Disclaimer: Don't own the rangers.
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Trudging through the wet grass of the school's lawn in his wrinkled clothes and muddy shoes, Conner concluded that this was the worst Monday morning ever. It was amazing to him just how stressful life could get in just sixty minutes. Conner let loose a heavy sigh as he replayed the morning events in his head.
He should have known it was going to be a bad morning when his alarm, for some odd reason, didn't go off. If it wasn't for his mother's usual morning nagging, he would still be lying in bed. Yesterday's beating from Frax had taken a toll on his body, and as soon as he had gotten home, he threw his body in his bed. Because of his early retirement to bed, he never got a chance to wash his dirty clothes, which resulted in nothing to wear this morning. He had been forced to wear the cleanest dirty laundry he had; and of course it was his black jeans and red and white shirt that were at the very bottom of the hamper. All bunched up and in a serious need of ironing. But because of waking up late, he hadn't had the time.
To make matters worse, when Conner had gotten into his car he suddenly remembered why he had set the alarm clock earlier than usual. He needed to stop at a gas station to put gas in his car, before going to school. But the alarm clock didn't go off, so as a result Conner had no gas in his car. And his mom had just left to go to work. It was then Conner came up with his not-so-bright idea. Dr.O had told all of them not to use their powers for personal use, but this had been an emergency, so Conner took off for Reefside at lightning speed. It was when he reached the parking lot that he realized how dumb that idea had been.
Looking at his pants, Conner sighed again as he tried to kick off as much dried mud as possible. As he entered the side doors to the school the final bell rang, signifying that first period had started. Great and now I'm late.
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Kim considered herself a very patient and calm person, but the two girls before her were bringing all that to an end. They hadn't stopped complaining or arguing since they first came in for class. What put Kimberly in an even bitter mood was the fact that she had to get out of bed at 7:00am on Monday morning so that two twin 14-year old girls could get in "a little more practice." These girls should have been at school, enjoying the perks of being a teenager. Instead, their over-controlling mother pulls them out of school, and decides to home school them, "that way there was more time spent training." Kim was snapped out of her thoughts as the two girls whining penetrated her ears.
"I don't want to do this anymore. Can we please do something more challenging, like getting on the high beam?" Addison, the younger of the two, asked.
Mackenzie, the more experienced sister, added to her sister's question, "Yea, we already know how to do the routine on the low beam. It's getting boring."
Kim had reached the end of her wits. "That's enough both of you. If I thought the two of you were ready for the high beam, then I would've have put you on. But you're not. Neither of you are ready. When you can master this routine on the low beam and be able to do it three times in a row, without a single flaw, then I'll think about putting you on the high beam. But until then, you'll stay on the low beam."
"Donna Kelly's girls are already on the high beam and they're younger than us!"
Kim turned towards Addison, "Donna Kelly also has the highest injury list in the state of California." Kim calmed herself as she took in a deep breath. "Look, you two, I know what it feels like to get impatient and want to be able to reach your potential. And I also know what it's like to get too overconfident. Trust me when I tell you that if you move at a slow pace and take the time to really get to learn this routine, you'll be able to do it with your eyes closed." Looks of horror took over the girls faces, Kim laughed. "Not that you're going to have to do that, it's just a figure of speech."
Smiling at both girls, Kim leaped onto the low beam and turned to look at both girls, "Now let me show you how this is really done."
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"When I call your name, please come forward and place your paper on the table in the front of the room. Remember this is worth 25 of your grade, so even if you don't have your final copy, you had better turn something in."
Ethan groaned and threw his hands to his face. This was the worst day ever. He knew being so technologically dependent would come back to bite him someday. And today was that day. He had written his English paper weeks ago when it had first been assigned, and unlike the rest of the senior class, he had nothing to stress about this past weekend. And yet he would probably be the only senior in Reefside who wouldn't turn in his paper. O' the irony.
Ethan's thoughts went back to second period when he had accidentally dropped his energy drink all over his backpack. He wouldn't have needed the drink had he not been so tired when he woke up. But Sunday had been an exhausting day. Almost being chopped in half and then used as target practice three different times took a lot of energy out of you. When he went to the library to print out his paper during his passing period, he discovered while trying to open his document that his memory stick had been damaged by the sticky substance. He had tried so hard to pull it up, but nothing worked. With the ring of the two-minute bell, Ethan had given up and just headed to class. Maybe he could talk to his teacher, surely he would understand. Ethan had always been an outstanding student. There was no reason for him to assume that Ethan had been lazy and just didn't do it.
