01 Day of the Dino
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Power Rangers, Dino Thunder, or any character other than Austin.
(Dino Thunder theme plays)
The sound of a doorbell echoed through the house of Dr. Tommy Oliver, catching him by surprise. His guest was a full hour early, unless the ring was from the postman of course. Tommy made his way from the kitchen- where he was preparing an afternoon snack- to the front door in a matter of seconds. Wondering whether he'd see a person or an unexpected parcel, the rather secretive man opened the door.
"Uncle Tommy, nice to see you!" a mid-height, lanky teen said upon seeing the doctor.
"Nice to see you made it here safely, Austin, and an hour early no less," Dr. Oliver replied, glancing at the teen's vehicle. The car his parents had bought him was a 3 year-old Shelby Mustang GT500 with a black paint job featuring blue racing stripes. Speaking of Austin's parents, they were off on a long, international business trip and had sent him to live with his Uncle so he could attend high school like a normal teen.
"Yeah, I left early because of rush hour traffic, and it turns out there was a lot less than I expected," Austin explained. Not having seen his nephew in some time, Tommy looked over the teen. He now stood nearly as tall as the doctor himself, but that was where the similarities ended. Austin had medium length, blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. His eyes matched his t-shirt; the blue, cotton garment loose on the teen's skin. It sat under an unbuttoned, blue-plaid, dress shirt. The rest of Austin's attire consisted of jeans and sneakers, which was typical teen clothing.
"Come on in, I'll show you your room," Tommy said, leading Austin inside.
The next day, elsewhere
Ethan James went to put on a shirt, and instinctively grabbed a blue one. However, it tore in half coming off the hanger, shocking him.
"That was my favorite blue shirt! Great, I guess I'll just wear another one…" he said to himself. Sighing, he threw on a green t-shirt and went to eat breakfast.
Later, at Reefside High School
Dr. Oliver entered Reefside High and headed for his classroom, ready to start the day's classes. His excitement was cut short as the principal approached him in the hallway. She was a short woman with short, black hair and black framed glasses.
"Dr. Oliver, I'm Principal Randall," she announced.
"Nice to meet you. It's your first day too, isn't it?" Tommy asked, extending a hand.
"Yes, I'm still trying to figure out why a doctor of paleontology would come all the way to Reefside to teach to teenagers," Randall responded, ignoring Tommy's gesture. Tommy sighed and let his hand fall back to his side.
"I guess I'm looking for some peace and quiet," he replied.
"So you became a high school teacher. That doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, does it, Dr. Oliver?" Randall said, questioningly.
"You know, I was thinking, maybe we should get together. This way, you can kind of fill me in on what you expect of me," Tommy responded.
"I expect you to make it hard for them, painful if at all possible. If they smile you know you're doing something wrong. Now, I'm off to find my first truant, we'll talk later," Randall replied. The principal then walked off quickly. Dr. Oliver sighed and continued to his classroom.
When Tommy arrived at his classroom, all hell seemed to have broken loose. There were three students still in their seats, Austin being one of them. Paper balls were flying everywhere, people were chatting loudly, and it seemed as if a fight was imminent.
"Guys, settle down, take your seats please!" Tommy shouted. The students quickly ceased their activities and sat down for class.
"I'm Dr. Oliver, and this is first period science. Now, before we start are there any questions?" Tommy asked. A blonde girl in white and pink, who sat at the front, raised her hand.
"Yes?" Tommy questioned. The girl stood up and approached him.
"Cassidy, Cassidy Cornell. Dr. Oliver as you may know, I'm the anchor and field reporter for our school TV Station," she said. The class groaned. "Anyway, I'm sure our viewers are wondering, well, you don't really look old enough to be a teacher," Cassidy continued.
"Cassidy, I promise you I'm old enough; your classmate, my nephew, can attest to that. Now, let's put the camera away. For now, let's talk about you guys, and what you expect of yourselves in this class. 'Cause that's what's really important," Tommy responded. He noticed an empty stool; this class was supposed to fill the room.
"Is someone missing?" he asked.
"Conner McKnight; you'll find him on the soccer field. He practically lives there," Cassidy said. Tommy took a note and continued on with class. Soon it was over, and the day continued. As Dr. Oliver taught his classes, several unusual incidents happened on campus. Once the school day had concluded, Tommy found himself talking to Principal Randall in the hall again.
"Dr. Oliver, how was your first day?" Randall inquired.
"The kids were great, no problem," Tommy replied.
"Good, you'll be seeing a lot more of them, in detention," Randall responded.
