Tommy's eye colors:

Clear green - raw/overexposed/tired

Cerulean - determination

CHAPTER 3 - PREPARATIONS

It looked like a refugee camp. That was the first thing that entered Tommy's mind as his clear green gaze swept the usually sterile environment of the Command Centre. There was nothing to differentiate between the street kids and the rich families of his fellow Rangers. Men, women and children huddled together, sitting or the floor. Their clothing ripped and dirty, their wounds healed but the blood still stained their skin and clothes. Their faces were drawn and tired and broken. Defeated. Lost. His teammates looked just as defeated as any of them. Just as Zedd wanted.

Billy's expression as he looked up from his scans was just as broken. Tommy walked over and laid a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "What did you find?" The other Rangers heard his question and joined them.

"I've located them however I am unable to find a way through the signal blockers," Billy said in defeat.

"Don't give up. While there's life, there's hope," Tommy responded. "What's the block on?"

"Our Powers. All of them except the Green Dragon. You could teleport in there pretty close to the captives but no other Power holder can."

"What about if we don't hold the Power?" Jason asked. "If we leave our Coin behind?"

Tommy shook his head no. "It won't work. Once a Ranger always a Ranger. The Power's forever part of us. - I'll have to go in alone."

"Yeah 'cause this whole setup doesn't scream out trap in flashing neon letters or anything," Harry drawled.

"We know it's a trap Har," Tommy said. "But that can't stop us. And if mine's the only one that can get through…" He hesitated the questioned softly, "Is it a block on Powers besides the Green Dragon or is it a block specifically on the Dino Ranger Powers?"

"On the Dino Powers," Billy answered slowly, trying to figure out where Tommy was going with such a question. "But all the rest of us are Dino Rangers. There isn't another."

"Zordon," Tommy said, turning his attention to their mentor. "Open the chamber with the Thunder Power Coins." At this, everyone's attention focused upon Tommy.

Zordon didn't respond immediately. "The Thunder Power was locked away for good reason, Green Ranger."

"Yes. Because you fear it. But it isn't the Power that's dangerous, it's the being that controls it. In and of itself, the Power is neutral."

"It is an Elemental Power, Tommy, almost as dangerous as the Green Dragon."

"You do remember you're talking to the Green Dragon Ranger, right?" Tommy returned.

Zordon ignored this. "Only a mage born can retrieve those Coins from that chamber and activate a Thunder Ranger team and if that being is not Powerful enough they will destroy him and the Power will rain havoc upon the world and beyond."

"I know all this," Tommy said with a hint of annoyance. "You told me all this the first time I heard them call to me. Open the chamber, Zordon."

"You must be Powerful enough to control every single one of those Powers the instant the chamber is unsealed or all will be destroyed, Tommy. It is too much for any one being."

Tommy looked at him a moment in silence. Then he softly stated, "When I was little, there was a hurricane that came to shore where I lived. It was a powerful storm, the area had been evacuated. But the place I stayed, they wouldn't leave. We were all still there when the storm hit. I was outside, standing on the shore looking out over the sea when it hit. Everything was flattened in it's wake. Buildings collapsed, places were flooded and people were washed away by the waters. Power lines fell, nothing stood against it. But me. I stood on the shore as it hit and I stood there unmoving while it raged and I stood there still when it was all over. Completely safe. Never endangered but instead protected by the storm all others feared. - Open the chamber, Zordon. I have nothing to fear."

For the first time ever, Zordon gave thanks for his inner-dimensional prison that caused him to only be visible through the Power tube and left his features distorted. For if it wasn't for this then everyone present would have been able to see his shock and fear at those words. He'd known since he first saw the child that he was most likely the Child of Prophecy yet there was a big difference between strongly suspecting and having the proof spelled out so vividly. "The chamber will open for you," Zordon answered him.

Tommy turned and headed towards the chamber he knew held the Thunder Coins, his cerulean gaze once again scanning the gathering. Gone was the despair and defeat, in its place a spark of hope and a sense of awe. He walked through them silently and continued deep into the Command Centre's lower storage chambers until he stood before a door well hidden in the shadows of the lowest level. A green light glowed softly then changed to red as he watched, signifying the chamber unlocked. Tommy smirked at that even as he palmed the door open. It was a sign of just how much the Powers actually changed the holders that despite being from a society where red was the danger warning, none of the other Rangers ever thought twice about the Command Centre's systems being exactly opposite of that.

The door slid open, the blockers keeping the Thunder Powers trapped were released, and those Powers reached out to Tommy. Welcoming, embracing. The same protected feeling he'd felt within the hurricane once again. He picked up the box holding the Thunder Coins and felt them reach out to him and through him, bonding with him and acknowledging him as the master of the Thunder Line. Granting him the addition of the Power of Thunder to his Green Dragon in exchange for him activating a team.

He was smiling as he returned to the main chambers. Without hesitation, he went to those most worthy of a warrior line. "Connor, how would you like to be a Power Ranger?"

Connor looked at him in shock. It took him a moment to be able to reply. "What's the catch?"

"You get drawn into a war, that's a pretty major catch. But I think you're already there anyway." Tommy shrugged. "It's forever. But it's under me alone. The Thunder Powers accepted me as master of the Line. No other government, no other responsibilities. Just my rules and you already know them."

Connor smirked at that. "Yeah. What I've been doing anyway." He paused, thought about the offer. Then sighed. "If it was anyone else I'd say they were insane. Yes, Tommy. I accept."

Tommy opened the box and said, "Grab any Coin."

Connor looked in the box at five identical Coins. With a slight shrug he reached in a grabbed one which immediately showed a red tone.

"The Red Phoenix Power," Tommy informed the room even as the knowledge of the Power filled Connor's mind.

Can you hear me? If so just think your response, Tommy then questioned silently.

Connor's eyes grew big but he thought, I hear you. This is fucking weird.

Yeah, it freaked me out the first time I talked to someone this way too. The Thunder Rangers will be your team, Con. Who do you suggest for the other Powers?

Connor looked at the box, counted the coins. Striker, Rocky, Adam, and Justin.

Tommy nodded to this then located the four boys. "Striker," he said to Connor's second in command. "Would you be a Power Ranger?"

Striker looked to Connor first then agreed. The Coin he took from the box shaded to Brown at his touch. "Brown Basilisk?" Striker half stated, half questioned.

"Adam?" Tommy asked the next boy. Adam Park was the oldest son of a police detective that often spoke against the Power Rangers, resulting in fierce arguments at home until it led to a divorce. Adam ran away when his mother received custody of both him and his brother and chose to move out of Angel Grove. He'd joined the gang barely two months ago and Tommy's calling his name now took him by surprise. "Would you be a Power Ranger?" Tommy asked softly, knowing for him it was a bigger question that for the others. It wasn't just asking if he'd serve, it was asking if he'd become part of the thing his mother believed in and his father abhorred, the very thing that caused his family to split apart.

"I will," Adam answered with a calm pride. He claimed his coin, the Black Wyvern.

"Rocky." Rocky DeSantos, only recently orphaned in one of the alien attacks, reached forward to accept the Coin before any more words were spoken, and claimed the Power of the Grey Griffin. "Justin," Tommy called the final name, and youngest of the chosen boys. Justin was just older than Tommy himself. The quiet boy stepped forward and took the final Coin which shaded to Blue, making him the Blue Sidhe Ranger.

"Welcome aboard, Thunder Rangers," Tommy said to them all as the box that once held the Thunder Coins disappeared like fog after a storm. "We have work to do."

888

Continued - Let me know what you think. Review