Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers or anything related to the series. I do own the character of Alex Myers.
Tommy's POV (two months later)
These last few weeks have been tough on all of us, it is something that we never thought we would be forced to deal with again. We can't use our powers and the Machine Empire continues to come after us, with more vigor each time there is a battle. They just seem to know that we are not going to morph and it is becoming risky out there for us.
Zordon has not contacted us to tell us that our powers are ready to come back and it does worry me. We've been lucky, so far, but I don't know how much long this sort of luck can hold out. We need to be able to fight like we normally would, if we are going to ever send them packing for longer than a few hours in which we try to treat our injuries.
"Tommy, are we patrolling this afternoon?" Rocky asked as Tommy was heading toward the Youth Center. He hoped to fit in time to teach a class today before the Machine Empire came down on them.
"I can't, but you can come get me if something goes down. I wouldn't really be surprised if that happens after the last two days," Tommy said as he saw Katherine running towards them and he couldn't help but give her a sad smile. They had broken up a few days ago and they had decided to keep it quiet in front of the rangers. They didn't need for them to start worrying again, as they were really all right with it. They had enough problems on their hands without adding that one to the mix. "Hey. What's up?"
"Listen, they found us in the park. We have to go, Tommy," Kat said, as both Tommy and Rocky sprinted away from her in the direction of the park.
Each day they had been doing this and each day they had prayed Zordon would contact them and tell them that they could morph. So far, they had not been so lucky as to hear their communicators go off and alert them that everything was back to normal. That day just had to be coming soon, if it didn't then they were going to be put in a really hard place soon.
"What type of monster is it? Do you know what powers it has?" Tommy yelled to Katherine as he continued to run towards the park. They needed to know something about this monster before they got into the fight or they could honestly be injured in a way that they would never believe.
"I don't know. They just sent me as soon as it arrived to find the two of you," Kat said, as she was running along, well behind the two athletic boys.
Several people were now running away from the park, but it always seemed that they never noticed the six teenagers that always ran to these fights. It was as if they didn't care who was there each time, as long as they weren't there at all and it was starting to infuriate some of them. If they were risking their lives, then there had to be some other people that would be willing to help, but no one had showed up in the past few months. The only people that they could hope would show up would be Trini, Zack, or Kim and they doubted that would happen, although they knew something was very wrong in Angel Grove.
"Holy crap," Tommy muttered as he saw the monster and noticed it was spitting fire in every conceivable direction. This really didn't look good to him.
Tanya, Adam, and Jason were managing to dodge the flames every time that they radiated from the creature's mouth, but that could only last so long. He also could tell that the monster was glad to see more people that he could try to spit his ammunition at and it worried him. One of them was probably going to be seriously injured today and there was absolutely nothing that he could do to stop it.
"Tommy, we can't wait for them to contact us! We have to at least try to contact them this time!" Jason yelled, as he dove to the ground to dodge another blast of fire and then quickly stood up as the ground was now ablaze around him. He had been busy dodging these blasts for the last ten minutes and each time, he felt them get a fraction closer to his skin. He knew that someone was going to be hurt and he just prayed that it was not too bad.
"I know," Tommy said, as he reached for his communicator. Just as he did so, the dragon-like monster hit him with a stream of fire and within seconds he felt himself being teleported, although he did feel a great deal of pain as well. This had been what they had all feared since they had been banned from using their powers and they hated to see Tommy get hit first. They had honestly hoped no one would get hurt, but it was not going that way at all and they knew that now.
"No! No! This can't have happened!" Kat yelled as she saw Tommy being consumed by the flames and then suddenly saw that he had disappeared from the battlefield.
Thank goodness, Zordon had taken him away from this mess, but why had he waited so long? This just didn't seem like Zordon at all and he wouldn't keep them away from their powers unless it was important.
"Where did he go?" Tanya asked as they saw the monster was gone, which did seem odd to them, but their minds were in other places at the moment. They then felt themselves being teleported to the Command Center.
They did not like the sounds that greeted their presence. They had never heard Tommy yell out in such an agonizing fashion and they all knew then thatTommy might die. They did not want to face the reality of someone possibly dying because of the battle that they had just been in. He had to survive this, somehow.
"Tommy! Tommy, don't…you have to stay with us. Don't let go," Billy commanded as Tommy was barely holding onto consciousness and he was trying to coherently make some request of them. He needed something from them and that was what was keeping him awake right now.
"Jason," Tommy managed to mutter as he saw him land in a glimmer of light. He knew he was only going to have one chance to say this and he had to get it out quickly. He already felt himself slipping closer to unconsciousness and he didn't know if he would come out of it this time, but he had one last wish.
"Yeah," Jason said as he walked up next to the gurney that Billy had placed Tommy on, after stripping him out of his flaming clothing.
"Call her," Tommy muttered looking Jason in the eyes and knowing he would figure out who it was, as he felt himself slip into unconsciousness. He knew he would not wake up for quite some time right then.
"Who? Call who Tommy!" Jason yelled, looking at Billy, who he thought might have some sort of clue as to the person Tommy wanted to be there.
"Does anyone know who her is?" Billy asked as they all looked at Kat, thinking that he might not have seen her come in, although Billy doubted that was the case. He just didn't want to be the one to say that Kim was the girl Tommy wanted to be here. It definitely wouldn't seem right, in his mind, considering some of the other thoughts that he had been having lately.
"Kimberly. That's the only person he would want here. We all know taht," Kat said as they all looked at Tommy and then stared at Kat, seeing that she seemed to be at peace enough to talk about Tommy's feelings for his ex-girlfriend. It seemed that she knew that she was not the one Tommy really wanted there, although they did feel uncomfortable. They still thought that they were dating.
"Are you sure?" Jason asked, as he was not sure that was who it could be, although it made sense.
It just almost seemed as if it was just going to be a recipe for disaster though. Kim was happy with Alex, from what he had heard. Tommy just seemed to be severely injured and it had never been like this before. It made sense that he would want Kim to be there, in case things did go wrong. He wanted a chance to take his blame for their relationship going down the drain, although Jason didn't exactly see it that way.
"Yes, I am. That's the only person he loves," Kat said as Billy walked up next to her and gave her a hug. Kat quickly settle her head on his shoulder and let out a broken cry. Tommy just couldn't die like this; he didn't deserve to die like this.
"You better call now. He may not…" Billy said as Jason turned to run out of the room. There was a telephone in the Zord Bay and it was the only way to contact her without leaving the Command Center. He didn't feel like he could do that, considering the situation that they were in right now. He wanted to make sure that he was close by, in case things went from bad to worse, quickly.
Meanwhile, Tommy was floating in and out of consciousness, hearing bits, and pieces of what was said around him. His mind traveled far away to a place of serenity and calm, which he had never known. He wondered what it would be like to go on into that place, but stopped as Kim's face came into focus. He had to stay here long enough to see her, even if it was for his last time.
AN: I know it is a little bit cruel to end a chapter like this, but I promise I will make up for it in the next few chapters.