Title: The Hexagon

Chapter Eight — "When One Door Closes…"

Original Posting Date: April 18, 2010

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Silently, we made our way out of my bedroom and into the hallway. We didn't speak a word to each other until we had reached the linen closet, at which point I took hold of Kimberly's wrist and pulled her against the wall with me. As she stared up at me, I moved my grip to her hand, looked her in the eyes, and murmured, "You have no idea how sorry I am for this, Kim. I — I feel terrible, I really do."

Kimberly stared back at me in silence for a few moments, then finally sighed and nodded. "I'm not mad, Tommy. I'm just — I don't know…I was really starting to like the idea of you and me on the same team again."

Flashing a smile, I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it once. "We're always going to be on the same team, Beautiful."

That earned me a smile. "I don't want to sound selfish, but promise me you'll try your hardest to convince Kat…"

"You know I will," I replied, nodding. I then held up the Zeonizers and asked, "Can you keep them busy while I put these with the rest of them

"Yeah," said Kimberly with another nod. "Do you want me to shut the closet door behind you?"

"Sure," I answered as I walked the remaining few feet to the door and pulled it open.

All in all, it only took me about three minutes to return the Zeonizers to the box in the safe, which I then carried back upstairs with me, hiding it under my desk in the den once I had returned the TV box to its usual spot covering the trap door.

Sitting down in my leather office chair, I allowed myself a few quiet minutes to organize my thoughts and form a plan of attack, so to speak. Unfortunately, I could only see one direction to take in regards to Katherine and Tanya; the blunt truth, which — I was fairly certain — would probably end up seriously hurting the feelings of at least one of the two.

Standing back up, I let out a sigh and headed back into the living room. Some of the Rangers were in the kitchen and others had taken up seats around the living room television, but I didn't even bother to see what program they were watching. Finding Adam and Rocky standing side-by-side in the kitchen with Tanya and Aisha across from them, I walked up behind the two women, put a hand on each of their shoulders, and laughingly said, "Mind if I steal these two clowns for a minute?"

The two ladies smirked at each other for a second, followed by Aisha shrugging as she replied, "Eh, I'm done with mine for a while. What about you, Tan?"

"Yeah, I guess you can have him," Tanya said to me with a grin.

"We're right here, you know," Rocky interjected. "We can hear what you're saying."

Aisha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Rocky, we didn't know that," she said, shaking her head. "Take him, Tommy. Take him far, far away and leave him there."

"Oh no, this is five minutes tops," I said with a laugh. "Sorry, 'Sha, but he's all yours. I have enough head-cases to worry about already."

"Are you guys just going to stand there and make fun of us the whole time we're here?" questioned Adam, sounding slightly irritated, but I knew it was nothing serious. I had known Adam long enough to recognize when he was really mad about something, which didn't happen very often.

Chuckling, I held up my hands and said, "Alright, alright, I'm done. I just need to talk to you guys for a minute. Follow me."

And with that, I made my way to the other side of the kitchen, out the swinging door, and into the hallway with Adam and Rocky right behind me. They said nothing on the way to the den, nor did they question me when I led them inside and motioned for them to take seats on the couch against the wall.

As I took my chair, however, Rocky asked, "So what's going on?"

"I, uh…I have something for you guys," I answered, looking between the pair, "Something Zordon left in my care."

"What is it?" questioned Adam curiously.

Smiling, I reached under my desk, grabbed the wooden box, and then rolled my chair across the hardwood floor to where they sat with one strong push. "You guys ready for this?" I asked, trying to make my tone sound as suspenseful as possible. Looking to each other, and then me, both men nodded eagerly. With a smirk, I said, "Alright then," and proceeded to open the box, my smirk growing bigger as their eyes went wide.

"No way," murmured Adam.

"How —?" asked Rocky in a near whisper.

"They were with all the stuff Zordon left for me," I explained, snapping the box shut when Rocky started reaching for his Zeonizers. He looked at me with a twisted expression, but I quickly went on, "There's something I have to tell you before I can return these to you."

"What?" Rocky asked, somewhat demandingly.

"Part of the work that I'm doing here is going to involve monitoring the planet for any future disturbances of the evil villain variety," I said, both men nodding as I went on, "So, if you take your Zeonizers, something happens, and a new team of Rangers doesn't arrive, you understand what that means, right?"

