Chapter 3:

Homecoming Part 3

Aisha looked up as Rocky entered the math class room a little bit late. The teacher simply nodded at him, signaling that he was safe from being tardy, and looked back at the board where he was writing down a warm-up math problem they should solve. Aisha watched Rocky in concern as he dropped down in his seat; a mopey expression was on his face.

What's wrong with Rocky? Aisha scribbled on a piece of paper and lightly tapped Adam's shoulder, who was sitting in front of her.

Adam reached back and took the piece of paper, read her note, and scribbled something back.

Beats me. He's been acting funny since he got to school today. I know he got into a little fight with his dad and he's grounded.

When'd that happen?

Last night. His grades in math have been dropping and then he showed up at his house late.

He's usually really punctual. I wonder what's going on. Is that the only thing he said to you? The math thing, I mean?

Yeah, that's it. I couldn't get anything out of him. BTW, didn't you think it was weird the way he reacted to that Melody girl? Once he saw her he looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

I was thinking the same thing.

Old classmate maybe?

But why would he act this way? It's like he's…scared if her or something.

I guess we're going to have to wait until for him to come to us and tell us whatever is on his mind.

Aisha sighed and leaned back in her chair, glancing at Rocky every now and then. He was leaning over his desk, resting his chin on his arms. A distant look was in his eyes, he wsan't focusing on anything in the room.

Aisha bit her lip. What was going on with him? They were best friends, weren't they? They knew each other since they were twelve, that's six years and six years to her was a long time. Why didn't Rocky trust them?

As soon as the bell rang signaling them to get to the next class Rocky jumped out of his seat and rushed to the door but Aisha beat him there. "Where's the fire, Rocks?" She asked with a small smile on her face.

"I, uh, I wanted to catch up to Melody," Rocky replied.

"Oh. Why?"

"To, um, make sure Bulk and Skull leave her alone. You know how they are with new students," Rocky replied, walking out of the room, Aisha was on his heels.

"You're kinda late." Rocky looked back at her in confusion and she nodded. He turned around and saw down the hall to see what Aisha was looking at. He groaned when he saw Bulk and Skull were circling her like they were sharks and she was an innocent little fish. "C'mon, we should help her," Aisha decided, moving forward.

Rocky followed Aisha, keeping his eyes on Bulk and Skull as they moved through the crowded hallway. His free hand clenched into a fist as a muscle in his jaw ticked. Why couldn't Bulk and Skull just leave everyone alone?

"So? Hows about it, sweetie?" Skull asked, chewing his gum. "You, me, and a starry night?"

"I would but, luckily, I have something better to do," Melody replied. "Could you move, I'm going to be late for class."

"Hmm, how about…no?" Bulk laughed and shoved her, causing her to take a couple of steps back to keep her balance but she dropped her books to the floor.

"Stop it," she snapped. Bulk just laughed and shoved her again. "Quit it." Bulk reached out to shove her once more but a hand grabbed his wrist.

"I believe the lady said to knock it off," Jason said in a dangerously calm voice as he tightened his grip on Bulk's wrist.

Bulk pulled his hand out of Jason's grasp and laughed a bit. "And what're you going to do about it?"

"Why don't you just crawl back into the sewer that you came out of?" Aisha asked, ducking under Skull's arm.

"Mind your own business, geek," Bulk said as he used a finger to push Aisha out of the way.

"Hey, back off man!" Rocky snapped. He glanced around briefly and noticed that a group of students had stopped to see what was about to happen. He glanced at Melody and locked eyes with her but her face remained void of emotion.

"I can handle this, Rocky," Jason said as he lightly pushed Rocky out of the way.

Bulk turned his attention back to Jason. "What're you gonna do, tough guy?"

Jason merely smiled a little, lifted his hand, and moved his finger in a come hither motion. Bulk and Skull exchanged glances of confusion.

"Skullsy poo!"

"Bulky Boo!"

