Author's Note: Translations for gibberish are included after the actual gibberish.
Oliver Family Reunion
By JDPhoenix
Chapter 6: Dealing with the Olivers
"Where is Maddie?" Vida asked, walking into the Rock Porium.
"Haven't seen her," Xander said, leaning imperiously against the office door.
"Did she say she was coming here?" Chip asked, detaching himself from his now ever-present fangirls.
"No," Vida sighed, taking a seat on the steps to the DJ stage. "But she was gone before I woke up."
"She's probably in the forest," Xander said.
"Maybe."
"Come on, V, what's really wrong?" Chip asked, taking a seat next to Vida.
Vida took a deep breath. "Before Nick left, he gave Madison his baby blanket."
"Did they kiss?" Xander asked casually.
Vida rounded on him. "Do you honestly think I would tell you if my sister kissed a guy?" she roared. She sat back down and pouted. "And no, they didn't."
"Ha!" Chip cried. "Pay up!"
Xander sullenly pulled a few dollars out of his pocket and handed them to Chip.
"You two bet on whether or not Madison and Nick would kiss?" Vida asked, torn between indignation and humor.
"Oh please," Xander said, "those two have been dancing around each other since he moved here."
"Don't you remember how depressed he was when she got turned to stone?" Chip asked.
"And then when that guy showed up," Xander said, wincing in sympathy. "For a week all he did was snap at people."
"That's not true," Vida said.
"That's because you were almost always with Madison," Chip pointed out. "Once Maddie left, Nick would be a jerk again."
Xander smiled. "Do you remember when Daggeron showed up?"
Chip laughed. "Oh yeah."
"What happened?" Vida asked. She and Madison had gone home after the Rangers had saved Udonna and Claire, but the guys had gone back to the Rock Porium to close up for the night.
"Sometimes I don't even know why I have employees!" Toby yelled as the boys swept the floors. "And where are the Rocca sisters? They work here too, or so they say."
"We thought we'd let the girls get their beauty sleep," Xander said.
"Yeah," Chip added, "it seemed like the chivalrous thing to do, especially after that thing with the frog this afternoon."
Nick made a small grunt and swept harder, but Toby didn't seem to notice.
"That is very nice of you," he said, looking over the three. "You let Maddie go home and rest after her trauma—and you let Vida go with her for comfort. Very nice."
"Hey, Toby," Xander said, draping an arm around the man's shoulders. "Why don't you head home? We can finish up here."
"Well, I could use some sleep, especially after you abandoned me this afternoon. Okay, just remember to lock all the doors and windows."
"Will do, boss," Xander said and dropped into a chair once the door had closed behind Toby. "I thought he'd never leave."
"Keep cleaning," Nick snapped.
"Hey," Xander joked, "you may be leader on the battlefield, but in the good old Rock Poruim I have seniority."
Chip smiled at the joke, but Nick didn't. He pulled Xander up by his collar and said, "Keep cleaning," his voice dark and frightening. He shoved Xander towards his dropped broom.
"What crawled up your pants?" Xander asked.
"Nothing," Nick said.
Chip and Xander shot each other looks. They went back to cleaning, working as fast as possible to keep Nick happy. When they'd all finished Nick stormed off to his motorcycle.
"Xander," Chip whispered, "we can't just let him go off like this."
"I know," Xander said. "I just really wish I didn't." He slowly crossed the deserted street. "Hey, Nick?" Nick stiffened, but didn't turn or say anything.
"What's wrong, Nick?" Chip asked. "You've been acting off ever since we got back to Rootcore."
"Was it the battle?" Xander asked when Nick still said nothing.
"Do you not like Daggeron?" Chip asked slowly.
Xander could have sworn he saw light coming from inside Nick's fists. "Man," he said, "Daggeron's our friend. Just because Kalendor—"
"I don't care about Kalendor!" Nick roared, whirling around. The two boys fell back a few feet. The heat emanating from Nick was enough to flash fry a turkey. "I don't care about any of them! Now just leave me alone!"
Chip shot Xander a look and the older boy sighed. He knew Chip was right, but he really didn't want to do this. He held up three fingers—two—one. They charged at Nick. The three ended up tumbling over the motorcycle and fighting in a heap on the ground. Xander somehow detached himself from the chaos and stumbled to his feet. He looked up at the tree Nick always parked under. Might as well, he thought. He pulled out his wand and the branches of the tree quickly picked Nick up, pulling him into the trunk and into the forest.
"Let's go," Xander said to Chip, jumping after their leader.
When he got to the other side he started fighting Nick. After a few minutes of Xander getting beaten up, Chip stepped in to give him a breather. Another few minutes later Xander stepped back in, letting Chip rest. After about an hour of this, Nick finally collapsed to his knees.
