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The ranger team watched as a woman who was definitely Kat and a man none of them recognized appeared to be clearing a table after a meal. Tommy's stomach wrenched as he watched them clear what had obviously been a romantic dinner for two. That must be Carlos, he thought to himself as the man fed Kat a leftover grape and then kissed her on the forehead. After they had finished clearing the table she walked him to the door, where they kissed goodbye.
Once Carlos was gone Kat wiped down the table and settled onto the couch with a book, soon falling asleep. It was then that a group of cogs teleported into the room, grabbing Kat. She fights well for not being morphed, Jason mused to himself, though I do wonder why she hasn't morphed yet. They watched as she threw a cog through the glass patio door, followed by a broken chair. They quickly overpowered her, however and they teleported away, with her in tow.
There, Billy stopped the program and turned to the rangers. "There's one thing about that, guys, when Kat was kidnapped there was no sign that the zeo powers went with her. As well as no sign that they were even on Earth prior to her kidnapping. It looks like -"
"Ai-yi-yi. Zordon, we're getting a transmission from King Mondo." Everyone turned back to the view screen as Alpha patched the message through.
"Greeting, Rangers. I'm sure you know why I am contacting you. While I realize that you probably want your kitty back, I do believe that she will be more useful to me. After all, you are the ones who abandoned and ignored her after my cogs were able to steal her powers from her. A lucky break on my part, I feel I must thank you. If you rangers had tried to get the pink powers back from me after I stole them from her I wouldn't be holding the trump card I have now. I have the pink powers, the pink ranger and," Mondo stopped to revel in his luck, "now I have the perfect plan to use them. The next time you see your little kitty, she's going to be MY little kitty." With that Mondo ended the transmission, without any demands or further threats much to the rangers' surprise.
"Is it just me or was that whole thing just so that he could gloat about capturing Kat?"
"Well, he's not going to be gloating for long, Rocky. Sensors are picking up what appears to be Zeo Ranger 1's energy signature. Kat has morphed and from these emotional energy readings, she's not happy." Billy transferred the image to the viewscreen and the rangers watched as Kat made her escape. To their surprise she fired her zeo blaster with a deadly accuracy that belied the fact that she hadn't morphed in four years. With an agility that came naturally through her dancing and martial arts, she rolled under the falling steel beam. But what surprised them the most was that she demorphed as she teleported away. It was Tommy who questioned it as she disappeared from their view.
"Billy, why'd she demorph? And where did she go?"
"So far the tracers are following and closing in on her location. She's in the U.S., Texas, Dallas - damn! We lost her, well, she's in Dallas, that's for sure."
"How'd you lose her?"
"Without her DNA fingerprint all we have to go on is her zeo signature. And it appears that she knows that and still doesn't want us to find her. Somehow she's made a seamless pocket dimension, probably a talent left over from her time with Rita."
"A seamless pocket dimension?"
"As rangers we have access to pocket dimensions in which we store our morphers. These dimensions are all tied back to the Power Chamber, giving Zordon and Alpha access to them; seams that can be opened, so to speak. Katharine has created her own pocket dimension, with no ties to anything or anyone but herself. No seams. It has it's advantages and disadvantages; no one can break into the Power Chamber and steal her zeonizers from her, as could happen with ours; yet along those lines, if anything happens to her no one in the Power Chamber, not even Zordon, can retrieve them from her dimension. And because her pocket dimension is seamless and has no ties to the Power Chamber we cannot use the zeo signature to find her, it is hidden from us."
"So there is no way for us to find her?"
"None."
"So she didn't have the zeo crystal before, did she? Mondo wasn't lying about stealing it from her."
"Apparently so. If she had the crystal we would have been able to track her, she probably wouldn't have thought to move it to a seamless pocket dimension."
The rangers all shifted around uncomfortably, not looking at each other. They were all feeling guilty, because on at least one occasion each of them had blamed Kat for the disappearance of the pink powers. It was Trey who broke the silence, stating the obvious.
"Since we have no way of finding her, it would probably be best if you returned to Dallas before anyone missed you. There's obviously nothing we can do now."
"Kim's practice should be over any time now. Why don't we meet her there, after all, we are going to need to explain what happened this afternoon."
Everyone agreed that Tommy's plan was the best and Alpha teleported them out to where Kim was practicing.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That night Trent, Anya and Olivia returned from the first day of the tournament to a house that was aglow with lights. Trent and Anya were surprised, but they merely suspect that Carlos had beaten them there. It was when they entered to a house smelling of hot cocoa and cookies that they began to wonder.
"Since when did Carlos know how to cook?" Anya asked her boyfriend.
"Hey, anybody can make hot chocolate."
"But cookies? I think that's just a little bit over his bachelor's head."
"Ok, so maybe it isn't Carlos."
"Then who?"
They walked into the kitchen to be greeted by the surprise of their lives. There stood Kat, dishing up a plate of cookies, looking as if she hadn't been gone longer than a few hours.
"Mommy!" Olivia jumped into her arms, barely giving her a chance to put down the plate. She caught her caught her daughter and held her close, tears forming in her eyes. She continued to hold her daughter tightly as both Anya and Trent gave her a hug.
