A/N: This story was originally posted on Spacebattles where I go by Animaster, but I've decided to cross-post it here as well as on Sufficient Velocity and AO3. I hope you enjoy!
Across the universe, a never-ending war between the forces of good and evil raged, countless battles across countless eons have been fought across countless worlds. Soldiers fought and died on both sides of this infinite conflict, their struggles scarring once beautiful planets until they were nothing but dust and rock. And when all hope seemed lost, when the light appeared to be snuffed out and darkness would consume all, an elite group of warriors would rise to push the darkness back. They are the Power Rangers, defenders of all that is good and just in the cosmos. And though many worlds came to know the joys and sorrows of this ancient and ongoing battle, none knew it more than the planet Earth. For over ten thousand years this seemingly insignificant world on the tail end of the Milky Way Galaxy had played the battlefield for battles and invasions from across time and space, and this year was no different. The Warstar, an invasion force for the evil Armada Empire, has begun the conquest of Earth in its continued bid for total universal domination. Though Earth's militaries are outmatched by the invading force's advanced alien technology, the Power Rangers Megaforce have risen to fight the forces of evil and defend their home.
Doctor Tommy Oliver observed from his laboratory in Reefside City as Earth's newest team of Rangers fought another Warstar battle squad, the impressive explosions lighting up the monitor he was watching but he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of jealousy. Memories from his days of fighting flashed through his mind as he watched the battle unfold. He knew that the Megaforce Rangers would be able to handle these battles but he could not help wanting to be back out there as well, and if their predictions were true, then he would get his chance soon enough. But alas, the good doctor could not stand around all day, he had papers to grade after all. With a sigh, he sat at his desk once more and continued to go over his student's test scores and sighed again. Kids these days just didn't put in the effort like they used to, most of them only barely passing but at least some bright spots took his class seriously. Tommy would never admit it out loud but he honestly missed having Connor in his class, he would at least put in more effort than this even if he only did it so he could keep playing soccer.
After half an hour of grading and correcting the same mistakes over and over, Tommy's mind began to drift once more to his younger years, back to his days as a Power Ranger. He almost lived for the moments when his communicator went off, the feeling of the teleportation system kicking in and being whisked away to wherever evil was being done that day. How he would cleave through a Putty or punch a hole through a Cog, the feel of a Zord's controls in his hands as he and his friends did battle with a building-sized monster. Of course, being a Ranger had its downside. He would have to run off to fight at odd hours so his school attendance record was shot from the minute go and his parents thought he was in a street gang or on drugs all through high school. He really should call them now that he thought about it. More recently he was constantly looking for substitutes to teach his classes, especially when he was in that coma. But the kidnappings, those were the worst. He would never forget that day in the alley after school, that was when everything changed for him. Sure, the other Rangers had their share of being kidnapped but for some reason, he was the most frequent victim.
Tommy soon realized that he had been staring at the same test for more than a few minutes and shook himself from his reverie, he needed some air. He stood from his desk and climbed the stairs up to the main part of his house, the hardwood floors squeaking slightly with each step, and eventually made his way out the front door, grabbing his zip-up jacket along the way. The wooded area that surrounded his house displayed the many colors of autumn and the crisp cool air was all too familiar to him and yet he appreciated it all the same. He had originally chosen this area for the privacy it allowed him to work on his experiments, and yet he found something of a kinship with the foliage. Every spring began with green and slowly grew to many more colors before ending in white. Of course, white was very rare in this region of California but the metaphor stood all the same. It was almost like a microcosm of his own life. But that was neither here nor there, Tommy had not come out to admire the scenery.
What had brought on that bought of nostalgia? This wasn't the first time he'd observed new Ranger teams in action so why now? Was it because there was a chance that he'd get to suit up again? He thought he had figured this out, he couldn't keep living to be a Ranger, he had to be Tommy Oliver first and foremost. And yet the thought wouldn't leave his head. No matter how hard he tried, he could not stop dreaming of his past. He wandered among the trees lost in thought, his hand subconsciously wandering to the pocket that contained his old Morpher. He was off duty, he even had a small vault where he kept all of his old gear and yet he always carried his Morpher. It was an old habit that just refused to break, the familiar weight in his pocket always keeping him grounded, always reminding him of what was important. At least, what used to be important. He so wanted to punch a tree in frustration but he had learned long ago that lashing out was never the way. He closed his eyes and settled into an all too familiar stance, his hands and feet moving in such a practiced manner that he didn't need to see what he was doing.
