Orange? Yeah Right! Chapter 2, a power rangers fanfic

Disclaimer: Yeah I like the power rangers. Guilty as charged. thats the ONLY charge I'm guilty of. None of this belongs to me, thus I am making no money off anything in this story. Sue me if you want. 50% of 0 is still 0 lol.

Outside the Cyberspace, in the parking lot, the battle raged on, and it didn't look good. Ryan bled from a gash in his left forearm. Kat had a huge bruise on her right thigh and her right wrist felt like it was broken. Kim was in no better shape as she was bleeding down the left side of her face from a gash somewhere on the left side of her scalp, bruises on both forearms, and a slight limp in her left leg.

"Ryan stay between us, we got this."

"Kim, no offense sweetheart but you're looking as beaten up as a hooker in Harlem. I think its time for a strategy change."

"What did you have in mind, oh great one?"

"You aren't going to like it."

Kim grunted as she dodged another drone, swept its feet, and planted an axe kick in its chest, "Well at the moment I'm really not in the mood to argue."

"I was hoping you'd say that. It's me they are after. You two keep your asses put. I have an idea."

As soon as Ryan had finished his sentence, he took off up the hill past Zeltrax in a dead run.

"What? RYAN NO!"

Ryan turned enough to Zeltrax to taunt him and then kept running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Come on you fucking Tron reject! Follow me!"

"Tyrannodrones follow that human! GET HIM!", Zeltrax bellowed in command.

Thats right grid boy. Get them to follow me. That's it. Now lets see how smart they are.

Ryan began to run in wide circles at the top of the hill with the Tyrannodrones following his every move. Eventually, due to their collective stupidity, he had them all gathered in a large group. Zeltrax raced up to the group of drones closer to assist them in Ryan's capture. As Zeltrax approached the group he moved to attack Ryan as he ran past his position. Ryan anticipated Zeltrax's move and instead dove into the middle of the drones with a satisfying grin.

Down the hill, Kat and Kim could only watch in horror as he disappeared beneath the massive pile of drones whom all dove into the middle of the group to pin him and capture him. Behind the girls, three bikes and an ATV arrived to join the fight. Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent dismounted off of their vehicles and joined the girls in watching the fray on the hill above them. They too could only watch in disbelief as Ryan's capture took place in front of them, too far away for them to get there in time.

"Oh my god, Kim they are gonna kill him!", Kat gasped.

"I know Kat. I'm so sorry Ryan."

Kim slowly shrank to her knees overcome with a feeling of helplessness as she was unable to tear her gaze from the pile of Tyrannodrones. The group looked at each other as they realized that the drones should have been gone long ago due to seizing the prize they had came for.

"Look!", Conner exclaimed and pointed at the pile of drones.

A sudden burst of movement from the pile drew the attention of the Red Ranger and everyone joined him in staring at the pile intently as it bulged more and more. Finally, the pile exploded with energy, sending Tyrannodrone bodies flying in all directions as if they were shot out of a cannon. Zeltrax had reached the pile just as it exploded and was flung into a large tree trunk only to be crushed by two flying Tyrannodrones split seconds after impact. The three beings collapsed lifelessly at the bottom of the split tree trunk, still entangled in one another. Two more shot through the windows of the Cyberspace and a third directly into the side of the building where its body left an imprint on the side of the building in cracked and crumbling stucco. The rest of the army of drones were either thrown straight up into the air or over the other side of the hill and were far out of sight before they landed again.

Amid the dusty dirt crater there was only one thing still moving, Ryan.

Kim recognized the stumbling form through the haze of dust and took off running for him. All her previous pains and battle scars were now forgotten as she raced up the hill to check her best friend. Kat saw Kim sprint toward the crater and took off right behind her, only to be followed closely by the awestruck foursome of Rangers. Kim arrived inside the dusty crater just in time to catch Ryan as his dizzy attempts to regain his footing finally failed. She shuffled her sitting form in behind his head to cradle it off the ground.

"Oh man. Kim stop the world I wanna get off."

Kim scolded him as tears started to form at the corners of her eyes, "You stupid son of a bitch why did you do that?"

"Was the only way to save you two", he said weakly before he hacked forth a loud cough. "Better I do that and save you two, than all three of us get killed."

Kat arrived in time to hear the words he said, however she was more concerned with his condition.

"Kim relax a moment and let me check him over. The company I work for makes us take advanced first aid training due to the dangerous environments the field researchers are sometimes put into."

Kim nodded at Kat and made room around Ryan's head for Kat to enter his dazed field of vision in order to talk to him. She pulled her keys from her pocket and fumbled with a flashlight keychain before kneeling next to him. Kat then swiftly shielded his face from the sun and flashed the flashlight in his eyes to check his pupil response. Ryan had a dazed and confused look on his face as his world kept spinning around him. When he felt his eyelid being pried open it forced him to focus a moment on the person who was now above him.

"Oh... Hi, Kat... You kiss good... can I have another sometime?"

Kat continued to check on him but couldn't help but blush as she answered his question, "I'd like that Ryan."

"Oh good... me too... but for now... I... think I'm... gonna take... a nap..."

Ryan's head fell to the left as he lost consciousness. Kim panicked and started to shake him.

"RYAN! RYAN! WAKE UP DAMMIT!"

"Kim, it's okay", Kat said calmly. "He'll be okay. His pulse is still strong, he isn't showing any signs of head trauma, and his breathing is a bit shallow, but nothing life threatening. It looks like he's just really really tired."

Kim breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh god, that's good news."

Conner and the rest of the Rangers arrived at the dusty crater just after Ryan lost consciousness. The dirt still hung in the air as if it was smoke and it slowly drifted from the crater.

Conner leaned over the two girls and spoke up, "He's not dead is he?"

Kim looked up at him with a halfway smile, "No Conner, apparently he's just napping."

Conner took a step back from them and looked at his three colorful companions. How does she know who I am? Ethan, Kira and Trent just shrugged at him.

"Oh and if you're wondering how I know how you, Kira, Ethan, and Trent are all rangers, it takes an ex-ranger to put the clues together this easily. Kat is an ex-ranger too so everything is cool."

Kat looked up and smiled and then went back to checking Ryan's pulse and breathing, making sure it stayed strong and steady. Kim stayed firmly latched to Ryan's hand but continued talking to the befuddled teens.

Ethan gestured to Ryan and spoke, "And him?"

"Not an ex-ranger", Kim said. "But your beloved Dr.O is an ex-ranger as well. Now that I'm putting clues together in my head, hes your mentor isn't he?"

"Yes", Conner replied. "But speaking of that, we should get to his house. That's where our headquarters is and nowhere will be safer than there for Ryan. We need to keep him away from Mesogog's goons."

"Agreed", said Trent. "Lets load him into the back seat of Kim's car and the two of you can follow us back. We will just drive by it so as not to be followed by any civilian traffic, but we will point you to it as we go by."

Kira laid a hand on Kat's shoulder to get her attention, "Is he okay to be moved?"

"He should be just fine. He's just exhausted but what worries me is I don't know why."

Conner walked over to Ryan's head and lifted him by grabbing under his armpits, "Ethan, get his feet man."

Ethan nodded at Conner and lifted Ryan by his feet. The group moved as a whole all the way down the hill to Kim's car and loaded him into the back seat.

Just as Conner and Ethan got Ryan laid down in the back of Kim's Jetta, Hayley came out to see what had happened.

"Kim is he okay?"

Kim turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile, "Yeah Hayley he's fine. We are taking him to Tommy's place. You might want to come too."

"The police are on their way right now to investigate so It'll probably be a while but I'll be there as soon as I can. Two drones got flung through the front windows. They disappeared shortly after that, as did Zeltrax and the others."

"Okay Hayley", Conner said. "Stay here and do what you have to do but call us if any more bad guys show up again."

"Will do, Conner."

Conner turned back to the assembled group and went into leader mode, "Okay, Kim and Kat, follow Trent to Dr.O's house, we will provide escort cover and keep any civilian vehicles from getting too curious."

Kim and Kat nodded at Conner and got into their vehicles. Trent lead the way and signaled Kim and Kat to follow him. Kat's Jeep and Kim's Jetta left the parking lot behind Trent's ATV. Conner, Kira, and Ethan pulled out of the parking lot behind them onto the public street on their Raptor Cycles, all bound for Tommy Oliver's house.

Mesogog paced his throne room in a supremely foul mood. Zeltrax had failed him. The Rangers and the newly discovered dino gem had slipped from his grasp once again. He should be planning to punish Zeltrax severely, but instead he was awaiting word on his henchman's condition from Elsa. Zeltrax was teleported back to his evil lair barely alive. Perhaps punishing him isn't the best course of action in this case. That human took care of not only him but a large legion of Tyrannodrones. This new gem is quite powerful indeed. I shall need a supremely powerful monster to take care of this.

No sooner had he finished his thought, then Elsa walked into the throne room.

"Elsssa, report."

