Power Rangers One Last Mission

_**One Last Mission**_

_**Timeline: Set two years after the events of Dino Thunder. Everything on TV is canon in this story.**_

_**Summary: Equipped with new powers and a new look, Zordon's Rangers are back for one more mission. With their very existence hanging in the balance, Tommy and Kimberly come to terms with that which has been missing from their lives for so very long.**_

_**Chapter: 1/1**_

_**Original Posting Date: November 23, 2008**_

_**--**_

The heavy sound of footsteps slapping against the hard floor filled the hallways of the Gevorian space station _Destruction_, a sleek battle cruiser capable of unfathomable destruction on a galactic level. Back in action for just over three months now, the Rangers had been tracking the ship since they had returned to the world most had long since left behind; and now that he had their leader in his proverbial crosshairs, Tommy Oliver was going to do everything in his power to make sure Emperor Shiekan's last breath was taken as soon as possible.

Dressed in a uniform that matched those of his fellow Rangers, sweat, dirt, and dried blood covered Tommy's face as he ran through the space station, his hair matted down against his forehead. The thick, white stripe that ran vertically on the side of his form-fitting, black, leather jacket and matching pants was the only thing that separated his uniform from those belonging to his teammates.

Turning a corner sharply, Tommy saw flashes of orange and jumped back just in time to avoid a flurry of blasts that whizzed passed him before slamming hard into a nearby wall. Letting go of a deep exhale he paused but for a moment to wipe the grime away from his brow on the sleeve of his jacket.

"Too close," he murmured, poking his head around the corner to see half a dozen Gevorian soldiers heading straight towards him.

They were large, silver beings, heavily armored with blasters capable of completely vaporizing a person in just one shot. Subconsciously, Tommy couldn't help but to look down at his right hand when he saw them coming. Covered in a black glove, his hand moved towards his hip and grasped his own blaster tightly as he prepared to make his move.

Swallowing hard, he took one last breath and then jumped into the soldier's line of vision once more, letting out a fierce battle cry as he started running at them. The hallway was filled with blaster fire almost instantly, pulses of orange and white flying in every direction imaginable.

With every ounce of flexible agility he could muster, the White Ranger flipped and rolled to avoid the blasts while simultaneously firing shots his own. The smoke from multiple misfires shrouded his body almost entirely, providing Tommy an added layer of defense as he moved closer and closer towards the soldiers; or so he thought.

Rather quickly, the smoke became more of a hindrance than a help, Tommy's eyes growing red as he squinted and coughed, in turn giving away his position to the Gevorian's. Before he had time to react a blast slammed into the ground just inches in front of him, throwing Tommy backwards into a wall and forcing him to drop his blaster.

He let out a groan on impact, slumping to the ground where he looked towards the cloud of smoke to see the faintest hint of silver moving in his direction. "Not today," he grunted, grimacing as he pushed himself back onto his feet.

Looking around for his weapon he found it lying on the floor near where he'd just been standing moments before and where the five approaching soldiers were standing now. Martial arts skills and Ranger-enhanced abilities aside the foot soldier's were strong, typically far too strong to destroy in hand-to-hand combat. He needed his blaster if he was to have any chance of defeating them and Tommy knew that.

Summoning as much strength as he could muster from the white, pebble-sized stone strapped to his wrist, Tommy started running towards the soldiers once more. In one quick motion he flipped over a series of blasts; landing on one knee he rolled under another flurry of orange fire, splitting the group in half as he snatched his blaster from the floor.

As soon as his fingertips had grasped the gun he quickly whirled around on his butt, firing shot after shot towards the backs of the Gevorian foot soldiers who, while undoubtedly strong, were also incredibly slow and had yet to turn around following the evasive maneuver from the White Ranger. From his spot on the floor he watched with the slightest hint of a glimmer in his eyes as the five robotic beings started to stagger forwards, their bodies convulsing for the briefest of moments before imploding in a vibrant flash of orange light.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Tommy pushed himself back until he found momentary safety around another corner. Still seated, he closed his eyes as he laid his head against the wall, raising his wrist to his lips.

"Rangers, report," he commanded, grimacing as he touched his tender ribs.

_"Jason here; Tanya and I are taking heavy fire at the third quadrant on the tenth floor," _the Gold Ranger answered, the sound of blaster fire clearly audible in the background. _"We could really use some backup here, bro."  
_  
Swallowing hard, Tommy tried to remember the assignments he'd given to his subordinates so he could send some help for the Gold and Orange Rangers. "Adam, how are you, Aisha, and Rocky doing?" he asked into his wrist-mounted communicator, one of many devices created for them by Billy upon their return to active duty.

