Disclaimer - Unfortunately, all the characters
portrayed here are not mine. Except for Mike and Cheryl Oliver. They’re
mine. The rest of them belong to Saban.
Rating - PG-13 for language
Author’s Note - This is my first ever Power Rangers fanfiction,
so pardon all my mistakes. I have written X-Files fanfic, and that is my
strong point, so again, I’m sorry. Oh, and I just read Ellen Brand’s fanfic
Final Farewell (which is excellent) and I realized that my story is a lot
like hers, but I didn’t plan it this way, so please excuse all similarities.
Justin Stewart scanned the airport for any sign of Tommy Oliver. Smoothing down his blue shirt, he looked up at Tommy’s, and now his, adoptive parents. He sighed. Justin’s father had died about 2 1/2 months earlier, and instead of letting him be sent to a foster home, the Olivers had gladly adopted him and taken him into their home. Even though he was still devastated over the death of his father, Justin couldn’t have hoped for anyone better to be his new parents. Since he had met them, Justin had always loved Tommy’s parents.
Suddenly, he spotted him, “Tommy! Over here!”
Tommy Oliver ran a hand through his long brown hair, thinking about how lucky he was to have had his hair straight again. It had really been getting annoying while it was curly; always hanging in knots. Just then, he heard the voice of his new brother and looked around trying to identify where it was coming from. Tommy saw his tall father popping out from the crowd, and speedily walked over to him, almost knocking someone down in the process.
Upon reaching Justin, he lifted him in the air, embracing him, “Hey, Justin!”
“We missed you, Tommy,” Justin said, cheerfully, hugging Tommy back.
Cheryl Oliver looked like she was about to cry, “It’s been too long.”
Tommy turned to his parents, kissing them both, before facing his mother, smirking, “I’ve only been gone for a few months.”
“My little boy’s all grown up,” Mrs. Oliver exclaimed, hugging her son again.
Tommy groaned. Mike Oliver sighed, “Leave him alone, Cheryl. You’ll embarrass him!” Justin giggled. Tommy picked up the bag which he had dropped on the airport floor.
“Well, let’s get out of here. I’m starved!”
“You should be!” Mrs. Oliver said half-jokingly, looking her son over,
“Look how much weight you’ve lost. If I didn’t know better, I would say
that you’ve been deprived food!” Tommy merely shook his head, smiling.
* * * *
“Tommy!” Katherine shrieked, running over to him and practically knocking him down.
Tommy smiled, and almost fell backwards after being hit full force by his girlfriend, “I’ve missed you!”
“Don’t leave me out of this!” Adam exclaimed, walking into the Juice Bar just to find his two friends embracing. Tommy laughed and pulled him in.
“It’s been too long, you guys,” Kat said, feeling her eyes fill up with tears, “It’s just awful that the others couldn’t come.”
“Yeah,” Tommy agreed, “But we all know that Rocky had to go to that seminar in Pennsylvania, and Tanya is still at the Institute of the Arts in Virginia.”
“Then Jason couldn’t get here because he had promised Zack and Trini that he’d go be with them over the holidays,” Adam said, walking over with the others to a table. Everyone sat down.
Tommy grinned, “Well, Kat, I want to know everything that’s happening at your school.”
“The teacher of my dance class, Miss Jubee, told me that I was one of the best in the class, and that she will definitely recommend me for a higher class for third semester!”
Adam grinned, “That’s great! You probably have a lot of new friends over there.”
Kat shrugged, “I met a girl in my dance class. Her name is Michelle. We pretty much became good friends right away, and then I found out that her dorm room was right across from mine. Oh, and I’m dorming with Bonny Stevenson. She’s really sweet, and we usually go out during free time after classes with Michelle and her room mate, Chrissy. Besides that, I don’t have any really good friends, but I have made a point of putting myself out, so I do have a lot of acquaintances. None of them could compare to the friendships that I had to leave behind here.”
“You didn’t leave us behind. We’re all still friends. This is just going to be a hard time for all of that, but as long as we can see eachother every time we get off from school I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Adam said.
Tommy beamed, “My turn! OK, at the racing track, I met a guy named Ray. We got to talking one day, and he basically told me his whole life story. So, I told him mine, and we’ve been good buddies ever since. Man, that guy has one of the most depressing lives that I’ve ever heard of. I mean, his father died when he was twelve, and then his mother died when he was fifteen-”
“You told him everything about your life?” Adam questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Tommy looked at him, dumbfounded. Finally realizing what he meant, he quickly added, “Of course, I left out certain details!”
“Well,” Adam began, “I have a new girlfriend!”
“Ooooh,” Kat and Tommy said in unison.
“Who’s the lucky girl?” Kat asked.
Adam blushed, “Her name is Gloria Heartfelt. When I first saw her just sitting in the cafeteria, I knew that I liked her. Then, I found out that she was in one of my classes, and we got to talking one day. I learned that we have a lot in common. One thing led to another, and before I knew what had happened, we were already going out to the coffee shop on campus Friday.”
“How cute!” Kat exclaimed. Tommy started saying a joke relating to the
matter, and none of them noticed the 4 teenagers that entered the Juice
Bar.
“Hey,” Cassie said, poking Carlos’ arm, “Look who’s here.”
