There's a New Monster in Town

by Null-and-Infinity

It's a rainy day in Angel Grove and the Rangers try their best to stay dry. But when a new monster appears, will the Rangers come out clean or get tangled its grasp? Find out!

"There's a New Monster in Town"

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the power rangers .

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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Rain fell in relentless torrents as a sudden, early morning thunderstorm pounded away at the city of Angel Grove. Streets had begun to flood and any soul unfortunate enough to have been caught outside had been doomed to an instantaneous soaking.

In the parking lot of Angel Grove High, early arrivals camped in their parked cars, unwilling to risk the sprint to the school doors. Several buses, loaded with students, idled at the drop off point, their contents equally unwilling to spill themselves into the downpour.

A lone green car, with windshield wipers furiously fighting a losing battle against the elements, splashed up the school's driveway.

Tommy Oliver sat in the passenger seat of the car, severely wishing that he could use his ranger powers to teleport inside the school. But no, that would be "using his powers for personal gain" or whatever Zordon had went on about when he had first joined the team. On top of that, his mother, who was driving the car, would freak if he suddenly vanished in a flash of green light and probably crash.

The car pulled to a stop.

With his hand on the door handle Tommy tried to locate exactly where the school doors were through the rain splattered window. "Mom, do I have to get out now?" He said as he turned back the woman sitting next to him.

His mother let out an exasperated sigh and dug through her purse. "Tommy, this is the first time in weeks that I might be on time for work because you finally remembered to set your alarm. Yes, you have to get out." Pulling a tube of lipstick from the bag, she flipped down the visor and proceeded to use the mirror to guide her application of the red makeup. "Besides," she continued as she made one last quick check on the rest of her makeup, "a little water never hurt anybody."

Blinking in disbelief, Tommy wondered if she was even remotely aware of what was happening outside the shelter of their car. He defiantly settled back into the leather seat. "I'm not going out there."

His mother snapped the visor back in its place. "Thomas Avery Oliver! Get out of the car now."

There was a sharp click of the doors unlocking as she hit the button on her door to emphasize her command.

Tommy stared at her, still not believing that his own mother would kick him out into the thunderstorm. The look on her face, however, told him that she was dead serious.

"Wish I remembered an umbrella," he muttered as he rolled his eyes and hugged his bag tightly to him, in an effort to shield his homework, before flinging the car door open.

"Hurry up!" His mother screamed as the driving wind blew rain into the car.

"I'm going!" Tommy yelled back.

Jumping from the car, he kicked the door shut and took off for the shelter of the school.

Tommy made it through the school doors in record time. His wet shoes squealing obnoxiously on the linoleum floor as he came skidding to a stop.

There were few other students in the adjacent halls; though far less than what was usual for that time.

Stopping to wipe the water out of his eyes on the shoulder of his equally as wet t-shirt, he took stock of the condition of his clothes.

Despite his record breaking sprint the rain had still soaked him through. Water trickled off his saturated body in steady ribbons, forming a puddle at his feet. The only dry spot on him was where he had clutched his bag to his chest.

"Great," he said, shivering in the AC. "I guess I'll just have to change into the clothes I brought for after sparring."

Checking his watch, he saw that he had twenty-five minutes before classes started. 'Plenty of time,' he thought.

Tommy made his way to his locker and put away his books before ducking into the nearest restroom to change clothes.

He ran to the first open stall and immediately started yanking off his cold, wet clothes and replacing them with dry ones. Walking out of the stall, he made his way to the sinks where the mirrors reflected back an image of him with brown, wet hair matted to his face, still dripping profusely on to his dry clothes.

Setting his bag on the sink edge, Tommy searched for the towel he thought he had remembered to pack, but gave up when he realized it was still where he had left it - on his dresser. "Aw, man. Great." He asked the empty restroom.

Tommy's eyes searched for any alternative before finally coming to rest on the paper towel dispenser. "I guess it'll have to do," Tommy mumbled.

He reached back into his bag to grab his brush only to realize that he had left it on his dresser…next to the towel… at home.

"Oh man. I am sure glad I didn't get stuck in that," Zack commented as he briefly stopped to observe the view of the storm from one of Angel Grove High's windows.

"Yeah. No Kidding." Jason came up behind Zack and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Good thing we decided to get to school early today, huh?"

