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, Jack Abrams, and Todd Billingsway as well as any other characters from "Saving the World, Again" that may be brought into this story.
TrueRomantic: When they were first dating, he was not willing to spar against her, not now. Sorry I didn't make myself very clear on that one. Well, these guys have to get nervous about something.
XRachX: Thank you, I'm glad that you like the chapter and I hope that the beginning of the other story is good for you as well.
Ghostwriter: Yeah they kinda have, but nothing is ever as easy as it seems.
Now, on with the Story!
Tommy, We've Got a Problem
Conner's POV
Well, as rangers, we always hope that the good times will last just a little bit longer and that the bad times will just go away for months, instead of days as they usually wind up doing. But it seems that those good times are often brought to an abrupt halt, as it was again this afternoon. Dr. O's wife, Kim, was taken away from us and I'm not sure how Dr. O is going to take it when he finds out about how everything happened, as the details are pretty sketchy. All we know for sure is that Mesogogg has her and he does not seem too willing to let her go, without us giving up something and it seems that something happens to be our dino gems. That is one thing, though, that we are not very willing to give up at all.
Dr. O has been out of town this week, visiting some school for Principal Randall, which left us one ranger short in the field already. He's getting home this afternoon and this is not the welcome home present that he was expecting from Kim. I'm sure of that much.
We've tried contacting him, but his communicator is on the fritz, which is odd, his always works even when he's in the shower, according to Hayley and Alpha. How they get their information, I'm not sure, but it seems fairly accurate and none of us can afford to not trust what they say about anything in this situation. I am not sure what to expect from Dr. O, but I do know that he is not going to like what happened, while he was away, doing something for Principal Randall no less.
"Kim? Kim, I'm home. Kim, honey, where are you? Beautiful? Hello?" Tommy asked, with some fear in his voice, opening the door and looking around to see supper was on the table, but something was just off inside of his mind and he could only pray that he was imagining things being this way. He had been away all week and had expected her to come running into his arms, but maybe there was trouble in town. That was what it had to be it just couldn't be anything else.
His ranger senses, however, were screaming at him that something was terribly wrong here, but he ignored it for the time being, praying that he was just a little bit jumpy because of how aggressive Mesogogg's attacks had been on them lately. He quickly dropped his suitcase and other various articles of luggage to the floor letting them clatter as they may, sprinted up the stairs, praying that she had just decided to take a bath, and was unable to hear him, but no such luck. Their bathroom and bedroom were empty, from any signs of her being there at all this afternoon; her school clothes weren't lying on the floor or anything like that. It didn't seem to fit into how she usually operated, but it could just be his mind was playing a cruel trick on him.
He then ran back down stairs and saw the shards of a shattered cup scattered across the kitchen floor. This caused his heart to drop to the floor along with the shard and for him to scramble towards the command center door, praying that they had just shocked her and that she was now down there talking and laughing with them. He could not bring himself to think of the other possibility that the glass being dropped could have come from. If what he was thinking was true, then he was about to have one hell of a migraine in the next few minutes, as well as one hell of an emotional roller coaster to deal with.
"Tommy, I've been trying to get in touch with you for the last few hours, but your communicator is on the fritz for some reason. We've got a problem," Hayley said, gravely, as the other rangers and Alpha looked at him, waiting to see his reaction to the carefully planned out statement. They knew that they had to have a plan for what they were going to say to him, as his reaction was bound to not be that good.
It was not good knowing that Richard had just dropped into their kitchen, grabbed her, and left once again, with the command center only being fifteen feet away from him. Tommy didn't really need to know that information, but if he asked, then they would tell all, although it might land some of them in the hospital because of his rough reaction to the truth. They were not sure how he would take it, but from what Alpha had said, it was going to be pretty rough on all of them.
"What type of problem, Hayley?" Tommy asked, trying to keep his voice even, as he watched all of them shudder at the thought of what they were going to have to say to get him to understand all of this.