"Are you done yet?" Xander asked irritably.
Nick panted in response.
"You'd better be," Chip said, collapsing on the ground. "Why don't you just tell her?" he asked suddenly.
"Wha-?" Nick asked.
Xander took over. "Why don't you just tell Madison you're in love with her? Everyone knows it."
"Wha-?" Nick cried. He tried to get up but just ended up falling flat on his back. "Ah ohn ov ehr!" — "I don't love her!"
"Whatever man," Xander said. "Just try not to kill Daggeron."
"It's not like Madison knew what she was doing," Chip added. "How was she supposed to know he was a person?"
"Uh! Ee ew!" Nick said. — "Oh! She knew!"
The other two ignored that comment and lay there for a while longer.
"Do you think Udonna would be mad if we used our powers to teleport home?" Xander asked suddenly.
"Since I can barely move," Chip said, "I don't really care."
"Good." Xander pulled out his phone and typed a code. The three boys disappeared into a seal.
"It's not that funny," Xander said.
"Yes," Vida gasped, "it is." She and Leelee were holding each other for support.
"It is sweet though," Necrolai said, nuzzling closer to Toby.
"Yeah," Leelee sighed, tears streaming down her face, "he was so broken up about it that he could beat the two of you up!" She erupted into peals of laughter once more.
The door suddenly flew open. A tall, menacing figure stood in the doorway, looking over the store's occupants. Chip's fangirls cowered in a corner. Necrolai pushed Toby and Leelee behind her. This figure practically oozed power.
"Where is he?" the figure growled and an unholy glow came from his eyes.
"Oh knock it off," a familiar voice snapped, pushing the figure forward. The figure stumbled in and Necrolai could see that it was a man with short brown hair and chocolate eyes. But they had been green a moment before….
The girl who had pushed the man was met with surprised cries of "Abbey?"
"Hey guys," the girl said, smiling. "Do you know where Nick is? We need to talk to him."
"Um," Chip looked at Vida. Vida looked at Xander.
"Why don't we go over to your house?" Xander said, tying to usher the pair out the door.
"I don't think so," the man said, crossing his arms. Xander froze. He may have been a Ranger, but this man made him feel like his first battle with Koragg all over again.
"Stop intimidating them, Tommy," Abbey sighed. "Guys," she said to the store, "this is my big brother, Tommy."
"And I want to talk to Nick," Tommy said coldly.
"Nick's not here," Chip said.
Tommy smirked. "Isn't he? Nicholas Russell Oliver!" he bellowed.
Abbey's eyes widened and she rubbed her ears. "They have no reason to lie, Tommy."
Tommy glared.
"Here," Abbey led him into the store and several patrons raced out behind him, "why don't you try to guess colors while I talk to the nice people?"
Tommy glared hard at Vida. "You're a Pink. You like to string people along, get their hopes up. You probably have a different boyfriend in every state."
Abbey rolled her eyes. After his little performance on the side of the road, it had taken Tommy a while to calm down. Once he had regained the ability to speak he had asked to go to the bathroom. Abbey had pulled over and taken the opportunity to refill the gas tank. When Tommy hadn't returned after twenty minutes she went looking for him. She found him in a bar half a mile away. Tommy had since fallen into a state of paranoia, wondering why Kim hadn't returned his call.
"Xander," Abbey began, "I really need to find Nick. Could you just tell me where he is? It's kind of a family emergency."
Xander was about to explain that he had no idea where Nick was exactly when Tommy jabbed a finger in Phineas' direction with a cry of "You!" Leelee pushed Phineas behind her back and Necrolai pushed Leelee behind her back. Chip used the distraction to pull out his cell phone.
"What now?" Abbey asked.
"He's evil!"
"What?" half the room cried.
"I can tell!" Tommy said. "My evil-dar is going crazy all over this guy!"
Abbey rubbed her temples. "You don't have evil-dar! Honestly, how long did you work in that school before you realized the principal had been trying to kill you for months?"
"Shut up."
"Xander," Abbey pleaded. "Please."
"Honestly, Abbey, we don't know where Nick is. He left yesterday. Madison was the last one to see him—"
"Is this Madison a girl?" Tommy asked.
"Don't answer that," Abbey said quickly.
"She is! She's a girl and she's a—" Tommy looked around the room. "Blue?! She's a Blue? No! Nick, why? Why did you have to bring such shame on the family?"
"Tori's a Blue," Abbey said.
"Exactly! And she is insane!"
"She is not insane. Now will someone please tell me where Madison is?"
"I'm right here," Madison said, confused. She was standing in the doorway and wondering why her friends were making strange hand motions.