_"We just cleared the fourth floor with Zack and Kat, then they went off to help Billy and Trini on level three," _said the Black Ranger. _"Say the word and we can be upstairs in less than three minutes."  
_  
Tommy nodded despite the fact that no one could see him. "Good, get going. Jase, just hang tight and reinforcements will be there shortly, buddy," he muttered, peering around the corner to make sure he was still alone. He waited a few moments for the final report, but when it failed to come his heart started to beat heavily against his chest. "Kim, report; where are you?"

Still, there was nothing.

"Kim, it's Tommy, come in," he continued, frantically smacking his communicator as if the device was malfunctioning. "Kim, where are you? Answer me."

Suddenly his ears were filled with the static emitting from his communicator followed by Kimberly's muffled voice. _"Tommy it's…can't…get here…third fl…Machismo…hurry!"_

With wide eyes Tommy was back on his feet in a flash, tearing down the hallways of the _Destruction_ in search of his second-in-command. Having heard the word "third," he reasoned that Kimberly must have been on the third floor and silently prayed that he was right as he headed off in that direction.

On the bottom most level of the ship, the White Ranger was ever grateful that he'd kept himself within relatively close proximity of Kimberly while issuing assignments ninety minutes earlier. Unfortunately, he'd barely reached the second floor when he was met with another group of Gevorian foot soldiers.

"B-Class; shit," he muttered, noting with a shake of his head the black stripe across the soldier's armor which announced their higher rank. With no time for another firefight, Tommy reached to his belt and one of the many small pouches that surrounded it. Opening the pouch he pulled out three small silver balls that looked like marbles, gave them a few quick shakes, and then threw them at the soldiers. The balls skittered across the floor, coming to a rest right in front of the lead soldier who Tommy looked at with a triumphant smirk. "You go boom, now."

Less than a second later the balls split in half, emitting three beams of pure white energy that forced Tommy to shield his eyes even from his position some fifty feet away. Then the light dissipated and there was a high, shrieking whistle that lasted for only the briefest of moments before the thunderous roar of an explosion filled the area entirely, throttling the walls, floor, and ceiling as Tommy struggled to maintain his footing.

By the time everything had stopped shaking he was already moving towards the group of now dismembered foot soldiers who were all laid out in various positions throughout the hallway. He made it the rest of the way without interruption, arriving on the third floor with no clue as to where Kimberly might be.

Space stations as a whole were generally massive, but the _Destruction_ far surpassed every ship in the galaxy in terms of sheer size and power. At fifteen stories tall while stretching the length of twenty-five football fields, there had never been a larger ship than the one Tommy was currently standing in. Add that to Kimberly's less than imposing stature along with all the maze-like twists and turns, and it was really as though he was searching for a needle in a haystack.

Running as fast as he could, he raised his wrist to his lips. "Kimberly, it's Tommy. I'm on the third floor. Where are you?"

Static accompanied Kimberly's answer once more, only this time her voice was nowhere near as distorted. _"I'm on the move heading towards the southeast corridor. Machismo's chasing me with at least a dozen foot soldier's."_

Tommy let the briefest smile cross his lips before he replied. "I'm right outside the southeast corridor, Kim. Just a little bit further and we'll get out of this."

"_I don't know if I'm going to make it that far, Tommy,"_ said Kimberly frantically, unknowingly causing Tommy to wince. _"It's like no matter how fast I move they keep finding ways to move even faster."_

With gritted teeth Tommy shook his head fiercely. "Don't talk like that, Kim. You're going to make it, okay?" he replied, a flurry of emotions rushing at him. Swallowing hard, he continued in a voice choked with those same emotions. "You have to make it."

"_I'll do my best,"_ said Kimberly, her own voice cracking as she ended the communication transmission.

His heart thumping madly against his chest, Tommy paced back and forth from where he stood at a large intersection in the hallway. One of the six paths that forked into his current position would be the one Kimberly was on and so he kept constant watch on them as he paced, waiting for the first sign of something to spring into action.

As soon as he saw the cloud of smoke coming around a corner, he knew that her arrival was near. Still, when she appeared through the smoke running towards him he froze on the spot, staring at her in a momentary lapse of shock. "Tommy!" she yelled, the White Ranger wincing when he laid eyes on the large tear across the pink stripe of her suit. "Tommy, they're coming; move your ass!"

"Not without you!" Tommy shouted back, waving his arm circularly in an attempt to motivate her. "Come on, Kim, you got this!"