The four power rangers looked over to see Tommy, Kat, and Adam laughing at a table by the wall. Ashley smiled, “C’mon, you guys, let’s go welcome them back!”
Carlos shook his head, “You guys go ahead. Somehow, I don’t feel right.”
“What do you mean?” Cassie asked.
Carlos shrugged, “It’s just... I’ve never felt...well...comfortable around them since we took their powers.”
“We didn’t take them. They gave them to us,” TJ reminded him.
“I know, it’s just, um, I sometimes wonder if they feel bad about giving the power away. I mean, it’s so awesome being a ranger, they must want the power back!”
Ashley sighed, “Now you’re just being silly, Carlos. They wouldn’t have given us the power if they had still wanted it.”
Cassie shook her head, suddenly understanding what Carlos had said, “They didn’t really give us the power. Zordon made them give it to us.”
TJ frowned, “You really think they could be...jealous of us or something?”
“Not of us. Just our power,” Carlos said, curtly.
Ashley looked back at the table where the three former rangers were
still talking happily, “I think you guys are scared about nothing. Later
on I’m going to force you guys to talk to them.”
“Yuck! I hate reunions!” Divatox spat, whirling the submarine periscope around just so that it would hit Elgar in the face. Elgar flew into some control panels, and Porto quickly rushed over to fix them.
“Why don’t we give the former rangers a little welcome home party...” Divatox strategized, pushing her purple hair away from her face.
Rygore looked at his boss, confused, “You want us to throw them a party? Well, OK, but I don’t know if Porto is that good of a DJ.”
“I didn’t mean that literally, you idiot!” Divatox screamed, sending Rygore running pathetically into a group of Piranitrons. The group fell over like bowling pins, and Rygore fell right on top of them.
Divatox sighed, “Elgar, send a group of Piranitrons down to Earth to attack the former rangers while the present rangers are nowhere near them. I’m sure it will make them feel right at home.”
“Sure thing, Auntie D!” Elgar said, pushing a button on one of the control
panels while Porto struggled to free himself from a tangle of wires.
“You know, it seems kinda weird that we haven’t bumped into Cassie, Ashley, TJ, and Carlos while we’ve been here,” Kat said to Adam and Tommy. They were all walking through the park by the lake. Tommy was holding Kat’s hand, and Adam walked close to the two of them, trying to warm up his hands.
‘Of course I have to be the one WITHOUT GLOVES!’ Adam thought to himself. Just then, the trio looked up to see a group of Piranitrons flipping over their heads. Instinctively, they got into fighting stance. Tommy caught himself as he almost called out for Turbo powers. Cursing silently to himself, he turned to his two companions.
“Let’s do this, for old times sake.”
“Right,” Adam and Kat chimed. The three split up just as the Piranitrons charged.
Adam kicked a Piranitron in the stomach right before punching another one in the face, yelping as his hand felt the impact of the blow on his fist. “Fuck this! I want my powers!” Adam muttered to no one at all.
Kat flipped another Piranitron onto it’s back before kicking a different one right in the groin. As the Piranitron fell over another one flew into Kat, knocking her onto the snow-littered ground. Getting up, Kat tried to kick one in the stomach, but another one restrained her, knocking her down on her butt. As she struggled to get up, two more Piranitrons held her back, and she screamed out Tommy’s name as she was kicked in the side.
Tommy heard his girlfriend call his name, and turning to where Kat was lying, his fists clenched together as he saw a Piranitron kicking her while others restrained her. As he was about to go help her, three more Piranitrons pounced on top of him, trying to punch him in the face. Tommy, even in his bad position, was able to block a few punches and even kicked a Piranitron off of him, but he was greatly outnumbered. The Piranitron who had been trying to punch him finally connected with his face, and Tommy gasped as burning pain swelled through the right side of it.
Just then, 5 colored lights came speeding onto the ground, and soon revealed the morphed Power Rangers Turbo.
“Care to take us on, Piranitrons?” TJ yelled, getting into fighting stance.
The Piranitrons jumped off of the three injured people and regrouped in front of the rangers.
“All right, guys, let’s do it!” TJ commanded, charging the Piranitrons. The others followed. They defeated them easily and turned their attention to the injured former rangers.
“Let’s bring them to the Power Chamber,” Cassie said, grabbing Kat.
After everyone was together, they teleported.
“Yo, yo, yo!” Alpha 6 exclaimed, grabbing blankets from under a console for Tommy, Kat, and Adam, “What happened?”
“I guess Divatox wanted to give the former rangers a ‘Welcome Home’ party,” Carlos hypothesized, surprised by the sarcasm in his voice.
Tommy’s teeth chattered together as he took a blanket from Alpha, “Thanks.”
Adam smiled besides the fact that his whole body was shaking, “Thanks, guys. We couldn’t have kept it up much longer out there.”
There was an uncomfortable silence in the Power Chamber as the 4 older Turbo Rangers looked at eachother, nervously. Kat, Tommy, and Adam glanced at them confused. Tommy looked to Justin for an explanation, but he merely shrugged, showing that he was just as confused as they were.
“So,” Ashley said, breaking the silence, “How long are you guys gonna be here?”
“Probably only two weeks for me,” Kat replied, happy to start another conversation.
Adam nodded, “Ditto.”
Tommy grinned, “Gosh, you guys, just drop out on me! I’ll be here for a month, maybe more.”
