Alright, thank you guys so much for the feed back and the thoughts we really appreciate it. There is a lot more where all this comes from hope you will stick with us to the end. hazergirl1220 and i love hearing your ideas and requests so don't hesitate to send them to us. It might be a little bit before we are able to finish them but we only like putting our completed work out there so let us know. Enjoy the story and keep the ideas coming! :)
E.R. Visit
"Mom, we're home!" Jason called, shutting the door behind him.
Jason and Tommy kicked off their shoes and headed upstairs with their bags. They could hear Mrs. Rocca in the kitchen with the girls getting dinner ready as they passed. But the two boys kept going straight for Jason's room.
"Awww man…" Jason groaned, falling onto his bed. "I feel like a zord stepped on me…"
Tommy snorted.
"It pretty much did," he said. "Or at least the equivalent of one—you really should stay away from giant feet."
Jason rolled over and chucked a pillow at him.
"Like you were doing any better," he retorted. "Who's the one who decided to try tripping the giant monster?"
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Tommy protested, catching the pillow and throwing it back. "Besides, you're the one who said we should slow it down—I slowed it down."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jason muttered, sitting up with a grimace. "But you can't tell me you aren't sore, too."
"Never said I wasn't," Tommy grinned. "I'm just not complaining. Someone is still out of practice."
"I'll show you out of practice," Jason growled, standing up with the intention of tackling Tommy.
But he was interrupted by his mother calling them down for dinner.
"We'll finish this later," Jason said, glaring at Tommy as he yanked open his door.
"Whatever you say, O Great Gold Ranger," Tommy laughed, following him out.
They started down the hall toward the stairs, laughing and jostling each other as they went.
"Hey, Jase?" Tommy said suddenly, frowning as he paused.
"Yeah?" he said, stopping and turning.
"You might want to cover that bruise," he answered, pointing.
Jason's shirt had shifted to show a rather large new bruise that was starting to darken. He grimaced when he saw where Tommy was pointing.
"Oh, that's great," he muttered, tugging his shirt back into place. "Maybe I should—"
"Jason! Tommy!" Mrs. Rocca called again.
"I'll just have to hide it until after dinner," Jason sighed, turning to head down the stairs. "I'll change shirts after we eat."
Tommy shrugged and followed him down the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Rocca were already at the table with the girls. Still poking at each other, the two boys took their seats. Plates were passed and everyone started eating.
"So how was school today?" Mrs. Rocca asked, looking at the four kids.
Madison and Vida immediately started talking, the ten-year-olds eager to tell their mother all about their school day. But when it was Tommy and Jason's turn they just shrugged.
"Same thing it always is," Tommy said. "Lots of sitting and lots of homework."
"No kidding," Jason grumbled. "I should have just stayed at the conference."
Jason sighed, taking another bite of his dinner. He had planned on staying with Trini and Zach at the Peace Conferences until the end of the year when they were all coming back, but then he'd heard from Tommy about what was going on with Trey and the gold ranger powers. So he came back early to help out.
"Well, you're the one who wanted to come home early," Mrs. Rocca said. "So no complaining from you."
"Yeah, I know…" he sighed.
"So then what have you two been up to all afternoon?" Mr. Rocca asked. "I'm hoping you were doing your homework somewhere."
They both shrugged, exchanging a quick look for a silent conversation.
"Of course," Jason said casually. "We were just hanging out with everyone at the park after school."
Mrs. Rocca frowned.
"Wasn't there a monster attack there today?" she asked.
"Could have been," Tommy said quickly. "We did leave for a while to go to the library. Had to do our homework after all."
"Jason?" Vida said suddenly, reaching over and tugging on his shirt to get his attention. "Can you take me there tomorrow? I'm supposed to get a book for class…"
"We'll see," he said, extracting his shirt from her grip. "But definitely not if you rip my shirt."
She stuck her tongue out at him, grinning.
"Why did you color on yourself?" Madison asked, looking at Jason.
"I didn't," he frowned, confused.
"Then what's that?" Madison asked, pointing.
Jason froze, realizing too late that Vida's tugging had uncovered the bruise Tommy had mentioned. He quickly tried to cover it, but his mother had already seen.
"Jason," she said sharply, frowning. "Is that a bruise?"
"What?" he said, feigning surprise. "Umm… yeah, I guess. Tommy and I were sparring earlier. He must have hit me harder than I thought."
Tommy shot him a look which he ignored. But Mrs. Rocca wasn't convinced. Standing up, she walked around the table to take a closer look.
"Mom, I'm fine," Jason groaned as she tugged his shirt aside for a closer look. "It's just a bruise. An accident."
"He's right, Mrs. Rocca," Tommy said quickly. "We'll try and be more careful next time."
