A/N: And here's the second chapter! You guys are going to have to forgive me on this one and the next few of them in Tommy's POV. They are going to deal with Ranger series I have never seen before. I am going to try my hardest to get their story lines right but if I mess up, this would be why! FYI, I do touch on the 25th anniversary episode in this chapter. Tommy's new morpher is not mentioned for a reason you will have to wait and see!
Please remember to R&R!
Tommy
"You are out of your fucking mind." Jason said, shaking his head for what seemed the millionth time as he paced the area next to the bed in our hotel room.
"What else am I supposed to do?" I asked, putting my face in my hands. He was taking the news of the video I had found well. After the police showed up and took our statements, I waited until we were back at the hotel room to tell him. I also told him that I was going to do what Rita wanted to make sure that Kim would be coming back safe. He obviously did not agree with my decision.
"How about come up with another plan? Any other plan! Just going there and giving yourself to Rita is nothing short of a suicide mission. We will find another way to save Kimberly. We don't have our powers anymore, Tommy. You can't just go running there like the knight in shining armor anymore." I stood up, putting my hands on my hips.
"Jase, this is the only sure-fire way we know of that can get Kim back safely. Besides, if I'm up there, we can figure out a way to stop whatever shit she has planned."
"We already know what she has planned!" He exclaimed. "She's using Kim to get to you. Why else would she have taken Kim, killed the guard where you were and then left you a ransom note? She wants you, so she can put you under an evil spell again."
"But why? You said it yourself that I don't have powers anymore. Not even my Dino Thunder ones. What good would I be to here as just me?"
"I don't know but I don't think we can afford to find that out. Aisha, Rocky and Zack should be here any time now. They're getting a shuttle. Once they get here, we can figure something out. For right now, you need to promise me that you aren't going to run off, halfcocked, trying to save Kim."
"Jason-." He held up his hand, stopping me.
"I'm fucking serious, dude. Promise me or else we are going to spend the night twenty-four hours handcuffed to each other." He gave me a serious, expectant look until I reluctantly nodded. "Good. Did you send that video to Billy?"
"Yeah. He's trying to analyze it now to figure out if there is some way Rita is cloaking her signal on the moon. Part of me thinks that she's in a hidden dimension like the one she used to lock us in all the time. He said that once he figures it out, he'll let us know. He was hoping the high council would be able to help him teleport here to help us, but they are unable to due to the tension between them and another planet. They were afraid something might happen to him during the trip." Sighing, Jason sat down in the chair in the corner.
"You know what I don't get? Goldar killed that guy. He gutted him right up the middle. In all the years we fought Goldar and Rita, I have never seen him kill someone like that before. Sure, he threatened to but never went through with it. Why now?" I frowned, looking down at the toe of my boot.
"I've seen him do it." I said softly. "When I was under Rita's control. She sent us to Signa, another planet nearby so that he could train me on the Sword of Darkness. I helped him slaughter entire villages. When we came back, Rita was pleased but I knew something was different. She told him that she wanted me to be in charge of the attack on Angel Grove. She demoted him, and he stopped killing. It was like she made him feel weak or something. It was the same when Zedd came into the picture. Neither of them respected Goldar as the warrior he could be. He was their whipping boy."
"So, Goldar suddenly decides he wants to start killing again? Something just doesn't add up to me." There was a knock at the door and I stood up from the bed. Walking to the door, I peeked through the peep hole and saw three people standing there. Unlocking it, I pulled the door open and saw Zach Taylor and Aisha and Rocky DeSantos standing there. Zach smiled at me, pulling me in for a hug as he entered the room. The African American man still stood shorter than me, his black hair trimmed close to his scalp. He was dressed in a black pull over hoodie and a pair of jeans, probably the most down dressed I had ever seen him in. He walked over and hugged Jason, letting Aisha come towards me next. She hugged me, giving me a quick peck on the cheek as she did. Her mixed complex made her brown eyes pop and a look of sympathy was in her eyes as I looked down at her. Her hair wasn't in its usual braids, instead cut to below her ears and straightened. She was in a yellow and black sweater dress, black leggings underneath it. Behind her, her husband nodded at me. Rocky looked just as he did always. His olive skin was tanned, and his brown hair was short in the back and longer on top, combed over to his left. Aisha walked into the room, allowing Rocky to hug me. He clapped me on the back twice before releasing me. I gave a quick glance around the parking lot, checking for any sign of Goldar or Rita before shutting the door.
