A/N: Yes, Pink BracketBuster is back for Season #3, although under a different username. Hello, my friends, this is TommyOliverMMPRFan (albeit under a different pen name), and welcome to my rendition of my man psav2005's classic series A Pink BracketBuster. All your old Power Ranger friends are indeed back for another year of the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, aka March Madness – as the smack goes to fever pitch before this tournament and the stakes are raised even higher, with the prizes greater than ever before. I am honored to be the next in line to work on this classic series, and I hope you enjoy my rendition.
A/N 2: Just to remind everyone of which one is affiliated with which school, and to christen the arrival of two old friends into the PBB series, let's take a quick rundown
UCLA: Tommy, Jason, Rocky, Aisha
USC: Zack, Trini, Adam, Tanya
Stanford: Billy, Kat, Justin, Ethan, Hayley
UNLV: Ashley, Andros, Zhane, Karone
Long Beach State: Conner
Nevada: Trent, Kira
Oregon: Carlos, Cassie
Washington State: TJ
Florida: Kim
Cornell: Dr. Mercer
St. Mary's: Principal Randall
Gonzaga: Crystal Miller (TJ's other)
San Diego: Chelsea Matthews (Conner's other)
Cal State-Fullerton: Jen Jackson (Ethan's other)
Brigham Young: Lindsey Greer (Justin's other)
Other schools making first time appearances:
Syracuse: Ernie (class of 1987)
Arizona State: Lt. Jerome Stone (class of 1984)
Oklahoma: Hayley's favorite team growing up
Duke: Conner's favorite team growing up
A/N 3: I own nothing. See psav2005's first two stories for the owners of everything. He owns Crystal, Jen, Lindsey and Chelsea.
Chapter 1 - Selections and Reaction
Sunday, March 15, 2009
3:00 p.m. PDT
Hayley's Cyberspace Café
Reefside, CA
At first glance inside the Cyberspace Café this Sunday afternoon, you'd have thought a rock concert was going on.
But as CBS Sports' annual NCAA Basketball Selection Show – the show that makes and breaks hearts of many collegiate basketball student athletes around the country – got underway this Sunday, all you could hear was one incessant, unrelenting chant from four different raucous fans of the USC Trojans.
"USC! USC! USC! USC! USC! USC! USC! USC!" chorused Adam Park, Tanya Sloan-Park, Zachary Taylor and Trini Kwan as the show got underway. It was so loud you could barely hear CBS Sports' Greg Gumbel speak on the television.
"Good evening everyone, and welcome to our New York studios and CBS Sports as we begin our coverage of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournament with the tournament's official Selection Show," Gumbel said, although you wouldn't have known it from the voices of the four Trojan fans that were in the house that night.
They were still high off their Pac-10 tournament championship win over Arizona State, the game that had put the Trojans in the tournament. And if it was up to them, they wouldn't stop yelling. That is, until the youngest Power Ranger in history, and a Stanford graduate, finally stood up.
"QUIET!" Justin Stewart bellowed. Instantly, everyone in the house became silent, Hayley giving a quick nod of thanks to her fellow Stanford graduate.
"You know, not all of us can be in the tournament although that doesn't seem to matter to you," Justin said. "But if you want to hear who your team is playing I highly suggest you shut up! None of us can hear because of you stupid Trojans yelling for the last 30 minutes!"
"Uh, guys, I think he's right," Tanya said. "We do want to know who USC is playing and who UCLA's going to get beat by, right?"
"Yeah, we should probably shut up. For now," Adam said. "After all we do need to know who UCLA's going to get beat by."
As he said this, he grinned at the four UCLA Bruin fans. All that earned him was a series of death glares and Dr. Thomas Oliver mouthing, "Shut up, frog boy."
This seemed to please Adam, as he grinned and mouthed, "Don't make me come over there, good doctor."
With that, the tensions quieted and everyone focused his or her eyes on the television where the CBS crew was getting ready to reveal the four top seeded teams for the tournament.
"And now we know that the top overall seed is the Louisville Cardinals."
