The Replacement

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related characters belong to Disney/B.V.E., yada yada yada. The scenes you recognize from the show also belong to them; the rest of the story is mine. This fic takes place in Power Rangers ZEO, during/after the episode, “There’s No Business Like Snow Business.” I’m assuming that Tommy got the letter in early December 1996, which I realize kind of flies in the face of the “middle of winter” proclaimation in TNBLSB.

The Replacement
Prologue
by MegaSilver

What happened?

Visions of his life with Kimberly flashed through Tommy’s head as he strolled along the beach. It had seemed like everything was fine. Then, that afternoon, he’d received one last letter from his girlfriend: a Dear John letter. What could possibly have gone wrong?

How could she do this to me? After all we’ve been through… how could she just drop a letter on me like a time bomb?

But what would he have preferred? A phone call? Certainly not. And given Kimberly’s schedule, a visit would have been impossible. In a few days, she would probably be leaving for Europe, where she would spend the entire month competing in the Pan Global Games and visiting family. If she was planning on staying in Miami after that, there would be no time for her to come to Angel Grove.

If nothing else, at least she’d told him right away… presumably.

***

Rita cackled as she watched Tommy through the VileGazer telescope at her father’s palace in the M-51 Galaxy. “Well, would you look at that?”

As she spoke, Zedd trotted into the observatory. “Look at what?” he growled.

“Looks like Kimmy finally dropped Tommy-boy!”

“So?” Zedd snorted. “I’ll have you know your father’s loathsome canine—if one could call it that at all—just dropped something else in our bedroom and I had to clean it up!”

Rita glared at her husband. “Oh, get over it, Zeddy! If you don’t stop complaining soon, Daddy might just throw us to those machines!” She resumed looking through the VileGazer, grumbling to herself. “I’m about throw you to those clowns myself.”

Zedd walked over to Rita and stood next to her. “So just what’s so interesting about all this? It happens to be out of my personal range of sight.”

“Forget it,” Rita snubbed. “You said you didn’t care!”

“Just who do you think you are?” Zedd’s body turned a fiery red. “You may be my wife, but don’t forget that I’m still your superior in the United Alliance of Evil!”

Rita looked up and made a face. “Geez, a little nepotism every now and them would be nice, y’know!” She smacked him upside his head. “See for yourself! Have at it!”

Zedd observed Tommy’s actions for a few minutes. “Hmm… this is more entertaining than I thought!”

“Finster!” called Rita. “FINSTER!”

Her loyal assistant came running into the observatory. “Yes, my queen?”

“Think you could hook this thing up to a screen so we can all watch?” Rita pointed toward the telescope.”

“Of course I can! It’s really quite simple.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Get started!”

***

Zedd, Rita, Finster, Squatt, Baboo, Scorpina, and some Tengas sat on lawn chairs in the observatory, munching on popcorn and cracking tasteless jokes about the Power Rangers’ personal lives as they watched them on TV.

“Well would you look at that!” Rita snickered. “Looks like Tommy Boy’s already got himself a new fling!”

“I know!” squealed Scorpina. “This is better than a soap opera!”

“All right, all right!” Master Vile’s voice broke into the mood. He marched into the observatory and stood in front of the TV set. “Just what are you kids doing? I’m going to need the VileGazer soon!”

“Aw, Dad!” whined Rita. “We’re just making fun of the Power Rangers, that’s all!”

“Not that I object to that one bit, but you’ve been all over this room for two straight days. In fact, you’ve all been all over this palace for months! Why don’t you find something useful to do?”

Rita suddenly perked up. “I’ve got it!”

“There! That’s my girl!”

“Wait!” cried Baboo. “What do you have?”

“An idea that’ll help us wipe out the Machine Empire—and weaken the Power Rangers so we can take them out, too!” Rita’s eyes glowed with glee.

“Well, spit it out already!” demanded Zedd. Rita whispered it into his ear. “You have to be kidding me!”

“How dare you insult my daughter in my home?” thundered Master Vile. “If she has a plan, you will help her put it into action.”

“We leave at sunset!” Rita proclaimed.

“Where to?” Squatt asked.

“A brief stop to get something from the Ghost of Darkness. Then, back to the moon!”

***

As Serpentera cruised through space on its way toward the Solar System, Rita sat inside reading an instruction booklet. “This is gonna be so much fun! It’s like no plan we’ve ever tried before!”

“Is that right?” Zedd grunted, slumping on his throne. “If you will recall, we’ve tried the Secret Agent approach several times—and not only do they always betray us, sometimes they even become Power Rangers!”

“Well, this time we ain’t relying on mercenaries, Zeddy. It’ll be one of our own!”

Zedd drummed his fingers on his armrest. “I still don’t like this idea… and I don’t think I should have to explain why.”

Rita looked under whelmed. “Oh, is that right?” She set down her book and marched over to Zedd’s throne. “Look, musclehead. Monsters are out of the question; the Machines would know we were back and then they’d crush us for good! We have a chance to slip in a monkey wrench, and you are not going to ruin it with your testosterone-driven possessiveness. Do I make myself clear?”

“And I suppose you haven’t thought about the possibility of the Power Rangers throwing that monkey wrench back at us?”

Rita flashed a toothy grin. “Just remember… he who gives, can take away!”

TO BE CONTINUED…

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

The Replacement
Part I: Press Reset
by MegaSilver

Fresh off a victory against the Machines, Tommy dragged his feet through up the walk to the Angel Grove Youth Center. Heather was probably gone by now, but where else did he have to go?

Especially when my girlfriend just dumped me.

He stopped at the door and sighed. What would Kimberly be up to about now? Sleeping in a posh Danish hotel, most likely. She’d competed in her first event earlier in the day. Billy, a long-time friend of Kimberly, had watched the event on TV, but he hadn’t told Tommy how it had gone and Tommy hadn’t bothered to ask.

She probably did great. She’s probably just cool without…

Right then, he stopped himself. This was just the kind of shameless self-pity he cautioned his students against. Kimberly was gone, no longer a part of his life. He’d never deal with that unless he got over himself, embraced the pain, and kept on living. All easier said that done, no doubt, but he had faced life-threatening menaces. It was time to translate his survivalist instincts into civilian life skills.

After all, he reminded himself as he entered the Youth Center, you won’t be a Power Ranger forever. Or maybe he would; maybe that was his calling. In any event, he clearly could not ignore his personal development apart from the fight.

Once inside, Tommy was surprised to find Heather still standing beside their table. “Heather? Y-you didn’t leave?”

Heather chuckled. “Well, I wasn’t about to go off without hearing an explanation.” She gripped her chair with one hand. “So what’s going on? If it takes you off in the middle of your personal time, it must be something important.”

Tommy pursed his lips together. What to tell her? The truth, I guess… only not all of it. “Heather, this… this might sound a little weird or corny.”

Heather just shrugged. “I’ve done weird. Done corny. You’re not going to get out of it that easily.”

