Return
of the Crane
Eva
Kimberly
Ann Hart was talking with a young woman, which she
coached. Kim was twenty-two years old and after she
had won Gold in the Pan Globals, she had become a
gymnastics coach. Now she was preparing some
of her young gymnasts for an exhibition in Mariner Bay.
Kimberly
found it very interesting to be there. Not only because
she had never been there before or because the
exhibition, but because of the Lightspeed Rangers.
Especially
with her own past she wondered what this would bring.
Ryan
Mitchell lay on his bed, wondering what the future would
bring. He had found his father and sister, became
the Titanium Ranger and had gotten rid of a lethal
tattoo.
At that
moment his sister, Dana, entered. ”Ryan, can you
come? Dad wants to see us.”
Ryan stood
up and went with her, still wondering what the future
would bring.
***
Dana
and Ryan entered Rescue Ops where the other four Rangers
were waiting. Everybody was standing in strict line.
The siblings joined them just as their father entered the
room.
Captain
Mitchell stood before them, looking very strict.
“Rangers,
today I have a very special mission for you. I want you
to take a day off.”
The Rangers
glanced at each other in surprise and Kelsey giggled
softly. Then everybody looked straight and Carter
said: “That’s a very nice joke, Captain.”
Bill
Mitchell looked surprised for a moment, but said then:
“It isn’t a joke, Rangers. You have been under
a lot of strain lately and you need to relax.”
Just as the
Rangers started to talk about what they wanted to do, the
alarms started blaring. Ryan sighed and
turned to Captain Mitchell. The Rangers got a
debriefing and hurried to Transport.
When
the Rangers arrived on the battle scène, chaos was the
general sight. Civilians were running everywhere,
with Batlings chasing them and a monster was firing at
buildings.
Quickly the
Rangers spread out: Dana went to help the injured
civilians; Kelsey and Joel fought the Batlings; Carter
and Chad attacked the monster and Ryan hurried into a
building where some people said that there was a huge
mass of Batlings.
***
Kim
felt the bar hit her across her pelvis, then it was gone
again, but then another appeared beneath her and her
chalked hands gripped it firmly. She carefully touched
her pointed toes to the bar between her hands.
Releasing her hands, she pushed off with her
feet, corkscrewing through the air. Then she twisted her
body and she did a somersault. When she felt her feet
touch the vinyl of the mat, she let her legs absorb the
impact, straightened them and she raised her body up
straight, finishing with spreading her arms wide above
her head.
“This is how the end of your routine
should be. Not how you showed it with the direct
somersault on the end.” she said, while she pulled
her training jack over her pink leotard.
The three girls who had watched nodded and
the first one chalked her hands. Just as she had wanted
to start her routine, she froze dead still.
“What is wrong, Lisa?” Kim asked.
When the girl didn’t answered, she turned in the
direction Lisa was facing.
Batlings were flooding the training floor.
For a moment Kim was stunned, but then the
old, Ranger-honed instincts kicked in.
“Everybody out of here.” she
bellowed.
The people who had been frozen dead still,
reacted to the commanding tone in her voice and started
to flee the hall. Kim wanted to follow them, but
got a sight that made her stand still.
Some Batlings had surrounded two or three
gymnasts. They tried to defend themselves, but what they
did didn’t have much effect.
Kim made a cartwheel, landed on a
springboard and used the extra speed she got to
somersault to the place. There she straddle-kicked two
Batlings and started to fight them further. Soon she had
the gymnasts freed and signaled them to go.
Kim also wanted to go, but another battalion
of Batlings stood before her. Taking a deep breath she
posed herself in a fighting stance.
While she watched the Batlings, one thought
played true her mind: “And I wanted to go back to
the old days.”
Then the Batlings attacked.
When Ryan entered the building, he
immediately saw that it was a training hall for gymnasts.
Everywhere stood equipment and some gymnasts were still
fleeing. In a corner, a petite figure was fighting
the Batlings.
In a few other corners, a small battle was
going on, but the figure fought with great skill.
Ryan pulled his laser and aimed on one of
the smaller battles. A few well-aimed shots took out the
Batlings long enough for the people to flee.
The other battles ended in the same manner.
When he headed into the direction of the
last battle a great flash of light blinded him.