"Mind telling me what I did?" Tommy asked.
"No, you're in charge of it today," Dr. Randall responded, correcting him.
"Actually, I have plans to take my nephew to a museum outside of town-," Tommy objected.
"Perfect, bring the little monsters with you. That should be sufficient torture for them," Randall interjected as the two stopped in front of the three detainees. "You've all met I trust. Well, enjoy your little outing," Randall all but laughed. She then walked off, leaving Dr. Oliver with the students. Tommy looked at the three teens he was responsible for: Kira Ford, Ethan James and Conner McKnight.
"Well, you three like museums?"
Reefside High parking lot
Dr. Oliver led his three students out to his Jeep. Austin was leaning against his Shelby Mustang, which was parked right next to it.
"Hey, Uncle Tommy, who are these three?" he asked when his uncle walked up.
"I'm in charge of detention today. Kira Ford, Ethan James, Conner McKnight, meet my nephew, Austin Keith," Dr. Oliver remarked. The four teens exchanged handshakes.
"Is that your car, Austin?" Conner asked.
"Yeah, I've even modified it a little," Austin answered..
"Lucky! All I've got is my 1971 Mustang, and it's a little banged up," Conner responded.
"That's still pretty cool; I like old Mustangs," Austin replied.
"Hey, we've gotta get going; you guys can talk later," Dr. O cut in. He loaded Conner and Kira into his Jeep, while Ethan rode with Austin. Soon the whole group was on the way to the museum.
"Hey, got any way I can play music from my iPod Touch over the speakers?" Ethan asked.
"I built in a wireless system for that, just choose a song and it'll play," Austin responded.
"Sweet!" Ethan replied. Soon they were jamming as they drove down the highway.
At The Museum
Dr. Oliver pulled into a spot, and Austin parked next to him. Getting out of the two vehicles, the detention class headed for the museum entrance. However, it was blocked by a sign indicating that the museum was closed.
"That's weird…" Tommy remarked, "Oh well, no museum for us."
"Well then, let's go home," Conner suggested.
"Tell you what, how about you guys have a look around the grounds. If any of you find anything prehistoric I'll cancel detention for the rest of the week," Tommy countered.
"Sweet," Ethan remarked.
"Austin, you go with them too. I'll go see if someone can tell me when they're opening up," Tommy added. With that, the group split up.
With Dr. Oliver
Tommy walked up to the front doors of the building, and found a sign taped to the inside of the door. It read:
Under New Management
In case of emergency call Anton Mercer Industries
"Anton Mercer? That's impossible…" Tommy said to himself.
With the Teens
The four teens made their way into the forest with Conner leading the way. As they walked, Ethan remembered something.
"Hey, you guys hear that story about the guy who was hiking up here and fell into a giant sinkhole?" he asked.
"No, must have missed that one," Kira remarked.
"Come on, it was on all the urban legend websites!" Ethan protested.
"It was probably just an urban legend, then, so we have nothing to worry about," Austin cut in.
"Fine, but don't come complaining to me when you fall in a giant sinkhole," Ethan responded. As if on cue, the ground fell out from under the four teens, and they plunged into a cavern.
Back at the museum
Dr. Oliver walked back towards his Jeep, but was shocked to see that the T-Rex statue in front of the museum was gone.
"Where did-?" he remarked. He backed away, but suddenly the statue appeared and attacked him like a real dinosaur. Tommy immediately ran to his Jeep. With no time to spare, Tommy floored it in an attempt to escape the beast.
In the sinkhole
The four teens now stand in a cave, which fits with Ethan's sinkhole story.
"Alright, you guys stay here. I'll climb up and come back with help," Conner ordered. He then attempted to climb the rock face that made up the side of the hole. Failing dismally, he slid back down to earth.
"Back so soon?" Ethan taunted. Ignoring the comment, Conner set off through the cave.
With Tommy and the T-Rex
Tommy continued to evade the T-Rex, but wasn't going to be able to keep it up forever. Suddenly, a bridge came into view, so Tommy headed for it. The Jeep zoomed under the concrete structure, but the T-Rex wasn't so lucky. Its head slammed hard into the bridge, and then it collapsed to the ground in a heap. Dr. Oliver slammed on the brakes, and the Jeep skidded to a stop. Climbing out of the car, he walked over to the monster's skull and inspected it.
The T-Rex had a massive hole in the right side of its head, revealing electrical components. The animatronic dinosaur was emitting sparks from the hole, but that didn't deter Tommy from getting a closer look. The discovery that the "statue" was a robot left him wondering what was going on.
