Whoa! A power rangers fic! I've never written one, and I haven't seen power rangers in.. forever, so this is sort of an A/U fic since most of the characterization and history of rangers I got from fanfiction, not episode summaries. *grin* Tommy/Kim fic.. enjoy.

There comes a time in any history when stories of truth, of battles between good, evil and the in-between, slowly dwindles to exaggerated legends. The legends loose all factual truths, they become stories told to teach and entertain. From then on even the legends are forgotten, replaced by newer stories. It is as if those battles of valor did not even exist, unless of course, the battle was unfinished, left for stronger heroes to fight.
Many battles and wars, quests for peace end, unended. There was once an evil that stained all that it touched. An Evil that could not be dispelled by those brave enough to face it. It could not be destroyed, that much was true, but there was one, with a pure enough heart to encase it. From that point on, it was guarded fiercely, and secretly, until it was forgotten entirely through the path of time. It was left; hidden, unguarded and waiting patiently for a fool to stumble across it, bidding it's time until it could complete what it had set out to do. Universal dominion, destruction and enslavement of all life is quite a popular goal for Evil to try and achieve. And this particular evil, this particular stain upon the universe, this darkness who was anticipating its eventual release patiently, did not have to wait long for his second chance at this goal.

The petite beauty groaned as she slumped against the door of her apartment. The physical motion of trying to get her key out of her purse proved to take far too much energy for the exhausted athlete to undertake, and so she just leaned. She felt someone lean up against the wall next to her, and she didn't need to look over to see who it was. She knew it'd be a tall, dark and handsome man, who was as sweaty, and exhausted as she was.
"How are we gonna get in?" the new comer grumbled, eyes closed.
"We don't. We just stay here." The small girl answered.
"Sounds like a plan. That was the worst practice ever. Schmidt is a sadist, I think he was related to Hitler." Jonathan, the newcomer complained. Kimberly would have nodded, but that would have required movement.
"Mm." Was all the caramel haired girl could say to show her agreement with that statement.
"Come on.. we need to get in. I want a shower." Jonathan said, poking his roommate.
"You have a key too you know." She grunted. The boy was suddenly leaning against her, head against her shoulder and he started whimpering pathetically.
"Agh get off me, you're gross!" The small gymnast shouted, wanting to shove him off but not finding enough strength to put up a good effort.
"Come on Kimmieeeee, Just open the doooor.." He whined. Kim rolled her eyes before taking a deep breath to train and make her poor muscles move. She had been a power ranger for gods sake! She had defeated countless monsters with her friends! Unlocking a stupid door should be easy! The ex- pink ranger sighed. She had thought she was in shape then, defeating monsters almost weekly, but it seemed Rita and Zedd couldn't compare with her coach. Her daily workouts were worse than combating against thirty putties by herself. It was a well known fact that the female rangers were the ones to fear, especially if they lost their tempers or were ovulating, but even those types of days of rangering couldn't compare to her workouts now. Her body was a lean mean gymnast machine. It had been almost two years since she had left Angel Grove, and she missed it more than she could say. She had kept in touch with a few of the rangers, namely those whom she was closest to. Trini - though she was still in Switzerland - and Aisha especially.
Kim referred to the breakup between her and Tommy as 'It," with a capital I. She knew it how much it had hurt him, she knew how much it had hurt her, and she knew that it must have been especially rough having have had to deal with it publicly. Kimberly had known what she was doing. When Rocky had sent over a picture of all of the rangers after a remarkably satisfying battle, and Kim could clearly see the tender affection between the white and pink rangers. it fell into place. It seemed to her depressed and lonely heart that the white and pink were just meant to be, and in giving up her rangerdom she had to give up something else too. Later when she was more settled in she realized what a complete and utter idiot she had been in doubting Tommy, in doubting herself, in doubting everything they had meant to each other, but by that time it was too late. There had never been that 'other guy' and Kimberly's affection for Tommy was anything but brotherly. (Although John pointed out that even if it was brotherly love there was always incest, to which she threw her shoe at his head.)
She had been devastated, but she wasn't allowed time to properly get over her heartbreak due to Pan Globals It had taken a lot of time, and a lot of forbidden pints of dulche de leche ice cream to get her back to her normal optimistic self, but she was basically back to normal. Jonathan had been the best friend ever, and she loved him to death, he was up there with Jason in coolest guy friends. He had spent more hours with her while she bawled her eyes out, offered more tissues and held her more times than she could count. The two loved each other dearly, finding that they had a lot in common, and found they were all each other had in Florida.
