Post by secretangel106 on Nov 3, 2008 6:11:34 GMT -5
Alright, so this was my very first attempt at writing fanfic. It's been posted at ff.net, and I'm reposting it here. I'm posting it EXACTLY as it was posted there, and I'm looking for honest, constructive feedback.
There's a couple of things I've already decided to fix... eventually. Some of these I figured out on my own; some were pointed out by reviewers.
1) I wrote Kira and Hayley way out of character. (They're pretty minor characters in this story, though.)
2) I think I broke it up into too many chapters, making the chapters too short.
3) At the time I wrote this, I thought the rules about "mature content" were strictly adhered to, and I wrote this story to abide with those rules. There are some places that could probably use some more detail... I don't know if I want to fix that or just leave it as is.
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for constructive criticism!
The Falcon Oracle
Chapter 1
He shuddered violently as he stumbled along the edge of the lake, trying to keep his eyes focused on his destination. He had almost reached the stone ledge at the water’s edge when his legs betrayed him and he fell face first into the sand. Cursing loudly, he pulled himself up on his forearms and used a mock army crawl to travel the remaining few feet. Once he felt the cold, hard stone beneath his fingertips, he pulled himself up to a sitting position. Cold sweat streamed down his face and back, causing him to shiver. He used one hand to push a damp strand of dark hair out of his eyes while using his other to brace himself against the ridge. His breath was coming in short gasps, and his vision was blurred with his own tears.
He used one shaky hand to pull a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He sighed as he opened it and read it to himself for what felt like the millionth time that day.
…hardest letter I’ve ever had to write… in some ways like a brother… met someone else… Please forgive me.
Squinting, he was only able to make out parts of the letter between his shudders and tears. The last line in the letter still pulled his breath from his chest, and for a moment he thought for sure he would suffocate. This letter had caused this same reaction each time he had read it that day. His tears started to fall, and he began to tremble violently. A sickening feeling overcame him, and he leaned over and placed his head on his knees to keep himself from throwing up.
White bolts of energy started emanating from his chest and working their way down his arms and legs. He couldn’t stop shaking now, and it was all he could do to keep from screaming in agony. The energy bolts made their way down to his fingertips and leapt to the ground below. He used every fiber of strength to keep his body under control, which was now convulsing uncontrollably.
And then, as soon as it began, the white beams stopped. He slumped with exhaustion and took several deep breaths to regain his composure. Then he pulled himself to his feet. The trembling, sweating and blurry vision had all faded away, but they had been replaced with an empty, gut-wrenching feeling in his chest. He was fairly certain he knew what just happened, but he had better check with Billy and Zordon. Fast.
Tommy Oliver had just lost the power of the Falcon Oracle.
****
Eight Years Later
Dr. Thomas Oliver couldn’t help but smile at the sight before him. He watched from behind a computer screen at Hayley’s cyber café as Trent, Ethan and Connor had an animated discussion that he was all too familiar with. Trent was nervous about asking Kira out, and the other two boys were actively trying to persuade him that Kira would undoubtedly say yes.
“Penny for your thoughts, stranger,” said a voice behind him.
Tommy turned to find Hayley, standing with one hand on her hip and the other holding a rag to wipe down the tables. The look on her face was a mix between anger and relief, and Tommy knew he was receiving that look because it had been quite a while since he had stopped in just to say ‘hi.’ These days, the only time he and Hayley got to talk was when they were talking ranger business, and Tommy could honestly say he missed their 2am powwows about Tommy’s latest romantic mishap or Hayley’s current scientific venture.
“Oh, I was just watching Connor and Ethan bully Trent into asking Kira out,” Tommy replied. “It brings back old memories.”
“Oh yeah? Good memories or bad ones?”
Tommy frowned. “I don’t know. I guess that’s what I was trying to figure out. Part of me wants to grab Trent and tell him to stay far away and avoid having his heart ripped to shreds.”
“Only part of you?” Hayley said in a facetious tone as she started to wipe a nearby table. “What does the other part of you think?”
“The other part of me wants to relive these parts of my life vicariously through him.”
Hayley rolled her eyes and tossed the damp rag at Tommy. “You’re such a hopeless romantic.”
Tommy tossed the rag back and sighed. “I sure used to be. I don’t know, anymore.”
“Getting cynical in your old age?” Hayley said with a giggle.
“I guess.”
After a brief silent moment, Hayley decided this conversation was over, and it was time for shop talk. “I was worried when I didn’t hear from you guys yesterday.”
“Why’s that?” Tommy answered as he redirected his attention to the computer screen.
“Well, I heard about the tyranodrone attack on the news,” she whispered. “They said you guys took care of them, but I didn’t hear anything about a monster. And then, I didn’t hear from any of you afterwards. It was just weird.”
Tommy shook his head. Lots of strange things had happened lately. About two weeks prior, they had started picking up some strange energy readings from the remains of the original command center. This had happened occasionally over the past eight years, but in the last two weeks the readings were much stronger and almost constant. When the readings started showing up in Hayley’s energy scans, Tommy had hiked to the spot in the mountains where the command center once stood. Time had long concealed the remains, and anyone who passed the ruins now would never know the significance of the force buried there. Tommy spent most of the day there meditating and reminiscing, but he found nothing out of the ordinary, and he returned to the lab that evening and told Hayley that nothing was amiss.
Then the tyranodrone attacks started. Not that this was out of the ordinary for the Dino Thunder team, but what was strange happened after each attack – nothing. Tommy knew as a veteran ranger that when the evil armies were dispatched – whether they were putties, tengas, cogs, or tyranodrones – a monster attack was sure to follow. However, that hadn’t happened in the last few weeks. Just a handful of drones that fought and then retreated quickly. Neither Tommy nor Hayley could come up with an explanation or possible motive for such attacks, putting them in the uncomfortable position of waiting like sitting ducks for whatever plan Mesogog had to come to light.
“I don’t know, Hayley. Something is definitely up… I just don’t know what.” He sighed, signed off of the computer and stood to leave. “I’ll let you know if anything pops up.”
“Okay. I’ll probably swing by later to do some more in-depth energy scans in the lab. If there’s something lurking out there, we’ll want to find it before it finds us.”
Tommy nodded and headed for the door of the café.
“Hey!” Hayley called after him. “What’s up with you lately? You seem… off.”
Tommy turned and shrugged. “I guess I’m feeling nostalgic. It’ll pass. It always does.” And with that he headed for the parking lot and took the short drive home.
Chapter 2
Several hours later, Tommy found himself dozing on the couch, a half-empty beer bottle in his hand. Deep down, he knew he should be more alert, but a strange feeling of apathy had overtaken him, and right now he wanted nothing more than to sit on his couch, drink a beer, and watch TV, like every other 25-year-old man he knew. To an outsider, it would appear that Tommy Oliver was depressed, but he was anything but. At this moment in time he was entirely content in the normalcy of the situation. In fact, he smiled slightly at the mere thought of having the lifestyle of a true bachelor.
His smile faded when he heard Kira’s voice through his communicator.
“Dr. O! Dr. O, we need help at the lake!”
Tommy sprung to his feet, letting his natural reflexes take over. His smile vanished and became a look of fierce determination as he reached for his morpher. This was his life, alright, and as much as he thought about being “normal”, he knew he’d never be able to let go of the rush he got every time he morphed.
The energy from the black dino gem engulfed him, and he was no longer plain ol’ bachelor Tommy Oliver. He was now the Black Dino Thunder Ranger. He responded to Kira to let her know he was on his way, and in a flash of light, he was gone.
Tommy arrived at the lake to find Kira and Trent, already morphed into the yellow and white rangers, respectively. They were surrounded by a clan of tyranodrones. Not more than a minute after Tommy’s feet touched the ground Connor and Ethan arrived, morphed and ready for action.
Together, the five rangers took on the drones. The drones had come on full force against Kira and Trent, but once the other rangers arrived they backed off considerably. Their hasty retreat made Tommy anxious about their motives.
“You guys alright?” he yelled to the rest of the team. The team slowly gathered to regroup.
“Trent, Kira… What happened?” Connor said, breathlessly.
“We were just walking by the lake when they showed up. They were tough, man… we couldn’t stop them! Then when you guys showed up it’s like they just… quit,” Trent explained.
Tommy looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then he commanded the team to power down. “Let’s get back to the lab and check in with Hayley.”
Ethan reached for his teleporter, but Tommy stopped him. “Let’s walk. It’s not far.” The rest of the team looked at each other questioningly, but did not object. Tommy wanted to cling to every ounce of ‘ordinary’ he could – and ordinary people did not teleport. Plus, this gave him time to ponder what Kira and Trent were doing at the lake. He was almost certain that Trent had been trying to ask Kira out, based on the conversation that took place earlier. And if life was as cruelly ironic as he was sure it was, he figured that Trent had stumbled his way through a conversation just to be interrupted by tyranodrones when he finally worked up the courage to ask. He made a mental note to pull Trent aside and give him a pep talk. He was sure he’d need it.
Once they arrived at his home, though, Tommy deeply regretted his choice to take a leisurely walk back from the park.
The front door of Tommy’s house had been kicked in – or, at least, he hoped it had been kicked. ‘That’s what normal robbers would do,’ Tommy thought as he hurried inside. Once in the living room, though, Tommy and the rest of the team knew this was no ordinary robbery. Whoever had been in the house had been looking for something specific, and Tommy’s house had plenty to hide.
The group made their way through the house, trying to find out if anything was missing. Trent turned to find Kira hanging back from the group with a concerned look on her face.
“Kira? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I have a bad feeling,” she said distractedly, as her eyes darted around frantically.
“A bad feeling about what?”
“I don’t know, but… I think whoever was in here is still here.”
As if on cue, a thump and a crash came from below them.
Tommy turned and raced towards the basement, his ranger teammates right on his heels. He flung open the door and nearly fell backwards. On the steps leading below was none other than Mesogog himself, holding Hayley tightly in his grasp, his claw menacingly close to her throat.
“Tommy!” she whimpered. Mesogog tightened his grip on her arm and pointed the claw at her throat upwards.
“Let her go!” he demanded.
Mesogog cackled. “Not a chance, Oliver. Besides, you should be used to going after the damsel in distress. How many times have you rescued your precious Kimberly?”
Tommy stiffened at the mention of her name. He made an active effort every day not to think about her, but deep down he knew Kimberly was the only woman he had ever truly loved. He did everything he could to push her out of his mind, including burying himself in his work over the last few years. She had been the topic of many a drunken conversation with Hayley during his college years, and he couldn’t help but think about her every time he went out on a date with another girl, but he was sure he had never talked about her while he was working with Mercer. How did Mesogog know about her?
“Tommy, I’m sorry! I came over to work in the lab, and…” Hayley stammered. Mesogog grunted and hauled her backwards down the stairs, eliciting a short shriek from Hayley and cutting off her statement.
“Dr. O! Let’s go!” yelled Connor, jarring Tommy from his thoughts. Together the rangers raced down the stairs after Mesogog and Hayley, just in time to see them disappear into an invisa-portal.
Chapter 3
The petite young woman shifted her carry-on from one shoulder to the other anxiously and pushed a strand of short dark hair off her forehead. She glanced at the TSA sign explaining that no weapons were allowed on the plane and chuckled to herself. She felt her hands start to burn and shoved them into her pockets before their pink glow became obvious.
It’s a good thing Oracle powers don’t set off the metal detector, she thought.
Once through security she stopped to buy a cup of coffee and made her way to the gate. If she had been more alert she would have noticed a group of young men nearby very obviously ogling her. However, the woman was lost in her own thoughts.
Am I crazy? Am I really doing this? She shook her head and took another sip of her coffee.
You made a promise. Just keep telling yourself that. You made a promise.
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and strongly considered standing up and leaving. She was still feeling conflicted when they started boarding her flight, and she remained in her seat right up until the final boarding call.
“THIS IS THE LAST CALL FOR FLIGHT 106, DIRECT SERVICE TO ANGEL GROVE.”
Well, now or never.
With that, she tossed her empty coffee cup away and headed for the boarding door.
****
“What should we do, Dr. Oliver?” Kira cried frantically.
Tommy tried to ignore the panic creeping into her voice and her use of his full last name. That meant that she was frightened, as none of the rangers ever called him anything but Dr. O.