Most nodded their assent – that was no surprise to the masses in the Café, especially to Ernie, who had just seen his Syracuse team beaten by Louisville the previous evening.
"Gonna be tough to beat," Andros muttered as Gumbel went on talking, " don't know about the rest of you."
"And now we know that Louisville will be headed to the Midwest Region. The second overall Number 1 seed is the Pittsburgh Panthers. They will be playing in the East Region. The third Number 1 seed is the North Carolina Tar Heels, who will be playing in the South Region. And the fourth and final Number 1 seed is the UConn Huskies, who will be playing in the West Region," Gumbel said.
Glances went around the group as the four #1 seeds were revealed.
"Hmmm, ya think they obsess about the Big East much, maybe? 3 overall #1 seeds seems a bit much," Rocky said.
"Rocky, careful man, remember we have a Syracuse graduate in the house," Jason said, as he glanced over at Ernie, who would be partaking in the contest that year.
"All I can say," Aisha said as she sipped a Diet Coke, "is that I hope the Bruins draw a Big East team sometime in the tournament. Then we can shut them all up."
"Actually, I much rather prefer an ACC team," Tommy said. "Listening to Dick Vitale on ESPN hype that conference up nauseates me."
"Now there's one thing we can all agree on," Adam said. "I HATE that guy. Does he even know that basketball is played west of North Carolina?"
"Quiet, show's back on!" said Kim, who hadn't spoken until now.
"Welcome back to our New York studios as we begin to reveal the seedings and the pairings," Gumbel said, "and we begin with the tournament brackets from the NCAA and its corporate champion CocaCola. We start with the Midwest Region – these are games played Friday and Sunday in Dayton, Ohio, and as we said the #1 seed in the Midwest, the overall #1 seed the Louisville Cardinals out of the Big East conference. They will play the winner of the opening round game Tuesday night in Dayton between Alabama State and Morehead State…Moving on, #8 Ohio State Buckeyes just completed winning the Big 10 Conference (tournament) championship…they'll go up against the Siena Saints, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament winners, the Siena Saints, an 8/9 matchup. Now, in Miami, first and second round action Friday and Sunday. The fifth seeded Utes of Utah…" this proclamation earned a snarl from Lindsey Greer, Justin's beloved. The BYU/Utah rivalry was a fierce one indeed, and it didn't help that Lindsey was from Salt Lake City, where a lot of her friends growing up were Utes fans.
"…who are they gonna play, they're up against the Arizona Wildcats out of the Pac-10…"
Now it was Stone's turn to snarl. "Curse that U of A. Curse that school. This was supposed to be the year they didn't make the tourney!" he grumbled under his breath. Another hot rivalry was rearing its ugly head – the Duel in the Desert, a heated yearly battle between Arizona and Arizona State, schools situated approximately 90 minutes apart on Arizona's Interstate 10.
At this, Lindsey smiled at the mid-40s Arizona State graduate lieutenant.
"It sounds like we get to root against our rivals right off the bat," she said.
"Yes, and isn't that fun. Both our nemeses are squaring off in the first round. We need to get together so I can inform you on why I don't like U of A and get your take on why you don't like the Utes," Stone said.
"You know you can come over anytime you want," Justin said. "Door's always open."
Stone nodded as the attention turned back to the television.
"All right the #4 seed in the Midwest Region, the Demon Deacons out of Wake Forest out of the ACC…and who do they meet…#13 out of the Horizon League, the Vikings of Cleveland State…they upset nationally ranked and heavily favored Butler in the Horizon League final to earn a trip to the NCAA tournament…"
Everyone was waiting for someone's team to be revealed. They didn't have long to wait.
"Now, the bottom half of the bracket. These games to be played Friday and Sunday in Minneapolis, #2 seed Michigan State, out of the Big 10, the Spartans, the regular season Big 10 champions…Tom Izzo's team, who will they meet? How about the Colonials of Robert Morris, out of the Northeast – they won the season's NEC tournament title, Robert Morris, 24-10 up against the Spartans. The #7 seed out of the ACC, the Eagles of Boston College, fine year, 22-11, and they will meet, coming out of the Pac-10, the USC Trojans…"
That was all that was needed to detonate another round of incessant, "USC! USC! USC! USC! USC! USC" chants from the four Trojan fans in the house.
