Disclaimer: I borrowed the characters from Saban, yada yada, yada; please don't sue, ect. I haven't written anything in forever and a day, so I might be a little bit rusty around the edges. Well, I can't seem to think of a good name that wouldn't give away the story as of yet, so any suggestions will be appreciated. Not that I'm bribing people to e-mail me or something, but if you like the story and have a suggestion for the name, feel free to e-mail me! Maybe I'll let you help me with the dialogue for the next part! Yes, yes, this is a series. Erm... the name of the series? Um... Uh... A-ha! The Discolored Leaf series. Odd, isn't it? Well, read on and you'll understand. One key here... In unimportant stuff, I'm long-winded; in fun stuff, I get to the point. Eep! Well, this has the original rangers (first five), and don't worry. All of the Originals will star in this some way or the other. Maybe someone who hasn't done squat in the beginning of this one will be a MAJOR help in the future. And yes, in this, I do know the order of the army's ranking system. For those of you that don't, it goes--- Private,(sometimes Corporal would go here,) Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, General, Division Commander, and then the head-honcho Commander. Oh yeah, I for the names of these things for various places of inspiration, so if anything looks familar, let me know and I'll let you know if you're right! Well, enjoy!
"Here Today, Where Tomorrow?"
By: Dreaming Dawn (DreamrCatz@aol.com)
"Trini! Pick up the phone! It's for you!" Mrs. Kwan screamed up the stairs. It was four 'o' clock in the afternoon, and Trini was reading a book on her favorite type of martial arts, Preying Mantis Kung Fu. Trini was sitting in her room, her feet dangling off the side of the bed.
Picking up the phone on her bedside table, she gently spoke into it, not lifting her eyes from the book.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Trini!" Kimberly chimed, but behind the cheeriness was a noticeable touch of boredom and loneliness.
"Oh, hiya, Kim. What are you up to?" She stopped reading and put down the book, thinking that Kim would want to chat for a while.
"Oh..., nothing. My mom's doing a lot of paperwork and wants me to go do something so I won't 'hinder her progress.' Wanna go play frisbee at the park?"
"Frisbee?" Trini thinks for a moment, then continues." Well, I'm not in the mood for frisbee, much. How about we get the guys and play some two-hand-touch football?"
"Alright, I'm going to head for the park now. Will you call them up and remind Jason to bring the ball?"
"Alright, see ya there!"
"Later."
They both hand up the phone at the same time. While Trini calls the others, Kimberly jogs out of the house, only stopping to quickly tell her mom where she's going. Her mother only replies with a small grunt and a nod.
When she gets to the park, she leisurely walks to the north side of the lake, waiting for the others. Eventually, she quietly sits on the picnic table and files her nails.
"Oh. . . That's okay. I'm sure Kimberly will understand."
"Thanks, Trini. Afterwards, would you care to help me coordinate the mechanisms?"
"Sure thing! See ya, Billy." After hanging up the phone for the fourth time this afternoon, Trini laces up her sneakers and dashes out of the front door, having told her mom and dad earlier. Like Kimberly's mom, they both just grunted and nodded while engrossed in daily chores.
_____________ <====0~ ___________
Slowly the daring girl was advanced upon from behind. She could not hear the soles of his shoes on the floor, so she was not prepared for the hand that grabbed one side of her throat. The other hand jabbed a syringe filled with poison into her abdomen. Gasping when he throws her down, her vision becomes blurry as the life drains from within her. . .
Zack stops reading when he reaches Kim at the park, muttering a single word,
"Morbid."
Kimberly looks up from filing her nails.
"Morbid? What have you been reading?" She asked after glancing at the book in his hand. It was the kind with a hardback with the title and author written on the binding.
"Hey, Kim! Oh, it's nuthin' much, just a spy novel. Remember the book report for literature class?"
"Oh, yeah! I completely forgot! Wanna go to the library with me after some scrimage to help me pick out a book?"
"Nah, sorry, can't. I have to go teach a dance class in about an hour and a half. Jason hasn't found one yet, though. You might want to ask him when he gets here."
"Oh, okay. Thanks anyway."
Trini jogs to the group, waving to Zack once.
"Hey, guys. Jason'll be here in a few, and Billy can't come. I guess two-on-two will have to work."
