Chapter Five
Bulk Fiction
Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, and Trini awoke to find Jason smiling down at her fondly. She grinned back and gave him a quick kiss. "Hey," she said.
"G'morning," he replied sleepily, and started to say something else, but Trini cut him off with a shriek as she remembered what day it was.
"Billy's coming!" she exclaimed, and promptly started to leap out of bed. Jason pulled her back to him, pretending to look put out.
"You're not going to leave me for him or anything, are you?" he asked mock-seriously. "I've been getting really worried. He's all you've talked about for the last week."
Trini laughed. "Of course not, Jase. You're much better looking."
Jason gave a fake pout. "Is that the only reason you want me?"
"Yep," she replied with another grin. "Why else would I put up with you?" She squirmed from his arms and scrambled from the bed. "Come on! Up! Oh, the house is a wreck—did you ever get around to cleaning the roof gutters last weekend?"
"Trini, Billy is not going to look in the roof gutters. I guarantee it."
"Jason! You told me you'd clean the roof gutters!"
"I did!" he lied hurriedly. He figured Trini wasn't going to look in the roof gutters either, anyway. Trini glared at him suspiciously, but she flounced off into the bathroom without further questioning.
After quick showers and a quicker breakfast, Trini insisted they straighten up, though Jason couldn't see anything left to straighten. Trini had wanted the place to look perfect for Billy's arrival and the rest of the gang's visit (though Jason knew none of their old friends would care even if the house was covered in fertilizer) and she'd spent the past few days attacking the house with a vengeance and a bottle of multipurpose cleaner and forcing Jason to clean out the garage and move the furniture and so on. When she'd run out of things to clean and reorganize, she'd started inventing projects that Jason had never heard of before and was sure were unnecessary.
Jason and Trini's house was rather large, though it was only one story, but for some reason there never seemed to be enough room for everything. There were three bedrooms—a master bedroom with an attached bath, a guest room, and Trini's study, where they kept their computer and numerous books. The family room was home to Trini's extensive doll collection, a cozy sitting area, and their enormous black Labrador/Rottweiler mix, whom they'd jokingly named "Tommy." The basement held their personal gym, which consisted of various weights, exercise machines, mats, punching bags and so on, and in the back was a small room they called the Secret Chamber.
The Secret Chamber wasn't exactly very hidden; it was in plain sight for anyone who happened down into the basement. However, its door was always kept locked; Trini had even added a deadbolt not long after they'd moved in. Inside that room was enough evidence concerning Jason and Trini's past to make them the two most famous people on the planet if anyone ever found out what was in there—everything they had left from their Power Ranger days.
In one corner stood the Blue Ranger suit, taken from the back of the Power Chamber when the Zeo suits had been put on display instead. Jason and Trini's old communicators were mounted on the wall, hanging from hooks. A long table ran the length of the far wall; at one end sat the Aquitian communication device, which looked a lot like a triangular, deep-blue television; they called it the Aqua-phone for short. At the other end of the table was another computer, this one a tad more powerful than the one upstairs. Between the communicator and the computer were various odds and ends that Jason couldn't begin to identify; Trini had explained that they were experiments that she worked on with Billy over the Aqua-phone, which were mostly related to the Power Rangers or else computers.
In the interest of avoiding another few hours of cleaning invisible dirt, Jason suggested they go try to contact Billy and make sure everything was in order for his arrival. Trini hadn't been able to talk to Billy since he'd agreed to come; he was a very important person on Aquitar now, and he had very little spare time.
They were halfway across the workout mats in the basement gym when Billy appeared out of thin air in a short flash of blue-white light; Trini walked right into him and bounced off before she could stop, and Jason caught her before she fell.
"Billy!" Trini shrieked, throwing her arms around him. He returned her hug and then clasped Jason's arm, smiling at them both.
Billy looked rather different from the shy techno-geek they had known. He seemed to have acquired a few more muscles and his hair was longer, almost to his shoulders. He was clothed in blue leggings and a black Aquitian tunic, and his head was adorned with some odd sort of elaborate golden hat or headdress. His glasses and the very battered black carrying bag slung over his shoulder were the only things Jason and Trini recognized.
Billy removed his headgear and glanced around, noticing a clock on the wall. "I knew the timing was wrong," he remarked. "The rotations of Aquitar and Earth are completely different and a deputy from the transportation department was in charge of calculating the precise planetary movements and activating the teleportation device at the corresponding time on Aquitar to send me here. I requested to assist him but they thought it was too trivial for me."
