Chapter Twelve
Bloom of Doom
"And that was pretty much the end of it," Tommy concluded. His students were struggling to hear him over the sounds of their own laughter. "Except, of course, for the fact that we spent the next two weeks trying to fix the zords, but that part was pretty uneventful." Thanks to their severe laughter, none of the teens noticed that he didn't appear very truthful.
"Except for that one time Zedd sent a monster down," Jason said. "Remember that?"
"Oh, yeah!" Zack exclaimed. "Remember, we wanted to kill it before it could grow, because we didn't want the bad guys to know that our zords were broken?"
"Wouldn't they have already known?" Trent asked. "Considering that Goldar was there?"
Billy shrugged. "I assumed that they knew about the wreck, but not about the fact that it took us a very long time to fix them… or else none of Goldar's allies believed him. Given the fact that my friends thought I had somehow become crazed, that's highly probable."
"Regardless, a monster showed up and, of course, we panicked, thinking it might grow when we didn't have our zords to fight it," Trini said. "We've never beaten a monster so thoroughly since."
"It was one of the most unorthodox fights I've ever had," Tommy added. "We all just sort of tackled it and beat it to death."
"I can still see Kimberly beating that thing with her Power Bow," Jason said with a laugh. He held up his hands and mimed stabbing a stick into something.
"I can't," Billy said sourly. "You all tackled it after it had tackled me. I was underneath it the whole time, screaming."
"Well, yeah, but that was a lucky thing in the end, remember?" Tommy pointed out.
"Yeah," Trini said. "After all, you defeated it."
Flashback
"Another day, another Putty fight," Zack said cheerfully as he punched the Z on a Putty's chest.
The air was filled with the sounds of grunts and battle cries and the Putties' mindless "whoo-oo-oo" noises as the six of them fought, still unmorphed. Then, a sound they had dreaded for the last week and a half washed over them—a cheesy, inhuman evil laugh.
"Rangers! Behold your destruction!"
They all spun around, ignoring the various Putties. There stood a giant pig, walking on its hind legs, dressed like a Viking-wannabe, horned helmet, round shield, big sword and all. It certainly stank badly enough to be both a pig and a Viking.
This was the moment they'd been dreading—when a monster showed up and they would be unable to protect the city once it grew, thanks to their battered zords.
Fortunately, they had a plan.
"GET IT!" Tommy bellowed.
…Well, something like a plan, anyway.
They flung themselves at it, dodging the swinging sword and bashing shield and goring horns but not without close calls. Every so often, one of them would back off to morph, or else to take care of an insignificant Putty who didn't seem to realize that the Rangers could care less if the Putties ran off and terrorized the elderly, kidnapped the citizens of Angel Grove, or opened a lemonade stand. The six of them had soon found time to morph, in between punching, kicking, occasionally scratching and once even biting (although given the three-minute pause Zack had to take to puke, they gave up on that idea really fast). Billy and Zack got behind it, the others in front, all of them beating it more like thugs attacking a rival gang than honorable Rangers battling evil.
At last, it managed to bring its sword up and swing at Tommy, Kimberly and Jason while holding Trini back with its shield; the three of them were forced back. The monster attempted to stab Trini in the side, but before it could get anywhere the Red, White and Pink Rangers dove on it like football players who'd made it to their first Super Bowl intent on taking down a quarterback when there were five people open in the end zone. The monster toppled over beneath them; Billy yelped as he was pinned by its considerable bulk, Zack barely managing to stay out of its way by dancing to the side at the last moment.
"RAWG!" the monster screamed, waving its sword wildly.
"RAWG YOURSELF!" Kimberly roared back, grabbing the sword hilt and yanking; surprised, the monster lost its grip. Unfortunately the sword was longer than she was and twice as heavy; she struggled to turn it around for a moment before dropping it, slicing off the monster's leg from the knee down purely on accident. It howled in pain.
Seeing this, Tommy pulled Saba from his belt. "Sorry, buddy," he said, stabbing a disgruntled Saba into the foul-smelling pig's flesh between the joints in the armor.
