Hi all! I return from the magical land of AO3 to simulpost this. I'm bipolar, and when I'm manic I work on this gem, and now that I'm nice and stable I thought I'd share with you guys. It's pretty funny, although in fair warning everyone and their brother calls Tommy a lunatic. (He's rather proud of it.) If you like it I'll write more-although don't worry, I've got a ton already written. TASTE THE RAINBOW!

Angel Grove, 1993

"WELCOME, HUMANS!"

Almost instantly Zordon realized something was wrong. "...ALPHA?"

"Yes, Zordon?" The robot asked.

"WHY ARE THERE SIX OF THEM?"

Alpha 5 glanced at the control panel for the teleportation device. "Oops! I must have set the wrong parameters! Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!"

The sixth teenager, Tommy, looked blissfully unaware of the problems with his arrival. "Bro," He whispered to Jason, "These are aliens! This is so cool! Maybe we're in Area 51!"

Jason grinned in agreement, but put on his 'Leader Face' and turned to Zordon, crossing his arms. "So who are you?"

"And what are you?" Kimberly added, clearly suspicious.

"He's an alien!" Tommy whispered to her, clearly full of childlike enthusiasm.

"...I AM ZORDON OF ELTAR. AN INTERDIMENSIONAL BEING CAUGHT IN A TIME WARP. AND NOT AN ALIEN." This sixth was quite possibly high as a kite. Zordon had heard of teenagers who would alter their neurochemistry for fun. He just hadn't thought such a stupid thing was likely to happen to one of his Chosen.

"And my name is Alpha 5-" The robot started off.

"Excuse me, but will, like, somebody come back to Earth and pick me up, because I'm, like, totally confused." Kimberly said.

"Kim! Duh! They're aliens!" Tommy repeated, clearly thrilled. "They must be testing out some new project for Area 51, and we got caught in it! This is so cool!" He turned to Zordon. "Are you with the government?"

"...NO." Hastily trying to recover as the now-dejected boy opened his mouth again, Zordon continued. "THIS PLANET IS UNDER ATTACK. I HAVE BROUGHT YOU HERE TO SAVE IT."

"Yeah, righ-" Trini started, but Tommy was quicker.

"Wow! Jason, let's do it!" He grinned at his best friend, who looked torn between following Tommy's lead (which was fun) and doing The Right Thing(tm) (which he probably really should do).

But then again...

"Jase, man, there is no way this is for real." Zack pointed out.

Jason's knee-jerk reaction was to say 'okay, then please explain the giant floating head in a tube'. Which, really, settled the whole matter. "Yeah, I know," He whispered back, "But on the other hand, remember the Santa Claus Mission?"

Zack's smile grew. Oh, yes. He remembered that mission. Way back in first grade, the six of them had heard from some playground twerp that Santa Claus wasn't real, and Tommy, being Tommy, had decided that a) Santa Claus didn't deliver presents to kids, ergo b) he was being held hostage at the North Pole and the six of them should rescue him. While the police had been more than mildly amused to hear about six first-graders managing to get completely out of the state (on a modified tractor, no less), that had been pretty much the most awesome thing Zack had ever done in his life.

And quite frankly, as much fun as Tommy was, Zack knew enough about normal people to realize that exposure to Tommy Oliver was probably punishment enough for whoever was pulling this little stunt.

"...You're a genius."

Jason grinned wryly, glancing at the others. They all nodded, even Trini (which was rare, she was normally the voice of reason, or at least quiet vengeance, but maybe she'd just realized how hilarious all of this would be too), so he grinned at Zordon.

Zordon quite rightly felt a hint of dread.

"Okay." Jason said, just a hint of a challenge in his voice. "Let's do this."

Tommy cheered.

"Wait, he was serious?"

Jason winced as the racket started. After the chaos downtown (apparently, Zordon had been serious, just as Tommy had been dead serious about using the White Ranger powers to defend 'Truth, Justice, and the American Way'), they'd all gathered in his house, sans Tommy, because Zordon had been worried about some mumbo-jumbo that Jason was pretty sure translated to 'my new White Ranger is apparently on crack and I need to figure out why before I give him any more pointy weapons'.

"Guys!" Jason shouted, raising his hands. The other four glanced expectantly at him. "Look, I'm...a bit confused too." Or starting to get a bad feeling, either way. "But think about it. Some 'interdimensional being', which, by the way, sounds like someone's seen one too many bad sci-fi movies, sees a planet in trouble and helps. Okay. I buy that. But if you're going to recruit local forces, what exactly is the point of picking teenagers over, say, five heavily-armed Marines?"

The others thought.

Jason was well aware that his group (he always thought of them as 'his', they were all that close) was usually labeled as the 'special' one at best. But in all honesty, they weren't crazy or stupid, not even Tommy. They just had a tendency to think Tommy's antics were really funny, and liked hanging out.

And at the moment, Tommy wasn't there to cause any chaos.

"It's a con." Trini offered.

Jason nodded grimly. "My thoughts exactly. Whoever this 'Zordon' guy is, he's full of it."

"So, what, should we call the cops?" Everyone stared at Zack. "What? I mean, I know I'm not the first person to go for them, but have you guys seen Tommy? He loves this! Don't you think it's kind of mean to keep letting him think it's all good?"

"Accurate in sentiment, but the severity of the repercussions from attempting to remove Tommy from this being's grasp could be fatal, provided accuracy in my own judgement of the situation." Billy said.

"Zordon might want Tommy around enough to hurt him." Trini translated, rolling her eyes. "That therapy thing not going well?"

Billy looked sheepish. His parents had tried to put him in therapy last week for his 'speech impediment'. "I...may have become a bit zealous in my defense of my speech patterns..."

"Mmhmm." Trini placed the therapist on her 'kill if possible' list, then returned to the conversation. "I'm with Billy, this is a bad plan. We need to deal with this ourselves."

"Uh, Tri, don't get me wrong, I love you and you're totally awesome and everything," Kim said, twirling her hair in nervousness, "But, like, we're teenagers. We're supposed to hang out at the mall."

Jason snorted. "Yeah, but what are the cops going to do? Because a gun versus a Blade Blaster is kind of like bringing a knife to a gun fight." Damn, he hated that logic, but it was his job to air it. He sighed and considered. "Okay. So we're going to do this on our own. But that still leaves the question of what to do."

Silence fell.

"Nothing." Billy said.

Jason raised an eyebrow, and Zack grinned. "Dude. Like that time when..." Billy grinned back, and Zack burst out laughing.

Jason groaned. "Not that again, last time got us arrested."

"Our opponents are unaware of the inherent danger of trusting children." Billy pointed out. "On both sides. And combined with your maturation as a leader, it should suffice to create enough cover."

"We're not six anymore." Trini translated. "And Tommy would like to play superhero..."

They looked at each other.

"We have to ask him." Jason said. It was where he put his foot down; Trini's plans were brilliant, but she tended to 'forget' to ask people if they wanted to help or not. This time Trini acquiesced with just a nod.

A flash of white signaled Tommy's arrival, and Jason sighed.

Fifteen minutes later, Tommy had agreed with no reservations at all.