Title: New In Town

Author: Dingo

Summary: Lothor decides to split up the team. As a result, three Rangers are sent back in time – to 1995 – and hundreds of miles away – to Angel Grove.

Timeline: Just after The Wild Wipeout, just after Stop the Hate Master.

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, I don't own it. I would like to own everything though, but then Power Rangers wouldn't be rated G/PG.

MAJOR thank you to crimson shadow for suggesting the actual correct translation for what Dustin said.

Warning: there is slash in here. If you don't know what that is, it is a homosexual relationship. To be precise, two. Possibly three, I haven't thought ahead quite that far.

Pairings as determined by me: Adam/Rocky, Hunter/Dustin, Cam?

Dustin skidded around the corner, and instinctively knew he'd gone too far. He had nearly righted himself before he got side-swiped hard by one of the too-eager newbies. The bike wobbled once, twice, and Dustin felt a brief surge of panic before it righted itself. He exhaled and pushed on the brake. When the bike didn't respond, he guided the bike into a skid and stopped just past Kelly.

"They should really warn those guys," Storm Chargers' owner scowled, shaking her head at a disappearing purple bike and mismatched rider.

"I'm just glad we fitted it with that new balancer," Dustin frowned, checking over his bike before unclipping his helmet. He muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers along a dent in the metalframe and paused over a scratch in the paint. "She's gonna need some work before she's back to race condition," he judged quickly, running one finger between the metal and the front wheel. A moment of uncharacteristic anger flashed across Dustin's face when he pulled out a broken wire from underneath. "Crap," he murmured, staring at the neat cut. Dustin inspected the rest of the wheel, cursing as he found where the dent was starting to dig into the front wheel. He stood and slung his yellow and black helmet over the handlebars, scowling at Kelly. "Can I go work on it back at the shop?"

"Sure," Kelly nodded, running her own hand across the damaged fender. "You remember which brand of brake line it was?"

Dustin waved absently over his shoulder at her. "Yeah."

Kelly turned back to the track, shaking her head. Dustin was lucky this was only training.

Now here was an interesting picture: the Yellow Wind Ranger wheeling his bike along, front wheel off the ground, and still wearing his motorcross gear.

"You busy?"

Dustin whirled around, dropping slightly into a defensive stand. When he saw who it was, he didn't relax. "Nice to finally see you."

Hunter grimaced. "I deserved that."

"Bastard," Dustin muttered.

Hunter winced again. "That too."

Dustin gestured to the bike. "You're lucky I'm busy or else I'd have to kick you in the nuts or something silly like that."

The Crimson Thunder Ranger frowned as he fell into step with his teammate. "You're feeling awfully vindictive today, aren't you?"

The slightly shorter brunette glared at him. "Oo, you've been watching grown-up shows again, haven't you?"

Hunter scratched his head guiltily. "It's a daily word calendar…"

Dustin snorted.

Hunter hated feeling like this. Blake was the only one who could ever goad him into anything with guilt, but that was only with incessant begging and pleading. That was of course before he met Dustin.

The Yellow Ranger never held a grudge for long, or over petty things, but when he did – watch out. Silent treatment, insults, threats; it was astonishing what did, or didn't come out of Dustin's mouth when he was pissed.

He meant that in the best, non-suss sounding way.

Hunter sighed. "I'm sorry. I freaked, and didn't deal with it."

After a beat of silence Dustin sighed back. "I wasn't aware I sucked that much."

"You weren't bad." Hunter scuffed his shoes in the dirt for a moment before saying quietly, "That's why I ran."

Dustin halted his walking, letting the front wheel drop to the ground and turned to Hunter. "So I should be a crap kisser and you won't run?"

Hunter fidgeted, looking at his hands. "No. I just…"

"Just what, man?" Dustin prodded when Hunter fell silent.

"I know I'm bi. Leaning towards gay. I just…I want to know you, if this is just a test, 'cause if it is, forget about it. But…I really do like you Dustin, and it's not really-"

Here the blonde was abruptly cut off.

Hunter touched his lips incredulously. "Did you just kiss me? Again?"

"You just don't know when to shut up, dude," Dustin grinned. He kissed Hunter again quickly, nearly giggling at the look on Hunter's face. Although it was a more manly laugh, of course. He quickly entwined one hand with Hunter's, pretty much forcing the Crimson Ranger into helping push the bike. "And I'm not letting you run away again," he finished.

Hunter looked down at their joined hands, and swallowed.

They continued on their way in silence.

"Isn't that sweet," Lothor crowed. "The Crimson Ranger and the Yellow Ranger, making out and making up."