Orange blaster fire started to whiz all around Kimberly as the Gevorian foot soldiers chasing her continued to grow closer. Tommy watched her intently while his hand simultaneously drifted towards another one of the pouches on his belt. In his hand was what looked like a simple black lighter, a device that was capable of unfathomable power but would not be used on this particular occasion.

With Kimberly nearing, he prepared to use the lighter but never got the chance to. A burst of green energy erupted from behind the Pink Ranger, slamming into the ground at the back of her feet. She was thrown forward with a loud groan, Tommy never hesitating as he immediately started to run towards her flailing body.

Leaping through the air Tommy grabbed hold of Kimberly around her midsection and landed on one knee with their eyes locked and a smirk on Kimberly's face. "Once again my White Knight saves the day," she murmured softly.

Resisting the urge to capture her smiling lips right then and there Tommy quickly rose to his feet and spun Kimberly behind him, looking down the hallway at the Gevorian foot soldiers and the black armored being leading them. The being was known as Machismo, a highly sought after intergalactic assassin and Emperor Shiekan's personal warrior.

Acting swiftly, the White Ranger reached to his hip once more and extracted a lone silver sphere, this one just a tad larger than a golf ball. Rubbing the device between his thumb and forefinger, he waited patiently for the enemy to make its move.

"Fire!" Machismo yelled, pointing his saber at the two Rangers.

The foot soldiers obeyed without question, and as soon as they aimed their blasters at the Rangers Tommy lifted his arm high above his heat. On one knee behind him, Kimberly watched as Tommy threw the ball down at his feet with as much force as was humanly possible. With a loud clap the ball exploded and a wall of white energy instantly filled the hallway, separating Tommy and Kimberly from Machismo and the soldiers.

Several rounds of blaster fire were absorbed by the wall as Tommy now thumbed another of Billy's contraptions, this one with the appearance of a keychain clicker. Silently the White Ranger was counting, watching and waiting until the wall had nearly reached its breaking point. Right before it was about to give, Tommy pressed the lone button on the clicker and grinned triumphantly at Machismo as the wall unleashed every ounce of energy it had absorbed, sending it flying back at Shiekan's warrior and foot soldiers in a vibrant burst of pure white.

"Come on," said Tommy, not bothering to watch the result as he turned towards Kimberly. "We have to get to Shiekan's throne room before it's too late."

Nodding, Kimberly rose to her feet. "Thanks for the save."

"Any time," Tommy smiled. "You okay to run?"

"Oh yeah," Kimberly answered, bouncing on her toes.

Tommy nodded and with that they were running once more, this time in search of Emperor Shiekan and his heavily guarded, fifteenth-story throne room. It was there where the culmination of the last three months, everything that the Rangers had been working towards since returning to active duty, would take place.

--

It was some ten minutes later when Tommy and Kimberly arrived on the _Destruction's_ top level, Tommy signaling for her to stay back as he carefully peered around a corner to see four Gevorian foot soldiers that were merely the first line of defense guarding the long stretch of hallway that led to Emperor Shiekan's throne room.

"There's four of them; A-Class," Tommy whispered to his companion, letting her know that they were dealing with the highest ranking soldiers in Shiekan's army.

Biting her bottom lip ever so gently, a move that had Tommy unable to look away from her, Kimberly nodded with a small smile. "We can take them," was her confident retort, Tommy offering something of a half-chuckle to accompany his own head nod.

"I know we can," said Tommy, "but that's now what I'm worried about. Billy's blueprints of the ship showed at least fifteen mounted turrets in various positions throughout the hallway and a series of crisscrossed, invisible beams that'll set off every alarm here if we hit them."

Kimberly shrugged. "So we don't hit them," she countered, already reaching to her belt.

Popping open one of the pouches she pulled out a pair of shuriken that were circular at the center with large, heavily sharpened, pink, wing-shaped blades on either side. She then looked to Tommy, waiting for his confirmation before she made use of the weapons. As soon as he had given her a single nod she leapt around the corner, looking right at the Gevorian foot soldiers from a distance of roughly ten feet.

"Eat shit and die," she said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

Underhanded, she effortlessly flung the shuriken towards the soldiers. The blades ripped through one of the arms on each of the two closest soldiers, severing the appendages and causing them to drop their blasters as they went down. Behind them, the two fully-limbed soldiers were raising their own blasters to fire at Kimberly, completely unaware that the flying shuriken were currently boomeranging back towards them.

Whistling fountains of sparks and smoke erupted from the back of their heads where the shuriken were now impacted, Kimberly watching with a smile as the two foot soldiers tumbled face first to the ground. At the sound of grunting, though, she quickly whirled around to find Tommy in the midst of kicking the blaster away from one of the grounded and dismembered soldiers, a blaster that had just so happened to be trained on her back.

