Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers or any of the weapons associated with the Power Rangers, so if you recognize it, it is not mine. I do own the characters, Ally Jameson, Fanny Abbott, Richard Myles, Dennis Alderway, Amanda Williams, Charlie Hughes, Ashley Meggs, Amy Tillery, Meagan Sipper-Stone and Todd Billingsway as well as any other characters from "Saving the World, Again" that may be brought into this story.
jedi4jesus19: Thank you for the review and I'll try to keep it up, but I am going to be going between this series and the "I'm Gonna Cry" story for awhile.
XRachX: Rita and Zedd returning is always a possibility, although I can say that I probably won't do that in this series. I can make no guarantees for the other story, as I have not written that far yet.
danhyde girl: Richard is the guy that attacked Kim, but you'll see how he gets his own treatment in this story and the next one.
Now, on with the Story!
We're What?
Morning Conversation's
"Kim, I just don't know how these kids are going to take all of this," Tommy said, sipping on a cup of coffee, while waiting for breakfast to be finished. He loved having someone, who was willing to cook for him and do all the things a wife did, but there were times when he wanted her to stop everything she did for him and let him do something for her, but this was not one of those mornings. He was more stressed about what he knew he had tobe done today than he had been about anything in a long time. The last time he could remember being this stressed was before he proposed and he knew that she knew that. Although, things that had to do with rangers tended to do this to him, he thought he would have been used to the stress by now. Obviously he wasn't, as he tapped his foot against the tile floor. "I mean, we weren't exactly jumping for joy when we got our first powers. What's to say that they won't think we're freaks and turn us in, so we can't help anyone?"
"Tommy, do you trust everything that we have done over these last few weeks with all of this?" Kim asked, as she placed a plate of scrambled eggs on the table. He was more nervous than she had expected him to be, but it would all calm down, sometime soon. He had a way for controlling his nerves, around everyone but her.
"Yeah, but there are still so many things that can go wrong with this, I don't know if I can risk your life again," Tommy said, picking up his glasses and placing them on his face, as he was likely to forget them if he did not do this now. She smiled at him, as he continued to watch her, but she knew his mind was occupied with many things this morning, namely how could he be the least suspicious in the proposition he was going to make to some of his students. Last night, after everyone had left, he told her more about the new rangers and she had to admit that they did not seem to have in common with the first team.
"My whole life is a giant risk, Tommy. It has been for years, but I know that these kids will at least hear you out and if worst comes to worst, we'll suit back up. It is something we've always known could happen since the beginning of all of this, sweetie," Kim said, giving him a peck on the cheek before going to finish the ironing of her clothes. He watched her until she was out of his sight and thought about how right she was. They had not asked to be pulled back into duty two years ago and they hadn't asked for the other rangers to choose them and Jason as the fighters. Tommy hadn't asked Jason to make them talk, although he was happy he did now. She was right, they had lived with risks far longer than anyone else they knew ever would.
"I don't want us to suit back up right now. We're getting married in a few months and the last thing either of us needs to worry about is our communicator going off, saying there is an attack in Reefside. If we don't get the teleportation grid finished, we wouldn't be of any use and I don't want to risk something like that happening," Tommy said, as he began to eat the food off of his plate. This evening they probably wouldn't see each other long, as Kim had to teach gymnastics lessons until seven. He needed to get all of this off his chest, but he knew he could overwhelm her, if he was not careful.
"I know Tommy and I have confidence in you that you will be able to convince these kids to do this. If you need me, you can come get me at any time," Kim said, walking back out in a knee length black skirt, dark pink sleeveless shirt and heels. They had visitor's coming to look at the school and their principal had asked them to dress nice, which was not easy when some teachers had twenty students to attend to, many of whom were very hyper. Tommy already knew that, but he could not believe in asking elementary teachers to dress up and be able to teach, especially if they were running after hald of Kim's class. She had a rough class this year, although he could tell some of them were going to keep her sanity, thank goodness.