***
In the Aquabase Miss Fairweather was
following a monitor with energy readings. It gave her a
view of the battlefield. Normal civilians were white
blips the Rangers had Ranger-colored blips. Batlings were
black blips.
Her eye was caught was caught by a white
blip surrounded by black blips. A silvery blip was
heading to them. Suddenly a part of the monitor lit up
with a pink light and the white blip had changed into a
soft pink color.
***
Kim felt herself tiring. At first the battle
had been going well. More and more old battle instincts
had come above and that had helped very well.
But she couldn’t go on forever.
Suddenly she felt an old energy rising up inside. She
felt that she only had to call it by name.
“Pink Ninja Crane Power.” she
called.
She was surrounded by a pink light. When it
had subdued Kimberly Ann Hart felt the familiar feeling
of being the Pink Ninja Ranger.
Ryan was shortly blinded by the pink flash
of light. When it cleared he saw that the petite figure
was entirely clad in some kind of pink suit. And she was
doing a lot better in battle.
He ran towards the battle and plugged into
the mob of Batlings with a flying kick.
Kim felt great. Automatically she remembered
the techniques which had been like a second nature to
her.
From the corner of her eye she saw the
Titanium Ranger joining her in battle.
Suddenly she felt two arms wrapping around
her from behind. Closing her eyes she focused and she
dissolved in a poof of smoke. She ended behind the
Batling and gave him a kick in his back so that he flew
in a group of his kind.
The battle raged on for a few more minutes.
Kim and Ryan destroyed the Batlings in the training hall.
The other Rangers cleared the area outside from Batlings
and the monster.
Ryan could now see the figure clear. She was
obviously female. She wore toe-split Ninja boots, a wide
pair of trousers, some kind of shirt with a belled
sleeveless tunic, gloves, a hood, a mouth sash, a
headband and a kind of blindfold, but with holes for the
eyes. The suit was completely pink, except for numerous
white diamond patrons, a white belt and a golden coin set
in the chest with a bird on it.
The woman looked at him and said:
“Power down.”
Pink light flashed again. When it faded a
short woman in a training suit stood there. She had
gold-brown hair, tied back in a ponytail.
The woman smiled at him, but then she
collapsed. Ryan was just in time to catch her.
Relieved to see that she was breathing, he
lifted one hand to his mouth.
“Dana, could you come inside the
building? Someone is hurt.”
***
Dana had just demorphed when she got a call
on her morpher.
“Dana, could you come inside the
building? Someone is hurt.” Ryan’s voice
said.
Lifting her own morpher to her mouth she
said: “I am on my way.”
She grabbed her own rescue gear and headed
inside.
***
Ryan had placed the woman on a mat and had
demorphed. Then he heard footsteps beside him and Dana
appeared.
Dana gave a short nod to her brother and knelt
down beside the woman. She quickly checked the
woman’s vital signs and proceeded with checking for
wounds. When she was finished, she looked up.
“Her vital signs are strong. I
can’t find serious injuries, although she has some
bruises. I think she needs to be checked out in a
hospital. She fought Batlings?” Dana reported.
“Yes, she fought Batlings. But I think
we can better take her to the Aquabase. She morphed in
some kind of strange warrior.” Ryan replied.
Dana looked thoughtful for a moment, but
then nodded. Lifting her morpher to her mouth she said:
“Dad, I need medical transport to the Aquabase. When
I am there, I will explain why.”
“I am sending it in now. It will be
there in five, ten minutes.” Captain Mitchell’s
voice replied.
Dana sent that she had understood the
message and sat back to wait, while Ryan told her and the
other Rangers what had happened.
***
Kimberly was in a strange place. Or that was
what she thought when had looked around for the first
time. But when she looked better, she recognized
it.
She was in Ninjor’s temple. In fact,
she was looking to Ninjor’s back. Slowly she
walked towards him. He just turned when she wanted to tap
on his back. Ninjor seemed very surprised. Of
course, with a robotic face that was difficult to tell,
but still he seemed very surprised.
“Young Crane, what are you doing here?
Wait, you are not physically here. You are here in some
kind of astral projection.” Ninjor said in his
unique voice.