As they moved into the dining room, Olivia tried to fill her mother in on everything that had happened since her disappearance. "… and Tommy made it into the finals tomorrow and Mr. Walker bought me a big glass of Jolt, and, uh-oh, I wasn't supposed to tell you about that."
Kat raised an eyebrow in Anya's direction, who quickly proclaimed her innocence in the whole affair.
"Well, I suppose that it was okay, just this once, however, I may have to speak with Mr. Walker about it in the future." Kat stroked Olivia's hair as the girl's eyes became heavy and she fell asleep. Once the child was asleep, Kat prepared to tell Anya and Trent what had happened, anticipating their questions. She hesitated for a moment, considering making up a story. But she trusted them and hoped that maybe they could help her with a good story to tell the police. She looked at her two friends intently, trying to decide exactly what to tell them.
"I-I guess you want to know what happened."
"Yeah, along with an explanation of why you haven't called the police yet to tell them you're back."
"Anya, it's okay. Katharine is back and in one piece. We can call the police in the morning and tell them that she's back."
"That's what I need to talk to you about. I seriously doubt that the police are going to believe that I was kidnapped by alien robots who are trying to take over the earth."
Both her friends looked at her quizzically, as if she had lost her mind. "Are you sure that you didn't get hit over the head while you were gone?"
"Trent, please. I realize that you guys don't believe me, but it's true. Anya, you remember me telling you that I used to live in the Freak Zone?"
"Yeah, I guess that I just thought all those stories about an alien invasion were just that - stories."
Kat mind raced, do I tell them that I was a Power Ranger, or just that I helped them once and the Machine Empire wants revenge on me for that? It hardly seemed plausible that they would wait so long for revenge, but Kat had to try it to protect the others.
"When I lived in Angel Grove there were monster attacks every day just about. I guess that you just got used to them, and used to trying to help and protect others during the attacks. Well, during one of the attacks by King Mondo, I happened to get in between what he wanted and his minions. He had managed to use some sort of brain wave to overcome three of them, they were just helpless and someone needed to protect them while the other two tried to find a way to revive them. With one off at wherever they go to do that stuff it only left one to protect the downed rangers against the cogs. So I helped protect them. Mondo is the one who kidnapped me, or at least his cogs did, probably to try to get his revenge on my helping the rangers."
"So he waited how long to get his revenge?"
"Almost four years, it happened just before I left. In fact it was one of the reasons I had left. I was sick and tired of being attack right and left by monsters bent on controlling the earth."
"But why did he wait so long to find you?"
"Anya, just how many of my friends from home do you think I've stayed in contact with?"
"None."
"Exactly, that made it a bit difficult for him to find me."
"He's a space alien, something tells me his technology is just a bit more advanced than ours."
"Well, then who knows why he chose now, it's just that he did and I need help coming up with a story that the police will believe. You guys are having a hard time believing me and you know me, what about people who don't know me and would have no reason to believe me?"
"Okay, point well stated. We'll try to help."
"Good," Kat quickly outlined the plan that she had come up with, one that required them not telling anyone that she was back yet. At least, not until the next day at the tournament.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"I still can't believe that Mondo had the pink zeo crystal all this time." Kim repeated for the umpteenth time as the group of current and former rangers gathered together for breakfast. "And that Kat has a daughter."
Most of the team looked over a Tommy, who just hung his head. It had only been the one time, but as Nana says, it only takes once. It only made sense that Olivia was his child, why else the choice of name among other things. Not to mention that the timing was right; is that why she left, because she was pregnant? There were just too many questions spinning through his head, and Tommy became unusually quiet as he contemplated them all.
"I have never felt so helpless, knowing that she is here in Dallas, yet knowing that there is no way to find her." Rocky complained, just as their communicators went off.
"Yes, Zordon, we read you."
"Rangers, I need you all to teleport to the Power Chamber."
"We're on our way." The group all simultaneously landed in the Power Chamber. There, before their eyes glistened an amazing sight. Hanging mid-air through some form of magic or another was the pink zeo crystal. Each of the rangers gasped as they realized that Kat must have returned it during the night.
It was Billy who snapped out of it first. "Alpha, is there anyway to trace where Kat came from or went to."
"No, Billy, I've already tried."
"She just came and left the zeo crystal?"
"Yes Rangers, now time has come for an important decision to be made. We need to decide on a new pink ranger."
All the rangers looked at each other. It was discomforting to know that they had to replace one of their own. Especially since they had unknowingly pushed her away from the team so long ago. "Well, I guess that if Kat made the choice we should honor it."
As the other rangers began to agree the sirens in the Power Chamber went off. "Oh, there are cogs in Dallas, at a park, it looks like they are after Kat and Olivia!"
Immediately the rangers knew what to do. They morphed and instantly teleported to the park, where Kat was more than just holding her own against the cogs. She was taking them out right and left like a banshee in a rage. The rangers appeared as the cogs began to get the upper hand, with Klank demanding that Kat return with them to the Sky Base. Instantly Tommy stepped in, "She's not going with you back anywhere." He commanded, taking out a cog.