"He arrived here barely alive, my lord. He will recover but it shall take some time. None of the drones recovered were salvageable at all. They appeared to be crushed down to a cellular level."

"Well then. Perhapss its time we introduced a new player to the game. Devise a monster to combat our new foe, and make it the most powerful monster ever made."

"Shall I use the Umbracite Crystal my lord? You have been saving it for just such an occasion."

"What a splendid idea Elsa. Use the crystal, and with it we shall create a monster the likes of which this world has never seen."

"Yes, my lord."

Elsa snapped Mesogog a salute with an evil grin and re-entered her laboratory, intent on devising the downfall of the Rangers.

Trent drove by a grey mailbox which was planted beside a long dirt driveway. He motioned with his hand and looked back at Kat in her jeep. She nodded at him and slowed to turn into the driveway. Kat slid to a stop on the driveway and looked over to see Kim pull in right beside her in front of Tommy's house. Kat raced over to the back door of Kim's car and opened the door.

"We have to bring him in?"

"Yeah Kat, the kids are probably going to be a few minutes."

"Alright Kim, I'll get his feet."

Kat leaned into the car before moving him to check his breathing and pulse. Thankfully, both were still normal and getting stronger. She pulled on his feet and slid him halfway out the door while Kim lifted his shoulders and pushed from inside the other back door of the car. As she tried to pull him out the door, his shirt caught on the warm leather seats and rolled up underneath him revealing his flat, but nowhere near a six-pack stomach. She looked down at it and then looked up at Kim across the car from her.

Kim snickered, "Yeah I know what you mean, we are used to guys that work out constantly, teach martial arts and have six-pack abs. Ryan loves his beer."

"It's an english dry cider, not beer", came the weak reply from the seat.

Kim and Kat looked down to see Ryan barely awake. He moved a hand to his forehead and winced in pain.

"Kim? Did you get the number of that bus?"

"Worse. It had a name. It was Zeltrax. Think you can walk? You aren't exactly light as a feather you know."

"I don't know, maybe if you two help me along. The car keeps spinning."

Kim walked over to the other side of the car where Kat was. Kat and Kim each grabbed an arm and pulled him to his feet. He immediately started to sway but the girls caught him and each draped an arm over their shoulders.

"Just shuffle your feet and use us as crutches. We can handle a little of your weight", Kat said.

"Okay. You know, I always wanted to have two good looking women all over me, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Shut up Ryan. Talking takes energy", Kim replied with a smile.

They eventually shuffled their way to the porch. Kim opened the front door and the three of them did a halfway awkward dance to try and drag Ryan inside the house. They were about to lay him on the couch when they heard a door open. Kat and Kim both turned their heads to find Conner back in his street clothes and coming up from a secret doorway with Ethan closely behind him.

"Oh good you three made it inside. Lets bring him down here, there's a bit more room and its more secure. Ethan can you give me a hand again?"

"Yeah sure", came the reply from behind Conner.

"Aw man, I was just starting to enjoy being doted on by beautiful women", Ryan said with a weak smile in Kim's direction.

"Ryan, I might be concerned for you right now, but that doesn't mean you won't pay for that comment later."

"Yes, dear."

The two boys took over for the girls and gently guided Ryan downstairs. Trent and Kira had arrived with Conner and Ethan but stayed in the lair to check to see what else Mesogog was up to. Once they were all downstairs in the hidden lair, Ethan and Conner helped Ryan to the couch and laid him down. Kat and Kim walked over to the couch to check on Ryan and as they did, Kira finally noticed the fairly mangled condition of the other two girls and spoke up.

"All three of you have cuts and scrapes all over you, not to mention a lot of bruises. I'm going to go upstairs and see if there's anything we can use to bandage you up."

Conner turned to face her, "Great thinking, Trent go with her and give her a hand please?"

Trent nodded at Conner and followed Kira back up the stairs. Ethan moved to sit on one arm of the couch intent on satisfying his curiosity while Ryan was still awake.

"How did you do that Ryan? There must have been thirty Tyrannodrones, how did you throw them like that?"

Ryan gave him a weak smile and some even weaker slurred speech.

"Well I just remembered something from a video game I played online. That little move was called a Nova. I just didn't know how well it would work when I did it. I didn't know I'd get as much of it as everything around me did."

"I have an answer as to why that is if you'd like it."

Everyone turned their heads toward the stairs to see Tommy descending the stairs, followed by Trent and Kira who were carrying various bandaging items.

"Oh, I see where this is going, Dr.O", said Ethan.

Kira and Trent set down the items near the couch and Kira began to work on bandaging some of the wounds Kim, Kat and Ryan had earned in their fight. Trent turned to Kat and helped her strap on a wrist brace to her right forearm.

Tommy continued his explanation, " After Hayley got done calling the cops, she called me to tell me what had just happened. You three are lucky, Tyrannodrones can be a bit nasty in big numbers. As for why he is so tired, we learned early on that if you use your gem's powers without a morpher to manage the energy usage, using your gem's power will actually drain your life force. Thats why Ryan is so tired. Your body thinks you just ran a marathon or two."

"That makes sense. I can't even run one marathon, let alone two. Whats this morpher thing you are talking about? Dammit, I'm out of the loop again but I just can't manage to keep my eyes open over here. I'm sorry", Ryan said with a large yawn escaping at the end of his sentence.

"That's okay, Ryan. These four need to get back to school anyway. I took the rest of the day off so we have someone here to protect you, Kim and Kat. I doubt that they would try anything here but, better safe than sorry."

"Oh good. Then after they leave you and Kim can have a nice sit down with one another."

Kim looked down at Ryan, "I don't think right now is the best time."

Ryan looked up at Kim and scowled, "Now is a perfect time, when I wake up we can discuss all this other stuff, but I need a nap cause the world is still doing somersaults."

"You are going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, I even have a 'Kat' to cuddle with."

Kim couldn't help but give him a lopsided smile, "Yeah, he's okay. You know, I'd slap you for that but you're already hurt."

Kat smiled at Kim and motioned toward the stairs, "Go ahead Kim. I'll take care of the resident hornball."

"Alright, let us know when he wakes up."

Kim gave Ryan a kiss on the forehead, then stood up and turned around to face Tommy. Content that things would go the way he was hoping, Ryan laid his head over and within moments was fast asleep.

Conner noticed the growing scowl on Tommy's face and looked around at Kira, Ethan, and Trent, "Ummm, yeah. You heard the man, back to school for us. We'll be back when school is out."

The four teenagers didn't even bother to use the stairs, as they all felt the urge to leave with a sense of speed, and instead made their exit through the back door and up the ramp. The door slid shut and Tommy turned his gaze to Kimberly. She looked at him nervously as she tried to read the look on his face and figure out how to explain away the mistake she had made.

Tommy looked at her with his deep scowl still present on his face and was the first to speak, "I don't think we need to talk Kim. You said quite enough with your letter."

Kim winced as if he had slapped her as Tommy turned away from her and towards the stairs, "Yes I know. I can't take the letter back even though I wish I could, but at least give me a chance to explain. If after that you can forgive me and we can move on at the very least as friends then thats what I would like, but if not then I understand."

Tommy pondered her words for a moment. Is she being sincere? Do I really want to give her a chance to explain herself? What if there was a good reason for the letter? NO WAY! There could never be a good reason to stab someone in the back like that. Where will the next dagger come from?

Tommy turned back around and looked positively angry this time, "Is Ryan the guy? The guy you left me for?"

"No Tommy, he is the person that saved me from my mistakes. Now he is trying to save me from another one. Lets go upstairs and talk so that Ryan can get some rest down here though. If nothing else I need this for me. Please, Tommy", she said as she bit her lip out of nervous habit.

Tommy noticed her lip habit. She only did that when she was really nervous or trying to hold herself together. He was sure that she was a bit of both right at the moment. But what gave him pause was her body language. She's shaking with fear, she's biting her lip, and shes looking me straight in the eyes. I never could resist those eyes. They pierce my soul.

Tommy let out a sigh and put on a face of frustration, "Alright Kim. I have a feeling I'm going to need to sit down for this anyway."

Kat watched the two of them walk upstairs and then looked down at Ryan's sleeping form, "I hope you know what you're doing."

Tommy and Kimberly walked upstairs to his living room. He motioned towards one side of the couch. Kim nodded at him silently and watched as Tommy didn't sit down but walked into the kitchen and opened his fridge. She smiled as she saw him grab a couple of bottles of water from the inside of the door and then hand her one before taking a seat on the far side of the same couch.

"I figured you could use some after your fight with our local putty patrollers."

Kim thanked him silently and took an overzealous drink of it, nearly coughing and grinned sheepishly at him, "Sorry. I was thirsty."

"That's alright, Kim. Now then, what did you need to tell me?"

Kim's smile disappeared as she steeled herself for the conversation ahead.

"First of all, have patience with me as I go through this. Some it is very hard for me for me to discuss with anyone let alone you. Also, the only reason I'm doing this is because I promised Ryan."

Tommy looked confused, "What is he to you anyway? What is he to you that you would make a promise like that?"

