Reviews:
Desertwren- You have very good taste mi amigo, you won't have to wait very long for that interaction! Thanks for the review!
SilverRider- Who says I'll kill them? Maybe maim them horribly *angel face* naw, would I do that to everyone's favourite Rangers? Mayhaps! XD you'll just have to wait and see! I can be so evil, Bwahaha. Thanks for reviewing.
Goldstranger- I did read yours, there ya go lol! Yeah huh I am gonna use Rocky, I want all the Red Rangers involved lol, you'll see more of him this chapter. Thanks to you and the people biting your ear off for the review.
Giannola- Yeppy, Wes and Eric will certainly be in it, there isn't much of them this chapter but there will be in later ones. You'll have to tell me if I'm getting them a little out of character with them as I'm a little rusty on the Timeforce characters lol. Thanks for reviewing. Also thanks to Synalm, Nicole, Teal, Ms. BIRDMAN, Andrece, Zee, DG and Ksmcan thanks for the support!
A.N: In case anyone was wondering how I'm involving every Red Ranger and the fact that the writers never explained how every Ranger got their powers back for Forever Red, I am going with the thought that when Zordon's tube was destroyed in Countdown to Destruction pt 2 in 'Space' it is some people's idea that Zordon must've known that although he was destroying all current evil, it wouldn't always stay gone forever. So some people assume that when the energy wiped out the big baddies it restored all previous powers that hadn't been destroyed. TJ would've had a spare Morpher in the Lightning Cruiser Turbo Zord so that's how he still had his in Forever Red, the Red Morphin powers would've reverted back to Jason and assuming the Zeo crystal survived the Power Chamber explosion in tact that would solve Tommy's problem. Rocky is a little harder as the Ninjetti powers were destroyed, but for arguments sake and because I don't want to leave out poor lil Rocky like the producers of FR did, lets just say that they were restored so Rocky can join in the party. I hope that made some semblance of sense as it's very late and I'm quite tired. If none of that makes any sense then just ignore me and say 'hey it's the world of fanfiction, she can make up any buncha crap she wants to because in the end it doesn't matter and it'll make the story more spiffy!'
Thanks for coming to read chapter two, and thanks for reading my long winded bunch of twaffle if you did!
*
Chapter Two: Reunion
Tommy answered his cell phone on the first ring. Justin and Rocky were suitably impressed by his reflexes.
"Hello? Andros! How are- what? …That's awful, are they gonna be okay?"
Rocky and Justin leaned closer trying to hear snatches of the conversation.
"Are you alright?" Tommy frowned.
"Yes I'm fine, Karone called me when she found out, she thought something had happened to me but I'd just fallen asleep. There haven't been any suspicious attacks near you have there?" Andros paced round the Megaship, wishing he had something to do instead of sitting uselessly in space until the Megaship had made its way back to Earth.
"No, I haven't heard of any attacks in Angel Grove or Stone Canyon for that matter. It's all been a little quiet truth be told." Tommy ran a hand through his hair and frowned. This was awful, two Red Rangers had been attacked in one day, and both were seriously injured.
"Well in my experience when things are too quiet it's a sure sign that something bad's about to happen." Andros said, banging his fist on the desk in frustration as DECA informed him they had to slow down yet again.
"I agree." Tommy said, holding up a hand to quiet an excitable Rocky and Justin eager to hear some news.
"So what do you suggest we do?"
Tommy sighed and rubbed his head. "Am I the first one you called?"
"Yes, since what happened the last time you seemed to be a capable leader. Plus the fact that I am more familiar with you and T.J than the others."
"Thanks man, alright lets think about this. I can contact Jason and I've got Rocky with me now. He's a former Red Ranger too he was just on vacation the last time, I'd trust him with my life, I want him to be involved. I can call T.J too while I'm at it."
"Good, I'll contact the others."
"How far away are you?"
"Too far, I'm on the Megaship, I have to find a place to land it back on Earth. You seem to be more centralized than the others, so I could meet you at the Angel Grove space hangar, that should be big enough for the ship."