"That's two thus far, Kim," said Tommy, grinning as Kimberly shook her head.

Before either could say anything else she was withdrawing her blaster from its holster at her hip, unleashing a quick succession of three shots that went in between Tommy's legs before slamming into the face of the last soldier who had retrieved his own blaster and was aiming it at the White Ranger.

Peering over his shoulder at the now smoldering face of the metallic assailant, Tommy looked back at Kimberly and smiled. "You still owe me one."

Laughing, Kimberly nodded. "And I have every intention of repaying you. It just might not be on this particular ship," she answered, winking.

"We get out of this and I'm going to hold you to that," Tommy countered, reaching to his hip where he extracted a small, silver, spray bottle. Slowly moving forward, he simultaneously sprayed a wispy mist in front of him. After fifteen or so paces, Kimberly walking behind him, Tommy stopped and raised his hand for her to do the same as the invisible beams he'd been talking about became visible, glowing an eerie shade of green. "This is where your gymnastics skills are going to come in handy. At the other end of the hallway, next to the door to Shiekan's throne room is a panel; you can use it to deactivate the beams."

Kimberly furrowed her brow. "What about the turrets?" she asked.

Wearing a sly grin, Tommy removed his blaster from its holster and then pulled out a few of the silver marbles from earlier. "You let me worry about the turrets. Just concentrate on getting through here without tripping the alarm."

Taking a deep breath, Kimberly swallowed hard and nodded. "Wish me luck," she whispered.

Tommy shook his head. "You don't need luck, Kim."

Rolling her eyes the Pink Ranger started to backpedal, looking at the wall of beams in an attempt to choreograph in her mind what she was going to. With an undeniable twinkle in his eyes, Tommy watched as Kimberly suddenly sprinted forward and launched herself into a series of graceful gymnastics. Cartwheels and handsprings; flips, somersaults, and twists; Kimberly executed these maneuvers effortlessly, all the while Tommy keeping watch with his blaster trained on the walls, ceiling, and floor.

While he wasn't small enough to move through the many beams blocking the hallway, his aim was good enough that blaster fire could. When a nearby section on the left side of the wall opened up revealing a black turret, Tommy was already shooting at the mounted gun, the muzzle of it quietly disintegrating on impact.

This pattern continued on as Kimberly weaved her way through Emperor Shiekan's defenses, Tommy taking out turrets on all four sides of the hallway. Unfortunately, by the time he'd taken out one of the last remaining turrets Kimberly had moved so far down the hallway that the crisscrossing beams were becoming harder and harder to aim through.

Upon the final turret popping up from an opening in the floor the White Ranger dropped to his belly and tried to train his blaster on his target, but there were just too many beams blocking his line of vision. Thinking quickly, he shook the marbles and sent them skittering across the floor towards the turret, praying that they didn't accidentally collide and veer off course.

He could do little more than watch with a sense of pure fear as he slowly rose to his feet, maintaining a silent vigil while looking between the marbles and Kimberly who was now standing at the panel on the opposite end of the hallway with a turret trained on her, the elongated muzzle coiling back as it prepared to fire.

As intended, Billy's mini-bombs did their job of destroying the turret just prior to Kimberly deactivating the beams, but they also did the one thing that Tommy had been afraid of. Not seconds after the marbles had thunderously exploded, the door to Emperor Shiekan's throne room opened up followed by a dozen or so Gevorian foot soldiers that made an immediate beeline towards Kimberly.

The teenaged Kimberly would have panicked, backpedaling away from the soldiers as she screamed for Tommy's help, but this was not the Kimberly who'd paraded around Angel Grove in a pink miniskirt as Earth's first Pink Power Ranger. When she had rejoined the team she'd started on an intense martial arts regiment with Adam, Jason, Rocky, Tommy, and Trini, learning as much as she could from the different styles each had perfected over the years.

Ten years after she'd left the team, there was a certain level of ferocity that had not been there during her first tour of duty. To Tommy, who was now running towards her, this was never more apparent than now as he watched the Pink Ranger spring into action without even the slightest hint of hesitation.

Her punches and kicks were delivered with as much force as they were with fluid grace, and as he ran to help her Tommy was forced to accept once and for all how much she'd changed over the years. She didn't need him to be her superhero anymore, flying in to rescue her whenever she got into trouble. She wasn't a little girl, instead: a smart, strong, self-sufficient woman capable of anything and everything she set her mind to doing.