It was a wonder that the rest of the group could even concentrate on the four remaining teams to be revealed. As it turned out, West Virginia would be playing Dayton in the 6 vs. 11 matchup and Kansas would be playing North Dakota State in the 3 vs. 14 matchup, but that didn't matter to the USC family.
"Ha and I like the draw too!" Zack smirked.
"Yep, better yet, we get to beat an ACC school too so we can shut up Vitale," Trini said. "Then it's off to beat another Big 10 school – just like football."
As CBS went to a commercial break, Tommy couldn't help but look at his Trojan friends, and his fellow Bruin fans, with a rueful smile. He had warned his fellow Bruin fans and his Trojan friends the previous Friday before the teams played in the Pacific 10 tournament semifinal in LA.'s Staples Center that it was hard to beat a team three times in one year. UCLA had won the first two meetings in the regular season but sure enough, the Trojans won the conference tournament game 65-55, and of course, went on to capture the tournament crown and advance to college basketball's ultimate tournament.
"Welcome back to the NCAA Basketball championship selection show, here's a look at the tournament brackets from the NCAA and its corporate champion AT&T, and here is the West Region. These games to be played in Philadelphia on Thursday and Saturday – the top seeds, the Connecticut Huskies, and yeah, the Connecticut Huskies of Jim Calhoun came out of the West TWICE to win their national titles – out of the Big East, who are they gonna play? How about the (Moccasins) of Chattanooga, the Southern Conference Tournament Champions. They won the tournament title, they are 18-16 on the year and they draw the UConn Huskies," Greg Gumbel said.
Little did anyone know that another PBB particpant's team was about to be announced.
"The number 8 seed, BYU, from the Mountain West, they shared the Mountain West regular season title, and the Cougars will meet – the Aggies of Texas A&M from the Big 12, Coach Mark Turgeon makes it two tournaments in two seasons at Texas A&M," Gumbel said.
At this, Lindsey sighed. It was déjà vu all over again. The year previous, the Cougars had met the Aggies in another 8 seed vs. 9 seed battle and lost. So now, would come the rematch.
"If it's any consolation," Justin said as he turned to his girlfriend and kissed her, "I feel BYU has a much better chance this time around against A&M."
"Really?" Lindsey said as she turned to him and smiled.
"Really, I do," Justin said. "BYU's played some good teams and gone toe-to-toe with good teams. I think your Cougars are better than A&M this time around. I actually think BYU can go deep – might beat UConn too."
"I agree with him," Ashley said, "The Rebels beat them twice but I don't know how they did it – in or not we're not close to a tournament team this year. BYU on the other hand is a really good team."
"Oh, how I so want to go to Glendale to watch my Cougars in the second weekend," Lindsey said – referring to the place BYU would be headed for the second weekend of action if they could beat A&M and, most likely, Connecticut.
As it turned out, the other two pairings in the top half of the bracket were rather mundane, with Purdue taking on Northern Iowa in a 5 vs. 12 matchup while Washington would take on the surprising winners of the Southeastern Conference tournament, Mississippi State in a 4 vs. 13 matchup. Both of those games would be in Portland. That announcement only raised some eyebrows with Carlos and Cassie, both Oregon Ducks fans who had suffered through a tremendously bad basketball season.
"I dunno, I'm thinking about going up to Portland and cheering against Washington, how about you sweetie?" Carlos said
"Maybe, if another of the schools in this group gets called to Portland, I might consider driving them up – we own some property in Portland," Cassie said.
"Sounds good," Carlos said.
The first two pairings in the bottom half were rather mundane also. In Kansas City on Thursday and Saturday, it would be the California Golden Bears of the Pacific 10 conference taking on the Maryland Terrapins of the Atlantic Coast Conference in a 7 vs. 10 matchup. Meanwhile, Memphis, the second seeded team in this region, would be taking on Cal-State Northridge, a local school and the Big West conference tournament champion for that season. The only reaction this got was the five Stanford fans scowling at the notion that Cal-Berkeley would be playing in the tournament and that Stanford wouldn't.
