'TIL I COLLAPSE - PART FIVE: DAY AFTER TOMORROW? (PG-13)
SEQUEL TO: ORDINARY WORLD
SUMMARY: The strange weather forecasts continues to fall all over the world, especially in California. The team thinks it's more than mother nature at work. But is it really?
DISCLAIMER: Power Rangers is not mine, and it won't be mine. I really doubt I'll ever get ahold of it, but it would be fun to be apart of its production in a few years, if it decides to continue. But that is no guarantee either.
A/N: I know that some of these titles just don't have the hype as they should, but I've lost some of my creative juices, especially for being in Advanced Art. That class is not what I thought it would be, but I guess it's 'cuz I really don't like the teacher. But, I've been asked to do so much this year. I guess my friends weren't lying about saying senior year may be great, but it is also hard. Oh well, before I ramble on more, just read on and do what you gotta do. Later days.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X "You cannot tell me that all this crazy weather is just the work of mother nature. What if it'll get worse? What will happen? -Eclyptyk Neo
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The team had called it a day, but it wasn't easy when they had lost the very first battle against their newest enemy.
The teens had already headed home in hopes the weekend could be left for them to relax and chill. Hayley and Billy remained down in the lab in hopes to find anything that could be beneficial to the team.
Tommy and Kim had retired to the living room, in hopes to rely the heaviness in their hearts for the loss.
Kim cuddled close to Tommy as he began to flip through the channels hoping to find something to watch. She ran a hand down his arm as he pulled her closer to her, letting out a breath. "You okay?"
Tommy closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. I guess, it's hard for me to imagine that something like this would happen. But in the back of my mind I wasn't convinced that we'd go this year without any huge interruptions like this."
She sat up, running a hand down the side of his face. She leaned in to lay a gentle kiss on his lips before. "Be strong, Tommy. Be strong for them."
"I know. It's just so hard right now," he sighed deeply.
"Hang in there, Handsome," she whispered. "We'll make it through this."
Tommy nodded again, glad to have someone reassure him that things were gonna be okay. In the beginning of his DT reign, he had no one there to really comfort him, and now he did. And he was so happy it was his first love. The one who had helped him through his rough time as the original green ranger. "Thanks, Beautiful."
"You're welcome," she whispered. "Love you."
"Love you, too," he said and kissed her on the head.
They cuddled close and fell asleep on the couch.
XXXXXXXXXX-
Days later.
The team had been rather quiet and gloomy about what had happened days ago. It was clear that Billy was now making Reefside his residence until he could find a way back to Aquitar. The teens didn't want to question Trent about his reaction to the kidnapping of his father. And he had clearly left it at his father had left town for research and could be gone from a few weeks to a few months.
Word had gone around that the Power Rangers were protecting Earth and they had nothing to worry about. But that was just it. The Rangers were among the confident crowd of civilians and they just weren't feeling the same faith as those they were protecting.
The rain had continued to fall in much of California. The snow fell in the high country. And after all the precipitation, it finally did damage to the state of California. A series of mudslides and swarmed the southern California coast. The mudslides closed down roads, many in LA. In the high country, roads and highways were packed with ice making it impossible to get anywhere in the mountains.
It was second hour. Tuesday, January 11th, 2005.
Tommy sat in his classroom, Trent at his side chatting to Jason about the progress of the last few days.
"Yeah, bro. All that rain finally paid off and we've closed down several roads to avoid possible mudslides in the area," Jason had instructed in the comfort of his home in LA. "Including schools."
Unfortunately for the people of Reefside, somehow the weather had not effected them as much as the rest of the state. So, they were stuck going on with their normal lives, or as normal as it possible could, without keeping an eye for those cyborg-soldiers the team could now classify as cybots.
Tommy had informed the original red ranger the story of their newest threat and warned him that they could be asked into battle. And as much as he had not wanted to say anything about their new threat, he warned him that this Mindshatter guy was a tricky character that had to be dealt with accordingly.
"So, the story in the high country is now nearly 12 feet of snow. They should be expecting nearly 3 more feet of snow by the day is done," Jason stated.
"No kidding, Jase. We haven't gotten anywhere with this at all. This Mindshatter guy is obviously setting up a strategy or something if he hasn't made a move in the passed few days," Tommy said.
"Yeah. That's the problem with those evil guys. Just waiting to strike. So, how about you, Trent? How are you holding out?" Jason asked more cautiously.