Zack, meanwhile, had rejoined the fray after his narrow escape and another run-in with a couple of the Putties; they'd left a good deal of the lackeys standing, and the Putties seemed a bit nonplussed that no one was giving them any attention. Zack dove for the pig's helmet and pulled it off, hoping to use it to stab the monster; unfortunately, this, too, was extremely heavy, and Zack was unprepared for just how heavy it was. Lack of leverage and readiness caused it to slip from his hands and land on his foot. "OW!" he screamed, ripping his bruised foot from beneath it and hobbling about on one leg, holding his ankle in one hand.
Even without his sword, the pig could still punch and slam them with its shield; it managed to bash Trini in the chest and she flew back with a yelp. "TRINI!" Jason yelled.
"I'm okay!" she called back, rolling to her feet only to find herself surrounded by annoyed, neglected Putties. Sighing, she fought them with a vengeance, desperate to get back to the monster. "Power Daggers!" she called, whipping them out.
"Help!" came Billy's muffled voice from beneath the monster's girth. He was finding it difficult to breathe; after a long struggle he managed to get his hand on his Blade Blaster, but was unable to pull it out.
Jason and Kimberly had both pulled out their weapons also. Jason spent most of his time fending off the monster's punches and shield with his Power Sword, but Kimberly was finding it too difficult to even nock an arrow, what with the pig lurching about beneath them as it struggled and tried to throw them off of it. Frustrated, she knelt on the creature's breastplate behind where Jason was holding off its arms, then held the bow like a baseball bat and began jabbing the end into his chest just above its armor. It squealed and howled as the three of them fought with all their might.
Trini, meanwhile, was fighting a losing battle. The six or so Putties had turned into about twelve, as every last one of them had now ganged up on her. "I'm coming, Trini!" Zack yelled, hopping over, still on one foot, and jabbing a Putty in the Z on its chest.
"About time!"
"You're welcome!"
"HELP!" Billy shouted, his voice muffled. He was still working on freeing his Blade Blaster, breathing (which was not only difficult but unpleasant, given the smell) and getting his fellow Rangers to hear him.
"ARGH!" Jason yelled as the pig threw him off.
"Die—hey!" Kimberly shrieked as the pig knocked her off as well.
"Uh-oh," Tommy said, jumping down before he could get hit.
"Oh, thank heavens," Saba muttered irritably.
"Assemble Power Blaster!" Jason shouted as the pig attempted to push itself up.
"Power Axe!" Zack called, tossing it into the air to begin the transformation as he kicked another Putty with his bad foot.
"Power Bow!" Kimberly threw her weapon to connect with the Power Axe.
"Power Daggers!" Trini shouted, hurtling them towards the connected Power Axe and Power Bow just as a Putty's kick sent her reeling back.
Jason stood by the assembled weapons, anxious to get it together and blast the thing to kingdom come. They just needed the Power Lance now. So they waited. …And waited. And waited some more.
"Where's Billy?" Jason demanded.
The monster sat up, looking much the worse for wear; Saba's blade had inflicted multiple wounds on its remaining one-and-a-half legs and its sides, the Power Sword had left numerous cuts on its arms and fingers (and even cut off one or two phalanges) and Kimberly had left bruises all over its chest. Roaring furiously, and looking a bit dizzy, it reached for its fallen sword.
Billy, still pinned from the knees down, gulped air into his burning lungs, whipped out his blaster, and took aim just below the creature's back armor. The weakened, possibly dying monster exploded.
"Oh, there's Billy," Kimberly said when the dust cleared, removing her bow from the formation that never was and tossing Zack's axe back to him. Billy lowered his Blade Blaster and flopped back on the grass, still gasping for breath.
"Good move, Billy," Jason called.
"Thank god that's over," Kimberly said.
"That was a close one," Tommy agreed.
"HEY!" Trini called, surrounded by roughly five Putties as two more circled the one-footed Zack. "A little help, please!"
End Flashback
"And that was that," Jason finished. "From Kinko's to one of the few monsters we ever defeated without calling on our zords." Once again, the extreme laughter of Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent kept them from noticing that there was quite possibly more to the tale.
"But didn't they make it grow after that?" Conner asked. "That's what the bad guys always, ALWAYS did to us."
"Well, usually there has to be something left," Tommy explained.
"Like ashes," Zack added. "After we took of the Putties, we pulled out our Blade Blasters and pretty much blew that entire part of the park back to the Stone Age."
"You can still see the scorch marks," Jason said.
There was a momentary pause. "…Really?" Conner asked eagerly.
"Oh, yeah."
