So, I've written not a word of fanfic this summer. There was a good reason for that! I promise! I was writing a book! But since I was gone, I thought I'd do a long project to make up for it. This is it: A novelization of the TV show that everyone on Home One (in my headcanon; read Sacrifice and Unity for further details) watches. The show started with the prologue, and then went to Day of the Dino, starting as Tommy walks in the door. I start when canon stops-right after Principal Randall leaves Tommy with the trio for detention. Enjoy the show!

Location: Reefside High, Reefside
Date: August 27, 2003

Conner was the first to break the silence. "All right, all right, fine. We get it. We screwed up."

"Screwed up?" Tommy echoed, raising an eyebrow. "You could say that, yeah."

"Look, it's not like we knew or anything!" Conner burst out, flopping back against the seat in irritation. "I mean, hello, it's been three years! What were we supposed to expect? Hi, welcome to Reefside High, oh, yeah, your principal's the super-secret ninja assassin chick sent to completely murder you by a freak-of-nature mutant!"

"No, that one surprised all of us." Tommy agreed. "What I do expect, however, is for the three of you to be mature enough to live with your foster parents without drawing attention to yourselves. And that means you attend class, you do not turn on sprinklers at random times, and..." Tommy frowned at the girl sitting in the passenger's seat next to him.

"Whoa, whoa, don't look at me!" Kira grouched, holding up her hands. "I was playing my guitar. At lunchtime."

Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently, you need a permit."

"...Okay, you get a pass." Tommy shook his head. Good lord. It was a testament to how long he'd been a substitute teacher that he didn't even doubt the local school board was that stupid. "But Conner, Ethan, I did not send you to school to goof off, and while you're here you will study and do your best, am I clear?"

"Yes, Dr. O," Both boys chorused.

Tommy sighed, then caught sight of Kira. She was slumped down in her seat, staring out of the window and twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Tommy asked, tapping her hand.

Kira shrugged. "Nothing." She sat up. "We heading home now?"

Ah.

Three years ago, while working with Anton Mercer, Tommy had found three teens locked in an 'unused' storage room. He'd stolen them and the Dino Gems that Mesegog, a monster haunting Anton's laboratory, had been experimenting on, and destroyed the laboratory (really, a lab on a private island working with the Power and dinosaur DNA, in Tommy's view that had jinxed it from the start).

But Mesegog had survived.

For three years, all of them had run, hiding anywhere and everywhere. But lately, Tommy had been worrying. Could he really justify dragging his kids around like this? Was this going to be their lives forever, always on the run?

They deserved better.

So he'd done everything imaginable. Laying down trail after trail, with threats and bribes and more money than he'd known he could come up with, let alone had. Using everything he had, good or evil, inside of him. Compromising with the darkest parts of his soul.

And he'd found three sets of parents willing to take in children without questions, and one job teaching, where he could watch them grow.

He'd vomited for an entire week as the Power protested their separation. The kids hadn't done much better. But he'd held firm. This was what they needed-friends their own age, school that was utter crap, standardized tests that could get them into college, parents who would give them cell phones and worry when they stayed out too late.

He'd almost gotten away with it.

But Elsa was a nightmare. Zeltrax was completely insane, that wasn't in doubt; Mesegog was warped and twisted; but Elsa was sane. She followed Mesegog not out of insanity, but loyalty and love.

And she had always been the one opponent that kept Tommy from ever leaving the doors unlocked.

Zeltrax announced himself constantly, and Mesegog tended to just send down Tyrannodrones, but Elsa got her hands dirty and acted like a professional assassin. Or thief. Or spy. Or anything. If her master wanted it, she could give it to him.

And last week, Tommy hadn't been planning on introducing himself to a brand-new principal, because the old one had been doing just fine until his 'heart attack'.

"No." Tommy finally said, starting the car.

"No?" Three voices echoed.

"Think about it." Tommy explained as he pulled out. "Have we ever seen Elsa hold off on a kill? She's had access to the principal's records since at least two weeks ago, since it takes her about a week to plan a kill. She could've gotten to all of you at any time. Heck, you guys were in her office." His eyes darkened. "Whatever she wants, it involves all of you alive."

"That's reassuring." Kira grouched, shuddering.

Tommy sighed. "Look, when you guys get home, do me a favor and get packed. Be ready to leave in thirty seconds. But for now, we can play this by ear." He turned the Jeep. "Anyway, you guys like museums, right?"

All four of them glanced at each other. Then they burst out laughing.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Unknown
Date: August 27, 2003

"I brought food."

He didn't look up from the paper.