"Ah-ha!" Tommy yelled. "She is a girl! And she is a Blue!" Madison was wearing a blue blouse. "And she has Nick's blanket!" Tommy screeched. Madison was carrying a large mesh bag and the red blanket was sticking out of it.
"Um," Madison could not think of anything to say.
"Please excuse my brother," Abbey said. "He's having a hard couple of days."
"How hard could it be?" Necrolai asked contemptuously. She did not like this man, even if he was Nick's brother.
"Tommy lost Hayley—"
Tommy wailed and put his head in his hands on the counter.
"—his right-hand woman since he graduated college. It hit him hard. And then yesterday he got drunk and called his ex and proposed. And now he's drunk again and we really need to talk to Nick, so will someone please!"
"Chip!" Daggeron called, bursting into the room. Itasis and Genji were right behind him.
"What's going on?" Genji asked.
"This is Nick's sister," Chip said. "And his brother, he's drunk so be nice. They want to talk to Nick."
"Oh." Daggeron pulled an envelope out of his sleeve. "Mi'lady? Nick left this for you."
"Left?" Abbey breathed. She pounced on the envelope, tearing it open. Tommy read over her shoulder.
"I know this is going to be a shock, but I'm the Red Ranger."
Tommy scoffed. "Absolutely no sense of delivery!"
Abbey shook her head, skipping to the end.
"I know you have a lot of questions. But I found my biological parents here and I wanted them to meet Mom and Dad as soon as possible. It'll probably take a while to explain everything, but I'll call as soon as they're done processing."
"He's gone to tell Mom and Dad," Abbey said. She looked like she'd just read a suicide note. "Tommy!" she yelled, grabbing her brother by the shoulders and shaking him. "Nick is going to tell Mom and Dad that he's a Power Ranger!"
Tommy's eyes widened. "Med kit," he croaked after a few seconds.
"What?"
"Silver Guardian issue. I know you have one."
Realization dawned on Abbey. She raced out of the room and came back a moment later with a silver first aid kit. She unlatched it and pulled out a small paper pouch. Inside was a capsule that Billy had developed after a trip to Triforia. It turned out that a drunk Triforian was a very frightening thing. Billy had been inspired to create a capsule that would burn through the alcohol in the body at a very fast rate. Sadly, the capsule was dangerous for anyone but a Ranger to take, and even Rangers didn't use them unless they had to because DECA had the backup supply and explaining to her was not fun. Plus, they made the hangover much worse.
Tommy pulled the capsule out of her hands and swallowed it whole.
"You're supposed to dissolve it in water!" Abbey cried.
"No time!" Tommy snapped. "Call Josh!"
Abbey pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Josh's number.
"Hello?"
"Jo? It's Abbey. This is an emergency. Have you seen Nick?"
"Yeah, he stayed here last night with his birth parents. They were gone before we woke up though."
Abbey cursed under her breath. "Do you know if they were planning on taking the Northern or Southern route?"
"No, why? What's happened?"
"Nick's a Red and he's going to tell Mom and Dad."
"Oh no," Jo breathed. "We'll take the Northern route."
"Thanks. Oh, and Jo?" Abbey lowered her voice. "If you see Kim, call. I can't go into it now."
"Will do."
The two hung up and Abbey turned back to a now sober Tommy. "What about Kim?" he asked, throwing back a couple aspirin.
"Nothing," Abbey said, trying to give her best innocent-little-sister look.
Tommy glared.
"You'll just freak out if I tell you."
Tommy glared harder.
"She left her hotel in the middle of the night and no one's seen her since." Abbey held up her hands. "She's probably just planning some sort of surprise for the shower. Now come on! We've got to stop Nick!"
"Hold it!" Itasis said, crossing her arms and barring the doorway. "Why do you have to stop Nicholas from telling his parents the truth about himself?"
Tommy stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"I am Itasis. I was one of the Ten Terrors, the most powerful warriors in the Underworld. I now seek to learn more about this human concept of courage."
"Great. Do you know who I am?"
"You are Nicholas' brother."
"No. I'm Tommy Oliver. Now, I'm pretty sure that even in the depths of the Underworld—especially in the depths of the Underworld—you've heard that name." He stared at her for a moment that seemed to stretch into forever. "Move."
She did.
"Tommy Oliver?" Necrolai breathed.
"Wow," Leelee said.
"I don't get it," Vida said, "who's Tommy Oliver?"
"Tommy Oliver," Itasis said, "is the greatest Ranger ever to walk the Earth."
The room was silent, in awe of that pronouncement and the fact that they had just met a legend.
"Cool," Chip said.
AN: Thank you to GinaStar, Lavonne Adams, and moonlite-n-roses for reviewing the last chapter.
Next time: the baby shower (almost every Ranger girl is there, how normal could it be?) and Mexican Prison (what happened to Kim)