"That's alright." They both say at once, however in different tones. Zack shrugs a little as well.
The three were quiet for a few moments, then Kimberly brought up the topic--
"Why isn't Billy coming?"
Trini answered her, "He's working on another invention. He's trying out different types of tests and studying equipment for dimentional --err-- 'storyline' travel. He says that even Zordon is helping him with the research."
". . . Can Billy do that? Make a device that would allow this type of travel?" questioned a skeptical Zack.
Trini only shrugs in response. "Beats me."
Right then, a football comes flying towards Zack. After glancing at exactly the right moment, Zack amazingly catches the ball.
"Nice catch, bro! I thought you were offguard for sure!" Jason chimes as Zack tosses the ball back to him. Jason nears the table and says a hello to the girls.
"Hiya, Trini! Hey, Kim." He puts his arms around their shoulders momentarily, then Zack, who has gotten up, backs up.
"Hey, man, throw a long one!" He holds out his arms in a catcher's ready position.
Jason comes out from inbetween Trini and Kim and rears back the football, taking several steps back. Releasing the football in a throw, it soars to Zack. A little off to the side, Zack dives for the ball. He catches it, then throws it back. Unfortunately, this throw is too high for Jason to catch. It flys over Trini, Kim and some thick woods nearby, landing in unseen thicket.
Jumping off of the bench, Trini and Kim yell,
"I'll get it!", then disappear into the dense woods. Zack shakes his head and walks back to Jason to sit on the picnic table. "Sorry, Jase. . ."
"Don't worry about it. They'll be back in a few minutes."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kimberly and Trini look around, bending branches back and avoiding roots that were sticking out of the ground. Going deeper in the forest, they do not notice a 'Keep Out' sign.
"Tell you what, we'll cover more ground of we split up. Meet ya back at the table!" Kim cheerfully suggests, then runs off before Trini can protest. Since Kim won't listen, she walks off and searches.
Kimberly searched through some low tree branches quietly. The only things heard were the leaves with the autumn dryness rustling in the slight breeze. Upon spotting the football in a branch, she sees a uniquely colored leaf. It was like a rainbow. It was colored like the rainbow, emitting a slight glow. Fascinated, Kimberly reaches out and touches it. . . FLASH! The unsupported football falls to the ground after the portal of light disappears.
Trini spys a slight flash of light through the thickets to her right, where Kimberly headed.
"Kim?" She calls out. "Kim? What happened?" She jogs through the woods, dodging the thorn bushes. Her feet make crinkling sounds as dryed, fallen leaves crumble under her sneakers. Looking down and around when reaching the spot, she sees a football lying on the grounf. Looking around carefully after picking up the ball, she also sees the odd leaf. At first, she hesitates, then inches her hand toward it, fascinated-- just like Kim.
"Whoa. . ." she utters just as her hand makes contact;-- then, FLASH!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I wonder what's taking the girls so long?" Jason thinks aloud. They had been gone about ten minutes, and Zack was reading more in his book. Zack looks up and gives a little sigh,
"I dunno."
"Let's give them a few more minutes, then go searching for them. It's about 4:30pm. . ."
?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?=-?
When Kimberly regained her senses after the flash of light, she was laying in an air duct. Determined to get out, trying to keep from panacking, she crawls forward. A couple minutes later, Trini appears in the same air duct. They both have on different clothing, as well. Kimberly has on a black, formal dinner dress, her high-heeled shoes abandoned several meters back, to where she can't see them anymore. Trini is crawling the other direction, dressed all in black with a katana strapped on her back, a dagger hidden near her thigh, and four six-sided Chinese throwing stars hidden in one of her boots. Not yet realizing any change except the scenery, they scramble in different directions, unprofessionally bumping the sides and squeezing around tight turns. There is a vent in Kimberly's path, and she eagerly jumps down and composes herself in front of four guards.
"Oops. . ."
They were guarding the doors that led to a fancy dinner-party. If she had just walked there and requested an entrance politely, there wouldn't have been a problem. Unfortunately, jumping down from an air duct and landing close to them without shoes on does make someone extremely suspicious. Following orders, they seize Kimberly and drag her deeper into the mansion.