"Thanks, but do you really think I have a chance at making these kids understand what is at stake if they do not take this up? What it means to other people, not just them?" Tommy asked, as she smiled at him. She knew he had a chance to convince those kids to jump into their Zords and head off to battle, immediately, if he tried hard enough. If anyone would be able to get them to listen, it would be him. That was why they were willing to put their continued retirement in his hands and not try to talk to the teenagers themselves. He could do the job, but he had to get over the worry of not convincing them.
"Tommy, you can do anything you set your mind to, including convincing these kids to be rangers," Kim said, as he gave her a smile and a hug, before leaving for the high school.
Afternoon Worry's"That is all for today. Please work on the questions at the end of the section and be prepared to turn them in tomorrow at the beginning of the period," Tommy said, finishing up with his Physics class and looking out at the class. He had a mixture of tenth and eleventh graders this period, but the three students he needed to talk to were sitting at different tables, talking to their own friends. Now how was he going to talk to all of them at once, without drawing anymore attention to them than he knew he already would? These students certainly were not going to help him any with his plans as they were, again, sitting far away from each other, but he was used to doing almost everything the hard way and this was going to be no exception.
"Dr. O, can I get some help with this?" Ethan asked and Tommy walked over to explain the problem, glad that this was the last period of the day. He had been think about how he was going to do this all day, but all he could think was to call them together at the end of class. Even that might be too suspicious, but it was better than telling them in front of the whole class, as they might let it leak out to Principal Randall and he didn't need to deal with her today as well.
"Do you understand it now?" Tommy asked, after explaining the details that Ethan did not understand. He was one of the smartest kids in the class and Tommy knew that he would probably be explaining it to the other students that were too afraid to ask him about it themselves. Although he had never tried to intimidate his students, many of them seemed to be intimidated by him, but Ashley and Charlie promised they had nothing to do with it, not that he believed them. Many of the kids had asked them where some of the bruises came from and most days, they had happened to spar with Tommy, although he pushed them more than any of his other students.
"Yeah, thanks Dr. O," Ethan said as the last bell rang. He, like all the other students, was ready to bolt from the campus, but Dr. O had another surprise in store for him, besides the pop quiz, they had taken today.
"Kira, Conner, Ethan, I need to talk to you for a moment," Tommy said, as the other students began filing out. The three of them looked confused to have their names called in the same sentence, to talk to a teacher. What was he up to, calling all of them together, with the rest of the class's full knowledge? They did not like to admit that they even knew each other, but he was forcing them to do that right now.
"Yes, sir," Kira said, carefully picking up her books and walking towards the front of the room. She had never had a teacher do this before and her not be in trouble, but she couldn't imagine Ethan being in trouble for something, so what was it that they were having to talk to him about? She thought that they might have some clue, as she looked at their faces, but they seemed as clueless about it as she was, which did not make her feel any more comfortable about it.
"I need the three of you to meet me at my home in about thirty minutes. It's very important," Tommy said, handing each of them directions to his house. He didn't want to discuss this out of the security of the command center, but he knew he might have to, to get them to show up. He was willing to do almost anything to get them there, although they could not tell that by watching his actions, as he acted as if this was business as usual.
"I don't have a ride," Conner said, hoping this would get him out of doing whatever his teacher had planned for them to do. He had wanted to go home and sleep, as he was going to have soccer practice later that evening. The football team used the soccer field as its practice field, which was most inconvenient for the soccer players, as they had to practice at all sorts of crazy hours. His attempt to get out of this didn't work. Tommy had been prepared to drive all of them to his house, if it was necessary.
"I'll give you a ride," Tommy said, as the others watched in surprise. What did Dr. O have up his sleeve that would possibly tempt him to offer a ride to Conner, of all people? Conner could try almost anyone's patience, especially most adults, but he seemed willing to overlook that right now. There was something important that was going on that somehow included them, as a group. "Can you two meet me there?"
"Yeah, we will," Ethan said, starting towards the student parking lot. He had just celebrated his sixteenth birthday, so he had his driver's license and a car. He was happy that he did not have to ride with Dr. O, although later he would wish that he had been forced to.