Zack backed away from the window as a lightning flash crackled across the sky, followed instantly by its own thunder. "Heh. You got that right."

Jason and Zack made their way down the hallway to their lockers, while cautiously avoiding sections of the floor that were slick with water tracked in by other students.

Upon arriving they saw Billy and Trini retrieving the last of their belongings from their own lockers.

"Billy! Trini! What's happenin'?" Zack called to them.

"Oh, hi Zack!" Trini smiled in greeting. "How's your morning been?"

Zack walked over to his locker, sneakers squeaking as they hit a wet patch, and began to dial in his combination on the lock. "Pretty good. How are you, Billy?"

"Greetings, Zack. I'm doing exceptionally well," Billy responded as he pushed his glasses to their proper place on his nose. "How are you this morning, Jason?"

Jason, who was leaning against the lockers, looked up the sound of his name. "I'm alright. A little sore from yesterday's fight, but I'll live." He cast a quick glance up and down the empty hall. "Where's Kimberly? Did she make it in before the storm hit?"

Trini balanced her books on one hip as she gently closed her locker. "Oh, she's in the bathroom finishing her makeup."

Zack quirked an eyebrow at his friend. "Think about it, Jase. What else would she be?"

"Yeah, especially now that Tommy is going to school here." Trini added with a giggle.

Kim bounced energetically out of the restroom down the hall, her brown hair pulled back in a pony tail and swinging behind her with transferred energy. "Hey guys!" She greeted them cheerfully when she saw them. She quickly surveyed Zack and Jason when she walked over to her friends. "Looks like the two of you managed to avoid the monsoon too, huh?"

"Yeah. But it looks like some people weren't so lucky," Jason said as a group of soaked upperclassmen hurried past the group.

The friends watched sympathetically as the soggy students moved around the corner.

Adjusting the strap of her book bag Kim walked over to the hall window to watch the storm. "I wonder if Tommy made it in," she said, more to herself than the others. "I would hate for him to have gotten stuck in this."

Trini smiled at Kimberly's concern for her crush. "Don't worry too much, Kim. I'm sure Tommy's just fine."

Just then the bell rang, warning students to be mindful of the time.

"Well guys, there goes the fifteen minute warning. We should head to class." Billy stated.

"Oh yeah," remarked Zack, "because Western Civ. is my favorite class and I wouldn't want to miss it for the world."

Trini rolled her eyes at his sarcastic quip as the group headed for the nearest flight of stairs that would take them up to their first period class.

Kim led the way. "Mr. Pearson had better not give us another pop quiz over last night's reading. I can't fail another one." She threw her hands in the air as they rounded the corner. "Some days I wish Rita would just chill for -" Her jaw dropped when she caught sight of Tommy jogging up the staircase and out of sight.

"Guys?" Kim turned to see all of her friends staring, with mouths ajar, after Tommy. "You saw that, too. Right?"

Billy blinked a few times before responding. "It seems that the moisture from all this rainfall has caused Tommy's hair to react violently."

"That was his hair!" Zack questioned in disbelief. "It looked more like some creature was eating his head."

Jason coughed into his fist to hide a laugh. "I'm gonna have to agree with Zack on that one."

"Guys, tha-that's not funny." Trini said as she struggled to hold back her own giggles. "Though, it did remind me of one of Rita's monsters."

Everyone glanced at each other before bursting into full out laughter. It was a full minute before any of them could speak.

"Alright guys, we really need to get to class." Jason tried to call for order while wiping the mirth from his eyes. "I want to cram in some studying in case we do have that pop quiz."

"And maybe we can ask Tommy what happened to his head when we see him there," Zack added with another laugh.

Tommy walked into his Western Civilization class and found it empty except for the teacher sitting at his desk in the front of the room, totally engrossed in an Archeology Journal.

"Good morning Mr. Pearson." Tommy mumbled, hoping the older man wouldn't look up at his greeting. He was pretty sure he had avoided almost everyone in the school building getting to class and he wanted to keep the embarrassment that was his hair unnoticed for as long as futilely possible. It was hard enough being the new kid without drawing this kind of attention to himself.

The journal article held Mr. Pearson's interest and he flipped to the next page without looking up. "Tommy. It's a surprise to hear your voice this early. Didn't feel like racing the late bell for the fourth time this week?" He joked good naturedly.

