At a complete loss of what to do, Connor raised his morpher to his face. "Haley? Have you been watching this?"

"Yes," Haley sounded shaken. "Bring them both back to the lab. I'll rig up some restraints for Goldar." Then she muttered, "We'll probably need some for Tommy too."

Connor got the distinct impression that he wasn't supposed to have heard that. But he decided he was confused enough for one day. "Will do, Haley." He thought for a minute. "Trent and I are the strongest. We'll hold them up in front of us as we drive...carefully. Let's go."

(Scene Change)

Haley bit her lip as she activated the forcefield restraints on the table Goldar' s body lay on. She wasn't sure they were strong enough--Titans were the strongest known sentient species in the galaxy. They could tear through steel like tissue paper. But it was the best she could do.

She turned around and started to head to Tommy's bed, intending to make sure his unconsciousness was only a simple faint. But Connor intercepted her firmly, stopping Haley with a raised hand. "Haley, with all due respect, we need answers."

Haley sighed, knowing she couldn't put this off any longer. She was sure the teens had noticed that Tommy did not like to talk about his Ranger past. It's not that Tommy was ASHAMED of it, per se; he just felt it was "ancient history" and not relevant to the situation with Mesogog. Tommy especially did not want to bring up old pain--his relationships with Kimberly Hart and Katherine Hillard were at the top of that unofficial list. Haley was pretty sure Goldar was on that list too. But the kids had a right to know, and she was just as confused as they were.

So..."You remember Tommy's video?" she asked.

Ethan nodded. "The gold guy was in the first part, the...Mighty Morphin Rangers, right?"

"Yes, but that's only scratching the surface." Haley sat down on a chair and motioned the DinoThunders to do the same. "I'm surprised Tommy allowed even that much to be public." She really had the teens' attention now. "Goldar was there from the very beginning; he was the first villian the Power Rangers of Earth ever faced. He never hesitated to take on the entire team himself, and also went up against their Megazord countless times. He despised the Rangers on principle, and they returned the feeling, but that was just the standard villian-Ranger dynamic. It wasn't personal yet...not until Tommy came along."

Connor, who like the others had been paying rapt attention, said "Dr. O. started out evil, didn't he?"

The other Rangers glared at him, and Haley winced. "Yes, he did, but a word of advice: don't ever try to discuss that period of his life with him unless HE starts the conversation." That was not an idle warning. Hayley had known most of Tommy's Ranger past for over a year before he broke down and talked to her about the Evil Green Ranger. "And that's when the hatred started. Goldar, like most villians, had a big ego. The very fact that Rita was desperate enough to finally use the Green Power Coin was an admission that Goldar couldn't defeat them on his own, and that rankled. It got worse when Goldar realized Tommy was the superior fighter. The breaking of the spell and Tommy's "defection" to the Light put the iceing on that cake. Goldar would gladly fight any Ranger he could find...but when given the choice, he ALWAYS went for Tommy."

"Tommy didn't return his hatred right away, not at that level. He hated Goldar because he was villian, that was all. But Tommy noticed that Goldar kept singling him out, and did his best to make his life miserable. The turning point was the Green Candle." Seeing the teens' confusion, she explained. "The Green Candle was Rita's failsafe for the Green Ranger. When she realized that Tommy had left the Darkness behind for good, she lighted it and put it in her Dark Dimension, with Goldar guarding it. When the Candle burned out, Tommy's powers would be gone." The DinoThunders gasped. They couldn't imagine what it would feel like if Mesogog drained their powers. "It was a damn good plan, and it's the only plan she had truly almost succeeded. Tommy couldn't go after it himself, since that would only accelerate the process. So Jason, the first Red Ranger and the team's leader, went after it instead." Haley sighed. "Goldar beat him. How, I don't know, since Jason had beaten the villian many times before, but the Ranger lost that fight. The Rangers managed to transfer what was left of the Green Power to Jason so Rita didn't get it, but Tommy wasn't a Ranger anymore."

"That's what ignited Tommy's hatred for Goldar. He was the one primarily responsible for the Power loss. Tommy whole identity was bound up with being a Ranger so he could make up for the evil he'd done. It was unforgivable. The feud shifted into high gear after that. When Goldar tricked the other Rangers into giving up their Power Coins, Tommy regained his powers and beat him. When Zedd took over and destroyed the Green Power for good, it was Goldar who trapped Tommy in an alternate dimension and taunted him with that fact. When Tommy became the White Ranger and leader of the team, Goldar took it as a personal insult. And on and on it went."

"Goldar survived three straight years of fighting Earth Rangers," Haley said flatly. "No other villian has even come close to matching that accomplishment. Unlike the random monsters of the week, he knew when to retreat. He's not as smart or as dangerous as he thinks he is, but he's smart and dangerous enough. Tommy and Jason were the only Rangers who could ever match him." She looked down and said softly, "When I realized who you were facing, I thought you were in big trouble."

"But since when do villians morph?" Trent protested.

Haley shrugged. "That's a good question. Here's another one: why is he even alive? He died during the Countdown. Where did he get the Red Power Coin, which was destroyed almost ten years ago? All of those things should be impossible."

"My head hurts," Connor grumbled.

"Normally, I'd make a joke about that, but right now mine hurts too," Ethan said.

Kira, however, had picked up on the point Haley was trying to make. "So, when it comes to Goldar, Dr. O.'s not going to be real...rational, is he?"

"I think the phrase "homicidal rage" would be a good description," Haley sighed.

"You mean Dr. O. would just...kill him?" Trent gulped.

"He would. And what happened to Elsa and Zeltrax should have shown you that Goldar doesn't hesitate to kill either."

"We can't let that happen," Connor set his jaw firmly. "We don't have the whole story; he's at least technically a Ranger; and we owe him big for getting rid of those two cyborgs."

"Good luck stopping the Doc," Kira snorted.

Just then they heard a moan. Tommy was waking up.

NEXT CHAPTER:

Tommy calls Jason in an attempt to get his thoughts into order. If you think the DinoThunders are confused, they have nothing on Goldar! He's waking up into a world full of ex-Rangers who want him dead...and that's still an improvement over the world he left.