The loud pangs caused by Kimberly's hands and feet colliding with the metallic armor of the foot soldiers rang out in the hallway as Tommy launched into a front flip that left him face-to-face with one of the soldiers. Cocking his fist back the White Ranger delivered a knockout punch, dropping the soldier whose face was now heavily dented.

Using Billy's inventions and their own fighting skills, Tommy and Kimberly had cleared the hallway of the foot soldiers in a matter of minutes. Staring down at a trio of the soldiers laid out in a heap at his feet, Tommy slowly raised his eyes to look at Kimberly as he nodded towards the open entrance to Emperor Shiekan's throne room.

"You ready for this?" he asked softly.

Kimberly nodded. "Let's do it."

Entering the spacious room side-by-side, Tommy scanned to his left for the Emperor while Kimberly did the same on her right. It didn't take long, however, for them to realize that the Emperor was nowhere to be seen. Across the room, Kimberly noticed a decent sized hole at the base of the wall that drew her attention.

With a furrowed brow she hurriedly ran to the opening, dropped into a squat, and looked into the hole to find something of a tunnel heading straight down. She quickly rose to her feet and gazed out the window where she saw another spacecraft shoot out into the darkness of space from the side of the ship.

"Tommy, he's escaping. We have to go after him," Kimberly announced. She looked back just long enough to ensure that Tommy had heard her before she flung herself down the opening. Where she was heading she wasn't sure; as she raised her wrist to her lips, she closed her eyes and prayed that her instincts were right. "Crane Zord; activate emergency rescue mode, now!"

Seconds later she couldn't help but smile when she heard Tommy throw himself after her with a series of loud curse words. "What in God's name are you doing, Kim?" he yelled, sliding down the tunnel at incredibly fast speeds.

"No time to explain, but I'd call for my Zord if I was you!" Kimberly shouted back.

"Shit," Tommy muttered, shaking his head as he realized what her plan was and helplessly raised his wrist to his lips. "Falcon Zord; initiate emergency rescue sequence, now!"

The end of the tunnel came rather quickly, dropping Tommy into outer space for less than a second before he landed safely inside the cockpit of the new and improved Falcon Zord. With Kimberly already ahead of him in her Crane Zord there was no time to think about what to do next. Instinct kicked in and then Tommy was tearing after her, following her to what he knew was going to be the final battle between Emperor Shiekan and the Rangers.

One of them was going to die shortly. Who, though, had yet to be seen.

Blurs of white surrounded Tommy's Falcon Zord as he raced the robotic bird across the star-speckled depths of outer space, trying desperately to catch up with Kimberly. Reaching across the cockpit, the White Ranger activated the Falcon Zord's communication system and sent out a signal to the Rangers still on the space station.

"Jason, it's Tommy; report."

"_Everything's taken care of. We're all on the first floor waiting for you and Kim."_

Tommy winced inwardly when he realized that he had forgotten to inform the others of his current situation. "Change of plans, Jase," he replied, hot on Kimberly's heels. "Shiekan escaped and Kim and I are after him. Get out of there before the explosives go off and we'll meet you back at base."

There was a brief pause before Jason responded. _"Be safe out there, bro. You guys better bring your asses back in one piece, alright?"_

Chuckling, Tommy shook his head. "Will do, buddy. Tommy out," he answered, switching the communication frequency to Kimberly's Crane Zord just as he pulled up alongside her. "I take it you have a plan, Kim?"

"Of course I do," Kimberly answered with a laugh. "Power up your thrusters and follow my lead."

Tommy rolled his eyes as the Crane Zord shot forward once more, leaving him behind to play catch up. "I hate when she does this," he muttered, activating the Falcon Zord's thrusters which caused the machine to rocket after her. "So why don't you tell me exactly what this plan of yours entails."

"It entails us blowing the shit out of Shiekan's ship," Kimberly answered.

Before Tommy could say no the Crane Zord's wings were already folded inwardly and glowing a vibrant shade of pink. In a burst of light the wings expelled blast after blast of pink energy right at the rear end of Emperor Shiekan's ship.

No damage was done to the sleek, black vessel; instead it simply absorbed the energy as it returned fire in the form of several large, green beams. With no time to think, Tommy forced the Falcon Zord into a barrel roll that caused the beams to whiz above the machine harmlessly. He was in the midst of breathing a relieved sigh when he heard Kimberly cry out, instantaneously snapping him back to attention.

Looking out the right-side window Tommy watched with wide eyes as Kimberly and the Crane Zord went spiraling out of control, the latter of which now had a broken, flaming wing. At that very moment everything that he had been taught as both a Ranger and team leader—every piece of advice that Zordon had given him and everything he had learned from watching Jason before him—came rushing back to him in an instant.