At the sound of his name Ethan broke from his thoughts and pulled his head up from the desk. "Yes, Mr. Bush?"
"No paper?"
"No. But I have a really good reason-"
"I'm sorry Mr. James, but a deadline is a deadline."
Ethan groaned and put his head back down on the desk. This was the worst day ever.
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Kira tried so hard to keep her eyes open and her head up, but her body wouldn't allow it. As soon as she would open her eyes they would drift shut, as if there were weights lying on them. She knew she shouldn't have stayed up late, especially after that battle yesterday, but she had needed to finish her English essay. She immediately regretted staying up late when she woke up this morning, feeling as if she had only slept for five seconds.
"Kira?" Her head shot up at the sound of her name.
She answered in a very groggy voice, "Yes?"
"Are you okay?" Her teacher's face was full of concern, but he managed to say it light heartedly.
"Fine, just tired." Kira watched the teacher give her a long stare and then turn back to the board to continue the lesson
"I'm sure she is, seeing as how vampires are nocturnal and all." A few people in the class roared out laughing at Cassidy's remark, while most of the class completely ignored it.
Kira glared at Cassidy and prepared to make a response, but the voice of her teacher cut her short, "That's detention for Cassidy, Aaron, Stacy, Brandon, Tina, and Sandra. Cassidy, keep your comments to yourself and the rest of you…grow up."
"But Mr. Coll-" Cassidy was cut off as the bell dismissed the class for lunch. Kira watched as Cassidy stomped out of the classroom.
Kira slowly got up and went to grab her bag, but was stopped by a touch to the shoulder. "Kira, are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm okay Mr. Collins…I mean Wes…I…What do I call you? At school I mean?"
Wes chuckled at Kira's confusion. "As long as it's not in the class, or near a teacher, just call me Wes."
"Kira nodded her head and continued on, "I'm just tired. That beating we took really tired me out. Plus, I had to stay up late and finish my English paper."
"Shouldn't you have had that done when it was first assigned?"
Kira groaned. "Are you gonna be a friend or another Dr.O? Cuz to be honest I really don't need another Dr.O."
"I'm sorry, teacher's habit." Kira watched Wes glance down at his watch. "You should probably get going Kira, you don't want to miss lunch."
"I had a really big breakfast, and I'm not actually hungry. Can I just stay in here? I really don't want to go to the cafeteria right now, it's Monday and that's the day Conner eats with his soccer buddies."
"What about Ethan?"
"He has first lunch. If you don't want me to stay I'll go…"
"No, no, that's not it at all. You're more than welcomed to stay, I just thought you might want better company, I'm still pretty tired myself."
"Yea, that beating was brutal. Is that why you're in such a cranky mood?"
Wes glanced at her, confusion written on his face. "What do you mean?"
"Well, normally you let Cassidy and her groupies off with a warning, but today you just gave them all detention. So I think that constitutes as being in a cranky mood."
"Yea, I guess. It's just this whole thing with Frax has got me feeling very uneasy. And I don't like it. To make matters worse, Eric hasn't returned any of my calls. Tried calling my dad but he seems to always be busy." Kira watched as Wes ran his hand through his hair, "I'm just frustrated with this whole situation."
"We all are." Kira turned her back at the sound of the classroom door opening and was not at all surprised to see Dr. O coming through. He, on the other hand was surprised to see her.
"Kira, what are you doing here. Shouldn't you be downstairs, in the cafeteria?"
"Don't have much of an appetite, so I was just going to stay in here. Plus, I'm really tired."
"You too, huh?" She watched as he pulled up a chair to Wes' desk. "I didn't sleep well last night either. And I have no desire to put food in my mouth."
Wes finally jumped back into the conversation, "Same here. This is quickly becoming the worst Monday of my life." The other two nodded in agreement. The yellow, white, and black rangers continued their discussion for another forty minutes before lunch was dismissed and the classes were back in session.
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Frax watched as the timeship pulled out of the timehole and expertly glide over to the cliff side where he had been standing. Patiently, he waited until the slide door opened to reveal a very welcoming and pleasant sight. First off, a few of his cyclobots began coming through the door and were carrying several unmarked cases, which he knew contained his old experiments. Another thing he noticed were the upgrades the cyclobots had received. Their suits were no longer gold, but silver with black helmets. And they no longer carried the cyclo-sabers, but instead carried long staffs with giant blades at the end. He couldn't wait to mass produce these cyclobots and reminded himself he needed to make sure to thank his accomplice for the upgrades.