“I have obligations,” Tommy began. When Heather nodded, he continued. “Family obligations. Things aren’t… quite what they should be. I have to take up a lot of the slack. I’m on call a lot. My friends are great; they help me whenever they can, but there’s some things I just have to take care of myself.”

“I think I get what you’re saying,” acknowledged Heather. “I’d like it if you gave me some specifics, but… I can wait until you’re ready. I know it’s not easy when you have to take on more responsibility than most people your age.” She sat down, and Tommy followed suit. “But here I am, talking about responsibility.” She rolled her eyes. “I should’ve graduated last May. I dropped out after junior year to focus on skiing.”

“Oh.” That took Tommy a little by surprise.

“It’s so pathetic,” Heather sighed, sipping juice. “I mean, here you are: a black belt, probably a good student, taking care of your family… I’m this spoiled little ski-town girl.”

“Well, you are a professional skier. Maybe that’s just your thing.”

“It’s won’t last forever, though. I ought to have something to fall back on.” She paused. “I guess I could have my dad teach me how to manage the resort… it’d pay the bills, at least.”

“Hey, as long as you have a goal, something you’re working toward…” As he spoke, Katherine entered the room.

“Oh, hey,” she said, apparently a little surprised to see them both there. “Sorry I got behind a little bit.” She hung up her coat, walked over to the table, and picked up the pen and paper in the middle. “Do you know what you’d like?”

Tommy picked up his menu. Whoops. “You ready, Heather?”

“Sure,” she answered. “I’d like the shrimp, salad, and cheese bread combo.”

“What kind of dressing?”

“Thousand island.”

“Okay, what about you, Tommy?”

Tommy closed the menu and set it down. “I’d like penne with seafood sauce and a salad with French dressing.”

“All right; I’ll have it out as soon as possible.” Katherine collected their menus and retreated to the kitchen.

Heather smiled. “Well, this is nice.”

“Mm-hmm,” agreed Tommy.

***

Ernie was re-organizing the kitchen when Katherine walked in. “Oh, Katherine, you did come back.”

“Yes; sorry it took a little long.”

“No problem; Heather wanted to wait for Tommy, anyway. Did you get their orders?”

“Right here.” Katherine handed him the slip of paper. “Do you need some help making them?”

“No, I haven’t put any of the main items away yet; it’ll be faster if I just do it all myself from memory. Tell you what, though. If you wouldn’t mind getting another case of ice cream from the walk-in freezer and putting it in the holder out front, I’d appreciate it.”

“Okay. I just need to refill their drinks first.” Katherine began to leave but stopped and turned back around. “Ernie, thank you so much for letting us do this.”

“Hey, I owe you kids. You’re always helping me out for no money, anyway.”

“You already do so much for us all.” Katherine sighed. “I’m surprised you can afford it.”

“Actually,” began Ernie, dipping some noodles into boiling water, “I almost went out of business once a couple years ago, but that was because of other stuff. If it hadn’t been for Kimberly, Billy, and—I don’t think you ever knew them—their friends Jason, Trini, and Zack, this place would be long gone.” He began mixing some ingredients for seafood sauce. “I wonder what happened with Kimberly. I mean, the letter and all.”

“I wish I knew.” Katherine shrugged. “I’ll be right back; I’d better go replenish the drinks.”

***

After their food arrived, an uncomfortable silence overtook Tommy and Heather. Heather finally broke it. “So, Tommy, what’s on your mind?”

“I don’t know.” Tommy stirred up his pasta. “Maybe it’d be better if I didn’t—”

“Look, if it’s about Kimberly, you can talk about it. Or you don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I’m not gonna be offended.”

“Thanks.” Tommy swallowed a bite of penne. “It just—I never saw it coming. We’d always shared so much; she took me by surprise. I thought things were fine, then I got the letter. I wish I knew what happened.”

“She didn’t tell you?”

“She said she met someone else.” Tommy braced himself before telling the rest of the story. “She said that… he was wonderful, and that she thought she’d found the one she was meant for.”

“That’s hard,” Heather sympathized. “How long were you together?”

“Over two and a half years, actually.”

“Wow.” Heather’s eyes widened. “That’s got to be really hard. I don’t think any of my friends in high school ever dated more than about eight months.” She took a sip of juice. “Then again, I hung out with some real losers for a while.”

“They couldn’t have been that bad.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You seem to have turned out fine.” Tommy hoped that line would make up for his “Case of the Ex” diatribe.

“Thanks.” Heather grinned. “I hope I live up to that.”

***

“So you’ll meet me at the lodge at nine AM on the twenty-first?” Heather confirmed when they were outside.

Tommy nodded. “We don’t have to go skiing; we can do something else if you want.”

“You sure you know how to get there?”

“Yep.”

“All right. Good luck with finals!” Heather started to get into her car, but Tommy held up his hand.

“Can you get back all right? It’s a two-and-a-half hour drive.”

“It’s only nine-thirty; I can manage. If I get tired, I’ll pull over.”

“Just be careful.”

“I will.” Heather hugged Tommy. “Bye; thanks for tonight!”

Tommy shook his head. “Thank Katherine,” he told her.

***

“Oh, shoot,” Heather muttered at the LOW FUEL light. She hadn’t even noticed her tank was running down. At least I’m not out of Angel Grove yet. She kept her eyes open for gas stations and pulled off at a Texaco.

A chilly breeze hit her when she stepped out of the car. Odd… I didn’t even need a coat when I back at the Youth Center. She was getting ready to select premium unleaded when suddenly she heard a cackling sound from behind her. She whirled around but saw only the trees surrounding the gas station.

Then the wind picked up, fast. She shielded her eyes from the leaves blowing in her direction. Then a strange white light began to glow inside the forest: dim at first, but it became brighter and brighter.

Heather gasped in horror at the unfamiliar, shadowy figure emerging from the woods.

***

When Heather arrived at her parents’ home in the mountains, she did not park her car in the garage. Instead, she drove it around back, grabbed a shovel from the shed, and dug a deep, wide hole. Returning to her car, she retrieved from her trunk a long, heavy object sealed in a plastic bag—a body bag, to be precise. She then dropped the object into the hole, covered it back up, and smeared snow on top.

Step One was complete. Heather entered the house to begin Step Two.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

The Replacement
Part II: Stranger with My Face
by MegaSilver

“Ahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Heather awoke in her bed at nine A.M. on Friday, a nightmare lingering in her head of being kidnapped and buried alive by some sort of clone.

She sat up. Am I in the right place? she wondered. She had a vague recollection of starting to drive home from her date with Tommy the previous night, but she couldn’t remember going past the outskirts of Angel Grove. She had stopped to get gas, and it was all a blur from there. Weird. Heather shook her head in a vain attempt to cast off the disorientation, then rose to go to the bathroom.

As Heather brushed her teeth, her thoughts gradually wandered back to her dinner last night. Tommy was wonderful, but elusive somehow. Was this a bad sign? And did he really like her, or was she just a surrogate for Kimberly?

