Note: I am not a Psych major. All my information on psychology comes from the Encyclopedia Britannica, Spider-man comics, and "The X-files." If I screwed up, and you are a Psych major, e-mail me. If it isn't vital to the story, I'll change it. If it is, tough. This story is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America. Mild profanity, some violence, and a deep plotline. Some material may not be suitable or understandable for young readers. However, I am unable to write a story with no romance, humor, or fighting, so those are in here too. Enough chatter, on with the show!
Personality Conflicts
Cold wind howled, blowing over a plain as dark
and barren as Lord Zedd's heart. Tommy Oliver looked around in confusion.
"Where am I? What is this place?" The whipping wind stole his words away,
carrying them to the ends of the earth. Worried, Tommy felt for his communicator
and found it gone. Unconsciously, his voice rose in frustration. "What's
going on here?"
As if in answer to his question, a green light
began to glow on the horizon, almost seeming to beckon to him. "Well, anything's
got to be better than staying here," he grumbled, silently hoping that
that was true as he set off in the direction of the glow. The emerald light
reflected against the low clouds, making it impossible for him to judge
how far he had to go.
After a timeless interval that could have
been ten seconds or ten years, he suddenly came across a tower of black
stone. Actually, ran into it would have been a better description. It seemed
to rise out of nowhere in the space of a blink. Running his hands over
the walls, he looked up to see green light pouring out of a window set
high in the tower wall, and no other openings in sight. Suddenly, he knew
that he had to get inside. He didn't know why, only that it was vital.
Examining the rough basalt, he decided that it would make passable handholds.
Great, he thought to himself, just
wonderful. Ever since Mondo's Quadrafighters blew me off the top of the
Power Chamber, I've hated heights. Tossing off a quick prayer to whatever
powers might be listening, he began to climb.
Finally, he reached the top. Sighing thankfully,
he pulled himself through the window and into the room. Oddly enough, the
green light had vanished without a trace. As he slowly rose to his feet,
he looked around, absorbing his surroundings. The walls of the room were
of the same rough basalt as the tower. The floor was covered with tiles,
a mosaic of images that were for the most part hidden in the gloom. That
was quite all right with Tommy, who had the very distinct feeling that
he didn't want to see them better- or at all. In the center of the room
was an altar, carved of some darkly glistening stone. Tommy would have
bet the price of Rocky's next lunch that it was obsidian. On top of the
altar was a small golden something that shone even in the dim light of
the tower. Tommy crossed the floor and looked down to see that it was a
coin. A Power Coin. It wasn't his White Coin, though, emblazoned with the
symbol of the Falcon, or even the Tiger. Oh, no, it was his Green Coin,
which had been in the possession of Tommy's clone the last time he'd seen
it. Tommy swallowed the bile welling up in his throat, suppressing the
flood of memories threatening to wash through him. He didn't want to deal
with this, now or ever.
"I see you've found my treasure," a cold voice
remarked from behind him. Tommy whirled to see the Green Ranger standing
behind him, fully morphed. The other was lounging insolently against a
wall, arms crossed nonchalantly across his chest.
"Hello, Tommy. Long time no see. How've you
been?" the Green Ranger asked, pushing away from the wall. Slowly, he walked
toward the other boy.
Tommy ignored his words, concentrating instead
on studying his old foe. The Green Ranger looked much stronger than when
Tommy had last seen him, and certainly stronger than when Tommy had last
been him. His suit was a glittering emerald green and the Dragonshield
sparkled, even in the dim light of the tower. Tommy thought he caught a
predatory gleam in the dragon's eye, but dismissed it as his own imagination.
"What's the matter, Tommy? Kat got your tongue?"
Green Ranger taunted.
"Leave Kat out of this," Tommy growled.
The Green Ranger shrugged, and Tommy could
just imagine the oily smirk spreading across the features beneath the helmet.
After all, he'd felt it on his own enough times. "It's good to see you
again, bro," the Green Ranger spat contemptuously, using Tommy and Jason's
old nickname for each other.
"Right, whatever," Tommy snorted. "Where are
we?"
"This is my world, Tommy. Don't you feel at
home here?"
"No way! This place is dead. We might as well
be on the moon!"
"Ah, yes," the Green Ranger chuckled. "We
always did have a liking for that place, you and I."
"Speak for yourself," Tommy shot back. "Why
are we here?"
"You belong here, Tommy. Darkness is your
destiny."
"NO!" Tommy yelled.
"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?
You can't deny the darkness inside you. It's part of you."
"No," repeated Tommy, quieter this time.
The Green Ranger sighed. "For untold millennia,
the Green powers were controlled by the forces of evil. You, pathetic Ranger,
were the first to ever use them for good. No wonder you lost them."
Tommy raised one eyebrow. "If what you say
is true, then it proves I'm not evil."
Amused, the Green Ranger shook his head. "Sorry,
Holmes, but you're wrong. There may be bits of light in your soul, but
your heart is dark on the whole. Why do you think Rita chose you?"
Something had been bothering Tommy throughout
the conversation, and now he realized what it was. "You talk too differently,
and know too much to just be my dark side. Who are you?"
"I am the spirit of the Green Coin, an amalgam
of all those who have possessed the Coin over the centuries. I am
the Green Power, and I've come to claim you."
"Not without a fight, you're not." Tommy fell
into a fighting stance.
"Oh, please," Green Ranger waved contemptuously.
"I don't have to fight you. Your personal darkness will fight for me."
With a gesture, the room's windows disappeared and darkness began to flow
out of the walls. "Hope you can swim!"
The black tide surged around Tommy's legs
like a living thing, clinging tightly, trying to climb his body. The waves
climbed higher and higher, singing a siren song of evil. Tommy thrashed,
trying desperately to keep his head above water, but to no avail. The black
flood climbed up, up, closing over him. Dimly, Tommy could hear the Green
Ranger's evil laughter as the darkness seeped into his soul.
"NOOOO!" Tommy cried, sitting bolt upright
in bed. His eyes darted around the room, trying to reassure himself that
there was no black tide getting ready to close over him. He dropped his
sweat-slick face into his hands with an inarticulate moan, just as his
family ran in.
"Tommy, what happened," his mother asked,
concerned.
"It- it's okay, Mom. Just a nightmare," he
managed, smiling sickly at her.
"Tommy, this is the sixth night in a row that
you've woken up screaming," his father told him. "This is the last straw.
First thing in the morning, I'm making you an appointment to see a psychiatrist."
"Dad!" Tommy wailed. "I'm not crazy!"
"No one said you were, Tommy. Psychiatrists
are trained to listen and help with problems, though, and I think you need
that. You- we can't go on like this." With that, his parents turned and
walked out of the room, leaving him with his sister and brother.
"Scoot over, Tommy," Chelsea ordered her "twin."
He obeyed, and she hopped up on the bed to sit next to them. "Okay, spill
your guts. What did you dream about?"
"Just your ordinary Angel Grove nightmare,"
he lied. "Monsters chasing me all over the place."
"Shyea, right," scoffed Teddy. The ten-year-old
regarded him with skepticism. "We really believe that."
"Should we tell him?" Chelsea asked.
Teddy nodded. "It's the only way we'll get
the truth out of him."
Chelsea turned back to Tommy. "Okay, mi
hermano, we know. We know you're a Power Ranger."
"WHAT?" Tommy spluttered. "I mean, what are
you talking about? Me, a Power Ranger? Get real."
Rolling his eyes, Teddy shook his head. "Duh,
Tommy. Give us credit for some intelligence. You disappear all the time,
you wear a weird-looking watch, you have all these unexplained bruises,
and your girlfriend has an Australian accent just like the Pink Ranger!"
Taking up the litany, Chelsea continued. "When
we first moved here, you suddenly became very cold, just when the Green
Ranger appeared. When he joined the other Rangers, you suddenly had five
very good friends. When he left the team, you became very depressed and
stopped seeing your friends. Then the White Ranger appeared and you were
happy as a clam, radiating energy. Every time one of your friends leaves,
a Power Ranger gets taller or shorter, and their voices change. Plus, Green
Ranger, White Ranger and Zeo Ranger V all have the same fighting style,
your style. Remember, fighting styles are like fingerprints, and I've been
trained to recognize them. I know you're a Ranger, and Teddy does too.
Tell us what's wrong."
Tommy sighed. "Okay, you got me. Yes, I'm
a Power Ranger, but no one's supposed to know about that. Can you two keep
that secret?"
"Of course," Chelsea scoffed. "Now, what did
you dream about?"
Tommy smiled. "To tell you the truth, I don't
remember," he lied. He trusted Chelsea and Teddy implicitly, but he just
didn't feel ready to tell anyone about his dream. "You know what Mom says.
I've got a brain like a sieve."
"Bull," Teddy said quietly. "Tommy, just because
you were adopted and we weren't, doesn't mean that we don't care about
you. Please, let us in."
Tommy regarded his little brother with some
surprise. He kept forgetting that Teddy was much wiser than his ten years
would suggest. It was funny, in a way, how alike Tommy and Teddy were,
despite the fact that they were not blood relatives. Both had long dark
hair, melted-caramel-colored puppy dog eyes, and the sharp hawklike features
that had every girl in the school trailing after Tommy. Even at ten, Teddy
had the promise of height to equal his brother's, and was beginning to
develop the fluid muscle tone of a martial artist. Teddy also had the same
lopsided smile that melted any female heart it was turned on.
Tommy then turned to look at his sister. She
too had the coloring, sharp features, and height that marked her brothers,
and David Trueheart, Tommy's brother-by-blood. Unlike them, however, Chelsea
wore her hair cropped close in a sensible cut. Like David, she shared Tommy's
age and birthday, which is why she and Tommy had always considered themselves
twins. Also a martial artist, she was a kung fu student, rather than taking
karate like her brothers. As a result of the difference in style, she was
more smoothly muscled. Most of her opponents thought that meant that she
was not as strong. It was a mistake people only made once.
Tommy smiled. These two might not be his blood
relatives, but they were his family all the same. He owed them the truth,
but he didn't want to discuss his dream with anyone yet. "Guys, I can't
talk about it. Maybe later, okay?"
Teddy grumbled and went back to his own room.
Chelsea regarded her "twin" skeptically for a second. "Thomas T. Oliver,
you are the most exasperating person I know. If you won't talk to me, talk
to somebody, all right?"
He smiled. "Yes, Mother. Go back to bed, Chelse."
Reluctantly, she did as she was told. Tommy flopped back down to the bed.
It was going to be a long night.
The following Saturday, Tommy had his first
appointment with Dr. Lita Kino, the psychiatrist his father had hired.
Gingerly, Tommy walked up to the door and knocked. "It's open! Come on
in!" called a voice from inside. Opening the door, Tommy saw a tall, attractive
woman with shoulder-length brown hair shelving books. "You must be-," she
broke off, glancing down at her calendar, "Tommy Oliver. Sorry you had
to let yourself in, but my secretary Serena has the day off. Sit down,
I'll be with you in a second."
Tommy lowered himself into a chair, watching
Dr. Kino work. Finally she finished, sinking into her chair with a sigh
of relief.
"Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to get
off my feet!" As she smiled at him across the desk, Tommy noticed that
she had startlingly green eyes that were set off perfectly by her forest
green suit.
No matter where I go, I can't seem to get
away from that color, Tommy thought wryly.
"Look, Dr. Kino, let's get something straight.
I'm only here because my dad said that I had to come. I don't have any
problems, and I don't need your help."
She raised an eyebrow. "Your father says that
you've woken up screaming for the past six nights. You don't consider that
a problem?"
"They're just nightmares. I can handle them."
"Have you had dreams like these before?"
"Everybody has nightmares, Dr. Kino."
"Not everybody wakes up screaming six nights
in a row, Tommy."
