I need a cold shower. Tommy thought miserably, as he wearily trudged back up the stairs towards his room.
You really think a cold shower is going to help? Another voice mocked. Fuck cold water. Whisky is going to be the only thing to solve that problem.
He felt bad abandoning Billy and Zach so soon after their arrival—he had missed them more than he understandably could account for. Be that as it may, their arrival had come in the midst of one of Tommy's more vivid and (needless to say) interesting dreams regarding Kimberly.
Interesting? Tommy scoffed. Try "high definition with surround sound".
Try as he might, the visions of her mouth on his, the smoothness of her skin underneath his fingertips, the smell of her hair—it blended together like some euphoric acid trip. She was the only drug he had ever tried, and he had spent a lifetime trying to curb the withdrawal.
And yet, nearly a decade later, there she was. Under his skin, like she had been all along. Hating her was futile—she didn't deserve it, therefore his hate refused to sustain itself. Being indifferent to her was impossible—she ignited too much feeling within him. Loving her was the worst possible choice of all—aside from the fact she was clearly over it, it had nearly destroyed him before. There was too much at stake for him to blow it all over a mistake he would make for the second time.
But what a way to go.
Stop it! He scolded himself. It's over. You're not sixteen anymore. You are an adult. You're giving her too much power over you.
Sighing, he pushed the door open to his room, trying to ignore the surge of loneliness he felt as he observed its plainness.
This hadn't been part of the plan. He always thought they'd be married by now, have children. They would both be teaching at the same high school, taking their lunches together, getting home in time to make dinner for the kids. Never in a million years would he have thought they'd both be caught up in some insane plot to save the world from aliens—even more to the point, never would he have thought they'd do it alone.
Shaking his head, he pulled back his covers and climbed into bed again, pretending he couldn't remember the way she had laid in bed with him, her head on his chest. They had both been so young, but he could remember thinking how effortless it felt, how comfortable. He knew he could have spent the rest of his life like that.
But she couldn't. he thought, a sadness growing inside of him. And I can't hate her for that anymore. I just have to move on.
He pulled off his shirt again, praying that the dreams that had plagued him would suddenly cease.
Isn't sleep supposed to be restful?
Sighing, he pulled the covers closer to him, and closed his eyes, praying that there would finally be some peaceful sleep.
Until he heard the screaming.
She was trapped.
There was no escaping, no moving, no breathing. She was no longer Kimberly Hart—no, Kimberly Hart was dead now. This thing was taking over her body, suffocating her until there was nothing left but a silent scream.
Are you well acquainted with pain, child? It mocked her, and she felt her body stripped of all its defenses. You shall watch the faces of those you love be struck down, one by one, by your own hand.
She wanted to scream desperately, call for help, but it was futile. This monster was winning, and she was helpless to stop it.
And then, she saw their faces: Trini, Billy, Jason, Zach.
Tommy.
All of them, at the end of her sword, begging her to stop. She wanted to so desperately…oh how she wanted to appease them.
NO! She cried desperately. Please! Stop! They are my friends!
The mocking laughter surrounded her as she dug the sword deeper into their stomachs, seeing their eyes twist with pain, their blood spilling freely.
Because of her. Oh God, no. Please let it not be true.
The monster released his hold on her, and she felt her lungs fill up, and then, quickly released—an eternally tormented scream that would have no end.
"Kimberly?" Tommy whispered to himself, sitting up straight, the blood draining from his face. The scream did not cease, cutting through his ears like a blow to his gut.
The others cannot hear her, he realized. They're still downstairs. She's all by herself.
Without meaning to, he was already through the door and halfway down to her room, goose bumps rising on his arms, her screams reverberating through his ears. They were louder now, more desperate.
She needs me.
He threw open the door to find her balled up on her bed, her hands clenched over her ears, her face twisted in pain.
"No!" She screamed, convulsing in clear pain. "Stop it!! Stop it! I said stop it! You can't make me!"
"Kimberly?" He said, tentatively, his voice lost in her screams. "Kimberly!"