Kat smirked, “That’s only because you can’t race when there’s ice on the ground. I can dance, and Adam can do Karate.” Adam chuckled. Tommy shrugged.
Carlos looked at Tommy, unaware of the look of worry on his face, “A-a month?”
“Yep,” Tommy replied. Looking at Carlos’ expression, he asked, “Is something wrong?”
“No! Nothing!” Carlos said quickly, looking at the watch around his left wrist, “Look at the time! I have to go meet...someone....at the Youth Center. It was good seeing you guys again.” Turning to the others, he added, “I’ll see you later.” With that, he teleported out.
Tommy looked at Adam. He shrugged. Silence once again fell over the
Command Center.
“Ooooh, good good good!” Divatox exclaimed, dancing stupidly through the control room of the submarine, “Those rangers think that the former rangers want their powers back! Especially that Carlos. Humph, he always has been annoying. PORTO!”
“Yes?”
Divatox smiled sweetly at Porto, making his knees shake, “Is the hallucinogen still here that we used on those Welch warriors on the planet Tropin?”
“Yes, Divatox. In fact, we have a lot of it!”
“Good,” Divatox said calmly, moving closer to Porto, “Now, go to Elgar. Tell him that I want those power rangers brought here!”
“I will do it now,” Porto said, turning to leave.
Divatox stopped him, “Porto?”
“Yes, Divatox?”
Divatox chuckled evilly, “Tell him I want that loser TJ first. I hate red!”
“As you wish,” Porto said, running as fast as he could out of the room to fetch Elgar.
Divatox cackled, “Soon, Red Ranger, you will be mine, and those misfit
friends of yours will soon follow! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Kat pulled off her pink jacket and set it down next to the bag on a table of the Youth Center. She easily recognized the bag as Tommy’s. Walking towards the sparring mats wearing a Pink cardigan and blue jeans, Kat stepped right behind her boyfriend who was talking to Adam and tapped him on the shoulder.
Tommy spun around, startled by the finger on his shoulder. He found himself facing Kat, who was laughing hysterically. “You really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that, Katherine Hilliard. It isn’t nice.”
“Oh, you’re such a spoil sport!” Kat accused. Spotting the small bruise on Tommy’s face, she reached a hand up and caressed his face, “Does it hurt?”
“I’ll live,” Tommy replied, almost embarrassed to be fussed over just because of a bruise. ‘Still, I don’t care if the person fussing over me is Kat’ he told himself, smiling.
Adam came up from behind Tommy, “How are you, Kat? You took a pretty bad beating yesterday.”
“My hip is bruised, but it’s really nothing,” Kat said. Her face lit up, “Hey, you guys should spar!”
Adam and Tommy looked at eachother, hesitantly. “Do it for me, guys!” Kat pleaded, “Please!”
Tommy sighed, “Sure, but it’s been a while.”
“It sure has,” Adam agreed, pulling off his dark green sweater to reveal just a white T-shirt.
Tommy pulled off his shoes, and then took off his red sweater. Underneath he wore only an off-white undershirt. Kat whistled, “Take it all off!”
Tommy blushed, and shook his head. Adam laughed. Kat grinned, and stood as close to the mats as she could so that she could see but not be hit in the head.
Tommy and Adam bowed to eachother, and began to spar. Kat almost became dizzy as she watched the two go at it. Soon, she could barely tell who was doing what to who!
More people who had known Tommy and Adam while they were at Angel Grove High circled around them to watch the match. Soon, a whole crowd had gathered and was cheering them on. Kat was impressed. ‘They sure know how to get attention’ Kat thought to herself. She grinned, ‘but who wouldn’t want to see two cute guys fighting eachother? As long as they remember who owns the one with the brown hair! Me! Wow, I can be possessive, can’t I?’
The match ended as Tommy did a spin kick, knocking Adam to the mats. Adam pounded the mat in self defeat, and the two bowed to eachother. The group which had gathered began to dissipate as a few students came up to talk to the two about their moves and just about old times in High School.
“Very impressive!” Kat said, patting her boyfriend on the back.
Tommy smiled, “Good match, Adam. You had me going. Just like old times. I’ve missed sparring here.”
“That’s only because you won,” Adam smirked. Smiling, he added, “It did bring back memories.”
“Luckily you two were too busy to notice the group of female seniors who were drooling the whole time you guys were sparring.”
Tommy and Adam looked at eachother, puzzled, “Why would they do that?”
“Just because you guys were the cutest in this whole building, and they all thought you were really hot.”
Adam blushed. Tommy swallowed hard, “Well, I’ll let you beat them all up next time they do that.”
Kat laughed, “You guys are hopeless.”
“They’re amazing!” Ashley gasped as she watched the two former rangers spar. A crowd had gathered to watch them, so the group of 5 kept their distance.
TJ followed Tommy and Adam’s moves as well as he could, “Unreal. I’ve never even seen some of those moves!”
“Show offs,” Carlos muttered.
Cassie grabbed his arm, fiercely, “What is up with you, Carlos? You’ve been mean to Kat, Tommy, and Adam ever since they got here. What’s wrong? Can’t you see that they don’t care that we’re power rangers and their not!?”
Carlos was surprised by the harshness in Cassie’s voice, but he stood his ground, “Look at them over there showing off all their big moves! You can’t say that they aren’t showing off!”
