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"OK, Jase, you got it," Tommy replied. "We're on our way." With that, the channel was closed.
"Tommy and the others are going to meet us out here," Jason informed the others. Rocky looked relieved.
"Who?" Kris asked. The two teens looked at her, and she reddened.
"Hey, it's not my fault I have amnesia. Well, I don't think it's my fault, I don't remember." She grinned at her own comment. Rocky and Jason chuckled at her.
"One thing you didn't lose is your sense of humour," Rocky told her, looking at her fondly.
Tommy, Billy and Kat came running out of the school a moment later. They paused, searching for Jason's Jeep. When they spotted it, they sprinted over to it. The front doors opened, and three heads poked in.
"Where's Tanya and Adam?" Rocky asked before anyone else could say anything.
"They're not here, yet," Kat said, sounding worried about the couple. When she saw Kris, though, her spirits brightened. "Kris, how are you feeling?" Kris looked at the one who was apparently her brother for reassurance.
"Um, do I know these people?" she whispered in his ear. Rocky nodded.
"Yes, you do. They're good friends of yours, too," he whispered back. "Kat's the girl, Tommy's the one with the long, brown hair, and Billy's the one with the light, short hair."
"Oh, OK," Kris said. She turned to them. "Um, hi."
"How are you feeling, Kris?" Kat asked again.
"Oh, not bad, I guess," Kris answered. "But I have a throbbing headache, my leg hurts a little, and my left arm is killing me. Other than that, just peachy."
"Jason, why did you tell us not to tell Mrs. DeSantos that you guys were here?" Tommy asked Jason, who was still sitting in the front seat of the Jeep.
"Watch," Jason told him. "Kris, can you remember the names of your siblings?"
"Siblings?" Kris asked, a look of pure confusion spreading across her pretty features. Tommy, Billy and Kat gasped simultaneously. "Um, did I say something wrong?"
"No, you didn't say anything wrong," Rocky assured her, putting an arm protectively around her shoulders and drawing her close. "Guys, she doesn't remember anything. She has amnesia."
"Oh no," Kat whispered, a hand flying up to cover her mouth.
"Is it permanent?" Billy asked.
"We're not sure," Rocky replied.
"Well, how do we cure this?" Tommy inquired.
"We can't cure amnesia," Rocky told him. "All we can do is try to help her get her memory back."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Kat wondered aloud.
"We have to immerse her in familiar settings, show her familiar things, stuff like that," Rocky explained.
"What about her family?" Tommy asked quietly.
"I don't think we should worry them," Rocky said.
"But they have a right to know," Billy protested.
"I know that," Rocky snapped. "But I don't think that they'd take this very well!"
"OK, we'll do it your way," Tommy said, trying to get Rocky to calm down. "But we have to keep you three out of sight."
"Where can they stay? The entire first floor, along with most of the basement, is occupied. The kids might go for a walk and find them if they stay somewhere out in the open," Kat commented.
"So we'll find someplace to hide until Kris get her memory back," Rocky said simply.
"Where?" Kat persisted. "There's basically no place to hide anyone in the school."
"Then we'll hide on the second floor. There's nobody up there, right?" Rocky asked.
"There's nobody up there because it's dangerous to be up there," Billy told him firmly. "If anything, you should try to find a place to hide on the main floor or in the basement."
"Let us go in first and see if we can find a place for you," Tommy said. "That way, nobody will see you guys." Rocky nodded his consent, and Tommy and the others ran back into the school.
Jason closed the doors on his Jeep, and turned around to face brother and sister. Rocky still had his arm around Kris, and she wasn't protesting it at all.
"How're you feeling?" Jason asked her. Kris looked him directly in the eye. She was searching for anything that would trigger a memory, anything that seemed even remotely familiar about him.
Jason sat, and was almost mesmerized as Kris's green eyes bore deep into his brown ones, as though she was searching his soul.
"I'm doing all right, I guess," she said finally. "My head, my arm and my leg are killing me, though." She looked down at her left arm and grimaced. "Whatever I was doing, I must have done a good job of it."
"Actually, you were clearing out the yard when you got knocked unconscious," Rocky explained. "You probably saved our family a lot of money by bringing in those potted plants."
"I did?" Kris asked. She smiled a bit and shook her head. "Well, I guess I'll have to take your word for it, huh?"
"Not for long," Rocky told her seriously. "You'll get your memory back, I promise."
"Thanks, Rocky," Kris said. "And thanks, Jason."
"I haven't really done anything," Jason said, shrugging his broad shoulders.
"You were here, you didn't kill me when I hit you, you were patient with me when I tried to run away; like I said, thanks," Kris explained.
"Well, you're welcome," Jason replied.
Just then, Tommy and Kat came running back from the school.
"We found a place that the three of you can hide in until Kris gets her memory back," Tommy said breathlessly. "It's only a supply room. It isn't much, and it's a bit cramped, but nobody should find you guys there. Billy's guarding it, and we should get back there as soon as we can."
Jason, Kris and Rocky got out of Jason's Jeep, and started running towards the school behind Kat and Tommy.
"I guess I'm either a lousy runner, or an asthmatic," Kris said, breathing heavily as she ran. She was starting to fall behind the others. Rocky slowed down to run beside her.
"Asthmatic," he told her.
"You know, I've got a lot of questions I need you to answer for me," Kris admitted as they entered the building and headed for the basement.
"Sure, I'll answer anything you want," Rocky told her.
"Come on, guys, hurry up!" Tommy called from the front of the pack. "We don't want to be seen."
"We're coming!" Rocky called up to him. They found the supply closet where Billy was waiting for them.
"Coast is clear," he reported, opening the door to allow the trio inside. "Now, you're going to have to keep this door locked, so that nobody can get in and see you guys there."
"Gotcha, Billy. We'll be careful," Rocky promised. "And take care of our mom and the kids, all right?"
"We will," Tommy vowed. Then he, Billy and Kat left the three alone.
"Not exactly spacious," Kris commented, looking around. Indeed, she was dead-on. The room was 20 feet by 15 feet, at best. There were a bunch of shelves along one wall that were filled with paper. Sitting on the counter that ran along the opposite wall was a bunch of blankets and pillows that Tommy, Kat and Billy must have swiped from somewhere in the school. "I hope nobody else needed these more than we do."
"Kris, we need these a lot right now," Rocky told her. He started looking around the room, obviously searching for something.
"Rocky, what are you looking for?" Jason asked him, his eyes following Rocky's every move.
"A first aid kit, preferably with pain killers," Rocky replied. Jason looked at Rocky's leg, and understood.
"You're bleeding again," he commented calmly.
"I think I know that," came the cool reply.
"Rocky, are you all right?" Kris asked worriedly.
"Oh, yea, it's nothing, really," Rocky told her, waving dismissively as he located the first aid kit and opened the lid.
"Actually, he got that cut when he was trying to get you to safety," Jason informed Kris in a whisper.
"Hey, no talking behind my back," Rocky protested, taking out a roll of gauze and a roll of surgical tape. Then he started looking around again.
"Now what?" Jason asked.
"I need to find someplace to redress this cut," Rocky said, gesturing to his leg. Jason understood immediately, and it dawned on Kris a moment later. She blushed, and ducked her head.
"I can turn around, if you need me to," she offered.
"Would you?" Rocky asked, looking relieved.
"Sure." Kris went to the space between the door and the shelving, and stared at the wall until Rocky called back that it was all clear. When she turned around, he was disposing of a bloody mess of gauze and tape. "Oh, there's something I needed to see. Glad I'm not the queasy type...am I?"
"You get motion sick sometimes, but only in cars, and sometimes on boats, but you don't go boating too often, so that's all right," Rocky told her, wiping his hands on his jeans, which were stained anyway, so it didn't really matter.
"Oh, I see," Kris said. "I wonder why I was fine during the ride here, then?"
"Probably because you don't get sick all the time, just occasionally," Rocky supplied. Then he turned to Jason. "How's your ankle?" Jason looked surprised.
"You noticed that?" he asked.
"Sure; you were limping," Rocky told him.
"Good eyes," Jason remarked. "And it's fine, really. Just hurts a little bit."
"Can you flex it?" Rocky asked him. Jason tried, and winced a little in the process. "You should be fine. Probably just a sprain."
"Thanks, Dr. DeSantos," Jason joked. He leaned against a wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor.
"How do you know so much medical stuff?" Kris asked Rocky.
"I'm a lifeguard, and I needed to take a first aid course as a part of the training," Rocky explained.
"Do you go to school, too?" Kris asked.
"Yeah. We all do," Rocky told her. "We go to Angel Grove High."
"Let me guess: we live in Angel Grove?" Kris guessed, grinning.
"How'd you know?" Rocky joked.
"Hmm, lucky guess," Kris replied with a grin. "So, tell me; how old am I?"
"17," Rocky replied. "You want your life history?"
"Yes, please," Kris said eagerly.
"Abbreviated or extended?" "
Abbreviated will do for now, I guess," Kris replied.
"Well, you're 17, born on April 5th, your full name is Kristina
Heather Maria DeSantos," Rocky began.
"Gee, my parents weren't fond of long names, were they?" Kris joked.
"Hey, you should hear mine," Rocky replied. Kris and Jason looked at him expectantly. He sighed. "Rockwell Aaron Scott DeSantos. And don't you dare tell that to any of the others." He saw the evil gleam in Jason's eye die as he added that last part. "Anyway, you live with me, in my apartment. We go to Angel Grove High, we hang out at the Youth Centre a lot with Tommy, Billy, Kat, Tanya and Adam."
"Who're Tanya and Adam?" Kris asked, confused since she had no faces to associate with the names.
"They're two of our friends that haven't shown up here, yet," Rocky explained.
"And don't forget the family, Rocky," Jason reminded him.
"Oh, right. The rest of your brothers and sisters live with our mother at her house. There's Lucas, A.J., Evan, Katie and Jonathan," Rocky said to his sister.
"A.J.?" Kris asked, furrowing her brow curiously.
"Alexandra Jane," Rocky supplied. "But if you call her Alexandra, Jane, or anything even remotely resembling that, she'll hurt you." Kris's eyebrows raised.
"Are we all that violent?" she asked.
"No, not really," Rocky said uneasily, knowing what he was going to have to reveal sooner or later. "I'm a karate instructor at my own dojo, the rest of your brother and sisters take some type of martial arts, usually along with some other sport."
"What about me? What sports do I do?" Kris asked.
"Actually, you're not much of an athlete," Rocky said as gently as he could, though he could tell by Kris's expression that she was disappointed with the answer.
"I'm not?" she asked. "How come?"
"Well, it's not that you're not athletically inclined, you just never had the opportunity, really," Jason told her.
"What do you mean?" Kris wondered.
"Well, see, at our old house, there was this big fire about 5 years ago. You were in your room when it happened, and so was everybody else. You escaped through your window, and ran away. You found me only about a month ago. You told me that you'd had temporary amnesia after the fire, because you didn't want to remember what had happened that night. Anyway, you were living on your own, and that would have been difficult enough without adding any extra-curricular activities in there," Rocky explained.
"Oh, I see," Kris said simply. "I lead a lonely life, then."
"You used to, but you don't anymore," Rocky corrected her hurriedly.
"Now, since you came to Angel Grove, you've always got your friends or your family around you."
"Well, that sounds a little better," Kris commented, relieved. "What else can you tell me? Anything about my personality?"
"Let's see. You're really smart, and you skipped a grade, so at Angel Grove High you're in the same grade as Jason and me and the others," Rocky began.
"You guys are older than me?" Kris asked.
"Yup. We're all eighteen," Rocky told her.
"Ooh, I feel insignificant," Kris joked. Then she sobered up. "Go on, please."
"In case you hadn't guessed by know, you're always cracking jokes and making sarcastic remarks, but you do it only when you know that it won't hurt anybody's feelings," Rocky continued.
"It runs in the family," Jason added, grinning. Rocky glared at him, and Kris chuckled.
"Like I was saying, you enjoy making jokes, basically because you enjoy making people laugh," Rocky said, turning his back pointedly on his friend after shaking his head. "You're fun-loving, basically fearless, will try anything at least once, but you can also be serious when you need to be. You're hard-working, dedicated, loyal, punctual-"
"I think what my long-winded friend is trying to say is that you're basically perfect," Jason cut in.
"-And unlike my rude friend, here, you don't interrupt people when they're talking," Rocky finished. He turned to Jason with another mock-glare. "Must you?" Jason grinned again and nodded.
"Yup."
"Eesh, hope the temper doesn't run in the family," Kris sighed, shaking her head. "Now, would you boys like to calm down, or am I going to have to send you to opposing corners of the room for a time-out?" Rocky and Jason laughed.
"That's my Kris," Rocky said, smiling. Well, some of her, anyway. And as soon as she gets her memory back, I'll never let her out of my sight again, he thought to himself, messing up Kris's hair. She knocked his arm away and began to tickle him. Rocky grinned evilly and tickled her back. She shrieked, laughing uncontrollably. Jason kept sitting on his perch on the counter and watched, smiling at the exchange between brother and sister.
"Hey, no fair," Kris said suddenly, breaking away from her brother.
"No one should be left out of this."
"You're right," Rocky agreed, eyeing Jason.
"Oh no, stay away from me!" Jason protested, holding his hands in front of him and shaking his head. Rocky and Kris advanced on him, smiling the trademark DeSantos evil grin. Rocky and Kris started tickling Jason, and he laughed, protesting all the while. Finally, the three of them collapsed on the floor, exhausted.
"I haven't had that much fun in a long time," Kris said, laying on her back. "Well, I don't think I've have that much fun in a long time." Jason and Rocky chuckled.
"Don't worry, you'll get your memory back soon," Jason promised her, looking over at her. She locked her green eyes on his brown ones.
"I'd better get my memory back soon," was all she said in response.
Tommy, Billy and Kat reentered the gym, and found the entire DeSantos family fast asleep. All of them, that is, except Mrs. DeSantos. She was sitting on the edge of the cot where Katie and A.J. were laying, side-by-side. She was gently stroking Katie's long hair, looking down at her fondly.
"Kris?" she asked when she heard footsteps coming towards her. She looked up hopefully, but her face fell when she saw who it was. "Oh, sorry."
"They'll be back soon, Mrs. DeSantos," Kat said, trying to reassure the woman.
"I hope you're right, Kat," Mrs. DeSantos replied. She had dark circles beneath her eyes, and her speech sounded slurred from exhaustion.
"Maybe you should get some sleep," Kat suggested. "You won't do anybody any good if you're tired."
"But what if they show up while I'm asleep?" Mrs. DeSantos protested, not budging.
"Then we'll wake you up," Tommy said, coming over to join them. Mrs. DeSantos got up, and allowed herself to be led to a vacant cot. She laid down, closed her eyes, and it took her only a moment to fall asleep.