"He's not the guy I left you for, I told you that much already. He... he is the reason I am sitting in front of you at all. He is the reason I'm still alive. He is my brother and hero all rolled into one. The one person besides you that will live in my heart forever."

Tommy reeled from her revelation like a punch to the gut. He's not the one? He saved her life? Something horrible must have happened and he saved her life, and not in the figurative sense either. She feels attached to him like a brother, or a father. A protector. No wonder they bicker and banter so much.

Tommy smiled, "Certain things are beginning to make sense. Why don't you tell me the whole story."

Kimberly visibly relaxed, most of the stress she was feeling about the conversation faded in just one smile from Tommy. She dove into her story beginning with her departure from Angel Grove. She kept her story light and happy at first and told him about the gym and the training she got for the first couple months there. She then told him about meeting Scott and how she felt about him. It started off as a wonderful story. She told Tommy that she had held off telling him about Scott right away in the letters she wrote because she didn't know if Scott would last and didn't want to hurt Tommy. It was a shitty and dishonest way to do it but she had long ago added that to the list of mistakes she had made. She had moved in with Scott to save some extra money, as there wasn't a whole lot of time to make extra money with their training schedules and the allotment given to them covered rent and food but little else. Her face had visibly changed as she started telling him how things got worse and worse. Kim didn't go into extreme detail, but Tommy wasn't so naive anymore, he had learned to read between the lines. She noticed how his hands clenched as she told him certain things. Like he was ready to kill.

There was another brief period of levity in the conversation as she told him about Ryan and how he was thrust into her life. She even went ahead and told him about a few of their adventures in getting into mischief and mayhem. Then came the part that she wished she could take back. The part of her life that she wished she could go back and avoid completely. It took a lot of careful words to explain to him how and why she had written the letter. Ultimately, it hadn't been her idea to do it. Scott had made her after he saw how much she was still writing to him and how she still felt about Tommy. Kim hadn't wanted to write it but Scott had threatened to kick her out if she didn't. She told him how Ryan had helped her say the right things in order to let Tommy down easy and not make him want to come after her. The horror of her whole situation came shortly afterward. She told Tommy how possessive he got and in a short amount of time. The possessiveness wasn't the biggest problem, he followed that with more and more anger. Ryan offered to help her, but after relying on people so much when she was in Angel Grove she had been determined to do it on her own. She tried to move back into the dorms and give up her allotments, but the dorms by that time were full. After seeing no way out, she had relented and decided to move in with Ryan for a while, taking his help only after exhausting every option to help herself. The night she was packing her things to move out was the night it all happened. Thankfully she didn't remember a lot of the beating she had gotten from Scott but she did remember that last thing she saw before lapsing into unconsciousness was Ryan standing above her. He had been calling to her, though she didn't actually remember hearing her name. She explained that her time in the coma passed in a flash, and interestingly enough, Ryan was the first person she saw when she woke up. At first she was unaware that she had been out for almost five years. Sure she knew that Ryan was happy to have his friend conscious again but that was to be expected. She didn't want to believe she had been out for that long, but the changes in Ryan and everything in her world were evidence enough. She touched briefly on the rehab she had gone through, but the important part of the story was through. The whole story was explained away in a matter of minutes. Tommy listened to the whole tale of strife and anguish experiencing same emotions as she went through in telling it.

He looked down and took a moment to absorb the story and calm the emotion trying to break free. Tommy lifted his head and rested his gaze back on Kimberly. Her face was pale and her eyes were swollen with as yet unshed tears. She's waiting for forgiveness, for MY forgiveness. After a moment, he opened his arms and beckoned her to him. She folded into his embrace and the dam of emotion broke free as she heard two words.

"I'm sorry."

She buried her face into his neck as the river of tears gushed forth and brought shudders and sobs with it. He placed a hand on the back of her head and tried to soothe her as a few tears of his own slipped down his cheek.

"Can you...", came a muffled voice from the crook of his neck, which he quickly interrupted.

"There's nothing to forgive, Kim", he soothed her through a satisfied smile.

She cried for a few minutes in his arms like she had done a few times before. This time was different, the pain was so much deeper, but knowing that he didn't hate her anymore was the best medicine for it. She sat there just enjoying his embrace for a few more moments before pulling back to arms length.

Tommy looked down and shook his head, "I'm so sorry I didn't come down or call you to make sure everything was alright."

Kim cupped his chin with one hand which made him look up at her, "You didn't know Tommy. There was no way you could have. I didn't think I needed help anyway. I was so sure of myself, that I could handle it."

The smile returned to his face when he realized she didn't hold anything against him, "Well I'm just glad you are alright and that there was someone there to help you when you needed it."

Kim nodded at him and after a moment, she spoke, "I hope this means we are still friends. I hope we can still rely and trust one another like we did before."

"Of course we are still friends, Kim. Not having you in my life was hard enough before, there's no way I would push you away now. To be honest though, the issue of trust and rebuilding a relationship might take a bit longer."

Kim couldn't help but bite her lip and nod. She had thought it would turn out far worse, and though her wildest dreams had something far better in mind, she was at least pleased to find there was hope.

Ryan awoke peacefully to find Kat sitting next to him. Actually, sleeping while leaning on the couch and sitting on the floor would be more accurate. He looked down at her where she rested her head against one of the couch cushions he was laying on. He thought she looked like an angel when asleep, but she fought so fiercely earlier to protect him, and she paid for it too. He lifted his hand and gently ran it across the nicely maturing bruise on her cheek. Kat startled for a second but calmed just as quickly and looked up at him.

He smiled at her sheepishly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's okay. It's good to see you are awake. How was your nap?"

He yawned slightly, "Seems like the nap did me good. I could still use a nights sleep but I'm okay for now I suppose."

Ryan swung his legs out and moved to a sitting position on the couch. Kat rose from her position on the floor and joined him on the couch. He still felt very tired, but it was much better than he had been when he arrived. His stomach growled and he looked at Kat sheepishly for a second time as he realized she had heard it too.

"Sorry."

"Not at all. You've been out for about an hour by the way. Kim and Tommy are still upstairs, I'll see if there is anything to eat for you."

"Thanks, Kat, I appreciate it."

Kat smiled back at him and ascended the stairs. As she got farther and farther up the stairs, she heard the voices of Tommy and Kimberly getting louder and louder. She turned the corner to find them with smiles on their faces and reminiscing about old times in Angel Grove.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise."

Kim swung her head halfway to the left and looked over the back of the couch at her, "Hey Kat! We were just talking about old times and old teams."

"I see. I take it that this means everything is sunshine and daises in the land of Tommy and Kimberly?"

Kim and Tommy's faces dropped a bit at that comment, but Tommy answered for the both of them.

"Well not exactly, but we are going to let the past be the past. We basically were just getting caught up on the past couple years of each others lives. We talked about the letter and why it happened. We were both at fault really, and she and I realize that better now."

Kim supplemented his answer, "Yeah, Kat. We are going to work on repairing our friendship first before diving into anything deeper. We have to get to know one another all over again."

"Well good. Ryan will be glad to hear that, and speaking of him, he's awake. Tommy, do you have anything for him to eat?"

Tommy looked over at Kim, "Rocky?"

Kim smiled back at him, "Sometimes."

"Yeah I'm sure I have something I can get for him to snack on. I have some steak and chicken marinating in the fridge for the dinner but I hadn't planned on starting those for a little bit yet. Conner and the other three Rangers should be getting out of school pretty soon and then they will be over pretty much as soon as they drop off their stuff at their houses."

Kim got up a bit hurriedly, anxious to go downstairs, "Well while you two scrounge for him I'm going to go kick his ass for scaring me like that."

Kim walked briskly toward the stairwell and down them even faster.

Tommy turned back to Kat, "Something tells me he's in some hot water for what he did."

"Maybe, but I think she's just more concerned than anything. Let's get the boy some food, shall we?", Kat smirked as she walked toward the kitchen.

Kim approached the couch to find that Ryan had fallen back asleep, only this time it was in a sitting position with his arm on the armrest and his chin cradled in his own hand. She softly sat down beside him and ran her hand through the hair on the side of his head.

"Time to rejoin the land of the living, Ryan", she whispered softly to him.

Ryan stirred awake and squinted at her next to him. As he slowly smiled at her, her worries about him melted away and he got a firm hug for his troubles.

"That had me a bit scared. I know you're a light sleeper, normally you would have woken up when you heard someone come down the stairs."

Ryan knew what had really scared her. His little stunt back on the hill with those weird bug looking things and the geometry teacher's worst nightmare.

"I'm sorry I scared you, sweetheart. I was just trying to protect the both of you. If I'd have lost you after all it took to get you back I..."

Ryan's emotion filled statement was cut short as Kim interrupted him and he broke into quiet sobs, "Ryan, you didn't. I'm still here. You don't have to worry about that. You know you can't get rid of me that easy."

That last statement however earned her a snort from him which left a bit of snot on the shoulder of her shirt.