Trent sighed and dropped his head. Since his dad's kidnapping, he had been more shut down than ever. He would briefly talk to Kira and Dr. Oliver, but that was it. There wasn't much anyone could do, letting Trent fight through it on his own. "I'm better, Jason. It's just hard right now."
"We'll get him back, Trent," Tommy patted his shoulder. "We're all hurting from it, but don't dwell on it. Your father is a strong guy. He'll make it."
"So, what do we know about this guy anyway?" Jason asked.
"For the most part, he has a thing for probing minds and has a thing for huge spikes and cybernetic technology, much to what Anton does know. I don't know, he could be using it to his advantage," Tommy replied.
"Well, just give us the head's up, right? We'll be there in a flash," Jason nodded. "Have you connected the strange weather patterns to him?"
Tommy and Trent looked at each other, shrugged and looked back at the computer screen shaking their heads.
"Nothing. There is no connection whatsoever. Or as far as we've looked into it. We have not gotten anywhere with it," Tommy said.
"Billy and Hayley have been working on it for some time, but have nothing," Trent said.
"I still can't believe you now got Billy slaving away in that lab of yours looking for answers. Don't you ever give them a break, T?" Jason shook his head in dismay.
"Hey, it's them, Jase. I tell them time and time again to take a break, but they haven't. They've been working around the clock to come up with something that could work towards being our new zords," Tommy said.
"And that's what you get for destroying them."
"Don't start with me, Jase. If I didn't, Mesogog would still be around."
"Hey, bro. You've been making some pretty foolish mistakes. More than you would need to now. You got someone like Kim to keep you sane."
Tommy glared at him, even though he knew he was just trying to lighten the mood. "I've been married for almost a month now, I think we're fine."
"Just don't let your work get in the way of spending time with her, especially when she's pregnant."
Someone cleared their throat in the background as the two DT Rangers had greeted the Zeo 1 Pink Ranger. Jason sunk in his chair as Kat slowly made her way over to the computer, her round belly making it an obstacle. If anyone could really forget,
which no one could when it was evident even more at Tommy and Kim's wedding, Kat was indeed pregnant with Jason second child. She would be expecting it soon enough. It was just a matter of when.
"So, when are you due, anyway?" Trent asked with a light smile.
"End of the month," she said simply. "And congratulations to you, Tommy."
Tommy sighed and nodded, thanking his friend on his own news of a kid on the way. "Thanks, Kat. Still kinda surprised to hear about having one, though."
"Fair warning, bro. Hormones will be raging and you do not want to make her mad," Jason whispered as Kat smacked him on the arm.
"I didn't crawl on myself and get myself pregnant. You said you wanted another kid," she protested.
"When I said that I didn't expect you were close to that time of the month," Jason defended. He looked back at the screen and smiled. "So, how did it happen again with you and Kim?"
"Jason!" Kat hit him again.
"Not your biz, bro," Tommy said simply. "Just consider yourself an uncle in a few months."
"All right, fine," Jason shrugged. "But I should let you guys go. Get that education and teach that class."
Trent groaned as he dropped his head. "This year has only gotten harder."
"Hang in there, Trent. Senior year will pay off in the end," Kat reassured the teen. "And I know you guys will bring out another victory for the rangers."
"Yeah. let's us hope that's true, Kat," Tommy breathed. "This guy is tough."
"Not if we got you running the show, Mr. Legendary," Jason winked. "Keep us informed."
The two DT Rangers said they would, said goodbye and closed the signal. Trent got off the stool and moved toward the window. He looked out into the gloomy sky.
No rain had fell that day. It was just cloudy.
The teen in white sighed quietly as he dropped his head again. He felt like a failure and it showed in how he stood. The science teacher walked over to him and patted his shoulder for reassurance.
"How do you cope with feeling like you've failed?" Trent said quietly.
"Because you have other people who will help you out. There are those who care and are willing to be a guiding hand. We all go through a stage in our lives where we feel like the world can no longer turn, but it eventually will. Don't think that it's the end of world, Trent. It's not. We got more chances to right our wrongs. Look at you and how far you've come since your evil days."
Trent dropped his head and thought for a moment. He remembered it took some time to get used to being on the right team, even if it had been against his father. He had been dissed by Ethan and Conner after he was freed from the evil encoding, but he had so many other people to welcome him into the legacy of his heritage as a ranger. He had Kira, Dr. O and Kim. He had the three original rangers, Adam, Rocky and Aisha. And then there was the time when he had almost hung up his morpher for good, but Tommy had made his own self-sacrifice to join him. And those hours without their morphers, it had them thinking about where they would be going with the entire situation. And as a whole, the DT team, had pulled through and beat Mesogog and Zeltrax before things could get any worse. He even made more friends in Reefside as a whole. He had come a long way for being the new kid in town.
