Chapter 10

Back in Black (3)

"Okay, Dr. Oliver is really cutting it close here," Ethan remarked, looking at his watch. He turned his attention back to the stage as Kira and her band really warmed up the crowd gathered around Hayley's Cyberspace. It was some of the best music he had heard in a while and he could see everyone was enjoying it as well. "He said that he, Avalon, and Bailey were going to be here and the show's almost over."

"Maybe he got a better offer," Conner commented, watching as Kira stood at the microphone, expertly playing the guitar at the same time. He couldn't even manage to play soccer and think about what he was going to have for dinner at the same time. "Or maybe he had a lot of work to do. I mean, he's a teacher and teacher's like to grade and do work. Why else would they become a teacher?"

Ethan gave him a 'duh' look. "Um, because they like to encourage and strengthen bright young minds like yours and mine." He paused, eyes narrowing as he looked Conner up and down. "Or maybe just mine." Conner glared at him out of the corner of his eye and Ethan smiled, turning his attention back to the stage. Kira was really working the stage now, getting into her groove, but at the beginning he could see she was a little nervous. Her eyes continued to dart back and forth over the crowd for the first few songs, unable to focus on one person or thing.

Then she got a chance to shake out her nerves with a fast-paced, upbeat song that got the crowd cheering and clapping for her. Every now and then Ethan could see Kira looking over towards the two and her smile widened a little bit, but not so much anyone else noticed. Ethan didn't blame her. There were so many things they had to digest now; knowing their mentors were older rangers they never would have thought of, working on becoming good protectors for their own city, trying to juggle everything that was normal in their lives.

Every day Ethan had found himself winding down with a good video game and while he continued to play when he got the chance, it wasn't nearly as important as helping Dr. O with the Raptor Riders or whatever else was needed for them to defeat Mesogog, Zeltrax, Elsa, and whatever else was thrown his way.

Ethan continued to bob his head to the music, looking at his watch every now and then until Kira finally finished up her set to wide-spread applause. She was beaming as she hurried over to the two once the prerecorded music started to play form the speakers once more. "So?" She asked anxiously. "How was it?"

"You were amazing, Kira," Conner said honestly, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Really great. Some of the best music I've heard in a long time." Kira smiled back at him and then it fell once Conner continued with, "For a girl, anyway." Ethan rolled his eyes as Kira glared at him. "What? What'd I say? Did I say something wrong?"

Kira ignored him, turning back to Ethan, crossing her arms. "Was I really good?" She asked. "I mean, I know there were some problems here and there but—"

"I didn't hear anything," Ethan reassured her. "Trust me, it was great."

"Yeah, and what does computer boy know about music?" Conner asked, lightly shoving him on the arm.

Ethan smirked back at him. "I'll have you know that as a computer nerd I'm well versed in a lot of things, and one of such things is music production. Or at least the music through my video games and if I can tell there's a shift in music in that, then I can tell in live music." He turned back to Kira. "Your music was fine. But, honestly, you looked a little distracted."

"I was," Kira admitted. "I guess. But I thought Dr. Oliver and the others were supposed to be here."

"Wait." Conner sat up straight and twisted around in his seat. "They never showed?"

"Nice of you to finally notice," Ethan remarked. He shook his head before lowering his voice for two people that passed. "No. None of them showed. Do you think something happened to them? I mean it's not like we knew for sure they were going to come."

"Yeah, he hasn't really been honest with us so far," Conner pointed out.

That wasn't entirely true. Dr. Oliver had been really good at being truthful with things he'd told them. And while Ethan was frustrated that he and the others had waited so long to tell them their ranger background he understood it as well. They needed to have all of the facts before they could trust the new rangers with everything they knew. If it were him, he would have put extensive research on everything that would have been of the new rangers himself.

"But to think he would lie to us about this?" Kira insisted. "I don't know guys, I think something's going on."