Soon, however another PBB participant was to get called.
"All right first and second round games now on Friday and Sunday out in Boise, Idaho. The #3 seeded Missouri Tigers, conference tournament winners, Coach Mike Anderson, Missouri won its first EVER Big 12 tournament title. They will meet the 14 seed Big Red (of Cornell), Ivy League Champions, making their second straight NCAA appearance," Greg Gumbel said.
That elicited the first groan amongst the group, this one coming from Dr. Mercer.
"Another year, another tough matchup," Anton sighed. "It sucks because the Big Red is facing a team that I think could go to the Final Four. Not good."
The final matchup revealed in this bracket was a 6 vs. 11 matchup between the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Aggies of Utah State.
As CBS went to another commercial, the final matchup was a matchup which, again, raised an eyebrow from Lindsey – who knew Utah's college basketball landscape very, very well.
"I sense Lindsey thinks there could be an upset here," Kim said.
"Yes. Utah State is very, very well coached," Lindsey said. "I saw some of Coach Stu Morrill's teams when I was at BYU. They play EVERYBODY tough in this tournament."
After a short commercial break, CBS revealed the East Region. The top half of the bracket drew little interest from the rooting audience, as it was announced that, in Dayton this coming Friday and Sunday, Pittsburgh would be playing East Tennessee State in a 1 seeded vs. a 16 seeded matchup, Oklahoma State would be playing Tennessee in an 8 seed vs. 9 seed game, and that in Boise Florida State would be playing Wisconsin in a 5 seed vs. 12 seed matchup and that Xavier would be playing Portland State in a 4 seed vs. 13 seed matchup.
The only reaction this drew from the crowd was a snarl from Kimberly at the announcement that Florida State was in as a #5 seed.
"Damn those Florida State criminals. Damn them," Kimberly groused.
"I didn't know you Gators hated Florida State – thought it was always Georgia?" Tanya said.
"No they don't hate Georgia worse," Tommy said. "Believe me, I know. I know some Gators here in Southern California in addition to Kim. They all hate Florida State worse than Georgia. Florida/Georgia is bad, but Florida State's their bitter enemy."
"Correct," Kim said, smiling at her husband as the attention was turned back to the television. As it turned out, that was a good thing because…
"Now, Thursday/Saturday games in Greensboro, North Carolina – and the #2 seed the Duke Blue Devils, winners today of the ACC conference tournament…who will Duke meet? The Binghamton Bearcats, winners of the America East conference tournament, they won it, they go to their first ever NCAA tournament. The #7 seed in the East, the Texas Longhorns. The winningest coach in Texas history is Rick Barnes – fifth team out of the Big 12, they will meet the fifth team out of the Big Ten, the Minnesota Golden Gophers…Now, Thursday/Saturday games in Philadelphia. The #3 seed Villanova Wildcats…now, who do they get to meet? Out of the Patriot League, the Eagles of American University, conference tournament winners in the Patriot League, the Eagles won the regular season and league tournament title. Now, the sixth seed and the fifth team out of the Pac-10 – the UCLA Bruins, top shooting team in the nation, an NCAA record 11 national titles to their credit, and they will meet the VCU Rams from the Colonial League, third straight regular season title, they captured the conference tournament championship for the second time in three seasons."
With that announcement, as well as the possibility that the Bruins would play Big East representative Villanova (in their home city of Philadelphia no less), the Bruin faithful were slapping Aisha on the back.
"Well, you got what you wanted. Maybe," Rocky said.
"Yep. A chance to beat a Big East team in their own backyard," Aisha said.
"I like the draw too. I've seen Villanova and us and I think we can beat them," Jason said. "Who's up for going to Philadelphia to watch our Bruins?"
"I'm in, bro. You know that," Tommy said. "Just let me call one of my anthropology colleagues in Philadelphia. He can probably score us tickets. Aisha, Rocky, you want to join us?"