Practicing the martial arts had always been an important part of Tommy's life, he'd been hooked on it ever since he saw his first kung-fu movie at the age of eight. Throwing out a quick punch combo at an imaginary enemy, he regretted not being able to practice more often these days but such was the life of a responsible adult, he supposed. He moved into a spinning kick before settling back into his starting stance, visualizing opponents as he practiced. He would block an overhead strike from a Putty before punching it twice in its Z-emblem to make it disintegrate, just in time to duck under the strike of a Tenga. He put its wing in a hold and kicked it away, delivering in the process a hard side kick to a Piranhatron's midsection before it even got too close. Punch, block, dodge, kick, on and on Tommy went in the hopes that he could vent this frustration and this need to relive the past. By this point the foot soldiers had disappeared from his mind and had been replaced by Goldar, the winged simian's golden armor glinting in the autumn sunlight as he rushed forward to impale Tommy on his sword.
Tommy dodged easily enough, he had fought Goldar more than enough times to know the brutes fighting style in and out. He dodged again as the gold-plated blade swung toward his head, and retaliated with a leg sweep. Goldar jumped and flipped over Tommy and swung for another head-strike but Tommy rolled out of the way. Just as he stood, Tommy dodged once more as a second sword made of twisted bone nearly impaled him through the back. Rito Revolto's rictus skull visage and empty eye sockets glared at Tommy, his half grey, half camouflage bones clattering as he charged alongside Goldar. The pair may have been imaginary, but they were still a threat in Tommy's mind. He dodged their swings and thrusts the best that he could whilst attacking in return. He struck Goldar in the snout after he ducked under the ape-man's sword, blocked Rito's blunt bone sword before swiftly kicking him in his exposed skull.
It was time to go on the offensive. Tommy lunged forward and latched onto Rito's sword arm, holding it still while kicking Goldar's sword out his hand before driving his knee into Rito's midsection and knocking him down. He punched Goldar in the gut before delivering a powerful uppercut to the flying monkey's chin, knocking him off his taloned feet. Tommy immediately flipped out of the way and placed himself between Goldar and his sword in the hopes of keeping him disarmed, putting some distance between the combatants in the process. Goldar immediately stood and charged at Tommy, his pitch-black wings spreading as he took to the sky in an attempt to dive-bomb Tommy, who jumped and tried to kick Goldar but missed as Goldar banked and flew out of range. As he landed, Tommy barely had time to dodge as Rito rejoined the fight, the bone man's blade swinging and thrusting at Tommy's vitals. With great effort, Tommy grabbed onto the bone blade during a thrust and hoisted himself up to deliver a double kick to Rito's face.
As he regained his footing, a chill ran up Tommy's neck, dodging just as a twisted and spiked pitch-black battle-ax flew past and lodged itself in a tree. The sight of that ax and the warrior who wielded it sent a wave of anger through him, anger at himself. It was one thing to imagine venting on the likes Goldar and Rito, but Zeltrax was a different matter and Tommy was angry that he would even consider doing this to his former friend. Zeltrax stalked through the trees toward his weapon, his equally black and twisted armor clattering slightly with each step. Tommy readied himself as Zeltrax effortlessly reclaimed his ax and turned to stare down the former Ranger before charging. The swings from the ax were brutal yet efficient, giving Tommy very little room to dodge and any retaliation was blocked by the Zeltrax's shield. Soon enough, Goldar and Rito were back once more and Tommy found himself being pushed back but he wasn't done yet.
