Joe's Note: After making a list of the key scenes from Day of the Dino's two parts that I felt I should touch on in an origin story, I realized I had too much content for one decent chapter and so I decided to retroactively insert additional chapters into this story. Chapter 1 covers most of Day of the Dino Part 1, while this chapter will cover the rest of Part 1 before moving into the start of Day of the Dino Part 2. A third chapter will cover the conclusion of Part 2 plus some original content, then we'll see the revision of my original Replay, and then finally we'll move on into original content.

"Okay, so we all agree… no one talks about this to anyone. No matter what."

Dawn rolled her eyes at Conner's need to state the incredibly obvious. Duh. The first rule of Fight Club was that you didn't talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club was that you didn't talk about Fight Club. The third rule of Fight Club was that if someone yelled stop, went limp, and tapped out, the fight was over… but that wasn't particularly relevant when it came to fighting monsters, Dawn had found out several years ago. Before she could share those thoughts, those, Kira spoke up. "I can do better than that." Pulling out the mysterious yellow gem that had started it all, Kira stared at it for a moment before slapping it down into Conner's hand. "I'm out of it. Just forget I was there, and I'll do the same."

Looking back and forth between Kira and Conner, Ethan furrowed his brow. "Wait. How come he gets it?"

That earned the dark-skinned boy the same look that Kira usually reserved for when Dawn said something IQ droppingly stupid. Or made post-coital puns. "Well fine. Here. Now if you two don't mind… Dawn, the rest of the band is already at the cafe setting up. I obviously missed my chance at getting a ride with anyone else because of detention. Do you mind?"

"Since saying yes would probably end with me sleeping on my own couch when you stay over this weekend… not at all?" The response earned her a raspberry from Kira, making Dawn chuckle before patting her fellow brunette on the butt playfully. "You know where the car is. I'll be down in a second." Kira shot her an uncertain look, and Dawn leaned in to kiss her girlfriend on the temple. "You may be out, but they're obviously not. Just want to share some… words of wisdom."

Up until now at least, Kira had largely respected Dawn's unwillingness to talk about her life before Reefside, despite the fact that they were dating and now even intimate. She was aware, however, that Dawn had been involved with something less than pleasant, that it had involved the now infamous town of Sunnydale, and that Dawn had run away from it. Dawn didn't doubt that this little exchange would spark a renewed interest in her past, but maybe it was time to come clean to Kira. After all, things were more than a little lopsided when it came to the trust department in their relationship…

As Kira wandered off down the road that led to the student parking lot, Dawn turned her attention back to Conner and Ethan. "Right, I've evidently got somewhere to be, so I'm gonna make this quick. That whole 'power and responsibility' thing? It's not just something that shows up at least five times in every Spider-Man movie. We found out yesterday that those stones and the powers they give you aren't just some fun new toys. They're clearly a part of something bigger. So if you're going to keep exploring them… be serious. Don't let it take someone getting hurt for you to realize that it's not a game."

Before Conner or Ethan could respond, there was a strong blast of unnaturally cold air and Dawn looked around wildly. Like Sunnydale, Reefside was located in a portion of California with an almost strangely stable climate and that sort of chilliness rolled around on roughly the twelve of Never each year. Then a group of black figures came surging out of the bushes near Kira, and Dawn realized where she'd felt it before: in the woods the previous day. "Get away from me, freaks!" As the creatures pounced on Kira, overwhelming her with sheer numbers, Dawn burst into motion. Racing down the road, she threw herself toward the nearest enemy… and then went sailing through the air as the entire group was sucked upward into some sort of strange, black and green portal.

With Kira in tow.

Oh, it was on now.

"This is all totally fascinating, but how is it helping us find Kira?" While Ethan did have a point there - Doctor Oliver's whole lecture about the origin of the 'Tyrannodrones' and his part in it seemed more like the obligatory exposition phase of a story than anything genuinely relevant to their situation - Dawn was actually kinda okay with the idea of sitting at the intersection for a few more seconds. Mostly because he was possibly the one driver who was worse than Buffy, and her stomach felt like it was still trying to catch up after being left behind a mile or two ago. At least he was helping, though, which was more than Dawn would have done if Conner and Ethan had tried to blackmail her the way they had Doctor Oliver. "I mean, she's not just going to fall out of the sky and land right in front of us."

The sky picked that exact moment to turn black and green before spitting Kira out onto the hood of Doctor Oliver's Jeep with a loud thump. As Kira pushed herself up on her forearms, staring at them in surprise, Dawn leaned forward and let her eyes bounce back and forth between her girlfriend and the Magical Portal of Wish Granting several times before offering a request of her own. "I mean, Kira's clothes aren't just going to fall off to reveal sexy lingerie." Conner, Ethan, and Doctor Oliver all turned to look at her in disbelief, making her shrug defensively. "What? It was worth a try." Vaulting over the side of the Jeep, Dawn landed nimbly on the pavement and raced forward to help Kira off the hood. "You okay? What happened?"

