CHAPTER 3
Everything Old is New Again
Reefside, California
He had what many would consider a very interesting life thus far. Still going strong at his age, he knew that many people would consider this the point of their lives where things started to slow down, but he also knew that he had done a lot more at this point in his life than some had done in their entire lifetimes.
He had been in love, of course, though that fell through a few times. He had been the quarterback for his high school football team, an amateur race car driver for his uncle and had gone through mixed martial arts training. He'd gone through college and earned a doctorate in paleontology. (At MIT, no less! Who even knew that department existed!) He figured he'd go with something that had gotten him his start. Now he had just finished up another year as the paleontology teacher at Reefside High School. He had been asked to become chair of the science department, but he'd turned it down, figuring he wasn't ready yet. But he did recommend someone who he felt was more than qualified, and that person accepted.
All this under his belt, his seventh degree black belt, and many would consider him a jack-of-all-trades, and even a master of one or two. But that was just his public life. Add in the fact that there was a piece of his past that few knew about, and Dr. Thomas James Oliver figured he had just about done it all. After all, everything that was already public about Tommy's life was amazing as is, but the Legacy of The Power held the secrets to Tommy's greatest accomplishments. For only those who knew the Power knew Tommy was a five-time Power Ranger.
He was the Original Green Ranger, nearly destroying the Original Five under Rita's control. The spell was broken, but eventually Tommy lost those powers, not once but twice. The first time what remained of the Green Ranger Powers were transferred to Jason Lee Scott so that Rita could not regain them. Jason and Tommy had met when they squared off in a karate exhibition match that had ended in a time limit draw. Jason was in fact the one who personally destroyed The Sword of Darkness that held the mind control lock on Tommy. He helped convince Tommy to join the rest of the team. But because of the Green Candle, Tommy lost the Green Ranger powers, though the Rangers did not.
Not too long afterwards, a great family event happened in Angel Grove; and this led to Goldar, Rita's fiercest warrior, hatching a brilliant plan: kidnap the Power Rangers' parents (and the rest of the population of Angel Grove for that matter) and hold them for the paltry ransom of... The Power Coins!
In fact, the Rangers did indeed surrender their Power Coins, but, surprise, surprise, Goldar reneged on his end of the bargain. It was perfect, except for one small problem...Jason had expected Goldar would double-cross them, and he had kept the Dragon Coin hidden for that very reason. And as fate would have it, that day was also the return of an old friend from self-imposed exile.
Tommy was teleported into the Command Center, Zordon infused the Dragon Coin with his own Morphological Energy and the Green Ranger was back! Tommy then succeeded in the mission he was brought back for: Retrieve the Power Coins (as well as his own Dragon Dagger that had been swiped by a temporarily brainwashed Blue Ranger Billy Cranston) and help his friends bring home Angel Grove's citizens.
After Lord Zedd arrived, trumping Rita and taking over the assault on Earth, Tommy kept in the fight for as long as he could as the Green Ranger, with Zordon recharging the Dragon coin every so often to keep him in the battle. But a rechargeable battery can only be recharged so many times before it can no longer function; as was the case for the Dragon Coin. Tommy was willing to allow the Green Ranger powers to expire, however, if it meant his friends could keep fighting.
When Tommy had his last battle as the Green Ranger, he thought that was it, that he would be simply a chapter in a secret history. But he was o so wrong. Zordon brought him back into the fold with the powers of the White Ranger! Zordon even gave Tommy the Captain's title, which Jason didn't seem to mind for some reason. As the weeks went by, Jason, Trini Kwan and Zack Taylor were selected to go to an International Peace Summit in Switzerland. So they would have to surrender their powers. Luckily, three transfer students from Stone Canyon (Rocky DeSantos, Aisha Campbell, and Adam Park) who had found out the Rangers' identities were officially brought into the fold to take over (a Ranger may leave the team, but they can never truly be replaced).
When Tommy first gained the White Ranger powers, he was told they could never be taken away by evil. Taken, no. Destroyed? That's a bird of a different feather. Rito Revolto, Rita Repulsa's brother (how?) showed up with a wedding gift for Rita and Zedd (yes, they got married; long story short, Rita gave Zedd a love potion but when it wore off Zedd still loved her anyway). Rito ambushed the Rangers and destroyed their Zords. This led to the team heading to the Desert of Despair to find Ninjor, the creator of the Power Coins; and after a little convincing he granted them their greatest powers yet, the Ninja powers.
Eventually, Master Vile, Rita and Rito's father (that explains THAT family resemblance) decided to take matters into his own hands and send down monsters himself. The Rangers found the Zeo Crystal that Vile had been searching for and scattered it through space-time, only for the Orb of Doom to be activated and the world aging in reverse, leading to the quest for the Zeo Crystal to fix that. Then he and his fellow Rangers had to take on the Machine Empire that had usurped control of the evil HQ (Vile had decided to head home beforehand while Planet Aquitar's Rangers were filling in) and kicked them to the curb, only for Divatox and her crew of pirates to show up, which brought out the Turbo Powers that Tommy eventually left in the more than capable hands of T.J. Johnson.
