Ranger Moon #1 - "A Ranger Star is Born"

	As the sun began to rise over the city of Angel Grove one
Friday morning, a shrill cry broke the tranquillity.
	"Aaaaah, why didn't someone wake me up??"
	Kimberly Hart jumped out of bed and began preparing for
school at a frantic rate.  In three minutes, she bolted out of the
bedroom, put on her shoes, grabbed her bookbag, and flew out the
front door.
	Five minutes later, Kimberly arrived at Angel Grove High
School.  She made a mad dash to her locker and removed several
books.  She slammed it shut and bolted off down the hall.  As she
rounded the corner, she collided with a young man in white,
sending her books flying.
	"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kimberly said, then looked up into his
brown eyes.  He was quite a hunk, she decided.  His dark brown
hair was pulled into a ponytail, and he was very well-built.
	"No problem," he said with a smile as he bent down to
collect her books.  No sooner than he had handed her the books,
Kim dashed off, politely shoving her way through the people in the
hall.

	Kimberly quietly opened the door to Miss Applebee's
classroom and slipped in.  As the door was in the back of the
classroom and Miss Applebee was writing on the chalkboard in the
front of the room, Kimberly was able to tiptoe to her seat in the
back row and sit without being seen.
	"Miss Hart," said the teacher without turning around, "will
you please see me after class?"
	Kimberly sighed and put her head on her desk.  She could
hear a classmate cackling at her misfortune.  She lifted her head
and scowled at her antagonist, a slender young man whose short
black hair was slicked back.
	"Knock it off, Skull!" she whined and put her head back
down.

	After class, Kimberly approached the desk where Miss
Applebee was sitting.  "You wanted to see me?" Kim asked.
	"Miss Hart," said the teacher, looking up, "are you aware of
Monday's mythology exam?"
	Kimberly fidgeted with the straps on her bookbag and
looked down as she nodded.
	"I suggest," Miss Applebee told her, "that you get your act
together.  If you fail to pass this exam, you will flunk the class.  Do
you understand?"
	Kimberly nodded her head and replied softly, "Yes, Miss
Applebee."
	The teacher smiled slightly.  "Good.  You're excused."
	Kimberly walked out of the classroom.  In the hall, a young
man with light brown hair and glasses was waiting for her.
	"Oh, hey, Billy," she said with a smile as they walked down
the hall together.  "Thanks for waiting."
	"What did Miss Applebee want this time?" he asked.
	Kim sighed.  "She told me that if I didn't pass this
mythology exam, I'll fail the class."
	Billy thought for a moment and then replied, "I could help
you study."
	She smiled.  "That would be great!"

	Kimberly waved and yelled, "Thanks for the help!" as Billy
walked down her driveway into the night.
	Once he was gone, Kim went back inside and locked the
door.  She went upstairs to her room, changed into pajamas,
brushed her teeth, and climbed into bed.
	She curled up with her stuffed bunny and thought, "Boy,
Billy is such a nice guy."  For a moment, she considered the
possibility of dating him.  "Nah, that'd be too weird," she decided. 
"We've been best friends since the third grade."  She remembered
how they had first become friends.
	It was eight years ago.  Kim had always loved the rose
quartz pendant her mother had given her.  She wore it wherever
she went.  One day, when a new boy in her class named Billy saw
the pendant, he showed her a sapphire gem that he wore around his
neck, just like Kimberly did.  When she explained how her mother
had given it to her, Billy told her that his mother had given him his
as well.  After that day, they felt a unique bond that resulted in
them being best friends ever since.
	As she thought about Billy, Kimberly gently held her
pendant and drifted off to sleep.

	Hours later, Kimberly awoke with the sudden urge to look
out her window.  She couldn't explain the feeling, but she didn't
fight it.  She got up, pulled the curtains apart, and opened her
window.
	Hovering in the dark night sky was a figure in white.  He
wore a solid white bodysuit with a white helmet and a few pieces
of golden armor.  A long, white cape flowed behind him in the
cool night breeze.  As she gazed at the mysterious person defying
gravity, she was mesmerized.  Her trance was broken when the
figure tossed something in her direction.  A white flower landed
gently in her hands.  She looked down at the flower and
determined that it was an albino tiger lily.  She looked back up to
the figure, but he was no longer there.

