Chapter 10 - Best Friends

Hayley slowly opened her eyes after feeling someone stroking her hand. She wanted to get up, but her body wouldn't respond. Her mind felt cloudy, as if she had just woken up after an inadequate amount of sleep. But she was not merely drowsy. She suddenly felt the aches all over her body, as her head began throbbing with a nagging pain. Hayley groaned as she turned her head to see who was waiting at her side.

"It's alright," Cam said. "Just get some rest."

That was easier said than done by now. Hayley was suddenly struck by the fear that something terrible had just happened to her. "Am I..."

"No, no. You're just a little banged up, that's all."

"What happened to the jewel? Do we still have it?" Hayley was finding it harder and harder to relax now that it was all coming back to her.

"Shh. Don't worry about that right now. Just get some rest Hayley. Please."

Hayley turned her head back and closed her eyes to satisfy him. She could tell that Cam wasn't being completely upfront with her, so that she could have a little peace of mind. It was a sweet gesture, but she could hardly rest at a time like this. The room was quiet and the bed was soft, but the unanswered questions weighed heavily on her. Hayley kept wondering about what had happened, and what was going to happen, for several excruciating minutes.

The painful silence was broken by someone knocking on the door. Cam got up and let the visitor in.

"How is she?" Tommy asked in a soft whisper.

"She has a mild concussion," Cam replied. "But other than that it's just a few bruises. She should be okay in a day or two, with a good amount of rest."

"Thanks for taking care of her Cam. Is it okay if we talk for a few minutes?"

"Sure." Cam walked out the door, giving Hayley and Tommy some privacy.

"Hey Hayley. It's me." Tommy walked over to her and sat down, taking her hand the way that Cam had done just a few minutes ago.

She turned her head and looked up at him. There he was, doting at her bedside, trying to fake a reassuring smile even as he appeared to be on the verge of breaking down. Just as she had imagined he would. Although she hadn't been able to rest well, she was now completely alert.

"They got the jewel, didn't they?" she asked.

Tommy nodded. "Its energy trail is fresh though. Our sensors are tracking it down right now. It won't be long before we locate it." Tommy looked away for a few moments, as if he were overtaken by anguish. "I've been such a fool Hayley."

Hayley stared back into his eyes. It was surreal. The scene was playing out according to the script that she had written in her dreams so long ago. Her body grew tense as she waited with eager anticipation for Tommy to say his next few lines.

"All this time, I've been so lucky to have you by my side. I didn't know what to do when I found out you were hurt. I couldn't imagine losing you Hayley. You're one of a kind." Tommy paused and looked down, as if he was having trouble getting to the next part.

Come on, say it, Hayley thought. She had been patient for far too long. The wait was killing her.

Tommy looked back up and continued. "I care about you so much. The truth is that you're the best...friend I've had over these last few years. You've done so much good work for me, helping me with computers and all that technical stuff. And I haven't always seemed appreciative. But I want you to know that I am. I really am...Hey now, don't cry." Tommy leaned in and wiped away Hayley's tears. "You did the best you could, Hayley. There's nothing more you could've done."

Tommy gave her a friendly peck on the cheek before getting up. It felt like a dagger in the chest.

"Don't worry, we're gonna get the guy who did this to you. Good bye Hayley."

Tommy opened the door, walking past Cam on his way out. "Make sure she feels better, okay?"

The tears were now streaming down her face, so much that she could barely see Cam returning to her bedside.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Kira closed her eyes and clutched her bruised stomach, rubbing it softly to relieve her pain. It didn't help. And the physical pain was the least of her worries at the moment. The last jewel was gone. She was still waiting for Dr. O to tell her exactly what was going on. And while she nursed her own minor injuries, her good friend Hayley was lying unconscious in a bed down the hall.

Please be okay, Hayley. She opened her eyes and looked around at the other Rangers who were with her. Like her, they were all just standing there looking powerless and confused. Kira didn't know if she could wait around any longer...

"Hayley's gonna be alright," Dr. O said as he approached the group.

"Can I see her?" Kira asked.