In the cave
Having walked through the sinkhole for a short while, the teens came upon what appeared to be a dinosaur skeleton embedded in the wall at a dead end.
"Looks prehistoric to me," Kira remarked.
"This'll get us out of detention forever!" Conner added, grabbing at the skull. The jaw slid open, and a secret passage was revealed. The four teens walked into it and found themselves in a strange room. The walls and floors were tan in color, and a three pronged footprint logo was seen in many spots.
"What is this place?" Austin questioned. He got no response.
"I could do a crazy video in here," Kira remarked as she walked in. Seeing four gems on a steamy rock in the middle of the room- which he thought was rather odd- Conner made a move to grab the red one.
"Yo, don't touch that!" Ethan exclaimed. Conner pulled back his arm. "You really are taking this 'dumb jock' thing to a whole new level," Ethan added.
"Look, I have sat through enough lame science classes to know that that thing looks prehistoric, and if I don't have to miss practice…" Conner responded. Kira cut in.
"I hate to agree with him, really, I do, but I already missed one rehearsal," she said. Austin, who remained silent, didn't really care about the whole detention thing. The gems were pretty intriguing, though. With no further protest, Conner plucked the red gem from the rock. Kira grabbed the yellow one not a second later, and Austin followed up by grabbing the blue one.
'Maybe blue just isn't my color anymore…' Ethan thought to himself as he reluctantly grabbed the green gem. With all four gems in hand, the teens were shocked to see them glow.
"What are they?" Kira asked. As another round of insults went around, Austin headed back towards the cave they'd come from.
"Where are you going?" Conner questioned immediately.
"Well, I don't know who lives here, or their reason for building this place, but I certainly don't want to be here when they get home," Austin explained.
"Good point," Ethan remarked. He and the other two teens quickly followed Austin back into the cave.
Somewhere in the ocean
A fake island rises from the sea, revealing a building atop it. No one notices.
Inside the island building
"The gems have moved, I can feel them," a strange dinosaur-man said to his minions. The Tyrannodrones, the strange man's inhuman grunts, stand waiting for a command from their leader, Mesogog.
"Go, bring them to me," Mesogog commanded. The drones headed off without a second thought.
Cave mouth
Austin led the other three teens out of the cave as they bickered about not having a compass. Suddenly, a strange gust of wind hit them.
"What was that?" Ethan asked.
"The wind," Kira answered.
"That ain't the wind," Ethan said, "As much as we'd like it to be, it ain't." Suddenly, the four teens were surrounded by strange creatures- Mesogog's drones- putting them in dire jeopardy.
"Run!" Austin exclaimed, making a mad dash away from the monsters. The other three teens soon followed, the drones hot on their tails. The teens jumped a small trench as they ran, but Kira fell a bit short. Austin and Ethan ran back and helped her up, and then all three of them hastily ran after Conner. However, Kira fell as she ran, and the drones were upon her. She screamed an earsplitting scream, her mouth emitting yellow shockwaves. The drones were blasted back by the force.
"Help her up!" Ethan remarked. Austin and Conner helped Kira to her feet.
"What was that?" Austin questioned.
"I have no idea," Kira answered. Suddenly, her gem glowed again. Before another word could be said, the drones regrouped and attacked. The four teens were separated, and soon found themselves fighting off the drones by themselves. Kira was able to handle her batch, and guessed that her gem had helped her somehow.
Ethan was thrown to the ground, and one of the drones attacked. He held up his arms to block, and surprisingly he was unharmed. He looked at his arms, which were now glowing green along with his gem, and had hardened.
"Whoa, it's like some kind of armor!" he said. Using his newfound ability, he was able to defeat the drones. Afterwards, he wondered if the gem had taught him karate, too. Meanwhile, Conner wasn't holding up too well with his gang of drones. However, his gem suddenly glowed, and time seemed to come to a near standstill.
"Whoa, everything's so slow..." he remarked. Two drones attacked him, and appeared in slow motion. Conner disposed of them, as well as the others. With the drones defeated, he wondered how he suddenly seemed to be a better fighter even without his newfound super speed.
Austin, holding onto his blue gem, was approached by a single drone. The drone tried to push him down, but Austin caught its hands and pushed back. The drone appeared to be winning the shoving match, at least until Austin's gem glowed. Suddenly Austin was able to push the drone back with ease, sending him flying into five others. The rest of the battle was a pinch, and Austin soon found himself wondering how an orange belt in karate fought so well. With the drones dispatched, the teens were able to regroup. They studied the strange gems again, holding them in front of each other.
