ZEO: The Search for Zeo ranger 1
kayer713
Chapter Five
Tommy and Rocky stared down at the plaque not believing what they were reading. After the tricks and confessions and swamp monsters this was is?
"Final challenge," Tommy read.
"Get naked."
What kind of joke was this?
"Obviously it's another synonym for purity," Rocky commented.
"Right?"
Tommy glanced from the plaque to him.
"Of course. But 'get pure'? Didn't the last challenge prove that we were when we told the truth?"
Rocky only shrugged in response. Tommy was baffled.
"If we don't figure this out then we'll be stuck here in this labyrinth forever," he reminded both himself as well as his friend.
"And Reggie'll be done for."
Rocky took a look around.
"I don't know what to make of it. How are we supposed to get pure?"
Tommy ran a hand through his hair. Get pure, that was the meaning behind the words on the plaque.
"Okay how are things purified? By alcohol? Soap and water? Bleach? Fire?"
The second he uttered the last word a whoosh swam up behind them. An insufferable burst of heat accompanied the gust along with a crackling. Horrified, Rocky and Tommy exchanged expressions.
"You don't think—" Rocky began.
"It said to purify," Tommy repeated.
Both faces full of trepidation, they turned around toward the fire. And nearly fell backward. It was enormous, a thick wall of angry flames blaring beyond the normal orange. They were the brightest white Tommy had ever seen. Rocky shielded his eyes.
"We have to step into that?!"
Panic was in his tone. What Rocky voiced, Tommy felt. Could he really do this? Could he ask Rocky to do the same?
"You know what," Rocky commented, "I'm really regretting volunteering for this labyrinth thing. This was definitely a mission more suited for Jason."
Tommy cocked an eyebrow, curious.
"More suited for Jason? Why 'cause gold needs to be purified?"
Rocky shook his head.
"No, because he's always eager to sacrifice himself for a mission. He should be renamed the Kamikaze ranger. Reggie needs someone like that now."
Tommy let the humor coat his fear. Maybe if they could laugh a little they'd come up with another plan.
"You think we can morph before we take it on?" he asked more than suggested.
Again Rocky shrugged.
"I think I'd rather be taking on Mondo right about now."
Tommy squinted at the flames, mentally prepping for the unthinkable. The first plaque had instructed them not to morph. The second had instructed honesty. The third was about mortal combat. Now the fourth was instructing suicide? But this couldn't be the end. Like everything else there had to be some metaphoric meaning. The flames wouldn't actually kill them. It was just another obstacle to overcome. For Reggie.
"I'm going in."
Rocky stared.
"Tommy—"
I can't force you to go with me, but if you don't meet this challenge you'll be stuck here until you do. I don't want to lose you, man. I know the rangers don't want to lose you. The world can't afford to lose you."
He gave Rocky a look of finality.
"But I'm going in. Are you with me?"
The intense heat had already caused a sheen on their foreheads. Breathing hard Rocky ran a hand down his face. Tommy silently awaited his reply.
"We came here for Reggie. To save her. I'm not going to let her down," Rocky decided.
"I'm with you Tommy. We do this together. For Reggie."
Grateful for the partnership, Tommy reached over and took his hand. For a moment he and Rocky stood, garnering up the courage to do what had to be done.
"On the count of three?" Tommy suggested.
Rocky nodded.
"One."
Tommy swallowed.
"Two." Rocky breathed.
"Three!"
Tommy shut his eyes as the bright whiteness envelope him, feeling the heat burning through him. Though his skin didn't blister, though he felt no pain, the heat captured his body with intensity. It felt like a dry summer day. Turned up a few notches. But it didn't hurt.
He was vaguely aware that he'd lost Rocky's hand. Somewhere in the blaze it had simply vanished. He was tempted to open his eyes to search for his friend but even behind his eyelids the light was blinding. He grit his teeth before calling out.
"Rocky! Are you there?"
From a distant somewhere: "Tommy? Tommy!"
