Power Rangers 1. The Dreams

It had been many years since the last battle against the feared Alliance of Evil, where the ultimate battle for the fate of the universe took place and where Andros, the Red Space Ranger, took the brave decision of destroying Zordon's energy tube, killing the wise sage. Although the price was devastatingly high for all who knew him, his brave sacrifice ultimately saved every being in the known galaxy from their attackers.

During this epic battle, warriors and civilians alike stood up against these foes all over the galaxy, especially on Earth, the focal point of the conflict and ultimately where it all began. Whilst the main battle was fought in the city of Angel Grove, people all over the world were playing their part to defend their planet from the worldwide invasion.

Despite the tremendous odds she was facing, former Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart had fought to protect the people of Florida against the minions of evil, even though she was now without the powers that she had given up several years earlier. Even without them however, she still had the wealth of knowledge about her foes that she had gained through her tenure as a Ranger and knew what they could do if nobody took a stand. To that end, she fought courageously and was ultimately able to help the other citizens hold off the attackers until the battle came to an end...

Many years had passed by since that fateful day and she had moved on with her life. Not long after the invasion, she broke up with her boyfriend and decided to move back to her hometown of Angel Grove, where she finally found true love with one the last people she would have considered herself to be compatible with back in the day – Eugene "Skull" Skullovich. Although she found his personality when he was around his best friend Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier difficult to deal with, she had been able to get a few moments alone with him from time to time and to her surprise found him to be a completely different person – calm, caring, loving. All the things she looked for in a guy and a relationship. They started dating and eventually married, choosing to set up a hotel with Bulk – "Club Bulkmeier's". All in all, things were going well for her, although one night changed everything forever...

Opening her eyes, she found herself looking into a bright white light, so bright that it was effectively blinding her. A booming voice echoed out from all directions, sounding strangely as if it were both far away yet so very, very near.

"Kim...ber...ly..."

"Who are you?" she cried out, her question ignored. Suddenly, the light began to get brighter, intensifying as she felt some kind of presence approaching her. Just as the light got to a point where it seemed like it couldn't get any brighter, just as the presence felt like it was right next to her, she let out a loud scream...

"NO!" Kimberly screamed as she bolted upright, her heart pounding frantically in her chest. Her eyes were wide, her body frozen by some strange sense of fear. She remained in this dazed state for a few moments until she was snapped out of it by the feeling of someone wrapping their arms around her, hugging her gently.

A calming, reassuring voice spoke."It's alright, Kim. Relax, everything's okay," Looking to her side, she found her loving husband trying his best to bring her back to reality."It was that dream again, right?"

She already knew he knew what it was, which was partly why she didn't know exactly what to tell him. He had quite willingly put up with doing this practically every night since it all started about a year ago. Despite all this, he never seemed to get tired of being there for her and supporting her.

She sighed softly, lowering her head slightly. "Yeah, that dream again... Or is it some kind of nightmare? I just don't know." She whispered quietly as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

Noticing some small, silent tears running down her face, Skull carefully wiped them away. "I'm sure that if there's something behind all this then someday we'll find out what it is. Then we can deal with it together and move on. I know it's hard, but try not to let it get to you, okay?"

Kim said nothing in response, but silently nodded in reply.

She was caught off guard when she heard him gasping suddenly. Looking over at him, she was surprised to see his eyes widened as if he was startled. "Honey? What's wrong?" she asked, a worried tone running through her voice.

Skull had been startled by something that he'd noticed in the corner of his eye – a gentle pink glow coming from the other side of his wife. "K-Kim? Where's the light coming from?" he fearfully whispered.

"What are you talking about?" She asked nervously. Skull stayed absolutely silent, merely nodding his head in the direction of the light. Turning her head in that direction, she almost jumped in shock by what she saw – it was her old Power Morpher which laid on the bedside table. She always kept it there as a memento of her past, considering it powerless without a Power Coin. Powerless or otherwise however, there was no denying what she could see – a faint pink light coming from where the Power Coin would normally rest.

They both stayed silent for a few moments, watching the gentle pink light. Curious, Skull decided to break the silence. "That's impossible, right? I mean, you aren't a Ranger anymore..."

