A/N 1: Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day - consider this your Valentine's Day gift from me. So this is a spinoff of an ao3 exclusive because that story has way too much smut for this site. But it can be read as a stand alone. The year is 2008 and Jungle Fury has just beaten their big bads, but an old enemy who fought the Time Force Rangers, and also an apprentice of Lord Zedd, Angelique of the Xett Empire, has arrived on Earth with the goal of putting veteran male Rangers under a lust spell and using them for her own benefit.
A/N 2: At this point, the people she has captured include Rocky, Shane, and Conner. There is a team consisting of all females, led by Kim, who wield the power of Ninjetti in hopes of stopping her.
A/N 3: Tommy and Kim are not together when this story begins - as a matter of fact they barely have contact with each other although the girls are using the Dino Thunder lair as a home base. Tommy is still teaching high school students at this time and Kim is a Paris fashion magazine higher up. In the midst of it all, Tommy faces a new challenge - even some of Tommy's friends are mad at him. Can he accept what Kim is, and accept his own destiny before his own hubris and pride leads to Earth's downfall?
A/N 4: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers not mine. I almost forgot - that main story on ao3 is a tribute to Lovestruck Rangers, one of my favorite episodes in the entire franchise.
Friday, June 6, 2008, about midnight
1492 Valencia Drive
Reefside, CA
By going to bed early and getting away from Justin and his other friends (honestly, would Kim and the gang call him their friend now…he supposed not), Dr. Thomas Oliver hoped that would be a temporary end to his issues being opened up like a fresh wound.
Oh, how wrong he was.
Almost immediately after going to sleep, he was confronted with negative dream after negative dream – each nightmare worse than the first.
They all sucked, but the ones that really hurt were the two right near the end. The first one was Zordon talking with all the mentors Tommy had had in the 15 years Tommy had been in this game. Dulcea, Ninjor, Dimitria, the whole lot. Even Hayley was talking with them.
He was in a room, but out of sight of his mentors, who were talking about his accomplishments. And, as it turned out, his lowlights too.
"Tommy has had many great accomplishments," Ninjor said. "Which makes it such a shame that his pride is the reason he lost everything he worked for. In one swift attack when he least expected it."
"Indeed," Dulcea said. "He could have found a phone and called his friends any time and asked about Kimberly instead of giving her the cold shoulder when she came back. Now, the Earth is gone, the Xett empire reigns supreme, and all living Rangers not under Angelique's spell are dead."
"A stain on Tommy's legacy to be sure," Dimitria said. "Does it not wipe out everything he has ever done?"
"It does indeed, Dimitria," Zordon said. "I am sad to say it, but his legacy is forever tarnished because Earth was vanquished under his watch. And he is the reason for it."
That one hurt. And it hurt a lot.
However, that was only the second worst nightmare. The last one was the absolute worst of all.
It was one of utter darkness, bloodshed, and a whole bunch of sex for the victors as well.
A slate of some of the most powerful Red Rangers in history, namely Tommy's teammate Rocky, his own Red Ranger that he mentored, Conner, Casey Rhodes, the newest of the legacy, Leo Corbett and Shane Clarke from Ninja Storm were destroying anything that got in their path. The evil looks in all of them sent chills down his spine.
And what they didn't destroy, mighty Serpentera was wiping off the map. And if somehow something was left standing, Zedd's apprentice's six Vixens were making sure it got destroyed.
Mighty Serpentera. It was back, and being commanded by both a revived Lord Zedd, and his former apprentice Angelique, also a former enemy of the Time Force team. It didn't matter who was running it – both were extremely powerful. Angelique had somehow pulled off the hat trick miracle of reviving her former master Lord Zedd, reviving his beast Serpentera and giving it a power source making it invincible.
The female Rangers had put up a front to try and stop it from happening, but they'd failed. Miserably. Kim was the leader, and didn't have enough firepower to stop it. Now, she was being taken captive to join the Xett empire's forces. Kimberly would finally belong to Zedd – forever.
