Billy Cranston sat in his lab, a yellow and black double barrelled blaster with a tyrannosaurus head motif on the table in front of him. The basic design was based on some specifications he'd acquired by way of some mutual contacts for a weapon previously used by one of the Time Force Power Rangers, the Quantum Ranger. Of course, Billy had made some modifications since acquiring the designs three years ago.
He hadn't been working on it alone; he'd had help from an associate of a former colleague of his, a literal rocket scientist. She'd helped him work out the kinks in the system, after he'd struggled to rectify the combination of the technology the designs specified for the original weapon, the Quantum Defender, and a set of crystals, known as Dino Crystals, or "D-Crystals" for short.
Billy finished the modifications he'd been making to the blaster in front of him, the "D-Fender" as it had been nicknamed by his associate on the project. He knew why they were doing this; as soon as the first D-Crystal had been detected, something else had been detected; a surge in negative energy. Something was coming for the crystals, and they had to be ready.
As he set the D-Fender down, there was a sound from outside the lab. It sounded like some kind of cutting. He rummaged round his desk, grabbing one of the D-Crystals that had already been loaded into a silver cylinder for use with the weapon, a violet trimmed one with a cartoon image of a plesiosaur on the violet crystal in the middle, the number 9 on the cylinder.
As he moved to grab the D-Fender, the door was thrown across the room at him, barely missing him as a group of silver clad figures with mechanical heads and circular saw like left hands came running in. Billy ducked under a swing from one of the figures, rolling inbetween two of them for the D-Fender on the position it had clattered to on the floor.
He managed to grab the D-Fender, loading the cylinder in the mouth of the device and taking aim at one of the figures.
"Dino Strike, Ch-" Billy began to call before being tackled to the ground by one of the figures and knocked unconscious.
...
Victor Price ran through his school corridor, his red backpack slung over his shoulder. He wore black converse, black jeans and a red t-shirt, with a black button down shirt worn over it. His short, red hair was spiked, a pair of wire frame glasses being worn over his bright blue eyes. He was late for his class. Again. His history professor was always citing him as a prime example of someone who was "bright but lazy."
Of course, it wasn't like he did it on purpose. He was just generally bad at keeping time. He was often told if he were any slower, he'd be dead as a dinosaur. It kind of annoyed him when people said that. His best friend, Charley, was especially noteworthy for doing it; the guy managed to date half the cheerleading squad, not get caught and still be on time. Victor always got annoyed, or maybe it was jealous, he couldn't quite decide.
As he ran down the corridor, he tripped, and fell forward, bowling over someone as he did. He quickly muttered an apology, helping the red haired woman to her feet.
"It's fine, where's the fire?" She said "All the classes started half an hour ago."
"That's where the fire is." He replied "Sorry, ma'am, but I'm late for Doctor Oliver's class!"
He didn't wait for a reply before beginning to run down to the class again.
...
Tommy Oliver stood at the front of his History class. He was in the middle of giving a lecture on the ways in which the effects of the dinosaurs demise were still being felt. He knew better than most, given his own personal history; he'd served on not one, but two dinosaur themed Power Ranger teams, first as the Green Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, and later as the Black Dino Thunder Power Ranger.
"One of the other ways we still feel it is in our vehicles. After all, they're called fossil fuels for a reason." Tommy quipped before the door opened, one of his students entering "Victor, nice of you to join us."
"Sorry I'm late, Doc." Victor said "I forgot my bag then missed the bus then had to run here then ran into someone outside so had to make sure she was-"
"It's fine, but you're going to need to catch up." Tommy said "Tell you what; I'm going to ask you a palaeontology question. If you get it right, we'll skip the detention. Again."
"Okay." Victor said, pushing his glasses up his nose "Shoot."
"What sort of dinosaur was..." Tommy said, pausing as he looked at Victor's bag and half smirked to himself "A Tyrannosaurus?"
"A carnivore." Victor quipped "T-Rex's loved them a meat feast. I can relate."
"Very funny." Tommy said "Go on, take a seat. We'll talk after class."
Tommy watched as Victor made his way to his seat, before the door opened again. Through it, came the figure of someone Tommy hadn't seen in a few months, not since transferring to the new school from Reefside; Hayley Ziktor, one of the people Tommy had gone to college with.
"I'm not interrupting am I?" Hayley said "I heard your student say he was late for your class, tailed him."
"Told you I bumped into someone." Victor quipped from his seat, the Asian young man next to him in a black Marilyn Manson shirt giving him a noogie as he did "Cut it out, Charley."
"Hayley, come on in." Tommy said, turning back to his class "Everyone, read chapter eleven of your text books tonight. I'll quiz you on it tomorrow. Victor, come back at the end of the day, we'll discuss your tardiness."
Tommy watched as the class began to walk out, Victor lingering for a moment to glare at him before walking out. Tommy turned to Hayley and hugged her tightly.
"It's been a while." Tommy said "It's good to see you again. I thought you were working on Billy, something about some kind of crystals?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm here." Hayley said "Billy's been kidnapped. They also took one of the prototype D-Fenders and one of the crystals."
"D-Fenders?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow "Neither you nor Billy really told me what you were working on, just that it could be trouble."
"Well, it looks like could be is now will be." Hayley said "We were working on developing weapons from the Dino Crystals we found, after finding out there was a surge in negative energy upon discovery of the first one. We took a page out of your book on that front."
