Chapter Six

A Golden Homecoming

"So the Power Rangers hung out here a lot?" Ethan asked as they got out of the Jeep at Angel Grove Park.

"Yeah. Had a lot of fights here, too."

"Why?" Trent asked.

Tommy shrugged. "We went where the monsters were. We fought all over, really, but I remember dozens of fights in the park."

As they wandered through the park, they passed the large area set aside for the upcoming Power Rangers Day. Tommy smiled sadly, remembering how bad he'd felt during the first one, which was after his Green Ranger powers had been taken away. He pointed out various battle sites, realizing that Ethan hadn't been too far off back in Hayley's Cyberspace when he'd mimicked Tommy saying, "That's where I fought a monster, and that's where I fought a monster, and look over there! That's where I fought a monster!" After a while, the sights lost their appeal; Tommy saw them all start to get that glazed look in their eye like they often had in class.

"Why'd the Rang—er, your friends… want to meet here?" Conner asked, looking around the park without interest. "Don't two of your friends still live in Angel Grove?"

"Yeah, why not meet at their place?" Kira asked.

"I don't know, it just seemed like a good idea," Tommy said with a shrug, glancing around for Jason and the others, memories flooding him at the sight of every tree and leaf. "The park. Wow… If I had a dollar for every time I had to fight evil here, I wouldn't have to teach psychotic teenagers."

"Where's the fun in that?" Ethan joked.

"Come on, Dr. O, don't get all mopey," Conner said, mistaking Tommy's nostalgia for sadness. "Three cheers for Dr. O, guys!" He thrust his fist in the air; when no one said anything, he glared at them all expectantly. "Come on, guys, let's cheer him up! Who shows the Rangers where to go?" Conner chanted, doing a bad impression of street rapping. Then he yelled, "Dr. O! Dr. O!"

"Who's the dude who's got the know?" Ethan chimed in.

"Dr. O! Dr. O!" they all chorused. Tommy rubbed a hand over his face wearily, and, seeing his embarrassment, they gleefully continued.

"Who had a mullet that he dared to show?" Kira added with a giggle. Tommy glowered at her.

"Dr. O! Dr. O!"

"Who's always late and forgets everything?" a new voice cut in.

Tommy looked at Trent, who had started to speak but closed his mouth, looking around for the speaker, confused. Conner, Kira, and Ethan did the same, and then a new group of voices sang, "Dr. O! Dr. O!"

Tommy turned bright red as Jason came into view down the path, followed by Trini and Billy. The original speaker was revealed to be Zack.

"Who'd I cover for when he and Kim were kissing?" Jason added with a smirk. Tommy glared at him fiercely.

"Dr. O! Dr. O!" Trini, Billy, Jason and Zack chanted again.

"Who's the big tough guy they're following?" Zack said in a fake macho voice.

"Dr. O! Dr. O!"

"Who shocked us all with a PhD?" Jason continued; the others struggled not to laugh so that they could keep up with the chant.

"Dr. O! Dr. O!" they gasped out.

"All right, all right, ha, ha," Tommy interrupted as Zack prepared to sing something else. Jason, Billy, Trini and Zack all burst out laughing hysterically. In the interest of staving off further insults, he turned to the four teenagers. "Guys, this is… are you okay?"

Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent stood motionless, staring at Tommy's friends, completely awestruck. Tommy waved his hand in front of Trent's face, but Trent didn't seem to see him. "What's wrong with you g—"

"IT'S THEM!" Conner screamed so suddenly that Tommy and Jason both dropped automatically into defensive stances. "It's the original—"

"SHH!" Tommy, Trini, Jason, Billy and Zack hissed, glancing around in alarm.

"Sorry," Conner choked out. "It's just… you're… you're them."

"Wow," Ethan said softly.

Jason smiled and stepped forward, offering his hand to the former Dino Rangers. "I'm Jason Scott," he said, pulling the shoulder of his red T-shirt away from his body to acknowledge his former Ranger color.