"But… after we beat a monster," Trent said, "no matter how badly we killed, it just came back thirty feet high."
"Yes, but this one was not going anywhere," Kimberly said. "Besides, even if he had brought it back, it would only have one and a half legs, thanks to me. That's not something you want walking around plus-sized."
The story had taken quite some time to tell, especially with all the laughter and miniature fights that had broken out along the way, slowing the process—not to mention the moments when one of them would beg the others not to tell this part or that part and have to be presented with a convincing argument by the other five.
"Wow," Conner said. "There was actually a time in Dr. O's life when he wasn't boring."
"That's it," Tommy deadpanned as his friends burst into giggles. "I'm drowning him."
Conner yelped and dove behind Ethan, then thought better of it and dove behind Trent instead. Tommy, rather than attacking, simply laughed, although Conner remained behind Trent, just in case.
Trent shrugged. "Just remember, Dr. O," Trent said, "if you do decide to kill him, I never did anything (major) to incur your wrath." Conner glared at the back of Trent's head.
"Tell us something else," Kira said eagerly. "Are there any more funny stories about your Ranger days?"
"There's a thousand," Jason said. "But I kind of want to go swim. We've been here for forever and we haven't even gone out—Billy and Ethan are completely dry."
"Yes, let's," Billy said pleadingly, his eyes on the water.
"Hard to believe you once had a fear of fish," Kimberly teased.
"A fear of fish? How can you be afraid of fish?" Conner asked curiously. "I could see sharks, but fish?"
"It's another story," Billy said, standing up. "Maybe after we swim."
The others all got up to follow him, but Kira stayed on the blanket for a moment, biting her lip in indecision. She was fairly certain she could beg another story out of Kimberly or Trini… it was so interesting to hear about Dr. O as some imperfect, common teenager with a mullet and a young Ranger rather than the legend he was or the teacher he'd become.
"Aren't you coming?" Trent asked. For some reason, the story about Tommy on the balcony, even with its funny context, had given him a desire to stay as close to Kira as possible, even more so than usual.
"Bet I can dunk Conner more than you can," Ethan challenged Kira before she could reply.
Kira leaped up. "You're on!"
Conner glared at them. "I think I'll stay here, then."
The others shrugged and ran off into the waves. Conner stared after them, already feeling the beginnings of boredom, suddenly longing to be in the water. He couldn't swim, but there was still plenty of fun to be had splashing about in the waves… as opposed to sitting alone in the sand.
"Hey, wait up!" he yelled, and chased after them.
They spent most of the day in the water. Kira, Ethan, Tommy and even Trent had a go at dunking Conner, who retaliated but always seemed to find himself ganged up on before he could get off any spectacular moves. They swam, they raced each other, they chatted, they played with the beach ball and Frisbee until Ethan nearly got dragged out to sea by the current while trying to retrieve the ball, and so on with all the energy of ten very athletic people all secretly trying to outdo each other. It was only when they realized they were extremely hungry that they pulled themselves out of the waves on shaky legs that had (particularly in Billy's case) forgotten how to walk on land, even the not-so-solid variety provided by the sandy shore.
They still had no real desire to leave the beach, so they sent Jason and Zack for pizza and continued to enjoy the remainder of the long summer day. Once Jason and Zack returned, Kira and Zack got into a chat about music, discussing the fine points of everything from trance to rap to pop, while Trent sat with them and occasionally offered up his own points of view. Billy, Ethan and Trini had a lengthy discussion about computers that eventually made everyone else edge away nervously. Conner followed Jason around and asked him all sorts of questions, while Jason's responses alternated between flattered and exasperated. And suddenly Tommy and Kimberly realized that everyone else was occupied and they'd been left alone on a blanket by the cooler.
"So," Kimberly said.
"So," Tommy agreed, feeling rather stupid. This was a little too familiar. He opened the cooler to give himself something to do.
Kimberly, also realizing that they'd gone back to awkward mode, put out a hand to stop him. "Let me. You plus ice equals nervous Kimberly."
Tommy laughed at the second reminder of their meeting in the hotel hallway. "That's understandable. I'm really sorry about that, by the way." She waved her hand dismissively. "Could you hand me a Coke, please?"
She did so and got out a diet drink for herself, then plopped down on the cooler lid as if trying to make sure the ice remained inside. "You know, the Dino Rangers seem pretty cool," she said for the sake of conversation.
