When She Was Bad
Part II: A Very Different Shade of Pink
by MegaSilver

Tommy skipped the after-prom party and spent the early hours walking along the shores of the beach, trying to stabilize himself after everything that had transpired over the last four hours. Kim. Me. Prom royalty. Dancing. Kat—watching us. Breaking up… It was all too much to bear.

"Why?" Tommy wondered aloud. She killed me. He pulled Kimberly’s painful letter out from his pocket. Every time he read it, it was like a thousand knives stabbing him across the chest, slashing him, blood spilling out, vital organs withdrawn… And yet I keep it.

"Why?"

A little over two years earlier, Tommy shut the door quietly as he entered his house and crept silently up to his room, carrying his shoes. As he passed through the doorway, however, one of them slipped out of his hand and crashed loudly onto the floor.

"Tommy?"

Oh, shit.

"Tommy, is that you?" called his mother.

A sick feeling ran through Tommy’s body. "Yes, Mom," he replied softly.

Janelle Oliver entered her son’s room, carrying an envelope. "I need to talk to you," she said firmly. "I got your mid-quarter grades today, and—"

"Mom, I know it looks bad," Tommy interrupted. "I’m just… I’m having to deal with something really hard right now. I can’t focus. Every time I try to do my homework, the words just blur together."

"Tommy, I know everyone goes through hard times. But you’ve dropped from a 3.7 to a 2.5 in less than half a semester." She sat on her son’s bed. "What’s wrong, Tommy?"

"Look, it’s nothing that’ll cause problems. I’m not drinking again, and I haven’t gotten anyone pregnant; I promise you."

"Well, whatever's going on, it is causing problems, because this kind of a drop in G.P.A. is just not acceptable. What is it? Can’t you tell me about it?"

Tommy breathed heavily for a moment. "No," he whispered. "Not you."

Janelle stood up, slightly annoyed. "Tommy, I am your mother. I understand that at this age, it’s not exactly cool to open up to your parents, but something’s clearly wrong here. How are we supposed to address this problem if you won’t even tell us about it?"

"You can’t address it, Mom," Tommy insisted. "You wouldn’t understand. Nobody would understand. It’s not something that happens to most people."

Janelle shook her head. "Everyone deals with depression at some point in life," she told him. "So don’t feed me that story."

"Fine. Just don’t send me to another shrink."

"You’re not giving me much of a choice, Tommy!" Suddenly, she heard six successive beeps. "Is that your watch?"

"Yeah, it is," sighed Tommy. "I have to go."

"And where, exactly?" Mrs. Oliver gave him an eagle-eye glance.

"I’m… meeting Billy."

"To study?"

"Yeah." Tommy tried to avoid direct eye contact.

Janelle shrugged. "Well, try to stay focused." She began to leave, then turned her head back around. "Look, though, Tommy. I’m just concerned about you. I know you’re a strong person, and whatever it is that’s going on, I’m sure you’ll pull through. But it’ll be a lot more painful to do it on your own. And who knows what you might lose in the process?"

Kimberly snuggled up near Tommy on a park bench the next afternoon. "So how are you doing?" When Tommy didn’t answer, she punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Hello?"

"Oh… sorry." Tommy gulped. "Didn’t hear you at first."

"Something on your mind?"

Slowly, Tommy began to nod. "I can’t figure it out," he said. "My whole world’s just fallen out from under me. It’s like… for the first time, I felt like I was a part of something and now all that’s about to disappear. Again."

Kimberly took this in for a moment. "Oh. I see." She sat up. "Well, you know, it’s not like you’d stop being our friend just because you didn’t fight with us anymore."

"It’d never be the same, though," Tommy pointed out. "I just wouldn’t… be anyone anymore. I wouldn’t be contributing anything."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because it’s true." The two rose from the bench and began to walk the path once more. "I’ll just be in the way, Kim. It’s the sort of thing that happens when someone tries to fit into a picture they don’t belong in."

Kimberly looked up at him with huge eyes. "Are you saying… you don’t belong in our lives?" She gulped. "In… my life, even?"

"I—" Tommy looked at the ground. "I don’t know where I belong, Kimberly."

"But how will you ever find out without anyone to be there with you?"

"I don’t know," Tommy conceded. "I don’t know anything anymore! I don’t even know if I can live with this."

"Yes, you can!" Kimberly pulled him close to herself. "Please don’t leave me, Tommy. I love you."

Late in autumn of that same year, Tommy and Kimberly walked along the Pacific coast.

"I guess this is the end of the Pink Ranger, huh?" Kimberly sighed.