"Not now," Dr. O said. "She took our loss pretty badly. I think she needs some space right now. Besides, we have a bad guy to catch."

Dr. O led Kira, Tori, Mack, and Dax out of the Academy. As they walked past the gardens, Kira saw many of the same Ninjas whom she had seen on her way in. But now, their stony resolve had been replaced by fear. Some were doing their best to suck up the injuries that they had received during the battle. Others didn't try to put up such a facade, allowing their shame and despair to show in their body language. Everyone there felt guilty, for failing to protect the jewel.

The group walked through the invisiportal and made their way to Dr. O's black jeep. Kira picked up her pace, reaching the front passenger seat first. She wasn't about to let Dax call "shotgun," like he had tried to before the ride up the mountain. She had to have that seat, because she wanted some answers from Dr. O.

Mack was the last one to reach the car. As he bent over to get inside, Kira saw his father rushing over to stop him. "Wait Mack! Wait!"

"Dad, I have to go now. What is it?"

Andrew pulled Mack away from the car and embraced him. "You be careful out there." He maintained his grip, gently rocking his son's body. "Keep your eyes open. Don't do anything dumb."

"Okay Dad..." Mack said, with an exasperated look on his face. "This is embarrassing..."

Kira groaned before rolling down her window. "Alright, let's go already!" she shouted. For everyone's sake.

Mack shook his head as he got inside. "Sorry about that," he said, as Dr. O started up the car and began the drive down the mountain."

"The sensors tracked the jewel to an area about an hour and a half from here," Dr. O said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to catch up to him."

"I can't wait to get my hands on this guy," Tori said.

"Just who is he, Dr. O?" Kira asked.

Dr. O sighed and paused for several seconds before answering. "His name is Tom. He's a clone of me created by Rita and Zedd almost fifteen years ago."

"So where's he been all this time?" Kira asked.

"After I freed him from Zedd's control, we traveled back two-hundred years to save the past. Tom wanted to stay there, so I said good bye. Never thought I'd see him again."

"Wait, so if he was a good guy, why's he doing all of this now?" Tori asked.

"I don't know," Dr. O said. "I don't know how he even came back. All I can tell is that he's crazy. He seems to think that the world needs him to be its savior or something."

"Yeah, he said he's just doing what he must," Kira said. She remembered what she had heard Dr. O say earlier that day, and how disturbing it had seemed.

Dr. O paused again. "...Right. But he doesn't know what he's doing. The two of us are nothing alike."

Kira felt wrong for questioning her mentor like this. But something inside told her to keep pressing him. "How'd he get so much intel on us?" she asked.

"Tom's been visiting me, telepathically, for a while now," Tommy said.

You did not just say that, Kira thought. The disbelief and anger boiled inside of her. But Kira could tell from Dr. O's voice and his narrowing eyes that the thought made him angry as well. "So you told him everything," she said. She struggled against what she was hearing, and how it made her feel. It wasn't easy for her to accept fault from someone whom she had admired for so long.

"Yes...but I didn't know it was him. I thought it was Zordon's spirit. It felt so...familiar."

"Wow, that's pretty dumb," Dax said.

Dr. O gritted his teeth and squeezed hard on the steering wheel. But he quickly calmed down and regained his composure. "Tom used me," he said. "But that's over now. We're gonna find him and put an end to this tonight."

"That's right," Tori said, sounding fired up.

"I know we'll win," Dr. O said. "We always do. Because the Power protects us all."

Kira heard her teammates cheering. But she just sank into her seat, filled with doubt. For the first time, Dr. O's words had failed to inspire her.

"This is it," Dr. O said, as he brought his jeep to a stop. Kira looked out the window. They were on a hill overlooking a small motel.

"The energy readings from down there are off the charts," Mack said as he looked at his handheld scanning device.

Dr. O pulled out two pairs of binoculars, handing one of them to Kira. "Let's take a closer look before going down," he said. He got out of the jeep and moved behind some bushes.