After the Globals she had stayed in Florida, applying to a university there, and continuing her gymnastics. She was too angry at herself to want to return home. She was too afraid to go see him happy with Kat. She was too afraid to see everyone staring at her in anger, in hatred. She had passed from the "hurt" stage to the "bittersweet' stage, though she hid it exceedingly well from Jonathan, who had been in Pan Globals with the pink ranger, and knew how deep the feelings Kim had for Tommy were. "And still are." Kim thought bitterly, finally gaining the strength to jab the key in the lock and walk in.
Kimberly Harte wished with every fiber of her being she could stop loving Tommy Oliver. She wished that she could just get over the man. She hated how much her heart still started to race when she remembered him, how a small smile would curl onto her lips before she remembered how she had treated him. Something about the man just made him impossible to not love. She'd remember all of the presents he'd bring her, the things he'd do just to see her smile. It was so hard to put the wonderful, gentle Tommy with the one who had just suddenly disappeared completely from her life. Even John had admitted that 'that Oliver guy' would be hell to try and get over. Jonathan had also said that Tommy had one of the cutest butts he'd ever seen, and Kim tended to agree but that really wasn't the point, nor a good thing to say about an ex.. right?
"Oh! Kimmie! This came for you today. Who is Al Faphive?" Jonathan asked, tossing Kimberly a small package.
"What?" The gymnast asked, eyes widening in surprise as she looked at the name on the return address, she bit back a small smile and roll of her eyes, understanding coming into her mind.
"Alpha 5.. " Kim murmured.
"Who was he? You never told me about anyone named Al." The other gymnast accused, sitting down next to Kim, eyeing her curiously. Kimberly swallowed.
"He was.. a dear friend of mine, I haven't heard of him in ages." The ex-ranger replied before rolling her eyes at her roommate's interest, "Sorry John, I think he's straight. Definitely not your type." Jonathan shrugged nonchalantly, interest in "Al Faphive" disappearing entirely. Kim grinned and shook her head.
"It was worth a try right? Always interested in new meat." Kim gave herself a pat on the back on keeping a straight face to that one. She wondered how Alpha 5 would take it to know a gay man was interested.. come to think of it.. the small robot did take much too much interest in those star wars tapes, especially C3-P0.. The power ranger shook her head, wondering how John had managed to corrupt her so badly. How many of the people theorized about a robot's sexual preference?
Kim didn't open the package until her roommate had gone to take a shower, and then immediately ripped the thing open, frowning as a small typed letter slipped out along with a small necklace on a leather chord. The pendant was a large circle with a bonsai tree in the center, there was a line dissecting the circle, behind the tree. The ranger raised an eyebrow. She had a strange feeling the metal wasn't one you could find on earth, and she had a niggling feeling that it wasn't just an ordinary present. Her eyes flickered back to the note in her lap before lifting it up.

"Kimberly, we need your help. We need all of the power rangers. The universe is in danger, you must come to the command center as soon as you can. The pendant is a transporter, put it on and speak the word "Shaolin." Please hurry! "

She didn't have time to even think about what the danger could be that would possibly need her help when Alpha already had the current power rangers to help, because Jonathan walked out of the bathroom, classically dressed, looking damnably hot. Kim smiled as she watched him primp in front of the full length mirror that served as the door to the closet. She was glad that she had had Tommy, otherwise she would have had the same problem that all of her female friends did, crushes on the gay man. It was hard to resist those warm blue eyes set in the pale face accented by raven black curls that he took great pains to keep luscious. The boy had been asked to be a model countless times but he always refused, thinking that the career would be far too hard to pull off, along with gymnastics and college.
"I thought you were tired."
"I was revived. Take a shower and let's go dancing!" He said eagerly, twirling over to her. Kim shook her head.
"Sorry Fred Astaire, I can't go guy hunting with you, something came up. Besides, you always take me to a gay bar and I always get hit on by the wrong gender."
"Something from Al?" The extraordinary handsome boy asked, sitting next to Kim and throwing an arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah.. I need to go home right away, so I'm gonna check out flights back to Angel Grove, tonight if possible." She said, hoping that he didn't detect that she was lying. Even after all of these years she really stunk at lying, luckily though, Jonathan had gone back to the mirror, posing for it.
"Want me to come?"
"And risk you having a grudge against me because you gave up a chance to get laid? I think not!" The girl exclaimed, Jonathan grinned.