"Let! me! go!" She punctuates each with with a jab and a kick, not giving up without a fight. However, a small tranquilizer in her shoulder knocks her out like a light.
Trini, however, began to think clearly after having glanced at her clothes. She, too, passes a went to freedom, but cautiously looked down it first.
There were two people in the room. A slaving scientist and a shrieking, ordering man. The scientist was trying to concentrate on a formula, but the man kept panicking and telling him to forget about precision and hurry. She listening closer and caught some of their dialogue.
"#@^& man! Hurry it up! They caught Captain Natilie Lentuse, so you know that means that Colonel Kali Trang is on the loose with a vengence for her dear friend! None of these tricks nor explosives will work against her skills, magic, fangs and wings!"
The scientist calmly replied. "Take it easy, Captain. On the contrary, we have three favorable options. The first one is to damage her honor and break her confidence. The second is to threaten to kill her friends if she trys anything. And the third. . ."
The scientist stops measuring and looks up at the chubby man in a navy blue uniform. He has the scariest and slyest smile on his face.
"The third choice. . . is to make her mortal."
At the way 'mortal' was said, Trini began to become extremely frightened and crawled away as quickly and lithely as she could. Although, she didn't know why she was so scared.
A few minutes later, Trini had come to another vent. She looked down this one as well and was outraged.
"Kimberly! Hang on; I'm here!"
There were four guards (probably Lieutenants) dragging a returning-to-the-conscious-world Kimberly down a long, wooden staircase.
Trini leaped down from the vent and landed behind the guards. She jumped up and kicked two guards in the back, her hands positioned on the floor like in a hand-stand.
"Hiyah!"
The guards tumbled forward, knocking down the other two. Trini grabbed Kimberly's arms to keep her from falling as she momentarily watched the guards fall down the entire flight of stairs. Half-carrying Kim, Trini turns and climbs back up the stairs, having a feeling that downstairs is a dead-end.
They make it up the stiars and start to all-out run. Kimberly trys to talk to Trini,
"What happened? And why are we in such weird clothes?"
"I...can't answer.. any of your questions..., so don't bother to ask! Just.. run!" She wheezes out, concentrating more on running than talking.
At that precise moment, a door in front of them opens. Out of it walks a muscular man with brown hair, wearing army pants, but no shirt nor hat on. He wipes off some sweat, then places the little white towel over his left shoulder. The combat boots on his feet make barely audible 'thud's as he turns to call something back, for he hasn't seen the girls yet.
"Find them!" He orders. "If you catch the famed Kali, send her straight to me. Don't harm either until I tell you to! Now, stop slacking and move out!"
Kimberly is pulled behind an elaborately decorated pillar by Trini, whose panicking mentally.
Kimberly whispers, "Don't get so scared. It's Jason! He knows we're here and is going to rescue us!"
Kim jumps out at 'Jason' before Trini can scream 'NO!' Desperately trying to not blow her own cover as well, she sneaks behind another pillar during the distraction.
"Oof!" The man is knocked down with a pouncing hug. Seeing who it is, he immediately pushes her off and calls more guards.
"GUARDS!" Guards (probably Captains) scramble out and grab a baffled Kim.
"But, but, Jason. . ." She trys, but his next order cuts her off.
"Shut her up!" Two guards gag her with some unsanitary-looking cloth. He circles the motionless and restrained girl, a smirk on his face.
"Well, well, well. . ., Seems Kali did not teach you well enough. Actually, it seems that her tactics have driven you insane! Better luck next time, Nat."
He turns to the guards, "Remember my orders! Now, take her away!" The guards turn and carry Kim, whose kicking and trying to talk, out of sight.
_Kali knows better than to not split up, so she's not around here._ He thought to himself.
For some reason, Trini heard his thoughts. She was outraged with her friend being caught and wanted answers from this guy. Her own thoughts were along the lines of, _Good, then you'll never suspect me, yet._ She was beginning to get the picture that everyone thought she was Kali, and Kim was Natilie. _But what's all this about wings, and fangs, and Colonel? My back's beginning to hurt, but I do not see any wings. And I do not have fangs!_
The man heard her thoughts as well and braced himself unnoticeably.