"I feel really guilty," Kat admitted once they were out of earshot of the family. "I mean, we know that Rocky, Kris and Jason are here, and they're injured, but we can't even tell their own mother!"
"It's for her own good, though," Tommy said, trying to rationalize the decision that had been made for them by their friends. "If she knew, it would probably make her feel worse than she does now."
"I know you're right, Tommy," Kat admitted. "But it doesn't make this any easier."
"Well, hopefully, Kris will get her memory back soon, and we won't have to hide this secret any longer," Billy said.
"And there's no way we can help her get it back, is there?" Tommy asked. Billy shook his head, a regretful look on his face.
"I'm afraid not, Tommy," he replied. "She's the only one who can get her memory back for herself." He paused. "There's also a small chance that she won't get her memory back. Ever."
"She could have to start from scratch?" Kat asked with a gasp.
"It's a small possibility, but an existent one. There have been cases where people have had permanent amnesia, and have had to start their lives all over again with the help of friends and family," Billy explained.
"Well, if that happens, we'll have to tell her family," Kat said.
"And we'll help her get through it all," Tommy added. Billy and Kat nodded in agreement, though none of them wanted that to happen to their brother's sister; their friend. In a way, Kris was like a younger sister to them all. Tommy and the others all felt this way, despite the fact that she had only been in Angel Grove for a little less than a month. She was important to Rocky, so therefore she was important to the others, too. It was a feeling that everybody had.
Kris, too, felt like she was a part of the group. She felt like she had not only a bunch of younger brother and sisters, but a bunch of older ones as well. Obviously, there was her biological brother, Rocky. But her other "brothers" included Billy, Jason, Adam and Tommy. Her "sisters" were Kat and Tanya. Kris had never admitted to anyone that she felt this way. She hadn't really been close to anybody for a very long time, and she was quite unaccustomed to having the strong feelings that she had for someone, never mind a whole bunch of people! She was happy that Rocky had accepted her. She was happier still when all of Rocky's friends had accepted her into their "clique." Kris couldn't remember the last time that she felt that she belonged, but she had that feeling now, and it was a strong feeling, at that. A feeling that she hoped would never go away, not for as long as she lived.
"I wonder how long it's going to take until Kris gets her memory back?" Kat asked softly. The teens had moved to three cots that were set up across from the ones where the DeSantos family was sleeping peacefully, and were now sitting or laying down. She was on the left side, Tommy was in the middle, and Billy was on the right.
"It all depends," Billy replied. "No one can know that. All we can do is hope that it'll be soon."
"Kris is a fighter," Tommy remarked. "I'm sure that, no matter what, she won't let this incident destroy her."
"I'm not worried about this destroying her, I'm worried about everybody else's reactions when they find out what happened," Kat told him.
"If we have to tell anybody else," Billy broke in. Kat nodded to acknowledge his comment.
"The amnesia might not destroy her, but what about what everybody else does?" Kat continued. "They'll either treat her like an invalid, or they'll treat her like a baby, because she doesn't remember anything that she should. She'll have to learn everything all over again. All of the schooling she went through, all of the life experiences that she's had, they've all been virtually erased!"
"Kat, we don't know for sure that this is permanent," Billy told her calmly, propping himself up on one elbow. "All we know is that Kris got a bump in the head, and she doesn't remember anything. There's no telling how long this could last, though."
"And that's exactly what I'm worried about," Kat told him.
Meanwhile, back in the storage closet that was serving as their temporary quarters, three teens were laying around on the ground on blankets and mats.
Rocky had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow. At first, he had been tossing and turning, but now his chest barely moved, he was sleeping so soundly. He had fallen asleep against the wall that was opposite the door, his head in the 2-foot space between the shelving and the back wall. Jason was laying beside the counter that ran from the wall with the door, cornered, then along the wall that ran perpendicular to the door-wall. Kris was laying with her back to the shelving, her head facing the door. However, she wasn't sleeping. She hadn't been able to sleep. Despite the fact that her mind had been wiped clean, she had numerous thoughts running through her head. She lay there, eyes open, staring off into oblivion. Kris sighed and shifted a little.
"Kris? Are you awake?" Jason asked her quietly. Kris jumped, startled. She hadn't wanted to be so loud.
"Yea. Sorry I woke you, Jason," she replied in a whisper so as not to wake her slumbering brother. She sat up and stretched as best she could.
"It's all right, I wasn't asleep, anyway," Jason informed her, keeping his voice low as well. "Are you all right?" Kris sighed again.
"I guess so," she answered. "I mean, I don't know who I am, who you are, I can't remember anything! It's so frustrating, not knowing anything about my own life! Sure, Rocky told me some stuff, but I want to know firsthand about myself, not what other people have told me! Why did this happen to me? Was I such a bad person that some divine entity somewhere thought I deserved this?" By the time she was finished speaking, Kris had tears in her eyes for the first time since she had regained consciousness. "I could handle all the physical injuries without a problem." Kris indicated her left wrist and her leg. "But losing my memory...Jason's, it terrifying!" The tears that had been welling up were now spilling down over Kris's cheeks. Jason got up from where he had been laying and sat down next to Kris.
"Kris, you weren't a horrible person at all," he said, trying to console her. "In fact, you were a great person. Everybody loved you." Kris sniffled.
"They did?" she asked uncertainly. She notice that he had put a bit more emphasis on the word, "love," but she figured she was imagining things and let it slide. Jason nodded.
"Yea, they did," he replied. "And you didn't deserve this; any of this. It was just a freak accident. Like Rocky said before, you were trying to help out your family when you got knocked in the head. Not only did you probably save your family some money, you also saved them some time. If those potted plants had been left outside, they would have flown everywhere, and shattered. You also might have saved somebody's life. Those pieces of pottery could have flown around and hit someone."
"I know," Kris admitted. "You're right. But that doesn't make any of this any easier!" Jason seemed at a loss for words at that. Kris sighed again. "Jason, I'm sorry. I'm a little uptight right now. This isn't easy on me. I've never lost my memory before." Jason chuckled.
"Actually, you have," he told her. Kris grinned.
"Hey, it's not my fault I don't remember anything," she joked. Then she sobered. "I hope I get my memory back soon. If this isn't temporary, if this is permanent amnesia..." Kris trailed off, unable to continue. Her voice cracked, and her conflicting emotions began to pour out of her.
Jason wasn't really sure what to do in this situation. He knew what he wanted to do, so he did it. He figured that, at this point, he didn't have much to lose. Jason gently put an arm around Kris's shoulders and drew her close to him. Without hesitating, she fell against him, sobbing quietly.
"Kris, this won't last, I promise you," he told her quietly. "You'll get your memory back. You'll remember everything that's ever happened to you in your life. You'll remember who you are, who everybody else is, everything."
Kris didn't answer, she just continued to let her emotions flow freely.
Outside, the thunder continues to roll.
"I'm going to go check on her," Kat said suddenly. She got up from where she had been laying on the cot and started walking towards the door that led out into the main hallway of the school.
"Kat, wait!" Tommy called, getting up and following her. "Are you sure you should go down there? The more times we go down there, the bigger the chance that Mrs. DeSantos or one of the kids will see you, and they'll follow you. You know we can't let them see Kris in this condition."
"Tommy, they're all asleep," Kat protested. "Nobody will follow me. I'll be careful. Besides, if they wake up while I'm gone, tell them I've got to the bathroom or something." With that, Kat walked off. Tommy sighed, and went back to his cot.
"What's going on?" Billy asked groggily. He had been asleep until he had heard Tommy and Kat speaking.
"Kat just went down to check on Rocky and the others," Tommy told him. He laid back down on his cot and stared up at the ceiling.
"It's a good thing none of the others up here are awake," Billy commented. "They'd wonder where she was going."
"It's going to be pretty hard to hide Kris, Rocky and Jason from them until we can get out of here," Tommy commented, almost as though he hadn't heard Billy speak at all.
"We'll find a way," Billy told him. "We just need to figure out a way that we can get food and water down to them without anybody seeing what we're doing." He paused, and a small smile appeared on his handsome features. "You have any big pockets?" Tommy didn't even crack a smile in response. Tough crowd, Billy said to himself mentally. Though I suppose that none of this has been easy for any of us, especially Rocky, Kris and their family. And maybe Jason, too. Billy had seen that way that Jason looked at Kris when she wasn't looking. He had seen the way Kris did the same thing to Jason. He chuckled quietly to himself. It's all a matter of time before they both realise what's going on.
Kat walked slowly through the corridors of the school, passing many people as she went. Some were with their families, some with their friends, and some were alone. She noticed that some of them were cradling limbs, clutching at assorted wounds, faces contorted with pain and suffering, wondering when they'd finally get looked at by a doctor. Kat realised how lucky she was that she had come through the first half of the hurricane, bascially uninjured. She went down the steps that led to the basement, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that none of the DeSantos kids had awakened and were following her. Fortunately, her fears were unwarranted. There was almost nobody in sight, except for a few stragglers that at were either sitting or laying down on the stairs.
Kat stepped down off the stairs and made a beeline for the storage closet where her friends were hiding. Quickly checking over her shoulder again to see if anybody, even strangers were looking, Kat approached the door and stood a few feet away from it. Fortunately, they had chosen an area that hadn't yet started to become occupied by refugees from the hurricane, and thus was deserted. Stepping forward, she raised her hand and knocked on the door three times, then waited for an answer. After waiting for a couple of minutes, she tried again, this time knocking louder, and twice as long. Still, she got no reply. The must be asleep, Kat thought. She turned, and went back the way she had come only minutes before to go report her findings, or lack thereof, to Tommy and Billy.
It had been nearly 5 minutes since Kris had broken down, and she was still crying into Jason's shoulder. He kept trying to comfort her, telling her that she would regain her memory soon, and that everything would be all right, but Kris barely heard him. She was too distraught.
"Why did this have to happen to me?" she asked, her voice cracking as the tears flowed from her eyes, down her cheeks and onto Jason's black T-shirt. "I mean, I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else, but why did it have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this punishment?"
"Kris, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Jason told her gently. "It's not like it could have been planned or anything. It was just one of those freak accidents that could have happened to anybody."
"But it didn't happen to just anybody; it happened to me!" Kris replied, her voice lowering to a whisper.
"Is there anything I can do to make any of this easier on you?" Jason asked, looking down at her. Kris went momentarily quiet, and her body stopped being shaking with overflowing emotion. She looked back up at him and thought for a second. Her green eyes were greener than ever before, probably because she had been crying, but the whites of her eyes were still reminiscent of pearls. Her black-brown lashes were wet and sticking together from the tears she had shed.
"Just keep doing what you're doing," she told him finally. Instinctively, she hugged him briefly, then reddened when she realized what she had done. An apology was on the tip of her tongue when she realized that she didn't want to apologize; she just wanted to do it again. What the hell am I thinking? I barely know this guy! Kris thought to herself. Well, for all I know, we're married! The thought made Kris chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Jason asked her. Kris blushed profusely.
"Uh, nothing," she lied, still smiling. Jason gave her a look, then shrugged in response.
"Are you all right now?" he asked her, changing the subject.
"I've been better," Kris said wryly, smiling.
"You know what I mean," Jason told her.
"Yeah, I think I'm all right," Kris answered. "I just don't really want to move right now, if that's OK with you."
"Sure, that's fine," Jason replied. Kris laid her head down on the spot just below his shoulder and closed her eyes. Now would be a really bad time for Rocky to wake up, Jason thought to himself, looking over at his dormant friend. It's a good thing he's a heavy sleeper.
As Kris laid against Jason, eyes closed in an attempt to fall asleep, her mind was wandering through an assortment of thoughts. This is really comfortable. I wonder how long we're going to stay like this? Hopefully, Rocky will stay asleep for a while longer. He'd probably be mad at both of us. Wait, why would he be mad? We're not doing anything. Unless he's an overprotective brother, in which case this could be a problem, but he doesn't seem like that. He seems pretty laid back, pretty cool. I wonder if he and I are close? Well, from what I've been told, we are. Kris opened her eyes a crack and just stared off into space. "Space," however, happened to coincide with the communicator on Jason's wrist. She reached over and ran the tips of her fingers along the metal face.
"Woah, careful," Jason said, moving her hand away from it.
"Why? What's so special about it? For that matter, what is it?" Kris asked. Jason paused momentarily. He couldn't decide if he should tell her the truth, or make up some excuse until she got her memory back. Finally, however, the truth prevailed.
"I guess you don't remember the Power Rangers, right?" he began.
"Nope," Kris told him, shaking her head.
"Well, the Power Rangers are the defenders of the Earth. They protect the planet against the forces of evil, which currently are ruled by King Mondo. A couple of years back, Rita came and set up a base on the moon, and the fight got started."
"Ding ding! Round one!" Kris quipped. Jason grinned.
"Something like that," he told her. "Anyway, when Rita came, she was bent on ruling the Earth, so the Power Rangers were created. We've gone through a lot of evolutions, and we've changed members a few times for different reasons."
"What do you mean, 'we've gone through a lot of evolutions and we've changed members a few times'?" Kris asked. "And what does all of this have to do with your silver bracelet?"
"I'm getting there," Jason told her gently. Kris grinned.
"Let me guess: patience wasn't one of my best qualities, was it?" she asked.
"Not exactly," Jason said frankly, grinning again. "The Rangers can communicate through communicators that they wear on their wrists. Tommy, Billy, Adam, Kat, Tanya, Rocky and I all wear the same style of bracelet, but they're different colours for each person. Oh, and they're not bracelets, either."
"You're saying...you guys have communicators that let you talk with the Power Rangers?" Kris asked, not quite getting where this is going.
"No. The others and I are the Power Rangers," Jason corrected her.
"Cool," was the only thing Kris could think of to say at that moment.
"But you can't tell anybody that you know who we are, because nobody else is supposed to know," Jason told her quickly.
"Don't worry, I won't tell another soul," Kris vowed. Now if only I could remember why the Power Rangers are so important, I'd be a lot happier.
Suddenly, there was a light knock on the door to the supply room. Kris jumped, Jason tensed, and Rocky continued to sleep. Kris looked up at Jason, who put a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet. Kris nodded, and looked over her shoulder to the door. She could see shadows beneath the door, as the person stood there. There was another set of knocks, longer and harder this time. Kris began to shake nervously. I'm such a coward! she thought, chastising herself. However, despite her thoughts, she continued to tremble, unsure as to why she was even the least bit nervous. As they watched, the shadows moved away, accompanied by footsteps. Jason and Kris waited until the footsteps were long gone before speaking.
"I wonder if they knew we were here?" Kris asked in a whisper.
"I doubt it. The only people who know we're here are Tommy, Billy and Kat," Jason told her.