"You know I'd give up one night for my roomie. Two, is a different story. Are you sure you don't want me to drop you at the airport? Hell, go with you to this precious Angel Grove? I'm curious to meet these people.."
"I'm sure."
"Think you might see Tommy there?" He asked softly. Kimberly's eyes widened, she hadn't thought of that. Oh god.. at a rangers meeting he was bound to be there..
"Oh God..what do I do?" She whispered, Jonathan rubbed her back reassuringly.
"If you see him, let him make the first step, just be polite, not harsh rash and don't be affected by anything he says. You are a strong beautiful woman now, one I'd be proud to go out with if I swung that way. You're a great lady with a heart the size of Texas and you're not going to let some little snot with a great ass make you cry."
".. Thanks John." She said, Jonathan smiled, gave her a quick kiss and was out the door.
"Hope all is well Kimmie! Call me! If you're not back in a week I'm taking a holiday to Angel Grove!" He called as he twirled out the door, singing as he walked down the hall.
"DON'T TURN OUR APPARTMENT INTO A LOVE MOTEL." She yelled after him before frowning at the necklace that lay innocently next to her. The girl carefully put it on her dresser before showering, and changing into black athletic pants, sneakers and a light pink tank top. She tied her favorite sweatshirt around her hips and threw on sneakers. Sore muscles forgotten her gaze turned back to the small pendant. She clutched it in her hand, and making sure she had at least two hair ties around her wrist (they were always going missing) she closed her eyes.
"Shaolin." She felt a warmth radiate from the pendant in her hands, spreading through her in a flash, when the girl opened her eyes she nearly shrieked. This certainly was not the command center.
"I get the feeling I'm not in Kansas any more." She whispered, staring at the blue pearl hanging beautifully before her eyes. Kim only stared at the Earth for a moment before her eyes turned to her location. She looked down and nearly shrieked as she saw nothing but distant stars. The girl frowned, kneeling down to touch where her feet were. There was a platform of some sort, she wasn't floating, it was just invisible? She had to be encased in some sort of invisible bubble - enough years with Billy had taught her more than she ever wanted to know about space, and she knew it was impossible to be standing here for more than thirty seconds without meeting a rather gruesome death, it was also impossible to hear sound, but that scientific law had proven to be broken as well considering she could hear herself breathing.
"Hello?" She called out, looking around at the rather vast emptiness. There was a gasp of surprise behind her and the girl spun around, only to see an entirely too familiar highly missed figure standing in front of her.

"..Jason?" She asked, shocked. The former red ranger spun around, eyes widening as he saw one of his oldest friends.
"Kim!" He exclaimed, pulling her into a warm hug. "Any idea of what we're doing in space when scientifically we shouldn't be alive, nor able to speak?" He asked, after pulling away after a few moments. It was obvious he remembered some of Billy's random factoids about space as well.
"I missed you too." She said with a small sarcastic grin. Jason shook his head and mussed up her hair.
"You know I'd miss my little sister. "
"Don't Mess with the hair!"
"This isn't the command center, why would Zordon and Alpha transport us to space?" A confused voice asked, Jason and Kim looked over to see Billy. Kim immediately squealed, releasing Jason to hug the sorely missed friend.
"Hi Kim." He said with a grin. "hi Jason. Apparently you two got something from Zordon as well."
"Actually my letter came from Al Faphive." Kim corrected, "Alpha has absolutely no creativity."
"Well he is a robot. What can you expect? He's rather human in other aspects.." The red ranger said. Kimberly remembered earlier thoughts about the robot's sexual preference and decided to not reply to the rhetorical question.
"A reunion in space, Zordon knows how to make a splash." A new voice said, the only female thus far, ran to go hug Rocky.
"Hi Rocko."
"Kim, we missed you. What does Florida have that Angel Grove doesn't?"
"Low house insurance." She said immediately. Rocky made a face.
"Just because those stupid monsters destroy buildings every time they attack, doesn't mean the insurance companies have to go all ballistic, don't they realize that these monsters give the city character?"
"Apparently someone's still bitter about not finding a cheap apartment." Aisha said sarcastically, having just shown up to hear Rocky's gripe.
And so it continued, former rangers popping up like daisies, until finally Kat, Adam, Zach, and Trini had all appeared. After long exchanges of hugs, accusations of not keeping in touch, and comments on the very strange meeting place, the topics dwindled to two. Why this meeting was called to order, and where was their green and white ranger?
