THE REASON - Part Fifty-Seven: Invisible Lies
Summary: A strange ooze leaves Tommy in an invisible state, or does it?
Disclaimer: Power Rangers isn't mine and won't be mine for a long time, no matter how much I plead the gods above. Oh well. I tried.
A/N: Okay, this ties into "Disappearing Act" and of course, got to add in that evil element somewhere, so hope you like it. I am completely stuck on writer's block. And, if you expect a post anytime soon—give me two weeks at most. But until next time, I'll see ya'll later. Peace.
"You can't see the real person behind the mask because the evil continues to test your real will-power to defeat me. But I'm still here." -Eclyptyk Neo
Days later.
The teens rushed into the underground lab, having heard there was something big to discuss. They saw the three adults, Hayley, Adam and Tommy, now in his ranger suit at the other end of the room.
"So, what going on?" Conner was the first to ask.
The three adults in the room turned toward them.
"We might have found something to free Tommy here from his evil encasement for good. And get him back to normal." Hayley said with a smile.
"Well, that's great. What are we waiting for?" Ethan said jumping around happily.
"I really don't like the idea." Adam said quietly. "I'm having a bad feeling about it."
Tommy looked over at his black ranger counterpart, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever works, right?"
Hayley briefly explained their findings to the teens. They found a strange ooze, that Elsa seemed to be looking at too, and it was clear to find out what the ooze could do for the team. She ran some tests finding that the compounds in the ooze should free him from his evil encasing and free him of anymore problems with his gem. They just hoped it was right.
Tommy moved toward a newly modified machine that resembled a shower stall.
The teens moved over to the machine where Hayley was fixing the green ooze into place. Adam crossed his arms, dropping his head, still not convinced that this was going to work.
"Good luck, Dr. O." Conner said with a nod.
"See you on the flip side." Tommy inclined his head, ready for what was coming his way.
"Power up." Hayley proclaimed as she turned on the machine.
The machine began to whir to life as the lights came on. A tube connected to the green ooze carried the contents over to the shower housing the teacher. The green ooze showered the black dino thunder ranger as the team jumped back. A light blinked them as they shielded their eyes. When they opened them again, they saw the teacher was no longer standing there.
"Nooo!" the teens cried.
When the last of the ooze drained out, the room fell silent and the team exchanged a look as they looked at the place where Tommy once stood. But when they saw a towel move through mid-air they each furrowed their eyebrows.
"Tommy, are you there?" Hayley was the first to ask.
"Yeah, it's me." his voice seem to come out of nowhere. The towel ran across the air–or whatever was there. "What's going on?"
"It seem your dino powers decided to kick into overdrive. No one can see you."
"Great. I'm actually feeling a whole lot better, and no one can see me."
"I knew this was a bad idea." Adam shook his head as he walked over to the man across the room. He patted the air, but obviously it hit a shoulder. "You're lucky I know you're there. And I doubt this is the last we will see of those evil powers."
Tommy smacked his friend's hand aside annoyed. "Not funny, Adam."
"An invisible science teacher." Ethan laughed, pointing at the place in front of him. "That's great."
"Very funny, Ethan." Tommy sighed as he moved across the room.
"Don't worry, Dr. O. We'll figure something out." Trent said trying to sound encouraging.
Adam pointed behind them, to make the team turn to see the towel was now behind them by the stairs.
"Sorry, guys. I'm over here." Tommy replied as he moved the towel from one arm to the next.
Hayley and Adam ensured the teens that they would figure some things out and inform them of their findings later. The teens looked at their blue ranger counterpart. Ethan took a step back, shaking his head. But Conner already had a hold on him and escorted him out the door. The other two teens followed. They had to get started on teaching him the basis of going out on a date.
-----
Hours passed.
And another monster had been defeated by the Rangers. It was nothing new, but getting kinda old because they found no real challenge in their evil aggressors.