"No. Thanks," Aisha said, definitively. "I went to law school on the East Coast after I got out of UCLA. I do NOT care to go into Philadelphia. Those fans are VORACIOUS. You men do what you want, but I'm not going."
"Where she goes, I go," Rocky said.
"Suit yourselves," Jason said. "Come on, bro. Let's go contact your colleague."
Nobody had noticed, until CBS had gone to a commercial break, that Conner had been applauding while the UCLA exchange was going on.
"Uh, Conner?" Hayley said. "You seem to be – quite happy about something."
"That's right," Conner said. "That's because my Blue Devils are going ALL THE WAY this year! Let's Go DUKE!"
At this proclamation, every single head in the room dropped, except for Conner's girlfriend Chelsea, who turned to face him.
"I thought you went to Long Beach?" she hissed.
"Yeah, but Chelsea, you know I've been a Duke fan since 1991, when I was five years old. I've seen a lot of good teams, some underachieving teams, some mediocre teams, and championship teams. I REALLY like this team's draw this year. You just saw us win the ACC tournament, which that OTHER school in North Carolina couldn't do – they couldn't even beat Florida State! Duke all the way this year!"
"And this…is what I hate about Duke," Ernie sighed.
"All I can as an Oklahoma and Stanford fan Conner," Hayley said as she glared at him, "is that your Blue Devils better beat the crap out of Texas in the second round. I hate the University of Texas with my whole body, soul and mind as an OU fan, not to mention they beat Stanford last year in the tourney."
"Consider it done," Conner said. "Texas can't stay on the same floor with us, and especially not in our backyard."
"It better be – unless you want to be working for me at Cyberspace sometime in the future," Hayley said. "Just beat Texas and you're off the hook."
Just as the two finished this conversation, the show came back from commercial to reveal the bracket for the South Region.
As the show came back, Rocky looked at the faces around the room, and saw some interesting facial expressions. Rocky looked over at Elsa and saw tension all over her face – this was it. Either they would be in this region or they would fall short of the tournament. Kim was uptight too, as her Florida squad was essentially in the same situation.
Others were resigned to their teams fates. Washington State and Oregon were out, as were most of the other schools that those inhabiting the Cyberspace were fans of.
Meanwhile, Hayley and Ernie were sharing looks as Oklahoma and Syracuse fans. Was it possible that their teams (or, in Hayley's case, second favorite close behind Stanford) would meet before the Final Four?
Ernie and Stone were sharing looks as well. Was that even possible too, that Arizona State and Syracuse could meet before the Final Four?
And all the while, Crystal the Gonzaga fan was resting her head on TJ's shoulder, now knowing what bracket her team would be involved in as Gonzaga had earned a berth to the tournament with their conference tournament title.
The first two pairings were of little interest to the denizens of the Cyberspace, as North Carolina would be playing Radford in a 1 seed vs. a 16 seed game and Louisiana State (LSU for short) would be playing Butler in an 8 seed vs. 9 seed game, both in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The other part of the top half of the bracket, however, was a different story.
"Moving down the list, Thursday/Saturday games in Portland, Oregon. The #5 seed Fighting Illini out of Illinois, the Big 10's sixth team into the tournament, coached by Bruce Weber, who will they meet? The Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky, Sun Belt conference tournament champions, and they're all about getting after the Fighting Illini…Moving on down, from the West Coast Conference, the Bulldogs of Gonzaga, #4 seed, coach Mark Few makes it ten NCAA tournament appearances in his ten seasons at Gonzaga, he will take on Mid-American Conference tournament winner Akron, the Zips won the Mid-American conference (tournament), they are 23-12 and they are the #13 seed in the South."
At this announcement, Crystal was aroused.
"Great draw for your team, honey," TJ said as he kissed her.
"Really?" Crystal said.
"Yeah. None of the teams in those four are that good," TJ said. "I almost hate to say it as a Coug, but I think Gonzaga has a walk to the round of 16. Don't know if you guys can beat North Carolina but I think you'll at least get there."
"If we get to UNC I say bring on all comers," Crystal said.
