I've spent an excessive amount of time tweaking every chapter. This story is definitely a lot slower in terms of plot and being written. But I can attribute that to the fact that we have entered the later part of the semester, and as such, my students have bigger assignments that take up much more of my time. At this point, I only have one more completed chapter. Not sure when I'll post chapter 4. It won't go up until I have 5 and 6 finished. Anyway, hope you all enjoy.


After hanging up the video call with Jason, Trent led their team the over to where he'd set Tommy up with the punching bag. The younger teenager was going to town on the bag. Connor smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Jason was right," he told his teammates, watching the teenager, and nodding towards the boy, one eyebrow raised. Tommy's style was definitely not as refined as they were familiar with, but there was no doubt it was effective, and explosive. Tommy basically looked like he was trying to kill the punching bag, his fists flying and striking the bag in rapid succession, interspaced with a kick here and there. His breathing was even, despite the effort he was putting in, as he glared at the bag.

"Well, based on ranger history," Ethan stated, "that's not all that surprising. You know who he was right?"

"Dude," Connor replied, "don't remind me." He ran his hands over his face, shuddering as another round of nerves hit him. "I'm having a hard enough time as it is trying to keep my cool that he's coming here," he added, slipping back into his stance, arms crossed again over his chest.

"You have no trouble talking to Rocky," Trent stated, mirroring Connor as the four of them watched Tommy, who seemed unaware he had an audience.

"Don't tell him, but there's a huge difference between being the first and being the second," Connor laughed. Ethan and Trent chuckled, while Kira rolled her eyes. "Hey Tommy, how you hanging in there?" Connor called out, dropping his arms and getting the boy's attention. Tommy stopped mid punch and looked up at the four, he gave them a slight smile, a little reluctantly.

"Honestly," he stated, "I'm feeling a bit better," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders. He stepped away from the punching bag and faced them. "Guess Jason knows me better than I know myself," he added with a half-smile.

"That's good," Kira stated, returning the expression. She felt bad for the younger boy, assuming he must still be pretty scared by the situation. She knew she would have been, and so would the others, no matter how much they would have denied it, like Tommy seemed to be doing. "Jason's on his way. He said he's bringing some more friends to help."

"Friends?" Tommy asked, frowning, and trying to keep the excitement at the idea that Jason was coming out of his voice. Kira shrugged her shoulders, not catching on to all the boy's emotions.

"We're not sure who," she told him. "He didn't give names. We've never met him before."

"I'm on your team, and you've never met Jason?" Tommy asked. He frowned, unsure what that meant, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't like it.

"There's a lot of about your life we don't know," Trent told him. "You are a lot older than us," he reminded the boy, "well, normally I mean. God," he stated, looking at the boy. Normally Tommy was slightly taller than he was. Now he was the same height, or possibly a bit shorter. "How old are you anyway?"

"Almost sixteen," Tommy replied, confirming Jason's theory. Tommy stretched the truth slightly as he was definitely closer to fifteen than he was sixteen. But the teenagers intimidated him slightly, so he tried to make himself sound older without actually lying to them. "Why? How old are you?"

"The first rangers were young," Ethan laughed. "I'll be eighteen next month. The others are already eighteen. We just graduated high school," he explained.

"Jason says I can trust you," Tommy told them, sighing, and looking up. It was clear that he didn't completely trust them, but he was a lot calmer than he'd been before he'd spoken to Jason.

"You can," Kira confirmed, with a nod. "We get this is weird, but you can trust us."

"Why don't you start by telling me how I got here? You said it wasn't time travel," Tommy asked, and Kira glanced at her teammates over her shoulder. When they all shrugged, she sighed, realizing they were leaving it to her to try and help him understand.

"I'll do the best I can to explain," Kira stated, leading the group back over to the sofas. "You aren't a visitor from the past. Our Dr. Oliver," she stated, and Tommy frowned. She sighed. "I'll explain that after I finish how you got here, ok?"

"Yeah," Tommy stated, nodding and looking down at his hands. Kira smiled again realizing that this version of her friend was not as confident as he was normally was. In fact, he was a bit shy.

