The Tale of The Dragon and The Tiger

Chapter Seven: Tommy

The mask of my new superhero suit folded back as I wrapped my arms around Quinn, encasing him in a large, armored bear hug. I could his back pop as I picked him up. We usually don't tell anyone why we are so defensive of each other, since it is wrapped up in a legal battle. Long story short, something happened to Quinn... and I beat up our step dad.
"Tommy!" Quinn breathed. "You're crushing me."
"Oh shit," I let him go and he breathed a lung full of air and punched my chest. After the initial impact, nothing happened. Then Quinn grabbed his wrist and a pained expression grew across his face.
"Why?" I asked him.
"Why yell at you? Cause you almost killed the power rangers!" He said, almost reeling back for another blow.
"No, I know that, why did you punch me if you knew I had armor?" I asked, almost letting a laugh escape my lips.
"It was a reflex! I seem to be hitting you a lot when you do something stupid. Which is every single day if I might add!"
I laughed and as I did, my suit simply started to disappear around me, leaving me with my normal clothes. My hair was a mess from sweat that built up during the fight. I racked my hand through my hair, not even paying attention to the face in the wall behind Quinn or how the robot and the rangers had filed in behind me.
"Well, I found you, no one got hurt, and now the rangers know what they have to improve on, so a good... weird day." I turned to head for the door. When I noticed Quinn wasn't following me I turned back. "Aren't you coming?"
He grabbed his shoulder and kicked at a loose rock.
"You're not..." my shoulders slumped as my stomach started to twist.
"Yeah, that's why Zordon called you in here."

"Forget it!" I yelled. It must have upset Zordon, because the pixel like stones that made his face started to shift and sizzle.
"I'm not going to fight for a alien and his marry band of misfits because I beat them in one fight. Ok now that I say it that should be a reason to fight, but I'm still not!"
"Tommy, don't be so stubborn!" Quinn was trying to stay calm but apparently I was getting him over his boiling point. "You know I can't do this without you, and these could be the only friends we will make while we're here, we need to do something."
"So fighting a monster everyday is the answer to our lack of friendship? That's a flawed way of thinking, even for you Quinn."
"They need our help, if not mine now then yours!" He yelled. "You have the coin of the damn witch that tried to destroy the world. It must have seen something in you! That is both scary and impressive and frankly, I don't want to find out which one of those emotions I feel more."
"You can stay all you fuckin want, but I'm not going to spend my free time training to fight someone that isn't here!"
"What's wrong with you!" Quinn almost sobbed when he said it. "A few days ago, you would have jumped at the chance to be a superhero, now you want nothing to do with it? What gives!"
"Maybe I finally came to my senses!" I yelled back.
'Good, you are doing nicely my ranger,' The voice called. Her voice was almost like nails scratching on a chalk board. 'Soon, they will not just be facing my putty, they will be fighting themselves.'
"I'm leaving, you can come if you want but I'm not staying here to watch you get hurt."
I turned for the door and pushed passed the rangers, I could hear Quinn yelling at me but paid no attention to it. What I wanted most of all, was surprisingly to go to Krispy Kreme's and grab a dough nut.