Hi guys, I am so sorry for this delay. I was away from any kind of internet connection for the past few months. It was horrible. Brrr. Never do that. Anyway, I'm back and updates will once again be regular.

Chapter Six: Her Big Debut

All Kimberly was capable of focusing on was Trini's lips pressed against her own. The walls of her bedroom did not exist, the bedroom window showing the outside world did not exist, hell, as far as she was concerned, the outside world with its trees, birds and breaking dawn simply did not exist.

There was just Kimberly, Trini, and their lips moving in perfect unison. She was vaguely aware of Trini's hand cupping her the back of her head, of her leaning into it, further deepening the kiss and then she violently pulled away.

'No, no, I can't – I… I just can't sorry.' Kimberly was babbling and she took a few steps back, away from Trini, her eyes wide like an owl's.

'Was I…' Trini's mouth opened and closed several times, the words struggling to pass her lips. 'Was I not good?' Her words were plaintive, confused. She was getting nervous and doing everything in her power to keep it from overwhelming her.

'No, no, it was uh… It was a good kiss, a very good kiss. I actually haven't kissed anyone in a while. It's just… It's just…' Kimberley paced the room, backwards and forwards, doing everything in her power to avoid making eye contact with the practically hyperventilating girl in front of her. Before she knew it, she was babbling. 'Look we're friends, we are really, really good friends and sometimes when people are really, really good friends with other people and are close and all that, they can sometimes get confused…'

Kimberly not entirely sure who she was trying to persuade. Her heart was beating so fast she was certain

'Confused?!' Trini's voice wobbled, close to tears. Kimberly's heart wrenched seeing her like. 'I'm confused? You kissed me back! I-I… I…' Her eyes were very wide before dropping to the ground, a flush now all over her face like a rash. She could feel a sharp, burning sensation spreading all throughout her body, shame and deep disappointment. 'I'm sorry. I thought… I'm sorry. I misunderstood what we… I'm sorry. I'm just going to go before… I'm just gonna go. I'm sorry.'

No!

'Wait!' Kimberly's hand reached out and latched onto Trini's. 'Don't go. Not like this. Please just stay for a moment.'

'Why?' Trini was no longer attempting to hold back her tears. But she didn't pull her hand away. Not yet.

'Look – just come over here for a moment.' She led Trini over to the bed and motioned for her to sit down next to her. 'Alright, I'm not really handling this well so feel free to throw a shoe at my head if I say the wrong thing – wait, no, scratch that, you're wearing combat boots. That would hurt like mad so don't do that. Just lightly whack me over the side of the head.' Her cheeks were still wet but Trini had to fight a small grin. 'I'm just… I wasn't expecting this so it's all very sudden. I've always assumed that I was a certain way, that I, uh, liked certain things, and then you kissed me. That's… Come on! That's a big, damn thing to suddenly have happen and I'm now confused about everything. I'm not saying yes, I'm not even saying no, I'm just saying that this is all so new and that I'm going to need some time. To sort myself out and find out what I think. I'm not… averse to our moment, I just need some time. Is that okay?' Trini shrugged somewhat.

'It's better than I was expecting.'

'Hey, hey, hey.' Kimberly gently touched her cheek. 'You are one of my friends, one of my best friends. I don't want to lose that so this isn't something I can rush right into even if I am… a certain way.' She bit her lip thoughtfully. 'Do you have somewhere you need to be?'

'I can go if you want.' Trini made to get up and head to the window before Kimberly yanked her back down to the bed.

'Don't you dare.' She was smiling. 'That's not what I meant. Uh, I just realised that after this kind of bombshell, I'm probably not getting back to sleep and because it's really your fault for that, I think it's only fair that you help keep me occupied so did you want to watch a movie with me? I have the new Spider-Man on my laptop if you're interested.'

Judging by the rather stunned expression on Trini's face (not unlike that of a soccer player hit right in the face by the ball), it was quite clear that whatever she had been expecting Kimberly to say, her asking for them to watch a comic book movie together had not been one of them.

As Kimberly fiddled with her laptop, setting up the film, Trini leant back against the bed wondering if it was appropriate to move closer to her or not.