“It’s probably still possible to pick up on Hayley’s energy signature. We can use it to create our own portal and follow them,” Ethan chimed in.
“Yeah, Ethan, good thinking…” Tommy said absent-mindedly. His mind was still wrapped around Mesogog’s mention of Kim.
“Earth to Dr. O! Dude, do you even care that Mesogog just took off with Hayley?” Connor yelled.
“Of course I care! Ethan, start working on that energy signature,” Tommy snapped. He turned back to Connor. “And what did I tell you about calling me ‘dude’?”
Ethan began frantically working on the computer equipment, trying to pick up on the energy signature. Connor went to the storage room and began pulling out every weapon he could find. Trent and Kira were huddled together in a corner of the room, their mere presence providing mutual comfort. And Tommy paced the length of the lab. His mind darted between Hayley and Kimberly. Yes, he knew he had to rescue Hayley. She had no ranger powers to protect her. But Tommy was confident in his ranger team, and he felt confident in their ability to find and free Hayley.
A deep, sinking feeling in his stomach and a familiar pain in his chest told him that the situation with Kimberly was different. Was Mesogog planning on abducting her too? Had he already? Tommy had no idea, and because he hadn’t spoken to her in nearly ten years he had no way of monitoring her safety. He realized that the fact that he was still worried about her safety after all these years proved just what a valuable hostage she would make for Mesogog.
“Dr. O! I got it! The portal’s opening now!”
Tommy jumped and headed for the glowing opening in the center of the room, the other rangers close behind.
Go get Hayley. Then come home, swallow your pride, and give Kim a call.
This was Tommy’s last thought as he led the team through the portal.
Chapter 4
The five rangers emerged on the other side of the portal and found themselves unmorphed.
“Hey! What just happened?” Connor yelled.
Ethan reached for his morpher and attempted to become the blue ranger again, with no success. “Our powers don’t work?!?”
Tommy felt a cold chill shoot down his spine. There was something all too familiar about this place, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Dr. O? How are we supposed to find Hayley without our powers?” Trent asked nervously.
“You’d be amazed at the things you can do, even without powers,” Tommy responded cryptically. He found himself sinking back into reminiscence, and he had to fight to keep his mind in the game.
“Were you ever in a place like this without powers, Dr. O?” Kira inquired.
Kira’s question refocused Tommy’s mind, and suddenly he knew exactly where they were. “It’s a Dark Dimension!” he exclaimed.
“Uh… okay…” Kira said with a roll of her eyes. Dr. Oliver had effectively avoided her question – again.
“What’s a Dark Dimension?” Ethan asked, as they made their way apprehensively down the dark corridor.
“A Dark Dimension is a place created by a force of evil. It exists beneath our own realm. Our ranger powers only exist in our own, so that’s why they don’t work. I haven’t seen one since Rita and Zedd, though.”
“Who are Rita and Zedd?” asked Connor, suddenly interested in the conversation.
“They were the evil leaders when the original rangers were around. They were sort of like our Mesogog.”
The group continued the rest of their trek in silence. Soon, they reached the end of the narrow corridor and found themselves in a large underground cavern. The room was nearly pitch black and filled with a thick, milky fog. There was only enough light to make out a vague shadow here and there. Tommy felt the rangers huddle closer to him.
“Hayley!” he called out into the darkness. The other rangers echoed him.
Just as Tommy thought he might have to make his way out of this room in the dark, a bright green light burst from the corner of the room. At first the light did nothing but illuminate the fog, but soon a shadowy figure stepped from the corner. It didn’t take long for the group to recognize their nemesis.
“Mesogog,” Tommy said through clenched teeth. “Where’s Hayley?”
The sound of Mesogog’s heavy breathing cut through the silence of the room. Tommy felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. He started to repeat his question, but Connor beat him to it.
“Last chance, snake-breath. Where is she?”
Mesogog ignored the question and took several steps closer to the five rangers huddled in near the middle of the room. “Tommy… I managed to run into some old friends of yours. They were thrilled to hear you were a ranger again,” he said, followed by an evil laugh. Tommy’s heart sank – what ‘old friends’ was he talking about? Kimberly? He hoped not. He wasn’t sure he had the emotional fortitude to see her right now, let alone swoop in and save her. And the alternative, the idea of not saving her, was rotting a whole in his stomach.
“We decided we’d like to find out if you’re really worth all the hype,” Mesogog continued. “You’re the most feared ranger in the whole galaxy, and we’d like to know why.” By the end of this statement, Mesogog’s voice had sunk to a whispery snarl, and Tommy was so focused on preparing himself for battle that he didn’t even stop to wonder who Mesogog was referring to as ‘we.’
“Cut it out, you overgrown slimeball! Give us back Hayley!” Trent yelled in an uncharacteristic bout of rage. But Mesogog ignored the outburst, and turned back toward the shadows. In that instant, Tommy felt the presence of someone – or something – else in the room.
Directly ahead of the rangers, a group of tyranodrones made their way out of the shadows, but those were the least of their worries. Out of the corner of her eye Kira caught a glance of a flock of bird-like creatures and let loose a small yelp. On their right, a group of gray-clad creatures were mumbling and motioning towards Connor. And Tommy was frantically trying to figure out how to divide and conquer a room filled with tyranodrones, putties and tengas with only five rangers. He was thinking so hard, in fact, that he almost didn’t notice the flash of brightly colored light behind them.
“Hey bro, we thought you could use some help,” said a familiar voice. Tommy spun on his heel to face his mystery supporters – and nearly fell over in shock.
Tommy found himself face-to-face with Jason Scott and Zach Taylor.
Chapter 5
“Bro! What are you two doing here?” Tommy asked incredulously.
“Never mind that for now. We’ve got some work to do.” Zack clapped his hands and then rubbed them together in anticipation.
Jason smiled. “So lead on, fearless leader,” he said with a nod.
“Right.” Tommy reassessed the situation briefly. All of the creatures were slowly closing in on them, and his rangers had already dropped into defensive stances. He realized that, out of the three monsters, Jason and Zack had only dealt with the putties, and the dino rangers had only dealt with the tyranodrones. That made his job easier. “Jason, Zack, take the putties. Ethan and Trent, take the tyranodrones. Kira and Connor, you’re with me. We’ll take the tengas,” he said, motioning towards the feathery freaks.
With that, the group split. They came at their respective hordes powerfully and drove them pack into the dark corners of the room. ‘Huts’ and ‘ki-yas’ echoed from the stone walls, and one by one they defeated each ugly creature.
“Have I mentioned how much I miss this?” Zack said, to no one in particular as he bashed a putty’s head against his knee.
“Maybe we should take up the ranger costume again,” Jason replied, half-jokingly. He blocked a blow, ducked, and spun to face Tommy. “What do you think?” Just then, a tenga glided across the room directly at Tommy. He was pushed against the wall, but didn’t have to work very hard to free himself from the tenga’s grasp. He shot an annoyed look in Jason and Zack’s direction.
“What do you think?” he muttered. Jason laughed and returned his attention to the putties.
A few minutes later, the ground was littered with collapsed monsters. The seven rangers and former rangers started to slowly make their way through a maze of feathers, scales and clay to regroup in the center of the room. A crash from one side of the room halted their progress as they all directed their attention to the source of the noise. Out of the shadows stepped Mesogog.
“You wish to be reunited with your precious Hayley? Well, your wish has been granted!” he bellowed as he tossed a small round object in the rangers’ direction. As soon as it made contact with the floor it began to hiss and smoke, followed by flashes of brightly colored light.
When the smoke cleared, Tommy, Kira and Connor had vanished.
“Hey! Where’d they go?” Ethan cried out.
Trent turned to the two men they had yet to be introduced to. They looked just as puzzled as he was. “What do we do?” As soon as the question was out of his mouth, he followed it with, “Who are you guys, anyway?”
Zack, ignoring the question for the moment, turned to Jason. “What do you think, man? Should we start walking?” he said, motioning toward the unexplored end of the dark cavern.
Jason nodded and looked back at the two younger boys. “Come on, let’s go. We’ll explain on the way.”
****
Tommy’s eyes popped open in another room, presumably in the same underground lair. The first thing he noticed were tall iron bars. He, Kira and Connor were in a cage of some sort.
The second thing he noticed was Hayley.
“Tommy!” she cried, as she picked herself up off the floor and flung herself at him. “I’m so glad you’re here! I’m completely freaked out!”
Tommy embraced her. “I’m glad I’m here too. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“No, no… Mesogog and the red guy were talking, and they said I was the perfect lure to get you down here.” She pulled herself back from Tommy and frowned. “I’m sorry I was bait. I feel like I got us all trapped.”
“No way, Hayley!” Connor piped in. “Mesogog did this, not you. None of this is your fault,” he said, clenching his fist.
“Hey, did you say something about a red guy?” Tommy asked cautiously.
“Yes, Mesogog’s down here with some red guy. He’s pretty scary looking. He has a chrome exoskeleton, and carries a big staff.”
No, Tommy thought. It couldn’t be…
“Oh yeah, and a big gold lion with wings! It’s like something out of a bad dream!” she added, refusing to take her quivering hand from his arm.
Tommy was experiencing some major déjà vu. He turned, stepped forward and leaned on the bars of the cage, his arms above his head and forearms making contact with the cool iron. “ZEDD! GOLDAR! WHERE ARE YOU?” he yelled.
“Dr. O, what are you doing?!?” Kira cried, swatting at him frantically. “Do you want them to know we’re here?”
“They already know we’re here, Kira. They put us here,” he said, surprisingly calmly. He took a moment to survey the room. This one was different than the other. The floor was covered in smooth, flat cement, and the walls, despite appearing as though they were untouched for quite some time, were very ornately decorated in a rich red color. Directly across from him is what caught his attention immediately, though. About 15 feet up in the air was a small balcony on the inside of the room. It reminded him of the balconies at an opera house he visited with his family when he was much younger. That thought made him shudder – it meant the four of them in the cage were “on stage.” Behind the balcony’s small platform was a set of double doors, and sunshine was glaring through the windows brightly. That’s our way out, he thought. If we can just make it out of this cage, and climb up there somehow, we can get out.
“ZEDD!” Tommy shouted one last time before hearing a well-known cackle. The evil tyrant stepped out of the murkiness.
“Tommy, my friend!” he exclaimed in a way that sounded like he was greeting a long-lost comrade. “Long time no see!”
“Zedd, what are you doing here? I thought you were destroyed by the space rangers!”
“Tommy, you of all people should know that true evil never fades away.”
“Cut the crap, Zedd.”
“Okay, Tommy. We met up with your friend Mesogog, discovered that he was trying to destroy the power rangers, realized we had something in common…” he paused and began to pace. “And it was just our lucky day when we found out you were a ranger again.”
Tommy looked away and shook his head. Would this ever end?
“So, Tommy, we’ve joined forces. And you have no way to stop us. You know the saying, ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?’ We’re hoping you start to see the wisdom in that.” Zedd took a few steps forward so his face was up against he bars, inches from Tommy’s. Kira stepped back and gasped when she was able to see him in full light. “Join us, Tommy, or be destroyed!”
Just then, the door that led to the balcony burst open and two figures appeared.
“Oh, Zedd, you didn’t think you could have a Ranger-reunion without me, did you?”
Tommy froze. He knew that voice better than he knew his own.
“Who is that?” Kira whispered to Connor.
Zedd cackled, and spoke without even turning to face the speaker.
“Kimberly…” he snarled.
Chapter 6
“So, you two are original power rangers?” Ethan asked as the four continued their trek through the underground labyrinth.
“Yep. Like, ‘original’ original. Pre-Tom – er, Dr. Oliver, even.” Zack responded proudly.
“I didn’t even know there was a Pre-Dr. O,” Ethan said.
“I did,” Trent chimed in. “Because he was evil, right?”
“That’s right. Not the best moment in ranger history, but we ended up victorious.” Jason said.
“He told me all about it,” said Trent, thinking back to the long talks he and Dr. Oliver had after he had spent time as an evil ranger.
“Did he tell you about Kimberly?” Jason asked.
Both boys shook their heads. “But Mesogog mentioned her name today when he had Hayley,” Trent recalled.
Jason sighed. “Alright, long story short. She was the original pink ranger. And your fearless leader was madly in love with her. The two of them were so in love with each other, they got their own powers because of it.”
“What?!?” Ethan gaped.
“Not fair!” Trent added.