He’ll get over her eventually, Heather decided. I just have to be patient, show him that I’m there for him when he’s ready, and…

She stopped rotating her toothbrush for a moment and let her mind wander into high school fantasyland. Could it really happen? She saw a smile creep up on the corner of her mouth in the mirror.

Just wait and see. With a sigh, Heather finished brushing, spat out her toothpaste, and rinsed and dried her face. But when she exited the bathroom, a sudden realization hit her. She quickly turned around to look at herself in the mirror. She touched the corner of her mouth where the smile had crept up.

No, it hadn’t. Not on Heather, that is. Only in the reflection.

***

After school, a somewhat more enthused Tommy joined his friends at their usual table in the Youth Center.

“Well, somebody looks like things are looking up!” teased Rocky.

“Yeah, Tommy, how’d it go?” asked Tanya.

Tommy raised his eyebrows. “Not bad. I’m driving up to her place the day after finals next week… thought we’d do another skiing trip or something.”

“Wow, Tommy, that’s great!” exclaimed Katherine. Suddenly, her expression changed. “But what about our Disneyland trip? We were supposed to leave next Friday right after school!”

Tommy smacked his forehead. “Aw man! I completely forgot. Guys, I’m sorry.” He sighed. “Do you think… would you girls mind if she stayed in the room with you—I mean, if I asked her to come with us?”

Tanya looked at Katherine. “I wouldn’t mind at all! Would you?” When her friend didn’t respond, she waved her hand in front of her face. “Kat?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, not at all; that’d be great,” agreed Katherine, trying to smile. Something made her hesitate, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. What is this? I’ve never had bad vibes about Heather.

“All right!” breathed Tommy. He turned to the others. “So, want to work out?”

“Actually, weren’t we were going to do our outlines for our AP Biology final?” Adam reminded him.

“Oh, yeah. Well, let’s get to the library then.” Tommy rose and collected his backpack; Adam and Rocky followed suit. “Bye, guys.”

“See you,” waved Billy.

Their teammates gone, Katherine, Tanya and Billy sat in silence for a moment. Then Tanya rose. “Well, I should get going. I’ve got choir practice in an hour for tomorrow’s Christmas pageant.”

“Bye, I’ll see you tonight,” said Katherine. When Tanya was gone, she finally got an idea to strike up the conversation. “So have you heard anything from Kimberly at all?” It was a long shot, but if anyone in the group would have had contact with Kimberly since the letter, it would have been Billy.

“I couldn't get a TV signal to watch the games, but checked on the internet last night. Kimberly got a silver and she’s supposed to be competing again today and tomorrow.”

“Really?” exclaimed Katherine. “That’s great! I’m really happy for her.” A bit jealous, too, but that would pass.

“Me, too.” Billy sighed. “I haven’t talked to her or anything, though. I have her grandparents’ address but not their phone number or Mrs. Hart—I mean, Rougé—her mom’s address or number. I know Tommy has them, but I don’t really want to ask him. I guess I’ll just wait and write her a letter at her grandparents’ house, since she’s probably going to be staying there next semester.”

“Probably,” agreed Katherine. She mused on the letter for a moment. “Poor Tommy. That didn’t seem like Kimberly at all, did it?”

Billy hesitated before answering. “I don’t know. But then, I’ve been friends with Kimberly since elementary school. She had boyfriends before Tommy, and she changed a lot over the years. Still, I never saw her pour her heart into anyone the way she did into Tommy. If you’d known Tommy when he first moved here, and then after he’d been with Kimberly for a little while…” He paused. “I just hope it was long distance, change, and life—and not something seriously wrong.”

“Well, it couldn’t have been too terrible if she was still competing, could it?”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.” There was another pause. Then, “Tommy seems to be doing all right, at least.”

“Yeah,” Katherine sighed. Maybe that had been the reason why she’d hesitated at the idea of inviting Heather on their Disneyland trip: she seemed to be bringing back the spark in Tommy’s life. Katherine recalled meeting him for the first time, instantly being enamored of him, and then having to watch the way Kimberly seemed to illuminate something in him. Being evil at the time, she had been unable and unwilling to squelch her envy, and had burned with enmity against her rival.

That, of course, was exactly the opposite of her usual self. Which was why she had labored to set Tommy up with Heather: she couldn’t move in and go for the kill. It would have been a step backwards for her.

Now, however, something seemed wrong with the whole thing. Katherine tried to brush it off as lingering jealousy, but that didn’t seem quite right. She felt some sort of concern for Tommy.

Maybe he’s just moving things too fast. But how could Katherine approach him about something like that—especially when she had been the enabler?

She’d just have to put it out of her mind for now.

***

An old motor home is an unexpected sight in an environment devoid of oxygen, but this particular R.V. seemed to be faring quite well on the Moon’s atmosphere-free surface. Lord Zedd and his crew stood near it, along with a myriad of complex laboratory and cloaking equipment.

“FINSTER!” Zedd shouted. “Where are the coordinates to the Nether Realm?”

“Ah, they’re right here, my lord,” Finster answered, handing his master a sheet of paper. “What do you need them for?”

“I’m opening up a communications portal. It’s been almost a day already!” Without touching the paper, Zedd electrocuted it with a red lightning bolt. The coordinates appeared as bright red letters in mid-air, then gave way to a large artificial screen bearing Rita’s face.

“AAAH!” Rita shrieked. “What do you think you’re doing, Zeddy? I’m trying to concentrate here!”

“You’ve had eighteen hours to concentrate!” Zedd thundered. “What in the blue blazes could possibly be taking this spell so long?”

“Oh, hold your horses, you spoiled brat! This isn’t simple mind-control. You have to open the thing up from the other side, and that’s no small feat! It only produces intermittent success at first. I’m tampering with powerful spiritual forces here, you know.”

“So? That’s all that magic is!”

“I would think you of all people would have respect for the insane complexities of this realm! I’ll get it done when I get it done, and no amount of grumbling or whining is going to expedite the process, so shut up and let me get back to work! And may I remind you that if you had had your way, we would still be rotting at my father’s palace right now. At least I’m actually doing something productive!” With that, the communications portal closed.

Zedd growled. “Why, oh why did I ever marry her?”

TO BE CONTINUED…

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

Disclaimer: This may not be totally politically correct. I am certainly not politically correct meself. If you are offended by minor exploitation of popular folklore and stereotypes, then I don’t know what to say.

Note: I owe a little bit of a thanks to Erica Rottler for inspiring me to have the ZEO Rangers take a Christmas Break trip to Disneyland. Not that this fic is anything like Rottler’s “Her Story,” but I thought she should get some credit.

The Replacement
Part III: Fallen Fast in Love
by MegaSilver

An intricate array of colors illuminated the strange realm where the witch resided. Nothing here had physical form, accentuating her frustration at being unable to pound on anything.

Damn that piece of muscle-brained trailer trash!