"Anyway, our version of you was showing us a new piece of technology he and our tech Haley were working on down here for a special reunion of some of our other friends. This is your basement, and our old command center. I guess that's what you'd call it. Anyway, the idea was for the machine to allow us to relive memories and project them on a screen for everyone to see," Kira continued.

"Kind of like watching your memories as home videos?" Tommy asked, thinking, as he narrowed his eyes at the device in the room. It had stopped sparking and smoking, but it was a bit ominous looking.

"Exactly," Kira stated with a grin and a nod.

"Dude," Ethan stated, "even a fifteen year old can get it," he directed at Connor who glared at him. Connor glared back at Ethan in return. Ethan burst out laughing.

"Ignore them," Kira told Tommy, rubbing her forehead and rolling her eyes at them. "So, while he, or rather you, were showing us the machine. Connor hit it with a soccer ball. You must have been thinking about when you had just barely started your ranger career. Next thing we know, you've regressed."

"Regressed?" Tommy frowned.

"Gotten younger," Trent put in. "Basically, you are our Dr. Oliver, but you've been reduced to a younger age. You're aren't fifteen, you just have the appearance and memories of yourself up until that point."

"You're trying to tell me that I'm not really fifteen, I just think I am?" Tommy stated, his voice dripping with disbelief.

"Pretty much," Kira laughed. "I'll admit, it does sound unbelievable."

"That's an understatement," Tommy muttered, looking down at his feet and shaking his head. "So I'm twenty eight?"

"Nearly," Kira told him, getting questioning looks from her other three former teammates. "Seriously," she looked at him, "you don't know his birthday is in October?" The three replied with embarrassed blushes, indicating that she was apparently the only one who knew. She sighed, and rolled her eyes at them. "It's only July now," she explained to Tommy, who nodded, exhaling as he took in the information.

"There's one positive to this situation," Ethan put in, while Tommy was trying to process what they told him. Ethan leaned back against the wall, propping himself with his legs crossed at the ankles, his arms over his chest.

"You see a positive in this?" Connor asked his friend, holding cupping his chin and cheek with his left hand. His right arm supported his left elbow, a slight amused smirk on his face.

"Yeah," Ethan laughed. "We won't be sending him back to the past, so we don't have to worry about wiping his memory of anything he finds out."

"You know," Kira laughed in response. "Ethan actually makes a valid point. That's actually a bit of a relief."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Tommy asked the four of them, clearly disturbed by the idea.

"A few friends reminded us that, after everything we've been through, this is basically nothing," Trent laughed.

"Basically?" Tommy questioned, clearly not believing anything could be stranger. "What have you been through?"

"Personality changes, getting trapped in comic books, evil rangers, time travel, just to name a few; we were regressed too," Connor ticked off on each of his fingers. Tommy's eyes went wider at each thing the tall teenager listed off.

"Yeah, but we remembered our actual ages at the time," Kira stated, as her face lit up with a thought. "Come to think of it, Dr. O mentioned he'd been regressed at least once before that happened. You ever go through that?" she asked Tommy, who shook his head.

"No," Trent stated, "he wouldn't have. Rocky and Aisha went through it as well, the first time."

"Right," Kira stated, nodding.

"Rocky? Aisha? Dr. O?" Tommy stated. "You promised you'd explain that," he added, given them all a pointed look.

"Well, you're Dr. Oliver, or Dr. O," Connor stated. "Not only were you our teammate, but you were our science teacher."

"I'm a what?" Tommy asked, giving them another look that basically suggested he figured they were insane. "Seriously?" the teenage boy added, "because looking around here, I would have guessed that I'm some combination of secret agent, wrestler, and a mixed martial arts fighter."

"Nope," Ethan laughed. "But you're right, it does kind of give that sort of vibe. You're a paleontologist actually." Kira, Trent, and Connor were attempting to hold in their laughter, and not doing too well.

"Yeah," Tommy snorted. "That sounds exciting," he added with a roll of his eyes. He sighed and looked around the room. His eyes scanned everything. His former teammates gave him a moment to process what he'd just learned. The boy looked a lot less scared than he did before, but still weary, and clearly full of questions. After a few moments, he looked back up at Connor, Kira, Ethan, and Trent. "So who are those other people you mentioned?"