Hearing those words brought back to Kim just how understanding he was. She had told him all about how she used to be a Ranger years ago. He was surprised of course, but he willingly accepted it and it never changed his opinion of her despite how big a secret it had been. She felt comfortable telling him, knowing that he would keep it a secret. He hadn't let her down.

"Impossible beyond all doubt. Why is this happening?" she muttered as her voice trailed off.

A few moments later, the glowing faded slowly before disappearing completely. The Morpher lay completely motionless on the table. Leaning over, Kimberly carefully picked it up and showed it to Skull. "I don't get it. It doesn't feel like there's any kind of power left in here. It should be powerless without the Power Coin."

Skull didn't immediately reply, lost in thought. It didn't take him long to come back to his senses and return with an answer though. "I think it's time we went to see the boss about all this, don't ya think?"

She was a bit taken aback by the suggestion at first, something which came across in her face. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Tommy Oliver; former student, former Ranger, former boyfriend. After she left Angel Grove to go to Florida, she didn't see him for a very long time. The next time that their paths crossed, it was a few months after she got married to Skull. Both Skull and Bulk were looking around for money to start up the hotel. Eventually, Tommy found out about it and was somehow able to give them a helping hand which lead to him becoming their boss for a while.

Once he'd eventually managed to get himself through university, he moved on to the city of Reefside to become a teacher. They kept in touch for a while, with Kim finding out about Tommy's duties as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger as well as his long research project into the Morphing Grid and other related areas alongside his assistant Hayley. If anyone could help them with this, it would be him. She was uncertain about it all though – after things had calmed down at Reefside, things became distant between them once again. They hadn't spoken to each other for a few months now at least and she feared it might be awkward.

"Well, what do you think?" Skull asked again.

Realising that she couldn't just ignore what they had both witnessed, Kim knew she had to give it a try. Something in her wanted to make a crazy connection between the dreams she'd been having and what had just happened.

"Yeah, you're right. I think I'll go and-"

Before Kim could finish speaking, Skull reached for her hands, interrupting her. "You mean we'll go see him, okay? You don't have to do this alone. I wanna help you however I can. You know that and you know I love you. That's why I have to go with you."

With that, Kim turned to him and smiled before nodding gently and kissing him. "I love you too. And you win. We'll go see him together."

The couple looked at each other for a few moments, lost in thought as the sun slowly started to rise outside. A new day was dawning – but this was one day the both of them would be unlikely to forget...


	2. Surprise Guests

Within an hour, Kim and Skull had phoned ahead to let Tommy know that they were on their way and were on the long road to Reefside, riding on Skull's relatively new and shiny motorbike. After giving it some consideration, they both decided against telling Bulk directly that they were going, instead leaving a note for him to find.

Having shared her secret about her previous history as a Power Ranger with her husband, they decided together that it wouldn't be a good idea to reveal any of this to Bulk, just in case he got carried away and told anyone else about it. From Kim's point of view, it was also to avoid him asking any questions – she didn't want him poking into her past. It did occur to her that he might decide to follow them both out there when he eventually found out, but she shrugged it off and continued to enjoy the ride.

Despite the fact that they had left the hotel early in the morning, the sun was starting to set once more by the time they pulled up to Tommy's house. Parking up and dismounting from his trusty metal steed, Skull looked on and whistled, impressed by the sight.

"Not a bad place at all! I know you said he lived in the middle of nowhere, but this really is, y'know, the middle of nowhere!"

Kim had been here before, but she found herself slightly surprised every time she saw this place too. Back in the days when he had fought alongside her and the others as a Ranger, he was outwardly social and held a lot of presence. This house was hidden out of the way and kind of easy to miss if you weren't looking for it. It was hard to imagine this house belonging to the same guy.

She sighed quietly before she replied."I guess he just wanted to make sure no-one found out about all the Ranger stuff he does in here. Still, there's no point in standing around here. Let's go." Looking towards Skull, she smiled warmly. As he returned it, they both looked towards the house and began walking up to it.

As they started to walk up the steps of the decking, Kim suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder but failed to see anything. Panicking, Skull stopped and looked too, but he couldn't see anything out of place either.

He shifted position slightly so he was a bit closer to her. "What is it Kim?"