“Well I don’t know about that,” Jason said, shrugging. “I don’t know a whole lot about it, because it all happened after I left, and ended before I returned.” When he saw the boys’ puzzled looks, he added, “I’ll explain that later. Anyway, the team went to the lost planet of Phaedos to restore their powers after Ivan Ooze destroyed the command center – the first time. Tommy took on the ninjetti spirit of the falcon, and Kimberly took the spirit of the crane.”
“Yeah, he told us about that in his video,” said Ethan.
Jason frowned. “Now, you’ll have to tell me about that one later.”
“So not fair,” mumbled Zack to himself. “I wanted to go to another planet.”
Jason laughed and patted him on the back as they continued in the darkness. “No way, man…. You would have been the frog.” This elicited a much-needed laugh from everyone.
“So anyway….” Jason continued. “After they got back, Tommy and Kimberly started getting really sick. They were running fevers, they were shaky…. And all of that makes it tough to drive a zord. So Alpha ran some energy scans on them, and they were off the charts! They had no idea what was wrong with them, so they started doing some research. By this point, they were having seizures, and they’d either sleep for days at a time or be total insomniacs. It was driving them both crazy… but at least they were together.”
“Gag me with a spoon,” Zack interjected.
“Finally Alpha found an old legend about an oracle from Phaedos. The oracle was connected to the Falcon spirit. In this legend, it said that great powers would be granted by the oracle to those who were worthy, and to those whose bond was deep and truly unbreakable – or something like that. The details are fuzzy. All they had to do was learn how to focus all of that energy.”
“It was a lot of energy,” Zack added, feeling the need to stress the magnitude of the power.
“The problem with focusing the energy was that it was tied to their emotions. That meant that the powers amplified their emotions, and also the powers were amplified by their emotions,” Jason said, replaying the statement in his head to make sure it made sense. After a short pause, he continued. “So, if Tommy had a bad day at school, he’d show up at the youth center and end up breaking equipment with his powers. Or if Kimberly was excited about something – which she often was – she’d start glowing bright pink.”
“I don’t even want to know what happened when they got together,” Zack said, giggling at the mental image. The two younger boys shuddered at the thought of Dr. Oliver ‘getting together’ with any girl.
“So, what kind of powers were they?” Trent asked, eyes wide.
“Almost anything you could think of. There was an offensive power. They could use it to shoot laser beams from their hands!” Zack said. His voice became more excited as he continued to speak, making him sound like a small child telling a grand tale.
“WHOA!” both boys said in unison.
“Well, Zack’s exaggerating a little,” Jason said as he slugged Zack in the shoulder. “But there were shooting energy beams involved, from what I understand. They also had a powerful link to each other. Sometimes they could read each other’s thoughts, even though that seemed to come and go. And they could sense each other nearby. I’m not sure what else. But I will tell you one thing…”
Ethan and Trent, now hanging on every word, paused in anticipation.
“It made them pretty badass for a while.”
“So what happened?” Trent ventured.
“Well…” Jason started, then turned to Zack for support. He put his hands out in front of him and shook his head, as if to say, I’m not getting involved here.
“Well I guess that’s for Dr. Oliver to tell you,” he concluded.
“Did they break up?”
“Did one of them get hurt?”
“Did they use the powers against each other?”
The questions were flying a mile a minute now, but Jason wasn’t sure how to respond. He was in a strange position between his two friends. “Um, I guess you could say they broke up… sort of.” He glanced back at Zack, who made another motion as if to say, that’s enough.
“Hey look, I think I see a light up ahead!” shouted Ethan. Jason was thankful for the distraction. But as they made their way toward the brightness in the distance, one more question came his way.
“Do they still have the power of the Falcon Oracle?”
Jason and Zack looked at each other and shrugged. “We don’t know,” Zack said, cryptically.
Chapter 7
At the very sound of Kimberly’s voice, Tommy felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. Kim was here and completely unprotected by ranger powers. He was pretty sure Trini was with her, but he couldn’t be sure, as he had only caught a brief glimpse. Zedd was going to go after her full force. He had been content with waiting until Jason, Zack, Ethan and Trent made their way there to free them from the cell, but his urge to protect Kim and Trini made him incredibly restless and anxious to get out.
Immediately after identifying the women on the balcony, Zedd whirled around to face them, and in one swift movement lifted his staff and shot a sizeable energy blast in their direction. Kimberly, who was indeed with Trini, grabbed her arm and they both hit the ground long before the blast struck the wall above their head. They now crouched on the floor of the balcony behind the solid railing, facing the doorway they had just used to enter the room.
“Okay,” Kim said, catching her breath. “I see some things never change. By the way, who’s the girl with Tommy?”
“Kim!” Trini said exasperatedly. “First of all, there were two women who happen to be locked up with Tommy. I don’t have any idea who either of them is, because I haven’t talked to Tommy in years! And secondly, we’re being fired at right now. Do you think you could think about something else?”
Kimberly rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’m thinking about a plan now. Are you ready to hear it?”
“I don’t know if I can handle this,” Trini said, noting a mischievous sparkle in her eye.
“I want you to head to the back corner and try to climb down. Do you think you can do it?” Kim said sincerely, recalling her good friend’s fear of heights.
“I can manage, but what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to make it down first and cover you while you get down.”
“How do you intend to do that?” Another fiery blast struck the top of the doorframe, making both girls jump.
Kim grinned. “You’ll see. When you get down, try to make your way over to the cell door and see what you can do about that lock.”
Trini nodded and moved closer to the back corner of the balcony. She glanced back at Kimberly, who was now crouched facing the other direction, with her back to the doorway a few feet away from the balcony railing. She sighed, and hoped that whatever Kimberly was planning would work.
Kim turned to her friend and nodded. Then she squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and lunged forward powerfully.
****
While Zedd was distracted, Tommy turned to the rangers and Hayley. “Guys, the moment that door is opened, for any reason, I want you to get out. Fast,” he said, motioning to the padlocked door of the cell. Once you’re out, though, cover your back and try to stay out of the way.” He locked eyes with Hayley. “I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”
The three nodded and inched closer to the door. Tommy turned back just in time to see Kimberly leap forward, grab the railing, and vault over the barrier in perfect gymnast form. A quick turn and a quick flip landed Kimberly on the main floor in seconds. Tommy’s heart stopped for a split-second until he saw her safely on the ground. He shook his head, and a small smile touched his lips. She always lands on her feet, he thought wistfully.
Zedd wasn’t nearly as impressed with her landing. “PUTTIES!” he roared. Instantly, the room was filled with the gray creatures. Kimberly placed her hands in a defensive position and leaned backwards, putting her full weight on her back leg. “Bring it on,” she muttered through clenched teeth. Meanwhile, Trini finished her climb from the balcony and rushed to meet her clay welcoming committee.
The two girls took on the putties fearlessly. Kim’s fighting style, in particular, had improved greatly. It was an intermingling of martial arts and gymnastics, but both styles of movement had been deeply refined, and Tommy found himself in awe of the ferocity that she used against the putties. Trini’s style had become more direct and strong, and yet somehow more graceful at the same time. Not a single putty caught her off-guard.
As the girls took on the creatures, Goldar came creeping out of the shadows. He paused when he saw the two young women being attacked by his master’s drones – and laughed.
“My Lord,” he said to Zedd, spreading his wings as he approached. “Would you like me to finish them off?”
“Not yet, Goldar. Let the putties wear them down. Then we’ll finish them.”
“Goldar, you had better not touch a single hair on her head,” Tommy growled.
Goldar turned to face his old enemy. “Don’t you mean ‘their’ head, black ranger? I’d hate to think that you’d only protect one.”
“Easy, Goldar. We’ll have our victory in time. Watch these fools – I’m going to go check on our friend Mesogog.” Lord Zedd stalked towards the other end of the cell and disappeared into the darkness. In the meantime, the number of putties in the room had dwindled significantly, and Trini seized the opportunity to rush towards the cell door. Kira jumped towards the inside of the door, trying to do anything she could to help this mystery woman free her and her friends.
Meanwhile Kimberly set her sights on a gray creature standing directly in front of the cage. She ran at him full force, but instead of attacking, she jumped and twist-flipped over his head. She kicked him forcefully from behind and turned to face her target – Goldar.
“Goldar… Good to see you again,” she muttered sarcastically.
“Kimmie! Have I ever told you that you were always my favorite ranger to attack?”
“Give it up, Goldar,” she said, tossing her hair out of her face and over her shoulder.
“Why? It’s been such a long time! We have so much to catch up on.”
Tommy studied Goldar suspiciously. He was up to something.
Kimberly and Goldar stared intensely at each other – Kim still actively avoiding eye contact with Tommy, and Goldar gauging his opponent’s reaction. He pushed further.
“I know! Let’s talk about your break-up with Tommy,” Goldar snickered.
Kim’s eyes narrowed to slits and her body visibly tensed up. The most noticeable reaction, though, was in the tips of her fingers. They were glowing a bright pink color, and small sparks were leaping from them.
Trini whirled around from the hopeless lock. “Kim!” she said, motioning towards her energy-filled hands.
“I know,” Kimberly said, clenching her teeth on concentration. Tommy didn’t notice, however. He was busy watching for Zedd to return –which he did.
“Yes, Miss Kimberly,” Lord Zedd snickered wickedly as he walked up behind her, putting her in the unfortunate position of being directly between the two vile creatures. “Let’s talk about that.”
At this point, Kimberly lost some degree of her control and the pink force made its way up her arms. At this point, Tommy finally noticed the power engulfing her muscular figure. He stood wide-eyed and in complete shock.
“Is it the Falcon Oracle?” Hayley inquired softly from behind him. Tommy nodded without turning to face her, unable to speak.
“Huh? My Lord!” Goldar called, confused.
Zedd grunted. “That’s not supposed to happen! We destroyed… Argh!! Well, let’s see if this does the trick!” At that moment, both Zedd and Goldar fired bright beams at Kimberly – Zedd from his staff, Goldar from his sword.
“Kim!” Tommy called, finally finding his voice.
Kimberly’s hands shot up to either side and sent her own energy beams to meet theirs. She now stood facing the cage, arms fully extended to either side, holding off two lethal blasts.
Sweat dripped down Kimberly’s rosy cheeks, and her hair clung to her damp forehead. Trini could see her knees starting to tremble underneath her jeans. She was breathing heavily, and neither she nor Trini knew how long she’d be able to hold off the attacks. Lord Zedd and Goldar, of course, knew she couldn’t hold them off forever, and they maintained their assault continuously.
“Kim, don’t let them get to you!” Tommy called desperately, moving down the wall of iron bars until he was directly in front of her. “Don’t let them win!”
Kimberly did not respond to Tommy, but instead slowly turned her head in Trini’s direction. Her arms were getting tired. “Trini,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Get out of the way!”
Trini quickly ducked out of the way. Kira took her cue from Trini’s movement and also moved away from the cell door.
Kimberly closed her eyes and pictured Tommy’s face, which she hadn’t seen in nearly ten years. She opened her eyes and found his eyes still gazing intently on her, clouded with worry. She took a deep breath and swung both arms towards the front, redirecting all three energy beams toward the cell lock with an incredible degree of precision.
“Cease fire!” Goldar yelled. But it was too late.
When the smoke cleared, the padlock on the cell door had been obliterated.
Chapter 8
Jason, Zack, Ethan and Trent made their way down a dark corridor mostly in silence. The lighted area they had discovered was actually a long, winding staircase, and when they climbed it they came out in a dark hallway. It was obvious that this hallway was inside a building of some sort, instead of being underground like they had been before. The conversation had faded away, leaving the four of them in a content silence.
Suddenly, Trent spoke up. “So, why are you guys here? We’ve kind of ignored that in this whole… mess.”
Zack assumed Trent was speaking about him and Jason, and took the initiative to answer him. “We made a promise. We all did. Dr. Oliver has told you about Zordon, right?”
Trent and Ethan nodded, and there was a long pause as they all waited for Zack to continue.
“Right before he left to head back to his home planet, he contacted the original five rangers. That’s me, Jason, Kim, Trini, and Billy. He told us about a vision he had of the future. It was an abstract vision, from the sounds of it, but in the future he saw several of the evil leaders joining forces to form an evil empire. Zordon said the empire would be impossible to beat with any ranger team, and he asked us to intervene before the empire was formed. We all took a vow to return to Angel Grove and try to stop the empire from forming if we thought the events Zordon prophesized were taking place - no matter where our lives took us.”
