Authors Note: Here it is guys, the long awaited final chapter of Call and Answer! Thank you so much for reading, and stay tuned for my next fic – Calling all Angels, the start off to Kimberly's life in LA taking on her new nemeses Lupine.

But until then enjoy, and please please PLEASE forgive the typos!

Hardships and Goodbyes.

The trickster wasn't letting up; every blow the rangers managed to deliver seemed to just bounce off of him.

A swift kick from Kira got her leg trapped in one of the trickster's long arms and in one swift movement she was lifted in the air and slammed to the ground.

"Kira!"

Ethan was quick to jump in to assist her,

"you alright?"

"yeah.." Kira confirmed.

"Not so fast brats!"

The trickster was on them again firing a lazer, the yellow and blue ranger in a flash of sparks flying apart and through the air each landing on opposites sides of the monster.

The trickster laughed.

"Hey!"

The trickster turned swiftly as Tommy's punch came flying forward, Tommy managed to land a hit to the tricksters face, but the monster only seemed to fall back a few steps before advancing again. With a hiss he flung one of his arms wrapping it around Tommy's neck.

"Not so tough now are you black ranger?" The trickster taunted as he squeezed tightly, Tommy groped at the long arm with both his hands trying to break the hold – nothing seemed work until finally Connor had interfered coming down from the air fast bashing into the arm with the butt of his weapon.

The trickster fell back releasing Tommy, Kira and Ethan having recovered in time to move in front of Tommy, the three making a fighting stance.

The three were quickly engaged by Tyronnedrones and had to hold them back for as long as possible while Tommy managed to recover. As soon as Tommy was on his feet he had the Trickster in a bind.

All four of the rangers were fighting to the best of their ability but Elsa seemed determined to make sure that they lost fight and more and more she continued sending in more Tyronnedrones. She became increasingly giddy as one by one the rangers were beginning to weaken.

As soon as Kimberly transformed she could feel the pink power starting to drain from her, she didn't have a lot of time left and she wanted to use what she did have left to give that Trickster exactly what was coming to him.

Upon arriving on the scene, she didn't know where to start first – Tyronnedrones were swarming everywhere attacking the rangers left and right, the Trickster and Tommy were heavily involved in combat each blow causing sparks to fly every which way. For a second it seemed that Tommy could have the upper hand but as soon as Kimberly thought that she was very quickly proven wrong – with one fowl swoop of his long arm the Trickster struck Tommy heavily on the mid section sending him flying through the air.

"Tommy!"

Her surprised cry drew attention to herself and the Trickster turned on his feet spotting the pink Ranger.

"You!" the Trickster said "impossible you're supposed to be dead!"

The Trickster's exclamation immediately drew Elsa's attention she turned and seeing Kimberly she fumed.

"No!" She cursed "stupid little girl, I will not accept this!"

Her anger of seeing Kimberly brought her to a near rage and losing all thought and most of her control she lunged at the pink ranger with every intention of taking her down permanently.

Kimberly dropped in a stance ready to defend herself but before Elsa even got close Tommy had recovered and coming through the side he easily knocked Elsa off her course engaging her in combat.

This left Kimberly to deal with the Trickster.

The Trickster wasn't wasting anytime on the girl; he spun around quickly sending another of his arms flying towards Kimberly – but Kimberly using some of her own skills easily jumped on it. Using the momentum from the swing she ran across it as it were nothing more then a balance beam and lifting from the arm gracefully her leg extended in a kick for the Trickster's face.

The kick wasn't executed as easily as hoped; lifting his other long arm the Trickster swung it towards Kimberly knocking her down towards the ground. She barely managed to break her fall by turning her landing into a backwards summersault coming out on her feet.

"ooo Agile little thing aren't you?" The Trickster taunted "not for long though, let's see how well you cope with out any legs!"

He shot his arms out, and wrapping each arm around Kimberly's ankles he swung her around violently, and Kimberly unable to break the hold became the victim of abuse as again and again the Trickster bashed her into the ground.

Tommy had fought Elsa off after awhile, and seeing the disturbing display his heart nearly stopped, he had to get to Kimberly.

"Kimberly!" He shouted, and he tried getting to her but Elsa once again intervened by blocking Tommy's path.

"There's no sense in fighting loser!" She taunted "We're winning!"

The others had managed to fight back their own little group of Tyronnedrones in enough time to see the Trickster flinging Kimberly around like a rag doll, their own shouts of despair towards the scene blocked off by the advances of even more Tyronnedrones who seemed to coming from every direction.

Kimberly couldn't belief the amount of pain she was in, all thought seemed to leave her as each blow left her more and more broken and bruised. What's worse is that somehow through this entire ordeal her helmet had kept her from being knocked out so she could hear every cry of protest from Tommy and the others.

Everything around Kimberly was chaos, pure unadulterated chaos followed by a moment of clarity.

She was going to die.