"Rocky and Aisha are former rangers. You saw Rocky for a moment, he was the one in red. Aisha is his wife," Ethan stated, and Tommy nodded.

"And the other guy on the," he paused, trying to find a way to describe what had happened. Computers were for typing and playing Oregon Trail. If you were lucky, you got a few minutes on the internet. "Video call? By the way, you're going to need to explain how that's possible," Tommy asked.

"That's Adam," Trent added in. "He's engaged to Tanya. They're both former rangers as well. And they'll all be here tomorrow," he continued.

"And to explain video call," Kira stated, "we already told you, it's two thousand and four. More than a decade since you were really fifteen. There's a lot of technology that wasn't around then." Tommy gave them all looks that said he was overwhelmed, and wasn't sure what to believe about the technology thing. Not because he didn't trust them, but because he was astounded by the changes that were apparently possible in only a few short years. "You want more explanation than that, you talk to Ethan," she stated, jerking her thumb in the direction of her blue clad friend.

"Speaking of technology," Trent stated, "What do you guys say we head over to Cyberspace?" he asked the group. "Jason said it would take only about an hour or two. Let's make sure we're there well before that," he added in.

"Are you guys sure it's a good idea to take him out in public?" Kira asked again, looking at Tommy. "What if someone recognizes him?"

"We'll say he's his own nephew," Connor put in, shrugging his shoulders, and looking over the younger teenager himself. "It could work."

"With the same name?" Kira asked, hands on her hips, her eyebrows raised in a question, as if she couldn't really believe what they were suggesting they do. She kind of hoped maybe only a couple of them could go meet Jason at the cyber café and bring him back to Tommy's.

"His first name is weird, so he goes by his middle? It's a family name," Ethan suggested. "People around here will buy anything. Remember Cassidy and Devin bought the whole 'cleaning their shiny suits' thing." Connor and Trent both snorted a laugh, and even Tommy grinned slightly.

Kira rolled her eyes. "I don't know you guys," she stated, reluctantly. She kept glancing at the teenage version of their mentor and former teacher.

"It'll be fine," Connor retorted. "Besides, Billy and Haley won't be here for a week. Until then, he's probably stuck like this. We can't expect him to stay in the house and the lab for a week." Kira's look suggested that's exactly what she thought they should do with him.

"Billy's coming?" Tommy asked, catching onto Connor's words. He hadn't thought to chime in on the conversation before.

"Right, he knew Billy at this point," Connor stated, slapping himself in the forehead for forgetting Tommy's reaction earlier to hearing Billy's name. "Yeah dude. But he's out of contact for the moment." Tommy opened his mouth to ask why, but Connor shook his head. "You can ask the teammates you remember about that later."

"Speaking of contact," Trent stated, "Ethan, I know Haley probably won't check her messages, but," he began.

"I'm on it. I'll leave her a message explaining the current, um, situation," he stated, turning his phone and holding it up and open. "Hey Tommy," he stated, "say cheese!"

"What?" Tommy stated, looking at Ethan bewildered as the teenager snapped a photo with his phone. "What was that?"

"Technology we can explain later," Kira stated, glaring at Ethan for a moment for raising more questions, as Ethan sent the picture to Haley followed by a text message commanding her to listen to her voicemail. He then proceeded to walk to a more secluded area of the lab in order to actually leave a voicemail that explained, to the best of his ability, exactly what was happening.

"Ok," Tommy stated, frowning, "but how do you guys know Billy, but not Jason?"

"How about we let your older friends explain that one too, ok?" Trent asked him. "Trust us, it's a little complicated, and they were the ones who were there when it happened."

"You know that whole trust thing we've been working on," Tommy stated, raising an eyebrow, clearly not happy with Trent's answer. He folded his arms over his chest in defiance.

"Oh no," Kira told the boy, smirking at him. "You will not make us feel guilty. You can make Jason tell you when you see him in a few hours. Or Kimberly when she gets here tonight," she added in, seeing Tommy frown and go pale at the mention of the female ranger's name.

"Kimberly will be coming here?" Tommy asked, his eyes wide, and his tone was almost a squeak, while his cheeks flushed bright red. "As in to this house? Tonight?" he asked.

"You saw the picture," Connor told him. "Dude, I know you're a kid but," he stated.