"Oh boy, sorry bout the shirt, but you are the one who made me laugh", he said softly while still wearing his grin.

"Don't sweat it. It'll wash out. I'd wear it as a badge of honor as long as I still have you around. Besides, those aren't the first tears on it this afternoon."

"I take that to mean that you and Tommy had that discussion I hoped you would have?"

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes a bit, "Yes."

Ryan paused for a moment, waiting for her to continue, "And?"

Kim smiled, "Well we got to know where each other stood and told our side of the story to the other. You were right by the way, that letter had devastated him, mostly because he had been lifting weights with Rocky and had made Adam read it aloud.

He broke their embrace, cradled her head in his hands, and gently kissed her on the forehead. She brought her hands up to his and thats when he noticed it.

"Oh, Kim. Oh my god I hadn't realized."

"What?"

"The bandage on your head. How bad were you two hurt?"

"Not very badly Ryan. I have a bruised calf and forearms here. the bandage is just a small scalp wound, it bled a lot more than it actually hurt me. Kat has a bruised thigh, a fancy new shiner, and a sprained wrist. She has it braced and we were going to have Tommy x-ray it after you woke up. The machine is a little noisy."

"Kim why in the world would he have an x-ray machine in his basement?"

"You'll have your answers soon, but first how about a few bagel bites?"

Ryan and Kim turned their heads to find Tommy coming down the stairs with a plate and Kat closely behind.

"Bagel bites? A man after my own heart", Ryan said with a large grin.

"Hey, I'm a bachelor too you know. I can grill but that's about it, the rest is anything microwaveable."

"I like this guy already Kim."

"You would, he has your same taste in bachelor food", Kim said with a roll of her eyes.

As Ryan took a bite and a moment to savor it, Kat took the lead of the conversation, "So Tommy, you said something about answers?"

"Indeed I did. You are currently standing in the base of operations for the Power Rangers: Dino Thunder."

The shock of that statement almost made Ryan choke on his next bite. He swallowed hard and spoke quickly.

"WHAT! You mean all those multi-color California freak shows over the years are real?"

"Yes Ryan. Not only are they real, but also really dangerous. Kat come here please, before we go any farther I want to check your wrist."

Tommy took a hand held screen about 6x6 inches out of a drawer as Kat walked over to him. He waved it over her wrist and on the screen appeared a perfect real time x-ray photo.

Ryan watched Tommy intently, "You were right. That IS rather loud. Not enough to wake the dead or anything but definitely enough to wake up someone in the room."

"Well the good thing is I don't see anything broken Kat, but these ligaments are a bit loosely hanging as you move your wrist. Looks like a bad sprain but nothing major. You'll have to wear the brace for a couple days and it'll be sore for a while."

"So you see the x-ray image real time?"

"Yup, however it has its limitations. The focus of it is only ten inches, so it can't look through walls. It does work well though for any medical purpose and also for searching people."

"All you see is that black and white outline like a normal x-ray machine?"

"Yeah, haven't been able to make it do real colors or only penetrate certain layers including lead. The particles it emits and the physics involved pretty much make it impossible to do."

"Tommy, you do know you just crushed every boy's pre-pubescent dream of having goggles that look through womens clothing right? Including mine."

Tommy laughed while the women in the room just groaned in embarrassment, "I know Ryan, mine too. Sometimes physics can be cruel."

Still wearing a grin, Tommy put the device back into the drawer and turned to the main computer.

"This is the main computer of our lair. I am going to play you a video I made for just such occasions as we need to fill in a person or two on certain details quickly. Relax and watch the video, it'll take a couple minutes and I'll answer the questions I know you'll have afterward."

Ryan, Kim and Kat turned to the viewscreen and watched as it flickered to life with the same video that the Dino Thunder Rangers had watched only months before. Ryan went from looking at Kim like she had grown another head to watching Tommy out of the corner of his eye as he learned he had been evil. Kat's appearance evoked a smile from everyone, and when the video had ended, Ryan had a LOT of questions.

"Ok, so let me get this straight. Kim was one of the first Power Rangers, along with Tommy, who was evil at first. Kat was later the replacement for her, and I'm guessing that was when you left for Florida?"

Kim nodded at him, "Correct on all three counts."

"So there have been like what then, twelve sets of powers since the beginning? What happened to them all?"

"Most of them were destroyed, but some were changed. The Zeo crystal was used to power the Turbo powers. Billy created the zords for that team and enhanced the power output of the crystal to fight the new foe that had shown up. All of the other sets of powers were either destroyed, ran out of power as the villains were defeated, or became dormant once the evil they were fighting had been defeated," stated Tommy.

"Were these all in the same city? I mean except for the space ones."

"Nope. After the Space Rangers they kind of spread out a bit, but they stayed mostly in California. Before that though, yes they had all been in Angel Grove. Even the Space Rangers spent a lot of time there. I got a chance to talk to a few previous Ranger mentors from time to time, and all we could come up with is that Zordon, the big blue head guy in the beginning, had put the original Command Center in a place where he could monitor what was a hot spot for evil paranormal activity. When his tube was destroyed by the Space Rangers by Zordon's request, it neutralized all the paranormal evil in the Galaxy, including the hot spot in Angel Grove. Also that wave that was sent out by his tubes destruction caused all of the current villains we knew of to become normal humans or the alien species they had been before with no evil intentions. The Lightspeed Rescue Team, located in Mariner Bay, was the only other team to have paranormal villains, but the wave of good may have passed by their bad guys as at the time they were dormant and only awoke later. All of the rest of the teams villains were either aliens or mutations of some sort but before Zordon's tube was broken they were almost all paranormal."

Kat then put her two cents in, "Except of course for the Machine Empire, whom is almost solely the reason we switched to the technological powers of the Zeo Crystal."

"Yes, as you can see there was one exception on either side of the main event of the time line, but the theory still held up."

Ryan sat back in his chair to absorb all the new information, "So what about the foe you are fighting now? Not paranormal?"

"No. We learned not too long ago that he is actually Anton Mercer. I used to be his assistant on a few digs and experiments. One of the experiments produced the Tyrannodrones, those are the things that jumped you earlier today along with his henchman named Zeltrax. Apparently the other experiment we had been working on turned Anton into Mesogog. While it isn't a total nor a permanent change, from what I've understood from conversations with Trent about it, it is still currently a losing battle for Anton.

Ryan cocked his head to one side, "Trent?"

Tommy looked Ryan straight in the eyes, "Trent is Anton Mercer's adopted son."

Ryan's eyes bugged for a moment and then he sighed, "Well, that certainly gives new meaning to keeping the fight in the family. How many rangers do you have at the moment?"

"We currently have five. The four you saw today, and me. My ranger color is black."

Kim couldn't help but burst out laughing. The other three people in the room just looked at her in confusion until she held up four fingers to Kat. Kat took a moment but once she understood she couldn't help but laugh.

Tommy broke the sound of laughter, "Ummm whats so funny ladies?"

Kim tried to calm herself enough to speak, "You HAHAHAHA... You have had four ranger colors now! BWAHAHAHAHA! You could call yourself the Rainbow Ranger! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

This created more laughter between the girls and a smile for Ryan.

"No no Kim HAHA! Green, white, red, and black. *gasp* He would be the Christmas Ranger! GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!", exclaimed Kat.

After that Ryan couldn't hold back any longer and erupted into rolls of laughter with the girls on the couch. After a minute or so of laughing Ryan went to high five Kat for her excellent quip and he hurt her wrist a bit.

"Oh god Kat, I forgot about your wrist. You ok?

She grabbed her wrist in pain and winced a bit, "Yeah that hurt, but it was worth it. That crack was pure gold!"

Tommy patiently waited for the laughter to completely subside before speaking again, "Yeah yeah, yuck it up. I..."

He was suddenly interrupted as the phone rang. Tommy rolled his chair over closer to the desk where he could pick up his phone.

"Oliver residence. Yup. Yeah he's awake and he's fine at the moment. Nope not broken, just sprained badly. Ok. Yeah I'm going to go fire up the grill right now, call the kids for me and make sure they are on their way. Ok, bye."

"Hayley I take it?", Kat asked.

"Yeah, she just got done with the police report on the incident and securing the property. She had to go out and get plywood to put in the windows for now. She called her cousin to help her. That worked out well actually because I think he is in the window business."

"Would have worked better if I hadn't broken them with a flying Trainodrone."

"No no, Tyrannodrone, like the dinosaur."

"Ahh. Whats the rest of the bad guy's names again?"

"Well head bad guy is Mesogog, the henchman you fought today is Zeltrax. There's also another you haven't seen yet, her name is Elsa."

"Is she hot?"

Kim looked at him with an appalled look, "Ryan!"

"What? I just want to know because that would really suck if I ever had to hit a hot chick! It's just not proper ya know!"

Tommy just rolled his eyes and got out of his chair, "Well I need to go fire up the grill. The other Rangers and Hayley are on the way so I should get that started."

"What about the other topics we need to discuss Tommy?"