But they were too late. She'd seen some of the other bruises Jason had covered under his shirt.
"Those are not just bruises!" she exclaimed. "What were you two doing?"
"Sparring," Jason said again, trying to pull away from his mother. "Nothing serious. We just got a little carried away."
"Jason Scott," she scolded. "You're hiding something from me. Now what is going on?"
Tommy and Jason exchanged glances, both of them thinking fast on how to dodge around this. They weren't about to tell her the truth. But then Mr. Rocca, who had been silent so far, leaned forward on the table to look at them.
"Does this have anything to do with that monster attack?" he asked, looking at them expectantly. "The one in the park where you both said you spent the afternoon?"
Both boys flinched slightly.
"Dad, we were sparring in the park," Jason repeated. "But then—"
Mr. Rocca raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms while Mrs. Rocca hovered, glaring down at her son. Jason looked at Tommy in desperation, but Tommy shrugged in defeat. He was out of ideas that didn't involve bolting for home and trying to hide.
"Alright, alright," Jason muttered. "We may have gotten caught up with some of those co—machine men before the rangers showed up—but it wasn't a big deal!"
Tommy grimaced as Mrs. Rocca gasped, a hand going to her mouth.
"Big brother is in trouble," Vida snickered, bumping against Madison who nodded in agreement.
"Oh, this is going to end well," Tommy muttered as she started scolding them.
"You were attacked and you weren't going to tell us?" she cried. "Jason, you could have been seriously injured. You need to tell us if things like this happen!"
"Mom, it's just a few bruises," Jason grumbled.
"It is not just a few bruises," she retorted. "Now you stay right there. Girls, come help me clean up and then get your shoes and jackets on. Honey, will you get the car ready?"
Jason and Tommy frowned as they exchanged looks while Mr. Rocca nodded, standing and leaving the room.
"Where are you going?" Jason asked suspiciously, looking at his mother.
"We are going to the emergency room," she said, glaring at him. "All of us."
She looked at Tommy, too, meaning she was planning on taking him. But he immediately leapt up and darted for the door, deciding to get his backpack from Jason's room later.
"Tommy!" she called after him.
"Sorry, Mrs. Rocca," he called back. "But you aren't my mother. I don't have to go if I don't want to."
And then he was gone, the door closing behind him. Mrs. Rocca turned back to glaring at Jason, silently daring him to move. Grumbling, he just sank further into his chair to wait. He had no idea how to get out of this one. As the twins finished clearing the table, Mrs. Rocca picked up the phone and dialed.
"I don't need an ambulance, mom," Jason said, eyeing the phone.
"I'm not calling one," she said shortly. "Though you should have earlier after you were attacked. No, I'm calling Mrs. Oliver. And then I'm calling the rest of your friends' parents."
Groaning, Jason leaned forward on the table and buried his head in his arms. The other rangers were going to kill him.
"It's gonna be a long night," he muttered.
Jason and his parents, with the twins in tow, were the first ones to the E.R. They got Jason checked in went to find seats in the crowded waiting room. The hospital had been dealing with the aftermath of the monster attack all day. Once they were done checking in, Jason was told by his mother to sit and not move until they were called, so he dropped into a chair in the corner and scowled at her.
"I don't need to be here," he muttered, crossing his arms and slouching, barely suppressing a wince of pain as he leaned against the hard back of the chair.
Adam was the next to arrive at the E.R., ushered in quickly by his mother who looked extremely upset with him. As she started checking him in, he escaped and hurried over to sit by Jason, who had just come back a few minutes before from triage and was now waiting to see the doctor.
"Where's Tommy?" Adam asked, glancing around. "Thought he went home with you after—well, after we split up for the day."
"He did," Jason grumbled. "The rat took off the moment my mom mentioned the E.R…"
"I think we all wanted to do that," Adam sighed, leaning back in his chair.
It was a busy night due to the attack earlier that evening, so when Kat and Tanya arrived with Kat's parents a short time later Adam and Jason were both still waiting to actually see the doctor. Adam had made it through triage as well, but so far it seemed as though they were in for a long wait. They'd staked out a corner for themselves while their parents spoke nearby and Jason's sisters played out of the way. Kat stalked straight over to the boys, followed closely by Tanya. Both of them were glaring at Jason.
"What were you thinking?" Kat hissed, pulling another chair over to them. "We've barely had four hours. They're bound to find something and how do you plan on explaining?"
