Part 9
“Well, where’s this grand victory now?”, Nefaria sneered toward Vypra. Vypra however turned her sword towards Nefaria and shot flames out of it causing Nefaria to leap back. She had brought out her wand ready to blast Vypra when Dregon stepped in the middle. “ENOUGH!!!”, he shouted then he turned towards Vypra walking towards her menacingly.
“Nefaria has a point Vypra. I have yet to see any kind of glorious victory. All I have seen are two monsters using combined resources get destroyed! I have yet to see any kind of ultimate power! WHEN SHALL I HAVE MY VICTORY?!!!”
Vypra looked afraid but then a voice echoed throughout the Spider base. “Soon Dregon. Very soon!” Dregon looked around to see who spoke but saw no one. “Who speaks?”, Dregon asked feeling a chill enter the room.
An image started to form in the center of the room. It showed an image of evil
“Destructor!”, Vypra said in awe and surprise.
“Yes Vypra. It is I.”
The image had also appeared in the throne room of the Dark Fortress where Grimlord and Diabolico stood waiting. “What manner of creature is this?”, Grimlord asked.
“He is Destructor. “, answered Diabolico. “One of the core leaders, and main founder of the order.”
“Thank you Diabolico. But now it is time for business. I trust the allies have been gathered as per Evil Q’s…. . request?” Destructor would never say ‘order’ in regards to Evil Q. While the evil entity may have had near god-like power, Destructor would never humble himself into a servant role for anyone. Destructor saw himself as a master not a servant.
“Yes, we have Grimlord and the Virtual Army ready to join us. “, Diabolico announced. “Their evil shall nourish our matrix well.”
“As will Kilokhan and his new army. “, Dreadwind announced as Kilokhan and Dreadwind focused their attention on the image in the control center of Digitropolis. Destructor cast his vision all across the central floor of Digitropolis seeing Kilokhan’s new look, his three new generals and the army of Swarmers at his disposal.
“I see you have come up in the world Kilokhan. “, Destructor said in a tone of respect.
“Yes, Destructor. Your alliance has already borne me great fruit. I now have the means to expand my empire in ways I had never contemplated.” Turning to Dreadwind Kilokhan nodded to him and Dreadwind bowed. Destructor had known about the budding process of the Transformers and suspected that that was what had used for Kilokhan’s sudden push to power.
In so short a time Kilokhan had unlocked secrets of corporations, military secrets, bank accounts, more than any other computer could account for. And one other secret that he intended to deal with personally.
Kilokhan downloaded himself into his throne and sent his mind into the digital domain to finish his old enemy. Dreadwind turned to Destructor saying, “Forgive Kilokhan he has some… business to take care of. Namely the destruction of an enemy.”
Darkwing and Nukus looked into the sky just above the crypt. “Well I’m glad someone’s having a good day. But we just had a problem with one of the rogues that came searching for their own matrix. “, Darkwing said.
“Not to worry the matter of the matrix has been… dealt with. “, another voice said. The order members listening knew that the voice belonged to Zanzibar.
Zanzibar, Rani and Biilly looked up at the image of Destructor as did Ken and Keen. Zanzibar had addressed the image before him. “The contacts I have made have secured the Matrix for us, as well as a few prisoners in Dana Mitchell and Ken Tanaka.”
“Will they be executed?”, Destructor asked.
“Not exactly. “, Zanzibar said. “They are right now involved in…. scientific research.”
Destructor looked worried. Too often villians had played with the rangers only for them to find the opportunity to turn the tables on their oppressors. “What kind of research?”, Destructor asked skeptically.
Biilly spoke first. “Well I have the Black Night Ranger facing a darker version of himself in a ‘human nature’ experiment.”
“And Miss Mitchell is ‘volunteering’ her services in a new ‘genetics research experiment. “, Rani had said.
Destructor liked the evil ideas presented to him, but he was still leery of what would happen next. “Where are you located Zanzibar?”
“Arcadia Academy. “, The first lord announced. “It’s run by the Rani here.
“Very well. Can everyone rendezvous at this… Arcadia Academy that Zanzibar is located at.” All the villians in the conference call nodded aware of Arcadia’s reputation.
“Very well, if you all come there you will be transported all at one time to our base. And this shall allow you to complete your… experiments Rani.” Rani bowed to Destructor’s image showing respect.