Their faces got a look of shock and horror as Jason, Rocky, and Aisha chuckled. The two other 'punk' girls of the school—Rogue and Pixie—entered the hallway and looked around for a bit before their eyes landed on Bulk and Skull and they grinned. Bulk and Skull let out sounds of fright before turning and running down the hallway. Rogue and Pixie chased after them as the other students laughed and went on with their way.

Jason watched them leaving before helping Melody and Aisha pick up the dropped books. "Don't worry about them. They act tough but they can't really do anything. They're too slow and ignorant," Jason told Melody, holding out her books.

"Well they don't strike me as geniuses," Melody commented causing him and Aisha to laugh. Rocky barely cracked a smile.

"I'm Jason. That's Aisha and–"

"I've all ready met Rocky," she interrupted.

Jason just nodded. "I don't like the idea of you going to your class by yourself with them around. Is it all right if I go with you? Just to make sure you're ok?"

She nodded. "Thanks."

"It's no problem."

Aisha turned to say something to Rocky and that's when she noticed the anger behind his brown eyes. She looked back and forth between Rocky and the duo that was walking down the opposite hall. "Ok, Rocks, what's goin' on?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. He looked at her and the anger faded from his eyes instantly. "And don't say nothing because I can tell when you're lying and when something is bothering you."

"I'll explain later," Rocky said, turning to go back to his class.

"Why later? What's the big secret?" Aisha asked, following him.

"Later, Sha, ok?" Rocky begged.

"Ok," Aisha sighed.

Rocky smiled and gave a little sigh of relief. "At lunch, then."

She smirked. "You skipped breakfast?"

"Of course not. I ate, but that was two hours ago, it feels like a lifetime!"

------

"Ok Rocky, we're all here, now explain," Aisha said as soon as Rocky sat down at the lunch table. He looked up from his tray of food which was overflowing to flinch when he noticed that everyone was staring at him, waiting to explain.

"You know you can tell us anything," Kim added with an encouraging smile and Trini nodded.

"Yeah, why've you been acting weird?" Zack asked.

Rocky took a bite out of his sandwich to stall as the others waited. He finally swallowed and said, "I know Melody."

"Well, duh! Everybody knows who she is now," Zack said as he rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I think what Rocky means is that he and Melody were in cahoots in a previous occasion," Billy spoke up.

They looked at Billy before turning their eyes to Trini. "He means that she and Rocky met before, a long time ago," she stated simply. They nodded and turned back to Rocky.

"I moved to Stone Canyon when I was twelve, but before then I lived in Belleview, Florida. I met Melody 'cause she was my next door neighbor and our dads became friends so we saw each other a lot." A small smile formed on Rocky's face. "We were inseperable. Our dads called us Jack and Jill or Batman and Robin 'cause we were together so much. We took to calling each other Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as a joke 'cause the Flintsontes was the one cartoon we would always watch and it just stuck.

"When I was…eleven turning twelve my dad told me that he got a job in Stone Canyon and that we were moving. I didn't know how to break it to her so I waited until the last minute to tell her. I brought her to the park where we would always play games and I finally told her. she was upset, really upset, more upset than I thought she was going to be. Actually, she was so upset that she ran away. I didn't see her the rest of that day nor the next day when I actually moved and that hurt a lot. I promised her that I would write everyday but that proved hard when I moved to Stone Canyon and I met Adam and Aisha. I had to go to writing every week, which I did but I never got a response from her. I thought she hated me so I switched to writing every once in a while thinking that she still wanted to be my friend and that she was just going through some hard times. She never called, never sent an e-mail, never bothered to see me and I was so busy with training and rock climbing and stuff that I couldn't see her. Every time I tried calling her I caught her at a bad time and we never had enough money to fly to her so I just gave up.

"I didn't know she was coming back here and I figured that we could talk things out and go back to being friends. She won't talk to me now and…I don't know, I guess I just want things to go back to the way they were before. I miss her." He looked down at his tray and noticed that he had eaten everything. Shrugging, he grabbed his tray and went back to the line.