Rita figured Zedd’s interruption had set her concentration progress back a half-hour. No time to fume about that, though, or she might lose still more ground. She took a deep breath—or at least, the sensual equivalent of such, for there was no need to breathe in this dimension—raised her arms, threw her head back, and concentrated on the spectrum as it began to mix, organize, and form into an image of the real world.

***

Tommy threw his single duffel bag into the trunk of the Jeep. “That’s everything!” he exclaimed, grateful they weren’t going skiing. On a trip to a place such as Disneyland, only the girls packed heavily.

Billy shut the lid on the back of the RADBUG. “So, who’s going in which car?”

“Adam and I’ll go with you, Billy,” answered Tanya. “Kat and Rocky, you two ought to come, too.”

Katherine cringed a little inside. She knew it was a nice overture on Tanya’s part, but something about the thought of Tommy and Heather alone together on the road didn’t sit right with her. Come on, Kat, she told herself. Shake it off. You never counted on having him in the first place. There’s no illusion to shatter. But the more she thought about it, the less it seemed like simple jealousy.

“No, come on, guys!” exclaimed Heather. “I don’t want to be just a fifth—or seventh wheel this weekend. Someone ride with us!”

Billy nodded. “Adam and Tanya, why don’t you two go with Tommy and Heather? I’m not sure how comfortable the RADBUG would be with five people for a few hours on end.”

“But doesn’t this thing get up to—” Before he could say “three thousand miles per hour,” Rocky caught himself and clasped a hand over his mouth. It most certainly would not—not today, that is.

As Katherine settled into the front seat of the modified Volkswagen Beetle, she tried to tell herself to take it as a good sign that Heather would want to ride with more people than just Tommy. It’s not like she’s going to steal him from us. And yet…

***

Twenty miles down the road, Rocky lit up, reached into his bag, and grabbed a compact disc. “Hey guys—we have to hear this!”

“What is it?” Katherine reached back and took the CD.

“A single I forgot I’ve been saving it for the trip.”

Oh, great. Rocky was occasionally a bit lacking in discretion, and the shrinkwrap indicated he had never listened to the contents of this CD. Who knew what it might contain? Katherine and Billy clandestinely exchanged worried glances before Katherine said, “All right,” and slid it into the console. Immediately, horrible screeching and grinding noises rocked the interior of the RADBUG, and had she not anticipated something obnoxious, Katherine might have wondered if the engine was coming loose or something.

Billy doubled over the steering wheel and gritted his teeth. “Can you turn that down?” he asked, practically shouting.

Rocky covered his ears. “Turn it off!” he pleaded. “Ugh! Man, I’m sorry, guys. What a ripoff! Why can’t they ever remix a damn song? The original was good!”

Katherine wasn’t sure how that could be so, but it wasn’t important. “It’s all right,” she sighed, handing the CD back to her friend. “That was a corker of a song.”

Billy eased back into the seat, still breathing heavily. “That’s not music. That’s noise.”

Rocky narrowed his eyelids. “Oh, and since when did you become a fine connoisseur of everything tuneful, Wilhelm von Cranston?”

“Actually, it’s von Krensitz.”

“What?” Katherine and Rocky looked puzzled.

“Von Krensitz was my family’s original name. They were German immigrants living in Ohio. They Anglicized the name—or, I guess, Scottified it—during World War I when anti-German sentiment was at its peak.”

“Oh.” Katherine nodded. “I have a similar story. My mother’s family is Irish, but her parents converted to Protestantism and dropped the ‘O’’ from their name when they went to Australia.”

Rocky smiled, resting his hands behind his head. “We’ve always been just plain old de Santos.”

“Spanish?”

“Argentinean. Half-Spanish, half-Italian.”

“I didn’t know you were Latino,” remarked Billy. “I guess your last name is kind of a giveaway, but I never really thought about it.”

Rocky shrugged. “I just don’t think to mention it. My parents moved here before I was born, and they’ve always tried to be discreet about it—they’ve kind of hinted Argentineans have a reputation for gang work and peddling here. I wouldn’t know; we’ve never really been close to other Argentineans, even my parents’ families.”

Katherine had heard that herself from time to time, but it was difficult to say if there was anything to it. Of course, Australia had its own history of outlaws and gangsters—in large part, that was the history of Australia. Those days were long past, but if there was any truth to the hype, it seemed most every nation in the world continued to have at least a nominal mafia presence in her new country—specifically in Los Angeles. That the various gangs operated in a state of grudging peace at best and mutual war at worst made the scenario all the more amusing—or frightening, depending on where you lived.

It was interesting to contemplate the inter-ethnic and international tensions that led to so much of the world’s troubles—and how rarely it was black and white. Katherine would have wondered too whether this grayness might be applied to the Power Team’s own struggle against the Machine Empire, but her personal experience put any such thoughts to rest. Their enemies, in addition to their territorial ambitions, had openly admitted to being evil and hating anything associated with good, and under their tutelage, Katherine had professed the same doctrines.

Thinking back on the whole thing always made her feel sick. The other Rangers had not been told—though Tommy may have been through the same thing since he had once been evil as well—but Zordon had had to give Katherine a little bit of what might be considered therapy so that she could return to her normal moral condition without falling into excessive and potentially fatal anguish. It wasn’t quite so bad, he had explained, because simply fighting with the Rangers had been a huge help; after all, Katherine would have it in her head that she was working to destroy that which had possessed and controlled her. Still, it was not as though everything was just the same as it had been before the spell.

The sudden seismic shift in moral outlook had also given her a keen sensitivity to evil—just as it had Tommy, although of a different sort. Whereas Tommy’s instinct was more physical, an ability to draw lines and skillfully command all available resources against a villain, Katherine’s was more intellectual. She could feel when something had been touched by diabolical forces.

And that was what forced her to consider whether her apprehensions about Heather were born of mere jealousy or somehow justified. She had arranged their dinner the other week precisely to force herself to jettison any hint of the triumph or vengefulness that had once mixed with Rita’s magic to make her so complicit in the theft of Kimberly’s Power Coin—and now she began to wonder if she had overcompensated for her past evils. What she was feeling now was nothing like the bit of defeatist jealousy that she had felt when Tommy was still with Kimberly.

Sliding a little further down into her seat, she sighed and told herself to relax a bit. Just try to have fun on this trip and keep one eye open. It wouldn’t be easy.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

The Replacement
Part IV: From Motion Sickness To...
by MegaSilver

At the sight of the huge artificial mountain in Tomorrowland, Katherine forgot all her cares. “Space Mountain! Guys, we have to go now! I’ve been waiting to ride this thing since I was seven years old!”

Heather grimaced. “I don’t know, Kat… that seems a little overly thrilling for a first stop.”

“Oh, come on! We haven’t eaten lunch yet—there won’t be a better time to ride it!”

“Yeah!” added Tanya, her natural bounciness augmented by Katherine’s excitement. “Come on, guys; we need to do the good stuff first!”

Tommy smiled and nudged Heather. “What do you think? Don’t tell me you can do Widowmaker but not Space Mountain!”