	Meanwhile, in a dark arcade across town, a single arcade
machine was on.  Standing on the controls was a small white cat.
	"Command Central," the cat said in the voice of a young
Australian woman, "this is Kat checking in.  How are things
going?"
	A deep voice echoed from the machine, "The day I have
feared has finally arrived.  Queen Rita of the Netherverse has
reawakened."
	Kat gasped.  "But, but Zordon... she's not due for another
four years!  And the Ranger Scouts... they're just teenagers! 
They're not ready!"
	"Kat, you must remain calm," Zordon told the cat.  "You
will need to find the carrier of the Moon Zeo Shard and be
prepared to bring back Ranger Moon."
	"But what about the others?" she asked.
	"We will let them lead normal lives until it becomes
absolutely necessary to bring them back."
	Kat sighed.  "I understand."  She pushed a button on the
machine and said, "Kat out."

	The next morning, Kimberly sat at a picnic table beneath a
mighty oak tree in the park, hunched over a textbook.  In one hand,
she delicately caressed the white flower that the mysterious figure
in white had given her.  Try as she might to study, Kimberly's mind
kept wandering back to last night.  Who was that guy?
	"Hi," someone said.
	Kimberly looked up to see the guy she'd run into the day
before in the hall.  "Oh, hi," she squealed with a grin.
	"My name's Tommy," he said.
	"Kimberly," she told him, shaking his hand.  She smiled at
him for a second, then suddenly said, "Oh!  Thanks for helping me
with my books yesterday.  Sorry I rushed off like that."
	"Ah, no problem," he told her.  "What're you doing?"
	She looked down at her textbook.  "Oh, I'm just studying
for a big mythology exam Monday," she said.  She looked up at
him and smiled.  "I haven't seen you around before.  Did you just
move to Angel Grove?" she asked.
	"Yeah," he replied as he noticed the flower in her hand. 
"That's a really cool flower.  Where'd you get it?"
	She looked down at the flower and seemed hypnotized by
it.  "Oh, someone gave it to me," she answered absently.
	"Oh," he said and looked down.  Kimberly looked at him
and noticed his reaction, but before she could rephrase her
response, he said, "Y'know, I just remembered I have a karate
class.  I've gotta run.  Nice meeting you!"  He gave a slight wave
and walked off.
	"Bye!" Kimberly called out weakly.  She sat there for a
moment, a bit sad that she had scared him off.  Then her sadness
turned to irritation.  "Why would he react like that just because
somebody gave me a flower?" she asked herself as she collected
her things and stuffed them into her bag.  She paused to think, then
a smile formed on her face.  "...Unless he's interested in me..."  She
was amused by that thought, and she picked up the last of her
things and walked off.
	Kimberly stopped suddenly as she saw a small white cat
standing in her path, looking up at her.
	"Awww, what a cute kitty!" she cooed, setting her bag
down.  She crouched next to the cat and pet it.  Upon discovering
that the cat wore no collar, Kimberly looked around in all
directions but could see no one nearby.  "But where's your owner?"
she asked the cat.  She thought for a second, then told the cat, "I'll
tell you what.  I'll take you home and put an ad in the paper."  She
stood up and picked up her bag.  The cat turned around in the
direction Kimberly was facing.
	Kim looked down at the cat, amused.  She took a step
forward, and the cat mimicked her and stopped right beside her. 
Kim took another three steps, and the cat continued to stay right by
her side.  She smiled and began to walk home as the cat followed
her.

	That night as Kimberly got into bed and snuggled up with
her stuffed bunny, Kat jumped up on the bed and circled around
five or six times before lying by Kimberly's feet.  On Kimberly's
dresser nearby was an elegant glass vase which served as the new
home of Kim's white tiger lily.
	"Boy, that Tommy's a definite hunkmeister," Kimberly said
softly as she turned off her lamp, "but he just ran off when he
found out someone gave me that flower.  Why wouldn't he want to
put up a fight for me?"  She yawned.  "Maybe he's not a fighter. 
Maybe he's an honorable guy and wouldn't wanna take someone
else's girl.  Or, then again, maybe he really did have a karate class
to go to."  Her mind shifted to the mysterious figure who'd given
her the flower the previous night.  "And who was that guy in
white?  Maybe it's Tommy."  She giggled madly, then yawned. 
She stretched her arms, knocking the clock off her nightstand. 
"Oops," she said.  After another brief giggle, she turned over and
went to sleep.
	Kat rolled her eyes.  "Oh brother," she sighed.