His presence was completely lost to her, as she twisted back and forth, pleading with some unknown force to kill her before she could see anymore.
"Kimberly!" he said again, this time with a louder voice, grabbing her twisting head with both his hands. "It's Tommy. You're having a nightmare. Wake up!"
She opened her eyes, tears running down her face. "You're not real!" She cried, miserably. "You're not real, you're not real, you're not real—"
"Of course I am," He said, somewhat bemused. "Kimberly, it's just a nightmare—"
Her sobbing was getting worse by the second, his presence completely unnoticed.
He sighed, rubbing his temples. He knew what to do. It had been ten years, but he knew in his bones he could make her stop crying.
Pushing back the covers, he climbed in next to her, pulling her shaking form next to him.
"Shhhh," he whispered, stroking her back. "You're okay now. I have you."
Her shaking instantly stopped, her small hands desperately seeking his shoulders, where they established a firm grip.
"You're not real," she whispered again, clinging to him for dear life. "You're just a dream. I would never hurt Tommy. Never."
"I know," he whispered, surprised at the amount of hurt that surged through him. "I know you wouldn't."
"I wouldn't," she insisted, her eyes still closed. She inched her body closer to his, her sobbing decreasing slightly.
Tommy rubbed her back in a steady pattern, feeling her breathing slowly begin to regulate itself. "That's right," he consoled. "Just relax. It's just a nightmare."
"It's not," she whispered again, tears drying from her eyes. "It's not. It's real. It's going to happen."
"What's going to happen?" he said, stroking her hair, the sharp scent of strawberries invoking a sharp twist of a bittersweet pain.
Her answer was a strained sigh, and, still deeply asleep, she curled up against him, her breathing slowly returning to normal.
Okay, buddy, Tommy thought. You've stopped her from crying. Mission accomplished. Time to go.
His body refused to move, his arms happily entwined with her sleeping figure.
I mean it. Get up. You've got to stop torturing yourself like this.
Tommy sighed, and gently folded Kimberly's arms across her, rolling her gently on her side, and examined her face in the moonlight. It was calmer now, more serene. Whatever nightmare that had seized her imagination had been displaced, and now she rested comfortably.
He pulled himself up, stifling a groan from the soreness of his abs. Had it really only been a couple of days since he and Kimberly's fighting match? Where had the time gone?
Tommy made it to the door, casting one more glance over his shoulder at the sleeping figure, his brow creased with a brooding expression.
Time doesn't heal all wounds, does it? He thought, taking no pleasure in the irony. Sometimes you try so hard to heal, so hard to let go, and time does nothing but tear at the stitches, letting the wounds fester.
Shaking his head, he silently crept from her room.
Hayley didn't know what prevented her from going into the room. She had spied Darcy in there a long time before, and knew that it was necessary she go in and help make her feel welcome. Hayley had longed discovered the beautiful feeling she got every time she helped make someone's day a little better. Darcy was no different.
Then why aren't my feet moving? She thought, surprised.
Just wait, her instinct told her, pleading her patience. Hayley refused to fight it, having always trusted her judgment. At that particular moment, Kira came into view.
"Knock, knock," Kira said, slowly stepping into the den that contained Darcy, curled up in an arm chair.
"Oh, hello," she said, timid, using a tentative hand to hold her place in her book. "Am I disrupting you? I will happily move to another room—"
"No, not at all! I just wanted to make sure you were adjusting—" Kira inwardly cringed at how awkward that sounded. "I mean, not that you should adjust. I mean, I just wanted to let you know that I get what it's like to suddenly have your entire world stripped from you. And if you need a friend…"
Darcy gave her a slow smile. "I'd like that," she said. "And thank you. It's hard for me to make new friends, and right now I'm just so…overwhelmed. I appreciate you speaking to me."
Kira beamed. "Not a problem! What are you reading?"
Darcy blushed slightly, then met her eyes. "Shakespeare, actually. He's my favorite?"