“And be sure to let me know the results of your… experiments. “, Destructor laughed before fading away. With that done Biilly looked down at Ken and Keen. “Now I think it’s time we got started don’t you?”
Destructor broke off the telepathic connection with the others and turned his focus to the Matrix of Evil standing before him. The dark power within it shone forth like a warm blanket smothering the most evil soul with its power, nurturing the evil as evil would nurture it. Destructor welcomed this and knew the teams would be sucessful in Evil Q’s plan to recruit evil and stop the rogues and rangers from recovering another matrix. And even if the rangers thwart a plan to obtain a matrix our current operation leaves us with many other options., he thought.
But while new members of the order were always welcome as well as new power for it, Destructor believed there were still a few things that could be done to feed the power of their Matrix’s power. For an all powerful omnipotent being, Evil Q’s scope is rather limited.
The lord of the order to the podium where a powerful jewel rested. Destructor picked it up, and held it in front of the Matrix before him. “Now let’s see what to do with you?”
Destructor looked into the jewel known as the Demon’s eye and saw many images. Conquerors, warlords, destroyers, all serving the darkest evil. All worthy for their evil to join the Matrix of Evil.
Destructor smiled. “The Matrix will have more evil than it will know what to do with. “, then he chuckled to himself as his plan started to take shape.
In the basement of the former Samuri Syber Squad Zhane and Karone had scarfed down what looked like an old turkey left in the fridge. Bags of cheese puffs, tortilla chips, bannana peels, microwave pizza boxes and ding dong wrappers. Anything edible that wasn’t nailed down Zhane and Karone ate. Sam and the rest of the Syber Squad looked on wondering how they could put all that food away.
“Got any more?”, Zhane asked. Sam looked stunned.
“Uhhh, all I’ve got are these Recee cups. “, he said pulling out the orange wrapper holding the two peanut butter cups inside. Karone snatched the cups out of Sam’s hand and opened them like a lunatic. Zhane snatched one and both he and Karone downed the peanut butter/chocolate candies in one bite.
Man, I’ve never seen anyone put away that much food. Not even on the football team., Tanker thought. “Uhhh are you finished?”, he asked.
“Yeah, this’ll do for now. “, Zhane said standing up.
“You sure?”, Syd asked. “Cause I could order a pizza.”
“Pizza?”, Karone looked wild eyed as if Syd said her favorite food. “Can it be with the works?”
“Uhhh, sure. “, Syd went to the phone and called Tony’s delivery and placed an order for five jumbo pizzas with the works. Hopefully the guys and I will be able to have at least one slice., she thought.
“I know the way we eat looks disgusting. “, Zhane said. “But it’s also how we power up Doubledealer. He gets his energy from us.”
“We’re his engines. “, Karone added.
“Wow. “, Sam said surprised.
“I guess he takes in a lot of fuel huh?”, Tanker added. Zhane let out a chuckle as if saying “You’re not kidding.”
Syd finished placing the order when she looked at the computer before her. The images of Drago and Tracto were disintigrating before her very eyes. “Guys, the Samuri vehicles are being destroyed!”
“What?”, Sam said looking at the screen. “Can you stop it?”
“I’m trying but nothing works.” Evil laughter filled the computer screen as Kilokhan’s image formed on the right side looking at Team Samuri mockingly.
“At long last, the end of the Superhuman Samuri Syber Squad! The end of Servo! And the end of the rule of the meat things!! AH!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!”
Syd moved on the computer to where the Servo sub program was located. “Sam give me your Samurizer.” Sam immediately took it off and gave it to Syd. Zhane and Karone looked on confused.
Syd hooked up the Samurizer to the computer and proceeded to download the Servo program into the samurizer before whatever was disintigrating the Samuri vehicle programs got to the main program as well. When the computer signified that the download was completed Syd immediately disconnected the Samurizer from the computer. Just in time to see the last of Drago and Tracto dissapear from the screen.
Kilokhan then appeared on screen again. “So you managed to save the Servo program. Well that won’t do you any good. The age of Kilokhan is upon us and all the meat-things will fall before the purity of my technological rule!” Laughing he left the screen leaving Team Samuri defeated.
“Well, I guess that’s it then. “, Lucky said.
“Yeah. With the vehicles gone there is no Superhuman Samuri Syber Squad. “, Syd added.