The ability of the rangers to heal quickly wasn't an instantaneous process. Normal cuts and bruises generally faded within hours, but anything worse than that could take a day or longer to completely disappear. So, out of necessity, all of the rangers had gotten really good at hiding signs of pain and injury from everyone but each other. Non-rangers couldn't know how fast they healed without suspecting something, so the only place they could admit to the pain was in the privacy of the Power Chamber or behind closed doors where there was no one else to hear. Their fight that afternoon had been a bad one, resulting in serious injuries all around. That is why Jason's bruises had been so visible at dinner. His body was trying to heal a more serious injury before the minor things like bruises.
"My dad figured it out," Jason retorted. "It was either blame it on the cogs or tell him the whole story. I thought you guys would prefer to blame it on the cogs."
She huffed, but didn't argue. Tanya sighed, shaking her head. None of them would ever be allowed out again if their parents found out they were rangers. About a half an hour later, Tommy arrived. Mr. Oliver pushed him into the E.R. in a wheelchair. Tommy was scowling, his arms crossed in front of him. After getting checked him in, his parents pushed him over to join his friends. Mrs. Oliver told him firmly to remain put before they went to join the other parents.
"Tommy, are you alright?" Kat asked in surprise.
"I'm fine," he muttered. "My mother is paranoid…"
Jason snickered.
"Should have stayed with me, bro," he grinned.
Tommy glared at him.
"Oh, the wheelchair is just part of it," Tommy said shortly. "The worst part is I no longer have a door to my room."
"What happened to your door?" Adam asked.
"Dad took it down," he grumbled. "I got home, told mom I was tired, and locked myself in my room. Not long after she started pounding on my door demanding I come out so she could take me to the E.R. When I wouldn't come out she started threatening to ground me, etc. Then when dad got home and I still hadn't unlocked the door, he went out to the garage and got his tools. Took off the hinges, popped the lock, and here I am."
"Nice," Jason smirked. "Hey!"
Tommy had just kicked him in the shin. All of the parents turned at Jason's exclamation, so he quickly hid his grimace and glared back along with the other rangers. None of them were happy about being there.
"This is not how I intended to spend my night," Tanya said. "It's Friday night—we should be doing something fun, not sitting in the E.R…"
"You're telling us," Kat sighed. "Did anyone else's parents find anything? Besides Jason, I mean."
She asked quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was in earshot of the question. They five rangers were still in a corner of the room, trying to separate themselves so they could talk a little more freely. Their parents were all sitting nearby, but not close enough to overhear anything unless they were loud.
"No," Adam answered, shaking his head. "My shoulder is sore, but since we popped it back in at the Power Chamber they're not gonna know unless they actually take an x-ray. So I'm hoping the doctor won't insist on that…"
"And your parents didn't say anything about me," Tanya said, looking at Kat. "I haven't been limping, have I? I thought I was doing good hiding whatever I did to my ankle."
Tanya looked at them anxiously, hoping she hadn't slipped on covering up her injuries.
"You weren't," Kat reassured her before looking back at the boys. "But my parents found that gash on my arm…"
The boys grimaced. During the fight she'd taken a slash to the arm that had gotten through the suit. They'd cleaned and bandaged it at the Power Chamber, but it had been deep enough that it was going to take at least a day to close and heal completely.
"I know," she sighed. "And I'm sure the doctor will insist on stitches—and of course it will nearly be closed and healed by tomorrow night. How am I going to explain that to my parents?"
"You don't," Tommy answered, shaking his head. "Whatever injuries they label us with tonight we're going to have to follow through on…No matter what. They can't know about us. Just don't let them help you re-bandage your arm…"
All of the others groaned, but nodded in agreement. They knew it was the only way to keep their secret.
"So, where's Rocky?" Tanya asked, glancing around.
"Not here yet," Jason grumbled. "Maybe he's lucky and doesn't have to come…"
Tommy started to say something, but they were interrupted by a nurse calling his name. He just groaned as his father came to get his wheelchair and take him to triage. Across the waiting room, Madison and Vida were trying to entertain themselves. They were climbing over a series of chairs when Mrs. Rocca noticed what they were doing.
"Girls!" she exclaimed. "Get down!"
"But mom," Vida protested.
"Down, girls," Mr. Rocca said firmly. "Listen to your mother."
Sighing, they both jumped down to the floor.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Madison asked, looking around.
"There are some toys over there," Mrs. Rocca said absently. "Or you can sit still and be quiet."
Grumbling, the girls went to find the toys their mother was talking about as Tommy was wheeled back into the room and back to his friends. But the toys in the room were meant for much younger children.
"Oh, this is fun," Vida muttered, rolling her eyes as she poked at one of the toys.
"Right, fun…" Madison sighed.
Frowning, Vida looked around. Another of Jason's friends, Rocky, had just come in with his mother. She did not look happy as she scolded him, holding him by the ear.
