Name: Ascendancy
Chapter 1: Of business and pleasure and sexy redheads.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I am nothing. I am one with the gestalt. Sue him
Archives: Sure, just let me know where
Summary: A friend of Tommy's comes visiting, but brings more than just old memories with him.
Shoutout: To Jeannine, for writing a fic that stirred in me the desire to write again myself.
"A good friend is hard to find, hard to lose, and impossible to forget..."
Unknown
"All right everyone, " Doctor Thomas Oliver, Phd, called out as the bell rang behind him, signalling the end of class. "Chapters four and five for tomorrow, and I will be asking people random questions." A few groans followed his announcement as the students began to filter out of the class, and he began to gather up his papers.
"Dr. O?" Kira asked as she walked by the desk. "Don't forget to come by Hayley's for the show tonight."
He smiled at the Yellow Ranger, "Don't worry, I won't forget." She bobbed her head and headed out, joining Conner and Ethan as she left, and he looked back down at the papers he was gathering with a grin that he would never have let them see. He was proud of the three of them. Despite different personalities, different interests and a very tough job they'd more or less stumbled into by accident, they were beginning to become a real team, and it seemed to be spreading to their regular activities as well.
He was about to reach for his coat when a British tinged accent behind him startled him out of his thoughts. "Thomas Oliver, not forgetting something? Some things really have changed."
Tommy's head snapped round to the door, and his lips quirked in a smile as he took in the owner of the voice and walked over, extending his hand. "Well, if it isn't Eamon Keeper. You're one to talk about forgetting things, I haven't heard from you since..." His voice trailed off as he realised what he had been about to say, and a shadow flickered over his old friends expression.
"Since my parents died, " Eamon nodded. The shadow vanished from his eyes as the two friends stared at each other and Eamon ran a hand through his hair. "I know, and it was more my fault than yours Tom. I pushed everyone away after they were killed."
Tommy nodded. Eamon was one of the vanishingly few people who had never called him Tommy, only ever Tom or Thomas. However beyond that he didn't know what else to say. He'd buried a friend, someone as close as family not long before Eamon's parents had died, and he had gained plenty of experience at pushing people away, so he could hardly fault his friend for that.
They were both silent for a moment, before Tommy half shrugged and reached for his briefcase and coat. "So what brings you to Reefside? Not that I mind you being here, but I have to admit that after five years, I really wasn't expecting to see you."
"A bit of this and that," he responded. "Some business, some pleasure, and a sexy redhead." he grinned at that last part, and Tommy grinned with him. They both knew who he was referring to.
"Hayley?" Tommy asked, not really needing an answer.
"Hayley, the most gorgeous girl I never had a chance with," he lamented. "In fact, it was Hayley that suggested I come find you here. Seems she got it in her head that I was acting like an ass not having kept in touch for the last half a decade, and decided to tell me so in quite a few words when she emailed me last month. So naturally, when she heard I was coming to Reefside, she told me to come pick you up, find her, and be ready to build up a hefty tab."
Tommy chuckled as he lead his friend through the hallways of Reefside High. "That's Hayley for you, and It has been a while since the three of us just sat and talked. Besides, one of my students, Kira, is singing at Hayley's place tonight, and I promised i'd put in an appearance."
"You mean this student actually wants her old fogey of a teacher to come visit. She must be desperate for fans," he smirked at Tommy, and was rewarded with a hearty slap upside the head.
"You should talk about being an old fogey," he said easily. "I'm not the one who'se losing his hair at the ripe old age of twenty-eight." Eamon ran a hand through his long thin hair, and once more called down every curse he knew on family genetics.
"A low blow, and weren't you the one who always told me to fight fair when we were sparring," he asked as they walked out onto the carpark, and Tommy nodded with a grin, then looked at where his Jeep was parked. He glanced round the carpark, and gestured at a striking silver Thunderbird parked in the visitors lot.
"Yours I take it?"
"One of the advantages of being independantly wealthy is that you get to drive what you want to," Eamon shrugged, a little uncomfortably. Tommy glanced at him, mild surprise written on his face. When they'd been in college, he'd used his wealth and family name for every advantage he could wring from it. A combination of inherited wealth and a love for buildings and property that had kept Eamon's company growing for years now, he wasn't even slightly kidding when he referred to himself as wealthy.