Then the whiteness took him, entering every orifice of his body—his nose his open mouth, his ears. All he could hear now was a humming like a magnetic force at work. His muscles, feeling like warm jelly, relaxed involuntarily. He tried to take a breath but his lungs were too loose to expand. In fact his head was growing too light to think.
What had he been doing again?
Tommy floated, all resistance gone from his body. All memory gone from his mind. He felt a hand lightly brush his hair back. Immediately feelings of affection took him. When the hand stroked him again he wanted to lean into the maternal touch.
"Tommy Oliver, young and brave."
He didn't recognize the voice or the name for that matter.
"You are fierce as a warrior, matched by none who have entered herein. Your mind and body are a tactical weapon wanted by the forces of good and evil. In your time you've been used by both. But your nature is that of good."
Who was this voice speaking? And why did he feel its words inside?
"Your heart is a large one, which can be either a weakness or a strength depending on how you choose to see it. But beware young Tommy for that heart is what they will use against you. The forces of evil will always desire to corrupt you, for inside you have much power."
Tommy. Why was that name so familiar? It should mean something to him, he was certain.
"Be well, Tommy. Your reasons for this journey are pure as is your heart and soul. I release you to the garden of my people."
Suddenly he was falling. Fast and furious. He reached out for something—anything to grab hold of to break his fall. It was survival instinct of course because inside he felt no panic of fear. He felt comforted somehow. Like he was in loving, nurturing arms. When he landed it was flat on his feet. The impact was painless but jarring nonetheless. His memories, his life and his identity came crashing back to him. He had to throw his arms outward to keep his balance.
"Tommy?"
Over to his right Rocky was standing. Judging by the bewildered expression on his face he too was experiencing the rush.
"Did we make it?"
Tommy glanced around then. The foliage that had sealed them inside the labyrinth no longer surrounded them. The green and yellow now stood at their backs. Above them the sky was bright, both suns in view. But it was what was at their feet that moved the rangers. Sprinkled within the dew covered grass were strange plants.
Yellow with brown spots, similar to wheat stalk. Tommy reached down to touch one. The stem was slick but the yellow kernels were soft to his touch. They felt like squishy grapes.
"I think this is it," Tommy breathed, "the dydot root."
Rocky hurried over to touch the same plant. His eyes met Tommy's in triumph.
"We did it! We actually did it!"
Victory swelled within them both. They'd completed the labyrinth. They'd obtained the dydot root. Now all that was left was to get it to Reggie.
"Zordon, Alpha come in."
Tommy held his breath, awaiting their response.
"Tommy, we read you."
The sound of Alpha's voice had never been so relieving. Tommy couldn't help but to smile as he pulled the plant from the ground.
"We've got the root. We're ready to teleport."
"All right Tommy. Teleporting in five…four…three…"
"Oh Mondo do something! Those powerbrats have the cure!"
Racked with frustration—or the closest thing to it that a robot could produce—Queen Machina made her way toward her husband. King Mondo, however did not need her prodding. He knew what to do to keep the rangers from saving their friend. They might have the antidote, but they would never get it to her.
"Plank, launch the scrambler!"
Prince Sprockett shifted anxiously at the developments.
"What happened to the cogs Daddy? They were supposed to stop them!" he whined.
The Machine King groaned his displeasure.
"Those good-for-nothing scraps have been wandering around that planet for hours. They can't seem to locate the rangers at all."
The cogs had yet to even find the entrance to the labyrinth.
"Can the scrambler Daddy?"
"Of course it can. The moment they attempt to teleport back to Earth the scrambler will mix their signal and they will end up far from their destination. The stronger the signal the farther they'll go."
He turned to his loyal subject, who was already wielding the scrambler. It was mostly a laser, but built like a cannon. The device packed a major punch.
"Plank, set it to full blast. I want those rangers to meet the sun!"
"…two…one."
