POWER RANGERS DINO THUNDER
THE WILL TO LIVE
Chapter Five
Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.
-o-
The initial tests performed within the past hour had revealed very little results, much to the chagrin of the Black Ranger. While Tommy's vitals were stable, they were still dangerously low. Most of the techniques he had learned from the self-help guide had little effect on Tommy's prone state. The Black Ranger cursed silently as he stared at the unconscious veteran Ranger who had been his longtime friend and partner. With a few keystrokes on the nearby console, he had begun another series of tests, each one more intensive than the last. Much to his disappointment, none of the tests had come up negative.
He had a problem, for he had exhausted all pre-programmed test options in the computer system's memory banks. He had thought of one possible scanning method he had witnessed years ago in his prime years. It was a scanning method that was only used a couple times when conventional scanning methods proved to be dead ends. Determined to try anything, the Black Ranger approached the keyboard and brought up a new command prompt. After a moment of recollection, he began typing frantically. From the other side of the clear barrier that divided the containment chamber from the rest of the room, Hayley had noticed the Ranger's typing away.
"Something wrong?"
"No, just something I'd like to try out," the Ranger replied simply, "If it's alright with you, I'd like to save this into the computer memory banks. In case you might need it again."
Hayley simply nodded. "No problem."
-o-
Some time had passed since the portal to the realm of living was closed off. Tommy couldn't remember how long it had been, though. He was focusing on looking for another way out... as well as mentally blocking off the incessive ramblings of his parallel counterpart, who had been on his back complaining about how he had let. He had tried to argue his point, but knew that this Thomas Oliver was even more dense that he was. Giving up his futile attempts, he continued to find a means of escape. Unfortunately, no other portal or gateway was found. As each minute passed, Tommy's resolve began to fickle as he wondered if he... if they would ever be able to get out of here.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the two Tommies gave up and took a brief break. It was clear to both of them that whoever was running things did not want them to leave until the time was right, if at all. So they got together and sat on the fog-covered floor, each one thinking individual thoughts. For a long time, neither one said a word to each other. In Tommy's mind, perhaps he'd preferred it this way.
"So what's your world like?" Tommy asked.
Thomas looked at him funny. "The same as yours, of course. Only different."
"Care to explain a bit?" Tommy's voice was more demanding. "I mean, we need to know each other a little better if we're going to get out of here?"
Thomas sighed, knowing what the doctor said was true. "After the Alliance war ended, I had committed myself to studying alien activity on Earth. I've pretty much shut myself off from society in order to prepare for any massive scale assaults. With the assistance of Andros, I was able to build a personal command chamber underneath my Arizona home and develop a database pertaining to all Ranger teams. This took me a few years to do.
"A couple years ago, Andros had learned that a renegade group of Machine Empire generals were digging out the remains of Lord Zedd's personal zord, Serpenterra. Knowing the power of that zord first hand, I had assembled a team of Red Rangers to prevent Serpenterra from being risen from the grave. The battle was fierce, but in the end, we emerged victorious and Serpenterra, along with the Machine generals, were destroyed."
"That happened in my world too," Tommy said, "Things would have gotten worse if it wasn't for Cole."
Thomas nodded. "Right. And we thought it was the end of it, but of course, we thought wrong. While we were fighting off Venjix, the real Machine Empire under the command of Emperor Aradon had waged war against the Varox Confederacy which resulted in the Varox homeworld being obliterated and the species almost completely decimated. Only a few Varox survived the encounter and they proved to be the most dangerous of the bunch.
"Several months later, a couple of Varox renegades had invaded Earth. One of them had attacked the city of Mariner Bay and was quickly defeated by the Lightspeed Ranger team. Unfortunately, the Varox had activated some sort of detonator that killed the Ranger team and devastated half the city." Thomas paused for a moment and noticed Tommy's jaw slightly dropping. "This didn't happen in your world, did it?"
Tommy shook his head as he regained his bearings. "Other than a few released demons, time-lost villains, and a fight with an evil tyrant, things have been relatively peaceful on my world." He caught Thomas rolling his eyes and sighed. "Sorry about that. So what happened after?"