"Aquitar has a different time," Trini explained to Jason, who looked sort of blank, his eyes glazing over at the long words more out of habit than out of an inability to understand Billy. "It doesn't move as fast as Earth, and it's in a completely different part of the universe, so figuring out a week with twenty-four hour days is sort of difficult, since their seconds and minutes and so on are different, and adding in the time it would take to teleport… it's harder than it sounds."
"We don't have weeks," Billy said, nodding. "We have thirteen-day long time periods instead, and the days are all broken up into something equivalent to roughly thirty-nine hours here. It's really quite fascinating to see all the discrepancies between Aquitar and Earth."
"Like the outfits?" Jason said, nodding at Billy's clothes. "Probably shouldn't go wandering around in alien clothing, man. Might be a tad suspicious."
"The clothes I wore out there only lasted so long before they got too decrepit to wear," Billy explained somewhat sheepishly. "I've been dressing like them for a few years now. It's actually surprisingly comfortable."
"I'm sure we can find you something to wear while you're here," Trini told him. "So, was the trip okay? I remember you telling me that traveling between here and there was dangerous."
"It was dangerous," Billy said, following Trini as she led him back upstairs, "but we've worked out a lot of the problems with it. Working with alien technology is so incredible. You would love Aquitar, Trini."
"Don't give her any ideas about moving," Jason pleaded. "She might just up and do it."
"You know, this is a really nice place, guys," Billy said, looking all around him with interest. He seemed to be walking a bit unsteadily, as though he couldn't quite remember how to tread on solid ground.
"Thanks," Trini said warmly. "We're so glad you're back, Billy. Zack and Kim and Tommy are, too—I'll tell you all about it after we find you something to wear. Then we'll head to the park… Zack, Kim and Tommy are going to meet us there. Oh, and the Dino Rangers. Tommy's new team, remember?"
Billy grinned. "Tommy just can't stay out of uniform, can he? I look forward to meeting this team. I wonder just what their relationship with Tommy is like—it can't be easy, being on a superhero team with your science teacher."
"You know Tommy," Jason said, shrugging. "I'm sure he's getting along with them just fine."
Tommy awoke early on Saturday feeling much better about the whole Kimberly thing. While he was still confused and nervous about seeing her again, he couldn't wait to see the guys. He never passed up an excuse to visit Jason and Trini, but he rarely got to see Zack and he'd only seen Billy on a monitor since the day he'd left with Cestria, with the exception of the short period of time wherein Billy had come back for his belongings, and for a few hours at Jason and Trini's wedding.
The others were still asleep, and Tommy decided not to wake them until he'd had a shower. He stepped over Ethan and Trent, sidled past Kira's cot, grabbed his things and headed for the bathroom.
Unfortunately, his morning didn't go very well after the others woke up. Ethan got into an argument with Conner, whose snoring had kept anyone (that is, Ethan) who was unlucky enough to fall asleep after Conner awake half the night, and Kira nearly knocked Tommy over when she rushed into the bathroom as he emerged from it. Tommy had assumed that Kira would only be in there for a few moments, but she proceeded to take a shower and fix her hair and it all took a very long time (even though, as girls go, Kira was quite low-maintenance), especially considering that Kira was a tad more worried about her appearance, what with meeting Tommy's friends. By the time she came out, the three boys—their bladders threatening dire consequences—had a fight over who got the bathroom first until finally Trent just flung himself inside while Conner and Ethan got in each other's faces.
By the time the morning's hygiene rituals and bickering were over, Tommy felt another headache coming on, and suggested they all go out to breakfast. They piled back in the Jeep, which was only slightly roomier without all their belongings in it, and headed out to a restaurant with outdoor seating.
When they were all given drinks and awaiting food, Trent brought up the subject of "Dr. O's old friends" and asked if Tommy had any stories to tell them.
Tommy stared into space, suddenly far away, back with his friends in their Ranger days. He had just opened his mouth to tell Conner, Kira, Trent and Ethan all about a few of his favorite memories when a heavyset man bumped into the corner of their table in passing, knocking over Trent's water glass.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" the man said, as though the stationary table had been the one to cause the collision. He glared down at them all, and then caught sight of Tommy, who was busy mopping up the water. "Tommy?" he gasped.
Tommy looked up and found himself staring at none other than Farcus Bulkmeier. Beside him was Eugene Skullovitch.
"Bulk!" Tommy exclaimed, surprised. "Skull!"