Ethan’s eyes were wide. “Does that mean the empire is forming now? And, how did you know to come back now?”
“Well,” Jason interjected, “we think the empire may be forming now, because we all seemed to receive a signal. All of our signs were different. For example, I had a dream where I met Zordon in his human form, and he told me to return. I wasn’t sure if it was really THE SIGN I was waiting for, but just to be safe I headed to Angel Grove. Without communicating with each other, all five of us ended up in Angel Grove this morning, so we figured that was the only ‘sign’ we needed.”
“We took that as our cue to track down the latest ranger team – you guys. Jason knew Tommy was leading a ranger team now, so we drove down to Reefside and showed up at his house… right after all of you disappeared into that portal,” Zack added.
“So how did you get in?”
Jason smiled. “We have Billy. He took care of it for us. He tracked your energy signatures, just like you tracked Hayley’s. After he tracked it, he discovered the portal actually led to a tunnel beneath an abandoned theater house in downtown Reefside. So two of us took the portal, and two of us came in with a more… conventional method.”
“That’s where we are?” Trent inferred.
“Yep. And I’m betting one of these panels leads us into the room where they’re holding everyone, and where Kim and Trini entered the theater. So start searching!” Jason directed.
Immediately, the four men began tapping the large panels that made up the walls to the corridor. Jason wasn’t exactly sure what they were looking for, but he was hoping they would stumble upon it, somehow.
****
“Kira, go!” Tommy yelled, but she was already two steps ahead of him, and she was swinging the now unlocked gate open. Connor was close behind her.
“Let’s take the gold guy,” he whispered to her as they made their way out the door. She nodded in agreement.
Tommy was still trying to get over the fact that Kimberly still had the Falcon Oracle powers. He had lost access to the powers the day he received the heartbreaking letter from her that ended their three year relationship. Did it have something to do with the fact that she dumped him? If so, that hardly seemed fair. He lost the greatest powers and the greatest love of his life all at once, and it was a huge blow to his heart, let alone his morale.
He shook his head. There would be time for pondering this later, and he’d have to interrogate Kimberly about it as soon as they got out of here. For now he had to keep her safe, along with Hayley. He turned to the latter. “Get yourself out of this cage and move along the perimeter of the room to that spot under the balcony. Stay there. We’ll cover you.” She nodded, showing she understood.
Tommy turned to see Kim lean down and place her hands on her knees. The massive energy blast she just directed had taken a lot out of her, and she needed to pause to catch her breath. She only dropped her guard for a second or two, but it was enough time for Zedd to lunge for her.
“No!” called Tommy as he barreled out of the cell. He leapt clear over a hunched Connor, ran behind Kira, and caught Zedd’s arm just as it was about to strike Kim in the back of the head. Kim spun to face him, unaware of the danger she had just been in. She found Tommy blocking Zedd’s blow, his face filled with rage. “This is between me and you, Zedd,” Tommy snarled.
Kimberly opened her mouth to thank Tommy for rescuing her, once again, but he was intensely focused on Zedd. Zedd used his free hand to pound his staff on the ground and call for more putties. She ducked away and joined with Trini to take on the putties.
Meanwhile, Kira and Connor were holding Goldar at bay. Hayley watched them as she made her way along the far wall. They certainly weren’t taking Goldar down, but they were definitely holding their own. Hayley was impressed with how far they had come in the relatively short time, and their fighting ability appeared to catch Goldar off-guard. He clearly wasn’t anticipating the combined force that Connor and Kira could put forth. She made a mental note to mention her commendations to Tommy later.
And then, catching all three of them off-guard, the panel in the wall behind Goldar came crashing down on him. Kira and Connor just barely managed to stay out of the way. Everyone in the room turned their attention to the sound, and to the four young men stepping through the opening and carefully over a knocked-out Goldar.
“Hey guys,” Jason said as he led the group in. “Did we miss the party?”
Chapter 9
“Of course you didn’t! In fact, the party has just begun!” Mesogog declared, emerging from the corner of the room. He raised one arm in the air and a crew of tyranodrones joined the putties in the room.
“Let’s go, guys!” Jason called. The four men got to work immediately, taking on the army of putties and tyranodrones. Kira and Connor joined them, seeing as how Goldar was passed out on the floor. The evil creatures came on strong, but the rangers and former rangers met them with fierce opposition.
After knocking her third tyranodrone to the floor, Kimberly returned her attention to the battle going on between Tommy and Zedd. They were having it out with viciousness and strength, and they turned out to be a pretty even match for each other – that is, until Zedd decided to add emotional attacks to the physical ones.
“Tommy! What a weak warrior you’ve become! I’ll tell you, you really lost your fighting spirit the day you got that letter,” he roared between blows.
No, Kim thought to herself. Don’t do this to him!
Tommy took several steps backwards and dropped back into fighting stance. Behind Kimberly, the war against the putties and tyranodrones waged on. Kimberly stood frozen, watching the confrontation between the large red monster and her former lover.
“It was like your soul fled from you as fast as your girlfriend did!” Zedd cackled as he watched Tommy slowly crumble.
“No! That’s not true!” Kimberly cried, diving towards Zedd and Tommy – failing to notice Goldar pulling himself up from the ground. Goldar sprung from the shambles of the wall and grabbed at Kimberly just as she reached Zedd. The two monsters tackled the petite woman and pinned her against the wall of the cage, holding her just slightly off the ground. Her ands and arms glowed pink, ready to attack.
“Kimberly!” Tommy yelled, pulling himself out of his remorse over the loss of his heart and pushing forward. Goldar pulled himself from the former pink ranger and caught Tommy off-guard, tackling him and pinning him to the ground. Goldar pulled his sword from his waist and held it at Tommy’s throat. Zedd pulled Kimberly forward and wrapped one disgusting arm around her neck. She lifted her hands and prepared to fire at Goldar, hoping to free Tommy from his grasp. Mesogog wailed with laughter from the corner.
“No, no Kimmie,” Goldar said, panting. “You know that I can push my sword straight through him in the time it takes you to fire!”
Kimberly dropped her stance with a sigh and withdrew the energy from her hands as best she could. The room seemed to freeze around her. In a room full of power rangers and ex-power rangers she still managed to get captured. This did not bode well for her or Tommy.
“My Lord!” Goldar called. “Get rid of the other rangers! They may interfere!”
“No!” Mesogog called. “That’s not the plan! We need them! We need to destroy them!”
Zedd cackled. “I’m changing the plans, Mesogog! Both of these rangers are stronger than you’ll ever be! We need them on our team.”
Goldar turned his head so he was facing Tommy. Their faces were only a few inches apart. “Join us, Tommy. Join us, and we’ll let your pretty little Kimberly go!”
Tommy grunted. He was still clearly trying to figure out a way to get away. He knew that if he could free himself, Kim could take care of Zedd with the oracle powers.
“Yes, Tommy, do consider your options carefully,” Zedd hissed, tightening his grip around Kimberly’s neck.
Kimberly leaned her head back, gazing at the ceiling as if it would grant some sort of solution to her current predicament. Think, Kim. There’s gotta be a way out of this! She began mentally scanning her repertoire of Falcon Oracle powers. With all the power that they granted her, surely there was something besides the offensive power that would help her out.
“My Lord! The other rangers!” Goldar yelled, noticing Jason rapidly progressing towards Zedd. Zedd lifted his staff and aimed them in the general direction of the other rangers.
“No!” yelled Mesogog. “I won’t let you ruin our plans to enslave them!”
“I MAKE MY OWN PLANS!” Zedd bellowed, causing every person and creature in the room to freeze. He whipped his staff around, aimed it directly at Mesogog, and fired. The ray hit the beast dead on, and a sickening cry filled the room as the scaly beast was reduced to a pile of dust on the floor.
“He just took out Mesogog!” Connor yelled triumphantly as the tyranodrones disappeared around him.
“Yeah, great. So now all we have to worry about is this crazy red guy who destroys everything he touches, and a flying gold-plated lion,” Kira snapped back.
Zedd returned his attention to the main floor, where Connor, Kira, Ethan, Trent, Jason, Zack and Trini were finishing off the last of the putties. Lifting his staff, he yelled, “Be gone!”
Kimberly shrieked again, still tight in his grasp, as the top of the staff exploded in color and the room filled with an ominous fog. The fog was fleeting, but when it lifted the other rangers had vanished, leaving Kim, Tommy, Zedd and Goldar alone in the giant, empty room.
****
The dino thunder team, along with Jason, Zack, Trini and Hayley, landed hard in an alley way between two old buildings in downtown Reefside. None of them had managed to land on their feet.
“What happened?” Ethan said, pulling himself up from the ground between two trash cans.
Trent leapt to his feet and rushed to find Kira. He found her several stories up on a fire escape. “I’m okay,” she groaned, as she pulled herself to her feet and climbed down.
Jason offered his hand to Zack, and once standing the two of them pulled Hayley and Trini to their feet.
“You guys!” called a voice familiar to some of them. A tall man with sandy blonde hair dressed in some sort of uniform ran up to them from the street. “Are you alright?”
“Billy!” Trini exclaimed. “We don’t know what happened! One minute we were fighting, and then somehow Zedd teleported us out here.”
“Yeah, he locked down the entryway to the theater,” Billy said, motioning to the building to his right. I can’t maintain a portal or get us in through any of the doors anymore.”
“They’ve still got Dr. Oliver and Kimberly,” Ethan said.
The group cast glances at each other uneasily. “Tommy’s strong. He’s gotten himself out of way worse situations. And he definitely won’t let anything happen to Kim,” Jason said, trying to put the group at ease.
“And Kim’s got some major ass-kicking ability,” Trini added. The group gawked at her uncharacteristic use of language, to which she shrugged and said, “What? She does!”
“Hey, we’re missing someone,” Hayley added, doing a mental headcount.
“I’m in here!” yelled Connor from inside a large dumpster towards the back of the alley.
Kira, Trent and Ethan giggled and rushed to pull their teammate out, while Hayley formally introduced herself to the former ranger team.
“I don’t know how to get us back in to the theater,” Hayley said to Billy and the others. “But we do have one advantage out here.” The group looked on questioningly. “Now that we’re out of the evil realm, they should be able to morph,” she said, motioning to the teenagers that now stood knee-deep in trash.
“That just might do the trick,” Jason said, hopefully.
****
All the commotion had given Kimberly the time she needed to develop a plan. She knew it was a long shot, but she was staring at Tommy being slowly crushed by Goldar and his own emotions, and she knew it was their only chance.
“Take me, Zedd,” she cried.
“No!” Tommy called.
Kimberly ignored him. “Zedd, you’ve always wanted me as your evil queen. And I have an unstoppable power. I’d be more of an asset to your team. Take me and let Tommy go.”
Tommy tried to shift positions under Goldar. He looked nervously at Kim. She must be planning something, right? She must have some trick up her sleeve. Surely she wouldn’t sacrifice herself for me… would she?
“Goldar, what do you think?” Zedd said, in an uncharacteristic display of indecision.
“I think that could work out nicely,” he hissed, leering at Kimberly.
“Tommy,” Kim said softly. Tommy was taken aback, realizing that this was the first time she had spoken directly to him since she had burst into the room. “Tommy, I’m sorry.”
Tommy turned and looked directly at her. Their eyes locked, and if Tommy would have been standing his knees would have buckled. She was having a strange effect on him, and he fought to stay focused on her words.
“Tommy, I’m sorry for everything,” she continued. “I never should have hurt you. You’ve always been so strong, and I’ve always been your Achilles heel. Let me go now. You have a ranger team to lead, and I’ll only get in the way. I love you. I never stopped loving you.” Kimberly felt her eyes well up with tears. Good, Kim thought. Just keep talking.
Kimberly’s monologue was deep and heartfelt, and had anyone else witnessed it they would have been moved by her touching confessions and her obvious love for Tommy. Unfortunately, though, Tommy didn’t hear a word of it.
From the moment he made smoldering eye contact with Kimberly, he felt his world start to spin, and his vision went blurry. He tried to stay focused, but the last thing he heard her say was ‘I’m sorry for everything.’ Then blackness started to creep in on the edges of his field of vision, and he heard Kim say one more thing – only, it didn’t come from her mouth. He could feel her in his head, and she spoke to him gently and soothingly.
