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English
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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
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1,828
Chapters:
1/1
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19
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867

Deeper Shades of Green

Summary:

A deeper look into what Tommy Oliver experienced when he first moved to Angel Grove. Follows a slightly altered version of the 'Green with evil' miniseries.

Work Text:

“Ernie’s gym and Juice bar.” Tommy muttered to himself. “At least this town has a gym.”

Tommy Oliver was seriously starting to regret coming to Angel Grove.

He still didn’t really want to settle down anywhere, he loved the lifestyle of the martial arts circuit too much. He was too used to living out of hotels and moving from place to place, and Angel Grove didn’t really live up to it’s reputation as an exciting and dangerous place to live.

He had to admit that was one of the only reasons he agreed to settle down and focus on school for a while. Angel Grove was the monster capital of the world right now. Rita Repulsa only ever seemed to attack around this area, yet everyone thought they were completely safe because of the power rangers.

Tommy had always been too curious for his own good, coupled with his need for adventure he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check this place out. Hopefully being an adrenaline junkie wouldn’t get him in too much trouble in a dangerous place like this.

Unfortunately when there wasn’t a monster attack, Angel grove seemed a pretty boring place to him, sure it had a lot of beautiful landmarks, but there was only so long he could look at them before he was bored again.

In the three day’s Tommy had been there, there hadn’t been any monster attacks or any disturbances at all, the only thing he was look forward too was the upcoming martial arts expo he’d signed up for.

He walked straight up the few steps to the bar to order a soda while he took a look around. Placing his duffle bad on the floor beside him.

He’d brought his workout clothes in case he felt like getting in a bit more practice for tomorrow. But he knew he only had a few more hours before the shops shut and when he started working out he tended to lose track of time. He still needed time to go food shopping before he went home, but he couldn’t walk pass a gym with out at least checking it out first.

The gym part of the youth centre was very simple, exercise machines lined up against the wall behind a large area that had been covered in practice mats.

A few kids were making there way to the mats, talking and messing around. The only person that caught his attention was a boy dressed mostly in red, running through a complicated karate mata while talking with his friends that were sitting at the side.

“I haven’t seen you around here before.” Tommy turned around to see the man behind the counter giving him a welcoming smile as he placed the glass of soda in front of him.. Since he was the only one serving, Tommy guessed that this with probably Ernie.

“No, I’m…new.” He finished lamely. It was almost second nature for him to say that he was only here for the tournament, he had to keep reminding himself that he actually lived here now.

“I promise your gonna fit right it.” He smiled. “As long as your careful.” He added seriously.

“Yeah, so I hear. This is the only town I’ve been to have a warning pack instead of a welcome pack.” He joked. “Haven’t had a chance to read through mine yet though.”

“I suggest you read it as soon as possible. It’s been almost a week since the last attack.”

“Oh, hey speaking of fights. Isn’t there some sort of karate club held here?”

“Jason’s got a junior class right now.” He nodded towards the open, matted space behind Tommy.

The guy dressed in red, Jason, was now running though a simpler Mata with a group of about twenty kids, occasionally stopping to correct one of their stances.

Jason…Wasn’t that the name of the guy he was meant to be fighting in the expo tomorrow? Even though he was only running though some simple moves, Tommy could tell that he was a fighter, everything about the way he moved and the way he held himself, betrayed that he was a martial artists.

“Alright guy’s. We’ve finished up a bit quicker than I expected so how about a bit of a demonstration?” Jason addressed his class, followed by a chorus of cheers from some of the spectators as well as his  class.

“Hey, Zack you up for a little one on one?” He called out toward the group of four people that were sat on the side watching.

“Aww yeah, Zackman’s back in business.” The black teen grinned. There was a mixture of laughter and cheers as he half strutted, half danced over to the mats.

Tommy couldn’t help but smile as he turned round in his chair to watch the rest of the scene play out.

Jason laughed and high five’d Zack as he approached the class. “Alright class, I want you all to keep a close eye on the match. One of us will concentrate mostly on defence the other on offence. At the end of the match you need to be able to correctly identify which was which.”

There was a general mummer of agreement from the students as Jason an Zack prepared to start the fight.

The fight started off slowly, both sides testing each other, giving Tommy the impression that they hadn’t yet decided who was taking which role. Zack was faster but Jason was easily the stronger fighter.