"Man, I'm starting to love detention!" Ethan remarked. Austin raised an eyebrow.
"Hey!" Tommy shouted, running up to them. The teens froze; unsure what to do. Austin, however, kept his casual composure as if this was nothing new to him. Dr. Oliver walked up to the teens, and saw the gems in their hands. His expression immediately turned serious.
"We have some major talking to do."
Mesogog's Lair
"Send the biozords into the city, Zeltrax. Once they've started, I want a full aerial attack," Mesogog ordered.
"Yes, master," his right hand man, a cyborg-like being named Zeltrax, replied. The dutiful servant set off at once to begin the assault.
Dr. Oliver's house
Dr. Oliver led the teens down a secret stairway in his house, which led to the same room where they'd found the gems. The teens were shell-shocked, except for Austin. His expression was less of surprise and more of someone whose hunch was just confirmed. Dr. O pulled up some chairs, and soon everyone was sitting down.
"Okay, tell me everything that happened in the forest," he said. The teens proceeded to fill him in, and Dr. Oliver took in the information as if he'd heard it all before.
"The drones are called Tyrannodrones," he explained.
"How do you know that?" Ethan asked.
"I helped make them. I was doing research with my partner, Dr. Anton Mercer, when there was an accident. I thought everything was destroyed, but apparently I was wrong," Tommy replied. Suddenly, an earthquake shook the room, and the lights went out. Once things settled down and the power returned, Tommy rushed over to a computer. He checked the news, and then turned back to the teens with a shocked face.
"Some of my creations, called Dino Zords, have been turned into evil Bio Zords and released into the city," he said. The teens gasped.
"My personal history will have to wait, we can discuss it later," Tommy added. He opened a briefcase, grabbed a blue device and tossed it to Austin.
"Keywords?' Austin asked.
"Stegosaurus, Dino Thunder Power Up," Tommy replied.
"Okay, see you guys later!" Austin remarked, running off.
"What was all that about?" Ethan asked.
"Is he kind of super genius who already knows all this?" Conner asked.
"No, he's MY nephew," Tommy answered.
"And that's supposed to mean…?" Kira questioned.
"I told you, personal history later!" Tommy responded. He placed the briefcase on a table between him and the remaining teens.
"Mesogog is after your gems. They're called Dino Gems; part of the meteor that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. When I found them, I had an old friend of mine, a scientist named Billy, help me make these devices in case I needed to harness their power," he said. He opened the briefcase and turned it so the teens could see its contents.
"These are Dino Morphers, they'll allow you to use the Dino Gems' energy to become Power Rangers," Tommy said.
"I gotta sit down…" Ethan said, quickly sitting in a chair.
"Breathe dude," Conner remarked.
"We can't be Power Rangers, aren't you supposed to fly, or have superhuman strength, stuff like that?" Kira said.
"You do," Tommy responded, subtly rolling his eyes.
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Kira responded.
"Are you sure we're right for this?" Conner asked.
"The gems chose you, I know you are," Tommy answered.
"Can't they UN-choose us?" Ethan asked.
"The only way these powers can be taken away is if you're destroyed," Tommy responded.
"For future reference, not a good selling point," Eithan remarked.
"Look, the gems wouldn't have bonded to you if there wasn't already something inside you that could handle the power. Please," Tommy said, pushing the briefcase a few inches towards the teens. Conner, Ethan and Kira reluctantly took the morphers.
"So, is there some kind of secret password or command?" Ethan asked.
"Nerd…" Conner remarked.
"As I told Austin earlier, say the words 'Dino Thunder, power up' and you'll be transformed. You'll know what to do," Tommy answered.
"Dino Thunder. What, did you come up with that?" Conner asked, looking at Ethan.
"I kinda like it," Ethan replied.
"You would," Conner retorted. Tommy sighed.
"Look, I know you three are from different worlds, but you're gonna have to work together or this'll never happen. This won't be easy; nobody knows that better than me. Just believe in yourselves," Tommy said.
"Really?" Conner questioned.
"Really."
Downtown
Tommy parked his Jeep in a parking lot next to Austin's Mustang. He and the teens climbed out and looked up at the rampaging zords. One zord- a Stegosaurus- was blue, while the others were a grayish green. The Stegosaurus was fighting the other zords, and not faring too well. Before anything could be said or done, Zeltrax appeared.
"Greetings, Dr. Oliver and company, I am Zeltrax. I cannot allow you to go further, or you might ruin my master's plans. That bastard in the Stegozord only snuck past me because he was alone; you four won't be so lucky," he said.
