Author's Note: Wow! I'm so glad so many people are enjoying this story! Sorry it took so long for me to update but life gets in the way of spending countless hours typing at my laptop LOL Hope you enjoy chapter 2! I needed to break at the spot I did because I couldn't think of anything else for this chapter. Review and I'll get chapter 3 up by next Friday!
Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Chapter 2-
Kimberly was upstairs in hers and Tommy's kitchen area, sipping on a cup of coffee. Hayley had banished her from the lab as she ran more tests on Tommy in his amber state, and it gave her more time to think about her situation.
Not only was her son here, in the same city of her and her husband, but he was a Power Ranger... the white power ranger...the white evil power ranger.
He was following in his father's footsteps a little too close for Kim's comfort. Kira and Hayley had reassured her that it was a lot like Rita's spell, that the gem was controlling her son, that he was not evil, but dread still stirred inside of her. Tommy had been under Rita's spell, but not this long. And the gem had bound itself to her son's DNA. What did that do to him?
She took another sip of her coffee and grimaced when the now cold liquid touched her lips. How long had she been sitting here? Looking at the clock, she realized she had been up there three hours. She had never felt so helpless in her life.
"Kim?"
She quickly looked up at the deep voice and smiled when she saw Billy standing there. She quickly got up from the table and ran into his arms, gripping him tight like the long lost brother he was.
"Thank god you're here!" she cried. "Hayley called you, but you didn't answer. I wasn't sure if you were able to come!"
"Took a while for the transmission to get through the galaxy to Aquitar. I came as quickly as I could." He set her back down on her feet and smiled at her before leading her back to the kitchen table. "I brought some of my equipment that should hopefully bring Tommy out of the amber. I already had Hayley help me set it up, but it takes about an hour to get to the heating temperature needed to bring the amber to its melting point."
"You're going to melt him out of the amber?"
"Haha, no. I need to heat the amber a little until Tommy's strength can break through the amber. He's morphed, so his suits morphing functions should keep him safe from the heat. If I hadn't done this before, I would be more worried Kim."
"Well, that's a relief."
"Now that we know the black ranger is going to be fine... is there anything you'd like to tell me about a certain white ranger?"
Kim heaved a sigh and began making some more coffee for her and Billy. "So Hayley told you huh?"
"Just like you share everything with Tommy, Hayley shares everything with me," he said as he took his coffee. "Or, at least I thought you shared everything with Tommy."
Kim sighed and took a slow sip, buying herself time. "This is the only thing I have ever kept from him Billy. I hoped he'd never have to find out."
"Why didn't you tell any of us? I mean, we would've helped you."
"I didn't get pregnant when Tommy was on our side, Billy."
"He was evil?"
"Yes, and after the sword of darkness was destroyed, he didn't remember anything. I wanted to keep it that way. And when I found out I was pregnant, I wasn't going to bring it up."
"Kim how did you hide it from us?"
"It wasn't that difficult. When Tommy left to the mountains he wasn't there to see a difference in my weight and I was always small. Surprisingly spandex hid more weight than I expected it to."
Billy chuckled at that. "You know we would've been there and helped you if we knew, right?" he asked seriously. "You could have trusted us."
"I know you would've helped me Billy, my problem was that you all were friends with Tommy too. I couldn't ask you all to hide this from him. He didn't remember what had happened. He already felt guilty about what he had done under Rita's spell, could you imagine what would have happened if he knew what the evil Tommy did to me? That would've been disastrous! Not only to us as rangers, but as friends. You know how much of a protective big brother Jason was, could you imagine him forgiving Tommy for something like that, even if Tommy wasn't in control of his actions?"
"You still went through all of this on your own Kim. You didn't have to. And now with your son-."
"He's following in his father's footsteps. Kira told me that he doesn't remember the times he's under the gems power, just like Tommy didn't know he was under Rita's spell."
"If that's the case Kim, then we can save him, just like we did Tommy."
"But how? The gem has bonded with his DNA, Billy. This isn't just a thing that if you break the spell he can be saved. The only way for a gem to be parted from a ranger is if they're destroyed. There's no hope."
"I know you don't believe that Kim. There's always hope. Remember he's the son of you and Tommy. You guys have always conquered evil and your problems, even when you were the evil ones. You have to have the same fate that your son will overcome this like his parents did."
Kim shook her head, still in denial about anything being the answer to their problem. There had to be a way to help her son... and tell Tommy he had son without making the situation worse.
"Kim! Billy!" Hayley called as she ran up the stairs. "The machine's ready! Are you guys coming?"
Billy stood and put a comforting hand on Kim's shoulder. "Let's go release your husband shall we?"