"Aww, I feel so bad," Kim muttered once Rocky was out of ear shot. "We should do something."

"Like what? We can't just force them to talk to each other," Zack pointed out. "Besides, you're on a strict no meddling rule."

"Me?" Kim raised her eyebrows. "Why am I on a strict no meddling rule? I don't meddle."

"Yes you do," Tommy replied. Kim gasped and punched him on the arm.

"I do not! When have I meddled?"

"When you tried to get Ms. Appleby and Mr. Caplan together," Jason replied.

"What's so bad about that?"

"Mr. Caplan is married for one thing." Adam and Aisha chuckled.

"Now, he wasn't before. And you know they would've been good together," Kim said in defense. "Besides, I'm not saying that they should date I'm saying that they should be friends again. It's totally obvious that he misses her and I bet, deep down, she misses him too."

"Say she does, how are you going to get them to talk to each other?" Adam asked.

"Well, she's coming to the Youth Center today. We could make it that he's the only one who shows up," Kim replied, clasping her hands together with a smile.

"I don't know. We shouldn't mess with affairs of the heart," Trini said slowly.

"Affirmative. We should let nature take its course," Billy agreed.

"Come on guys," Kim begged. "I hate seeing him so sad."

"He'll be fine a few minutes as soon as he gets some food in that pit he calls a stomach," Jason said. "Tell you what, we'll give them a few days and if they don't do anything then we'll step in to help, ok?" He sighed with relief when Kim nodded ad went back to eating her food.

He knew he could convince Kim to do as he told, she was his surrogate 'little sister' after all and he had to make sure she didn't jump into things. Sometimes she makes a mess instead of helping the problem and then he was the one who had to go in and fix everything. He didn't want to have to deal with that for a while; he just got back after all.

What really surprised him was that Rita and Zedd haven't tried anything since he's gotten back a full five days ago. Surely they hadn't left the planet alone just like that? It was edging on Jason's nerves and he felt about ready to jump out of his skin if something happened especially since he didn't have his powers anymore.

"Are you all right, Jase?" Trini asked, her voice laced with concern.

Jason looked over at the Asian beauty. "I was just thinking about how Zedd and Rita are being kinda quiet." He didn't bother to keep his voice down; the cafeteria was loud enough to drown them out. They all jumped when Rocky dropped his full tray down on the table and he sat down, shoving food into his mouth.

"I've been thinking the same thing lately," Tommy admitted.

"Maybe it's part of their plan," Billy suggested. "To wait until the last possible moment to catch us off guard. They'd have the upper hand."

"But that doesn't mean they can defeat us," Aisha pointed out. "I think we should ask Zordon and Alpha to keep a lookout just in case. We still have our communicators so they can contact us whenever they think something is wrong and keep our minds at peace."

"Bottom line is: keep an ear on the communicator just in case," Adam agreed.

----

"Ok class, that's all for today. Get plenty of rest," Melody said as she wiped sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand. She watched the girls move around, collecting their things and shouting bye to her as they left.

She chuckled and shook her head a bit. How they had that much energy was beyond her. She remembered the days where she could easily bounce back from a hard day of work. Now she had to force herself out of bed in the mornings to get to where she needed to be.

She grabbed her things and went into the studio's shower. After making sure no one was around and leaving a Do Not Disturb sign on the door she quickly showered. Letting the warm water runoff of her head and trickle down her back. Looking back she didn't think her first day was that bad. Sure there were a few students who kept whispering about her instead of talking to her face but she was used to that. True, she had to deal with the likes of Bulk and Skull but she knew they wouldn't be a problem once they saw her really mad. She was only slightly agitated before. But why did he have to be at Angel Grove? She thought she had left everything in her past behind when she moved but now reality decided to play a dirty trick on her and slap her in the face!

She turned off the shower heads, grabbed a towel, and quickly dried off before changing into her clothes which consisted of khaki shorts, a silver hooded vest, and a blue t-shirt with a tribal-like owl on the front, and small black converse high-tops.