"Maybe it was one of them who was at the door?" Kris suggested.
"It might have been, but we can't take the chance of revealing our position," Jason said. Kris nodded. He had a good point.
"You're right," she agreed. "If anybody else finds us here, we might be found by my family. And I don't know about you, but I personally don't want them to see me like this. It'd probably scare them even more than it's scaring me."
"You're scared?" Jason asked. "I thought you were just frustrated, and maybe a little annoyed."
"Nope, I'm scared," Kris admitted. "You would be, too, if you were in my position."
"True," Jason told her. "But you'll get through this. Sooner or later, you'll get your memory back, and this will all fade into a bad memory."
"It had better be sooner, rather than later," Kris grumbled. "Otherwise, I will not be a happy person."
"Well? How are they?" Tommy asked once Kat had returned.
"I didn't get to talk to them," Kat told him, sitting down on her cot.
"What? Why not?" Tommy inquired.
"Well, I knocked on the door, but nobody answered. I guess they were asleep or something," Kat explained.
"After all that they've been through, it wouldn't be surprising if they were exhausted, both mentally and physically," Billy commented. Tommy nodded in agreement.
"Did Adam and Tanya show up yet?" Kat asked her friends. They looked at one another.
"No, they haven't," Billy replied. "I wonder where they are?"
"They're probably hiding somewhere in Angel Grove, waiting for the storm to pass and making the most of their time alone," Kat said with a small giggle. Tommy and Billy chuckled.
"Somehow, that is just really too hard to picture," Tommy told her.
"Not to me it isn't," Kat replied, still smiling. However, she sobered up after a minute. "I hope they're all right, though."
"I'm sure they'll be just fine," Tommy said in reassurance.
"As 'fine' as Kris, Rocky and Jason are?" Kat said skeptically.
"Jason? But, he's fine," Tommy said, looking confused.
"Actually, Tommy, when he came here he was limping," Kat told him. Tommy looked at her, surprised that she had noticed something about his best friend that he hadn't.
"Was he really?" Tommy asked. Kat nodded. Tommy stood up abruptly. "I should go down there to check and see if he's OK."
"I hope you have better luck getting an answer from them than I did," Kat told him as he began to walk off.
The walk down to the basement didn't take long. Unlike Kat, who had taken her time so she wouldn't appear conspicuous, Tommy's pace was hurried. He took the steps two by two, and it took him only 2 minutes to reach the supply room. Standing before it, he knocked loudly on the door. He got no answer, and tried again, rapping the door firmly with his knuckles.
"Jason? You in there?" he called. He heard a shuffling noise from within, and waited for the door to open so he could check on his friend.
Just as Kris had fallen asleep, a loud knocking on the door woke her up. She jumped, startled out of her slumber, and clung to Jason.
"What was that?" she asked in a whisper.
"Somebody at the door, again," he told her.
There was another knock, louder and more impatient than the first.
"Think we should open it?" Kris wondered.
"No, we don't know who it is," Jason replied.
"Jason? You in there?" a familiar voice called.
"Tommy?" Jason said aloud. Kris and Jason both got to their respective feet. Kris hung back while Jason went to the door, unlocked it and opened it. "Tommy? What are you doing here?"
"I came to see if you guys were all right," Tommy explained, coming into the room. "Kat told me that you were limping. What'd you do?"
Jason reddened.
"Well, actually, I was running down the stairs and I tripped. I think I sprained my ankle, or something," Jason said. Both Kris and Tommy looked down at Jason's foot, and truth be told, he was barely putting any of his weight on it at all. "I wrapped it up before I came here, but I don't think the bandage is doing me much good."
"Here, I'll take a look at it for you," Tommy offered.
"Don't worry about it, it'll heal on its own in time," Jason told him.
"Jase, if it still hurts, you obviously did something to it. You want it to heal properly, don't you?" Tommy asked. Jason smiled.
"Good point," he said, hopping up onto the counter top and placing his leg gently onto the counter top in front of him. He pulled up his pant leg to the knee, and removed his running shoe. Tommy removed the tensor bandage, and carefully examined the injury.
"You were right, it looks like it's just a sprain," Tommy said to his friend. He took the tensor bandage and started to rewrap his friends' ankle. Jason winced once. "It has to be tight if it's going to work."
"As long as you keep the circulation flowing, that's all that matters," Jason said. Kris chuckled.
"Hey, keep the noise level down," Rocky grumbled from the corner. "How's a guy supposed to get any sleep if you people keep yammering on?"
"Sorry, Rocky," Kris apologized. "But you've been asleep for almost an hour."
"Only an hour, you mean," Rocky countered. Kris looked at him sourly.
"You've got an hour up on me and Jason, then," she informed him.
"You two have been awake all this time?" Rocky asked, sitting up and stretching. He yawned widely, stretched again, and grimaced. Kris nodded.
"Yep. Was I always an insomniac, or is this a recent addition to my personality?" she asked, grinning.
"You're not an insomniac, you're a night owl," Rocky corrected her, getting to his feet.
"Night owl?" Kris checked her watch. "Woah, it's already almost midnight."
"Already?" Jason asked, sitting on the edge of the counter. Kris moved over to stand beside him and showed him her watch.
"Time flies when you're stranded in another town with a hurricane looming overhead," Kris quipped, a wry smile on her lips.
"I'm glad you're feeling OK, Kris," Tommy said, looking at the younger teen. As he spoke to her, Kris shrank back, trying to inch away from him. She leaned back into Jason's legs, and gripped his calves with her hands behind her back. Tommy noticed her reaction, and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that you don't remember who any of us are."
"I'm sorry I'm acting this way," Kris replied, still clinging to Jason. Tommy noticed this, but didn't say anything. He didn't want to offend or alienate anybody, especially in this hostile environment.
"Kris, it isn't your fault." Big brother to the rescue.
"I know, Rocky," Kris said, turning her head to look at him. "Still, this is all kind of freaky. I mean, I can't remember anything. I'm relying on you guys completely to tell me who I am, what I like, stuff like that." She paused. "So you guys had better be telling me the truth, because if you're not, when I get my memory back I'll clobber the lot of you."
"Ha! Like you could?" Rocky said, challenging her.
"I could take you on," Kris told him with a grin, knowing full well that there was no way on the planet that she could take him down.
"Uh-huh. We'll see about that," Rocky replied.
"Any day, any time, anywhere," Kris added.
"You, little sister, have yourself a challenge," Rocky informed her.
"Good. I'll be sure to call an ambulance for you for when I'm done with you," Kris kidded.
"Better tell them to expect a 17-year-old female patient," Rocky countered.
"OK, guys, break it up," Jason said, holding back a grin with considerable effort. He got off the counter and stepped between the two siblings.
"You're no fun," Kris said with a mock-pout, but her eyes were twinkling in the lighting. As he touched her arm, she felt something akin to an electric shock run up her arm, and throughout her body. "Hey, where are the others, anyway?"
"You mean Kat and Billy?" Tommy asked. Kris nodded. "They're back upstairs, in the gym. If two or all of us left, your family would get suspicious as to where we all went."
"True enough," Kris said. "I hope this hurricane ends soon, and we can go back to Angel Grove. I'd like to be in familiar surroundings. Maybe then I'll get my memory back. After all, if I'm surrounded by pieces of my life, maybe it'll trigger something in my head, right?" Rocky smiled at his sister's optimism, as did Jason and Tommy.
"I'm sure that we'll be home soon enough," Rocky assured her.
"What is "home," anyway?" Kris asked.
"We live in an apartment, not far from the school and the Youth Centre," Rocky explained. "It's not much, and it's certainly not as great as our mom's house, but it's good enough for a brother and sister who are still in high school."
"Hmm, sounds nice," Kris commented.
"I just hope it's still intact when we get back there," Rocky added.
"I thought you went back to board everything up," Jason said, looking at Rocky.
"I did, but a window broke before I got there. I'm hoping that there isn't any other damage that I missed, and nothing else gets busted," Rocky explained.
"Which window?" Tommy inquired. Rocky looked uneasy.
"Um, the one in Kris's bedroom," he replied. Kris threw up her hands in exasperation, pacing to the other side of the room.
"This really hasn't been my day, has it?" she asked, sighing and leaning against a wall, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, look at it this way: it can only get better, right?" Rocky said brightly.
"Someone once said, "Things are going to get worse before they get better,"" Kris began. She looked at the three men wryly and added, ""But who said things were going to get better?"" That brought out a chuckle from the group.
"We're going to have to teach you to be more optimistic," Rocky kidded.
"Hey, if I don't get my memory back, you can tell me anything you want, and I won't have much of a choice but to believe it," Kris said with a shrug.
"OK, you're an alien from another planet," Rocky teased.
"Strange, I thought that was you," Kris said, looking thoughtful for a moment. Rocky went over and swatted her on the arm. Kris tickled him.
"Nice try, but that won't work again," Rocky told her, grabbing her wrists.
"You're an incredibly cruel older brother, you do know that, right?" she joked.
"Yep, I know," he replied, puffing out his chest. "It's a part of the DeSantos charm."
"Is that why you haven't had a girlfriend for a few months?" Tommy asked innocently. Rocky gave him a look that shot daggers across the room. Kris giggled, and Jason chuckled.
"Hey! My social life isn't relevant," Rocky protested.
"Or lack thereof," Kris joked, earing herself a glare from her brother.
"Hey, you're not exactly Miss Popular, either, Kris," he told her.
"By choice, more than likely," Kris retorted, her green eyes twinkling mischievously.
"What is this, pick on the Ape day?" Rocky asked, exasperated.
"Ape?" Kris asked, looking at him strangely. "Is that why you have hairy arms?" Rocky froze, and looked to his friends for help.
"Don't worry, I told her about us," Jason said in response to Rocky's unasked question. Rocky relaxed visibly.
"You told her about the Ninja Quest?" he asked.
"Nope, just who we are," Jason replied.
"Any time you guys would like to clue in the poor, innocent, memory-lacking young woman over here, it would be greatly appreciated," Kris said.
"Oh, see, a while back, the Rangers lost their powers, and we had to go on a quest to find new ones," Rocky explained. "We found this woman named Dulcea, and she gave us our Ninja Powers, which were linked to a special spirit animal within each of us. I'm the ape, Tommy's the falcon, Adam's the frog, Billy's the wolf, Kimberly's the crane, and Aisha's the bear."
"What about Jason?" Kris asked, looking at the dark-haired teen.
"I was in Geneva at a Peace Conference at the time," Jason told her. "When I left, I had to give up my powers, and Rocky got them from me."
"OK," Kris said, obviously trying to piece together a time line in her head. "Who're Kimberly and Aisha?"
"Kimberly was one of the first Rangers," Tommy said quickly, a special fondness creeping into his voice. His whole mood, stance, manner, seemed to grow softer at the merest mention of Kimberly's name.
"And Aisha was one of my best friends," Rocky continued, picking up where Rocky had left off. "But she's in Africa now, studying a plague. Tanya took her place on the Ranger team."
"Any more evolutions I should know about?" Kris asked wryly, her mind whirling with all of this new information.
"We'll let you know," Rocky said, throwing a wink her way.
Just then, the entire building seemed to rattle and vibrate beneath the feet of the teens as a clap of thunder rolled through. Kris let out a small yelp of surprise, and jumped back, straight into Jason. He caught her before her momentum could send her crashing to the ground. He, Rocky and Tommy had also been startled by the sudden noise.
"I think the hurricane's here," Kris said, her pulse racing from the shock she had received then the thunder had hit unexpectedly.
"I'd better get back upstairs. Your family is sure to be awake by now, and I'm sure they'll want to know why you haven't shown up yet. I'll try to come back later, and I'll see if I can bring some food with me," Tommy said. He waved to his friends, then left the supply room and hurried back into the gymnasium.
There, he saw that everybody was now wide awake. The air was filled with the sounds of people talking, little kids crying, and parents trying to soothe their children. Tommy jogged over to where Kat and Billy were sitting with Mrs. DeSantos and her family.
"Are you guys all right?" Tommy asked as he approached. Kat shook her head, and gestured to Mrs. DeSantos, who was sitting in a corner with her head in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking, a surefire sign that she was crying. Tommy took Kat's place in front of the two youngest DeSantos kids while she went over to sit beside Mrs. DeSantos.
"Mrs. DeSantos?" Kat asked hesitantly, sitting gingerly on the cot next to the older woman. When she got no reply, Kat knew there was something very wrong. "Mrs. DeSantos, I'm sure that they're fine."
"Then why aren't they here?" Mrs. DeSantos asked in a cracked voice. "Where are my children?"
"They're probably safe in Angel Grove, waiting until the storm is over to come here," Kat said, trying to reassure the woman as best she could. "They'll be here as soon as they can, and I'm sure that nothing bad has happened to them. After all, they've been through worse, right?"
"Yes, but never anything as bad as this," Mrs. DeSantos insisted. "They could be lying somewhere, hurt and afraid. They could even be..." The words just stopped coming right then as Mrs. DeSantos broke down into fresh tears. Unsure of what to do, Kat laid a hand gently on the woman's arm. Mrs. DeSantos seized it, squeezing it with a firm grip.
Kat's heart went out to the woman just then. Seeing how worried she was about her children, and how broken up she was made Kat almost spill the beans right then and there. But she had made a promise to Rocky, Kris and Jason, and she wouldn't go back on her word. Even though it's hurting someone else? Someone who has the right to know what's going on with her children? Kat was torn between keeping the location and status of Rocky, Kris and Jason a secret and telling Mrs. DeSantos that her kids and the one that had brought them back were in the building, alive and doing basically all right. The mental war went on for quite a while, and would have continued, but a distraction aroused her from her thoughts.
"Thank you, Katherine," Mrs. DeSantos said, raising her head and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I appreciate you listening to me, and sitting here with me. It helps to know that there are other people praying for Rocky and Kristina."
"Tommy, Billy and I are all praying for them, Mrs. DeSantos," Kat replied. At least that part's true.
"Oh, please, call me Anna," Mrs. DeSantos said. "You seem like such a nice young woman. Besides, being called, "Mrs." makes me feel like an old, grey-haired lady who needs a walker and has a steady supply of prune juice."
Kat laughed.
"I think I just found out where Rocky gets his sense of humour from," she said, smiling at Mrs. DeSantos. Anna, she corrected mentally.
"Mom? Are you all right?" A.J. asked, approaching the two women hesitantly.
"Yes, Alexandra Jane, I'm fine," Anna said, smiling at her daughter. A.J. made a face.
"Mama, you know I hate it when you call me that," she said. "And you never call Rocky "Rockwell.""
"You really dislike it that much?" Anna asked. A.J. nodded vehemently. "OK, then, I won't call you by your full name, but can you tolerate Alexandra?" A.J. shrugged and smiled.