There’s something I need to show you, Tommy.
Then Tommy’s world went black.
There's a couple of things I've already decided to fix... eventually. Some of these I figured out on my own; some were pointed out by reviewers.
1) I wrote Kira and Hayley way out of character. (They're pretty minor characters in this story, though.)
2) I think I broke it up into too many chapters, making the chapters too short.
3) At the time I wrote this, I thought the rules about "mature content" were strictly adhered to, and I wrote this story to abide with those rules. There are some places that could probably use some more detail... I don't know if I want to fix that or just leave it as is.
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for constructive criticism!
The Falcon Oracle
Chapter 1
He shuddered violently as he stumbled along the edge of the lake, trying to keep his eyes focused on his destination. He had almost reached the stone ledge at the water’s edge when his legs betrayed him and he fell face first into the sand. Cursing loudly, he pulled himself up on his forearms and used a mock army crawl to travel the remaining few feet. Once he felt the cold, hard stone beneath his fingertips, he pulled himself up to a sitting position. Cold sweat streamed down his face and back, causing him to shiver. He used one hand to push a damp strand of dark hair out of his eyes while using his other to brace himself against the ridge. His breath was coming in short gasps, and his vision was blurred with his own tears.
He used one shaky hand to pull a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He sighed as he opened it and read it to himself for what felt like the millionth time that day.
…hardest letter I’ve ever had to write… in some ways like a brother… met someone else… Please forgive me.
Squinting, he was only able to make out parts of the letter between his shudders and tears. The last line in the letter still pulled his breath from his chest, and for a moment he thought for sure he would suffocate. This letter had caused this same reaction each time he had read it that day. His tears started to fall, and he began to tremble violently. A sickening feeling overcame him, and he leaned over and placed his head on his knees to keep himself from throwing up.
White bolts of energy started emanating from his chest and working their way down his arms and legs. He couldn’t stop shaking now, and it was all he could do to keep from screaming in agony. The energy bolts made their way down to his fingertips and leapt to the ground below. He used every fiber of strength to keep his body under control, which was now convulsing uncontrollably.
And then, as soon as it began, the white beams stopped. He slumped with exhaustion and took several deep breaths to regain his composure. Then he pulled himself to his feet. The trembling, sweating and blurry vision had all faded away, but they had been replaced with an empty, gut-wrenching feeling in his chest. He was fairly certain he knew what just happened, but he had better check with Billy and Zordon. Fast.
Tommy Oliver had just lost the power of the Falcon Oracle.
****
Eight Years Later
Dr. Thomas Oliver couldn’t help but smile at the sight before him. He watched from behind a computer screen at Hayley’s cyber café as Trent, Ethan and Connor had an animated discussion that he was all too familiar with. Trent was nervous about asking Kira out, and the other two boys were actively trying to persuade him that Kira would undoubtedly say yes.
“Penny for your thoughts, stranger,” said a voice behind him.
Tommy turned to find Hayley, standing with one hand on her hip and the other holding a rag to wipe down the tables. The look on her face was a mix between anger and relief, and Tommy knew he was receiving that look because it had been quite a while since he had stopped in just to say ‘hi.’ These days, the only time he and Hayley got to talk was when they were talking ranger business, and Tommy could honestly say he missed their 2am powwows about Tommy’s latest romantic mishap or Hayley’s current scientific venture.
“Oh, I was just watching Connor and Ethan bully Trent into asking Kira out,” Tommy replied. “It brings back old memories.”
“Oh yeah? Good memories or bad ones?”
Tommy frowned. “I don’t know. I guess that’s what I was trying to figure out. Part of me wants to grab Trent and tell him to stay far away and avoid having his heart ripped to shreds.”
“Only part of you?” Hayley said in a facetious tone as she started to wipe a nearby table. “What does the other part of you think?”
“The other part of me wants to relive these parts of my life vicariously through him.”
Hayley rolled her eyes and tossed the damp rag at Tommy. “You’re such a hopeless romantic.”
Tommy tossed the rag back and sighed. “I sure used to be. I don’t know, anymore.”
“Getting cynical in your old age?” Hayley said with a giggle.
“I guess.”
After a brief silent moment, Hayley decided this conversation was over, and it was time for shop talk. “I was worried when I didn’t hear from you guys yesterday.”
“Why’s that?” Tommy answered as he redirected his attention to the computer screen.
“Well, I heard about the tyranodrone attack on the news,” she whispered. “They said you guys took care of them, but I didn’t hear anything about a monster. And then, I didn’t hear from any of you afterwards. It was just weird.”
Tommy shook his head. Lots of strange things had happened lately. About two weeks prior, they had started picking up some strange energy readings from the remains of the original command center. This had happened occasionally over the past eight years, but in the last two weeks the readings were much stronger and almost constant. When the readings started showing up in Hayley’s energy scans, Tommy had hiked to the spot in the mountains where the command center once stood. Time had long concealed the remains, and anyone who passed the ruins now would never know the significance of the force buried there. Tommy spent most of the day there meditating and reminiscing, but he found nothing out of the ordinary, and he returned to the lab that evening and told Hayley that nothing was amiss.
Then the tyranodrone attacks started. Not that this was out of the ordinary for the Dino Thunder team, but what was strange happened after each attack – nothing. Tommy knew as a veteran ranger that when the evil armies were dispatched – whether they were putties, tengas, cogs, or tyranodrones – a monster attack was sure to follow. However, that hadn’t happened in the last few weeks. Just a handful of drones that fought and then retreated quickly. Neither Tommy nor Hayley could come up with an explanation or possible motive for such attacks, putting them in the uncomfortable position of waiting like sitting ducks for whatever plan Mesogog had to come to light.
“I don’t know, Hayley. Something is definitely up… I just don’t know what.” He sighed, signed off of the computer and stood to leave. “I’ll let you know if anything pops up.”
“Okay. I’ll probably swing by later to do some more in-depth energy scans in the lab. If there’s something lurking out there, we’ll want to find it before it finds us.”
Tommy nodded and headed for the door of the café.
“Hey!” Hayley called after him. “What’s up with you lately? You seem… off.”
Tommy turned and shrugged. “I guess I’m feeling nostalgic. It’ll pass. It always does.” And with that he headed for the parking lot and took the short drive home.
Chapter 2
Several hours later, Tommy found himself dozing on the couch, a half-empty beer bottle in his hand. Deep down, he knew he should be more alert, but a strange feeling of apathy had overtaken him, and right now he wanted nothing more than to sit on his couch, drink a beer, and watch TV, like every other 25-year-old man he knew. To an outsider, it would appear that Tommy Oliver was depressed, but he was anything but. At this moment in time he was entirely content in the normalcy of the situation. In fact, he smiled slightly at the mere thought of having the lifestyle of a true bachelor.
His smile faded when he heard Kira’s voice through his communicator.
“Dr. O! Dr. O, we need help at the lake!”
Tommy sprung to his feet, letting his natural reflexes take over. His smile vanished and became a look of fierce determination as he reached for his morpher. This was his life, alright, and as much as he thought about being “normal”, he knew he’d never be able to let go of the rush he got every time he morphed.
The energy from the black dino gem engulfed him, and he was no longer plain ol’ bachelor Tommy Oliver. He was now the Black Dino Thunder Ranger. He responded to Kira to let her know he was on his way, and in a flash of light, he was gone.
Tommy arrived at the lake to find Kira and Trent, already morphed into the yellow and white rangers, respectively. They were surrounded by a clan of tyranodrones. Not more than a minute after Tommy’s feet touched the ground Connor and Ethan arrived, morphed and ready for action.
Together, the five rangers took on the drones. The drones had come on full force against Kira and Trent, but once the other rangers arrived they backed off considerably. Their hasty retreat made Tommy anxious about their motives.
“You guys alright?” he yelled to the rest of the team. The team slowly gathered to regroup.
“Trent, Kira… What happened?” Connor said, breathlessly.
“We were just walking by the lake when they showed up. They were tough, man… we couldn’t stop them! Then when you guys showed up it’s like they just… quit,” Trent explained.
Tommy looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then he commanded the team to power down. “Let’s get back to the lab and check in with Hayley.”
Ethan reached for his teleporter, but Tommy stopped him. “Let’s walk. It’s not far.” The rest of the team looked at each other questioningly, but did not object. Tommy wanted to cling to every ounce of ‘ordinary’ he could – and ordinary people did not teleport. Plus, this gave him time to ponder what Kira and Trent were doing at the lake. He was almost certain that Trent had been trying to ask Kira out, based on the conversation that took place earlier. And if life was as cruelly ironic as he was sure it was, he figured that Trent had stumbled his way through a conversation just to be interrupted by tyranodrones when he finally worked up the courage to ask. He made a mental note to pull Trent aside and give him a pep talk. He was sure he’d need it.
Once they arrived at his home, though, Tommy deeply regretted his choice to take a leisurely walk back from the park.
The front door of Tommy’s house had been kicked in – or, at least, he hoped it had been kicked. ‘That’s what normal robbers would do,’ Tommy thought as he hurried inside. Once in the living room, though, Tommy and the rest of the team knew this was no ordinary robbery. Whoever had been in the house had been looking for something specific, and Tommy’s house had plenty to hide.
The group made their way through the house, trying to find out if anything was missing. Trent turned to find Kira hanging back from the group with a concerned look on her face.
“Kira? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I have a bad feeling,” she said distractedly, as her eyes darted around frantically.
“A bad feeling about what?”
“I don’t know, but… I think whoever was in here is still here.”
As if on cue, a thump and a crash came from below them.
Tommy turned and raced towards the basement, his ranger teammates right on his heels. He flung open the door and nearly fell backwards. On the steps leading below was none other than Mesogog himself, holding Hayley tightly in his grasp, his claw menacingly close to her throat.
“Tommy!” she whimpered. Mesogog tightened his grip on her arm and pointed the claw at her throat upwards.
“Let her go!” he demanded.
Mesogog cackled. “Not a chance, Oliver. Besides, you should be used to going after the damsel in distress. How many times have you rescued your precious Kimberly?”
Tommy stiffened at the mention of her name. He made an active effort every day not to think about her, but deep down he knew Kimberly was the only woman he had ever truly loved. He did everything he could to push her out of his mind, including burying himself in his work over the last few years. She had been the topic of many a drunken conversation with Hayley during his college years, and he couldn’t help but think about her every time he went out on a date with another girl, but he was sure he had never talked about her while he was working with Mercer. How did Mesogog know about her?
“Tommy, I’m sorry! I came over to work in the lab, and…” Hayley stammered. Mesogog grunted and hauled her backwards down the stairs, eliciting a short shriek from Hayley and cutting off her statement.
“Dr. O! Let’s go!” yelled Connor, jarring Tommy from his thoughts. Together the rangers raced down the stairs after Mesogog and Hayley, just in time to see them disappear into an invisa-portal.
Chapter 3
The petite young woman shifted her carry-on from one shoulder to the other anxiously and pushed a strand of short dark hair off her forehead. She glanced at the TSA sign explaining that no weapons were allowed on the plane and chuckled to herself. She felt her hands start to burn and shoved them into her pockets before their pink glow became obvious.
It’s a good thing Oracle powers don’t set off the metal detector, she thought.
Once through security she stopped to buy a cup of coffee and made her way to the gate. If she had been more alert she would have noticed a group of young men nearby very obviously ogling her. However, the woman was lost in her own thoughts.
Am I crazy? Am I really doing this? She shook her head and took another sip of her coffee.
You made a promise. Just keep telling yourself that. You made a promise.
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and strongly considered standing up and leaving. She was still feeling conflicted when they started boarding her flight, and she remained in her seat right up until the final boarding call.
“THIS IS THE LAST CALL FOR FLIGHT 106, DIRECT SERVICE TO ANGEL GROVE.”
Well, now or never.
With that, she tossed her empty coffee cup away and headed for the boarding door.
****
“What should we do, Dr. Oliver?” Kira cried frantically.
Tommy tried to ignore the panic creeping into her voice and her use of his full last name. That meant that she was frightened, as none of the rangers ever called him anything but Dr. O.
“It’s probably still possible to pick up on Hayley’s energy signature. We can use it to create our own portal and follow them,” Ethan chimed in.
“Yeah, Ethan, good thinking…” Tommy said absent-mindedly. His mind was still wrapped around Mesogog’s mention of Kim.
