THE REASON - Part Fifty-Two: The Ex-Factor
Summary: When the reality of hoping never to face the past, an unexpected person makes an appearance in Reefside looking for trouble.
Disclaimer: Power Rangers not mine.
A/N: And you all thought things were gonna be nice and simple in Reefside while Kim was away. Yeah, right. Just read on, and hope I answered all your questions as these chapters are building.
"I thought that part of our lives was done and over with. Please, tell me that your heart belongs to only me and no one else." -Eclyptyk Neo
Five days later.
Tommy tossed and turned in his bed from a bad dream. Or was it? Sweat ran down his face. "No. Don't. Stop." he groaned.
-----
Tommy found himself against a wall in Mesogog's main lab by Tyrannodrones. He tried to break away from their hold, but couldn't get anywhere. "Let me go!"
Mesogog walked into the room with the evil White Ranger on his heels. "You thought you could win, Dr. Oliver, didn't you?"
Tommy huffed trying to push his way through, but got nowhere. "What do you want, Mesogog?"
"You can feel it inside you, can't you? The internal conflict of good vs. evil. Why not give into it? It will be so much easier."
"What are you doing to me, Mesogog?!" the man demanded as the dino-faced menace approached him.
Mesogog found his hand tighten around the man's throat. "There is so much power within that black dino gem. I want it back!"
"Forget it." Tommy gagged.
Mesogog used his mind control to send the black dino thunder ranger to the ground. The cuff turned into the morpher and the man transformed into his ranger form, with the newly enhanced shield and armbands that resembled his first powers as the green dragon ranger. "Rise, my new ranger."
The black ranger did what he was told. A green energy field ran over his suit giving him a darker appearance. And when he did, the Tyrannodrones moved against him. But there was no way they could stop the man when he knew them all to the ground by an invisible force from his hand. He turned to the dino-faced menace and bowed. "Trust runs on thin lines, Mesogog. Are you sure you can trust me?"
"I will not stand here and let you destroy this for me, Oliver. I will have my revenge, and you will help me."
"I work alone. And though you need me to be your lifeline in this battle, I didn't agree to work with you."
Mesogog hissed pulling his hand up to strike the man. "Don't start with me, Dr. Oliver!"
"As much as you think you may know about me, you have no idea what I'm capable of."
Mesogog turned away and left the room.
The White Ranger turned to his newest foe. "You won't make it in this game."
"You have no idea what I can do." the evil black dino ranger replied darkly.
"And are you underestimating me?" the white ranger growled looking into his visor.
The black ranger pushed him back. "Back off. Ya know, there will only be one white ranger. And trust me, it won't be you."
The white ranger walked up to the evil black ranger and set his eyes on him like a prey. "You can't control the powers."
"But I can assure you, I will make sure the rangers won't know what will hit them."
The evil black ranger watched the white ranger go, but turned away, hitting the ground. The shield disappeared, as well as the dark hint of evil.
-----
Tommy cried out frantically as he sat up in his bed. He looked about the room, noting the early morning hour. He caught his breath and ran a hand through his hair unsure what to make of the dream. If it was a dream. He knew something was going on inside him. He knew that there was an evil aura around him when something that made him mad was mentioned. But was it serious? He disappeared into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Hours passed.
Tommy and Adam were heading over to the cyber café, walking through the alleyways to get there.
"Should you even be making a public appearance like this? I mean, after what happened when you went back to teach, there has been a lot of talk going around." Adam said a little worried.
"I'm fine." Tommy said.
Adam wasn't convinced, but still couldn't run a whole lot of tests when he did, the brainwave patterns in Tommy's mind were stable. There was nothing weird or unusual about it. They continued through the alleys, but halfway down it was a group of five guys, all of them wearing a black attire. They were all of Hispanic decent, each of them talking Spanish. Adam was the first to go. Then Tommy excusing them if he could get through but one of the big guys stopped him. He looked up to see the stern look of the man and he raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Um..¿perdón?" Tommy said in Spanish.
