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Tommy opened his eyes, trying to determine where or when he was, but quickly realized he couldn't move. Though he recognized his lab, everything was an amber/bronze-ish color. He tried to open his mouth, to say something, but either his mouth just didn't move, or it did and nothing came out. His mind was still racing with uncertainty, desperately looking for something real to cling to.
Sadly, there was nothing.
"Is he okay?" a voice asked.
Tommy recognized the voice; it was that of the blue ranger, Ethan James. While part of him had come to believe that Ethan, along with all the others, were only figments of his imagination, there was another part of him that didn't want to accept that.
"This internal scan should be able to tell us more," another voice said.
He knew who that was, none other than Hayley. For as long as he could remember, Hayley had been his dearest friend. While he was attempting to adjust to life after being a ranger, she was there to make the transition as painless as possible. He'd come to have a great deal of respect for Hayley, and after working side by side for so long, it was no shock to him that they developed feelings for one another. It broke his heart to think that everything he and Hayley had gone through together was all a lie. There was a humming sound, and a slight flash of light.
"What's the deal? He is frozen or something?"
It was another voice, a female voice. 'Kira,' he thought.
She sighed. "Not exactly. It's more like he's… fossilized, fused into this amber-like substance," Hayley said.
"Can you get him out?" Conner asked.
"Too risky. He's able to stay alive in there, but I'd hate to think what would happen if I broke him out,"
Tommy closed his eyes, concentrating on trying to move. He mustered up as much energy as he could, then lunged himself forward.
"Tommy!" a voice called out.
He opened his eyes, only to find himself on the floor. He was able to move, but his vision was blurry, and it was as if the entire room was spinning. He tried to get to his feet, but he stumbled back to the floor. Before he could try again, he felt someone help him up, setting him down on a couch.
"Are you okay?"
"A-Amanda…"
"Yes, its me," she said.
"W-Where am I?" he asked, trying to look around the room. It wasn't the asylum, it wasn't his lab. While he couldn't be sure of much, he knew he'd never been there before.
"This is my apartment. I brought you here after… that incident in the asylum. Do you remember any of it?" she asked.
He paused, trying to remember, hoping to recall the details of what happened to him, but his mind was drawing a complete blank. "No, sorry."
"You were having another one of your delusions. You attacked three of the guards; one of them is seriously injured. I was working late in the office when I heard a struggle. I came to the infirmary and there you were. I didn't want to put you back in your cell; I knew what they'd do to you. I panicked, and brought you here," she explained.
"You're going to… get in trouble."
"It doesn't mater. I know Dr. Walsh means well, but I don't think his method is going to work. If we're going to cure you, I think we should try another approach," she said.
"What did you have in mind?"
"I know you understand what's happening to you, and I think you want to be here, but you need a reason to stay, a reason not to give in to your delusions," she suggested.
"What do you mean?"
"Your mind is creating these delusions in an attempt to give you something familiar to cling to. Your mind needs that, so it manufactures people you can feel comfortable with. It may all seem very convincing; everything see, smell, touch, taste, it is real, in your mind. The people you encounter seem real, all of them with their own thoughts and beliefs, their own personallities, everything. If they delusions continue, they will become so real to you that you won't be able to differentiate what's real and what isn't. Your mind won't be able to process it all, and you'll, in essence, slip into a coma that you may never wake up from. But don't worry, I'm here to help you Tommy. I'll help you get through this," she told him.
"I-I'm so… so tired," he sighed, lying down. She sat on the couch, letting him rest his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair gently.
"In all the time we've been treating you, it never occurred to me that this was physically exhausting for you. Going from place to place in your mind, trying to distinguish which is real, it must be a lot for you to deal with," she said.
"No, that's not it," he paused. "All of it, I'm tired. All my life I've been what people expected me to be, what they needed me to be. I've sacrificed everything I ever wanted for what was necessary, for the greater good. Now, I'm just tired," he told her.
"But Tommy, it was all in…"
"… my mind?" he rolled over. "I don't know anymore, and I don't care. I just want it to be over," he sighed.
"You're talking about being a ranger, aren't you?" she asked.
"I-I'm… I mean, its…"
"Shhhhh, just relax. We've had a long enough day for now. Get some rest, and we'll figure out what we're going to do in the morning," she told him.
She leaned down to kiss him on the cheek, but he was already asleep.
"I know what you're thinking," Kimberly said.
Tommy opened his eyes, finding himself in Kim's apartment. His head was throbbing, and the more he tried to remember how he got there, the harder it got for him. His vision was distorted, but he managed to see that Kim was walking back and forth from her dresser, the closet and her bed as she packed.
"Y-You do?" he asked.
"You think I'm taking the easy way out, don't you?" she stopped, standing face to face with him. "We've been rangers for years, and it's been hard, and you think this is my excuse to give it all up, to just leave," she said.
He recalled having this conversation with Kimberly shortly before she went off to compete in the Pan Globals. She'd relinquished her morpher to Katherine, and never looked back. Part of him resented her for leaving, but he understood her desire to have a normal life.
"I don't think that."
"Yes you do, because I think it too, sometimes. Sometimes I'm just so tired of it Tommy, I just want to hand over my morpher and leave. I know we're doing good, saving lives, but at some point we should stop worrying about other people and do something for ourselves. You don't plan on being the white ranger forever, do you?" she asked.
"No, I was thinking some in red, maybe black," he sighed.
"Sooner or later, we have to give it up Tommy. We've done our part for the world, and its time for us to have lives of our own," she said. "We've gone from dino morphers to the power of ninjeti, but when is it time for a new group of rangers to take over?"
He paused, taking a minute to think about everything she'd said. She was right, at some point he would have to step down, to have a life of his own. After relinquishing the red turbo morpher to TJ, he thought it was over, but sadly, he couldn't escape the power for long. He'd gone to school, gotten over Kimberly and met someone else, moved on with his life. He finally thought that part of his life was over, but instead, he found himself a ranger again. This time, he was mentor to a group of younger rangers. Still, he couldn't help but wonder when it would finally be over. Even if they defeated Mesagog, eventually there would be another threat, something else forcing him out of retirement and back into the field.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that this couldn't be his life. He couldn't be the one who dedicates his entire life to saving the world on a daily basis. "I know you understand what's happening to you, and I think you want to be here, but you need a reason to stay, a reason not to give in to your delusions." Echoed through his mind. Suddenly, it all made sense to him.
"You know what Kim, you're right. There have been times when we wanted to give up, to do something else with our lives. I've felt like giving up more than you know, but now I realize that we can't. We accepted the responsibility the day Zordon chose us to do this, and take it from someone who knows, you can't escape your destiny," he said.
"What are you saying? Fifteen years from now we'll still be rangers?"
"I'm saying that before we give it up, before we step down for good, we have to prepare a new generation to take our place. I'm tired too, and I'd love to have a life of my own someday, but not until this is over," he said.
"It'll never be able Tommy. Even if we do stop Lord Zedd and Rita, there will always be something else."
"That's the burden of what we do. We don't see the world as it is, but as he should be, and what it will be if we fight just one more day," he paused. "Yeah, we all get tired, but it took talking to you about to make me realize just how important it is that we keep fighting. Thank you," he said, then simply passed out.
"Oh my God, Tommy!" she cried, rushing over to check on him, but it was too late.
He was gone.