Kimberly Anne Hart lay on her bed in her dorm room, crying her heart into a pillow, for what had to be the third time that week.

More and more, ever since her childhood friend and ranger teammate Jason Lee Scott had come in contact with her again, the ex-Pink Ranger began to regret she had broken off her relationship with her boyfriend, Tommy Oliver. He was now the Red Zeo Ranger who lived back in Angel Grove; far away from where her gymnastics training took place in Miami, Florida.

"I am so stupid," Kimberly lifted her head momentarily from the pillow to lift up a photo that lay faced down on her dresser.

Looking at the photo of her and Tommy made her burst into another raging fit of tears. *It hurts so much to know he's happy in Angel Grove with Katherine* the short brunette thought to herself, throwing the heart-felt picture to the floor *But then again, it's good to know he's happy. I mean, from what Jason wrote me, Tommy was getting all the love he needed from Katherine. The love I couldn't give him over the phone or through letters.*

Kimberly slowly stifled her tears and sat upright on the bed. "But then again, even when I did give him love, I knew there was something missing between the both of us. And I could feel it more and more when he began to gain his confidence and hope," Kimberly stopped to scratch her itchy cheeks, "I knew he was playing games with my heart. I began to see the truth through the loving light. He loved someone else. Someone other than me. Someone bigger than me. Someone I couldn't replace, but was always willing to try to replace."

She stood up from her bed and walked over to the radio. "Then, when I was away from him, I knew surely I was a replacement," she switched the radio on to the station on the tuning dial, "I was always the one to take the initiative to keep in contact. The first one to make the long distance phone calls that cost me a fortune. The first one to write the long letters that took lots of my precious time that I could have been using to train in the gym. But I loved him nonetheless. So I did the healthy thing for the both of us; I cut his strings and let him free. Free to realize that I was nothing but the warmer for someone else's seat."

Walking over to the window and looking out towards the sky, her ears picked up the Backstreet Boys singing just what she felt.

Even in my heart I see
You're not bein' true to me
Deep within my soul I feel
Nothing's like it used to be
Sometimes I wish I could turn back time
Impossible as it may seem
But I wish I could so bad baby
Quit playin' games with my heart

Quit playin' games with my heart
Before you tear us apart
I should've known from the start
Before you got into my heart

I live my life the way
To keep you comin' back to me
Everything I do is for you so
So what is it that you can't see
Sometimes I wish I could
Turn back time, impossible as it may seem
But I wish I could so bad
You better quit playin' games with my heart

Quit playin' games with my heart
Before you tear us apart
I should've known from the start
Before you got into my heart

Quit playin' games
Baby, baby the love that we had was so strong
Don't leave me hangin' here forever
Oh baby, baby this is not right, let's stop
This tonight

Baby, quit playin' games
Sometimes I wish I could
Turn back time, impossible as it may seem
But I wish I could so bad, baby
Quit playin' games with my heart

Quit playin' games with my heart
Before you tear us apart
I should've known from the start
Before you got into my heart

"They're right," Kimberly mumbled, referring to the Backstreeet Boys, "I should've noticed it from the start before I let you into my heart, Thomas Oliver. Then maybe, JUST maybe, I might be hurting as much as I am right now."

As she finished her sentence, a knock came to her door. "Who is it?" she asked, walking over to the door and peeking through the peephole to a young man, whose face she couldn't make out, dressed in all black.

Somewhat annoyed and curious at the same time, Kimberly placed her hand on the metal knob and opened the door. "JASON!" the girl shrieked as she threw her arms around the taller boy's neck.

"Hey, Kim," Jason smiled softly, hugging his friend since third grade.

Kimberly released her grip on Jason and a quizzical expression formed on her face. "Since when did you wear all black, Jason?" she queried, pulling him into the dorm room so no one would see him.

Jason shook his head and winced slightly, Kimberly taking notice. "Jason? Is something wrong?"

"Since I lost my Gold Ranger powers, Kim," he ex-Power Ranger admitted to her, as she shut the door.