“At least the Servo Program is still intact. “, Sam said fingering the Samurizer. “Someone else can continue the fight. Maybe even do a better job than us.”
Zhane and Karone looked on confused. “Uhh, pardon me for sounding like a moron but what is going on?”
Sam looked up smiling lopsided aware that not everyone knew the history about the Superhuman Samuri Sybersquad. “You up for a story?”
Zhane and Karone both nodded and Sam told his story as everyone waited for the pizzas to come.
Parker rode back to the UV Daily with Kaitlin with Ryan and J. B. following. They made it to the office when Parker’s communicator went off. “Hey sis what’s up?”, Parker said knowing full well only Lillian would be calling on his communicator.
Lillian’s voice spoke up on the other end. “Hey Park. We’ve got a bit of a crisis here and we need the Troopers. Can you convince them to help out?”
Parker looked up to Ryan, Kaitlin and J. B. They all had wide eyed looks and shook their heads no. “No, I’m sorry. “, Ryan said. “But we can’t get involved with that stuff anymore.”
“We know Ziktor’s up to something. We need to focus on that. “, was J. B. ‘s answer.
“I’m sorry Parker, but we’ve gotten more involved than we care for with Ziktor. We’re going to find out his connection to Grimlord but after that we’re done. “, was Kaitlin’s answer.
“The VR Troopers are done Parker. We just can’t do it anymore. “, was Ryan’s final answer.
Parker understood as did Lillian who overheard what Ryan, Kaitlin and J. B. said. “I understand. “, Parker said then brought up his communicator. What he said next was… surprising.
“Lil? Four to teleport.”
Ryan raised his hand to protest but didn’t get the chance as four white streaks took off from the Crossworld parking lot towards Power Mountain.
In Hillhurst Unia, Heather, Flabber and the monsters looked at the four children seated on the stairwell. “Come on we haven’t got all day. “, Unia said. “What’s going on with you guys?”
The kids said nothing. All they did was sit with stony expressions on their faces. “Come on guys say something!”, Flabber pleaded. Even Heather tried to get at least Drew to talk.
“Hey Drew, there’s this cool new movie opening at the Charterville ciniplex. Wanna go?”, Drew said nothing.
Unia’s communicator then broke the silence. Bringing it to her mouth she said, “This is Unia I read you.”
Heather looked at Unia confused, “Unia? You said your name was Una.”
“Long story. “, Unia said before going back to the person on the other end of the communicator. “Go on ahead.”
“Unia this is Carter. There has been some new developments. We’re prepared to teleport you to the Power Chamber.”
“The Power Chamber?”, she said surprised. “It still exists?”
“In this reality it does, they call it Power Mountain though. We managed to find trouble in our searches for the matrix and we need to rally the troops.” Unia nodded back at Carter’s answer and prepared to teleport until she looked at the kids and Heather and had a wicked idea. “Carter, prepare to teleport six to the Power Chamber. Key on my signal.”
“Now just one minute!”, Drew shouted but didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before he was carried off in a white teleportation beam along with Jo, Josh, Roland and Heather.
The monsters looked on at the spots where Unia and the kids stood. Flabber said a silent prayer for the Beetleborgs hoping they would be all right.
Carter tried to contact Zhane, Karone, Doubledealer, Dana and Ken but got no responses. He momentarily turned from the comm panel to see ten white teleport streaks arrive in the center of the room. “All Right! What’s going on here?”, Ryan Steele shouted. After shouting he took in the room he and his friends had arrived in and was speechless afterwards.
Drew however asked the question the new arrivals wanted to know. “What is this place?”
“I bid all of you Welcome to Power Mountain. “, Zordon’s voice boomed throughout the room. “We have called you here because we require your assistance in a grave situation.”
“Whoa wait a minute. “, J. B. raised his hands ready to protest. “We’re not in the super hero business anymore.”
“You know you keep saying that. “, interrupted Lillian. “But it seems like every time you do you pull out the virtualizers and try to save someone.”
“Yeah well this time we mean it. “, Ryan said. “Now how do we get out of here?”
“I believe I can handle that. “, the Doctor said stepping forward offering his hand to Troopers and Beetleborgs. “How do you do I’m the Doctor.”