"Ethan, what's going on?" Kira asked, as Conner walked sulkily behind them. This could definitely hurt the image he had been working so hard to keep up, not that he dared say that to Dr. O. Not many people would dare cross him, especially if they had ever seen him spar, against anyone. He looked like a nice enough person, but they knew that under that exterior appearance, he was a lethal fighter, according to Ashley and Charlie. They should know, after some of the encounters they had, had with him while being in his class.
"Don't know, but he seems to have something up his sleeve. You need to hitch a ride?" Ethan asked and Kira nodded her head. Ethan and she had been good friends for quite awhile, although not many people knew about it. It wasn't that they were embarrassed to know each other. It was more like their friends wouldn't approve and they cared, up to a point, about what their other friends thought.
"So, Dr. O, what are you going to make us do?" Conner asked, as he climbed into the jeep. He had calmed down some about having to ride with his teacher, but he still didn't really like the idea. It was never a good idea to be seen around your teachers after school, especially if they were like Dr. Oliver and kept as much a secret from the students as he could. If he was talking to him, then Conner had the feeling that he was going to learn much more than he wanted to about his teacher's life, outside of Reefside's campus. "Cool ride, so what's with the girl that Cassidy's been telling us about?"
"Conner, you'll get to meet her this afternoon, since you seem so interested," Tommy said, turning the jeep in the direction of his house. He had the feeling that it was going to be a very long ride home this afternoon. He had forgotten about some of the stupid questions that Conner would ask in class and he just got a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he could not be able to take this very long. He had patience during class, but outside of the classroom, he was not as patient with things like this.
"They have left the premises," Elsa said, looking into the old television that she kept in her office. It might not have been the most technologically advanced communicating device, but it served its purpose and it, also, didn't draw any attention to itself or so she thought. There were not many principals' that had a television in their office, but no one had brought that to her attention as of yet.
"Well, I shall send the tryadrones, maybe they can reek some havoc," Mesogogg said and soon the creatures were landing around Tommy and Ethan's vehicles. Tommy had prepared himself for something like this, only he had hoped that the teenagers would have agreed to be rangers by the time this happened. Now he was going to have to throw it at them. He did not have a choice about that now and he was sure that the other rangers were not going to like this when they heard about it. They had all hoped he would be able to have a nice, calm conversation with them before he gave them their morphers, instead of throwing it to them during a battle, like the one that was about to ensue.
"What are those things?" Conner asked, as Dr. O slammed the jeep into park and began to exit his vehicle. This man had to be crazy; there was no way he was going to go up against those things. The only people he had ever heard of doing something like that was the Power Rangers, and they were from Angel Grove, not Reefside. But hadn't someone mentioned Dr. O came from Angel Grove? No, that must be wrong, he was just a man. "Dr. O, keep driving. We can't do anything here."
"Oh yes we can. We can fight," Tommy said, throwing Conner a morpher. Conner looked down at it and then over at Dr. O. What in the world, was he asking him to do and what the hell was this thing he was holding in his hands? Dr. O wasn't being very clear and from what he had seen about him, he was usually very clear about everything he wanted them to do. This seemed out of character for the young doctor, which only left Conner more shocked about his current position, as Tommy launched himself into fighting the tryadrones.
"Oh my God, what are those things?" Kira asked, as she got out of Ethan's car and headed towards where Dr. O and Conner stood. Well, actually, it was more like Conner stood and Dr. O fought. Dr. O had thrown him something, but it didn't seem to be anything too important, as Conner was only looking at it. Dr. O, however, seemed to be wanting to rip the thing out of his hand and use it, for something.
"I don't know, but we need to help," Ethan said, as they ran over to where Conner was standing. They got there just in time to hear the ultimatum that came along with whatever Conner was holding.
"If you don't want to you don't have to, but once you accept, you're one of us forever," Tommy said, taking on some of the tryadrones. These kids had better decide soon or he would take Conner's morpher away from him and morph himself, if he had to. He could not keep on going up against these things without some powers for a long time, as his residual powers had been destroyed on the island, with the last battle he had fought with these things.