"No, we don't," said Rocky, shaking his head, the sarcasm evident in his tone.

Adam, however, seemed to be a bit more empathetic to the situation that I was in. Shooting Rocky a look that very plainly told him to shut up, Adam then turned to me and said, "We understand, Tommy. We're in the same boat you are, man…neither one of us ever wanted to leave either."

I couldn't help but smile at that, though I did my best to keep it unnoticeable. "Okay then," I said, reopening the box, "They're yours."

"Sweet!" exclaimed Rocky, grabbing his excitedly.

Shaking his head for a moment, Adam then reached out and took his as well. "They work and everything? I mean, you've tested them."

"I tested mine and it worked fine," I replied, intentionally leaving out the fact that Katherine's had worked as well, only not for her. "You guys are more than welcome to try them if you want…I tried mine inside and nothing broke."

Grinning at each other as they pushed their sleeves back and strapped their Zeonizers on, the pair stood up and immediately spread to a comfortable distance apart while I wheeled back to my desk. "You remember how to do this, buddy?" Rocky said to Adam, leaving me grinning as well.

Rolling his eyes, Adam replied, "Just shut up and morph."

Smirking, Rocky muttered, "My pleasure," and then thrust his arms forward as Adam did the same alongside him.

"It's Morphin' Time!" they shouted in unison, moving through the familiar arm motions before locking their Zeonizers together.

"Zeo Ranger Three, Blue!" yelled Rocky, his body immediately becoming enveloped in vibrant blue light.

"Zeo Ranger Four, Green!" followed Adam, a green glow as bright as Rocky's accompanying his call.

Forced to shield my eyes up close, I waited until the multi-colored light disappeared before lowering my arm, at which point I simply sat and watched for a few moments as Adam and Rocky went through the old routine of inspecting themselves.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Adam, slapping hands with Rocky.

"You got that right," said Rocky, nodding. Then, forming his arms into an X in front of his face, he murmured, "Power down." A moment later, Adam had done the same, both of them wearing broad smiles when their uniforms and helmets were gone.

But then Adam's smile suddenly disappeared as he turned to face me. "What about the other two?" he asked.

His question was even enough to shake Rocky from his grinning stupor. Looking around at me as well, he said, "Yeah, what about Kat and Tanya?"

I had honestly hoped they would have been happy enough with having their Morphers again not to raise this particular question. Caught off guard, I let out a sigh and said, "I'm going to talk to them right now. You guys are free to head back out there now, but please, for me, don't say anything to the others until I've talked to Kat and Tanya."

I emphasized the "for me" part as much as I could, thankful when neither man questioned or argued my request. Together, we made our way back to the rest of the Rangers, and three minutes later I was leading two more back to my den.

The beginning of my conversation with Katherine and Tanya went much the same as the one with Adam and Rocky. Both women were equally surprised and excited to see their old Morphers, which made it even harder when I set the box aside, looking back and forth between them with the most serious expression I could muster.

It was no surprise to me that Katherine, having known me as long and as well as she had, quickly asked, "What's wrong, Tommy?" Continuing to stare between them, I opened my mouth to reply, but ended up closing it just as quickly. I then stood up and began pacing the area in front of them, my heart thudding rapidly against my chest as I did so. "Tommy, what is going on?" she questioned, this time with obvious urgency in her tone.

Forcing myself to stop in front of the couch where they sat, I sighed and then turned around to face them. "There's no easy way for me to say this, so I'm just going to come right out with it," I told them as I returned to my seat. "Assuming Jason, Zack, and Trini are able to recover the lost Power Coins, almost all of us will have some kind of active power source. You two have what Zordon left you, those three will have their coins, Justin has his Turbo Morpher, Billy has his new Morphers, and Adam, Rocky, and I have our Zeonizers; which leaves only two people…"

"Kimberly —" murmured Katherine, giving me a look that made me wonder if she already knew what it was that I was going to suggest.

"— and Aisha," added Tanya, although she and Katherine did not seem to be on the same page as far as what I was doing was concerned.

"Exactly," I replied softly, nodding. "Now, try to think about what I'm going to say here from my perspective; Zordon left you both powerful objects that can offer you protection if you're ever in a situation that calls for it. Aisha and Kim, on the other hand —"

Tanya seemed to catch on at that point. "Are you asking us to give our Morphers to Kim and 'Sha?" she questioned.