"They're all right. In small doses."
She frowned. "Although… is it just me, or is Conner kind of… I don't know, scared of me?"
Tommy was torn between chuckling and blushing and settled for rubbing the back of his neck, which hid the grimace of "oops" on his face. He hadn't meant to get so annoyed when Conner had mentioned that Kimberly was hot; it had been rather… instinctive. "Conner's just odd like that," he said with a shrug.
"He is a bit odd. Like a strange mixture of Zack's goofiness and Jason's athleticism."
"That's him to a T. Only more irritating and talkative."
"You don't like him, eh?"
"…I like him, I guess. He's an all right kid. He's just… usually the first one to get on my nerves. Then Ethan, then Kira, and then Trent. Unless, of course, one of them is annoying me by fighting with Conner. …Which, come to think of it, is exactly why Ethan's always been second."
"I see. Well, Kira seems really great. We had a lot of fun last night… but then, you knew that." She gave him a playful glare.
"I didn't, actually. I told you, I was only on the balcony for three seconds before Trini threw back the curtain like Velma yanking the mask off a wannabe ghost."
"Uh-huh. Sure."
"I was!"
"Admit it, Tommy."
"Admit what?"
Kimberly stood up and took a sip of her pop before answering. "You were just trying to see me naked."
Tommy stared at her, so startled that it didn't even occur to him to deny it. He had yet to realize she was joking when she laughed, enjoying the shocked look on his face.
"Don't worry," she said with a wink, "I'm not mad. Seeing you in your boxers was worth it."
Tommy tried to get his mouth to speak but his brain had forgotten how the process worked. Before he could gather his wits, Kimberly had sauntered casually over to Trini.
"Oh, HTML code is idiotic," Trini said. "I mean, yeah, I know it forwards and backwards, but it's so annoying to have to type in all this extra stuff in order to get anything to show the way you want it to. I don't see why a shorter, less intricate code hasn't been standardized across the—"
"Trini," Kimberly hissed, appearing at her elbow with a look of panic on her face. "Trini, I need you!"
Giving Billy and Ethan no explanation whatsoever, Kimberly yanked her friend away and halfway down the beach. "Kim! What's wrong?" Trini demanded. Kimberly's whole body was tensed and she was holding a diet pop can so severely that sticky brown liquid had coated her hand.
"I did a horrible thing!" Kimberly wailed as quietly as she could.
"What? Lose your deposit on the pop can?"
"No. Well, yeah, but… but… I… I think I just hit on Tommy."
"You… what?"
"I just hit on Tommy! I hit on him!"
"…You mean you hit him? As in you punched him?"
"No, I hit on him! I implied that he looked good naked! How could I do that! Oh, god… that was the stupidest thing I ever—"
"YES!" Trini shouted, pumping her fist in the air and then dancing around wildly like a lottery winner.
"Trini!" Kimberly whined, grabbing Trini's arm to halt her in mid-dance move. "Stop with the Zack impression! I just hit on my ex!"
Trini froze, realizing that this wasn't quite the situation she'd hoped for. "Kim… how is that a bad thing?"
"HE'S MY EX!" Kimberly exclaimed, exasperated. "What's he going to think after the comment I just made, huh? What's he going to think I want or I mean or I do or I… okay, I'm freaking out too badly to realize what I'm talking about but Tri-ni!" Kimberly shook the mutilated pop can at her. "I didn't mean to say it. I didn't mean it the way I said it!"
"So why did you say it?" Trini asked reasonably.
"I don't know!" Kimberly howled.
"Kim, listen to me. Tommy does look good naked—"
"What? You've seen—"
"No, I haven't; stop with the Jason impression. I'm trying to do that hypothetical reasoning thing! Now, listen." A mischievous gleam appeared in Trini's eye, which would have warned Kimberly that Trini had shifted into Evil Mastermind Mode if Kimberly hadn't been too busy panicking to notice. "See, Tommy does look good naked, right? So we can assume that this is just a face-value thing. If you were just making an off-handed comment, that was all it was. However, if it was more than that, then we'll have to dissect everything you said and did and see if we can't get inside Tommy's head, okay? Now, I need to know everything. What, exactly, did you say?"
Kimberly repeated the moment with impeccable detail and waited for Trini's wisdom.
All she got was another whoop and some more dancing.