Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie by Heather Ray (beach read book .TXT) 📕

Surely everyone thought she was dead and gone, lost amid the flames and ashes as the volcano erupted. He must've been relieved that she was finally out of his life forever… that he could worm his way out of his just desserts.

To see her alive and well… and powerful as ever… would be horrifying. To see her murder scores of innocents would make him give pause, and realize that she was a monster. A monster he

created.

"Are you absolutely sure

you don't have something for me?" Divatox urged, hands clasped together in a wordless plea.

Kimberly rolled her eyes and tossed the Pirate Queen a palm-sized box. It didn't take her long to learn that if a few grams of precious metal could quiet Divatox's infantile fits for a few days, it was money well spent.

"I'll be in the bilge practicing."

Divatox waved her away and eagerly tore into the flimsy decorative paper covering the box. She then tossed the lid aside, and gawked at the treasure within.

An elegant choker made from the teeth of the ultra-rare Karva Dragon. The incisors glittered like Mother of Pearl, lined in a tight row with the differing sizes creating an undulating design.

She giggled gleefully, hurrying to her vanity and clasping the choker under her hair. "That Kim…she may have lost her purity, but her sense of style is alive and kickin'!"

"Well, here we are," Adam noted, unnecessarily.

Tanya gazed at him, watching as he nervously juggled the boxes of candy in his hands. "Relax," she coaxed. "You talked to Marisol just yesterday, and she said he was coming along fine. The surgery was a success."

"I know, but…" He took a calming breath. "We still don't know if he'll make a full recovery; if he can ever take up martial arts again. Rocky's always been so… mobile. Active."

"You mean hyperactive," Kat contributed, a small grin on her lips. "I'm sure if anyone can recover from a discectomy, its Rocky DeSantos."

"Right!" Justin added, nodding his head emphatically. "The Rock is unbreakable."

The veteran Rangers traded amused smiles. It was clear Justin nearly idolized his predecessor. He had all the faith in the world that Rocky would be good as new in no time at all.

The optimism of his teammates lightening his mood, the Green Turbo Ranger rang the familiar doorbell.

Moments later, a petite, robust Mexican woman pulled open the door. Large brown eyes smiled up at the teenagers, immediately wrapping Adam in a boisterous hug.

"Adam!" she greeted, "Katherine, Tanya! Ah, Niños

, thank you for coming."

"Hi, Mari," Adam answered, hugging his best friend's mother tightly. "How've you been?"

She sighed, stepping back to let the teens enter. "Ah,

Dios mio

, it has been difficult. Pobrecito

…he was in so much pain, the only option was the surgery. He still is restricted to bed, pero

he insists on walking in the graduation ceremony."

Katherine smiled gently at Marisol. It was clear from the wrinkles on her brow that the recent emergency with her eldest child had taken an enormous toll on her. "He has five days before graduation. That's plenty of time for him to heal."

"Sí, sí…pero

his surgeon said he must be careful not to do too much, too soon. He has been stuck in bed for days in the hospital, and now he is home, he wants to go out…pero

he can't yet."

"Don't worry," Justin told her, "With us here, there's no reason for him to leave!" He pulled his navy blue backpack off his shoulder, and unzipped the large compartment. "We've got an 'Uno'

deck, 'Taboo'

, all three 'Indiana Jones'

films…"

"..and

all the homework he missed," Tanya added, holding up her own bag. "Mr. Caplan will let him walk in the ceremony, if he's physically able, but he'll still need to complete the coursework he missed if he wants that diploma mailed on time."

Marisol smiled, eyes misting with emotion. "Mi niño

is so lucky to have such wonderful amigos

," she murmured. "Ven, ven."

Kat, Adam, Tanya, and Justin collected their gifts, and followed Marisol up the stairs, passed the bedrooms of the younger DeSantos flock, and up to Rocky's door.

"Rocky! Tu amigos estan aquí

."

"Great!" Rocky's voice called from behind the door. "Come in!"

Adam complied, and the group piled into the small room eagerly. Rocky was lying flat on his back, offering a limp wave.

Justin frowned. "Wow…you're still wearing that brace, Rock?"

The former Blue Zeo Ranger smirked. "Doctor's orders…to keep me from break-dancing, I guess."

Adam managed to muster a matching smirk. "Your mother must've warned him about your reaction to Jolt."

"Speaking of which, I'll get you all some drinks," Marisol suggested, disappearing down the hallway.

The moment the door clicked shut, Rocky's warm smile froze. And suddenly, the Rangers faced sobered when they saw the oddly determined glint in their friend's eye. "Okay, guys, you've got some major filling-in to do."

Adam frowned deeply…it was a rare occurrence indeed that Rocky DeSantos grew serious. "About what?"

In answer, Rocky dug under his mattress. After blindly feeling out the area, he retrieved a copy of the Angel Grove Gazette, and held up the front page for his friends to see.

The team cringed.