Kim shook her head. “I don’t know,
Ninjor. But what I do know is that I just was morphed in
the Pink Ninja Ranger. How is that possible?”
Ninjor was silent for a few minutes.
“The Power wants you back to fight the evil.
It’s the only reason I can think of. Why they
want you back… That is something only they
know.”
Kim nodded: “Then I must do that. Would
I be able to morph fully?”
Ninjor shook his head. “No. The Power
Coins were destroyed. To morph full you will need a more
powerful bound with the Morphing Grid. And a human body
isn’t able to hold that bond without the regulating
influence of a Power Coin or Crystal. That is why they
haven given you the power to morph in the Pink Ninja
Ranger.”
Kim nodded again and then asked: “Why
could I only morph a short while when Kat had stolen my
Power Coin?”
“That was because the Coin was in evil
hands. It corrupted the energy regulating abilities of
the Coin. But young Crane, there is a possibility that
the Falcon, the Ape, the Wolf, the Bear and the Frog will
also get their abilities to morph into Ninja Rangers
back. Do you want to be informed if I notice that?”
At Kim’s nod he said: “Very well
then. But now you must return to you body. If you stay
outside you body for to long, you might not be able to
enter it.”
Kim nodded again and then her glowing form
dissolved in pink mist. “Goodbye Ninjor.” Her
voice echoed for a moment true the temple.
“Goodbye, young Crane. May the Power
protect you.” With those words Ninjor turned back to
his work.
***
Miss Fairweather listened with interest to Ryan’s
story while she scanned the woman’s silent form.
Suddenly, when Ryan described the warrior, she perked up.
Quickly she gave a man who stood nearby some
instructions: “Check the database from the past Power
Rangers for a reference from Ryan’s
description.” The man saluted and Miss Fairweather
continued her scan.
Kelsey examined the young woman with a
strange look. “I know her. Ryan, you said that she
was in a gymnastics training facility?”
Ryan nodded and Kelsey tried valiantly to
remember where she had seen that woman before.
Then a young woman entered with a stack of
paper. “Miss Fairweather, here is the data you
wanted.” The young woman laid her bundle beside Miss
Fairweather and took a look at the woman.
All the Rangers looked at her when she gave
a surprised cry: “But that is Kimberly Hart.”
“Yes, that was it. Kimberly Hart won
Gold in the Pan Globals, three or four years ago.”
Kelsey confirmed her answer.
Miss Fairweather looked pensive for a
moment. “Christine, would you get Captain Mitchell?
I think that I have an idea what is going on. Dana, can
you continue the scan?”
At Dana’s yes she handed her the
scanner and took the paper Chris had brought.
***
Captain Mitchell looked up form his papers
by a soft knock on the door. When he said that the person
could come in, Christine entered the room.
“Captain, Miss Fairweather asks if you
could come to the infirmary,” she asked.
“Of course. What is the matter?”
he asked while he stood up.
“I am not sure. Something about a woman
named Kimberly Hart.” Christine answered.
At that name the Captain stood still for a
moment. Then he took a business card and gave her that.
“Get this man on the telephone and connected to the
infirmary. In videophone, please.”
Christine saluted and left the room. Captain
Mitchell headed to the infirmary with a head full with
questions.
***
Kim felt herself coming back in her body.
For a moment she lay still, but then tried to open her
eyes. Vaguely she saw a blond woman waving a scanner over
her. She heard talking, but she couldn’t understand
where they were talking about. Slowly her head cleared
and she heard a woman’s voice telling that the
person Ryan had seen was the Pink Ninja Ranger.
Dana was noting some results of her scan,
when she noticed that Kim’s eyes were open. She
signaled Miss Fairweather and said: “Miss Hart, my
name is Dana Mitchell. How are you feeling?”
Kim smiled and tried to sit up. It was a
little bit difficult. Dana helped her up. When Kim sat up
she replied: “I am fine. Just a little bit unsteady.
Where am I?”
Miss Fairweather stood beside Dana and said:
“My name is Angela Fairweather. You are in the
Aquabase, the base of the Lightspeed Rangers.”
“I could have guessed that. Miss
Mitchell, you must be the Pink Ranger, you must be
Yellow, Red, Blue, Green and Titanium.” Kim replied
smoothly.