"Ha, no." Tommy answered as he took his seat in the middle of the second row. He set his textbook on the desk and began searching through is bag for his favorite green highlighter. "I finally remembered to set my alarm clock last night."

"Ah, what a shame. The other teachers and I had already taken bets." Mr. Pearson chuckled and glanced up and back down to the journal before snapping his head back up at the sight of Tommy's head.

Still searching for his highlighter, Tommy missed his teacher's double take.

Mr. Pearson stood up from his desk and grabbed the day's quiz from the top drawer, staring at his student's head the whole time. "Tommy, I have to go make copies. Uh, I'll be back soon," he said as he made a quick exit.

Tommy felt his hand close around the sought after highlighter, and he pulled it out triumphantly. "Sure thing, Mr. Pearson."

With nothing better to do before class started, Tommy folded his arms on top of his text book and desk, rested his head on his makeshift pillow, and closed his eyes.

A minute later, Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy, and Kimberly filed into the classroom, each of them gawking at the thing that was once Tommy's tame hair as he napped.

After a few seconds, they shook it off and headed for their seats. Billy and Trini taking seats in the front row in front of Tommy. Kim sat to his left, with Zack on his right, and Jason sitting right behind Zack in the second to last seat in the row.

Zack begrudgingly flipped open his book to begin cramming when he heard a low chuckle escape from Jason. He turned to see his leader, with the sleeve of his red jacket pressed against his mouth in an effort to hide a devious smirk that was beginning to form, still looking at Tommy's head.

"What?" Zack whispered, fully abandoning his text. He could tell Jason was formulating something and he wanted in on it.

Jason leaned closer to his fellow ranger and spoke as low as possible. "You know when Trini said that his hair looked like one of Rita's monsters?"

Zack raised a curious eyebrow. "Yeah. What about it?"

Jason's devious widened into a grin. "Just follow my lead." He said trying to make his expression as serious as he possibly could.

Kimberly, over hearing her friends, looked up from filing her nails with small frown of curiosity at what was about to happen.

Giving a nod towards Tommy, Zack winked at Kim.

She had a feeling as to what the two were up to, but decided to go along and see how it played out.

"Now the fun begins." Jason stated in a whisper, his grin threatening to resurface on his stoic face as he looked from Kim to Zack. Through sheer will power he managed to hold it back.

With a quick clearing of his throat, Jason caught the attention of his whole team. "Guys," He began in a low, urgent voice. "Zordon gave me some important information and I want to tell you before the rest of the class shows up."

Billy and Trini, who had been quizzing each other until this point, turned fully around in their desks and scooted closer.

Seeing that Tommy was still asleep Trini gently shook his shoulder until the green, sleep deprived ranger jerked back to the realm of the conscious world and sat up.

A huge yawn escaped him. "Huh? Yeah, I'm listening…something about Zordon, right?" without waiting for a reply he plopped his head back on his desk. His tangled mess of hair moving around like it had a mind of its own.

"There's a new monster in Angel Grove." Jason said dramatically.

Zack quickly caught on to his game. "Really? No way, Jase. It's not even four 'o clock yet." He held up his watch to emphasize his point.

Kimberly smirked with innocent amusement and played her part. Her voice betraying only concern as she asked, "Did Zordon say what it looked like?"

Studying Tommy's hair for a split second, Jason looked back to his team. "He said it would be one of our toughest monster's we have faced. It's a sneaky, master of disguise that likes to eat the heads of unsuspecting people. As far as I can make of it, its best known form is something that looks like tumbleweed that got caught in a nuclear reaction."

Trini realized what the three of them were doing and rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to her text book to study. Billy followed suit with a disapproving shake of his head, but said nothing.

Ignoring her only sensible teammates Kim covered her mouth with one hand in mock horror. Pointing at Tommy's head with her free hand, she gasped, "Guys. Oh my gosh! It's got Tommy's head!"

The force in which Zack catapulted himself out of his desk sent his both his history book, pen, and note book flying. He ignored them as he dropped into a fighting stance.

At the same time Jason jumped over to cover the other side of Tommy, and placing himself between Kimberly and the menace. "Don't worry Kim, Zack and I will protect you."

Zack bounced on his toes while throwing a flurry of jabs and hooks at his friend's head without making contact.

Tommy sat up and fixed the three of them with a death glare fuelled by sleep deprived annoyance. "Ha ha, very funny guys. Knock it off."

