A/N:
What better way to celebrate the end of a Power Rangers hiatus than with my favorite trio of characters this season? This story is loosely connected to the continuity of my other Dino Charge stories.
That said, I don't own Power Rangers, its characters, or any of its related intellectual property. I'm just a humble fan doing his best to salute the show.
It was an early Saturday morning as Chase Randall strolled into the cave which served as the home base of the Dino Charge Rangers. Turning off his ipod, he removed his earbuds and gave a cheerful grin while carrying a thin white box under his arm. Upon entering the central cave, he found it nearly empty except for his burly friend Koda who sat near Kendall's work station. The shaggy caveman was intently studying the insides of a thick engineering book and looked to be in serious thought.
"Morning Koda! What are you up to?" Chase asked curiously as he approached the table.
"Trying to learn from book," Koda replied greeting his friend with an earnest smile, "I see Kendall do this to learn things, so maybe I learn too."
Chase gave a gentle smile and turned the engineering manual right-side up, "Mate, we still need to teach you how to read first."
Koda gave an embarrassed shrug but the Black Ranger waved it off and held up the box he was carrying, "Anyway, don't feel too bad. I actually came by to give you a little present today."
The caveman took the box and gave a surprised look, "You give me gift? But I have no birthday."
"No worries mate," Chase laughed reassuringly as he gave Koda a clap on the shoulder, "This isn't a birthday gift. Today marks the second year since I met you and Kendall, so I figured I'd give you a little present as a token of our friendship. Open it."
Koda opened the box and slowly held up its contents. It was a large stylish black dress shirt.
"Well, what do you think?" Chase asked hopefully.
Koda gave a perplexed frown, "It nice shirt, but I not understand. You wear black."
"True," Chase replied, "But I figured you need at least one good dress shirt if you ever want to go out for a night on the town. You'll look sharp, and it'll make a good first impression on the ladies."
With a wink, he added "Trust me mate, the good guys wear black."
Koda thought it over for a moment before giving a grin and nodding, "Thank you Chase. It is good gift then."
As Koda put the shirt back in the box, Riley entered the cave with an excited smile, "Hey! I've been looking all over for you two. Didn't you guys get the message?"
Chase and Koda exchanged confused glances and shook their heads.
"Miss Morgan wants us all to meet in the park nearby," Riley explained, "She said she had something interesting to show us. Hurry up!"
The Black and Blue Rangers gave another shrug before following Riley out of the cave and into an entrance to the museum parking lot out back.
The three Rangers made their way back around and headed toward the large wooded park just across the street from the museum. After a short walk down a shady path lined with colorful flowers, they came to a wooded clearing where Kendall, Tyler, and Shelby all gathered around a strange looking device. The machine looked to be a silver box with a plug mounted upon a tripod. At the corners of the machine, large solar panels flared out from the side.
"Looks pretty cool," Tyler commented to Shelby, "What do you think it is?"
Chase crossed his arms and replied with a small chuckle, "Looks like a solar powered toaster oven to me."
As she finished making some last minute adjustments, Kendall looked up and gave him a mild frown, "Actually, this device may be my biggest breakthrough in developing your Ranger arsenal. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you all to the Dino Super Charger- Mark 1."
"Dino... Super Charger?" Shelby asked with a hint of confusion and skepticism.
Kendall nodded proudly, "With Keeper's help, I've been working on a way to increase the power output of your Energems... to super charge them, if you will."
"Wow! That sounds totally awesome Miss Morgan!" Tyler cheered in excitement. "How does it work?"
"Well," Kendall began thoughtfully as she adjusted her glasses, "I've modified this device to harness electromagnetic energy and have it react with the natural powers that come from your Energems. Today, there's supposed to be a solar flare going on and a lot of radiation is already in the atmosphere. That's why I was hoping to test this machine out with all of you here today."
"Wait, you not even sure it will work?" Koda asked with a hesitant frown.
Kendall bit her lip, "Well... not entirely. In theory it should work, but I'm going to need one of you to volunteer your Energem."
The five Rangers exchanged confused and hesitant looks for a moment before Riley scratched his head, "I don't know about this Miss Morgan. It's not going to turn into some kind of nuclear reaction, will it?"
"Yeah sorry," Shelby chimed in, "I'm with Riley on this one. I'm not too keen on getting vaporized today."
Finally, Chase stepped forward with a sigh, "Relax everyone. I'll trust Kendall. If this thing actually works, then I'll be the coolest Power Ranger in Amber Beach."
Turning to give Kendall a friendly wink, he added, "Besides, if we're doing this in the name of mad science, we have to at least try, right?"
The others exchanged an uncertain look as Kendall raised her eyebrow at him and sighed, "Thanks Chase... I think. May I have your Energem please?"
After taking the Black Energem, Kendall plugged the stone into the Super Charger and flipped a few switches. The Rangers stood back and watched curiously as the solar panels shifted and the machine lit up slowly. A few moments passed and Chase's Black Energem began to glow with power, steadily giving off a pulsing radiant glow. As the six continued to watch, the Energem grew even brighter and electricity began surging from the solar panels while sparks erupted violently from the sides of the machine.
"Not good Miss Morgan! You've gotta shut that thing off!" Shelby shouted in panic while grabbing Tyler's sleeve.
"I... I can't!" Kendall called in alarm as she looked down to her remote control tablet and furiously entered desperate commands. "The Super Charger isn't responding!"