"Wow! Shakespeare? Isn't he pretty tough to get through?"
"Not at all! The way he uses language…it's simply gorgeous!"
"I guess I kind of understand. I mean, I guess it's the same concept as writing a song. Only, you have the music to think about. I know not everyone does it this way, but I kind of let the music dictate where the song is going to go."
"It's the same thing, really, only with language it's a little bit more complicated. That's the beauty of language. Every little nuance, every little punctuation or capitalization can mean something if you need it to. It's controllable, interpretable. There's a million different possibilities that each contains, and if you find one that works—well, it's quite thrilling."
Hayley felt a chill run up her spine. What is wrong with me? Turning abruptly, she made her way down to the basement, eager to catch the beginning of the very important meeting.
"But I thought by performing the ceremony, it would open up the crack and peril will rain down on earth? Can't we just wait awhile and see what happens?" Tommy's arms were crossed, his brow creased. "Doesn't that make sense?"
"That's irresponsible," Trini pointed out, somewhat bluntly. "We know there's a crack in the dimension that contains Lythmore and Ted. We know he's communicating with his minions, building forces. We can't just keep letting it fester, especially since we're going to feel the wrath of Ted anyway."
"He's going to find a way to escape, regardless." Jason's tone was stern. "I, for one, would rather know I have my powers and access to Zords. Especially since we don't know what we're up against."
"Exactly!" Tommy said, slamming his hand down on the table. "We don't know what we're up against." He turned towards Billy. "When Ted escapes, what is he going to look like? Are we talking big, scaly monster? What if he's larger than earth itself, and just swallows us whole? All the Zords in the world couldn't stop him!"
"There are several charts that have recorded the dimensions of this creature," Billy said, matter of factly. "His corporal form, while rather large and potentially harmful, would not be something our Zords could not handle."
"His corporal form?" Tommy said, not quite liking how that sounded.
Billy took off his glasses, rubbed at them quite nervously. "It seems that between the force used to capture this being, and the energy necessary to insure the dimension was firmly closed, that both Lythmore and the Original Evil are no longer, shall we say, hindered by their corporal form. Actually, it can be safely assumed that they will both need to possess some sort of earthly host if they wish to survive on earth's atmosphere."
"You mean Ted gets to choose which host he wants?" Kimberly said, her arms now crossed. "That doesn't exactly narrow it down."
"More importantly," Trini interrupted. "He's already been in communication with different extraterrestrial beings." She sat down at the computer and began to type vigorously. A picture appeared: a snake like figure, bright red, with yellow slits for eyes.
"He looks familiar," Kimberly said, moving towards the screen.
"He was the one who invented the Wrathians you're so friendly with," Trini said, sitting back. "His name is Ghidor. He's from a large constellation of planets near Aquitar. At the current moment, he is the one who is carrying out all of "his master's" plans."
"So, wouldn't it be a safe bet to assume Ted would want to possess him?"
"There is not enough data to ascertain that fact, presently." Billy spoke softly.
"But Lythmore would return as well?" Tommy said, hope swelling within him. "How will we find him?"
"According to the prophecy," Trini said slowly, her eyes locked on Ghidor's form. "According the prophecy, Lythmore can only be possessed by his Heir during the final battle."
"His Heir?" Kimberly said, a strange stirring behind her eyes. "Do we know who that is?"
"Not presently." Billy was looking uncomfortable.
Jason sighed. "So basically, we have no choice. We find the temple, we perform the necessary ritual, and we become Power Rangers again."
"Only if its what everyone wants," Trini said softly, looking around. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you all that this will have consequences. We don't have Zordon looking out for us anymore. We'd be fighting a very dangerous war, against much more difficult opponents than any of us have ever faced before. And," she said, casting a very telling glance at Tommy. "We'd be doing it together."
Zach smiled. "I'm in," he said shortly. "I've been waiting for this for awhile. It's time to save the world."
Jason nodded, slapping Zach on the back. "Me too, man. It's not like I have that much of a social life to sacrifice anyway."