"We can still share our powers with you," said Tommy.

"Yeah, for a while, but… when that’s over… Tommy? I’m really scared."

"You remember what you told me when I lost my powers?"

Kimberly stood in her place for a moment. "Yeah, I said that you’d be okay. And that you would always have us all."

"Yeah. And you’ll have me. Kim, I’ll always be here for you." Tommy leaned down and kissed her.

"Thanks."

Almost a year and a half later, Tommy walked along the shores of that same beach, feeling the waves splash gently across his feet. She saved my life, he realized. I would have killed myself if she hadn’t been there.

But… I saved her life, too. Tommy dug his big toe into the wet sand. After everything we’ve been through… after all we did for each other… what could have happened?

Kimberly made her way through her usual routine on Monday morning. She then went down to the breakfast nook to find her father at the counter, looking through the newspaper.

Mr. Hart looked up at his daughter. "Oh, hi, Kimberly!"

"Hey, Dad," Kimberly waved.

"I haven’t seen you in days. How’s it going? How was the prom?"

Kimberly shrugged. "It was okay, I guess."

"Just ‘okay’?" Mr. Hart raised his eyebrows. "I thought you’ve always been the one who just can’t wait for the next dance."

Kimberly poured herself a glass of tangerine juice and popped a bagel in the toaster. "Yeah, well…"

"Anything exciting happen?"

"I… was prom queen." Kimberly sipped her juice. "That was kind of cool."

"Oh, really? Congratulations!" Mr. Hart rose. "I have to leave. But our shutdown’s through at work, so maybe I can take you out for a celebration dinner tonight. We haven’t done much together since you got back."

"Maybe."

The smile disappeared from Mr. Hart’s face. "Kim, is something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, nothing’s wrong. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, ever since you’ve got back, you’ve seemed… less energetic."

"How so?"

"I mean, when you were Homecoming princess your junior year, you were just off the wall. I remember you called me the day you got crowned and insisted that I ride in the parade the next day. But… you don’t seem too upbeat about this."

"Oh. Well, you know, a year in Florida kind of burned me out." Kimberly took a bite of her bagel. "Five hours of gymnastics a day and all… I’m just tired, that’s it."

"I see," said Mr. Hart, pretending to be convinced. "Have a good day, Kim. I’ll see you tonight."

"Bye."

Jason looked across the table at Kimberly, who was busy daydreaming during study hall. "Kim?"

"Hmm?"

"Is there a chance that if I asked you what was wrong, you’d tell me?"

Kimberly set her pen down. "Why is everyone asking me that?"

"Ever since you came back, you’ve been… different."

"Like, how?"

"Just… less happy. Not as bouncy; kind of melancholy."

"Hey, I had a good time at the prom. Did I seem sad?"

"Well, no, but that was the only time you weren’t acting weird." He paused for a moment as she looked away and tapped her head with her pen. "It’s Tommy, isn’t it?"

"Who?"

"You heard me, Kimberly. It’s Tommy, isn’t it?"

Kimberly shrugged. "I dunno."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Kim, I know you, and I know that’s not true. You’ve always been very decisive. Don’t tell me you don’t know how you feel."

"What does it matter?" Just then, the bell rang, and Kimberly gathered up her books. "Besides, even if it was, he’s with Katherine now."

Jason sighed and sat back for a few more minutes.

Katherine entered the library. "Hey, Jason! What’s going on?"

Jason shrugged. "I think there’s something wrong with Kim."

"Oh." Katherine set her books down. "So I’m not the only one who noticed."

"It’s just not like her," said Jason. "She’s never been one to avoid us. Or… was there something I missed while I was gone?"

Katherine shook her head. "As long as I knew her, she was always kind of the social leader of the pack. She’d always plan get-togethers and shopping trips and stuff… she helped keep the Rangers close."

Jason rubbed his brow. "I’d better get to class. See you later, Kat."

Jason backed off from Tommy. "You let your guard down, man."

"I know." Tommy dropped into the nearby bleachers. "I can’t focus at all."

"What’s the problem?" Jason grabbed a towel and sat down beside his friend.

"A whole bunch of stuff," said Tommy. "After the prom, I took Kat home, and…"

"And what happened?"

"She broke up with me."

"Oh." Jason took a sip of his water bottle. "I’m sorry, bro. Did she say why?"

"She said… that I still loved Kim. That I’d never be through with her."

"Do you?"

Slowly, Tommy nodded. "Somehow, in some awful, sick, messed-up way, after everything she did, I still love her. I don’t know how or why—" He was interrupted by the sight of Kimberly entering the Youth Center, dressed in black sweatpants, a pink sports bra, and white cross-trainer shoes.