"Well, so much for a stress-free holiday." Zach said, setting his suit case on the floor next to the bed. Jason nodded, glancing over at me.
"Any news on Kim?" Aisha asked, perching herself on the edge of my bed. I nodded, rubbing the back of my head.
"I got a video message from her. Well, more like from Rita." Leaning over, I pressed a button on the keyboard of the computer. On the screen, the video of Kimberly began to play. The three of them crowded around the makeshift desk, watching as it played. When it cut off at the end, silence feel between them. "Billy is trying to see if he can figure out where it came from so we can get a better sense of where Rita is operating out of."
"Wasn't that the Moon Palace?" Rocky asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He was standing next to Jason, his blue zip up jacket popping against Jason's leather jacket. I nodded.
"It was but Trini scanned the moon and found no traces of anyone on it. It's possible she is hiding in a pocket dimension. We'll know more once Billy gets back to us."
"Now what though?" Zach asked, glancing between Jason and me. "Are you going to give yourself over to Rita?"
"I want to." I answered. Jason rolled his eyes.
"He's not going to because that would be incredibly fucking stupid on his part." He added. I bit my tongue, wanting to fight more but I knew it was no use. It would probably be four against one now. I was highly outnumbered. And he was right. Whatever Rita wanted with me was probably nothing good for Earth.
"When is Trini getting here?" Aisha questioned, hoping to change the mood. Jason glanced at his watch.
"In a couple hours. She was able to change flights last minute. She's going to keep contact with all of us though on her way. Right now, we need to come up with any idea on how we can get to the moon and save Kim. Anyone happen to have the number to NASA on speed dial?" Jason replied.
"Can't say that I do. But, I can moon walk better than Michael, god rest his soul." Zach said. I said down in the chair by the computer and rested my elbows on my knees.
"Do we have any contact with the current teams?" Rocky asked.
"I have some. Rocky and I worked with the Ninja Steel team a couple years ago on a mission. They are still active. There are a few members of the Megaforce team that are connected and my kids from Dino Thunder are still involved but don't have their powers any more. I think Adam might have more connections after working against Thrax but I'm not quite who though." I explained. I thought back to my mission with the Ninja Steel rangers, fighting against Lord Drayvon. He was hoping to destroy the multiverse, kidnapping Rangers from all teams. He made some evil versions of Rangers, including myself. I ended up fighting against myself at one point. We were able to defeat Drayvon and his army, saving the world. It was right before things went very south for Kat and me, something that I saw as a turning point of our marriage. She saw how much I missed being in action and she couldn't stand it. Of course, that wasn't the only reason.
"We should reach out to them. Maybe one of those teams as a way to get access to the moon and can survey it. That way, we can know where Rita is and what we are up against." Aisha said. I nodded, reaching for my cell phone. My computer began to ring loudly, causing Zach and Aisha to jump.
"Jesus, what the hell is that?!" Zach asked, looking alarmed. Billy's name crossed the screen and I pressed the answer button. His image appeared, and he seemed shocked to see Aisha, Rocky and Zach behind me.
"Oh. Hello everyone!" He said, adjusting his glasses. "It's good to see all of you."
"Hey, Billy. How are you?" Zach asked.
"Well, they could be better I suppose." He replied.
"How goes the video?" Jason spoke, reminding Billy why he was calling.
"Right. I was able to analyze the video. It took quite some time, but I was able to pull some data from it. Kimberly is definitely at the Moon Palace. In the throne room to be precise. Based on my calculations, Kim seems to be unharmed. Her heart rate in the video is elevated but that is to be expected. I didn't detect any type of injury." He stated, gazing down at a tablet in front of him.
