A/N: Before you start crediting me for this…don't. This is Bella Vision's work and idea. I'm just the messenger carrying out the plot she's described before me. As such, I am warning you that this will be VERY, VERY different from Power Ranger canon, especially Dino Thunder.

A/N 2: For instance as you will see, in this story Tommy Oliver was NOT a Dino Thunder Power Ranger as a matter of fact while he lives in the town he doesn't even know who the Rangers are even though he's seen them on TV. Instead, one William Cranston is in his place as the leader of that team. I won't go too much further into this but suffice to say there will be other differences as the story goes along.

A/N 3: I own absolutely, positively NOTHING.

A Sad Day in Reefside

Somewhere in the Depths of Hell

"They thought they had me beaten," a dinosaur-like creature hissed. "They thought I died. Oh, how they will be so wrong when they get their surprise, correct?"

"Indeed they will, master," a deep, female voice answered him. "And then they will all die. Just remember your end of the deal…leave that brat who calls himself a leader to me. He will personally die at my hands."

"Yesssss, you shall have what you want," the dinosaur creature hissed. "When should we strike?"

"Soon," his new top general answered him. "I hear that those stupid brats have been seeing each other more and more which can only mean a group outing is inevitable. I know those brats and know how they work. When they all get back together we strike. Hard."

The creature nodded in satisfaction. Soon, he would have his revenge on all who had opposed him. He would have it especially on one Tommy Oliver, who wasn't even a Power Ranger during his conquest attempt.

Though Tommy wasn't a Power Ranger anymore, the creature felt Tommy had stuck his nose where it didn't belong during his conquest attempt, as the man had fended off – by himself I might add – a number of his most lethal Tyrannodrone attacks which had made life easier for those who actually were Rangers. For that, the creature vowed that Tommy would pay and pay dearly. That's why he had gone and gotten his chosen warrior – his champion, one who had a distinct connection with Tommy.

"My liege, just a suggessstion. Why don't we ssssssend some Tengassssss and Dronessss to Reefside to tesssst their defenses," the creature hissed.

"Excellent idea," the female figure said. "Tengas, Drones, go to Reefside and do your worst!"

It was good to have some help and as it turned out, the woman's foot-soldiers were extremely strong thanks to an ally who had survived Zordon's Wave – Scorpina, who had been hiding out throughout the galaxy and had managed to band together some Tengas for just this type of situation. The woman didn't consider Scorpina a friend as they'd had quite the rivalry in her earlier years but she was glad for the extra foot-soldiers.

Two weeks after Dino Thunder's last battle

Reefside, CA

"You seem to be bothered by something, Billy," his girlfriend, Hayley, said. "Have you been grading papers too much or something? We should have celebrated our victory a long time ago."

The former Black Dino Thunder Power Ranger mulled over what she said and he admitted she was correct. Yes, they should have been celebrating but there was something still nagging him.

"No, grading papers has been perfectly fine," Billy said. "As a matter of fact, there's only one student on the border of being eligible to play baseball at the high school, the others are in good standing."

"Then what's bothering you? Let's go out or something," Hayley said.

"Let me show you what I mean," Billy said and to Hayley's surprise he pulled out his Black Dino Thunder morpher and Dino Gem.

"I got this out of my little safe place last night," Billy said, "and the second I touched it, I could feel it. It's fully charged and sure enough, I went to the rebuilt lab and checked on it and it's still fully operational and there's still a connection to the Morphin Grid."

"But how can that be?" Hayley said. "If yours is still charged up, then the others must be charged up. And if the others are charged up, then…"

Billy shuddered involuntarily. He didn't even want to THINK about what that might mean. It didn't help that a second thought was nagging him, but that he didn't know what it was. Finally, he made a decision.

"Hayley, give me the phone. Now," Billy said with a sudden tone of urgency in his voice.

"What are you doing?" Hayley said, surprised. "I need to use it!"