'Still, Tommy thought. Money isn't everything, and it really doesn't solve all problems.
They had been an odd pair of roommates in college. Tommy, the former Ranger, who had abandoned the racing life after Trini Kwan had died in car crash, and Eamon, the heir to a small business fortune, who had embodied the phrase 'idle rich'. They'd ended up roommates, and had found that the two of them complemented each other well at the time as friends. Eamon had spent plenty of time listening to Tommy talk about his dreams, asking incisive and probing questions about how he was going to achieve them, the type of questions he had learned how to ask at his parents side as their heir. In return, Tommy had dragged him into the gym on a regular basis and taught him the beginnings of Karate.
"You want to lead the way, Tom old boy. I'm sort of new to Reefside and haven't figured out where everything is yet."
"Better idea, why don't you hop in the Jeep, and i'll drive you there. Give us a chance to do some catching up before Hayley gets ahold of you."
"Done," Eamon said, as he walked round to the passenger side of the black Jeep and tossed his shoulder bag into the back, "Besides, knowing Hayley, I think i'm going to need all the rest I can get."
Tommy chuckled. Eamon had unsuccesfully chased Hayley for most of their college time, eventually settling in a friendship that was only the slightest bit strained by Eamon's continuing crush on Hayley. She had responded by running him absolutely ragged while refusing to ever commit, and the lengths that the Englishman had gone to, to try and win her affection were a shared joke between the three of them.
"In that case, Dr. Oliver," Eamon said, with only the faintest hint of amusement in his voice. "Let's get going."
In Mesogog's fortress, the man who wasn't strode into his throne room, where he found Elsa examining the scanning equipment. Whatever she was doing, she was intent enough on it, that she didn't hear the door open, and he hissed slightly and quietly moved up behind her.
"Found something interesting?" he asked, and had the satisfaction of seeing Elsa twitch enough for them both to know he had surprised her, and she turned round quickly.
"Lord Mesogog, my apologies," she said quickly, and he gestured back at the machine. "Master, I detected a new energy source entering Reefside earlier, and i've been trying to pinpoint it's location. It's similar to the Dino gems the Rangers have, but it doesn't seem to be active at all."
"Show me," he said as he turned and walked towards his throne. He sat down just as Elsa brought up the imaging system, to show a black Jeep leaving the grounds of the high school, and his eyes narrowed as he
took in it's occupants. Dr. Oliver, Anton Mercer's onetime student and research partner. It wasn't surprising at all that he'd be there if there was a new power source in town. "Who is this human?"
Elsa turned and shook her head. "I don't know master," she admitted. "But it doesn't matter, the power source is somewhere in Oliver's car."
Mesogog snarled. "I don't want another power source to fall into Dr. Oliver's hands. Take the Tyranno Drones, Zeltrax and something from the Geno-randomiser if you must, but find that power source and bring
it back."
"Yes master."
As they drove through the streets Tommy and Eamon chatted about various goings and comings in the last 5 years. After about a minute, Tommy shook his head. "So what's with the beard? I seem to remember you being a charter member of the ban the beard federation in school?"
Eamon rubbed his chin for a second. "People change Tom, sometimes the easiest way to show a change is to change something physically."
Tommy was about to respond to that when a flash of familiar green light appeared before them and he slammed his foot down on the break as Elsa and Zeltrax appeared infront of them with one of their monsters, and the car was surrounded by Tyranno-drones.
Tommy thought furiously as he tried to figure out if there was any way to get through this without giving away his secret, but before he could say anything Zeltrax pointed his sword at him.
"Doctor Oliver, hand over the power source," he demanded.
Power Source? The Ranger thought to himself. What power source? he didn't respond immediately, but unbuckled himself and got out of the car. On the other side, Eamon did the same. Tommy glanced at him, and saw the confusion, and fear in his face, but he seemed to have himself in hand.
"I don't know what your talking about Zeltrax," he said as he walked round the front of the car, with Eamon joining him.
"You know this guy?" the Brit asked.
