Green with Evil

Missing

Part 1

Somber. The one word that clearly defined the countenance of each of the rangers that followed the days of the Green Ranger attack. Billy's second home was the command center, trying to piece it back together little by little, still no success in returning Zordon. Kimberly eventually recovered from the electrical attack, but at the cost of having to miss gymnastics practice for a couple weeks. Trini and Jason were still at odds, neither of them breaking or apologizing for their points of view and Zack found himself caught in the middle - or right in the front of it, in fact. During lunchtime, Jason spent most of his time the Youth Center doing additional sparring and Zack was frequently the sparring partner for Jason and lately that was more a chore than anything...

"Calm down, man," Zack says over and over again while being on the other side of an unfortunate punching bag. To say Jason was beating the thing to a pulp would be an understatement. He lets one last punch rip and if Zack weren't holding on tightly he surely would have flown off.

"Man, I wanna get that Green dude so bad!" Jason says between gritted teeth. All Zack can do is nod his head but watching his best friend unfold like this was harder than anything.

"I know that, but we shouldn't be spending our lunch break dwelling on it. We should you know, be eating," Zack says and tries to get a laugh out of Jason but to no avail. "We'll catch him," Zack says reassuringly but it falls on deaf ears, Jason wants results. "Another round?"

"I think you should chill for a bit, man," Zack replies, actually wanting a break himself. Jason rolls his eyes and shakes his head but follows Zack to a table. Just before they get to it Jason stops once he see's Tommy.

"I think I should go talk to him," Jason says. "He went missing after the tournament a few days ago after the attack and we tied, so we both won the prize money. I don't think he knows." Zack nods his head and Jason turns on his heel to catch up to Tommy, "Hey man!" Jason says, Tommy looks at him without much enthusiasm.

"Hi," Tommy replies coldly.

"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that after that crazy attack that interrupted the tournament we couldn't find you, so they declared the fight a draw. So we got to split the money." As Jason explains this, Tommy gives him a narrow expression.

"I don't understand," Tommy replies.

"Well since it's was no one's fault that it got cancelled, they decided..." Jason is then cut off by Tommy.

"No, what I don't understand is why they called it a draw when you didn't beat me," Tommy says, this takes Jason by surprise and he looks back him shocked, marveling at Tommy's rudeness.

"Okay..." Jason begins, "It wasn't my call dude," Jason says with folded arms.

"Could have fooled me. I say we have a rematch for it. Unless you don't think you can beat me," Tommy says. Again, still in shock, Jason is completely taken for words. He didn't peg Tommy to be this kind of guy. And with how things were going lately, Jason wasn't in the mood for someone's poor attitude.

"If that's how you want it to be," Jason replies.

"It is. You think you're some hot-shot, someone's gotta knock you down a peg," Tommy says, again to Jason's complete surprise. "After school, here. Winner take all."

"You got it," Jason says and Tommy turns to throw punches at the punching bag. Jason turns on his heel and walks over to meet Zack, who ordered him a drink, and sits down, dropping his fists on the table.

"What did the table do to you?" Zack says.

"I can't believe that guy," Jason says, dodging Zack's humor. "If a fight is a fight, then that's what he'll get." Zack's eyes widen and he looks around and spots Tommy and draws the conclusion.

"And you're picking fights with the new kid, why?" Zack asks, his head tilted.

"You know what, I'm not even gonna talk about it, I need to go for a walk or something," Jason says, he chugs his drink, sets the cup down and leaves the table.


"Neither of you are wrong," Billy says but to Trini's chagrin. With Jason and Trini not really communicating unless necessary and Zack unable to handle being in the middle alone, Billy also took it upon himself to try and smooth things over. And because "And you know with how things are going we can't afford to be fighting each other."

"No, we can't. But we certainly are," Trini says without even blinking.

"I think you should..." Billy is unable to finish as Trini darts a glare at him that could kill.

"Don't say it," she says in a no non-sense voice. "Look," she sighs, "I know he's not wrong. This Green Ranger needs to be stopped. But Daniel...his death is still fresh for me, too fresh. Rita has gone too taking humans and turning them against their own kind against their will. This is another person, Billy. Not a monster. Isn't it more important to save an innocent than it is to win?"