"Hey, guys," she said as she passed the bleachers and headed straight for the punching bags.

Jason looked at Tommy. "Am I missing something, or is that not her usual workout routine?"

Tommy had a funny expression on his face. "Not that I remember."

Jason shook his head. "Something’s up with her," he stated as he watched Kimberly throw her anger at a punching bag.

"But Tommy, you lost your powers and you pulled through all right!" protested Alpha.

"Yeah, I know, Alpha," agreed Tommy. "Still, I did feel pretty down while I was losing them."

"Perhaps the answer lies in the differences between your original Green Power Coin and Kimberly’s Pink Crane Power Coin," suggested Zordon.

"But what could that have to do with it?"

"Remember that when Ninjor crafted the second set of Power Coins, he linked them with your natural human energies and fine-tuned them with your minds and personalities. A loss of this kind of power can be an extremely traumatic experience."

"But she got hers back a lot faster than I did," Tommy pointed out.

"Loss of any Ranger powers can result in chemical imbalances linked to clinical depression. Although we did disconnect Kimberly with her Coin fairly quickly and manage to retrieve it soon enough, it may not have been enough to stop her from becoming unbalanced, especially considering the manner in which she was linked to it. You, on the other hand, were not so closely bonded to your coin and lost your powers in a more gradual fashion. This gave you time to experience the psychological trauma and recover before we gave you your powers. And then there’s the fact that she handed off her powers very soon after regaining them. This could also be a factor."

"Because of the strong link?"

"Precisely. Though we confirmed that Katherine had fully absorbed the power, Alpha and I never thought to run any diagnostics on Kimberly to see how she had handled the transfer. And unlike the rest of you, she was not powerless to begin with when she parted with her Coin. Since all this happened at once, it’s not unlikely that she experienced depression and never dealt with it on a conscious level."

Tommy looked at the floor. "That would explain just about everything."

"What do you think we should do about it?" asked Justin, sitting with his friends at their favorite Youth Center table.

"No idea," sighed Tommy. "I’m still trying to sort out how to begin talking to her."

"Maybe we could—" Katherine halted.

"What?"

"Maybe… it’d help if we re-infused her with powers." At the others’ puzzled glance, she clarified. "My powers."

"Kat—" began Tommy, but Katherine held up her hand.

"I’ve made up my mind," she said decisively. "Tommy, if she’s going through something worse than what you say you went through, it could be her only hope. And when she left, Kimberly gave me her powers partially to protect me from Zedd and Rita. If me giving up my powers can help her, I have to do it."

"I don’t think it’d do it," said Tommy. "The only reason I was okay after I got my powers back was because I’d already dealt with my depression."

Katherine sighed. "But it might be enough to help her."

"Kat, we don’t know that," Tanya pointed out.

"And what if it doesn’t? What could it hurt?"

"Do you really want to do this, Katherine?" asked Adam. "Do you really want to give up your place on this team?"

A tear fell from Katherine’s eye. "No. I don’t. But I have to do something." She wiped her face with her napkin and gathered her things up to leave. "Excuse me."

As she walked into the hallway, Tommy rose and followed after her. "Katherine, wait!" He caught her just as she was going out the door. "Why do you have to do something, Kat?"

"Because it’s my fault this happened," she stated. "I stole Kimberly’s Power Coin."

"But you got it back for her. Katherine, if restoring her powers didn’t do the trick then, what makes you think giving her less finely-tuned powers will help now?"

"She gave up her Coin right after she got it back, though. Everything that happened mixed together and boiled over for her. And if it wasn’t for me, none of it ever would have happened."

"Kat, how can you say that? You were under a spell. That wasn’t you doing that. And you saved her life. She wouldn’t be here today if you hadn’t been there for her."

"She wouldn’t have fallen in the first place if I hadn’t helped Zedd and Rita do that to her." Katherine brushed a piece of her hair back. "Tommy, I’m not looking for guilt here. I’m just trying to make things right."

"Kat… you already have. You couldn’t have known this would happen. Hell, you didn’t even know what you were doing."

"But it happened. I want the responsibility for this, Tommy."

"All I’m saying is, it might not help."

"Maybe not the powers alone, but being on a team with her friends again could help." Katherine took a deep breath. "I want to do this, Tommy. I want you—and Kim—to be happy again."

Tommy nodded. "All right. But you’d better sleep on this."

"I will," agreed Katherine. "But you have to do something."

"What’s that?"

"Talk to Kimberly. Don’t keep putting it off."