He had two choices: he could either rescue one of his best friends and teammate in Kimberly or eliminate the most feared and powerful intergalactic warlord in the entire universe in Emperor Shiekan. In the blink of an eye Tommy was springing into action. His decision, it seemed, was not a difficult one for him to make at all.

--

Several hours later Tommy sat alone on the black leather couch in the living room of his personal quarters, a two-thousand square foot apartment located inside the Ranger's base of operations. There were six similar apartments just like his throughout the base; one for each of the Rangers or, in most cases, two Rangers. Adam and Tanya, Rocky and Aisha, Billy and Trini, and Jason and Katherine—the couples within the group—all shared rooms while Kimberly, Tommy, and Zack had their own.

Now out of uniform he wore a pair of faded blue jeans and a white tee shirt over a black thermal top, a black stocking cap pulled down to the top of his stylish eyeglasses. Nursing a steaming mug of coffee, he let out a sigh and slowly rose to his feet, making his way across the room to the sliding glass door that led to his balcony.

Before stepping out onto the hardwood deck he slipped his feet into a pair of soft moccasins, the chill of winter hitting him as soon as he'd opened the door. Tucked away in the mountains of Northern California, the base appeared to be nothing more than another one of the many multi-million dollar houses overlooking Lake Tahoe.

Actually, aside from the fact that it was five times the size of the other houses, the basement Command Center, the Zord docking bay built into the nearby mountainside, and the Aquitian cloaking shield that Billy had placed over the entire property, it really was just another multi-million dollar home overlooking Lake Tahoe.

With the eleven Rangers all spread out across the nation, the house had been a necessary purchase when they had been called back to active duty three months prior, a purchase that Billy and Tommy had shared the majority of. Over those last three months the house had truly become home for Tommy, a place he loved being more than anything because his friends were always there.

Taking a sip from his coffee mug, a somewhat sad smile crossed his lips as he watched the steam from his breath fade away into the chilled air. There were so many emotions coursing through his psyche. Those emotions demanded immediate action, but at the same time his brain was telling him to calm down, to think things out rationally before he did or said something he would come to regret in the future.

He could hear his heart thumping against his chest as he gazed out on the snowcapped mountains, the dark blue depths of Lake Tahoe, and the thousands of trees that surrounded it. The last time Tommy had been this nervous was a time he could not readily recall. It seemed so long ago, so distant. It was…

"When I kissed Kimberly for the first time," he murmured softly, smiling brightly as the scene played vividly in his head.

He could see himself going through a kata near Angel Grove Lake just after the Green Candle incident that had temporarily cost him his Green Ranger Powers. A subconscious laugh escaped his lips when he saw the mullet haircut he'd been wearing at the time; then his expression grew serious when a young Kimberly Hart entered the picture.

Oh, how awkward that meeting had started. Ever since he had joined the team they'd been dancing around each other, teetering on the verge of a line they both desperately wanted to cross. Watching himself take Kimberly's hands and press a single, gentle kiss to her lips, the taste of her strawberry lip gloss was still as sweet now on Tommy's lips as it had been on that fateful day when their young romance had officially begun.

His daydreaming was brought to an abrupt end, however, when his wrist communicator started to beep in a familiar six-tone chime just as Kimberly was about to accept his invitation to the dance. Rolling his eyes, Tommy shook his mind clear and then raised his wrist to his lips.

"This is Tommy; go ahead," he said into the device.

"_Tommy, it's Billy. You're needed in the basement."_

Tommy hesitated for the briefest of moments before replying. "I-is it what I think it is?"

"_Affirmative,"_ was Billy's soft, simple answer.

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute," said the White Ranger. "Tommy out."

Sighing, he turned back into the house and headed for the kitchen, leaving his coffee mug on the counter before exiting the apartment. His room located on the third above-ground level, Tommy slowly started down the winding oak staircase until at last he came to a stop on the first floor, in the garage where only two of their eleven cars remained.

Tommy's white Corvette sat on the opposite end of Kimberly's pink Mustang; as he climbed into the driver's seat of his car, his gaze lingered on her vehicle for just a few moments. Shaking his head, he reached up to his visor and a two-button garage door opener. Pressing the red button would open the garage, but upon pressing the white button the ground beneath him started to move, taking him on a downward spiral to the basement Command Center.

His car came to a stop next to a row of others: Adam's black Explorer, Aisha's yellow Audi, Billy's blue Mercedes, Jason's gold Silverado, Katherine's tiger-striped Accord, Rocky's red Escalade, Tanya's purple BMW, Trini's green Camaro, and Zack's silver Denali. Besides just serving their intended purpose, these vehicles were also their sole means of entering the Command Center.