"Even for things that say 'come as soon as possible' Tommy manages to come late." Trini said, evoking laughter from everyone save one rather nervous first pink ranger. She wasn't sure what would happen once she saw Tommy again. Kim heard John's voice in her head, and took a deep breath. She noted Kat eyeing her strangely, and frowned, she supposed it was normal for the current girlfriend to feel somewhat threatened by an ex, although in this case it seemed ridiculous.
Finally, when Kimberly thought she might burst from impatience, when the rest had separated into tiny groups to chat, reminiscing and theorizing about what this meeting was about he appeared - right in front of her. Tall, strong, gorgeous as ever. Her heart started to pound so loudly she was sure everyone else could hear it too. Her mouth had gone dry, wondering why even after so long he had to look so good. Her eyes locked with his. Those eyes, normally soft and friendly turned hard as he realized whom he was looking at. Kimberly stiffened. "Oh God.. this'll be harder than I thought.. where's John when you need him.." The original pink ranger squared her shoulders, and took another deep breath, trying to calm down her nerves.
"Hello Tommy."
"Hello Kimberly."
"Tommy! Finally you showed up! Any idea as to why we're all here?" Rocky asked, as the group of eight other people joined the ex-couple. Tommy silently thanked Rocky for helping him look away from the vision in front of him. God Kim looked good. She was as petite as ever, and her eyes still held the same brightness he remembered, her hair was still as glossy, and her mouth was still as kissable. His heart wrenched at the thought of the letter she had sent him and he shook his head. He loved Kat. He was over Kim. Kim deserved none of his attention. She was not a part of his life. Time to return back at the problem at hand.
"No, I don't understand why they didn't just mention it at the command center."
"Because we were afraid of spies." A voice called. The group turned to stare at a very familiar floating head. He frowned at them. "Rangers, it's a most distressing reason I have called you here. Old and new. A council of guardians of the universe has asked me to plead their case to you. It is known far and wide of your deeds protecting Earth, it is also known how some of the most gruesome figures in history have met their downfall at your hands. It is for that reason the council begs of you to rid them of a final evil - one that has just re-awakened from a sleep that lasted eons. Its name is Aruendywar, and it is worse than any other enemy you have or ever will face."
"What is it?" Kat asked curiously.
"I don't know." Zordon replied truthfully, shaking his head, "next to nothing is known about it. All the council knows is that this evil has been trapped for billions of years, but we do not know how it was trapped in the first place, or why it wasn't destroyed. They have begged us to help them." Aisha, Kat, Rocky, Adam, Tommy and Billy shared a look.
"We'll do it." The leader replied at once.
"Not so fast Tommy.. there is a reason as to why the originals are here as well." Zordon replied, eyes gazing fondly upon Jason, Kim, Trini and Zach. "But first I must ask if you four are also willing to help."
"Of course Zordon. Anything." Jason said with a shrug, speaking for all of them. The giant head smiled appreciatively.
"We're all going to be power rangers?" Zach asked with a frown. Zordon's face fell.
"No. A tournament. I'm sorry to have to do this, but you must compete against each other. I must know who is the best of the best when it comes to combative skills. I love you all and cannot choose myself, so I have to test you. The five not chosen will remain on Earth, where you have an equally important job" He murmured softly. The rangers looked at each other warily before all of them slowly nodded in agreement. It made sense, if the good of the universe was at stake here it seemed only logical for them to want the best.
"Good, in a week's time we will begin.. in the meantime.. I welcome you all back to Angel Grove." The head disappeared, and in a moment, that pocket of space was yet again empty as the teenagers found themselves in the Angel Grove Park.
Kimberly's eyes settled on the lake and she smiled softly. So many memories about this park. So many battles, so much laughter.. if ever there was a place in Angel Grove that made her the happiest - and the saddest it was here. Tommy stared at his ex, eyes flicking to where she was looking and frowned, swallowing a lump in his throat, as he realized he was remembering the same things she probably was. Damn it.. why did she have to come back? Why'd she have to do this to him! Tommy ran an annoyed hand through his hair, he had thought he was over the gymnast, but now after seeing her again, his heart was confused. His eyes looked over to Kat who was talking to Billy and he made his decision. She was the one for him. Kim had blown it, it didn't matter if his heart still raced when he looked at her, it didn't matter that his breath caught every time she caught his eye. Kimberly Harte had blown it, he couldn't trust her. He couldn't love her. He would just pretend she wasn't around. That was final.