Through all the battles she had been part of, she never once thought about the fact that each time she held a morpher in the air to call on the power that her life was on the line – not until now at least. Why would a group of teenagers with the world literally at their feet even think about taking on a task as daunting as protecting the entire world?

The answer never seemed clearer then at that moment – it wasn't to protect the world, but the world's future. Every single life on that earth depended on the rangers to ensure a happier tomorrow. Creating a better future was why Kimberly chose to become a ranger back in her high school days and it was why she was thrilled to be a ranger again now. She always knew that leaving the team to pursue fame had been a mistake but it took her until her last moments of life to realize just how big of a mistake it was, and if she could take it back she would've.

With one last swoop the Trickster lifted Kimberly as high into the air as he could get her, and swinging her down to the ground he watched in glee as the pink ranger went completely limp. He let her go, and standing for a few moments began to laugh evilly when the pink ranger didn't even twitch. A rise of pink light shone around her for just a moment before her armour vanished and her morpher snapped in half completely leaving Kimberly completely lifeless on the ground.

Elsa seeing this laughed cruelly, and finally deciding it was time for the grand finale ordered all of the Tyronnedrones to fall back.

"Retreat!" She hollered "leave now and give all the other rangers a chance to see that their comrade has fallen!"

Again she laughed as Tommy's eyes snapped towards Kimberly and seeing her there like that – he couldn't bare it, he fell to his knees the word 'no' circling around in his head.

When the Tyronnedrones left, the other rangers stopped in their wake and turned to the Trickster and they couldn't believe their eyes.

Elsa cackled slowly.

"See now rangers" she taunted "what fighting us can do to you, if I were you I'd give up now – you know you can't win; and if you leave now I promise we won't kill you."

The Trickster turned to Kimberly and heading over to her lifted her weight with his foot flipping her onto her back. He examined her closely most intrigued by his recent kill. She was so helpless against him that destroying her had brought him a sick pleasure – one that he couldn't wait to re-enact. He decided to start with the yellow ranger.

The rangers were so caught up in Elsa's speech that they almost didn't notice the Trickster take off in a run straight for Kira; he was so determined to make sure that each ranger had a sticky ending that he failed to notice that upon leaving Kimberly's side a white pearl had materialized in her hand.

Breaking out of his stupor Connor was the first to react lodging himself between Kira and the Trickster, he drew his weapon and shot temporarily knocking the Trickster off course. The Trickster laughed and quickly recovering swooped one of his arms down towards Connor knocking him flat on his back.

Connor couldn't get up, the force of the blow having knocked the wind right out of him. Kira then realizing what was happening started immediately and drawing her weapon engaged the Trickster. The Trickster easily dodged and was only temporarily stopped in his tracks when Ethan had joined the other to coming up from behind and delivering a swift kick to the Trickster's back.

But the Trickster didn't seem to let up as one by one he used long arms to throw the rangers off of him and through the air like toys.

Tommy wasn't aware of any of this, he was too shell-shocked to really care – Kimberly was… when just a few minutes ago she was… He couldn't believe it.

Elsa who had witnessed Tommy's distress did full well to boast good and loud so that he could hear her.

"She was a fool for thinking she had a chance" Elsa hissed "she paid the price for her stupidity just as you'll all pay yours."

Of course as soon as the words left her lips, a great white light spread out nearly blinding them all, the glow spread covering everything it touched in a blanket of warmth except for the Trickster who unexpectedly got thrown off his feet.

Elsa didn't have time to react before an unfamiliar white ranger stepped forward. The ranger didn't say a word; she simply stood – evaluating the scene around her. When the Trickster finally got onto his feet he was infuriated and seeing this new opponent sent one of his arms towards her. The ranger reacted faster then anticipated and in a swift turn a curved blade materialized from her triceps and the Trickster's arm was easily cut down in size.

The Trickster howled and fell over in pain. Elsa seeing this couldn't help but feel beat and seemed to know immediately that this new ranger was sure to defeat her. She fell back and like the Tyronnedrones earlier, she retreated.

Connor and the others ran straight for Tommy the second Elsa was gone, and getting him to his feet they proceeded to start moving him along to safety.

"What's happening?" Was all Tommy managed to ask a bit shakily, and Ethan taking a second to look over at the new ranger who was making a joke of the Trickster couldn't be happier to answer.

"Oh not much" he said "we're winning."

The trickster was weakened considerably from the battle earlier; the white ranger had no trouble seeing where he had slowed down and made sure to attack those points first. Bit by bit she cut him down, until finally drawing out a jaded boomerang she made her distance from the monster and throwing the weapon expertly it turned into a ball of energy and on one large blast the Trickster had been defeated turning into dust – the boomerang returning to the ranger's hand in its original state.

As soon as the dust cleared and the ranger was sure the Trickster was gone, she dropped her guard and turning for the others called out to Tommy and ran to him. The other clearing the way for her, she dropped down in front of him and de-morphed, Kimberly's eyes showing nothing but concern.