Kira followed him there and crouched down so that only her head stood out above the cover. She looked through her binoculars, slowly moving her eyes over the area looking for details. Almost everyone in the motel was asleep, judging from the darkened rooms. The parking lot was dimly lit, with a dozen vehicles in it. The vehicles were nondescript cars and minivans, except for one motorcycle parked near the motel's rear door. Kira suddenly heard Dr. O gasp. "What is it?" she whispered.

"I know someone with a bike just like that...Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing."

Kira looked through her binoculars again, focusing on the rear door. After another minute, she saw someone coming out with a box in his hands. She immediately zoomed in on his face. It was Tom. "That's him alright, Kira said.

Dr. O nodded and turned to the rest of the team. "Let's go Rangers."

The team separated and headed to the parking lot in several spurts. Each of them stopped behind cover along the way, to reassess the situation before moving further. Tom just stood there, as if he were waiting for something. Stalking and surrounding a target wasn't something that Kira was used to. She was thankful that Tori had taught her a few ninja skills over the years. When she was just thirty feet from the parking lot, Kira thought she saw Tom's head turning in her direction. She stopped in her tracks and jumped behind a nearby tree. There, she straightened up and kept her arms pressed against her sides, doing her best not to be spotted.

She hadn't communicated with her teammates since they had left the top of the hill. Looking around, Kira couldn't see any of them either. Confusion gripped her. She was too afraid to make any noise on her communicator, or risk getting spotted while peeking out. Still frozen in place with her back against the tree, she began to look around with her eyes. Twenty feet to her left, she saw Dr. O creeping out of the shadows. He looked her in the eyes and nodded in a decisive manner.

Kira instinctively trusted his judgment and leaped out from behind the tree. Sprinting forward, she saw Dr. O and three other people charging toward the parking lot. Dr. O got there first.

"Si-yah!" Dr. O cried as he landed a flying kick on Tom's chest. The clone's arms flailed in the air as he fell back, losing his grip on the box. It came tumbling back down, spilling its contents on the pavement. The jewels and the Crown, all in one place.

That's it, Kira thought, turning to grab the all-powerful artifacts. But Tom quickly rolled back to his feet and somersaulted in front of her.

"Stay back!" he yelled as he took a small object out of his jacket. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"And I suppose you do?" Dr. O said as he and the other Rangers lined up next to Kira.

"I won't let you screw things up," Tom said as he brought the object up to his shoulder. It was an Overdrive Tracker, the one that he had stolen from Will. "The world depends on me...Overdrive accelerate!" Tom scraped the Tracker's wheel down his arm, transforming into the Black Overdrive Ranger.

Now that's a Ranger I wanna punch, Kira thought.

"You ready guys?" Dr. O yelled.

"Ready!" the team replied.

Dr. O glanced down at his dead morpher, before turning to Kira and giving her the nod to proceed.

"Dino Thunder, power up! Ha!" The rest of the team morphed as well. Four Rangers against one. Kira liked those odds. She threw her arms out at both sides, signaling the Rangers to spread out and encircle Tom. Tom frantically turned from side to side as the team surrounded him. "Give up!" Kira yelled. "You can't win."

"We'll see about that. Drive Slammer!" Tom spun, swinging his hammer into each of the Rangers away as they closed in on him.

Kira pounded the ground in frustration before getting up, wondering when she'd finally get some payback. She charged at Tom again, flipping over him as he took another swing at her. She had barely landed when he struck again. "Whoa!" Kira cried as she narrowly avoided his weapon. Tom's attacks were relentless, with each one flowing into the next.

"Good," Tom said after another near miss. He rushed forward, sweeping his hammer in a low arc toward Kira's knees. She jumped and delivered a spinning crescent to his face. Tom laughed as he stumbled back. "Very good," he said. "Tommy has taught you well. Again!"

Wow, he's really into me, Kira thought as she backpedaled away from his attacks. Just need to lure him away from the Crown. The others will - "Ah!" The hammer slammed into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Kira looked up from the ground and saw Mack taking the Crown.