'Hey, none of that,' Kimberly said sharply, 'We've watched movies together before and you were never that far away. Get in here.' She offered an arm and Trini shuffled into the half embrace and they both turned to watch the screen.

Despite her pretence at confident, no-nonsense bluster, Kimberly was still nervous as hell and she was sure that Trini could feel her heart beating at a million miles an hour. She tried to shove her nerves down and just act like everything was normal but it was getting harder and harder.

Trini's skin was so warm and inviting.

As Peter Parker opened the door and discovered that his girlfriend, Liz, was also the daughter of Toombs, The Vulture, Kimberly made a decision. She was about to open her mouth but then her phone violently shuddered. She frowned as she recognised the caller ID. 'What does Zack want at this time in the morning?'

'Guys. Help me.' It sounded like he was crying. 'Please help me.'

~o~O~o~

Zack's closed eyelids were suddenly burning red. The sun was just starting to creep up the mountains that stood over Angel Grove.

'Just five more minutes?' Zack begged but, as it was wont to do, the sun ignored him and continued to rise. 'You know, you're a very unlikeable person. I was having a really nice dream. Zendaya and Vera Blue were there and they were both very happy to share.' With a grumble, Zack rose to a sitting position and looked down the mountain onto the sleepy little fishing town.

While he had been spending more and more nights watching over his increasingly ill mother, sometimes the lure of the outdoors was too strong and he and a sleeping bag would spend the night under a blanket of stars.

He was in the process of bundling up his sleeping bag when the back of his neck prickled. Unthinkingly, he leapt to the side, right on the edge of the cliff, just in time to evade a laser blast that hit where he had just been sitting.

'Aw, no fair. It's more fun when you get hit by the laser and blow up.' Zack spun around and he saw her.

The Green Ranger was leaning nonchalantly a large boulder, lazily twirling a gun with her left hand. 'Did you know that you drool in your sleep?' The question was friendly, they could have simply bumped into each other in town and started chatting, her tone was almost pleasant. Her voice really stood out to Zack. There was none of that calculating bite that he had heard in the past.

Then it hit him, the person standing in front of him was not Rita. But he had heard it before. But from where? He could not place it.

'Yeah,' Zack said with forced calmness, 'My Mom told me I started that as a child and I guess I just never got out of it.' He pushed himself up, standing. 'You know something?' he said, casually (at least he hoped casually) moving away from the cliff edge, 'I'm not saying Rita was ugly or anything, seriously she was not ugly. Pants wettingly terrifying maybe, but definitely not ugly. That said, the suit definitely looks better on you. You really fill it out.'

'Aww, that's sweet. I bet you say that to all the girl's that try to kill you.' She holstered the gun which was setting off all sorts of alarm bells. Clearly she did not think that she needed a weapon to kill him.

'Only the hot ones.' He grinned or, rather, he showed her his clenched teeth.

'You see, now I feel bad,' she pouted, 'You're being all charming. I'm still gonna have to kill you but now I'm going to be wondering, maybe he was the one? What if I never find another hot, quippy guy to grow old and make little Green Ranger babies with?'

'Really?'

'Nah.' She giggled girlishly. 'I'm actually already seeing someone, sorry. Maybe, I mean, it is a little early to put a label on it. I just thought that might make you feel better before you die though.'

Before she had even finished her sentence, she had launched her self at him, her fist approaching at terminal velocity. However, before it could make contact, his fist of flesh and bone was replaced by scaly, black armour which met her head on.

'Ah, you got your glad rags on. That's good, I'd hate for the fight to get boring.'

'I don't know if you've ever been in a fight before but there's usually not this much talking,' Zack grumbled before, fast as lighting, she elbowed him in the face, sending him flying into the ground. 'Okay, you've definitely been in a fight before.'

'What did you think of that?' Her friendly, conversational way of talking was really getting under his skin. 'Both my boss and my daddy say I'm too leggy, that my stance is unsubtle and that it broadcasts my attacks but I think I'm doing alright. What do you think?'

'Well you're certainly starting to scare me,' Zack grumbled, 'I just wish I had something as nice to give to you.'

'Oh don't worry, Sweetie, I'm sure you have some good moves too.'

'Don't patronise me.' There was a blur of motion; kick, uppercut, left hook, knee to the gut and finally a headbutt that knocked her down onto the ground.