"I'm sorry, Hayley, but this is Ranger business. You'll have to use your cell phone or something," Billy said. "I'm calling the kids. This is spooking me out way too much."

"Well, thanks a lot," Hayley snapped as she stormed out of the room.

"Man, what's her problem?" Billy muttered as he began dialing a set of numbers he knew by heart. Finally, on the third ring, his call was answered.

"Conner here," came the voice.

"Hey Conner, greetings and salutations, it's Dr. Cranston. How goes it?" Billy said.

"Whoa. Nice surprise, Dr. Cranston, it's good to hear your voice again," Conner said. "Do you need some help?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Are you in a private place right now?"

"I am, as a matter of fact. What's going on?"

"You still have your Gem with you correct?"

"I do, as a memento," Conner said.

"Conner, I need you to try to morph," Billy said

"Morph?" Conner said. "But I thought we were powerless now."

"Just try it, OK, Conner?" Billy said. "I don't have all day."

"OK," Conner said as he just gave up. "Dino Thunder, Power Up!" he said as he went through the morphing sequence.

It took a few seconds before Conner realized he still had his phone in his hand.

"Oh my God, I can't believe it. I can morph!" Conner said.

"Great," Billy muttered, half happy and half worried. "Conner, I need you to get in touch with the others and tell them to get to my house in two hours – and please for the love of God, don't morph to do it unless you have to and don't ask questions because we don't have time."

Billy cut the connection and hurried down to the lab as fast as he could. This was not good at all – the only thing good about it was that the team could still morph. The bad possibilities, however, that came with this overwhelmed the positives. The bad possibilities were that : 1. the Rangers didn't have possession of all the Dino Gems, 2. someone other than the Rangers held in their possession one or more Gems and 3. this person was not all good.

Turning on his computer, Billy put a disk drive in his computer – it was one of many inventions he'd created in his time as a Ranger – which contained technology that could locate any power sources similar to the Dino Gems.

Activating his disk drive, he called up any and all sources that were similar to his. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the original five Dino Gems were safely in possession of Ethan, Conner, Kira, Trent and himself.

However, he groaned when he saw two additional power sources that weren't there before. What made him worry even more was that one of these sources, a distinct pink power source, was cloaked by a heavy shield and also it had a distinctly dark aura.

"I just knew it," Billy said. "This is not good."

Just then the alarm labs started blaring and a disturbance was suddenly picked up on screen. What was on the screen alarmed Billy to his core.

There on the screen was his former leader, Tommy, a man who he'd kept close contact with and he was fighting off not only Tyrannodrones, but Tengas as well. Billy couldn't believe it. He could somewhat believe the Drones were still around, but Tengas as well? And they looked as strong as usual as well because Tommy had his hands full.

"This is not the most advantageous situation," Billy said. "But I guess I must help my old leader. I hope this works. Dino Thunder, Power Up!" he shouted and he wryly smiled when he was transformed, once more, into the Black Brachio Ranger. Billy quickly wrote a note for Hayley, ran upstairs and left it on the coffee table then ran back down, got his ATV and headed out. The attack was near downtown near the White Falcon Dojo where Tommy worked, so he knew he'd have to haul it over there.

Finally he made it there as a Tenga was about to hit Tommy with a knockout blow but Billy came from behind and knocked him to the grass. The momentary distraction allowed Tommy to get to a safe place while Billy easily took care of the foot-soldiers, finally finishing the last Tenga off with a devastating Lightning Strike from his Brachio Staff. Finally, the soldiers of foot and air retreated.

"Get out of here, and don't come back," Billy muttered as they left. Finally, he caught up with Tommy and without hesitation said, "Power Down."

Tommy couldn't have been more shocked when the suit faded away and he saw who had been behind the mask all this time.

"I thought you looked familiar," Tommy said as he and Billy exchanged a brotherly hug. "Ever since I moved here I'd been watching you and whoever your team is on television and it looked like you underneath that mask – just with more skills than I remember. What in the world did they teach you on Aquitar?"