Justin shook his head in anger, “I think you’re just jealous!”
“Why don’t you shut up and stay out of this?” Carlos yelled.
“No!” Justin screamed, “I won’t stay out of this. Tommy is my brother now, and he’s the best brother anyone could have! You are jealous! Why? Just because he’s was a ranger longer than you? Are you mad because Adam came before you? Well, let me tell you something, Carlos, you’re nothing compared to my brother!”
“Just hold on a minute, both of you!” Ashley exclaimed, “I don’t even know why you guys are fighting! Justin, Carlos has a right to his opinions, but Carlos, damn it, you have no reason to be mad at Tommy, Kat, and Adam, and you have no reason to be mad at Justin! Now I want you to apologize to Justin because, frankly, you’re pissing me off!”
Cassie and TJ just stared at their fellow ranger in shock. They had never seen Ashley so mad! Carlos looked at the ground, “Sorry, Justin. You’re right. I shouldn’t be saying shit about your brother or any of the other former rangers.”
“I’m sorry too, Carlos,” Justin said.
Everyone stared at Ashley. She shrugged, “What?”
With that, she left the Juice Bar, and everyone followed her.
The rangers had just barely gotten outside when all of a sudden they were surrounded by Piranitrons. This time Elgar was with them.
“Not again,” Cassie groaned.
“I’m afraid so, Power Rangers!” Elgar exclaimed, “Attack!”
The Piranitrons charged. Even though they were outnumbered, the Power Rangers were still able to defeat them without morphing.
“I’ve had enough of this!” Elgar yawned, throwing a bolt of energy at TJ. He yelped in pain and fell into unconsciousness. From out of nowhere, Piranitrons appeared and teleported away with him.
“NO!” Justin screamed, running to attack Elgar. He was kicked back, and before anyone else had a chance to attack him, Elgar had teleported away.
“Damn it!” Carlos yelled, slamming his fist into a nearby tree, “We have to get him back!”
“We will,” Cassie said, trying to sound reassuring, “Let’s get back to the Power Chamber. Maybe Dimitria can tell us what happened to TJ.”
“Let’s go,” Ashley said. Everyone touched their communicators, and soon
they had all teleported out.
“I feel weird showering only to get back into sweaty clothes, Tommy,” Adam said, eyeing his white shirt which was covered with sweat.
“I’m leaving mine off,” Tommy declared, pulling his sweater over his bare chest.
Adam shook his head, jokingly, “You’re gonna freeze out there, Tommy.” There was no reply. Adam pulled his cardigan over his white shirt, “Tommy?” Still, nothing.
Spinning around, Adam gasped. Tommy was sprawled out on the floor, shaking. “He’s hurt,” Tommy whispered, curling into a ball, “He’s afraid!”
“Shit,” Adam muttered, “Tommy? Are you OK?”
“He’s powerless in her trap!” Tommy exclaimed. His shaking became more violent.
Adam tried to get closer to Tommy, but he scooted back. “Tommy, it’s me, Adam!”
“Make her stop, Adam. Please!” Tommy pleaded. A tear fell from his eyes, as he buried his face in his knees.
“Who, Tommy?” Adam asked calmly, even though inside his heart was racing.
“Divatox. Make her stop!” Tommy cried.
Adam’s jaw clenched together in anger. ‘The bitch.’ Adam thought ‘If I ever get my hands on her, I swear I’ll kill her sorry ass! Doesn’t she know when to quit? Tommy’s of no value to her now!’
Adam knelt down in front of Tommy, “I’m going to go tell Kat something, Tommy, but I’ll be right back, OK?”
“Don’t leave me here!” Tommy whispered, “It’s dark. I’m afraid of what she’s gonna do to me!”
Though it broke Adam’s heart, he knew that he had to tell Kat, and it was obvious that Tommy was in no position to move, “I will be back in one second.”
Tommy didn’t respond, and his shaking decreased. Adam took that opportunity to run out of the locker room. He found Kat standing by the table where they had been sitting before. Seeing him, she got up and ran over, “You took a long time.” Looking around, she added, “Where’s Tommy?”
“I need you to go get the rangers. We need to get Tommy to the command center.”
“What happened to him?” Kat asked.
“I need to get back, Kat. Just go. Please!” Adam persisted.
Kat sighed and looked at him, worriedly, “I’ll go. Just take care of him till I get help, OK?”
Adam nodded in thanks and ran back to the locker room. Kat jogged out
of the Youth Center and began the long jog towards the Power Chamber. ‘Why
can’t Divatox leave us alone?’ Kat asked herself.
“Dimitria, what can we do for TJ?” Ashley asked.
“Is locating TJ not more important that learning what we can do to get him back? Can we get TJ back without first knowing where he is, Ashley?”
“Keep looking for him, Alpha,” Cassie said, glaring at Dimitria. Sometimes all of her stupid questions got on her nerves.
Just then, there was a loud banging heard throughout the Power Chamber.
“What the hell is that?” Carlos exclaimed, looking at the viewing globe. Outside, the rangers saw Kat desperately banging on the walls of the chamber.
“Whoa! It looks like Katherine’s gone off the deep end!” Alpha exclaimed.
Ashley turned to Dimitria, “We have to let her in. It could be important.”