"I can't make you do it," I said in a near whisper, shaking my head. "At the end of the day, these Morphers are rightfully yours, and if you want them, you can have them. But before you make that decision, I only want you to consider one thing; you're both great Rangers — and even better people — but neither one of you would be here right now…neither one of you would be a part of this family, if it wasn't for Aisha and Kimberly, the only two powerless Rangers in this house."

For quite some time, Katherine and Tanya merely stared at each other in silence. Being as close as the two of them were, I imagined that they were probably as close to fluent in speechless communication as Jason and I; definitely not as fluent as me and Kimberly though. Finally, they smiled softly at each other, almost in a resigned, slightly saddened sort of way.

Katherine was the first to look back at me, wearing the same smile as she quietly asked for her Zeonizers. Fearing the worst, I swallowed the lump in my throat, grabbed the box from the floor, and opened it back up for her. Without a word, both she and Tanya took their Zeonizers, stood up, and started back towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I questioned hesitantly.

Again, it was Katherine who was the first to stop and look my way. "If Kimberly's going to have these, I'm at least going to be the one to give them to her."

Tanya added a brief smile, nodding once before she and Katherine exited the den, but I was far too dumbfounded to do anything more than sit there with my mouth open for quite some time. Eventually, though, I was able to snap myself out of my stupor, at which point I hopped onto my feet and raced into the living room, sliding to a stop just short of the entryway.

Katherine and Kimberly were standing near the back door together, Kimberly staring up at Katherine with a shocked and teary-eyed expression as Katherine pressed the Zeonizers into her hands. Smiling, I looked away to find Aisha and Tanya sitting next to each other on one of the couches. Tanya, too, was pressing her Zeonizers into Aisha's hands, Aisha looking as confused as Kimberly was shocked. Assorted Rangers were gathered around them as this was happening, all of them apparently eager to find out what was going on.

Letting out a deep sigh of relief, I raised my eyes to the ceiling and murmured, "Thank you."

"What's going on in here?" a voice said from behind me.

Whirling around to find Andros standing there, I replied, "See for yourself," and then motioned towards the living room.

Stepping to my side, Andros began looking around, first at the interaction between Aisha and Tanya, and then Katherine and Kimberly. After a few more looks back and forth between the two pairs, realization crossed his face, followed by a shrug of his shoulders as he said, "Yeah, I had a feeling that this was going to happen."

Furrowing my brow in surprise, I said, "You did?"

"Yes, I did," said Andros, nodding "Why else would Zordon have left such powerful objects to Katherine and Tanya, and nothing at all to Aisha and Kimberly?"

Chuckling, I shook my head and said, "My thoughts exactly, man."

"Yeah," said Andros with a laugh. Then, after a few moments of silence, he went on, "We should probably get started on our work as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I agree," I replied, nodding.

"I also think we should enlist some help," he continued, earning my full attention with that. "Everyone knows what's going on now and, like you mentioned last night, do you really think Billy being deported from Aquitar at this exact time was a coincidence?"

"Not even for a second," I answered, shaking my head.

"Exactly," said Andros. "Zordon and I worked closely for a long time, but we never worked the same way. When it comes to a lot of the technology he used, equipment and machines, things of that nature…Billy would probably be a bigger help to you than me."

"Yeah, I think I'll talk to him," I said with a nod. "But there's something else I want to talk to you about since you brought it up. For the last couple of days I've been getting the feeling that you and Zordon were a lot closer than you let on. If you don't mind me asking, what was your relationship with him?"

Andros sighed, looking at me with an uncomfortable expression. "It's…complicated —" he trailed off, turning away as he went on, "Come on; let's go outside. Zhane's the only one I have ever told this story too and I don't want everyone else overhearing it."

I simply nodded my head and said "Okay," then followed Andros back through the family room and out the front door.

Once we were outside, we continued to the dirt road at the end of my driveway, made a left turn, and started walking towards town. It was then that he finally went on, "The first time that I met Zordon was about thirteen years ago. On KO-35, my home planet, children have their career paths chosen for them at a very early age; I was eight when I was selected for Ranger training. After five years of excelling in the academy, I was finally made a Ranger when a member of the team was killed in action; I was black, at first. It was only a few months after that when the rest of my team and I were sent here, to the Milky Way Galaxy, to inspect some kind of powerful disturbance near Mercury.