The other Rangers and Captain Mitchell
introduced themselves quickly and Ryan asked the question
which they all had on their minds: “What had
happened?”
Kim sighed and said: “That’s a
very long story. And I think it’s better to tell it
somewhere else. Am I allowed out of bed?”
Miss Fairweather nodded and Kim got out of
bed. Just when they wanted to leave the infirmary,
a female voice sounded: “Captain Mitchell, I made
the connection.” Immediately a screen flared to live
and the face of a blond young-man with silver glasses
appeared on it.
The person said: “Hello Bill, how can I
help you?”
“Hello Billy. Not direct help. But
someone I think who you would like to speak is here.
Something happened today.”
Kim had perked up when she had heard the
voice of the person on the other end of the line. Now she
approached the video screen. “Billy?” she said
hesitantly.
The person on screen, Billy Cranston, made a
surprised face. “Kimberly, what are you doing in the
Aquabase?”
“Today I was able to morph in the Pink
Ninja Ranger and I spoke with Ninjor. Well, that is it in
a nutshell.” Kim said.
Billy needed some time to scrap his jaw of
the floor, but then said: “I am coming to the
Aquabase. Could you wait with explaining everything to
them until I am there? ”
Kim shrugged. “If it’s okay with
everyone here.”
There were no objections and Billy broke the
connection.
Heading outside Dana asked: “Miss Hart,
would you like a shower and some clean clothes?”
“Just call me Kim or Kimberly. I would
like that.” Kim answered
“Kels, if you take her to the shower in
our quarters, I will look for some clothes.” Dana
suggested.
Kelsey nodded and asked Kim to follow her,
while Dana headed in another direction. The others talked
for a few moments, but then also headed in different
directions.
***
Two hours later everyone came together in
the Rangers regular meeting room. Inside there also was a
man in blue. It was the man from the screen. When
Kim, with still wet hair and clad in a pink blouse and
black trousers, entered and saw Billy, she flung around
his neck.
“Billy, how do you know everyone
here?” she asked.
“Let’s sit down. Then can we
talk.” Captain Mitchell said.
“Okay, Kimberly, what happened
there?” Ryan said.
“I morphed in the Pink Ninja Ranger.
But I think I should start from the beginning. In 1993
the first Power Rangers came. Billy and I were two of the
first Power Rangers. Billy was blue, I was pink.”
There was general surprise among the
Rangers. But Captain Mitchell and Miss Fairweather
didn’t show any surprise.
Dana noticed this and asked: “Did you
knew this, Dad?”
Captain Mitchell nodded. “Yes.
Actually, Billy is the one who developed the Lightspeed
Powers, together with Miss Fairweather.”
Billy nodded and Kimberly continued the
story. She told about the Ninja Powers and Ninjor and her
going to Florida. Then of the Pan Globals and her
becoming a coach.
Ryan had listened intently to Kim’s
story. At first he only had listened, but then he noticed
the look in Kim’s eyes.
They had a special sparkle. This made
Ryan looking at Kim closer. She was very pretty,
not astounding beautiful, but very pretty.
Her still wet gold-brown hair was again tied
back in a ponytail and showed a suntanned face with brown
eyes which shone with life. She wasn’t very tall,
about 5’3. Her body was in perfect shape and she
moved with natural grace.
Her voice was warm and when told about her
Ranger-days, he could feel her compassionate, caring
nature. And in the training hall he had seen that she
could take care of herself and he had always liked that
in a woman.
There was no doubt Ryan liked Kim a lot.
***
“Today we were practicing for an
exhibition when the Batlings entered. I helped some
gymnasts and suddenly I felt that I could morph. I did it
and fought them. When I demorphed it became black and
suddenly I was Ninjors temple. He told me that the Power
wanted me to fight evil again. That was all he knew. And
he said it was possible that Tommy, Rocky, Adam, Aisha
and you Billy, that they would be able to morph
again.“ Kim ended her story.
Then Billy told some of his own details in
the history Kim had told the others.
Suddenly an alarm started blaring. Dana
handed her father immediately an earpiece and turned the
screen on. There was a large Batling attack.
Captain Mitchell turned to the Rangers:
“Go. Kim, if you want to go and help, you are
welcome.”