"The other Varox was still on the loose and had gotten his hands on an experimental device that was supposedly able to send a detonation signal to just about every mass destructive bomb on the planet and send everything to hell. It took a lot of Rangers and resources to prevent Armageddon from happening, but we managed it." Thomas let out a breath before he continued. "So time passed and I had decided to attend a local banquet. Forgot what it was for, but it seemed important enough for me to show up. Around this time, a fight broke out and I got involved. I was actually doing pretty good, considering I couldn't use my powers. But overconfidence was my biggest mistake and someone took advantage by stabbing me in the back." He chuckled at that last thought. "It seemed almost funny now that I think about. All those adventures, all those life-threatening situations, and I go out by getting stabbed in the back."
Tommy placed a hand over his counterpart's shoulder. "It happens, man."
"Right," Thomas humored, "But from there, things got a lot worse. I have this nagging feeling that it was part of a bigger deal. That's why I have to get out of here. If I could be of any help..."
Tommy placed a hand over his counterpart's shoulder. "We'll get out of this, man. Together."
And for the first time, the bearded Thomas Oliver shot a smile. "Right. Let's find a way out of here."
With that done, Tommy got up and began walking away. Thomas stood there and watched as his counterpart moved further away. His friendly smile was soon replaced with a concerned frown and quickly followed by a devilish grin, his eyes staring a hole down the neck of Tommy.
"We'll find a way out together, Doctor Oliver," he whispered to himself as he began to follow Tommy. "But I guarantee you that we won't be leaving together.
-o-
It took a while to get the programming done, but eventually the computers had managed to process the new commands required to commence the makeshift scan that the Black Ranger had devised. With the more difficult part done, he focused on monitoring Tommy's vitals while the scanners did the rest. As he had expected, the new scan had produced some results and the Black Ranger checked the readouts. After a few minutes of scanning, he let out a agitated sigh and slammed both fists against the console.
"Crap," he cursed.
"What is it?" Hayley's voice boomed over the comm system. "Did you find something?"
The Black Ranger sighed. "Good news. I've found a way to bringing Tommy back to life."
Hayley almost smiled when she noticed the Ranger's lack of enthusiasm in his words. "That's a good thing, right?"
"Well, that's the bad news," he added, "It's completely out of our hands."
Hayley slumped back on her chair. "You're kidding."
"I wish," the Ranger said as he stepped into the small decontamination chamber that served as the entryway between the containment chamber and the rest of the room. Pressing a blinking light had caused the chamber to shower him with bright energy which removed the thing layer of radiation that had stuck onto the suit. After a few seconds, he stepped out of the chamber and quickly powered down, revealing a slender blonde-haired man of medium-build wearing a navy turtleneck and black pants.
"Apparently this is similar to his previous coma," he said, "but there are a couple of other factors that are inhibiting his recovery. One of which is an unforeseen element that has a dimensional ID different from Tommy's."
Hayley blinked a few times, trying to take in all the Ranger had said. "Dimensional ID? You mean whatever has Tommy like this is from another dimension."
The Ranger shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what I mean. I've never seen anything like this before. What I do know is that we can't do anything to counter the effects. Like I had said, it's completely out of our hands."
Hayley stifled a frustrated sigh. This isn't what she wanted to hear, but there wasn't any other way of getting another opinion. "Any other ideas?"
The Ranger thought for a moment before replying. "There's one other thing I might be thinking about, but it's a long shot."
"Anything's better than nothing at this point," said Hayley, her eyes affixed on the unconscious Tommy. "I doubt he can hold up."
"You're right," he confirmed, "It's worth a shot. Mind if I use your phone?"
Hayley pointed to the small handheld phone that was laying atop a stack of papers. The Ranger quickly picked it up and dial a number he hadn't used in a long time. He worried when there was no answer and was just about to answer when he had heard a very faint "Hello" from the other line, at which point he let off a quick sigh of relief.
"Yeah, it's me," he said, "Listen, I need your help."
TO BE CONTINUED...