"I hate to burst your bubbles, but I think you're right," Hayley said, coming up to their side. Ethan held his breath, glancing over at Conner and Kira. They looked back at him with the same deer-in-the-headlights expression. Hayley looked around the café before turning back to the three rangers. "Would you come with me, please? We need to talk about this in private." Without waiting for a response, Hayley led the rangers to the back of the café. Once they were all settled into her office, she made sure it was closed behind them. "I hoped this day wouldn't come," she commented. "Where Tommy was missing and I needed to come in and help you guys." She took a deep breath, looking each ranger in the eye. "If Tommy is missing it's because Mesogog has him. And by my guess, the others too."

"Wait a minute." Ethan held up a hand. "You know about Mesogog?"

"I know about everything," Hayley corrected him. She nodded towards the silver bracelets on their wrists. "You think Tommy was the one who created those. He's very smart but he's not a rocket scientist."

"So you know everything about Dr. Oliver being a power ranger?" Conner asked, whispering comically. Ethan rolled his eyes. It was obvious by that point she truly did know everything there was to know about rangers. Now he understood why Tommy and the others had been very…hesitant about believing they were truly the right rangers to pick up where the last team had left off.

"Yes, Conner, I know about him, Avalon, Bailey, and Zack being rangers," Hayley said.

Conner's eyes widened. "You know about Zack, too—"

"At this point, Conner, you're just wasting time trying to figure out everything she does know when it's obvious she knows more than we ever did," Kira interrupted, barely concealing her frustration. She turned back to Hayley. "Okay, so where are they? How are we going to get them back?"

"Knowing things like this, they're at Mesogog's lair," Hayley commented. "But the means of being able to find it, that's where we run into some trouble. Look, Tommy trusted me with the knowledge of you guys and the Dino Thunder powers because he knew there was a chance that something could happen. And that something has finally happened. I don't have the equipment to look for them here, but there is back at Tommy's place. So we need to go there now."

Ethan opened his mouth to say something else and was cut off with a knock at the door. The three teens twisted around as Hayley called the person to come in, and watched as a boy about their age, dressed in a white button down shirt and jeans slid into the room. He glanced at the three before turning back to Hayley.

"Hi," he greeted her. "Uh, I'm Trent. I'm the new guy you hired to help out around here."

Hayley blinked for a moment then her face cleared. "Right. Trent. Right. This is Ethan, Conner, and Kira," she introduced the four to each other and they all waved in response, save for Kira who's eyes widened slightly once she caught sight of Trent. "Trent, actually, would you mind getting to work tonight? I know it's last minute but there's a bit of an emergency. Jared, our manager, will be out there helping you with everything and he'll help you close down everything."

"Yes, that's fine," Trent said. He tried not to let excitement show on his face. "I came to ask if there was a time I could start tomorrow, but if you'd let me work tonight, that'd be great. Thanks." He waved to her before nodding and the others, leaving the room.

Ethan let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he had been holding. They had only been rangers for a few weeks now and blowing their secret that quickly would have been ridiculous. But, as usual, Hayley seemed to know what she was doing.

"So how are we going to find Dr. Oliver?" He asked Hayley.

"We'll figure that out once we get to his house," Hayley explained. "Come on, let's go."

###

Tommy struggled against his bindings, staring up at the laser-spear pointed directly above his head. He shifted back and forth, hoping to catch a glimpse of his sister and friend but found he was unable to move more than a few inches. Mesogog walked around him before coming to a stop by his head, placing his face near Tommy's.

Grimacing, Tommy turned his face away from the prehistoric creature. He had seen enough horror movies in his lifetime to not want to be so close to the creature's face. If it was that ugly from far away, he didn't dream of seeing it up close and personal. "Dr. Oliver, I will not be able to hold back the pain of my disappointment if you don't tell me how to free the gem."