"I guess so," she replied. "Thanks, mama." Anna reached out to hug her daughter. Kat slipped away quietly while the two embraced.
"I don't know what you did, but you did a good job of it," Tommy whispered to Kat as she knelt beside him.
"It took a woman's touch," Kat replied with a smile.
"And what's A.J. so happy about?" Tommy asked.
"Oh, there was a little compromise between mother and daughter that took place," Kat told him vaguely, leaving him in suspense. When he looked at her expectantly, she elaborated. "You know how formal Anna is, right?"
"Anna?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Mrs. DeSantos," Kat supplied. "She lets me call me by her first name."
"You must have done a lot for her," Tommy observed.
"Nothing a good listener can't do," Kat said with a shrug. "Anyway, Anna's going to stop calling A.J. Alexandra Jane. It's just Alexandra, now. But I think we should still call her A.J. I think she prefers that to anything else."
"It's good that they came to an agreement on that," Tommy commented. "I know how much A.J. hated being called by her full name."
"The rest of us are pretty lucky that mom decided not to give us long names, too," Lucas said, coming up behind the pair. "Well, except Katie."
"Katie is short for something?" Kat asked. Lucas nodded.
"Yep. Short for Katalina," he told them. "But the rest of us just call her Katie."
"I love that name," Kat breathed, smiling.
"Better than Katherine?" Tommy asked.
"Much better than Katherine," Kat replied firmly, a smile still present in her blue eyes.
"Mom likes exotic, and long, names," Lucas explained. "Hey, she stuck me with Lucas Emmanuel Kyle DeSantos."
"You're right, that is long," Tommy commented. Kat nodded in silent agreement.
"Well, I guess it makes us DeSantos kids unique," Lucas said with a shrug.
"Rocky has already made sure that your entire family will be deemed, "unique,"" Tommy commented.
"Oh great, leave it to my big brother to humiliate the family name!" Lucas groaned dramatically, his brown eyes twinkling. "And speaking of my big brother, how is he?"
The question caught Tommy and Kat off-guard.
"How would we know?" Tommy asked, recovering first. Lucas shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure that you guys and Billy know where he, Kris and Jason are," he replied. "So, how're they doing?"
"I'm sorry, Lucas, but we don't know where they are. We haven't talked to them since before the hurricane started," Kat told him softly. Lucas eyed them for a moment.
"Well, if you say so," he conceded finally. "I just hope that nothing's happened to them."
"I'm sure that they're fine," Kat told him.
"Well, if they're not, I wonder if I'll be able to take Rocky's apartment?" Lucas wondered aloud, grinning to himself. Kat and Tommy laughed.
"You're not even old enough to be living on your own, are you?" Tommy asked the younger boy.
"Well, no," Lucas admitted. "But I'll be sixteen in a few months."
"Until then, you're stuck living at home," Kat said.
"And you wouldn't want to live with your brother, anyway," Tommy added. "His apartment's a mess!"
"I know, I've been there," Lucas said with an exaggerated shudder. He gave them a sly look. "So, you guys are sure you don't know where my brother and sister are, right?"
"Right," Tommy replied without skipping a beat. Lucas shrugged.
"OK, if you say so," he said before walking away.
"I think we should have told him, Tommy," Kat said as soon as Lucas was out of earshot.
"Kat, we promised Rocky and the others that we wouldn't tell Mrs. DeSantos or any of her family where they were and what had happened to them, especially Kris," Tommy replied.
"I know what we promised, but I don't think it's right," Kat protested. "Their mother has a right to know."
"Maybe so, but right now it isn't our place to tell her what's going on," Tommy countered. Kat sighed.
"I know you're right," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I have to like it."
Tommy took Kat's hand in his.
"Don't worry," he told her. "We won't have to hide this forever. Kris will get her memory back soon, and her family will never know that anything like this ever happened."
"And what happens if she doesn't get her memory back any time soon?" Kat asked. "What if she never gets her memory back? Are we just going to hide Kris forever, and tell Anna nothing?"
"If Kris doesn't get her memory back soon, then we're going to have to tell Mrs. DeSantos-Anna-what happened. And if Kris never gets her memory back, well, we'll just have to wait and see what we can do," Tommy said. Kat frowned, but said nothing more. There was nothing left to be said on the matter that hadn't already been brought up by at least one of the parties involved. But that still didn't mean that she had to like what was going on. Tommy wasn't too thrilled about the entire setup, either, but he couldn't voice how he felt. Despite the fact that all thoughts of being a Ranger were now pushed to the backs of everybody's minds, Tommy still felt like he had to be the, "strong leader." In other words, he felt like he had to defend his friends from the others if he had made a promise to one of them. Tommy had never broken his word, especially not to one of the ones that was on the team, and he didn't intend to start that day. No, he was going to give Kris some time, and then if she hadn't regained her memory, he would tell Rocky that it was time to tell their mother. But until then, Tommy would remain silent. Unlike this hurricane, Tommy thought wryly as thunder shook the building again. Wind howled outside, clearly audible even through the thick walls of the school. Since all the windows were boarded up, no one could see the lightening as it spread its tentacles through the sky like some mutated octopus. How much longer this would last, nobody knew, but everyone knew that it couldn't last much longer; the worst was almost over...wasn't it?
Kris had managed to fall asleep in the corner where Rocky had been a little while ago. Her back was turned to where Rocky and Jason were sitting in the middle of the floor, talking in hushed tones.
"I'm glad she finally got to sleep," Rocky said. "After everything that's happened, she needs the rest."
"I'm guessing a true DeSantos can fall asleep anywhere, right?" Jason asked with a grin, one that Rocky returned readily.
"Pretty much," he agreed. Then he sobered up. "I hope she gets her memory back soon. This has got to be so hard on her."
"She doesn't show it, though. As a matter of fact she's taking this pretty well," Jason commented.
"I'm just worried that she's holding things back," Rocky confessed. "I mean, I haven't seen her really get upset over this whole thing. Sure, she's gotten upset for a short period of time, but nothing like I'd have expected."
"You mean, she hasn't been crying?" Jason asked. Rocky nodded.
"Exactly," he replied.
"Well, while you were asleep, Kris did cry," Jason told him.
"She did? Why didn't you wake me?" Rocky demanded. Jason looked uncomfortable.
"Neither of us really thought about it," he answered.
"You didn't think about it? I was sleeping ten feet away!" Rocky exclaimed. Then, remembering his slumbering sister, he lowered his voice. "Look, if that happens again, come and get me. I don't care what I'm doing, just let me know that she's upset, all right?"
"Yea, OK, Rocky," Jason replied.
"So, what did she say while I was asleep, anyway?" Rocky asked curiously.
"Well, she wanted to know why this had happened to her, and I told her it was just a freak accident. She asked why she had done to deserve this, and I told her that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that she had done nothing to deserve it because she was a wonderful person. Then, when she was sitting with me, she saw my communicator, and asked what it was. I figured she had the right to know, so I told her what it was and who we all were," Jason explained, sparing a few choice details. Rocky nodded.
"Thanks, Jase," he said. "I'm glad at least one of us was awake so she could talk to someone." He paused, and looked at Jason for a moment. "Anything you want to tell me?"
Jason looked confused.
"Anything you want to tell me about Kris?" Rocky elaborated.
"I just told you everything she said," Jason replied, still confused.
"Look, Jason, if you like her, you don't have to be afraid of my reaction; I don't mind if you're interested in her," Rocky said bluntly, catching Jason off-guard. Jason tensed visibly for a moment, thinking Rocky was trying to trap him, but then he saw the sincere light in his friend's eyes, and relaxed.
"You don't?" Jason said finally.
"Nope," Rocky replied truthfully. "Actually, I'd rather have her going out with you than anybody else. At least I know I can trust you."
"And you can," Jason told him. Rocky nodded.
"I know, which is why I don't mind any of this," he replied. Then he smiled. "Which is also why I finally asked you this instead of making you and her dance around the subject forever instead of getting your acts together."
Kris had awakened as soon as she had heard her brother raise his voice, but she didn't say anything. Heck, she didn't even move! She figured that if she stayed still, she could fall back asleep again. But once she heard her name mentioned, she was listening. Rocky asked Jason what she had said, and Jason related everything. Kris smiled to herself. He left a few things out, she thought. Thankfully. However, Kris almost gasped out loud when she heard Rocky ask Jason if he liked her. Holding herself perfectly still, not even moving, Kris waited for the answer. When Jason admitted that he did, Kris's smile turned into a huge grin. It became even wider when Rocky said that he'd rather he go out with him than anybody else. Good thing, because I don't know anybody else that I'd go out with in Angel Grove, Kris thought.
Kris was now too excited to sleep. This is all well and good, but how can I use this information? I mean, I'd never have the courage to actually ask him out...would I? She thought for a moment, then grimaced at herself. What am I thinking?! I don't even remember who I am, and I'm thinking of asking Jason out! Hell, I don't remember who he is, either! Without my memory, it'd be kind of a pointless relationship. Besides, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't want to go out with someone who had to learn her own name from someone else. Discouraged, Kris closed her eyes again.
"Life sucks," she whispered, before she remembered that she was supposed to be asleep.
"Hey, did you hear that?" Rocky asked as a small noise came from Kris's general direction. Jason nodded. "Kris? Are you awake?"
Busted! Kris thought to herself. She rolled over onto her back and glanced over at the two boys.
"Morning, honey, is the coffee ready yet?" she asked, smiling. Rocky and Jason smiled at her.
"You sound like you're in a good mood," Rocky commented.
"Yeah, well, I've got a good reason to be," Kris said with a smile. She stretched and yawned.
"That being?" Jason asked, somewhat anxiously. Kris grinned at him.
"Hey, a girl's got to have a few secrets, doesn't she?" she asked.
"No, spill the beans," Rocky answered immediately. Kris laughed.
"Sorry, big brother, no dice," she replied. She rolled onto her side and propped her body up on one elbow. "So, we have anything to eat yet? I'm starving!" Jason laughed.
"Yep, she's a DeSantos, all right," he said. Rocky glared at him.
"And just what are you trying to say, exactly?" he asked.
"That your family can eat a ton," Jason replied honestly, shrugging his broad shoulders. "I'd hate to hate to cater for your family reunion. No, wait, I'd make a fortune!"
"Ha ha. I'd laugh if that were funny," Rocky said, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He stood up suddenly. "I'm going to go find the little Rangers' room."
Kris laughed.
"Thank you very much for sharing!" she called as he opened the door, looked both ways to see if anybody was there, and left, closing the door behind him. The room settled into an uncomfortable silence. Neither occupant knew what to say to the other. "So, tell me more about...well, me."
"What do you want to know?" Jason asked, turning in place and facing her. Kris thought for a moment.
"Well, what kind of things do I like to do in my spare time?" she wondered.
"Um, you read a lot, and you write a lot, too," Jason said, thinking about what he'd seen her enjoy doing. "You like talking on the phone, watching T.V., rollerblading, just hanging out with your friends, beating up the occasional punching bag at the Youth Centre, listening to music, going to movies, to name a few."
"Geez, and I thought I was an inactive person!" Kris joked. "So, do I hang out with you and Rocky and the others all the time, or do I have friends of my own?"
"You stick with us pretty much. Ever since you came back to Angel Grove, Rocky hasn't let you out of his sight, basically," Jason told her.
"I'm glad to know that there's somebody who cares about me on my side," Kris said.
"Kris, there are a lot of people that care about you," Jason told her.
"There are?" Kris asked, genuinely interested now. Jason nodded.
"Uh-huh. Rocky, the rest of your family, Tommy, Adam, Billy, Tanya, Kat...me," he said. Kris smiled, though it was for two reasons.
"I'm glad I'm so well-liked," she said.
A silence descended once more.
Nice way to kill the conversation, Kristina, Kris thought to herself, grimacing. She winced as she tried to sit up, and hit her left arm on the ground.
"Are you all right?" Jason asked as soon as he saw the expression on her face.
"I'm fine," Kris replied through gritted teeth. "But I'd really like it if this arm was in a cast, though. At least then it wouldn't hurt with every single movement that I make. Pass me the first aid kit, please?"
Jason handed her the metal box, and Kris began to rifle through it. She pulled out the roll of gauze, the cotton wool, the adhesive, the cellulose tape, the scissors and some safety pins.
"What are you doing?" Jason asked as she arranged the supplies before her.
"Making my own cast," she replied, grinning at him.
"How?" Jason wondered, getting up then going to sit down across from her.
"Well, I figure that if I wrap up my arm in the gauze and the wool, then put the adhesive and cellulose tape over it, it should be stiff enough to keep me from hurting it every time an oxygen particle hits it," Kris explained. "But I think I'm going to need your help with this."
"Sure," Jason agreed readily. "What do I need to do?"
"Basically, I'm going to need you to help me wrap my arm," Kris said. "And undo the roll of gauze, because I've only got two hands." Jason took the tape from her and freed one end of the gauze.
"Here, give me your arm," he told her softly. Kris extended her left arm gently. Jason held onto her arm above the injury with one hand and wrapped it up with the other, being as careful as he possibly could. Once the gauze was gone, he started will the wool, and sealed the entire thing up with the adhesive and the cellulose tape.
"There, how does that feel?" he asked her. Kris took her arm back and moved it around a little bit.
"It's a lot better," she told him. "Thank you. I couldn't have done better if I'd taken twice the time you had."
"It was nothing," Jason said, reddening at the unexpected compliment.
"How did you manage to get it so stiff?" Kris asked. She tapped a nail on the bandages gently at first, then harder and harder until she finally winced. "This thing is going to be able to withstand a lot."
"That was the general idea," Jason told her. "But don't bang it around too much. No matter what's on the outside, there's still a broken arm on the inside, and it needs to get checked out by a doctor as soon as possible. Otherwise, you run the risk of it not healing properly."
"Hey, if I could have my memory back, I'd gladly deal with a crooked left arm," Kris said seriously. She looked down at the floor, finding the tiles suddenly interesting. "I wonder if I'll ever get my memory back? This is so scary, not knowing anything about myself or the people who are supposed to be my friends."
"Don't think like that, Kris," Jason ordered her gently. "You're going to get your memory back. You have to believe that, otherwise it'll be harder for you."
"This is already hard enough, I don't think it could get any harder," Kris snapped. She saw the slightly hurt expression on Jason's face, and was immediately regretful. "Jason, I'm sorry. This whole thing has just been really bad on my nerves, and I'm really tense and worried and about ready to break down." Even as Kris spoke, her eyes began to water and her voice faltered. Jason moved over and sat on Kris's right side. Gently, taking care of her injury, he put an arm around her shoulders.
"Kris, it's going to be OK," he told her. She just sat there, unmoving. "Kris, you're going to get your memory back soon, I just know it. Once you get your memory back, you'll remember everything that you've ever known, and your life will be back to normal."
