Summary: While Tommy is getting his doctorate, something interesting happens. A new evil has makes itself present and he barely escapes with his life. The rangers, having gone back into retirement, have a hard decision to make. Do they either want to make new rangers or take the powers themselves? Sequel to "Saving the World, Again". Pairings are the same as in that story. PRDT. I suggest you read STWA before you read this one, or some details will confuse you. Contains partial nudity and cursing. If PG-13 doesn't sound like it covers it, let me know and I'll change it to R.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers or any of the weapons associated with the Power Rangers. I do own the characters, Ally Jameson and Fanny Abbott, as well as any other characters from "Saving the World, Again" that may be brought into this story as it progresses.

I need to give some quick shout-outs to the people who reviewed the last chapter of the pre-quell to this story, so don't go crazy about that.

Daniaryezel: That's exactly how I want you to feel and you'll see why.

jedi4jesus19: I won't. This is the sequel and I hope that three days isn't too bad of a wait.

Slshadowfox: They won't be in jail because the evil will turn into a different form in this story, get my drift?

powergal: Thanks for reviewing and I hope that I haven't kept you waiting for too long.

XRachX: Thanks, I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy this one.

Ghostwriter: So will I, thank goodness, school will be over soon. Although, I have college this summer, which means some weeks you won't hear anything from me.

KimberlyAnnOliver: Kinda, although I have never really watched the DinoThunder series. So, I guess you can say that I will be using the characters, but the descriptions of how they got their powers and such will not follow the series.

amy: Thanks for the review!

Now, let's get this story started!

Tommy's Thoughts

As I walked down the path that leads to my house, I feel myself getting soaked to the bone as the rain thunders down around me, on an unusually cold July night. I have just had one of the worst forty-eight hour periods that I have ever experienced, even through my ranger years, but I still have about a quarter-mile before I can finally get some rest. I feel the dino gems moving in my pocket, as they rub against my leg causing the bruise under them to hurt, but all I can think of is what the hell have I gotten us into this time?

I don't want them to have to do all of this again, I don't really want to do all of this again, but I know I have to. I know what the dino gems can be used for, but I don't think any of us want to suit up again, not after what happened the last time we did. Nicarni-Aso wasn't exactly a piece of cake and Mesogogg seems to be worse than she was, although she had not reached her full power when we attacked her. I found that out after some more research that I did on the nights I couldn't sleep while I was trying to get over from being away from Kim. Thank goodness that I have finally reached my house, I just hope that Kim stayed up late tonight. Otherwise, I will have to stay in the rain for the rest of the night.

"Tommy, what happened to you?" Kim asked, when she opened the door to find her fiancé standing on the doorstep, soaked to the bone, looking dazed and confused. His clothing looked tattered and torn, which only increased her bewilderment and worry about what had brought him home in this condition. He looked as if he had gone through another battle, but this time he had handled it all by himself. She hadn't been expecting for him to get back for another week or two, which was what really led her to wonder what had happened to make him come back early and in the condition that he was in. The thoughts that were running through her mind were not reassuring as she waited for him to make a move to come inside, as she was afraid her touch would hurt him even more. As all physical signs were showing that might be the case, although she hated knowing that. She longed to throw her arms around him and give him a kiss after not seeing him for almost a year and a half, she somehow managed to restrain herself, for the time being. 'Oh, Tommy, what have you gotten yourself into this time?'

"We need to call the other rangers together, we have a problem, Kim," Tommy said, as he started to go through the doorway and Kim moved out of his way and followed behind him into the living room. His walking looked pained and difficult, while the rest of his body seemed to agree that he needed some rest, but he was willing himself to stay awake. Why? She didn't know and she didn't really want to ask.

He knew that he was lucky to escape with his life, but now he had to explain to the others what he had managed to bring with him and everything that had happened over the past year and a half. Starting with the discovery of the dino gems and finishing with the explosion of the island, which left him as the sole, known, survivor of the incident. It was rough knowing that some of the people he had gotten so close to had not been able to escape, because of this new, demented, evil that now roamed among them. The best that he could do was promise revenge on this nemesis and with any luck, he would fulfill his promise. He had never let them down before and he planned on getting rid of this creature as well, only he could not fight any longer, not with a marriage pending and all of the wonderful things that were brought with it.

"Tommy, do they need to come right now or can it wait until morning? You look like you need to get some sleep, yourself, honey," Kim said, looking at the clock, which read midnight, but that might not matter to him. The only reason she was even up at this hour was because she had gotten enthralled in some of the school materials she had just received today. Over the last year she had gotten a job at Reefside Elementary and started a gymnastics program in conjunction with Tommy and Rocky's dojo.

School was going to start in about a month for the students and even sooner for them. Tommy would again be working at the high school, under a different principal and from what she had seen of the woman, Tommy would not like her at all. She, however, couldn't tell him any of this, not until she knew what had happened to cause his early departure from the island, although she was happy that he was back home. She now felt as if her earlier premonition of begging him to stay because he would be going into great danger had come true and she didn't like that at all.

"They need to come now. I can stay up for a few more hours," Tommy said, sinking down into his couch, not caring that he was soaked to the bone, from the half mile walk to his home. Kim, in the meantime, sneaked upstairs to make the calls and get Tommy a change of clothes.