What hurt even more was that two of the Reds he'd known the longest, his best friend Jason, and Andros, the last Red of Zordon's legacy, had been slaughtered. They had actually got free of Angelique's powerful lust spell and it gave Tommy a false sense of hope that maybe she could be overpowered.
That hadn't been the case. She'd replenished her forces, revived Zedd and Serpentera and then took her vengeance out on Jason and Andros both.
"Such a shame," he could hear Angelique telling her boss and her top general Tiffany, who ironically once served Master Vile. "I thought the legacy would put up more of a fight. I can't believe it. I ruined the mighty Tommy Oliver's legacy when so many have failed."
"And I am so glad you brought me back for this, Angelique," Zedd said. "If I had used you the first time I would have won easily. I made a grave mistake."
"What can I say, men love me," Angelique said. "Now I keep them, I add to my army, I have the powers of Venus at my disposal, and I ruined everything Tommy Oliver built. Revenge is sweet, Emperor."
"So ends the pathetic legacy of 'Doctor' Thomas Oliver. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Zedd said in his trademark maniacal laugh.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tommy hollered in an ear piercing scream. Fortunately, most of the occupants of the house had gone to a hotel for the night, with the exception of a few who had chosen to stay in the basement.
Even so, he woke up with such a start in a cold sweat that he almost fell out of his bed.
He looked at his clock. It was 1:30 in the morning.
To him it didn't matter. What he saw in his dream was absolutely horrific – he vowed then and there that he would not let this happen. Whatever he had to do to prevent that catastrophe, he was going to do it.
No, the Xett Empire and its legacy would not win. Tommy promised himself that right then and there.
Quickly, he grabbed his phone and dialed a number he knew, although he hadn't talked to this person in a couple years – he wasn't even a Ranger, but the person he was dialing was his brother.
As expected, the person he was calling didn't answer. Of course. But even on the reservation, he knew this person would get this message.
"Hey David, it's Tommy. I know I haven't spoken with you in a minute. Yes, I'm calling you at 1:30 a.m. on a Saturday. Yes, it's that bad. No, I have not been out drinking, but it's no less an emergency. The second you hear this message, I need you to call me back. Thank you."
With that, he ended the call attempt, put the phone down, and went back to sleep or tried, with his phone off of mute so he could hear the call.
About five hours later, Tommy was dragged back out of his sleep by his loud ring-tone.
He saw the number and smiled.
"Hi, David. Yeah it's me."
"Yeah I'm still in Reefside. Still teaching high school students."
"Yeah it's that bad. Enough that it made me wake up in a cold sweat this morning. Enough that I need to find myself now before I ruin everything I built for myself."
"Three hours, you say? OK, see you then."
Saturday, June 7, 2008
1 p.m. local time
Just outside Angel Grove, CA
To his great surprise, Tommy and his brother David made it to the reservation without any incident. His biggest worry once he left Reefside, and told Elsa to get a substitute teacher for his classes for Monday, was that Angelique would pick him off five minutes after David had got on the road.
But she left him alone surprisingly. Somehow, Tommy had a feeling she would regret that decision – she was probably playing with her new playthings a bit too much.
Tommy had learned on the way that Sam was still alive and would talk with Tommy and David once they got there. Tommy had been surprised to hear that his biological father was still alive. He was a resilient, resilient man to still be living. David had seemed to indicate his years were growing short though.
Once David, Tommy and Sam were sitting alone, David addressed Tommy.
"OK, Tommy, give it to me straight. What the hell is going on, are you crazy calling me at 1:30 in the morning?" David said in exasperation. David looked at his father, who was just sitting there calmly as usual.
It was astonishing. It was almost his father knew everything Tommy was going to say.
Meanwhile, Tommy sighed. "OK, so the legacy of one of my big baddie opponents is in the game now. It's a new way of attack but I'd argue maybe just as dangerous as any the Earth has faced. And I'm being blamed, though I'm not directly in the game."
David seemed confused, but tried to follow Tommy's comments.