"What?" Kimberly looked at Jason shocked as he sat down in a chair in the room, "How? What happened?"

Jason quickly and descriptively gave her the low down on what caused him to lose his ranger powers, over a month and half ago. "Looks like my rangering days are over," Jason muttered, depressed immensely, "Now, I know how Tommy felt when he lost the Green Ranger powers."

Kimberly put all her troubles aside, and kissed him sweetly on the cheek. "Jason, please don't be like Tommy. Please," she pleaded to him, earning her an odd look from Jason, "What I mean is that, Tommy wasn't just depressed about losing his powers when he went up to the mountains."

"How would you know?" Jason turned full circle and store her in the eyes, "Tommy didn't tell you, did he, Kim?"

This time it was Kimberly's turn to be surprised. "Tell me about what?" she insisted, confused.

Realizing she didn't know about Tommy's secret, Jason shut his big mouth. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Jason Lee Scott," Kimberly growled lightly, "You tell me what you are talking about right now or else......."

As the girl felt her fury build up inside her, Jason replied her ultimatum, "It was sworn secret, Kim, but I think you deserve to know. Just don't tell Tommy you know about this."

The brunette folded her arms across her chest. "Of course. Have I told anyone about your secrets?"

Jason nodded in the negative and explained, "When you and Tommy were going out he loved you, but even during that time he always loved someone else. Someone from his past, someone before you, Kim."

The gymnast turned her head away from the news. "Surprise, surprise," tears began to run down her cheeks again, placing a strain in her voice, "Like I didn't see it before," Kimberly turned around and faced Jason again, "I knew there was someone else he loved. After you guys left: you, Trini, and Zack, I could see it more and more. I knew I was a replacement, yet I was willing to try and fill that gaping hole within him, even though I knew I couldn't."

Jason stood up and took Kimberly into his loving arms. "On many occasions I tried to tell him that. I tried to show him that you loved him, but he insisted he couldn't let go of Shannon. He said that he loved you and her at the same time. I told him he'd end up breaking your heart, somehow. He didn't believe me. Though, I don't blame him for not believing me. He was blinded by the loving light," Jason cradled her in his arms as Kimberly cried.

Pulling her head up from his shoulder, she said, "You know, for awhile I was blinded by the loving light too. But then I turned the light down and saw what was truly happening. He was placing........ Shannon, her name was?" Kimberly questioned and Jason nodded his head, "He was placing Shannon's face on my body. Everything that he did to me, from the first kiss to our last kiss, was meant for Shannon. And when I left, it was obvious he was going to turn to Katherine. After all, he was identifying Katherine as the Pink Ranger and I was the Pink Ranger to whom he identified as Shannon."

"You know, I think you've got it, Sherlock," the muscular boy remarked, staring down into Kimberly's deep doe brown eyes.

Returning the gaze, Kimberly responded, "I think I do, Watson," Jason's lips were approaching hers, "I think I do," her words were silenced by the pressing of her lips to his in an intimate kiss.

Kimberly woke up the next morning to the sound of a shower coming from the bathroom.

Sitting up in the bed, she looked around herself and realized she wasn't in her dorm room. "Huh?" she thought back for a moment, then remembered, "Oh, yeah. Last night me and Jason went out for dinner, watched a movie, and came back here to his hotel room....................."

Remembering what she had done afterwards, she blushed a bright red. "What were you saying, Kim?" Jason came out from the bathroom, in a robe, drying out his hair with a towel.

"Oh, nothing," Kimberly replied, covering herself with the bedsheets.

Jason sat down on the bed next to Kimberly. "Kim, I know we did something last night, but I was just curious, did we do that out of love or out of loneliness? Because I know I did it out of love. I've loved you ever since we were in middle school," he confessed to her.

"Oh, Jason," the girl reached out and hugged Jason lovingly, "Now that I think back, I did it out of love. I was lonely, but that was then. I know love you more than anything now."

"I love you, Kimberly Anne Hart."