As if on queue, the person he had sent for came out of the time ships hull, glanced at him, and quickly made their way over to him. They stopped right in front of him, with a large grin on their face. "Louis."
"Petra. Glad to see you could make it. Did you have trouble getting the timeship?"
"No. My plan worked perfectly. By the time the rangers figured it out, we were already launching through the time gate."
"Did you grab everything I asked for?"
"Most of it. Some of the objects we tried to acquire were heavily guarded and we didn't want them to alert the rangers, so we left it behind. But it's nothing we can't make ourselves."
"Excellent. I want you to take the equipment to these coordinates," he handed her the datapad he had arranged for her to use, "then wait for me there. And before you leave, make sure you cloak the ship."
"I'm a smart woman Louis. I know what I'm doing."
"Forgive me, Petra, for I am used to dealing with incompetence." He turned his back and opened one of Mesogog's invisa-portals and went to step in, but before he did so, he glanced back at Petra, "And please, the name is Frax."
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It didn't make sense. Haley leaned back in her chair and began nibbling at the end of her pen for the third time that day. Massive amounts of energy didn't just show up one minute and then disappear the next. Haley looked up from her chair and glanced around the cafe. The cyberspace had pretty much been dead all day, as it usual was on the weekdays, at least until school got out. So she had decided to jump onto her computer and log into the Dino Lair computer systems to see if she could find anything on this Frax guy. For awhile, things had been dull, the only thing keeping her occupied had been the lunch hour rush that came into the café. But that had changed about two hours ago.
She had glanced at her computer, just to make sure she hadn't missed anything when she had been dealing with the lunch crowd, when she saw something very odd. A huge spike in energy had been detected in an area about 45 miles north of Reefside. But just as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared, leaving nothing behind it. Haley had attempted to track whatever it was, but to no avail. Not even five minutes later another energy spike had been detected around Barnes' Cove; which was just ten minutes away from Reefside. She had wanted to alert the rangers, but had decided against it, seeing as how there was no immediate danger.
Now for the last hour, Haley debated on whether or not she was going to tell the rangers about this weird occurrence or not. The rangers, Conner, Ethan, and Kira in particular, had enough to worry about already. She wouldn't bother any of them about this until she was positive this was something to worry about. She glanced up at the time and saw that it read 3:00. Haley logged off the computer, and placed it underneath the counter, as she began to tidy the place up. School was getting out right about now and she wanted to be ready for the crowds full of teenagers that were about to bombard her café.
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It had been a long day and all Kim wanted to do was crawl in a corner and sleep. She had gotten home from work at around five, and was looking forward to getting a few hours rest before she would have to be up again and headed out to see Ryan's game at seven. It was the last home game of the season and she knew he wanted her to be there. But that all changed when in the middle of her nap, her communicator went off. Leave it to Elsa and her latest monster to ruin her evening plans. It had taken awhile to clear the city of tyrannodrones and an even longer time to destroy the monster, but eventually it had gotten done. However, by the time she had made it to the field, the game was nearly over and she had missed Ryan pitch. She hoped that he hadn't noticed her absence in the stands, but by the look he sent her as the team walked into the locker room after the game was over, she knew he had.
Now, she waited outside the player's exit, waiting for Ryan, hoping that he wasn't that upset. She let a yawn out as she leaned against the wall and slowly closed her eyes.
"Glad to know the game didn't bore you." The sarcastic comment caused her to immediately open her eyes, push her body off the wall, and turn her attention to the owner of the voice.
"Ryan, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to miss you, it's just that something came up and I needed to take care of it before heading over here."
She watched as he glanced at her in a suspicious way. "Really? Like what?"
Kim shifted back and forth from her right foot to her left foot as she tried to think of an answer under his gaze. "A girl of mine needed some help on the balance beam before her competition tomorrow morning. I couldn't tell her 'no'."
"That's funny, because when I called your work phone your boss told me you had left at 4:15."
Kim was quick on her feet. "I did leave work at 4:15. I got home at 5, changed clothes and then met Stacy at the fitness center. They have a gymnastics room there. We practiced for awhile, and then from there, I came here. Anything else you want to know, Sherlock Holmes."