Jason ignored Tommy. "Cover me, Zack! I'm going in!" He called to his partner in crime.

"You're so brave!" Kim said in dramatic admiration as she placed a hand over her heart, and stood up to get a better view.

Unsure of exactly what his, at the moment so-called, friends were planning on doing Tommy tensed up. He looked uneasily between the Zack and Jason.

Jason waited for the split second that Tommy took his attention off of him to look at Zack. "I'm going in!" And with that he threw a controlled side chop at the green ranger's head, his hand quickly disappearing into Tommy's hair.

Tommy, startled at being caught off guard, exclaimed, "What are you doing?" His hands flew to Jason's arm and he tried to get the other teenager out of his hair.

Zack and Kim fell into their seats. Laughing like a pair of hyenas at dinner time.

After a few seconds of unsuccessful pulls Tommy turned as best he could to look at Jason. Scowling in annoyance he said, "Really, Jason? Aren't you supposed to be the mature leader of the team?"

Finally catching on that Tommy truly wasn't in the mood for joking around, Kim managed to calm herself down enough to clear the mirth induced tears from her eyes. "Sorry, Tommy. We're just joking. We didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah, you know," Zack added as he regained his composure, "We're just messing with your head."

The distinctive thunk of a forehead hitting a closed textbook and a plaintive "Zordon, why?" coming from Trini, combined with Jason's laugh at the unexpected, painfully corny pun sounding like a choked sea lion, set the three off in another round of laughter.

Tommy could only close his eyes and let out a slow breath through his nose in an effort to suppress the urge to go all green ranger on them again. It was too early in the morning for people to be acting like first graders. He was starting to wonder just how his new found friends of a few weeks ever got chosen by Zordon to be the Power Rangers.

Granted, they were some great friends. However, as he sat surrounded by Jason, Kim, and Zack with Jason's hand tangled in his hair, he couldn't help but think that the spell the rangers had been put under by yesterday's defeated monster had yet to fully reverse for the slap happy trio. If that really was the case, then he would have to try and be merciful.

After another minute, Tommy sensed the end of the round of laughs nearing. He opened his eyes and sucked in a breath and said as calmly as possible, "That's great guys. I get it. Now, bro, would you please get your hand out of my hair?"

"No problem, Tommy."Jason regained enough a grip on his sanity to comply. "Sorry about getting carried away," He added sheepishly.

The red ranger moved to the side and pulled his hand back, only to have Tommy's head move with it. Jason's brow wrinkled slightly in confusion at the unexpected result. Out of curiosity, Jason jerked his hand to the side.

The force of the move nearly yanked Tommy out of his seat.

Billy ant Trini looked up simultaneously at the news and exchanged exasperated glances.

Trini resisted the urge to throw her hands in the air as she said, "Of course it would be!"

"Murphy's Law does seem to persecute Tommy rather cyclically. This truly is not a surprising turn of circumstance," Billy added before standing up to face the ridiculous situation.

Kim pulled a pencil out of her bag and moved around Jason to get a closer look. "Let me try."

She gingerly toyed with the situation, carefully using the eraser end so as to not to accidentally stab Tommy's head with the graphite point.

Everyone intently watched the delicate operation while Tommy silently prayed that Kim would be able to help.

After a futile minute of attempts to extricate Jason's hand, Kim dropped the pencil on her desk. "Guys, I give up. You really are stuck."

"Wow, man. Maybe it really is one of Rita's monsters." Zack said in surprise.

Kim gave an apologetic shrug to Tommy, who sat silently pleading with her to say she was kidding. "Sorry?" She said, and took a step back to let someone else take a shot at it.

"Well," Billy started as he pushed his glasses back up to their proper place from where they had slid down his nose, "the use of scissors may be the best solution to this predica-"

"No!" Tommy yelled, and launched himself out of his seat. Unfortunately the teen had forgotten that Jason was still attached to his head.

"Whoa!" Jason cried as he was pulled off his feet.

The unexpected weight jerked Tommy's forward momentum in reverse, sending both of them crashing to the floor in a jumble of bodies and a desk.

Trying to free himself from the heap in order to get away from the possibility of his hair being cut, Tommy continued to say, "There is no way any of you are using scissors on my head."

Zack, Trini, and Billy all helped a groaning Jason and a distressed Tommy extricate themselves from the desk and stand up right again.