The two of them shared a knowing look as Jason feinted a roundhouse kick and followed though with a series of complicated punches, somehow Zack managed to either block or dodge every attack that Jason threw at him, literally dancing away from the attacks with what looked like a mixture of martial arts and hip-hop dancing.

Without breaking eye contact Zack glared and switched his stance slightly, it was a subtle change but it instantly changed him from an equal in the fight to the defensive. His brief smirk at Jason’s victory betrayed how close there friendship was, both of them took this fight as a friendly challenge, but there was no hard feelings towards the winner.

Jason’s stance was open for a brief moment and Zack tried to push his advantage trading his own defences for what he thought was a striking finishing move.

Tommy smirked quietly to himself, it was an old move, one he’d used a few times himself during competitions. Zack was lulled into a false sense of security by Jason apparently letting his guard down. His eyes widened as he realised his mistake, moments before his back hit the ground.

The youth centre once again broke into cheers and Tommy was surprised to find himself joining in with the applause.

Jason helped Zack to his feet and to two of them shared a friendly one armed hug before turning back to the class.

“How many of you thought that I was in the defensive?” He addressed his students. A small group raised their hands. “Alright, and who thought that Zack was the defensive?” Most of the class raised their hand.

Before Jason could continue Zack placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “And who has no idea which was which?” Zack added. A few students raised there hands slowly.

“It doesn’t matter if your not sure, the change wasn’t that obvious.” Jason continued, the few who weren’t sure visibly relaxed knowing that they weren’t in trouble. “The person who was concentrating mainly on defence was…”

“Hey Jase, hold up a minuet.” Zack interrupted, crouching down so that he was level with one of the girls in the front row. “What’s your name?”

“Sarah.” She answered shyly.

“Sarah, I didn’t see you put your hand up. Do you know who was the defensive?”

She shook her head, looked around nervously as if asking for help.

“Do you wanna take a guess?” Jason asked kindly.

Tommy managed to catch her eye and gestured to the right, the side that Zack was stood on.

“Zack?” She asked timidly.

“Zack was indeed on the Defensive.” Their was a few cheers from the students that had guessed right. “And that about wraps up today’s session, any questions feel free to ask me or Zack anytime after this session.”

“Did anyone see what mistake I made?” Zack asked the class before they bowed out.

A few hands shot up and Tommy was surprised to see that Sarah’s was one of them.

“You underestimated your him?” She asked after Jason had gestured for her to speak.

“Exactly.” Jason grinned. “Never underestimate the power of your opponent. If your ever in a situation like that with an unknown opponent, always go for defence, and try and try draw as much attention to yourselves as possible if you can’t find a way to escape. Remember violence doesn’t solve anything, it should only be used as a last resource. Class dismissed” He nodded and bowed them out just as the first few parents started arriving.

“And remember, not to leave the juice bar until your parents come to collect you.” Zack reminded them.

Sarah was one of the last to leave, Zack smiled as she walked past him. “See, I knew you could do it, all you needed was a little more confidence.”

She smiled and looked back towards Tommy who had turned back round in his chair.

Zack and Jason had quickly been approached by students and started helping them with some of their basic moves.

Sarah quickly made her way up to Tommy but hesitated.

He seemed to feel someone behind him more than anything she did, he looked surprised when he realised who she was.

“Um. I…I just wanted to say thank you.” She blushed slightly.

“No problem.” He smiled. “Like they said, you just need a bit more confidence in yourself. I know you would have made the right decision.”

“Thanks I… I was just so nervous.”

“It’s alright, everyone feels like that now and again.”

She nodded, looking like she wanted to say something else but suddenly stopped as she saw a her mother appear at the doorway. “I gotta go.” She sounded a little sad but still smiled back at Tommy. “Thanks again.” And with that she ran off to meet her mother.

“That was a really nice thing you did there.” Ernie noted, cleaning up one of the glasses from the bar.

“Yeah? She looked like she needed a break. They shouldn’t have put here on the spot like that. They knew she was nervous.” Tommy shrugged, drinking the last of his soda. He looked up at the clock and sighed. “Guess I better be off too. See you later Ernie.” He placed the money for the soda on the counter as he picked up his small duffle bag.

“I thought you wanted to ask Jason about karate classes?” Ernie reminded him.

“It’ll have to wait. Besides if he’s as good a fighter as he is a teacher then I’m gonna need to practice for tomorrows expo first.” And with that Tommy left the youth centre, excited for tomorrows expo and wondering if he’d misjudged just what he was getting into by moving into Angel Grove.