"I'm out, Bree," she called to the lady sitting in the offices. Bree looked up and waved, signaling that it was ok for her to leave. She smiled as she put her headphones over her ears and walked the short distance to the Youth Center. She bobbed her head to the beat of the song, singing it under her breath, and danced a bit as she walked.

She pushed open the door of the Youth Center and her nose was met with the smell of lemon cleaner, some fruit, and the slight scent of stale sweat. She looked up when her name was called and noticed Kim waving her arms. Melody chuckled a bit, thinking that she looked like someone controlling air traffic. Kim stood when she neared the table.

"Glad you could make it," she said with a bright smile. "I don't think you've met everybody so this is Tommy, Billy, Adam, Trini, and Zack." She pointed to each person when she said their name. They waved and gave her a smile as Kim motioned for her to sit down.

"So what brings you here to Angel Grove?" Trini asked, breaking the silence the fell over the table.

"Dad's job," Melody replied, simply. "He got tired of staying on Florida and jumped at the chance to move." She scoffed and added bitterly, "Didn't even bother talking to me about it."

"Uh, so what do you do?" Tommy questioned.

"I dance. Sometimes I rock climb and I like to go hiking. And I kick box whenever I get the chance."

"Kick boxing? I'm impressed. Do you do it for fun or…?" Aisha asked.

"Workout purposes mainly but I also use it to get out some of my anger."

"Really?" Jason's eyebrows were raised and he had a competitive spark in his eye. "Do you want to spar a bit? I'd like to see what moves you have."

She looked pointedly at him. "I don't think you've noticed but I'm significantly smaller than you. You'd snap me like a toothpick."

Rocky's ears perked at her statement. 'Since when does she admit her disadvantages? Usually she keeps everything inside and bottled up. She never lets anyone know whenever they have the upper hand.'

"Don't worry, it's against my beliefs to hurt a girl," Jason said with a smile. "Like I said I just want to see what you've got."

"Jason, I don't think–" Rocky started but stopped when Melody cut her blue eyes at him. He gulped and returned his attention to his smoothie.

"Hey, Rock, let me talk to you for a sec," Tommy spoke up. Rocky looked at his leader and nodded, standing, and followed Tommy into one of the halls of the place. "You're not even talking to each other yet she has you whipped," Tommy pointed out. "What's going on, man?" Rocky shrugged and remained silent. "You want to know what I think?" Rocky nodded. "I think you want her to be your friend again so badly that you're letting her push you around and that's not the Rocky I know. The Rocky I know would talk out any problem he came upon, of course any problem that's not a ranger problem. Just talk to her, let her see your side of things, and work it out. I hate seeing you upset."

Rocky nodded. "I am kinda out of it, aren't I?"

"Let's just say that Ernie doesn't have to worry about his stock of fresh fruit for his smoothies today." He and Rocky laughed as Tommy clapped Rocky on the shoulder. "And you might want to talk to her before Kim comes up with a crazy scheme to get you guys to talk."

"Kim and her plans." Rocky shook his head. "You gotta learn to stop her before those things come into her mind."

"Why me?"

"'Cause she's your girlfriend."

"Nah, we're not dating."

"But you're close," Rocky pointed out, smiling when Tommy blushed a bit. "You know you should really ask her to the Homecoming Dance before someone else does."

"I know. I'm still working on it."

"Well, you don't have much time left. The dance is only two weeks away."

"I know, I know, I just want things to be perfect when I ask her, that's all." The two turned the corner and stopped in their tracks. Melody was sparring with Adam and she seemed to be winning although she was smaller and shorter. She could place hits on lower parts of his body and could easily duck out of the way of his punches and kicks.

She got overzealous and left her defense wide open, giving Adam the opportunity to strike. She clutched her size and quickly ducked to get out of the way of the kick that was aimed for her head. She swiped her foot underneath Adam, causing him to lose his balance. She jumped back onto her feet, ready to throw out another kick when he placed his feet on the Y of her hipbones and launched her over his head. She landed on the mat as he jumped back up to his feet.