Bulk had gotten a bit bulkier, but otherwise he looked much the same as he had in high school. Skull, too, remained more or less unchanged; they were both instantly recognizable. Gone, however, were their punk clothes, which were replaced with uniforms of khaki pants and white polo shirts with blue logos on the breast pockets saying "Club Bulkmeier." Tommy hadn't seen them in roughly two years, ever since he'd been on vacation with Hayley and she'd booked them a room at Club Bulkmeier, having no idea that Bulk's real name was Bulkmeier. Tommy had almost refused to stay, but he'd eventually given in, only to be pestered by the two of them constantly the whole time. He'd been utterly relieved when he'd gotten that call about Serpentera and had to cut his vacation short.
"Bulk and Skull?" Kira repeated, frowning thoughtfully. She looked dubiously up at the two of them. "Which, uh, which ones were they?"
"They weren't," Tommy said. "We all went to high school together."
"So what are you doing back in town?" Skull asked Tommy, pulling up a chair. Bulk copied him. Tommy watched them uneasily—saying hello to Bulk and Skull was one thing, hanging out was another—but Tommy wasn't sure what to say.
"Oh, uh, we came to see Power Rangers Day," Tommy explained uncertainly, suddenly realizing that it was going to sound rather odd to people that he'd decided to make a trip home and bring along four teenagers that, to an outsider, he had no connection to other than the fact that he was their ex-science teacher. "These are my, uh, former students—Kira, Conner, Ethan and Trent."
Bulk and Skull, however, didn't seem to think anything of it. "Power Rangers Day!" Bulk said, puffing out his chest. "Did you know the Power Rangers were our close personal friends?" he asked the teens.
Tommy fought to keep from smiling. Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent exchanged amused glances; while they hadn't known what to make of Bulk and Skull at first, they were quickly figuring it out.
"Oh, yeah," Skull said, nodding emphatically. "We used to help them out back when we were detectives. You wouldn't believe how many times we had to save their lives."
Tommy went into a fit of coughing that didn't quite disguise his laughter, but Bulk and Skull remained oblivious. He couldn't help it; the two looked so serious that if the four teens hadn't known the truth about Tommy being a Ranger, they might have actually believed it. Bulk and Skull spoke without even a hint that they were lying; Tommy wondered if they believed it themselves. He stared at the two former bullies hopelessly, trying to figure out a way to put an end to the conversation without being impolite. Failing to come up with anything, he decided it couldn't hurt to spend a little time with them.
"Met Rita Repulsa and everything," Skull continued importantly. "That's why we're giving tours."
"Tours?" Conner repeated, looking interested.
"Yeah, tours," Bulk said. "Club Bulkmeier is now running tours pointing out places of historical significance and interest to visitors to our fine city."
"You're quoting a brochure, aren't you?" Tommy said dryly.
"Yep," Bulk replied, producing one from his back pocket and handing it to Tommy. It was covered with rare pictures of the first Power Rangers and points of interest in Angel Grove. "You want to take a tour? Show your friends all of Angel Grove?"
"Can we?" Conner asked immediately, giving Tommy a hopeful look. Kira, Ethan and Trent copied him.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Tommy replied quickly, envisioning a tour bus driven by Bulk flying off a cliff and bursting into flames while they all screamed helplessly.
"Pleeeeease?" the four kids whined in long, drawn-out voices, giving him the same puppy-dog eyes they'd given him right before attacking him in Hayley's café. Visions of the incident, and the subsequent car ride and all their antics in the hotel so far, swam through Tommy's mind.
"Fine," he said sadly, heaving a huge sigh.
"All right! To the van!" Bulk commanded imperiously, rising and pointing at a large shuttle-style bus with the Club Bulkmeier logo emblazoned on the side, parked (badly) at the curb not far away. Skull got up and followed Bulk, the teenagers trailing them. Feeling rather like he should have shot himself the moment he heard about Power Rangers Day, Tommy put some cash on the table to cover the bill and went after them.
"So who are these people, really?" Kira asked quietly as Tommy sat down behind her. "Were they really close to you guys?"
"No," Tommy said, trying to come up with a responsible, adult, teacher-like way of explaining that Bulk and Skull were two bumbling bullies from high school. "They're, uh… you know… They were our Cassidy and Devin."
"Oh," Kira said, nodding wisely. "That explains everything."
The bus lurched into motion and Bulk and Skull began naming various buildings and areas, pointing them out and attaching some monster attack or another to them. Tommy was pretty sure they were making at least half of them up. The ride wasn't very smooth; Skull kept running up on curbs or taking turns too quickly and stopping too suddenly. Tommy, becoming tenser by the moment, watched as the Angel Grove fire department, police station, and city council building went by, staring idly out the window without much interest, sliding back into his memories until Bulk called out, "The Angel Grove Youth Center."