“I agree,” Cassie said, “Let’s do it.”
“Teleporting now,” Justin informed the others.
Kat was instantly inside the Power Chamber. Once she was there, she ran right in front of Dimitria, “We have to teleport Adam and Tommy in here now!”
“What’s wrong, Kat?” Carlos asked, momentarily forgetting how uncomfortable he felt.
“I don’t know,” Kat panted, “Adam said that something was wrong with Tommy, but he didn’t have time to tell me what. It has something to do with Divatox.”
“Let’s get them up here,” Ashley instructed.
“Let me go!” TJ yelled up at the small door in the ceiling. It opened, revealing Divatox.
She smirked, “Join me, Red Ranger, and I will set you free.”
“Never,” TJ said, “I’ll never turn against my friends!”
Divatox cackled, “So be it. Soon you will be a memory, and your fellow rangers will follow.” With that, the door closed.
Suddenly, TJ heard whispering noises all around him. “Who’s there?” He asked. There was no reply.
“I’m not afraid of you, damn it!” TJ screamed. Out from the shadows came Tommy wearing a red shirt and black jeans. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his hair was tied back in a pony tail.
“Tommy! Please, help me out of here!” TJ pleaded, motioning to the rope binding his feet and hands.
“Why should I?” Tommy replied, coldly. His eyes were like stones.
TJ shook his head, confused, “What are you talking about?”
“When I gave you my powers, I didn’t want to. I knew you were a wimp
since I first saw you, runt!” TJ winced at the use of the nickname his
brother had given him.
“You’ve never been fit to be leader! How dare you think that you could ever replace me!” Tommy said coolly, moving closer to TJ, taunting him, “You’re nothing compared to me. You are a bastard, TJ. It’s that simple.”
TJ stared at Tommy in disbelief, his eyes narrowing, “You’re not Tommy! Get out of here!”
The hallucination vanished, and TJ closed his eyes. Even though he knew
that what he had just seen was not real, he’d still been hit hard.
“He thinks I hate him,” Tommy moaned, shaking violently once again, “He sees me, but I’m not there!”
“Who, Tommy?” Adam asked, not wanting to intimidate his former leader like he had before, “Who thinks that you hate him?”
“TJ,” Tommy whispered, “It’s a hallucination, but he’s not sure if what I said is true.”
Just then, the two teleported. The rangers looked down at Tommy, terrified.
“What’s happening to him, Adam?” Justin asked, bending down near his brother.
“Where’s TJ?” Adam questioned, looking around the Power Chamber. Carlos frowned.
“Elgar took him. We don’t know where he is.”
Adam shook his head, glancing down at Tommy, “I think--somehow Tommy can see what TJ sees.”
“Come again?”
“Well, ever since he’s been like this, Tommy has been babbling about Divatox, hallucinations, and other things, and when I asked him who he saw, he said he saw TJ.”
“Is that possible, Dimitria?” Cassie asked.
Dimitria sighed, “Is not anything possible, Cassie?” Cassie rubbed her temple in frustration.
Suddenly, all thoughts were interrupted as Tommy shook his head and stood up, balancing himself on a console, “W-what happened?”
“Tommy, are you all right?” Kat asked, running over to help him steady himself.
“I think so,” Tommy replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose, “I have the worst headache ever, though.”
“You were curled up and murmuring something about TJ. Do you remember anything about that?” Cassie asked.
Tommy looked at her, grateful for Kat’s hand as he grabbed it to keep from tipping over, “No. I remember one thing, though. TJ is in Divatox’s submarine. Divatox is torturing him by showing him things that will make him doubt himself.”
“Bitch,” Carlos muttered.
Adam glanced around, uncomfortably, as Carlos and Cassie began to look at the three former rangers strangely.
Justin lifted his hands, angrily, “OK! That’s it! I’ve had it with all the anger going around this damn place!”
“Justin-” Ashley began. He didn’t let her finish.
“It’s obvious you want to say something _Carlos_” Justin continued, saying the Green Ranger’s name sarcastically, “and what about you, Cassie? Don’t you want to say something too? Or you, Adam? Or Ashley? Or Kat? Maybe even Tommy, if he hadn’t been curled up in a ball for about an hour! Well, I’m waiting! Out with it!”
This sparked something in Carlos. He looked at Adam, angrily, “Admit it, Adam. You want the power back!”
“What?” Adam was confused. He looked at Kat for support, but she only looked at him, puzzled.
“Just say it, Adam!” Carlos taunted, “You want the power, and your jealous that I have it! Well, too bad because I’m not giving it back!”
“Now, wait a minute, Carlos! Adam didn’t say-” Again, Ashley was cut off.
Adam looked at Carlos, fiercely, “Is that what you think!? Why the hell would I want the power back, and why would I be jealous of you? You can keep your fucking power, because I have self-pride! I don’t need to be a ranger just to enhance my ego, and if that’s what you think of me, then I’m afraid you don’t know me well enough to even make these damn judgments!”
Justin gulped as Cassie stared at him, annoyed.
“Now wait a minute,” Tommy said, grabbing Adam’s shoulder just in case this should become physical, “I don’t understand what’s going on! Why would we want the power back?”
“You want it back because you regret giving it to us. Sometimes, we don’t feel like we match up to you guys, and I think, at times, that we should just give you back the power,” Cassie whispered.