He turned and sprinted toward the nearest tree, all the while the villains gave chase. He ran up the side of the tree and launched himself off, briefly landing on Rito's head to springboard to the other side. Tommy made a mad dash back to where they started, the villains following and firing blasts of evil magic all the while. He dodged and weaved between the blasts as he ran toward his target, the heat from the resulting explosions getting a little too close for comfort. With a mighty leap, Tommy flew forward just as the biggest explosion yet hit right where he had just been, rolling as he hit the ground and picking up Goldar's fallen sword. He charged back into the fray, now suitably armed, and proceeded to get some payback. He blocked Zeltrax's strike and kicked at the black knight's shield, using the momentum to propel another kick toward Goldar's face before rolling out of the way of the counter-attack.
But soon, the villains began to take advantage of their numbers. Goldar took to the sky once more all the while Zeltrax and Rito double-teamed Tommy. He would block one attack only to have to dodge another, any retaliations were met with more attacks, and all the while Goldar continued to dive-bomb Tommy in an attempt to get his sword back. Back and forth, block and strike, dodge and run, until Tommy found himself surrounded. The villains circled threateningly, like sharks drawn to a lone swimmer out at sea, their predatory gazes locked on Tommy in anticipation of the kill. They charged, each ready to tear Tommy limb from limb, he had to think fast. With a mighty leap, he flipped back and over their heads just as they were closing in, he could feel the air rush past him as he soared. But something was wrong. As Tommy flipped until he was upside down in midair, he saw it: a large, bright green, swirling vortex. And he was heading straight for it. He desperately tried to alter his course but no matter how much power one had, Newton's First Law never gives in. Tommy flew through the portal and it closed behind him, leaving the wooded area as it had been: undisturbed as if a battle never took place there, save for the gash in a tree left behind by a battle-ax being thrown into it.
Louise Francois le Blanc de la Valliere was not a happy girl. Proud and determined, most certainly, but not happy, especially not after the last couple of days. It was late afternoon as she pored over her assignments in her dorm room and yet she could not focus, her mind being drawn back to days prior. The Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual was supposed to be her chance, her shot at proving all of her naysayers wrong, her moment to prove that she deserved to be nobility. But it was not to be. The explosion that resulted from her incantation was no surprise to her gathered classmates, all of whom had succeeded in the ritual, much to Louise's mounting irritation, and she was fairly certain there was a wager amongst them on how big of an explosion it would be.
What none of them expected was what came from the explosion. As the smoke and dust cleared, it was revealed to be nothing more than an old man, not so old as to be doddering and senile but still old, dressed in the most bizarre clothes she had ever seen. A black overcoat of some sort worn over a white undershirt, why it wasn't fastened properly Louise could hardly fathom, dark pants made from a material she did not recognize, and dark shoes of an equally perplexing nature. His short black hair was done in a strange fashion where it all stuck upward but his facial hair was well kept, she supposed. And yet, something about him set her on edge but she didn't know what, she swore that she recognized it but she couldn't...
"What kind of formula is that?"
Louise nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to find her 'familiar' standing behind her. How had he gotten behind her without her knowing?
"Just how would you know what it is, Familiar?" she asked, looking him over suspiciously.
"I may not be able to read it but I recognize a chemical formula anywhere," he replied calmly, a calmness that infuriated Louise.
For whatever reason, he always wore an easy smile and had a calm disposition no matter what she ordered him to do. She ordered him to wash her laundry on the first night and he complied readily, not even a second of complaint. When she woke up the next morning, there were her clothes, freshly clean and neatly folded upon her desk. She was, of course, pleased with the obedience and efficiency he showed and yet something about it still boiled her blood.
"Ah yes, you're a 'teacher'," she replied with as much skepticism as she could muster, "Tell me, what subject do you teach, exactly?"
"I teach the sciences, and-..."
"There is no such subject, stop lying this instant!" Louise shouted, standing from her chair to glare imperiously up at the taller man.
"Why is it so hard to believe that I'm a teacher?" Tommy replied curiously, "And I do have a name, you know."
"B-b-because you don't look like one!" Louise retorted furiously.
"Okay, how do I not look like a teacher?"
"You're not old enough," she stated matter of factly, crossing her arms.