"Come on," she said, taking Madison's hand and tugging her away from the toys.
Tommy, Jason, Adam, Tanya, and Kat looked up as Rocky came in. His mother was loudly scolding him as she pulled him along by the ear.
"Mom—ow!" Rocky protested. "I'm coming! Please let—ouch!"
She didn't release him until they got to the desk and she had to start filling out forms. Rocky immediately darted out of reach and hurried to join the other rangers, rubbing his ear as he did. The other rangers were snickering at him.
"Shut up," he growled, dropping into a chair.
"Jason!" Vida said, pulling Madison over with her. "There's nothing to do."
"So?" he said, crossing his arms as he glared at them. "What's your point?"
"We're bored," she said.
"There's nothing to do," Madison added. "There aren't even any books to read…"
"Well, what do you want me to do about that?" he retorted. "We wouldn't even be here if you two hadn't shown mom my bruise."
Both girls rolled their eyes. The other rangers stayed quiet, not too happy with the girls at that moment.
"Tell us a story," Madison said.
Jason scoffed, shaking his head.
"Nope," he said. "Not happening."
"Please?" Vida begged. "You always tell the best stories."
"I'm not telling you any stories," he said. "I don't really even want to talk to you right now. So go away."
"Please?" Madison said as they both pouted at him.
"Not happening," he growled. "Just go away and bug someone else."
"There's no one else here," Vida countered.
"Mom and dad are here," he said. "Go bother them."
"They're talking to the nurse," Madison said.
And they were. Mrs. Rocca had stopped a passing nurse to ask for an approximate wait time.
"It's hard to say," the nurse told her. "There is a lot of traffic tonight because of the monster attack earlier. Right now they're trying to move some of the more serious cases on. We'll get to you as soon as we can."
Mrs. Rocca sighed, nodding. But she didn't have to wait much longer because the door opened and another nurse walked in.
"Jason Scott?" she said, looking around.
Jason groaned as his parents both turned to look at him. He muttered under his breath as he stood up.
"Good luck," Tanya said.
"Yeah, thanks," he grumbled as he followed his parents and the nurse out.
A few hours later, the rangers and their parents were all back in the waiting room. They'd all seen the doctor and were just finishing up before heading home. Tommy and Adam had managed to get away with the 'just bruises' ploy, but they were the only ones. Jason had separated the muscles in his back just below the shoulder blades. Fortunately for him, they decided it wasn't a bad separation just from touch and didn't take x-rays. He knew from how much it actually hurt that it was a lot worse than anyone thought—he just didn't want them to find out. Kat ended up getting stitches, despite her protests that she didn't want them and they weren't necessary. Both her parents and the doctor insisted. And Tanya was now in the wheelchair instead of Tommy. Though she'd been able to hide a limp from everyone, she hadn't been able to hide the bruising and swelling of her ankle. X-rays had shown it wasn't broken or fractured, but the determination that it was a severe sprain had earned her crutches and the instructions that she was to stay off it as much as possible. That was why she was now in the wheelchair.
"Only you could get a concussion with a helmet on, man," Jason muttered, smirking at Rocky.
The last one through the emergency room, he'd just joined them and shared that the doctors had discovered his concussion. Rocky glared at Jason, who just grinned back. There wasn't a whole lot Rocky could do about his comments with their parents there. Kat, Tanya, and Adam, all sitting or standing by Jason, laughed, too. Tommy, on the other hand was arguing with his mother. The doctor had prescribed some minor pain medication that she was trying to convince him to take.
"Mom, I don't need it," he said, adamantly shaking his head. "I'm fine. The doctor said so. Just some bruising and that'll go away. It doesn't hurt."
"Bruised ribs are not a joke," she scolded. "You're going home and going to bed and we'll see if you go to school on Monday."
He groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. Madison and Vida were running around in excitement, ready to leave. They'd been bored all night and now they were a bit hyper at the thought of finally going home. Their parents, currently talking with some of the other parents, weren't paying attention to what they were doing so the twins were running and bouncing all around the waiting room.
"Why wouldn't I go to school?" Tommy sighed. "Bruises are not a reason to miss school."
"Well, you are obviously traumatized by this whole experience," Mrs. Oliver huffed. "You wouldn't even tell us it had happened."
Tommy rolled his eyes.
"I am not traumatized," he said. "It wasn't a big deal."
"Oh, yeah," Jason snickered. "Tommy's completely traumatized. Just the sight of the co—metal men terrified him."
Tommy shot a glare in his direction, but Jason just laughed. The cogs didn't scare any of them. All they did was announce that something worse was probably about to happen and to be on guard. But Mrs. Oliver didn't catch the sarcasm as she looked at Tommy in concern.