“Earth to Dr. O! Dude, do you even care that Mesogog just took off with Hayley?” Connor yelled.
“Of course I care! Ethan, start working on that energy signature,” Tommy snapped. He turned back to Connor. “And what did I tell you about calling me ‘dude’?”
Ethan began frantically working on the computer equipment, trying to pick up on the energy signature. Connor went to the storage room and began pulling out every weapon he could find. Trent and Kira were huddled together in a corner of the room, their mere presence providing mutual comfort. And Tommy paced the length of the lab. His mind darted between Hayley and Kimberly. Yes, he knew he had to rescue Hayley. She had no ranger powers to protect her. But Tommy was confident in his ranger team, and he felt confident in their ability to find and free Hayley.
A deep, sinking feeling in his stomach and a familiar pain in his chest told him that the situation with Kimberly was different. Was Mesogog planning on abducting her too? Had he already? Tommy had no idea, and because he hadn’t spoken to her in nearly ten years he had no way of monitoring her safety. He realized that the fact that he was still worried about her safety after all these years proved just what a valuable hostage she would make for Mesogog.
“Dr. O! I got it! The portal’s opening now!”
Tommy jumped and headed for the glowing opening in the center of the room, the other rangers close behind.
Go get Hayley. Then come home, swallow your pride, and give Kim a call.
This was Tommy’s last thought as he led the team through the portal.
Chapter 4
The five rangers emerged on the other side of the portal and found themselves unmorphed.
“Hey! What just happened?” Connor yelled.
Ethan reached for his morpher and attempted to become the blue ranger again, with no success. “Our powers don’t work?!?”
Tommy felt a cold chill shoot down his spine. There was something all too familiar about this place, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Dr. O? How are we supposed to find Hayley without our powers?” Trent asked nervously.
“You’d be amazed at the things you can do, even without powers,” Tommy responded cryptically. He found himself sinking back into reminiscence, and he had to fight to keep his mind in the game.
“Were you ever in a place like this without powers, Dr. O?” Kira inquired.
Kira’s question refocused Tommy’s mind, and suddenly he knew exactly where they were. “It’s a Dark Dimension!” he exclaimed.
“Uh… okay…” Kira said with a roll of her eyes. Dr. Oliver had effectively avoided her question – again.
“What’s a Dark Dimension?” Ethan asked, as they made their way apprehensively down the dark corridor.
“A Dark Dimension is a place created by a force of evil. It exists beneath our own realm. Our ranger powers only exist in our own, so that’s why they don’t work. I haven’t seen one since Rita and Zedd, though.”
“Who are Rita and Zedd?” asked Connor, suddenly interested in the conversation.
“They were the evil leaders when the original rangers were around. They were sort of like our Mesogog.”
The group continued the rest of their trek in silence. Soon, they reached the end of the narrow corridor and found themselves in a large underground cavern. The room was nearly pitch black and filled with a thick, milky fog. There was only enough light to make out a vague shadow here and there. Tommy felt the rangers huddle closer to him.
“Hayley!” he called out into the darkness. The other rangers echoed him.
Just as Tommy thought he might have to make his way out of this room in the dark, a bright green light burst from the corner of the room. At first the light did nothing but illuminate the fog, but soon a shadowy figure stepped from the corner. It didn’t take long for the group to recognize their nemesis.
“Mesogog,” Tommy said through clenched teeth. “Where’s Hayley?”
The sound of Mesogog’s heavy breathing cut through the silence of the room. Tommy felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. He started to repeat his question, but Connor beat him to it.
“Last chance, snake-breath. Where is she?”
Mesogog ignored the question and took several steps closer to the five rangers huddled in near the middle of the room. “Tommy… I managed to run into some old friends of yours. They were thrilled to hear you were a ranger again,” he said, followed by an evil laugh. Tommy’s heart sank – what ‘old friends’ was he talking about? Kimberly? He hoped not. He wasn’t sure he had the emotional fortitude to see her right now, let alone swoop in and save her. And the alternative, the idea of not saving her, was rotting a whole in his stomach.
“We decided we’d like to find out if you’re really worth all the hype,” Mesogog continued. “You’re the most feared ranger in the whole galaxy, and we’d like to know why.” By the end of this statement, Mesogog’s voice had sunk to a whispery snarl, and Tommy was so focused on preparing himself for battle that he didn’t even stop to wonder who Mesogog was referring to as ‘we.’
“Cut it out, you overgrown slimeball! Give us back Hayley!” Trent yelled in an uncharacteristic bout of rage. But Mesogog ignored the outburst, and turned back toward the shadows. In that instant, Tommy felt the presence of someone – or something – else in the room.
Directly ahead of the rangers, a group of tyranodrones made their way out of the shadows, but those were the least of their worries. Out of the corner of her eye Kira caught a glance of a flock of bird-like creatures and let loose a small yelp. On their right, a group of gray-clad creatures were mumbling and motioning towards Connor. And Tommy was frantically trying to figure out how to divide and conquer a room filled with tyranodrones, putties and tengas with only five rangers. He was thinking so hard, in fact, that he almost didn’t notice the flash of brightly colored light behind them.
“Hey bro, we thought you could use some help,” said a familiar voice. Tommy spun on his heel to face his mystery supporters – and nearly fell over in shock.
Tommy found himself face-to-face with Jason Scott and Zach Taylor.
Chapter 5
“Bro! What are you two doing here?” Tommy asked incredulously.
“Never mind that for now. We’ve got some work to do.” Zack clapped his hands and then rubbed them together in anticipation.
Jason smiled. “So lead on, fearless leader,” he said with a nod.
“Right.” Tommy reassessed the situation briefly. All of the creatures were slowly closing in on them, and his rangers had already dropped into defensive stances. He realized that, out of the three monsters, Jason and Zack had only dealt with the putties, and the dino rangers had only dealt with the tyranodrones. That made his job easier. “Jason, Zack, take the putties. Ethan and Trent, take the tyranodrones. Kira and Connor, you’re with me. We’ll take the tengas,” he said, motioning towards the feathery freaks.
With that, the group split. They came at their respective hordes powerfully and drove them pack into the dark corners of the room. ‘Huts’ and ‘ki-yas’ echoed from the stone walls, and one by one they defeated each ugly creature.
“Have I mentioned how much I miss this?” Zack said, to no one in particular as he bashed a putty’s head against his knee.
“Maybe we should take up the ranger costume again,” Jason replied, half-jokingly. He blocked a blow, ducked, and spun to face Tommy. “What do you think?” Just then, a tenga glided across the room directly at Tommy. He was pushed against the wall, but didn’t have to work very hard to free himself from the tenga’s grasp. He shot an annoyed look in Jason and Zack’s direction.
“What do you think?” he muttered. Jason laughed and returned his attention to the putties.
A few minutes later, the ground was littered with collapsed monsters. The seven rangers and former rangers started to slowly make their way through a maze of feathers, scales and clay to regroup in the center of the room. A crash from one side of the room halted their progress as they all directed their attention to the source of the noise. Out of the shadows stepped Mesogog.
“You wish to be reunited with your precious Hayley? Well, your wish has been granted!” he bellowed as he tossed a small round object in the rangers’ direction. As soon as it made contact with the floor it began to hiss and smoke, followed by flashes of brightly colored light.
When the smoke cleared, Tommy, Kira and Connor had vanished.
“Hey! Where’d they go?” Ethan cried out.
Trent turned to the two men they had yet to be introduced to. They looked just as puzzled as he was. “What do we do?” As soon as the question was out of his mouth, he followed it with, “Who are you guys, anyway?”
Zack, ignoring the question for the moment, turned to Jason. “What do you think, man? Should we start walking?” he said, motioning toward the unexplored end of the dark cavern.
Jason nodded and looked back at the two younger boys. “Come on, let’s go. We’ll explain on the way.”
****
Tommy’s eyes popped open in another room, presumably in the same underground lair. The first thing he noticed were tall iron bars. He, Kira and Connor were in a cage of some sort.
The second thing he noticed was Hayley.
“Tommy!” she cried, as she picked herself up off the floor and flung herself at him. “I’m so glad you’re here! I’m completely freaked out!”
Tommy embraced her. “I’m glad I’m here too. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“No, no… Mesogog and the red guy were talking, and they said I was the perfect lure to get you down here.” She pulled herself back from Tommy and frowned. “I’m sorry I was bait. I feel like I got us all trapped.”
“No way, Hayley!” Connor piped in. “Mesogog did this, not you. None of this is your fault,” he said, clenching his fist.
“Hey, did you say something about a red guy?” Tommy asked cautiously.
“Yes, Mesogog’s down here with some red guy. He’s pretty scary looking. He has a chrome exoskeleton, and carries a big staff.”
No, Tommy thought. It couldn’t be…
“Oh yeah, and a big gold lion with wings! It’s like something out of a bad dream!” she added, refusing to take her quivering hand from his arm.
Tommy was experiencing some major déjà vu. He turned, stepped forward and leaned on the bars of the cage, his arms above his head and forearms making contact with the cool iron. “ZEDD! GOLDAR! WHERE ARE YOU?” he yelled.
“Dr. O, what are you doing?!?” Kira cried, swatting at him frantically. “Do you want them to know we’re here?”
“They already know we’re here, Kira. They put us here,” he said, surprisingly calmly. He took a moment to survey the room. This one was different than the other. The floor was covered in smooth, flat cement, and the walls, despite appearing as though they were untouched for quite some time, were very ornately decorated in a rich red color. Directly across from him is what caught his attention immediately, though. About 15 feet up in the air was a small balcony on the inside of the room. It reminded him of the balconies at an opera house he visited with his family when he was much younger. That thought made him shudder – it meant the four of them in the cage were “on stage.” Behind the balcony’s small platform was a set of double doors, and sunshine was glaring through the windows brightly. That’s our way out, he thought. If we can just make it out of this cage, and climb up there somehow, we can get out.
“ZEDD!” Tommy shouted one last time before hearing a well-known cackle. The evil tyrant stepped out of the murkiness.
“Tommy, my friend!” he exclaimed in a way that sounded like he was greeting a long-lost comrade. “Long time no see!”
“Zedd, what are you doing here? I thought you were destroyed by the space rangers!”
“Tommy, you of all people should know that true evil never fades away.”
“Cut the crap, Zedd.”
“Okay, Tommy. We met up with your friend Mesogog, discovered that he was trying to destroy the power rangers, realized we had something in common…” he paused and began to pace. “And it was just our lucky day when we found out you were a ranger again.”
Tommy looked away and shook his head. Would this ever end?
“So, Tommy, we’ve joined forces. And you have no way to stop us. You know the saying, ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?’ We’re hoping you start to see the wisdom in that.” Zedd took a few steps forward so his face was up against he bars, inches from Tommy’s. Kira stepped back and gasped when she was able to see him in full light. “Join us, Tommy, or be destroyed!”
Just then, the door that led to the balcony burst open and two figures appeared.
“Oh, Zedd, you didn’t think you could have a Ranger-reunion without me, did you?”
Tommy froze. He knew that voice better than he knew his own.
“Who is that?” Kira whispered to Connor.
Zedd cackled, and spoke without even turning to face the speaker.
“Kimberly…” he snarled.
Chapter 6
“So, you two are original power rangers?” Ethan asked as the four continued their trek through the underground labyrinth.
“Yep. Like, ‘original’ original. Pre-Tom – er, Dr. Oliver, even.” Zack responded proudly.
“I didn’t even know there was a Pre-Dr. O,” Ethan said.
“I did,” Trent chimed in. “Because he was evil, right?”
“That’s right. Not the best moment in ranger history, but we ended up victorious.” Jason said.
“He told me all about it,” said Trent, thinking back to the long talks he and Dr. Oliver had after he had spent time as an evil ranger.
“Did he tell you about Kimberly?” Jason asked.
Both boys shook their heads. “But Mesogog mentioned her name today when he had Hayley,” Trent recalled.
Jason sighed. “Alright, long story short. She was the original pink ranger. And your fearless leader was madly in love with her. The two of them were so in love with each other, they got their own powers because of it.”
“What?!?” Ethan gaped.
“Not fair!” Trent added.