"Connor," Kira hissed, elbowing her former teammate in the stomach. Connor winced as he double over, having not expected the physical reaction from the only female in the room. She then turned her attention back to Tommy. "You haven't asked her out yet, have you?" she asked the boy.

"Yet?" he asked, turning paler still, and this time Kira laughed slightly. Tommy was slightly adorable when it came to Kimberly. Now she understood why everyone else had seemed to be so anxious that Tommy and Kim get back together. They really had liked one another since the start.

"Tommy," she stated. "Here's the thing. You don't like to tell us a whole lot about your past; but Kim's told me quite a bit. You've both had crushes on each other since like day one."

"Kim has a crush on me?" Tommy asked, his eyes going wide, and Kira nodded.

"It'll all work out," Kira told him. "So yes, Kimberly lives here, with you."

"We're not married or anything right?" Tommy asked, fear about the answer in his eyes and in his voice. "I don't have kids that I've forgotten about?"

"Of your own?" Trent laughed. "No," he confirmed. "Rocky and Aisha have a girl and a boy whom you consider a niece and nephew, but you and Kim are just boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Well," Tommy stated, exhaling sharply. They could see a tiny bit of relief in the teenager's face. "That's good to know," he added with a nod, as Ethan rejoined them. He was still pale, and his eyes were still wider than they'd been before.

"What did you do to him while I was gone?" Ethan asked, frowning, studying the look the younger teen wore.

"Told him about Kim," Connor snorted. Ethan grinned and shook his head.

"Poor kid," he stated, patting Tommy on the shoulder, shaking his head. "Anyway, message for Haley left. You guys ready to go?" he asked his friends, shutting his cell phone and sliding it into his pocket.

"Just waiting on you," Connor told him, slinging an arm over Tommy's shoulder. "Come on Tommy, we'll take you someplace where all your technology questions can be answered."

"Or he'll just end up with more of them," Kira stated, rolling her eyes. She still didn't think going out in public was a great idea, but she'd been out voted. She reluctantly followed the four male members of her former ranger team up the stairs and out of the basement.


"Aisha?" Rocky called, unlocking the front door of his home and stepping inside. Adam followed him, as his friend set his keys down in a bowl perched on a shelf mounted by the door. Rocky frowned, looking around for the woman he'd called to, not finding her.

"Kitchen!" her voice responded. "Adam with you?" she asked.

"Hey Aisha," Adam called back as both men followed the sound of her voice into the kitchen.

"Good," Aisha said as they entered, finding Aisha sitting at the table feeding five month old Luke a jar of baby food in his high chair, while two and a half year old Katie sat in her booster seat picking up small pieces of pizza and shoveling them in her mouth. Luke wore only a bib, and was hitting his tray with both hands between bites. Tanya leaned back against the countertop, a plate in one hand, a slice of pizza raised to her mouth in the other, a glass of water rested just to the side and behind her. "Tanya's still here," Aisha replied, thought that was clearly evident to both men. "We figured no one would feel like cooking tonight so we just ordered in." The two men nodded understanding.

"Hi Daddy Ranger!" Katie giggled, chewing with her mouth open. Rocky laughed at her and kissed the top of her head.

"Hi monkey," he told her, before leaning over to kiss Aisha and falling into a chair beside his wife.

Adam had gone straight to Tanya's side and kissed her in greeting, before grabbing two plates and putting a slice of pizza on each one. He handed one plate to Rocky at the table, before leaning back on the counter beside his fiancé.

"You two are home late?" Tanya asked, raising her eyebrow at Adam. He grimaced in return and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand that wasn't supporting the plate. Tanya frowned at him, reading his guilty look and body language. "What's wrong?" she asked, exasperation and anxiety over it in her voice.

"We had an emergency call from the kids this afternoon," Rocky explained, doing his best to not burst out laughing as he recalled to mind the exact nature of the emergency. Since they really couldn't do anything about it, and no one was in serious danger, the entire thing was quite comical.

"What kind of emergency?" Aisha glared at him.

"Do you even need to ask that?" Adam replied, chuckling as well.

"But their powers are gone!" Tanya stressed. "Nothing is supposed to happen!"