Heather sighed. Normally, she would have been able to—exhilaration was hardly a challenge to a professional Californian skier—but something just didn’t feel right. Actually, truth be told, she didn’t want to be here at all. In the last fifteen minutes she had begun to something deep down inside telling her to get rid of these kids, go off alone with Tommy, and—

Oh, knock it off! she told herself. Don’t act like a slut. You’re barely dating him, if that.

“All right,” she conceded, painting a smile onto her face. “Let’s go!”

“Whoo!” Rocky shouted.

***

Inside the Nether Realm, the witch’s eyes opened wide. The formless dimension felt as though it were shaking her evil spirit, and the visible patterns began to move past her, slowly at first, then faster and faster up to light speed. A hint of earthly light shown through the hole that was being ripped in the dimension at the end of her path.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

***

“Aww man!” exclaimed Tommy as the gang descended from the Space Mountain. “I forgot how great that was!”

“Still as good as ever!” declared Adam.

“That was incredible!” breathed Katherine.

“Hey, anyone ready for lunch?” asked Rocky.

“I could use some nourishment,” admitted Billy.

As they started off to find a food court, Heather leaned up to say to Tommy, “You know, I’m really not sure I’m up to this today. I kind of had a late night last night—problems at the resort and such. Would you mind if—”

“Oh, no, I understand,” Tommy answered. “I mean, if you’re sure, though… maybe you’ll feel better if you eat something—”

Heather shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure that’ll help. I think it’s best if I just lay low today.”

“All right. Hey guys!” Tommy captured his teammates’ attention. “Heather’s feeling a bit worn out. I’m going to take her back to the motel and maybe run some errands the rest of the day.”

Katherine looked a bit surprised—or perhaps disturbed was a better word. “Okay.” She hesitated. “You have a key, right?”

“Yes, I do,” answered Heather.

“All right; we’ll be back around 7:30 to pick you two up for dinner,” Adam told them. “Take care!”

“Bye!” As they started toward the exit, Heather said, “I really appreciate this, Tommy.”

Tommy shrugged. “Hey, if you’re not feeling well, you’re not feeling well.”

Heather just smiled. Things were working out perfectly so far.

***

At about 7:40 PM, Adam heard a knock on their motel room door. Figuring it was Tommy—back from errands, late as usual, perhaps having lost his key—he opened the door without looking through the peephole. To his surprise, Katherine and Tanya stood there, perturbed expressions on both of their faces.

“What’s wrong?”

“Tommy’s not back yet, is he?” asked Tanya.

“No, we were waiting for him to show up before we went to get you two. Why?”

“Heather’s not in our room, either,” explained Katherine. “There’s something you guys need to see right now.”

“Okay.” Adam looked over his shoulder. “Rocky! Billy! Come here!” The five friends jogged over to the girls’ room, where Katherine opened the door and motioned inside.

“Oh, my God!” exclaimed Rocky. The spread on one of the beds was severely disheveled, as though a struggle had taken place there, and beside it on the floor lay the fragments of a shattered porcelain lamp.

“What happened?” asked Billy.

“We don’t know!” explained Tanya, breathing heavily. “We got back and the room was like this—and Heather was gone!”

“Hey, guys!” called Adam from outside. “Come check this out!” A set of tire tracks from a smallish four-wheel drive vehicle adorned the sidewalk and pavement just outside the girls’ room. “Looks like someone was here to pick something up.”

“Or someone.” Billy lifted his communicator to his mouth. “Tommy, this is Billy. Do you read me?” Nothing. “Tommy, Billy! Come in!” All he got was a blocked signal beep. “Alpha, this is Billy. Tommy’s disappeared and he’s not answering his communicator!”

“I’ll try to get a location on it!” replied Alpha. A minute later, he called Billy back. “Billy! This is terrible! We can’t get a signal of Tommy’s communicator anywhere!”

“All right. We’re on our way, Alpha.” After locking up the girls’ room, stepping into the guys’ room and locking the door behind them, the five friends were on their way to the Power Chamber.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

Author’s Note: My bastardization of the word “spelunking” is quite deliberate.

The Replacement
Part V: Spellunking in the Mountains
by MegaSilver

***SEVERAL HOURS PRIOR***

With an unconscious Tommy in the passenger seat, Heather navigated his Jeep Wrangler through the winding mountain roads and up to her parents’ house. To her frustration, she saw a black Monte Carlo situated in the driveway when she arrived. No matter; easy enough to deal with.

Heather parked the Jeep in the house’s sub-level garage, pulled some shades over the windows, and kissed Tommy on the lips before making her way upstairs to find her father, dressed in a suit minus the jacket and fixing some cheese and crackers in the kitchen.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Heather!” Startled, Michael Thompson whirled around. “How are you?”

“Not bad. I just went out to do some shopping for the day. How was your trip?”

“Don’t even mention it,” Mr. Thompson sighed. “My flight was supposed to arrive last night. Instead it got in late this morning and I just got home fifteen minutes ago. That’s what I get for taking a business trip to the Upper Midwest in December.”

“Sounds awful,” Heather remarked coolly, not really caring. She noticed a glass vase of wilted roses on the counter and began to reach for it, but she stopped when her father suddenly turned to face her.

“By the way, has your mother called at all?

“Nope.”

“I swear.” Mr. Thompson shook his head. A slender but sturdy man with thick silvering hair, he had done quite well in life from quite early on. Twenty-six years ago, however, on a vacation to South Africa he had fallen in love with and married an Afrikaner who was, for reasons he simply could not fathom, quite economical. Getting her to spend money was a chore; after decades of her husband’s lectures, Corrie Thompson still didn’t have it nailed into her head that it was worth a few bucks to call and let your family know that you’re still alive when you were visiting your parents on the other end of the globe. Her thriftiness vexed both daughter and husband, the latter of whom had generally resisted her desires to give Heather a more modest allowance.

Now, he remarked, “If I wasn’t around, I don’t think she’d ever go see them at all.” He turned around to search for the address book. “What time is it in Johannesburg? Actually, I don’t care. I’m calling right now.”

Taking advantage of her father’s vulnerable position, Heather snatched the vase and shattered it over his head.

***

In the Power Chamber, Billy and Alpha tapped away at the consoles in a futile attempt to locate the leader of the Power Rangers.

“I’m having trouble getting a clear signal of either Tommy’s or Heather’s biorhythms,” explained Alpha. “I’m picking up a weak reading in the general area of the Western United States, but I can’t get any more specific than that.”

“If their biorhythms are being scrambled, then we can be certain there is a diabolical force behind this,” confirmed Zordon.

“Can’t we try to trace Tommy’s Zeonizer?” asked Katherine.

“That’s not possible,” said Billy. “The Zeonizers are physical grounding devices formed only temporarily through an electromental connection with a section of the ZEO Crystal. We’d have to catch him in the act of Morphing to see it.” He pressed a few more keys. “If he is Morphed, we could get a projection of the Crystal’s energy on the map—but that signal’s probably scrambled, too.” He waited while the computer performed the search. “Same thing.”