"We went into hyperspace at Neptune, but we encountered an asteroid field in between Mars and Earth, so we had to pull out and navigate manually through the field. Unfortunately, we weren't in a ship anywhere near as sophisticated as the Megaship and couldn't detect any activity outside the asteroid field. We had no idea until we made it out that a Verexian cruiser was waiting on the other side."

"Sorry to interrupt," I said, "But a Verexian?"

"Yeah," said Andros, nodding, "Eternal enemies of my people, the Kerovians. They recognized our ship and opened fire on us before we had time to even realize they were there. Fortunately, Earth was pretty close and we were able to redirect the ship towards it, but just as we were entering the planet's atmosphere, they landed a direct hit on us with some kind of giant laser. We lost control of the ship and ended up crashing in the middle of Antarctica."

"How did this not make every news channel in the world?" I questioned in disbelief. "Wouldn't NASA and places like that have detected you on radar?"

"NASA is about as sophisticated as Darkin-7, Tommy," said Andros, laughing at what I assumed was a joke that had gone right over my head. "No one knew we were there, our ship was in pieces, and we had no way to communicate with our people back home. Aside from trying not to die in the freezing cold, we spent every waking moment trying to reestablish communications with KO-35. It took four days for the first of us, our Blue Ranger, Seygan, to die. One by one, everyone started dying over the course of the next few days, until it was only me and our leader, the Red Ranger Jaren.

"He was already on the verge of dying, and I wasn't too far off when I was finally able to send out a distress signal. It wasn't nearly enough to reach KO-35, but it got to Angel Grove. One moment Jaren and I were sitting in the snow, and the next we were in the Command Center, being tended to by Alpha-5 while Zordon looked down at us. I had no idea who either of them were, but I was suddenly warm and far too tired to even think about resisting. I — I don't remember much about the next couple of days — mostly because I slept for almost two days straight — only that, when I woke up, Jaren had died."

"Damn," I murmured, unable to even make an attempt at comprehending how devastating it must have been to lose his whole team. Though as people, every single one of us was different in our own right, there was a certain predisposition that each of us shared as Rangers; a sense of self-sacrifice, where any of us would give gladly our own life in a second to save those of others, especially our teammates. Just from looking into Andros' eyes as he spoke, I could tell the loss of his old team was something he was still struggling with to this day.

"It gets worse, if you can believe it," he said with an awkward chuckle. "The last time I had seen Jaren, he was alive, and then suddenly I wake up and he's dead…I didn't think about the likelihood that he had died from ten days in the bitter cold with nothing to eat or drink, and instead, I lashed out at Zordon and Alpha. I accused them of killing Jaren and tore up half the Command Center before Alpha was able to inject me with a sedative. When I came around a few hours later, I was strapped to a chair facing Zordon's energy tube. For awhile, I pretended to still be asleep and simply listened to he and Alpha talking.

"I overheard them saying things like Jaren had died from hypothermia, that my teammate's bodies had already been returned to KO-35, and that Zordon had given my government a full report stating that I had done everything I could to help my teammates. Hearing him say these things made me feel like such a jerk for losing my temper like I had done earlier. I apologized for my behavior, Zordon and Alpha accepted and understood, and that was how we first came to know each other."

At that point, Andros stopped talking and walking for a moment, leaving me a good ten or fifteen feet ahead of him before I realized he was no longer at my side. Stopping, I turned around to find him standing with his back to me. Jogging over to where he stood, I said, "What's up man?"

"Nothing," he replied, shaking his head, "I just figured this was a good place to turn back. I should be done by the time we make it back to your house."

"Oh," I said, nodding. "Okay then."

With that, we started back down the road to my house.

"So, I ended up staying in the Command Center a few more days until I had fully recovered," Andros continued. "Zordon wanted Alpha to run some more tests on me, and even though I felt fine, I was just grateful to still be alive and wasn't going to argue something like that with the ones who had saved my life. Over the next few days, we all got to know each other better while Alpha ran his tests, and we stayed in contact after I had gone back to KO-35. Because I was the only surviving member of my team, I now had rank, was made the Red Ranger, and was told that I should pick a new team from those still in the academy. But after losing five teammates — the five people that I thought were the best for the job — no one else was ever good enough in my eyes. No one else except Zhane, that is. We had gone into the academy at the same time and shared living quarters up until the time I was promoted to the team. He was my best friend and the only person I trusted. Up until recently, when I gave the remaining Astro Morphers to the current team, there were only two of us. My government didn't really approve, but when it comes to the Rangers on KO-35, no one's authority supersedes that of the Red Ranger.

