Once again thank all of those who has reviewed and continued reading this story over the past 5 years. It's crazy to think I started this that long ago. My original intent had only been to create a short story about Tommy as the evil green ranger with a Tommy-Kimberly-Jason love triangle. Although there were a few really great stories in this realm, I felt that there wasn't enough, so I threw myself into the ring. After starting this story, however, I realized I had no idea where I wanted to take it or how I intended to end it. Hence the long hiatuses between posts. However, I now have a rough storyline set in my head, so my hope is to finish this story much more quickly than it started. Hope you love the coming updates as much as I do. I apologize for any grammatical errors, I do not have a beta nor have I ever had one. All proofreading is done by me. Thanks again for sticking with my brain child.

Tommy popped a half dozen Advil in his mouth and took a swig from his bottle of water. He was really getting sick of the constant migraines. They never seemed to go away anymore no matter how many how many painkillers he took with the intent to dull the incessant aching in his skull. Just the slamming of the other students' locker doors were enough to make him want to cry out in agony. Carefully— as to not cause his locker to make that horrible high-pitched metallic sound— he opened the it and grabbed the books he needed for his classes and closed the small door. Scccreeach….Slam

"Aah!" He yelled as the sound made his head throb harder and he slammed his fist into the door. Great, he thought as he pulled his hand away and saw the fist-shaped indent in the metal. Now he had a sore fist in addition to the never-ending headache. As the bell rang, signaling that he was now late, in addition to his other problems, he started toward the door of his first class, Trigonometry. That's when he heard his name being called. He whirled around to see Billy standing there alone.

"Look," Billy said quietly as he walked closer to Tommy. "We need to converse, now."

"Class is starting," Tommy stated. "You of all people aren't suggesting we ditch class."

Billy frowned but nodded to the doors at the end of the hall that led out the quad. Without another word he turned and walked down the halls and straight out the door, not even checking to see if the other teen had followed him.

"Billy skipping class…Now I've seen everything" Tommy said to no one in particular as he, too, headed down the hall and out the door.

Once out in the bright sunlight, Tommy had to squint and try not to moan in pain. The clouds that had been so helpful this morning at blocking out most of the sunlight had dissipated, and now there was nothing protecting his eyes from the sharp rays that threatened to make his migraine even worse. Groaning quietly, he swept his gaze across the front lawn and saw Billy about a block and a half down turning into a small alley between the school and some of the local shops and businesses. Tommy hurried to catch up.

Once arriving in the alley he saw the smaller bespectacled boy leaning against the wall waiting for him.

Tommy stood across from him waiting to see what Billy wanted, but after a few minutes of quiet staring at one another, Tommy lost his patience.

"Look this was your idea, and now you're not going to say anything?"

"Tommy, why do you hate us?"

Whatever Tommy had expected—questions about Kimberly, some kind of creative multi-syllable genius curse words, hell even an attack—this hadn't been it.

"I…well…" Tommy tried to answer before being cut off.

"We were your friends…hell, Jason was your best friend. Then Rita comes along, puts a spell on you and you decide being evil is fun?"

"I told Kim and I'm sure she told all of you; that spell wore off a long time ago. And even if hadn't you guys did manage to destroy the sword of darkness so you should know by now that what I do, I do by choice." Tommy replied starting to get annoyed. This conversation was making his head ache even worse than it had been before and Tommy was starting to feel as if Billy had taken his lance and split his head open, instead of asking to talk.

"But that's just it. What's your motivation now? World conquest? The old Tommy was never power hungry."

"Don't you get it" Tommy practically yelled as he threw his hands up into the air. "The Tommy you're talking about doesn't exist. He didn't get brainwashed...I am him. You tried saving me and you failed. You know why…You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved."

Billy said nothing after Tommy's mini explosion, but watched him intently. Tommy now finished, regretted his outburst as the pain in his head intensified. He groaned quietly as he bent down to rest, his back resting against the alley wall, and massaged his temples.