	On the moon, an ominous castle jutted out from the lunar
surface.  Within the main chamber, Queen Rita sat in a large
throne made of solid bone.  Two large cones of gray hair extended
from her head, and she wore a brown robe with a great deal of
jewelry.  Her fingertips lightly wandered along the surface of a
dark crystal sphere which hovered over her lap.
	Surrounding the throne on three sides was an enormous
mob of creatures, out of the light, so that they appeared to be one
black mass.
	The queen announced in a shrill voice, "Pyrite, come
forth!"
	Within seconds, a warrior clad in a suit of golden armor
teleported before the queen.  His face, a dark bluish color, was
unmistakably canine in appearance, and his empty, red eyes bore
no pupils.  The wings of some giant crow projected from an
opening in the back of his armor.  "Yes, my Queen," he growled,
baring his yellowish fangs.
	"The time has come to collect the five Zeo Shards," she
said.  "One of our operatives has found evidence of their existence
in Angel Grove, California.  You will travel to Angel Grove and
hunt down the shards."
	"It shall be done," Pyrite replied, bowing.  He vanished in a
streak of black energy.

	"Wake up, you slug!" a female voice shouted at Kimberly
in an Australian accent.  Kim groaned and slowly opened her eyes. 
Perched ontop of her chest was Kat, staring directly into her eyes. 
"There's an emergency in Angel Grove!  Get up!" the cat yelled.
	Kimberly sprang out of bed, sending Kat flying through the
air.  As the small cat landed nimbly ontop of Kim's dresser,
Kimberly told herself, "My cat is talking to me!" Although her
voice was hysterical, she spoke in almost a whisper so that she
wouldn't wake her mother or her little brother.
	"My name is Kat," the cat said calmly.
	"Kat?" Kimberly smirked.  "How original."
	"Listen up," Kat said authoritatively, "There is a monster
named Pyrite attacking the city.  He is one of Queen Rita's
henchmen, and he's looking for you.  He will destroy everything in
this city until he finds you."
	"I'm dreaming.  That has to be it.  But I wish you were that
guy outside my window.  Or maybe Tommy," she told the cat.
	Kat sighed.  "I guess the only way this is going to work is to
use the Kat Mind Meld."
	Before Kimberly could ask, "The what?", a beam of golden
light shot out from Kat's forehead, striking Kim's.  The past
flooded into Kimberly's mind, and she became aware of what had
happened a millennium ago.

	One thousand years ago, the glorious Moon Kingdom, led
by the good Queen Dulcea, preserved peace throughout our solar
system.  The queen's daughter, Princess Diana, represented the
moon in a royal court of five members.  The other court members
represented the planets of Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. 
These five princes and princesses were known as the Ranger
Scouts.  Under the leadership of Queen Dulcea and the Ranger
Scouts, the people of the Moon Kingdom lived in peace and
happiness.
	But one day, the evil Queen Rita of the Netherverse
attacked the Moon Kingdom, reducing the Moon Palace to ruins. 
Queen Dulcea used the Imperium Zeo Crystal to lock Rita and her
army of demons in a magical canister on the moon, where they
would sleep for one thousand years.  However, Dulcea used so
much power that the Imperium Zeo Crystal was broken into
pieces, each piece belonging to a Ranger Scout.  Queen Dulcea,
immensely weakened, began to die.  She sent the Ranger Scouts to
live on Earth, where they would protect the shards of the Imperium
Zeo Crystals.  She also sent her trusted aides, Katherine and
Zordon, to watch over the Scouts.
	As time passed, the Ranger Scouts would pass the crystals
down through generation after generation for nearly a thousand
years.  In present day, this generation of Ranger Scouts, in
preparation for Queen Rita's destined return, are the reincarnations
of the original princes and princesses of the Moon Kingdom, and
Princess Diana has been reincarnated as a girl named Kimberly
Hart.