"A lot, Tommy," Billy said. "Look, I wish we could reminisce and I wish the upcoming reunion could be a happy one, but I'm afraid things are far from over for us."

"Us?" Tommy said.

"Yes, I mean us," Billy said. "My team is coming to my place in two hours and I want you there too."

"What's going on Bill?" Tommy said. "Why can't you tell me now?"

"I would rather explain myself only once and while everybody's present," Billy said. "Suffice to say, Tommy, I think this looks bad."

Meanwhile in the depths of hell…

"Do you wissssh to ssssssend out anything more?" the dinosaur creature asked.

"No. That's good for today," the woman said. "If we know the Black Ranger can morph, then the rest of them can certainly morph. Now we just wait until all their little friends have their reunion."

"They won't know what hit them," the dinosaur creature said.

Two hours after the attack

Reefside, CA

Just as Billy and Tommy had finished with dinner (for the record, Tommy had found Hayley to be very enjoyable as well even though he couldn't understand either Billy or Hayley's technical language) and headed down to the Dino Thunder Command Center, Billy could hear the sound of four loud ATV's pulling up and he knew who had arrived. He rushed outside and Tommy followed him but stayed behind at a distance.

As the ATVs all pulled up in a line Tommy took stock of all of their occupants. Tommy couldn't seem to take his eyes off the red one…the red one clearly had the leader look on his face and moreover, Tommy thought he recognized the build and figure of the Red Ranger.

"Guys, that's a former teammate and leader of mine, Tommy Oliver. You can trust him with any Ranger-related matters," Billy said. "Basically, in my view, he's the greatest leader the Power Rangers have ever had. I call him the Christmas Tree Ranger because he's worn green, white and red."

The rare joke by Billy (and the usual un-humorous Christmas Tree Ranger quip in Tommy's eyes) got a laugh out of his protégés as they all slowly began removing their helmets. Tommy was beyond shocked when he saw who the man behind the red helmet was.

"Conner?" Tommy said.

"Tommy do you know him?" Billy said.

"He's been a student at my dojo for six weeks and he's probably the fastest learner I've ever had while teaching martial arts," Tommy said. "He says he uses the time to hone his footwork for soccer but if I didn't know any better he could be a black belt if he wanted to."

It was clear there was a deep mutual respect between the young Red Ranger and the former Ranger legend. Some at the dojo would have called it playing favorites, but most of those people had quit Tommy's dojo a long time ago anyways.

"Ethan James. I control the Triceratops," the blue one said after Conner and Tommy had embraced for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "Basically, I'm another clone of Billy's."

Tommy groaned. Seriously, did the team really need any more nerds?

"Hi, I'm Kira Ford," a pretty young female stepped forward next – Tommy could plainly see she was the one in yellow. "Don't mind the nerds, they're there for us to poke fun at. I swear if I have to hear Ethan, Billy and Hayley talk in their technical mumbo-jumbo again I'm going to gouge my eyes out. By the way, I control the Pterodactyl."

Tommy looked at her and swallowed hard when she said that as he thought of yet another woman he'd once had in his life who had controlled that very same bird.. Just the way she looked, walked, talked, everything reminded him of someone else he once considered special. That was, before that had ended and he tried to bury that memory again.

"Trent Fernandez-Mercer," a Hispanic-American boy in the white suit said. "I'm the son of the guy who was Mesogog – Anton Mercer who is probably Billy's closest friend."

Some time later…

As they were all settled in the lab, the Dino Thunder team, Hayley and Tommy, were waiting with bated breath for what Billy had to say.

"OK, I know you guys have been hanging on my every word," Billy said, "and I know I shouldn't have called the kids in here. By the way kids, don't worry, I won't be scheduling that pop quiz for tomorrow. Just make sure you've read the latest material so we can discuss it."