Tommy's eyes shifted over to the translucent rock that sat on a nearby table, guarded by Elsa and Zeltrax. Inside it he could see a tiny black gem. It had to be another Dino Gem, it looked just like the ones Kira, Ethan, and Conner had take from his lab when they were exploring while in detention. Of course Mesogog knew he was the only one that knew how they worked. And if Mesogog figured out how to harness that power…

"Are those my only choices?" Tommy shot back, twisting and turning as hard as he could against his restraints. "Or do I have any other options?"

"Your other options are for your friends to suffer your consequences," Mesogog hissed, eyes shifting over to the cells that held Avalon, Bailey, and Zack. "I hadn't intended to bring them along, but just so long as I can keep Dr. Tommy Oliver within my grasp and have something of collateral as well…then that's to my advantage."

Tommy gritted his teeth. He should've seen this coming, really. There was never a point where any ranger was 100% safe. It was why he had decided to take the house in the woods, so no one would visit them and no one would find out their secret. Now that Conner, Kira, and Ethan knew, now that the Power Rangers were back, he should have realized nothing would stop Mesogog in figuring out all of the ways to harness their power. But to take former rangers along with him? That was new. What were the chances any of they would be able to use their powers anyway? They had been destroyed.

"Your feeble attempts of distracting me are as laughable as your idea of self-sacrifice," Mesogog continued. "As if that would entice me." He placed his hands behind his back and started to walk around the examining table once more. "However, I know that's not what you care about the most. What you care about are your precious students. The students that also have the sort of power I'm looking for. However, this can all be avoided if you gave me the answers I was looking for."

With that, Mesogog motioned to Zeltrax, who nodded and brought the large, translucent rock over towards the examining table, placing it between Tommy's feet. Tommy looked down at the massive rock and his eyebrows furrowed together as it started to glow, the same glow reflecting in his eyes. He felt a surge of power flow through his veins.

What was that? He thought.

But he continued to keep his mouth shut. Letting out a low, disappointed sigh, Mesogog turned towards his other minion. "Elsa," he called and she dutifully stepped forward. "Find those teenagers and bring them to me. I believe they'll come like obedient dogs and fall into our trap. Zeltrax, Elsa! Take them down!"

"Yes, my lord," the two henchmen harmonized before walking out of the room.

Mesogog watched them go before turning back to Tommy. "If you're not going to help me, it looks like I'll have to force you into it." All of a sudden there was a screech of pain from Zack and Tommy felt his body tense with fear and frustration recognizing it as Zack. As far as he could shift his eyes over, Tommy could see Tyrannodrones had been let inside the cells Avalon, Bailey, and Zack were being hold in and the one within Zack's cage had just whipped his back with the long shield-like apparatus attached to his arm.

Then the spear-like hand on the Tyrannodrones in Avalon's and Bailey's cells whacked the girls against their sides, causing them to cry out in pain as well. Tommy's teeth clenched together so hard his jaw started to ache.

If there was one thing Mesogog had against all of the other enemies they have faced before, it was that he knew where to hit where it hurt.

###

"Here's an Invisiportal that I believe will be able to take you straight to Tommy and the others," Hayley said, sitting at a computer and pouring over the keyboard. She alternatively looked up from the keyboard to the computer screen as the screen locked onto Tommy's location. "But you know Mesogog is going to have Zeltrax and Elsa ready and waiting for you when you get there. I understand we don't know what he wants with Tommy, but it can't be anything good."

"Well, if anyone would know it'd be you, Hayley," Ethan said, placing a hand on her shoulder as he watched the screens. He frowned, looking at another computer screen that showed the exact location in latitude and longitude. "That's so far away, though. How are we going to get there?"

"With your new Raptor Cycles," Hayley said with a grin. She pressed button on the keyboard and a wall slid up to reveal three brightly colored motorcycles sitting next to each other. Ethan's eyes widened and he raced over to the blue one, running his hand over the handle bars.

"Whoa, these are so awesome!" He declared. If being a power ranger meant they were able to get cool gadgets like that all the time, then he was good with being a ranger. One look at Kira's and Conner's faces showed they were thinking the same thing. "And this is what's going to get us to Mesogog's lair?"