"So it's been a bad week."
"Why?"
"Luck of the draw?"
"Tommy, I can help you, but you have to let
me do it. I can't do anything if you don't cooperate."
After Tommy left, Lita played the tape she
had made of the session, shaking her head. Tommy had been totally uncooperative.
No matter what avenue of discussion she had tried, no matter what questions
she had asked, he had refused to answer. Politely but firmly he had shut
her down. Lita had been a psychiatrist long enough to know when a patient
was hiding something. The question was, what could a perfect, All-American
kid like Tommy be hiding? Drinking, drugs? Lita shook her head. Not this
kid. Lita had actually heard of Tommy before he made the appointment, and
she knew that he was very vocal at anti-drug rallies throughout Angel Grove.
He wasn't at all the type to be mixed up in drugs. What secret could he
possibly be keeping that was eating him alive?
Tommy walked into the Youth Center and flopped
down into a chair. After a second, he felt someone sit next to him. He
didn't have to look to know that someone was Jason.
"Hey, Jase. How're you feeling?"
"Pretty good. How about you? I called your
house this morning and your dad told me that you were out seeing a shrink.
What's the matter?"
Tommy turned to regard his friend speculatively.
Jason had been his best friend for years. Through thick and thin, no matter
what crisis Tommy had experienced, Jason had been there to lend support.
Tommy knew that Jason would never betray a confidence. If anyone could
be trusted with his secret, it was Jason.
Quickly, Tommy outlined the dreams that he'd
been having, finishing up with the one he'd had the night before. "Every
time, the Green Ranger's there, turning me evil. I can't fight him; nothing
I do has any effect. Maybe he's right, maybe I am destined for darkness."
"Man, that's crazy. You are not evil, you
will never be evil. It's just a nightmare," Jason hissed.
"Is it?" Tommy asked, his voice cracking slightly.
"There's more. I've been having blackouts, periods of lost time. I have
no memory of what goes on, and people say that I've been doing things that
I would never do. I think I'm losing my mind."
"You should talk to Zordon about this. Maybe
this is some trick of Mondo's, or Rita and Zedd's. It could be one of their
spells," Jason offered.
"And if it isn't?" Tommy replied belligerently,
the violent undertone in his voice startling Jason immensely. "Zordon will
strip me of my powers faster than you can say 'Dragonzord.'"
Jason steeled himself for what he had to say.
"Maybe that's for the best." Seeing Tommy's eyes widen in surprise, he
hurried on. "Look, man, I don't think you're losing it, but if you are,
or if one of our 'friends' on the moon is trying to control you, don't
you think that you should give them up? Think of the team," Jason entreated.
"You're dangerous enough without powers. With 'em...." Jason shook his
head.
Tommy thought about that for a while, then
nodded. "You're right, buddy. Let's go see Zordon." The two boys rose from
their seats and walked out of the youth center. Ernie, drying dishes behind
the counter watched them go.
Jeez, he thought to himself, Tommy
looks like a zombie. Check that. Zombies don't look scared to death.
Worried, Ernie made up his mind to ask Jason what was going on. Not that
he'd get a straight answer. Those kids had stopped giving him the whole
truth two years ago. Still, he'd be able to get some answers just from
reading Jason's body language. That'd have to be enough.
At the Power Chamber, Tommy told Zordon and
Alpha about the dreams he'd been having. "Alpha, scan Tommy for spells,"
Zordon ordered. The little android waved a strange-looking device over
Tommy, shaking his head as he did so.
"Ai yi yi, Zordon. No spell energy detected.
He's clean."
Tommy deflated. "Great. I guess I really am
losing my mind."
"Not necessarily, Tommy. You have been under
a great deal of stress lately, but this does not mean that you are mentally
unstable. Most likely this is simply a reaction to large amounts of stress.
I do think that you should seek professional help, though."
"Oh, yeah, right. What am I supposed to do,
walk up to my psychiatrist and say, 'Dr., I'm a Power Ranger, and I've
been having some weird dreams?'" Tommy asked sarcastically.
"Why not?" Zordon replied calmly. "You are
not the first Ranger to experience stress-related psychological trauma.
The previous holders of the Power Coins often encountered the same troubles.
The only difference is that they were able to reveal their identities.
I suggest that you return to your psychiatrist, and if you think she can
be trusted, bring her here and tell her the truth. First, however, I think
that you should choose someone to take your place as the Red Ranger. During
your treatment, you should be spared the stress of battles."
"Jase?" Tommy asked, turning towards his friend.
"I am afraid that Jason is still too weak
from his encounter with the Gold Powers to support the Red ones. They would
place too much of a strain on his recovering system."
Tommy thought for a second, then smiled. "I
know the perfect choice." With that, he teleported out of the Power Chamber.
On the reservation close by the city of Angel
Grove, a young man named David Trueheart sat on a flat rock, watching an
eagle soar overhead. Suddenly he was alerted by the unmistakable skzrchh!
of teletransport behind him. He whirled and leaped to his feet, ready for
anything, and relaxed as he recognized the red glow that signaled the arrival
of his brother Tommy.
"Hey, Tommy, what's... up?" David's greeting
died on his lips as he got a better look at his brother. Tommy's skin was
pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes that only came from too many
nights without sleep. Even his movements were jerky and uncoordinated,
rather than the smooth motions so natural to him. "Man, you look like hell,"
David remarked, moving forward to grasp his brother's shoulders. "Sit down
before you fall down."
Tommy did as he was ordered, and David sank
down next to him. "Y'know, that's what I like about you, Dave. You really
have a way of lifting my spirits," Tommy grinned. David snorted.
"What's wrong with you, Tommy?"
"I haven't been sleeping very well." Quickly,
Tommy outlined the events of the past week, finishing up with Zordon's
advice to him. "So we need a new Red Ranger, at least for a while."
David's mouth fell open. "ME?" he shouted,
jumping up. "I wouldn't even know what to do!"
Tommy rose to his feet as well. It was the
only way to avoid a crick in the neck. "It's not hard, Dave. You're already
a martial artist, and the powers teach you everything you need to know
about handling them. Just follow Adam's orders and you'll do fine."
David raised an eyebrow. "Adam's your second-in-command?"
"Yeah, why?"
"No reason. I just always thought it was Rocky."
"Nah, Rocky's a great guy, but he's not a
leader and everybody knows it. Adam, on the other hand, is a natural leader,
although he'd blush if you said so. C'mon, Dave, what do you say?"
"All right, Tommy, I'm in." With that, the
two boys teleported back to the Power Chamber in two flashes of light,
one red and one white.
Taking a deep breath, Tommy entered the waiting
room of Dr. Kino's office. Serena, the pretty blonde secretary, smiled
at him. "Go on in, Tommy. The doctor is waiting for you."
Pushing open the door to Dr. Kino's office,
Tommy saw her sitting at the desk. When he entered, she looked up and smiled
at him. "Hey, Tommy. Since you called and asked for an emergency appointment
today, I'll assume you're not here for another fruitless session of noncooperation."
Tommy smiled lopsidedly at her. Jeez,
he thought to himself, was I that bad? Aloud, he replied,
"No, Dr. Kino, I've decided to cooperate. I do need your help after all."
"All right!" She pumped one fist in the air.
"Sit down and let's get cracking."
"Um, actually, I need to show you something
first. Would you come with me?"
She regarded him for a second, then shrugged.
"All right, just let me tell Serena to hold my calls," she told him, rising
from her chair.
"Actually, you won't have to do that. She
won't even know that you're gone." He extended his left hand to her. After
looking at it for a moment, she sighed and took it. Quickly, Tommy hit
the teleport button on it, transporting them both instantly to the Power
Chamber.
"Tommy, what was that? I have never --," Her
voice broke off as she absorbed her surroundings. "Tommy, where are we?"
she asked in a small voice.
"This is the Power Chamber, center of operations
for the Power Rangers. Welcome, Dr. Kino," Zordon boomed.
"The Power- Who are you? Why am I here?" She
whirled on Tommy. "Okay, Oliver, spill your guts. I want some answers,"
she growled.
"Whoa, whoa!" Tommy raised his hands defensively.
"That's Zordon. He's sort of our mentor."
"Our?" Dr. Kino inquired, raising one eyebrow.
Ignoring her question, Tommy turned towards
the shadows, calling, "Guys, could you come out here, please?" Out of the
shadows stepped five teenagers, two girls and three boys.
"I'm Katherine Hilliard, Zeo Ranger I, Pink,"
the blonde girl said.
Next to speak was the black girl in the yellow
T-shirt. "Tanya Sloan, Zeo Ranger II, Yellow."
"Rocky De Santos, Zeo Ranger III, Blue," smiled
the young Hispanic boy next to Tanya.
The next to introduce himself was a young
Korean boy in a green sweatshirt. "Adam Park, Zeo Ranger IV, Green."
The last to step out of the shadows was a
tall boy who, Dr. Kino noticed, bore an astounding resemblance to Tommy.
"David Trueheart. I'm Tommy's brother and Zeo Ranger V, Red- but only temporarily."
"And I'm Jason Scott, formerly the Gold Ranger,"
declared a voice behind her. Out of the darkness stepped a tall, well-built
seventeen-year-old with dark hair, dark eyes, and skin the color of cream.
To Dr. Kino's trained eye, he appeared to be recovering from the effects
of exhaustion.
Ignoring Jason's condition for the time being,
she turned back to Tommy. "How do you know the Power Rangers? Why did you
bring me here?"
"You see, I used to be a Power Ranger, up
until Saturday, in fact. The reason I brought you here is because my problems
are tied into my having been a Ranger, and I didn't think that I could
explain them to you without revealing that fact," Tommy told her seriously.
"No one can know that we're the Power Rangers, not even our parents. Of
course, we aren't always able to keep it secret," he grimaced. "My brother
and sister figured it out for themselves a couple days ago. Still, we'd
like to keep the number of people who know our identities down."
Dr. Kino nodded. "I understand. So what problems
are you having?"
"That's a very long story, Dr. Kino, and it's
tightly interwoven with the history of the Power Rangers. I might as well
tell you the whole story. It started about two and a half years ago...."
The other Rangers listened raptly to Tommy's
story, for a number of different reasons. Tanya, of course, knew almost
none of the history of the Power Rangers. None of the others had ever thought
to sit her down and tell her everything that had happened between the beginning
and the present. They had only told her what she needed to know for the
situation at hand.
Kat listened because she had once been evil
herself. Tommy had shared bits of his experience with her, but this was
the first chance she had had to hear the whole thing all in his own words.
So much of what she knew about Tommy was gleaned from her conversations
with Kim, and she was eager to learn more about him.
Rocky and Adam listened to the story and tried
to connect the Green Ranger that Tommy was describing with the noble, kind
leader that they knew. Their image of the Green Ranger was of the heroic,
tragic figure who gave up his powers to save his friends. The only experience
that they had had with the evil Green Ranger had been too brief for them
to learn anything about him.
Jason listened for a very different reason.
He knew the story like the back of his hand, having lived parts of it,
and had gone over Tommy's side of it thousands of times when his friend
was in the grip of a guilt trip. None of the elements were new to him;
rather, it was the way Tommy told it that held his attention. He can't
create a story, Jason thought to himself, but he can tell one with
the best of 'em. His kids and grandkids will be lucky someday. Suddenly,
Jason was jolted by an unpleasant realization. The chances were fairly
good that none of them would live to have any children at all.
"So that's everything," Tommy said, drawing
the story to a close. "Do you think I'm going crazy?"