Marah pouted. "And he was cute too. Why did he have to turn out gay?"

" 'Cause he met you," Kapri snorted. "You'd be enough to turn any guy gay."

Marah looked confused, as per usual.

Lothor shook his head at his nieces. "Do you two ever shut up?"

"Non, mon ami," a French-accented voice said from behind them. "They are the, how do you say? Chatterboxes."

Lothor blinked. "Right…and you are?"

The creature bowed. "I am Pepe LeBeau."

"Pepe LePeu!" Marah squealed. "I love you!"

"I am not that infernal skunk, mademoiselle," the alien corrected.

"Actually, you do kinda look like him," Kapri pointed out.

The large, black and white striped alien smoothed his fur down in a huff. "If that is the way you treat a foreigner, I shall be going." He turned, and started to walk out.

"Wait, wait," Lothor said resignedly. "They were just leaving, weren't you girls?"

"No we weren't," Marah protested.

Lothor glared at her. "OH YES YOU WERE!" he thundered.

"We were going yes we were, bye Uncle!" Kapri grabbed her sister by the arm and dragged her out of the room, Marah's complaints still audible.

Lothor slapped his head in remorse several times. "Why did I ever decide to work with family?" he groaned.

"I could…remove them for you," Pepe offered.

A contemplative look flashed over Lothor's face. "How, pray tell, would you do that?"

"I can open portal, may be useful," Pepe wheedled.

Lothor considered it for a few minutes before shaking his head. "Nah. They irritate Zurgane. It's fun to watch."

"These…Power Rangers…they give you hard time?" Pepe held up a large blaster ray. "Moi vouloir supprimer leur pour vous - I eliminate hard time."

"Where exactly do they go? I don't want them to have any way of returning," Lothor warned.

Pepe scoffed. "The only way to return is to have portal opened by Morphin' Master, and last one on Earth died five years ago." He smirked – an expression disturbingly reminiscent of someone attempting to pass gas. "And I send them back in time and to different place! They have nowhere to go, no?"

"No," Lothor agreed with an evil grin. "Nowhere to go."

Cam pushed his glasses further up his nose – a habit of his he just couldn't seem to break. In the few times he didn't have them on he found himself absently poking himself in the face. That was pretty much the reason he didn't try contacts – he'd have a constant bruise just between his eyes.

He cursed his father – how the hell could he manage to look so menacing when demanding his son go outside? He was a guinea pig for God's sake. A freakin' guinea pig. If anyone was there…he'd be embarrassed for days. Anyone except the Wind and Thunder Rangers, of course. They took worse orders from Sensei, and Hunter and Blake didn't even know him when he was completely human.

The only way that situation could have been more degrading was if his father was…dunno, a rabbit? A kitten? Something even cuter?

Cam looked, disinterested, at the door of Storm Chargers, a sign saying 'Sorry, we're closed, come back later'. He vaguely remembered Dustin telling Blake and Shane about some time trials being held soon, and the shop being closed today as Dustin needed to train. So why exactly was he here?

"I'm telling you, dude, end of the month. If not earlier," Dustin's carefree tone shocking Cam out of his stare. He blinked before turning around to watch Hunter and Dustin wheel a bike along the track leading to the building.

"It'll never happen," Hunter argued, smiling over the bike at his bantering partner. He glanced up and saw Cam, and his smile slid off. "Cam," he acknowledged, removing his hand from the bike's seat and crossing his arms.

"Hunter."

"Dustin," the Yellow Ranger said with a smile, pulling a key out of his back pocket and unlocking Storm Charger's front door. He pulled the bike in, careful to keep the front wheel off the ground and keeping it as still as possible.

"You take a spill?" Cam questioned, walking in after Hunter. The Crimson Ranger held the door open for him, and he glanced at him quizzically.

Hunter said nothing, only smiled enigmatically.

Cam shook his head, deciding that Hunter must have boinked his head somewhere between outside and inside. Knocked some manners or something into him.

"Nah man, idiots down the track. Side swiped the front wheel, bent the fender and the brake line got cut." Dustin ran his finger along a wire up to a neat end to illustrate the point. "Glad I work here, coulda cost me a heap in replacements and mechanic work."

Hunter leaned on the table just behind the counter. "I still say never," he grinned.

"Seriously? The way they're going I wouldn't be surprised to see them making out through the window," Dustin called back, hunting around in a pile of boxes.

Cam shook his head. "You are talking about Blake and Tori, aren't you?"

"No, we're talking about you and Shane. Of course Blake and Tori."