"Just as long as you move fast enough through the portal so that you don't get ripped to shreds," Hayley called over her shoulder. Ethan immediately grimaced. "I don't think that'll happen but I thought it was something that you three should know before you make a wrong move."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Hayley, but I think we can manage," Conner said. He and Ethan exchanged a glance and the red ranger cleared his throat, rolling his shoulders. "Are you guys ready?"

"Ready!" Ethan and Kira responded.

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

The rangers morphed and leapt onto their Raptor Cycles and used them to race through the Invisiportal to Tommy's coordinates, on an island. Once climbing off of the Raptor Cycles, ready to go through the Invisiportal Elsa and Zeltrax appeared in front of them with a horde of Tyrannodrones and a new monster at their side. The three started up their cycles once more and charged towards the enemies that raced their way.

"Firing lasers" Conner revved the handlebar on his cycle and the front erupted in bright bolts of lasers that shot through the Tyrannodrones with Kira and Ethan right behind him. Ethan drove his cycle over a patch of water, blinding the Tyrannodrones with the spray before he struck the with blue bolts of lasers as he passed by them.

Finally, Elsa and Zeltrax shot forward and started to attack the rangers, sliding their swords around as they did so. Conner climbed off his bike and went to battle against the both of them, doing a good job of keeping himself away from getting hit by them. With the aid of his bike, he knocked Elsa off balance and slashed her front with his summoned Tyranno Staff. Zeltrax backed away from the red ranger before charging forward once more. Revving his bike again, Conner allowed a spray of mud and dirt to blind Zeltrax and struck him with the Tyranno staff as well.

"Now it's my turn!" Ethan declared. His turned his Raptor Cycle around and charged towards the squid monster that Elsa had brought with her and Zeltrax. Weaving in and out of the blasts the squid monster sent his way; Ethan pulled up his blaster and turned sharply to the side, striking the quid monster with each strong blast sent his way. The squid monster flailed about before falling to the ground from one incredibly strong blast.

Kira took down the rest of the Tyrannodrones that were continuously gathering around the three rangers, dodging the electrical blasts that Zeltrax sent her way at the same time. Conner raced up to her side and leapt from his bike, kicking Zeltrax in the chest, knocking him back to the ground. Once he was out of the way, the rangers turned their bikes back towards the Invisiportals and shot through it, despite the frantic attack Elsa shot t them, trying to keep them away from the island fortress.

The three bikes came to an immediately stop once they were inside.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Ethan declared, swinging his leg off of the motorcycle. "Just think of how fast these babies can go when you're at its ultimate top speed."

"Think about it later, Ethan. We're here to save Dr. Oliver and the others, remember?" She reminded him. Ethan nodded and the three started to run along the winding halls of Mesogog's fortress. Their footsteps echoed along the halls as they went. As they turned one last corner they found themselves face to face with Mesogog and slowly started to back away from him.

"So you three are the ones that are constantly getting in my way," Mesogog commented.

"That's right," Conner agreed. "And we're going to stop every other plan you'll come up with."

"We're not going to let you destroy Reefside," Kira added.

If Mesogog were able to laugh, that's what Ethan was sure the monster would have done. Instead, he let out a long wheezing breath, his hands still clasped together behind his back. "If Reefside were what I wanted, I would have destroyed it a long time ago. One city isn't my target in all of this. My plan is much more complex than that." He turned away for a second as a cry of pain echoed towards them. "I'm sure you can understand where I'm coming from."

"No matter what it is you're up to we're going to stop you!" Conner declared. "Right here and now." With that, he, Ethan, and Kira started to run towards Mesogog.

The monster lifted his hands to his head and started to shoot out a mental attack towards them and right as it was about to strike them, Elsa, Zeltrax, and the squid monster appeared in front of them. Their hands immediately went to their heads and they cried out in pain, falling to their knees. Mesogog looked at them in distaste, sending another blast to them for getting in his way. And another for messing up once again.

