Author: Jade
Story: Conversations and Revelations
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea.
Summary: A missing scene from Once a Ranger 1 & 2.
Author Notes: Just a little one-shot set between the first and second parts of Once a Ranger. This kinda goes with my #2 Kim/Adam banner in the PRUnited Autumn Couples Banner Challenge.
(After he roundhouse kicks a group of Chillers)
Adam: May be old-school, but it still gets the job done.
Mack was in the middle of heading to his bedroom when he heard the new black ranger talking in his room. Sneaking forward, he poked his head around to see Adam sitting on his bed, speaking into a cell phone. Despite knowing it was wrong and that if he was caught his dad would have his head, he settled in to listen.
"You'd love this place. I mean, I never expected to be housed in a mansion when I agreed to this but…they have a pool table."
Mack couldn't help but grin at that. Adam hadn't had a chance to play yet but he'd seen the black ranger eying it with great interest.
"I know, and I love our house too. There are some things there that I can't get here." He rushed to console the person on the phone. "Like you, for instance."
Mack fidgeted, the feeling that this was wrong surging back, only stronger this time. It was obvious that this was a private conversation with someone the older ranger cared for greatly—loved and lived with, if the "our house" was any indication. Mack peeked again and was surprised to see Adam blushing.
"I love you too." He whispered. "I miss you so much."
Mack swallowed, unable to tear his eyes away as Adam stood up and walked to the window. The black ranger's posture was stiff, a fact that made Mack realize that in the week he'd been there, he'd never seen Adam relaxed.
"You have no idea. I mean, the team is great. The headquarters…they're nothing like what we had. I never thought of the Power Chamber and the Command Center as homey but…this isn't my HQ. I don't think I'll ever feel as it is, honestly. I spent too much time in ours." He chuckled and Mack was struck with the notion that this had to be hard on him, on all of them. They'd never wanted to come back to the fight, but they did. It must feel extremely odd to be in someone else's headquarters, home, fighting while the team you'd replaced looked on.
"No, I was not a hermit. If anyone, it was and still is Billy. I adore the guy, but if it weren't for Kat he'd never leave his lab." Mack smiled, amused at the idea of Adam as a hermit.
"Yeah, the team is…I mean, they're great but they're not us. And its so odd to see five completely different uniforms out there. Not to mention the lack of pink and a male blue. I get a jolt every time I see Tori, I swear. I think it might have been easier if the team were at least similar colors to us." A beep sounded and Adam looked at his phone. He groaned.
"Hun, can you hold a second, I have to stick the phone in the charger. I'm gonna put it on speaker, okay?" He asked even as he turned away from the window to fumble around his desk. Mack ducked his head, not wanting to be seen.
"There, can you hear me?" Adam asked and a soft voice answered from the phone.
"Loud and clear, Kermit."
Mack frowned to himself. Kermit? He peeked again and saw that Adam was sitting at his desk, fiddling with a charcoal pencil as he stared at a photo Mack couldn't see.
"Good. So, what were you saying?" Adam asked.
"Tell me about the team—both of them." She asked and Adam nodded to himself.
"Well, Kira is the one we've heard the most from, with Tommy having served with her. She's just as he described her. Stubborn, opinionated, a bit sarcastic, extremely talented, and spunky; she reminds me a lot of you and Tanya." He said, leaning over the desk and snatching a piece of paper. He began sketching.
"Hmph. I may be spunky but I am not stubborn." Adam chuckled and Mack grinned.
"You are too stubborn, love. I could cite dozens of examples." He replied.
"Whatever. What about the others?" She asked. Adam paused.
"Bridge is from the future." He said and waited. Mack frowned as a thought hit him—wasn't that kind of stuff supposed to be kept secret? She must be a former ranger too, he realized.
"He's from the what?" She asked incredulously. Adam chuckled.
"Don't even think about it. Xander's already tried." He warned. Mack smiled as he could hear the woman grumbling.