Alpha and the rangers then took a few steps away from Hayley, as they were still behind her, but they were not as willing to deal with the direct effects of the mood that Tommy was going to be in, in only a matter of seconds. Hayley had volunteered to be the spokesperson, even if that meant dealing with Tommy's wrath head on, which they were sure that she was going to have to do now. She had hoped that he would be calm in the matter, but it seemed that he had already figured out a great deal of the problem and was just waiting for her to tell him what it was.
"Mesogogg has Kim, Tommy, but we have been able to locate her, it's just a matter of getting all of you in. There is a way to get in, but it will probably take all of you to get there, get her, and get back," Hayley said, as she saw Tommy do something, he had never done in front of her until now.
He broke a side table into two pieces, with one single, well-controlled, blow. She knew that he was strong, but that type of action scared her more than anything else that she had ever seen come from him. It proved that he was a ticking time bomb while Kim was taken away from him and that they were dealing with something that they could not control or help in the least bit. There was only one person in this world that could help Tommy and she happened to be the one that was captured by their opponent.
"How fast can I get to her?" Tommy asked, looking up from the destroyed table and all of the rangers could see the pain and anger forming in his eyes, as well as his body.
He needed to be able to do something quickly, otherwise he would begin to lose his mind, and what little bit of common sense that he had left when he was as angry as he was now. His vision had already begun to blur and he knew he was going to have to dig his glasses out of his suitcase, which was still laying on the floor where he had dropped it, so he would be able to see.
If he could not devise some sort of simple plan, then he would be ready to knock everyone out that got in between him and her, even if that meant taking out some of his own rangers in order to get to her sooner. They would not appreciate it, but they were the most likely to understand all of it. He had to get to her, there was not a question in his mind about that.
"It will be a few hours before we can send you in, Tommy. We had to call in the other rangers to help watch out after the Earth while the five of you are gone to deal with him. It'll take them a little while to get here," Hayley said, as Tommy yelled out in frustration before throwing his communicator at a wall and watching it clatter to the ground, lifelessly.
His eyes now filled with tears that were tempting themselves to roll down his cheeks and down his neck. Alpha teetered over to retrieve the communicator, knowing that it was better for Tommy to get his frustrations out now, instead of later, when it could have a horrible effect on his wife and the rest of their team. He had always been a composed leader, but he was now very close to losing all of his legendary composure and plan making skills.
"I need to go now, Hayley. You don't understand what they could be doing to her. I can't let anything else happen to her, because I wasn't able to get there in time. Mesogogg is not going to take things lightly on her. He's probably going to be rougher on her than me because he knows that it will mess with my brain. She's my wife, I have to go now. They can follow when the others get here," Tommy said, as the other rangers backed away from him some more, afraid that he would throw something else, although he had nothing else on his person that he could throw, which was a relief.
They knew how Kim's reaction had been, but they had never expected his reaction to be worse than hers. This was Dr. O and he was supposed to have things under control, at all times, but this was one thing that he couldn't control. No matter how hard he tried, his emotions were taking over faster than he could control them and this was the one person that he loved more than life itself that they were talking about. If it had been one of the other rangers, he would have been mad and wanted to go get them, but he would not be so angry that he could barely think and that was exactly what he was right now.
"Tommy, if something shows up we'll send you in, but until then we are waiting for the others to get here. We can't risk you dying out there too. She is experienced in this and she can hold her own until we can safely get you in and out of there," Hayley said, as she heard Alpha begin punching something in on the panel behind her and she couldn't help but wonder what the robot was doing. They had not been able to get in contact with the other rangers, but Hayley was sure that it wouldn't take them much longer to talk to them, even if Tommy didn't agree with it right now.