	"No way," Kimberly said softly as she fell to her knees in
disbelief.  "I was a moon princess in a past life?"
	"Kind of hard to believe, isn't it?" Kat grumbled.  "Now,
here's what you need to do..."
	"You weren't always a cat, were you?" Kimberly asked,
looking at the golden crescent moon which she could now see on
the cat's forehead.  Kim got the feeling that it had been there since
she first found the cat, yet she had just lacked the insight to see it.
	Kat frowned.  "No, that's just the way I was reincarnated
this time."
	"What about Zordon?" Kim asked.
	"He's never been reincarnated because he never dies.  He
lives in a big tube," Kat told her, beginning to get irritated.  "Now,
are you going to listen?"
	"I _am_ listening."
	"Good.  That pendant you're wearing is your piece of the
Imperium Zeo Crystal.  When you touch it and shout, 'Moon Zeo
Power', you will transform into Ranger Moon."
	Kimberly looked down at the tiny piece of rose quartz
which hung around her neck.  "Gotcha," she said.
	"Now go!  There's not much time!"
	Kimberly stood and touched her pendant.  "Right!  In the
name of the moon, it's morphin' time!"
	"Skip the melodrama," Kat grumbled.
	"Moon ... Zeo ... Power!"
	A blinding pink light burst forth from the pendant, and
Kimberly closed her eyes.  She suddenly felt the sensation of being
nude, yet she was warm and secure.  Gravity ceased to exist, and
she felt as though she were flying.  She could feel energy wrapping
around her body and solidifying.  Reality soon returned, and the
ground was again beneath her feet.
	She opened her eyes and looked into the full-length mirror
on her door to discover that she was clad in a pink and white
leotard made of a firm yet flexible material, white boots and
gloves, and a pink miniskirt that was a bit shorter than she would
have preferred.  Her pendant was now set in a gold tiara, which she
wore on her forehead.
	"Wicked cool!" she squealed.  "I'm outie!"

	Pyrite plunged his clawed hand into the hood of a taxi and
extracted the engine.  He hurled the mass of machinery into the
concrete wall of a nearby building.  High above, a mysterious
silhouette sprang from rooftop to rooftop.  Suddenly, the person
leapt down, landing gracefully on the street below about thirty feet
from Pyrite.  The Netherverse general turned to face the stranger.
	"I am Ranger Moon," she announced, "and in the name of
the moon, I will punish you!"  She pointed at the gold warrior and
added, "And that means you!"
	Pyrite grinned.  "Very impressive."  He extended his hand,
palm up, and said, "Now give me your Zeo Shard."
	Kimberly crossed her arms and retorted, "I guess you don't
know who you're dealing with, buddy!  Why don't you just get out
of here before I'm forced to teach you a lesson!"
	Pyrite smiled and cracked his knuckles.  "What a shame.  I
didn't want this to get messy."
	Kimberly jumped into the air.  Extending her foot, she
sailed toward the Netherverse general.  The beast took a step back,
and she landed in a heap infront of him.  Pyrite howled with
laughter.
	Kimberly pushed her hair out of her face and stood up,
furious.  "I'll show you!"
	Without warning, the beast delivered a powerful backhand
to her face, sending her flying into the side of a nearby bus.  She
clutched her face and groaned.
	Pyrite walked closer to her and growled, "Now hand it
over, Ranger Brat."
	In response, Kimberly threw a clumsy kick at the general. 
Pyrite caught it easily and flung her across the street by her leg. 
She skidded across the pavement and slid to a stop.  She tried to
stand, but she could only make it onto her hands and knees.
	"Ranger Moon," a gentle male voice called out faintly.  She
looked around but could see no one nearby.  It told her, "use your
Crescent Moon Bow to defeat your foe."
	Finding a second wind, Kimberly stood boldly.  As Pyrite
prepared to taunt her some more, Kimberly shouted, "Crescent ...
Moon ... Bow!"  In her extended hands formed a pink archer's bow
in the shape of a crescent moon.  Finding an arrow already loaded
in the bow, Kimberly aimed at the general and pulled back the
string.  Pyrite's eyes bulged.  Before he could make a move,
Kimberly released the string, sending a glowing pink arrow
streaking toward the general.  As the arrow punctured the warrior's
breastplate, he clutched his chest in agony.  He stumbled back a
few steps and vanished.
	"Ranger Moon, you did it!" Kat gasped as she ran up to
Kimberly, out of breath.
	Kim smiled and lowered her bow.  "So I did it?  I saved the
solar system?"
	Kat looked down.  "I'm afraid this is just the beginning."