"We can handle that after dinner, Ryan. Besides, I want everyone to hear it anyway, less to explain later."

"Food first. I can handle that."

As Tommy walked towards the stairs, the three on the couch stood up as well and followed behind him.

Soon after they had gotten upstairs, Hayley walked through the front door, followed shortly by Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent.

"Well hello to you all. Good to see that those Tyrannodrones didn't do any permanent damage", Hayley said with a smile.

Ryan frowned, "Yeah well, seems like the Cyberspace took the brunt of the battle."

"Oh that's fine, I'm just glad you three are okay. The windows can be replaced, people can't."

"Well everyone is ok, and its time to get this party started. Ryan if you'd like to help me with the grill, and we can let the ladies handle the side dishes", Tommy stated as he began walking towards the kitchen.

Ryan looked at Kim, "Sounds like a good plan to me. Ladies?"

Kim answered for them all, "Yup we can handle that. Come on girls."

Tommy opened the back door and held it open as Ryan came through with a tupperware container filled with almost a dozen steaks swimming in marinade. Tommy closed the door behind him as Ryan set the steaks down on the side of the grill.

"Hey, not a bad setup. My dad has a stainless steel grill too."

Tommy grinned up at him from where he was turning on the gas beneath the main body of the grill, "Yeah it's a really nice grill. My father got it for me for Christmas the year I got this house. He said that since I have a new house I should have a grill to go with it."

Ryan grinned widely, "Yeah sounds like something even my dad would say. He loves using his. I remember back when we remodeled the inside of the house, we had the entire kitchen, living room and half of the family room torn apart from floor to ceiling. We had no stove so we basically had to cook with the grill. We didn't have a kitchen, but we ate better than we ever did before, like kings I tell ya."

Tommy stood up, opened the lid and fired up the grill, " Gotta give this thing a few minutes to heat up. I love this grill, not just because of who gave it to me, but because its just so damned nice to have."

Ryan took a seat in one of the chairs on his back porch and noticed a cooler beside it.

"A Cooler?"

Tommy motioned to it, "Open it."

Ryan lifted the lid on the cooler and found some Budweiser and Strongbow, "Ahh, I see. I take it you got that information from Kim?"

"Yeah she told me you aren't a fan of normal beer. I'm just glad the market had the stuff."

Ryan pulled a Strongbow out and then lifted a Budweiser out for Tommy. He accepted the beer with a nod. They both popped the caps easily, toasted each other silently and took a swig.

Ryan nodded as he tasted the sweet flavor of his drink and looked at the label, "Some places don't carry it because its imported. I could drink this stuff all night."

"She and I went to the store while you were still out downstairs. My basement is shielded from Mesogog's scanners so we felt it would be ok. We had to get sides for the steaks and she decided to get some adult refreshment as well", Tommy said, as he turned to the grill and tested the heat with his hand.

"So I take it your talk with her went well?"

Tommy took a long swallow of beer before he answered, "Well, it was kind of more like a mutual apology."

"Excuse me? What did you do wrong?"

"Well because after the letter I didn't check up on her like I should have. We both decided that the relationship we had is over and gone. We are two decidedly different people now and that if we based any relationship on the one we remember then all we will end up doing is hurting each other."

Ryan tips his beer in Tommy's direction, "Very wise of you."

"We may eventually end up together again, I don't know. She told me you helped write the letter by the way and while it may have been ok to read that while I was alone, the public reading as it ended up wasn't the most fun thing in the world."

"Sorry about that, Tommy. I didn't get informed as to where she was sending it. I figured she would have sent it to your house like any normal person would."

Tommy laughed, "Well we both know now just how un-normal she is huh?"

Ryan laughed with him as he ended his sentence only to be interrupted by the back door opening. Tommy and Ryan stopped laughing and turned towards the door to find Kimberly poking her head out.

Ryan grinned at her, "Hello my dear, your ears burning?"

"No but I figured I was the topic of conversation out here. I actually came out here to grab a couple of beers for the ladies inside and to make sure you were resting still. I looked out the window and noticed Tommy had one."

"Ahh, jealousy. You want a bow?"

"Yes and bud for the other two girls, please."

Ryan pops open the cooler again and digs out a Strongbow and two Budweisers for her, then hands them up.

"Thank you boys, as you were", She says with a girly giggle. She wears a smirk as she walks through the door and back inside.

"You know Tommy, I can't really blame you for not calling her."

"Really?", Tommy asked with a puzzled look before turning towards the grill to lay the steaks on. Wow that's strange, I would have figured him to defend her position.

"Yeah, women are strange animals. I had a similar situation happen to me. I stopped chasing a long time ago. It just never made sense to me that a woman would push a guy away just so he would chase after her. The games just really aren't neccessary."

"That's what I thought was happening, but now I realize that it wasn't like that. She was in trouble and I wasn't there for her. I can't change it but maybe I can make up for it someday."

"Nothing to make up for I say. She's a big girl. That's why I let her keep on with that guy even though I knew he was bad news. Sometimes you gotta let people make their own mistakes or they'll never learn. I sure as hell never wanted her to have to learn it the way she did though."

"Yeah I hear that. Thats an experience no one should ever have to go through. Anyways, after I got that letter I got to know Kat a bit more. We even dated for a while."

Ryan abruptly proceeded to do a major spit take and came out of it gasping for air.

"Woah! Ryan you ok man?", He said through a smile.

Ryan coughed a few more times and choked out a few words, "Yeah, I'm good."

Tommy couldn't help but keep laughing, "Sorry about that. I noticed how you two looked at each other earlier and so I figured you were interested."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, but thanks for the heads up", He stated while trying to look completely innocent.

"Riiiight", Tommy said as he rolled his eyes and turned back to the grill. He placed the steak and chicken onto the grill and then closed the lid.

A brief moment of semi-awkward silence passed between the two men. The only thing that could be heard was the sounds of nature, and the commotion from the women in the kitchen on the other side of the door.

"I want to thank you by the way", Tommy finally said.

"For what?"

Tommy turned to him and stared him straight in the eyes, "For protecting her when I couldn't be there for her. For everything you've done for her. After Trini died, I tried to imagine what it would be like if I were to lose her. Your head tells you, 'Its ok, she's just your friend. Her death would be just as hard to take as Trini's is', but your heart knows different. Your heart has no words. It just feels like someone kicked you in the stomach as hard as they could and you'll never be able to breathe again. After the funeral is when I realized that I'll always love her, no matter what. She said in her letter and in person after the funeral, that she was happy in Florida, so I did my best to let it go. I had to. Shortly after that is when Kat and I broke up. While she realized that she was more than just Kim's replacement to the team, that's all she would ever be to me, and wasn't fair to her. In college it was the same with Hayley. She was infatuated with me, but once she got to know me well, she realized how much baggage I was lugging around. We ended up as good friends and nothing more."

Tommy let out a frustrated sigh and turned around to check on the steaks, "Look at me. I barely know you and I'm venting all my frustrations and checkered pasts to you."

"Relax man. I have that effect on people sometimes. I tend to have a disarming personality."

"Say man, will you go check to make sure the rest of the stuff is ready inside? The steaks are almost done."

Ryan grabbed his beer off the ground beside his chair and slowly lurched to his feet, "No problem man."

Ryan clapped Tommy on the shoulder for reassurance, then turned the doorknob and walked inside. As the door closed behind him no one noticed Tommy's red puffy eyes, or the solitary tear that rolled down his cheek.

After Tommy reentered his house with the perfectly prepared steaks, the evening proceeded as planned with no interruptions. The three women had bonded, and in one case re-bonded, as the sides had been prepared inside. The group of six welcomed three more into their circle of friendship that evening. Although stories were shared and laughs were had, elsewhere, something more sinister was taking shape.

Mesogog was growing impatient. Elsa had had more than enough time to accomplish her task. What in the world was taking her so long? Perhaps it was time that he found out for himself.

He waited until his impatience grew to an unignorable level and rose off his throne with an annoyed snarl. Mesogog stormed off in the direction of Elsa's laboratory with the intent of ripping her in two. How dare she make him wait so long? She had better have something positive to report or it was going to put him into an even fouler mood than he was already experiencing. He opened the door to her lab and entered. She was hunched over a control panel engrossed in their readouts and apparently doing some calculations.

"Elssssa, report", He hissed angrilly.

She lifted her head and turned toward him with a nervous expression on her face, "My lord, the calculations to use the Umbracite Crystal with the metamorphosis chamber are difficult but they are coming along. I should have it ready to create your monster in less than six hours."

This enraged him and he responded with an almost outright roar, "That iss not good enough Elsa!"

She held up her hands as if to appease his anger and explained, "My apologies my lord, but the calculations must be done with care as to prevent an overload in the chamber. The power of the crystal and its inherent instabilities makes working with it a volitile situation at best, disasterous at the worst. It would be a bad idea to have the whole island explode."

He took what she had said with serious consideration before lobbying his much calmer reply, "Very well Elsa, work as swiftly as possible. Give me an update in two hourssss."