"What do you mean?" Tommy asked "What page out of my book?"
"Zords, morphers, you name it." Hayley said "We were developing Ranger powers to be used to fight whatever's coming. Billy created six prototype D-Fenders, to go with 6 of the 9 detected crystals; so far, we've found the 6 we made the D-Fenders for. When a D-Crystal is inserted into a D-Fender and fired, it-"
"Acts as a morpher." Tommy said "Why did you come to see me?"
"I want you to put together a new team, Tommy." Hayley said "And I want you to be the Red Ranger."
...
Victor walked through the corridor to Doctor Oliver's office, noticing Charley sat outside, along with one of the cheerleaders, Amanda, a petite blonde haired girl with her hair tied back into a ponytail. Victor rolled his eyes. Charley had been trying it on with Amanda for the last month, to no avail. The only reason she hadn't ratted him out to the other cheerleaders, Charley had told Victor, was because she thought they were stupid, an idea Victor couldn't help but share. Alongside them were two other students; an African American boy in a green jacket showing him to be one of the football team with mid length black hair who Victor knew to be called Tony, and a Caucasian boy in a blue t-shirt Victor didn't recognise.
"What are you guys all doing here?" Victor asked, turning to Charley "Well, I don't have to ask you; she came and you stalked."
"Nope, not this time." Charley said with a grin "Dr. Oliver asked me to come down. Something about an extra credit assignment."
"And with you failing every class, you need that or you'll never get into college." Victor quipped, Amanda and the boy in blue both sniggering while Charley scowled "Well, I guess that means he won't be needing to see me then."
Victor turned and began to walk away. As he turned the corner, he bumped into Doctor Oliver, who looked at him confused for a moment.
"Victor, what are you..?" Doctor Oliver asked before remembering he'd asked Victor to come to see him at the end of the day "Oh, of course. Wait out here, I'll be with you shortly."
Victor sighed as he sat down, the other four teens being ushered into the room.
...
Charley sat at a desk in front of Doctor Oliver, making sure to keep a clear line of sight on Amanda at all times; it was a shame she wasn't one of the cheerleaders who virtually lived in her uniform, or he'd have just the view he wanted from where he was sat. After a second, the boy in blue sat between them, cutting Charley's line of sight.
"Damnit, I was just enjoying that view too." Charley quipped "What's your name anyway, new guy?"
"Elliot." The boy in blue said "And let me guess; your name's Charley?"
"Ahh, my reputation precedes me." Charley said, grinning "Don't worry, Elliot, I'll be happy to take you under my wing, we'll have you all the cheer squad in no time... Except the ones I want, obviously."
"Obviously." Elliot said, rolling his eyes "But no thanks. I don't want to be associated with the biggest pervert going. Besides, I'm gay."
"That's you told." Tony said with a laugh, holding a hand out to Elliot "I'm Tony, sorry about the douchebag."
"No problem." Elliot said, turning to Doctor Oliver "So, can I ask why we're all here?"
"You're here because you all fit a certain role I need." Doctor Oliver said "I'm about to discuss something with you, something important, but first, I need to swear you all to secrecy."
"Oh god, I knew you were one of those teachers." Amanda said, glaring at Doctor Oliver "I bet you dated the captain of the cheer squad in school and just took to it."
"I'm not one of those teachers." Doctor Oliver corrected, before chuckling "Though I did date the captain of the cheer squad."
"Big whoop, I've dated three in the last three years." Charley said, everyone looking at him "Okay, I'll be quiet."
"Thank you." Doctor Oliver said "Anyway, I have asked you here because I need your help. A few years ago, an old colleague of mine found a crystal while he was travelling across a dessert in Egypt. He sent it to another old colleague, who soon detected a surge in energy. Something woke up, and now, it's coming here, to Willowview."
"Right..." Tony said "I'm sure you're going somewhere with this, Dr. O."
"I am." Doctor Oliver replied "The name of what's coming is Loroth, and he and his army are what wiped out the dinosaurs. Which is where you come in."
"What do you mean?" Tony asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I want you to become Power Rangers."
...
Victor sat outside the office, waiting for Doctor Oliver to finish with the students in the room. They'd been in there for about ten minutes and he was starting to get bored. He wondered if he'd be able to sneak away and grab a candy bar before the professor finished, deciding after a second it was worth the risk.
As he stood up, beginning to walk towards the corner before a group of half a dozen silver clad figures with mechanical heads and circular saw like left hands came round the corner. They saw Victor and began walking towards him, their postures aggressive.
"Why do I think you're not hall monitors..." Victor said as one of them took a swing with their saw hand, victor ducking below the strike "Knew it. Excuse me a moment!"
Victor ran towards the door, grabbing the chair he'd just been sat on and tossing it to the floor, looking back for a second to see four of the figures piled up on the floor, with the other two beginning to give chase. Victor quickly opened the doors, slamming them behind him and putting a chair in the way before turning back to see Doctor Oliver and the four teens all looking at him.
"Let me guess," Charley said, smirking "He's going to be the Pink Ranger?"
...
So, here begins Power Rangers Dino Strike, my adaptation of Kyoryuger. Next chapter we'll see just what Loroth's plans are and, more importantly, we'll see the team come together. R&R, please, no flames.