"Fine, what's he like?" She finally relented. Adam smiled wryly.
"Add Rocky with Billy with an alarming tendency to babble and you get Bridge." He told her and she laughed.
"He sounds like fun." She said and Adam nodded.
"When he's not waxing poetic poems to buttery toast, he's an amazing guy." He agreed. Mack barely held in a snort.
"I'm not gonna ask." She declared and Adam laughed.
"The guy likes buttered toast." He shrugged and she laughed.
"As long as that doesn't come back to bite him in the ass, I think he's good." She snickered. Adam frowned.
"Actually, he did mention something about an entity falling in love with him and turning into a giant piece of toast…or maybe it was a thing of bread. Something like that." He shrugged. There was silence on the other end for a few minutes before the woman fell to helpless giggles.
"Hun?" Adam asked, bemused. The woman struggled for a few seconds before calming down.
"Sorry, I was just imagining one of us being attacked by a slice of buttered toast." She told him breathlessly. Adam snorted.
"He'd be destroyed in no time—we'd just have to throw Rocky at him." He replied and grinned when the woman snickered. Outside the door, Mack grinned.
"What about Tori?" She finally asked. Adam tilted his head as he looked down at the picture.
"She's calm, patient, level-headed, but can hack it with the boys—Xander keeps getting his but kicked by her. She's also a ninja." He explained. He went back to sketching as the woman answered.
"Okay, so what about Xander?"
"Cocky. Sure of himself. A major flirt, though Tori and Kira nipped that in the bud real quick. And I doubt he's gonna try anything with Ronny or Rose if the looks Will and Tyzonn keep shooting him are anything to go by." Adam smiled and Mack stuffed a hand in his mouth to keep from laughing—Will and Ty kept shooting the green ranger death glares every time he even approached Ronny and Rose. The woman laughed.
"Sounds charming. We should introduce him to Eric and Taylor." She suggested. Mack frowned, confused, when Adam suddenly cracked up.
"I was thinking the same thing. Eric would definitely be enough to scare the kid." Adam finally calmed down enough to agree.
"I was thinking more of Taylor's reaction, actually." She replied, sending Adam into fresh peals of laughter. Wiping tears from his eyes, he hiccuped.
"I love you." He murmured, still laughing.
"I love you too Adam. So tell me about the newbies?" She asked and Mack bristled. Newbies?
"Being around Tyzonn is like being around Andros; he just has that aura of mess with me, I'll kick your ass, mess with my friends and family, I break down." Adam told her and Mack reluctantly had to agree. That definitely fit the Mercury Ranger.
"Tyzonn? He's the Mercurian, right? Has he said anything to you about any rumors or knowledge of the originals?" She asked. Adam shook his head.
"I don't think his home had rangers, at least not as we're used to. He said he was a Rescuer. He lost his team to the Fear Cats." He said softly. The woman sighed.
"Damn. No wonder he's Andros-eque. Maybe I can get Cassie to convince them to meet—Andros could help him cope with the loss." She suggested and Adam nodded.
"More than likely. Talk to Andros and I'll see how Tyzonn feels." He agreed.
"Okay, so what about the others?" She asked. Adam blew on the paper and Mack could see charcoal lift up.
"Will is a lot like Xander, actually. Cocky, flirty, possessive, self assured. And suave, extremely suave." He muttered. The woman giggled.
"Sounds like it." She agreed. "He's black ranger, right?"
Adam nodded. "Yeah, Zack's gonna love him."
"Of course he would—they're both African American Black Rangers." She replied and Mack's eyebrows hit his hairline. He'd never considered that before. I wonder how Will feels about that.
"Yeah. Then there's Dax—blue ranger. Think Rocky constantly on Jolt or Mountain Dew." He described and the woman giggled.
"That's a scary image." She informed him and Adam laughed.
"As for the girls…Rose is extremely intelligent and is a lot like Cassie in temperament. Ronny likes to win and is very…bouncy. Like Ashley and Tommy." He said.