"It shall be done my lord", she nodded.

Mesogog turned around quickly and left the lab still in a supremely foul mood, but at least he knew that progress was being made. Zeltrax was recovering in the medical area and was doing as well as could be expected but he was far from in any shape to cause any chaos to entertain him. The cybernetics that Mesogog hed rebuilt him with were heavily damaged and some had to be replaced, however they had quite a bit to do with his continued survival. The Orange dino gem was indeed the most powerful of them all. Hopefully, Elsa would not fail him, and then the power of the long extinct dinosaurs would finally be his.

The evil cackle that reverberated throughout the hallways would have scared even Satan himself.

"Wow Tommy, those were some good steaks", Ryan said as he leaned back in his chair.

Conner nodded, "Boy you said it. Everything was good Dr. O."

"Yeah and don't forget the potatoes and broccoli the ladies made", Added Ethan. "Absolutely delicious."

"Agreed", said Tommy. "Now for the final event of the evening. Lets clear off this table and then we can take our drinks downstairs and have the discussion we all need to hear."

Everyone silently nodded and began to clear plates and silverware. This was finished quite quickly with everyone helping, so after the first trip, Ryan dove into the fridge and fetched fresh beers for those of drinking age. Conner followed right behind Ryan and tried to get a beer of his own. Connor got a few feet away from the fridge before feeling the bottle being ripped from his hands. He turned to see Ryan still standing by the fridge, shaking his head, and controlling the bottle's flight through the air towards him and back into the fridge.

"Ok, now that was cool."

"Isn't it though? You still don't get a beer Conner."

"Damn."

"Downstairs. Shoo."

Ryan closed the fridge door then walked back into the dining room and handed out the various bottles on the way to the stairs. Once everyone was assembled in the basement where all of the Ranger equipment was kept, Tommy began to speak.

"Thanks to all of you for coming tonight. So far we have had good food and some good fun, but the real reason for tonights get together is now. As you all now know for the past few months Hayley and I have operated out of this basement to create the latest Ranger team. We currently have five rangers, Connor, the red Ranger, Kira ,the yellow Ranger, Ethan, the blue Ranger, Trent, the white Ranger, and me the black Ranger. What you don't yet know is that we all have dino gems."

Tommy nodded and all the Rangers in the room rolled up their sleeves to reveal the silver wristbands with their dino gems of their corresponding Ranger color in the middle of the band. Ryan looked like he was about to speak and Tommy raised a hand to silence him.

"I know you have a question Ryan but just wait until I finish and you'll find that most of them will be answered."

Ryan nodded and kept silent.

"Along with the Ranger powers these gems give us, we also have other powers available to us in our current, unmorphed state. Connor possesses super speed, Kira has a super loud scream in her arsenal, Ethan can make his skin super tough, which enhances his strength a bit too, Trent can camouflage himself in any surrounding, and I can become completely invisible. Some of these powers are more useful than others. The powers Trent and I have make us extremely suited to stealth missions and Connor's super speed makes him able to avoid things easily. Kira and Ethan's powers are a bit more situationally oriented, of course."

Tommy took a pause for a sip of beer and then continued by walking closer to where Ryan was seated.

"Ryan here has recently found another gem. His power is telekinesis."

Conner's eyes lit up with glee, "Oh so THAT'S what you did with the beer bottle in the kitchen!"

Ryan looked at him, "Yeah ain't it cool?"

Kim, whom was sitting next to him, smacked his shoulder while he was looking away at Conner, "Ryan stop showing off!"

"Sorry Kim, he was trying to steal a beer from the fridge, I couldn't just let it happen, he is a minor after all."

Everyone in the room turned their gaze all at once from Ryan to Conner and gave him the same accusing stare.

"WHAT!", Conner exclaimed with an unapologetic look.

A collective sigh of exasperation was felt in the room and Tommy continued.

"Anyway, we can talk about Conner's poor beverage choices later. Ryan, in a recent ambush by our enemy Mesogog you used this telekinesis to basically make yourself a human "cold" bomb. I say that because there was definitely an explosion of concussive force, however it wasn't caused by combustion or a nuclear reation like a normal bomb is. Hayley you were there, what happened?"

Hayley took a moment to think in her chair by the computer, "Well, as near as I can tell it seems like he just balled up all of the telekinetic energy he could muster, and forced it out away from him. This caused anything around him to fly off in all directions. It was ballsy I'll say that much. What ever gave you that idea Ryan?"

Ryan just smiled and calmly explained, "Well another of the online games I play is called City of Heroes. I have a kinetics blaster that has a power called Nova. It basically takes all of his energy and creates a kinetic explosion around him causing the enemies to take massive damage. The downside is it takes all of your energy to do it and leaves you unable to regenerate energy for a few moments afterward."

Hayley nodded and understood, "Yeah that pretty much describes your situation in a nutshell, Ryan"

"It does?"

Hayley looked a Tommy who nodded a "Go ahead" at her.

"Well its like this, the gems that Tommy and the kids have, give you extra powers while not morphed. While this is a big benefit, we found out that if you don't have the gem in an actual morpher bracelet, rather than draw all the power from the gem, it actually drains the power from your body. So in a sense what you described as happening in your game is exactly what happened to you today. You used up nearly all the energy in your body, it made you very disoriented, dizzy, and tired, just like a bout of severe exhaustion."

"We used the gem powers before we got morpher bracelets too, but we didn't use them quite to the degree you did", Ethan stated.

Tommy took over at this point, "The powers you possess are thus far the strongest gem we have seen yet. They are also the most offensively oriented we have seen as well, as all our powers are mostly defensive. The powers we have can also be used while we are morphed, however usually, we have no need to because our ranger suits provide quite a bit of defensive protection. I haven't said anything to the other Rangers, but Hayley and I think you would be a great addition to the team and we would like you to become our sixth ranger."

Ryan didn't move. All he could do was stare at Tommy as if he was a deer in the headlights. Kim and Kat wore an equally shocked expression but recovered quickly. The teenagers in the room looked shocked for a split second and erupted with shouts and high fives. Kim and Kat responded with their own exclamations as they recovered.

"Wow! Say yes!"

"Oh my god, do it man!"

"Sweet!"

"Tommy are you kidding?"

"Are you serious?"

Tommy silenced the room quickly before it got too out of hand, "EVERYONE BE QUIET!"

The room fell silent again and Tommy spoke again in a quieter voice, "You don't have to say yes right away, but for the time being I'd like you to use this bracelet and create a morpher with your gem. You don't have to use the Ranger powers, but this way if you get attacked by Mesogog and decide to use your telekinetic powers again, it won't endanger your life."

Ryan looked up at Tommy who was handing a silver bracelet out to him like they were all wearing.

"Yeah that's probably a good idea, Tommy. Dying at a young age isn't exactly on my 'To Do' list", Ryan said with a smile.

Ryan reached up to take the bracelet from Tommy. He then stood up and took the gem out of his pocket and placed it into the center of the socket of the bracelet. The bracelet lit up with a flash of brilliant orange light as the gem bonded with it. After the glow had subsided, Ryan placed the bracelet on his left wrist and lowered his arm.

"There are two things you should also know while you have that. One, its also a communicator, think about who you want to contact who also has a wristband while touching the gem on top and then speak. Two, in order to call up your morpher, should you intend to use it, twist your wrist and concentrate."

Ryan brought his left arm back up in front of him and twisted it as instructed. Instantly the bracelet flashed orange and a mechanical, orange dinosaur skull appeared on his arm.

"Tommy is this skull what I think it is?"

"Yeah Ryan, it looks like a Velociraptor skull."

"Yeah... that's what I thought."

Conner walked over and hooked Ryan around the neck with his arm, "So Ryan, looks like you're going to be wearing a lot of orange in the future."

Ryan looked at him strangely then smirked, "Really? I thought you guys were just weird."

"Well maybe that too."

Kim stepped closer to Ryan as Conner released him, "Are you sure you want to do this Ryan? Being a Ranger is a BIG responsibility."

Ryan looked at her stoically, "Well its not like I said yes yet. Being a Ranger is a big decision I know, I watched the video and have a bit of an idea of how it can play hell with your life. I'd probably have to move here from Florida too huh?"

Kim nodded.

"Well I hope you'll all understand if I say I'll get back to you on that", Ryan said as he took one last look at the orange raptor skull on his wrist and then dismissed it in a shower of orange light.

Tommy placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes, "Yes, its a huge decision. Take all the time you need, but remember, we do need help with Mesogog, and there are no guarantees that he will ignore you just because you say you don't want to help us. In fact its pretty probable that you'll be his target for a while because of the fact that your gem is so powerful."

"Right."

Ryan paused a few moments after he got done speaking and then executed a rather large yawn.

Kim took that opportunity to boss Ryan around, "Ok young man, you still need more sleep because of your little "Nova" this afternoon. I'm sure you guys need to get back home as well before your parents ground you."

"Very true Kim, it IS getting late. Kira would you take everyone home please?", Tommy asked.

