trans_9 | taking time to think;

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taking time to think;

Kimberly walked around the padded floor and tried to clear her mind. She let out a deep breath and raised her hands dramatically. With one more deep breath she sent her herself flying across the gym floor in a series of back flips that ended with her on her feet.

Gymnastics had always helped Kimberly get to a better place back home. And it would surely work here as well. She repeated the act of back flips but this time added a spin before the last one. There was nothing like tumbling through the air. It was a rush, a full on thrill that nothing compared. Except for maybe the whole ranger thing.

As she again did her back flips, spins, and added kart-wheels and it almost felt like home. Like she was back in Ernie's juice bar practicing along with Jason, Trini, Zach, Billy and Tommy. But she knew she wasn't.

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Zouichi caught the tail end of Kimberly's performance. A lot of people performed training exercises in the Sensoriums, but gymnastics routines were a little rarer. In his experience, anyway.

"Planning to go professional?"

Kimberly turned to she who was speaking. She smiled a little and forgot that people liked to watch when she did gymnastics. "I've been practicing since I was little" I truth she always hoped to be a professional, it kind of seemed far-fetched at this point.

He nodded. "It kind of shows. So, are you one of the new arrivals? I understand there was another pod release while a bunch of us were still on the mission to Galilee."

"Newish now." But still new, right? She dusted off her hand and put it forward. "I'm Kimberly" She said with a grin as she introduced herself.

New friends were always good to meet.

He smiled back. "Zouichi. Nice to meet you. I hope you haven't been finding this ship too, um. Different. It's not much like Earth."

It was different. Way different. Too different for her to put into words. But Kimberly wouldn't let it show in her face. "Well, I'm used to this sort of stuff" it wasn't a lie.

Being a Power Ranger has introduced her to evil aliens, a floating head and a robot. So, this was just a magnified version of that.

"You're used to flying around the multiverse in a ship made of meat? My condolences." Zouichi had a pretty dim view of the ship in general. At best, it ferried them around under dubious orders. At worst, it burped up crazed, flesh-eating zombie aliens.

"It's a little too damp for me."

"Well... when you put it that way" When he said it, it sounded really gross to be living here. Kimberly's smile faded a little but she tried to keep up her act. "I just.. I mean it's not that bad.." Though it kind of was.

Oh, an optimist. Zouichi held up a hand. "No, you're right. I guess there are worse things than trying to save all of existence. Most people would agree that's a pretty good cause."

Kimberly began to bite on the inside of cheek as she though of what to say. "I'm used to trying save all of existence. Or at least Angel Grove." She smiled again as finally found a topic to stick to.

"I even fight of evil aliens on a daily basis. Sometimes twice a day"

He raised an eyebrow. "Twice a day? That's an awful lot of evil aliens. What do they want with Angel Grove, anyway? Better shopping malls?"

"I wouldn't put it past them" Kimberly said giving a little laugh. "As far as I know they want to take over the world. My friends and I were chosen by Zordon, who's this giant floating head. To protect it." Gosh it seemed like just yesterday they were picked to fight against Rita.

Tenaya needed to get out more, and she knew it.

Having your memory wiped and then working for the bad guys for a year was a pretty bad way to learn to make friends, but her abrasive personality didn't help much either. At least she knew that she was prickly and so tried to avoid ticking off others on the ship, but that didn't do much in the way of boosting her social skills.

But strangely enough, she felt comfortable with Power Rangers. If only because her brother had been a Ranger and because of her friendship with Billy. Kimberly had served alongside him, so she figured she had to be worth respect.

"Looks like these things are never closed when someone's inside," she called out, walking into the sensorium.

"Oh." Kimberly said tucking the loose strands of hair behind her ears. "I'm sorry?" she said not really sure if that was the response Tenyaya was hoping for.

"No problem," Tenaya answered. "Just looks like it's always easy for someone to stray in here. They should fix that." But it wasn't a problem for Engineering, as far as she knew, so she was free to complain about it without lifting a finger.

Kimberly turned to Tenaya and bit her bottom lip. Was she not allowed in here? Boy, was she confused. "Is this place off limits to new comers?"

"Nah," Tenaya answered. "What happens is that someone will come in here for a break or practice or whatever, think they've locked the door, and then the next thing they know, everyone seems to walk in. Happens every time."

"Well, I don't mind other people in here" Kimberly said with a smile. "I would like the company." She said with a little perk in her voice.

"But I can see how that would get annoying." It was easy to understand why someone would be bothered by something like that.