"Tommy," Billy asked. Tommy swore he heard almost what sounded like concern in the smaller boy's voice. "What's ailing you?"

"Nothing I can't handle. If you think a little headache is going to allow you guys to beat me then…"

Billy scoffed at this.

"I presume your ailment is that of a headache?"

Tommy almost laughed at the return of Billy's 5 star geek vocabulary.

"No, the Easter Bunny decided to tap dance on my head last night while I slept."

Billy rolled his eyes. "When was the inception of the symptoms?"

"Huh?"

"When did your head starting hurting" Billy smirked.

"I don't know about a week and a half ago?" Tommy replied, still trying to massage the pain in his head away.

"So the phenomenon commenced around the same time that you absconded with Kimberly?"

"Dude…if you're not going to speak English…"

"Why did you take Kimberly, Tommy?" Billy asked.

Tommy looked up at Billy from where he was still half-crouched on the ground.

"To fuck with all of you…of course." Tommy said as he rose from the ground. "Besides for all you know, I could have already killed her."

"Tommy," Billy stated cocking his head to the side and examining him. "I don't believe you."

"You don't have to believe me" Tommy replied. "You'll see…"

Done with the conversation Tommy started to move toward the entrance to the alley in order to leave this extremely annoying and somewhat odd conversation behind. A hand came up to block the exit. Tommy whirled around once more, ready to deck Billy and get the hell out of there, but he stopped when he saw the strange look on Billy's face.

"Tommy you forget that I am a scientist." He said. "Scientists observe."

"So…" Tommy replied.

"So…back before you decided you wanted to murder us all and be evil leader of the world…I saw you with Kim. I saw the way you looked at her when we would all hang out or when you would spend time with her and Jason or god forbid alone."

Tommy felt his face twist. He thought back then that he had hid his true feelings well…apparently not well enough.

Billy continued. "There was something there. At first I didn't tell Jason because I believed the whole situation to be one-sided. Then after more time and more careful observation, when I started to believe that in fact the feelings might be reciprocated, Rita turned you. I have to say in a way I breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing that whatever you two had felt for each other had no longer mattered because you were what Kimberly had always despised… well it made my being a member of the team and Jason's friend a whole lot easier."

"That was in the past." Tommy replied looking Billy square in the face. Their noses mere inches apart. "You might notice that I have almost killed all of you—including her—many times. Did you already forget my almost impaling you with your own weapons just a few days ago?"

Billy clenched his jaw. How could he have forgotten? It had taken him almost a full 48 hours just to come out of the coma and another 48 before he was on his feet. He had flat-lined twice before they could get him into the healing chamber. The rangers hadn't known what to tell his mother; she had thought he'd run off to join a cult.

Billy lifted his shirt to reveal two pink scars on his chest. "I don't think I'll be forgetting any time soon."

"Good."

"But that's the thing." Billy was so quiet now, Tommy could barely hear him.

"You haven't killed her. You've never hurt her as badly as the rest of us. You've had her up there now for what ten days? It would have been easy for you. Like swatting a fly, but I've seen her vitals. She's fine…well mostly fine anyway. It just doesn't fit with this image of the evilyou."

Tommy clenched his jaw, but didn't respond. He didn't realize geek-a-tron would be able to get a reading that far away, especially since Kim didn't have possession of her coin.

"So I ask again. What's your end game here?"

Tommy chuckled darkly. "Like I would ever tell you."

He shoved Billy's arm out of the way and started sauntering backwards out of the alley heading back in the direction of the school, still facing Billy. "You can believe whatever you want, but that version of me—Tommy put his arms straight up in a 'come at me' mocking stance—your friend, has been gone for a long time and he isn't coming back. You should remember me practically impaling you with your own weapon. That's me…" Tommy once again closed his eyes and massaged his temples before turning his back and jogging back up the schools front lawn.

Billy brought his hand up to his chin. He had a look of contemplation on his face. "Guess I won't be present for the remainder of the school day, as well. First time for everything, I suppose." He said to himself before teleporting away.