"Alright. Call us when you get there, and be careful Andros. If someone really is targeting Red Rangers then you're still at risk, wherever you are."
"I will Tommy. May the Power protect you." The line disconnected.
"What was that all about?" Rocky frowned pulling the fries that he had been amusing Justin with out of his nose.
"Sounded serious Tommy, is anything wrong?" Justin asked, concerned by the look on Tommy's face.
"I don't know Justin, not yet anyway."
"What's going on dude?" Rocky asked and shuffled closer over the booth to listen.
"That was Andros, the Red Astro Ranger, he called to tell me that both the Red Galaxy Ranger Leo and the Red Lightspeed Ranger Carter were attacked earlier today and left for dead, they're both in a pretty bad condition."
"And you think it's a little too suspicious to be a coincidence." Rocky nodded, his features darkening.
"I hope it's just a coincidence, but like you said, it's more than a little strange, especially as Leo's all the way on Mirinoi. Someone would have to go to a lot of trouble to get him while he's there, too much trouble if you attack for no reason. If it was just a random mugger or something than both of them should've had the skills to fight it off which leads me to believe that whoever attacked them was in a group and knew exactly what they were doing and how to take them out. And that's a nasty thought."
"So what are we gonna do?" Rocky raised a brow.
"First, we're gonna drop Justin home, then we're gonna find Jase and T.J, and meet Andros at the Space hangar."
"Aww, c'mon Tommy, can't I come?" Justin pouted.
"No way buddy, if someone is targeting Red Rangers, or any Rangers for that matter, then the safest place you can be is out of the way. We don't want you caught in the crossfire. No matter how much older or wiser you are I'm not gonna risk it."
Justin opened his mouth to protest again but Rocky shook his head. Tommy wouldn't change his mind, they both knew that.
"C'mon then, we've got no time to waste."
*
Theodore J. Jarvis Johnson- otherwise known as T.J, stood in Angel Grove Park with Jake "Bull" Rosetti- a baseball pitcher who had played on a team with his dad- who was helping him out with his baseball moves. T.J had always aspired to being a baseball star before he had taken up his Ranger responsibilities, and now he was falling back on those dreams.
Jake threw him another impeccable ball and with a confidence he had most certainly gained during active Ranger duty T.J swung the bat and whacked the ball soundly straight out of the park. He loved feeling the shudder the bat made as it connected solidly with the ball, it was an exhilarating feeling. Just then, as his thoughts lingered on shudders, a tremor rippled through the ground beneath him, swaying him slightly from his stance.
"What the- Jake! It feels like an earthquake, we've gotta get some cover!" T.J shouted over the ominous rumbles that shook the ground around him.
"Over there, those picnic benches!" Jake shouted back to him, and then set off at a sprint towards them. T.J did likewise, but before he could get very far he found himself surrounded by four black robed beings. They reminded him of those corny Ninjas from the old Japanese movies he loved, except that these seemed…mistier, like they were made from smoke. They moved fluidly like water, and had none of the twitchy, moronic moves of the Piranhatrons or Quantrons he had faced in the past. These had a devious intelligence, he could sense it from the way they moved and observed him. They seemed to have materialised out of nowhere, but T.J was not fazed.
"Man, I thought I was off the hook from all this? C'mon then Smoky, bring it on!" He challenged the nearest, and they all rushed him at once.
"Whoah, not what I meant!" he cried, backing off slightly and trying to keep his eyes on all of them. The first lunged at him, black gloved hands glancing painfully on his face and stomach. He staggered back and fell to the floor, using his legs to kick at the face of Smoky #2, but to his surprise his foot sailed straight through the being and out the other side. The robed assailant wagged a finger in silent reprimand and then turned so T.J's foot was no longer stuck straight through it, before grabbing his ankle and giving it a violent twist. T.J cried out in agony as he felt his bones splinter in the rock solid grip. Spots swam before his eyes and he fought to remain conscious, knowing that if he gave in to the darkness there was a possibility he would never wake up.