"I see your point, but he's hurt a lot of people in the name of Rita and if we didn't get Kimberly medical attention right away who knows what could have happened," Billy say; a point that Trini couldn't deny and she exhales deeply before relenting.

"I know you're right. I just - somewhere out there, the Green Ranger could be a Daniel to someone else. The idea of hurting another person in general...that's my big dilemma,"

"I know - Crap," Billy says, his mood changing from serious to anxious. Trini looks at him confused and then turns her head, following his line of sight to find Brent walking toward them. Trini then looks back to Billy, who looks more nervous than seconds before.

"What's wrong?" Trini asks. Billy looks at her and then keeps his voice low.

"I haven't really spoken to him much the last couple of days. I've been busy with the command center and I've even had to really focus to keep up with school if you can believe it or not...and..." Billy stops explaining once Brent stops before them both.

"Hi Billy. Hi Trini," Brent says and flashes a smile.

"Hi Brent," Trini says, but Brent isn't really focused on her.

"Billy, anyway you could stop by after school. I need some help studying," Brent said. Studying - the code word that he used for their "relationship" and ultimately Billy was fine with it. Brent was this all-star athlete with a reputation and Billy was…not. But even if he wanted to meet after school he couldn't.

"I can't," Billy says and Brent's expression changes to a combination of confusion, disappointment and concern. A combination Billy had seen a lot lately. "I'd love to help it's just - I - uh," Billy stumbles on his words as he draws a blank.

"He's helping me tonight, Brent. I've been having a rough couple of days. Daniel's birthday is soon and Billy is helping me through out. I'm sorry," Trini lies through her teeth but puts on a phenomenal act. Brent's expression changes slightly and nods his head.

"Yeah sure. I understand. I'll call you later though, Billy. If that's okay, so we can go over when you're available," Brent says and Billy nods his head. Brent smiles and walks away and Billy feels a wave of relief washing over him.

"Thank you," Billy says. "I didn't know Daniel's birthday was soon."

"It's not. You were just doing a great job coming up with an excuse. Which I'm not sure why you are in the first place," Trini says, giving him an accusing look' Now she's become the lecturer. "What are you doing?"

"I have no idea. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do or how I'm supposed to act. I also just don't do emotions. I never have. They're useless and blinding. And because of what happened with Daniel, Jason doesn't think we should be in relationships. It'd make them easy targets. But also...Jason and Zack have been my friends my entire life. I don't know how they would handle me being in a relationship with - a relationship that wasn't a female."

"I don't think Jason and Zack would think any less of you. You're still their friend, that hasn't changed. I know what Jason said but it's important for us to separate ourselves from being Power Rangers. We're still only teenagers. We're people first. Heroes second. And this thing with you and Brent, whatever you want to call it, it's a good thing Billy. Or it could be. There's not enough good things in this world sometimes," Trini says, becoming melancholy near the end and look down. Billy reaches over to comfort her and she shakes her head.

"No, I'm fine. It's not about me," Trini says, "I've been crying and comforted enough lately. I'll be fine. Nothing will ever make what happened to Daniel okay, but time will make it easier." Without being said, Billy really did admire her strength.

"You guys!" Kimberly yells behind them and their moment is over. She rushes over toward them and sets a banner down – Halloween Bash. Billy gives the flyer a contemptuous look and Trini shakes her head. "The Halloween Bash has just been announced. It's going to be amazing."

"You could just gouge my eyes out. With anything," Billy says unenthusiastically and Kimberly picks up the flyer and hits Billy over the top of the head with it.

"It could be a lot of fun," Trini agrees. "It's in two weeks then?"

"Yes, two weeks from today," Kimberly says, smiles and all. Billy also admired Kimberly's ability to try and make a good time during any situation. Given the grim state of their command center – and how they'd survive another Green Ranger attack – he'd assume she'd be pretty shaken up. Denial, he concluded. Severe denial.

"It's a dance? Who are you going to go with?" Billy asks and then Kimberly's smile fades away and she sits down.

"I'm not sure. A part of me wants to go with Jason," Kimberly says carefully, knowing that Trini and him are at odds right now and Trini replies with a surprised expression.

"Really?" Trini asks.

"I mean, I thought so. Things go a little weird after Homecoming. But I – I don't know. And then there's the new kid, Tommy. I really think he's a nice guy," she says.