"Great. We can get to the moon, save Kimberly, and take down Rita." I said, standing up.
"Not exactly." Billy said, catching my attention. "I mean, you can go to the moon, but Kimberly will not be there."
"What do you mean, Billy? You just said that's where the video was shot." Aisha asked, seeming confused.
"Affirmative. Kimberly is on the moon. In the year 1998." Billy stated, frowning.
"Well…that could be a problem." Rocky replied, the rest of us glancing back and forth at each other.
"So, it's Rita from when we were kids. We were able to beat her then. I'm sure as full-grown adults, we will be fine." Zach said, giving me a reassuring smile. Jason shook his head.
"There's something different about this Rita and Goldar. They seem more ruthless than they were before. And we had powers. How the hell are we supposed to time travel now?" He asked. For the first time since my arrival to Florida, true fear crept into my belly. He was right. We seemed to be up against the possible. Even though we knew where Kim was now, there was no way for us to get to her. Even if we did have powers, there had only been a handful of times where we had been able to time travel. And that was with Billy being there in person and the technology of the Command Center. Granted I had some cool gadgets in my lab, but it was nothing close in comparison to what we had back then.
"Tommy, it may be time to call upon the Power Ranger Council." Billy said, addressing me. I nodded, sitting in front of the monitor, I pulled up another program, slightly blocking Billy from view.
"The Power Ranger Council?" Zach asked. "What is that?"
"It's a team I sort of put together after the Dino Thunder team went inactive. It's the teams after that. We use our technology to keep tabs on the Earth, making sure nothing is coming in or out undetected. If we find something, we transfer it to the current team and they make sure to take care of the problem. Rita must have used time travel to her advantage to get through without one of us being able to sense any trace of her." I replied. The program loaded and a single line flashing in the corner of the box.
Hoovering my fingers over the keyboard, I took a deep breath before typing: CODE RED – T.O. I pressed enter and the screen froze for a moment. A few seconds later, a number sequence appeared. 35.4263659,-86.7427355,5.
"What does that mean?" Rocky asked, pointing at the numbers.
"It's our location." I replied. "It's about to be a whole lot more crowded in here." A bright burst of yellow light appeared by the door and a blonde woman stood there. Gia Moran glanced around the room, taking in the five of us crammed around the computer. The former yellow Megaforce had aged a couple years but still looked full of life. She gave me a small smile before a flash of red appeared next to her. Wesley Collins appeared from that, the brown-haired man standing tall. The former leader of the Time Force Rangers, he had a serious expression on his face. Next, there was another red flash and a blue flash, two men appearing from this. TJ Johnson emerged from the blue light, Andros coming from the right. Both men glanced at each other before looking at us. TJ had been the blue space ranger as well as my replacement on the Turbo team. Andros is human but comes from a space colony known as KO-35. He was the red ranger and leader of the Space Rangers. The four new comers stepped forward, looking straight at me.
"Tommy, what's going on?" Andros asked, shaking my hand.
"Something must be up to call us when you've got these guys all here." TJ added, smiling at Jason. The two had met during our small time working together with the other red rangers.
"Rita Repulsa is back." I stated. Andros looked at me confused.
"That's impossible. She was purified when Zordon's energy was released." He replied. I nodded.
"I know. We're starting to think that this Rita is from earlier in time. She's come back here and she's kidnapped Kimberly Hart, our former team mate and the first pink ranger." I explained. Gia stepped forward now.
"When did she take her?" She asked.
"A couple days ago." I answered. "So far, all we have is security footage of Rita taking her and then a video message she sent to me. Her right-hand man, Golder, has also killed a civilian in Kim's building."
"Have you found where they are located?" Wes asked, taking a firm stance. Slowly, I nodded.
"Affirmative!" Billy called from the computer. Grabbing the mouse, I clicked on the window that had him in it, letting everyone see him again. "She is being held on the moon in the Earth year of 1994."
"She took her to the past?" TJ asked, shaking his head.
"Seems like it."
"Okay. We have to figure this all out. Not here though." Wes said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Looks like we'll be heading to the council chambers."