"Anyway, it wasn't long after that when Zordon and I began really discussing Ranger technology. He had five of the six Power Coins, I knew that much already, but he didn't really understand the inner workings of the Morphing Grid, which is part of what they taught us in the academy. The thing with Zordon, and I hate to even say it because I know how much you all care about him, but he wasn't the most knowledgeable person, he just seemed like it to you guys because you didn't know any better. He was a great wizard, there's no doubt about that, but when it came to the Ranger world, he was incredibly shortsighted."

"What do you mean?" I asked with a twisted expression, feeling very much like someone had just punched me in the stomach.

"Using the Power Coins, for one," he replied. "They're powerful, yeah, but they're also very easy to destroy. You know that first hand. There were a number of times over the next decade or so where I tried to convince him that depending solely on the Power Coins was too risky, but he didn't listen to me. I'm not trying to make myself seem like some all-knowing person, because I'm not, but I know the Ranger world better than anyone. The Morphing Grid is a constant stream of energy that surrounds us; it's responsible for life, death, everything. With enough education and training, you can learn to read the ebbs and flows of the Morphing Grid and use that to determine what's going to happen in the future. It's never one-hundred percent reliable — far from it, in fact, since personal choice leaves the Grid in a constant state of change — but it can give you a general idea of what could happen if you know how to read it properly.

"Zordon didn't care to learn until it was too late, though, despite me offering to teach him as often as I tried to convince him to search for other power sources beyond the coins. When he chose his new team six years ago, I watched from KO-35, knowing it was only a matter of time before the weaknesses in the Power Coins were exposed. And when that happened, I was the first person he went to, just like I was the first person he went to when the Dino Zords were destroyed and he needed help converting them into the Thunder Zords. When Rito eliminated your powers, Zordon came to me again. Every major player in the universe had heard stories of Ninjor, but none of us knew if he was real, so I reminded Zordon of the Zeo Crystal and suggested sending you guys after it. Again, he didn't listen to me."

"Yeah, but it worked out in the end," I interjected defensively. I hated hearing Zordon spoken about in a negative light, even if what Andros was telling me was the truth.

"Did it really?" he countered, eyeing me questioningly. "Let's be honest; the Ninja Coins were about as reliable as the original Power Coins. Goldar and Rito destroyed those powers with no more than a small explosive. The Zeo Crystal, on the other hand, is practically indestructible when fully assembled and energized. Trust me, Tommy, Zordon was a good friend and I care about him a great deal, but he was also hardheaded and very much set in his own ways. When he decided to send you in search of Ninjor's Temple instead of the Zeo Crystal, it was the last straw for me. I told him we would always be friends in my eyes, but that I couldn't keep trying to help him when he never bothered with listening to anything I had to say.

"Still, I don't think he really cared at that point. Like I said, he was very shortsighted. You guys had new powers and that was all that mattered to him. It was lucky for him that I had mentioned the Zeo Crystal in the past, otherwise you guys would have had no hope at all of finding a new power source when Master Vile turned you back into kids; which, by the way, he would not have been able to do if Zordon had just sent you after the Zeo Crystal in the first place. The fully-assembled Zeo Crystal emits such a strong magnetic field that the planet would have been impervious to the Orb of Doom. But, as you already know, Zordon didn't listen to me. It wasn't until he got back to Eltar that things finally started to change."

"What happened?" I asked. Suddenly I was feeling like a little kid who had just found out that the Tooth Fairy wasn't real.

Andros sighed. "By the time he left for Eltar, it had been just over two years since we had spoken. At that point, I honestly wasn't even sure if we would ever say another word to each other for the rest of our lives. But he ended up contacting me shortly after arriving back home. He was very somber, nothing like I had ever seen or heard from him before. He admitted that he was wrong, apologized for not listening to me, and asked me to teach him how to read the Morphing Grid. At first, I didn't know what to think or say; but, at the end of the day, Zordon was my friend, so I forgave him and agreed to help him. He caught on pretty fast, too. By then, I had been teaching kids in the academy to read the grid for nearly twelve years, and I had never seen anyone catch on as fast as Zordon did. My only wish was that he would have started learning earlier. With his natural ability, and the kind of understanding of the grid that can only be achieved with years of practice, I'm almost positive that his death could have been avoided. Then again, not even I saw it coming so —"

As if hearing everything else had not been bad enough, that last part was enough to instantly make me feel queasy. Moments later, my stomach gave a powerful lurch that actually forced me to stop walking, cover my mouth, and turn away. Thankfully, my stomach settled fairly quickly, and with my hands folded behind my head, I looked to the sky with tears in my eyes.