"Hayley, if she isn't morphed, she's as good as gone right now, everything that they do to her could kill her. She's strong, but if she can't fight back, we can not sit here and act as if he is going to do nothing to her because she cannot protect herself. Alpha, teleport them here, now," Tommy said, as there were flashes of light appearing almost as soon as the last word was muttered around the command center. Alpha knew that Tommy had been thinking in that direction, as soon as he threw his communicator at the wall.
They may not have had their powers any longer, but they could still be teleported to wherever they needed to teleport them to be. As the faces of the old, veteran, rangers appeared, they all seemed confused as to why they were being brought there, but most of them got the picture once they saw Tommy's face. Something horrible had happened that day and it seemed that terrible thing had something to do with Kim and they all knew what that meant for Tommy's mental well being until they were able to get her back.
"What's going on?" Rocky asked, as he pulled at his karate gi out of nervous habit, as he had just finished teaching a class when he felt himself being teleported somewhere, although he was thankful that he had been in his office when that happened. Something just didn't seem good about all of this and he wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer to his question, not by the way that Tommy was looking at him and the others, trying to get everything across in one look. They knew what it meant, but they did not want to have to deal with it.
"Bro, what's wrong?" Jason asked, as Tommy turned to face him and he could see what it was by looking at his eyes, but was only praying that it really wasn't that again. Not now at least.
"They have her, don't they?" Adam asked quietly, as Trini, Aisha, and Kat gasped and Trini started to cry as well. This was her best friend and she did not want something to happen to her. All of them had been in trouble before, but this was the first time that some of them had ever dealt with it being Kim that was taken away from them so violently.
"No, Tommy. That can't be true, it's something else, isn't it? It has to be something else," Trini murmured, clinging to Jason who was semi-transfixed in his spot, knowing that he needed to try to calm Trini down. The two of them were the closest to her, next to Tommy and it was not good for either of them, but they would have to be calm in order to hope that Tommy could keep some sanity in his veins.
Katherine looked at Tommy and saw the same face he had, had when Divatox captured Kim, right before they got their turbo powers. She knew that she had made the right choice all those years ago, just by the look on his face and now she was here to help all that she could. She knew that she might not have been chosen for some missions the others had gone on, but there was a reason that she had become a ranger and now she felt as if it was time she pulled her weight as a veteran ranger.
The young ones were scared to death at how Tommy was acting, but they might be able to help them out, somehow. If only they could get over the shock of seeing Dr. O truly, lose his cool. Tommy would be able to get himself back to normal, if they would give him some space and a little bit of time to let the truth sink in. The truth, however, was the last thing that he really wanted to know about right now.
"Please, send me now, Hayley. I can't let them hurt her anymore than they already have. I take full responsibility for whatever happens to me, just let me go," Tommy begged as Hayley and Alpha looked at him and then looked away, before they really considered doing that for him.
They were not the ones that could calm him down, but they were the ones that could send him to where Kim was and that was where he wanted to be at the moment. He hadn't thought out a game plan, but that didn't matter, he had to keep things from happening to her. He had promised that and much more on his wedding day and he didn't really want to break that promise to her.
"Tommy, it is too dangerous for us to do that now. We do not know what you would be going into and even you need to know that. We can not put her in any more danger of getting caught in the cross fire of battle. We will get her back, but you have to be patient with us," Alpha said, as one of the screens crackled to life, grabbing everyone's attention. They knew what it was going to be, in all likelihood, although the new rangers were confused, until they recognized who was on the screen, and they knew what that meant for them.
"Well, well Thomas Oliver, you weren't able to stop me this time, were you? You see that we have your precious little wife now, shame she didn't take Richard's offer earlier, then you would have already dealt with this," Mesogogg said, as he moved out of the way to where Tommy could get a full view of Kim strapped to the table, still conscious and very much aware of what was being said to him. She didn't look to have been harmed, but she was rather pale and that did worry him. Anything could have happened to cause that and he just hoped that she was scared. "You know what I can do to people and you sure don't want precious little Kimberly here to die because of it, now do you? If you ever want to see her, come, alone, with the dino gems and we'll see if she won't, magically, appear back on your side."