Tenaya really had to work on that whole socializing thing. Here she was making an effort to get to know somebody, and she wasn't quite sure what she should say next.

So that probably meant it was time to change the subject. "So, you fought with Billy before, right?"

"Right at his side. With the other rangers of course." Kimberly replied as she smiled thinking back at the time she and him fought of putties. "Once me and Billy switched bodies and I was stuck in his and he was in mine. Total disaster. He didn't even know how to put on makeup." She laughed a little at the thought.

Tenaya smirked. That was just enough detail to picture the disaster.

"I'll bet. So, any other stories about Billy like that?"

It's still friendship if you get a kick out of their embarrassing moments.

Now under normal circumstances, Dustin would be happy about there being another Power Ranger on board but the past few days his thoughts came to the recent mission and what came of it. There had to have been a better way of handling the situation. Dustin felt the same as many on the group: they were people clones or not. So he was surprised when he saw the original Pink Ranger show up in the sensorium.

"Oh. I'm Dustin, Billy might have mentioned me before. That was pretty impressive."

Kimberly smiled at the guy who walked in. Dustin? The name sounded familiar but it was fairly common. "I'm Kimberly. But I guess you've already figured that out." She held out her hand with the same smile she used whenever she met someone new. It was warm, inviting and friendly.

"So, Dustin. Are you a..?" Her voice trailed off a little. Why did she find it hard to say the words? "Power Ranger.. too?" She was still used to the secret identity thing.

Dustin chuckled a little bit. None of the Rangers on his team was exactly shy and quiet. Trent kind of was, if what Cam had told him back home was true... Anyway, he just greeted Kimberly warmly.

"Yep. I bet Billy already told you about the other Rangers here right?"

Kimberly nodded at first as she fixed her ponytail that bounced above her head. "I just haven't met everyone." Billy was supposed get a group meeting together at some point.

"I know that there are rangers that Billy developed and some that are natural rangers.. so to speak. Which are you?" She asked. She wanted to know the rangers that came from her world. Kimberly thought they might have more in common. Not the new Stacy Force rangers were so different.

As he was among the active crew members who had been around longest, Billy really should have known better than to go barging into random Sensoriums. The interruption routine had happened hundreds of times before, and still he did it. Now, though, he tended to poke his head in and leave if the person present was a stranger or someone who wasn't likely to want to see him.

Kimberly was...different, though, so he crept into the gym and imagined a laptop into being. It was definitely more advanced than any model he'd built with the technology of 1994, but he could work it out. He 'ran' one of his old gym training programs on it, tracking Kim's routine. She had incredible talent, that much was clear.

"You've proven that you're the champion, Kimberly," he said softly.

"Oh yeah?" Kimberly said giving a gracefully twirl as if to brag. "Well, I've got to keep fit somehow." And working her way through flips, cart-wheels and back flips would definitely keep her stretchy.

"Besides it's not like I'm going to get a call from Zordon anytime soon." She shook her head a little as walked over to Billy. "I figured that if I'm going to have the down time might as well keep all my muscle active just in case." She gave a smile laugh as she looked down and then back up at Billy.

Kimberly never had to worry about that. She was always fit.

He smiled as she landed, straightening up and overlooking the gym equipment. "They've put me through a number of training programs here. Martial arts, weights, running through sand for endurance...

Billy winced. He hated that one, but he knew how important it was to be as fast as possible on the battlefield. "I've practiced in a gym like this too, but I'm not near your level---something would be wrong if I was. The room will spot you if you want to test dangerous new techniques," he grinned, remembering the fun memories of a tentacle catching his ankle before he could hurt himself.

One of the tentacles shot down when he asked it to, curling around his wrist in greeting. "Hey!"

"I just wanted to run one of my old tricks" she said looking around. This place. This ship was a mix of meat and metal, of life and artificial life. It was strange that all this could sense, control, change and even capture whatever it wanted too within itself.

"I walked in and this is what it gave me." She lifted her arms up and looked around.

"And it was a great trick," Billy assured her. "You'll be fine when we're called to fight. You have all of us backing you up."

He studied the gym once more, debating whether to join in. Well...he could train. It definitely didn't hurt to train. With a thought, he transformed the plantsuit-and-apron he usually wore to work into his usual exercise clothes, a sleeveless shirt and comfortable shorts. It was only an illusion while they were here, of course, but it would help him concentrate.

"Do you mind if I join in for a while?"

"I don't know, Billy." Kimberly put on a very serious face and shook her head with her ponytail waging behind her. "I mean I was totally looking forward to some me time" Midway through her sentence she started to laugh. Kimberly couldn't even pretend not to want Billy there.