"Are you ok?" Adam asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet easily. "Sorry, I didn't mean to throw you that hard."

"It's cool," she said, rubbing her neck. "I didn't expect that.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, do you need some ice?" Aisha added watching as she continued to rub her neck.

"No, I'm fi–" she stopped in the middle of her sentence when the sound of a ringing phone reached their ears. "Oh man," she whispered. "I gotta go!"

"So soon? You haven't even tried out one of Ernie's smoothies yet," Rocky spoke up.

"Always thinkin' about your stomach, eh Rocko?" Jason asked with a smile. Rocky just shrugged.

"I don't have time. Dad wants me to help with the move," Melody said as she ran over to her bag and hastily stuck her arms though so it rested on her shoulders.

Tommy nudged Rocky so hard he almost fell over. "Uh, do you need some help?"

"Sure, whatever, I just gotta go," she said in a distracted tone. Rocky looked at Tommy who gave him a nod and a thumbs up.

'This better be worth it,' Rocky said to Tommy only using his eyes before following Melody out of the Youth Center. She walked so fast that Rocky had to jog a bit to catch up to her frantic pace.

"Slow down, will ya? I'm going to puke form moving around so fast," Rocky called form behind her.

Melody slowed down a bit and looked at her over her shoulder. "If you didn't eat so damn much you wouldn't have to worry about it and you'd be able to move faster. I swear with how much you've eaten if you got a cut on your leg food would spill out. They're like weights."

"Weights that can still kick your butt like I did years ago."

That got Melody to stop in her tracks and fully turn around to look at him. "You mean that one cheap shot to my head? That wasn't fair, you know you don't even have to kick that high to hit me."

"It's not my fault you're a shrimp," Rocky replied, walking past her, bumping her shoulder on purpose. 'If this doesn't work I don't know what will.' "How was Belleview anyway?"

"Same ol'," Melody replied, waving her hand. "The jocks were stupid. The cheerleaders were ditzy. The chemistry club was nerds, nothing new."

"Would you have moved here if you knew that I lived here?"

"Last I heard you lived in Stone Canyon."

"You're not answering the question."

She paused. "Yes, only for my dad."

'That's it!' Rocky let out a sound of annoyance. "What the hell did I do to make you so mad at me? If anything, I should be the one mad at you."

She glared at him. "You didn't write! Why the hell shouldn't I be mad?"

"Because I wrote you every single week," he replied. "Ask my mom and dad! They'll tell you. I didn't forget about you. I tried to call but you were never in. I tried sending e-mails but they were never responded to. You're the one who shut me out, Mellie. The phone, postal service, and e-mail works both ways so you're partly to blame for this." He ran a hand through his hair. "I couldn't ever forget about you, Bammers."

She flinched. "Don't call me that."

"We've been calling each other Pebbles and Bammers for years."

"Yeah, when we were friends."

"We're not friends anymore? You couldn't even tell me this?"

"If you wrote–"

"I did!"

Melody opened her mouth to shoot a retort but everything around her started shaking. She struggled to stay on her feet but had to move around to try and keep her balance. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Rocky was having the same problem but they were ultimately thrown to the ground. As soon as the shaking started it stopped.

"Great, an earthquake on my first day here. What's next, a tsunami?" Melody muttered sarcastically, slowly getting to her feet.

"That didn't feel like a normal earthquake," Rocky muttered to himself.

"Who are you to judge what's normal?" Melody asked dryly. "You're obsessed with the color red."

"When are you going to stop ragging on me? Do you want me to apologize?"

"Uh, yeah!" Melody replied.

"Fine, I apologize for not writing you, even though I know I did. I apologize for kicking you out of my life, even though I know I didn't! Happy now?" He demanded, throwing his arms into the air. "What is it going to take for me to get my Bammers back?"

She slowly shook her head. "A time machine," she replied.