"Tommy, don't listen to him!" Kim yelled, as Mesogogg slapped her across the face, but she still continued to beg Tommy. The slap stung, but she did not want him risking their powers for her life. She could get herself out of it, someway. She knew that she might strain herself, but it would be worth it if it somehow protected the others. "It's a trick, baby, don't listen to him! Tommy, I can make it!"
"Shut up," Richard said, walking into the picture, causing Tommy's face to pale considerably, as he clutched the back of the chair in front of him.
Richard then reached out a hand and placed it on Kim's cheek, which caused Tommy to lose the remaining strength, he had in his legs, as his knees crashed into the floor, but no pain registered in his mind, as he could only focus on the screen. He was now kneeling behind the chair, tears rolling down his face, as he watched Kim try to shake the man's hand away from her face without making him angry. Jason and Trini exchanged a glance before Tommy began speaking to Mesogogg, knowing exactly what he would say to him.
"I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt her and don't let him lay another hand on her," Tommy said, staring at Kim as she was trying to hide how afraid she was of Richard.
The Dino rangers thought that Tommy had completely lost his mind, but Mesogogg just agreed with his surrender to him. The young rangers did not know what the older ones had in mind, but they were not going to give up their powers without one hell of a fight, even if it was with their fellow rangers.
"Meet me at the pier at seven, sharp. Don't be late Tommy," Mesogogg said, as Tommy nodded his head, in recognition that he had heard, before the transmission went bad. He did not like the way that this sounded, but he knew exactly what he was going to do, to try to keep the powers and get her back.
"You're giving him our powers that easily, Dr. O?" Conner asked, outraged at how easily Dr. O was giving up on them and everything they had worked for since the school year began.
He had been the one to instill in them the importance of hanging on just a little bit longer, knowing that eventually Mesogogg would back down, but he wasn't playing that game this time. However, when Tommy turned around, he got the idea that he had stepped well over the line this time, as Tommy started walking towards him.
"Yes, I'm a complete idiot Conner and I am going to give away everything I have been trying to protect!" Tommy bellowed, now standing toe to toe with the boy and he felt Jason grab his arm and try to pull him away, but he shrugged it off with little effort on his part. He wanted to make sure that Conner got the point loud and clear this time, because if he was dumb enough to ask him questions, things would not turn out good for Conner and he did not want to injure a fellow ranger during his fury. Then he would have a lot to explain to Kim when he got her back. "We've done this before, but you, Kira, Ethan, and Trent have to just trust me, understand that?"
"Yeah, Dr. O," Conner said, as Tommy took a step away and Conner let out a breath that he had no clue that he had been holding.
He knew that he had only experienced a small part of Tommy's full wrath and did not want to be the one to experience the rest of it, not right now at least. If someone had asked him to predict which teacher at school was likely to be the one that would be harshest to cross when mad, Dr. O would not have even come to his mind, not until he had thought about it for a very long time. Then he would have appeared to be the worst, but only because he knew him outside of the school house walls.
"Jason," Tommy said, as Jason walked over to him, knowing that he was going to make some sort of request out of him. Tommy was now thinking the way he had thought when he was the leader of the rangers and that was scary, if you asked any that he had led. He always had good ideas, but they were the types of ideas that usually involved one or two people and left the rest of them watching. "You didn't happen to keep your last morpher, did you?"
"Yeah, it's right here," Jason said, pulling it out to where Tommy could see the empty case. All of them still carried their morphers around, even if they were only pieces of plastic now, they still were something that they would need, when the fateful day came to defeat Mesogogg. They all doubted that today was that day, but they were going to be needed for whatever type of plan Tommy had cooked up, which was more than a tiny bit odd. "You didn't think I'd throw it away, did you?"