"Rocky," Aisha whined. "This is supposed to be a quiet vacation!" Rocky shot her a look in response that told her she had to be kidding him. "I know it was wishful thinking, but couldn't I at least have had hope until we got there tomorrow?" she asked, pouting slightly.

"We were so close," Adam laughed, with a nod, pinching his fingers together to imitate his point. By then, all attempts at hiding their mirth had gone out the window. Both Adam and Rocky were grinning and snickering.

"I'm assuming since you're laughing, it's not a life or death matter?" Tanya asked him, raising an eyebrow. Adam shook his head, but then laughed slightly when thought of the actual situation. He was actually glad that for once there wasn't anything he could do. He could let Jason handle the problem with the teenagers, at least until tomorrow.

"Well, Connor might die," Rocky told her, "but that's going to be up to Kimberly. So the reunion could turn into a funeral."

"That bad, huh?" Aisha asked, making a face as she went back to feeding Luke who had begun to protest quite loudly when she'd paused. While there was still plenty of time for the boy's personality to develop, he was certainly taking after his father in terms of stomach capacity.

"Oh it's that bad," Rocky laughed, with a nod. He leaned over and tickled Katie's belly. "Your Uncle Tommy got himself into a bit of a pickle," he told her in a sing song voice. Katie giggled in response.

"Alright," Aisha stated, glaring at him playfully. "Out with it? What's going on?"

"Tommy, might have sort of regressed himself," Adam stated, bursting out into laughter.

"What?" Both girls screamed, and Katie and Luke jumped. Luke started to wail, and Katie's lip became a pout. Frantically, Aisha lifted up Luke, and began rocking him, shushing him as she did, bouncing him in her arms.

"It's alright, Katie," Rocky stated, pulling the toddler into his lap, hugging her to his chest. "Mommy and Aunt Tanya didn't mean to scare you," he told the girl at the same time as his wife comforted the baby. Despite the children's response, he and Adam were still grinning like mad men.

"How can you two find this funny?" Tanya asked her fiancé, her eyes indicating she's was clearly disturbed by the news. When Adam burst out laughing in response, she rolled her eyes and hit him lightly with the back of her hand, which only served to make the former black ranger laugh harder. Tanya fought the grin that was pushing its way to her face and shook her head "What on earth happened?" she asked, although it was possible to hear amusement in her voice.

"Apparently," Rocky began, as Adam was still laughing, "our fearless leader has had Haley assembling a machine that plays memories like home movies. It malfunctioned while he was showing it off to the kids, and well, instant teenage Tommy." Rocky had settled Katie onto his lap and pulled her plate closer so the toddler could resume her meal.

"Please tell me this a joke?" Aisha asked, placing Luke back in his high chair. She was beginning to understand why it was funny. The fool had done it to himself.

"Nope," Adam told her. "It gets better," he added in.

"Oh yeah," Rocky nodded agreement, laughter in his voice. The two girls frowned at them, questions in their eyes.

"The fool managed to regress his mind as well as his body," Adam continued.

"He really thinks he is a teenager?" Aisha asked, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice that time. Adam nodded and dissolved into a laughing fit again. It was hysterical when she stated it out loud.

"And just how old is he?" Tanya asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Maybe sixteen?" Rocky stated, although the inflection in his voice sounded like a question. He took a bite of his own slice of pizza as he shrugged. He truthfully wasn't sure how old Tommy was. All he knew was the boy hadn't recognized him.

"Not even," Adam confirmed. "He doesn't even know who we are," he continued.

"Wait? What?" Tanya stated, her mouth falling open. "Adam! You left the poor kids alone to deal with a version of Tommy who has no idea who anyone is? He's probably freaking out."

"He was," Rocky stated. "But we hooked them up with Jason," he added. "He can handle things, and Kim will be home tonight. Billy and Haley are the only ones with the ability to fix this, so I figured, for now, we just sit back and enjoy the show."

"You're cruel," Aisha told her husband, laughing still.

"So explain why Kim might kill Connor?" Tanya put in.

"Oh that," Adam stated, shaking his head, and grabbing a second slice of pizza. "Connor hit the machine with his soccer ball. That's apparently what caused the machine to malfunction."

"Oh yeah, he's a dead man," Aisha stated. "They've been back together, what? Four months now? And he's a child again." Aisha laughed, shaking her head. "I would not want to be in Connor's place right now."