Dr. Kino shook her head. "I don't think so,
Tommy. You've just been under a lot of stress lately. You lost the powers
that Zordon assured you could never be taken away, one of your friends
wound up powerless, your longtime girlfriend broke up with you, you found
and nearly lost a brother that you never knew you had, you had to learn
to control a new Zord, a villain turned you against your friends again,
another of your friends began losing his powers, and your friend Billy
left to live on another planet. I'd say that this is just a classic case
of the mind dragging up bad memories in times of stress. To make sure,
I'd like to take you back to my office and put you under hypnosis."
Tommy shrugged. "That sounds okay to me, Dr.
Kino." He took her hand and teleported them back to her office. Once there,
she sat him down in a chair and told him to relax.
"Okay, Tommy, just close your eyes. I want
you to imagine that you're getting lighter and lighter, all your tension
is floating away. Now, picture yourself walking down a flight of stairs.
With each step you tell yourself, 'I am going deeper and deeper into a
trance.' Good." She stopped. Tommy appeared to be deeply asleep. As she
had surmised from his description of Rita's spell, Tommy was a deep trance
subject. In fact, he went deeper and faster into a trance than any patient
she had ever hypnotized.
"Tommy, can you hear me?"
"Yes," he replied, slurring his words slightly.
"Good. I want you to picture a clock, the
clock on the wall at school. Can you see it?"
"Yes."
"All right, now I want you to see the hands
of that clock running backwards, and as they run, time itself is running
backwards. It's getting earlier and earlier as those hands run."
A small smile crossed the blankness of Tommy's
face. "Seen that before. When Zedd 'n' Master Vile turned us into kids,
clocks did the same thing."
Dr. Kino smiled. "Well, we're not going to
take you that far back. I just want you to go back to the last time you
woke up from a black-out. Where are you?"
"I'm at the Youth Center. I don't remember
why I came or how I got here."
"Okay, now I want you to go back two minutes.
Where are you?"
Tommy's face changed, the blankness replaced
by a chilling cold. When he spoke, his voice held an icy, sneering quality.
"I'm right outside."
Dr. Kino sat up, frowning. This was not the
same person she had been talking to. A nasty little suspicion entered her
mind as she asked, "Who are you?"
"I have no name."
"What do people call you?"
"They call me Tommy because they can't see
behind the face."
"If people knew you, what would they call
you?"
Again the icy smile. "The Green Ranger."
She continued to question him, marveling at
the patterns of his words, which were completely different from Tommy's.
She didn't blame the kid for considering the Green Ranger a separate entity.
She wouldn't want to claim him either.
As she asked him more, she began to build
a very frightening picture of the Green Ranger. He was cold and ruthless,
totally without emotion. Only one thing seemed to draw any warmth from
him- Kimberly. Finally, she gave the Green Ranger a suggestion to stay
hidden for a while and brought Tommy out of the trance.
"Did it work?" he asked innocently.
Ignoring him, she wobbled to the door and
opened it. "Serena," she asked shakily, "do I have any more appointments
today?"
"Just Mrs. Breckinridge," Serena answered,
her distaste obvious. A rich, overweight woman who loved no one and nothing
but her Chihuahua, Mrs. Elisandra Breckinridge's snobbish attitude annoyed
Serena immensely.
"Call her up and cancel it. Tell her to take
her case to Schuster. Say I have the Panamanian Flying Chicken Pox or something.
Make it sound like Latin and she'll be impressed."
"Yes ma'am," Serena grinned. She began the
phone call even as Dr. Kino shut the door.
"Dr. Kino, are you all right?" Tommy asked.
Still ignoring him, she crossed to the bust
of Freud that sat on a large oaken pedestal. She twisted Freud's nose and
the pedestal popped open, revealing itself as a large wood-pattern fridge.
Pulling out a can of Jolt, she popped the top and took a long swallow,
all in one smooth motion. Sighing, she sank into her chair. "Yes, Tommy,
I'm all right, but you may not be once you hear my diagnosis. Could you
call your friends here, please? I'd like to only have to explain this once."
Tapping his communicator, Tommy called in
the rest of the Rangers. The six teens teleported in and found themselves
seats. When everyone was comfortable, Dr. Kino began to speak. "Do any
of you know anything about Multiple Personality Disorder?"
Tommy and Adam nodded. "It's a dissociative
disorder where a person creates a second personality to deal with some
sort of trauma. They can't handle it with their conscious mind, so a new
consciousness is formed," Adam said.
"The personalities are usually radically different.
Often, the primary personality is unaware of the secondary, but not the
other way around," Tommy added. The other Rangers regarded him in astonishment.
"Hey, I read a lot about psychology after my stint as the Green Ranger,
especially aberrant psychology. I wanted to know what I was in for."
"Multiple personality cases are pretty rare,"
Dr. Kino informed them. "There have only been a few hundred cases reported
worldwide. It looks like we've run across another one."
"Tommy?" Kat gasped.
Dr. Kino nodded. "Yes. When I brought him
back here, I put him under hypnosis to substantiate my diagnosis. I regressed
him to the point where he was in one of his lost-time periods, and I discovered
a second personality that calls itself the Green Ranger.
"Here's what I think happened. When Rita put
Tommy under the spell, he was too stubborn to let the spell take him over
all the way. As a result, the spell had to create a personality to run
the body, since it couldn't use Tommy's. It copied large parts of Tommy's
personality, making changes where it had to, and created the Green Ranger.
This new personality had Tommy's intelligence, his fighter's instincts,
and his love for Kimberly." She noticed Kat wince at this point, but ignored
it.
"Because this personality was created from
Tommy, he naturally felt a great deal of guilt over it's actions. He walled
himself off from it, ceasing to struggle with it for dominance. This probably
saved his sanity, but allowed the Green Ranger to entrench himself in Tommy's
mind. Only when the Green Ranger tried to destroy Jason did Tommy come
forward. No matter what, Tommy could not allow an innocent person to be
hurt. He attempted to take control of the body, causing the Green Ranger
to hesitate just long enough for Billy to transport Jason out.
"When the Rangers broke the spell, the Green
Ranger was no longer able to maintain his dominant position in Tommy's
mind. Tommy's will was simply too strong. However, since he was created
from parts of Tommy's personality, he didn't just dissipate the way an
overlaid personality would have- and did, in your case, Kat. Tommy's guilt
and instinctive need to have someone to blame his actions on kept him from
dissolving into his component parts. Instead, he simply faded to the back
of Tommy's mind, becoming dormant, merely coloring Tommy's thoughts."
"That's why I was always so depressed!" Tommy
exclaimed.
Dr. Kino nodded. "Yes. Because the Green Ranger
had not completely dissolved, you had no sense of closure, no feeling that
part of your life was over. The Green Powers kept him in the back of your
mind because to use them, you needed to accept that part of yourself, at
least to some extent.
"Tommy's power loss, his first one, made the
situation worse. Since he was no longer a Ranger, he no longer had the
opportunity to make up for what he'd done, worsening his depression. Also,
since he didn't need the Green Power anymore, he didn't need to accept
what he was, and began to dissociate from the Green Ranger in earnest.
"The call back to action halted that process,
but also set the stage for more serious problems down the road. With his
powers running out, Tommy had, in effect, a time bomb hanging over his
head. Since the powers failed at the most inopportune times, he began to
regard them as almost a liability. With Zedd's concentration on turning
him evil again, that idea was reinforced many times.
"Finally the Green Powers left Tommy for good.
This would have been the ideal time for him to deal with the lingering
guilt he felt, but he didn't have the know-how or the time. Zordon called
him to be the White Ranger.
"In a way, Tommy's stint as the White Ranger
was the most psychologically damaging event since the casting of the actual
spell. The White Ranger was the embodiment of goodness, the perfect Ranger.
Tommy had that to live up to, while still carrying around his guilt and
the gnawing fear that he wasn't good enough for that position. I would
surmise that during that period, Tommy went out of his way to be the perfect
leader and Ranger, right?" She looked at Rocky and Adam.
Rocky nodded. "She's right, man. At first,
we thought you were a bit of a glory hog, but then Billy took us aside
and explained that you were so paranoid about being an albatross around
our necks that you always wanted to shoulder more than your share of the
responsibility. He told us about when you were losing your powers, how
you felt helpless and were determined not to go through that again."
Tommy blushed. Dr. Kino looked at Rocky in
some surprise. "I'm sorry that I never met Billy. He sounds like excellent
psychologist material."
"The constant erosion of the team was almost
as bad for Tommy. As each Ranger left, he relived his own experiences,
undergoing constant reminders of the things he had been through. The Power
Rangers had been the one constant in Tommy's life, and slowly but surely,
they were being changed to something unrecognizable. Tommy, I'll bet that
you felt very uncomfortable when you first saw the new Zeo costumes, right?"
Tommy nodded, surprised. "The costumes were the last link with the Rangers
you joined. The team is all different people now, especially since Jason
spends little to no time with you when you're Rangers. At least Billy was
there in the Power Chamber, but with him gone, the Rangers you knew are
officially finished.
"The current stresses were simply the last
straw. Gasket's brainwashing and the numerous power losses experienced
by members of the team were especially bad, considering how they were charged
with negative connotations for Tommy. With everything he understood falling
apart around him, it's no wonder that the Green Ranger began to become
dominant. This was exactly the opportunity he'd been waiting for."
The group was silent for a while, considering
the implications of what Dr. Kino had told them. Finally, Jason spoke.
"So what do we do?"
She sighed. "First, you guys should start
calling me Lita. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other, and having
you call me Dr. Kino makes me feel old. As to treatment, I would normally
schedule a series of appointments and have the patient go about his daily
life, but since Tommy's other personality is homicidal and a very efficient
killer, that's not an option. Luckily, you kids caught me at a slow period.
I've just discharged two patients, have one follow-up session each with
two more, and just got rid of Mrs. Breckenridge. I can easily take some
time off to do some intense work with Tommy. If I were in this situation
with anyone else, I'd take him to a sanitarium, but the nature of Tommy's
problem precludes that. Is there anywhere I can take him where no one will
disturb us for an extended period of time?"
"My parents built a cabin up in the Birch
Hills National Forest.," Rocky volunteered. "My mom hasn't been up there
since my dad died, but my older brother Pedro and I keep it clean. We could
go up there. It's isolated, and hard for the Cogs to get into."
"Thanks, Rocky," Lita said gratefully. "Tommy,
does that sound good to you?"
Tommy frowned. "My main worry is being alone
up there. It may be well-defended from outside attack, but what about inside
attack? If we're alone, and the Green Ranger takes over...."
"I'll come with you. I can easily tell my
mom that I'm spending a few weeks up at the cabin with friends. She won't
mind," Rocky told him.
"Rocko, I can't ask you to do that. It's too
dangerous. The Green Ranger is a stone-cold killer."
"Like danger scares me? Mondo's goons aren't
exactly creampuffs, you know."
"We'll both go," Jason broke in flatly. He
was using his "leader voice," the one that nobody argued with. Even now
Tommy obeyed instantly when he heard it.
"I know how the Green Ranger thinks," Jason
continued. "I know him better than anyone except Tommy. I may not have
any Powers, but with Rocky to back me up, I shouldn't need them."
"Tommy?" Lita asked.
"All right," Tommy sighed. "I'll go home and
run it by my parents, but they shouldn't give me any trouble. They'll be
too overjoyed that I'm getting help. Lita, I'll call you tonight with their
answer."
"Okay," she said. "Barring parental objections,
we should be ready to go three days from now."
Three days later, the group met in the Youth
Center before their trip. Actually, Jason, Tommy, and Rocky met there.
Lita hadn't arrived yet.
"You up to this, Jase?" Tommy asked, concerned.
Jason nodded. "It's certainly better than
waiting around for you guys to come back- or not."
"I know what you mean," Tommy laughed humorlessly.
"Being helpless is not a fun feeling."
"'They also serve who stand and wait,'" Rocky
interjected suddenly. "Milton. What?" he asked, as his two friends stared
at him.