The teens nodded.

"Anyways, this whole thing came about when I decided to just take out my Dino Gem that I still use as nothing more than a keepsake," Billy said. "As the teens found out, apparently, that gem and the rest of yours are not powerless for some reason. That blast at the end of the last battle should have destroyed Mesogog and rendered the gems powerless. Tommy, just so you know, these gems are what contain our powers."

Everyone nodded, allowing Billy to continue.

"So I came down here to check it out and what I found was alarming," Billy said. "Apparently, there are more gems out there."

"WHAT?" Hayley shouted. "I thought we'd gotten every last one of them!"

"Anton and I thought so too. But after I got back from saving Tommy here from a little scuffle with the Tengas – bird-like creatures who are some of the strongest foot-soldiers we've faced, for the record – and Tyrannodrones, I called Anton and had him swing by. We both did indeed detect that there are more Dino Gems somewhere in the galaxy. Apparently, some of them are not on Earth."

Tommy didn't like where this was going.

"Are you trying to tell me there's a power source similar to yours that might be in the wrong hands?" Tommy said as he gasped.

"In layman's terms, yes," Billy said. "My bet is that someone from the forces of evil managed to capture a pink power source that is at the very least similar to ours – and its power level was so off the charts that I could pick it up even though it's got a heavy cloaking shield. I actually think this source might be more powerful than any one of yours."

Every single person who was in the room shuddered.

"Maybe it's just me," Ethan said, "but was Mesogog really destroyed? If he was our powers would have been gone by now."

Billy shuddered to think about the impact of that possibility. If Mesogog really was alive somewhere and the Dino Gems hadn't been able to put him away, then what on Earth could?

"There's one other thing that bothers me," Billy said. "Tommy, you know I keep in touch with Kimberly very often."

Tommy nodded quickly and didn't like for one second where this was headed.

"History lesson, guys," Billy said. "Kim was our first Pink Power Ranger and in my opinion, was the heart of the team and the most resilient Ranger to ever don the spandex. She was also Tommy's first love and I'm convinced Tommy has never stopped loving her even after she broke his heart all those years ago."

Tommy barely nodded, as his heart was preparing for the worst kind of news – and what Billy said next did not disappoint.

"I tried to call her and inform her of the Ranger reunion that's taking place here on Saturday about three days ago," Billy said, "and I called her seven times. She didn't answer once."

Tommy hoped for otherwise but to say he was despondent was an understatement. His leadership senses told him something was terribly wrong. He hoped beyond hope that she had just spent the whole day out but his leadership senses were telling him his worst nightmare was about to come true.

After Billy had dismissed the teens, the mentor of the Dino Thunder Rangers and the man who was possibly the greatest to have ever donned the spandex stood eye to eye, face to face. As Billy hugged Tommy like a brother, he could see the sadness and despair radiating off Tommy in waves.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have better news for you," Billy said. "I was going to call and have Kim come to the reunion so you could work things out with her."

"It's not your fault, Billy," Tommy said. "I'm inconsolable right now but I also know what's done is done. You did what you had to do."

"This was not easy for me," Billy said, "and I know damn well it's not easy for you."

"It's not easy for me, sure, but we can't control what's happened. However, we can control what's about to happen. We have to stick together, now more than ever," Tommy said. "If anyone can do it, it's us because we stick together and don't fall apart when the going gets rough."

"That's why Zordon made you the leader, I'm convinced, because of statements like that," Billy said. "I'm in full affirmative with you. If we stick together, they can't beat us no matter how powerful this source is."

Phaedos, same time

"Unfortunately, I am afraid that might not be enough this time, my young Rangers," a tall, gorgeous woman in a green bikini said as she watched the conversation that was taking place far, far away from her. "You will need more than togetherness to stop what is coming your way. A time beyond all telling is coming for you, Rangers, and you will need all the help you can get. I will see you soon."

TBC…