“Hey!” exclaimed Tanya from across the room. “Billy, what’s this?” She stood in front of the receptacle holding the ZEO Crystal. It appeared normal—except for the fifth section, which kept flickering red.

“Odd,” Billy murmured. “It’s being activated in some fashion, but I’ve never seen that pattern of energy.” He went back to the console and began a diagnosis. When it was finished, he looked up at Zordon, puzzled. “Zordon, is there any reason why one of the subcrystals would be absorbing energy at random?”

“Not that I am aware of,” replied his mentor.

“Well, that’s exactly what’s happening right now.”

For a few moments Alpha and the Power Rangers stood around in dumbfounded silence. At last, Katherine spoke. “Well, I certainly can’t tell what’s happening to the crystal, but I think we ought to get started looking manually for Tommy.”

“That’s a pretty big search range,” noted Adam. “We could spend all month combing the state.”

Katherine shook her head. “I think I have a pretty good idea of where to start.”

***

In the living room of the Thompson’s house, the sedated form of Tommy lay on a comfortable sofa, several wires attached to his forehead and his chest. Satisfied that the juice was flowing in as it should, the witch pulled the blanket up to Tommy’s neck and stroked his hair. “Sleep tight, love,” she whispered in a low but sweet tone. “I’ll have something for you when you wake up. I promise it’ll make you forget all about dear sweet Kimmy.”

This was just too good to be true. It had been long and difficult, but the results would be well worth the trouble. There had, of course, been a certain conceptual awkwardness, given Heather’s attraction to the Red Ranger, but now that everything was situated correctly it hardly seemed to matter. If anything it felt natural, as if the witch had slipped right into the role.

But then, that was more or less exactly what had happened.

***

Rocky winced as he watched Katherine fiddle with a lock pick on the side door to the Thompsons’ garage. “Katherine, are you sure we had to go through all this?”

Katherine sighed. “If Heather is behind this, which I suspect she is, then ringing the bell and inviting myself in is quite out of the question.” She took a deep breath and pushed the pick in one more time. Finally, the lock gave way. “All right. Let’s hope this code Billy gave me works.” She typed in a few numbers on the alarm panel next to the door. The words, “SYSTEM DISARMED” appeared and Katherine opened the door.

The four Power Rangers entered the garage and tiptoed along quietly. And true to Katherine’s suspicions, a Jeep Wrangler sat inside. “I’d say that’s a good sign,” she said.

At last she found the door leading up to the main level and picked the lock. “Okay, this is it. I’ll call you if I find anything. Wish me luck.”

“Just remember, stay discreet,” advised Adam.

“I will.”

“Be careful,” bade Tanya as her best friend entered the house. When the door was shut, Tanya exhaled. “I don’t know. I just can’t see Heather doing something like this. I got the feeling Billy couldn’t, either, and he knows her better than I do. Do you guys think maybe Kat’s being a bit overzealous?”

Rocky shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, the car’s here, and it’s not like any of us had any other ideas.”

“Remember Kat worked for Rita and Zedd once herself,” said Adam. “If anyone knows how to spot evil, she does.”

***

On the main level of the Thompsons’ house, Katherine crept her way along the central hall, watching and listening for any shadows or motions. She saw a light and some movements from one of the rooms, and leaned in just a little bit to investigate. It was a kitchen—and who should be in there cleaning but Heather, looking no worse for the wear. Katherine now had little doubt Tommy was in or around here somewhere.

Inhaling deeply, she pressed her back up against the wall and waited for Heather to assume a nonobservant position before slinking her way past the kitchen, quickly but quietly. The end of the hall opened up to a large living room, tastefully decorated for Christmas—with the unmorphed Red Ranger lying on one of the leather sofas. The sight infused her with a very satisfying sensation of justified ire.

I was right.

Quietly, she approached her friend and teammate and regarded the wires attached to his body. They led to an obnoxious looking silver box positioned in the middle of a coffee table. As Katherine stood there contemplating whether it would harm Tommy to disconnect him immediately, she felt the evil presence behind her and whirled around to look Heather Thompson straight in the eye.

“Heather.”

Heather shook her head. “You know, I really should not be surprised to see you here. I can’t believe I didn’t think to take you out before doing this. I should have known you’d come looking for him. I should have known you were still in lust with him.”

Katherine was mildly surprised that Heather would have guessed about her past obsession with Tommy, but she was prepared to meet the challenge. “I think it’s rather presumptuous to read out another woman for ‘lusting’ after the man you’ve just kidnapped. Now would you like to tell me what you’re doing with him?”

“Fat chance.” Heather took a step toward her adversary.

***

All of a sudden, a weak moan penetrated the eerie silence of the garage.

Rocky darted his head around. “Did you guys hear that?”

“Yeah,” breathed Adam. “I think it came from over there.” He pointed to a corner filled with tools and some clutter, barely visible in the dark.

“I’m gonna go check it out.”

“Be careful!” warned Tanya.

Rocky felt his way across the garage, stepping carefully and trying not to hit anything that might make noises. The moaning recurred occasionally, giving him a focal point to approach. He kept moving until the sound led him to the clutter pile, which looked loose and recently arranged. Quickly but carefully he tore away the junk to find a man duct-taped to the wall behind it, his eyes closed and a decent-sized wound slowly bleeding from his hairline.

“Whoa!” Rocky jumped back in surprise.

***

Katherine also stepped in the direction of her foe. Malicious though it may have been, she was enjoying every minute of this. “Let me warn you, Heather Lockley: if you have any regard for your well-being, you will cooperate with me, and you will stay the bloody hell away from me. Do you understand?”

Heather continued to approach until she and Katherine stood within striking distance of each other. “Your Ozzie bitchiness doesn’t scare me.” With that, she threw the first punch.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

The Replacement
Part VI: Ding Dong
by MegaSilver

The Pink Ranger was somewhat surprised by the force of the blow to her nose, but it was scarcely damaging. She quickly rebounded to stare at her enemy with her icy blue eyes.

Heather raised her fist to strike again, but Katherine blocked it with her left arm and belted the skier in the gut. Heather was unprepared for the strike and doubled over, giving her opponent a clear shot at her nose. She positioned herself to land a spinning kick, but Katherine saw it coming and redirected her leg to send her sailing to the floor with a loud crash.

“Oh, careful; you’ll wake your lover!” Katherine taunted.

“He’s sedated,” Heather hissed. She caught Katherine off guard with a horizontal swipe of her leg and sent her enemy tumbling, buying herself enough time to rise to her feet.

Katherine retreated a few feat and rose to a crouching position to face the opponent.

“Here, kitty kitty kitty,” snickered Heather.

Those words set off mental alarms in Katherine. She was too absorbed in the heat of the action to completely click it all together, but she understood at once that this had to end now. With all the grace of a slender feline, she seized the iron stoking rod beside the fireplace, lunged forward, kicked Heather in the side to loosen her up, then struck the side of her head with the flat end of the rod.

