The Adventures of the Technicolor Ranger: The Mystic Holiday
The Dino Thunder rangers send Tommy to Briarwood for a vacation, having no idea that a new Ranger Team is about to appear there. The bad guys will get more than they bargained for when they attack a certain 'civilian' paleontologist …
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Some knowledge of Mystic Force will probably help make more sense of this story.
If you haven't already, you should probably read 'Introducing the Technicolor Ranger' which explains some background for this story.
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CHAPTER 1: How it Came About
Reefside, early 2006
Dr Tommy Oliver, master martial artist, former racecar driver, high school teacher, paleontology PhD, and Power Ranger extraordinaire stared out the window blankly. It was raining, and he'd finished marking the science papers for the next week. He'd written three new pop quizzes, tidied up the lab in his basement, tinkered with the Dino ATV, worked out for an hour and a half, and drunk more coffee that was probably healthy.
It was five o'clock on Saturday afternoon, but for some reason there was no school on Monday. Even worse, this next week would be the last week of classes before the summer holidays, and Tommy knew he was going to get very bored soon. Boredom wasn't good, because his imagination tended to run away, and a Ranger's imagination has very few limits.
Last time Hayley had come over during a long weekend; she'd been shocked to find him in the basement playing tag with the raptor riders. Yes they were big, scaly dinosaurs with lots of teeth, but they were his pets, and they were just as bored as him now that the ranger team had dissolved. True, they'd managed to get their powers back somehow, but that didn't mean there was anything for them to do…
Kira had moved to New York to continue singing, Ethan was busy at Reefside Tech, Connor was determined to start a soccer program for kids, and Trent had thrown himself into his comic book career. Hayley was usually flat out at the Cyberspace, which left only Anton and Elsa, who were so wrapped up in each other lately that even Connor had noticed.
So, Tommy grabbed yet another cup of coffee and headed down to the basement to talk with the raptor riders. He would have fed them, but the fusion-powered replicates didn't need it, as they were just small, nimble Zords. They seemed a lot tamer since he'd started to treat them more like pets and less like vehicles. He wondered what the kids at school would think of their science teacher having four pet dinosaurs under his house.
He'd even named them.
The Red one was Clutz, C for Connor, and Clutz because he was always tripping or knocking things over.
The Blue one was Exxy, E for Ethan, 'Exxy' short for Excited. He couldn't sit still, and was always twitching.
The Yellow one was Karol, K for Kira, but Karol because of the almost musical purring noise she made when she was happy.
The Black one was Thunk, T for Tommy, but he was slightly moody, and liked to knock things over. People, objects, and his fellow raptors were all fair game. Hence, Thunk.
They must have heard him coming, because Karol was purring loudly, Exxy was bouncing, and Clutz had tripped over Thunk's tail, although Tommy suspected Thunk may have done it on purpose.
"Hey." Tommy smirked at them. "Wish I could take you guys out… might make a scene though." Karol dipped her head to one side, Clutz butted Tommy in the chest with his head, Exxy bounced a little, and he could have sworn Thunk was smirking. Suddenly, all four raptors whipped their heads towards the stairs. Tommy ducked to one side of the door, and tensed as he heard several sets of footsteps creep towards him. Thunk growled softly, and that was all Tommy needed.
As soon as the first intruder came down the stairs, he launched at them with a blood-curdling yell...
"Whoa! Ease up Dr. O!" yelped Connor, lying spread out on the floor. Tommy glared at him. Ethan was staring at them in fascination from the bottom of the stairs, and Kira wore a satisfied smirk.
"That's why Connor goes first." she explained to Ethan. Tommy turned slightly so his glare included all of them.
"You guys should know better than to sneak up on me." he admonished them.
"Yeah, but you should know normal people don't attack visitors." Connor shot back.
"Since when am I normal?" smirked Tommy. "But if it was just you guys, why did Thunk…" Tommy turned his angry gaze on the black raptor. "You knew that would happen, you wanted it to, why I oughta flood your circuits! You…"
The other three Dino Rangers stared as their mentor yelled at the little Zord.
"Boy, looks like we got here just in time." Ethan muttered out the corner of his mouth.
"You got that right." agreed Kira. Connor rubbed his shoulder with a grimace.
"Definitely. So who's gonna tell him?"
Kira shot him a Look. Note the capital.
"You're the Red." shrugged Ethan. Connor sighed.
"Uh, Dr. O?" there was no response. "Dr. O!" tried Connor again, louder. Still no response. Gathering his courage, Connor slapped his old science teacher gently on the shoulder. Tommy spun around and glared at him, then sighed.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you guys again, but why are you here?"
Connor looked uncomfortable. "Well, you see, we were kinda worried… I mean, you get well… weird sometimes, and we kinda thought… ah…" he glanced at the others for encouragement. "We thought you could use a holiday."
Tommy stared at him.
"You came all the way here to tell me to take a holiday?!" he almost laughed.
"No." said Kira decisively. "We came all this way to make you take a holiday. Hayley's backing us up."
"Yeah, no offence Dr. O, but I think you need one." added Ethan, looking towards the raptors with a suspicious glance.
Tommy stared at them.
"What?"
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One week later…
"Briarwood?! What's in Briarwood?" Tommy glared down at his phone. He had stopped his jeep beside the 'Briarwood 25 miles' sign, having absolutely no idea what Hayley had planned. He would have understood if she'd sent him to see some old friends, or if she'd sent him to a holiday-type spot, but Briarwood looked… normal. Even slightly boring.
"Absolutely nothing, that's the point." answered Hayley. "It's nice and quiet. No colored work at all."
Tommy dropped his head back in defeat. "Hayley…" he whined.
"Nope. You're staying there for the whole holiday." her smug voice just about dripped from the phone.
"But Hayley…"
"No Tommy. You're going to stay there and relax. Nothing will happen!" she smirked as she hung up the phone. Even Tommy Oliver couldn't find trouble in a superstitious little town like Briarwood… could he?
As a defeated Tommy pulled onto the road again, he didn't notice the black motorcycle stop just where he had been a minute before.
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