Kimberly ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "Ok, Tommy. We won't cut your hair, but unless you want Jason following you around like your shadow, you're going to have to come up with ideas." She threw her hands up in defeat and sat back down.

"We could just cut off Jason's hand." Zack casually volunteered with a shrug.

Tommy looked at his friend in disbelief. "Yeah man, that's a great idea," he said sarcastically.

"Zack, shut up." Jason stated simply from his seat on a desk before going back to watching the still raging storm through the window while waiting for a legitimate suggestion.

Trini's brow creased in thought as she tried to form a solution of her own. A second later, her fingers snapped in sudden inspiration. "Wait, Kimberly. Don't you usually keep a brush and some detangler with you for after gym class?"

"Trini, you're a genius." Jason and Tommy said simultaneously.

Kim's eyes brightened at her friend's suggestion and she grabbed her pink backpack and began to shift through its contents. "I actually have them right here!" she said as she triumphantly pulled out Her bright pink brush and tropical scented detangler.

A sigh of relief went up from the group.

Trini took the brush from Kim. "Don't worry you two. Hopefully we'll have Jason free before the rest of the class gets here." She said, glancing towards the door of the miraculously still empty classroom.

"That's great," Jason said with a relieved smile. "Sorry about this whole thing, bro." he said to Tommy.

"'Eh, don't worry about it, Jase. You're fine." Tommy responded, his spirits considerably higher now that an end to his miniaturized nightmare was in sight. "Just so long as no one sees us like this."

Jason smiled sheepishly. "Yeah."

Before Kim and Trini had a chance to fix their friend's mess, the familiar sound of communicators going off filled the room. The group looked up at each other, then at the clock on the wall in slight confusion before turning back at the communicators on their wrists.

Racing over to the open class room door Zack stuck his head out and quickly looked up and down the hall before closing the door. "Clear," he said as he nodded to Billy.

The group gathered around Billy as he gave his friend a short nod of thanks before holding his communicator up to his face and pushed the button to respond. "We read you, Zordon."

Zordon's voice came in loud and clear from the Command Center. "Rangers, one of Rita's monsters has been spotted attacking downtown Angle Grove."

Kimberly pulled back from their huddle. "Wait, wait. It's barely eight o'clock. Whatever happened to monster attacks being mainly an after school activity?"

"Not to mention that it's still pouring outside which will make it harder from us to track the monster and fight," Zack said. "When did Rita get smart?"

The others chuckled slightly at the crack on their enemy.

Zordon's voice also carried a hint of amusement as he continued his briefing. "While the weather conditions are less than optimal and it is indeed out of the ordinary for Rita to send a monster at this time, it is still imperative that this threat be dealt with immediately."

Billy spoke for the rangers. "We're on our way, Zordon." He took a step back, carefully avoiding the surroundings desks. "Trini, Zack, and Kimberly prepare to teleport."

"Hey, wait" Jason said as he stood up. "You guys can't just leave us like this."

"Yeah, wait up. I though you two were going to get Jason out of my hair." Tommy seconded with noticeable worry setting into his voice.

The five minute warning bell sounded throughout the school, and students could be heard approaching the door. Kim quickly handed her detangler to Jason while Trini gave the brush to Tommy.

Kim gave a short laugh and a wave good bye. "Good luck, you two."

"Yeah, catch up when you can," Zack chuckled.

With that the rangers disappeared from the classroom in blue, black, yellow, and pink lights just as the classroom door opened. A wet Bulk and Skull, followed by other students in the same condition entered. Most of the students immediately caught on that something was off with their two classmates and started to talk and chuckle amongst themselves.

Jason and Tommy looked down at the items in their hands and then at each other, trying to come up with an explanation that wouldn't make them seem like idiots.

Upon noticing Jason with his hand in Tommy's hair, along with the brush and detangler bottle Bulk and Skull started laughing and made their way over to try out a few insults.

Unable to think of anything at that moment Tommy just braced himself. "Hey, Jason?"

"Yeah, bro?" Jason said, still trying to figure out what to do.

"I take back what I said before about it being alright that you got your hand stuck in my hair. I'm going to wipe the floor with you after we get out of this and finish off Rita's monster." Tommy said the very last part in a vehement whisper.

Giving up on thinking of an excuse, Jason planted Kimberly's detangler squarely on his desk "Assuming my dignity survives this, I think I deserve that."