"How do you know I'm going to get my memory back?" Kris demanded. "You can't know that, nobody can! My memories are left to chance, dammit! You can't possibly know how this feels!" The tears that had been welling up began to run in little rivulets down her cheeks.
"You're right, I don't know how this must feel," Jason admitted softly. "And I know that I don't know for certain if you're going to get your memory back, but you know what?" Kris looked at him expectantly. "I know that everybody, especially Rocky and I, will do everything that we can to try to get your memory back. We don't want you to live with this anymore than you want to live with this, and we've seen how hard this is on you. Believe me, we're not happy that this happened to you, not at all. And we're not going to sit by and let you stay like this. No matter how long it takes, we'll get your memory back for you."
Kris looked at him, awestruck.
"I...I don't know what to say," she admitted. "I didn't realize that I was that important to everybody."
"Well, the others want you to get your memory back all right, but Rocky and I care the most about what happens to you," Jason explained. Did I just tell her what I think I told her? he thought to himself.
Did he just say what I think he just said? Kris wondered, carefully analyzing Jason's last statement. Aloud, she simply said, "Well, it's good to know that I have such great friends." Oh geez, that was really lame! A five-year-old could have done better than that!
Just then, Rocky came into the room.
"Hey, everybody!" he said cheerily.
"Did you bring anything to eat?" Kris asked immediately, her stomach growling loudly.
"Nice to see you too, little sister," Rocky said, giving her a mock-glare.
"Hey, it's not my fault I'm a DeSantos!" Kris protested. "I'm starving!"
"Join the club!" Rocky retorted.
"Well, if you aren't going to get us any good, then I will," Kris said, getting up and heading for the door. Rocky stepped in front of her abruptly, and Kris ran headlong into his chest. She stepped away, rubbing her nose gingerly.
"You are not going out there alone," he told her, and his tone said in no uncertain terms that he meant what he'd said.
"Well then, you go grab us some grub," Kris said, smiling sweetly.
"But I just got here," Rocky protested.
"Why don't I go and see if I can find us something to eat?" Jason asked, standing up. When neither Rocky nor Kris complained, he went out into the hall and closed the door behind him, making sure that there was nobody outside first.
Kris went back and laid down on the thick mat of bedding where she had been sleeping minutes earlier.
"Are you feeling all right?" Rocky asked her, concerned.
"This whole thing has just been really exhausting to me, and it isn't even over yet. Quite frankly, I'm still scared and confused," Kris admitted, laying on her back and staring up at her brother as he loomed over her. Rocky crouched down beside his sister.
"You're going to get your memory back, Kris," he told her. "You know that, right?"
"Rocky, nobody knows if I'm going to get my memory back," Kris countered. "I just can't wait until this storm is over so we can go back home. I want to be around things from the rest of my life; it might jog my memory somewhat."
"Well, I heard some good news when I was outside," Rocky said. "I heard that the worst of the storm is almost over, and we'll be allowed to go back to Angel Grove in as little as an hour."
"We can? That's great!" Kris exclaimed. "I mean, the city's going to be a horrible mess, and a lot of people will have lost a lot, but I still can't wait to go back home! Maybe then I can finally get my memory back!"
I'm glad that she's finally feeling happier about all of this, Rocky thought to himself as Kris closed her eyes and laid on her back, a smile still on her face. I just hope that all of her enthusiasm isn't wasted. Billy said that the only person who can get Kris's memories back is Kris, and since she really wants to remember everything again, there's a really good chance that she'll remember it all once she's back in familiar surroundings...isn't there?
* * *
Out in the hallways, Jason was wandered, searching desperately for food. His stomach was beginning to talk to him, and it wasn't being too quiet about it, either. However, since Jason couldn't risk entering any of the populated areas of the emergency shelter that was set up at the school, his options were rather limited. Still, he didn't want to disappoint Rocky and Kris, so he continued to search.
Outside the school, rain continued to pour, thunder continued to roll, lightening continued to strike and wind continued to blow, but none of it was nearly as fierce as it had been a mere half an hour ago. Jason checked his watch, and discovered that it was nearly midnight. He hadn't realized that it was so late, ad yet he still wasn't tired. He chalked it all up to adrenaline.<I?I i Grove ? he thought idly as he wandered the corridors. I need to get back to my house and make sure that there isn't any damage that I can't repair before my parents get back from the International PTA conference in Ottawa. Heck, all of us need to make sure that our places are all right. Our parents are going to be worried enough as it is when they find out that we were in the middle of a hurricane, we don't need them worrying about their houses, too.
Jason walked around a little more, then came to the conclusion that there just wasn't anything to eat, unless they went up to the gym, where the supplies were being kept, and started back to his temporary home in the basement of Stone Canyon High.
When he opened the door, he found that both DeSantos siblings were asleep once more. Not a bad idea, he thought. He unrolled the last pack of blankets that had been left in the room, then laid down and closed his eyes.
Unfortunately, sleep was not forthcoming. He laid there for what seemed like an eternity, but was, in actuality, only an hour, and still his mind raced like a hamster in a wheel on steroids. However, eventually the hamster slowed down, then got out of the wheel and nestled in a bed of woodchips.
Billy was also laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling in the gymnasium. He had heard from a few different sources that they would soon be allowed to go back to Angel Grove to being picking up the pieces of their battered city. Hopefully, the new alloy that all the buildings in Angel Grove had been covered with had done its job, and had protected the city against nature's fury. It if had, then millions of dollars in damages would be saved. However, if the alloy hadn't worked, Angel Grove would be in shambles. Knowing King Mondo, they'd probably attack the city just as we were all going back, Billy thought, smiling wryly to himself. I wonder if the Power Chamber made it through the hurricane intact? It's never actually been battered like this before, I don't think. It had better not go the way of the Command Centre, or we're going to have a real problem when we get back.
Billy rolled over onto his side and, after making sure that nobody was watching him, tried to get in touch with Zordon or Alpha.
"Zordon, this is Billy," he said. "Can you read me?" Static, and garbled noises came back to him, but nothing intelligible was heard. "Alpha, come in." The same noises returned. I guess the communication and teleportation devices are still down. I wonder if the hurricane is generating some kind of interference that the Power Chamber's systems can't break through? But the systems at the Power Chamber can break through some of the toughest blocks that King Mondo put up, why wouldn't they be able to break through a simple hurricane? Unless King Mondo are creating interference that the communicators can't break through, and it's being amplified by the hurricane. The more Billy thought about that, the less likely it seemed, though. King Mondo have been pretty quiet lately, though. Billy chuckled to himself. Maybe they've gone on vacation or something.
"Are we missing something, Billy?" Tommy asked his friend. Billy looked over, startled. he hadn't realized anybody else in his vicinity was awake.
"Uh, no, not at all," he replied.
"So, do you think we'll be leaving any time soon?" Tommy asked his genius-friend.
"Well, the hurricane's been going on for quite a long time. I'd say that, by morning, the highway back to Angel Grove will be pretty busy with people returning to the city," Billy answered.
"Could we get an early start and go back now?" Tommy inquired.
"Now?" Billy asked, surprised. "Why would you want to go back now, in the middle of the night?"
"So we can get Kris back in familiar surroundings," Tommy explained.
"We'd be putting her in familiar surroundings, true, but it'd be really dangerous," Billy told him. "There won't be any lights, no power of any kind, we might hit a live wire that's laying on the street while we're driving, not to mention any strong winds that might come through and pick up pieces of debris."
"OK, we'll wait, but I want to go as soon as possible," Tommy said. "An hour before the sun comes up, and we're going."
Billy sighed. He knew that there was no point in arguing with Tommy when he had reached, "leader mode." Besides, he actually had a good idea. The sooner they got Kris back to Angel Grove, the better her chances were of her memory coming back. Also, Tanya and Adam hadn't shown up at the emergency shelter yet, which meant that they were probably still back in Angel Grove. They might be hurt, or worse, and Billy didn't want to lose one of the best friends that he'd ever had to a simple natural disaster.
"As hour before sunrise it is," he said aloud. Tommy looked over, surprised. He hadn't expected Billy to agree with him so readily. He knew that he was taking a bit of a risk by going back to the city so soon, but he figured that it was worth it. They needed to get back for Kris's sake, to find Adam and Tanya, and to find out what condition the Power Chamber was in, as well.
Time passed slowly for the anxious teens as they awaited the signal that would allow them to go back to their city to help their friends. However, eventually, the signal did come. A man stood at the front of the gymnasium with a bullhorn, and called for everybody's attention. The room quieted down as everybody looked at the man expectantly.
"Now, I know that you all want to get back to Angel Grove as soon as possible, and since the worst of the hurricane is over, going back is feasible," he said. The crowd started talking again, but the man drowned them out. "However, going back is not recommended at this time. The roadways will be blocked with debris from the storm, but also by ambulances and the highway patrol. If you want to avoid any further injuries to yourself and your friends and families, you will wait until morning to go back to the city. Any questions?"
"What's so dangerous about us going back now?" one man called out.
"Well, you could hit a live wire that's laying on the streets," the man with the bullhorn replied. "And also, with all the debris on the ground, if you're driving your tires stand a very good chance of being punctured, and then you won't be getting anywhere, anyway. Anything else?" Nobody else had anything else to say or ask, so the man put down his bullhorn and went to make the announcement to other places in the school.
Tommy and Billy looked at one another, but Billy shook his head.
"Wait until morning," he advised.
"Did you hear that, Tommy?" an excited Jonathan cried, running over to Tommy's cot. "We're going home!"
"Not just yet we're not," Tommy corrected him. "But we're going to go home soon." Jonathan didn't reply, he just ran back over to his mother, smiling widely,
Kris, Jason and Rocky hadn't heard the announcement upstairs, and were all fast asleep in assorted positions on the floor. Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside the door, and somebody rapped on the door hard and loud.
"Guys, open up, it's me," Tommy called in. None of the three dormant teens moved, so Tommy tried again. This time, Kris woke up. She got up and went over to the door, minding the stiffness in her entire body.
"Are you room service?" she asked, smiling.
"We have to wake up the others," Tommy said, speaking as though Kris hadn't. "We're going to go back to Angel Grove."
"Now?" Kris asked, checking her watch. It read 05:30. "Wow, we were asleep longer than we thought."
Tommy knelt down beside Jason and started shaking his friend awake.
"What, it's an earthquake now?" Jason asked groggily, gradually regaining consciousness.
"Jason, it's me," Tommy told him. "Wake up, we're leaving for Angel Grove in a few minutes."
"Huh? We're going back?" Jason asked, somewhat coherent now and with open eyes. Tommy nodded, and moved away to let Jason get up. He almost fell back down to the ground, however, when he tried to put weight on his sprained ankle. Tommy helped him to his feet and waited while Kris aroused Rocky.
"Rocky, get up, we're leaving," she said, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him.
"Ma, I don't want to go to school today," Rocky murmured sleepily. "I'm just going to miss the bus anyway."
"Rocky, we're not going to school, we're going to go down to an all-you-can-eat buffet," Kris told him, grinning. Tommy and Jason chuckled and awaited Rocky's reaction. He sat straight up, yawned, rubbed his eyes and asked, "When do we leave?" Then he looked around and remembered where he was. "Oh, we're going?"
"Yep, and we have to hurry before everybody else gets the same idea, or we'll be stuck in a traffic jam for hours," Tommy told him. When Rocky started to climb to his feet, his leg buckled beneath him and he hit the ground again.
"It must have stiffened up overnight," he muttered, trying again but with the same results. Kris put a shoulder beneath his arm and helped him to his feet, supporting most of his weight. "Hey, you're pretty strong."
Kris shrugged.
"You're not all that heavy," she replied simply as they hobbled across the room to the door. "Is the coast clear? Can we get to the Jeep without being seen?"
"Come on," Tommy said quietly, leading the convoy out of the basement and out to the parking lot. It was still raining, but not nearly as hard as it hard been. Kat and Billy were waiting for them, and were standing beside Jason's Jeep.
"How are we supposed to fit six people into a Jeep that only sits four comfortably?" Kris asked, eying the vehicle.
"I'm driving," Jason said immediately. Tommy nodded.
"OK," he said. "Kris, can you and Kat share the front seat?"
"Hmm, not that I wouldn't like to or anything, but between my arm and my leg, and Kat's arm, we might not be too comfortable if we're crammed into such a small space," Kris replied hesitantly. Kat nodded her agreement.
"All right. Kris, you can take the front seat for yourself, and the rest of us will wedge ourselves into the back seats," Tommy said.
"Tommy, I'm small," Kris interjected. "You should be sitting up front, so then the rest of us will have more room in the back. And no, I'm not calling you fat, you just have more muscle than any of the rest of us."
The teens began piling into the Jeep, making sure not to hit each other's wounds too much. The, Jason started the engine, and they pulled out of the Stone Canyon High parking lot and headed home.
"Wait, what about my family?" Rocky asked quickly.
"We left them a note, telling them that we were all going back to look for you, Kris and Jason, and that they should stay at the emergency shelter until everybody else started to leave," Billy assured him.
The drive back to Angel Grove was a long one. Jason had to swerve to avoid a lot of debris that littered the roadway. Ambulances and other emergency crews were going in both directions, but most were headed for Angel Grove.
"This can't be good," Kat murmured.
"I sure hope that alloy worked," Rocky commented, staring out the window at the scenery that was passing by them in a green and brown blur.
"I guess we'll find out," Tommy added from the front.
Meanwhile, Kris, who was squished between Rocky and Kat, remained silent. She was too nervous to say anything. She was also anxious to get home. I really hope I get my memory back soon, Kris thought to herself, staring out the window as Rocky did the same.
When they arrived in Angel Grove, the first thing they noticed was the destruction. All of the buildings were still standing, intact, but debris was laying everywhere. The hearts of the teens sank as they took in the mess, driving slowly towards Kris and Rocky's apartment building.
"Adam and Tanya had better be all right," Rocky said quietly, his heart beat accelerating. He was extremely worried about his best friend, and Tanya as well.
"We'll find them soon enough," Tommy promised. "But right now, I think we should get Kris home and see if she can remember anything."
"Step on it," Rocky ordered. Jason hit the accelerator, but couldn't go very fast. He didn't want to damage his Jeep, after all.
They finally made it to the apartment building. Rocky looked up, and saw that the worst that had happened were a few windows had been broken.
"We're going to have to take the stairs," he said with a groan, glancing down at his injured leg. He could barely walk, and he needed to get up twelve flights of stairs. He groaned again. "Well, I guess we could all use the exercise." With that, the teens piled out of the Jeep and headed towards the building.