"Tommy" she said slowly "look at me, I'm alive okay – I'm alright."

It took Tommy a second to realize what was being said to him but he lifted his head.

"Alive?" He repeated, and Kimberly nodded. He seemed to come to and eventually he de-morphed as well and unsure of what to say or do he wrapped his arms around her holding her as tightly as he could.

"You're okay!" He breathed, and Kimberly laughed.

"And you're a mess" she countered light heartedly.

The others all de-morphed and exchanged confused looks, they were all so sure that Kimberly had been destroyed by the Trickster that they didn't know how any of what was happening at the moment be possible.

So later on when they were all celebrating back at Hayley's Kimberly had explained to them what she had gone through when she was unconscious, and how she was chosen to carry on Corina's mission to defend earth against an evil force named Lupine as the the White Spirit Ranger.

"That sounds – pretty awesome" Connor had to say "and you know who to call if you need a hand."

"Agreed" Kira chirped in,

"Hey!" Ethan then called from the couch "We're on the news!"

Connor and Kira both eagerly jumped from their seats and went over to where Ethan was sitting leaving Tommy and Kimberly alone. Tommy was still having a little trouble with all of this.

"Hey" Kimberly urged "I'll be alright, its just something I have to do."

Tommy nodded "I understand, and I completely agree with Connor if you need anything – anything at all please don't hesitate to call; I'll fly us all to LA myself if I have to."

"You're upset I'm moving back" Kimberly slowly, and Tommy could only agree.

"Upset – yes, I was really getting used to having you around. The kids – they're fantastic I couldn't ask for a better team but I always feel like there's someone missing and with you around that feeling isn't so urgent."

"Ah" Kimberly said "well maybe someone else will come along, now I don't want to sound conceded but 4 people isn't enough for a ranger team there's always been others – I'm just not that person. I'm sorry it ended up like this."

"Don't be sorry" Tommy countered "just be careful in LA and call me, every time you get a new ranger and give me every detail you can."

Kimberly grinned "worried much?"

"No" Tommy said carefully "I just want to be sure that whoever gets chosen to fight with you isn't going to flake out."

Kimberly chuckled "I can't remember the last time a ranger flaked out. And besides I won't be choosing anybody – the stones seem to know who they want as their holder I'm just in charge of bringing them all together."

They're conversation ended, no longer knowing what else to say. They sit back enjoyed their drinks moving on to other topics of conversation…

The next morning the others were sad to Kimberly go, they all gathered at Tommy's and helped her pack her car.

"LA huh?" Connor asked "pretty swanky Kimberly, you'll have to invite us all soon."

"And send us emails whenever you spot someone famous" Kira joked.

"Done and done" Kimberly agreed, "I can't wait to tell Jeff about you guys!"

"Glad to hear it" Ethan said, and alongside Tommy both of them asked.

"Who's Jeff?"

Kimberly shrugged "my old/new boss. I called him this morning and arranged to have my old job given back. I thought it would be hard but surprisingly he seemed more then happy to can the new girl."

Ethan seethed "poor girl, but on the bright side you still have income."

"Exactly" Kimberly agreed.

With a thump, Kira had put the last of Kimberly's bags into the car.

"We're really going to miss you" Kira said "and I'm really going to miss having another girl on the team."

"Aw thanks Kira" Kimberly moved to give her a hug "I'm going to miss all of you to. I'm so glad I met all of you."

They said their goodbyes and the kids all had to leave before they were late for school, Tommy on the other hand had quickly arranged for a substitute for his morning class so that he could see Kimberly off.

"Well" Kimberly said

"I guess you should be going" Tommy said "Flight in a few hours."

Kimberly smiled "I'm really happy I found you again Tommy, and I'm so happy I got the chance to fight with you again."

"It won't be the last time" Tommy promised.

"As soon as I'm done with Mesogog, I'm coming to LA."

"Tommy" Kimberly said "really?"

"Yes" Tommy said then "Everything that you told us – I can't help but feel like I should be involved. I don't care how I'm involved just that I need to be, and knowing I can't ignore my mission here I can only promise you that if you're still fighting when I'm done. Then I'm coming to help you."

Kimberly smiled "it's a deal."

With a wave and a final good bye Kimberly got into her car. She started the engine, and giving Tommy one last look over she drove off.

Less then a week later, everything in Reefside seemed to be back to normal. The rangers fought off Mesogog's attacks with minimal to no damage. It was pretty normal and Tommy had hope that sooner then later his mission would be complete. He had called Kimberly often giving her updates on monsters they've vanquished and she in turn would congratulate him before giving a sigh saying that LA was quiet, and she had yet to find another ranger.

A month after that Tommy had received a package from Kimberly, the letter simply reading "I miss you" the small box containing half of the pink dino gem. Tommy lifted it to the light and smiled, an image of Kimberly in LA appearing in his mind wearing the other half of the gem around her neck.

Somehow Tommy knew then that everything would be alright for her, and that someday soon they'd be close again.

End