As his vision was beginning to fade, through the darkness and tears and the pounding of blood in his head he heard the screech of car tires and a loud honking. He saw a white blur careen through the black shapes still whirling around him.
"Crap, T.J! Hold on man, we're here." The voice he heard was familiar but very far away. "Rocky, grab his legs, be careful it looks like one's injured." The voice instructed, it sounded very far away and T.J frowned, placing the voice at last.
"Tommy?"
"It's alright Teej, we're gonna get you some help." TJ smiled weakly as his vision gave out all together and the darkness swallowed him.
*
When T.J's consciousness finally returned to him, he found himself looking up at the ceiling of a moving Jeep, and heard murmurs in front of him.
"I just hope Andros can get here soon and has some supplies to deal with this, my first aid kit only has a few bandages." Tommy's voice said softly in the front.
"Hey, look, sleeping beauty awakes." It took T.J a few moments to recognize Rocky, he had met him briefly before when he went to visit Tommy's Dojo but hadn't spent a great deal of time talking to him. Tommy spared a quick glance behind to check on the Blue Astro Ranger who was also his Red Turbo successor.
"How's it going back there Teej?" Tommy asked, his voice full of concern.
"I guess I'll live. What happened back there?" He winced as he tried to sit up.
"Watch it dude, your ankle looks like its pretty badly broken, so you gotta take it easy." Rocky warned and T.J looked down, grimacing again as he saw the slightly odd angle his ankle was bent at, and the fact he couldn't feel anything but pain down there. Tommy and Rocky had tried to bandage it as best they could with the flimsy bandages in the first aid kit, but he needed proper medical attention they hoped Andros could provide.
"We were hoping you could tell us." Tommy sighed as he turned into the abandoned air and spacecraft base. "We were just coming to find you when we saw you in the park fighting four things in black, by the time we got over to you they'd disappeared and you were injured."
"I don't know…there was an earthquake, and I tried to run but these ninja guys surrounded me, I couldn't get a hit in on them and the next thing I know one of them has a death grip on my leg and snapped me like a twig."
"Man, dya reckon these were the same dudes who attacked the others?" Rocky murmured.
"It would be stupid not to assume so. Which means it's even more important for everyone to get here safely, I hope that those who can just teleport here, it seems like the safest option." Tommy frowned.
"Huh?" T.J questioned, trying to dispel the pounding headache that was assaulting his senses.
Rocky took the liberty of filling the Blue Astro Ranger in on the sitch, while Tommy sighed in relief to see the Astro Megaship mark 2 landed safely in the hangar already.
Tommy and Rocky exited the Jeep first to help support T.J the rest of the way and Andros was already waiting for them by the ship. He nodded in greeting and then his face took on a look of concern as he ran to the three.
"T.J what happened?"
"He was attacked, we think it was the same guys who took out Leo and Carter." Tommy rubbed the back of his neck as Andros checked his former team-mate's ankle.
"Badly broken, we'll get you inside the ship and see what we have in the medi-bay."
Andros led the way through the ship to the medical room, as Tommy's recollection of the ships interior was very rusty. T.J was laid on the bed and Alpha 7 pottered in to do some scans while Tommy introduced Rocky to the Astro Ranger.
"This is Rocky DeSantos, he was the second Red Morphin' Ranger when Jason left. He was also the Red Ninja Ranger. Rocky this is Andros, Red Space Ranger." Andros eyed Rocky warily for a second, making Rocky rather nervous, but after a second Andros' face broke into a grin and he nodded, shaking Rocky's hand firmly.
"It's good to have you on the team." Andros affirmed, and Tommy grinned at the pair.
"I've set T.J's leg in a special cast Andros. It should accelerate the healing process but I don't know how long it will be before he can fight again." Alpha's chirpy metallic voice called out from across the room.