None of the four teens stepped forward to shake his hand; they all suddenly looked terrified, as though Jason were some monstrous creature setting a trap for them. Kira stepped a little behind Trent and nudged him towards Jason with her shoulder.

Trent stumbled a little but caught himself, then wiped his hand on his pants and extended it to Jason. "I'm… uh… I'm Trent," he stammered, his voice rather high-pitched. He indicated his own white polo shirt.

Jason nodded, grinned and started to turn to Ethan, but Conner lunged out of nowhere and seized his hand, shaking it so vigorously that Jason almost fell over. "I'm Conner. Conner McKnight. Most recent leader and, you know, Red. Wow. It's an honor. A huge honor."

"Thanks," Jason said, looking rather surprised at Conner's enthusiasm, but somewhat pleased and flattered as well.

Introductions were made all around; the Dino Rangers continued to look starry-eyed, and the others were unsure how to handle the hero worship. Part of having a secret identity was that they didn't exactly get fussed over a lot. They'd met a few people while in uniform who'd asked for autographs or whatever, but that was rare, as they'd never hung around after battle, and it had been years since they'd had any interaction with people who knew who they were and weren't old friends. By the time they were all acquainted, Kira, Ethan and Trent were huddled together as though trying to appear small, and Conner was still gazing at Jason with pure excitement. "This is so cool," Conner kept repeating.

"It's really great to meet you all," Trini said. "We've heard so much about you from Tommy."

"Is it true Dr. O really had a mullet?" Ethan blurted out unexpectedly.

"It was the style back then!" Tommy half-yelled in exasperation.

"Yet you were the only person who had one," Jason deadpanned. "You were a real trendsetter, Tommy."

"Oh, shut up," he growled, but he was grinning. Seeing the gang was worth a thousand insults.

"Hey," Kira spoke up, her voice still a little shaky, "wasn't there supposed to be a Pink, too?"

"Kimberly, yeah," Billy said. All of his friends shot sidelong glances at Tommy, no doubt trying to gauge his reaction, but he pretended he didn't notice.

"Where is Kimberly, anyway?" Tommy asked, careful to keep his voice nonchalant. He felt a stab of fear. Had something happened? Or had she just decided she'd rather be anywhere that wasn't near Tommy?

"I called her this morning; she said she was going to stop and pick up some pizza," Trini explained. She gestured at a basket Zack was holding. "I thought we could hang out here, like we used to—you know, have a picnic lunch. I had a whole bunch of food prepared and everything, but someone—" she glanced at Jason, who promptly schooled his features into an apologetic expression— "thinks anything in the fridge is fair game."

"Well, usually it is," Jason protested. "You label everything that isn't."

"I can't label everything," Trini said. "Especially since Tommy sat on my labeling machine."

"What?" Billy said, confused.

"Our dog, Tommy," Trini clarified. "Jason thought naming him after Tommy would be, uh—"

"A hysterical and yet accurate representation," Jason supplied helpfully.

"Have you tried repairing it?" Billy asked, looking interested as always when confronted with the prospect of tinkering with something.

"Hasn't worked so far. You can take a look at it, if you want," Trini replied. "I'll probably just have to get a new one, though. Anyway, let's go find somewhere to eat."

They left the clearing and started up the path to a secluded spot near a stream that they'd once come to quite often, to train and hang out and so on. Trini spread out blankets on the grass and she and Zack started sorting out the plastic utensils and bags of chips and so on. Conner became absorbed in a conversation with Jason, asking him all sorts of questions about being the first Red Ranger, while Ethan attached himself to Billy, discussing electronics and how difficult it was to be technology savvy in a world where few people could tell you what a USB port was. Tommy went to help Trini and Zack, who were talking to Kira and Trent.

"I'm an orphan," Trent explained, "and my foster father turned out to be Mesogog, the main bad guy. Anyway, he made me into an evil Ranger and I did the bad guy thing for a while myself. Then the evil in my Dino Gem was destroyed, and I joined Dr. O and the others."

Zack stared at him. "Is that your story, or Tommy's?"