"Never mind," Tommy shook his head. He'd never
understand how Rocky could be so out of it and still come up with the perfect
quote for every occasion.
"Hey guys!" Lita called, waving to them from
the door of the Youth Center. As she entered, she caught the attention
of the three boys- and every male over age ten within eyeshot. Her hair
was pulled back into a ponytail and her green flannel shirt and blue jeans
showed off an athletic figure.
"We ready to go?" she asked, crossing to where
they stood.
"Yeah," Rocky told her. "Let's go load your
gear into the Explorer and get going."
In the parking lot, Rocky and Jason quickly
piled all of Lita's things into the back of Rocky's Ford Explorer. The
truck, Lita noticed, was blue. It figures, she thought wryly. These
kids appear to be psychologically drawn to their respective colors. I wonder
if their parents notice their monochromatic wardrobe. Lita would have
given a great deal to be able to see inside the Rangers' closets before
and after they were tapped by Zordon.
The trip up was uneventful, for which Lita
gave thanks. Tommy's friends had delicately warned her that her patient
was a trouble magnet, a walking example of Murphy's Law. As Rocky had said,
"Oliver's corollary to Murphy's Law reads, 'Anything that can go wrong,
will go wrong, and will probably be loaded for bear.'" Lita didn't think
that she could have handled a Cog attack in her present state of exhaustion.
The De Santos family cabin actually turned
out to be a large farm-house style dwelling. "Rocky, are you sure that
we can all fit in here?" Tommy asked.
"Tommy," Rocky puffed, pulling his duffel
bag out of the back of the truck, "it wasn't an accident that my parents
had eight kids. I could put the AGH football team up in here without significant
crowding."
"Oh," Tommy managed, blushing almost the color
his Ranger suit had been. To forestall further conversation, he grabbed
his luggage and headed for the house. Suppressing giggles, the other three
followed him.
After stowing their gear, Lita and Jason headed
down to the library. She wanted to ask him some questions about the Green
Ranger, to better understand him.
The library was a cozy room, its walls completely
covered by bookshelves that were thickly stacked with well-worn books.
"Well," Jason managed. "I guess we know where Rocky got his passion for
literature from."
Lita nodded. Whoever the library had belonged
to had certainly been in love with the printed word.
"So," Jason asked, sinking into a chair, "what
exactly did you want to know?"
Lita sighed. "I'd like you to tell me about
the Green Ranger, and about Tommy during that time period. Not the events,
but your impressions and reactions to those two."
Jason exhaled in a long breath. "Well, let
me see. My first impression of Tommy was during the fight at the Youth
Center. We were scheduled to compete in an exhibition match at the local
Martial Arts Expo. We sparred, and I realized pretty quickly that he was
better than I was. That sort of threw me. I'd been the best in Angel Grove
for so long that I didn't really know how to react to it. I tell my students
that there's always someone better, but" he shrugged, "I guess I never
thought that I'd meet them."
"The match was a tie, but we both knew that
if it had been a real fight, he would have won. When I shook his hand,
I could see that he knew it, and he wasn't stuck up about it or anything."
Jason snorted. "I remember thinking that he would have made a good Ranger."
"When Kim told me about how he saved her from
Bulk and Skull, I knew I liked him. Bulk's big enough to be intimidating,
if you don't know how dumb he is, but Tommy stood up to him without a problem.
Then, even though he was obviously trying to impress Kim, he didn't do
anything but scare Bulk and Skull. He didn't have to prove how good he
was by beating somebody weaker than he. I knew then that he was a good
guy."
"Then the Green Ranger appeared, knocking
us out of our Zords. I fought him, one on one, and he beat me! He was better
than I was too! Then we had to run away from him, back to see how Alpha
was. I was never so angry in my life. I hated running away, and I hated
the Green Ranger for making it necessary."
"When I wound up in the Dark Dimension, first
fighting Goldar and then the Green Ranger, I learned a lot about him. First
off, he let me get to my feet before he attacked me, not out of honor,
but because there was no challenge in attacking an opponent who couldn't
fight back. We fought, and I learned why he was better than I. He never
lost his temper. I have a problem with fighting with my head instead of
my heart, and he took advantage of that.
"When the Green Ranger knocked me to the ground
and got ready to run me through with his sword, I was more frightened than
I have ever been in my life. Rita's monsters, even Goldar, didn't seem
exactly real. Oh, sure, I always knew that I could die, but this was when
I really knew it. After I got home that night, I made out my will."
Lita leaned forward. "You have a will?" she
asked. She didn't know why that surprised her. These kids were so responsible,
so unnaturally mature, that wills seemed exactly right somehow.
"Yeah," Jason nodded. "We all do. You see,
when you become a Ranger, it takes a while to sink in that you might not
win. Sooner or later, though, every Ranger has an experience where they
wind up staring Death in the face, where the consequences of losing are
brought home to them. In this fight, the stakes aren't just your pride,
or even your life. If you fail as a Ranger, you die, and everyone and everything
that you care about goes with you.
"Tommy calls it "the test," but I think Zack
put it best. We were up late one night, talking, and I brought this subject
up. Zack calls it the "baptism of fire." The name sort of stuck."
"Interesting," Lita murmured. "Has Tommy undergone
this process?"
"Oh, yeah. It was his time as Rita's Green
Ranger. Being on the giving end of this stuff showed him quite quickly
what awaited him if he lost. Tommy doesn't even have the luxury of knowing
he'll die. If Tommy loses a battle, Mondo or Zedd will take him and turn
him evil again. He'd rather die than return to what he was."
"How would you describe Tommy's behavior as
one of Zordon's Rangers?"
"Driven. He wants so badly to prove that he's
a good guy, and the sad thing is that no one doubts that anymore. Look
at the current team. They almost treat Tommy like a god, or at least a
figure out of myth. Without Billy, I'm the only one who remembers him as
he was, a haunted, driven man. He says that he's put it behind him, but
I know he hasn't. I can still see it in his eyes.
"Everybody approaches this fight differently.
Rocky sees it as the ultimate high. It's not that he doesn't understand
the seriousness of his situation, it's just that he's addicted to the adrenaline
rush. For Tanya, this is her only way to fit in. She took Aisha's place
because it was the right thing to do, but when the whole thing started,
she was completely out of her element. The fiasco with Shawn didn't help
either." Jason smiled slightly. "You know, Rocky told me once that Adam
had threatened to rip Shawn's lungs out if he did anything to hurt Tanya.
When Shawn broke up with Tanya because she wouldn't help him cheat on the
test, Rocky thought that AGH had just lost a baseball player. Everything
worked out, though.
"Kat's motives in this are more complex. First,
she wants to keep Rita and Zedd from doing to anyone else what they did
to her. Second, she wants to prove herself worthy of Tommy's affection.
This is the only way she knows to compete with the ghost of Kimberly.
"Adam maybe the only one who simply wants
to do what's right. He has no hidden motives, and he knows that this isn't
a game. Wait- scratch that. He has one hidden motive. Adam's dad is a Detective
with the AGPD, Homicide Division. Detective Park thinks the Power Rangers
are a menace, putting the city in as much danger as the monsters. Deep
down, I think Adam wants to prove to his dad that the Power Rangers are
the good guys. He wants his father to be proud of him.
"As for Tommy, he sees this as a personal
contest, him against evil. He's determined not to let evil win, no matter
what the cost to himself. He's prepared to sacrifice himself to destroy
the enemy, but he'd never give up his friends."
Lita smiled at him. "You know, Jason, you'd
make a great psychoanalyst. Ever think about majoring in Psych?"
He grinned back at her. "No, I'm gonna take
business courses at Crossworld City Community College and open my own dojo."
Lita shook her head. She had no doubt that
he could do it.
Time passed. Every day, Tommy and Lita had
sessions where Lita tried to get Tommy to accept his dark side, without
notable success. His problem, Lita informed Jason and Rocky after one unusually
frustrating session, was that Tommy was too noble. He loathed the idea
of hurting innocent people so much that he pulled too hard in the other
direction. The struggle between his guilt and his natural human fallibility
was pulling him apart.
After every session, Lita called Max Delany,
an old college friend of hers and the expert in MPD that she had told Tommy
about. As she had promised, she used no names, simply referring to Tommy
as "the Ranger" or "the kid." Max and Lita discussed various methods of
treatment, and she found his help in analyzing Tommy's psyche invaluable.
"I think stress is the only way to go, Lita,"
Max said one day. Lita smiled, listening to his husky baritone. Max's gruffly
soothing voice was one of the reasons he did so well with patients. It
doesn't hurt his relationships with women, either, Lita thought.
"Let me get this straight, Max. You think
that a stressful situation, one that requires all of the kid's personality
traits, will cause spontaneous integration?" Lita asked skeptically.
"Got it in one, Leets. Knocks the socks off
of fourteen years of therapy, doesn't it?"
"Oh, yes. There's just one problem. The kid's
a Power Ranger. He's seen exploding planets, intelligent amphiboids, a
race which evolved from insects, and a robotic dragon roughly the size
of the Shinjuku district!"
"How big is that?" Max interrupted.
Lita's verbal stride never faltered. "Very
big. Think Manhattan. As I was saying, he faces off with killer robots,
a walking pile of bones, and a guy with no skin on a regular basis. What
situation am I supposed to come up with that would be stressful for him?"
Lita could almost hear Max shrug on the other
end of the line. "That's your department, isn't it?"
"Max, you are a cold, callous son-of-a-lawyer."
"That's because I care." His voice became
hesitant. "Um, Lita, speaking of caring, are you sure that you'll be all
right up there? Stuck in a cabin with a homicidal martial artist?"
"Number one, Max, the kid's not homicidal.
That's his other personality, and the characteristic is spell-induced,
not naturally occurring. Number two, if something does happen to go wrong,
I have two other Rangers up here to protect me. Don't worry about me."
Lita decided not to mention that Jason wasn't exactly a fully active Power
Ranger at the moment. Max didn't need to worry any more than he was.
"If you say so. Take care, Lita."
"I will, Max. Thanks."
A few days later, Rocky was chopping wood when
Lita came up the driveway with the days mail, muttering to herself as she
sorted it. "Bill, bill, letter for Jason, magazine- 'Martial Arts World,'
what a surprise, oh, Rocky, a postcard for you," she handed it to him,
"and a letter for me from- Cousin Mako."
"Your cousin's a shark?" Rocky asked, looking
down at the postcard. Just a reminder from his dentist about his wisdom
teeth. He pocketed it.
"No, Rocky. Mako is her nickname. It's short
for Makoto. Kino Makoto is my younger cousin. She still lives in Tokyo."
"You used to live in Japan?" Rocky inquired,
fascinated.
"Yes." Lita sat on a nearby log, motioning
for the young man to sit next to her. As Rocky obeyed, she continued. "You
see, back in the early 1900's, my five times great-grandfather was a man
named Kino Ichiro. Since Ichiro spoke English well, when he came to San
Francisco, he was able to get a job waiting tables, rather than being forced
into railroad labor like so many other Japanese immigrants. He built up
enough money to be able to keep in touch with his family back home, and
so the American and Japanese branches of the Kino family remained close.
"My parents met and married, and because they
were both scientists, they received an offer for a long-term research grant
in a Tokyo lab. They accepted, and moved to Japan. They lived quite close
to the rest of my family. I was born in Japan to American parents. That
gave me double citizenship. I learned to speak both English and Japanese,
and grew up comfortable in both countries. My parents moved me back here
when I was ten."
Rocky cast about for something else to ask
her, not wanting the conversation to end. "Why did you become a psychiatrist?"
Lita shrugged. "I was always interested in
helping people, so it was only natural for me to be a doctor. I've always
been interested in the mind, how it works, so I decided to become a shrink.