"Of course you can."

Billy faltered for a moment. The need for time alone was very understandable, and he was fully prepared to leave when she started laughing---and as it was rather infectious, he did too.

"Thanks," he grinned, conjuring up a treadmill on the spot to get warmed up. He'd work up from a jog to a run, then start stretches and twists. There was so much he'd practiced, he couldn't wait to show her! A year of training had, he hoped, done some good.

"The Sensorium actually makes passable smoothies," he suggested, "if you wanted to grab one when we're done. The first one got all over my face, though."

It was starting to feel like home more and more. With Billy at her side and the promise of a smoothie? This was definitely making her feel better already.

"That sounds like a great idea." Kimberly said with a smile and put her hands on her hip. "Now. Are you gonna show me what you've got?" She had a little tone of competitiveness in her voice.

"Absolutely," he promised, hopping down and running a last-second muscle check in his mind. Everything appeared to be in order, he just needed to get himself started.

Billy's mind jumped to a routine similar to what he'd done for Daja many months ago. With the image in mind, he was off. Starting at a run, he leapt into a handspring, then two, then three, then a final mighty leap. It was just like fighting Putties, he thought, tucking his arms in and twisting through the air.

A second later, he landed and thrust his arms out, less out of breath than he would have been before. The year's training and bodybuilding had definitely helped. "That's just where I start. I've been trying to focus on precise movements, since a lot of our battles are in crowded conditions."

"Billy!" Kimberly clapped her hand together and lifted up one of her legs in excitement. "Oh my gosh, that was amazing." And knowing that she had once trained him in the basics made her almost start crying.

"I can't believe this is the same Billy that didn't even know how to dance!" To her that was just the other day.

She walked over to him and leaned in for a hung. "Okay. Precise movements, right?" Kimberly said cracking her knuckles. "Now that's a little tricky. But like almost everything it takes a lot of focus and a lot of practice."

"Hey, it's been over two years since then," Billy laughed with just a twinge of shame, remembering exactly how far he'd had to go back then. "Diligence paid off eventually."

He gave her a warm hug, pleased and grateful that she'd set him on this path all that time ago. And now he'd be moving even further forward.

"I'm listening. And thinking. So...I'll concentrate, and not speed over the details."

Andy smiled, walking into he sensorium and seeing Kimberly doing her gymnastic's routine. He was definitely fine with just watching her finish that up for a bit, that was for sure.

When she was finally done, he clapped. "That was pretty awesome."

"Andy, Hey!" Kimberly said as she wiped her forehead with a pink towel that she had laid out. "And Thanks I was just doing one of my old routines." It was better with the song that came with it but she figured she'd have to write something up and figure out how to record.

Andy smiled a bit more. "Well, like I said, it was great. You've been doing gymnastics a long time, haven't you?"

"Nice technique!" Morgan said from his lean against the wall, arms folded casually. He'd given up on even feeling awkward about wandering in when other people were using these sensoriums, since he seemed destined to do it in perpetuity.

Kimberly had just finished another round of back flips when she caught off guard once again by an on looker. "Oh, Hey. Thanks I'm just.. doing some old stuff." She said trying to fix her hair nervously since the on looker was quite handsome.

"Um, I'm almost finished here.. if you don't mind awaiting?"

"The show is certainly worth staying to watch!" he said, flashing a grin. "Seriously, I didn't mean to bother you, I just have a magnificent habit of not noticing these things are occupied till it's too late. Everyone has to have their talents, right?"

"That's true." Kim smiled and grew a little red in the cheeks. "I've been practicing since I was small."

"It shows. Competitively, or just a hobby?"

He hadn't quite noticed the character of her reactions yet. Give him time, possibly put up a neon sign, and then maybe he will.

Kate had just finished up her own practice, and was still dressed in exercise gear. She had a bow and quiver slung over her back, and a towel over the other shoulder. But hearing the activity nearby made her stop, and take a peek.

She watched for a moment before applauding, "Wow. Did you train for the Olympics?"

"Me?" And then Kimberly realized she was the only other person in the room. "Um, no just hometown things. I almost made it nationals once but.. I messed up on my dismount" She sighed.

"But it didn't discourage me and the girl who did win was pretty awesome."

Kate nodded, and shrugged, "Sorry. Took me forever to figure out some of the more complicated katas. And no, never should. You just keep practicing to get better."

She set her bow off to the side, and held out her hand, "I'm Kate, you woke up in the last podpop right?"

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taking time to think;

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