Cam mock-laughed at Hunter's little joke. He pushed himself up to sit on the counter before rebutting. "Me an' Shane'll start making out the moment you and Dustin do."

There was a choked laughing sound coming from the boxes and Cam sent a curious glance Dustin's way. Hunter just grinned and turned to face Cam. "Well, you know me," he drawled, purposefully over-emphasising a hick accent. "I like 'em tall, dark and stupid."

"Hey!" Dustin called from the mountain he was currently buried in. "I resent that."

Cam rolled his eyes. "No, you resemble that."

Dustin poked his head out for a moment, considering. "Yeah, guess I might, 'ey?" He appealed to Hunter. "So come on, gimme some lovin' baby!"

Hunter just gave him a dirty look.

Dustin just shrugged and dove back into the boxes.

Cameron Watanabe was very bored. He had been sitting in this workshop for at least three quarters of an hour. He was starting to wonder how much longer it would be before his father let him back in to Ninja Ops.

Hunter Bradley was bored. He had been sneaking glances at Dustin whenever Cam looked at the clock or out the window. He was starting to wonder how much longer before Cam went back to Ninja Ops.

Dustin Brooks was not bored. He had been replacing the broken brakes and hammering the fender back into shape. He was not thinking about Cam going back to Ninja Ops – he had nearly enjoyed the last forty-five minutes spent making idle chit-chat with Hunter and Cam. Not to mention taking off his chest protector once and throwing it at Cam. Hunter had gotten reamed for that. It was times like that which made Dustin glad that he was a bit of an airhead and above suspicion for most things.

On one of his routine looks out the window Cam noticed a skunk-like monster that was, disturbingly enough, skipping. Hunter was staring at Dustin and Dustin was just finishing off repairs to the dent.

"Uh…guys?" Cam ventured. Neither male turned. "Houston, we have a bogey, one o'clock."

Dustin finally looked up from his work. "Say what now?"

"Lothor sent down something that looks like a skunk. And Kelzacks. Can't forget the Kelzacks."

Hunter nearly bounded out of the workshop. "Thank you God."

Dustin sent him a look as they headed out Storm Charger's main entrance. "Is there something going on between you and Lothor I should know about?"

His words were pretty much lost as Hunter had already morphed and had launched himself into the air towards the…skunk…thing.

A few minutes, numerous furious kicks, two blaster shots, one call for the others and more than a few Ninja tricks later, the Rangers regrouped in front of the skunk, who had identified himself earlier as Pepe LeBeau. Hunter grinned as Pepe stumbled around groggily, not having landed any attacks since the Rangers had first noticed him

"Run along, merci beaucoup," Cam waved. "You're getting your butt kicked here."

Pepe didn't respond. He lifted a large blaster that materialized in his hand and aimed for Hunter, who was in the middle. He fired.

Dustin saw the blue beam of light as if in slow motion. His eyes widened under his helmet as it headed straight for Hunter. The Crimson Thunder Ranger had been grabbed from behind by a Kelzack and was struggling out of its grip…but by the time he did, it would be too late.

The Yellow Ranger made a split-second decision. He dove in front of Hunter, taking the shot to the side of the head.

In a sparkle of yellow and purple Dustin disappeared.

Adam watched the Viewing Globe intently, showing no emotion. On screen, Rocky and Adam were shown arguing, at one point Adam storming away before Rocky grabbed his collar and dragged him back.

"Perhaps-"

"Perhaps nothing, Zordon," Adam cut him off. "I should have fought harder against it."

"Should the other Rangers have fought harder against it?" Zordon asked mildly.

Adam banged his head down on the console to his side, and by the amount of noise he made Zordon took it that it wasn't a gentle tap. "I just…"

'I never wanted to know I have that much hate in me…'

At that thought Adam teleported out in a cloud of black. Zordon sighed. Right around now was the time he wished the most that he had a physical body in this dimension – if only to give his 'children' a hug or a good kick up the butt. Right now he wasn't sure which of those he wanted to do to Adam.

Adam materialized behind a large tree in Angel Grove Park, and barely before his body was entirely physical he had launched himself into a kata, designed specifically for clearing the mind. It wasn't working all that well today.

He furiously pounded the air, trying to turn his pent-up emotions into jumping higher, kicking harder, concentrating on surroundings more.

Which was how, a few minutes in, he landed on a spin kick and immediately spun with an open hand that stopped half an inch from Rocky's throat.

The Red Ranger simply raised an eyebrow as he pushed Adam's hand away. "A little fired up, are we?" he teased.

Adam said nothing, only dropped his stance and bent his head.