How was it possible that almost everything I had ever thought about Zordon was a giant sham? I had spent the last six years of my life believing him to have always been this incredible, all-knowing being; hearing that that was not the case left me with very mixed feelings.

In some ways, it was disappointing. In other ways, it was refreshing; particularly when it came to me being appointed leader upon my return as the White Ranger. In that case, it meant that Zordon had chosen me not because he had foreseen Jason's impending departure as I had always thought, but because he had genuinely believed that I was the best person for the job. Still, the sense of disappointment was very much real.

"I can imagine how you must be feeling," Andros murmured from behind me.

Slowly turning around, I looked him in the eyes — uncaring to the fact that mine were filled with tears — and tried not to sound bitter as I countered, "Can you? Can you imagine what it's like finding out that practically everything you thought about a person for almost six years is a lie?"

"What are you talking about, Tommy?" he replied. "Practically everything you thought about Zordon was true. He was extremely powerful, extremely intelligent, and he cared about you and the Rangers just as much, if not more, than his own family. His only real fault was that he was so smart he couldn't accept someone else having a better idea than him."

"It's not that simple —" I began, but before I could finish, Andros was cutting me off.

"Yes, it is, Tommy. It's that simple," he said firmly. "You didn't just believe in Zordon; Zordon believed in you as well. I believe in him too, that's why I'm here trying to help you. But if you don't believe in him in any longer then the Phantom Ranger was right…you shouldn't be the one to carry out his legacy."

In an instant, the sickness I had felt was gone, and suddenly I found myself seething. I had no idea who this Phantom Ranger was, but I now had the supreme urge to do whatever was necessary to prove him wrong.

"Who's the Phantom Ranger?" I demanded through gritted teeth.

"An ally," answered Andros, pausing for a moment before adding, "Or, rather, he used to be an ally. He helped the second team of Turbo Rangers — and later, me and the Space Rangers — quite a few times, and when Zordon was captured, the Phantom Ranger went looking for him. He definitely hasn't been your biggest supporter though."

Furrowing my brow, I said, "Why? What does he have against me?"

"You mean besides the fact that Zordon cared about you more than his own son?" Andros replied unflinchingly.

For a few moments, I tried to convince myself that I had heard him wrong, even though I knew that I hadn't. "H-he had a son?" I questioned hesitantly, unable to believe that Zordon had never told any of us this.

"Yes," said Andros, nodding. "Zordon's wife, Amilee, gave birth to Zarken shortly after Zordon had been imprisoned by Rita. Unfortunately, Amilee died in the birthing process, and since Zordon obviously couldn't take care of him, Zarken was sent to live in an Eltarian orphanage, though that's not nearly as bad as you might think; orphanages on Eltar are like five-star hotels on Earth. Still, Zarken spent the first decade or so of his life not knowing who his parents were."

Being adopted, this was a situation that I felt myself immediately relating to despite the surprise I was experiencing from the story.

"It wasn't until Zarken was fourteen that Zordon first established contact with him," Andros went on. "By that time, Zordon had commissioned the first in the Alpha Series from King Lexian, and they were temporarily living on Edenoi while the Edonites built the Command Center on Earth. Zordon told Zarken everything and begged his son to forgive him but, feeling like Zordon had abandoned him, Zarken rejected him at first. Actually, he rejected him for quite a long time. If not for Zordon being trapped in an energy tube, and Zarken nearly dying while fighting for the Eltarian military, they both would have died without reconciling.

"And not because nearly dying made Zarken realize he wanted to know his father, either. It took another seven-thousand years before they finally made amends. Even then, though, they were never particularly close. But in the explosion that nearly killed him, Zarken's body was destroyed so badly that the only way for him to live on was in a robotic suit powered by a rare ruby. If he goes without the ruby too long, he'll die, but he'll live forever so long as he has it."

"I can't believe Zordon never told us about this," I murmured, shaking my head.