"We don't have much time, but I need you to get the box and get your powers back. The dino gems will stay with you and we'll only give them up as a last resort. I'm sure that between the two of us we will be able to get her, somehow," Tommy said, as he saw Billy move to retrieve the box from its hiding place under one of the panels. Jason didn't even have a second thought as he hurriedly began digging out his shards of glass, knowing that Billy and Alpha would hurriedly prepare the morpher for him, as he was not refusing the opportunity to suit back up.
"We're coming with you, Dr. O," Kira said, as Aisha grabbed her and quickly pulled her out of Tommy's range of fire. Tommy could only stare at the girl for what she had stated to him. Jason going was risky enough, if all of the others showed up, he knew that they might kill her right away and he did not want to risk that. She meant more to him than anyone else that he had ever known and he didn't want to risk things going wrong. "She's one of us, too and we should go with you."
"Look, the more of us that we bring in, the more we risk something happening to Kim. I can't do that. I cannot risk her anymore than I have already," Tommy said, as they watched Tommy cry while cradling Kim's old, useless, power coin in his hands, as he had happened to have seen it one day and he took it and placed it in his wallet, for safe keeping. He could barely hold it anymore and when he finally dropped it, Kat was the one to pick it up and place it back in his hands, making sure he had a firm grip on it before she let go of his hands.
"Tommy, promise that you'll let them come in if things go bad," Kat said, as the others nodded their heads in agreement.
They didn't want just the two of them risking their lives if it was as bad as they thought it would be. Mesogogg was not one to laugh about; he meant business, no matter what he doing to them. Tommy looked around at them, hoping someone would agree with him, but saw that he was defeated in their eyes, which meant he had not choice but to concede on his own wishes for their well being.
"I don't know if I can risk anyone else," Tommy said, as they all wondered what he was talking about. This didn't seem to have anything to do with Kim and they were surprised that he had been able to shift his focus away from her at all. "I'm already risking my wife's life, I can't risk some of my best friends' too."
"We better get going, Tommy. We don't want to be late," Jason said, as he morphed and the four young rangers looked at him, in awe. They couldn't help but be shocked at how natural he looked in that red suit. They had never thought they would be lucky enough to see any of the other original rangers in uniform, but now they were, even if it wasn't for a very good reason. "I'm going to teleport in a few minutes after you're gone. If things are bad, I'm calling the others in Tommy. I know that you aren't going to be looking out for yourself, so we have to."
"Okay, Jase, but I've got to get to her," Tommy said, as he prepared himself to teleport to the pier. He was not planning to play around with Mesogogg, if Kim was not there, his morpher wouldn't so much as budge from his wrist. He knew that Kim could take care of herself for a little bit longer, if it came down to that, no matter how much he hated to admit it.
"You actually came," Mesogogg said, as Tommy saw Kim tied up in ropes, which securely held her down to an old crate that teetered perilously close to the edge of the pier. He wanted to make a break for her, but if they were going to be able to keep their powers, then he would have to buy his time until Jason arrived and he had seen the relief on her face when he saw her, so he could only pray that she would be able to hold out a little bit longer. She did have some bruises and cuts from what he could see, but those would heal quickly if he still remembered how their powers worked. "Too bad, I never really planned to let either of you live through this. Tryadrones, attack."
When Jason arrived on the scene, the battle had already overwhelmed Tommy, but he could see Kim struggling to break the ropes that she was bound in. He really hoped that he wouldn't have to call in the reinforcements, but he didn't have much choice in the matter. There was no way the two of them could handle this alone and they couldn't risk Kim dying or being taken away from Tommy again. He had to call the other rangers, no matter how much he knew Tommy did not want him to do that.
AN: I know that this chapter is really short, as well and I can not promise that they will get longer, as I am only about six chapters or less away from the end of this story. Yes, there is a third story in this series, but I have one story I need to post in between, to help set up the third one some more, so please be patient with me. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to have the new one out soon. Review if you want and for those of you who don't thanks for reading!