Kat sighed, finally being broken of her silence spell, “It’s not like that at all, you guys! We really think you’re doing a great job!”
“As for us wanting the power back, sure, there are times when I, and I know the others, miss it, but it really is great not being a ranger. Now, we can all pursue our lives peacefully, without having to worry about a monster attack every minute of every day. It was fun while it lasted, but it’s over, and our replacements are doing a great job,” Tommy said, looking around while he spoke to everyone in the command center.
Adam and Carlos looked at eachother, and they both hung their heads, ashamed.
“I’m sorry, man,” Carlos said.
Adam nodded, “Me too. Friends?” He held out his hand.
Carlos took it eagerly, “Definitely.”
Alpha chuckled, “Yo, that was beautiful! I love happy endings!”
“It’s still too soon to celebrate, Alpha,” Kat reminded him, “We still need to get TJ back.”
Everyone started to work on other things around the Power Chamber. Adam was working by Tommy, and he was about to ask his former leader something when he noticed that Tommy was holding his head as if in pain.
“Tommy?” Adam asked, concerned.
Tommy forced a smile, “I’m fine. It’s just this damn headache won’t-” He didn’t get to finish. Glancing at Adam once more, Tommy began to rock back and forth trying to steady himself.
For Adam, this was all the warning he needed, and he was able to catch Tommy before he fell straight on the floor. The other rangers circled around as he laid him on the floor.
“What happened?” Cassie asked.
“I-I don’t know!” Adam exclaimed, “He just collapsed.”
“Let’s get him off the floor!” Carlos ordered.
Kat leaned over her boyfriend, brushing some stray hair out of his face,
“Tommy? Can you hear me? Tommy?” There was no response.
TJ had passed out in the small dungeon after seeing two more hallucinations. Now, he was in a field with wild flowers growing around. Walking to the top of a small hill, TJ watched as a river flowed on the other side.
Just then, a finger tapped his shoulder, and he turned around to see Tommy standing next to him dressed in a white tank top with his hair pulled back by a white band. He nodded at TJ and looked out over the horizon, “It’s beautiful, huh?”
“Where are we?” TJ asked, looking at the person who he had replaced.
“This is kinda like a holding place where you go when you’re not really asleep, but you’re not ready to wake up. I’ve been here many times, and each time it gets more beautiful.”
“I must have passed out in the dungeon,” TJ thought aloud. Turning to Tommy, he asked, “When have you been here?”
“The most recent was when Gasket and Archerina kidnapped me while I was still a Zeo Ranger. He had knocked me out, and before I felt my memories leave me, I only remember standing on a hill looking out on a beautiful countryside.” A breeze rolled by, lifting Tommy’s hair slightly and then setting it back down.
TJ shook his head, “You gain so much as a ranger, Tommy. How could you let it go?”
Tommy smiled, “I needed to get on with my life. It was fun while it lasted, but now it’s over, and I have a chance to live my life normally, TJ. While I was the White Ranger, I wished that I would never lose my powers. Sometimes I would tell myself that I would rather die in battle than lose my powers again like I had lost my Green Ranger powers. I was suicidal during that time. Suicidal and guilty as hell. I blamed myself for the time when I was evil, and it took awhile for me to learn and accept that it wasn’t my fault. When I gave my powers to you, I didn’t feel any of that. I actually felt free. Now, I don’t have to hear that annoying beep every minute of every day.”
“I don’t think that I can ever be as good a leader as you.”
“If you keep telling yourself that, then you never will be, but I know that you can be as good a leader as I was, or better. I have faith in you, TJ, and I know that the power is in good hands with you and the rest of the team,” Tommy assured him.
TJ frowned, “I saw you when I was hallucinating. You said that I would never be as good as you, and that I was a wimp.”
Tommy, surprisingly, started to laugh, “I called _you_ a wimp? Never! Why would I do a stupid thing like that!? TJ, don’t you know that I would have never given the power to a wimp?”
TJ glanced once again at the river flowing, “That’s what I feel like sometimes.”
“Well, don’t!” Tommy exclaimed, “Think of it this way. You say that you respect me, but if you respect me, then you have to respect my decisions, and I chose you to be the Red Turbo Ranger, so if you think that I made a bad decision, then you’re ultimately saying that I’m stupid. Now, do you think I’m stupid, TJ?”
“Of course not!”
“Then you can’t keep telling me that you feel like a wimp or that you’re not good enough, OK?”
TJ smiled, “Thanks, man.”
“Hey, I know what it’s like. Who do you think was scared as shit when he had to replace Jason? He was a great leader, and I was really freaked about taking his spot, but I guess I turned out all right, and I know you will too.”
Just then, TJ looked around as voices invaded the cozy countryside, “What is that?”
“It’s my time to leave, TJ,” Tommy informed him, looking up at the sky which had become gray, “I’ll see you soon, though.”
“How long will I be here alone?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Tommy admitted. “Use this time to just reflect on life. That’s what I used to do, and I was always calmed by it.” He held his head as a pounding headache overtook him.
“Are you OK?” TJ asked, worried.
“I’m fine. You always are in some kind of pain when you return. I’ll see you later, TJ. Remember what I said, and don’t give in to Divatox. I’ll try to help you as soon as I get back.”