"Don't worry about it, he never told me either," said Andros. "I was able to track Phantom down a few days after I came here to tell you about Zordon, and he was the one who told me about all of this."

"So how does any of this translate into Zordon caring more about me than him?"

"Like I said, Tommy, they were never particularly close. You knew Zordon for six years; they knew each other for almost ten-thousand and Zordon never once showed him nearly as much attention or affection as he did to you."

"But that's not my fault," I countered defensively. In no way did I think this Phantom Ranger had any right to be mad at me for something I had absolutely no control over.

"I'm not saying that it is," Andros replied, "But if Zordon trusted you enough to put his life's work in your hands, shouldn't that be all the reassurance you need?"

I could do little more than sigh that. "Yeah," I said, nodding, "You're right."

"I know I am," said Andros, smiling. "So we're on the same page then?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding again.

"Good," said Andros, clasping my shoulder briefly. "You ready to go back?"

"There's one more thing," I answered. "I'm thinking that we should keep this little conversation between you and me. I don't know if telling the others what you told me about Zordon is the right thing to do at this point."

"I think that's probably a good idea," he agreed with a nod.

That settled, we continued on. We were only a few minutes away from my house, and neither one of us said much of anything the rest of the way there. Honestly, after everything I had just heard, I still didn't really know what to say, and I imagined Andros felt like he had said enough to last quite awhile. Still, he was the one to break the silence as we reached my driveway.

"What time are you taking Kimberly to the airport tomorrow?" he asked, stopping near the back of Adam's black Mustang.

"Her flight leaves at three out of Los Angeles," I answered, leaning against the trunk, "So we'll probably leave here around noon. Why? Did you want to get started tomorrow?"

"I think we should, yeah," said Andros with a nod. "The sooner we get started, the better. It shouldn't take more than a day or two to install a full range of computer and detection systems in your basement, but we definitely want those in place before Jason, Zack, and Trini go after the lost Power Coins."

This raised even more questions in my head — specifically what it was exactly that they needed to do and how they were supposed to do it — but I decided to hold off on asking them for the time being, reasoning that I would have plenty of time to talk with him about it over the next couple of days.

In agreement with Andros, we headed back into the house shortly after that, where I was surprised to find that no one seemed to have missed us at all. Some of the Rangers were playing cards at the dining room table, others were watching a basketball game on TV, and a few were even playing "Sorry!" on the coffee table; the one thing they all had in common, though, was that they were all eating.

Seeing as how Kimberly was the only one in the kitchen, I figured she must have taken it upon herself to start preparing some of the things that we had purchased at Costco yesterday morning. She had not yet noticed me though, so I left Andros with the others and walked back around to the kitchen's hallway entrance.

She was checking something in the oven as I crept up behind her, simultaneously noting all of the empty containers on the counter: five bags of salad and three bottles of dressing; four long paper sleeves that had held French bread; and two family-sized, once frozen, plastic dishes. From the looks of them, one had been lasagna; the other, chicken fettuccine.

Once she was no longer hunched over the oven and the door was safely closed, I wrapped my arms around her waist, resting my chin atop her shoulder. "What's cookin', Beautiful?" I whispered in her ear.

"Chicken parmesan and ravioli," she replied, flashing me a brief smile before stealing a kiss. "Where'd you run off to anyway?"

"Andros needed to talk to me about some things," I answered, nuzzling the nape of her neck with the tip of my nose.

She let out a soft giggle and playfully pushed herself out of my arms. Then she walked right back to me with a wide grin and we shared a very long, drawn out kiss.

"Everything okay?" she asked, once we had broken apart, her hands resting flat on my chest.

"Yeah, everything's fine," I said with a smile and a nod. Then I took her chin with my forefinger, tilted her head up, and kissed her one last time. "I love you, Beautiful."

Beaming up at me, she murmured, "I love you too, Tommy," just as the oven began to beep.

"Yeah, more food!" yelled Rocky excitedly from the living room.

"Eaaaasy, Rocky!" shouted Aisha from the dining room. "Some of us have only had salad and bread so far thanks to you!"

"And some of us haven't eaten at all!" Kimberly called out, rolling her eyes.

That seemed to silence everyone, leaving me smirking at Kimberly from behind as she moved to take the food out of the oven. She had pulled the door down, and was just about to reach in when I said, "Hey, Kim?" Stopping, she looked back at me to see that I was holding the oven mitts in my hands, "You might wanna slip these on."