"Sometimes, it takes some people their entire lift to search for who they really are. But I think you know exactly where you fall in that circle of discovery, Trent," the science teacher said as he moved back toward his desk.
Then the bell rang and it was off to the next class.
Trent thought about his teacher's inspiring words for a moment as he grabbed his backpack and headed out the door. He stopped for a moment and looked back at his teacher, who had been looking at him the entire time. "Thanks, Dr. O."
"No problem, Trent," Dr. Oliver smiled. "I'll see you later. Keep your head up and your spirit high. You'll make it."
Trent nodded again, said goodbye and left the room.
XXXXXXXXXX-
After school. The teens had been walking through the parking lot, minus Conner who had been spending his time with Krista.
"Man, why couldn't we have been LA? We wouldn't have to come to school," Ethan sighed.
"I know what you mean," Kira nodded. "All we've been getting for the past few days was just clouds. No rain. No snow. Nothing."
"And they continue to say it's just mother nature at its worse," Trent shook his head.
"Yeah right. I mean, you look at all the records, and tie it back, we're talking nearly 15 days of precipitation for the state of California," Ethan protested. "You cannot tell me that has to be mother nature. Something has got to be up."
"Well, it's no Day After Tomorrow, right? That's a good thing," Kira said.
"Now, that would be bad. Way bad. Not good whatsoever," Ethan nodded.
"But we haven't found anything," Trent stated.
"Look, whatever this Mindshatter guy is plotting, it better be soon. I kinda don't like just sitting here and waiting for him to attack," Kira said.
Each of them had their own set of wheels now, with it being senior year, they would need it. Kira had a yellow Ford Mustang, Ethan had a blue two-door Honda Civic, and Trent had his white Mazada-6. And of course, Conner had his red GTO. They all had other things to do to help compensate for the year and to just get around if walking wasn't an option.
"So, where's everyone off to?" Ethan asked as he tossed his backpack in the back of his car.
"Work. Hayley gots me running a double shift for the whole week because everyone's sick," Trent replied.
"Same here. I gotta work behind the scenes in the production room," Kira replied. "How about you, Ethan?"
"Nothing really. They cancelled practice for the day," Ethan shrugged. Ethan had in fact too the advice of the team, to audition for a spot on the dance team and got in. So, beyond his computers, he had dancing on his list of things to do. And he was still in search for a job to pay off for college. "Still job searching. And busting tables isn't my thing."
"I've given them your resume, but there are just no opens right now, Ethan," Kira admitted.
Ethan said. "Don't worry, I'll find something to pass my time. Catch you guys later." He jumped into the car, started it up, flashing a peace as he left the lot.
It fell silent as the white and yellow DT rangers stood there without saying much of anything. As quiet and as slow as their relationship was moving, more and more people had grown suspicious about the two. But they had not taken that step to actually make their relationship as a couple known to others. They did have something going, it just didn't go anywhere since Trent had shut out much of the world since Friday.
"You must be doing better. This time Ethan and I weren't the only ones talking," Kira said simply.
Trent nodded slowly. "Yeah, I am. Talked to Dr. O about it. Like everyone else, he reassured me that things would be okay. It kinda lifts all that burden on my shoulders."
"Well, that's good," Kira smiled lightly. "And they are, Trent. Things will get better. Just hang in there."
"Thanks, Kira," Trent looked up and pushed open a smile. "I'll see you later?"
"Sure. I'll stop by the cyber cafe later on," she nodded.
At that moment they hadn't realized how close they were until some spectators had honked their horns and whistled. They were less than arm lengths away from another. Kira turned bright red as she took a step back. Trent shook his head and stepped back. They each said their goodbyes and got into their cars,
drove off and said nothing more.
to be continued...
A/N: I know. I got all these little romancing going around in this story. Maybe I am one f those helpless romantic people or whatever. I don't know, I mean I don't want to be. I shouldn't, but I'll just stop right there. And yeah, ya'll could not forget that Jason and Kat got another kid on the way, but due to that concept, we might see a limited access into their lives. Remember, this will be centered more around the DT Rangers. But either way, see you when I do in the next chapter. The battle for the survival of earth has just begun. May the Powers Always Protect You.