"'Local Pan-Global Medalist Disappears,'

"

he quoted from memory,

"'Just days after her celebrated triumph in the gymnastics tournament of the Pan-Global Games, Kimberly Anne Hart traveled from Miami to her home town, Angel Grove. No one has seen her since.'

"

He folded the newspaper, and laid it on his lap. Carefully, he craned his neck, letting him see the uneasy expressions dulling his former teammates' faces. "Of course, Kim's disappearance didn't have

to be Ranger-related, but then I remembered the article on the charity martial arts competition. Adam, Jason, and Tommy lost to Stone Canyon…a surprising upset. And then I saw this, and put two-and-two together. Something went down when you went to save Lerigot…and somehow, Kim got caught in the crosshairs."

His eyes darkened. "I know I'm not a Ranger anymore," he murmured, "but I'd still appreciate an update once in a while… especially when my friends start falling off the planet."

"Rocky, we didn't purposely keep you in the dark," Tanya quickly assured him. "You were in the hospital up until yesterday. We couldn't talk about Ranger business in such a public place."

"Yeah," Justin added with a feeble smile. "Last time you did, someone

overheard you."

"And if someone heard about this

, who knows what kind of questions could be asked?" Adam pointed out. "We all had to stay quiet about what happened, to the authorities…even her parents."

Rocky paled. "You…you didn't tell her parents

?" he repeated, mortified. "Caroline must be going nuts! Why would you keep something like this from --"

He exhaled in mid-sentence, horror stealing the breath right out of his lungs. "She's dead."

"We, we don't know, I'm afraid," Kat confessed, her voice barely a whisper. "You see, she and Jason had been kidnapped by Divatox, the alien who had chased Lerigot to Earth. She intended to sacrifice them to Maligore, an ancient evil that needed to feed on Purity to regain his strength."

"Feed on Purity?" Rocky grimaced. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Neither did we," Tanya continued. "Thankfully, Maligore didn't literally eat them. He… he corrupted them, somehow. Stole their purity, turned them evil. Then, Kim and Jason attacked us."

"You saved Jason," Rocky noted. "He fought in the tournament."

"You're right," Adam conceded. "Lerigot was able to restore Jason's purity. Quell the evil within him. But the evil inside Kimberly was too persistent…we couldn't break the spell in time."

"In time for…?"

Justin bit his lip. "In time to save her from the volcano. It erupted right after we wiped out Maligore."

Silence fell after Justin's whispered comment. Rocky stared at his successor with wide eyes, searching for the child-like enthusiasm the boy was infamous for.

Instead, he found him unnaturally subdued. I'm sorry, Justin. Sorry you had to… to see that.

He swallowed, moistening his too-dry throat. "My…God," he managed to mutter.

"We don't know for sure if Kimberly's…gone," Katherine hurriedly added. "She might have survived the blast. Divatox managed to escape…it's possible Kimberly was taken with her."

"Yeah. Possible," Tanya murmured, though her tone conveyed all her doubt.

Adam turned to the Yellow Ranger, draping his arm around her shoulders. "Every day, it gets bleaker," he sighed. "Divatox is a pirate; she's out for financial gain. If she did kidnap Kimberly, it would make sense she would send some kind of ransom demand. We never heard a thing."

"And Zordon and Alpha have been checking the interstellar frequencies for weeks, listening for any message mentioning a Power Ranger," Tanya continued. "They first thought maybe Divatox would try to unload her at a slave auction; there're plenty of aliens who'd kill to have a former Power Ranger to knock around. But absolutely nothing came up. We just don't have any leads to act on."

Then, Rocky tilted his head to Katherine. She seemed lost in thought, her blue eyes staring at the wall blankly. He winced as he realized what additional remorse must've weighed her shoulders. If the Red Ranger's absence was any indication, the pretty blonde lost more than one close friend.

"How's Tommy holding up?" he asked carefully.

Justin, Tanya, and Adam stayed silent, deferring the question to the one that would know the best.

"Utterly devastated," she summed up, her voice a heavy sigh. "None of us ever see him any longer. Now that school's out and graduation is coming, he's been spending more and more time with his uncle Jeff."

"The racer?" Rocky wondered, eyebrows arched.

"The very same. He's taken up car racing. He hasn't been to the Youth Center in weeks, either." Her delicate hand clenched into a furious fist. "And he insists on carrying that damned letter around in his pocket everywhere he goes…like he's purposely tormenting himself."

The former Ranger frowned, utterly lost. "What letter? You mean the letter from Kim?"

The dancer turned, her eyes swimming in frustration…and…guilt? "The letter we thought

was from Kim."

Rocky instinctively moved to leap from his bed, but clenched his teeth against a spasm of pain as his body reminded him not to make any sudden moves.

Slowly, he settled back into the mattress…yet his thunderous expression didn't fade. "She…didn't write the letter??"

Four somber faces confirmed his hypothesis.

His mind whirled as the implications threaded together. "Then…she never broke up with Tommy."

Katherine winced, as if responding to a physical