From the corner of his eye he could see a couple of police officers running up, getting Kat and Olivia out of the way with the blue ranger's help. Once he was sure that they would be safe, he turned his full attention back to the fight. There was no way that he was going to let them hurt his daughter, or her mother, even if he was dating someone else. Fueled by his anger, he dug in with a infective gusto that quickly had the rangers defeating the cogs.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Kat and Olivia sat in the police station; each had given their statements on numerous occasions as to the cog attack. The only reason that they believe me is because there were cops there. Cops that heard the Klank talking about taking me back to Mondo. It hadn't taken them long to realize that she had been kidnapped by the robots, a story that she quickly told, saying that the Power Rangers had rescued her and brought her back to Dallas the night before. Now all she had to do was wait for Carlos to pick her up. When he heard that she was back he dropped everything and convinced his supervisor to let him have the day off. Not that it took much convincing.
Kat looked up to see him running towards her, barely having a chance to stand up before he was holding her in a tight embrace. "It's so good to have you back," was all Carlos managed to choke out.
She looked up to see tears in his eyes. Restraint was thrown to the wind as she pulled his head down to her's and kissed him good and full on the lips. Catcalls rang through out the station as everyone there started in on a round of applause, one that didn't die down until after they had left.
Only when they were outside did Kat ask Carlos where they were going.
"I thought I'd take you by the tournament to surprise Trent and Anya. I think that Walker and Alex will be there also, I know that they have been worried about you as well."
Kat just looked at the man she loved. "You do realize that Anya knows I am back, otherwise I wouldn't have been in the park with Olivia when the cogs attacked."
"What? Damn, this was going to be my little surprise."
"Don't worry, I doubt everyone there knows I back."
"Good," Carlos had a bit of a dangerous grin on his face as they headed toward the gym.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Back in the Power Chamber, all of the rangers asked Alpha at once if he had a lock on Kat. "I'm sorry rangers, but while monitoring the battle I lost Kat. However, she is probably at the police station closest to the park where the attack was."
Immediately Billy and Trini started scanning the area, but to no avail. "Guys, she's gone already. We aren't going to be able to find her."
"Maybe she lives in the area. I bet if we keep scanning the residential areas surrounding the park we can find her." Tommy then shocked everyone with his proposal. "I think we need to talk to her. She deserves to be Zeo Ranger 1 as much as the next person, and she's probably the most qualified to be. She fought as good, if not better than, as the rest of us today, and she has stamina like no other. She survived four years without direct contact with her crystal. Anyone else might not have survived that. We need to offered it back to her, let her know that she is still part of the team even though she's been gone for so long."
"But does she want to continue as a ranger? I think that she made her answer to that very clear." Trey spoke up about the missing ranger. While he didn't want to be the bad guy, he felt a need to say out loud that which everyone was thinking.
"Perhaps she felt that she shouldn't be anymore since she has a child, that she'd just be a liability. Or maybe she feels like she's not welcome since she's been gone for so long. There a number of explanations for her returning the crystal and only half of them mean that she doesn't want to be a ranger. She might still want to, yet may feel like she doesn't deserve it." Tanya pointed out in her friend's defense. It may have been years since she had last seen her, but she still felt like they were best of friends.
"Yeah, but how do we find her?"
It was Adam who came up with the winning idea. "I betcha I know where she went. Alpha, do you think you can teleport us back to the tournament site?"
"Sure thing Adam." In nine blurs of colored light the team was teleported to Dallas, landing just outside the gymnasium. "Just like Alpha to make sure we pay to get in." Rocky grumbled as they paid the fee and entered the gym. Spread-out around the room were groups of people, less than the day before, but there were still quite a few. It took a few minutes for them to find the group from Thunder Karate. But once that they found them they saw her.
She was standing there with the man who had been with her before she was kidnapped. They were surrounded by a number of people: 'Walker' and 'Alex' from the day before, as well as 'Trent' and 'Anya'. There were also a number of kids in gi's, probably Trent's students, surrounding them and congratulating her on her safe return. They waited patiently as she talked with her friends, hugging them occasionally, especially the blond Alex, who appeared to be crying. Then the next match began, a teenager who looked a lot like Trent gave Kat a hug, after which she tousled his hair just before he went out onto the mat. As his fight progressed she turned and saw them.
Kat caught her breath at the sight of her old friends. It had been a long time since she had seen any of them face to face, yet it felt like it was yesterday. Tommy was as handsome as ever, but he just didn't compare to Carlos. Kim held his hand possessively, and Kat stifled a smile, she'd never try to go for Tommy, she had her man. Billy and Trini were obviously together, as were Adam and Tanya. Trey, Jason and Rocky filled out the group, looking as good as ever, and happy to see her. It took all her self-control to not turn and run, she was sure that they were there to rebuke her for leaving. Well, they want to talk to me, so we might as well talk.
"Hi guys," she said quietly, walking up to them.
"Hi, Kat," it was Adam who stepped up to her, holding out her morphers in his hands. "We think you may have forgot these.
The End