"I'm almost forty, if that isn't old enough then I don't know what is."
"Y-you don't d-d-dress like one!"
"Who wears their work clothes at home?"
By this point, Louise was about to burst a blood vessel or twenty. How dare this impudent...she didn't know, Louise was so angry that she couldn't come up with anything. Her hands clenched as she felt the urge to grab her wand and punish this insolence but she held back for now.
"Enough of this deceit!" she shouted, glaring daggers at her familiar, "I know that you are hiding something and I demand that you tell me!"
"I'm not hiding anything!" Tommy replied in exasperation, finally starting to lose his cool, "I've told you everything but you refuse to believe me!"
"Lies! All Lies! You will tell me the truth right now, Familiar, or so help me...!"
"I have a name!"
"No, you belong to me! I choose what to call you!"
"You can't do that to people!"
"You are not a person! You are a familiar, which means that you are nothing more than an animal and therefore I have every right to treat you how I see fit!"
Tommy was not an angry individual. In fact, he was generally very level headed, but now his blood boiled. This was wrong, she had no right to treat him like this. He had only gone along with this farce out of survival until he could find a way back home. He began to wonder if working for Rita was so bad, she at least didn't make him sleep on a pile of straw and actually called him by his name. Tommy wanted nothing more than to take this brat to task for this behavior, this wouldn't be the first time he'd had to give one of his students a talking to, but he wouldn't. Louise wasn't one of his students, he had no authority over her, but what she was doing was inhumane. What could he possibly do in this situation? Simple: he walked away. With a heavy sigh, Tommy turned and headed for the door.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Louise shouted at his retreating back only for it to fall on deaf ears, "Don't you walk away from me!"
As he closed the wooden door and walked down the now torch-lit corridor, he could hear her scream incoherently until it faded into silence. It was then that the weight of guilt fell on his shoulders. Just what was wrong with him lately? He was actually going to yell at a kid! What she was doing may not have been right in any sense that he was aware of but to get that angry? He shook his head in frustration, he needed to focus. Looking up and down the castle hallway, he found no one else in sight or earshot and rolled up his jacket sleeve, revealing his old silver and green communicator watch. He took to wearing it whenever the annual invasion and monster attacks started, just in case the new Rangers were in trouble and back-up needed to be called in. It was, of course, just his luck that he needed the back-up instead. Pressing on the switch, he made his sixth distress call in two days.
"Is there anyone out there?" he spoke into the receiver implanted in the watch's face, but only got static in return, "This is Tommy Oliver, can anyone hear me?"
He tried twice more but still the same static. He hoped that he was just stuck on another planet far enough away that he was outside the frequency range, not wanting to even consider that he was somehow sent to another period in time or worse, another universe entirely. Tommy immediately pushed those thoughts away, letting his imagination run wild is what got him into this in the first place. His journey through the corridors was an aimless one, passing by suits of armor and windows showing the ever setting sun and the slowly rising twin moons, turning corners and descending stairways in the slim hope that he could find some kind of answers. Tommy chuckled to himself, he wasn't used to not having answers. As he turned another corner, he bumped into something solid and a flurry of white briefly obscured his vision, paper it looked like. As they fell, Tommy could see that it was the balding teacher that was there when he was brought to this place. He waved the staff he held and the papers flew back into his hand on a light breeze.
"Now that would be handy to know," Tommy said as he watched the magic in progress.
"Oh, it is. And who might you be?" the professor asked, adjusting his glasses.
"I'm Tommy, I was summoned by Louise the other day?"
"Oh yes, I do apologize. My mind has been other places lately."
"You and me both."
"I don't believe we've been formally introduced. Jean Colbert, Professor of Fire Magic. What brings you out so late?" The professor asked, balancing his staff on the wall and extending his now free hand.
"Tommy Oliver, Doctor of Paleontology," he replied, shaking the other man's outstretched hand, "Louise and I were arguing, she kept shouting about how I was hiding something from her."
"Yes, Miss Valliere can be quite...spirited when she wants to be. Did she banish you to sleep outside?"