"What do you mean by–" Rocky was cut off when he felt a kick to his side. He fell over, rolled, and jumped back to his feet as Melody rushed to his side. "Oh no," he muttered, locking eyes with the Putties that had appeared. The Putties quickly formed a circle around the two and started to move in closer, their arms flailing.

"What the heck are those things?" Melody asked, clenching her hands into fists, suddenly feeling and adrenaline rush.

"Mellie, give me your hand!"

"Rocky, this isn't the time for–"

"Just do it!" he reached out his hand and she grabbed it. Grabbing her arm he easily lifted her off the ground and spun her around, her feet knocked the Putties over. He set her back down on the ground and got into a fighting stance. "Mellie, maybe you should go back to the Youth Center."

"No way, Rockers," Melody replied, throwing her bag away and getting into a fighting stance herself. "You're going to need my help with these Clay Heads."

"Whatever. Iya!" Rocky jumped and kicked a Putty. He spun around and kicked backwards at another before landing a punch on the one in front of him. Adrenaline pulsed through his body as he landed kick after punch on the Putties. He used a few flips and handsprings to dodge the creatures that obviously didn't know when to give up. He looked at Melody out of the corner of his eye and saw that she was doing a pretty good job holding out on her own. Her kicks and punches were more precise and more powerful than he remembered, of course, before, they were play fighting, but now he couldn't help but be impressed. "Melody, look out!"

She turned around and whipped her head up, seeing a Putty that was about to kick her. She quickly executed a few back handsprings and landed by her backpack. Smiling a bit, she reached her hand in and pulled out a jump rope. "Thank God," she muttered, pulling it out.

"Mellie, this isn't the time for games," Rocky groaned.

"Who's playing?" Melody asked with a smirk. "Sit back and watch, Pebbles."

Rocky stepped back and watched as Melody used the jump rope as a whip of sorts, using maneuvers to whip, slap, or trip the Putties when they got close to her. Rocky laughed at the thought of a childhood toy being used as a weapon but she was using it very well, taking the time to perform flips and tricks to get out of the way, spinning the rope around her to hit the Putties. "Hey Mel, toss me one end," Rocky called, suddenly getting an idea. Melody did as she was told and the two held one side of the rope. "Who's up for some blowing?" He joked as a Putty ran towards them, the others staying behind watching and waiting. Rocky and Melody braced themselves as the Putty ran at them. They let the rope slack a bit so the Putty ran past them a bit but they pulled it forward and the Putty slammed into the others, knocking them down like bowling pins.

"Strike!" Melody cheered and Rocky laughed. "Geeze, these things don't know when to stay down."

"They're weak now," Rocky pointed out. "You have to aim for their Zs."

"How do you know?" Melody questioned.

"I just do! Come on!"

The two ran towards the Putties and attacked them before they could get back up, successfully landing punches and kicks at the Zs. They lit up before breaking apart before their eyes and disappearing.

"Man," Melody panted. "This has to be the strangest day of my life." She walked back to her dropped jump rope and bent to pick it up. As soon as her hand touched it, it was covered in bliding light. "What the hell?" She tried to jerk her hand back but something about it wouldn't let her let go. Her eyes widened when the rope seemed to jump up and wrap around her, pinning her arms to her sides and she struggled. "Hey!"

"Bammers!" Rocky was close to her side when another rope shot out and hit him in the chest, causing him to fly back a few feet and fall to the ground. "Oh no!" He muttered when a laugh filled the air and a monster appeared behind Melody. It's body was in the shape of a person, albeit it's skin was a gray color and instead of fingers it had jump ropes, some of which had Melody tangled.

"Rocky!" She shouted before she and the monster disappeared in white light.

"Oh man." Rocky lifted his communicator to his mouth when it's signature beep reached his ears. "Go."

"Rocky, Zordon just told us that there's a monster in your area. Are you all right?" Tommy's voice came through.

"I'm fine but the monster has Melody," Rocky replied.

"Looks like Zedd and Rita are back to their old tricks."

"Looks like it."