"What's more, I'll even take you to Portland so we can both cheer your Zags and root against Washington," TJ said.
"I love you sweetie," Crystal said as she kissed her boyfriend. "That's one thing we'll always have in common is that we both root against that snobby school in Seattle. But I just want to know what the hell is a Zip?"
"You got me there," TJ said.
"Now, Thursday/Saturday games in Kansas City, Missouri," Gumbel said, snapping them all back to attention. "The #2 seed in the South, the Oklahoma Sooners. Coach Jeff Capel and his player of the year Blake Griffin, the sixth team out of the Big 12, and they will face the 15th seeded Bears of Morgan State, the conference tournament winners in the MEAC, Coach Todd Bozeman gets his Morgan State team into the tournament. The number 7 seed in the South, the Clemson Tigers, the seventh team out of the ACC, Oliver Purnell has now led three different schools to the NCAA tournament, and they will face, coming out of Ann Arbor, the seventh Big 10 team (and number 10 seed in the South) the Michigan Wolverines…"
At this announcement, Hayley smiled.
"I like that situation – in KC with our fans there," Hayley said. "Clemson will be tough, but hopefully this recent bad stretch (Oklahoma had lost four of its previous six coming into Selection Sunday) will help them in the tournament."
Gumbel began revealing the brackets again, which shut Hayley up.
"First and second round games in Miami, the #3 seed in the South, the Orangemen of Syracuse. Big, courageous run through the Big East tournament, they are the seventh Big East team to make it, and they will rejoin the NCAA tournament after a two year absence. They will meet the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin – they won both the regular season and conference tournament championship, the Lumberjacks are in. The Number 6 team in the South, Arizona State's Sun Devils, the sixth team out of the Pac-10, Coach Herb Sendek's team at 24-9, and they will meet Atlantic 10 conference tournament winner Temple Owls."
With that, the brackets were now fully revealed, sending the room into total chaos. Both Ernie and Stone were glancing at each other, very aware of the possibility that Arizona State and Syracuse could indeed meet – next weekend, in fact. Both of them were glancing at Hayley, very aware that the Tulsa native's Oklahoma Sooners were in this bracket as well.
"Better watch out for her, Stone," Ernie said. "When OU's good she's mighty obnoxious about them."
"I agree. Keep an eye on her," Stone said.
"Hey guys," Hayley said. "Can one of you look over Cyberspace Wednesday through Saturday? I just got a text from an OU friend who is offering me tickets to the games in Kansas City."
"What do you think about this, Stone?" Ernie said.
"I'll take it, even though the Sun Devils might play Sunday I could still watch it. I'll look after the place. Besides, it gets the OU fan out of our hair for a while."
Then Stone turned to Hayley and said, "Consider it done. Have fun in Kansas City."
Hayley raced gleefully to the phone and began to book her reservations. Meanwhile, Kim and Elsa both had pissed off looks on their faces.
"Kim, we both should have been IN this thing!" Elsa growled.
"I know, we both got screwed over," Kim said. "But in all reality I can see why people think the Gators don't belong in the tournament. The SEC is a weak conference this year and people were saying Florida wouldn't get the benefit of the doubt. I don't understand how Arizona got in ahead of both of us though."
"You're telling me," Stone said as he turned to both of the two girls. "The U of A has had nine lives in basketball for eternity now. I hate those guys."
Jason and Tommy then came by after booking reservations to Philadelphia for the UCLA games, saw how pissed off the two women were, and made a beeline for the door.
"Oh, no you don't you two!" Kim growled. "Get back here – the prizes haven't even been revealed yet! And we're all going TOGETHER so sit your butts down!"
"Damn," Tommy grumbled under his breath as he sat back down, Jason following suit. "Can't sneak ANYTHING past her."
"Don't we know it, bro," Jason whispered. "I can only assume Florida didn't make it in."
"St. Mary's too," Tommy muttered. "Look at how pissed off Elsa is."
"I'm surprised the UNLV crew isn't as hacked off as Kim and Elsa are," Jason said.