"Thanks Alpha." T.J smiled but there was pain still evident in his eyes. "Reckon you can hook me up with a strong painkiller too?"
Andros started but was cut off. "I'll see what we-"
"Andros, the other Rangers are arriving." DECA's voice interrupted.
"Alright. T.J, will you be alright in here on your own for a minute?" the two-tone haired Astro Ranger still looked concerned for his friend's safety.
"I'll be fine Andros, I have Alpha and DECA to look after me." T.J nodded to the three.
Tommy sighed. "I didn't think we'd need to do this again so soon." He nodded to T.J and the three made their way back down to the hangar, where Wesley Collins and Eric Myers stood waiting, with a nervous looking Cole Evans shuffling uncertainly from foot to foot beside them.
"Hey guys, I'm glad you all got here safely." Tommy smiled and shook each of their hands, as did Andros.
Rocky hung back a little, having not shared the adventure on the moon Tommy had led with all the others. He cleared his throat and Tommy smiled.
"Oh yeah, Wes, Eric, Cole, this is the other former Red Morphin Ranger, and the former Ninja Red Ranger Rocky DeSantos. He couldn't join our little joy ride to the moon, he was busy holidaying in- where was it dude?"
"Caribbean, hey can I help it if I'm a little sun slut, I love the stuff, can't get enough. I'm pleased to meet y'all, I've heard all about you from our illustrious leader here." Rocky said, his friendly, comic personality back with a vengeance as he shook everyone's hand and grinned at finally feeling like he belonged.
"Andros filled us in." Eric said grimly, "Are we all that's left?"
"Not quite." Jason Lee Scott strolled in as if he owned the place, nodding to the assembled six.
"Jase, y'always have to make the fashionably late grand entrance huh?" Tommy grinned, hugging the man who seemed in many ways like his blood brother.
"Well it's not good to let you take all the glory now is it? Sometimes that leadership thing goes to your head." Jason smirked and glanced around, double taking the numbers.
"Are we really all?" He turned back to Tommy, his expression now serious.
"Apart from Aurico, who hasn't been able to get here yet, yes." Andros answered with a sigh.
"What happened?"
"Carter was attacked in Mariner Bay, he's in a coma. Leo was attacked while on Mirinoi and we're still waiting for an update on his condition, but T.J was attacked about a half hour ago in Angel Grove Park, he's not as bad as the others because we got there before they could get some damage done, his ankle's broken but I wouldn't count him out yet. He's on board" Tommy explained, motioning to the Megaship behind them.
"So how're we supposed to fight this thing, if we don't know what we're dealing with?" Cole spoke for the first time.
"Rookie's gotta point, do we actually know what's doing all this? It's taken care of three Red Rangers already, it can't be a drop in the ocean here bro." Jason voiced an opinion the rest of the assembled –including Tommy- had been pondering.
"I'm not gonna lie Jason. I have about as much idea as any of you, and that's why we need us all together, to help solve this and keep each other safe. We're gonna need to watch each others backs, like brothers. It's obvious that on our own we are much more vulnerable. Until we figure out what this thing is and how to stop it, we're pretty much screwed when we're on our own. When T.J was attacked, the things that were doing the kicking disappeared, maybe they wanted to bide their time, maybe they wanted to regroup, or maybe they knew that we were stronger than them, which means we can hurt them. We need to figure it out. Anyone got a problem with that?"
The hangar was silent.
"All in?" Tommy put his hand out in the middle of them.
"In." Andros nodded, putting his hand in
"In always, bro." Jason nodded, adding his.
"Count me in, not gonna miss this again." Rocky said, his face firm with resolve.
"We're in." Wes said, glancing at Eric who affirmed this. The two Silver Guardians put their hands in.
Cole still seemed wary, but his face was set. "I will protect the earth, and my Red brothers who've done so much for this world before me." He put his hand in and nodded with a grim smile.
"Good… But I think we're still going to need some backup."