"They're eerily similar," Trini said, raising her eyebrows. "Except for that bit about the foster father. Weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Tommy said with a shrug. He had often thought about the parallels between himself and Trent. "Especially since his father was my colleague right up until our lab went boom."

"I hate it when that happens," Billy said, overhearing them.

"Hey, check her out," Conner said suddenly. He had finally been torn from Jason by the only thing that he found more interesting than meeting the planet's first superheroes—girls. "She's hot."

Tommy glanced over and rolled his eyes when he spotted the woman coming up the path, who looked to be in at least her mid-twenties. "She's too old for you, Conner."

The words had barely left his mouth when he realized who it was; he did a double take, startled. Kimberly was walking towards them, wearing a pink sundress and holding a large stack of pizza boxes. She looked incredible, and something about the dress she was wearing took him back, back to the days when he and Kimberly had been inseparable.

"Dr. O?" Conner prompted, confused by Tommy's blatant staring and trying to grasp what was up with his former teacher. Arriving at the most logical (for Conner) conclusion, he asked, "What? Do you think she's hot, too?"

Head snapping around, Tommy fixed Conner with a truly frightening, furious glare. Conner wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he'd seen Tommy's eyes glow green for a moment. Swallowing hard, Conner smiled apologetically, muttered "You can have her," and edged away from his mentor, bumping into Kira.

"Hey!" Kira shoved Conner away from her. "You have space; don't use mine!"

"Sorry," Conner repeated distractedly, and proceeded to put as much space between himself and Tommy as possible.

"Hi, guys!" Kimberly called as she approached.

"KIM!" Billy, Zack and Trini yelled, and they rushed over to her with Jason. Jason took the pizza boxes from her and set them on the blanket, then stood in line for his hug. Tommy hung back, fairly certain that he wasn't really on hugging terms. Kira, Ethan and Trent took note of it, shot him questioning glances (Conner was too busy trying to stay away from Tommy) but Tommy didn't acknowledge them; in fact, he barely noticed, feeling jealous and not a little awkward and upset.

When at last Zack released her, Kimberly turned to Tommy and the others. Kimberly gave Tommy a little wave. "Hey, Tommy."

Acutely aware that everyone was watching them, Tommy smiled casually. "Hey."

Kimberly glanced around to make sure the group of Rangers was alone before looking at Kira, Ethan, Trent and Conner. "You guys are the Dino Rangers, right? I've heard a lot about you."

The handshaking went a little bit easier with Kimberly than it had with the others; the awe was wearing off with every second the teens spent around their predecessors, though they were all still deeply impressed. Conner was the only odd moment; he was taking care to stay far from Kimberly, still nervous about Tommy's reaction to Conner's comments about her. When she turned to him expecting an introduction, Conner darted forward, shook her hand as briefly as possible, said his name, and then hastily retreated with a worried glance at Tommy. Kimberly gave Tommy a confused, questioning look.

"Er…" Tommy said, racking his brains.

"Don't mind him," Kira said, shaking her head in exasperation.

"He's a soccer player," Ethan added. "Sometimes he hits the ball too hard with his head."

"I heard that!" Conner called from his place ten feet away.

Kimberly giggled. "I see. So how do you like Angel Grove so far?"

"It's a cool place," Trent said promptly. "We went on a tour this morning."

"Oh, yeah!" Tommy said, having forgotten all about it the moment his friends were around them. "We ran into Bulk and Skull this morning."

"Bulk and Skull?" Jason repeated, grinning.

"They gave you a tour?" Zack said, looking shocked to see Tommy and the others were still alive. "Like, on a tour bus? You got in a moving vehicle with Bulk and Skull?"

"Are you insane?" Trini asked, laughing. "Weren't you afraid they'd drive you off a cliff?"

"Of course I was," Tommy said. "Skull's definitely not the best driver in the world."

"It was okay," Kira spoke up. "Dr. O fell out of his seat, though."

"Dr. O?" Kimberly inquired. Kira pointed at Tommy. "Oh! Right. PhD. Got it."

"How did you fall out of your seat, anyway?" Ethan asked. "We weren't going very fast or anything. We were outside that Youth Center place."