Tommy and Rocky grinned at the notion of home. Of Zordon and the command center. Of saving Reggie. Teleportation seemed to be going just fine until out of nowhere a powerful gust slammed into them. Tommy could barely blink before he was colliding with jagged rocks, tearing through his clothes and breaking skin. His body rolled a few feet before he was able to stop the momentum. Dazed but alert, he lifted his head to survey his surroundings. It was a desolate gray, solid rock. Dark crevices lingered in every sharp corner. Instinctively he glanced down at his right hand for the dydot root.
It was there, but most of it had crumbled and been ruptured. There were only two kernels left.
"Whoa!"
Tumbling by him, a streak of blue he knew instantly as Rocky. Springing to action, he reached for his friend. The sudden narrow edge of the cliff reached him first, and Rocky disappeared over the edge.
"No!"
Tommy hurried over.
"Rocky!"
There was darkness as far as he could see. Only the tips of other gray boulders stood out. He fell to his knees, peering into that darkness for something—any trace of him. Rocky couldn't be down there. He couldn't—
"A little help please?"
He spotted the bare white knuckles first, then the fingers holding on for dear life.
"Don't worry, man, I got you."
Slipping the root between his lips to free his hands, Tommy lowered to his belly and stretched down. He grasped Rocky's wrists on the first try. It didn't take him too long to pull him up. Once both rangers got their footing, they went for their communicators.
"Zordon, what happened?" Tommy wanted to know.
"Rangers, it would appear that Mondo is aware of your quest and is trying to prevent you from returning home. He's scrambled our signal. If we are to bring you back then we must destroy his device."
Tommy and Rocky exchanged his expressions. They'd been here before. When Mondo had tried to prevent Billy from returning from a mission once and then again when Trey, the original gold ranger had needed to transfer his power to Jason. The old bag of bolts would never give up would he?
"But how are we going to do that?" Tommy asked.
It was Alpha who answered his question.
"With a little help from some friends on Aquitar."
Friends like Cestro, Delphine and others. Friends like Billy.
"On Aquitar Billy has perfected a solar beam that uses the heat from the sun to crystalize objects. It's meant for the preservation of ancient relics which may decay from every day wear but he would like to make an exception in this case," Alpha explained.
"By turning the converter up to maximum level he can use the heat to vaporize the device that Mondo is using against us."
It sounded like a great plan. Leave it to Billy to save the day with his brain power. Tommy was impressed.
"How will he find it?" he wondered.
"How will he know where to shoot it?"
"Using the trajectory of your collision with Mondo's beam we were able to trace its location. Don't worry Tommy. We'll have you home in no time."
He certainly hoped so. After the crash he wasn't sure how much longer the dydot root could hold up.
"I tell you," Rocky breathed, "it will be so good to be back at the command center. I think I may kiss the floor when we get back."
Tommy was laughing when an explosion hit the sky. He instantly knew that Mondo's device was no more.
"We're going home," he smiled, patting Rocky's shoulder.
"Reggie's going to be okay."
Rocky nodded.
"Yea, too bad we can't say the same for your lip though. You busted it up pretty good."
Tommy touched his lip.
"What are you talking about?"
His fingers came back slick and maroon. But he couldn't be bleeding. He felt no pain. No splits. No—an abrupt shift and they were no longer standing on the rock surface but on the smooth floors of the command center. Jason, Adam and Tanya were there waiting for them.
"You're back!"
"Are you guys okay?"
"Did you get it?"
Tommy opened his empty hands, feeling his stomach take a nose dive. The excitement quieted with his somber expression.
"I had it," he confessed.
"But I lost it."
His eyes went to Reggie, so still in her slumber.
"When Mondo knocked us out of the air most of it was destroyed."
His eyes went to his feet.
"There was only a little left but I guess I squashed that too."
He should have set it down on the ground. Why had he held it between his lips?
"I let Reggie down."
When a hand touched his shoulder he knew it was Jason.
"No Tommy, you did your best. You got through the labyrinth. You got the root. This is on Mondo, Bro."