Elsa sighed and turned to the mini-refrigerator, opening it to examine the evidence of his eating habits. He'd somehow smuggled a pizza in there. She held up the box with an exasperated sigh.

"You don't have to eat it."

Elsa snorted and chucked it in the trash. She reached for the groceries, but missed; the rooms he haunted were dim, even if she'd managed to clean them a bit.

"Don't!"

Elsa paused, her hand halfway to the switch.

"...I like it dark."

Elsa had to wonder if what he wanted was dark, or a dark Ranger, but she let it go. Instead she moved the groceries a bit closer, filling the fridge.

"How are you doing?" This was serious now, much more than usual.

"...Fine."

She sighed.

There was a moment of silence before the words she'd expected to hear. "I miss them."

Elsa moved to rub his shoulders. She didn't often permit herself to show pride or compassion. It was weak. Weakness was...dangerous.

But she was too weak for what came next. She needed him. And she...

No.

She wasn't that weak yet. No matter what happened to her.

"Soon." She whispered. "You'll have your revenge soon. I promise."

Then she kissed the top of his head and moved to put the groceries away.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Reefside High, California
Date: August 27, 2003

The alarm system was easy to unlock if you knew what you were doing.

Tommy didn't bother with that. He wanted to shake her up, make her think someone was after her for a change. Getting Elsa to jump at shadows was a favorite pastime of the darker half of his soul.

And it worked out pretty well for the rest of him.

His eyes were just a touch greener as he snipped the right wires to disable the alarm system instead of unlocking it. Then he walked around and hefted a rock. Not Green's preferred method, but Tommy chuckled, telling him that, no, they were not using the Dragon Dagger. It was an obvious giveaway.

Instead he threw the rock.

Elsa's office was open to him now. He unlatched the window, climbing through, and started rummaging through papers, searching for anything, anything, that he could use.

The computer, maybe. He sat down, booting it up, and made his best few guesses at her password. One of them hit, and he clicked on a few of her documents. All English. Damn. Nothing new here-

"Looking for something?"

Tommy stood slowly.

Elsa wasn't aiming an Earth gun. Those were a bit too clumsy for her tastes. She preferred offworld plasma blasters, models so light and slim you'd swear they were toys. But if you knew what you were staring at, it was almost scarier. Some of the lower-power models didn't have enough firepower to blow a hole through you-instead the metal generator pellets would hit you, embed in your skin, and set you on fire.

Tommy really hoped she hadn't found those.

Elsa glanced at her desktop. "And just what," She asked slowly, "Did you think you were going to find there?"

Tommy heard the tremble in her voice. "Enough."

Bluffing had been the wrong move. Elsa's face froze, an expression any police veteran could realize. The person wearing it was about to snap.

Tommy froze.

Elsa reached a hand out. Tommy let her. If she was going to slap him, fine; he'd never seen that expression before, and from what he'd seen when she was sane, pushing her to insanity was more dangerous than letting her hit him once.

Instead she rested her fingertips on his forehead.

Tommy didn't actually register what was going to happen until it did.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Various houses, Reefside
Date: August 27, 2003

Kira woke up biting back a scream.

She curled in on herself, jackknifing, too afraid to even think, let alone react. It felt as though someone were reaching out and brushing against part of her soul.

She tried to form a spell, her lips moving, but no sound came out. She was Tallian, born and raised. Without the words, without the sacred chants of thousands of years of culture, she couldn't summon her magic, even if she were used to doing it.

Tears fell from her eyes.

*PR*PR*PR*

Ethan's foster parents were trying to figure out what was wrong.

They knew Ethan was...different. He was tall, dark-skinned, clearly half-human, where his foster parents were pure Eltarian. But even if they loved him no less for it, that didn't mean they had any idea what to do when he was clearly sick. He was shivering and retching, fevered and muttering soft phrases that meant nothing to them.

All they could do was hold him and cry.

*PR*PR*PR*

Conner moaned.

He was curled up on his bathroom floor, having barfed his guts out already. The presence was still there, still reaching, and it felt badbadbadbadbadbad, made him think of death and black holes and sticky goo and a spider in a web.

He was gonna die. He knew it. Because whatever it was, it was killing Tommy, and anything that could kill his big brother was gonna kill him.

He curled up on the bathroom floor, trying not to cry.

*PR*PR*PR*

Slowly, it ended.

The inky presence faded away. It was a presence that White vaguely recognized, though it was hard to say for sure. He certainly wouldn't put it past her to do...do that...

The other Rangers gathered themselves off the floor, pulling themselves together, crying quietly or just falling back asleep. But White remained awake. White was always awake.

And he wondered.

What was it that she held that dearly?

What?