“I’ll remember, man,” TJ assured him. Slowly, Tommy faded away into
the mist, and TJ looked out over the hill again, thinking about all the
things that he had learned in just the past twenty four hours.
“Tommy?” Kat called, “Can you hear me?”
Tommy slowly opened his eyes, squinting as bright lights flashed in his eyes, “I hear you.” Looking around, Tommy realized that he was lying on one of the cots where they slept if they needed to stay the night in the Power Chamber because of a threat.
“You said that you had a really bad headache and then you passed out,” Adam informed him, “Do you remember that?”
“Sort of,” Tommy replied, “I remember that my head hurt, and then everything went black.”
“The others went to go see if they could find anything that would give any clues on what happened to TJ,” Kat told him, “For right now, you should probably try and rest for awhile.”
“No, I’m OK,” Tommy argued, “I feel fine. Besides, I want to help find TJ, too. I feel like I owe it to him.”
Adam licked his lips and looked at Kat. She shook her head, “You’re not going to use that guilty crap on me. I’m telling you to take it easy, and you’re going to do it!”
Tommy’s eyes widened, and he looked at Adam pleadingly. He shrugged and followed Kat out of the Power Chamber. “Yes, Mother,” Tommy called, sarcastically. Turning to Alpha, he smiled, “C’mon, Alpha. I know you’ll let me teleport out of here. You know I’m fine, right?”
“Yo, Tommy. I don’t know how to tell you this nicely but, no way! You’re going to stay in that bed and rest.”
“Damn it!” Tommy cursed, rolling over onto his stomach. He swore silently
as he heard the little droid laugh.
Kat and Adam teleported into their normal corner of the Juice Bar and went outside to look for the others. They were both really grateful that Dimitria had given them communicators just for the time that they would be back.
The two had just walked outside when they spotted Cassie, Ashley, Justin, and Carlos looking all around the front of the Juice Bar.
“Any luck?” Kat asked.
Cassie shook her head, “Nothing, and we’ve looked everywhere! We know that TJ is on Divatox’s sub, but there’s no way to tell where that is!”
Justin looked at Adam, “How’s Tommy? Is he awake?”
“Yeah,” Adam replied, “He wanted to come, but Kat made him stay there.”
Carlos looked at Kat, shocked, “Tommy actually listened to you?”
“Let’s just say I put my foot down. Plus, I told Alpha that under no circumstances is he to let Tommy out.”
“Way to go, Kat!” Ashley exclaimed. Kat smiled.
Just then, Justin’s communicator beeped. He looked around to make sure that no one was around, and the other rangers got closer to him, “This is Justin. Come in.”
“Yo, yo, yo! Justin, I think we have something here!” Alpha said, “I decided that it would be worthwhile to check for Divatox here on Earth, and we found her! She’s in a body of water somewhere in Angel Grove!”
“Angel Grove Lake!” Carlos exclaimed, “Of course! After she took TJ, no one expected that he would be on Earth, but Divatox decided to do the least likely thing! It makes perfect sense.”
“Can we teleport there, Alpha?” Cassie asked.
“Yes, go now before anything else happens to him!”
“OK, you guys. Let’s go!” Ashley said. Turning to Kat and Adam she sighed.
Adam got the picture, “All right. We’ll go back to the Power Chamber. Be careful, you guys.” With that, the two teleported away.
“All right guys, Let’s shift into Turbo!” Carlos ordered.
“WIND CHASER TURBO POWER!”
“DUNE STAR TURBO POWER!”
“MOUNTAIN BLASTER TURBO POWER!”
“DESERT THUNDER TURBO POWER!”
“All right, guys. Let’s go get TJ back!” Justin said.
“Alpha,” Ashley called into her communicator, “Is the teleporter set on Divatox’s location?”
“Yo, it’s set and ready to go, Ashley.”
“All right!” Cassie said, “Let’s go.” With that, they teleported out.
Adam and Kat teleported and walked over to the viewing globe where the rangers were morphing.
“You know,” Adam sighed, “I do miss it.”
“I do, too, Adam, but I know that the power is in good hands. Besides, it’s great to live a normal life.”
“Still, don’t you miss the excitement of knowing that you saved the world?’ Adam asked, looking longingly at the rangers as they teleported out.
“There will always be a part of me that will be wishing for the power, but there’s a bigger part of me that wants to get on with my life,” Kat replied. Glancing over to where the cot was, she realized that Tommy wasn’t there. She turned towards Dimitria, “Where’s Tommy?”
“I believe that Alpha took him somewhere, Katherine,” Dimitria replied. Kat sighed in relief, partly because she knew Tommy was safe, and partly because Dimitria didn’t ask another question.
As if on cue, Alpha entered the room, steadying Tommy as he laid back on the cot. Adam ran over to him, “What’s wrong with him?”
“Whoa, Adam, he’s burning up, and I don’t know what happened! All of a sudden he just started to shake. He was saying something about fighting hallucinations.”
Kat walked over to Tommy, laying a hand on his forehead. She shuddered. He was really warm. Brushing a damp strand of hair from his face, Kat sat down on the cot next to him and rubbed his back. Tommy squirmed for a little bit, but then started to relax, though the shivering did not decrease.
“What do you see?” Kat asked soothingly.