Rocky touched his other shoulder.
"Jason's right. I saw you out there. You were pretty brave. You pushed me when I almost wasn't. You saved me from falling to my death. You didn't let anybody down. We'll find another way. We'll just have to go back to Hyperion and tackle Mero's maze again."
The team rallied around him.
"Only this time you can take Jason with you," Rocky added jokingly.
"He likes to jump into things, right? Didn't you say he once jumped inside a giant bird?"
The Hatchasaurus. It had been back in the dino-days when Jason had commanded the red tyrannosaurus dinozord. Before Rocky's time and during a period when Tommy had lost his morphing powers. Billy and Kimberly had filled him in on the adventure.
"Jumping into things?" Jason laughed.
"What'd you guys jump into on Hyperion?"
They were trying to cheer him up, Tommy realized but it wouldn't work. He was in no mood to kid or watch Jason and Rocky kid each other. He wanted to help Reggie.
"You mean other than white hot fire shooting out of the ground?" Rocky told the team.
He was rewarded with gasps.
"No way," Adam breathed, "that sounds intense."
"How are you still standing?" Tanya reached to feel his forehead.
"You do feel kind of hot."
Jason was shaking his head in amazement.
"You guys really put yourselves on the line. You did good. I don't care what Mondo tried to do. We'll save Reggie. Like Rocky said, we can't give up."
He squeezed Tommy's shoulder in support.
"We can always go back."
Though he appreciated their efforts Tommy couldn't shake the sense of failure that plagued him. He wouldn't feel better until he rectified the situation. Until he saved her.
"You're right, Jase. We won't give up. We'll go back—I will. Right now."
He looked to Zordon.
"Send me back. I know the labyrinth, I can handle its challenges. Mondo's device is finished so teleportation won't be a problem."
"Tommy—" Jason began.
"I'm ready. Send me back."
"You should probably get cleaned up and rest a bit—"
"Jason, I'm fine. I can handle myself," he snapped.
Jason looked at him, understanding his frustration.
"Look, I know what you're going through, okay. Remember the green candle?"
How could he forget? Rita had summed up the last of his green ranger powers into one wax candle and once it ran out his powers would be gone forever. Jason had entered the dark dimension to grab it but Tommy and the team had been overwhelmed by a monster back on Earth. He'd had to make a decision, fight Goldar to save Tommy's powers or fight the monster to save Tommy's life.
"It killed me that I couldn't get it for you. I mean it ate me up inside. I felt like I let you down. I let the whole team down. I almost let that guilt consume me. But you know what? A part of our job as rangers is to make tough decisions and be in tough situations. You gave your all to save her and that is not letting her down. Now you want to go back, I'll back you. I'd do the same in your shoes but you're not going anywhere until you recuperate from your last run-in. You're not doing Reggie any favors by going in half-cocked."
Of course Jason was right. Everything he was saying made perfect sense. If the shoe were on the other foot he'd be saying the same thing to him. Tommy sighed in resignation.
"An hour. Then I go back."
Jason accepted the compromise.
"Okay, now go get cleaned up. And start with that busted lip."
Tommy managed a smile.
"Nope, sorry it's not busted. That's juice from the dydot. I held it with my lips when I was helping Rocky. The kernels ruptured under the pressure."
Rocky blinked at him, stricken.
"You mean it's my fault?"
"No I—"
"Tommy listen to me," Zordon interceded.
"The medicine of the dydot root is in its juice. All one would need to be treated are a few drops of one kernel. If as you say two kernels burst on your lips then we already have more than enough to cure Reggie."
The entire team paused.
"Huh?"
"There is no need to return to the labyrinth," Zordon reiterated.
"All of the antidote that Reggie needs is right on Tommy's lips."
Tommy was floored. So he hadn't screwed it up? He could still save her? A tsunami of relief hit him at the confirmation only to be replaced by a cloud of uncertainty. His lips? The cure was on his lips? Did that mean—?
