"I thought I told you not to show your face in Angel Grove any more, Lone Warrior," Tommy growled.
"Actually," Arsenal replied, sheathing his Soul Sword, "I'd heard a report of a major threat to the Earth in the area. I'm here on a recon. I'm not looking for a fight."
"Too bad," Tommy growled, "'cause I am." He swung his sword at Arsenal. Arsenal blocked the blade with his gauntlet, then hit him in the face with his seismic knuckles, sending Tommy flying backwards, unconscious.
"Good riddance," Kimberly muttered, under her breath.
"Tommy's been such a jerk lately," Aisha said. "I've been wanting to do that to him for a while."
"Ever since our fight together," Rocky told Arsenal, "and with his recent fight with the bogus Green Ranger, Tommy's been on edge. You're free to go. Just don't come back again."
"Don't worry about me," Arsenal responded. "Just worry about yourselves. Things are not quite as black and white as they seem."
He sped off on his Excalibur. Only Kimberly noticed a diskette near the Excalibur's tire tracks. She bent over and picked it up. On the label, it read: "TO KIM. THE TRUTH." Intrigued, she hid it and returned to the Citadel with the others.
"Jealous?" he asked, hiding his smile from her.
"Maybe," she admitted, shaking her red mane of hair. "I am human now. You and Neon Wizard certified that some time ago."
"You need to get out more, Fran," he told her. "Take the rest of the afternoon off. Head into town, go shopping, take in a movie, or something. I need to get back to work." Fran left the room as he sat back and read the latest reports from various Jihaddi.
She flopped onto her bed, lost in thought. After all she'd been through, she thought she'd had it bad. The information on that diskette, coupled with what Arsenal had said earlier, had her mind reeling. And yet...
She still needed to see for herself.
She stood up and pulled out her Power Coin and Morpher. They, like most of her clothes, were pink. It stuck her then how stereotypical she'd been acting.
One last time, she thought. She thrust the Morpher in front of her. "PTERODACTYL!"
She was immediately clothed in her Pink Ranger outfit. She grabbed a cassette recorder from her dresser and teleported to the Citadel.
She appeared in the control center of the Citadel, yet hidden in the shadows. With a flick of the wrist, she deactivated Alpha. Luckily, Zordon's attention was elsewhere. She pulled out the recorder and turned it on.
"So the Lone Warrior has been snooping around Angel Grove," a dopey, syrupy voice asked over one of the speakers.
"Yes, Lord Barney," Zordon replied. "He has almost killed Lord Zed, and I fear the Rangers are next. They are no match for him."
"This is bad," the voice replied. "Very, very bad. Perhaps using the Rangers as pawns in our plan was a mistake."
"I must break off, my lord," Zordon said. "I sense that one of the Rangers has activated her Power Coin."
"'Pawns in our plan,' Zordon?" Kimberly asked, coming onto Zordon's view. "When I first learned you were in the league with Zed, I didn't want to believe it. But now? I've seen enough." She drew her Power Bow.
"Rangers!" Zordon called out. "I need you. Kimberly has been brainwashed, and is attacking the Citadel. Alpha! Alpha, where are you?"
"He can't help you now, Zordon," she said. "I've deactivated him. And by the time I'm done with you, all your plans are going to worth squat."
Five beams of light entered the room, and the other Rangers appeared, worried looks on their faces.
"Kimberly," Tommy asked her, "why are you doing this?"
"Zordon's been playing us all for fools," she replied. "He and Zed are both minions of somebody he called 'Lord Barney'. I have it all on tape." She held up the recorder.
"Kimberly," Billy said, stepping forward, "I know you've been through a lot lately. You don't have to do this."
"Back off, brain-child," she warned him. "You don't know anything!" She waved her Power Bow warily towards them. "I really don't want to do this, but it seems I've got no choice." She pulled out her Power Coin, and threw it on the floor.
"I quit. And to make sure there can never be another Pink Ranger...." She grabbed Alpha's inert body, and slammed it against the Coin. The Coin shattered, and the resultant power surge traveled through Alpha and into Kimberly's body. She cried out in pain and collapsed.
Tommy was by her side in an instant. He grabbed a device Alpha had used some time earlier and scanned her body.
"How is she?" Aisha asked. Tommy handed the scanner to Billy, who read the readings.
"She's in a minor state of shock," Billy replied. "It seems the energies contained in her Power Coin are now permanently within her body." He set the scanner down. "Our best bet is to get her to a hospital."
"No," Zordon replied. "She'll be better off if she stays here in the Citadel. Billy, reactivate Alpha and have him take Kimberly to the Citadel's infirmary."
