Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Power Rangers used here; all are the property of Saban/Jetix/Disney (Who does own the rights to the series these days anyway?)

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Dino Thunder: Generations

"Wait a minute; the future?" Adam said, staring at the two new 'Rangers' in surprise, even though he knew they wouldn't be able to see it; he was still wearing his helmet, after all. "What do you mean, the future?"

"Basically, we mean that the last time we saw a newspaper it was 2004, and suddenly we're here and it's 1995," the girl- Kira, Adam recalled her name was- said, looking critically at the Black Ranger as she spoke. "Look, it'd take too long to explain, and we'd rather not go into too much detail right now; what's important is that we got stuck here while we were trying to find something, and if we don't get back soon, our friends are going to be in serious trouble."

The six Rangers looked among each other for a few moments, and then turned to look at Zordon.

"What do you think, Zordon?" Tommy asked, looking inquiringly up at their mentor. "Are they telling the truth?"

"ALPHA AND I HAVE TAKEN A BRIEF SCAN OF THEIR POWER SOURCES DURING THIS CONVERSATION, TOMMY," Zordon explained, sparing a brief glance of apology in the direction of the new Rangers before continuing. "THE POWER CONTAINTED WITHIN THE GEMS APPEARS TO HAVE VOLUNTARILY BONDED WITH THEM, RECOGNISING THAT THEY ARE WORTHY OF USING IT PROPERLY. ALTHOUGH IT IS DIFFERENT FROM ANY POWER I HAVE EVER SEEN, THERE ARE ECHOES OF YOUR EARLIER DINOSAUR AND THUNDER POWER COINS WITHIN THEM; I BELIEVE THEY CAN BE TRUSTED."

"OK…" Tommy said, slightly uncertainly, as he and the others turned back to look back at the new arrivals. "You trusted us… so, I guess we can trust you. Power down!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, all six of the Rangers were standing in the Command Centre in their civilian costumes, looking uncertainly at their new acquaintances for a moment or two before Tommy broke the silence by stepping forward and offering Conner his hand.

"Hi," he said, trying to sound casual. "I'm Tommy Oliver, the White Ranger; Rocky DeSantos is the Red Ranger, Billy Cranston is the Blue Ranger, Aisha Campbell's the Yellow Ranger, Adam Park's the Black Ranger, and Kat Hillard's the Pink Ranger."

"Uh… good to meet you," Conner said, taking Tommy's hand and shaking it, a slightly dazed expression on his face.

"Something wrong?" Adam asked the new arrival curiously.

"Mmm? Oh, nothing…" Conner said dismissively, as he stepped back from Tommy and stared at his surroundings. "It's just… being here, you know? Being where the Power Ranger legacy all began… facing the guys who made it great… it's all… well, it's kinda daunting, really."

"Uh… thanks, I guess," Rocky said, looking uncertainly at Aisha, Adam and Kat, all four of them wondering if they should point out that only Billy and Tommy had been members of the original team of six…

"So," Billy said, looking curiously at Conner and Kira, "if you don't mind my asking, where do your powers come from?"

"Oh, these gems," Kira explained, raising her arm to show Billy the silver bracelet and the glowing yellow gem that gave her and Conner their powers.

"Fascinating," Billy said, leaning forward and twisting Kira's arm slightly to examine the workmanship. "Where did you acquire these?"

"Oh, if I remember right, they're part of the meteor that hit the Earth and caused the dinosaurs to become extinct," Conner said casually, trying to avoid paying too much attention to Tommy; a part of him still couldn't get used to the idea of seeing his teacher wearing white while the guy had long hair…

Shaking his head to get himself back on track, Conner continued his story. "The meteor bonded with dinosaur DNA, and, a few years from now, someone figured out to allow the two of us, along with a couple of friends, to use the power to become a new generation of Power Rangers to battle this new nutcase, and we've been at it ever since."

"Dinosaur DNA?" Kat said, looking at Conner in surprise. "Is that why your powers slightly resemble the original Ranger powers?"

"Probably," Conner said, nodding in agreement as he looked at Kat. "Never really thought about it that much, to be honest; there hasn't been much time to ask Doc- our mentor- about the specifics."

Aisha seemed about to ask about why that was, but Kira raised a hand to stop her predecessor finishing her sentence.

"Trust me; we can't tell you any more," she told the Bear Ninja Ranger apologetically. "We've already told you more than we should have; I'd rather we didn't tell you anything we don't need to tell you right now."