"I guess we have a problem, then. Now!" Tommy ordered.
"Dino Thunder, power up! Ha!" the three teens exclaimed. They were morphed into the Red, Yellow and Green Power Rangers. Zeltrax cursed under his breath and then summoned some Tyrannodrones.
"Summon your weapons; they're in your belts!" Tommy shouted.
"You got it, Dr. O!" Conner responded. Soon, he was holding a Tyranno Staff, while Ethan and Kira held a Tricera Shield and Ptera Grips respectfully. They defeated the drones swiftly, but fought a losing battle against Zeltrax.
"Rangers, combine your weapons!" Tommy ordered. The Rangers did so, resulting in a large blaster that they held together.
"Z-Rex Blaster!" they cried.
"This'll be even more powerful when Austin's here to help," Tommy commented.
"Of course," Ethan responded.
"Shut up and fire!" Conner cut in. The Rangers' did so, and their shot hit dead on. Zeltrax was dealt heavy damage, so he retreated to a massive ship flying over the city. The Rangers then ran towards the zords, knowing that they had to tame them. Suddenly, a voice came from the Stegozord.
"About time you guys got here!" Austin exclaimed.
"Better late than never, right?" Conner responded.
"Yeah. Get a hold of those zords will you?" Austin replied.
"You got it!" Ethan cut in. He held up his morpher, and seconds later the Tricerazord was under his control.
"My turn!" Kira cried. She held up her morpher, and seconds later she had control of the Pterazord.
"Conner, the Tyrannosaurus is out of control!" Ethan said.
"Come on, I need you to work with me here!" Conner shouted at the T-Rex. He held up his morpher, and managed to gain control of the berserk zord.
"Only one more thing to do, bring em' together!" Tommy said, running up to him.
"Count me in on this one!" Austin cut in. The other three Rangers jumped into their zords, and began the process of combining all four of them. Within a minute, the four Rangers stood together inside the Megazord.
"Your robot is no match for me! Fire!" Zeltrax exclaimed. Lasers fired down at the Megazord, rocking it a little.
"Now I'm mad!" Conner remarked.
"Really? THAT'S your brilliant comeback?" Austin commented. Conner sweat-dropped in his helmet. Meanwhile, Zeltrax's ship shot down two long cables, which the Rangers grabbed with the Megazord. Suddenly the cables were charged with electricity, shocking the Rangers and causing them to release the cables.
"Time to head for the back of the net!" Conner exclaimed.
"Great, a corny soccer analogy…" Austin commented as the Megazord grabbed one of the cables. The Rangers' giant robot used the cable to swing up on top of the ship, getting an aerial view of it.
"There's the heart of the ship!" Ethan remarked.
"Looks like you're up Conner!" Austin remarked.
"Don't miss!" Kira added.
"Dino drill, engage!" Conner cried. The Megazord activated the drill on its left arm and tore through the center of Zeltrax's ship. As the Rangers landed, the ship exploded into tiny pieces. Zeltrax, however, had teleported out just in time.
Dino Thunder HQ/Tommy's secret basement
Dr. Oliver stood in front of Conner, Ethan and Kira with the briefcase, which now contained three bracelets with the red, yellow and green Dino Gems embedded into them.
"Keep these bracelets with you at all times. They'll access your morphers when you need them, and you can use these to communicate with me and with each other," Tommy said, handing them out.
"Dr. O I know you're real smart, and a science teacher and everything, but this is, well, I mean how did you-," Kira started.
"I'll fill you in, in time," Tommy answered.
"Speaking of time, you think Mesogog's gonna stick around for a while?" Ethan asked.
"Unfortunately, they always do," Tommy answered.
"They?" Conner questioned.
"I know this is a lot to take in," Tommy said, avoiding the question.
"That's for sure," Ethan remarked.
"Your lives have just changed in ways you probably couldn't have imagined, but as long as you work together, and remember, you're a team, no one can defeat you. No one," Tommy finished. The teens absorbed the information for a few seconds, before someone was heard coming down the stairs. The teens turned around to see Austin standing on the stairs, now wearing a bracelet with the blue Dino Gem on it.
"Hey, I made popcorn chicken! Who wants some?" Austin asked.
"I do!" Conner said, heading up the stairs quickly.
"Hey, how come he didn't have to hear the whole lecture thing?" Ethan asked.
"I told you already Ethan; he's my nephew," Tommy answered, "Someday you'll understand."