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Chapter 7 – By Your Side
*Power Chamber*
Jason teleported into the chamber to see his teammates were all ready assembled and awaiting word from Zordon.
"Did you hear?" Adam asked him as he approached the others.
"Yeah," Jason replied. "They kidnapped him right outside my house. We were talking, then he left, and then I heard a big explosion."
"They must have been plotting to capture Tommy for a while," Kat said worriedly. "I mean, why wouldn't they wait to capture you as well? Why wouldn't they just invade your home?"
"You bring up a good point, Katherine," Billy added. "This wasn't just a coincidence that they were in the neighborhood. They must have known that he was going to be at your house and then used the opportunity to ambush him."
"But why?" Rocky asked. "And who is this Prince Gasket, anyway? I've never heard of him before."
"PRINCE GASKET IS THE ELDEST SON OF KING MONDO," Zordon said. "HE IS BENT ON PROVING TO HIS FATHER THAT HE IS THE MOST CAPABLE OF DOING EVIL IN THE UNIVERSE. IT SEEMS HE IS WILLING TO TAKE YOU ALL ON TO PROVE HIS WICKEDNESS."
"Rangers!" Alpha said. "I've located Tommy. He is on the moon, close to where the Machine Empire's palace is located, and he is currently morphed."
"Maybe that means he is trying to fight his way out of there," Tanya suggested.
"I don't think so Tanya," Billy interjected, as he walked over to the scanners that Alpha had positioned himself at. "Look here at the brainwave scanner. Normally they have a pretty similar pattern to them, but these brainwaves are altered."
"So they're brainwashing him," Jason responded.
"Brainwashing him for what?" Kat asked.
"My guess... to destroy us."
"BASED ON BILLY'S FINDINGS, I THINK JASON IS CORRECT," Zordon said.
"Zordon, we're getting a transmission from the moon," Alpha said.
"OBSERVE THE SCREEN." The rangers went over to the screen only to see a tall, thin, robotic humanoid alongside a morphed Tommy.
"Tommy," Kat said under her breath.
"Power rangers, I am Prince Gasket, sworn protector of all that is good and true. King Tommy and I challenge you to meet us in battle, because your brand of evil will never be tolerated as long as he is our king!"
"King?" Jason said quizzically.
"Yes," Tommy said from the screen. "I, King Tommy, shall wipe you and your gang of evil warriors from this galaxy! I will not allow you to oppress us any longer!" With his final proclamation, the screen went dark, leaving the rangers to consider the gravity of the situation.
"RANGERS, YOU MUST BRING BACK TOMMY AT ONCE," Zordon interrupted their thoughts. "SINCE TOMMY IS NOW UNDER GASKET'S CONTROL, THE MACHINE EMPIRE COULD GAIN ACCESS TO THE POWER CHAMBER, AS WELL AS THE MORPHING GRID."
"If they get to the morphing grid, it could swing the balance of power over to the machine empire for good," Tanya said.
"We're going to get Tommy back, Zordon," Jason said.
"I'll set the coordinates so I can teleport you there," Billy responded.
"JASON, ARE YOU READY TO LEAD THE TEAM?" Zordon asked. Jason flinched for a moment, but looked around to the team... the first time he had ever led this group of rangers.
"Yeah, I am. It's been a long time, but, it's morphin time!" The five rangers activated their zeonizers, or in Jason's case, the golden power staff, and as soon as they morphed Billy had started the teleportation process. The five immediately found themselves in the middle of what looked like a modern day coliseum. As they looked around, they saw themselves surrounded by stands with bleachers filled with cogs and other machines, obviously monsters that the Machine Empire had manufactured. The five gathered together and broke into a fighting stance, but none of the machines came down from the stands.
"I don't get it, why aren't they coming to attack us?" Tanya asked. Suddenly, a door opened at the bottom of the coliseum, revealing their brainwashed friend.
"Tommy!" Kat shouted.
"That's King Tommy to you, Pink Ranger," He responded coldly. "I will not stand for the evil you stand for!"
"Tommy, snap out of it man," Jason said. Tommy stayed silent for the moment, analyzing his 'foes.'
"Sire!" Gasket said from the crowd. "It is time for you to destroy them!"
"Yes!" Tommy said. "I will rid the galaxy of these fiends!" He quickly flipped into the group of rangers, utilizing his agility and quickness to isolate each ranger, using his skill and their hesitancy to beat him to his advantage. He gave a quick punch to Tanya's midsection and then an elbow to the helmet which left her staggering. He then ducked a roundhouse kick from Rocky and countered with leg sweep, knocking him to the ground. Kat and Adam tried to break the trend by fighting together, but Tommy did a round off over them and flipped Kat over his head, while he blocked a couple of strikes from the Green Zeo Ranger, and then countered with a spinning heel kick. As the four rangers regrouped, Tommy recognized that it was now only the Gold ranger and him. "No more 5 on 1 advantage for you, Gold Ranger."
"Tommy, don't do this bro," Jason replied.
"I'm not fooled by your blatant deception!" Tommy charged but Jason was ready. They exchanged blows, swinging, kicking, and countering each others moves. Jason tried to hit him with a tornado kick but Tommy ducked, and countered with a leg sweep. Jason recovered by jumping over it, and then did a somersault over him. He spun and tried to hit him with his forearm, but that was when Tommy got the upper hand by using Jason's momentum against him, flipping him by taking his midsection and flipping him to the ground like a wrestler. Jason tried to get up, but Tommy was ready, landing his patented power kick in the chest armor. Jason was sent flying across court, landing with a thud in front of the other rangers.
"I will destroy you all, and put an end to your reign of terror."