"Kinda. I guess." Kira took a moment to pat herself down and check for injuries, before nodding in satisfaction when she found none and continuing. "And I have no idea. One minute, I'm being chased by Frankenlizard through this creepy lab, and the next thing I know? I'm a hood ornament."

"Invisiportals."

"Whatever. Next time, I'm calling a cab." As Kira wrapped her arms around Dawn and snuggled in against her girlfriend, the taller brunette eyed Doctor Oliver suspiciously. Helping create something that someone else later perverted wasn't necessarily a crime, but given how much he seemed to know about everything… Dawn found herself wondering exactly how far removed the man really was from what appeared to be a new Big Bad rising. "What are you guys doing here?" Dawn glanced down at Kira, who was looking around curiously. "Actually… where is here?"

The answer to the latter question was the intersection of… Church Avenue, Marine Road, and Crown Boulevard. As for the former, Ethan managed to toss out an answer before Dawn could. "We came to rescue you."

Kira snorted at that, unwinding one arm from around Dawn's waist and gesturing to her body. "Well, you did a great job of it. Way to show up when I don't need you anymore."

…a little recognition for their efforts would have been nice, Dawn thought, even if they hadn't born fruit in time. Because while Dawn was in fact proud of her girlfriend for managing to rescue herself - which boded well for the future of their relationship, given how many kidnappings seemed to occur within and around the Summers clan - the rest of them had done their best given the circumstances. After all, it wasn't as if kidnapping via portal was something they could go to the police to report. Before she could point that out, though, there was a crackling noise and a flash of black and green light in the corner of her eye. Conner took a step forward, nodding in that direction and drawing Dawn's attention to where a group of Tyrannodrones were being led forward by some sort of… black robot knight thing. "You sure about that?"

Dawn's existing unease when it came to Doctor Oliver only grew stronger as he forced his way to the front, slipping into a well-practiced combat stance as he eyed what Dawn was guessing would turn out to be Mesogog's third-in-command. If it was Mesogog himself, Oliver would recognize him. And as much as Dawn loved Kira, she wasn't worth sending a second-in-command out after. So… third-in-command at best. Maybe fourth or lower. Still. The man was way too aggressive for someone who was supposedly an academic and teacher. "Mesogog find a new goon to do his dirty work?"

While Dawn didn't really have experience with evil robots - Adam had been a cyborg, and even her invented memories didn't include the two of them crossing paths - it stood to reason that trying to goad them wouldn't work terribly well. They were robots. They didn't exactly have emotions, now did they? "You are not fit to speak my master's name. Come with me peacefully, or suffer the consequences."

"I'm going to have to say… no." Launching himself forward, Doctor Oliver ducked under the first swipe of the robot's sword before lashing out to kick at one of the Tyrannodrones that had accompanied it. Conner and Ethan quickly moved to join him, leaving Dawn and Kira behind to exchange exasperated glances before wading in to try and save them - especially Doctor Oliver, who seemed genuinely surprised at how terribly he was doing against his own creations - from themselves.

Times like this reminded Dawn why she wasn't interested in dating boys anymore. What a bunch of idiots.

Leaning back to break their rather long goodnight kiss, Dawn offered Kira a smile and a wave as the brunette slid out of her car and slammed the door, hurrying up the sidewalk to the front door of her house. It took Kira a minute to find the right key on her overly busy keyring, but then she was through the door and safely into the house for the night. At which point Dawn pulled out her iPhone and the pink gem she'd stolen, using the former to snap several pictures of the latter before dialing Willow's number. Hopefully she wouldn't mind being woken up at six o'clock in the morning - pesky Reefside to Scotland time zone differences - or at least would understand Dawn's reasoning once she saw the pictures.

"…give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you into a frog. Twenty words or less."

"I grabbed a weird pink stone and now I think I'm turning into a Power Ranger." Pausing, Dawn counted her words through a mixture of curling each toe and then moving upward to her fingers, quickly realizing that she still had four words to work with. "And you hate frogs."

There was a long stretch of near silence; Dawn could just barely hear Willow talking mixed with replies from not one but two distinctly female voices. Hashtag giggity, go Willow. Deciding to put the time to good use, Dawn loaded up the photos she'd taken and sent them off along with one of a Tyrannodrone and another of the weird metal knight that she'd managed to catch during a break in the fighting. There was a displeased hiss as Willow returned her attention to her phone, but her response wasn't anything even remotely close to what Dawn was expecting. "The man fighting the knight. Do you know his name?"

"Uh, he's one of my teachers. Doctor… Thomas Oliver. Definitely Doctor Oliver, just not sure on his first name. Why?"

"The old Council felt its duty was to keep track of anything that was remotely supernatural or superhuman. He's a four time Power Ranger. Still active as recently as two years ago."

…well, at least he wasn't evil?