"One of what?" Conner asked, looking at the morpher and watching as Kira and Ethan were thrown ones that were very similar to his, except they were different colors. Hold it, they were going to be brought in on this too? What was going on here that they didn't know about?
"A Power Ranger," Tommy said, taking on the tryadrones, while they stared at the morphers and then back at their teacher. He couldn't possibly be talking about the Power Rangers that saved Angel Grove all those times, could he? But the more they watched him fight, the more obvious it was that he knew about the rangers or had maybe even been one himself, so many years ago. He had to have been out of the game for a long time, but the only thing that had kept him in shape was working at the dojo for all of these years. Even that didn't seem to keep him safe, as the tryadrones were starting to get the best of him.
"How?" Kira asked, being brought back into reality, as Tommy sailed through the air and landed on his jeep. He hadn't gotten all of his sleep back after that week on nearly no sleep and it showed, as he was not able to handle them as well as before, but maybe these teenagers would get him out of this jam, for a little while at least. He knew that he was going to have to fight more than most of the other rangers wanted him to, but he didn't have much of a choice about it today. When Kim saw the bruises that he had already sustained, she was likely to let him have it, but hopefully she would understand after he explained it all. He couldn't just stand there and let the tryadrones run rampant, as they would have done if no one had intervened.
"DinoThunder, power up, ha," Tommy said, very clearly and he watched the three teens morph. The tryadrones attempt to get the Dino gems had failed and they were soon fleeing the scene, in the same fashion that they had appeared. Mesogogg had not been able to stop them from creating a new team of rangers, which was only infuriating him more. Tommy was going to pay, one-day, although it might be a very long time down the road and he was going to make it worth his while when it happened.
"So, we're what?" Conner asked, looking over at their teacher after they had been instructed to power down. He could not believe what was going on and he hoped that Dr. O had a good explanation for it, as merely fighting the tryadrones did not seem like it would be a good enough reason for them to become rangers.
"Load up and I'll explain it to you when we get to the command center," Tommy said and they quickly did as he had told them. They all couldn't help but wonder what a command center was, but they thought it would be best to not ask that question right now. Dr. O did not look to be in any mood to answer anything, not where they were at least. "It's not safe for us to talk about it here. I don't know who could be listening to us."
"Tommy, what happened?" Kim asked, repeating the question that had started all of this. She had cancelled her classes, due to a migraine and had not been expecting Tommy this early, although she had forgotten that he was only teaching one class now. He could tell that she wasn't feeling well, but that she would help him, as she was not to the point of throwing up, yet. Conner looked at her in awe and then back at Dr. O, Cassidy had never mentioned to them that she looked as good as she did. How in the world did he get someone like her?
"It's a long story, Kim. Come on, we need to talk to them about everything," Tommy said, opening the trapdoor and ushering his students and fiancée into the command center. Kim and he were not even phased by the appearance anymore, but it was obvious that his students were awed by it. No one, in their right mind, would expect to find this in their teacher's basement. No one in their right mind would keep something like this in their basement, but they did not tell Dr. O that, as he seemed to take this very seriously and so did his fiancee. It wasn't possible that they had done this together, was it? No one would have been allowed to help, unless they were rangers.
"My God, what is this place?" Kira asked, as Tommy went over to the computer, to find a video. He had made a video diary to help explain where the Power Rangers began, but it did not include most of the recent events with Mesogogg. He did not think it would be necessary to put him in there, as they would have to deal with him on an almost daily basis, if he really was like all of the other monsters he had faced, in the years past.
"It's going to be your command center, if you choose to stay with us," Tommy said, as he started the video and moved out of the way of the screen. The three teens, crowded around the small screen, to watch all of the information about the past rangers spill out. Kim and he both sat down at the back on the command center, trying not to watch it, as it brought back too many bad memories. By the time the video had ended, the teenagers had looks of awe plastered on their faces, as they turned to ask the questions that were buzzing through their minds, to the only ones that could answer them.