"One of our former big bads was Lord Zedd. David, you remember him, right?" Tommy said.
"Vaguely. Wasn't he the blood and skin creep. The second one?" David said.
"Yeah. He was maybe the toughest and he wasn't even married to Rita when he came – in fact he banished her to a dumpster. He took away my Green Ranger powers too," Tommy said. "Anyways, from what my sources tell me he brought not just one apprentice, but many. One of them was named Angelique, who was also born in the Xett Empire to a person of high influence."
"She never fought against us when I was fighting Zedd; she went off on various missions over the next several years after Zedd was chased off Earth and then re-emerged in 2001 when one of the Time Force Rangers enemies gave her an offer to fuse with a felon mutant named Contemptra," Tommy said. "It actually made her powers weaker than what they normally are; in that instance she had to have an object to make a lot of her powers work."
"Now she's back again, and here's where the current threat is," Tommy said. "Her main asset is literally her body, namely her ability to put male Rangers under a very powerful lust spell. I have already lost friends, and my own Red Ranger that I mentored, Conner, to that spell. She has six very powerful warriors too named the Vixens."
Tommy then pulled something out of his pocket – this was something Wes had given him years ago, just for his files and information.
"This is her, when she fought against the Time Force Rangers," Tommy said, pulling out a small photo of Angelique herself.
David whistled softly.
"Hm, with that body, I wouldn't mind doing a lust spell with her, evil or not," David said. Tommy shot him a dirty look.
"This is no time for those thoughts, David," Tommy said. "This is deadly serious."
"Serious enough in fact that it's possible an indestructible machine could be back in the game if it isn't stopped," Tommy finished.
Sam nodded, urging Tommy to continue.
"How much do you know about Serpentera, David?"
"Wait, that's the big red scary dragon thing that Zedd used to control, right?" David said. "Didn't you Red guys destroy it?"
"Yes, but Angelique seems to think, according to what I heard from Andros listening to his conversation with the girls, that if they can get enough power from the captured Reds they can revive that beast. You see, every time she and her girls have sex with our Reds, they gain more power," Tommy said.
"And worse, she seems to think that the power they gain from the Reds can not only revive Serpentera, but give it a permanent power source," Tommy said. "The only reason Serpentera was foiled in the past was Zedd wasn't prescient enough to have a permanent power source."
David's face turned pale. If that came true, the planet was doomed. He looked at Sam, hoping he'd shake his head in dissent, but Sam nodded that Tommy was right.
"Yes, David. Should this happen, we will all be wiped out for good," Sam said.
"Isn't there a team that can stop them then?" David said. "There usually is."
"There is," Tommy nodded, "and it's actually being led by my first ex, the first Pink Ranger of Earth. I will tell you though, they've had an uphill fight so far."
"The Pink Crane has returned," Sam murmured.
"You mean the Kimberly that sent you that awful letter?" David said.
"Yes, and to add to the complexity of the situation, their temporary home base is actually the Dino Thunder lair underneath my house," Tommy said.
"Tommy, why haven't you kicked them out?" David asked.
"Because, no matter what I think of her past actions, Kimberly and her team are former Rangers too," Tommy said. "And frankly, they're the only ones who can defeat this new menace. Or so I have been told, by Billy himself. Our first Blue Ranger."
"The reason I asked to come here and decamp is due to events last night after their latest battle," Tommy said. "During that fight, Justin, having gotten wind of what was happening, arrived so he could be sheltered from Angelique's spells. My tech advisor, Hayley, has the house on almost total lockdown."
"So he arrives, and Ronny frorm the Overdrive team starts talking to him, and right as the girls get back he starts yelling at anyone and anything in frustration. About me. I admit, I let the girls use my house when need be, but I've barely spoken to any of them since this started," Tommy said.
"He yells about me, and how I'm not doing enough, and the girls have to restrain him. Even Kim disagreed with him," Tommy said, causing David's eyes to widen and Sam's to raise with interest.