Ryan took the Doctor’s hand and shook it returning the greeting, but was confused nonetheless about who the mysterious stranger was. “I’m Ryan Steele, these are my friends J. B. reese and Kaitlin Star.”
The Doctor shook J. B. ‘s hand and kissed Kaitlin’s hand like a classy British gentleman. Kaitlin couldn’t help but blush. He then turned to the Beetleborgs and they introduced themselves.
“I’m Drew McCormick. “, the young blond boy said. “This is my sister Jo, my best friend Roland and our friend Josh.” The other three also waved as Unia spoke.
“These four are apparently the Beetleborgs of Charterville. Or at least according to them they were.”
“‘Were’ is right. “, Jo said. “We’re retired.”
“And they won’t say why. “, Heather spoke up next. The Doctor raised his eyebrow suspiciously. “I take it you have your reasons?”
“We do. “, Drew said. “And that’s all we care to say.” The Doctor’s eye turned in the Trooper’s direction and the look in their eyes said the same thing.
“Well since you are all dying to go home. I’ll be more than happy to handle the teleport for you. Alpha could you check out the communication’s board with Carter please?” Alpha looked confused but decided to check out the comm board where Carter was.
The Doctor pressed a couple of switches acting like he was inputing teleport co-ordinates then hit a final switch that had the Troopers and Beetleborgs glow in a flash of light as if the teleport system tried to send them home but was not working. Finally the flashing stopped and thr Troopers and Beetleborgs stayed where they were.
“Hmmm! I wonder what the problem is?”, the Doctor muttered as he went to look under the console. He carried on like he was looking inside the equipment and he pulled out a part of the teleportation system. “Ah HA! Here’s the trouble.”
Billy stepped forward curious as to what the Doctor was up to. “What?”
“The fluid link to the teleportation circuits has a crack in it. It’s preventing the conduits to the teleportation system from connecting.” Taking the component to Billy the Doctor asked. “How long will it take for a replacement component to be ready William?”
Billy was about to give an honest answer but he caught a look on the Doctor’s face that said that honesty was not the best policy, at least as far as the Troopers and Beetleborgs were concerned. “Could take a while Doctor. Like maybe… three days.”
“Three days?!!”, Roland said in surprise. “What do we tell Nano? We’ve also got school!”
“And I have my job at the paper!”, Kaitlin said. “What do I tell Woody?”
“Not to worry. “, Zordon answered. “We can contact your friends and family and reassure them that you will be all fine. In the meantime we have guest quarters available that you can use. Kimberly and Katherine would you please show the Troopers and Beetleborgs to their quarters?”
The Troopers and Beetleborgs reluctantly followed the two Pink Rangers to the guest quarters. Zordon then spoke to the Doctor via telepathy. You know you tried that once.
Yes on Skaro. I sabotaged the fluid link to the TARDIS so my companions and I could explore an old city where the Daleks resided.
I also recall that adventure backfired on you old friend.
Yes, but this time I’m hoping for more positive results.The Doctor smiled on a small viewscreen that showed the Troopers and Beetleborgs being led to guest quarters. Zordon looked on to hoping his old friend was right.
Carter meanwhile turned back to the communications console where Alpha was working. “Have you found the rest of my team yet?”
“Unfortunately no Carter. “, Alpha answered. “However if you were to give me some additional information, I can have the computer detect them.”
Kathy heard this and came over to help. Nathan followed behind her suspiciously much to Kathy’s annoyance. “What all do you need?”, she asked.
“Well some power signitures would help. “, answered Alpha. Carter nodded and began to provide information.
“Well, Dana’s would probably be similar to mine except it would be in a pink hue.”
Kathy spoke next. “And Ken’s would probably be along my frequency except it would be black.”
“Zhane and Karone are bonded to a Cybertronian right now but they may still have some latent connection to power. Zhane was a Silver Astro Ranger and Karone was… once Astronema.”
“Ai, yi, yi, yi yi, Astronema?”. Carter, Nathan and Kathy silenced Alpha as Nathan said. “It might not be a good idea to advertise information about the future.” Tommy picked up Alpha’s shriek and asked what was wrong.
“Nothing Tommy. We’re trying to find the rest of Carter’s team and an old name had come up. “, Alpha told the truth but changed the context so that there was nothing to worry about. Yet.
“Who’s Astronema?”, Adam asked.