Kim was silent for a moment, but nodded
then: “I help. But I want to keep my identity secret
for the moment so I will morph here.” She stood up
and called: “Pink Ninja Crane Power.” A flash
of pink light surrounded her and she ran after the
others.
Billy looked after her. Then he turned to
Captain Mitchell and Miss Fairweather. “Let’s
go to Rescue Ops.”
They nodded and the tree of them headed to
the command post of the Aquabase.
***
Kim had taken a place between Kelsey and
Chad in Rescue Rover. The others had morphed in Transport
and now they raced true the streets of Mariner Bay.
Suddenly they arrived at the battle scene.
Everyone in the car stood up and looked over the chaos
for a moment. Then they jumped out and spread out
on Carters orders: “Ryan, Kim and Dana take that
group over there. Chad and Kelsey take that group there
and Joel and I take on that group.”
Ryan plowed in the group with a powerful
kick. The two Pink Rangers glanced at each other the two
of them also jumped in the reverie. Soon Ryan and
Dana were back to back. Ryan was with his Titanium Laser,
Dana with her V-Lancer.
Kim was in the middle of the group and used
the full scale of her special Ninja attacks. She used
many teleportation effects and the suit decoy trick was
also used several times. Also she sunk in the earth for a
few moments and came up 60 feet further.
Suddenly she saw that Dana and Ryan were
thrown in each other. Quickly closing her eyes she
pointed her finger on the Batlings by Dana and Ryan and
fired a pink energy swirl. The Batlings were knocked over
and brother and sis had the time to get up.
Carter and the others were doing very well
in battle. Soon they had their parts of the Batlings
defeated and headed in the direction of Dana, Ryan and
Kim.
Then there was a large explosion. In the
middle stood a monster. Carter and the others changed
direction and attacked the monster. Everyone fought
for a while, but with four Rangers they couldn’t
defeat the monster.
Kim fought her way to Dana and Ryan and
said: “Dana, help the others. Ryan and I can handle
it here.”
Ryan and Dana seemed surprised for the
moment, but then Dana nodded and headed in the direction
of the monster. And Kim launched in some more
special Ninja attacks. Closing her eyes she said:
“Going solo.” There was pink flash of light and
suddenly there were two Pink Ninja Rangers.
The Ninja Rangers and Ryan fought the
Batlings for ten minutes and then the two Ninja Ranger
melted back into one. But Kim was ready for her second
special attack. Using the hypno powers she led a group of
Batlings in the attack against others in there kind.
Ryan in the meantime had been firing his
Titanium Laser at the Batlings. Suddenly the
Batlings flew up and a cart came from the sky. The
monster grew to Zord-hight.
The Lightspeed Rangers called upon their
Zords. Kim melted in one of the buildings. Soon the
Lightspeed Megazord and the Max SolarZord had combined
and tried to get a lock on the monster. But this monster
was very agile and managed to dodge the most shots.
Kim was looking the battle with growing
concern. Quickly she stepped out of the building and
started to think of a diversion. Then an idea popped in
her mind. Closing her eyes to concentrate again she
grew to Zord size.
With few flips she managed to distract the
monster long enough for the Rangers to get a lock.
The battle was over again and the Rangers
went back home.
***
The Rangers demorphed in Transport; only Kim
remained morphed for the moment.
Everyone headed to Rescue Ops and there
Captain Mitchell congratulated them with the won battle.
Then everyone headed to the meeting room and Kimberly
finally demorphed. Directly she sat down and
yawned. Then she covered her mouth with her hand and
looked a little bit embarrassed. The others laughed
at her reaction and sat also down.
“I can imagine that you are tired. You
had a training and two battles.” Dana said.
The others nodded and Captain Mitchell said:
“We will evaluate the battle. Kim, we have prepared
some quarters. If you want you stay here for a
while.”
“Thanks. Now that I have my powers back
I need to decide what I am gonna do.” Kim answered.
They quickly evaluated the battle and
Captain Mitchell asked: “Dana, can you show Kim to
her quarters. They are beside Kelsey’s and your
quarters.”
Dana nodded and Kim and Dana left the room.
In her quarters Kim felt on her bed and fell directly
asleep.