"Right, terrified," Rocky added, grinning. "He was shaking and everything."
"My poor baby," Mrs. Oliver cried, reaching out to hug Tommy.
"Mom!" he exclaimed, trying to pull away from her. "I am not traumatized! Would you stop? I didn't tell you because I didn't—"
He pulled away from her and took a step back, but he didn't see the flower delivery man coming behind him. The delivery man, who was carrying a large vase with a rather over-the-top arrangement of flowers, was so focused on seeing around the flowers and not tripping over one of the twins that he didn't see Tommy either. The two collided, the vase slamming into Tommy's back and shattering. Tommy jerked and stumbled forward, gasping in pain as he dropped to one knee, an arm wrapped around his ribcage. Jason bolted forward to him as nurses came running, drawn by the sound of the vase breaking and Tommy's mother screaming.
"Tommy, are you alright?" Jason exclaimed, reaching down to him.
Tommy grimaced, gasping as he tried to answer. He was struggling to breathe. Behind him, the delivery man was stammering out apologies as he stared in shock. Nurses came running, one of them bringing over a wheelchair. Jason helped them get Tommy into it. Tommy was still struggling to breathe as he continued to hold his ribs.
"What's going on?" Mrs. Oliver finally stammered out. "Did it cut you? What happened?"
"From the way he's struggling to breathe, he may have a broken rib or two," the nurse answered grimly. "We're going to take him right back for x-rays."
Mrs. Oliver gasped and Mr. Oliver put an arm around her shoulders. The nurse wheeled Tommy back out of the lobby as his parents followed close behind. The delivery man, still stammering apologies, was escorted out of the E.R. All of the other rangers exchanged grim looks as someone came to pick up the shattered remnants of the vase and flower arrangement. The parents watched the Olivers go in concern, glancing at their own children, too.
"Should we stay a little longer?" Mrs. Rocca said hesitantly, looking at her husband.
He frowned, hesitating, too. Tommy had become a near-constant fixture in their house with how often he was over with Jason. And Jason wasn't going to protest. He was worried about Tommy. Not just that he was hurt, but that if the doctors gave him any drugs something might come out that no one else should hear.
"I want to stay until Tommy's done," Jason said, crossing his arms.
The rest of his friends were nodding in agreement. None of them wanted to leave Tommy alone until they knew what was going on.
"Well," Mr. Rocca said slowly, looking around at the other parents.
"No!" Vida and Madison exclaimed.
"We want to go home," Madison insisted.
"It's boring here," Vida added.
"Then mom or dad can take you home," Jason said. "I'm not leaving."
The girls exchanged annoyed look before turning back to Jason. He was back with his friends. The five of them were grouped together carrying on one of those silent conversations that the girls never understood while the parents were discussing options for staying.
"We want to go," Vida said again.
She and Madison bounced forward to try and encourage them to leave. Madison grabbed Jason's hand and Vida grabbed Adam's. The two boys were the closest rangers to where the girls had been standing, which is why they grabbed them. Both of the twins pulled hard as they tried to get them to move. Unfortunately, their insistence on leaving started spiraling things downhill as Adam let out a cry of pain. The arm Vida had pulled on was the same arm he'd dislocated earlier. The rangers had popped it back in at the Power Chamber, but it still wasn't fully healed. His arm popped back out of the socket and he cried out, stumbling after her in pain as Vida let go in surprise. Everyone could tell just by looking that his arm had been dislocated. At the same time Adam's arm dislocated, Madison pulled too hard on Jason and he grunted in pain as her weight pulled at the separated muscles in his back. His parents caught the look on his face as everything descended into chaos again.
"Adam!" Mrs. Park cried, running to her son.
"Jason!" the Roccas exclaimed.
Adam was grimacing in pain now, holding his arm close to his body. Jason was trying to hide his own pain as he pulled his hand away from a shocked Madison. Both of the girls were staring at the two boys in complete shock. More nurses came rushing over.
"Come on, sweetheart," one of the nurses said to Adam, gently starting to escort him from the room. "Let's get that taken care of."
He didn't protest as he concentrated on fighting the pain. Jason, on the other hand, was nearly doubled over as he tried to recover from the surprise strain on his muscles.
"That's it," Mrs. Rocca announced. "You're getting x-rays. Obviously you're hiding something from us."
"Mom, I don't—" Jason tried to protest.
But his father silenced him with a look, leaving Jason with no choice but to allow himself to be led after the others. With the rest of the parents insisting on more in depth checks, Kat, Tanya, and Rocky weren't far behind.