"Not at all," Rocky agreed with a grin. "I say we take our time getting there tomorrow."

"Agreed," the other three repeated, falling into giggles and laughter.


Kira sat at one of the small tables at Cyberspace, her elbows perched on the table, her hands on her cheeks, and a straw between her lips as she downed a smoothie. Her eyes flickered to Trent, who had decided to help out behind the counter while he was there. Haley had, after all, left him in charge. At the moment, he was running back and forth, getting drink orders full filled for the mass of teenagers who were not outside due to the heat.

Realizing Trent would not be back anytime soon, she let her eyes fall on Connor and Ethan who sat on either side of their regressed science teacher, surfing the internet and completely overwhelming him. Tommy looked thoroughly confused, and slightly freaked out by the concept, but Connor and Ethan were unrelenting. They were grinning and laughing at each face that Tommy made. Kira wondered if the helplessness of Tommy in their modern society was giving the two older teenagers a superiority complex. It wasn't often that either of them bested their former teammate.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a new female voice invaded her thoughts. "Hi Kira," the girl called out, and Kira looked up to meet the eyes of a teenager her own age with long blond hair. She wore a pale pink tank top and a white skirt. She had two clips in the corners of her hair, pulling it out of her eyes. Behind her was a teenage boy with messy shoulder length brown hair. He wore a green and grey striped tank top and a pair of khaki shorts. The girl wore a pair of white sandals, while the boy wore a pair of khaki colored flip flops. Both teenagers fell into seats at the table, one on either side of Kira.

"Oh," Kira stated, with a quick smile. "Hi Cassidy, Devin," she stated, her eyes unconsciously darting back over to the teenagers at the computers. "What's up? Not working on your tan?" she joked with Cassidy.

"Way too hot out there," Cassidy replied, shaking her head back and forth. "Besides, I wouldn't want to get any wrinkles prematurely." Kira laughed and shook her head, rolling her eyes slightly.

"It sure is crowded in here," Devin stated, looking around at everyone. "It's like the entirely of Reefside is here," he added in, although it was probably just the entirety of Reefside's teenage population. Kira sighed and bent her head back to her smoothie, taking a long drink, her eyes falling on Tommy. She was more irritated than ever, that she'd let the boys convince her to bring him there.

"Who's the kid with Connor and Ethan," Cassidy asked, following her line of sight. "He looks familiar." Kira grimaced, in response as what she'd hoped to avoid actually happened. She knew he'd be recognizable. If Cassidy thought he looked familiar, there was no doubt most of Reefside would as well.

"Um," Kira began, trying to remember the cover story Connor and Ethan had developed on the way from Tommy's place to the cyber café. She was pretty sure it was laughable at best.

"Try really familiar," Devin added in, frowning as he stared at the teenage in the loose black t-shirt and khaki shorts. Kira followed his gaze, frowning as well. They really needed to get the boy a belt if he was going to continue to wear his own clothing. Devin turned back to Kira. "Is that?" he didn't need to finish his question. Kira knew by the shocked and confused expression that he wore, that he'd figure it out. She wasn't too worried about the two of them knowing, seeing how both knew that the five of them had been the dino thunder power rangers and they'd kept that a secret for the last few months.

"Yeah," Kira stated, with a reluctant nod, and a sigh in her voice. "It's Dr. Oliver," she added, dropping her volume low enough that they wouldn't be overheard. The place was packed, so she doubted anyone would hear their conversation among the din that was being created by all the other patrons.

"But how?" Cassidy stated, unable to draw her eyes off the three teenage boys. "That's not possible."

Kira sighed and shook her head. She didn't really want to explain it again. Besides, in the words of Dr. Oliver himself, "Anything is possible," even Egyptian mummies who came to like and fell in love with Cassidy.

"Reefside's not under attack again is it?" Devin asked her, alarm in both his voice and his eyes. Kira immediately shook her head no, attempting to calm him.

"Nothing like that," Kira stated. "Good thing too, cause our powers are still gone," she continued, when Devin's expression changed back to one of relief. "He did it to himself with some device he and Haley were building," she stated simply.