"Master, stop!" Elsa cried, her eyes clenched tight. "Please!"

Whoa, this guy means business, Ethan thought, watching the spectacle with wide eyes beneath his helmet. If he's willing to take down his henchmen like this, then this guys might be more than we could ever imagine.

"Hurry up!" At Kira's cry, Ethan realized the other had left him behind. Ethan nodded and leapt over Zeltrax's fallen body before running after them. He came to a stop when he noticed the three former rangers in their cells. "Hey, are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Avalon replied. Ethan's eyes lowered and he noticed a damp, red spot on the side of her shirt where blood had seeped through. And yet her face didn't give away any of the pain she must have been feeling.

"If that's fine, I don't want to know how 'not fine' is," Ethan remarked.

Bailey managed a mixture between a grin and a grimace, holding tightly onto the bars of her cell. "Hurry up and get us out of here before they come back," She declared. She turned her head to the side and peered at Zack as he sat in the corner of his own cell, arm across his stomach. "I think Zack may be hurt, bad."

"No way." Zack shook his head. "You don't get shanked in prison and live to tell the tale and think that something hurts more than that." He shook his head again. "I'm fine. But we've got to get out of here."

"Alright. Stand back." Conner pulled out his laser form his pocket. "Dino Laser!" Pulling the trigger it shot three bolts out into the padlocks on the cells and they dropped to the floor, doors swinging open. Conner, Kira, and Ethan hurried into the cells, helping the ex-rangers to their feet and pulled them out of the cells. "Alright, now it's time to get to Dr. Oliver."

"It's this way," Avalon said, pointing in the direction. She pressed a hand against her side, pulling away from Ethan's grasp, and hurried down the hallway with the other rangers following her. Zack and Bailey, despite their injuries, kept up as well and Ethan watched them in surprise. They certainly had seen a lot of things before and were doing an amazing job of not letting anyone see their weakness. "Tommy!"

"Hey, over here!" Tommy called back, still stuck within his restraints which Zack and Bailey immediately moved over to free him of. "Boy am I glad to see you guys. I was starting to think the last thing I was going to see was Mesogog's face. I mean, there are a lot of things that I'd hate to see as my last thing-"

"—But that face?" Kira interrupted. "I totally get where you're coming from, Dr. Oliver."

"Yeah, push that button over there," Tommy said, nodding towards a control panel. "It'll seal the room so no one else can get in."

"You got it!" Ethan hurried over and pressed it. True to Tommy's word, the doors slid shut and, to their surprise, the restraints on him came apart as well. Zack helped Tommy to his feet and he immediately got to work.

"I should've known you guys would come to rescue me," he said, looking over the buttons and joysticks that stood in front of him. "If I knew your plan ahead of time, I would've told you to stay back so I could handle it myself."

"Or, you were handling it just fine," Ethan said sarcastically. "Being strapped in the dentist chair from hell with no way out." Tommy shot him a look and Ethan smirked in response, glad his teacher couldn't see directly into his helmet. "So what's the plan on getting out of here? Our Raptor Cycles have been locked out, too."

"I see you ran into Hayley, then," Tommy commented.

"Right, she was the one that helped us figure out how to get here," Conner agreed.

"Well, let's see we can do the same thing to get out, mate," Bailey said. Her eye scanned the control panel. "We'll need to use the Invisiportals network to get out of here and it looks like that's Mesogog's main mean of transportation of the Tyrannodrones. So let's see…" she reached out and a few buttons, turning around as a portal opened. "Beauty, we've got one right in here."

"Yeah, and we better jet before those guys figure out how to bust through walls, too," Zack agreed. He winced as the doors opened once more. "I really need to learn how to keep from jinxing myself. Do you know how many times I did that when we were still rangers?"