"No, I just walked away. But then, what else could I have done? I don't have any authority over her."
"Alas, that seems to be common lately," Colbert replied before reacquiring his staff, a hint of frustration in his voice, "Oh dear, I must get to my workshop. You can come along if you like and we can continue on the way."
"I've got nowhere I need to be right now," he replied, leaving out the fact that his home planet was being invaded, and followed the fellow teacher.
"Excellent. As I was saying, the youth of today have almost no respect for authority anymore, unless of course, they have some ulterior motive."
"I guess it's the same everywhere, I've had to deal with students like that since I began teaching."
"Oh, you're a teacher where you're from? I suppose that's what your title means. What was your subject?"
"The general sciences but I specia-..."
Tommy was unable to continue as Colbert turned on the spot immediately, a mad twinkle shone behind his glasses as he gazed intently upon Tommy.
"The sciences, you say?" Colbert asked, a smile like that of a gleeful predator spreading way too far across his face.
"Uh, yes?"
Colbert suddenly threw his arms into the air, not seeming to care if anyone was watching or that his papers had flown all over again.
"You have no idea how good it is to finally meet another like-minded individual!" The professor exclaimed before a wave of his staff gathered the scattered paper once more.
"I'm guessing that science isn't much of a thing here?" Tommy asked, unsure of how to react to the other man's...eccentricities.
"I'm afraid that is the case. Only a handful of scattered individuals including myself see its merit but it can be so boring hearing the same ideas passed around. But you, you and your foreign concepts can finally add new life to our correspondence. And to top it off, you are apparently qualified in the subject! We must hurry, I shall take you to my workshop!"
The journey through the castle took the pair down flights of stairs, through stone corridors filled with paintings and decorative and expensive vases, until they were at the main entrance. Once outside, they walked along the outside of the main building, the now risen moons casting a pale light upon the courtyard they passed through and the high stone walls seemingly shining in the silvery light. Eventually, they came upon a small wooden shack that seemed to be attached to the main building which Colbert directed them toward. A tap of his staff seemed to magically unlock the door and the pair stepped inside.
"Welcome," Colbert stated, the excitement in his eyes only seeming to have intensified during the trip, "I apologize for the mess, I don't get many visitors."
Indeed, the candlelit hut did seem rather cluttered, with design plans strewn about on tables or hanging from walls while metallic frameworks and other contraptions of varying construction and materials littered the place.
"No need to apologize, my own workshop can get pretty cluttered too," Tommy replied.
"Now, I must begin by asking you a very important question," Colbert began, his eyes so wide that Tommy was afraid they might pop out of his head, which wouldn't have been the strangest thing Tommy had seen in his life, "Have you ever come across the concept of...an engine?"
"Well yeah, I used to work on them before I went to college."
"Before college? Just how prolific are they where you're from?"
"They're used in pretty much every major form of transportation."
At that Colbert smiled and dashed toward a table near the back of the room, somehow not tripping over the half-finished devices or his long robes. He gestured for Tommy to follow and directed his attention toward a large rectangular object hidden underneath a sheet. With a sharp tug, the sheet fell away to reveal a metallic box with two pipes poking out from either of the top corners.
"I present my engine prototype," Colbert said, looking every part the proud inventor, "What do you think?"
It had been some years since Tommy had actually worked on one so his skills and knowledge were a bit rusty, but he supposed he could give it a shot. The outer metal casing prevented him from seeing how it worked as it was purely geometrical in shape, though he supposed Colbert did his best with what he had. The fact that he could even work metal like this was surprising given this world was kind of primitive in comparison to a lot of others although magic probably helped with that. The two open pipes on either end were most likely for fuel and exhaust but since it wasn't attached to anything, Tommy couldn't be sure.
"What kind of fuel do you use?" Tommy asked as he continued his inspection.
"I am glad you asked," Colbert replied, turning the table so that one of the pipes faced him, "A mage need only hold his or her focus of choice near the pipe and cast an ignition spell."