That's why I took this case. Yes, I want to help Tommy, but also, diagramming
a superhero's mind appealed to me. Even if I could never publish, I could
still discover all sorts of amazing things." Suddenly she laughed. "You
know, it's strange that of all the psychiatrists that could have become
mixed up in this adventure, Tommy's parents chose me."
"Why?"
"In Japan, there's a type of TV show called
sentai. Sentai programs have different casts every year, different stories,
different titles. What makes them similar is the format. They all tell
about a team of young people who transform into spandex-clad, color-coded
superheroes fighting an evil empire and battling monsters of the week in
large robots. Sound familiar? I was gone by the time it came out, but my
relatives would mail me tapes. I could never get enough of sentai as a
teen-ager, and now I'm in the middle of a real live sentai adventure."
"So what's your cousin like?" Rocky asked.
"Boy crazy!" laughed Lita. "If she met you,
she'd say that you looked like her sempai- her ex-boyfriend," she explained.
"Of course, she'd say the same thing about Tommy, Jason, Adam, or any other
reasonably attractive guy in the area."
Rocky smiled, but it was a small smile, not
his usual wide grin. "Did he dump her?" At her nod, he continued. "She
hasn't let him go yet, and so she sees him everywhere. I know how she feels.
A few," he swallowed, "a few months ago, I lost my girlfriend, Jennifer,
to King Mondo's goons. She had been one of his androids, sent to infiltrate
the Power Rangers and destroy us one by one. When it came time to destroy
me, however, she couldn't do it. Faking human emotions had an unusual effect
on her programming. She fell in love with me. I fell in love right back.
Mondo kidnapped her to punish us both.
"I guess I lost it. I didn't even morph, just
went up to the cave as I was. I got her out and we were running out of
the cave when Sprocket threw a bomb at us. Jen saw it coming and pushed
me out of the cave. The explosion triggered an avalanche and buried her.
"I thought it was my fault. For a month I
mourned her, seeing her in every face that passed by, beating myself up
over what had happened. Then I met Katarina, my current girlfriend. She
brought me back to life again. I know exactly how your cousin feels."
Lita looked at him in surprise. She could
hardly believe that someone as light-hearted as Rocky could be hiding such
deep pain. "Rocky, is it worth it? Being a Power Ranger, I mean. Is it
worth the pain?"
"A voice cried "Look me in the stars/and tell
me truly, men of earth/if all the soul and body scars/were not too much
to pay for birth," he quoted. "Robert Frost. Yes, it's worth the pain.
What we do, the people we protect, they make everything we suffer worthwhile."
She shook her head, wondering at how much
anguish these seemingly perfect teens held. Tommy's guilt, Rocky's grief,
Jason's feeling of uselessness, Kat's worry over how she might have hurt
Tommy's happiness, and Tanya's isolation, they were such adult pains for
such young people. Briefly, she wondered what scars Adam, the enigmatic
Green Ranger, might hide.
"We're all hurting, Dr. Kino," Rocky suddenly
said, startling her. The growing darkness hid him from her sight. "All
of us, all the time. We can't be everywhere at once, and the monsters know
it. Not everyone survives a monster attack. We all have the names of the
people we couldn't save burned into our minds. Tommy is not going to join
them," he said fiercely.
"I promise, Rocky, I'll do the best I can."
She took his hand and sat with him, watching the stars come out.
Whistling, Tommy walked into the kitchen to
sort through the mail. Spying a letter from home, he opened it to find
a note from his sister and a makeshift envelope of some old, yellowed parchment.
He glanced at the note, which read, "Tommy. Found this in the attic, thought
that you should see it. Didn't tell mom. You owe me an explanation when
you get home, okay? Love, Chelsea."
Curious, Tommy opened the parchment. As he
did so, something fell out of it, clunking onto the linoleum floor. He
picked it up and stopped dead. The object in his hand was the coin of the
Green Ranger, the one that had been in his clone's possession.
That can't be, he thought frantically
to himself. I left it back in 1700's Angel Grove! Then he smacked
his forehead mentally. Duh, Tommy, the thing didn't just disappear after
the 1700's. It's probably been kicking around the houses of the Green Ranger's
descendants for the past 200 years. But if that's true, how did it get
into my parents' attic? Then he remembered. His parents had the habit
of storing everything from every house they'd ever lived in. There were
boxes in his attic that had been in the attic of his grandfather. But...
if Grandpa Oliver had the Green coin, then that means.... Paling, Tommy
sank into a chair. Just then, Lita and Jason walked into the kitchen.
"Kuso!" Lita cursed, seeing how white Tommy's
face had become. Jason raised an eyebrow at her. "It's Japanese, and you
don't need to know what it means."
Jason shrugged, bellowing, "Rocky, get in
here! We have a situation!"
Rocky rushed into the kitchen with his customary
grace, which is to say that he resembled a Great Dane on roller skates.
"What's the matter?" he asked breathlessly.
Tommy smiled weakly. "I'm all right. I just
had a bit of a shock." Quickly he related what he had found in the envelope
and its significance. "My adopted family is descended from my clone. Guess
I'm related to them by blood after all."
"Have you read the letter yet?" Jason asked.
"No, I guess I'd better do that now." Taking
a deep breath, he unfolded the parchment and began to read. "Tommy. I guess
you never thought that you'd hear from me again, huh? Something incredible
has happened to make me write to you. In my time, Angel Grove is the only
British settlement on the west coast. The Spanish are not happy with us,
and relations are strained. They could wipe us out at any time, and they
know that. They also know that it would cost them.
"Recently the governor of the Pueblo de Los
Angeles, to the south, came up to talk to our headmen. I had the fortune
to meet and fall in love with his beautiful niece. We're going to be married
in a few weeks. Her name is Rosalita Hernandez.
"The name rang a bell. Remember that genealogy
project we did in eight grade? Probably not; your memory stinks. Giving
me a photographic memory was the only improvement Rita made on the original.
Anyway, I remembered that our three times great-grandmother was named Rosalita
Oliver. Her husband was a gringo who moved down from the north.
"Rosalita and I are moving to Los Angeles,
and I realized that this meant that we were going to become the ancestors
of the family which adopted you. I knew that someday this coin would make
its way back to you. I can't shake the feeling that you're going to need
it, no matter how much you hate the sight of it. Take care, man. I wish
you and- and Kimberly all the best." Tommy's voice caught on the last line.
"Signed, Thomas Oliver, formerly the Green Ranger."
The four of them sat in silence for a moment,
pondering the appearance of the letter. Finally, Jason spoke.
"Well, that answers a few questions, like
why Chelsea and Teddy resemble Tommy so much. I wonder why it turned up
now, of all times?"
Tommy smiled wearily. "Jason, if there's one
thing I've learned, it's never look a gift Power Coin in the mouth."
A few days later, Tommy and Lita were in session
when his communicator toned. "Nani yo?" Lita asked, rolling her eyes heavenward.
"Tommy, answer that and ask him what he wants."
"Tommy here, Zordon. What's up?"
"Tommy, Lita, I must ask you to come to the
Power Chamber. Monsters have been released on Angel Grove. It is not safe
for you to remain at the cabin while the Rangers are in battle."
"We'll be right there, Zordon." Taking Lita's
hand, Tommy transported them both to the Power Chamber.
The Rangers were already there, clustered
around the viewing globe. A small distance away, Jason watched his friends
wistfully. Lita touched his shoulder and smiled at him.
"Observe the viewing globe, Rangers. Mondo
and Zedd have both taken Tommy's absence from the team as the time to launch
their newest plot. Zedd and Rita have created a monster known as Raptar,
a hyper-intelligent, animated Velociraptor statue from the Natural History
museum. Mondo's contribution to this fight is two creations called ChopShop
and Canopus." As Zordon spoke, the monsters appeared on the viewing globe,
and the Rangers groaned. ChopShop looked as if someone had turned a blender
inside out, and Canopus...
"A can opener monster?" Rocky asked, summing
up the feelings of them all. "I thought cheesy monsters were Zedd and Rita's
department."
"Cheesiness aside, these monsters are formidable
opponents on their own. Released three at a time, they become a force to
be reckoned with. You will have to split the team up dangerously to handle
them."
"Dangerously is right," David remarked. "Who
wants to be the lucky shmuck that has to go alone? There are only five
of us."
"Perhaps I can help," an unfamiliar voice
broke in. A golden glow coalesced in the center of the Power Chamber. When
it faded, the Gold Ranger was standing in its place.
"Trey!" Tommy cried. "What are you doing here?"
"I sensed that you were in danger and needed
my help. I am here to offer my services." He raised an eyebrow as he took
in David and Lita's unfamiliar faces. "Is there something that I should
be filled in on?"
Tanya chuckled. "It's too long a story to
go into now, Trey. He's David Trueheart, Tommy's twin brother, and she's
Dr. Lita Kino. They can both be trusted."
Gold Ranger bowed to Lita. "When this adventure
is done, Dr. Kino, I look forward to hearing you tell me the whole story."
"I am not going to ask, I am not going to
ask, I am not going to ask," Lita muttered to herself. She didn't think
she could stand another weird explanation right now.
"All right," Adam said, taking charge. "Trey,
you and Rocky handle ChopShop, Dave and Kat will take Raptar, and Tanya
and I will handle Canopus." Dave grimaced. He didn't like splitting up
the team this much at all. Out of the corner of his eye, Adam caught Dave's
expression and smiled. "Cheer up, Dave. It could be worse. With a name
like Raptar, he could be one of those annoying rapping monsters."
"Yeah, like the Hate Master," Rocky groaned.
"I'd never heard such awful rap in my life- except maybe for Vanilla Ice."
"Pumpkin Rapper was worse," grinned Tommy.
"Remember him, Jase?"
"How could I forget?" Jason groused. "He was
so awful, he couldn't even keep the rhythm."
"If I may interrupt," Adam remarked, pulling
the team back to reality, "we need to get going. Be careful, everybody.
It's morphin time!"
In a flash of light, Green and Yellow Rangers
appeared at the Halleck Planetarium. "Keep your eyes open," Green Ranger
cautioned. "Remember, Mondo's watchword is "ambush."
"Got it." Slowly, they made their way around
the deserted planetarium. Yellow Ranger's nerves were humming unbearably,
and she could feel sweat trickling down her face beneath her helmet. Green
Ranger's presence behind her was reassuring. He's been at this so long.
I'm sure he can take care of himself.
"There!" Green Ranger cried, pointing. Yellow
Ranger could just see a bulky, shadowy form that had to be Canopus darting
into the building. "He's gone into the display room! Let's go!" The two
Rangers took off, pursuing their prey inside.
In the shopping district of Angel Grove, Raptar
was tearing apart a Wal-mart. "Watch for falling prices!" it snarled, using
its tail to hurl a cash register at a fleeing employee. The register missed,
and the hapless worker disappeared.
Chuckling to itself, Raptar headed back through
the toy section to where the manager sat huddled beneath a desk, moaning
about insurance payments. A flash of red caught the monster's eye. "Hey,
Tickle-Me Elmo!" it rumbled.. "I didn't think you could find these things
anymore!" Tossing the doll over its shoulder, it continued back towards
the frightened manager.
"My HMO doesn't cover dinosaurs," the man
squeaked.
"Boy, those guys don't pay for anything,"
Raptar sympathized in its gravely voice. "Look on the bright side, lunch.
You won't have to worry about it any more." The raptor leaned closer to
its prey, raising one of its powerful, well-clawed hind legs.
"Hey you! With the prominent overbite!" A
voice cut through the silence of the store. Raptar whirled to see Red and
Pink Rangers standing behind it. The manager, not being stupid, lost no
time in disappearing out the back entrance.