"Too many times to count, Twinkle Toes," Avalon replied, causing Zack to smile at the familiar nickname. She and the rest of the group fell into a fight stance as the Tyrannodrones, Elsa, Zeltrax, Mesogog, and the squid monster converged upon them. They fought off the monsters are hard as they could, backing them far enough away before leaping through the Invisiportal.

Ethan landed on the ground in a crouch, turning back around just as Elsa, Zeltrax, the squid monster, and the Tyrannodrones appeared behind them. He turned around just in time to see Zeltrax shoot an electric blast of energy out of his sword towards his teacher.

"Dr. O!" He cried.

"Watch out!" Conner and Kira cried in unison.

Ethan shielded his face at the sudden bright blast and when he turned back, Tommy was nowhere in sight. He exchanged shocked glances with Kira and Conner. He…he was just right there, Ethan thought. Where'd he go.

"Tommy!" Zack cried.

"No!" Avalon shouted.

Then Ethan blinked in surprise as something shimmered in front of him. He looked away from the shimmer for a moment then back to it, noticing that it was moving in a certain way. Almost like a human walking forward. Then it slowly started to come into focus and Ethan blinked in surprise when Tommy's form filled in and he smirked at the monsters in front of them.

"Did someone say my name?" He called.

"Dr. O, you're okay!" Kira cried.

"Better than okay," Tommy replied. His eyes flashed with a light Ethan hadn't seen in the man before. He looked up at Elsa and Zeltrax, his smirk widening. "I'm just getting started." Ethan, Conner, and Kira hurried up to his side and he opened his hand to show them the Black Dino Gem. "Now let's see what this baby can do. Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

Ethan grinned as Tommy transformed into the Dino Thunder Black Power Ranger. The group, including Avalon, Bailey, and Zack, raced towards the monsters and fought as hard as they could. With another ranger on the team, the fight went a lot easier than it had been before, especially with the squid monster ducking out of the battle halfway through. While Conner fought against Elsa, Tommy focused his attention on Zeltrax with Avalon, Bailey, and Zack taking down the Tyrannodrones that got in their way.

Ethan turned his attention to Tommy and Zeltrax as they continued to fight each other with some of the most impressive skills he had ever seen. For someone who hadn't been a ranger for a long time, he certainly knew what he was doing. Still, even with the Brachio Staff he summoned, Ethan could see that Tommy was having trouble against the monster.

"Let's help our new teammate out," Kira declared, summoning her Ptera Grips.

"You got it," Ethan agreed, summoning his Tricera Shield. Conner summoned his Tyranno Staff and the three put them together. "Z-Rex Blaster!" They cried. "Fire!" The Z-Rex Blaster shot out a strong blast of energy that crashed into Zeltrax, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground.

Zeltrax rolled across the ground and got back to his feet, turning towards Tommy, who gave his students a thumbs up. "I'm not through with you yet, Dr. Oliver."

"I'll be waiting for you return, Zeltrax," Tommy replied. There was a sudden beeping sound on his morpher and he brought it to his mouth, knowing there was only one person it could be. "Hayley?"

"Welcome back, Tommy," Hayley said to him.

"It's good to be back," Tommy agreed. Zeltrax growled and disappeared back into an Invisiportal, taking him to Mesogog's base along with the Tyrannodrones. Tommy turned back to his teammates. "Good job, guys."

"Right back atcha, Dr. O," Kira said.

Ethan smiled within his helmet. But he couldn't help but notice how strange everything had been. If Mesogog was supposed to be a strong villain then why did he let them get away? More importantly, why did he appear so calm about it? Then there was Zeltrax. He seemed to have some sort of a vendetta against Tommy specifically, almost as if he had a personal grudge against him.

But that's impossible, Ethan thought. Tommy and Zeltrax have never come face to face before. Neither have Tommy or Mesogog. Then he realized something else. He didn't know how much of the truth Tommy was telling them about his past as a ranger. Avalon, Zack, and Bailey certainly had his back when telling their stories about how they were rangers. But that when they were all rangers together. How did he know so much about Mesogog if he didn't know Mesogog? How does he know so much about everything.