Several hours later, the rangers were gathered in a hospital room while their parents talked out in the hallway. Madison and Vida had fallen asleep in the waiting room with Mr. Rocca watching them. Tommy, back from x-rays and having his ribs examined, was lying in the hospital bed. He wasn't happy because the doctor was insisting on keeping him at least overnight.
"This is stupid," he muttered, wincing as he shifted. "We shouldn't be here at all…"
"No kidding," Jason muttered, shaking his head. "Mom sees one bruise and now we're all grounded for the next month…"
"This is horrible," Kat agreed, leaning back in the chair she was sitting in. "My parents are even going to try calling Tanya's parents in Africa about this…"
"But what if they tell you to come home?" Adam asked. "Aisha already stayed in Africa. You can't help us fight from there…"
He was sitting, too. Adam was a bit out of it from the drugs he'd been given while he'd been in too much pain to realize what he was taking. Once the rangers realized the affect the drugs were having on him, they'd stuck a lot closer. Adam wasn't exactly up for keeping secrets in his current state of mind. Mrs. Rocca had tried to get Jason to take the same pain medication, but he had adamantly refused to take it. Stopping short of forcing it on him, Mrs. Rocca had insisted on getting a prescription anyways with the intention of coercing Jason into taking it when they got home. Tommy had refused medicine, too, but he was pretty sure he'd been given something through the IV he was currently hooked up to.
"I don't want to go back to Africa right now," Tanya sighed. "I like it here. And I don't want to leave you guys down in numbers."
"We had five rangers before Jason," Adam said, shaking his head. "We could have five again."
She rolled her eyes, but didn't yell at him for the implication that they didn't need her.
"Hey, I'm just temporary," Jason said. "Only here til Trey pulls himself together—literally. We've gotta make sure Tanya doesn't go anywhere."
The rangers all nodded in agreement. Tommy, trying to shift into a more comfortable position, grimaced again. He was breathing better now, but the ribs still hurt.
"So are they really gonna keep you all night?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah," Tommy sighed. "And mom and dad won't argue… they think I need a night here…"
"How bad do they hurt?" Kat asked softly, rubbing a hand up and down his arm.
He shrugged, wincing again.
"I've had worse," he said.
"Don't worry," Adam said. "It'll be better by tomorrow. Probably just a fracture by the time they let you go."
All of the other rangers froze as what Adam had just said registered with them. The doctors would examine Tommy's ribs again before he was released, including taking more x-rays. They would notice if the injury went from break to fracture overnight.
"Aww man…" Tommy groaned.
"We can't explain that," Rocky said, shaking his head.
"No, we can't," Jason said grimly, looking at Tommy.
"Jason…" Tommy pleaded, knowing what was coming.
"I'm sorry, bro," Jason sighed. "I really hate to do this to you—but you've gotta give me your morphers…"
Tommy grimaced, as did all of the other rangers. Having to spend a night without the power of the morphers was not going to be comfortable. Being separated from them would slow down the accelerated healing enough that it wouldn't be noticeable to the doctors, but it was going to be a long night for Tommy.
"Come on, bro," Jason said, holding out his hand. "Before they come in to tell us we have to leave…"
Sighing again, Tommy flicked his wrists and called his morphers. Pulling them off, he handed both parts over to Jason. Taking them, Jason immediately tucked them into a secure pocket for safekeeping.
"I will get them back to you as soon as I can after they release you," he promised. "Even if I have to teleport to your house. I promise."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Tommy grumbled, already starting to feel a little worse now that he wasn't wearing them.
Kat, who had gotten up to guard the door while the morphers were exchanging hands, spun to look at the other rangers with wide eyes.
"They're talking about Billy," she hissed.
"What?" the others exclaimed.
She nodded, putting a finger to her lips as she listened through the door.
"They think all of this is a rebellion over losing Billy," she said after a moment. "And—and they're discussing enrolling us in group therapy!"
All of them groaned. Billy had been gone for a while now, having left Earth to live on Aquitar. But that wasn't something he could just tell people without explaining a lot of things he wasn't supposed to be talking about. So the rangers had come up with a solution. According to local news and anyone who wasn't a ranger, Billy had disappeared in a monster attack a couple of months before. A search had been conducted, but the rangers had only laid enough of a trail to make it look like the monster had indeed done something to him. Their plan had succeeded. The only part that they'd really struggled with was what to tell Billy's father. In the end, they had left it up to Billy. None of the rangers knew what he had told his father. For all they knew, he knew about them being power rangers. But the few times they had seen him since Billy's departure, he'd treated them just as he had before. So, as long as he didn't bring it up, they continued to act as if he knew nothing. That included things like asking if there had been any sign of Billy and if he needed any help around the house with Billy being gone.