Hard.

'Don't be too impressed with yourself.' All pretence of civility in her voice was gone and it sounded thick, like she had a mouthful of her own blood. 'This is really my fault for going easy. If this were a video game, I'd like you to imagine that I just switched the difficulty to legendary.'

She then lashed out with her left hand right at his face but Zack was easily able to step back out of range, stopping just before going over the edge of the cliff. He realised that this was not a mistake on her part, she wouldn't have thrown a blow like that unless she was sure of a hit. Her hand was shining and then suddenly, crack, his visor had been punctured by a dagger that she had not been holding a few seconds ago. A spiderweb of lines ran down his face plate before shattering, exposing his face to her. Although he could not see it, he was aware of the flowing gash under his left eye.

There was no time to rest and lick his wounds, she lunged at him again, this time at the gem in the centre of his chest which exploded upon impact.

Zack felt like his upper body was on fire. He couldn't breathe, think, or do anything other than scream in agony as his suit disintegrated. He fell to his knees, clutching at his chest as she knelt down next to him.

'I need you to do me a favour,' she asked, her pleasant tone of voice back again. 'I'd really like it if you could tell the others that I'm in town and that I'm really looking forward to meeting up with 'em all. You think you'll remember that? Good. Laterz.' She then gently nudged him with a single finger and he plummeted over the edge and down the side of the mountain.

Exactly seven seconds later, the ground smashed into him so hard that he actually bounced before once again slamming into the rocky earth.

He was spewing blood, his vision was blurred and the sharp sensations indicated that at least one of his legs was broken and that that was probably the least of his injuries. Pain spasmed through his body like a virus, finding untouched sections of flesh and filling it with torture.

The pain was the only indicator that he was still alive.

Hundreds of feet above him, the Green Ranger looked down at his broken form, admiring her handiwork She put a hand to the crystal on her chest and her armour melted away..

'Hey, boss man, I just thought you'd like to know that I've made my big debut and I reckon it was a pretty good one. In a few hours, they'll see what I've done with Mr. Black down there and they'll all know I'm here. They'll be so angry at what I've done that they won't be focussed and will make for very easy pickings. If we're really, I might be able to finish this in time to enjoy the weekend.'

Tommy grinned wickedly, taking one final look at Zack before turning about face and walking off, ready to cross another Ranger off her list.

~o~O~o~

Ding! Dong!

Sam Scott answered the door with a slight frown on his face. After all, who comes calling on a Wednesday at a quarter to eight in the morning? He swung open the door to reveal a slightly out of breath young woman with a small bruise on her chin.

'Can I help you?" he asked neutrally, 'Miss…?'

'Oliver, Tommy Oliver,' she replied, 'Hi, uh, sorry.' She paused before she continued rambling and took a deep breath. 'Hi, I'm Tommy Oliver, is Jason here? We were going to walk to school together?' Unreadable expression on his face, he stood there for several seconds, just observing this strange girl before calling for his son.

'Jason! Some girl is here for you!'

A few seconds later, a surprised yet very pleased Jason Scott arrived at the door.

'Hey,' he said happily, 'I wasn't expecting to see you this morning although, don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased to see you. What happened to your face?' His smile faded as he noticed the bruise under her lip.

'You should see the other guy,' she quipped before she quickly added, 'Kidding,' upon seeing his expression. 'It's nothing,' she assured him, 'It's more embarrassing than anything. I accidently dropped and shattered a mug this morning and when I went to sweep it up, I slipped on the spilled coffee, tripped over the broom and caught my face on the kitchen bench as I fell. Hardly the stuff of drama. I'll live, I promise you.'

'You sure you're fine?'

'Dude, don't worry about it. Although, if anyone asks, it happened in a really cool fight which ended with me totally wiping out the other guy.'

'Alright, I believe you. So what brings you here anyway?'

'Well, you seemed absolutely shattered the other night after you had to look after Billy and couldn't walk me home, especially after a certain moment we may have shared. Along with our tongues and saliva,' she added roguishly. 'So I thought I'd make it up to you and let you walk me to school. Who knows, if you're lucky, on the way back we might share some more things.'

~o~O~o~

Thanks for reading. Please remember to leave a review and I'll see you next time.