*
Tommy and Jason stood off to the side while the other Rangers all got acquainted with Rocky, who was regaling them with stories of his Red Ranger time and was just as eager to hear everyone else's stories of glory.
Tommy however, was not so cheery.
"We don't have a lot of options at this point Jase, but I really am wary about calling in the other Rangers, I don't want any of us to risk our friends any more than I want to risk us, maybe even more so."
"I know you have your messiah complex bro, but I don't think we'll be able to handle this on our own. Every Ranger knew the risks when he or she agreed to the job, and they would want to be informed if something like this is really happening. They care for us as much as we care for them remember?"
Tommy sighed. "You're right, of course. But they have their own lives and responsibilities now."
"And they can always say no to us if they want to, there's no pressure here Tommy, it's just good to be told. If you were ever in trouble I would definitely want to know so that I could help. Our friends will too, and their friends." He motioned to the chattering group by the consoles
"Alright, we can make the calls. Who do you know about?"
"Zack would be ever ready, but I don't know exactly where he is right now, he said he wanted to travel and see the world, so he could be anywhere. As long as he has his communicator on him that won't be a problem. Last I heard from Trini was that she was in Brazil, but if we can reach her she'll probably want to come. Billy may come, but Aquitar is quite far, I don't know if he'll make the trip, knowing Billy though, I don't think he'd want to be left out."
Jason then stopped. Tommy looked up from being deep in thought and frowned.
"And…" He asked expectantly.
"And?" Jason shrugged.
"You forgot to mention Kimberly."
"Ah…Kim, yeah…well…" Jason trailed off awkwardly.
"Jase. What's up with Kim?" Tommy was concerned now.
"Look, don't take this to mean anything, don't get paranoid alright?... I don't quite…exactly…know where she is. I haven't heard from her for a few months now…"
"What?" Tommy gawped. "Jase, how could you not say something?"
"Because I knew you'd get like this and be all paranoid and think the worst. But she's a big girl she's probably just gone on vacation and forgotten to tell me, or she's on a business trip or had a family emergency, it could be anything!"
"Or it could be that she's been captured or hurt by an evil entity who's taking out Red Rangers!" Tommy flung his arms out and exclaimed loudly. The other five Rangers looked over from their conversation in concern.
"Tommy, everything alright?" Wes frowned.
"Fine." Tommy nodded with a fake smile until the other men nodded and went back to their discussion.
"Look man, you didn't exactly pay much attention any other time, you could have called her or kept in contact with her, then maybe you would know where she's at. Don't blame it on me, if you made the effort, maybe she'd have let you in on the loop and you'd still have been together."
"Bro." Tommy said, hurt in his eyes. He looked as if Jason had just punched him, and the Red Morphin Ranger felt a stab of guilt.
"I, I'm sorry Tommy, I didn't mean that. I'm just a little stressed y'know."
Tommy sighed. "Yeah you did Jase. And I know that I could have called her more, but I figured she was busy with her training, and I was busy with the Rangers. That letter hurt me more than you could possibly know, and, hell, damn me for not wanting to be best buds with her afterwards. I can see it now, 'Hey Kim, thanks for ripping my heart out and painting your walls with it, I'm sure the guy who you found to replace me is just swell, maybe we can all meet up for coffee, how are you anyway, planning any long trips that you don't want us to know about?'" Tommy glared at the thought.
"Okay man, enough, I get it. Maybe you couldn't keep in touch, but I thought after the Maligore incident you could've…"
Tommy snorted. "The 'Maligore incident'? We spent every moment after we got back trying to avoid each other and say as little as possible, and with Kat all over me what was I supposed to do, rub it in Kim's face that I finally agreed to date her? I would never do that to her. We were civil, we never talked about it, we never have, I doubt we ever will." Tommy sighed and shook his head before walking out of the room. Jason considered going after him, but he knew that there were a lot of unresolved issues between Tommy and Kim, and they both needed to work through them. Tommy needed to deal with it in his own way and he needed space to do that in.