The teens, minus Trent, came by to see the progress of the other's work. But it was no surprise when they didn't find much information.
Adam and Hayley were all over the room trying to calculate other solutions to freeing the Black Dino Thunder Ranger from another imprisonment. He was sitting on a chair as indicated by the wires on his arms, chest and head.
"So, I don't assume we want Kim to know about this little set back?" Conner asked.
"I'd rather keep it that way. And knowing her, she'll probably be on the first flight back to find out what's really going on." Tommy replied from where he sat by the computer.
The teens watched the wires move in turn–looking like they were floating–as Tommy relaxed again.
Adam walked up beside him patting him on the shoulder. "I guess you got your wish when you wanted no one to see you."
"I never meant it. This is so much more worse." the teacher sighed. "And so much for trying to sneak up on you."
"Sorry. Ninja powers." he shrugged.
"I'm sure it's nothing serious, Tommy." Hayley reassured the teacher from the computer console. "As far as I could tell, that evil encoding should have been neutralized. Or shouldn't be that bad."
Ethan couldn't help but laugh, but Kira backhanded his shoulder not liking his gesture of making fun of their teacher. "Sorry, Dr. O. I can't help it."
"Don't start with me, Ethan." the teacher said. "It's been bad enough that my dino powers haven't been the most reliable in the past few months. And if we don't figure this out before the games ends, Kim will probably kill me."
"Oh, come on, Dr. O. You like being the guinea pig."
Tommy forced out a breath. "In all my years as a Power Ranger, nothing has even been this crazy."
-----
Mesogog's island fortress.
Mesogog walked through the halls grumbling to himself, hands were behind his back in this usual manner. "Dr. Oliver continues to play a hard game of trust. I must destroy his now while he is vulnerable." He stopped for a moment, using his keen sense of smell to scan the hallway. He turned around letting out a growl. "Do you dare cross my path, Trent?"
Trent emerged from the wall breaking his control on his dino powers. "Dad...can we talk for a moment?"
Mesogog growled walking up to the boy. "Do you truly want to mess with me, Trent?"
"Dad, I know you're in there. C'mon, you got to fight it." Trent said slowly as he took a step back. "I need your help."
The dino man sneered as he fell to his knees. He hit the wall as the strange greenish-yellow light engulfed his body. He began to lose control as the real person behind the mask came crashing to the ground. Trent raced over as he pulled his father to his feet and carried him into the main laboratory in the fortress.
"Trent...what are you doing here?" the man whispered as he wiped his brow.
"Dad..I need your help again." Trent said slowly.
"I wouldn't bet on it, Trent." another voice said from beyond the shadows.
Trent and Anton looked up catching their breaths. Footsteps echoed through the lab and the Black Dino Thunder Ranger emerged in his newly modified shield. The usual evil green hint radiated off of him. And he was very much visible to the two of them.
"Dr. Oliver, wait." Trent held up his hands in surrender. But when the man took a step forward, he fell into a fighter stance in front of his father. "Don't do it. I don't want to fight you."
"I will destroy you, Trent. There's no other way." the dark ranger replied then looked at the man in the chair. "You'll be next, Anton."
"Don't do this, Tommy." Anton breathed.
Trent brought up his dino morpher. "White Ranger! Dino Power!" he was engulfed by a white light and when it cleared, he stood in his white ranger suit ready for action.
-----
Conner was kicking his small red soccer ball around the lab, when it zoomed passed Hayley's head and knocked down the wires that stood in mid-air where Tommy was sitting.
"Hey, Conner, watch yourself. You coulda hit Dr.O." Ethan proclaimed catching the ball.
Conner furrowed his eyebrows as he walked over to the chair. "Um..I know I'm slow at this, but..." he picked up one of the wires laying on the chair. "I thought Dr. Oliver was sitting right here."
Hayley turned from the console eyes widening. "What do you mean?"