"Now look what you did! You let my lunch get
away!" Raptar whined. "Guess I'll have to eat you instead!" With that,
the raptor monster launched itself at the two Rangers. Both having seen
Jurassic Park, the teens were ready. Pink and Red Rangers threw themselves
to opposite sides, causing Raptar to pass directly between them and smack
snout-first into a display of assorted discount toys. The whole shelf came
rumbling down on its head, burying it in Tonka trucks, giant robots, and
large dolls. A particularly large truck landed on the monster's head.
"That had to hurt," Pink Ranger remarked.
"OOOH, brother," Raptar groaned, pulling itself
out of the heap. "That was not good." Suddenly it noticed a Cabbage Patch
doll chewing busily on its tail. "Ow, hey! Leggo, you little cannibal!"
With some difficulty, it managed to unsnap the doll's backpack and shut
down the mechanism. After extracting its tail-tip from the doll's mouth,
the monster turned back toward the Rangers. "Now where were we? Oh, yeah!
I was just leaving." Abruptly, Raptar turned and ran out the door.
Red Ranger cursed viciously. "Kat, come on!
We have to catch up with him before he does even more damage!" The two
hurried after the fleeing dinosaur.
Gold and Blue Rangers found themselves teleported
into Forest Hills, the wealthy part of the residential section. Astonished,
Blue Ranger examined a nearby bush. "Looks like somebody trimmed this thing
with a weed-whacker. I think I'd fire the gardener."
"It looks to me as if ChopShop's been here.
I doubt this was the gardener's doing," Gold Ranger replied, scanning the
area.
"You have no appreciation of humor." Cautiously,
the two made their way into the backyard of the house, following a trail
of mutilated bushes. Peering around the corner, Blue Ranger saw ChopShop
terrorizing a group of kids who were huddled on the patio.
"Hey, Blenderface!" Blue Ranger called, jumping
out. "Pick on somebody your own size!"
"Somebody like you?" the monster asked, shooting
several whirling blades at him.
Blue Ranger dodged agilely, ducking the blades
with ease. "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of Godzilla,"
he muttered. Over the monster's shoulder, he could see Gold Ranger herding
the children back into the house. That's it, he thought to himself.I've
got to keep his attention on me long enough for Trey to get the kids out
of here. If I'm lucky, maybe I can keep it long enough for Trey to blindside
him.
Having herded the children into the safety
of the house, Gold Ranger turned just in time to see Blue Ranger fall to
the ground in a heap, bleeding from several places. That thing's blades
are sharp enough to penetrate Ranger suits! he thought, appalled. Those
things are unstable molecular fabric, near-impossible to rip!
"Golden Power Staff!" he called. The weapon
coalesced in his hand. With a flick of the wrist, he sent a barrage of
Golden power directly at the monster. The energy ball impacted the back
of the monster's head, distracting it from its attack on Blue Ranger. Unfortunately,
distracting it was all the ball accomplished. The monster's armor was too
thick for the attack to cause any damage.
I've got to do something!_ Blue Ranger
thought desperately. His wounds were healing, and he'd be able to attack
soon, but it would do no good. ChopShop was far too strong for the Rangers
to defeat in hand-to-hand combat. He had to fight with his head, not one
of his strong suits. C'mon, Rocky, think! he berated himself. Time
to live up to the tradition of the Blue Ranger. Suddenly an idea sprang
into his mind. Getting painfully to his feet, he shouted, "Trey! Slow him
down, then follow me!"
Gold Ranger nodded, smiling beneath his helmet.
Time
for a new trick. "Golden Power Storm!" he called, raising the weapon
above his head. A dark roiling cloud began to coalesce around the head
of the staff. Bursts of gold light began to appear inside it. Quickly,
the energy built to massive proportions, flashing out in a massive lightning
bolt that temporarily locked ChopShop's circuits. The robot froze in place,
and the two Rangers took off running. Almost immediately, ChopShop regained
his mobility and was in hot pursuit.
Cautiously, Green Ranger pushed open the door
to the planetarium's storage room. Easing his way inside, he kept a sharp
eye out for Canopus. "Tanya," he whispered. "Anything behind us?"
She never had the chance to answer. A grappling
hook and line shot out of the darkened room and wrapped around her throat.
With a jerk, Canopus pulled her into the room and against itself, using
her as a shield. Like lightning, Green Ranger pulled his laser pistol and
trained it on the monster.
"Drop the gun, Green Ranger, or she dies,"
Canopus snickered. It raised an arm in front of Yellow Ranger's face, allowing
the two to see that it was a wickedly sharp blade.
"Let her go," ordered Green Ranger. His aim
never flinched.
"You're in no position to give orders, Green
Ranger. Drop the gun or I gut her like a trout."
"If you do, I'll shoot you. You'd never take
me out in time."
Canopus shrugged, bringing his knife-like
forearm perilously close to Yellow Ranger's throat. "Then I take one Power
Ranger with me. I can handle that. Can you?" For emphasis, the robot laid
its blade against her throat guard.
Green Ranger was silent for a long minute,
then dropped his laser pistol to the ground.
"Good. Now kick it over here." Green Ranger
obeyed. "Very good, Adam. I'm pleased to see you so cooperative. Now, demorph
and take off your Zeonizers."
"NO!" Yellow Ranger yelled. "Adam, you can't!
If Mondo gets his hands on the Green Power, there's no telling what he'll
do!"
"Do it, Green Ranger," Canopus sneered. "Or
would you prefer to see her blood running all over this floor?"
Green Ranger hung his head. "I'm sorry, Tanya,"
he whispered. In a flash of green light, he was Adam again.
"Throw them over to me." Adam did so. "Excellent.
Now," Canopus addressed Yellow Ranger, "it's your turn."
"Go to hell," she retorted. "I'm not afraid
to die."
"How noble! Are you willing to sacrifice him?"
Canopus released her, shooting another grappling hook at Adam. This one
wrapped around his legs and body, pinning his arms to his sides and causing
him to fall to the floor. "I can promise you, you'll watch him die screaming
if you don't give me what I want."
"And if I do?" she asked defiantly.
"I'll let you both live. If you aren't Power
Rangers, I have no further quarrel with you."
"Don't trust him, Tanya! Monsters have no
honor!" Adam called.
A flare of yellow light, and Tanya was herself
again. "Here," she spat, throwing her Zeonizers over to Adam's. "Take them
and go." She ran over to Adam's side, putting an arm around his shoulders.
"Are you all right, Adam?"
He nodded, his eyes dark and troubled. "We're
dead, Tanya," he said quietly. "He's going to kill us."
She nodded, her lips tight. "I know, but-
I couldn't just let it happen."
Adam smiled. "I love you, you know that?"
"I know," she smiled back. "I love you too."
"Isn't this sweet?" Canopus cooed. "I'm almost
sorry to destroy you. Which one shall I handle first? Hmm, decisions, decisions."
Tanya set Adam down gently. "Seeing as how
you'll have to go through me to get to him, I don't think there's a choice
to be made here."
"Ha! You won't even be a challenge!" Canopus
scoffed.
Tanya's eyes were cold and deadly. "Try me."
Blue and Gold Rangers were running for their
lives, with ChopShop in close pursuit. Silently praying that his plan worked,
Blue Ranger led the two into a steel mill.
"What are we doing?" Gold Ranger asked curiously.
"Setting a trap," Blue Ranger puffed back.
"Didn't you ever see Terminator 2?"
"I was only on this planet a month, and I
had other things on my mind," Gold Ranger reminded him wryly.
"Good point," his companion conceded. "Anyway,
the climactic scene took place in a steel mill. They melted down the big
robot by knocking it into a vat of hot steel. Now, I happen to know that
this factory always keeps the steel molten, even when nobody's here. It's
cheaper. All we have to do is get ChopShop into the vat."
"Easier said than done, my friend," observed
the Triforian.
"No kidding. Hey, call me Rocky. All my friends
do."
"Rocky. Where does that come from, anyway?"
Blue Ranger sounded embarrassed. "My full
name is Rockford De Santos, named by a father who had a love of James Garner
TV shows. "Rocky" was the natural choice. It could have been worse; he
could have named me Maverick."
"Maverick?"
"I'll explain later. It's way too complicated
to go into here."
As the two talked, they collected various
objects, setting a very sneaky trap for ChopShop. A banging in the lower
regions of the mill alerted them to the arrival of their enemy. "Hmm, looks
like the guest of honor is here," Blue Ranger chuckled. "It'll take him
a while to find us. We have time to finish this thing."
The two worked in silence for a while, then...
"Trey?" Blue Ranger inquired. "Do you have family, back home on Triforia?"
Gold Ranger sighed. "Yes. A mother and two
sisters. My older sister, Trianna, is studying to be a wizard. She's very
good. My younger sister is named Trialia. She's training to be a warrior,
and follow in my footsteps. My mother is Lady Trania. She's what you would
call the Queen of the planet. She runs things in my absence, since I have
the commitment of the Gold Ranger powers. My father, Lord Terian, died
in a battle with some pirates a few years. I suppose that someday I'll
have to marry and settle down to be the Lord of Triforia, but that day
seems so far off. My current responsibility of helping you protect Earth
is all I can think of now." He sighed. "How about you, Rocky? What's your
family like?"
Blue Ranger exhaled. "Well, let's see. We're
a big, I mean big Hispanic family. Both of my parents came from big families.
My mom is one of seven kids, and my dad was the oldest of five. Add to
that the cousins, second cousins, dates, parents, and relatives with no
designations, and you've got one heck of a crowd at the family reunion.
"As for my immediate family, my dad died when
I was ten, so it's Mom, my older brother Pedro, me, and my six younger
brothers and sisters. In order of age, they're Lindsey, Rosa, Juan, Miguel,
Emilia, and Alejandro. It gets pretty hectic around the house, especially
because I always had to baby-sit. It wasn't that Pedro didn't want to help,
but he just wasn't as good with kids as I was. I've always had that talent."
Sighing, Blue Ranger shifted position. "Y'know
what the worst part of all this is? If I die, my mom'll think that I did
it on purpose."
"What?"
"I was really depressed after Jen, my girlfriend
died. I got really reckless. Not suicidal- that's against my religion,
and I never really considered it. But I did want to die. If I don't come
out of this, I just want my mom to know that I did this for somebody, not
because I wanted to die. I want her to be proud of me, not feeling guilty
about what she could have done."
"I promise you, Rocky, if you should die and
I should live, your mother will know of what you did, no matter how much
noise Zordon makes about it." The two boys were silent for a while, listening
to ChopShop search for them.
"Are you going to be staying on Earth for
a while?" Blue Ranger asked hesitantly.
"I would think so. Pyramidas is safely cloaked
on Earth, not far from the Power Chamber. I can live there quite comfortably
for a very long time."
"It must get boring, cooped up in that pyramid
whenever you're not helping us. What I guess I'm trying to say is that
you might want to hang out with us when you don't have to be Gold Ranger."
Gold Ranger chuckled. "Thanks for the invitation,
Rocky, but I don't think I'd fit in."
"What are friends for, man? I got a letter
from Prince Dex of Edenoi the other day, from where he is on Earth, and
he seems to be fitting in well."
"You know Dex? Where is he?" Gold Ranger's
head snapped up. "We were very good friends, before the attack on Edenoi."
"Really?" Blue Ranger was amazed. "How'd that
happen?"
Gold Ranger never got a chance to reply, because
just then ChopShop burst up the steps, searching for them. "Now!" Blue
Ranger called. He opened the nozzle on the fire hose he held, just as Gold
Ranger spun the valve wide open.
The robot was struck with the high pressure
stream and pushed back, away from the Rangers and towards the edge. The
objects that the two Rangers had placed on the catwalk hemmed ChopShop
in, giving the monster only one path to follow. Silently, Blue Ranger gave
thanks for the enhanced strength morphing gave him. If he had been an ordinary
human, the pressure would have knocked him off his feet. He watched as
ChopShop neared the edge of the platform and was pushed off by the force
of the water. With a single, despairing cry, ChopShop fell into the molten
steel below. Blue Ranger turned his head away from the melting monster.