"Hiyah!" Trini jumped out from behind the pillar. He was facing away from the pillar and did not have time to turn around before he fell to the ground in the pounce. Automatically, she put her right hand over his mouth. He grunted in panic and struggled to get up. Her left hand unstrapped her katana and rolled him over, holding it against his throat.
"Alright, you, I want answers! Number one, who are you? Number two, where are we? Number three, how can Kim --err-- Natilie and I get back to Angel Grove?" She hissed in his ear in a quiet tone. She sat on his chest to keep him pinned, but she did not weigh enough. The sharp katana against his throat was her 'insurance policy.'
He was in shock for several minutes, his mouth hanging open. He was not expecting a back attack, her tactics to be so precise, nor for her to be so beautiful and alluring. He stared at her for several minutes, aghast. He had orders to dispose of her personally by the Commander of Commanders but had never seen her face-to-face. He was just told that when he saw the ruthless and clever spy, he would know it was Kali.
She tightened the blade against his throat, not drawing any blood, but wanting to scare him. This was not the Trini she was normally, but in desperate times, one will act desperately.
"Answer me!" She hissed.
Shaking his head to get most of his senses back, he looked into her eyes fearlessly. He finally stutters out some answers.
"K-k..-Kali? I am Commander Scott Oasis. You are in my mansion/legion's fort. And about the Angel Grove of which you speak, I have never heard of the place."
Thoughts runs through her mind wildly. _Why is everyone calling me Kali and Kim, Natilie? How will we ever get out of here?! . . . hehehe, he looks just like Jason. . . Wait! Is this a different storyline, like Billy was talking about with his invention? That's our ticket outta here! Oh, Billy, you're a genius!_
Jubilantly happy, Trini leans down and gives Scott a quick kiss, then jumps up and straps her katana back on her back. She has forgotten about the danger; all of her thoughts are set on confronting the scientist and snooping in his lab for a way to recreate Billy's invention. Standing with her back to commander Scott, she muses over the possibilities in strategems.
Scott moves his weight to his back, then jumps up professionally. He heard all of her thoughts and realizes that she is not just covering up her identity. She is truly lost. _Only on thing proves that she isn't Kali. I saw a hint of fangs when she hissed at me, but vampires are popular in Angelfire. But I know that only one person in all of Starre Metropolis that has fangs & white wings._
Too busy to hear his thoughts, Trini stands still, unsuspectingly, as Scott sneaks up behind her with his dagger drawn. She gives a gasp as he gets her in a headlock and holds the dagger to her midback. Carefully, he cuts the material of black silk on her back, leaving a long slit in the upper-back part of her gi. With widening eyes, he gazes at the white, feathery wings that are tied down. Raging with the trust he had almost put into her, he cuts the thin rope, and they burst out in front of him, giving a display like a peacock. Trini, shocked, falls forward with the wingspan, a tail-wind draft pushing her. They fall together. The wings seem to have a mind of their own and 'cower,' frightened. Trini's mouth hangs open as Scott immediately jumps back up and grabs a rope from his belt.
Kicking and giving muffled cries, Trini is grabbed. Determined to survive, a wing creates such a wind that Scott is knocked into a wall. Stopping with a whimper, Trini backs up, knowing that no one will believe her now. Whoever heard of a vampire with angel wings?
With the change in windspeed, Scott glares and watches her every move.
"Please. . . " She begs, "You have to believe me! You have to hlep me! I don't belong here. . . Please!" She starts to whimper more noticeably, trying to keep from crying at such desperation.
Having broken her confidence, he attacks her and pins her on the ground, emotionless. He ties her hands behind her back, her front side against the marble floor. Tieing her ankles up as well, he drags her to her feet.
"You're right." He smirks. "You don't belong here. You belong in the dungeon!"
"Dungeon? You have a dungeon in a mansion/legion's fort? You have got to be kidding me!" Trini gives a half-smile, but he ties her wings against her back as well, the rope going around her abdomen and lowered elbows.
"You think I'm kidding? How about I personally broadcast a message to your General? With a visual module of you doing your time there?" He laughs cruelly, then adds, "Because you do know that we have captured your Commander, right?" Commander Oasis coves up his mouth and softens his tone like a child, mockingly. "Whoopsies! Did I just spill the beans? I'm sure your legion would love to know."
Trini looks down as she is dragged down the halls