Immediately Heather went limp and dropped to her knees before something animated her once again. Her eyes and mouth shot open, her head thrust backward, and a terrible screeching noise emerged from her throat. A ghastly white light wrapped around her body and then burst forth, prompting Katherine to duck and roll backwards.

When the light and the noise had cleared, Katherine looked forward to see two limp figures on the floor ahead. One was Heather. The other was Rita.

***

“Sir, can you hear me?” Rocky asked the man in a hoarse whisper. In reply he heard only muffled grunting. Squinting, he saw that the man’s mouth was taped shut, too.

“Psst! Rocky! What’s there?” called Tanya, as softly as possible.

“It’s a man—and he’s tied up!” exclaimed Rocky. Carefully—though this could never be painless—Rocky peeled the strip of duct tape from the man’s mouth.

“Who are you?” the man moaned lowly.

“I’m a friend of Heather. I’m here to get you out. Are you… you’re Mr. Thompson, aren’t you?”

The man nodded.

“Guys, come help me!” Rocky summoned as he began clearing more of the junk away.

***

Rita Repulsa was clearly underwhelmed by the turn of events. She pulled herself up, grunting angrily with every breath.

Katherine’s glacial composure gave way to an expression of clear-cut contempt. “I should have known it was you!”

“You…” grunted Rita, “you… you ruin EVERYTHING I do! But you won’t ruin this!” A beam of fire placed her prized wand in her hands.

“It’s Morphin’ Time!” cried Katherine. A moment later, ZEO Ranger I stood in the Thompson’s living room, unemotional and unforgiving.

“You’ll leave this house at once!” With that, the witch charged forward.

“Pink Power Shield!”

It was a race to the center of the living room. When Katherine’s shield impacted Rita’s wand, it became manifest that the latter had gravely overestimated her own staying power. Rita screamed as the force of the shield rocketed her backward, straight through the enormous window on the wall behind her.

Katherine ran after her, but when she looked out through the hole where the glass had once been, the witch was nowhere to be found. Immediately she switched on her communicator. “Zordon, Tommy’s right next to me and he’s hooked up to some sort of device! I’m afraid to try and disconnect him.”

“We’ll teleport him here with the device immediately,” Zordon assured her. At once Tommy disappeared in a column of red light.

The sound of moaning from a few feet behind caught Katherine’s attention. “Heather!” She raced over and helped Heather to her knees. Heather gasped, somewhat taken aback at the sight of the Pink Power Ranger in front of her. “It’s okay!” Katherine assured her. “It’s all over. Are you all right?”

With Katherine’s assistance, Heather slowly made her way to her feet, her breaths becoming longer and less intense. “What—what happened here?”

“You mean—you don’t remember?”

Heather put a hand to her forehead. “I think… I sort of… it’s like a whole bunch of stuff blended together. I remember driving home—but why? Was Tommy with me… yes—he was. Where is he? Was Katherine just here? My father! He was home today… where did he go?”

“It’s all right!” the Pink Ranger assured her. “Someone tried to invade your house. We put a stop to it—but you suffered a head injury. Things might be a bit blurry. It’s all over, though.” Actually, Katherine was almost as confused as Heather. It took her a few minutes to make some sort of sense of the situation: apparently Rita had not totally possessed the girl.

***

Back at the Power Chamber, the other Rangers watched as the opioid complex began to wear off and Tommy’s eyelids fluttered open. He sat up on the cot and rubbed his head.

“Aiyiyi!” exclaimed Alpha. “Thank goodness you’re all right!”

“Oh, man.” Tommy looked around. “What happened? What am I doing here?”

“From what we have analyzed, Rita saw fit to use Heather as a vessel for her own self by physically entering the Nether Realm and merging Heather’s soul with her own,” explained Zordon. “Once she had taken over, she beat you unconscious, destroyed your communicator and took you to the Thompsons’ house, where she hooked you up to the device on your left.” Tommy looked over at the silver box as Zordon continued. “The box was designed to open a pathway between the ZEO Crystal and the Morphing Grid using the crystal’s bearer as its conductor. Had Rita had enough time, she would then have been able to infuse power into the crystal at will.”

“But why do that?” asked Tommy.

Billy spoke up. “We think they wanted to give you an upper hand against the Machine Empire. Of course, once you had beaten the Machines for them, Rita and Zedd would almost certainly have withdrawn the extra energy and may have tried to add inhibitors to keep you from fighting them at full strength.”

“Whoa.” Tommy shook his head. “Too much.”

“A part of Heather was always there, though,” Katherine piped up. “Even with Rita in her she still cared about Tommy enough to put him up at her house instead of taking him to another dimension—and she stopped short of killing her father. And she seems to remember a little bit of what happened.”

“Oh, man. What am I gonna tell her?”

Katherine shrugged, an empathetic look on her face. “Leave parts out, I guess. The others told Mr. Thompson that his home had been invaded and the Power Rangers had asked them to help since they were friends of Heather.”

Tommy wiped his forehead. What a rough ride.

***

“You see? You see? All that work for nothing!” Zedd glowed a fiery red.

“Oh, shut your trap!” Rita snapped. “I would have had just enough time if it hadn’t been for you interrupting me and setting me back a whole half-hour! Just because you can’t wait for the finer things in life doesn’t mean they’re not there!”

“Well, I suppose you have one thing right,” Zedd fumed. “I certainly did not wait for the finer thing in life when I proposed to you!”

“Excuse me? Just what are you insinuating?”

“Of all the blunders, all the mistakes, all the foul-ups of my reign, you are by far the greatest! Look at me! Look what I used to be! Look at what I’ve become! No wonder the Machines conquered my empire! How can I maintain a reign of terror with you by my side? Who can possibly be terrorized by a pathetic bloke with his dominatrix wife?”

“Don’t you talk to me like that!” Rita whacked her husband with her wand. “I am your wife, and you will pay me the marriage debt due a wife! Now get ahold of yourself and start packing! We’ve got to go get a cloaking device before Mondo or Zordon finds out where we’re hiding. Those Power Pukes aren’t the weaklings they used to be, you know!” She started marching toward the entrance to the motor home, but stopped when she realized Zedd wasn’t following her. “Well, come on, musclebrain! What are you waiting for?”

“I want a divorce. As soon as possible!”

Rita snorted. “Quit being such a brat. Don’t you know that divorce is a human concept? For us, you marry, you’re stuck!”

“And I say it’s high time we reformed that!” snarled Zedd

“Fat chance!”

“Oh, really? If divorce is so incompatible with evil, why has the Church condemned it for the last two thousand years? Or are you suddenly running scared of hellfire and brimstone?”

Rita glared at him and snuffed. “‘Hellfire and brimstone’? Look, here: I’ll have you know that my father sold our clan’s souls to the devil in exchange for our eternal life years before I was born. And so far I’d say Beelzebub has done a damn fine job keeping up his end of the bargain!” As she finished, a flat circular blade whirled down to the moon’s surface, barely skimmed the ground nearby the RV, and cut sharply upwards—slicing right through Rita’s neck.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

Disclaimer: Some of the dialogue in the last scene is adapted from “There’s No Business Like Snow Business part 3.” BVE owns it. I don’t.