Conner looked over at Ethan and Kira as they heard footsteps from the stairs. They looked at Adam, who in turn looked over at Hayley in a worried expression.
"We gotta problem." Adam said.
The alarms went off as the team raced over to the main computer console. On the screen, they saw the White Ranger came crashing to a painful fall in the woods. The Black Ranger followed, and the teens looked to their ninja mentor who nodded in turn. The two came from within an invisi-portal.
"Whoa! Where'd he get that phat shield?" Ethan asked.
"But how? I thought we couldn't see him." Kira said.
"It's the shield's power. It's giving him a chance to see him." Adam said simply. "You'd better get out there."
The teens nodded. They found their place in the center of the room, morphed and retreated out the forest entrance.
-----
Trent went flying into the air and hit the ground hard. He caught his breath watching his aggressor walking toward him. "Wait. Stop. Don't."
"I have no other choice, Trent. You have to be destroyed." the black dino thunder ranger said. He pulled out his staff, raising it into the air. "Good-bye, White Ranger."
Trent looked away, guarding himself for the blow, but sparks exploded from the Black Dino Thunder Ranger as he fell back. He groaned in pain. Trent looked to his right and saw his fellow teenage comrades running over to his aide.
"Trent. You okay?" Kira helped the white ranger to his feet.
"I'll be all right." Trent nodded, turning toward their teacher.
Ethan fell into a fighter stance before their teacher. The Black Dino Thunder Ranger growled forced out a hand. It threw the teens back into the trees by the power of the invisible push.
"Do you dare cross my path, Power Rangers?" he growled.
"C'mon, Dr. O. We don't want to fight." Conner pleaded.
"Then it'll be so much easier to destroy you." he replied.
Ethan got to his feet catching his breath. "Ya know, this whole good ranger-bad ranger thing is starting to get on my nerves."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Ethan. But this has to end now." the black dino thunder ranger said.
"No, it won't." another voice called from the shadows.
The Black Ranger turned around to see the black ninja ranger advance towards him with a flying kick. He moved away and found a kick to the ninja's side. Adam hit the ground letting out a painful breath. The teens, back in their civilian form, tackled the legendary ranger to the ground, giving the black ninja a chance to strip off the shield. Or at least tried to. Tommy twisted out of the heap, but with the shield was nearly messed up, his image began to fade. And only one who could really see him was the skilled ninja. The teens jumped their teacher again. They pinned him to the ground as Adam moved to quickly strip the shield off the man. Then it grew silent as the man was no longer in sight, but the teens knew he was still below them.
"Tommy?" Adam forced out a breath as he held the shield in his hand.
Tommy forced out a breath. "You guys can let me go. I'll be fine."
The teens looked at their ninja mentor who nodded letting them release their hold on the teacher. The teens took a step back as the watched the little outline around their teacher get to his feet, brushing himself off.
Adam directed them to report back to the lab as he looked at the man standing beside him. "You're not leaving my sight."
"Don't worry, Adam. I won't go anywhere again. I think after you stripped off that shield, there shouldn't be much problems to my evil nature."
Adam watched the man move forward as he followed the teens out of the forest. Adam looked at the shield in his hands, watching the drain of green energy demolish on it as the legendary ranger walked away. His only conclusion was the work of the dino gem's absence, and only one could destroy it for good—Tommy's dino gem.
He threw the shield to the ground and ran off after the team, hoping it wouldn't cause them anymore problems.
To be continued....
A/N: Okay, I know by now you're probably really confused. I'm sorry. Give me a break. When you're staying up in the wee-hours of the night/morning and typing away on a computer that's a little slow and crappy, it's hard to get what needs to be said on paper. And time and time again I've been told to take my time, and I have. But it's so hard to think of stuff you will like. Either way, thanks readers. New and old. And hope you get some answers. Until the next post, keep doing what you do and I'll try to get you a little more up to date when I can. Peace. And may the powers always protect you. Isang diwa. Isang mahal.