"In all honesty, the Rebs didn't belong in the tournament," Andros said. "We had too many bad losses. The only way we could have been in this thing was winning the Mountain West conference tournament. Just a suggestion – you both just might want to shut up and remain quiet before Kim and Elsa kick both your asses."
"You would be wise to take his advice," Kim hissed to the boys.
Just at that moment, Hayley got off the phone, and Lindsey came forward.
"OK, everybody, let's move out," Lindsey said. "We're all going to go to my place so I can show you the prizes at stake this year."
5:30 p.m.
As they all arrived at Lindsey and Justin's condo just west of Angel Stadium in Anaheim, the Ranger family all got out of their cars and gathered as one in a semi-circle, to continue their tradition called Gather Round. No one, not even the great Zordon himself, but the Rangers and their immediate friends knew of this tradition, of gathering in a semi-circle after every single battle with the forces of evil to remind themselves of what they'd accomplished that battle, what needed to be worked on, and to talk about any announcements that someone might have. The tradition had started shortly after Tommy arrived the first time as the Green Ranger, and had been continued by Jason and Tommy through the Space team, and then by Tommy again during the Dino Thunder era.
"We all in?" Jason said.
"I think so," Adam said.
"OK, everyone listen up!" Tommy said – in his Leader Voice no less.
"Kim and I have a very important announcement to make regarding our yearly tournament bet," Tommy said. "And this one is going to impact not just us, but all of your lives. We normally wouldn't do this, but we decided it's time – for the sake of your safety just in case. Whoever finishes higher in this challenge is going to tell you something which will change you forever."
As he said this, he pointed to Crystal, Jen, Lindsey and Chelsea.
"None of you know the full extent of what one of us is going to tell all of you in a few weeks," Kim continued. "Before we can go through with this, we need to know that you'll keep this a secret. This is positively confidential information that you absolutely can tell no one outside this group. Can we trust you?"
"I dunno, what do you girls think?" Jen said. As it turned out, the four newcomers to the group had their arms slung around one another.
"I say we go through with it," Lindsey said.
"We'll do it," Crystal said.
Ten minutes later, the group had finished their circle session, when Lindsey spoke up.
"OK guys. It's time to show you what else is at stake for this tournament," Lindsey said as she led the group to the street, where the group suddenly stopped.
"Take a good look at em, guys and gals," Justin said as he pointed to the three sparkling new vehicles parked on the street.
The Rangers went wide-eyed as they stared at a Ford Mustang, a new van, and a positively beautiful convertible.
"My God," Aisha said. "How in the world did you get one of these beauties, much less three?"
"Lindsey was on the Price is Right last summer, you know the show," Justin said.
The rest of the group nodded, as the majority of the group were still huge fans of the show, never mind that show legend Bob Barker had retired sometime in 2007.
"She won these three playing Triple Play on the show last summer," Justin said. "We've been waiting for a way to give these three away. Here's how it's going to go down. Third prize gets the Mustang. Second prize gets the van. And the winner – gets this brand spanking new convertible."
"Make your picks carefully this year," Lindsey said. "You pick em right, you might end up with one of these."
7:30 p.m.
Reefside, CA
"Are you sure we want to do this, Tommy?" Kim said.
"Yes. It is time for them to know. Remember, when Zordon died he granted us all the option to reveal our secret at our own discretion. I don't know why I feel this way but I believe it's time," Tommy said. "You gonna go with North Carolina again?"
"Yeah, I think so," Kim said. "Just to spite Conner cause he's always talking about Duke. Sorry for getting mad at you and Jason earlier."
"I understand. Blame those stupid Trojans for knocking your Gators out of the tournament."
"You and your Trojan bashing," Kim said as she giggled. "Just be careful in Philadelphia, OK?"
"I will Beautiful."
As they went to do their separate things, they could hear this voice inside their heads saying, "YOU HAVE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE, MY RANGERS. GOOD LUCK TO YOUR TEAMS IN THE TOURNAMENT, AND AS ALWAYS, MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU."
"OK, I've got to lay off the sleeping pills because there is no way I heard who I think I just heard," Kim said.
TBC...