Exiting his Corvette, Tommy immediately headed for the one place where he knew the other Rangers would be. Most of them—everyone but Billy—were all seated in a common area just outside a single red door that Tommy's narrowed eyes immediately went to, completely ignoring the other Rangers. When the door suddenly opened, he instantly raised his eyes to meet those of the Blue Ranger.

"Is she—" Tommy started, unable to complete his question.

Billy smiled. "You can go in, now."

Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Tommy nodded gratefully. "Thank you," he whispered, Billy just nodding as the White Ranger started to move passed him.

"Go easy on her, bro," Jason called out to him, causing Tommy to pause and turn around to face his black and gold clad comrade. "I know part of you is still mad about what happened, but yelling at her for it isn't going to do either of you any good."

"I can't make any promises," said Tommy distantly.

Swallowing hard, he pushed the door open and slipped into the pure white hallway of the Command Center's infirmary wing. Her room was the first on the right, and he opened the door and entered without hesitation, but as soon as he laid eyes on her his nerve went away completely. She was laying comfortably on her side atop a queen sized bed, dressed in a standard hospital gown with her soft auburn tresses so elegantly draped down her back.

"Hey," he said softly, not sure if she was awake or not.

Slowly, Kimberly turned over on her side to face him. Her face and what was visible of her arms were scraped and bruised, but they were nowhere near as bad as they had been when Tommy had pulled her from her smoldering Crane Zord. The rapid healing abilities provided by the Power had clearly begun to work their course.

"Hey," she whispered back, clearly embarrassed.

She waited for Tommy to say something, anything to break the tension but he could do little more than look at her. Fearing the worst, Kimberly decided to take matters into her own hands. With careful, methodical movements she rose to her feet and picked up the black bracelet resting on the nightstand next to her bed. She removed the small pink stone and then slowly crossed the room until she stood in front of Tommy.

"Here," she continued.

Visibly confused, Tommy looked down at the stone and then raised his eyes to Kimberly. "What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

"Making things easier for you," Kimberly answered, shaking her head. "I know you're mad at me, and I don't blame you. I made a bad decision without thinking that not only cost us the mission but nearly killed us both. Clearly I'm not fit to be a Ranger anymore."

The laugh that escaped Tommy's lips was unavoidable. "Are you saying that because you really believe it? Or are you just saying that because you think that's what I think?"

Kimberly shrugged. "Does it matter?"

Tommy did not immediately answer. Instead he started to walk passed her, taking slow and deliberate steps as he tried to gather his thoughts into something that resembled coherency. Turning back around, he looked at Kimberly and smiled softly.

"When Billy came back from Aquitar three months ago, he gave you your stone with confidence in your abilities as a Ranger. And when I made you my second-in-command, it was because I had confidence in your abilities as a Ranger," said Tommy, walking back over to Kimberly. Taking her hand, he placed the stone in her palm and pressed her fingertips over it as he looked into her eyes. "Until that confidence has been broken, your place on the team still stands. You may have made a bad decision earlier, but one screw up in all the years you've been a Ranger isn't enough for me to take you off the team."

Kimberly blinked in surprise. "Why aren't you mad at me?"

Tommy's eyes narrowed as he looked at Kimberly with an expression that conveyed nothing short of the utmost seriousness.

"I _was _mad at you, Kim. You acted without thinking and in turn not only risked the mission, but put both of our lives at risk as well," he answered. Kimberly looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "Luckily the others were able to blow up the _Destruction_ before taking Shiekan out in the Megazord. He won't be bothering us anymore."

"Seriously?" asked Kimberly, shocked.

Tommy nodded. "That's not the point, though. I'll admit, when we first got back I was ready to remove you from the team," he replied, Kimberly wincing visibly at this news. "But then I went to my room, I sat down with a pad of paper and a pen, and I made a list of reasons why I thought you should stay and reasons why I thought you should go. Outside of what happened earlier, I couldn't think of another reason not to keep you around. The point I'm trying to make is that this team needs you here; I need you here."

"Y-you do?" asked Kimberly hesitantly.

Reaching out, Tommy took Kimberly's hand and smiled at her. "I do," he answered. "We were friends before all of this started, but for the last three months we've been playing the same game we used to play in high school. I see the way you look at me when you think I'm not paying attention, just like I know you see the way I look at you when I think you're not paying attention. I'm tired of acting like I only want to be your friend when the truth is that friendship just isn't enough for me anymore."