Colbert proceeded to hold his staff close to the pipe and spoke 'Ignite', which caused his voice to take on a strange echo, and a tiny burst of flame proceeded down the pipe, causing the engine to grumble to life and to make a metallic rod painted like a snake to pop up out of the other pipe.
"How often would they need to cast?" Tommy asked as he watched the engine slowly come to a stop, "Wouldn't that get tiring after a while?"
"Alas, I have yet to find a way to make a single 'Ignite' last for longer than a few moments. What do your engines use to propel themselves?" Colbert replied, not so subtly reaching for paper and quill.
"For roughly over a hundred years we've managed to produce and refine various fossil fuels for our engines. Although we've recently been trying to develop more efficient and environmentally friendly substitutes."
"Fascinating, simply fascinating," Colbert muttered as he furiously jotted down notes.
"In fact, I've worked on some very advanced fuel sources in the past, almost guaranteed to never run out."
"Truly marvelous," Colbert stated, finally looking up from his notes, "Is this what your subject of 'paleontology' encompasses?"
"Actually, it's the study of animals and plants that have long died out."
"Truly? For whatever reason did you choose to study that?"
"I guess you could say that I've always had a connection with them."
"Fair enough, who am I to judge a man for studying his passion? Now, by what methods do you go about producing these 'fossil fuels' as you call them?"
The night went on as the pair continued to discuss fuels and the various types of engines they went with and eventually they progressed to other subjects. Mechanics, aeronautics, biology, chemistry, their pursuit of science lasted well into the night.
"So you're saying that your people have developed forms of communication beyond paper and ink?" Colbert asked, now on his fifteenth sheet of notes.
"Yeah, phone technology has gotten really advanced. These days they're small enough to fit in your pocket and there are even some that you can wear on your wrist. I'd show you mine but I left it at home when I was brought here."
"A shame, I would so love to see these wonders that you speak of."
"When I make it back home I'll make sure to come back with some to show you."
"I'm afraid that's not possible," Colbert lamented.
"How do you mean?"
"You are Miss Valliere's familiar. Though you are rather unusual for a familiar and you never completed the contract, the divine tradition still stands, you must stay by her side until either she or you expire."
A chill ran down Tommy's spine as those words reached his ears, he had hoped that his suspicions were unfounded but hearing them confirmed filled him with dread. He specifically went out of his way to be as uninteresting as possible, to not get caught up in any more trouble than necessary, but it seemed like the old Tommy luck was still as strong as ever.
"First, I wasn't going to kiss someone young enough to be one of my students," Tommy stated, disgusted at the thought.
"A sentiment which I can understand, as I never forced the issue afterward."
"And second, I only went along with this to survive. I have a life back home, I have a career, I just can't upend all of that to be some girl's pet. And my friends are eventually going to discover that I've gone missing and will come looking for me."
"With the scientific wonders that you've spoken of, I do not doubt that your friends will find you eventually. But I am afraid that you have no choice, the divine laws have been in place for over six thousand years. And even if the governing bodies don't care about one runaway familiar, Miss Valliere will. Doctor Oliver, summoning you has so far been her first and only magical success. As a fellow teacher, you know just as I do that our students' success and happiness is what matters most and no matter what sort of budding friendship we may have, I will not allow you to jeopardize Miss Valliere. Are we clear?"
Tommy could only stand there and look at the man before him. Gone were the eyes of a man who enthusiastically devoured knowledge and were replaced by the eyes of a killer, eyes that held a fire so intense that they could burn at a glance. Whatever happened to make this man become a teacher Tommy didn't know, but it was clear that it didn't diminish his will to fight, to fight for his students. And while Tommy was briefly afraid of this fire, he could certainly respect it.
"Aw man," Tommy whispered as he leaned against the table, running his hands through his spiked hair, "So what am I supposed to do? I need to get back, if not for my sake then the sake of my own students."
"I understand, I truly do. But my advice to you? Try to come to an understanding with your master and get comfortable with your new life. If it will help, you can always come here and we can continue our earlier conversation."
"I'll...I'll think about it."
With that said, Tommy pushed himself off the table and made his way to the door, passing through into the night and leaving his so-called new friend to his tinkering.