Chapter Three -Time With Dr. Oliver
The following day, Tommy and the other Dino Thunder Rangers sat in there second detention of the week.
Kira, Cooner, and Ethan sat at one table silently doing their homework. As soon as the Whie Ranger entered the room he saw the three seated side by sie. Kira was in between the two boys he noted, but she still sat next to Conner.
There was room at the table for Trent, but not next to his team mates. So, with his head hung low, Trent made his way to the back of the room.
Dr. Oliver sat at his desk in front of them and tried his best to concentrate on the papers in front of him. It was a difficult task as his mind went over what his friend had told him the night before.
Will Cranston, better known as Billy had stayed in his guest room. For most of the night the two men reminisced about times when they both resided in Angel Grove.
Will had wisely avoided the subject of Kimberly Hart, the first Pink Ranger of Earth. He knew that just the mention of her name spoke of heartache for the former Green Ranger.
Tommy smiled as he recalled the subject of why Will had left Aquitar.
It had happeneda few years ago. The former Blue Ranger was never too fond of fish and other than the fact the journey to the water planet had saved his life, he didn't know why he stay.
Tommy reminded him of Princess Cestria and their connection.
Will looked kind of said at the mention of the lovely princess of Aquitar. He had indeed fallen for her, but after several months, found the only qualities they shared was intellectual. they mutually agreed to end their romantic relationship and to begin a friendly one.
Will remained in the planet to learn their technology in hopes the knowledge would come into use for future rangers. He had also studied on Eltar and was one of the first out of the original team to learn of Zordon's great sacrefice.
After Eltar, Will returned home and continued his Eartian schooling. He was just starting to work for some software company and had found a home in Angel Grove.
The two men discussed all of their friends and where abouts. All except Kim, of course.
Dr. Oliver frowned as his train of thought fell to the gymnast. No one had heard from her since Jason and he had that adventure on the moon. She had just dropped completely out of sight. Aisha nor Trini didn't even know where the girl was.
"Dr. O?" Kira's voice broke througj the haze of his mind.
"Yes, Kira."
"Are we still on to help you organize those boses you found in the corner of the lab last week?"
Tommy removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes before replying.
"Yes, Kira, I don't see any reason to change that."
"Great, more time with Dr. Oliver." Conner mumble sounding kind of bored.
"I don't mind." Ethan said glaring at his friends rudeness. "Will Mr, Cranston be there?"
The teens had been introduced to the former ranger yesterday at Hayley's. Ethan and Will had gotten into heated discussion on how to turn microwave parts inot communicators.
"Yes, Ethan he will be."
Tommy then looked over to Trent. He wasn't paying attention to any thing they were saying. The White Ranger was buried in a book he had to read for English.
Tommy sighed. He knew Trent was still upset over Kira and Conner and he couldn't blame him. He would have felt the same if Jason and Kim seemed to have been becoming closer everyday.
"Trent, will you be there too?"
The White Ranger looked up from his book like he had just awaken from a dream. He looked around to take in his surroundings before turning his attentions to Dr. Oliver.
"Um... what was the question?"
"Will you be able to help with the organisation project we discussed last week?" Tommy asked with a sigh.
"Um... Sure." Trent replied and went back to his read assignment.
After detention, the rangers headed straight to Dr. O's lab. There they found Billy and Hayley discussing their locating system. Hayley was listening to Billy as he made suggestion on how to further the signal.
"I've never thought of that." Hayley said as she used a tool on a device followed Billy's instuctions.
She had closed down the cybercafe for the day. She needed a brake. Between bring business woman and the Dino Thunder Rangers technician, she was exhausted. She had only came to the lab to do a final search for a dino egg, that Tommy had forgotten where he had hidden it.
When they were finished they turned to the rangers and smiled.
"Hi, guys." Hayley greeted with a smile. "Will was just assisting me with the locating device. It's range is now twice as long."
Tommy and his students smiled back. Ethan and Tommy had figured out what they were up to, but Conner, Kira, and Trent were playing the smile nod card.
"It's was simple really." The blond man said. "All she had to do was..."
"They don't want to hear that." Hayley inturrupted.