Kim smiled and followed the two of them downstairs.
Kira, Conner, and Ethan were all waiting around the amber form of their mentor for the three adults, hoping to all heaven that this would work.
Billy walked up to the control panel and looked over everything Hayley inputted into the computer, before taking a gun looking contraption in his hand and pointing it at his amber covered friend.
"You make me nervous pointing a blaster at him, Billy," Kim joked, attempting to ease the tension in he room.
"Yeah, just imagine what his reaction is going to be when he gets out of there."
Holding the blaster steady, Billy pulled the trigger and watched a deep red laser hit the amber form of his friend in front of him. He hit four different spots for three seconds each, making sure to keep the entire form of amber evenly hot. If it cracked ahead of schedule, he knew there would be dire consequences to Tommy's physical well being.
"Billy?" Kim shakily asked when she saw him lower the blaster slowly to his side.
"Wait," Billy commanded, holding his hand up when he saw the dino rangers ready to start asking a million questions. They all stared at Tommy for a few minutes while the blasts glowed brighter and brighter before cracking towards each other like connect the dots and exploding off of his body. Once the amber pieces slammed against the walls of the dino thunder command center and smashed about four of Hayley's monitors, Dr. O was standing before them, and dropped to the floor, out of breath like he went a round with a megazord.
"Tommy!" Kim shouted as she ran towards his fallen form. Wrapping her arms around her husbands neck, she held on tight, so glad he was finally out.
"I'm all right Kim," he said, hugging her back. He slowly stood up and stepped back from her hold in order to power down. Once he was demorphed, he wrapped his arms back around Kim and looked up at the others in the room.
"Billy? What are you doing here?"
"Someone had to get you out of the amber Dr Oliver," he said laughing.
"Hey! It's not that hard to believe."
"Yes it is! The last time I saw you, you were still the scatterbrained one who misplaced his communicator every chance he got and somehow showed up late to every class even if he showed up to school half an hour early."
"Hey! If you're always late then how come we get detention whenever we're late?"
"Considering it me watching out for your well-being and making sure you don't end up with my bad habits."
Everyone laughed, feeling like things were finally calming down, when the control panel beeped.
Hayley ran over to the monitors and started unplugging a few wires out of the ones the amber shattered.
"Billy, there's extra equipment in the storage closet on your right."
"Alright. I'll grab you another monitor."
Once they had the new equipment set up, Hayley pulled up a visual of the white ranger in the warehouse district, doing some mechanics on some kind of four wheeler.
"Let's go guys," Tommy instructed.
"Uh, Dr O, I'm not sure if that's a good idea, you see the white ranger's-."
"I'm aware the white ranger's Trent guys. But that doesn't mean we let him destroy the city. He still needs to be stopped."
"Tommy I'm surprised at you," Billy said. "You were evil once."
"And the only thing that stopped me was when Jason gave me a good kick in the head and destroyed the sword of darkness. I'm not saying we destroy him, but we do need to keep him from doing something we know the real Trent would regret. No matter if we don't see it while he's morphed, he's still in there somewhere. We're not going to give up on him."
"It's not that easy Tommy," Hayley said. "The gem itself is evil and controlling Trent and it's already bonded with his DNA. We don't have a way to de-evilize the gem yet."
"We can't just sit here and do nothing. He's a tough kid, he'll be fine. We just need to force him to demorph, maybe the real Trent will be willing to let us help him."
Tommy turned and started walking towards the entrance to the command center, but stopped once he saw Kimberly blocking his way up the stairs.
"Tommy, we need to talk."
"Kim, this really isn't a good time!"
"Dino Rangers go meet Trent at the warehouse. Don't approach him, but just make sure he doesn't start any fights and in case he demorphs, keep an eye on him and make sure he gets home safe."
The three teenagers take Billy's order as an easy way out and quickly duck under Kim's arm and run up the stairs out of the difficult family situation.
"Guys, Trent will tear them to shreds, I have to help them!"
"Tommy you can't be involved with this without all of the facts," Billy explained.
"Without all of the facts? Billy they can't do this by themselves! Forget the facts for now and just tell them to me into the microphone when I need them like we usually end up doing. I have to go."
"Tommy you can't fight him," Hayley said.
"Why not?" He was starting to get frustrated.
Kim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Gathering her courage, she opened her eyes and looked deep into Tommy's eyes, willing him to accept the truth.
"Because he's your son."
Tommy saw the truth in her eyes and turned pale. This wasn't good. The pieces started to match up in his head. Trent was fifteen years old.
"Kim," he spoke with his voice shaking. "how-"
"Tommy p- please just let me get this out, otherwise I never will."
