Purifying Rain

By: Armitage Blade

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Power Rangers. I also don't own any of my song muses.

Part I-The Storm

Three years since the Dino Thunder Power Rangers defeated Mesagog, Dr. Thomas "Tommy" Oliver was standing out on his porch. Of the five Rangers-none of whom were pink-only Tommy was having a hard time. The others were younger than he was, and while getting the powers back was like riding a bicycle in you never forgot how to use them, the withdrawals and sense of loss surrounding losing the powers were a bitch.

He was slowly retreating into himself, using his teaching job as a reason to not have a social life now that Connor, Ethan, Trent, and Kira were off living their lives post-Ranger. Of course, he knew that Connor was in college, majoring in business and playing soccer for Stanford. Ethan, well, he was off at MIT on a full ride scholarship and playing with software systems. Trent was in New York at a fancy art and design school, and his comic books were becoming legendary. Kira was still out there, singing and putting together albums. It was only a matter of time before she became big.

None of it mattered to the last of the Dino Thunder Rangers, who was sulking after a visit with Billy and Haley. Those two were obviously in love, and while he didn't regret setting them up together after Mesagog was defeated, he hated seeing it and seeing what could have been for himself. Of course, Billy caught the dark, haunted look in Tommy's eyes, and quickly cut the visit short. Haley had some idea, but not like Billy did.

A thunderstorm was rolling in as Tommy was standing out on the back deck area of his house, overlooking Reefside. A well-worn letter was gripped in his left hand, the ink nearly worn out. However, Tommy could recite that letter pretty much from heart, and the memories it brought back were nearly enough to bring him to his knees. The rumbles of thunder mixed with the faint strands of a Staind song coming from the radio allowed Tommy to not feel so alone as he started to mentally fall into one of the memories attached to that letter, now merely a piece of paper.

FLASHBACK

"Hey Tommy!" Ernie yelled, waving a letter. "Looks like Kim's written you from Florida."

"Adam, ya wanna go grab the letter and read it to me while I finish on the machine?" Tommy asked, preparing to be embarrassed by Kim's nicknames.

Adam walked over and retrieved the letter, opening it and sitting next to the machine Tommy was on.

"Dear Tommy, Florida is so beautiful at this time of year..." Adam said, trailing off as his eyes scanned the letter. He turned to Tommy and said, "Bro, I don't think I should finish this letter out loud."

"Why?" Tommy asked as he snatched the letter. It read:

Dear Tommy,

Florida is so beautiful at this time of year. The ocean is so calm, unlike at home.

Oh, who am I kidding? This isn't why I'm writing.

Tommy, I found someone else. He's so nice and comforting. He's been an absolute rock while I've been out here. I've fallen for him, and fallen out of love with you. We aren't dating anymore. I'm sorry.

Kim

Tommy heard his heart break as he read the last few lines of the letter. Later, Adam would claim that he saw the Tommy he knew break right before his eyes when he read that letter. That letter caused Tommy to be almost incapable of love.

END FLASHBACK

Tommy wasn't incapable of loving, as many of his fellow Rangers knew. It's just that he had been burned so bad by the one his Falcon had deemed as his soul mate that there was no way he could be that intimate with anyone else. He tried, oh God how he tried, to get to that level of intimacy, and it all failed.

A strong flash of lightning and a sharp crack of thunder rolled through the sky, unheeded by Tommy as he stayed mired in memories. God, the last Ranger Reunion he attended was a nightmare, and he didn't even get in the door. He might have been part of the "Original Six", but the "Original Five", with the exception of Billy, treated him like shit at that Reunion As he thought of it, his mind immediately turned to that particular memory.

FLASHBACK

"Bro! How are you?" Jason asked, giving Tommy the one-armed hug.

"Doing ok, Jas." Tommy answered. "It sure is good to see the old crowd back together. I'm surprised that Billy made it back from Aquitar."

"So am I, actually." Jason became serious. "Tommy, Kim's here. Please, don't say anything to upset her."

"Upset her?" Tommy asked incredulously. "Hell, if anyone's the injured party here, it's me."

"Tommy!"

"No, Jas, I mean it. You didn't see what her letter did to me. I'm pretty sure I'm incapable of loving because of her."

Jason's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."

"If I was kidding you, I wouldn't be here, now would I?"

"Tommy, are you ok?"

"As ok as a monster attacking Angel Grove."

Jason backed up. "You truly have changed, Tommy."

"Excellent deduction, Sherlock. How long did it take you to figure that out?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm going back to the gang. If you think you can handle being around the rest of us, go right ahead."

"No, I can see when present company declares someone unfit to be amongst them. I'll be at my hotel, trying to get a flight out of here. God knows why I chose to be here when I could be working on my paleontology degree more." Tommy said, striding out of Jason's house, shutting the door with a resounding bang.