Seeing the situation deteriorate, Chase rushed in and pushed Kendall out of the way of some surging electricity before manually flipping some of the switches back. As the Super Charger gave off more angry clouds of sparks and smoke, Chase grabbed his glowing Energem from the plug. In an instant, the Black Ranger was thrown backward in a brilliant flash of light and the others raised their hands to shield their eyes from the blinding blast.
As the light and smoke faded, Chase slowly sat up from the ground and was met by the astonished faces of his friends, "What? What is everyone staring at?"
"Arrgh! Bloody hell!" came a startlingly similar voice nearby. Chase turned in surprise to see himself, or rather an exact look alike lying in the grass next to him.
Unlike the Black Ranger though, the young man wore a white and gray shirt of similar design. The look alike held his head and groaned, "What is going on? Who are you?"
Jumping to his feet, Chase's eyes went wide in astonishment, "Who am I? I'm me! Who the bloody hell are you?"
As the two young men gawked at each other, Tyler, Shelby, and Riley all stood in silence with looks of horrified shock.
"Fascinating..." Kendall murmured in awe while Koda frowned in confusion next to her.
To the Rangers' surprise, the young man in white leapt to his feet and quickly pulled out his dino revolver pointing it at the other Rangers. In a flash, Chase reacted and grabbed his double's weapon arm, twisting the gun out of his opponent's grasp and initiating a grapple. As the two of them began scuffling, Koda growled and pounced on the young man in white pinning him to the grass in a headlock.
"Koda! Get off me you big idiot!" the look alike growled trying in vain to break free.
The Blue Ranger growled and tightened his grip, "The real Chase not call Koda idiot."
"Thanks mate," Chase sighed in relief putting a hand on Koda's shoulder, "And you're right. I'd never pull my gun on any of you guys either... well, maybe except for Shelby."
"Hey!" the Pink Ranger frowned as she stuck out her tongue at Chase.
The Black Ranger turned to the man in white while narrowing his eyes, "As for you, I want to know where you came from and why you're wearing my face."
From the ground, the young man in white growled and made one more attempt to get free before letting out an exhausted sigh and nodding his head.
After the chaos finally died down, the seven young people sat at some nearby park benches while Kendall and Riley examined the ruins of the Super Charger.
"I've already told you. My name is Chase Randall," the man in white stated holding up a black Energem, "I am the Dino Charge Black Ranger."
"Says the guy wearing white," Chase muttered suspiciously while holding out his own black Energem. "Let's make things clear. I'm the real Chase here. For now... let's just call you Randall."
"Wow, and I thought having one Chase was bad enough," Shelby muttered quietly as the Black Ranger rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, but this is just too freaky."
Shelby continued to closely examine the look alike's face, "Isn't it uncanny how they look and sound the same?"
Randall gave a smug smile and winked back, "Take a picture luv. It lasts longer."
Shelby recoiled in disgust as Tyler frowned defensively, "You claim to be a Power Ranger. You sure don't act like one."
Randall met the Red Ranger's glare, "Why? Because I'm not full of smiles and laughter like you? Hell, I'm sure something must be wrong because I can't be in the right place either."
"What are you even talking about?" Chase demanded narrowing his eyes on his doppelganger.
Randall looked out and gestured to the buildings of Amber Beach that could be seen from above the trees of the park. "Well, for one thing... half these buildings are gone and there isn't much of a park left here. It was Sledge who destroyed them."
The other Rangers looked about in confusion as Randall continued, "The rest of you don't look the same either. Shelby, your hair is much too long and Koda, you don't have that nasty scar across your face."
"Wait, are you saying that wherever you're from... that Sledge won?" Tyler asked.
Randall shook his head, "No. Not exactly... but let's just say things aren't as cheery or bright as this place is."
"I'm wondering if the Super Charger had anything to do with it," Riley chimed in walking over to the bench, "Because this is starting to sound like some bad Star Trek episode."
"You might be right," Kendall added joining the others and turning to the second Black Ranger, "I'll still need to look over the data logs from the Super Charger, but I have a hunch it might have created some kind of inter-dimensional rift when it malfunctioned.
Randall fixed his eyes on Kendall and did an obvious once over before giving an amused smile, "Well, isn't that lovely."
Chase caught the look and clenched his fist as Kendall cleared her throat, trying to suppress the uncomfortable feeling of Randall's leering gaze, "If you don't mind, I think it might be for the best if you come back with us and let me run some tests on you and Chase. For starters, I want to make sure there aren't going to be any adverse side effects."
"Wait a minute Kendall, you can't be serious," Chase protested giving his double another suspicious frown, "You really think we can trust him?"
"Well, he is a Ranger," Tyler conceded with a grimace, "The Energem proves it."
Straightening his collar, Randall cleared his throat and gave a gracious smile to Kendall, "If it would put your minds at ease, then I'll come and take the tests. Lead the way luv."
Chase growled and muttered a curse under his breath as Kendall reluctantly led the others back toward the museum. To his small comfort, he felt the reassuring hand of his best friend Koda pat him on the back and gesture for them to follow. As the two Rangers followed at the rear, Chase continued to watch the young man with the same face as him. He wasn't quite sure why, but he got a bad feeling from Randall, even if he claimed to be a fellow Power Ranger.
If the doppelganger's attitude toward his friends and the look he had given Kendall had been any indication of his character, Chase wasn't quite sure he was in any position to trust himself either. As he continued to walk toward the museum, he could only hope that the tests back in the command center would put some of those doubts to rest.
To Be Continued...