"I heard the whole thing. And as bad as that was, it was the prelude. Sleeping for me last night I thought would be a temporary answer. How wrong I was," Tommy said. David instinctively knew Tommy had suffered nightmares.
"Yeah," Tommy said. "And each one was worse than the last. Rangers taking Kim's side over me, saying I didn't fight for her enough. A couple of the Rangers that I mentored in some dreams left me also."
"The nadir was the last two though," Tommy said. "The first part of that final sequence was I was in a room, maybe unseen, maybe not, and all of my Ranger mentors were there. They claimed that I had tarnished my legacy by being so selfish. As if they had taken Justin's side. They aren't wrong, by the way."
"When was the last time you saw Kimberly?" David said. "Before now."
"Trini's funeral several years go, as I recall. Didn't go very well," Tommy said. "I think it may have been better if I didn't go."
"And the last dream?" David said.
"The worst. The absolute worst. In it, Serpentera and the Reds captured by Angelique destroy everything. The Xett Empire is reborn, including Lord Zedd, and reigns over the Earth," Tommy said. "All living Rangers not captured by Angelique are killed. The bloodshed, the fire, the destruction, I tremble thinking about it."
"And worst of all, Zedd and Angelique laughing about how my legacy was tarnished forever because Earth fell under my watch," Tommy said.
With his story complete, Tommy couldn't hold it in any longer. He burst into tears, his sadness fully consuming him.
"Good God, Tommy, no wonder you look like hell!" David said. "The hell his so-called friends put him through last night is not right, Dad!"
David was taken aback when Sam shook his head, though.
"The young Ranger, Justin, is not wrong David," Sam said. "The falcon is hurting his legacy because he doesn't want to realize what is right in front of him."
"Surely you can't be talking about that Kimberly, right?" David said. "I can never trust that woman after what she did to him!"
"Whether you like it or not, son, she is the original Pink of Earth, leads the powers of Venus to stop this new menace, and perhaps most importantly, is still Tommy's soulmate whether he wishes to admit it or not," Sam said quietly.
"Even so, they should not be using Tommy's house as a base of operations, Dad!" David said. "Least of all, her!"
"It is the best they can come up with in this situation, David," Sam said quietly.
"And the mentors, if I ever see one of them, I will give them a piece of my mind," David continued to rant. "Zordon should be glad he's dead!"
"I don't believe you'd say that if you knew one of us was in the room right now," a female accented voice said sternly, clearly aimed at David, but it got Tommy's attention too.
When Tommy finally wiped his tears away, he couldn't believe who was in the room. Usually she couldn't leave her plateau.
"You must be one of the people Tommy talked about," David said, still hot. "I would love to give you a piece of my mind!"
"I'm sure you would, but Mr. Trueheart, just in case you have any thoughts of getting physical, firstly, I am in ethereal form and cannot remain here for long. Secondly, I could knock you out in two seconds if I wanted to," Dulcea of Phaedos said sternly.
"She could do it, too, David. Dulcea is the Master Warrior of the Ninjetti powers and she's almost as powerful as Zordon was," Tommy said, still through a few choked tears. "Take her advice and just shut up please."
Then, Dulcea floated over to Tommy. Even though she was in ethereal form, he could feel empathy coming from her which surprised him.
"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly.
"Like I got hit by a mack truck and then 10 Tengas afterwards. Ugh," he groaned. "Now I'm gonna be like Rita and say I've got a headache."
"Understand that not all of us supported those hideous dreams you went through last night. Ninjor and I protested but Rita and Dimitria insisted and they have seniority even over the both of us," Dulcea explained. "Nor do either of us support what Justin did."
"You're going to be surprised about this…it may be just me being sober, but sincerely, he was right," Tommy said. "I don't think Mirinoi could have been avoided if I'd behaved better, but I guess you never know."
"Mirinoi? I'm lost again. Isn't that the planet of the Lost Galaxy Rangers?"
"Yeah. I forgot to tell you, David, in Angelique's latest hit and run she got more Rangers. One of them is from Mirinoi - probably either Mike or Leo Corbett. She also got Casey Rhodes from the latest team. He's a ninja too."
