Title: Unless You Know How to Follow
Summary: Being an adult mentor to a bunch of teenage Power Rangers seemed so much easier before it actually happened.
Tommy sighed. When did Power Rangers get to be so damn young? And yes, he knew how ridiculous that sounded, but still...he gritted his teeth as Connor made a stupid and vaguely sexual joke that caused Kira to smack the back of his head and Ethan to roll his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself that he'd been that young and stupid once and somehow he'd managed to help keep the world from being destroyed. He just had to remember how they'd done it.
Early battles were a lot worse than he remembered. Yeah, the Dino Rangers won eventually, but not without taking a lot more damage (and leaving Reefside with a lot more damage) than necessary.
The latest creature sent by Mesogog was even weirder than normal, and that was saying a lot. Ethan had yelled something about two movies and a comic book, but Tommy had been too busy ducking an energy stream to really pay attention to anything other than the orange tentacles that seemed to have angry kittens attached to the ends.
Stretching, he looked at the kids scattered around the lab, half-collapsed with exhaustion. His practiced eye noted no injuries that required anything more complicated than an ice pack and he relaxed into his chair for a moment.
A breath and then... "We're going to have to start training together. Immediately, if we're going to defeat Mesogog."
"What do we need to train for?" Ethan asked. "We've got all these powers. It's not like we're going to need to add a few muscles by lifting weights."
"But you will need to learn how to work together. Some knowledge-like how to combine the Zords-comes straight from the Dino Gems, but some will only come with practice. You have to know how your teammates will react in order to back them up."
Kira scowled, but didn't say anything. Connor rubbed his eyes. "How the heck are we going to find the time for that? I already miss more soccer practices than I get to."
"We all have to find the time."
"We didn't choose this," Kira said suddenly. "I don't care what you say about the gems choosing us, you chose to collect the gems and become the Black Ranger. But we got...hijacked. You have no idea-"
"I do." Tommy clenched his hands on the arms of his chair to keep from leaping up. "You've seen my diary, so you should know that I know better than just about anyone else on this planet how hard it is." He was almost yelling by the end.
Kira looked down and he thought he saw a tear in her eye. "Yeah."
He grimaced. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It's okay," she said, managing a half-smile. "I did forget."
"Was it..." Ethan paused. "Was it hard for you? Especially with starting out evil?"
"Yeah. I had the same problems you guys do. And pretty much the same attitude problems." That prompted somewhat more genuine smiles from all of them. "I do know how hard this is for you, but it's what we have to do. It's what each Ranger has done. And it's how I know that you can do it too."
Tommy watched them all thinking and winced internally at how corny he always seemed to sound when giving these speeches, but they'd worked on him...
"So...training," Connor said eventually.
"Training," Kira echoed.
"Hey, I guess the Ranger healing thing means we need less sleep anyway," Ethan said with a shrug. "I can always do my homework late at night, right?"
"I'm sorry I have to ask this of you. I'll come up with something. Something to tell your parents, at least some of the time." Tommy sighed. It was literally the least he could do for them.
"Hey, Trent," Tommy said as he slid into the seat next to Trent at the café.
Scowling, Trent didn't look up from his drawing of Kira on stage. "Dr. Oliver. Here to tell me you know exactly how I feel, having once been evil?"
"Hmm. Anyone who tells you they know exactly how you feel is either lying or, given our line of work, a supervillain."
Trent looked up at that, pen lifting from the page.
"My situation has similarities to yours, sure, which is why I'm most likely to understand...but we're different people. I don't know how you feel. That's why I'm sitting here. If you want to talk about it, I'm happy to listen, without judging you."
Tommy held his breath while Trent looked at him. He could guess at the young man's conflict, but Trent had obviously learned significantly more discretion than any of the other Dino Rangers, because nothing showed on his face. Finally, he turned back to his drawing, sketching in a few lines of Kira's guitar. "I...I fought it. I did."
"I know."
"I don't know if I can do this," Tommy said suddenly, stomping down into the lab.
Hayley looked up from the Dinocycle she was fixing, a wrench in her teeth and a confused look on her face.