He hadn't had enough money to make it all the way there and couldn't call, as his credit card and cell phone had been destroyed in the explosion. He knew that the other rangers would be outraged to receive a call at this time of night, but it was a true emergency this time. They didn't have a choice as to whether or not they could take on this evil, it had chosen them, not the other way around. When they put their powers back, they made a promise to only use them if there was not another power source that the Power Rangers could use.

Tommy had found another power source and was willing to use it, but he did not want to force any of them back into uniform. He was actually hoping to find some new rangers, but he wanted to run it by them first, just to make sure that they were all on board with this idea. If not, he would let whoever wanted to go back into action do just that, as he did not have the strength to argue.

"Jason," Kim said, as she prepared herself for the onslaught of cursing and yelling, as Jason was not pleasant at any time of the morning, much less midnight.

"This isn't Jason," Trini said, groggily looking at the clock and then over at Jason, who was still, sound asleep. Thank goodness, or Kim would be receiving an earful right now, as would she for him being woken up. "Do you need to talk to him?"

"No, Trini I need you to wake him up and get him to come to Tommy's house," Kim said, hating to ask her best friend to do this. She knew good and well what Jason could be like, if he woke up in a bad mood and prayed that Trini would forgive her for this later, as even she didn't truly know why.

"Kim, what's going on?" Trini asked, going to turn on the lights and grab some clothes, knowing something was definitely wrong in Reefside. She had never called at this time of night before and she sounded ready to break down at any moment. Trini could only pray that something hadn't happened to Tommy, otherwise Kim wouldn't be able to take in much longer.

"I don't know, but we've got a big problem," Kim said, as she heard Tommy groan from downstairs. She had better get back down there soon or he might do something crazy. He certainly did not seem up to doing much right now and if he was sick, he wouldn't be able to haul himself off of the couch and to the bathroom in time to throw up.

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Trini said, hanging up the phone and going to wake Jason up, which was not going to be a pleasant job.

"Here's you some clothes," Kim said throwing him a pair of boxers and an old, faded, red T-shirt, along with a dark pink towel to dry himself off with. He looked like his mind was a million miles away, while his body was sitting in what was going to become their living room. The last time she had seen him this spaced out was before he proposed and that was because he was under a great deal of stress, but what could be stressing him this time? Why wouldn't he just tell her, before he brought all of the rangers up there? Something was wrong, something was really wrong this time. "Dry off and then get changed. They're on their way out here, but it'll take some of them over an hour to get here."

"Thanks," Tommy said, running the towel over his head, before forcing himself to stand up. He didn't want to move, but knew that he'd have one hell of a cold if he didn't get out of these wet clothes and that happened to be the last thing he needed right now.

He slowly began to take off his tattered clothing, which revealed multiple bruises and a few deep cuts. Kim looked at him, in horrified awe at how his body was so badly beaten, from something that she knew he had no control over. It was more than obvious that all of this had happened very recently, maybe only the day before, as the scabs were not even fully formed.

"You're welcome," Kim said, as Tommy handed his wet clothing to her. She couldn't help but find herself staring, as he continued to take off his clothing and place it in Kim's open arms. Tommy seemed completely oblivious to what his actions were doing to Kim, because he had never so much as mooned her and now he was practically stripping in front of her. If this had been under different circumstances, she would have left the room, but she didn't think leaving him alone was a good idea. If he were to faint, she didn't want him to be alone and it looked like that could happen at any time. "Tommy, are you feeling alright?"

"Does it look like I'm feeling alright?" Tommy asked, picking up the dry boxers off of the couch and slipping them on. He then caught himself, too late, as he figured out what he had just done. He had never thought that he would do something like this until they were married, but his body was on autopilot, with him mind miles away, trying to figure out how he would explain this to all of them. His embarrassment showed as his face turned a deep shade of red, before glancing over at Kim, who had the same look mirrored on her face. "I'm sorry, Kim. I'm not thinking."

"It's all right, I don't think I would be in my right mind after whatever you've been through," Kim said, as her blush started to recede. Tommy then sat down on the couch again and stretched out. He reached up to try to pull Kim onto the couch, but he didn't have enough energy to make her sit down. So, she did what she knew he wanted her to do and joined him on the couch.

"I wish I had never gone to get my doctorate. I've missed you so much," Tommy whispered, wrapping his arms around her as she laid down next to him. If he had just stayed at home, he wouldn't be in so much pain and he wouldn't be the one delivering the news of this new evil to all of them. For all he knew, this new evil might not have even existed if they hadn't made some of the discoveries that they made while he was there.

"Tommy, this is what you wanted and no matter what it'll all be fine. I'm glad you're back home," Kim said and noticed that Tommy had already fallen asleep from pure exhaustion. She didn't see the point in moving, so she decided to stay there until the first ranger arrived. Neither knew that another person had showed up outside their residence, only minutes before Tommy did, looking for Kimberly Hart. She had been the lucky one, so many years ago and if he had it his way, he would rip Tommy and Kim apart again.

AN: I don't really know anything about DinoThunder, so I don't know exactly how the explosion occurred, but the description of that will be in the next chapter. I just wanted to go ahead and let you know about how limited my knowledge is of the DinoThunder series. I know that this chapter is very short, but I thought it would be best to start like this, before Tommy drops the bomb on all of them.