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It wasn't the colors, Grumm decided. Bright though they were, even had they all shone grey, the gems before him would be easily told apart. No, they whispered something to their environment, strength, protectiveness, something unique. Something to define the dinosaur each gem drew it's power from. From mighty Tyrannosauarus to protective Brontosaurus to deadly Dragosaur, they roared their identity for all to hear.
Yes, there was no doubt. These were Dino Gems indeed, the power source of the fabled Dino Thunder Rangers. They who had protected Reefside from the equally fabled Mesagog. If the exploits of that bit of struggle were not the equal of the mighty Angel Grove teams, they were close enough. Both Power AND Ranger had been remarkable in every sense of the word. Would that I could find the original wielders of these things. They would not escape MY mind control.
But, he could not, and without them, the gems were no more than pretty ornaments. Though I wager Broodwing could still find a buyer for them. His pet weapons dealer was adept at his job, and could probably have sold water to Aquitans for a good price. But no. He had better means to acquire the power he needed. All that was necessary was to make sure no one else used these gems either. If the wretched SPD, with their superior resources, got their hands on these, they could make his life miserable indeed. And they'd certainly find them, now that he'd uncovered them.
"Emperor?" a voice softly interrupted from behind him.
Grumm did not have to turn to know who that voice belonged to. Morgana, his second-in-command, feared throughout the galaxy for her ferocity and prowess. Champion of the Onyx Gladiator Games, scourge of the Mak, destroyer of the Blue Senturions(aside from the few that had taken shelter on Earth). Most frightening of all, no one could place an age to her, nor a history. Some whispered she'd been forged by the Grid to fight for their side, a compensation for the great losses Zordon of Eltar had inflicted on them nigh-on 30 years ago.
The Patellen warlord knew better. Morgana fought fiercely, this much was true. But her passion didn't come from bloodlust. She was no hardened warrior woman. Her strength came from fear, desperation and childish single-mindedness. Quite literally childish… for that was what she was. A child trapped in an adult's body. He didn't know how, or why, but that was what she had been, ever since that day 20 years ago in the Mystic Forest where he'd found her, defending some magical trinket he'd been after. And by "defending", that meant attacking anyone in the area, shrieking "This is MY place, you can't come here!". She'd been intriguing enough to keep alive. In the one act of kindness history would probably ever write for Warlord Grumm, he'd later given her the physical body to match her age. It gave him a companion as well as a magical assistant. I'm sorry, Morgana, that I had to turn you back. But there was need. He would return her back to normal at some point. He would. But right now, he needed her too badly.
"Emperor? The Blueheads have set up a perimeter around the site. Shall we prepare these for transport?". "No.", Grumm growled. "We can take them, Morgana, but what could we do with them?"
"USE them, of course! Find a way to power them, create an evil team of Rangers and-"
"Yes, that has ALWAYS had a high success rate", Grumm snapped. She was the closest thing he had to a daughter, but her lack of wit outside of a street fight was annoying at times. "No, Morgana, eventually they would be turned. A touch of a Morphing Grid can often turn the worst tokar into a righteous fool.". Not true, as he had proven with the A-Squad, but the girl was extremely stubborn when coming up against the word "can't". Which applied very well to utilizing these gems. "Besides… why go to the trouble of creating malice? Simple pride and ignorance should suffice."
Morgana looked puzzled. Grumm laughed, as he realized exactly how much trouble this was going to make. His staff glowed in preparation for the… very simple spell.
Oh, this would be sweet.
"Commander?", Sydney Drew yelled across the dig site. "Workers think they've found them". The Sirian turned at that from his examining of one of the outer dig points. "Are the power sources accessible?", Commander Cruger asked, with his usual quiet dignity.
"They look almost completely uncovered from here. Initial scans turn up no sign of radiation", Syd replied. Of course, nonetheless, Cruger insisted that it be the B-Squad who moved in to acquire them. Yeah, it's an honor to be here, but still. We've got more important stuff to do than muck around in the dirt.