"Mirinoi couldn't be helped. What has happened so far is fixed," Dulcea explained. "The ending, however, is anyone's guess how it goes."
"I overheard Kim address the rest of the ladies when she got to Reefside, about these powers being more permanent," Tommy softly said, pulling out another picture. This was the one of him and Kim that he somehow had kept in his lab all this time…he had quietly snuck to the lab the night before and grabbed it for safe keeping.
"Memories?" Dulcea asked.
"You could say that," Tommy said.
"She will need you, you know that right?" Dulcea said. Tommy nodded grimly. The point had been driven home.
"The more I think about it, the less harshly I think of her. Maybe it's just me being sober," Tommy said. "Yes, she's made mistakes, but she hasn't complained once since she came back. That's admirable. Whether I like it or not, she's a winner."
"Indeed she is. And yes, these powers are more permanent than the ones I gave you. For those, you needed coins which Ninjor made. These are permanent. Kim will be able to call on her powers without a talisman."
"That is because I am originally from Venus and that is where the Ninjetti powers originated, before Dark Specter turned it into a fiery inferno. Zordon then sent me to Phaedos and made the planet impenetrable…so much so that my life force is bound to that plateau," Dulcea said.
"So I take it that a fire attack could be very damaging to this new group of Rangers?" Tommy inquired.
"Precisely. In fact it could conceivably sever their ties to the Morphin Grid if it's powerful enough," Dulcea said.
"I am sorry to burden you with this new battle, and at least being around it, but none of us asked for the Xett Empire to target Earth again," Dulcea said.
"Right, but it's what we have," Tommy said, looking at the photo of Kim again.
"Good luck, Tommy, follow your heart, and as your mentor once said, may the power protect you," Dulcea said as her ethereal form disappeared from sight.
David gasped. What he had just witnessed was incredible.
Tommy was no less shook, even though Dulcea had been softer to him than expected.
"One last question, Tommy," David said. "I think I know of Rita, but Dimitria?"
"Of Inquiris…she is a powerful mystic and Dulcea is not lying when she says Dimitria has more seniority on the Council of Meledon than even she does. She also had a burr up her behind, to put it nicely, about me and the first set of Turbo Rangers."
"Now if you don't mind, I need some sleep. And hopefully a good sleep," Tommy said.
"Yes, Falcon, you need a good rest," Sam said. "David, take him to our guest room."
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Somewhere between Reefside and Angel Grove
Tommy had remembered the last time he'd seen David, all those years ago, that David and Sam liked to go on Sunday drives. He was glad they continued this tradition.
As Tommy marveled at the wilderness around him, he was also glad he'd brought his iPod along for a little entertainment.
As fate would have it, the last time he'd stopped his iPod it was before one of his favorite songs.
My Cherie Amour by Stevie Wonder.
And now, as he heard the closing part of the song, he suddenly had an epiphany.
Maybe someday, I'll see your face among the crowd
Maybe someday, I'll be your little distant cloud
Oh Cherie amour, pretty little one that I adore
You're the only one my heart beats for
How I wish that you were mine
It was as if he'd been struck by a lightning bolt but it didn't kill him. It energized him further.
An idea popped into his head. He was going to have to use text messaging for this in case that tramp Angelique was listening.
Preparing a text for Jason, he typed, 'Jason, it's Tommy. I'm out at the reservation with David and Sam as you know. Listen, I need you to be my eyes and ears for everything related to what Angelique is doing. Updates from Hayley would be appreciated too. I've got plans but I don't want to reveal them now – T'
Moments later, he received a text back. 'Got it, bro. You should know we all chastised Justin – J'
Tommy sat back then, as relaxed as he'd been in a long time.
'Let's see if Angelique and her girls can fight what they can't see. I've got a weapon they don't.'
It was at that very moment that realized that A. he still loved his crane with all his heart and B. he was not going to let her lose to these tramps. No chance.
The End