"We didn't lose Billy," Adam frowned. "Billy's on Aquitar—I talked to him yesterday. He likes it there…"
The rangers all looked at Adam, who looked back in confusion.
"What?" he said.
"You're not allowed to talk anymore tonight," Jason growled. "You're going to say something you shouldn't and then we'll all be in trouble. If any of our parents found out about us being rangers we'd—"
"Be grounded for life," Tommy interrupted. "And kept under house arrest, too."
All of them nodded in agreement. None of their parents would be alright with learning their high school children were the power rangers.
"Don't worry, Jase," Rocky said. "I'll keep Adam in line. Mom says I'm going home with him tonight anyways. Something about I'll get more rest if my siblings don't wake me up screaming in the morning."
Rocky had a lot of younger siblings and the house was generally full of noise. He was used to sleeping through it, but in this case he wasn't going to protest if it meant one of them stayed with Adam. Because if Adam said anything in front of his mother it would get back to all of their parents and they'd all be in trouble. The door opened and all of the rangers turned to look as Mr. and Mrs. Oliver walked in. The other parents were waiting in the hallway.
"Time for the rest of you to head home," Mr. Oliver said. "All of you need to get some rest."
Sighing, the rangers said goodbye to Tommy and headed out into the hallway. As Adam passed the adults, he looked up at them.
"I'm not supposed to talk to you," he said as he kept walking.
As the parents exchanged confused glances, the rangers groaned and hurried after Adam.
"Remember, Jason," Mrs. Rocca scolded as the family climbed out of the car. "Any rough housing and all of you are going home, group project finished or not."
Jason rolled his eyes, but nodded. He was just anxious to get in the house and give Tommy back his morphers. It was late in the afternoon the day after the E.R. visit and the rangers had managed to convince their parents to let them all get together at Tommy's house to see how he was doing and to work on homework by claiming they had a group project due the next week. Tommy had only gotten home a few hours before. Since they were bringing Jason anyways, the Roccas had all come over to visit for the afternoon. Madison and Vida were rested from their long night and excited to get out of the house.
"Where's Tommy?" Jason asked the moment someone answered the front door.
"He's resting downstairs," Mr. Oliver answered, holding the door open. "The rest of your friends are already down there working on their homework."
"Thanks," Jason said, starting to scoot around her.
"Hold on a moment, Jason," Mrs. Oliver said, stopping him. "You guys can work on homework down there as long as you stay quiet. Tommy should be lying down already. If he falls asleep, I want all of you to come back up here, alright?"
"Yes, Mrs. Oliver," Jason sighed, impatient to get downstairs.
"Jason, listen to what you're told," Mrs. Rocca scolded behind him.
"Sorry, mom," Jason mumbled.
Satisfied, Mrs. Oliver let him go. Jason headed toward the basement as fast as he dared, not wanting to get another lecture about taking it easy. The rest of his family filed into the house behind him as he disappeared toward the basement. Waving at some of the other parents as he passed through the living room, Jason headed down the stairs. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he glanced over toward the couch. Adam, Rocky, Tanya, and Kat were sitting on the floor by the couch, quietly doing homework. Tommy was stretched out on the couch and it looked like he was asleep. As Jason stepped off the stairs, the others glanced up.
"Oh, hey," Kat said. "Tommy, it's just Jason."
Tommy's eyes immediately flew open and he carefully shifted so he could see, grimacing as he did so.
"Hey, Jase," he said. "My mom isn't following you, is she?"
"Nope," Jason said, walking over to join them. "Though she gave me strict instructions to go back upstairs the moment you fall asleep."
"Oh, she gave all of us those instructions," Tanya snorted.
"And she's come down to check at least twice," Rocky grumbled.
"Which means Tommy keeps having to pretend to be resting," Adam sighed.
"Like I can actually sleep right now," Tommy muttered, slowly sitting up. "I barely slept last night and they drugged me…"
"Yeah, you don't look so great," Jason said, shaking his head.
"He looks awful," Kat said, moving to sit on the couch next to Tommy. "Jason, did you bring them?"
Jason nodded, reaching into his backpack.
"Here you go, man," he said, handing Tommy his morphers. "This should make things a little better."
Tommy took them, sighing in relief as he slipped them on his wrists. Once they were both on, he flicked his wrists to make them disappear just in case someone came downstairs again.
"Yeah, that's better," he said. "Still kills, but it's better."
"Well, that's one thing that's better," Tanya said, shaking her head. "But what are we going to do? We're all grounded for weeks…"
"Tanya's right," Kat said quietly. "What happens when the Machine Empire sends another monster? We can't just let it go…"
"We won't," Tommy sighed. "We'll just be grounded longer…"
"Yeah, for the rest of our lives," Rocky grumbled. "What do you think the chances are of no monsters until we're ungrounded?"