"It's like Sleeping Beauty," Tanya gasped, "Reggie's sleeping and the only way to wake her is from Tommy's kiss."
She tugged Adam's arm.
"Can you believe it?"
The shocked expression on his face was her answer. Jason looked at Tommy, a bit humored.
"Zordon's giving you the okay to make out with a cute girl in the command center," he joked.
"I've officially seen it all."
Tommy didn't know what to say.
"The dydot root thrives on moisture," Zordon explained.
"Though it has dried on your lips, the moisture of your saliva has kept it ripe. In order to administer the cure to Reggie you must moisten your lips before applying them to hers."
"Best ranger welcome ever," Tanya murmured.
Adam glanced her way, hoping that she meant the kissing part and not the kissing Tommy part.
Rocky was shaking his head.
"So after all that I faced in that labyrinth of tricks and truth and sludge monsters and fire, then Mondo nearly throwing me off a cliff you mean to tell me Tommy still gets to smooch the girl?"
Jason shrugged.
"It's tradition," he offered.
"Maybe a pink ranger rite of passage?"
Tanya couldn't help but to giggle.
"Why couldn't I get a welcome like that?"
Tommy made his way over to the chamber, his heart more active than it had been in his earlier accounts. Kiss her? Kiss Reggie? He'd only met her the day before.
It's only a peck.
The last girl he'd kissed had been Kat. Before her there was Kimberly. He didn't make it his business to go around kissing random girls.
"You don't think it's a little creepy, with her being unconscious and all?"
As he asked the question he knew that it was only a stall tactic. This wasn't some lecherous scheme that Bulk or Skull would come up with. This was him saving her from an eternal slumber. Well, not eternal. She'd probably wake up in heaven eighty years from now—an old lady angel.
"She'll stay unconscious if you don't," was his only answer.
He gave Jason a look for the blunt truth but closed in on Reggie afterward. Leaning into the chamber, into the serenity of her smooth brown skin he wondered if she would remember anything when she woke. Her lips were full and pouted, a natural state courtesy of her genetics. They looked soft enough to cushion the blow to his pride if when she awoke she slapped him or something.
Kat's lips hadn't been so plump.
Deciding to go for it, he licked his stained lips and pressed them down onto Reggie's. The first thing he noticed was that they were even softer than they looked. He tried not to imagine how they would feel kissing him back. The second thing he noticed was the low moan from deep within her throat. It had come from out of nowhere. He dared not pull away until he knew that she was conscious. She informed him when her lips moved with his. Their mouths opened.
"Ahem."
When he came away Reggie was staring up at him. He likewise couldn't take his eyes off her. What was happening? To him? To her? It felt thick in the air, like magnetic energy brewing between them. He'd never felt this with anyone before.
"Tommy?" her voice was soft, delicate.
"What's going on?"
He cleared his throat in an attempt to shake off the magnetism.
"Reggie, have you ever heard of the power rangers?"
The Machine Empire
"I can't believe those rangers did it again!"
Plank and Orbus watched silently as their king ranted and raved about his failure to destroy the red and green zeo rangers. Not only had they survived but the Aquitar rangers had destroyed the machine's scrambler. And even worse, the pests had made it back to Earth with the cure for the girl's coma. Things couldn't possibly be any worse.
"Don't worry Dear, we'll get them next time," Queen Machina was soothing her husband.
"We'll come up with a plan."
A plan. Ha, no plan better than what Plank had come up with. Why he'd already put it into action. Yes, as they yet spoke the gold ranger was tainted with a toxin that would eventually destroy him. He wouldn't taste it, he wouldn't smell it, he wouldn't have any idea that anything was wrong with him. Not until it finally struck. And then Jason, that pesky gold ranger would be gone forever!
Will the team discover the toxin and save Jason? How will Reggie adjust to being a ranger? Can Tommy manage his strange feelings for Reggie? Find out in the next tale….
ZEO: Gold Rush