"You're probably right, but I'll go over it with Tommy and Ethan later."
"Thanks, Billy." Tommy said.
"Yeah, thanks, Mr. Cranston."
"Well, I had better go." Hayley said rising from her seat. "I'm just going to ho homw and relax."
Their technical advisor said farewell to the team and her new friend and then left.
The rangers and Will went to the boxes. Tommy had piled up in the corner. Kira sat indian style on the floor. Conner, Ethan, and Trent sat across from her. Ethan wisely sat between the two rivals, just in case an arguement was to be issued. The Red Ranger pulled the nearest box to him and the teens began to rumage through it.
Tommy and Will had situated themselves in chairs and through one of the smaller boxes, Tommy had placed on his lab table.
"Green, Dr. O?" Ethan said as he lifted a green hoodie from the box.
"It was my initial favorite color."
"The styles in the early ninties really suck. "Conner said.
Will and Tommy shook their heads and continued to search through the box. It only seemed to have contained only old pictures during his college years.
They spent an hour going through box after box. There were many small boxes filled with books and photos. There was a ton of old school assignments the paleontologist had forgotten to through away.
"Um.. Dr. O," Ethan began tentatively. "what's up with these grades."
He held up a couple papers.
"I was distracted."
Will smiled. He knew what was the cause of his distraction. Tommy hardly paid attention to the original rangers' study sessions. He was always distracted by a certain brunette.
"Don't even think it." Tommy warned his friend as he noticed the mischevious glint in Will's eye.
"Forgotten."
"Man, am I hungry." Conner said suddnely.
Everyone stared at him.
"What? I am."
"Come to think of it, so am I." Ethan said placing a hand on his belly.
"Me, too." Kira and Trent chorused.
"I think we should go search for sustenance." Will said.
"Come on, 'Will'" Tommy smiled. "Let's go find if I have enough food to feed two grown men and four teens."
The two men went up stairs into Dr. Oliver's house.
"Man, does Dr. O, have alot of junk." Conner said said kicking a box away from them.
"Yeah, he does." Kira said moving to lean against Ethan.
The Blue Ranger glance over to the White Ranger. Trent gave him a smile. It told Ethan, that as long as Kira wasn't leaning on Conner, he was cool.
Trent looked over and saw a box much older than the others. He got up and stretched before going over to it. His action got the attention of the Yellow Ranger and she stood and went over to the box.
Trent opened it and got a good whiff of dust. He coughed and sneezed while Kira patted him on the back.
"I wonder why this box is older than the others." she wondered.
Trent shrugged as his coughing siezed.
"Maybe, it's stuff from when he was a little kid."
Kira pulled out a pink denim jacket and help it up.
"If it is, then Dr. O was a weird kid. This is a woman's jacket."
"Are you sure? It seems too small to even be a woman's jacket."
" I can fit it." Kira frowned at him.
"Sorry."
Kira rolled her eyes and rumaged through the box. Their were some sweaters, a tube of lipstick, a vile Glittering Rose nail polish, and some old photos of Dr. O and the original Pink Ranger.
"It looks like they used to go out." Kira said as she held a picture of the pair at the his White Ranger and his arms were wrapped around the girl.
"They look cute."
Trent smiled then frowned. He wondered if the girl Dr. Oliver had told him about yesterday was the original Pink Ranger.
"Hey, what's this." He said as he picked up a pink envelope.
"Let me see." Kira said and took the worn out paper.
She opened it with as much care and carefully removed its equally worn contents. She read it silently to herself before gasping and looking at her companions.
"Kira, what's wrong?" Conner asked and placed his arm around her shoulder. He too read the letter to himself.
"It's a break up letter." He announced.
"What?" Ethan exclaimed. "Let me see."
He also read the letter to himself.
Trent didn't have to read it to know what it said. Dr. Oliver had already told him.
"Guys, I think we should put this stuff back."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth their teacher and Mr. Cranston were on their way in.
The teens quickly packed up the box and made it look as much like they had found it as they could. Unbeknownst to the boys, Kira had only placed the envelope back into the box and placed the letter deep into her pocket.
When Tommy was in their sights, he stared at then suspiciously before handing each a sandwich and a bottle of water.