"What does this entail?" Kira asked, as they turned around to see that Kim and Tommy were both teary eyed. They would have expected her to be, but for Tommy to be as well, it was just a little much, after everything that had happened to them today. The things that the rangers had been able to do were amazing feats , but how would they be able to do what they had done? They were only teenagers and not very athletically inclined teenagers as a whole. The only one who was, was Conner and he did not seem interested in this proposition.
"Do you want to know the good news or the bad news first?" Kim asked, wiping her eyes, as Tommy had not regained his composure, yet. He had decided to put the days in there when the pink ranger powers changed hands and he could never see that without taking a good deal of time to rid his thoughts of the incident that had changed his life. She knew that they needed to be as honest as possible, if there was going to be even the slightest chance of them agreeing to go through with this.
"Bad," they said in unison. To Kim and Tommy, none of it was bad, except Mesogogg, but to them, it might be different. There was no telling what to think about these teenagers, as they had all been skeptical about it when they were younger and everyone knew that, although Tommy had decided to leave that out of the video diary. They did not need to know about them almost not agreeing, it really didn't need to seem like an option, although it was.
"Well the bad news is that this creature named Mesogogg is after you. Well not you, actually, but the dino gems. That is what made your morphers and gives you the powers that you will find out more about as the time goes on. He wants to send us back to the dinosaur era and I can't let that happen. The other thing is, no one can know about this, it's a secret you live with for the rest of your life," Tommy said, looking at them before he tried to tell them the good news. They seemed to be thinking that the bad news was horrible and the good news would only be acceptable. He just had to get through to them, if he didn't, then he would be dealing with the bruises much more often than this. "The good news is that you can stop it, if you'll be Power Rangers. It is up to you, but I have to know by tomorrow if you don't want to do this. Mesogogg will not stop because we do not have rangers to take care of the Earth. He will use that as his advantage, if we let him."
"So, both of you were rangers?" Conner asked, as the two of them merely nodded. It had been obvious that one of the rangers had always been the leader, although he did not want to admit that it looked like the red ranger in most cases. Who was supposed to be theirs? As he was fairly sure that it would not be him, he had no leadership skills. "Well, who led you?"
"Jason, the red ranger, until Zordon put him in charge," Kim said pointing at Tommy, feeling the pride swell inside of her. She couldn't help it; it always did when they talked about what he had overcame to stay with them and if you asked anyone, it was quite a lot, after nearly destroying everything that they had worked so hard to attain. He, still, had not completely forgiven himself for everythin he had caused, but she was the only one that knew that, as the others would tell him that he had no right to still hold that against himself. They had forgiven him the second he first struck out against Rita's gang.
"So he'll be our leader?" Ethan asked, pointing to Conner. Conner may have been a dream on the soccer field, but other than that, he showed very little common sense or book sense, either. It didn't make any sense why Dr. O would choose him as leader, but it also didn't make any sense why he would be on the team as well, so maybe he knew what was going on better than they did. According to the video, Dr. O had been at this for at least ten years, if not more.
"Yes, I have faith in him and we'll be here to help you in any way possible," Tommy said, putting on one of the best acting shows that Kim had seen him do in awhile. She could tell that he had a lot of doubts about Conner, but that he needed to tell them that he believed in him, otherwise they wouldn't believe in Conner out in the field. They knew that the rangers did not need to have a power struggle going on between them as they began fighting. They had, had that problem for a little while, before Zordon, ultimately, intervened, with a dangerous mission for Jason and Tommy. "But the choice has to be yours, because this is something you will be in for the long haul."
"How long is the 'long haul'?" Kira asked, as they headed back upstairs. It was obvious that their business in the command center was done right now, but there were some more things that they needed to know, so many questions left to be answered.
"Possibly the rest of your life," Tommy said, with a sigh. He couldn't lie to them, knowing that he had been called out of retirement many times and that Kim had been as well. It was just the way things were and they had gotten used to it over the years, but it had always been rough on the newest group of rangers. They still wanted to have a normal life, but the reality was that they would never have a normal life again if they accepted this duty. "That last group of rangers was us, two years ago."