"Oh, the whole temporal paradox thing, huh?" Rocky put in, smiling slightly. "Yeah, that could be a tricky one."

"Temporal what?" Aisha asked, looking at the Red Ranger curiously.

"Temporal paradox, Aisha," Billy explained, as he looked over at his Yellow teammate. "Basically, they don't want to tell us too much in case we learn something about the future and are tempted to change it, because if we alter anything that they have experienced, we could change the course of events so that, say, these two never become Power Rangers in the first place."

"Oh," Aisha said, nodding in understanding.

"So… what happened that got you stuck back here?" Adam asked, looking curiously at Conner and Kira.

"Yeah, look, about that…" Conner said, looking at the other Rangers with a slightly sheepish expression. "It's nothing against you guys, but it's probably best if only Zordon and Alpha know how we got here for the moment; it's kind of linked to something that'll happen to you in the future-"

"And you want to make sure we don't change it, huh?" Tommy asked, smiling slightly. "Fair enough; we'll just head on down to the Youth Centre, OK? You can join us when you're done."

"Sounds good," Kira said, nodding gratefully. "See you when we get there!" she called after them, as the six Rangers tapped a button on their 'watches' and teleported away from the Command Centre.

"Oh boy…" Conner sighed, sitting down on the floor and leaning his back against the nearest console. "Thank God that's done for the moment…"

"Is something wrong?" Alpha asked, looking curiously at Kira (Or as curiously as he could look, given the lack of a face of any make or description).

"No, nothing's wrong, just… awkward, I guess," Kira said, as she looked up at Zordon. "Look, I'm sorry if what I'm about to say insults you, but Conner and I need to know that what we're about to tell you and Alpha won't go beyond the four of us."

"OF COURSE, KIRA FORD," Zordon said, his head appearing to incline slightly in understanding as he looked at the young Yellow Ranger. "BE ASSURED, ALPHA AND I SHALL NOT MENTION ANY FUTURE DETAILS THAT YOU RECOUNT TO US."

"Thanks," Kira said, smiling gratefully before her expression became more professional once again. "Anyway, the main reason we seemed on-edge back then is… well, Tommy's our mentor in the future, as well as our Black Ranger."

"Tommy?" Alpha said, looking at Kira in surprise. "Ay yi yi yi yi! How did that happen?"

"Basically, he found the first three Dino Gems- that's what we call our power sources-, we ended up becoming bonded to them on a detention- he's our science teacher when he's not a Ranger nowadays-, bonded with the Black Gem when we found it, and he's fought with us ever since," Kira explained, taking a small degree of pride in the look of surprise on Zordon's face; from what she'd heard from Doctor O.'s records, in all their time as Rangers, the original team had never managed to surprise Zordon…

"REMARKABLE," Zordon said, shaking his head slightly in wonder as he looked at the young Rangers before him, before a small smile spread across his face. "HOWEVER, IT IS NOT AN UNEXPECTED TALE. TOMMY HAS PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE A FINE RANGER, AND IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THAT HE SHALL CONTINUE TO BE SO IN THE FUTURE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT CHANGES TAKE PLACE."

"Trust me; he's doing a good job of it," Conner said, smiling slightly at the memory before his face fell and he looked back at Zordon with a more serious expression. "Anyway, you probably want to know why we're here."

"INDEED," Zordon said, nodding in agreement as he looked curiously at the Dino Red Ranger. "WHAT HAPPENED TO CAUSE YOU TO COME BACK HERE?"

"Well, it was mostly an accident, really," Kira said, slightly sheepishly, as she looked up at Zordon. "Have you heard of the 'Orb of Doom'?"

"THE ORB OF DOOM?" Zordon said, looking at Kira in surprise. "IT IS A DANGEROUS ARTEFACT RUMOURED TO BE IN THE CONTROL OF MASTER VILE; I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IT TO BE A MYTH."

"Well, trust us; it's real," Conner said, as he looked up at Zordon. "We can't give you the specifics, but, basically, Vile used it to turn time back about eight years, leaving the Rangers as kids, and to turn time back to normal, you guys had to find the Zeo Crystal and use it as a new power source."

"The Zeo Crystal?" Alpha said, looking in surprise at Conner. "But what happened to the Power Coins?"

"We can't tell you that," Kira said apologetically. "Look, just trust us; the Power Coins were lost, but what happened to them in no way impacted the defence of Earth by the Rangers, and you were able to use the Zeo Crystal as a replacement power source anyway."

