Tommy sat cross-legged in front of Leia who sat identically. At the moment the two were in a secluded converted state-room on Home One. Leia began opening and closing her knees as much as the somewhat awkward sitting position allowed. With a half-smile, Tommy reached over with both hands and set them on Leia's knees.
"Relax, breathe, focus your mind. Then you will feel The Force flowing around you," he said quietly.
"Tommy, I don't know if I can."
"Have you decided to not go through Jedi training?"
"I don't know. I mean I've looked through the holo-books our agents have recovered over the years, but I still don't quite get what The Force is, and then there's well..."
"Leia, what are you scared of? Tell me and we'll work through it together."
"I'm not afraid," Leia said with a slight laugh. Being a well-practiced politician, she probably would have convinced anyone else of that, anyone except a Jedi Knight.
"Leia, I can sense your fear and your thoughts...," he began before trailing off, "Vader."
"I'm not afraid of Vader," she said defensively.
"No, but you are afraid of becoming like him."
I...," she began but stopped when she saw Tommy's raised eyebrow.
"Leia it's okay to feel fear, all living things feel fear. What we cannot do is lose ourselves to fear. That is where Anakin went wrong. He feared losing Padm'e so much he allowed Sidious to manipulate him."
"That doesn't make sense at all. I'm struggling to connect with The Force, but one of those holo-books said something like fear being a path to The Dark Side and Jedi should not feel it,'" she said crossing her arms.
"That used to be true, under the old Jedi Code. Now we understand that we must feel fear, we must work through it, but we must not lose ourselves to it."
"Alright, I'm willing to try."
Maybe a change of venue would help. It's a decently warm day. Why don't you and I head to the park for a bit before you, Luke, Han, Chewie, and the droids leave?"
"If you think it will help, sure," Leia said as she stood up.
The two teleported to a secluded area of the park. There, Tommy once again sat cross-legged in the cross and motioned for Leia to do the same. When Leia sat down Tommy looked at her and smiled. "I believe the first misstep here, has been mine. First, it would help if you knew what The Force is."
"A long time ago, Obi-Wan told me it was an energy that Jedi could tap into, and that tapping into it was like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket."
"That, much is true, at least when and where The Light Side is considered," Tommy began, "But, The Force is much more than that. Without The Force, and the Midichlorians that make The Force and our knowledge of it possible, life could not exist. The Force surrounds us, flows through us, and binds us all as one. We are bright and luminescent beings. We are not simply the bodies we see. Now, take a deep breath, reach out, and feel The Force flowing between you and me, the tees and the grass, all of the animals around us."
For the first time, Leia could feel it. The rush of a warm energy enveloped her. It felt strange and familiar all at once. "This is incredible," she thought. Tommy smiled sensing her excitement at her success. "How do you feel?"
"Incredible. It feels so warm, and familiar."
"Yeah, I know the feeling. For now, I think this is all the further we should go today, at least until we can work through your fear. Hopefully, in a day or two, I can teleport to your dimension and continue your training."
"Yeah, the others are probably wondering where I am," Leia said with a slight nod.
Tommy lifted his wrist to his mouth and pressed a button on his communicator. "Alpha, teleport Leia back to The Command Center, please," he said.
"Of course, Tommy," Alpha said an instant later. Leia vanished in a streak of white light.
A few minutes after Leia had Teleported, Tommy and the other rangers stood in The Command Center, as their friends and fellow Rebells were preparing to head to their own dimension. Just as they did, the alarms began to blare. "Now what?" Trini asked as she and the others moved to The Viewing Globe.
"A familiar situation, I'm afraid, rangers," Zordon said A moment later, the image of Goldar leading a squad of putties. This squad of putties was quite large and armed with Imperial E11 blaster riffles and marching toward The Youth Center.
"Oh no!" Kat yelled.
"Guys, we gotta move," Zack said turning to face the group.
"Let's do it guys! It's Morphin' Time! Dragonzord!"
"Mastadon!"
"Pteradactyle!"
"Triceratops!"
"Sabertooth Tiger!"
"Tyranasourus!" the rangers morphed and teleported to The Youth Center just as the putties began firing at the building. Surprised by the rangers' sudden appearance the Putties hesitated just long enough for them to fire first with their blade blasters, and in Tommy's case blaster pistol before scattering, and spreading out the puties' targets.