"Jason, is Tommy okay?" Rocky called, glancing after the retreating Ranger.
Jason mouthed 'Kimberly' and Rocky made a pronounced "Ooooh." And nodded in understanding.
Jason, and indeed the entire group of Morphin' teens had figured Tommy and Kim were forever, ever since the moment they met the attraction had been there, the shy, furtive glances at one another across a classroom, the googly eyes as Rocky liked to refer to them, they were sweet and caring and considerate to each other, and even after horrible spells Zedd and Rita used to turn them against each other they were still unshakeable. No-one had expected Kim to do what she did, and it seemed very uncharacteristic of her to handle the break-up that way. Still, Jason had never broached the subject with her, it was none of his business and he knew that she would explain it to him if she wanted to. Tommy had been scary afterwards, an emotional train wreck, and it had taken him so long to recover. True, he had dated Katherine afterwards, but it wasn't the same kind of love, it seemed that she put more effort into it than he did, and that in the end was what caused them to break-up, it was obvious Tommy couldn't love her like he loved Kim, and Kat was sick of being in Kim's shadow. They parted on good terms at least, which is more than could be said for Kim and Tommy. Jason just wanted to lock them in a room and make them talk it out. He knew that he would, if the opportunity ever arose.
Still, he was more than worried- perhaps even terrified- about the lack of contact from Kim, they had always talked every month at least, sometimes every week as often as they could manage. Kim was still in Florida, had won silver in the Pan Global games, it wasn't gold, but it wasn't in Kim's nature to be bitter. She had taken it in her stride and continued training, hoping that at the next games she would be good enough to get gold. She had opened her own gymnastics training gym with some of her old team mates in Florida, and had- as far as he knew- gone to visit Trini in Peru at some time. He had heard from her last two and a half months ago while she was back training for the next games, working harder than ever to get the gold. Since then, nothing, and though he wouldn't tell Tommy this, he had called her gym and her friends in Florida and no-one had seen her for a month or two, saying she hadn't left any message, just disappeared one night. They had called the police but nothing had turned up on her yet. He knew Kim could be spontaneous, but it wasn't like her not to tell someone where she was going. He reckoned she was probably in France visiting her mom, but he couldn't be sure until he found her phone number. It was at times like this that he wished Zordon was still around. Their ethereal mentor had always known what to do to solve a problem or would've had a plan to find out how they could. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it must've been like for Andros to destroy Zordon's tube, he certainly didn't believe he would have been able to after everything they had been through with him. He made a mental note to talk to the Red Astro Ranger about it, he was rather impressed with his courage.
"Tommy and I have been talking, we thought it would be a good idea to bring in some reinforcements, any of your team members who would be interested or who aren't otherwise engaged, if this is a war then we'll need all the help we can get. We're leaving it up to each of you to assemble all who are willing from your respective teams. Is that alright with everyone?"
The rest nodded. Andros stood up. "There are facilities onboard for scanning, tracing and contacting your team-mates, no matter where they are in the galaxy or even if they're in another one. They can also be teleported to here so travel isn't a problem either. DECA and Alpha 7 will assist you with the controls." Andros motioned to the consoles behind him the 'Computer systems' and 'Communications' consoles in particular.
Eric and Rocky went towards the Computer systems console to begin scanning for their comrades, while Wes and Cole prepared messages to reach everyone.
Through this Andros slipped off to contact Zhane and his own team-mates, and Jason went to go and find Tommy, he wondered how long he could hold off Tommy's questioning about Kim, and if it would affect the leader's work.
*
*Hits computer* ARGH! Crappy chappy! It'll get better when all the rangers are assembled though- I hope! I'm still deciding on who to bring in from the teams so if y'all have any specific ideas for who you definitely do/don't wanna see now's the time to tell me so I cant try and please everyone lol. Thanks for all the support, it encourages me to write more and it means a lot to me so keep reviewing and I'll try to keep y'all happy hehe. Thanks, see you at chapter 3 I hope!
xXx