A while after that came the moon mission; in which he and Jason led eight other Red Rangers in stopping the remnants of the Machine Empire from activating Lord Zedd's old WarZord Serpentera, a mission in which the rookie at the time, Cole Evans, had performed outstandingly well in. It was the first time Tommy had morphed in five years.
Then, not two years after that, he came to Reefside, only to have Mesogog and his prehistoric rejects show up, and thus Tommy ended up becoming a mentor to three of his students as they became the Dino Thunder Rangers. Eventually Tommy found a Dino Gem of his own. Actually, Tommy thought, itfoundme, and he was back to being a full time Ranger for the first time since he had just gotten out of high school.
However, he could not have suspected that Mesogog was the Edward Hyde to the Henry Jekyll of his old colleague, Anton Mercer; nor could he have guessed that his friend Terrence Smith, thought lost in the destruction of the island where Tommy and Anton had been conducting their research, had been reborn as the cyborg Zeltrax and that Smitty had a vendetta against him. He definitely couldn't have guessed that his students' principal had been on their side either. Elsa sure had him fooled on that one, oh yes.
But the most shocking revelation of all was that the rogue White Dino Ranger that had been causing so many problems for his students was Anton's adopted son, Trent. Seeing Trent morph against his will with his own eyes led to him being fossilized, and when he was revived he couldn't demorph. Then an experiment that went wrong turned him invisible (though he was demorphed). Finally, Tommy got back to normal and Trent eventually broke free of the darkness controlling him and joined the other Rangers. (Tommy couldn't help but smile when he thought of reliving his old Green Ranger days when that happened with Trent.) Mesogog had ended up splitting away from Anton Mercer, and then he sapped Elsa's powers, reverting her to a normal human state. Zeltrax was eliminated, and finally, the entire team took on a souped-up Mesogog and, using the last of their DinoGems' energy, finally defeated him. Tommy thought it was finally over after that. But you can't keep a good Ranger down, and Tommy ended up leading the entirety of Rangerdom in assisting the Megaforce Rangers in their Legendary Battle against a full-scale assault by the Warstar Armada, led by Emperor Mavro.
Tommy always felt like trouble seemed to find him wherever he went. So when he got that invitation to a Wild Card Anniversary High School Reunion, two things sprung to Tommy's mind. One, what was a Wild Card Anniversary Reunion and why would they have one anyway? He knew that the 10th Anniversary Reunion had been cancelled when, of all things, a blizzard blew through the area, but why would they have a makeup reunion now? And what was so 'Wild Card' about this reunion? It was a bit confusing.
The second thing that concerned him; and this was the more daunting matter, if he did go back, would she be there?
To be honest, it may have been doomed from the start with her. She was the first to tell him she knew he was the Green Ranger. When he broke free of the darkness, they shared precious moments, including his big reveal as the White Ranger; but then she left for Florida to train for the Pan-Global Games. It was what he wanted for her; partly because it was what she wanted, and partly because he didn't want her in danger anymore.
He thought he'd never see her again, and that letter sure didn't help matters much. He tried to put her out of his mind, eventually trying to maintain a relationship with her successor. But that hadn't worked, either. He knew it. That's why when she left he wished her the best in his mind, truly believing that she was gone, that he really had seen her for the last time.
But, of course, he would see her again, and it couldn't have been under worse circumstances. When he had just gotten the Turbo Powers, he couldn't have foreseen having to come to her rescue. Seeing Jason possessed by Maligore hurt pretty darn bad, both physically and emotionally. He nearly got flame broiled because of it. But seeing her possessed was so much worse. And hearing the words, "Sweetie, Pink is out" as she nailed her successor in the gut stung all the more. Even if she had been herself, he could hear her saying those words. Pink really was out, it was out of her completely, the color she once wore so proudly was no longer a part of her composition. The girl he once loved was gone, at least to him.
That's why Tommy wasn't sure he could bring himself to return to where it all began. Being as trouble always found him wherever he went, he could guarantee he'd be in a load of it. Now, evil monsters, wizards, robots, space pirates, prehistoric bio-nightmares; he could handle that, no problem. But when it came to females, the man that the inner sanctum of Rangerdom considered a living legend was a mere mortal. Even sub-mortal when it came to women in pink. He had to consider pink his weakness.
So Tommy thought to himself, Okay, it's just a reunion. No big deal, right. But what if she shows up? What then? The old Ranger logic says to take trouble head on, but this isn't the kind of trouble you can just dive into head first.
Besides, I don't think I can just pull out the old morpher and ranger up. I don't think anyone would appreciate that. Ranger-on-Ranger violence is frowned upon when evil is not involved.
Besides, I'm still one of the many Rangers whose identity is has stayed secret; and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible, thank you very much.
Plus, she knows my every weakness. Correction: She IS my every weakness. I've got to be crazy, maybe; I guess it's the old Ranger instinct talking again, but I just feel like anything that happens, I'll get through it. Even her. I don't know what I'm feeling, but I'm doing it. I'm going.
The decision made, Tommy put his RSVP in the mail, saying he would attend. With that, Tommy thought three things. First, well, now I gotta pack. Second, I hope I'm not making a big mistake. And finally, well, here we go again, Oliver. You've gone and stepped right into a trap. But this time, you may not get out without suffering major consequences. And it all starts again…