Kim didn't immediately answer, her eyes scanning the surroundings carefully. Nothing looked out of place, but something definitely didn't feel right. She could feel a shiver down her spine as she started to reply. "Something's off... It feels like we're being watched or something?" Looking at Skull, she could see he was afraid. "You can feel it too, can't you?"

Nodding slowly, his voice trembled as he replied. Something felt very wrong here."W-we'd better get inside. Hopefully the good Doctor'll b-be able to tell us what's happening here."

Slowly backing up towards the front door, Kim rang the doorbell but there was no answer. Looking at each other nervously, they tried again. Still no answer.

"He knew we were coming, where the heck is he?" Skull wondered aloud as he quickly looked around again, noticing something. "Hey, his Jeep isn't here... Does that mean he's-"

Before he could finish his sentence, they both jumped as they heard the sound of smashing glass above them. Shards of glass rained down onto the drive, followed by a massive banging noise as something landed on the roof above them. Their eyes followed the noise as it moved down the slope before falling off towards the ground. It was a person, someone Kim recognised straight away as he hit the floor.

"Tommy!" she shrieked, running towards him as Skull followed behind her.

Looking up at them, Tommy was a bit dazed but very aware that it was them, signalling with his arms for them not to approach him. "You're in danger, get back!" he yelled, but they were already too close.

Sensing the impending danger, he quickly leapt up and jumped at them, pushing them both to the floor just as a large boulder appeared, seemingly from nowhere, falling right where they had been standing. The ground shook slightly as it impacted against the ground.

As the trio quickly got back up and turned to face the object, they could clearly see it was a huge, rough-edged boulder, at least as tall as they were and equally as wide. Before any of them could say anything, the hardened rock edges started to bubble, causing Kim and Skull to gasp in shock. Tommy remained unmoved, his eyes focusing on it.

As it bubbled, it quickly began to turn green before shrinking down into a puddle of what could only be described as green goo. The bubbling got fiercer before it started to rise again, this time taking a new shape. Within seconds, it had taken a humanoid form, the bright green mass getting darker as it solidified before changing colours to match its new form.

Before them now stood a large suit of ancient looking Samurai armour, complete with a katana and at least 6 foot tall. It looked at the three of them through a mask, but none of them could see eyes or anything to suggest an actual body was behind it. Kimberly could feel Skull trembling intensely at the sight of the monster and she gripped his hand in an attempt to reassure him. Tommy kept his guard up motionlessly, unsure of what to do next.

The towering monstrosity slowly reached for its weapon, sneering at them in what sounded a bit like a metallic-effect voice tone. "Enough of this."

Realising what was about to happen, what was left of Skull's rational thinking completely left him as he fell to the floor from his shaking, yelling for help. With no idea of what she was up against, Kim had no idea what to do. Tommy was also trying to come up with a plan but had been injured from his fall.

It raised the blade, ready to strike them down. "Goodbye, Doctor Oliver!" it yelled as it swung the blade towards them.

Realising that she wouldn't be able to move her husband in time, Kimberly jumped to the floor and dragged him with her whilst Tommy rolled aside out of the way. Just as they did this, a loud horn beeped out of nowhere, distracting the monster and causing it to swing awkwardly, missing all of them with ease as the blade plunged into the decking instead. It hissed angrily at the noise as it looked around to see the source, as did the others.

It was Tommy's Jeep as it thundered towards the house, lights on full beam as the horn beeped again.

At the sight of another unwelcome guest, the powerful monster turned its attention back to Tommy. "You were lucky this time, but soon I will kill you Tommy. And all of your pathetic friends."

With that, the trio watched as it began to bubble and turn back into its goo-like state, but this time it didn't attempt to change again. Instead, it quickly moved away from the house before seemingly disappearing into the ground. By the time the Jeep had pulled up, it was long gone.

As Kim lifted herself up off of the floor, she quickly realised that Skull had passed out from the shock. She stayed near him as she heard Tommy getting up as well, walking over to the edge of the decking to see the driver hopping out of his vehicle.

He smiled. "It's about time you got here."

Looking up, Kim's eyes widened as she realised the identity of the driver. "Isn't that...?"


End file.

Power Rangers, Adventure, Drama