The Replacement
Part VII: Getting Things Straight
by MegaSilver

Sitting in the Thompsons’ driveway two days before Christmas, Tommy rubbed the new communicator on his wrist. This wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t going to do itself. No more procrastination. Taking a deep breath, he exited the vehicle and carried himself to the front door.

Heather answered, a genuine but not overly enthusiastic smile on her face. “Hi, Tommy. Come on in.” They sat down at the bar in the Thompsons’ kitchen. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, it’s okay; I can’t stay long.” He moistened his dry lips. “I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m okay,” answered Heather. “I didn’t have a concussion, but the doctor said I should stay off the slopes this week, just to recover from the shock of everything. I’m still not sure exactly what went on. I kind of wish someone would give me a straight answer.”

Tommy remembered not to take that as a direct challenge. “I don’t—I think everyone is at least as confused as you are,” he said. “The whole thing was so weird.”

“Tell me about it.” Heather reached for a grape from the colander at the bar.

“How’s your father?”

“He’s good. He needed a blood transfusion and his ankle was sprained, but he’ll be fine. He’s going back to work tomorrow—though I’m not sure he’s exactly thrilled to have recovered in time for Christmas Eve.” She took a cherry from the colander. “What about you?”

“Nothing serious. I restarted my karate practice yesterday; everything’s been going fine.”

“Good to hear.”

Silence for a moment. Then Tommy spoke: “I’m sorry the weekend didn’t turn out any better.”

Heather chuckled. “Well, it happens.” She brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face. “I used to think we lived in, you know, a normal world. All that bizarre stuff was just fairy tales. Even after the Power Rangers first appeared, it wasn’t something that ever actually touched me. Of course, now…” Her voice trailed off.

Tommy knew exactly what she meant. That was why he had to do what he was about to do: he was, after all, at the forefront of the bizarre part of this world, fighting so that his cohabitants of this globe might have some semblance of the “normal” life they had known before the invasions.

“Heather?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something I need to tell you. It might be kind of hard to hear.”

“All right.” Heather looked him straight in the eye. “Go ahead.”

“I’ve thought this through,” explained Tommy. “I know it’s kind of rotten to do this right before Christmas, but I don’t want to be faking things. I still have a lot going on in my life, I have so many obligations and I’m trying to support a—well, not short-distance relationship, too. I just don’t think this is gonna work out.”

Heather nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Tommy added

“No, I understand.” Heather forced a smile. “No hard feelings. Besides, you’re just off a relationship. You need to give yourself time to recover.”

“I know.” Tommy sighed and stood up. “Look, I’d better head out.”

“Hey—call me if you’re ever in town, okay? Race you down the Widowmaker.”

Tommy smiled and nodded. “All right.”

“Merry Christmas.”

“You too.”

***

The sky was becoming tinged with orange as Tommy pulled his car into his driveway. A silver Honda Accord was parked on the curb beside his house, and much to his surprise, he ran into Katherine on his way up the porch.

“Oh, hey!” she said, a smile on her face. “I just got done with ballet practice. I thought I’d stop by to talk—to see how you were.”

Tommy smiled back. “I’m all right.” He paused for a moment, then motioned toward a nearby bike path. “I’m free for a bit, too. You want to go… ah, walk in the park?”

“Sure.” And so they were off, strolling on the path as the sky grew slowly redder and dimmer, and Tommy recounted the incident with Heather.

“Wow,” exclaimed Katherine when he was finished. “I’m really sorry, Tommy.” And it was true, although at the same time she felt a certain relief and hope. Knock it off, she told herself.

“Don’t be. It’s nothing you’ve done.”

“I know, but—maybe it is. I mean, I’m the one who put that dinner together and—I really did want everything to be perfect.”

“Just forget it, Kat. That was incredible of you.” He looked at her. “I’m just really lucky to have a friend like you.”

Katherine tried to smile. “I just thought it would help take your mind off things if you had someone in your life.”

“I know,” said Tommy. “I wanted things to work out, too… but I was trying to have what I’d had with Kimberly. It was like she was a replacement, but I can’t have what Kim and I had with her—or with anyone.” He sighed. “I just need some time to get used to the idea that maybe something else is just as good.”

Katherine bit her lip. “Have you heard anything more from Kim?” It was a dumb and possibly imprudent question, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Tommy shook his head. “Have you?”

“Billy said she won a silver and a gold during the games. I don’t think he’s talked to her yet, though.”

“Wow. That’s great.”

“I guess she’s staying in Europe for Christmas, too.”

Tommy nodded. “She’d mentioned that in one of her letters.” There was awkward silence for a few moments. Then, “Maybe I should call her after the break. I mean—just to see if everything is okay…”

“I don’t know,” said Katherine. “I’m not sure you’re quite ready for that yet.”

“I just want to know…”

“If she’s still competing, it can’t be too bad,” Katherine reminded him.

“You’re right.” They stopped to sit down on a bench. “I guess I keep hoping that somehow it was all a fluke, somehow it’ll all be undone soon.”

“It takes time,” Katherine reminded him, echoing his earlier words.

“Yeah.” Then, something occurred to Tommy. “Hey, you teach ballet, right?”

“From time to time, yes.”

“Do you know any other kinds of dance?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Well… I was thinking that… I mean, just to be prepared when I am ready, maybe I should work on my ballroom dancing… you know, just to make it easier on myself.”

Katherine grinned. “And you want lessons.”

“If you have time, eventually, then—”

Katherine stood up. “All right. You start now.”

“What?”

“Get up. First lesson, right here, right now.”

“But we’re in the middle of the park!”

“There’s no one around!”

“No music, either!”

“Well, you have to learn the steps before you can match them with a musical beat!” Katherine pulled him up off the bench. “If you want to do this, prove it to me and do it.”

“All right, all right.” Tommy rolled his eyes, although he was secretly quite pleased to oblige. After all… why pass up a chance to dance with a beautiful blonde in the middle of the park at sunset?

“So what are we doing first?” he asked.

“Tango.”

THE END

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

So I spent about forty-five minutes listening to Celtic French music from Brittany and getting the formatting straight while I uploaded this. I have a sequel in mind, but meantime--I'd really appreciate your feedback!

[Cerebro]

BRAVO!!!! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Keep it up, MegaSilver. :023:

[MegaSilver aka Zhane]

Forgot to mention: The cultural dynamics in Part VI were inspired by Cheryl Roberts’ excellent fic, “The Dark Lady.”

Also... thanks to the many people who have given me feedback (*HINT HINT*). :)

[Pohatu]

I was actually surprised at how this one just popped up, and it pretty muchly became an instant hint, if I do say so myself. Other people here just need to drag their butts in and read it.

In other words, good job! :023: