Summary: Evil threatens the world again and the Dino Thunder Rangers are called into save it again. But they do not have their powers…Having depleted the energy of the Dino Gem's in their last battle with Mesogog, can the Rangers stand up to this new, fearsome foe or will the Power finally fail them?
A/N: This story is in NO WAY related to my other Dino Thunder stories. This is a stand alone project and there will be no continuations into a different set of Rangers. This story includes the original rangers; Conner McKnight, Kira Ford, Ethan James, Trent Mercer and Tommy Oliver. The story will also include a few extra special guests, a few new Dino Gem's and lots of action packed chapters. Also, no previous Ranger energies will be included in this story, except for Team-Up purposes. Wouldn't you like to know who's doing the team-ups, eh? Sorry, you're just going to have to wait like everyone else! I think I've cleared everything up…rubs chin
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Thomas Oliver pulled the glasses from his face and wiped the back of his hand along his forehead, sighing. He looked over to the thermometer and frowned. It was a definite scorcher; over a 100 degree's. Tommy replaced his glasses, throw off his jacket and began to write up today's assignment. The class would be learning about Temperature, ironically. He sighed lightly, looking down at the book and continued to scratch off numbers and created several awkward designs.
"Still at it I see, eh Doc?"
Tommy spun around and let out a breath, seeing Principle Randall standing there. "Oh…Hello Elsa." He said and then nodded. "Yeah, class is going to be difficult to teach again today." He nodded his head to the thermometer behind him. "Doesn't this school have Air Conditioning?"
"It broke down last week, remember?" She replied, folding her arms and narrowed her eyes.
"Oh, right." He said and then frowned. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Apparently that's what she was waiting for as she turned, shut the door and produced a manila envelop that had a very, very recognizable symbol on it: The Dino Thunder symbol. He gave Elsa a confused look and then excepted it. "What's this?" he asked and began to open it.
"Information that Haley picked up from outer space."
Tommy's head raised slowly. "Outer Space, huh? Let's just hope its some asteroid she's tracking and not what I think it is."
"I'm afraid it is, Tommy." The door opened again and they looked up, seeing Haley walking in now. She held another Envelop. "The thing is huge. It's not Asteroid; that I know." She handed him the other Envelop, looking thoroughly shaken up. "It's made of metal."
Both Elsa and Tommy gave her studious, wide-eyed looks. Tommy quickly ripped open the envelop and began to scan through the papers. His eyes only got wider with each line he read. "Haley, this is a Space Ship." He said, looking over the calculations. "And by these calculations…it's almost a half mile in length."
"That's not the only problem we have, either." Haley said and produced one more paper. "I think you'll find the Energy signature familiar." Tommy narrowed his eyes and looked down at the paper. He sat down his chair and began to read. Slowly…ever so slowly, he grew paler the more he read. They saw his lips moving rapidly; eyes following every line.
"This…can't be." He said finally, letting his hand fall and looked up to them. "Haley, are you sure?"
She nodded. "100, Tommy. I compared it to all previous energies. They match exactly."
"What? Tommy, what's wrong?" Elsa asked, arching a brow.
"…" Tommy was silent again as he pulled off his glasses and rubbed his now throbbing forehead. "The space ship is putting of Ranger Energy." He said and looking up to Elsa, then to Haley. "Whatever – whoever – is in side that beast is of Ranger Origin."
Elsa looked to Haley as she simply looked away. "Well, I don't believe this! I thought the Power Rangers were the good guys!"
Tommy smirked. They were the good guys…but not all started off good. He was the living embodiment of that theory. But if all the calculations were correct, why were they just waiting in space? Were the scanning the Earth for other signatures of Ranger Energy? And if they are foes, when would they attack and what are they after?
"So what do we do?" Elsa asked, her voice quivering and shaky. Haley looked to Tommy a moment and then sighed, shaking her head.
"We…call the Rangers back." Tommy said, staring beyond them, at the wall. He couldn't bare to look either of them in the eye. "Haley, can you get a hold of them for me?" She nodded fractionally. "Meanwhile…meanwhile…I'm going to go some more studying." He stood up and looked to Elsa. She nodded almost immediately and picked up the book to finish writing what he'd begun. Tommy smiled thinly; looked to Haley and together they walked out…
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Darkness. The all consuming entity that had the power to control anyone on a whim. The Darkness. It was the holder of secrets; secrets long since forgotten or those that wish to be forgotten. The Darkness: A valuable ally or a dangerous enemy. The Darkness: The greatest evil and the most powerful of all. Until now.
Submerged in the darkness of the ship sat a black suited figure; his face covered shrouded by a veil of Darkness. Three figures were knelt down before him, each dressed in a suit of dark armour. They were hideous looking creatures; definitely of alien origin. They looked to be draconic in nature but they were thin and quick. They had a long forked tongues with black slit, yellow eyes and pale green skin; some parts covered with steel-hardened scales. Their tails were long, covered in ivory-white spikes, sharp enough to cut through even the strongest of steels. Their teeth were equally vicious; covered in a thin coat of saliva. These beasts were known as Dryzards; loyal guardians to their master and ferocious fighters. Each one carried a different type of weapon; three before the shadowed man each carried samurai-esc swords.
"Masssster…we have sssucesssfully ssscouted the planet…" The Middle one said, bowing his head low. "We sssenced Ranger energy. Thisss planet isss rich with it…"
"And what of Thomas Oliver?" The deep voice boomed, his hands clutching the chair arms now. "Did you find him?"
There was silence as the Dryzards looked at one another. "We…did not, Masssster…"
And that was the last of them. A massive Tomahawk cut through the darkness and the Dryzards screamed their last as they exploded into black ash. "I WILL NOT EXCEPT FAILURE!" The Man held out his hand as it burned a blood red. The piles of ash before him shifted and began to reform into three new Dryzards; these one's carry a lance, sword and axe respectively. "RETURN TO EARTH! FIND DOCTOR OLIVER AND KILL HIM! DO NOT FAIL ME AGAIN!"
"Yesss Masssster!" The Dryzards cried and sank back into the shadows, vanishing from sight. The Dark One lowered his hand as the Tomahawk gleamed from the blood red aura around his hands. The man inhaled powerfully and returned to his seat.
"Revenge will be mine, Oliver…" The Man hissed and then also vanished into the shadows.
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Tommy sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes and melted back in his chair. The nice, cool air swirled around his body as he heard the air conditioner hum lightly behind him. He smiled and then closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. "Okay, so Haley's calculations were correct. The ship houses a being consumed with immense Ranger Energy. So…what do I do?" He leaned forward in the chair, looking at the calculations for had to be the twentieth time. "How do you fight an enemy without powers of your own?" His eyes instinctively moved to the small box sitting on a shelf. It had the Dino Thunder Symbol as he sighed so hard. If only the Gems hadn't run out of energy…
Suddenly the alarm went off and Tommy started. His hands raced across the keyboard, his heart beating fast. The computer screen flickered to life and showed an aerial map of the city. Suddenly, it began to shrink, zooming on the Downtown Section. Tommy's eyes went wide. The Lizard-esc creatures were cutting down innocent civilian's; destroying thing's as they went. Tommy snarled as he slammed his fist against the desk and ran over to the shelf. He ripped the box down, threw the lid open and pulled out the Brachio-morpher. For one, fleeting second, he suddenly felt whole again. He looked down at the morpher and golden-black band with wanton eyes. As quick as it came, the feeling vanished and Tommy pressed the morpher against the bracelet as it absorbed into it. He slid his hand through it and he felt the band tighten around his wrist.
Power or not, he was not going to let those innocent people be harmed any longer. He looked down at the box and then ran off. If he was going to die…at least he'd die defending the Earth…
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Tommy's Jeep came to a screeching halt as he gripped the bar above him and jumped out. He could hear the screams in the distance and saw one of the Lizard-esc creatures round the corner with a massive axe raised above his head. But the creature suddenly came to a halt at seeing Tommy. For a moment, the creature looked half confused and half excited. Suddenly, the creature let out a loud yell. "I'VE FOUND HIM!" It hissed and suddenly charged forward.
Tommy and jerked to the left as the falling axe smashed into the ground. But Tommy had no time to react as the creature moved with unforeseen speed; ripping the axe out of the ground and cut for Tommy again. He had just barely slipped away from the second swing when a third was already falling for his face. Pouring every bit of energy into his body, he fell into a crouch as the axe managed to cut a few strands of hair in half. Finally seeing an opening, Tommy leaped forward and buried his shoulder into the Lizards gut and threw him into the jeep door, completely denting it. Tommy pulled back, fell into stance and nearly fell over in surprise. The Creature…was laughing. It was as if Tommy's attack barely even harmed him. "Oh…so not good."
Nor was the next part.
The Lizard Man threw on his hand and a flash of black-red energy slammed into Tommy's chest and sent him flying back a half dozen feet and smashing hard against the ground. He coughed hard, the pain rushing through his body as he fought to stand. Where did that come from? He moaned hard as he felt his body quiver from the pain. Slowly, he rose to his knees and then his feet. "I-Is t-that all y-you've got, y-you overgrown l-lizard!" Tommy hissed and fell into stance again.
"Lizard?" The Beast seemed to laugh at first but in a flash was deadly serious again. "WE ARE DRYZARDS!" The Beast ripped the axe upwards and Tommy saw the black-red blade race through the air, ready to cut him in half. In a half second, Tommy had assessed the situation: the blade was moving far to fast for him to dodge properly. So…Tommy came to the conclusion he was now dead. In a last fleeting effort, Tommy threw his hands up in an X in a futile effort to defend himself.
The blade slammed into him and…vanished. Again, for another split second, he felt the energy rush over his body…but instead of being throw another half dozen feet back, he felt his body – the gem – absorb it. Tommy inhaled powerfully slowly lowering his arms. He felt…light headed and weak. Shaking his head hard, he opened his eyes again…and saw the strangest thing. The Dryzard was convulsing. Its body burned a deep black-red and Tommy noticed that streams of energy was pouring off of its body and into his gem.
Then he noticed what was different. He noticed the black glove and suit that covered his body; the Brachio-staff at his side. For once in his life…he was grinning joyfully again. He couldn't help. The happiness swelled within him as his hand ran along the Brachio-staff. He looked at the Dryzard and noticed that it had become transparent…then vanished altogether. All that was left behind was a pile of ash.
But that was not the only one. Two others rounded the corner; one carrying a lance and the other a sword. Tommy ripped the Brachio staff from its sheath and fell into stance. This…this is what he'd been doing nearly his entire life. He was a Power Ranger; inside and out. His eyes narrowed to thin slits as he waited.
"More of your freaks?" Tommy snarled as the two Dryzards began to circle around him. "So who sent you?"
"The Dark Master!" The Sword Dryzard hissed.
"Oh, no kidding!" Tommy said sarcastically and hissed. "I figured that one out for myself!" He gasped hard and cut the staff up, parrying the sword and dodged to the right as the lance slipped by him, aiming to cut his gut open. Tommy twisted the staff through his fingers and sliced it across the Dryzards face. Yellow-gold sparks sprayed outwards and showered his body. Tommy took another step back, his staff locking with the sword. As much as the Dryzard tried, it could not conquer the Power of a Ranger. Tommy shoved the beast back and ripped the staff down across the beast and cleaved it completely in half. To his surprise, that same black-red aura lifted into the air, swirling around his gem, then disappeared.
Tommy snarled as he looked to the next Dryzard but it suddenly into black ash and Tommy felt a sharp pain in his chest. A second later, he found himself flying backwards and smashing into the wall. He groaned hard, slumping over onto his elbow as he looked up. Behind the mask, his eyes went as wide as they possibly could.
He saw another Power Ranger standing there; his body was covered in a black suit that had a gold shield similar to the Green Ranger costume from years past. Wrapped around his waist was a black mantle that extended all the way to the ground. Not only that, the man carried a long black Naganata. Tommy snarled as he slowly began to push himself up. He clutched the Brachio Staff tightly and hissed. This day just got a whole lot harder…
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A/N: BUM…Bum….BBUUUHHHMMM! To clear up a few things, YES the Suit "Mystery Bad-ass Bad Guy" is wearing IS Hayden Christopher's Gold Ranger suit. And, to answer your question, YES Hayden WILL be back full swing in this story. However, because I plan on this story being MUCH, MUCH longer then other two previous Dino Thunder story's, it will be a while before Hayden makes his appearance. And when he does…it will come with a big, big bang. Enjoy the read. Chapter II will be finished soon! -
