51She just spent the night with Jason Lee Scott.
Kimberly did not see it coming but had a feeling it was bound to happen one way or another.
Amid the pressure to perform in gymnastics, her unstable, overbearing mother, and the tangle that was her ex-boyfriend and current power ranger, Kimberly still managed to carve away chunks of time for her childhood friend, Jason. All these times added up: the snack runs, the TV show binges, the gymnastics practices and study sessions, and the late-night talks. All these times somehow amounted to this. A night where they became so close, she could not tell herself apart from him.
It really should not have been a surprise. When she was finished with practice for the day, Jason was there. If she wanted to complain about her mom, he was a phone call away. If she wanted to get a run in, he was game. She even knew that he had a special smile reserved for her when she pouted a certain way.
Of course, Kim also had a feeling that Jason was pouring himself into her to prove…something. To prove that he was dependable maybe. To prove that he was worthy.
Ugh, Jase, why are you like this? Kim cringed internally.
Though she already knew that he was worthy. Maybe that was why she poured herself into Jason in kind—to show him he deserved a place no matter where his dark thoughts led him.
When his jaw clenched, she knew he was frustrated about something he had no control over, like when that one gym closed, and he had to drive an extra 10 minutes to the next nearest gym. Or when he had to ask his parents for money. If Jason ate less it was because he was plagued by memories of Goldar, or his supposed demotion as leader of the Power Rangers.
With time, Kimberly began to understand why Jason took the burden of the world on his shoulders. He was duty-oriented, and as leader of the Power Rangers he was responsible for his team. By being Power Rangers, they were responsible for the safety of Angel Grove. By extension, Jason felt responsible for the lives of not only his closest friends, but also family, neighbors and everyone in their city. If the Power Rangers didn't contain the attacks from Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd in Angel Grove, the rest of the state, country, or even world would be in danger. Honestly, it was lucky that Rita Repulsa only seemed to attack Angel Grove.
In any case, assuming the responsibility of protecting the ones you love and then having that responsibility taken away without warning…it made sense. What did not make sense was why Jason assumed total responsibility, when in fact, it was shared.
It was a shared burden all the rangers felt and handled in different ways…not that anyone really talked about it. With high school tests, gymnastics practice and attacks happening left and right, there was not much time to debrief. Besides the time, it was too difficult for a teenager to process saving the world—much less the alternative of not saving it. So, it remained an unspoken, implicit burden.
As Kimberly stared at the blank expression on Jason's sleeping face, she wondered if she forced herself into his life to reclaim some part she herself lost.
How do you be a normal teenager while fighting alien monsters and taking orders from a floating-talking head who claims he is an interdimensional being?
As she started at Jason's resting form, her thoughts wandered to times before, when things were incomprehensibly more complicated.
PRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPR
Flashes of battles played on the back of Kimberly's eyelids. She remembered looking at her friends' multi-colored suits in awe. Billy was blue, Trini yellow, Zach black, and Jason red. She recalled how the colors were stark against the dreary, charcoal gray rocks in the background. They all took imposing fighting stances as some of the rocks shambled closer, blubbering as limbs swiped and grasped. Primary colored figures raced in front of her view, striking the growing number of putties…
Glancing down at her hands, she saw matte-white gloves and diamonds engulfed in pink on her forearms. A putty hooked her arm from behind. She instinctively pushed her back against it and flipped backwards, up and over behind its back. Wait were they rangers still?
Kimberly shook her head and found her bare hands were now covered in a fine, white dust. Her palms faced down with fingers splayed, and beyond them were her bare feet. The ground below was not crumbled asphalt, but a beige support beam. Wait, what was her routine again?
An audience's applause filled her ears.
She did it! Her first landing off the balance beam! The roar of the applause was so loud she couldn't hear anything else. The roar distilled into resounding claps…
clap…clap...clap…
on beat…
clap…
echoing…
clap…
rasping against her eardrums…
clap…
…until she wasn't sure if they were claps or the steady, raspy cackle of a witch.
She inspected her hands again. They were gloved, but no longer white. Crusted in dirt and a dark blue goo, her gloves were clutching a bow and arrow she reflexively positioned. She trained the point of her arrow on a giant eye. She let the arrow loose…
The eye blinked and Billy moved a magnifying glass away from her face. "I believe you have the beginnings of a skin disease quite common in adolescents. Acne." Kimberly groaned.
Her groan grew into a high-pitched mechanical caw as an ancient fuchsia bird beckoned her.
"Come, let's take this fight to the sky."
She was flying! Below, waves crashed on the beach. She landed on a damp rock and noticed familiar a figure with long, black hair.
"What do you want to be when you grow up, Hallie?"
"Hmm…I want to be a princess who gets woken up with a kiss by my Prince Charming. It would be so romantic."
"Haha, okay," Trini laughed as she pulled off a pail, revealing a sand castle.
Kimberly's vision blurred, and she suddenly saw herself among her friends.
Her doppelganger sneered back and drew back a fist. She drew her fist back, too, and hit herself square in the chest. An explosion of gray lumps scattered to the ground.
Then appeared a swift green flash, a white gloved fist, and a sprinkle of black stars.
She was now on the ground, her face half-buried in a reddish sand. Everything was black, save for a white mist. A sense of fear engulfed her. There was nothing in front of, beside, or behind her.
A cackle resounded in the background…but it was wrong, it was not raspy, but came from the Green Ranger.
Wait, but the Green Ranger was no more…?
…when was it again?
Wasn't it just yesterday that they started freshman year? That Zordon summoned them to the Power Chamber? That Tommy was the new kid in town?
"I'd love to come watch you at your next meet."
Kimberly blushed at the green-clad teen.
…where was she again?
She rushed into the girls' bathroom. A few girls gasped and pushed past her.
"Creep!"
"Gross!"
She looked in the mirror and saw short cropped hair and glasses perched on her nose. Blue overalls…Billy? Oh no…we switched places…
…who was she again?
She was now sitting across two figures at the dinner table.
"Your father and I will support you in whatever decision you make, Zack. As long as you come home to visit on the holidays. I know you'll make us proud."
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor?
…why was she leaving again?
Kimberly glanced up at a large, glowing orb. It had a concerned look on its face. Zordon…the command center…
A pang of jealously, a twinge of inadequacy, ran through her when the White Ranger was unveiled as the new leader of the Power Rangers.
No, that was Jason…didn't she faint?
A twinge of herself broke the cycle of dreams, and Kimberly opened her eyes to the popcorn ceiling.
Jason was still beside her, breathing gently.
PRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPRPR
After getting dressed, Kimberly softly sat down on the bed next to Jason.
She realized she had some unresolved feelings about being a Power Ranger herself. All those memories and realizations…a lot of them she just squashed down with the repetition of her routines. However, moving on with her life was inevitable—she knew that.
She knew that, while her life was extraordinary, it was all a secret. She had to live one of her own. She had to live the life she was meant to before she was called to action. And so, she knew she had to stop being a Ranger. She had to break up with Tommy.
Somehow in the grand scheme of things, she was led to Jason.
Kimberly hesitated in waking Jason up. So what now?
Spending the night with Jason was oddly comforting, even if it brought up some old memories.
It would be complicated to explain this to her mom and friends. And Zack and Trini. And Tommy.
Who am I kidding, I'm never telling Tommy…
Before she could let her mind wander any more, Jason cleared his throat.
"So…should we talk about last night?"
Hello, I am alive haha. Thank you for reading this far, and if you've waited a long time to read this chapter, thank you for waiting. I appreciate your support.
-McQuirk