“Well I don’t know about that,” Jason said, shrugging. “I don’t know a whole lot about it, because it all happened after I left, and ended before I returned.” When he saw the boys’ puzzled looks, he added, “I’ll explain that later. Anyway, the team went to the lost planet of Phaedos to restore their powers after Ivan Ooze destroyed the command center – the first time. Tommy took on the ninjetti spirit of the falcon, and Kimberly took the spirit of the crane.”
“Yeah, he told us about that in his video,” said Ethan.
Jason frowned. “Now, you’ll have to tell me about that one later.”
“So not fair,” mumbled Zack to himself. “I wanted to go to another planet.”
Jason laughed and patted him on the back as they continued in the darkness. “No way, man…. You would have been the frog.” This elicited a much-needed laugh from everyone.
“So anyway….” Jason continued. “After they got back, Tommy and Kimberly started getting really sick. They were running fevers, they were shaky…. And all of that makes it tough to drive a zord. So Alpha ran some energy scans on them, and they were off the charts! They had no idea what was wrong with them, so they started doing some research. By this point, they were having seizures, and they’d either sleep for days at a time or be total insomniacs. It was driving them both crazy… but at least they were together.”
“Gag me with a spoon,” Zack interjected.
“Finally Alpha found an old legend about an oracle from Phaedos. The oracle was connected to the Falcon spirit. In this legend, it said that great powers would be granted by the oracle to those who were worthy, and to those whose bond was deep and truly unbreakable – or something like that. The details are fuzzy. All they had to do was learn how to focus all of that energy.”
“It was a lot of energy,” Zack added, feeling the need to stress the magnitude of the power.
“The problem with focusing the energy was that it was tied to their emotions. That meant that the powers amplified their emotions, and also the powers were amplified by their emotions,” Jason said, replaying the statement in his head to make sure it made sense. After a short pause, he continued. “So, if Tommy had a bad day at school, he’d show up at the youth center and end up breaking equipment with his powers. Or if Kimberly was excited about something – which she often was – she’d start glowing bright pink.”
“I don’t even want to know what happened when they got together,” Zack said, giggling at the mental image. The two younger boys shuddered at the thought of Dr. Oliver ‘getting together’ with any girl.
“So, what kind of powers were they?” Trent asked, eyes wide.
“Almost anything you could think of. There was an offensive power. They could use it to shoot laser beams from their hands!” Zack said. His voice became more excited as he continued to speak, making him sound like a small child telling a grand tale.
“WHOA!” both boys said in unison.
“Well, Zack’s exaggerating a little,” Jason said as he slugged Zack in the shoulder. “But there were shooting energy beams involved, from what I understand. They also had a powerful link to each other. Sometimes they could read each other’s thoughts, even though that seemed to come and go. And they could sense each other nearby. I’m not sure what else. But I will tell you one thing…”
Ethan and Trent, now hanging on every word, paused in anticipation.
“It made them pretty badass for a while.”
“So what happened?” Trent ventured.
“Well…” Jason started, then turned to Zack for support. He put his hands out in front of him and shook his head, as if to say, I’m not getting involved here.
“Well I guess that’s for Dr. Oliver to tell you,” he concluded.
“Did they break up?”
“Did one of them get hurt?”
“Did they use the powers against each other?”
The questions were flying a mile a minute now, but Jason wasn’t sure how to respond. He was in a strange position between his two friends. “Um, I guess you could say they broke up… sort of.” He glanced back at Zack, who made another motion as if to say, that’s enough.
“Hey look, I think I see a light up ahead!” shouted Ethan. Jason was thankful for the distraction. But as they made their way toward the brightness in the distance, one more question came his way.
“Do they still have the power of the Falcon Oracle?”
Jason and Zack looked at each other and shrugged. “We don’t know,” Zack said, cryptically.
Chapter 7
At the very sound of Kimberly’s voice, Tommy felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. Kim was here and completely unprotected by ranger powers. He was pretty sure Trini was with her, but he couldn’t be sure, as he had only caught a brief glimpse. Zedd was going to go after her full force. He had been content with waiting until Jason, Zack, Ethan and Trent made their way there to free them from the cell, but his urge to protect Kim and Trini made him incredibly restless and anxious to get out.
Immediately after identifying the women on the balcony, Zedd whirled around to face them, and in one swift movement lifted his staff and shot a sizeable energy blast in their direction. Kimberly, who was indeed with Trini, grabbed her arm and they both hit the ground long before the blast struck the wall above their head. They now crouched on the floor of the balcony behind the solid railing, facing the doorway they had just used to enter the room.
“Okay,” Kim said, catching her breath. “I see some things never change. By the way, who’s the girl with Tommy?”
“Kim!” Trini said exasperatedly. “First of all, there were two women who happen to be locked up with Tommy. I don’t have any idea who either of them is, because I haven’t talked to Tommy in years! And secondly, we’re being fired at right now. Do you think you could think about something else?”
Kimberly rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’m thinking about a plan now. Are you ready to hear it?”
“I don’t know if I can handle this,” Trini said, noting a mischievous sparkle in her eye.
“I want you to head to the back corner and try to climb down. Do you think you can do it?” Kim said sincerely, recalling her good friend’s fear of heights.
“I can manage, but what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to make it down first and cover you while you get down.”
“How do you intend to do that?” Another fiery blast struck the top of the doorframe, making both girls jump.
Kim grinned. “You’ll see. When you get down, try to make your way over to the cell door and see what you can do about that lock.”
Trini nodded and moved closer to the back corner of the balcony. She glanced back at Kimberly, who was now crouched facing the other direction, with her back to the doorway a few feet away from the balcony railing. She sighed, and hoped that whatever Kimberly was planning would work.
Kim turned to her friend and nodded. Then she squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and lunged forward powerfully.
****
While Zedd was distracted, Tommy turned to the rangers and Hayley. “Guys, the moment that door is opened, for any reason, I want you to get out. Fast,” he said, motioning to the padlocked door of the cell. Once you’re out, though, cover your back and try to stay out of the way.” He locked eyes with Hayley. “I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”
The three nodded and inched closer to the door. Tommy turned back just in time to see Kimberly leap forward, grab the railing, and vault over the barrier in perfect gymnast form. A quick turn and a quick flip landed Kimberly on the main floor in seconds. Tommy’s heart stopped for a split-second until he saw her safely on the ground. He shook his head, and a small smile touched his lips. She always lands on her feet, he thought wistfully.
Zedd wasn’t nearly as impressed with her landing. “PUTTIES!” he roared. Instantly, the room was filled with the gray creatures. Kimberly placed her hands in a defensive position and leaned backwards, putting her full weight on her back leg. “Bring it on,” she muttered through clenched teeth. Meanwhile, Trini finished her climb from the balcony and rushed to meet her clay welcoming committee.
The two girls took on the putties fearlessly. Kim’s fighting style, in particular, had improved greatly. It was an intermingling of martial arts and gymnastics, but both styles of movement had been deeply refined, and Tommy found himself in awe of the ferocity that she used against the putties. Trini’s style had become more direct and strong, and yet somehow more graceful at the same time. Not a single putty caught her off-guard.
As the girls took on the creatures, Goldar came creeping out of the shadows. He paused when he saw the two young women being attacked by his master’s drones – and laughed.
“My Lord,” he said to Zedd, spreading his wings as he approached. “Would you like me to finish them off?”
“Not yet, Goldar. Let the putties wear them down. Then we’ll finish them.”
“Goldar, you had better not touch a single hair on her head,” Tommy growled.
Goldar turned to face his old enemy. “Don’t you mean ‘their’ head, black ranger? I’d hate to think that you’d only protect one.”
“Easy, Goldar. We’ll have our victory in time. Watch these fools – I’m going to go check on our friend Mesogog.” Lord Zedd stalked towards the other end of the cell and disappeared into the darkness. In the meantime, the number of putties in the room had dwindled significantly, and Trini seized the opportunity to rush towards the cell door. Kira jumped towards the inside of the door, trying to do anything she could to help this mystery woman free her and her friends.
Meanwhile Kimberly set her sights on a gray creature standing directly in front of the cage. She ran at him full force, but instead of attacking, she jumped and twist-flipped over his head. She kicked him forcefully from behind and turned to face her target – Goldar.
“Goldar… Good to see you again,” she muttered sarcastically.
“Kimmie! Have I ever told you that you were always my favorite ranger to attack?”
“Give it up, Goldar,” she said, tossing her hair out of her face and over her shoulder.
“Why? It’s been such a long time! We have so much to catch up on.”
Tommy studied Goldar suspiciously. He was up to something.
Kimberly and Goldar stared intensely at each other – Kim still actively avoiding eye contact with Tommy, and Goldar gauging his opponent’s reaction. He pushed further.
“I know! Let’s talk about your break-up with Tommy,” Goldar snickered.
Kim’s eyes narrowed to slits and her body visibly tensed up. The most noticeable reaction, though, was in the tips of her fingers. They were glowing a bright pink color, and small sparks were leaping from them.
Trini whirled around from the hopeless lock. “Kim!” she said, motioning towards her energy-filled hands.
“I know,” Kimberly said, clenching her teeth on concentration. Tommy didn’t notice, however. He was busy watching for Zedd to return –which he did.
“Yes, Miss Kimberly,” Lord Zedd snickered wickedly as he walked up behind her, putting her in the unfortunate position of being directly between the two vile creatures. “Let’s talk about that.”
At this point, Kimberly lost some degree of her control and the pink force made its way up her arms. At this point, Tommy finally noticed the power engulfing her muscular figure. He stood wide-eyed and in complete shock.
“Is it the Falcon Oracle?” Hayley inquired softly from behind him. Tommy nodded without turning to face her, unable to speak.
“Huh? My Lord!” Goldar called, confused.
Zedd grunted. “That’s not supposed to happen! We destroyed… Argh!! Well, let’s see if this does the trick!” At that moment, both Zedd and Goldar fired bright beams at Kimberly – Zedd from his staff, Goldar from his sword.
“Kim!” Tommy called, finally finding his voice.
Kimberly’s hands shot up to either side and sent her own energy beams to meet theirs. She now stood facing the cage, arms fully extended to either side, holding off two lethal blasts.
Sweat dripped down Kimberly’s rosy cheeks, and her hair clung to her damp forehead. Trini could see her knees starting to tremble underneath her jeans. She was breathing heavily, and neither she nor Trini knew how long she’d be able to hold off the attacks. Lord Zedd and Goldar, of course, knew she couldn’t hold them off forever, and they maintained their assault continuously.
“Kim, don’t let them get to you!” Tommy called desperately, moving down the wall of iron bars until he was directly in front of her. “Don’t let them win!”
Kimberly did not respond to Tommy, but instead slowly turned her head in Trini’s direction. Her arms were getting tired. “Trini,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Get out of the way!”
Trini quickly ducked out of the way. Kira took her cue from Trini’s movement and also moved away from the cell door.
Kimberly closed her eyes and pictured Tommy’s face, which she hadn’t seen in nearly ten years. She opened her eyes and found his eyes still gazing intently on her, clouded with worry. She took a deep breath and swung both arms towards the front, redirecting all three energy beams toward the cell lock with an incredible degree of precision.
“Cease fire!” Goldar yelled. But it was too late.
When the smoke cleared, the padlock on the cell door had been obliterated.
Chapter 8
Jason, Zack, Ethan and Trent made their way down a dark corridor mostly in silence. The lighted area they had discovered was actually a long, winding staircase, and when they climbed it they came out in a dark hallway. It was obvious that this hallway was inside a building of some sort, instead of being underground like they had been before. The conversation had faded away, leaving the four of them in a content silence.
Suddenly, Trent spoke up. “So, why are you guys here? We’ve kind of ignored that in this whole… mess.”
Zack assumed Trent was speaking about him and Jason, and took the initiative to answer him. “We made a promise. We all did. Dr. Oliver has told you about Zordon, right?”
Trent and Ethan nodded, and there was a long pause as they all waited for Zack to continue.
“Right before he left to head back to his home planet, he contacted the original five rangers. That’s me, Jason, Kim, Trini, and Billy. He told us about a vision he had of the future. It was an abstract vision, from the sounds of it, but in the future he saw several of the evil leaders joining forces to form an evil empire. Zordon said the empire would be impossible to beat with any ranger team, and he asked us to intervene before the empire was formed. We all took a vow to return to Angel Grove and try to stop the empire from forming if we thought the events Zordon prophesized were taking place - no matter where our lives took us.”
