By Jeannine Trevizo

Tommy sighed as he stared at the screen and turned to look at his students and fellow rangers. They hadn't found anything, and it was getting late.

"Okay everyone, I know you all have other things to do, like homework, so I want everyone to head out and we'll address this more tomorrow after school," Tommy said seriously.

"But Dr. O..." Conner started to argue, and then yawned. The day had been long, and they'd been slammed about quite a bit.

"Can't we do something more?" Ethan asked.

"Not really," stated Hayley, turning from her spot at the computer. "Even I'm coming up empty right now."

"So everyone go home. I'll see you all in class tomorrow."

Nodding, the team headed out, clamoring into Conner's car. It was still early enough that they could all get some sleep and some schoolwork. Conner drove the now familiar route, stopping at Kira's first to drop the yellow ranger at home before heading off to the other side of town to let Ethan off before heading home himself.

"Do you think we should have left, really?" Kira asked as she leaned in the passenger window and stared at her teammates.

"Kira, there wasn't anything more we could do. You heard Dr. O and Hayley. They would know," Ethan stated simply.

"Besides, I don't know about you, but I have homework I have to finish, or I'm screwed," said Conner seriously.

"Oh no! I forgot. I have an English paper due tomorrow!" she nearly yelled as school took precedence over evil rangers.

"Better get to it then."

With that, Kira turned and headed inside as Conner and Ethan drove off. She quickly ran in, made her apologies for being late to her family as she grabbed an apple and a glass of water and headed for her bedroom to try and study. Once in her room, she pulled out her textbook and fired up her computer. She had done the reading; she just had to type out the paper.

She munched on the apple as she sat at her computer; trying to put together the English assignment Mr. Hanson had given the class. But she just couldn't get her head into it. Instead, all she could think about was the mysterious appearance of the evil white ranger, how the team had gotten their asses kicked and how it had seemed to really affect Dr. O.

They'd all ended up being without their powers temporarily because of the white ranger. She and Ethan had been all about stopping him however they could. But Dr. O had told them to be careful, had tried to stop them from charging in. Yet they hadn't listened and they' had *all* ended up getting beaten.

Now, they still had no idea who the white ranger was, no prospects of being able to stop the guy and she had this damn paper that just didn't want to get written.

Plus, there was Trent... The last time she'd seen him, he'd been acting strangely, and the fact that was seriously acting like his dad - really obsessed and cold worried her more than she could say. She shivered just thinking about it. She didn't know if Trent was really starting to become like his 'adoptive' dad, or if he was just trying too hard to be what Anton Mercer wanted him to be.

Kira sighed and turned back to the computer. Maybe if she took her mind of it all for a few minutes she could get back to the paper. She glanced at her open programs and opened her e-mail. There she noted that she had a new mail pop up, and she gave a little smile. Some diversion... Maybe it was one of the guys, feeling the need to talk, or one of her online friends.

As she closed the message box, she scanned her e-mail mailbox and was surprised to see Kimberly’s e-mail address. She and Kim had become friends during her visit to Dr. O weeks back, and when Ethan had gotten Kim’s e- mail address, she’d been corresponding with the former pink ranger every now and then, like when Principal Randall had been mackin’ on Dr. O... But Kira had always been the one to e-mail her older counterpart.

Kim e-mailing her without Kira contacting her first was uncommon, to say the least. And that worried her.

Clicking the message open, she quickly started to read.

[Kira,

I apologize for intruding like this, and I hope that the inroads we’ve made to be friends will allow me to sort of dump this on you. I spoke with Tommy earlier and he mentioned that there seems to be a new player in the game out there. One that should be on your side.

I don’t know if Tommy really ever came out and explained the circumstances of his being chosen all those years back, but I know that this situation is bothering him more than he’s letting on. I wish I could be there, and since I can’t I was hoping you could tell me what’s going on.

Look, I really could use someone there who can tell me the truth.

Could I call you?

Kim]

Kira sat there, almost amazed at the sentiment from Kim’s plea. Without a second thought, she quickly replied with her home phone number and sent off the message.

Besides, she could use someone to talk to as well.

----

Half an hour later, Kira was still nowhere near done with her paper and was just about to give up on the former pink ranger calling when the phone rang. She jumped up, tossing papers and books aside as she scrambled for the phone.

“Hello?” she said as she picked up the receiver.

“Kira, hey, it’s Kim. Sorry for calling so late, I appreciate you letting me call you.”

“Don’t be stupid, us power ranger women gotta stick together. So, what’s up with Dr. O? He’s all moody and angry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this, even with Mesogog nearly trying to kill him before he got the black dino gem.”

Kim’s sigh on the other end of the line made Kira more worried than she had been when she’d gotten Kim’s e-mail.

“Kim?” Kira questioned, her concern evident in her voice.

“I know the team learned about the history of the rangers from Tommy’s video journal when he’d been kidnapped by Mesogog,” Kim started, then refocused her thoughts and continued. “But did it really go over what happened to him under Rita’s influence?”

“Not really. It showed him all evil though and that Jason, the red ranger freed him, allowing him to choose to use the green ranger power for good.”

Kim sat heavily on her couch in her Boston apartment, trying to decide if she should burden her younger ranger counterpart with the knowledge she’d carried since that fateful day when Rita had taken Tommy. Wasn’t it enough that they were dealing with their own unknown evil ranger? Would Kira knowing the full truth about the evil green ranger help or hut in the long run?

Still, she had Tommy’s emotional well being to consider. And for Kim, that always outweighed anything else. Even her own...