"Sure thing Dr. O. Ok boys, grab your stuff and lets roll."

Ethan passed Ryan on his way to the stairs and said quietly, "Thats another game you need to show me."

Ryan smiled, "Sure thing man. Any time."

"Well for what its worth, welcome to the team", Ethan grinned widely and shook his hand.

"Thanks, all four of you are cool kids in my book", He replied.

Ethan clapped Ryan on the shoulder and then joined his friends in walking up the stairs.

Kat stopped the two of them before they could follow the teens up the stairs, "Hey Kim? Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah sure."

"Would you mind if I came over and crashed at your place? I got a small hotel room when I arrived but I've completed the research I came to do. I can call my boss and schedule some time off but the company I work for probably wont pick up the tab for the extra time in the hotel room."

"Sure Kat, I'm sure Ryan wouldn't mind at all", she mused as she looked straight at him.

Ryan shoved her a little bit and gave her a scalding glare.

Kat and Kim laughed at Ryan as his face began turning red.

"Fuck both of you, ok?"

That comment only made them giggle more.

"Ladies I thought the teenagers already left?", He asked with an accusing stare.

Kim and Kat settled themselves and Kat had yet another question, "You have a couch Kim?"

Ryan didn't give her a chance to answer, "Oh no no no, I am not letting you sleep on the couch."

Kim smiled and chose her words carefully as to not give Ryan any openings to crack a joke, "Well actually Ryan and I had planned on sharing my bed. All I have at the moment to sleep on is the couch and my double bed. Ryan is like a brother to me and we have shared a bed before, so it's not like that's a big deal. He can play the gentleman if he wants and you can take his spot and sleep next to me."

Ryan couldn't help but smile.

"What Ryan?"

"Oh nothing Kim, just thinking about two half naked women in a bed together thats all."

Kim and Kat rolled their eyes.

Kat chose to ignore Ryan for now, "I'll need to be able to find my way to your apartment, can you follow me to the hotel?"

Kim nodded, "No problem, lead the way."

Tommy noticed them heading for the stairs from where he was conversing with Hayley and spoke up, "Goodnight you three, watch out for bad guys."

Kim waved to him goodbye, "No worries, we have Ryan to protect us." She finished her statement with a swat at Ryan's ass which was headed up the stairs ahead of her.

"Hey, hey now!"

Tommy turned back to Hayley with a somber expression, "Make sure that the orange powers are ready to go, even if he says he's not going to use them, he may not get a choice."

Kim, Kat and Ryan arrived a short while later back at Kim's apartment.

"Good thing I didn't unpack much, that went pretty fast."

"Yeah lucky us you don't own nearly as many clothes as Kim."

Kim's mouth dropped open in protest as she turned the key to unlock her apartment, "Gee thanks Ryan, you know, the clothing jokes ARE getting a little old. That crack probably would have landed you on the couch if you weren't going to be there anyway."

Ryan just laughed.

"Want her bags in your room Kim?", Ryan asked as they all three walked in through the front door.

"Yeah thats probably where they will have to go anyway. I put those couple extra blankets in the hall closet."

"Ok."

Ryan dropped Kat's bags just inside Kim's bedroom door and turned around to open the closet. He grabbed one for him and stopped for a second.

"Kim do you need another in there as well?"

"Nope we will be ok. Shouldn't get too cold tonight."

Ryan peeked his head into her room, "Ok then I'm going to go turn off lights and lay down. Goodnight ladies."

Kat and Kim answered in unison, "Goodnight Ryan." The girls giggled as Ryan rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him.

"Wow Kim, this is going to be so much fun. It'll be like we were in high school again."

Kim grinned broadly, "Yeah like when you used to come sleep over at Aisha's with me and her. We talked about nothing but Ranger stuff, celeb gossip..."

"And boys. Don't forget about the boys," Kat interrupted.

"Yes, and of course boys. Quite a bit about a certain white Ranger too, if I recall correctly."

Kat turned away to fish something out of one of her bags, "Why, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Kat? Go take a shower. I smell bullshit."

Kat turned to face Kimberly with a half shocked, half laughing expression on her face that caused them both to burst into fits of laughter.

Kim remembered about the third person in the house and stopped herself shortly, "Oh hey, not so loud. I don't want to wake Ryan up. That boy scared me half to death today, he needs some sleep."

"Yes, he did look quite tired carrying my bags in here, but he wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Yeah he's like that. Sometimes, especially when he has first met a woman, he goes into full gentleman mode. He is a bit goofy and forgetful at times but I guess he does that whole gentleman thing to make a good first impression. He doesn't do that as much for me anymore, he knows I preferr him just the way he is."

"I see. Does he forget a lot of stuff?"

Kim finished getting into her pajamas and sat on the side of the bed, "Well I don't think that he does it on purpose and it's usually just minor stuff. Stuff that everyone forgets, anyone but him though wouldn't think to apologize for it. When it really counts, he is always there."

"Ahh, I see. So he just cares about others, thats all. Thats not such a bad thing. All of us Rangers, past and present have been the same way."

Kim laughed, "Forgetful too, like that white Ranger we mentioned earlier."

"He seems like a really nice guy Kim. He should be proud of himself that he's not like most of the male population in this world."

"I suppose so, I just wish he didn't have a lower view of himself like that. I mean its nothing thats going to make him a bad person or a homicidal maniac one day, I just wish he didn't see himself like that."

"Oh, thats ok, Kim. All you can do is treat him the same you always have. He will come around", Kat said as she pulled a long shirt over her head.

She walked to the opposite side from Kimberly and sat down on it herself.

"I guess you are right, Kat. Ok, lets get some sleep, it's been a long day."

"Yeah you said it, and It's ok that you worry about him. He's your hero."

Kim turned off the light next to her and then they both slid under the covers. She then curled up and fell asleep still thanking God for her hero.

Ryan woke up in the middle of the night sometime. He felt around at the coffee table in front of the couch and found his cell phone to check the time. 3:56. Yeesh. He uncovered himself and walked towards the bathroom. Well a 4 am pee call is what I get for not breaking the seal on it before I went to bed. Didn't really drink much anyway. He entered the bathroom, did what he came for and flushed, knowing Kim was a heavy sleeper. Ryan went back to his couch, laid back down and covered back up. Before his eyes were closed for long he felt someone nearby him.

"May I help you?"

Kat let out a small squeak as she realized he wasn't asleep.

She whispered harshly, "Next time just open your eyes ok? That was a little creepy how you knew I was there before you opened your eyes."

Ryan opened his eyes and smiled. She was dressed in a long Winnie-the-pooh T-shirt and as far as he could tell, nothing else. He was awake immediately as he realized that seeing her dressed like that and this close to her was awakening other parts of him as well.

"Well that still doesn't change the question Kat. What are you doing up at such an hour?"

"I couldn't sleep very well. Kim hogs the covers."

Ryan let out a small laugh, "Yeah you gotta know how to deal with her. Whenever I'm forced to sleep next to her I always just hog the covers back when I wake up. Then when she tugs back to get under them, instead of pulling the blanket, it moves her closer instead. Problem solved."

"Yeah well we have been playing tug of war for the past half hour and I'm tired of it. I heard someone rustling about out here and I figured it was you. Can I sleep out here with you?"

Ryan bit his lip as he tried hard to think about ice cold showers, and other things of a distinctly non-sexual nature.

"Umm, not that I ever complain about sleeping with a beautiful woman, but wouldn't that be a bit improper?"

Kat thought about it for a moment, "Yeah I guess so. Tell you what then I'll sleep on the floor beneath you. It's a big blanket so I'm sure it will reach."

Ryan sighed, "And now you come up with an idea that goes against my gentlemanly instinct. How about I take the floor and you take the couch."

"You sure?"

"Yes, yes. I insist."

"Well ok then."

Ryan got up, taking the blanket with him and waited until she laid down on the couch. He covered her with half of the blanket and then she handed him a spare throw pillow from the couch.

"Thank you", he said.

Ryan then sat on the floor and crawled under his side of the blanket and tried to think about even more sobering thoughts as he fell asleep.

Morning came to the Hart household a few hours later. The early morning light came through the sliding glass doors to the back porch and hit Ryan in the face. He groaned and tried to cover the light with his right hand. He heard a quiet sigh from just beneath his chin and he stiffened in a bit of panic. He became fully awake and realized that not only was Kat laying on top of his left side, cuddled to him, but her left leg was draped across his lower body, and he had a handful of what felt like her butt.

Kat stirred awake and slowly looked up to find Ryan awake already and staring up at her.

"Sorry. There was a draft getting under the blanket from where it was draped over the edge of the couch, so I joined you on the floor."

Ryan somehow found his voice, even though it cracked a bit, "Ummm... yeah... no problem."

Being that Ryan also tended to sleep in just a shirt and underwear, there was quite a bit of skin on skin underneath the blanket and most of it was very close to both of their most sensitive body parts. Ryan had been already aware of this for a while and the sensations were slowly driving him insane.