Rocky flopped onto the ground next to the tree, and pulled his friend down with him. "Tell Uncle Rocky what the problem is," he sighed.

Adam sighed in response, leaning his head back to rest on the tree. He let a warm breeze pass over his face, cooling the thin sheen of sweat he had collected throughout his spontaneous workout.

Rocky glanced over before bringing his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. "I have a feeling this is something to do with yesterday," he said lightly.

Adam said nothing, only inclined his head a little.

"I'm sorry for anything I said." Rocky scratched the back of his head, then laughed a little. "I know you, Adam. You went up and watched Zordon's tape, didn't you?"

The Black Ranger's silence said more than an affirmative could.

"Adam, we couldn't control it. You know that-"

"I said that you were a lousy friend."

The soft voice came abruptly. Adam turned his head to look Rocky in the eye and smiled painfully. "I said that you were stupid and couldn't see things right in front of your face."

Rocky breathed deeply after that, gathering his thoughts. When he thought he had a reasonable argument he straightened his legs and turned, side on, so he could see Adam without needing to move his head. "What did I say?"

Adam blinked. "Um…I didn't listen."

Rocky shrugged with a quiet grin. "I'll bet I said things like that to you. Maybe worse. Should I be brooding over that the rest of my days?"

Adam had no answer.

Which was actually a pretty good thing, considering what happened next.

In a flash of purple a body appeared, maybe five feet in front of them.

Rocky could only blink. "Okay. That was strange, even for us."

Adam could only nod in response, creeping forward before hopping over the body and checking for as many signs of life he could.

"He's breathing," he called back to Rocky. "And he's not bleeding anywhere that I can see."

"It's a he?" Rocky asked jokingly, joining Adam on his side of the man…boy, Rocky corrected. The guy couldn't be much older than themselves.

Adam sent him a glare with a smile threatening to break his bad mood. "Of course it's a he." Adam motioned toward the guy's clothing. "Unless there's one heck of a surprise under there." He frowned as he looked closer at the guy's clothing. It looked like he was in a biking suit or something – he was wearing normal clothes underneath but on top he had elbow pads and what looked like some kind of kidney protector.

Rocky slapped Adam lightly on the shoulder, glad Adam was starting to get out of his funk. "So what should we do, oh grand mighty leader?" he joked. "Hospital or Command Centre?"

Adam considered for a second before raising his wrist. "Zordon?"

"Yes, Adam?"

"There's a guy here how literally just…appeared. He's unconscious. Should we bring him to the Command Centre or take him to the hospital?"

Rocky interrupted before Zordon could reply. "Whoa, hold on…he's waking up."

Adam quickly ended the conversation over his watch, ducking down so he was eye-level with the guy.

His eyes blinked sleepily a few times before he moaned and shook his head.

"Killer uphill," he muttered, holding his head and wincing. As he finally got his bearings he blinked at the two Rangers in surprise. "…hi?"

"Hi," Adam returned.

Noticing the guy's trouble with sitting up, Rocky moved behind him and braced him, letting the as-yet unnamed boy support only part of his own body weight.

"Thanks."

Rocky grinned at brown hair. "You're welcome."

Suddenly remembering his manners and first aid training, Adam snapped to attention. "I'm Adam," he introduced himself. "And that's Rocky. How are you feeling?" he continued, checking the guy's eyes nonchalantly.

The boy grimaced and lifted his hand to his head again. "I'm pretty sure I have a concussion," he said, sounding disappointed. "Darn."

Rocky exchanged a mirth-filled glance with Adam. He sounded so despondent, like he had lost his life savings.

Adam checked the guy's eyes more thoroughly. "Looks like you do have a concussion," he said, noticing slightly uneven pupils. "You feel up to getting to a hospital…uh…"

"Dustin. No hospitals," the guy demanded, shaking his head before wincing. "Bad idea.(1) Dustin seu idiota. vc perdeu uma aposta para o Hanter, de todas as pessoas."

Rocky laughed. "(2) Qual foi a aposta?"

Dustin looked back at Rocky, shifting in the half-hug so he could face Rocky. Adam quickly squashed a strange stirring in his lower belly as the two grinned and chattered back and forth. For all he knew they were deciding on what colour Adam would wear to their wedding. It's thoughts like that that can get you in trouble, dude.

"(3) Um amigo disse que eu nao passaria dois meses sem ter um machucado na cabeça." Dustin giggled drunkenly. He sobered up a bit. "Whoa. Real bad when I sound like Tori."