The climb up the steps was positively excruciating for Rocky, and Jason and Kris weren't doing too well, either. Fortunately, Billy put a shoulder under Rocky's arm to help him up the stairs, and Tommy went to help Jason, but Jason waved him off.
"Help Kris," he insisted, grasping the railing as he made the climb slowly.
"Jason, I'm fine, but you need support for that ankle of yours," Kris told him. Tommy looked between the two.
"Tommy, help Jason. I'll help Kris," Kat said. She went over and, using her uninjured arm, began to help Kris up the stairs while Tommy aided Jason.
The six teens made it up to Rocky and Kris's apartment safely, but it took them nearly 45 minutes to do so. Rocky got the spare key out of its hiding place, and unlocked the door. Rocky and Kris were the first ones to go inside, but they were followed closely by their friends.
"Hey, that alloy really did its job," Rocky commented. Only one or two more windows had broken, and everything else was in its appropriate place. He looked at Kris, who was standing nervously near the door. "You can come in, you know. You do live here, after all." Kris stepped to the middle of the living room, where Rocky was standing ,and stuck close to his side. He looked down at her, then glanced back at the others, who were waiting outside the doorway. "Do you remember anything?"
Kris looked around slowly.
"No," she whispered. Tears pooled in her eyes, and rolled down her cheeks. "Not a thing."
Rocky glanced back at his friends, and shook his head only once. Their faces fell in disappointment.
"Come into your room, maybe that will make you remember," Rocky said, leading Kris down the small hallway and into her bedroom. She entered while Rocky remained in the doorway, and walked around her room. Her fingers traced the bed and her eyes scanned the room. It all seemed foreign, yet strangely familiar. She turned to face her brother and shook her head, a small whimper escaping from her throat. Rocky quickly crossed the room in three long strides and wrapped her in his arms.
"I don't remember anything," she sobbed into his chest, clutching him like a lifeline. Her body quaked from the emotion that was running through her. "I don't know this place."
"Shhhh, it's all right," Rocky said, hugging her tightly. "You'll remember everything soon enough. You just need some time to rest and recuperate." His sister continued to cry. He could feel her tears soaking through his shirt, but at that moment he couldn't have cared less. All he really wanted was his sister back. "It might take a bit of time, but you'll get your memory back."
Kris sobs had reached the ears of the four teens who were waiting outside the apartment. They hurried in and saw Rocky standing with his back to the door, Kris engulfed in his arms. Neither of them registered their presence, and since it felt awkward to be watching them, they went into the living room.
"It's not fair," Kris said shakily, her cheeks and eyelashes wet with tears.
"I know," Rocky whispered to her. "I know it's not fair, but it'll all be over soon, I promise you." As long as King Mondo don't interfere, he thought, scowling momentarily and hugging Kris tighter. "Come on, why don't you lay down and get some rest?"
"OK," Kris said quietly. They broke the embrace, and Kris sat gingerly on the edge of her bed.
"It's all right, this is your room," Rocky assured her. "You can do whatever you want in here, or anywhere in the apartment for that matter. Try and sleep a little, all right? Maybe this will be easier once you've had a little rest."
Kris nodded mutely, and waited until Rocky had left the room and had closed the door behind him before stretching out on the bed. It was comfortable, and Kris fell asleep soon, falling into a black, dreamless world.
Rocky went out to the living room, where he found his friends sitting around, waiting for him to return.
"Where's Kris?" Jason asked quickly.
"She's in her room laying down," Rocky replied. He sat down heavily on the chair nearest to the door. "She doesn't remember anything," he whispered, taking his head in his hands. "What are we going to do?" The others rushed to his side and stood or crouched around him.
"She'll get her memory back soon, Rocky," Kat assured him, placing a hand gently on his back. "She did it once, she can do it again."
"But the last time, she wasn't hit in the head!" Rocky told her.
"She'll get through this, man," Tommy said. "We'll all help her."
"Thanks," Rocky said quietly. He looked up at his friends. "You guys should get going. Go find Adam and Tanya."
"Are you two going to be OK?" Billy asked. Rocky nodded.
"Sure, we'll be fine," he said.
"I'm staying here," Jason said suddenly. Everybody looked at him. "They're both injured and can barely walk. They might need someone to help them do things around here."
"Good idea, man," Tommy commented to his friend. He gestured at Kat and Billy. "We'll go look for Adam and Tanya, and we'll let you know as soon as we find them."
"Make sure they're all right," Rocky said, looking up at Tommy.
"We will," he vowed before he, Kat and Billy left the apartment, shutting the door behind them.
"You didn't have to stay, you know," Rocky said, not looking up at Jason. "Kris and I would be fine on our own."
"Come on, man, you're both hurt pretty badly," Jason told him.
"So are you," Rocky retorted.
"Which is why I wouldn't be any good in helping to find the others," Jason concluded.
Tommy, Billy and Kat walked out of the building and into unprotected space.
"The last time we saw Adam and Tanya, they were walking toward the lake," Kat recalled as they walked together through the park toward the Youth Centre.
"Then that's where we look first," Tommy said. Increasing the speed of their pace, the trio headed through the rain to where they had last seen their friends, who had now been missing for almost an entire day during the hurricane. Once they had reached the general area where they had last seen their friends, they spread out and began to search.
"Adam! Tanya!" Tommy shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth so his voice would carry further and hopefully reach the ears of their friends. Beside him, Kat and Billy did the same. If only we could get to the Power Chamber, we'd be able to use the scanners to find them, Tommy thought, glaring up at the cloudy sky for a moment. It was still raining, and the three of them were already soaked to the skin, but that didn't deter them. If anything, it spurred them on.
Tanya and Adam, who had been awakened right after the eye of the hurricane had passed them, now heard voices outside.
"Adam, do you hear that?" Tanya asked, getting to her feet to look out the window.
"I thought I did," Adam replied, doing the same on the other side of the shelter.
"Do you think it's safe for us to go outside?" Tanya inquired, looking up at the sky.
"The worst seems to be over," Adam said with a shrug. He approached the door, then opened it and stepped outside. A faint voice reached his ears, and it sounded like someone was calling him. "Tanya, I think someone's looking for us."
"They are?" Tanya asked, looking around. "But I don't see anybody."
"It sounded like the voice was coming from over there, further away from the lake," Adam said, pointing in the general direction of the Youth Centre. Together, the pair started running across the soggy ground to where they thought the voices had come from, praying that they weren't hallucinating.
"Adam!" Billy shouted, straining his vocal chords in the process. By the end of this, the three of them would probably have screamed themselves hoarse if something hadn't caught Billy's eye. He whipped his head to the right, and saw two figures running towards him. "Adam! Tanya!" Billy started to run towards them to meet them halfway. "Guys, I found them!"
Tommy and Kat heard Billy's call and chased after him, but by the time they reached him he had already met up with Tanya and Adam.
"Are you guys all right?" Kat asked, hugging her friend.
"We're fine," Tanya assured her.
"You two really had us worried when you didn't show up at the emergency shelter," Tommy said, clapping a hand on Adam's shoulder amicably.
"We didn't exactly have a great form of transportation," Adam told him wryly, shaking his running shoe at Tommy.
"Come on, we should get you guys somewhere dry," Billy said, leading the way over to the Youth Centre.
"Where were you guys, anyway?" Kat asked, walking alongside Tanya as they plodded across the muddy grass through the rain towards shelter.
"We took refuge in one of those lifeguard huts down by the lake," Tanya told her. Kat looked at her and raised an eyebrow in a silent question. "Relax, nothing happened." Kat's eyebrow went down quickly after that. "How's everybody else doing? Where's Jason, Rocky and Kris?"
"Well, Jason's doing pretty well, but he sprained his left ankle before the storm," Billy threw in as he was walking just ahead of the girls. "Rocky has a pretty deep cut in his right thigh."
"What about Kris?" Adam asked. He liked the girl, in a sisterly way. Billy, Tommy and Kat exchanged nervous glaces. "Is she all right?"
"Kris got hurt a lot worse than the rest of us," Billy began.
"She's alive, though," Kat tossed in, seeing the worried expressions on Adam's and Tanya's faces.
"She's alive, but she has a deep wound in her right thigh, like Rocky, a broken left arm, and she got hit in the head pretty hard by a tree branch," Billy said.
"Oh my goodness," Tanya whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Is she conscious?"
"Yes, but there's one other thing," Kat added. Tanya and Adam looked at her expectantly. "Kris has amnesia."
"Oh my," Tanya said, paling considerably. Adam's face looked strained.
"She doesn't remember anything?" he asked. Tommy, Kat, and Billy all shook their heads simultaneously.
"This must be horrible for her," Tanya said quietly. "Is there anything we can do for her?"
"It might help her to see some familiar faces," Billy replied with a shrug. "But don't be offended if she doesn't recognize you; she didn't know any of us, either." Adam and Tanya nodded in reply, and the group went back to the apartment building.
After climbing 12 flights of stairs for the second time that day and arriving at Rocky's apartment, the group knocked on the door and was admitted by Jason.
"Hey, you found them," he said, smiling as he saw Tanya and Adam. "How're you guys doing?"
"By the sounds of things, a lot better than Kris," Adam said grimly. Jason winced, and Rocky flinched. "Can we see her?"
"She's still asleep, I think," Jason said, sitting down on the couch.
"Are you guys OK, at least?" Tanya wondered, concerned.
"What does it matter?" Rocky asked bitterly, looking away from his friends.
"Rocky, I know this must be hard on you, but she'll get her memory back soon," Kat said, laying a comforting arm on the boy's shoulder. He shrugged her off, and she looked at him with an expression full of concern.
"You should listen to the girl, big brother," came Kris's voice. She was leaning against the wall that led to the bedrooms. As soon as he saw her, Rocky immediately got up and rushed to her side, taking most of her weight on him. "Hey, new faces."
"Kris, that's Adam and Tanya," Rocky said, pointing to the newcomers.
"Hello, I'm Kris, and I'll be the confused one until I get my memory back," Kris quipped, grinning and curtseying as much as Rocky would allow her to. Adam and Tanya laughed.
"She didn't lose her sense of humour at all," Tanya commented.
"You're the second or third person to say that," Kris told her, looking thoughtful. "I'm beginning to think that I should become a stand-up comedian."
"Actually, you wanted to teach," Rocky told her.
"OK, then I'll teach people how to become standup comedians," Kris answered without skipping a beat. "Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starving. I'm presuming take-out isn't an option?"
"She's a DeSantos all right," Adam said as he and the others laughed.
"We're made fun of a lot, aren't we?" Kris asked wryly, craning her head to look up at her brother. He nodded.
"Uh huh." Then he turned to his friends. "Don't you guys have houses to go look after or something?"
"If I didn't know you better, I'd say you were kicking us out," Adam said, pretending to look offended.
"Why, Adam, I'm just looking out for the welfare of my friends," Rocky replied, a hurt look on his face that was easily dispelled by the mischievous look in his brown eyes.
"He's kicking us out, all right," Tanya commented, getting up from her seat on the couch. "Are you two going to be all right on your own?"
"I'm staying for a while," Jason broke in, gesturing to his sprained ankle.
"Shouldn't we get Kris to a doctor or something?" Rocky asked as soon as the others had left.
"Don't worry about it, I'm not that badly injured," Kris said as Rocky helped her over to the couch to sit down. Jason got up, and lifted her legs onto the cushions. She thanked them both with a smile.
"Kris, you have a broken arm, a deep wound, amnesia, and possibly a concussion; you don't think that's badly injured?" Rocky asked her, amazed.
"Not necessarily, compared to others who might have life threatening injuries and need the medical attention worse than me," she explained.
"OK, well, I'm not going to make this a question, then," Rocky said, determination plain in his voice. "Kris, we're going to go find you a doctor who can set that arm properly and take a look at the rest of you." He help up a hand to stop her protests before they even got off the ground.
"Fine," she said with a sigh. Swinging her feet over the edge of the couch, she began to stand, but her right leg buckled beneath her and she fell back onto the cushions.
"And you say you don't need a doctor?" Rocky scoffed. He went to pick her up, but found that his own leg wouldn't support any more weight than it was already forced to endure.
"Who needs a doctor now, bro?" Kris asked, grinning. Rocky made a face at her. Carefully, she climbed to her feet, hobbling but mobile. She looked at the other two men. "We're a sigh for sore eyes, aren't we?" Nobody answered her rhetorical question.
"How are we supposed to get down to your Jeep?" Rocky asked, looking at Jason.
"The same way we got up here, I guess," he replied grimly. Rocky and Kris groaned simultaneously.
"You're got to be kidding me, right?" Kris asked hopefully.
"Nope," Jason told her, looking at her sympathetically.
"All right, well, the sooner we get down there, the sooner we can get off our feet," Kris said with another sigh. She began to hobble towards the door, and both Jason and Rocky rushed to her side to help her. She laughed, embarrassed.
"Guys, I appreciate the effort, but you two have your own problems to worry about," she told them, smiling. "Besides, that's why staircases have railings.
Together, the three of them left the apartment and headed down the 12 flights of stairs, slowly but surely. Eventually, they made it down to Jason's Jeep, piled in and began to drive.
The drive to the hospital took much more time than it should have, but that was to be expected considering how much debris was littering the roads. However, when they did get there, they found that all of the ambulances had been dispatched to various places around Angel Grove and to Stone Canyon.
Entering into the waiting room, Rocky and Kris sat down on two chairs nearest the administration desk while Jason hobbled over to the desk.
"Excuse me," he said politely, waiting for the nurse to acknowledge him. She looked up at him impassively.
"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice showing no emotion whatsoever.
"My friends and I are all injured, but my friends' sister got hit pretty badly. Her left arm is broken, her right leg has a gash in it that will need stitches, and she might have a concussion," Jason explained quickly. The nurse hesitated for a moment.
"I'll see if I can get a doctor down here, but I think most of them are preparing for the heavy casualties that'll be coming in here soon," she said finally, picking up a phone. Jason waited while she paged someone, spoke a few words, then replaced the receiver. "I'm sorry, but none of the doctors are willing to come down here right now.
"Monica, have any of those ambulances arrived yet?" a man asked, coming up behind the nurse. She turned in her swivel chair to face him.
"No, doctor," she replied promptly.
"You're a doctor?" Jason asked the man quickly. He nodded uneasily. "Please, can you take a look at my friend? She's in pretty bad shape. Head wound, broken arm, gash in her right leg that I think will need stitches."
"Where is she?" the doctor asked immediately, coming out from behind the desk and approaching Jason. He led the doctor to where Kris and Rocky were waiting patiently. Jason indicated Kris, and Rocky moved out of the way while the doctor knelt to examine Kris.
"We should get her into X-ray and she if she has a concussion," the doctor said, talking more or less to himself. He took a wheelchair that was sitting nearby and helped Kris into it. He started to wheel Kris of to another part of the hospital, with Jason and Rocky following close behind. "I'm sorry, but you two can't come into the X-ray room with her.