"You?" Conner asked, looking over at Tommy. He did not seem young enough to have been in the first group of rangers, unless he had gotten the powers at age twenty or something. "Dude, how old are you?"
"First of all, never call me 'dude' again," Tommy said, as he saw Kim fighting to keep giggles from bursting out of her mouth. It would have been one thing if Jason or Rocky called him that, but one of his students, she understood how it could push his buttons and him asking about his age, was definitely a sore point with Tommy. "Secondly, I'm only twenty-five."
"How'd you catch someone like her?" Conner asked, as Kira clasped her hand over his mouth. She did not believe in barging into other peoples personal lives, if Dr. O wanted to tell them, then he could, but she wasn't going to force him to and she wasn't going to let Conner do that to him either.
"Don't answer that," Kira said, dragging Conner towards the front door, trying to hide her embarrassment. How was she going to deal with this everyday? It was enough to have to be around him at school, but this after school gig could surely get to her. "We'll take care of getting him home and we'll tell you our answers tomorrow."
"Thank you," Tommy said, grateful that she had been able to stop the embarrassment that was sure to follow Conner's question. Kim would have been willing to retell the story, although him being captured in themiddleof all of it, alwaysaddeddrama for those that didn't know the whole story. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"How do you feel about this?" Ethan asked, as the other two looked at Ethan then looked away. They weren't exactly thrilled about it, but they had to admit that it did seem kinda cool, even if it was a lot of work and they would have to give up many things.
"I don't know, but I'll sleep on it," Kira said. "You going to Hayley's?"
"Yeah, but I'll drop you off at your houses before I head out there," Ethan said, as they climbed into his car. It was going to be a long night, having to decide what they were going to do about this twist of fate.
"Do you think that I got to them?" Tommy asked, as he watched them pile into Ethan's vehicle and drive away from their house and towards the main road. Kim came up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder, when he turned around, she could see that the worry was still there. She had hoped that it would go away once he had talked to them, but it was obvious that it hadn't. Now he was waiting for their answer, at the powers that hadbeen thrush upon them.
"I don't know Tommy, but I can tell you that they will have a hard time turning down this offer," Kim said, as she gave him a hug and felt him cringe. She looked up at him and then turned him around and pulled up the backside of his shirt, to reveal a bruise that spread across the lower part of his back. She knew he had fought this afternoon, but she was hoping that he had not been injured by it. Obviously he was, so much for him going a couple of weeks with out having a ranger related injury. "I'll get some ice."
"Kim, it's not that bad," Tommy said, as he walked after her. Her arms just managed to situate themselves on top of the bruise, otherwise he would not have even thought about it or known that it was there until the morning.
"Tomorrow morning, when you're groaning because it hurts, don't tell me that it is not that bad," Kim said, zipping the back closed and grabbing his hand to guide him into the living room. In high school, when this had happened, the two of them would wind up sleeping on the couch at the command center, with whoever was injured having ice settled on the bruises and the other, curled up against him or her.
"Okay," Tommy said, as she placed the ice on his back and he tried to pull away, but she just held it over the spot. He hated icing down injuries, but it was the only sure-fire way to prevent the full amount of pain form settling in. He could never understand why Alpha hadn't been able to create some sort of balm that would stop the bruises from coming up. As the only thing they had gotten was a balm that made them disappear, but it would be fine if it looked horrible, as long as there was no pain to come along with it. "That's cold, Kim."
"I know, but I don't want you to have a nasty bruise there tomorrow. I've got some papers to grade, but if you need anything, just tell me," Kim said, as she went to get her school bag and then spread the work out on the living room floor. She couldn't help to think at how this time last year, she was moping about Tommy being gone and now she couldn't be happier to have him back, although he did look pathetic tonight. He had always hated having to lay still, icing down a ranger injury.
AN: Tell me how you like it! I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter and I'll have a new chapter out pretty soon. Until then, happy reading.