END FLASHBACK

After the door slamming was explained, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Kat had all walked out of the Reunion, taking his side. They explained that Tommy was so shattered by the letter that Zordon had to interfere in order to keep their Leader intact. Billy, being one of the "Original Five", stayed only to catch up with Jason, Trini, and Zack. He left not long after the others, unable to bring himself to talk to Kim.

After that, Billy sent Tommy a communication device to talk to him when he wasn't on Earth. The note said to use it anytime he needed someone to talk to. When Tommy and Haley were working on the Dino Thunder Rangers' powers, gadgets, zords, and morphers, that communication device got quite the workout. Billy came back to Earth about three months after Mesagog's defeat, and he and Haley started dating after Tommy and Ethan nudged the two together.

The thoughts of the original Rangers brought his mind back to his years between Ranger gigs, as he now thought of them. He thought he would be going onto bigger and better things. His goal was to make it to NASCAR, and race up at the top levels. Unfortunately, a serious crash at Fontana made his dream impossible. The crash had actually shattered his helmet visor and a piece of shrapnel scratched his eye badly. Surgery had fixed it, but he was told he couldn't race again. Thankfully the race series he was in paid him severance pay, and it was quite the sum. So, he did the smart thing: he took the money and ran.

He ran alright, straight to the UCLA admissions office. After seven years, nearly all of them spent going to school year round, he earned his PhD in paleontology and also earned a teaching certificate. After the disaster with Anton Mercer on his island, he allowed his "friends" to think he was dead, only informing Haley and Billy that the reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated. Of course, Billy still teases him about getting a doctorate, especially since he knew that Tommy's memory was legendary for being horrid. A slight smile graced his face as he remembered Billy was currently going through his doctorate program in robotics, and would be joining the "Doctorate Fraternity", as Haley dubbed both Tommy and herself.

Another loud crack of thunder rang out, masking the first couple rings of the telephone. The third ring had Tommy answering his phone without looking at the Caller ID first.

"Hello?"

"Tommy, this is Kim."

"What do you want?"

"Wow, curt and to the point, aren't we? I just want to talk. No harm in it, right?"

He frowned, because he remembered hearing from Billy that Kim was looking for a way to talk to him. She wanted to set the past straight. "Considering that I got delivered a broken heart via the US Post Office about twelve years ago, yes there is some harm in it. Kim, the time to talk to me was when you wrote that letter, not after twelve fucking years!" He said.

"I was going to talk to you at the Ranger Reunion seven years ago, when you last attended one. You know, since then, no one from the second team except Billy will attend?"

"Good."

"Good? How is that good? There's a whole generation missing from every Ranger Reunion! This year, there'll be two! I just got letters from all of the Dino Thunder Rangers saying they won't show either!"

"Let's face it, you're living a life that I dreamed I would've been a part of. Obviously, my forgetful mind also forgot to remind me that reality bites hard."

"What happened to you, Tommy? You aren't the person I remember."

"No, you think? That's what happens when the person you believe was the one managed to break your heart so badly, it's now encased in ice, incapable of love."

Kim's end of the line was silent.

"That's what you've done, Kim. You've turned someone who was the most caring, most loyal friend into a sharp-tongued, sarcastic, jaded bachelor. I'm glad that Adam took Jason to task after I left. That was when I figured you didn't care anymore. Is that what you wanted, a confession? Fine! I confess! I'm a downright royal bastard now Kim, and you know what? You're to blame! That's why the second team stood behind me. They saw what happened to me after you wrote that letter. I was so despondent I was suicidal. Thankfully, Zordon interfered. I owe him my life, no matter how much of a cursed existence it may be.

"Kim, do me a favor. Don't contact me again. There's no way I can love again, and there's no way for you to fix that, even with you being the cause. Go back to your comfortable existence, your loving home. You didn't need me after you left for the Pan-Global games. Why should you need me now?

"Goodbye, Kimberly. May the Power protect you in the rest of your life." Tommy said, before he hung up the phone.

Ironically, he felt like there had been something taken off his shoulders after his little rant session. He realized that he finally acknowledged that he had been the hurt one in the exchange, and it healed him to say how he felt.

He finally noticed that it was raining outside; a purifying, cleansing rain. He felt like he had a cleansing rain run through him, caressing the hurt and beginning the healing process. He looked to the sky, finally feeling a reason to live his life to the fullest again.

"It took me long enough, Zordon, but I finally did it. Thanks for being there for me so many years ago." He said.

And somewhere in the universe, a faint wisp of gas lit up a bit, hearing Tommy's words of thanks.

You're welcome, Tommy. The wisp of gas thought. Feeling emboldened, the wisp of gas took off for another power signature he recognized well. If all went as it should, he would be able to tell Tommy to his face how proud he was of the young man.