"Well, I'm going over to say hi," Cassidy stated, not waiting for protest from either Kira or Devin. Before Kira could open her mouth, Cassidy was gone.

"This is not going to go well," Kira groaned, laying her aching head down on the table, her arms dangling at her side. Devin frowned at her.

"Why not?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. Kira didn't reply verbally, but she did turn her head to glare at him. Her day was not going well. "I think we're missing something, aren't we?"

"You think," Kira muttered angrily, but just turned her head so that she was staring back at the table top, her forehead pressed against its hard surface. She groaned and whimpered slightly as she brought both her hands up and placed them on her head.

Both Kira and Devin heard Cassidy's sing song voice addressing the three at the computer. "Hey Connor, Ethan. Hey Dr. Oliver," Cassidy stressed her address to Tommy. "New look for you huh?"

Connor and Ethan had both jumped, not realizing Cassidy was behind them. When they turned to look at her, they both wore uneasy expressions. Connor ran his hand over the back of his neck nervously. "Um… Cassidy," he began, about to explain, and seriously concerned that Cassidy knew the truth. That was definitely not the plan.

"Who are you?" Tommy asked before Connor could continue. He wore a frown, as he watched the girl, and his eyes indicated that he was nervous.

"Um, duh!" Cassidy stated, clearly insulted. "It's me Cassidy? One of your students last year?" she stated, rolling her eyes slightly. The inflection in her voice indicated she was questioning his sanity.

"Uh…" the boy began, studying the teenage girl in front of him. He didn't talk to a lot of teenage girls. In fact, he typically got tongue tied around them. He blushed a deep shade of red, and cast his eyes down to the floor. "If you say so," he stated, looking at Connor and Ethan, for help. His eyes were in panic mode. They'd said no one would know who he was, and if someone did, they'd cover for him.

"Rude much?" Cassidy snapped at him, her eyes narrowing. "I mean, I thought we were friends. After all, I did help keep your secret," she scoffed at him.

"I um… I…" Tommy squeaked out, blushing bright red, and biting his lip. Cassidy completely freaked him out. He had no idea how to handle communicating with her.

"Cassidy," Ethan began, standing up and throwing his arm over his friend's shoulder. She was frowning, and practically glaring at Tommy. Ethan drew her away forcefully. "He doesn't know who you are, or who any of us are," he told her, when they'd reached the table where Kira and Devin sat. He pushed Cassidy into a chair. "You told them?" he asked Kira, who still hadn't looked up. She'd listened to the conversation, wincing each time Cassidy spoke.

"Devin figured it out," Kira growled, turning her head and glaring at him. "It's not my fault your plan didn't work."

"Why doesn't he know who we are?" Cassidy asked, not understanding exactly what had just occurred. She looked back over her shoulder at Connor and Tommy. The taller, older teenager had one hand on the boy's shoulder, as they sat in chairs facing one another. He was talking slowly and calmly, while the younger boy just nodded.

"He really believes he is fifteen years old," Kira told her, with an exasperated sigh. "I think you just scared the crap out of him," she added in, not exactly thrilled about things. She watched as Connor and Tommy turned back to the computers. A moment later there was a strange mechanical sound and the screen of their computer monitor went bright blue. "Ethan," she stated. "I don't think leaving him alone with Connor is the best idea in the world," she added to her former teammate, nodding toward them. Both teenagers were frantically pressing keys, and nothing about the blue screen was changing.

"Crap," Ethan stated, looking over his shoulder. "You got this?" he asked Kira, indicating Cassidy and Devin. Kira nodded and Ethan immediately sprinted back toward his friends and the blue screen of death that was on the computer. If he didn't fix it, Haley would kill him. Then there would be two murders. He kind of wanted to be around in order to enjoy Connor's.

"You guys," Kira stated, with a sigh, satisfied that Ethan could handle the computer fiasco. "Dr. O's a little lost and slightly helpless at the moment," Kira explained. "It took us a while to get him to trust us," she explained. "You might want to just back off a bit," she added, looking pointedly at Cassidy, who glared at her in return and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Who me?" she asked Kira, clearly offended in her voice. Kira smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Yes you," Devin told his girlfriend. Now that they had made things between them official, he'd become a bit more assertive in how he dealt with Cassidy. She turned her glare on him, but then sighed and shook her head.