"Oh no you don't," Tom said, before pounding the ground with his hammer. The pavement split as a shockwave traveled in Mack's direction, kicking up a cloud of debris where he stood. Mack was down, but the other Rangers moved to pick up the scattered jewels. Tom drew his weapon back and threw it. It flew through the air like a boomerang, striking down Tori and Dax.

Kira tackled Tom from behind before the Drive Slammer could return to his hand. The weapon flew over their heads, crashing into a car behind them. Kira tried her best to hold him down, but he outwrestled her and kicked her away.

She watched Tom as she clutched her chest and tried to get up. He retrieved his weapon from the wreckage of the car and leaped toward the jewels. The other Rangers were up by now, and did what they could to hold him back. "Pathetic!" Tom yelled as he smacked Dax aside. He turned and took a swing at Tori. She rolled just in time to dodge his strike, falling to the ground as the hammer crushed the hood of another car. She couldn't get up before his next attack.

"No!" Kira screamed, as she saw Tori helplessly raising her arms in front of her face.

Mack blocked Tom's blow with his Drive Lance. "Take that!" he cried as he slashed Tom across the chest.

Kira ran to her friend's side. "Good job Mack."

"Yeah, thanks for the save," Tori said as she got up.

"Glad to help," Mack replied. He suddenly turned around and raised his lance again as Tom called out to him.

"You worthless scum!" Tom screamed. "I'll kill you!"

"You need to chill out," Kira said as she and her team regrouped and drew their bladed weapons. "Let's do it guys." She dashed forward, ducking under Tom's hammer as she slashed him in the side. The others piled on their attacks, slicing and kicking him from all directions.

"Aaah!" Tom fell back, landing hard on the pavement. He screamed in rage as he pushed himself back to his feet. "I won't let you stop me!" He slammed the ground with all his might as the Rangers ran in to finish him. Purple energy coursed from the hammer into the ground, which exploded upward all around him. The Rangers were sent flying back again. All except for Kira, who had leaped up for an aerial attack.

"Super Dino Mode!" she called out. Energy poured out of her as she transformed, illuminating the sky for a moment as her power suit acquired spikes and wings. But Kira focused and kept expending energy far beyond what was normal for her. Electricity flowed around her as she descended upon Tom like a living missile. She grabbed him and pushed him into the ground, just as her power reached its maximum capacity. Yellow energy exploded outward in a brilliant flash of light and sound.

Tommy shielded his eyes from the explosion. He looked back after the lights died down and surveyed the scene. Tori, Dax, and Mack all lied there, unmorphed. But Tommy kept looking, even after he saw the jewels and the Crown. He kept looking until he saw Kira, unconscious but breathing. "Thank you Zordon," he said.

But his relief was short lived, as he saw Tom stumbling out of the dust and smoke. Tommy's eyes immediately narrowed as he switched to attack mode. He was physically fresh, while Tom was battered and unmorphed. Not exactly a fair fight, but war wasn't about being fair. "Si-yah!"

His body twisted through the air, building up momentum for a tornado kick that sent Tom to the ground. To Tom's credit, he got up quickly from the hit. Tommy was determined not to let him do anything beyond that. He rushed forward with a series of kicks and punches. A good clone, Tom matched him move for move. Mirroring each other's movements, they each spun for a crescent kick at the same time. "Si-yah!" Both men connected, but Tommy saw that Tom had taken the worse of the exchange. The clone tried to stay up, struggling until his legs wobbled and gave out.

"It's over," Tommy said as he walked up to finish off his opponent.

"No...no," Tom said, trying but failing to get up again.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way," Tommy said. He looked Tom in the eyes, seeing a man who wouldn't give up. "But you've gone too far."

"Back off!"

Tommy didn't have enough time to turn around before someone kicked him down from behind. He rolled to his back and looked up, thinking that he'd be ready to fight his new opponent. Instead, he was astonished by who he saw. "Jason? Why?"

"Sorry bro. But the future depends on it." He gave Tommy a hard kick to the side of the head.

Tommy's vision blurred as his head slammed against the ground. He watched as Jason stepped over him to help Tom up. "You'll thank me for this later," he heard Jason say, moments before he passed out.