"Keep it up, sire!" Prince Gasket cheered from the crowd. The battle continued for a while as the others tried to figure out how in the world to snap Tommy out of whatever was controlling his mind. It was tough for them, however, because of the strong desire not to harm their leader, yet Tommy was more than willing to crush them. It showed in how he constantly was able to best the five of them.
"We need to regroup," Jason said, after getting up from another vicious hit from his best friend.
"What do you suggest?" Rocky asked.
"I don't know," he replied.
"I have an idea," Kat said.
"What is it, Kat?" Tanya asked.
"He needs to see us," she replied. "Tommy needs to see the faces of his real friends."
"Are you out of your mind?" Adam asked. "He could kill you!"
"Sure, but it's the only chance we have to bring him back," she replied. "I can try first, and if he destroys me, you know it won't work. But, if he begins to soften, you'll know what to do."
"Kat, let me do this," Jason said, but she shook her head.
"Jason, trust me."
"I do," Jason replied. "I just don't want you to get hurt."
"I won't." Kat walked from the group towards the morphed red ranger, who shifted into a fighting stance.
"Ahhh, so the pink ranger wants to fight," Tommy said.
"No, I don't," she replied. "Zeo Ranger One, power down!" In a flash of pink light, her ranger costume disappeared, leaving the the beautiful form of Katherine Hillard standing in front of him.
"What!" Tommy said, astonished by what Kat had just done. "Are you... are you trying to trick me?"
"No Tommy. I'm here to help you."
"Help? I don't need your help!"
"Tommy!" Jason said, coming up close to Katherine. "Gold Ranger, power down. Tommy, Prince Gasket has tricked you. We're your friends man."
"Let's get with it guys," Tanya added, her, Adam, and Rocky walking up to the others.
"Zeo Rangers, power down," they said in unison.
"I... I don't understand," Tommy said.
"Sire!" Gasket shouted, leaving his seat and entering the main area of the coliseum. "Do not listen to them! They desire to destroy the machine empire, they desire to destroy what is good, wholesome and true!"
"You're right!" Tommy said, now drawing his Zeo blaster and pointed it at the others. "You can't fool me!"
"Tommy, don't do this," Kat said. Slowly she began to inch towards him, Tommy still holding the pistol towards her.
"Kat, what are you doing?" Jason asked, but she didn't listen, she only continued to walk while the blaster began to shiver ever so slightly in the hand of the red ranger.
"Tommy, don't you remember?" Kat asked. At this point she stood at almost point blank range, when one of her hands grabbed hold of the blaster, the other around his torso, as if she were embracing him into a hug.
"No sire! She is seducing you, alluring you to evil!" As Gasket said this, Kat felt Tommy's desire to let go, so she wrapped herself as tightly as she could around him, hoping that he would remember their friendship.
"Please Tommy, please remember."
"I don't understand..." Tommy said, his body relaxing as Kat held him in her arms. As Kat felt this, she began to relax her embrace.
"NO!" Gasket shouted. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" Kat ignored Gasket, and began to let go of Tommy, now only holding onto his other hand. Tommy began to holster his weapon, but did not say or do anything else.
"Come back to us, Tommy," Kat said, and she started to walk backwards toward the others, hoping Tommy would follow."
"Is it possible... that everything Gasket told me was a lie?" Tommy asked himself, looking down at the ground. He looked back up at Kat, as she began to back away, and it hit him. "Kat?" It was at that instant that, without warning, the six of them were teleported back to the power chamber. As they materialized, the rangers noticed that Tommy had also powered down in the duration of the teleport.
"Tommy, is that really you in there?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah... I'm here, Rocko," he said with a smile. "Thanks for getting me back, guys. Katherine, thanks for helping me find my way." He walked over and hugged her, in which she eagerly returned. The others, Jason included, all gave each other knowing grins.
*Youth Center*
It had been a couple days since their incident with Gasket, and Tommy was trying to rid himself of all the effects of the brainwashing, including extreme fatigue and some minor headaches. According to Zordon, it was the cause of a dark magical spell, which seemed curious since they were fighting machines and not Rita and Zedd. At least it explained how Tommy was brainwashed so quickly. But that was the least of anyone's concern, as the rangers were just happy to reclaim their leader. Jason, Billy, Tanya, Adam, and Rocky were hanging out at their usual table, when Tommy and Kat walked in and towards their table with wide smiles across their faces.
"Well you two sure look happy," Tanya said as they approached them. "What's got you all so smiley?"
"Well, first off, it seems that all the effects from the spell have worn off," Kat said. "Zordon and alpha conducted some tests this morning and it showed no ill effects were left."
"That's awesome," Rocky replied.
"It gets better," Kat said, with a wide smile.
"Yeah, after that, I took Kat out to lunch for our first date," Tommy said confidently.
"Wait... what?" Rocky asked.
"It's about time!" Tanya shouted. The couple laughed as they all got up to congratulate the two on their budding romance. Last was Jason, who gave Kat a hug and then wrapped his arms around his best friend.
"I'm happy for you bro," Jason said. "I really hope it works out for you both." Jason was relieved when he didn't feel any tension. It seemed like any jealousy he had was out of the way. It had helped him to see how he responded to Kat in the arena of the coliseum, how it was her appearance that revived him from his brainwashed state.
"Thanks bro," Tommy replied. "Thanks for the advice."
"No problem." He said with a grin. He quickly looked down at his watch to see that it 4:30. "Oh man, I hate to cut and run, but I have MY first date with Emily, and I need to get ready and pick her up! Congrats guys!" He yelled as he left the other rangers.
"Wait... so you two are dating," Rocky said, pointing to Kat and Tommy. "And Jason's dating Emily? How did I miss so much?"
"Rocky, you're always missing everything!" Tommy shouted, as it seemed there was a glimmer of joy again in their leader's voice.
To be continued...
Thanks for reading, please don't forget to review!
- Googz333