“A minor villianess who serves as the right hand of Dark Specter, head of the United Alliance of Evil. “, Zordon explained. “He’s the one who organized much of the evil alliances ranger teams face.”
“Is she someone we need to worry about?”, Aisha asked.
“Not at this time rangers. However don’t be surprised if you run into Astronema in the not too distant future. But at this time she’s not our concern.” Zordon hoped that would be enough to let the subject drop for now. Too much knowledge about a possible future could be a bad thing.
“All right, information is in. Scanning for power signitures. “, Alpha said as the computer began its work.
“So now what do we do?”, Kathy asked Carter.
“We wait. “, Carter answered. Until we find out where are friends are.”
Kathy took that as a sign to go outside for some fresh air. Nathan asked if he could join her and she sighed a ‘yes. ‘ Exiting through the main chamber door Kathy and Nathan walked down the corridors making their way to the outside.
Jamie turned to Nate and asked what was up with Nathan and the ‘biker chick in pink’ as she so eloquently put it. Nate answered in his cold voice, “He is trying to determine a connection.”
“A connection to what?”, Jason asked Nate.
“I can’t explain.”
Kathy and Nathan continued to walk down the hall heading outside. “This is annoying isn’t it?”, Nathan asked.
Kathy turned to Nathan and said with edge to his voice, “You better believe it bucko. It isn’t easy looking at someone and feel some sort of connection to them and not know what it is.”
Nathan nodded in agreement. “Perhaps we should determine why we feel this way towards one another.” Kathy looked at Nathan suspiciously and asked, “You’re not thinking about something… physical are you?”
“No, somehow it doesn’t seem like a good idea. “, he said. Every fiber in his being agreed with the statement.
“You bet it’s not a good idea. “, she said leaving out that she too didn’t think physical contact was a good idea.
Nathan then offered a possible solution. “Maybe we could talk things out. Compare notes or something.”
Kathy thought about it and said, “I guess I’ll try anything once. “, and she and Nathan both walked out the Power Chamber together.
Back in the special projects division of Arcadia Academy Dana had drifted in and out of consciousness as she continued to lay on the gurney. Most of it was due to tiredness, the rest was because of boredom. I wish they’d just do what they are going to do so they can just get it over with, she thought.
Ironically the minute she made the wish Dana heard the opening of vents as she heard something being admitted into the room. The virus., she deduced. She held her breath hoping to not take in any of the dangerous unseen compound, and also struggling to get free of the bonds holding her down.
In her struggles Dana managd to turn her wrist over so the activation button on her communicator was facing down much to her discomfort. On instinct she slammed her wrist down onto the gurney managing to activate the communicator hoping the signal itself would be enough for someone to check out.
Finally Dana could hold her breath no longer. She let out the breath she had taken and had no choice but to take the virus infested air into her body. Dana then became afraid wondering what effect, if any, the virus would have on her.
And somewhere in the back of her mind the Matrix of Spirit touched her subconsciousness.
So much had happened to Ken over so little time. He had been kidnapped by Zanzibar, learned that he and Destructor were constructing an army in the dimension they were in, and found out that he had a drug in his system that repressed most of his rage.
Oh yeah he also found out that he had been duplicated by Mad Scientist Biilly Cranston and that his replica had not only his uncontrolled anger magnified by one million, but a twisted version of his Night Powers as well as Ken found out as he went spinning around in a whirlwind that sent him slamming against the wall. Biilly and Zanzibar looked on in awe at their Night Terror’s first shot.
Ken found himself thrown back across the floor, when he started to come to the Night Terror came barrelling down like a maniac with Ken instinctively getting out of the way. Night Terror stopped and turned to Ken staring down at him.
“Look at you!”, the replica of Ken said. “I am who you could have been. A force uncontrolled, unsurpassed, but instead you hide me with drugs and prescriptions! Keeping me down unless for a fight! And only then do you let me out sparingly!! What were you thinking when you believed you could deny me?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”, Ken asked. “What do you mean by me ‘denying you’?”
Night Terror then laughed out loud. “Don’t you get it? I’m you! THE REAL YOU!!! The part of you you always try to deny. The part of you that isn’t kept down by morality, decency, and concern for his fellow man! I am the TRUE Ken Tanaka, reborn in the body of a replica!”