"Infirmary?" Adam asked Rocky quietly. Rocky just shrugged. After a few minutes, Alpha was reactivated and carrying Kimberly into the bowels of the Citadel.
"I'm worried about Kimberly," Tommy murmured. "Ever since we first met the Lone..."
"You've been a jerk since then, too," Rocky told him.
Tommy grabbed Rocky by the front of his shirt. "DON'T! SAY! THAT! AGAIN!!!" He threw Rocky against the wall and followed Alpha to the infirmary.
"Man," Adam whispered to Rocky, helping him up off the floor, "another outburst like that, and I don't care what Zordon does. Tommy's goin' down."
"I'm with you," Aisha agreed, poison slipping into her voice. "It's almost as if the Green Ranger was returning."
"I'll deal with that later, Fran." He checked a fluctuating meter. "Have you got a fix on the other three?"
"Negative," she replied. "There must be something about the Swiss Alps that's blocking our scans."
"Hrmmm..." He thought for a minute before making a decision. "Contact Lord Owsen and see if he has any satellite scans of the area. I want those Rangers back in Angel Grove, ASAP."
"Where am I?" she mumbled.
"You are in the infirmary," Alpha told her. "Please lie still. You have been through a very traumatic experience. After all, brainwashing is something very difficult to repair."
"Brainwashing?" she muttered, then snapped suddenly alert. "BRAINWASHING! That's what Zordon's done to us!"
"Ai-yiYI!" Alpha predictably exclaimed. "It seems you are still not completely restored. Alpha to Zordon."
"What is it, Alpha?" Zordon asked in his mouth- full- of- peanut- butter voice.
"Kimberly has come to, and she is still irrational."
"IRRATIONAL!" Kimberly yelled. "You better believe it, baldy, after what you've done to us! When I get outta here..."
"Kimberly, please," Tommy told her from the side of the bed. "Lie still."
"I kinda have no choice, Tommy," she shot back, sarcastically. "Why don't you just go back to being the Green Ranger. At least him I can deal with." Tommy's face contorted in a mask of hatred.
"Ever since you laid eyes on that Lone Wimp, you've been nothing but a love-sick Putty."
"Low blow, Tommy. At least I was never a traitor!"
"Rita had me under one of her spells!" he nearly yelled in her face.
"Some excuse," she spat back. "So was Jason, and he didn't turn on us!"
Clenching his fists, Tommy turned around and stormed out of the infirmary. He pounded the door on his way out, leaving a sizable dent.
"Ai-yiyi," Alpha muttered to himself. "Another mess to clean up."
"What are you complaining for, robot?" she asked. "After all, you just do whatever Zordon tells you."
To this, Alpha was strangely quiet.
I've gotta get out of here, Kim thought to herself.
"So what happened to my Coin?" she asked, dropping her voice into a nicer tone.
"Oh it was horrible," Alpha whined. "It was completely destroyed. Now you won't be able to power your Zord. And the others can't form MegaZord."
"Too bad," she said, feigning concern. "What happened to the energies?"
"Oh, they at least were saved. It would appear they now reside in your body."
"Oh, really." This took her completely by surprise. "Tell me, if I channeled the energies through my body, could I power my Zord that way?"
"It is a possibility," he admitted. "But should we not first consult Zordon on this?"
"No." She concentrated, remembering what it felt like to teleport. In a beam of pink energy, she disappeared.
"Ai-YIYIYIYIYI!" Alpha ran around the infirmary like a headless chicken. "Alpha to Zordon! Alpha to Zordon! The Pink Ranger has escaped! Red Alert! Red Alert!"
"Now that was interesting," she muttered.
"HEY!" she heard someone yell next to her. "Get out of the sunlight! You're blocking our tan!"
She looked over at the voice. Bulk and Skull lay next to her, Skull buried in the sand up to his neck, and Bulk in Speedos. Trying as hard as she could to maintain her composure, she fled the beach.
"Chicks just can't take it," Bulk told Skull. "Chicks see me like this, and they either run towards me, or away from me."
"With what?" Skull asked. "A dump truck?"
Moments later, Skull was totally buried.
"'Hi, guys. There is a major crisis brewing back home. We need your help. Get to Angel Grove as soon as you can. We'll meet you in the Command Center. [Signed] Tommy.'"
"All right," Zack excalimed. "It's gonna be nice to get back into action."
"I wonder what the crisis is?" Trini wondered aloud.
"We'll find out when we get there," Jason replied. He pulled out his Morpher. "IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
"I don't care how long it takes, Arsenal. I'll find you."