Tommy opened his eyes and looked at her. She almost started to cry after
seeing the blank yet terrified look in his eyes, “He’s cold. She continues
to taunt him, but he keeps resisting everything he sees.” Kat whispered
encouraging words into his ear as Adam and Alpha continued to watch the
viewing globe.
“You’re not fit to lead us,” Carlos said, coldly, “You’ve let us down, TJ.”
“I know you’re not real!” TJ screamed, “Leave me alone!”
The hallucination vanished. TJ closed his eyes, and swore silently. He knew that all the things that he had seen had been fake, but he was growing weak, and he didn’t know how much longer he would be able to hold up.
Suddenly, 4 colored lights came into his view revealing his four fellow rangers. Cassie knelt down next to him, “TJ, are you OK?”
“Yeah, but get me out of these,” TJ said, lifting up his hands to show the rope binding him. In a matter of seconds Justin had pulled the ropes loose, and Ashley helped her leader to his feet.
Just then, the hatch above the rangers opened to reveal Divatox, “No! You can’t take him! He’s mine!”
“Go to hell, witch,” TJ muttered.
Divatox was about to fire at the rangers, when they all teleported out.
She slammed her fist onto a nearby console, “Damn those rangers!”
“His fever is going down rapidly! I’ve never seen anything like this!” Alpha exclaimed.
Tommy sat up and looked around, groggily, “What happened?”
“It’s not important, man,” Adam assured him, “Luckily you’re all right.”
Suddenly, Tommy perked up, “Where’s TJ?”
Seconds later the rangers teleported in. TJ took in his surroundings, rubbing his temple.
“Well, he’s right there,” Adam said, slightly late.
TJ looked at Tommy, and the two froze for what seemed like an eternity. When the moment passed, TJ walked over, and embraced the former red ranger, trying to stop himself from bursting into tears, “Thank you, Tommy. You definitely saved my life.”
“Don’t thank me, TJ. It was your strength that pulled you through.”
“I could have never had that strength if it weren’t for you.” Tommy
nodded, unable to speak. The other rangers, present and former, just watched
in silence.
“Hello? Tommy?” Kat said jokingly, waving a hand in front of his face. Tommy looked startled for a moment, then looked up at his girlfriend.
“Sorry. I’ve been out of it for awhile.”
Kat smiled and sat down next to him at the Juice Bar, “What are you thinking about?”
“I dunno,” Tommy admitted, “I guess I’m just thinking about everything that just happened, and I’m thinking about you and Adam leaving in a few days.”
“We’ll stay in touch, Tommy. You know that.”
“I know, but I’m just afraid...you know-”
“What?”
“I’m afraid that what happened between Kim and me will happen between you and me, and I don’t know if I could live through that again,” Tommy looked at the floor.
Kat flinched at the sadness in his voice.
“I do, Kat. It’s just that I know there must be so many guys over there that must like you, and I’m just afraid that I won’t be good enough to stand up to them.”
“Not good enough?” Kat was shocked, “Tommy, no guy can ever come close to you in my eyes. You’re kind, loving, smart, funny, sexy, caring, and anything else that I would ever want!”
Tommy blushed, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Kat said, and they kissed eachother gently before engaging in a warm hug.
“Aw, what a Kodak moment,” Adam said, coming up behind the two. Kat and Tommy looked at him, surprised.
“Adam!” They exclaimed in unison.
Adam shrugged, “What?”
“I can’t believe we’re leaving already!” Kat exclaimed.
“I know,” Adam agreed, smoothing down his green button up sweater. Turning to Tommy, he said, “You’ll be OK?”
“Don’t worry about me, man. I’ll just hang out here with the guys for the rest of the time, and then it’s back to racing,” Tommy replied. He was wearing a red sweater with a white shirt underneath. His hair was held up by a red band.
“Take care, you guys,” Carlos said, shaking Adam’s hand.
“You too,” Adam said, “Keep up the good work.”
“We’ll be back at spring break,” Kat assured them, running a hand through her shiny blond hair which was running down her long sleeved pink sweater.
Everyone exchanged their good-byes. Kat and Tommy kissed eachother, and Tommy smiled, “I’ll write you whenever I can.”
“Me too,” Kat agreed, “Remember what I said.”
Tommy nodded. Kat and Adam hugged eachother, and then went through their separate airline gates. Justin sighed. Tommy pulled the red band holding up his hair tighter. TJ smiled, “They’ll be back, Tommy.”
Tommy grinned, “I know.”
“Besides,” Ashley said, giggling, “We’ll keep you busy the rest of the time your here.”
“Right,” Cassie agreed, “You aren’t going to have any time by yourself.”
“Was that a threat?” Tommy joked. Carlos slapped him on the back, laughing.
As the others began to walk away Tommy looked out of the window at Kat’s
plane which was just lifting off the ground. As he watched the plane rise
in the sky, Tommy smiled. Somehow, he knew that everything would be all
right. Turning around, he ran to catch up with the others.
Before y’all send me flames, may I remind you that this was my first PR fanfic, and I’m a little rusty in the rangers history. This must be completely wrong from all the stuff in Turbo, but I don’t watch the new series much. Still, I would appreciate compliments and comments so E-mail me. Thanks for reading, and for some reason that you want to use any characters that are mine from this story or you want to refer to this story, please E-mail me and ask before you do. Thanks again.