“No!”, Ken said defiantly. “You’re not me!”
“Am I not? Who’s the one with the drug addled brain? Who’s the one who had to take anger supressants to keep me down? Who’s the one who renounced the fantasy of goodness and light? Darkness is truth! Darkness is power! Light is the illusion! NOW TASTE REALITY!!!”
Night Terror morphed into a suit of medevel armor with spikes coming out of the shoulders and the wrists, and a mask much like that of a black knight sent to scare away villagers with his evil presence. Terror thenraised his hands into the air as a tornado formed chasing Ken. Bringing up his morpher he called out “PANTHERNIGHT!”, and morphed into his ranger suit.
Black Night and Night Terror sized each other up. Black Night knew that he’d be at a disadvantage since a lot of his fighting had been done while making use of his anger. An anger that Night Terror had now, so what else could he use?
Night Terror threw a right cross that Black Night promptly dodged as well as an agressive kick that was dodged as well. Black Night quickly deduced that Night Terror was clearly trying to go for the quick maiming. He wanted Black Night crippled and he wanted him crippled now.
Without his anger to support him Black Night focused on another weapon in his arsenal, his combat experience. Like other extreme fighters he was made aware of pressure points on an opponent and where to hit to send him realing. Knowledge that Night Terror didn’t seem to possess since he was trying to use his fighting prowess to hit anywhere he could on Black Night with enough power to cripple him.
Black Night then ducked down and gave a spinning kick to the back of Night Terror’s knee sending him down. Then grabbing his arm Black Night pulled it back dislocating it. After the howl of pain Black Night looked up to see Zanzibar, the Rani and Biilly looking down.
“Well, does this answer your ‘scientific query’?”, Black Night shouted to the three watching the events. Biilly curved his lips annoyed. “This one yes.”
Black Night looked up confused as did Zanzibar and Rani wonder what Biilly was up to. “What do you mean by ‘this one’?”, Zanzibar asked.
“Well you see I had another little query in mind. “, Biilly said. “You’re all familiar of the battle between the irresistable force and the immovable object?” Both Zanzibar and Rani smiled seeming to know what was going on, but Biilly had a surprise.
“Well, I wondered what do you get when you cross the irresistable force AND the immovable object?” Motioning his hand over to where Night Terror lay Rani, Zanzibar and Black Night were stunned to see Biilly’s creation back on his feet and apparently bulked up an inch musclewise.
Night Terror was standing right back up again as he forceibly moved his shoulder back into place. Rolling it back and forth showed that his shoulder was all right again. “Healing factor. “, Terror explained. “Gotta love it.”
“As well as other improvements. “, Biilly said smugly. “I hope you DON’T like them.”
Night Terror now looked like a mass of muscle that could literally snap anyone’s bones like twigs. Black Night suddenly knew he was in the fight of his life.
Outside Power Mountain Kathy took in the sunset as she stood mesmerized by the colors the setting sun provided. Not far from her Nathan stood admiring the same sunlight, and both were curious about the link that they seemed to share but weren’t sure about. And they were both finding it very annoying.
“Beautiful isn’t it?”, Nathan asked. Kathy nodded. “I don’t think I take in sunsets as much as I’d like to really.”
“Why is that?”, Nathan asked. Kathy just shrugged her shoulders. “So many things in the universe to distract you I guess. I’ve been to many different planets, and I’ve seen sunsets in many different patterns and colors. Yet this seems natural to me.”
Nathan’s interest perked when Kathy mentioned visiting other planets. “You traveled?”
“With my father. But don’t think he was a good man because he wasn’t. He was a high up in the Luciferian Empire, and there was no one more evil than them.” Kathy sighed. Despite the strange link she had with Nathan, she enjoyed talking to him about stuff. In a way it lessened the aggravation about the mystery link. Nathan then asked “What was your childhood like?”
Kathy then smiled as she thought about her childhood. “Which one?”, she asked. Nathan looked confused. “I kind of had two. My first one when I was with my father and the second when I was given a new body from the DNA of two of his slaves.”
Kathy turned to Nathan and asked, “You up for a long story?”
Nathan couldn’t help but smile. Besides the more we talk the more we may find out about the link we have., he thought. “I guess I can make the time. “, he then said.
And as the sun was setting Kathy Hart and Nathan Oliver swapped stories about their personal histories.