"My choice is rather obvious," Billy said smiling. "One does not make an intergalactic commute to simply enjoy earth's scenery."
Kimberly laughed, and kept her eyes strictly on Trini. "I guess that means I'm in too." She said simply, looking around the room, her eyes catching on Tommy.
Tommy sighed, realizing he was the last one to answer, discontented to find everyone was now staring at him. "Of course I'm in!" he nearly snapped, his mind torn. There's something they're not telling me, he thought nervously. There's something bigger than reinstating our powers. There's something the prophecy says that they are afraid to tell me.
"Then it's settled!" Trini said, faking happiness and moving towards the door. "We leave tomorrow."
"Where exactly are we going?" Kimberly called at Trini's quickly retreating form.
Trini gave a small pirouette and the doorway, and shot Kimberly an ironic smile. "Back to the beginning." She said simply. "Angel Grove, here we come!"
"You said two hours," Kira said, glaring at Tommy's reflection in the jeep's rear view mirror. "It's been at least five."
"It's been an hour and a half." He shot back, giving her a haughty look. "Stop being overdramatic."
"I'm sorry." Kira said rather unapologetically. "I might be in a better mood if someone hadn't forced me to sit in the bitch seat—"
"You're the smallest!" Conner protested. "You fit better in the middle than me or Trent would—"
"Well, if someone had taken the hint and rode with Trini or Jason or someone else—"
Trent sighed. "Kira, how many times do I have to say it? How many? If I could take it back I would. I don't know what I was thinking, I was being a dumb ass—"
"Save your apologies. I'm sick of listening to—"
"Listening? You call this listening? No, you've done nothing but send death looks my way and thwart my every attempt at having a meaningful conversation. I get it! You're pissed—"
Tommy rolled his eyes, feeling an uncomfortable familiarity with the conversation. "Could you two please spare us all the lover's spat?"
Kira gave him a withering glare. "Did you really just say that to me."
"I think I just saw a deer," Conner said, rather unhelpfully.
"Was that what it was?" Darcy called back from the front seat. "It looked more like a horse to me."
"What would a horse be doing out near a highway?"
"I imagine the same thing as a deer."
"Impossible," Conner said with an assurance that reeked of arrogance. "Deer grazes—"
"And what do horses do?" Darcy asked, somewhat exasperated. "Eat spaghetti with a fork and spoon?"
Conner immediately shut up and began an indistinct pout. Kira, in the meantime, had squeezed as far away from Trent as possible, and as a consequence, was very nearly sitting on Conner's lap.
"It's just not fair!" Kira exploded. "My life was finally working itself out. I was finally getting noticed for my music. I was finally making money on my own. And the second my life is starting to feel normal; It gets snatched up from under me." Her voice was filled with rage now. "You didn't have to pick me. You didn't have to bring me back into this world, Dr. Oliver!"
"Kira…" Tommy began slowly, somewhat alarmed by this temper tantrum. "Please listen—"
"No, you don't get it!" her voice was frantic now. "I have no choice but to listen to you. I'm stuck in this goddamn car with you. Much like I don't have a choice to go to Angel Grove. Much like I don't have a choice to perform this ritual and become a Ranger again. Do you have any idea how much that sucks?"
"Kira!" Tommy said strongly, meeting Kira's mutinous eyes in the rear view mirror. . "I know you hate me right now. I know you feel betrayed, that we've tricked you, and that all of this is unfair. I want you to know you have every right to feel this way."
He paused, putting his eyes back on the long road ahead of him and trying to decide what to say next.
"I know you hate the word 'destiny' and that I tend to overuse it. But here's the thing. I know what it's like to, at fifteen, have somebody come in and sweep you away and tell you about how all these huge, scary things are happening in the world and that you're the only thing that can stop them. You're just kids. But I was a kid once, and I helped save the world—not because I had to, but because I wanted to. So this is what it comes down to: I can sit here and tell you all day long the importance of your destiny. But that's not enough. You have to want to save the world. You have to understand that there are some things worth fighting for—your families, your friends, your classmates. And sometimes, to keep them safe, we have to sacrifice the things we love most." A small shiver ran up Tommy's spine.