“I’m sure it did. But I’m sure that what it didn’t show was that afterwards and probably to this day Tommy’s been plagued with guilt over what he did under the influence of evil.”

“So?” Kira asked, confused.

“He’s walking around, the new black ranger, with a new team if rangers and now he’s the one who has to rescue the evil ranger. He’s more than likely feeling like he’s responsible for whomever it is being in the situation that they’re in,” Kim tried to clarify, thinking of her own time as the power ranger facing the evil ranger, and how that had confused the team.

“But he didn’t make whomever this is evil...”

“That’s not how Tommy looks at things. I’m sure you know he was feeling bad about making you guys rangers in the first place...”

“Yeah, Conner said that he and Jason talked about it with Dr. O when he came into town.”

“He feels responsible – first for having to create rangers in the first place, and now for his technology more than likely being used by Mesogog to create an evil ranger to attack you. The last thing Tommy can handle is not being able to protect the team or people he cares about.”

“But you guys saved him. I mean, he has to know that we’ll all help get this guy.”

“At what cost?” Kim questioned sorrowfully. “Sure, we rescued Tommy, but the scars aren’t all his. I know Jase feels bad that we hadn’t stopped him sooner, reduced the damage the evil green ranger did...”

There was a long silence, and Kira started to listen a little more closely to how Kim had been talking, remembering what she had learned about Kim and Dr. O’s relationship back when they’d been rangers. She and Dr. O had been together for a long time. Kim had even mentioned that she’d fallen for Dr. O at first sight. Which was before Dr. O had been forced into becoming the green ranger.

“And it affected you too, didn’t it?” Kira questioned quietly.

“I...”

“Dr. O went bad just when you guys were starting to get to know each other. You can’t tell me that something happened. I can hear it in how you talk about the cost. And Dr. O just sort of avoids the subject, especially since the white ranger showed up. I know he went upstairs and called you when we got in from our fight with the white ranger. You had to be feeling some déjà vu too.”

“I was,” Kim admitted finally. “It was hard. Knowing how I felt, how the whole team felt knowing that there was an evil ranger that wanted us gone. I never wanted him to have to feel the frustration, the anger that we all did when we faced him as an evil ranger. That *you* all are facing now.”

“Personally though Kim, didn’t Dr. O being evil back then do more damage than you’re saying?”

“I... We’d just met. He’d rescued me from a confrontation with the local pain in the ass bullies, and there’d been this connection. He was supposed to meet me, and the gang later that day. But Rita got to him before he could make it. And then Tommy started acting strangely towards me... I didn’t know he knew who I was, that I was the pink ranger immediately. All I knew was he’d gone cold on me. Cruel.”

On her bed, Kira listened as the former pink ranger opened up and shared her experience with facing her future boyfriend as a bad guy. As Kim continued, talking about the fights and the fears, Kira could only be grateful that she wasn’t in that position. She didn’t know how Kim had been able to forget all that and be with Dr. O. It just seemed that it would have been hard to separate evil Dr. O and non-evil Dr. O. Kim must have really cared about him early on to give him the benefit of the doubt, even if he’d been under the control of an evil sorceress.

Still, it gave her reflection on her own confused emotional state. With a deep sigh, Kira laid back on her bed, trying to wonder what it would be like if it was Trent and her in Dr. O and Kim’s roles... She didn’t like to even think about it.

“What’s wrong?” Kim asked, concerned about her normally happy-go-lucky ranger friend as she heard through the line the disturbing sigh the yellow ranger let lose.

“I was just thinking about someone I know. Trent, the guy I mentioned... he’s been acting kinda strange lately. I was just thinking what it would be like for me and him if we were in you and Dr. O’s shoes.”

At Kira’s suggestion, the line went silence. The idea that Kira could ever have to be in Kim’s shoes bothered Kim more than she would have thought. For Kira, the situation she was in with an evil ranger, and Trent’s recent strange behavior just seemed to be doubly problematic. There was *no* way that she could end up repeating history...

“Is there any possibility that Trent’s behavior is just nerves or stress?” Kim questioned softly, her own fears tightly controlled.

“Oh yeah! His dad, Mr. Mercer, he’s been all pushing his company down Trent’s throat, trying to get him to follow in the family business. Why?”

“It’s just... it reminds me a lot of when Tommy...”

“Yeah... I can see how it could,” Kira replied. “But it couldn’t be that. He’s been acting strange for a while, before the white ranger showed up.”

“Good. I guess that just means that you have two problems to deal with at once,” Kim half joked.

“Well, I’m good at multi-tasking.”

“Just be careful Kira. Evil rangers don’t have to hold back.”

“I will. We’ll get this guy. We’ll stop him,” Kira assured Kim.

“And take care of Tommy for me, okay? He’s still got to figure out whom this guy is. He’s gonna get more personally invested as time goes on.”

“Okay... Hey Kim, it was good talking with you.”

“Same here.”

“It’s gonna be so cool having you here in the fall...”

“Tommy mentioned that?” Kim asked, surprised.

“Mentioned? Dr. O couldn’t talk about anything else for like two days. And boy did he let us slide while his head was in the clouds. You need to come out for another visit soon,” Kira laughed.

The two both laughed some more, then felt the moment slip away.

“Just be careful Kira,” Kim stressed.

“We will Kim. I promise.”

With that, Kim hung up, feeling marginally better with Kira’s assurance that she’d keep an eye on Tommy. But she was concerned that the situation with Trent might just be déjà vu again... and it was something she didn’t want her friend to have to face.

But she couldn’t help them.

She had to trust that what she’d told Kira and Tommy would help them get though it all.

-End-

tbc....

GO TO CHAPTER 14

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