He didn't need to watch it die.
"By the Triune Goddess!" Gold Ranger's gasp
drew Blue Ranger's attention back to the vat. Incredibly, ChopShop was
pulling itself out of the steel. A great deal of it was gone, but its endoskeletal
support structure was still intact. Looking up at the two boys, the monster
aimed and shot a blade with a cord attached up at them. The two dodged
and watched in horror as the robot pulled itself up to the catwalk they
stood on.
"I think it's pissed," Blue Ranger declared
unnecessarily. "We are dead meat."
Slowly, Red Ranger rolled his body around the
jamb of the door that led into the warehouse. "Keep your eyes open, Kat,"
he cautioned. "That dinosaur is sneakier than Delmar."
"More annoying, too," she muttered, following
him in. Gradually, carefully, they began to explore the warehouse, always
on the alert for an attack. "David, my nerves are so tight I'm afraid they're
going to snap," Pink Ranger commented.
"I know, Kat. I don't like this any better
than you do." A rustling sound off to Pink Ranger's left alerted him to
the presence of something watching them. On a hunch, he threw himself at
her, knocking her to the floor as a brown blur brushed past them. As it
was, he wasn't quite fast enough. Pink Ranger received a nasty slash to
her thigh.
Red Ranger examined it, drawing in his breath
with a hiss. "Kat, it's deep. Luckily, he didn't hit an artery, so you're
in no danger of bleeding to death, but I don't think you should walk on
it."
"I don't think I can," she replied softly.
"Zordon? Zordon, come in!" Cold static answered
Red Ranger's calls. "Damn! Communicators are out, teleportation is too.
You know more about Rangering than I do. How long do you think it'll take
you to heal?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Twenty minutes,
maybe, to be functional. An hour to fully recover. That's without treatment."
Red Ranger put his hands over his helmet-face.
"We don't have that kind of time. All right, here's what we'll do. You're
obviously in no shape to play the game by Raptar's rules, so we'll play
by ours. C'mon." Abruptly, he scooped her into his arms.
"Where are we going?" She could hear the dangerous
grin in his voice as he responded.
"Just be glad this is a restaurant supply
company. We're gonna get Raptar to chill out."
"The freezer?" she asked when they arrived
at their destination. "David, the latest research shows that dinosaurs
were not cold-blooded. They were homeothermic, just like birds."
"Ah, but Katherine, anything slows down when
it gets cold. Even humans. Our Ranger suits protect us. He doesn't have
that advantage. Besides, that's only a side effect. What do we have that
he doesn't?"
"Opposable thumbs?"
"Well, yeah, but we also have boots. Boots
with treads. That gives us better traction on ice." With that, he tipped
over a vat of chipped ice, sending it skittering over the already damp
floor. Then he turned up the cold in the freezer and hid Pink Ranger behind
a rack of meat. "Kat, there's something I have to say to you, in case we
don't make it out of this."
She laid a gloved hand over where his mouth
should be. "Don't."
"I have to. Kat, I love you. I've loved you
ever since I met you in the juice bar that first time. Being a Power Ranger
with you has only strengthened my feelings. I know you're with Tommy, and
I would never do anything to break that up. I just wanted you to know that
I love you. I don't want to die with that unsaid."
"Oh, David," she began. However, she was interrupted
by a hideous squealing sound and a horrendous crash. Raptar had found them
and torn the metal door off its hinges.
"Hello, lunch." The saurian monster lunged
at Red Ranger, but found the floor a little too slick for it. It fell flat
on its snout. "Ouch! Twice in one day! Oh, now you're really gonna pay
for that!" Raising itself off the floor, it carefully began to stalk towards
Red Ranger.
"Come and get me, scale-face," Red Ranger
laughed, sounding more confident than he felt. He only had a slight advantage
over Raptar, and if he lost that, he was dead.
Suddenly, Raptar whirled around, catching
Red Ranger at the back of the knees, knocking him off his feet. He hit
the floor hard enough to render him breathless and dizzy. Through blurred
eyes, he saw Raptar advancing on him slowly. "Adios, amigo," the dinosaur
chuckled, raising one powerful, sharp-clawed hind leg.
"NO!" Tommy cried, seeing the position his
friends were in. "Zordon, isn't there anything we can do?" he wailed, clutching
his coin tightly. Before the sage could answer, a low thrumming cut through
the Power Chamber.
"What's going on?" Jason cried, looking around
for some evidence of attack.
"Ai yi yi!" Alpha was yelling and running
around in panic.
"Look!" pointed Lita. The other occupants
of the Power Chamber followed her finger and saw the coin in Tommy's hands
pulsing with a green light. The thrumming was also coming from the coin.
"Tommy, what's happening?" Lita asked cautiously.
"It- it wants me to use it! It wants me to
use the Green Power."
"As the Green Ranger, you could help the Rangers!"
Jason told him excitedly.
"But- the Green Ranger was evil- I don't-
I can't..." Tommy stared at the coin in his hand confused.
"DAVID!" Pink Ranger's scream, transmitted
through the viewing globe, drew all their attention. Red Ranger had managed
to roll away from Raptar's strike at the last minute, but not quite far
enough. The claws had slashed his left arm, which lay useless at his side.
Still on the ground, losing blood too quickly to stand, Red Ranger groaned.
"Kat, I'm sorry. I love you."
Pink Ranger was now sobbing. "David, please,
don't die on me!"
Her obvious agony was the last straw for Tommy.
"I can't back down. Whatever it takes, whatever the risk, I have to do
this! Dragonzord!"
A flare of emerald light filled the Power
Chamber, searing the vision of all the occupants. When it cleared, the
Green Dragon Ranger was standing before them. "Tommy?" Lita asked hesitantly.
"Yes- and no," he responded. "I'll explain
when I get back." With that, he teleported out, leaving the four remaining
beings confused. Who was in control of the body, Tommy- or the Green Ranger?
Red Ranger stared up at the Raptar as it approached.
This is it. I'm going to die, he thought. Of all the ways to
go out, dino bait was not one I would have anticipated. As the monster
reared back, Red Ranger braced himself for the killing blow.
Suddenly a green blur plowed into the dinosaur,
knocking it away from Red Ranger. Somewhat weak from the blood loss, Red
Ranger nevertheless managed to stand. I will never underrate accelerated
healing powers again, he noted thankfully. Quickly he crossed to Pink
Ranger, offering her his good arm. She let out a small yelp as she stood
up, but managed to put some weight on her leg. The two Rangers then turned
to get a better look at their rescuer.
Green Dragon Ranger had pulled his blade blaster
and was aiming for the Raptar's most vulnerable spot- its eyes. The monster
was too busy guarding them to attack anybody.
"Kat, while it's distracted- aim your Zeo
pistol at the monster's torso. Fire on my command. One- two- three!" The
two Rangers fired simultaneously on the same spot, causing the monster
to disintegrate. Cheering, Red and Pink Rangers turned to their rescuer.
"Tommy!" Pink Ranger gasped. Green Dragon
Ranger shrugged.
"Hi guys."
"Tommy! But- but- how?" Red Ranger stammered.
"Long story, tell you later. Are you guys
up for more fighting?"
Gingerly, Red Ranger flexed his arm. "I think
so. The muscles seem to have healed."
Pink Ranger nodded. "I won't be launching
any flying kicks for a couple of hours, but I can fight."
"Good. The others are also in bad spots, and
they all need our help. Kat, you and I will go help Rocky and Trey. Dave,
you go help Adam and Tanya at the planetarium. You should be able to handle
Canopus alone. He got the drop on them, but you'll have surprise on your
side. Let's go!"
As the three Rangers teleported out, David
marveled at how quickly and easily Tommy slipped back into the role of
leader. His brother was a definite miracle.
"Oomph!" Tanya grunted, falling back as a backhanded
blow caught her across the cheek, knocking her back into a wall. She was
bleeding from several places where Canopus had cut her with its blade-like
forearms, and bruised in several more. However, none of her injuries were
serious, and she was still fighting gamely to protect Adam, who lay on
the floor struggling with his bonds.
"Give up, human!" Canopus sneered. "You are
severely out-matched!"
"Yeah, right," Tanya grinned. "So why am I
still kicking your butt?" Her eyes flickered up over Canopus' shoulder
and she smiled even wider. "Oh, now you're really in trouble, metal-muncher."
"Oh, please! That's the oldest trick in the
book!" Whatever else Canopus would have said was cut off as Red Ranger's
flying kick plowed into the back of the monster's head.
"And that's the second oldest," Red Ranger
grinned, pulling his Zeo pistol. "Say goodnight, Gracie." Leveling his
pistol at the monster, he pulled the trigger. The beam slammed into the
monster, causing it to explode. "Just as I thought. Since he made two monsters,
Mondo didn't make either as tough as he usually makes one. Piece of cake."
"Thanks, Holmes," Adam replied sarcastically
from his position on the floor. "Now, can you help me out of this thing!?"
With Tanya's help, Red Ranger managed to untangle
Adam. The two unmorphed Rangers quickly scrambled for their Zeonizers.
"C'mon, Tanya!" Adam called. "Let's morph
and go help the others. It's morphin time!"
"Zeo Ranger II, Yellow!"
"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"
Blue and Gold Rangers slowly backed away from
the half-melted ChopShop, looking for any way to escape. "It keeps going,
and going," Blue Ranger muttered. "Hey, maybe we should just take out its
batteries!" ChopShop launched a blade at them, narrowly missing their heads.
"Or, maybe not."
"Rocky, how did the first movie end?" Gold
Ranger shouted suddenly.
"What?"
"You talked about a Terminator 2. That
implies there was a first one. How'd they stop it?"
"Um,- Trey, that came out in the early 80's!"
"Rocky, think!"
"All right! Um, she squashed it in a metal
press, crushed it's CPU. But I don't see a metal press around here!"
"We don't need one! Get him under that vat!"
Underneath his helmet, Blue Ranger's eyes
lit up. "Got it!" Drawing his Zeo pistol, he drew the robots attention
by shooting it. As it followed him, Gold Ranger scrambled up the ladder
set into a nearby wall. Sensing his actions, ChopShop turned and shot a
blade at him, nicking him in the leg. Gold Ranger cried out in anguish,
but kept climbing. Chop Shop fired another blade at Gold Ranger, despite
Blue Ranger's attempts to distract it. This one sliced through the big
muscle of his arm. With one arm and one leg useless, Gold Ranger was beginning
to despair of ever reaching the catwalk above him. Suddenly, the skzrchh!
of teleportation made him look up. On the catwalk was Pink Ranger, reaching
down to give him a hand. Gratefully, he let her haul him up.
"Hmm," she noted. "Looks like I'm not the
only one with a leg injury."
"It's nothing," he assured her. "Come, we
must get to the vat!"
"Lean on me," she told him. "Tommy and Rocky
will get him into position."
Down on the factory floor, Blue Ranger's eyes
nearly popped out of his head when he saw who had come to his rescue. "Tommy!"
Green Dragon Ranger gave him a thumbs up.
"The one and only. C'mon, Rocko, lets get this creep into position."
With the two Rangers working in synch, it
was relatively easy to maneuver ChopShop into the correct position. "Just
hold that pose, blender-head," Blue Ranger muttered. Raising his voice,
he called, "Okay, Trey, let 'er rip!"
Gold Ranger and Pink Ranger pulled the pins
out of their positions, sending the vat crashing to the floor, squashing
ChopShop underneath it.