Tommy nodded and sat in the chair Billy pushed towards him. Billy knew this story wasn't going to be easy for his friend.
"It started when I confronted you at the Youth Center..."
Flashback
"I know you're the green ranger."
Tommy let go of the weights he was pushing forward on the machine and turned towards Kim, his polite facade completely gone.
"Well pink ranger, then you should know that you, and the other power rangers will soon be destroyed."
Kim stepped back, shocked at his different demeanor. Rita had a twisted sense of humor, taking away Tommy's friendly and endearing personality.
"Tommy we can help you break Rita's spell, you just need to trust me."
"Trust you?" He laughed evily. "The only one I trust is my empress, Rita."
"Tommy keep your voice down!" she whisper-shouted when she looked around at the people who were starting to pay attention to their conversation. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the hallway.
One minute, she was walking out of the youth center, the next she was teleported into a dark cave. Her first instinct was to reach for her communicator and contact Zordon, but when she hit the button, she was out of range.
"Zordon! Alpha! Anyone!"
"Think you're in trouble now pink ranger?" Tommy asked from right behind her, making her jump. "You don't know the half of it."
He began to walk towards her, backing her up against the wall.
"Tommy don't! You know me! The Tommy I love wouldn't do this!"
He just laughed evily and grabbed her arms, pushing her back into the wall hard. Kim's back made contact, and she instinctively brought her leg up and tried to knee him in the groin. He blocked her and slammed her harder against the wall, making her see stars and go partially limp before lowering her on the ground.
End Flashback
Tommy got paler and paler the more Kim talked. Once she was done, he got up quickly and ran to the trash can Kim kept in the corner of the command center and got sick.
"Tommy!" Kim called out as she stood next to him with a hand on his back. She was close to sobbing, partially in relief for finally telling Tommy her long kept secret, and partially because she regretted telling him. He was sick with himself because of her.
Tommy spit a few extra times to make sure everything was out of his mouth before turning and looking at his friends. Kim was crying, Billy was looking at him worriedly, and Hayley was looking down, not looking Tommy in the eyes.
"Did, did you both know about this?" he asked shakily.
"I swear Tommy. I just found out earlier today," Billy explained as he handed Tommy a bottle of water to rinse out his mouth.
"Me too. Kim never told anyone before she found out who Trent was," Hayley said.
"Kim," he whispered. "I-I don't remember-"
"I know you don't," she whispered as she wiped the tear tracks off of her face. "I didn't want you to remember either Tommy. You don't know how relieved I was when I found out you didn't remember... and then I found out I was pregnant and, I couldn't accept it. You were having a hard time getting over your guilt of what everyone had told you the green ranger did, I couldn't add to that burden! Especially since I knew it wasn't really you."
"Kim I raped you."
"You didn't do anything to me. You were under Rita's spell and there was nothing you could do to break out of it."
"For that I should have!"
Tommy punched the wall in front of him and Billy grabbed his arm while Kim stepped up to the wall, blocking his path from punching it again.
"Tommy calm down," Billy intervened. Knowing his friend was looking for a fight and a way to relieve his anger, he pushed him against the wall and gripped his shirt, making him look at him. Tommy tried fighting him off, throwing a punch towards Billy's face that Billy easily blocked his arm and turning him around, holding the back of his head and his right arm to keep his body up against the wall so he couldn't escape.
"I know your angry. But you also know there was nothing you could've done. You were under Rita's spell and had no idea what you were doing! That's exactly what your son is going through right now."
Tommy was breathing heavily. "My, my son..."
"Yeah! You're son who happens to be in love with your current yellow ranger!"
Tommy froze.
"You need a plan Tommy. There's no spell to break this time, and the gem has bonded with your son's DNA and typically the only thing we could do is destroy him to remove the evil gem from him. YOU created these gems Tommy. YOU are the only one who knows even remotely how to save your son."
Billy loosened his hold on Tommy, and allowed his friend to turn around. Tommy looked into Billy's eyes, needing his friend's strength. "Trent..." he said slowly. "He's my son..."
"And he's going down the same path you were Tommy," Hayley said. "We'll get the evil out of him. We won't give up on him, but you needed to know everything before you went out there."
Tommy nodded and then leaned against Billy, finally drained. He was still sick and angry with himself, but he could deal for right now. His personal feelings had to go away for now. He had to save his son.
"There's a black box in the back of the closet with a lock on it. It's the research I had saved from the island. On the flash drive in the bottom is my research on the white dino gem."
Hayley ran towards the closet and Billy moved out of the way so Kim could hug Tommy again.
"I'm sorry Tommy."
It'll be okay Beautiful," he whispered. "We'll save him. I promise."