Kat moved her leg slightly and brushed against the reason for his "tension" accidentally. Ryan winced and Kat looked up at him in a full shade of crimson.

"Oh... That's probably my fault too. Sorry."

Ryan blushed a deep shade of maroon himself, "Yep, you definitely caused that."

The comment made her blush even deeper but she didn't move away yet. She was drawn to him and still didn't quite know why.

"Just think of it as a thank you for yesterday. Without what you did we would all three be hurt a lot more than we are now."

She scooted up and over the top of him a bit, and then leaned slowly down to kiss him. Their lips met and instantly both tasted a hot fire consume their senses. The fire kept getting hotter and hotter until it grew into a need, a thirst they could not quench. Their lips parted at the same time and they began tasting tongue, lips, and cheeks. Ryan pulled her out of the kiss with a gentle caress of her face with his right hand. It took a moment for both of them to regain their normal breathing to be able to speak.

"That's quite possibly the best thank you I've ever gotten. However I don't really know you all that well. Maybe we shouldn't do this quite yet."

Kat nodded with a blush, "You're right, I'm sorry."

Ryan gently shook his head, "Nothing to be sorry about, hon. Its just that I don't make it a habit of starting a relationship on lust. Lord knows there's plenty of that."

All the sudden Kat got a horrified look on her face and started to scoot away from him, "Oh my god no, I mean sure I feel it too but I wasn't... Well what I mean is..."

Ryan stopped her stammering by holding his hands up, "Now now, I didn't mean to imply thats what you were trying to do. I was just was setting a guideline for us, and more for myself. I am far too interested in you to fuck it up by a little premature hanky panky. However, I'll say this much, thats the most intense first base I've ever had the pleasure to enjoy."

Kat was still unable to speak but her face stayed a very deep shade of red.

"Now, why don't we go get cleaned up and dressed before our benefactor wakes up and finds us in this awkward position."

Kat nodded. She still felt a bit awkward and a lot embarrassed, but some of what he had said made her feel good. She decided to return the favor.

"Ryan why don't you hit the shower first. I'll stay in the kitchen and whip up some breakfast for the three of us."

Ryan grinned from ear to ear, "That sounds awesome. I'm sure the smell of breakfast will wake up sleeping beauty too."

"Or your shower. Save us some hot water ok?"

"I'm pretty sure that won't be a problem."

His comment only caused her to blush more as she moved to get off if him and took the blanket with her to protect her modesty.

Ryan fished his shampoo and razor out of his bag and then walked toward the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and then took a look straight down, "Oh yes saving hot water won't be a problem. It's definitely a cold shower for you my friend. That Kat will be the death of me I swear it."

Kimberly awoke to see no one next to her. As her other senses sprang to life, she heard the shower running and noticed the faint smell of something cooking. She decided to get dressed and investigate. The door crept open slowly, and from behind it popped out Kimberly's tousled mess of hair. The door came open further and she could now see that Kat had her back to her and was cooking something at the stove. It smelled like she had just finished with a couple stacks of pancakes. This information meant that it was probably Ryan in the shower, and she had to pee like you wouldn't believe.

She knocked on the door, "Ryan you in there?"

"Good morning sleepyhead and no, there's no Ryan here."

She smirked as she heard his typical smart ass reply, "Can I come in and pee please?"

"Sure, its open", Came his muffled voice.

She opened the door and then closed it quickly behind her. She went over to the toilet and began what she came to do.

"No peeking Kim", Ryan called from behind the shower curtain.

Kim rolled her eyes, "Oh please like I'm interested in that."

She finished and was about to leave, but then she heard his reply.

"You were when you were incredibly drunk."

Kim smacked her forehead in disbelief. Ryan poked his head out of the curtain as he saw her silouhette walk back towards the toilet.

"Just for that...", She said while poising her hand above the flush handle.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!", came the plea for mercy.

She hit the handle and Ryan moved quickly to avoid the spray of water from the shower head which had become very hot. He didn't make it quite in time and his hollering and cursing could be heard well into the kitchen after Kim had left the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Kat turned to see what the commotion was about and saw Kim walking into the kitchen.

"Good morning, whats he yelling about?"

"I had to pee, he made a snide comment when I went in there, so I flushed", she stated matter-of-factly leaning against the counter with her arms crossed and wearing a smug grin.

Kat laughed.

"Hey Kim, come here!", came a call from the bathroom.

"You're not going to try and take revenge on me are you?"

"No no", came the muffled reply. "Just come here for a quick second!"

Kim walked over to the bathroom door and found Ryan peeking around the corner of the door.

"So? Why am I here?"

"Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much..."

Kim rolled her eyes and began to walk away.

Ryan shot his arm out the door and turned her back towards him, "I'm just kidding, why I called you however, is because I forgot to bring clean clothes with me into the bathroom. Can you grab my bag for me please?"

"You didn't bring any with you?"

"I was in a rush."

That reply earned him a strange look from Kimberly.

"I'll explain later ok? Just please get me some clothes?"

Kim sighed and turned away from the door, towards the living room where his bags were. She pulled him out a pair of underwear, blue jeans and while looking for a shirt she came across one of her favorites. She pulled out the shirt and took all three items back to the bathroom door.

"Wait a sec Kim. Did you pull out the shirt I think you did?"

Kim nodded vigorously with an evil grin.

"Why?"

"Because I'm evil and I enjoy torturing you."

"No choice eh?"

She shook her head while keeping the same grin.

Ryan sighed and held his hand out for the clothes. She handed them over and he closed the door.

"You are so getting a tittie twister for this", She heard him say through the door.

"You're the one who packed it", She said as she just smiled and walked back into the kitchen.

Ryan opened the door of the bathroom and walked out into the hallway. He strolled nonchalantly into the kitchen. Kim noticed him entering the kitchen and turned to look at him. On his shirt was a picture of the Energizer Bunny and had the words "Hot Hare Balloon Tour". As he noticed her looking at him he struck a sort of "Ta-da" pose and then mouthed the words "Fuck you" to her. Kim started to laugh which alerted Kat to what was going on other than scrambling eggs.

"Look Kat, I got him to wear pink!"

Ryan glared at her, "Oh please. Its only pink because it has the Energizer Bunny on it and its the only pink shirt I own. Besides the way I earned it was pretty fun. Even you said it was cool."

"Thats not pink Ryan, thats HOT pink."

"Yes yes, I know thank you. I still don't mind wearing it as much as you think I do though. If you wanted to see funny you should have seen the air show after we put this hot air balloon up. We had passes that let us stay and watch the air show for free, so we would go around and see all the cool new aviation toys and stuff like that, but every once in a while you'd see a huge troop of boy scouts go by, all of them wearing their hot pink shirts and big bunny ears."

"I bet that was rather cute looking", Kat said as she stirred the eggs in the pan.

"The back of it says Bunny Crew by the way, and that was a BIG bunny. My mom has a thing for hot air balloons, so when they have the Sun-n-fun Fly In in Tampa, we always drive up and crew, me my brother and my mom.

"Sounds like you and your mum have a good relationship with one another."

Kim looked at her funny, "Are you kidding? She's the biggest kid I've ever seen. Her, Ryan and Cory, that's a recipe for total chaos!"

Ryan gave her a hurt look, "We are not. No chaos, just mischief."

Kim rolled her eyes and changed the subject, "Ok well it looks like our chef for the morning has prepared quite the meal. Grab a chair Ryan and I'll bring you a plate."

He walked towards the table with a smile, "Don't have to tell ME twice. The eggs smell good."

"Now see why I say he reminds me of Rocky, Kat?"

"No he's better than Rocky. Rocky would have tried to eat the eggs out of the pan while I was still cooking them."

Kim thought for a moment, "Yeah, that's probably a good point."

Weekends are great. No getting up early. No pesky teenagers around. A real chance to get some work done. Awww crap... I guess I should get up and grade those damn quizzes.

Tommy sat up in bed and swung his legs out over the side. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he rubbed his eyes to help wake himself up more fully.

You know, quizzes are a pain in the ass. Its fun to terrorize the kids with them, but afterward it just creates more work.

He put on some clothes and walked out his bedroom door. As he walked by the living room, he turned on his TV for the morning news on his way to the kitchen. He paused to watch for a minute and then began to make breakfast for himself.

Good, its quiet for now, but knowing Mesogog its not gonna stay that way for long. The bad thing is, I don't think we will be his next target.

Mesogog growled as he burst into Elsa's lab.

"Elssa! Your time is up, what is your progress?"

Elsa was startled as he burst into the room. She turned to face him nervously.

"The procedure is going well, Master. Your monster will be prepared within the hour. It will be a monster with powers the like of which the Rangers have never seen."

He practically purred with excitement, "Excellent Elsssssa. When you have completed your task, take a battalion of Tyrannodrones and flush the Rangers out. Once they have all arrived we will crush them."

Elsa smiled and nodded, "Yes, Master."

She turned to continue her work as Mesogog left the room. The Rangers were in store for quite a surprise indeed.