Eyeing Tommy carefully, Kimberly couldn't deny that he was right. The would need the hands and feet of a small village to count the number of times that she and Tommy had caught the other staring these last three months. It wasn't just looks, though.

Of the eleven Rangers currently living in the house, Tommy and Kimberly had sought each other out almost as soon as they'd moved in. When choosing quarters, the pair had immediately gone for the pair of neighboring apartments on the uppermost floor. And on nights when they weren't fighting the forces of Emperor Shiekan, it wasn't out of the ordinary to find them curled up on one of their sofas, sipping wine and watching movies beneath the warmth of a shared blanket.

They were intimately close without ever being overtly physical. Deep down, though, Kimberly had to admit that she missed the physical aspects of being in a relationship with someone she truly and deeply cared about. Though she and Tommy had never ventured beyond the realm of kissing, she'd often wondered what that kind of relationship would be like with him.

Surely it would be wonderful. As she had admitted to her fellow Ranger females numerous times, she'd never been happier in a relationship than she'd been when she and Tommy were together. There was just something about him, the way he was always so kind and caring to her, the way he treated her like she was the most important thing in the world that made Kimberly's heart open wide to the possibility of falling back into the arms of her white knight.

"We're not kids anymore, Tommy," whispered Kimberly, gazing into the pools of chocolate brown that had forever been the windows to Tommy's heart and soul. "We can't recapture what we used to have."

Tommy smiled softly. "I don't want to recapture what we used to have. This isn't high school and I have no desire to pretend that it is. This woman you've become," he replied, gesturing to her with a wave of his hand. "She isn't the Kimberly Hart you used to be. Sure, there are still some similarities; you're as warm and bubbly and full of life as ever. But for as much as I loved the old Kimberly, the feelings that I used to have for you are nothing compared to how I feel about you now."

Kimberly felt herself choke up with emotion, forcing her to swallow hard in an attempt to maintain her composure.

"You were my first love, Tommy, and even though you weren't my only love, I've never felt with anyone else what I feel when I'm with you. When we're alone together, I still get butterflies in my stomach like I did when we were kids," she started, her eyes brimming with tears. "No one has ever made me feel as special as you do. I don't have to hide myself from you; I can show you all of me and know that your opinion of me wouldn't change. It's always been that way with you and it means so much to me."

"Kim," Tommy started only to be cut off.

"Let me finish," Kimberly interjected, waving her hands in front of her face and dabbing at her eyes as Tommy nodded and fell silent. "You've always been the one guy who makes me feel like I can do anything. No matter what my dreams are, you're always the first person telling me to chase them. But more and more recently my dreams involve you, because the truth, Tommy, is that I think I'm falling in love with you again."

Before Tommy could say anything else Kimberly had captured his lips in a hard kiss filled with a passion that had been steadily burning hotter and hotter for the past three months. Their bodies instinctively sought each other, holding onto one another closely as their mouths clashed hot. They remained like this for quite some time until finally the need to breathe forced them to separate, albeit regretfully.

Touching her lips on her fingertips, Kimberly smiled at Tommy. "Mmm," she purred, seeking his embrace. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she laid the side of her head against his chest and let out a content sigh. "That was nice."

Tommy simply nodded his agreement as he put his arms around Kimberly and held her closely to him. For awhile they stayed like that, more than happy to just be in each other's arms after so many years of being apart. Eventually, though, Kimberly was forced to speak when hit with a sudden rush of both reality and curiosity.

"What's going to happen now that Emperor Shiekan is dead?" she asked in a near whisper.

"You mean to the team?" Tommy countered, Kimberly nodding. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure. I haven't really had much time to think about it. Still, I don't think it's time to hang up the Morphers just yet. Shiekan has lots of followers; once word of his death has reached them, I wouldn't be surprised to see a backlash directed towards us some time in the future."

"So we're staying in the house then?" Kimberly questioned, the hope evident in her voice.

Tommy shrugged. "I don't see why not. When this started we all agreed that we were in this until the end, and until we're sure it's over our mission is still incomplete as far as I'm concerned. Why do you ask?"

With flushed cheeks, Kimberly slowly raised her eyes to meet Tommy's. "I don't know," she murmured, absentmindedly toying with his shirt. "I was hoping that maybe you'd want to stay with me tonight."

Rubbing her shoulders, Tommy smiled and nodded. "I'd love to," he replied, pecking a kiss to her forehead as he pulled her back into his embrace.

Holding each other closely, the pair looked at one another and smiled. They didn't know what the future held for them, but the truth was that neither really cared. Wrapped in each other's arms, everything they needed to know about the future was standing right there in front of them.

--


End file.