Tears were forming in Kira's eyes, her arms crossed and rigid with tension. "I know." She said softly. "It's just…it's hard to accept."
"I promise you, in the end—"
"What?" Trent spoke up suddenly. "What can you promise us about the end? We don't know how this thing is going to end. We don't know if we can even survive it." There was anger in his voice. "If you know how this is going to work out, then maybe you can fill us in. So what can we expect? What do we think Ted's going to do?"
"If my experience has taught me anything," Tommy said, trying to keeping a steady stream of assurance in his voice. "He'll send Wraithians, send other monsters, then use whatever powers he has to cause the monsters to grow thirty times their normal size. But that's assuming he sticks to bad guy protocol."
"At least it's sounds familiar," Conner said sarcastically, shaking his head.
Darcy was quiet. "He's got a fighting style literally older than time itself. He's not going to go for the show. The creatures been imprisoned in the earth's core for a million years, and probably been planning the earth's demise for just as long. He's not going to go for anything flashy, or anything quick. It's going to be subtle and it's going to be unknown."
"So that's your great plan to deal with this master evil?" Conner's anger had increased by tenfold. "We just sit around and we wait? Wait for him, one of the most powerful evil beings we've ever witnessed or will more than likely ever witness to make his move."
"A move," Trent finished for him. "That he has, more than likely, been calculating for the better part of a million years?"
"You guys!" Tommy's patience was wearing thin. This was not the kind of encouragement he needed. "You aren't fighting a God! Ted has been imprisoned before. We need to figure out a way to either contain him or destroy him. This isn't impossible!"
"Notice you used the word imprisoned. As in, not destroyed."
"Which could take years!"
"What other choice do we have?"
Kira sighed, her eyes fixed on the trees that went blurring past them. "Do you really think we're going to survive this, Tommy?"
At the sound of his name, Tommy was caught entirely off guard. He couldn't correct them anymore, couldn't be called Dr. Oliver. He was their equal now.
"I promise you all," he said, a protective surge swelling in his heart. "Nothing is going to happen to any of you."
Turning his mind back to the road, an assured silence surrounded the car's passengers.
"That's all I needed to hear." Trent said, softly.
"Downtown Tokyo was devastated today in what appears to be the first of a series of attacks." The newscasters did not even bother disgusting the fear in his voice. "These attacks come the day after the President announced the existence of extraterrestrial beings, as well as putting forth the implication that a select group of Earth's leaders will enter into an alliance with them. It has not been confirmed, but is rather assumed by this station, that this alliance may be the source of disgruntlement with other extraterrestrial races, and as a consequence, expect to see more attacks." He paused, somewhat dramatically. "The total death toll is expected to be announced this afternoon, with projections already in the thousands."
"Can you please drive faster?" Kimberly asked Zach in a small voice. "We need to get this show on the road."
"I'm driving as fast as I can," Zach said somberly, uncharacteristically serious. "We had to wait until nightfall. There's spies out everywhere, and they want our blood."
"We're only about thirty minutes out," Trini said, turning around from her coveted front seat. "The chamber is located where the Command Center used to be."
"There's some beautiful irony for you."
"It's going to be okay, Kim." Zach said, softly. "We can do this. We're ready."
"I know," Kimberly said, staring ahead of them at Tommy's jeep. "I just really wish I knew what was coming next."
She and Tommy were, for all intents and purposes, "fine". But what did that word really mean, anyway? The closer they got, the more she missed him, and wondered where they might have been if she hadn't have ruined everything. And here they were, going back to the beginning, going back to the place it all began.
Fix the world first. She reminded herself sternly. Fixed the world first and then you can fix it with Tommy. Where are your priorities?
"I can't believe it," Tommy said, looking up at the Command Center with amazment. "All this time, it's still here."