"He did seem really freaked out by me," Cassidy laughed slightly. "He's fifteen?" she asked Kira who nodded, a reluctant half smile on her face.

"What do you need us to tell people?" Devin asked Kira with a grin.

"You'll help?" Kira asked them, slightly surprised, and both recent high school graduates nodded. Kira grinned in response. If anyone could spread a story around and make it believable, it was Cassidy and Devin. "Connor and Ethan decided to say he's his own nephew, going by Tommy which is his middle name."

"That could work," Cassidy stated, "if the story is told right. We'll see what we can do to convince people to stay away from him too," she added in, a slight mischievous grin on her face as she got an idea. Kira gave her a suspicious look, and went to open her mouth to say something in response.

"We'll take care of it," Devin simply assured her before she could speak. Cassidy apparently had an idea and she was going to run with it. Nothing he or Kira said would make a difference. He shrugged, and Kira just sighed, wondering if she was going to regret letting Cassidy get involved. Devin looked back over to the three. Ethan was desperately trying to fix the computer, while Connor looked like he was going to be sick, and Tommy looked freaked out. He went to stand up, and Cassidy and Kira followed. The three of them went to the door of Cyberspace and walked outside. Kira desperately needed some fresh air.

"Thanks you guys," Kira told the two of them, who both nodded.

"No problem," Cassidy told her. "What are friends for? We'll see you later."

"Good luck," Devin added in with a chuckle, and Kira knew he meant with the situation inside. Kira rolled her eyes, but laughed as well, as the two teenagers walked away, discussing their plans for spreading the cover story. Kira watched them go for a few moments, before she sat down on a nearby bench, crossing her legs at the ankles, and gripping the sides of the seat, and swinging her legs back and forth. There weren't a whole lot of people around on the sidewalk, as even though the sun was much lower in the sky, it was still crazy hot out. The parking lots nearby, however, were full. If she squinted just right, she could see Connor's red car that they'd taken from Tommy's in the distance.

Kira took a few moments to contemplate the newest development in their lives. Just that morning, she realized, she'd been wishing their powers had never been used up. That she could still shout Dino Thunder! Power Up! And morph into the yellow ranger, ready to destroy whatever obstacle was in their way. Tommy, Kimberly, and the others had assured her, Connor, Ethan, and Trent that just because the power was gone, it didn't mean they weren't rangers anymore. It didn't mean she was done saving the world, or dealing with chaos. She'd heard "Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger" so many times that she actually thought she would punch the next person who said it to her. But now she had to concede that they had been right. Odd occurrences were apparently going to continue to plague her life, especially if she stayed in Tommy's life. She had to admit that the morphing grid gods were definitely out to get him. She smiled slightly, realizing that as chaotic as the current situation was, she was actually happier at that moment, then she'd been in the last couple of months.

"Excuse me," a new voice interrupted Kira's thoughts. The teenage girl turned around to see an Asian woman, taller than she was, walking toward her. She wore a loose yellow short sleeved blouse and a pair of jean capris. Her shoes were cork wedge heeled sandals with navy straps, which added to her height. Her straight black hair reached halfway down her back, and she had short bangs over her eyes. She had a small grey purse draped messenger style across her chest. She wasn't alone. Her right hand clutched the tiny hand of a little boy who couldn't have been more than three or four years old. The boy wasn't fully Asian, but his features indicated that the woman holding his hand was most likely his mother. He stared down at his sneakers, kicking the concrete slightly, and refusing to look up. "My husband's looking for a parking space, but we're supposed to be meeting some people. Do you by any chance know a Connor, Ethan, Kira, or Trent?" she asked.

"You found one," Kira laughed, looking the woman over again, realization that she'd seen this woman before, in one of Tommy's ranger history videos, as well as the photos in the lab and in the kitchen of his home. "I'm Kira," she stated, and tugged at the strap of her own yellow tank top, indicating their own private signaling system. The woman grinned in response, her face changing from unsure to delight.

"Trini," she stated, happily, extending her hand. "It's nice to meet you."


Ask, and ye shall receive.

Hope you enjoyed. Reviews as always are appreciated, loved, and responded to if possible.

Fateless