"Holy crap, I'm an idiot," she muttered, shaking her head as she reached out for the mitts.

I merely smiled back at her as I handed them over.

The rest of the night was far more relaxing than the one before it, and with most of the Rangers having to catch flights tomorrow, everyone ended up leaving fairly early. As we said our goodbyes, some plans were firmed up, like Andros coming over tomorrow evening. I had also been able to convince Billy into coming as well; both of them would be staying in the guest rooms for at least a few days. And while I wished I could have told Jason, Zack, and Trini more about what was to come, the best I could say to them was that I would let them know as soon as I had more information. It was not ideal for any of us, but again, it was the best that I could do at that time.

I guess they could have just asked Andros themselves if they had really wanted to, but for some reason, they never did. Maybe they were just more comfortable going through me…

As it were, soon after everyone had left, I was wishing they were still here. Once Kimberly and I had finished cleaning up, I was forced to watch as she began to pack all but that which was absolutely necessary for the morning, only speaking occasionally since just being in the room while she was packing was so damn hard.

Seeing as how she had only come with her backpack, she had gone on a bit of a shopping spree one day earlier in the week while I was at school and was now using a duffel bag that I had offered to her instead.

Sitting in the soft chair in the corner of my room, watching as she packed away garment after garment…suddenly it felt like high school all over again. In my mind, I wasn't in my room; I was in her room at Aisha's house in Angel Grove, sitting in a bean bag chair and watching her while she packed her things for Florida.

Still, just like last time, I was watching her get ready to leave with nothing but positive thoughts for what the future held when it came to us. That didn't stop me from getting a little emotional, though, thinking about the fact that tomorrow was the last time I was going to be seeing her for God knows how long.

In an instant, I decided I was going to change that; or at least try my hardest to. When we laid down to go to sleep a little bit later that night — after we had, ahem, "expressed our love for each other" — I pulled her in close, with my arm draped around her waist and my nose nuzzling the back of her head as I quietly asked, "Do you have plans for Christmas?"

Kimberly's initial reply was no more than a quiet sigh.

"Beautiful?" I questioned in a near whisper.

"No, I don't," she answered softly, an audible hint of sadness in her tone.

Obviously, my plan was to have her spend Christmas with me, but hearing her tone made me switch gears for the time being. "What's wrong?" I asked, gently running my fingers up and down her back.

"Nothing, it's just —" she trailed off, pausing for a few moments before letting out another sigh, this one much louder than the first. Still, she did not continue until she had flipped onto her other side and was facing me. "I don't really talk with my dad a whole lot anymore, and with my mom being in France, it makes getting together for the holidays pretty hard, that's all. I've always loved Christmas, but it's just not the same when you don't have the people you love to celebrate it with."

Giving her a small smile, I took my opening and said, "You can always come with me to my parent's house if you want. I'd love to have you there, and I know they would too."

"I — I don't know, Tommy," she muttered, shaking her head as much as she could with it lying on a pillow. "I wouldn't want to impose or anything."

Chuckling, I rolled my eyes and said, "Beautiful, in no way, shape, or form would you be imposing. I know you don't have school, so if you can get the time off from work, I want you to come. I'll even pay to fly you out here myself if I have to."

"That's not necessary," said Kimberly with a laugh of her own. "Christmas is on a Saturday this year, and they're closing the gym from Friday through Monday, sooooo —"

"So you'll come?" I questioned, trying not to sound too overly excited.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," she replied, kissing me for what felt like an obscenely long amount of time. I don't know how long it was, but we were both breathless when we pulled away, plus Kimberly was biting her lip with that innocent expression that never failed in making her look undeniably sexy. "You have no idea how happy I am right now, Tommy," she went on, her forehead resting against my chest. "This'll be my first Christmas where I'm not alone since I moved to Florida."

I knew firsthand how much she loved Christmas, and it pained a part of me to know she had been forced to spend her most recent ones alone. At the same time, a much larger part of me was overjoyed that that would not be the case this year.

Unfortunately, time always seems to have a way of moving opposite the way you want it to. Before I even knew it, we were standing in the airport, sharing a tearful goodbye outside her terminal, hugging and kissing and promising to call each other every day. And as I walked away after watching her board her plane, I knew that Christmas would not come fast enough.

Such was the way things worked when it came to time…