Another man, closer to his height looked at him and cursed in Spanish.
Tommy furrowed his eyebrow looking at the man. The big guy pushed him back into the guy that cursed. "Whoa. Hey, I don't want any trouble." He turned around to see the man who had cursed.
And his heart stopped. He looked at the man, almost seeing himself in the Hispanic man. The man was a few inches smaller than him, but had a goatee on his face and a buzz cut hair. If he was a little more built and taller, he might have been mistaken for the science teacher.
"Do you know a Carl Lopez?" the man asked in a thick Spanish accent.
"I don't assume that's you, is it?" Tommy said slowly.
The man nodded. And Tommy felt a fiery rage run through his bones as Adam walked up beside him. There he was. In front of Tommy, the man who had taken Kim away from him all those years ago.
"Yeah, I remember you. You were the guy who took my girlfriend all those years ago." Tommy said in a dark tone.
The man bowed. "So, we finally meet, Tommy. I was wondering when I'd meet you."
"What are you doing here? Looking for Kim because you can forget it. She's with me and she won't be going back to you."
"Tommy...." Adam grew worried, watching the little green hint of light escape from Tommy's dino gem.
Carl chuckled shaking his head. "No. No. No. I was actually looking for you. I heard this is where you've been hiding. And I wanted to see how good you were. They say you're a pretty good martial artist. You know who Steven Lopez is?"
Tommy nodded slowly. "Yeah, one of the guys who's representing the US in taekwondo."
"Yeah, well that's my cousin. He taught me a few things. And I will make you a deal. Whoever wins this, takes back Kim."
Adam put a hand on his friend's shoulder, but Tommy pushed it away. "Don't do it. Just walk away. Just walk away, please, Tommy."
Tommy nodded taking the hand extended out for his. "Deal."
Adam groaned taking a few steps out of the ring, as the Hispanic men created a circle around the two fighters. He walked over to the corner pulling out his communicator. "Hey, guys. We got a situation in the alley way."
"We're on it, Adam." Conner replied.
"Why? Is everything okay?" Kira asked.
"Just get over here before it gets really ugly." Adam directed.
Adam ran over to the group pushing his way through to his friend as he tossed the flannel to the ground. He grabbed him shaking his head. "What are you doing?"
"Taking Kim back for good." Tommy replied.
Adam watched the dino gem glow and looked over at his opponent as he began to stretch out his muscles. He saw the small green hint escape from his friend's eyes, and the darkness running across his body. "Don't do it, Tommy. This isn't worth it."
"He'll pay for taking Kim away from me all those years ago."
"That's in the past."
"And he'll think twice about messing with me." he pushed Adam back.
Adam forced out a breath as Tommy launched himself into a back flip and began to warm his own muscles.
Minutes passed.
And with each opponent warmed up, it was a surprise that no one else was around but them. With as suspicious as they looked in the alleyway, not a whole lot of people travel through the area unless they really had to. They say bad things happen in those alleys, and it was no lie. Something was about to go done right here. And it wasn't going to be pretty.
No one knew who made the first move, but they attacked each other hard. Each of them sending a set of punches and kicks that was blocked by the other. Carl made a back flip to avoid a swipe to his feet by Tommy. And Tommy retaliated with another flip and a punch that finally made contact to Carl's neck. He stumbled back and grumbled. He went after Tommy again, but he moved aside and launched another kick that sent Carl to the ground.
Adam watched the darkness grow in his friend as he circled around the fallen Spanish man. He whispered to himself. "Fight through the anger."
Tommy knelt down and pulled the man up to his knees. "You're pathetic."
Carl spat out some blood and threw down Tommy's hand. "Temper. Temper. Temper. I can see why she likes you. She likes to have that fiery spirit in the bed."
Tommy growled as he grabbed him, but Carl slipped away and quickly got to his feet. He launched a few more kicks that sent the skilled martial artist to the ground hard. Adam was about to run into the ring, but one of Carl's friends pushed him back.
