she watched the ranger fall down on one knee while holding his side, the same side she remembered was bleeding badly during all of this.

Before she thought about it, she got up from her spot and ran towards him and kneeled at his side as she asked, "Zack, you ok?"

"Get Kimberly and get her out of here and no arguing…This is not your area of expertise," the ranger replied with a pained but humorous tone. She then watched him stand on his feet but as he did, the knight rose one knee with a low laugh.

"You should be more worried about your company than your partner!" The knight shouted before he lifted up his right hand and suddenly, the shards of the shield started to shine a bright golden light.

Katherine looked down at the ground as did the ranger and the little shards of the shield were at their feet.

Before Katherine knew it, she felt the strong grip of her friend grab her arm and throw her back as quickly as possible before a large explosion overcame him, the shockwave of the explosion sent her flying to the wall behind her where she slammed into it hard and fell to the ground just as hard.

Katherine could hear the muffled screams of agony from the ranger as well as the sounds of explosions and when she looked up, she could only see a blur of orange and red with black inside of it.

But then her vision cleared up and she realized that she was watching the body of the Black Ranger caught in multiple explosions, causing not only his now amplified screams of agony but also a myriad of sparks to fly from his body.

And when the explosions died down, Katherine watched in horror as the ranger fell to his knees and fell face-first to the ground, and with a bright flash, Zack's form had taken his place but he was unconscious.

Katherine got up on her feet but found herself falling to the ground in agony, her left ankle twisted or maybe even broken due to the way she had landed.

She watched helplessly as the knight got onto his feet, made his way to Kimberly, and hoisted her up on his shoulders before the monster then fell to one knee and began to gasp in pain.

She then saw something black spilling from his lips as well as the right side of his body and she realized that he was wounded as well.

She could see the golden eyes of the monster eyeing down Zack's form and that was when Katherine once again tried to rise to her feet and took two wobbly steps before she fell again to the ground.

'No…Not like this…' Katherine thought as she watched the knight once again get on his feet and take slow steps towards Zack until he was mere inches away and unable to stop him, Katherine watched as he kneeled down and grabbed Zack and held him under its arm.

"Put her down and get away from him!" Katherine yelled as she once again tried to claw her way to the knight but she could see the amusement in the golden eyes of the knight before he vanished in a flash of golden light.

Katherine slammed her fist against the ground and let out a scream of unrelenting anger before lowering her head towards the ground.

But if she had looked back up, she would have seen the forms of the Red and Yellow Rangers coming towards her as quickly as possible.