"He's Reefside's equivalent of a mob boss, don't worry, Reefside's got a very good set of police equivalents to deal with them," Tommy said as he got ready for the inevitable fight with the drones. He had no idea what Zeltrax was talking about, but that had never stopped the cyborg before. "You keep your training up?" he asked, almost nonchalantly.
Eamon swallowed hard. "Yes, more or less. I got my black belt late last year."
"Good," Tommy responded. "Remember, speed and violence count in a real fight."
"What about those police you were talking about?" he said nervously dropping into a loose fighting stance.
"They'll get here."
"Enough," Zeltrax boomed. "Give me the power source or be destroyed."
"No chance," Tommy responded, and the Tyranno Drones attacked.
One thing that most people never realised about a fight, a real multiple opponent fight, was that you had no concentration to spare while actually fighting. Unless you were fighting with someone who was a lot less skilled than you, you couldn't actually keep an eye on anything more than the people, or Drones, you were fighting. Fortunately for Tommy, he was a lot better than the Drones, and he made sure to keep himself near Eamon, and to make sure he wasn't getting in over his head.
As he kicked one of the Drones away from him, he heard a grunt from behind him, where Eamon had just performed a standard reverse punch, knocking one of the Drones down, but it was obvious from how he was holding his hand that he wasn't used to really fighting. Kata's taught you moves, and sparring taught you how to anticipate in a fight, but only actual fighting could teach you how to fight, when there was more on the line than just a trophy in a competion. Not to mention, the fact that fighting toughend you up physically, in a way that sparring never could.
As he began working his way towards Eamon, he suddenly heard the sound of motorbikes speeding round the corner. He grinned to himself, as three bikes came slashing round the corner, and fired their front lasers, knocking most of the Drones off their feet, and Tommy used the distraction to get to Eamon and help him up from where one of the Drones had knocked him down.
Eamon was bleeding from a cut to the side of his head, and his right hand was beginning to discolour slightly, but he looked otherwise fine, and his eyes were focussed on the brightly dressed figures that attacked Zeltrax and the others without a moments hesitation.
"Power Rangers," Eamon said while gulping in air, eyes wide, with a grin. "Ace."
"Yeah, now get down," Tommy insisted as he dragged the Brit down by the side of the Jeep, out of the line of fire. However, it quickly became obvious to him, that the Rangers were in trouble. The three of them could handle the monster, it didn't look like it was Mesogog's best effort, but when you added in Zeltrax and Elsa and the Drones, it became a different story. Even Trent arriving a few moments later wasn't enough to balance the odds, and Tommy swore under his breath at Mesogog's timing.
They need someone to distract Zeltrax or Elsa, he thought to himself. Tthat way Trent can take out the other, Ethan can take out the Drones, and Kira and Conner can give that monster a run for it's money. Even as he thought it, he realised that he was rapidly running out of options. The Rangers were already on the defensive, and it was only going to get worse unless he joined them. But to do that, he'd have to morph now, because there was no way that he would be able to convince Eamon to leave the area first.
Unwillingly his mind flashed back to his first Ranger days, when both Zordon and Jason had told him at length about the need to keep his identity secret, lest he endanger the people he knew and cared about. At the same time, when Astronema attacked, the Rangers didn't have a choice but to go public, and they'd been hailed as heroes. What's more, Zeltrax had made it obvious that Dr. Tommy Oliver and he knew each other, which meant Eamon would most likely be asking questions anyway.
He made up his mind, and apologised mentally to the memory of Zordon, then turned to Eamon. "Listen, you're a businessman and a company owner, so i'm going to assume you know about how to keep a secret?" he asked, and Eamon, looked at him, and then nodded sharply.
"Good," Tommy said, standing up, and stepping away to give himself room. "Then I hope, for our friendships sake, that you can keep this one."
Eamon's eyes narrowed instantly, but Tommy ignored it, and looked at the battle where his friends were slowly but surely being beaten back. Oh yeah, Tommy thought. I really hope you'll keep this one. Then the bracelet on his wrist changed into a Dino morpher, and he threw his hands forward.
"Dino Thunder, Power Up!"
tbc….