"Ah, the Youth Center," Zack said, a distant look in his eyes.

"I fell over in shock, actually. According to Bulk, the Rangers were rumored to have hung out there when they weren't saving the world."

"Wow. That's a little too close to home," Billy said, looking concerned.

"Oh, there's always some rumor like that," Trini told them, waving her hand dismissively. "The Angel Grove historian has all these theories about us, and the town comes up with all these wild stories. Every so often I hear someone I've never met telling me all about how they knew us personally."

"I don't know, though," Jason said. "With as often as we were in there and then had to spontaneously run off… right before a monster attack… hmm. I wonder if Ernie ever thought about that."

"Probably. We were some of his favorite customers," Zack said with a shrug. "But Ernie was cool. He wouldn't tell anyone. Besides, he's in the Amazon or something, remember?"

"Oh! Ernie's back, too. Bulk told me he's been back for a while."

"You're kidding!" Trini exclaimed.

"We've got to go and see him," Billy said automatically.

"I wish I'd known! I would have been over there all the time," Jason added.

They sat down to eat, chatting away about old times, catching up on each other's lives, old and new Rangers getting acquainted. Kira stayed close to Trini and Kimberly, telling them how much she'd have liked to have another girl on the team and asking if they'd been very comfortable with spending so much time with a bunch of guys. Soon they were swapping horror stories about the annoyance of being surrounded by boys. Conner latched back onto Jason, who dealt well with the constant chatter, enjoying the hero worship. Ethan began explaining the finer points of some new computer system to Billy, leaving Trent to hang with Zack and Tommy, the three of them talking about everything and nothing.

At last, everyone had eaten their fill and the talk began to wane. Finally someone asked what they were going to do next.

"Jason and I had an idea," Trini began hesitantly. "We saw in the paper that city council is thinking of canceling Power Rangers Day—"

"What? But… I came all the way… they can't…" Tommy spluttered.

"City council is claiming it's all a re-election stunt of the mayor's," Jason explained. "It's an election year. City council thinks he's just trying to use the Power Rangers Day to try and win popularity. If we show up, he'll be virtually endorsed by the Power Rangers and get a few more votes, and if we don't, he can say he still brought in a good deal of extra tourism, which was good for the city, blah, blah, blah."

"It's a smart move by a smart guy," Trini said with a shrug. "He's a good mayor. The point is, though, that city council has been threatening to cancel if they don't get confirmation from the Power Rangers that the Rangers are actually going to show up." A mischievous twinkle entered her eye. "We thought it'd be fun to… well… confirm."

"How?" Zack asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"We go to the mayor's office," Jason explained.

"But it's Saturday," Tommy said.

"He'll be there. They're trying to make this Power Rangers Day into a huge event. Some people have even been talking about fireworks and all these newspaper reporters are going to be there," Trini replied. "So we show up in uniform, tell him we'll be there, and then leave. Simple as that."

"You're forgetting one thing," Billy said, frowning thoughtfully. "How are we going to get there and back? If we go wandering around, we'll probably be followed by someone—I imagine any sighting of us is going to produce a crowd. Since Tommy, Kimberly and I can't morph, it would probably have to be just Jason, Trini and Zack, so they could power down as soon as they were out of sight and then blend in with the crowd. The problem, however, would be slipping away. Not even Jason, Trini and Zack can teleport anymore—we did that using the Command Center's power. Without it, we're all grounded. You'd have to walk there, and someone might see you transforming if you do it downtown. And like I said, it'd be difficult to get away once you were spotted."

"I hadn't thought of that," Jason said, grimacing.

"We'd need a vehicle," Zack said.

"Yeah. If we drove away from the more populated areas, we'd have no problem sneaking off and demorphing," Trini mused. "We can still jump higher and run faster than the average citizen."

"We can't use any of our cars, though," Kimberly pointed out. "If anyone traced the car back to one of us, we'd be putting our identities at risk."

"There's gotta be some way," Tommy said.

They all sat around for a while, thinking hard. Then, to everyone's surprise, Conner grinned and cleared his throat.

"I have an idea."