"Leading the kids, I mean. I know how to be a Ranger."
Dropping the wrench into her hand, Hayley sat back on her heels. "Leading? How many teams have you led by now?"
"It's not the same, though. I was a kid, too. I was young and brave and too stupid to understand the potential consequences. I may still be brave, but I'm not young or stupid any longer." Hayley smirked and he glared at her. "No comments from the peanut gallery."
"Tommy...has any Ranger leader throughout time and space has ever been completely sure what they were doing?"
"Of course not."
"So, you being uncertain doesn't make you a bad leader."
"I..." Sighing, he leaned against the wall. "No, it doesn't."
"I think you're the best leader these kids could have."
"You're prejudiced."
"Maybe a little, but still...you have more experience at this than any other Ranger. And you have me. So what could possibly go wrong?" She grinned up at him.
"Famous last words," he said, shaking his head, but feeling better nonetheless.
"Connor," Tommy said through gritted teeth, "I'd like to speak to you."
Ethan, Kira, and even Trent sent Connor sympathetic glances as they slipped out of the lab. Connor crossed his arms and looked petulant. And young. Right.
Tommy closed his eyes for a minute and took a deep breath, scrapping the angry lecture that had been building in his head. "I'm sorry I yelled at you out there."
Connor did an actual double-take at that, his arms dropping to his sides. "Uh...that's...okay?"
"Please sit down." Tommy sat in Hayley's chair and took a few more surreptitious deep breaths.
Slowly, Connor sank into a nearby chair, perching on the edge as if he might need to make a run for it at any moment.
"Running off like that...I got angry because I was worried. I didn't know what you were doing."
"I just had this idea," Connor said urgently, leaning forward. "I knew I could beat that monster but I needed to get everyone else out of the line of fire."
"I know you were trying to help. I get that. And it was a great idea. But if the rest of your team doesn't know where you are or what you're doing, we can't back up your play."
Connor looked thoughtful.
"Part of being a Power Ranger is learning to let others help you. You can't be the star player making the winning goal here. That kind of thinking can get people hurt."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
"I'm sorry, Dr. O. I won't do it again."
"Apology accepted."
Connor stood up, then paused. "Um..."
"Yeah?"
"Did you ever do something like that? Like when you were the White Ranger?"
Tommy chuckled. "Oh yeah."
"Cool." Connor grinned and ran after the others.
"Kids, I swear. They'll be the death of me one day." Tommy turned his chair and started working on the computer.
After the revelation that Trent knew Mesogog was his adoptive father, Tommy shooed everyone else out. Some conversations didn't need an audience.
"Thanks for trusting me," Trent said with considerable sarcasm as he stalked around the lab. "Threatening to take my morpher? Great."
"You know why I said that and why I had to let the team make the decision. We trusted you and you kept the biggest possible secret."
"I thought you understood!" Trent's chest heaved. "I thought you'd get it, because Dad was your friend too. I thought you knew what it was like."
"Trent, I really feel for you and for your dad. But my feelings don't matter: The team still has to come first. That's the burden of being the leader."
Trent ducked his head. "I wanted to tell you. But he...he took me in and fixed everything so I didn't have to go to foster care. I thought he could fix this too."
"I know. Look, nobody's taking your morpher and we're going to figure this out, okay?"
Trent nodded. "Okay, Dr. O."
"Now go get some rest. We've got plenty more work to do."
Trent nodded and went upstairs and Tommy sat down, abruptly tireder than he'd ever been in his long career, and put his head in his hands. They were all trusting him so he'd better come through.
Dancing with Hayley at prom, Tommy caught glimpses of the kids enjoying themselves and he grinned.
"What?" she asked.
"Just pleased at how everything turned out, I guess."
"Pleased at how your protégés turned out."
"That word. It makes me feel so old."
"You are old, Tommy Oliver, remember? You're all grown up now."
"Huh. I suppose I am." He grinned. "But that doesn't mean I can't be childish now and then."
He tickled her and she leaned against him, laughing.
-end-