"Well," Green Dragon Ranger said, "that's
one guy Mondo's not gonna fix." Green, Yellow, and Red Rangers teleported
in, just as Pink Ranger helped Gold Ranger down from the catwalk.
"Looks like we missed all the excitement,"
Green Ranger remarked.
"That's all right," Pink Ranger told him.
"You can help us clean up." The group laughed. Green Dragon Ranger looked
around, thinking of how good it felt to laugh with his friends again. It
had been too long.
Back at the Power Chamber, the Rangers demorphed,
including Tommy. Hands on her hips, Lita glared at them all with unusual
venom. "All right, Oliver, you'd better tell me what happened out there,
before I show you how I got my black belt in aikido!" she growled.
Tommy chuckled. "Well, when I morphed, I wound
up sort of face to face with myself, everything that I'd done and been.
The only way to the Green power was to accept what I'd been, and my friends
needed me. I guess I just accepted the Green Ranger as part of myself,
and suddenly I was morphed. The rest you probably saw on the viewing globe."
"So Tommy," David asked hesitantly, "are you
the Green Ranger for good now?"
His brother shook his head. "No, the power's
gone for good this time. It had built up a bit of a charge over two hundred
years, but I don't feel any power left in it any more."
"It is simply a coin now," Zordon informed
them. "However, it is a rather unusual coin, made of metals not familiar
to this planet. What will you do with the Green Coin now, Tommy?"
Tommy looked at his coin for a long moment.
"Lita, I want you to have this, to remember this case by," he said, placing
the coin in her hand. "After all, this is probably the most exciting one
you'll ever have," he grinned.
She chuckled in reply. "I'll second that!
Listen, you guys, I want you all to know that if you ever need me- if any
of you need to talk, my door is always open. Try to make an appointment,
though. It'll be more convenient for everybody."
"So, Trey," Rocky grinned slyly. "Have you
thought about my offer? You'll get pretty bored in that pyramid all the
time."
Trey grinned back. "I'd love to, Rocky, but
somehow I don't think my outfit would go over really well," he replied,
gesturing to his tunic.
"Oh, that's no problem." Rocky grinned wickedly.
"You're about Jason's size; I'm sure he could loan you a couple outfits.
Then the girls could take you to the mall." Adam and Tommy groaned in unison,
leading to chuckles from the other Rangers.
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," Trey
began hesitantly.
"Not at all," Kat told him. "We'd love to
take you shopping."
"Lita," Tommy asked out of the corner of his
mouth, "is there any chance that my therapy could run a little longer?"
She grinned. "Well, I think you've achieved
spontaneous integration, but I do think we should have a few follow-up
sessions, just to make sure. Why don't we head back to the cabin and do
those? We should be completely done in a few days."
"I'll take Trey back to my place and lend
him some clothes," Jason volunteered. "Then the girls can take him shopping."
"Just don't let them spend too much," Tommy
cautioned the Triforian. "Money doesn't grow on trees; at least, not on
this planet."
"Dr. Kino," Zordon broke in, "I would like
you to remain behind for a second. There is something I would like to talk
to you about."
Lita nodded, then turned to the Power Teens.
"Go on; I'll catch up with you later." The seven teleported out to their
various destinations, and Lita turned back to Zordon. "All right, what
did you want to talk to me about?"
"First, I wished to present you with a communicator.
I hope that you will help the Power Rangers in the future, and if you do
so, you will need one of these. It will allow you to talk to the Rangers
and teleport." Alpha brought her a communicator, which she saw was done
in green and white stripes. She buckled it onto her wrist and looked back
up at Zordon expectantly.
"Second, I wish to tell you about the Power
coin you now hold. When Rita drained the Green Ranger's powers the first
time, what she actually did was break the coin's connection with the morphin
grid. Then she drained it's back-up supply. When I recharged Tommy's powers,
all I did was fill the back-up supply again. This is also what Zedd and
Rita did when they recharged the coin to give it to Tommy's clone. The
coin still contained a small shred of energy when Tommy's clone gave up
his powers. That little bit multiplied to the point where Tommy could use
it today, but now the coin is completely powerless.
"I tell you this to explain some of the side
effects the coin may have on you. You see, the coin is a transformer, a
power focuser. In and of itself, the coin never had any power. The power
all came from the morphin grid. Now the coin is powerless, but still functional,
like a computer that has not been turned on."
"So what you're saying is that if the coin
had some other source of power, it would make another Green Ranger?"
"Not another Green Ranger, no. That transformation
comes from the power of the morphin grid. However, it could transform someone
into something else. Into what depends on the source of the power.
"Since you are an ordinary human, the coin
will only work off your natural human energy. Your speed, strength, and
reflexes will be enhanced, and your senses will become more acute. This
may be a distinct advantage if you are to defend yourself against the Power
Rangers' enemies. I suggest that you keep it with you at all times."
"I will, Zordon. Is there anything else that
you wanted to say?"
"Only thank you, Dr. Kino. The Rangers are
very important to me, and it would hurt very much if I were to lose one."
She smiled. "You're welcome, Zordon. I was
very glad that I could help." With that, she teleported back to the cabin.
Several days (and one extremely comprehensive
shopping trip) later, Tommy was given a clean bill of mental health and
reinstated as the Red Ranger, and the group at the cabin returned to Angel
Grove. Ernie, never one to pass up a party, immediately began planning
a "Welcome Home" gala to rival any other party ever thrown at the youth
center. For the first time, one of Ernie's parties required formal wear,
since Ernie was pulling our all the stops. That Saturday night, the Rangers
invited a hesitant Trey and Dr. Kino to attend as well. Luckily, the girls
were quite willing to guide Trey through the finer points of renting a
tuxedo.
Looking around at the decorated youth center
and all the teenagers dancing, Tommy smiled to himself. He hadn't really
been able to enjoy himself like this for a long time, ever since he had
first become the Green Ranger. Now, however, the depression hanging over
his head had finally dissipated, and he was quite able to enjoy himself.
Over in one corner, he spied his sister looking around for likely dance
partners. Grinning wickedly, he grabbed Trey by the arm and guided him
over to the corner.
"You're gonna love my sister, Trey," he told
the other boy in a low tone. "She's smart, she's pretty, and she's good
at taking care of herself. I think you two will get along great."
"Tommy, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't
matchmaking resented by most Earthlings? And what am I going to tell her
about myself?"
"The truth. She already knows about me; she
won't even blink when you mention you're an alien prince." Tommy grinned
at his friend. "Trust me."
Trey grumbled a little, but did not resist
as Tommy drew him over to where Chelsea was standing.
"Hey Chelse." Tommy tapped his sister on the
shoulder to get her attention. When she turned around, he said, "This is
Trey Ackerson, a good friend of mine."
"Hi, Trey," Chelsea smiled, extending her
hand to him. Instead of shaking it like she had expected, he caught her
hand and kissed the back.
"Charmed, I'm sure." He smiled back at her,
holding her gaze with his own. Grinning, Tommy melted back into the crowd,
leaving the two alone. He really thought the two would be good for each
other. Trey deserved someone he could trust with his secrets, and Chelsea
deserved someone that wouldn't be intimidated by the fact that her brother
was a six-foot-tall black belt. He chuckled. Maybe his mom was right, and
matchmaking ran in the bloodline after all.
Leaning against the buffet, Tommy grinned,
surveying his work. Out on the dance floor, Chelsea and Trey were swaying
to the current slow song, smiling at each other with unconcealed delight.
Even better, Trey was one of the few people he knew that wasn't shorter
than his sister. They looked good together out on the floor. Even more
appropriate was Chelsea's dress, which shimmered golden in the soft light.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned
to see Lita smiling at him. "Hey, Lita. You enjoying the party?"
She laughed. "Oh, yes! I should hang out with
teenagers more often. I've practically danced my feet off tonight." She
looked out at the floor, raising an eyebrow when she saw Chelsea and Trey.
"Your doing?"
"I can not tell a lie. They seem happy, though.
There's Rocky and Katarina, over by the other food table, of course, there's
Jason and Emily, dancing like there's no tomorrow, and there's Adam and
Tanya talking to Ernie over by the bar."
"Hmm," Lita replied, "but I don't see David
or Kat. I wonder where they could be?"
Just then, the band began to play In This
Life, by Collin Raye. Tommy smiled sadly. This had always been Kim
and his song. They'd danced to it a hundred times, sometimes at parties,
sometimes just alone in the park.
Gasps and whispers drew Tommy out of his reverie,
causing him to look up. A cluster of people had formed on the dance floor,
watching somebody as they danced. Curious, he made his way over there and
pushed his way through the people to see who was drawing so much attention.
Dancing in the center of the circle, with eyes only for each other, were
David and Kat. Tommy's jaw dropped. He'd heard what David had said to her
in the warehouse, but he had had no idea that Kat returned David's feelings.
Nauseated, his head spinning, he watched them dance in astonishment.
Finally the song stopped and the two dancers
parted. Both were flushed and smiling shyly. Almost in unison, they turned
back toward the buffet table- and spotted Tommy. Kat raised a hand to her
mouth and David took an involuntary step back as his eyes met his brother's.
The two boys stared at each other in complete silence for quite a while.
No one else in the youth center made a noise either. Even the band had
stopped playing, choosing instead to watch the drama going on in front
of them.
Tension radiated from every part of Tommy's
body. His jaw was clenched, and the watchers were unsure of what his reaction
would be, whether he would burst into tears or haul off and deck his brother.
His hands were fisted tightly at his sides, but whether he was trying to
control himself or preparing to start a fight was unclear.
In the end, it was Tommy who broke the silence.
"Congratulations, David," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "You really
have a wonderful lady there." Then he turned to Kat. "Kat-," he began,
his voice dying. "Kat, I want you to know that I'm happy for you both.
I cared about you a lot, but I didn't- couldn't love you the way you deserve.
I guess that part of my heart belongs to Kim, and always will. It wasn't
fair to you and I'm glad that you found someone who can give you what you
deserve." His speech said, Tommy turned and ran, wanting to get out of
the building before somebody saw his tears.
Tommy sat on the front stoop of the youth center
sobbing. He could still hear the words to that song, running through his
mind, mocking him. It had been his and Kim's, but she had left him, and
now he was alone again.
Let the world stop turning,
Let the sun stop burning,
Let them tell me love's not worth going through,
If it all falls apart,
I will know deep in my heart,
The only dream that mattered had come true,
In this life, I was loved by you.
Well, everything had fallen apart for him,
and he didn't know if being loved was going to be enough. He felt someone
sit down next to him, and looked up, expecting to see Jason. Instead, he
saw Lita, smiling at him sympathetically.
"Hey, Tommy. That's got to hurt, I know. If
it's any consolation, I don't think they planned it that way," she offered.
He laughed. "It's not that, Dr. Kino. I really
am happy for them both. I meant every word I said in there. It's just-
it's just that I'm alone again. Everybody else has somebody, but I'm alone,
and I'm still in love with the woman who dumped me. I haven't been fair
to Kat at all. In a sense, I think I just latched onto her to avoid being
alone. She probably got tired of competing with a ghost, but Kim's always
gonna be hanging over me. That song- Kim and I danced to it all the time.
I just feel so lost. I guess I traded one depression for another."
"Tommy, I know that right now romance and
romantic love seem to be the most important kinds, but you have to understand
that you're not alone. You're a part of a group of friends so close that
nothing can come between you for long. You and Kat may not be romantically
involved anymore, but you'll always be friends. Nothing that comes between
you, now or in the future, will ever break that bond you have with your
friends. That goes for Kimberly, too."
He smiled up at her. "Thanks, Lita."
"No sweat," she grinned, helping him to his
feet. "C'mon. Let's go in there and dance!" They re-entered the youth center,
going back to the party. For the first time in almost three years, Tommy
thought that things were going to be all right.
The End... for now