"But-" Rocky started to protest, but Kris cut him off.
"Relax, it's not like I'm going anywhere or anything," she told him, smiling reassuringly. "You two should go sit down, your legs won't support you much longer. And Rocky? See if you can get someone to change that bandage on your leg, all right? You're bleeding again.
All three men looked at her, impressed. The doctor glanced at Jason and Rocky, who were both putting the majority of their weight on one leg only.
"You two are hurt as well?" he asked as though seeing them for the first time.
"Don't worry about it, just make sure my sister gets the treatment she needs," Rocky said.
"Nurse!" the doctor shouted. Immediately, a young woman came jogging down the hallway. "Get these two into wheelchairs and get them into exam 1, would you? I'll come look at them as soon as I'm done with her."
"Right away, doctor," the nurse replied. she grabbed two wheelchairs from a nearby closet, gesturing for Jason and Rocky to have a seat.
"I can walk just fine, thanks," Rocky told her. However, his complexion had gone pretty pale, and he looked about ready to collapse, probably from blood loss and exhaustion. Jason grabbed his arm and steered him into the wheelchair. Then, he gratefully sat down himself, and the nurse, after calling for a pair of orderlies, led them down to an examination room. The two were helped up onto beds side by side, and told to wait until the doctor came to take a look at them. The orderlies left, and another nurse came in.
"Alison, grab me some dressings, a needle and surgical thread, would you? This boy has a really nice gash up the side of his leg that I have to sew up," the first nurse said. The one named Alison nodded, and fetched the stuff for her coworker. The second nurse put the supplies down on the table next to Rocky's bed, and looked at the young man. "You're going to have to get into a hospital gown and out of those jeans so I can clean and dress that little cut of yours."
Rocky's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. The nurse chuckled.
"Relax, you don't have anything I didn't dissect in med school," she assured him. Jason laughed at his friend's reaction to that information. The nurse waited a second. "I'm kidding, you know." Rocky breathed an audible sigh of relief. Alison pulled a curtain around Rocky's bed, then went to work on Jason's ankle.
"The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it," Kris said with a sigh as she placed her bare left arm on the metal slab. She winced and bit down on her lower lip as pain shot through her limb. The doctor chuckled, and went behind the protective wall.
"Hold still," he called to her.
Kris complied to the extent of holding her breath until the doctor told her she could move. Then he did her skull, and told her to wait while he checked out the results.
After examining the X-ray, the doctor returned.
"Well, looks like you did a good job on that wrist of yours," he told her, helping her back into the wheelchair. "But you'll be happy to know that you don't have a concussion at all."
"So why have I got amnesia, doc?" Kris asked.
"You want all the medical mumbo-jumbo?" the doctor inquired. Kris shook her head quickly.
"I don't think my brain could take anything like that right now," she told him frankly.
"So who did that makeshift cast for you that you were wearing when you came in?" the doctor asked her casually, wheeling her into an examination room.
"My brother," Kris replied. "I think he said he was a lifeguard, so I guess he got training about what to do in emergency situations."
"How is she, doctor?" Rocky asked immediately when he saw Kris being wheeled into the room.
"She'll be fine," the doctor told him.
"Nice robe, bro," Kris teased, grinning. Rocky flushed self-consciously.
Up on the moon, at his base, King Mondo was looking down at the Earth.
"At last, that blasted storm has moved away," he muttered to himself. "Now all that interference it was creating is gone, and I can start wreaking havoc on Angel Grove again. Now might be a good time to strike, while the Rangers are scattered and weak." Mondo checked out the conditions of each Ranger. "Well, it looks like Kristina has amnesia; I might be able to use that to my advantage." He looked at two of the cogs that were standing at ready nearby, and somehow managed to transform it so that it looked like a normal human male. He did the same thing to another cog, only this one was made into a female. Both had brown hair and blue eyes, and were to pose as Kris's "parents." "Go down to Angel Grove Hospital and convince Kristina that she's your daughter, and everything the Rangers have told her has been a lie."
Wordlessly, the two cogs nodded their assent and teleported to Earth, then headed for the hospital.
That evening, Kris was resting peacefully in her bed, having drifted off to sleep well after Jason and Rocky, who were sleeping in the chair and the other bed, respectively. However, she was aroused from her slumber when she heard the door creak open softly, and light from the hallway spilled into her room. She opened her eyes halfway to see who was coming in, expecting to see a doctor or a nurse coming in to check on her. However, she saw a man and a woman walk in, scan the room, then spot her and come over to her bedside. Unsure of what to do, Kris laid perfectly still, eyes closed, hoping that these two would leave her alone.
"Kristina," the female whispered, placing a hand gently on Kris's arm that was beneath the blankets. Kris continued to "sleep." "Kristina, I know you can hear me."
"Huh? Wha?" Kris asked groggily, only half faking that part.
"Kristina, we are your true parents," the woman said quietly so as not to wake Jason ad Rocky.
"What are you talking about?" Kris asked, fully awake now, and curious.
"This is your father, Cairbre, and I'm your mother, Charna," the woman explained quickly. "We heard about your plight, and we were worried about you. When we saw you with these men, we grew even more concerned and wanted you to be with your real family."
"But Rocky's my brother, and the others are my friends," Kris told Charna, confused.
"He has been lying to you, Kristina," Charna told her. Kris's mind was whirling.
"Why did you want until now to come and find me?" she asked, struggling with an internal battle.
"Because we didn't want to endanger you by approaching you when the others were around," Cairbre told her. "They're very dangerous, and violent people."
"I...I don't understand," Kris confessed.
"Come, let's talk out in the parking lot," Charna said, taking Kris's arm gently but firmly, leading her out of the room. "We left our car there, and we're going to take you back to your real home."
"I don't want to leave," Kris confessed to Charna. "After all, Rocky and the others have been here since this all started, and you two just showed up. I don't mean any disrespect, but why should I believe you above them?"
Charna reached into her pocket, pulled out a worn leather wallet, and showed something to Kris. It was a picture of Charna, Cairbre and Kris, standing together and smiling happily.
"Now do you believe me?" Charna asked softly, putting the picture and wallet back into her pocket.
"I...I guess so," Kris replied, still feeling a bit of doubt in the back of her mind, but she quickly pushed it away. Rocky and the others haven't shown me any pictures or anything substantial like that. Maybe they were lying all that time about me being his sister, and about everything else that they told me! Kris swung her legs over the side of the hospital bed and stood up. Charna and Cairbre smiled as she led the way out of her room and into the brightly lit hallway.
There were no nurses, no duty staff whatsoever to be seen, but Kris didn't think anything of it since she didn't really remember how a hospital was supposed to operate in the first place.
Out in the parking lot, Charna and Cairbre stood on either side of Kris just beyond the doorway to the hospital.
"Which car is yours...ours?" Kris asked, scanning the parking lot.
"Actually, we didn't take a car here," Cairbre began. He took Kris's hand in his own. "We know that you know about the Power Rangers. Well, we have a lot to show you." Charna took her other hand, and the three of them teleported to the moon.
"What was that?" Kris asked once they had solidified.
"Just teleportation," Charna said with a shrug. "You can do it all the time, using the device that we gave you. Do you still have it?"
"Um, I don't remember anything out of the ordinary," Kris said apologetically. Cairbre handed her a small metal wristband that had a few buttons on it. He indicated one of the ones that was silver with black trim, and explained that this button would allow her to teleport anywhere she needed to. Kris accepted it gratefully, and placed it on her wrist, finding that it fit her perfectly.
"Now, Kris, we have a lot of things to clarify for you," Charna said, leading the young girl to a room with a chair set in front of a white screen and a projector of some sort. Charna indicated that Kris was to sit down, and Kris accepted the seat cautiously, still wary of this new and strange place. Charna turned on the projector and showed Kris images of people in multicoloured suits with helmets that were chasing unprotected civilians. "These are the true Power Rangers, and as you can see they are nothing like what you expected. They are violent, rude, basically a menace to society. Pure evil. But you, dear, are good. You have fought against the Rangers numerous times, but they have always managed to fight back." The picture changed to a person, obviously a young woman by her petite build and figure, clad in silver, similar to the suits that the Rangers wore.
"That's me?" Kris asked, gazing at the one in silver. Charna and Cairbre nodded simultaneously.
"Yes, and now you must go back down to Earth and continue to defend it," Cairbre continued, kneeling down beside Kris. He gestured to the wristband she wore on her left arm. "Raise this arm to the sky and shout, "Silver Ranger Power!" whenever you need to morph to fight the Power Rangers." Cairbre got up and stood back, giving Kris an encouraging look. Kris got to her feet and lifted her left arm up into the air.
"Silver Ranger Power," she said shyly. Almost instantly there was an almost blinding flash of silver-white light that enveloped her, and she became clad in a form-fitting silver-grey suit that had black trim all around it, and was completed with a grey helmet. Kris removed her helmet and looked down at her gloved hands, booted feet, and everything in between. "Wow. This is incredible." She looked to Charna and Cairbre. "Now what?"
Down at Angel Grove Memorial Hospital, Rocky had been the first to awaken, having slept lightly because he knew his sister was injured, but also because his leg was beginning to bother him. He rolled over onto his right side and looked to Kris's bed, but it was empty. Panic started to rise as he got up and quickly checked the bathroom. It was empty. Rocky hurried back into the dark hospital room and woke Jason.
"She's gone," was all he said in a terse tone.
"What?" Jason asked, awakening immediately. He blinked a few times, looked to Kris's bed, then back at his friend. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," Rocky replied mournfully. Jason stood up, wincing as he put weight on his ankle but not making any comments about it.
"Come on, we should try and see if we can get to the Power Chamber," he said. Rocky stood beside him, and they hit the teleportation buttons on their communicators in unison.
Much to their delight, and a bit of surprise, they ended up at the Power Chamber.
"Zordon, are we glad to see you," Rocky said, relief plain in his voice. "We lost contact with you for a long time."
"That was because of the storm," Zordon told him, his loud voice echoing throughout the big, empty room.
"Alpha, can you find Kris for us on your scanners?" Jason asked, turning to look at the little android.
"Right away, Jason," Alpha replied, moving to a computer console.
After a moment, he had a printout in his metallic hands, which he handed to Jason. Jason looked it over, then looked straight ahead, grim. Rocky immediately took the printout from Jason, and paled considerably once he'd read it.
"Can we get her off of the moon?" he demanded, looking between Zordon and Alpha. Alpha did another scan, and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Rocky, but there is a force field in effect," he replied sadly. "Nobody can teleport in, only out."
"They had better not harm her," Rocky growled, crunching the paper printout in his fist and hurling it across the room as hard as he could. Then he looked to Alpha. "Let me know the minute you figure out a way to get through that force field, all right?"
An alarm sounded before Alpha could reply.
"Looks like we don't need to figure out how to get Kris back to Earth," Jason said, traces of relief in his voice. He knew that the Machine Empire was up to something, he just didn't know what. Before he could relate his suspicions to Rocky, though, the teen had teleported to Kris's location, and Jason was right on his tail.
"Kris!" Rocky shouted, running towards his sister. "Are you all right?"
Kris edged nervously away from Rocky, ducking beneath his embrace.
"Kris, what's wrong?" Rocky asked.
"I know the truth, Rocky," she told him quietly, putting some distance between them as Jason joined his friend.
"What do you mean, the truth?" Rocky asked, confused.
"I know all about the Power Rangers, and what they do to the innocent people of Angel Grove," Kris explained, her voice hardening.
"But we protect the city," Rocky said. Kris chuckled.
"Yea right," she replied. "I've seen what you guys have done to this place, and to the citizens. And I'm here to destroy you once and for all."
"Kris, we're your friends," Jason said, stepping towards Kris. She took two steps backwards in nonverbal response.
"Not from what my mother and father told me," she informed him.
"Mother and father? Kris, our father is dead!" Rocky exclaimed.
"No, I'm not," Cairbre said, appearing alongside Charna behind Kris. She stepped back to stand between them.
"Kris, I don't know what you've been told, but these two are not your parents," Rocky said, his voice cold as he glared at the two new arrivals.
"They're my parents, and you're not my brother," Kris told him bluntly. An army of cogs materialized behind the "family." Jason and Rocky dropped down into defensive poses, ready for anything except Kris leading the charge on them. Jason just managed to call for help before he was attacked.
When Tommy, Kat, Tanya and Adam arrived, a confusing scene met their eyes. However, they immediately went to help destroy the cogs before noticing Kris's role in the battle. She had been attacking Rocky, but he had flipped her backwards, away from the group. She got to her feet, and it was then that Rocky noticed that she had been completely healed; physically, anyway.
"Kris, what are you doing?" Tanya asked, having seen Rocky push his sister roughly away.
"Fighting for the people of Angel Grove," Kris told her, replying immediately.
"What?" Tanya demanded.
"She's been brainwashed by Mondo and his lackeys," Rocky explained tersely, not taking his eyes from his sister, her so-called parents, and the cogs that had yet to be destroyed.
"Come on, guys, let's morph and reduce these cogs to spare parts," Tommy said quietly. "It's morphin time!"
"Zeo Ranger One, Pink!"
"Zeo Ranger Two, Yellow!"
"Zeo Ranger Three, Blue!"
"Zeo Ranger Four, Green!"
"Zeo Ranger Five, Red!"
"Gold Ranger Power!"
Shortly thereafter, the cogs had disappeared, vanquished, leaving the Rangers free to confront Kris and the other two who were claiming to be her parents.
"Remember what I taught you," Cairbre whispered in Kris's ear, standing a little behind her. Kris nodded, staring the Rangers down. Lifting her left wrist high into the air, she shouted, "Silver Ranger Power!" And the transformation was complete.
Beneath their helmets, the Rangers were gaping in surprise.
"Wasn't she the evil blue ranger a couple of months ago?" Kat asked quietly, confused.
"Colours can change," Tommy told her, smiling grimly at his own memories. Green, white, red...I'm turning into a regular rainbow...or the Italian flag. "Kris, let us help you. You aren't thinking straight."
That caught Kris off-guard, for she realized that nothing she had been told had triggered a single memory, but wrote it off as severe amnesia.
"I'm not thinking straight?" Kris asked incredulously. "You guys are the ones terrorizing the city, not me and my parents. And I'm here to put a stop to that."
Rocky stepped towards her.
"Kris, you don't know what you're saying," he told her gently, extending a hand. "Come with me, I'll show you everything you ever wanted to know about your life. I'll take you to meet your real family. You mother, your brothers and your sisters. I'll show you pictures from the family albums with you in them when you were younger. Please, Kris, don't listen to those two imposters. They're not your real parents."