"Get them you fools!" Goldar roared.
"Oh, no you don't clay-heads," Tommy said as he stopped in front of a line of putties getting ready to fire at The Youth Centet. He quickly holstered his blaster and used the force to call his lightsaber to his hand. He activated both blades and kept the two hilts together as a staff. A second later, the putties began to fire. Tommy deflected the laser bolts with a combination of skill and guidance from the force. By the time the last bolt deflected off of one of his green blades, the last putty that had been firing at him shattered.
"Vengence will be mine green ranger!" Goldar yelled as he charged at Tommy. Goldar swiped at Tommy with his sword and Tommy deflected the blade and was surprised when the lightsaber didn't cut clean through the sword. Suddenly sensing danger, Tommy lept to the side. As he did he narrowly dodged a second sword, this one wielded by a purpled-skinned monster with razor-sheep teeth and a muscular build. "Attack Night Stalker!"
Believing they had the advantage, Goldar and Night Stalker rushed at Tommy. He Separated the two halves of the hilt. Undeterred Goldar and Night Stalker pressed their attack. Tommy parried Goldar's slash then lifted his right foot to avoid a slash aimed at his foot from Night Stalker.
"Oh no! Guys look," Trini said pointing over at Tommy as they finished off the last of the putties. They moved to join the fight, but as Tommy blocked two simultaneous strikes form Both Goldar and Night Night Stalker, the latter of the two blasted Tommy point-blank with an energy attack from it's free clawed hand.
"AAAAAH!" Tommy screamed as he flew backward and slammed into the outer wall of The Youth Center. The concrete on the side of the building made a sickening cracking sound as Tommy's body connected with it, and the imprint of the young Jedi's body was left in the building. He fell to the ground, his green ranger costume vanishing as he was forced to power down.
"Tommy! No!" Kat yelled as she instinctively took a defensive stance in front of the injured ranger. Tommy grounded as he tried to stand, only to fall on his face.
"Guys, we gotta bail," Jason said.
"Right, The Yough Center and the surrounding area should be evacuated by now," Billy agreed.
"I've got his lightsabers, let's get back to the command center and come up with a plan B," Zack said holding up Tommy's lightsabers in his right hand.
A second later, the rangers teleported to The Command Center, and Tommy landed a comfortable reclined black chair.
"Alpha, begin a medical scan on Tommy," Zordon said looking at Tommy with a look of concern on his face.
"Right away Zordon," Alpha said as he carried a large wand-looking device over to Tommy and began to slowly wave it over him as it beeped. As he watched over the green ranger, he was not surprised to see Kat move by his side and gently take his hand in hers.
"How is he Aplha?" she asked her voice trembling with worry.
"He'll be fine after getting some rest. Thankfully the suite absorbed the vast majority of the impact.," Alpha said with a slight nod of his saucer-shaped head.
"I'm going to teleport to his place and get his parents. They deserve to know," Jason said looking up at Zordon.
"Agreed," Zordon said nodding his head.
Jason Teleported away and a few minutes later teleported back this time accompanied by two streaks of white light that faded and revealed James and Monica Oliver. "What happened?" Monica asked as she made her way to her unconscious son.
"He got blasted by one of Zedd's goons," Zack answered in a gentle tone.
"He'll be okay, he's a tough kid, no, a tough man," James said as he placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Right?" he asked looking at Alpha.
"Thankfully, he'll be fine," Alpha answered reassuringly.
"The question now is, just how powerful is this Night Stalker monster, and why didn't Tommy's lightsabers cut through Goldar and Night Stalker's swords?"
"Rangers I fear Darth Sidious has provided Lord Zedd with materials from his own dimension," Zordon answered grimly.
"Great," Trini said sarcastically.
"Yeah, just what we need. Goons with super weapons," Zack said with a sigh as he took a frustrated lap around the central platform.
"Affirmative. Zordon, I might be able to get an idea of what we're dealing with if I look at the files from Tommy's Hollocron."
"Agreed Billy, Alpha help Billy go through the files we've made from the contents of the Hollocron."
"Right away, Zordon."
"I think the rest of us need to stay on our toes. There's no telling how long Tommy's going to be out of action," Jason said crossing his arms over his chest and looking around the room at his fellow rangers, a look of concern on his face.