"Adam?" She asked and Adam frowned at the phone.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"I'm gonna kill you when you get home for putting that image in my head! Ashley and Tommy? Are you serious?!" She asked incredulously and Mack bit his lip to stop from laughing at the exasperated expression on Adam's face.
"She's bubbly and sweet like Ashley but stubborn and win-driven like Tommy! She hates to lose!" He defended himself.
"Whatever you say, honey. What about the Red?" She changed subjects. Mack leaned forward, eager to know what the second generation original thought of him.
"Mack…Mack is an enigma. He seems to have some of the best traits of the first five reds—Jason's courage, Rocky's enthusiasm for life, Tommy's honour and instincts, TJ's jokester personality, and Andros's determination and drive. He's a great ranger and he's just starting. I honestly can't wait to see what he does cause its gonna be great." Adam told her. Mack swallowed a lump in his throat, overcome by the notion that Adam, this original ranger, saw him as a great ranger.
"Wow. You really like the kid, don't you?" She asked softly and Adam nodded.
"I do. He has a bright future ahead of him." He answered, tilting his head to look at the picture. A soft sound could be heard from the phone and Adam turned to it.
"Kim?" He asked, curious.
"The kids are home from school. You want to talk to them?" Kim asked. Adam's face brightened and Mack smiled.
"Of course. I love you Kim Park." He whispered. Smiling, Mack stepped away but not before he heard Kim's reply.
"And I love you, Adam Park. For eternity."
After the final battle with Thrax and the alliance, it didn't take long for the older rangers to leave. Bridge was the first, a time hole appearing only hours after the battle. Bridge had assured everyone that Kat would have known when he would be done and would have the ability to open the portal. After hugging all the rangers, he'd walked through the time hole and disappeared.
Kira was next, having to leave for New York to finish her album. She exchanged contact information with everyone with the promise to visit and arranged for a CD signing at the Rock Porium with Xander.
Tori and Xander both left after that, Xander in a blaze of a transport spell and Tori in a ninja streak—they'd both had to let their teams know it was okay to stand down from the alert all the teams had been put on after the Overdrive Rangers had been cut off from the Grid.
Adam, leader of the official team, was the last to leave. He'd been picked up by a pretty brunette and three adorable kids—Kim, Jaden, Josh, and Johnny. They had stayed long enough for Kim to meet the team and the kids to talk Spencer into giving them some cookies. Rose had taken an instant liking to the woman and they had talked at length about an annual Pink Ranger barbeque Kim and her immediate successor ran. Rose had been thrilled to be invited to join them at the next one.
Kim had also given Tyzonn the phone number of a "former red who lost his first team and who's willing to talk." Ty had accepted the number with thanks, a small smile on his face.
To the others, she'd given letters from the original rangers to their successors. Once the two former rangers and their kids had left with Alpha, the team had separated to their respective rooms—Will, Dax, Ronny, Rose and himself to read their letters and Tyzonn clutching the phone number.
Mack sighed at the familiar power filling him again. He was sad to see the older rangers gone, but glad to be back in action again. As he settled down to read the letter, his eyes fell upon a small wrapped parcel at the foot of his bed. Frowning, he reached down and grabbed it. His eyes quickly found a small scribble that said simply "May the Power protect you Mack."
Frowning, he quickly unwrapped it, taking care to leave the scribble undamaged. When the present came into view, he nearly gasped.
It was them, all of them. Adam, Tori, Xander, Kira, Bridge, Dax, Will, Rose, Ronny, Tyzonn, Mack, his dad, even Spencer and Alpha 6. Drawn with swift, even strokes and precise skill and framed in simple brown wood, was the fourteen of them, all smiling and laughing. With a jolt, Mack realized that this sketch was what he'd watch Adam draw while he'd spoken with Kim on the phone. And somehow, Mack knew that Adam had known he was there but hadn't minded.
Smiling, Mack set the drawing down and rushed from the room to find some nails and a hammer. He had a memory to hang up.