"B-Squad, in line!", Jack Landors yelled from behind her. The SPD Red Ranger was enjoying himself a bit more than the rest of them, here. As Sky was wont to remind her, he never HAD taken their Academy work seriously. "Very good, Cadet Landors", Cruger growled once they were all assembled. "Now remember – go in, pick them up, and move out. Don't touch anything, don't stay to look around. I just want the Ranger-related stuff out of sight before proper excavations begin."
"Sir? When you say Ranger-related, wouldn't that mean Grid related? I mean, everyone says Rangers ARE the Grid, so you'd really have to connect it that way. Except maybe the Grid IS the Ranger. In which case it might really be Ranger-related. Then, what if-"
"CARSON!", the Commander snapped. Their Green Ranger's oddball qualities were endearing, but required a brand of patience the Shadow Ranger had never learned.
"Sorry, sir.", Bridge meekly shut up. Though Syd was willing to bet he still had no idea what was so grating about his questions.
"Any RELEVANT questions?", Cruger snapped. "Good. Now move out. I want these things on Dr Manx's desk by the end of the day".
Such small things to make a fuss over. Who'd think you could support a team of Rangers off shiny gems?
To Sky Tate's eye, the five objects sitting in the lab bore little resemblance to anything related to Rangerhood. Large reactors, needing constant maintenance, detailed schematics of how to get the maximum yield from every drop of power, these were the stuff of Rangerhood. The magical Ranger teams were gone, if they'd ever existed.
"Any results, Kat?", he asked of the feline scientist. If there was anything to be found on them, she'd find it. The Selinian refugee had earned her reputation as quite possibly the sharpest analyst in the galaxy. What Cruger had done to get her working for SPD instead of a thousand eager companies offering ten times her current salary, Sky didn't know.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. The gems are nearly inert, but I've managed to match their small power signal with that of something in the archives". Kat hit a button, bringing up a display Sky remembered very well. Five uniforms, colored-and-white diamonds patterning with a weird insignia on the chest. The Dino Thunder team. One of the more remarkable teams of the pre-Ranger Act times. Freelancers, operating with no order or recognition, and yet very capable. He couldn't recall much – it had been a long time since Ranger History class.
"KAT!", a yell pierced the usual quiet order of the lab. "KAT! I've found the element you wanted! It's got a-", Boom, Kat's assistant, cut off abruptly as Sky glared at him. Would this oaf NEVER learn proper decorum?
"Uh… sorry, sir. Kat! I've isolated the Cressic element in the gems, and I think I've found some REALLY cool stuff", the SPD washout said in a slightly calmer tone.
"Slow down, Boom. I told you to isolate the Preenlian element.", Kat replied gently. Of course. The man was hopelessly absent-minded as well.
"Uh… yeah. But, see, this was quicker, and I THINK… I'm not sure but I think I've found the uh, battery, if you will, of the gems. They seem to recharge themselves for the most part, assuming you don't burn them out entirely."
"OK", Kat nodded. "That's common enough among Ranger powers dating from before Lightspeed", she explained to Sky. Made sense, considering how long some of those had stayed working. "THAT got you into such a tizzy?", the woman frowned. "Boom, you should know better."
"Uh, no, see, the battery is still WORKING in these things. It was just, uh, knocked out of, um, alignment, by whatever took the Dino Rangers out. So we could, um, theoretically, recharge them ourselves. I mean, it's pretty simple to channel the energy from the gems through a Protonic node, and we can redirect it to-"
Kat put up a hand to forestall him. "Yes, the standard Cranstonian method. VERY interesting, Boom. What about breaking the lockdown?"
"Lockdown?", Sky interrupted. Maybe they'd be getting a new Ranger team out of this.
"Yes, we can recharge the gems, and making morphers to channel their energy should be pretty simple, but the energy won't flow properly out of the gem. Tests show it refuses to complete a circuit with any of our equipment.", Kat explained. "We'll find a way around it, don't worry".
"I never worry", Sky grinned. Certainly not when Ranger powers were in the offing.
"Except about rules", he heard Boom mutter as he walked out, leaving the two scientists to their technical discussion. Sky ignored him. Commander Cruger was going to love this bit of news.