"Didn't he blow you off?" Billy says, deflating Kimberly's smile once again.

"Thank you for that," she says. "Yeah, I'm sure there was a good reason," And out of the corner of her eye she she's Tommy enter the cafeteria carrying his athletic bag. "I'll go find out right now!" And with that, Kimberly takes off toward Tommy who had found himself an empty table to sit at during the remaining minutes at lunch. "Hi, Tommy."

"Hi," he says this without even looking at her, which takes her by surprise and affects her confidence.

"How are you?" she presses and he looks at her uninterested.

"I'm fine. Need something?" he replies, his tone cold and annoyed.

"Yeah, the other day we agreed to meet and you never showed?" Kimberly says and he didn't even dignify her with an immediate response – no gesture or any kind of indication of remorse. "Are you okay?" she finally blurts out impatiently.

"Yes, I'm fine Kimberly – more than fine. I didn't show because something came up. Life happens. You're not the center of my universe, Kimberly," Tommy replies and her mouth drops immediately in shock, other students who are in close enough proximity stop talking to see what's going on.

"Well, excuse me for living!" she replies and turns on her heel and rushed out of the cafeteria. She couldn't get away fast enough; her face flushes red with embarrassment and tears welling up in her eyes. She turns the corner out of the cafeteria and instantly bumps into Jason.

"Hey – whoa, whoa, are you okay?" Jason says, noticing Kimberly's distressed disposition.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kimberly didn't make eye contact and wipes a tear off her cheek. "Just got something in my eye, I need to go to the restroom," she passes by Jason and takes off.


The rest of day comes and goes with none of the rangers not particularly having a good day. Trini and Kimberly leave math class in a hurry to meet up with the others. Billy didn't have a last period class and he usually spent this time taking the Rad-Bug to the command center while the teleportation system was still wonky. They meet up with Jason and Zack outside in the parking lot but no sigh of Billy.

"This is odd," Kimberly says looking around and not seeing the Rad-Bug. "Billy's not here?"

"He's always on time…" Trini adds with concern.

"Yeah, maybe he's just lost track of it?" Zack suggests, which wouldn't entirely be implausible. But this was worrying; Billy was never the kind of person to be late without any kind of notice. Jason looks over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking and he raised his communicator to his face.

"Command center come in? Billy can you read me?" There isn't the usual white noise they've grown accustomed to the last couple of days, but nothing is coming back at all.

"I think we should check on it you guys…" Trini suggests. "What if the Green Ranger is there again?"

"I think we're okay on that. Billy made sure the first thing he fixed was the Command Center shields but we can never be too careful, I think we – Uh" Jason stops talking once he see's Tommy heading back into the school. The rematch – Jason completely forgot. He didn't want to fight Tommy in the first place, but he wouldn't let Tommy think he's a flake. "You guys go on ahead, I'll be right behind you." Jason then takes off after Tommy.

"Okay, weird," Kimberly points out. "Where is he going?"

"He'll be fine, let's get to the command center. I think the three of us should be able to teleport there without putting too much strain on the system," Trini says. The three of them move from the parking lot to an area with more cover, they activate the teleportation sequence on their communicators and bright lights of black, yellow and pink over take them.

Jason runs back into the school which is surprisingly empty for only just having gotten out. He dismisses this notion and realizes he's lost track of Tommy – where could he be? Jason roams the halls for a few minutes before finally finding him at his locker.

"Hey, Tommy," Jason says, relieved that he found him.

"What?" Tommy replies uninterested.

"Look, something came up today. I can't participate in our rematch right now," As Jason explains this Tommy's eyes all but roll to the back of his head.

"Well that's convenient," Tommy says. "You could just forfeit," he suggests and Jason clenches his fist.

"Look, I don't have time for this. You want a rematch? You got one, but not today," Jason's voice got loud – maybe even too loud as his voice started to echo in the hallway.

"Sure. Fine. I understand," Tommy says, obvious sarcasm in his voice. Jason nods his head and turns around. Tommy pulls out the Dragon coin and it glows green in his hand. He then extends his hand forward and sends a beam of green energy at Jason hitting him from behind and seconds later Jason disappears.

"Our rematch will be sooner than you think, Red Ranger," Tommy says with a full evil grin and green lights illuminating in his eyes.