Ethan’s eyes were wide. “Does that mean the empire is forming now? And, how did you know to come back now?”
“Well,” Jason interjected, “we think the empire may be forming now, because we all seemed to receive a signal. All of our signs were different. For example, I had a dream where I met Zordon in his human form, and he told me to return. I wasn’t sure if it was really THE SIGN I was waiting for, but just to be safe I headed to Angel Grove. Without communicating with each other, all five of us ended up in Angel Grove this morning, so we figured that was the only ‘sign’ we needed.”
“We took that as our cue to track down the latest ranger team – you guys. Jason knew Tommy was leading a ranger team now, so we drove down to Reefside and showed up at his house… right after all of you disappeared into that portal,” Zack added.
“So how did you get in?”
Jason smiled. “We have Billy. He took care of it for us. He tracked your energy signatures, just like you tracked Hayley’s. After he tracked it, he discovered the portal actually led to a tunnel beneath an abandoned theater house in downtown Reefside. So two of us took the portal, and two of us came in with a more… conventional method.”
“That’s where we are?” Trent inferred.
“Yep. And I’m betting one of these panels leads us into the room where they’re holding everyone, and where Kim and Trini entered the theater. So start searching!” Jason directed.
Immediately, the four men began tapping the large panels that made up the walls to the corridor. Jason wasn’t exactly sure what they were looking for, but he was hoping they would stumble upon it, somehow.
****
“Kira, go!” Tommy yelled, but she was already two steps ahead of him, and she was swinging the now unlocked gate open. Connor was close behind her.
“Let’s take the gold guy,” he whispered to her as they made their way out the door. She nodded in agreement.
Tommy was still trying to get over the fact that Kimberly still had the Falcon Oracle powers. He had lost access to the powers the day he received the heartbreaking letter from her that ended their three year relationship. Did it have something to do with the fact that she dumped him? If so, that hardly seemed fair. He lost the greatest powers and the greatest love of his life all at once, and it was a huge blow to his heart, let alone his morale.
He shook his head. There would be time for pondering this later, and he’d have to interrogate Kimberly about it as soon as they got out of here. For now he had to keep her safe, along with Hayley. He turned to the latter. “Get yourself out of this cage and move along the perimeter of the room to that spot under the balcony. Stay there. We’ll cover you.” She nodded, showing she understood.
Tommy turned to see Kim lean down and place her hands on her knees. The massive energy blast she just directed had taken a lot out of her, and she needed to pause to catch her breath. She only dropped her guard for a second or two, but it was enough time for Zedd to lunge for her.
“No!” called Tommy as he barreled out of the cell. He leapt clear over a hunched Connor, ran behind Kira, and caught Zedd’s arm just as it was about to strike Kim in the back of the head. Kim spun to face him, unaware of the danger she had just been in. She found Tommy blocking Zedd’s blow, his face filled with rage. “This is between me and you, Zedd,” Tommy snarled.
Kimberly opened her mouth to thank Tommy for rescuing her, once again, but he was intensely focused on Zedd. Zedd used his free hand to pound his staff on the ground and call for more putties. She ducked away and joined with Trini to take on the putties.
Meanwhile, Kira and Connor were holding Goldar at bay. Hayley watched them as she made her way along the far wall. They certainly weren’t taking Goldar down, but they were definitely holding their own. Hayley was impressed with how far they had come in the relatively short time, and their fighting ability appeared to catch Goldar off-guard. He clearly wasn’t anticipating the combined force that Connor and Kira could put forth. She made a mental note to mention her commendations to Tommy later.
And then, catching all three of them off-guard, the panel in the wall behind Goldar came crashing down on him. Kira and Connor just barely managed to stay out of the way. Everyone in the room turned their attention to the sound, and to the four young men stepping through the opening and carefully over a knocked-out Goldar.
“Hey guys,” Jason said as he led the group in. “Did we miss the party?”
Chapter 9
“Of course you didn’t! In fact, the party has just begun!” Mesogog declared, emerging from the corner of the room. He raised one arm in the air and a crew of tyranodrones joined the putties in the room.
“Let’s go, guys!” Jason called. The four men got to work immediately, taking on the army of putties and tyranodrones. Kira and Connor joined them, seeing as how Goldar was passed out on the floor. The evil creatures came on strong, but the rangers and former rangers met them with fierce opposition.
After knocking her third tyranodrone to the floor, Kimberly returned her attention to the battle going on between Tommy and Zedd. They were having it out with viciousness and strength, and they turned out to be a pretty even match for each other – that is, until Zedd decided to add emotional attacks to the physical ones.
“Tommy! What a weak warrior you’ve become! I’ll tell you, you really lost your fighting spirit the day you got that letter,” he roared between blows.
No, Kim thought to herself. Don’t do this to him!
Tommy took several steps backwards and dropped back into fighting stance. Behind Kimberly, the war against the putties and tyranodrones waged on. Kimberly stood frozen, watching the confrontation between the large red monster and her former lover.
“It was like your soul fled from you as fast as your girlfriend did!” Zedd cackled as he watched Tommy slowly crumble.
“No! That’s not true!” Kimberly cried, diving towards Zedd and Tommy – failing to notice Goldar pulling himself up from the ground. Goldar sprung from the shambles of the wall and grabbed at Kimberly just as she reached Zedd. The two monsters tackled the petite woman and pinned her against the wall of the cage, holding her just slightly off the ground. Her ands and arms glowed pink, ready to attack.
“Kimberly!” Tommy yelled, pulling himself out of his remorse over the loss of his heart and pushing forward. Goldar pulled himself from the former pink ranger and caught Tommy off-guard, tackling him and pinning him to the ground. Goldar pulled his sword from his waist and held it at Tommy’s throat. Zedd pulled Kimberly forward and wrapped one disgusting arm around her neck. She lifted her hands and prepared to fire at Goldar, hoping to free Tommy from his grasp. Mesogog wailed with laughter from the corner.
“No, no Kimmie,” Goldar said, panting. “You know that I can push my sword straight through him in the time it takes you to fire!”
Kimberly dropped her stance with a sigh and withdrew the energy from her hands as best she could. The room seemed to freeze around her. In a room full of power rangers and ex-power rangers she still managed to get captured. This did not bode well for her or Tommy.
“My Lord!” Goldar called. “Get rid of the other rangers! They may interfere!”
“No!” Mesogog called. “That’s not the plan! We need them! We need to destroy them!”
Zedd cackled. “I’m changing the plans, Mesogog! Both of these rangers are stronger than you’ll ever be! We need them on our team.”
Goldar turned his head so he was facing Tommy. Their faces were only a few inches apart. “Join us, Tommy. Join us, and we’ll let your pretty little Kimberly go!”
Tommy grunted. He was still clearly trying to figure out a way to get away. He knew that if he could free himself, Kim could take care of Zedd with the oracle powers.
“Yes, Tommy, do consider your options carefully,” Zedd hissed, tightening his grip around Kimberly’s neck.
Kimberly leaned her head back, gazing at the ceiling as if it would grant some sort of solution to her current predicament. Think, Kim. There’s gotta be a way out of this! She began mentally scanning her repertoire of Falcon Oracle powers. With all the power that they granted her, surely there was something besides the offensive power that would help her out.
“My Lord! The other rangers!” Goldar yelled, noticing Jason rapidly progressing towards Zedd. Zedd lifted his staff and aimed them in the general direction of the other rangers.
“No!” yelled Mesogog. “I won’t let you ruin our plans to enslave them!”
“I MAKE MY OWN PLANS!” Zedd bellowed, causing every person and creature in the room to freeze. He whipped his staff around, aimed it directly at Mesogog, and fired. The ray hit the beast dead on, and a sickening cry filled the room as the scaly beast was reduced to a pile of dust on the floor.
“He just took out Mesogog!” Connor yelled triumphantly as the tyranodrones disappeared around him.
“Yeah, great. So now all we have to worry about is this crazy red guy who destroys everything he touches, and a flying gold-plated lion,” Kira snapped back.
Zedd returned his attention to the main floor, where Connor, Kira, Ethan, Trent, Jason, Zack and Trini were finishing off the last of the putties. Lifting his staff, he yelled, “Be gone!”
Kimberly shrieked again, still tight in his grasp, as the top of the staff exploded in color and the room filled with an ominous fog. The fog was fleeting, but when it lifted the other rangers had vanished, leaving Kim, Tommy, Zedd and Goldar alone in the giant, empty room.
****
The dino thunder team, along with Jason, Zack, Trini and Hayley, landed hard in an alley way between two old buildings in downtown Reefside. None of them had managed to land on their feet.
“What happened?” Ethan said, pulling himself up from the ground between two trash cans.
Trent leapt to his feet and rushed to find Kira. He found her several stories up on a fire escape. “I’m okay,” she groaned, as she pulled herself to her feet and climbed down.
Jason offered his hand to Zack, and once standing the two of them pulled Hayley and Trini to their feet.
“You guys!” called a voice familiar to some of them. A tall man with sandy blonde hair dressed in some sort of uniform ran up to them from the street. “Are you alright?”
“Billy!” Trini exclaimed. “We don’t know what happened! One minute we were fighting, and then somehow Zedd teleported us out here.”
“Yeah, he locked down the entryway to the theater,” Billy said, motioning to the building to his right. I can’t maintain a portal or get us in through any of the doors anymore.”
“They’ve still got Dr. Oliver and Kimberly,” Ethan said.
The group cast glances at each other uneasily. “Tommy’s strong. He’s gotten himself out of way worse situations. And he definitely won’t let anything happen to Kim,” Jason said, trying to put the group at ease.
“And Kim’s got some major ass-kicking ability,” Trini added. The group gawked at her uncharacteristic use of language, to which she shrugged and said, “What? She does!”
“Hey, we’re missing someone,” Hayley added, doing a mental headcount.
“I’m in here!” yelled Connor from inside a large dumpster towards the back of the alley.
Kira, Trent and Ethan giggled and rushed to pull their teammate out, while Hayley formally introduced herself to the former ranger team.
“I don’t know how to get us back in to the theater,” Hayley said to Billy and the others. “But we do have one advantage out here.” The group looked on questioningly. “Now that we’re out of the evil realm, they should be able to morph,” she said, motioning to the teenagers that now stood knee-deep in trash.
“That just might do the trick,” Jason said, hopefully.
****
All the commotion had given Kimberly the time she needed to develop a plan. She knew it was a long shot, but she was staring at Tommy being slowly crushed by Goldar and his own emotions, and she knew it was their only chance.
“Take me, Zedd,” she cried.
“No!” Tommy called.
Kimberly ignored him. “Zedd, you’ve always wanted me as your evil queen. And I have an unstoppable power. I’d be more of an asset to your team. Take me and let Tommy go.”
Tommy tried to shift positions under Goldar. He looked nervously at Kim. She must be planning something, right? She must have some trick up her sleeve. Surely she wouldn’t sacrifice herself for me… would she?
“Goldar, what do you think?” Zedd said, in an uncharacteristic display of indecision.
“I think that could work out nicely,” he hissed, leering at Kimberly.
“Tommy,” Kim said softly. Tommy was taken aback, realizing that this was the first time she had spoken directly to him since she had burst into the room. “Tommy, I’m sorry.”
Tommy turned and looked directly at her. Their eyes locked, and if Tommy would have been standing his knees would have buckled. She was having a strange effect on him, and he fought to stay focused on her words.
“Tommy, I’m sorry for everything,” she continued. “I never should have hurt you. You’ve always been so strong, and I’ve always been your Achilles heel. Let me go now. You have a ranger team to lead, and I’ll only get in the way. I love you. I never stopped loving you.” Kimberly felt her eyes well up with tears. Good, Kim thought. Just keep talking.
Kimberly’s monologue was deep and heartfelt, and had anyone else witnessed it they would have been moved by her touching confessions and her obvious love for Tommy. Unfortunately, though, Tommy didn’t hear a word of it.
From the moment he made smoldering eye contact with Kimberly, he felt his world start to spin, and his vision went blurry. He tried to stay focused, but the last thing he heard her say was ‘I’m sorry for everything.’ Then blackness started to creep in on the edges of his field of vision, and he heard Kim say one more thing – only, it didn’t come from her mouth. He could feel her in his head, and she spoke to him gently and soothingly.
There’s something I need to show you, Tommy.
Then Tommy’s world went black.