Tommy looked up in surprise, grinning. There was the Youth Center, which Ernie had run for so many years. He was surprised to see the old "Gym and Juice Bar" sign still out front; Ernie had sold it long ago.
"Hey, Bulk," he called, "who owns the Youth Center now?"
"Ernie," Bulk replied. "He came back, didn't you hear?"
"What? No," Tommy said, surprised. Ernie had left not long after Tommy had become the Red Turbo Ranger; Lieutenant Stone had said something about a Foreign Service Unit and the Amazon.
"Oh, yeah. Long time ago. Lieutenant Stone sold it back to him and everything; the Lieutenant wanted to go back to police work full-time, anyway. Ernie's been back for a few years, running the place just like he used to. He's updated it a bit, though; everything's a little newer."
"Awesome," Tommy said, making a mental note to tell Jason and go back to see him.
"Anyway," Bulk continued, "rumor has it that the Power Rangers would often frequent the Angel Grove Youth Center when out of uniform to train for—"
A loud thud cut Bulk off. "Dr. O! Are you okay?" Trent asked worriedly.
Tommy had fallen right out of his seat to land painfully on the shuttle van's dirty floor. "I'm fine," he choked out, feeling somewhat shaky. That rumor was a bit too close for comfort.
"Go easier on the turns, you numskull!" Bulk chided Skull, who nodded and gripped the wheel a little tighter, despite the fact that Skull hadn't been turning at the time. Tommy was glad when the Youth Center was out of sight.
The next place to interest Tommy was Angel Grove Park, which Bulk and Skull had so much Power-Ranger-related material on that they parked the van and rambled on. Tommy stared around, picking out places where he'd spent time with his friends or battling monsters.
"You can still see the scorch marks over there from that one monster, what was his name…"
"Spit Flower," Tommy supplied absently.
"How'd you know that?" Skull asked curiously.
"Uh…"
"Hey, what's over there?" Ethan asked hurriedly, pointing down the road. Bulk and Skull diverted their attention and Tommy sent Ethan a grateful look.
They passed Billy's old house; Tommy cast a fond look at the garage, remembering all the times he'd hung out in there. On and on the tour went; Tommy was sure they'd been down every street in Angel Grove by the time they returned to their starting point, and run over dozens of curbs. Wondering if the van would ever be able to drive in a straight line again, Tommy disembarked gratefully the moment Skull came to a stop near the café.
"Thanks for the tour, guys," Tommy said, rubbing his shoulder from when he'd been slammed against the window by Skull's erratic driving. "I'll see you around."
"Anytime, anytime… oh! That'll be twenty-five bucks." Bulk held up a calculator.
"What?"
"Five dollars a tour per person," Skull explained.
Gritting his teeth but prepared to do whatever it took to get Bulk and Skull's van to go far far away, Tommy handed over the money. "See you," he repeated, forcing a smile.
"See you at Power Rangers Day!" Bulk called, and off they drove, speeding around the corner, tires squealing and horns blowing from other drivers' vehicles.
"Well that was fun," Conner said brightly. "Those guys were interesting."
"'Interesting' isn't the word," Tommy muttered. The others smiled.
"So what now, Dr. O?" Ethan asked. "Is there an arcade in this town, by any chance?"
"The Youth Center should have video games," Tommy said, leading the way to his Jeep. "It used to, anyway. I haven't been there in ages; I had no idea that Ernie had come back. It never seemed the same without Ernie."
"So you and your friends used to go there a lot?" Trent asked.
"Yeah, just about every day. It was our home away from home," Tommy replied. "It was our Cyberspace." He looked at his watch. "Hey… we should probably be heading to the park. We're supposed to meet the gang in twenty minutes."
"How's my hair?" Kira asked Trent nervously. Everyone turned to look at her. "What? I can't have a girly moment?"
"Who are you and what did you do with Kira?" Conner asked promptly.
"Ha, ha," Kira grumbled.
"It looks fine," Trent assured her awkwardly as they piled back into the Jeep.
"Thanks," she said. Tommy saw her sneak a glance at it in the rearview mirror as she hopped into the backseat anyway.
As Tommy pulled away from the curb, Conner bounced in his seat enthusiastically. "This is it," he said gleefully. "We're finally going to get to meet the original Power Rangers!"