Rocky laughed again, looking back up at Adam. "I like this guy. Where did you learn-"

"-Brazilian Portuguese? I was born in Brazil. Lived there for a while," Dustin finished, leaning forward and put his head between his knees.

Adam shifted, a little uncomfortable with their closeness. "Not to disturb you or anything, but…how exactly did you get here?"

Dustin glanced at him quizzically before looking around. He struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on Rocky. "Where is here?" he asked, puzzled by the green surroundings.

"The park," Rocky said helpfully.

Dustin looked blank.

"Angel Grove Park."

"Oh crap." Dustin sagged onto Rocky, and again Adam felt something disturbing his stomach.

"You obviously weren't in Angel Grove before you appeared, were you?" Adam asked quickly, attempting to rid himself of the faint queasiness.

Dustin shook his head before wincing. He started to say something, then his eyes grew wide and he stopped. "You said 'appeared'. What exactly do you mean, man?"

Adam exchanged a glance with Rocky. "You just…appeared out of thin air," he said slowly, deciding a straight answer would be best before revealing anything about being Power Rangers.

Dustin struggled out of Rocky's grip and swayed slightly on his own feet. "Okay," he said slowly. "My head hurts a little too much to deal with excuses."

"You need an excuse?" Rocky questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Just say it was Power Ranger related."

"Power Ranger?" Dustin burst out before laughing a little too loudly and a little too fake sounding. "What would give you that idea, dudes?"

Adam and Rocky exchanged glances. This guy was hiding something, and wasn't good at hiding it. "Because strange things always happen around Power Rangers around here," Rocky said delicately, not exactly lying.

"Whoa." Dustin made a motion with his hand as if to cut Rocky off. "Power Rangers are real here?"

"Uh, yeah. Aren't they wherever you come from?" Adam replied, puzzled.

"Uh, yeah," Dustin replied, scratching his head.

That's when the other one appeared.

Hunter blinked hard a few times before quickly checking himself out. Ten fingers, two feet, no tail…he was fine. And he still had his Ranger suit on – that was always a plus. Evidently that ray wasn't designed to destroy or injure. Capture was still up in the air, though.

He glanced up, and immediately located Dustin. Problem was that he was behind two guys. Both shorter than Dustin, not to mention himself, but the problem lay in the fact that both dropped into a defensive position upon his arrival.

"Another evil one, fantabulous," one muttered.

Hunter took mild offence to that; he hadn't been evil for like two months. Plus he'd been going to Evil Anonymous. There had been some other guy called Merrick there who insisted that he hadn't been evil but was only going for his partner, so at least Hunter could admit it.

But hey, when told to be evil, you be evil. "Hand over the boy," he commanded.

The two exchanged glances. "No way in hell," the shorter one commented.

Dustin again caught his eye as he stumbled slightly. Hunter felt a burst of anger explode deep within him; whatever these two had done to Dustin he would visit back upon them tenfold.

The Yellow Ranger nodded his head slightly to the left, and without moving his head Hunter's gaze flickered over and back. The side of forest to this park was going to help immensely.

Hunter nodded slowly, as if to the two in front. He saw just out of the corner of his eye Dustin carefully checking the park for any other people. Finding none, Dustin slowly inhaled to prepare himself.

As if on some silent signal Hunter threw himself forward, not even relying on his training. He simply hit and kept hitting as hard as he could, trying not to incorporate any of his normal arsenal. But quite bluntly, with him not trying, even his Ranger powers didn't stop him getting his butt handed to him on a silver platter with a little garnish of parsley.

A few minutes later he stumbled back, hunching over. Even disorientated and confused about whatever – wherever - 'here' was, he knew enough to leave everyone around – especially since he was outnumbered – to underestimate him. Give them no hints on how to prepare for him.

Hunter glanced up, and noted Dustin had gone to the trees. He had probably streaked over there – there hadn't been enough time for him to walk over in the state he was in – and Hunter was worried. Ninja Streaking was easy when at full strength, but with Dustin's injury the Yellow Ranger could be in worse shape…or had misjudged where he was going and ended up in some old lady's shopping over the other side of town.

Before he could scare himself with more stories about where Dustin ended up, he raised one hand to the sky. A crack of thunder sounded in the bright blue sky above, and as the two were distracted by looking for storm clouds he streaked away in a bouncing ball of lightning.

Adam turned back to the Ranger in front. "Ah crap," he sighed, watching a flickering red light dance away.

Rocky shrugged. "We obviously have a new evil Ranger in town."

(1) – Dustin, you idiot. You just lost a bet to Hunter, of all people.

(2) – What was the bet?

(3) – A friend said I couldn't go two months without a head injury.