And it was then that Ethan became suspicious of his teacher. No matter how good of a ranger Tommy was, it seemed like the man cared more about his privacy than actually helping the rangers, giving them all of the information they needed.

There was something else Tommy wasn't telling them.

And Ethan was going to find out.

###

"Okay, I know you were the original green ranger, and the original white ranger. And I know that Jason didn't seem to mind that you stole his color, but did you need to steal mine, too?"

Tommy grinned as Zack, Avalon, Bailey, Conner, Kira, and Ethan all laughed. He looked around the empty café before relaxing even further. The café was already empty as it was; there was no need to think anyone was listening in on their conversation. Still, he didn't want to risk any of the conversation falling into the wrong hands.

"Hey, it's like I said to these guys, you don't choose the Dino Gems, the Dino Gems choose you." Tommy smiled. "It's not my fault that this one just so happened to be black."

"So am I to expect you to take my color next, mate?" Avalon asked.

"Nah, I reckon he'd look heaps better in purple," Bailey teased.

"Hey, with the power of invisibility coming from the gem, it won't matter what he wears," Zack declared. He took a sip of his smoothie then shook his head. "Man, the power of invisibility. If only you had that power when we were still in high school. Ms. Appleby wouldn't have gotten on your case of being late so many times, you could've walked in without her knowing and pretended you were there the whole time."

"Wait a minute," Conner broke in. He pointed over at his teacher. "Dr. O, you were a bad student?"

"He was a good student," Avalon defended her brother. She then started to count off on her fingers. "When he was on time, when he remembered his homework, when he studied, when he wasn't too busy making out with Kimberly…" She laughed and gave Zack and Bailey a high-five as Tommy immediately made loud sounds in protest.

Kira was the first one to stop laughing. "So you just so happened to have that morpher ready?" she asked.

"Shortly after you guys became rangers I got an energy reading on the tracking system and thought it was another gem." Tommy shrugged. "So I had Hayley build another morpher just in case."

"And, once again, he decides to leave the rest of us in the dark," Bailey pointed out. She made a show of rolling her eyes. "Notice how it's always us two." She pointed between herself and Avalon.

"That's because you guys can't keep a secret," Tommy pointed out. "And besides, I needed us to focus on getting these guys ready as rangers themselves."

"And yet, you couldn't give them enough time on their own before you had to jump in and save the day," Zack taunted him. "You had to go into Tommy mode and swoop in and save the day like you always do."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Tommy placed his hands on his knees and got to his feet. "Anyway, this was great, but I have to get going."

"Already?" Conner asked in protest.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you some more questions," Ethan added.

Tommy sighed. "Well, I looked through my closet this morning and I noticed there's a serious shortage of black in here. So I need to…" he trailed off, closing his eyes as if pained. Avalon lit up and she straightened, looking at her brother expectantly. "I need to…"

'Come on, say it," Avalon insisted. "Say those beauty words."

A huge sigh escaped Tommy's lips. "I need to go shopping."

"Whoo!" Avalon cheered, punching the air. She leapt to her feet and slid her arm through Tommy's. "I've been dying to hear you say that." She started to drag him out of the café and Tommy suddenly had flashbacks of all of the times Kimberly had forced him to go on her marathon shopping sprees with her. "Let's go."

This is going to be a mistake, Tommy thought as he was forcefully pulled away.

"I better go with you," Zack added, following them. "You'll need an expert to tell you what does and doesn't look good on you." He paused. "Like the color black."

Tommy laughed again. He couldn't help it. As much as he had become used to not having his powers anymore there was always truth in the saying: once a ranger, always a ranger.

A/N: So, what did you guys think? There's more coming up and action really starts soon. More former rangers are going to be coming in soon as well and I'm excited for you all to see what happens when they do show up. Hayley's part does get bigger as the story goes on.

Who are you the most excited to see come back? And what do you think of Zack's reaction to Tommy having the black ranger powers?

~Avalon