"And I love you, Jason Lee..........." Kimberly never got to finish her sentence, as a colorful rip opened up in front of the two and a dozen metallic cogs poured out from the hole.

"COGS!" Jason cried, taking a battle stance.

Kimberly stood up from the bed, still covering her nude body with the bedsheets. "Cogs? What are they doing here!?!?"

"Who knows?" Jason shrugged and began to defend himself.

Unfortunately, since the two were both caught offguard, they were easily captured by the cogs and taken away.

"Wake up!" a feminine voice growled at Kimberly, arousing her from her unconscious state.

Rubbing her eyes to get rid of her blurred vision, Kimberly looked up at the origination of the voice and saw a woman with sharp blue eyes, which continually kept changing from blue to green; shoulder length blonde hair streaked black, who was dressed in a tight fitting black gown. "Get up and put this on!" she snapped at the girl, "You look pathetic."

Opening the door to the cell that Kimberly was encased in, she threw a an outfit that consisted of: a purple midriff, a black denim vest, and some black daisy duke jeans. "Wear it, now," the woman barked.

Puzzled why the woman wanted her to wear the clothes, Kimberly looked down at herself and realized she was nude. *Oh, God.* she told herself, embarrassed.

Quickly, she took the clothes offered and put them on. "What's going on here?" Kimberly demanded, as the woman grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of her cell.

"To make things short, Ms. Hart, I am going to turn you and your friends into my Super Villain team," the woman, who now had made it clear that she was an evil villain, told.

"Where's Jason?" she struggled in the villianess' grip.

She stopped walking for a moment as she pulled open a large black door. "Jason is fine," she lead the young girl into the room, "If you do not trust me, take a look for yourself."

From the shadows of the large room, Jason stepped forward, donning a Ninja garb of pure blood red. "I am fine, Kimberly. And you will soon be fine also."

Following his lead, Zack Taylor and Trini Kwan, two of her oldest friends and ex-Power Ranger teammates, stepped forward into the light; donning green and yellow Ninja garbs respectively.

"Can I touch them?" Kimberly looked to the woman.

"Of course," the blonde let go of Kimberly's arm and let her go up to Jason.

The girl scanned Jason's eyes for any goodness. "Jason?" she whimpered.

Kimberly took Jason's gloved hand into hers and suddenly she could hear his voice echoing in her mind. *Kim, it's me, Jason. I'm trying to fight off the evil, but I'm not strong enough. Right now, Aisha is in another part of the underground dungeon. You and her are next up for the spell. I'm gonna get you out of here. Don't ask any questions, just find help when I do get you out, okay?*

*Okay* Kimberly replied his voice.

Just as Kimberly let go of Jason's hand, she felt the sensation of a teleportation and was flown out of the dungeon in a red light.

The red flash descended into a group of large trees that surrounded the back of the Angel Grove Beach Club.

Hiding herself behind the trees, she watched as the Zeo Rangers, with an addition of a White Zeo Ranger, fought off a crowd of cogs, a Black Ranger, and an ugly golden monster that reminded Kimberly of Goldar. "This isn't the last time we will meet on the battlefield, rangers!" the Black Ranger threatened the other rangers.

"Then you'll go down in the next battle!" the Blue Zeo Ranger shouted back.

*That's Rocky for ya. His big mouth always going off* she thought to herself, smiling.

Kimberly listened as the Red Zeo Ranger, who was Tommy, talked to the White Zeo Ranger, who he called Shannon. *Shannon! She's gotta be the one Jason was talking about. Tommy talks to her with love and compassion. Even when they're morphed!*

As the six rangers left in their usual teleportation streaks, Kimberly murmured to herself, "Tommy.......Shannon...I gotta get to them if I wanna save the others," she paused for a moment, "Maybe I'll catch them at the Youth Center after school."

As Kimberly walked away from the site of the battle, she had no idea the White Zeo Ranger she was bad-mouthing would later become her best friend and teammate in the fight against all evil.