The other five rangers looked at Rocky, raising eyebrows in response.
"Slim to none," Adam said. "And with the way our luck has been going, one will probably show up tomorrow…"
They all sighed, thinking about just how hard the next few weeks were going to be.
"Well, we'll have to figure it out when it happens," Jason finally said. "For now, let's just hope we at least get a couple of days. Last thing Tommy needs is a cog or monster pounding on him while those ribs heal."
Tommy snorted.
"Like I'm going to just let them hit me," he retorted. "And besides, I'll be fine by tomorrow."
"Right," Jason said sarcastically, shaking his head. "Those ribs will be completely healed by tomorrow and you'll be ready to fight—"
Pounding footsteps on the stairs interrupted as Madison and Vida came rushing downstairs. Jason frowned at them.
"What do you two want?" he asked, still irritated with them about the night before.
"We came to see what you were doing," Vida answered.
"Homework," Jason said shortly. "So go away."
"Why?" Madison asked. "We'll be quiet."
"Because I don't want you down here," Jason answered. "Go bug someone else."
Sticking their tongues out in unison, the girls spun and stormed back toward the stairs.
"Man, Jason," Rocky said. "Your sisters are really annoying sometimes. How are we supposed to talk about anything if they're going to keep barging in on us?"
"You've got to be kidding," Jason snorted. "Rocky, you have seven younger siblings. We can barely hear ourselves at your house, let alone actually have a conversation about anything important."
"And you're being awfully rude," Madison added.
The girls, hearing Rocky's comment, had stopped. Vida was glaring at Rocky, who just shrugged off Madison's comment. Taking offense, Vida launched herself at him and tackled him to the ground.
"Vida, you're not supposed to rough house, remember?" Madison scolded. "He has a concussion. You're going to be in trouble."
"Only if you tell," Vida retorted.
Taking Rocky by surprise, the small ten-year-old had managed to twist his arm behind his back, successfully pinning Rocky to the ground.
"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing? Jason, what have you been teaching them?"
Jason chuckled, shaking his head as he watched his sister attacking his friend.
"What do you think I've been teaching them?" he asked. "They need to know how to defend themselves. I'm not always going to be able to take a hit for them."
Tommy flinched and Jason gave him an apologetic look. He hadn't meant to remind Tommy of things past.
"Besides," he continued. "It's not just me. Tommy's been helping."
"Yeah!" Vida exclaimed in excitement. "He's the one who taught me this."
She let go of Rocky's arm, but he'd barely had time to move it when she jabbed the pressure point in the middle of his back. Rocky yelped in pain, freezing as she pressed as hard as she could against it.
"Agh!" he cried. "Get off of me! You just paralyzed me!"
The other rangers started laughing, as did Madison. Tommy rolled his eyes.
"She did not," Tommy said. "Give it a minute or two, the feeling will go away."
"Get her off!" Rocky demanded.
Still laughing, Jason walked over and scooped Vida off of Rocky. He threw her over one shoulder as she protested.
"Man," Rocky grumbled, wincing as he tried to move. "That hurt…"
"Rocky, you just got beaten up by a ten-year-old girl who's not even half your size," Adam laughed. "I wouldn't complain if I were you."
"I have a concussion!" Rocky said defensively.
Adam rolled his eyes.
"Oh yeah, sure," he said sarcastically. "You have a concussion. Just like I have a dislocated shoulder."
Rocky glared at him, but knew he was right. Since the concussion was minor, it had healed overnight. Not that they were about to tell his parents it was healed already. The same with Adam's shoulder. Though it was almost completely healed, he was still wearing the sling to keep up the act around their families. Kat, Tanya, and Jason were all in the same situation. Though their injuries may not have been completely healed yet, they weren't bad enough any longer that they needed to baby them. Tommy was the only one without the benefit of over twenty-four hours of healing time with the morphers. But they all had to keep up the act for secrecy's sake.
"I can dislocate it again for you if you'd like," Rocky growled, starting to get to his feet.
Adam just laughed harder.
"Bring it on, man," he said.
"That doesn't sound like homework!" Mrs. Oliver's voice suddenly interrupted from the top of the stairs.
Kat immediately vacated her seat next to Tommy, dropping to the floor as he resumed his resting position in case his mother came down.
"Do I need to come down there?" Mrs. Oliver asked.
"No!" the rangers chorused. "We're working…"
Grumbling to themselves, the rangers got back to working on their homework. Madison and Vida started looking through games to find something to entertain themselves with while Jason and the others were working. Once he was sure his mother wasn't coming down, Tommy sat back up and the rangers continued their debate—just a little bit quieter and a lot more cryptically.