For a moment, Kris was almost tempted to listen to the Blue Ranger, but then the images she had been shown came flying through her head, and her resolve hardened.
"Forget it," she said, kicking Rocky's hand away. "Charna and Cairbre are my real parents, and I'm an only child. Nothing you pathetic Rangers could say would make anything any different."
"Good girl," Cairbre whispered into Kris's ear. "Now, attack them while they're not expecting it." Kris nodded in reply, and pulled her blaster from its holster on her hip, aiming it at the Rangers. They took a step backwards reflexively.
"I'm going to finish you Rangers off once and for all, and the world will be a safer place because of me," she told them. Her blaster ran from side to side, taking all six rangers in its scope. "Now, which one of you would like to go first?"
"Guys, we should teleport back to the Power Chamber and see if Zordon and Alpha can find some way to fix this mess," Rocky whispered to his teammates, acutely aware of the blaster his sister had pointed directly at them. Tommy nodded his assent, and the six of them were gone in multicoloured flashes of light. Kris fired, but the beam shot straight through the light columns and disintegrated a tree instead. She cursed loudly, and turned back to face her "parents."
"Be patient, my child," Charna told her. "We will get them soon. They will come back and try to take you over to their side."
"I won't go," Kris assured her. Charna and Cairbre smiled, and they stood around, waiting for the Rangers to return.
"Zordon, is there any was that we can get Kris's mind back to normal?" Rocky asked as soon as he and the others had solidified.
"I'm afraid not, Rocky," the inter-dimensional being replied. "The only way for Kris to regain her memory is not through the use of any external power, but on her own."
"I was afraid he was going to say that," Rocky muttered with a sigh, leaning against a computer console and setting his helmet beside him. "Well, if surrounding her with familiar objects didn't work, how are we supposed to help her get her memory back?"
"What if we re-enacted events that have happened in the past little while?" Kat suggested. However, her idea wasn't too well received, so she fell silent.
"Kat may have an idea there, though," Billy said after a moment. Everybody turned to look at him. "You guys don't have to act it out, but what if you just told her about everything that's happened in her life that you're aware of?"
"Like the fire?" Rocky asked, perking up visibly. Billy nodded, and the others could almost see the gears in Rocky's brain turning as they tried to figure out a way to make this work. Without a word to the others, he put his helmet on and teleported back to the park, with the others, minus Billy, close behind him.
Kris, Charna and Cairbre had been talking in a small circle when the Rangers showed up.
"It's abut time," Kris said with a sneer.
"Kris, do you remember when you were 12, there was a fire at our house?" Rocky began without any preamble.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded, pulling her blaster casually from its holster on her hip and pointing it at the Rangers. "No, wait, I don't want to hear you ramble on about inconsequential events. All I want to know is who is going to die first?"
"Kris, you jumped out of your window, and ran away. We thought that you were gone, lost in the fire," Rocky kept going, ignoring Kris's threats. "But it turns out that you collapsed, and had amnesia for a little while. You lived on your own for a bit, but then you got your memory back and came to Angel Grove to look for me."
Kris rolled her eyes up towards the sky, which was begining to cloud over again, then faced the Rangers once more.
"Is there a point to this, or can I just shoot you and shut you up permanently?" she asked him, pretending to stifle a yawn.
"Rocky, this isn't getting us anywhere," Tommy whispered in Rocky's ear.
"Looks like it's going to rain again," Tanya commented, glancing up at the sky. However, her comment was ignored as the others payed attention to the omre pressing matter at hand.
"I don't care, Tommy," Rocky whispered back vehemently. "I'm staying here until Kris gets her memory back, even if I have to stay here all day." Tommy backed off at that point, realizing that Rocky's mind wouldn't be changed, but Tommy was prepared to intervene if it became necessary.
"Look, Kris, I don't know what they did to you, and quite frankly, I don't care," Rocky said, desperation creeping into his voice as he spoke. "All I know is that I want my oldest sister back. You were always the one, out of all of our brothers and sisters, who stuck by me no matter what. You understood me better than everybody. I guess that's because we're so much alike. I lost you once, and I don't want to have to go through that kind of pain and anger again, especially if it's caused by these two imposters." Rocky practically spat out the last word in disgust, eying Charna and Cairbre with revulsion.
Kris looked at him impassively through the visor built into her silver helmet. She waited a second before speaking.
"I presume that there's a point to all of this needless emotion?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip and tighening her grip on her blaster, her aim never wavering from Rocky's blue-suited form.
"Kris, come on, remember!" Rocky pleaded, out of ideas. He took a step forward, but reversed when Kris came close to pulling the trigger on her blaster. Rocky wouldn't be doing anybody any good if he was dead.
"None of what you've told me has been true," Kris told him, sounding incredibly sure of herself. However, mentally, she was questionning everything she had been told that she could remember. Small droplets of rain began to fall from the cloudy sky, creating dark spots on her shiny grey suit.
"How do you know?" Rocky challenged. "How can you be sure that they're telling the truth, and I'm not?"
Kris's head whipped around to look at Charna and Cairbre.
"Kris, we're your parents," Charna said. "Why would you believe these murderers over your own parents?"
Suddenly, Charna and Cairbre's images wavered, becomming fuzzy around the edges. Kris did a double take, as did the Rangers. Charna and Cairbre looked at one another in confusion. They became solid and clear once more, then they flickered, and instead of the human male and female, two cogs could be seen. Then, as soon as it had happened, Charna and Cairbre were back.
"They're cogs!" Kat exclaimed from the far right of the group. Charna and Cairbre's images changed between human and cog form before finally setlling on the true cogs that they both were.
"They must have been altered to look like humans to fool Kris into thinking that they were her parents," Tanya said thoughtfully.
"I knew it!" Rocky exclaimed, punching his right hand into his left palm.
"What's going on here?" Kris asked, her voice shaking ever so slighty.
"Kris, those two were fakes," Rocky told her gently, taking a step forward, then another. "They were sent by King Mondo to make you believe that they were your real parents so you'd work for Mondo and help him try to destroy us."
"I'm so confused," Kris confessed. She saw Rocky advancing towards her, and trained the blaster on him. "I said confused, not stupid."
"Kris, you're not evil, and you don't work for King Mondo," Tommy told her, trying to aid his friend.
Thunder crashed overhead, and it caused a chain reaction in Kris's mind.
"Rocky!" Kris screamed from her room. The door was to hot, and smoke was pouring into her room quickly. When he didn't respond, she ran to her window, cut the screen out, and climbed out onto the tree. However, she slipped, and crashed to the ground. Getting to her feet, Kris began to run from some unknown pursuer, trying to get as far away from the burning house as possible.
"Going on a vacation?" said the woman standing next to her. The girl looked over and paused for a moment before answering.
"No, this won't be a vacation. I'm going to look for someone," the girl explained.
"Oh? Who?" the woman prodded. The girl looked down at her feet.
"I honestly don't know," she answered. They said nothing more to each other. The woman stepped out of the elevator when it reached the lobby, and the girl had the car to herself.
"Rocky?" she asked. And in that brief moment that she had spoken, Rocky saw the fire replay in his mind. He rememberedthinking about her burning to death, in terrible agony because he had been too afraid to go rescue her.
"Kris," he murmured. She got up from behind the table and they hugged each other tightly. He felt her shoulders shake as she started to cry.
"Rocky, I never thought I'd find you," she sobbed.
At their mother's house, Rocky knocked on the door while Kris nervously stood behind him. Their mother answered.
"Rocky!" she exclaimed. "This is a surprise. And who's your friend?" Kris came out from behind Rocky so her mother couldsee her.
"Hi mom," she said quietly. Mrs. DeSantos's hands flew to her mouth and she grew pale.
"Let's go inside mom. I'll explain everything," Rocky said, leading her into the living room. Kris shut the door behind her and followed her brother inside.
In the living room, Rocky lead his mother to a chair and sat down beside Kris on the couch.
"Kristine...is it really you?" their mother asked. Kris nodded. "Oh...I can't believe this! My eldest daughter is alive!
A while later, it returned holding a vial filled with a greenish liquid. It removed the machine from Kris's head and poured the liquid into her mouth. Kris swallowed it, and groaned. She lifted her head and opened her eyes. They glowed green. Seconds later, she was engulfed in a greenish-blue light, and she had changed from her street clothes to a dark blue Zeo Ranger suit very similar to Rocky's, but a different, darker shade.
"It worked!" the monster crowed exuberantly. The others cheered.
"Good. Now Kris, your enemies are the Power Rangers. Your only purpose in life is to defeat them. Now, go to Earth and dojust that! I will help you anyway I can" Mondo ordered. Kris was unstraped and she got to her feet.
"Yes master," she replied before she disappeared.
Rocky stood in the park with his sister in his arms. Kris broke free of his embrace and stood a few feet away, her back to him.
"I...I can't believe what I wanted to do to you guys. I'll never be able to face any of you again. I'll never live it down," Kris said, her shoulders sagging.
"Kris, you can't blame yourself. You didn't want to do any of the stuff you said. You were under one of Mondo's spells. You didn't do anything, it was all Mondo," Rocky replied. He powered down, then walked over to Kris and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged and walked a few steps before facing him.
"Can...Do you think that any of them will ever be able to forgive me?" she asked, tears running freely down her cheeks. Rocky moved over to her and now she fell against him, burying her face in his shoulder while he stroked her hair.
"Believe me Kris. They'll forgive you," Rocky said, and he teleported the both of them to the Power Chamber.
With a bloodcurdling scream, Kris's memories came flooding back to her. Everything from when she was five to what had happened up until that point. She turned around sharply on her heel, and gave a look to the cogs, who had called in reinforcements in the brief second that Kris had been in her own world, that could have melted diamonds.
"You almost made me hurt my brother," she snarled, taking step by anger-ridden step towards the cogs. They stood their ground, waiting to see what the human female would do. "You almost made me hurt my brother, and you're going to pay dearly for that. Nobody, and I mean nobody makes me do what I don't want to do, understand? I'm going to teach you a lessor that will be forever imprinted in your puny metal servos!" With that, she turned her blaster in the direction of the cogs and let loose with a barrage of fire that illuminated the darkening area, flashing brighter than any lightening ever had. Kris's lips curled back in a grimace as she squeezed the trigger as hard as she could, picking off the cogs until none of them remained.
Once the cogs had been defeated, Kris barely had time to holster her blaster before she collapsed onto the wet grass beneath the rain. She moaned, placing the forehead of her helmet on the cool grass. The Rangers ran towards her with Rocky in the lead. When he reached her, he collected her into his arms, holding her gently while she cried her heart out. Carefully, he removed her silver helmet and placed it beside his own. An instant after he released her helmet it, along with Kris's silver suit, fizzled out of existence in a silver crackle of light.
"Kris? Are you all right?" he asked her softly as the others stood above them. She sniffled.
"Oh yea, peachy," she replied, her voice weak. "Can we go home? I want to lay down for a while."
"OK," Rocky said. He helped her to her feet, and they teleported to their apartment. Kris avoided looking at everybody, including her brother. When they arrived at their apartment, Kris headed straight for her bedroom without so much as a word to her brother. Rocky began to follow her, but stopped short when she closed the door to her room in his face. Deciding to let hr have some privacy, Rocky went into his own room and fell fast asleep.
He awoke to the sound of Kris crying in the room next to his. Quickly, Rocky got up out of bed, stumbled through the darkness to her room, and knocked softly on the door. When she didn't answer, he hesitated before entering her room.
The dark blue curtains were drawn, allowing no light into the room whatsoever. Rocky could barely make out his sister's form as she lay, huddled on the bed, sobbing quietly.
"Kris?" he called gently, faltering just beyond her doorway. He saw her head move, and her eyes caught the light that was coming into the room from the hallway, then she buried her head in her arms again. "Kris, don't shut me out like this."
"Rocky, I'm still in shock over what I did." Kris voice floated out of the darkness and barely reached Rocky's ears for it was so faint and leaden with emotion.
"Kris, you know that that wasn't you," Rocky told her, approaching her bed and standing next to it.
"Then who else was it?" she snapped.
"You had amnesia, and King Mondo took advantage of that," Rocky said softly. "I know that that wasn't fair of him, but evil beings aren't fair." He sighed and looked out at nothingness through the darkness. "I wish that I wasn't a Power Ranger sometimes. It'd put my family and friends in so much less danger."
"Rocky, how can you say that?" Kris asked him sharply, lifting her head to look at him. Their eyes met through the darkness, hers burning with intensity and shame combined while his flashed with regret and worry mixed in equal parts. "You and the Rangers do so much good for Angel Grove, and the world. If it wasn't for you guys, Mondo or Zedd and Rita would have taken over a long time ago, and the entire planet would have been plunged into a living Hell."
"Well, it looks like you're going to get the chance to do some good for the planet, too," Rocky commented. Kris looked at him in confusion. "The Silver Power Coin? You mean, I wasn't able to use that just because Mondo gave it to me? It'll work now, even though I'm good?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Rocky told her, shrugging. "But we can worry about that tomorrow. You should probably get some sleep. You've had a long couple of days."
"So have you," Kris reminded him, smiling a little. "How does your leg feel, anyway?"
"It's all healed up, now,"Rocky reported, flexing his leg a little to illustrate. Kris looked at him in surprise, a question on her face. "Power Rangers have amazing recuperative abilities."
"Does that mean I'm fine, too?" Kris wondered, looking down at her arm, which was still in a cast.
"Um, I don't know," Rocky replied honestly. Before he could say anything more, Kris took a deep breath, held it, and hit her cast hard with her right arm. She winced, then realized she felt no pain.
"That didn't hurt at all," she told him, amazed. She smacked her cast around a little more, and felt nothing except the vibrations of the cast making contact with her right fist. "I'll take the cast off tomorrow." Kris reached down and felt her leg, but it had healed perfectly, leaving no trace of the stitces, or even a scar. "Wow, this is incredible. Even if I'm not a Ranger, I guess I have their healing abilities." Kris looked back at her brother, her thought track changing. "I'm sorry, Rocky."
"Kris, none of this was your fault," Rocky told her, vehement, worried, sincere. He sat down on the bed next to her. "You have to know that."
"I guess I know that in my head, but my heart keeps insisting that some of this was my fault," Kris admitted.
"Was it your fault you got hit on the head with that tree branch?" Rocky asked her.
"No."
"Was it your fault you got amnesia?"
"No."
"Was it your fault that King Mondo took advantage of you while you couldn't fight back?"
"No."
"Then I don't see why any of this could possibly be considered your fault."
Kris looked at him, tears running down her cheeks.
"Thank you," she said hoarsely, throwing her arms around her brother. In reply, he hugged her closely, tightly, trying to reassure her in any way that he could.
"I'll always be there for you, Kris," he whispered. "No matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances, I'll always be around to help you and protect you."