Best friends, they come and go depending on your highs and your lows

My best friend, decided not to be there when I needed her the most.

-Kira Ford, "Diva in Distress"

Global News Network

Raiden Tanks Shipped to Japan, South Korea

by Joshua Cohen

November 9, 2009

The first lot of production Raiden Tanks has been delivered to the Japanese and South Korean armies under the Foreign Military Sales program. The Raiden, manufactured by Collins General Defense (CGD) in New Harbor, California, is a revolutionary design that is expected to shift the balance of power in Asia.

"The Raiden may cost over a billion dollars each, but that price is nothing compared to what they bring to the table," said CGD spokesman Derek Peterson. The vehicles bristle with heavy laser cannons, as well as missile launchers for engaging both air and land targets. According to Peterson, they pack enough weaponry to "take down giant-sized threats, or lay waste to entire armored battalions."

Also notable is the vehicles' top secret composite armor, which is designed to withstand "any projected conventional attack." Due to the vehicles' massive size and weight, their components had to be loaded separately onto numerous bulk container ships, with final assembly conducted at their destinations.

"The Raiden is a dominant combat vehicle," said Joseph McKnight, Secretary of Defense. "These tanks will maintain the status quo in Asia in favor of America and her allies. People will think twice before doing anything to disrupt that balance."

GNN attempted to contact a Chinese military leader for his opinion. However, he declined to comment except to say "China is aware of all developments in the region, and will respond accordingly to defend her interests."

The San Angeles Times | World

Dragon Warriors Reach New Heights

World stunned by latest victory

By Anthony Schultz

November 11, 2009

The Dragon Warriors made a strong statement to their critics on Wednesday, proving that they were not just a team of mere Power Ranger impersonators. With the Great Wall serving as a backdrop, the five red-uniformed super soldiers took on a gigantic tiger monster. There they unveiled the newly recovered Monkey King Staff, a legendary weapon that allowed them to grow to several hundred feet in height. The Dragon Warriors won the battle in dramatic fashion, crushing the monster with their staff after growing the weapon to colossal proportions. Previously, the team had to call upon heavy air support when dealing with giant-sized threats.

The incident drew immediate suspicion and criticism, with many China-watching blogs alleging that the battle had been partially staged. "They've had that staff for months now," blogger Martin Li posted yesterday. "Of course they waited for just the right moment, when they could herd a monster into the perfect spot for all the cameras. This was about sending a message to the world, as much as it was about stopping that monster."

It was a powerful message, which shocked governments around the world and gave pause to the military forces stationed throughout the region. "This isn't just a victory for the Dragon Warriors, or China's Ancient Heritage Initiative," said defense expert Clark Fairweather. "It's a victory for China itself. They're saying 'We're here, and we're for real.' That's something the world cannot ignore."

Japanese defense minister Yoshida Kano had already called for meetings with his counterparts from the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan to discuss regional security. The Dragon Warriors' newly revealed power will certainly be a major topic for discussion.

Progress Report [TOP SECRET] 11/12/2009, 15:47

From: Robert Krasinski, Army Robotics Technology Lab

To: LTG James Wallace, Army Research Command

CC:

Attachments: ProRep_Nov09

General,

We have made tremendous progress in the last few months. Designs for our Unmanned Multi-Mission Air-Land Vehicle (UMALV) are nearing completion. We are unable to duplicate the sophisticated antigravity systems used on the Quadrafighter. However, our engineers are refining a hybrid wing system that should theoretically give us sufficient lift and maneuverability.

Engineers in our Robotic Infantry Division have resolved the issues that have been delaying their work for the past year. Construction of a prototype for Project Grinder is ready to commence.

The Cyber Warfare and Intelligent Systems Divisions are still unable to design software that will meet future requirements. Our contacts with the Power Chamber have hinted that they may provide us with some aid in that area, but nothing is certain at this point.

Details can be found in the attached file.

I am excited to hear that we might be able to procure additional human assets through the new J-SOUP program. If so, such help would be very welcome.

Thank you,

Robert Krasinski

Senior Researcher

Army Robotics Technology Lab