"Do it, Conner!", Trent yelled from beside him. In front of the team, the four Meso-monsters stood waiting, confident in their victory. As well they might be, after shrugging off his best Battlizer shot. There was really no choice. They just had to pray their combined energy would be enough to put an end to the damn things.
And yet… that much raw power. It could turn them to ashes if he fumbled. No. No choice. He signaled the team. To HIS team.
"POWER RANGERS!", the Dino Thunder team roared. Each one opened their Dino Gem's energy, channeling it into one conduit. Him. "I summon the power of the Gem!", he declared, desperately trying to keep a hold on all the energy.
Aim… aim… RELEASE! With a sudden effort, he hurled the combined energy of five Rangers at the twisted things in front of him. It was an effort to allow it to keep flowing without losing control. The Meso-monsters snarled, resisting the blasts. The power was beginning to burn now.
No. Falter, and they were gone. Keep… flowing. Suddenly, Conner's heart leapt as he saw the monsters begin to fall. Keep… DONE! The monsters had fallen. They'd won!
Carefully, Conner attempted to close the flow of energy. No good. It wasn't going back, it was flowing harder! It was then that Conner realized he'd lost his concentration on holding the energy.
No. The energy blew out of his control, enveloping the team in a sudden blast while continuing to drain them. Frantically, Conner clawed to at least close his own gem's flow. He felt the power beginning to recede from him, felt the suit fading…
Ripping away from him. The Power was gone.
Pain.
Darkness.
With a sudden gasp, Conner McKnight woke up, sweating. Crap. He'd thought the dream would at least have the decency to stop, 21 years after the fact. Isn't it enough that it still haunts me during the day?
With a sigh, he looked around the dingy apartment, looking for his sleeping pills. Nightmares he could have, but work was work, and you couldn't coach on no sleep. Well, you could, but it wouldn't do your reputation any good. Not that his was sterling, anyway.
Groping next to his nightstand, he found something resembling a pill bottle. Tonguing a few of the things down, he wondered precisely when it had come to this. A thirty-five year old man, coaching whiny brats in a dingy community center, no family, no purpose, and no sleep either, as of late.
It had all seemed so hopeful back then, after high school. How hard could college be, after kicking alien butt? But then, he found how hard it was to give up the lifestyle. How hard it was to feel alive without the incredible awareness and power of the Tyrannosaurus. It all just seemed so… meaningless, somehow. And slowly, his failure on that day had begun to haunt him. If I'd been stronger… if I hadn't lost control…
If he hadn't slipped, hadn't let the flow get out of hand. Not that he could have, Dr. O had assured him. The energy was like water, it couldn't be stopped up once released. Not that that mattered. I was a Ranger, I should've found a way.
He shook his head, disgusted with himself. Stewing for two decades over this. What had been making him so damn RESTLESS lately? Over the past week, every carefully buried regret and wish had come bursting out. Leave the past where it belongs. It's over.
Wait. That wasn't just stewing, he now realized. He FELT the lack more, felt the lack of power more than he had since the day they'd defeated Mesogog. The hunger, the hole he'd felt then, was back. As though… Conner carefully probed his own feelings. But different. Not like it had been back then but like it had been…
A little before, when they'd given Mesogog the gems temporarily. As though his gem was not gone, just lost.
That's it. I've cracked. I'm starting to imagine things. Starting to imagine it's back.
But just to be sure… the former Red Ranger tentatively began to concentrate on his speed-running ability. It was, of course gone with the Gems. This was ridic-
Suddenly, he found himself flying forward into one of his walls. He managed to stop himself a hair short of a broken nose. He tried again, this time tripping over the bed as he hit it.
Again. And again. He sped around his entire apartment.
How?
How?
Right now, he didn't care. He felt alive again, as he hadn't been since… well, forever.
Ignoring the sleeping pills beginning to take effect, he stumbled over to his phone, speed-dialing the first number on it.
"Conner?", a sleepy middle-aged voice grunted into the receiver.
"Dr. O. It's back. We gotta get the others".