The fight continued with the two skilled men, and it took awhile to make the other falter. Carl must have studied some of Tommy's moves because he knew where each hit was going to go, blocking each of them or dodging another. And the furious anger continued to grow in the black dino thunder ranger as he let out a painful cry.
"No. Not now." Adam breathed as he watched the man take on a darker stride. He tried to push his way through, but soon found himself in a fight with Carl's friends.
He let out a breath and watched them advance against him. He used his own kung fu skills to keep them at bay, hoping the teens would arrive soon or things were not going to be pretty at all.
Carl looked over at Tommy noticing something different about him. "What?! Tired already."
When Tommy looked up, the green hint of evil covered his entire pupil. He let out a devious laugh. "No. And you have no idea who you're messing with. Kim is mine! And no one will take her away from me again."
"Let's go." Carl fell into a fighter stance. He smiled when Tommy was the first to make the move.
But before he could launch a kick, Tommy's hand went straight for his neck, pulling him off the ground. Carl gagged, trying to break the lock, but it was firm. He wasn't going to go anywhere unless someone knocked Tommy away.
Adam pinned one arm of his aggressor and looked over at the two fighters. He shook his head, and pushed the man back. He launched himself over the other aggressors and advanced toward his friend and the prize set in his hand.
"I will destroy you. No one messes with me and gets away with it. No one." Tommy growled.
Carl looked into the other man's eyes as fright fell over him. He watched the fiery green light escape them.
Adam cried out as he launched a kick to his friend's knee. Tommy faltered enough for Carl to slip away. Tommy growled looking from the man catching his breath to the one who decided to ruin his fun. His friend. But what he saw there was another person in his way of reaching his true goal of destruction. And he knew he would have to put him out of his misery for disrupting his fight.
Tommy launched himself toward the black ninja, but Adam pushed him against the wall, pinning him there. "Snap out of it, Tommy!"
Tommy pushed him away as Carl slowly got to his feet. He tackled the man to the ground and threw Carl's head into the concrete several times. He punched him a few more times. Adam raced over, tried to pull his friend off, but he couldn't. But when he heard the voices of his students pass through his ears he stopped short. He looked up and saw his students race over pulling him off the weakened Hispanic.
And when he blinked, the evil and fiery rage was demolished. The darkness in his eyes was gone, going back to the normal alert tiger and falcon eyes of the real person beneath it. He looked at the mess he left on the ground as Adam quickly checked the status of the fallen man.
Carl's friends rushed over in a panic, pulling the weakened Carl to his feet.
They barked out orders in Spanish as they turned away, and as Adam tried to encourage them to get Carl to a hospital, they were already gone. But they ensured Tommy that they'd be back and seeing more revenge than before.
The teens looked over at their teacher with confusion and fright as he collapsed to the ground.
"What's going on with me?" Tommy asked quietly, shaking from what just happened.
"Relax, Dr. O. We'll figure something out." Trent said trying to not sound fearful.
But they all were afraid. More than ever. They didn't know what to make of Tommy or what was going on in his mind, but they would figure things out. They had to. Or upon Kim's return, nothing would ever be the same again. Not like it was now.
"We won't stop until we get some answers, Dr. O." Conner nodded, helping the man back to his feet.
Tommy looked over at Adam who didn't know what else to say. "You warned me, Adam. But I couldn't stop."
"It wasn't your fault. You can't control it. But we will find answers." Adam said clearly, matching his former leader's determination to find a cure.
"Yeah, we're here to help." Kira said pushing a smile his way.
"Thanks, guys." Tommy pushed open a reassuring smile.
The team followed the confused and shaken ranger out of the alley, hoping they would find answers soon.
To be continued.....
A/N: Just had to do something to trigger that anger inside Tommy. And it won't get any easier. And if you're forgetting, this all ties into "Fighting Spirit" when I get to it. But you'll see why soon enough.