Swallowing, she looked up at Zordon. "Anyway, the reason we're here is that we were trying to figure out a means of accessing the Shogun Zords."

"The Shogun Zords?" Alpha asked, looking in surprise at Kira. "What's wrong with your current zords?"

"They got damaged in our last fight, and we need something to help us out until or technical expert can repair them," Kira explained as she looked over at Alpha; no point talking about the Green Ranger situation when they didn't even know what their foe had been doing there yet…

Getting back on track, Kira continued her story. "She thought that she might be able to use the Orb of Doom to take readings of the energy needed to control the Shogun Zords so that we could use them ourselves- not really clear on how, so don't ask- but one of our enemies showed up, and when Conner and I tried to shift into this 'power-up' mode of ours, something happened to the Orb and…"

She shrugged. "We ended up here."

"I SEE…" Zordon said, nodding thoughtfully as he studied the Rangers. "BE ASSURED, ALPHA AND I SHALL DO EVERYTHING WITHIN OUR POWER TO DEVELOP A MEANS OF SENDING YOU BACK TO YOUR PROPER PLACE AND TIME. IN THE MEANTIME, YOU SHOULD LET THE OTHER RANGERS KNOW OF YOUR NEED TO CONTROL THE SHOGUN ZORDS; I AM CERTAIN THAT BILLY WILL BE WILLING TO HELP YOU ONCE YOU HAVE EXPLAINED WHAT YOU CAN OF THE SITUATION."

Conner was about to say something, but Zordon just smiled reassuringly. "DO NOT WORRY, CONNER; BILLY IS DOUBTLESS AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF INQUIRING ABOUT FUTURE INFORMATION. HE SHALL NOT ASK FOR MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU FEEL IS NECESSARY TO GIVE HIM."

"Uh… right," Conner said, swallowing slightly. "Well… we'd best be off now, I guess."

After a brief nod from Zordon, Alpha tapped a few buttons on the nearest console, and the two Dino Thunder Rangers vanished in a burst of red and yellow light.


As soon as they were gone, Alpha turned to look curiously at Zordon.

"Do you have any possibilities as to what brought them here, Zordon?" he asked the ancient wizard enquiringly.

"IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE 'POWER UPGRADE' THEY REFER TO ENHANCED THE SIGNATURE OF THE MORPHING ENERGY WITHIN THEIR GEMS," Zordon said, a thoughtful expression on his face as he studied Alpha. "BASED ON WHAT THEY HAVE TOLD US, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE POWER COINS WERE DESTROYED IN THE SIMULATED PAST CREATED BY THE ORB OF DOOM. AS A RESULT, THE ENERGY OF THE COINS WOULD BE CONTAINED IN THE ORB, AS WELL AS TRACES OF THE TIME THAT THE ENERGY WAS LAST CALLED UPON. IT WOULD APPEAR LOGICAL TO ASSUME THAT, WHEN THE DINO THUNDER RANGERS 'POWERED UP', AS THEY CALL IT, THE ORB SENSED THEIR POWER, AS DID THE POWER COIN ENERGY WITHIN THE ORB. AS A RESULT, THE POWER COIN ENERGIES SENT BOTH THE DINO GEMS AND THEIR OWNERS BACK TO A POINT IN TIME SHORTLY BEFORE THAT POWER CEASED TO BE USED, 'BELIEVING' THAT THE DINO THUNDER POWER SHOULD BE WITH THE POWER LIKE ITSELF."

"It makes sense…" Alpha said, nodding thoughtfully, before looking back up at Zordon. "But how can we return them to their proper locations in time? Without the Orb, such a task would be impossible!"

"IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT, ALPHA, BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE," Zordon replied, smiling slightly as a thought occurred to him. "I HAVE FAITH IN TOMMY'S JUDGEMENT; IF HE BELIEVES THAT THESE TWO HAVE THE CHARACTER TO BE TRUE RANGERS, THAN I WILL TRUST HIS JUDGEMENT. IN THAT CASE, THERE IS A POSSIBLE WAY FOR US TO RETURN THESE RANGERS TO THEIR PROPER LOCATIONS IN TIME BEFORE THEY HAVE A SERIOUS IMPACT ON FUTURE RECORDED HISTORY."

"Which is?" Alpha asked, looking curiously at Zordon.

"FIRSTLY, WE MUST CONTACT NINJOR," Zordon said, as he looked at his assistant. "AFTER THAT, IT SHALL ALL BECOME CLEAR."