"Zordon built this place to last!" Trini said, with poorly contained pride. "He knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew we'd need it again."
Before them, the remnants of the Command Center arose from the pale sands of the desert, dusted blue with the nightfall. The moonlight hit the remaining walls, a lighthouse in the midst of a rough sea.
"I never thought in a million years we'd end up back here." Kimberly said softly, her eyes distant.
"In the end," Zach said. "You always end up back at the beginning."
"Maybe." Kimberly said softly.
"Get inside, quick!" Jason said. "We need to start this ritual. The world needs us."
Tommy was amazed to see how the desert had aged the abandoned Command Center. It had been stripped of all the technology that had once made it such a place of intrigue. Instead, the walls had been stripped away, leaving nothing but old stone walls with similar symbols.
"Everyone take their stones." Trini instructed, smoothing out the translated version of the prophecy against her leg. "Place them on the ground in front of you. Now form circles: Older rangers form a circle on the outside, New Rangers on the inside. We have to connect our energies…therefore, everyone hold hands."
A warm familiarity enveloped Tommy. It was more than coming home to Angel Grove, coming back to the Command Center. He was coming home.
There is my body, Tommy thought to himself, linking hands with Trini and Kimberly and closing his eyes. There is my mind, and there is my soul. And I am one of many. Many who are like me, who I trust with my life. There is only us, those who live within the power of the good, letting the power guide their life force.
Next to him, he felt Kimberly take a deep breath, letting the air calm her and bring peace to her soul. She, too, could feel the others breathing with them, their heart beats aligning to beat at the same rhythm.
There is only us.
There was a surge of power, and they could feel their power within their veins.
The ancient power, the power that had coursed through their blood, helping them battle their enemies over the years.
And then, they were connected.
They could feel the energy snaking through their blood, running through all of them at once. Tommy did not open his eyes simply because he did not have to: he could feel their arms and hands being encompassed by snaking bolts of pink, green, yellow, black, blue and red energy.
There was no bad history between them. Everything they had been through, all the drama, had melted away. Between them was their friendship, their trust, the love they shared.
The power this brought them made them stronger, giving them the supernatural strength they had once enjoyed.
They weren't able to morph, but they were still Rangers.
The power surged through them, and Tommy felt himself giggling along with the rest of them. This feeling…it was beautiful. It coursed through his bloods, guiding his heart, giving his soul purpose. He could feel the powers returning to him, his brain tapping into a higher power, knowledge of enemies and of zords, of weapons he now possessed. Adrenalin surged, and he laughed joyously as his mind, body, and soul united into one and the ancient powers were returned to him.
Suddenly, out of no where, a morpher appeared in front of him, a polished, unrecognizable symbol embellished within its golden façade.
Slowly releasing Kimberly and Trini's hands, he reached out to touch it, a jolt going through him. Yes. This was his. He was whole once again.
The cyclone of energy disappeared as quickly as it had begun, leaving them breathless.
"That was….amazing," Kira said, her eyes wide. "I've never felt like that in my whole life. The energy—I cannot believe it!"
Kimberly was smiling too, caressing her new morpher.
We're really back, she thought wistfully. All this work. Ten years gone by. And here we are again, in the Command Center.
"I think it's about time we get back to saving the world," Kimberly said, feeling the return of a spunk she had not possessed since she left Angel Grove behind.
"Well?" Tommy said, his tone full of laughter, looking towards Jason. "Are you going to call or, or do you want me to?"
Jason grinned. "Over my dead body."
Kimberly's body tensed with joy as it assumed the same position it had once done so long ago. Squeezing her new morpher, she waited for the familiar words, her heart fluttering with giddy joy.
Jason responded accordingly, his voice full of serious pride. "Alright then," he said, assuming a similar stance. He took his words pronouncing the last part of his sentence, adjusting his tone to an appropriate mixture of fierceness and strength, pelting out the sentence they so longed to hear, hearing it powerfully reverberate the wall of the old Command Center.
"It's morphing time!"