"Kim, I'm sorry. It's just that you've been so busy and secretive these past two weeks. You're barely at home and the days you are, I'm off playing in a different city or at practice. I guess I just miss you. And it's upsetting me that I don't see you as often."
"I don't mean to be gone all time, really, I don't. But my job can be demanding sometimes, but I will try to make time for you."
"That's all I ask." Kim smiled as Ryan approached her and lightly planted a kiss on her lips. "So, can you make time for me now?"
"I can." Kim stepped on her tip toes as she reached up to give him a kiss of her own. Once they pulled apart, she grabbed his hand as they made their way from the stadium and to her car.
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Wes slammed the phone down in frustration when he once again reached Eric Myer's voicemail. What was it that was keeping him so busy, to where he couldn't leave return a phone call? Was something wrong? He had tried calling his dad and he too had not picked up. Wes was starting to get worried. He needed to tell Eric about Frax. Let him know what was going on.
Wes turned off the lights and headed to his room. It was late and he needed to get to the school early in the morning for tutorials. There were a lot of kids who were going to be showing up tomorrow, for tomorrow was the first test of the year. Some kids had been in a state of panic in class today so he had scheduled a small tutorial for those who had felt they weren't quite ready yet. He didn't want anyone to fail his first test.
After stripping off his work clothes and slipping into his pajama pants, Wes threw his body onto the bed. Even before Frax had shown up, Wes had been getting a feeling like something bad was about to happen. When Frax had shown up, he had thought that was what that's what it was, but the feeling still hadn't gone away. No, whatever it was, still hadn't struck yet, but he knew that when it did, there would be hell to pay. Wes breathed in a deep sigh before he rolled onto his stomach and curled up with his pillow. It had been a long day, and it wasn't long before he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
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Pain. That word seemed entirely too polite compared to the torment that he was feeling. His head had felt like someone had had taken his chrono-saber to it. Alex groaned as he lifted his head from the floor and quickly began to glance around. The last thing he remembered was telling the others to power down the ship, but then everything went black after that. Glancing around now he could see that he was still in the time ship and that it was completely deserted. Carefully standing up, Alex made his way through the small hall and out the door of the timeship.
He shouldn't have been surprised to see that they were no longer 3001, yet alone not standing on the loading bay, but he was. Following the voices he heard, he walked a little ways before he spotted his four teammates.
"Alex, good to see you're up, you've been out for awhile." Alex saw the smirk that Lucas wore on his lips as he said that.
"No thanks to the bunch of you. Where are we?"
Jen stepped forward and answered his question. "Circuit tells us that were outside the city of Reefside, California in the year 2003. About two years after we left."
"Have you found the other time ship?" Alex rubbed his head as the headache grew worse.
Trip stood up from the makeshift desk he had made and stepped away from Circuit. "No, we haven't. And we still don't know who stole it, but we did detect where the other timehole. It appeared about 32 minutes south of here. I doubt if we would find them now."
"Try contacting Captain Logan."
"We did. But the connection wasn't stable. We'll have to try again later."
Alex turned to walk back into the timeship when Lucas' question to Jen made him stop in his tracks. "What about those other rangers? Should we try and contact them?"
Alex turned around and headed straight back towards the foursome, "There are other rangers here?"
"Yes. We didn't know until earlier, when Trip tried to find some information on Reefside in the year 2003. He found some footage of them in Circuit's history banks. Their identities are unknown, but they're known to the city as the Dino Thunder Rangers."
"Trip, I want you to find out as much as you can about these rangers…"
"I already tried Alex, but besides a few battles, their history is unknown. I can't find anything on them past today's date. I think it's because they're going to be affected by our presence here, as well as whoever stole the ship. Their history has been re-written."
It was silent for the next five minutes before Katie finally broke the silence and glanced at Alex who was still standing near the timeship door. "What are we going to do now?"
"I don't know. At least not yet. I'm going to go see what supplies are stored in the timeship. See what we have available to us." While walking back in the direction of the timeship, Alex glanced into the woods, eyes expertly sweeping through the trees. For some odd reason, he felt like they were being watched. "Lucas, Katie, and Jen, I want the three of you to take a look around the area, make sure there's nothing out there. Trip I want you to cloak the ship. Make sure it can be seen visually and undetectable to a scan." Alex watched for a few moments as the pack of four broke apart and began to perform the tasks he had requested, but after a few moments turned back around and headed into the timeship.
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A/N: Here's my latest chapter...things are about to get intresting. Thanks to all those who reviewed my last three chapters, I really appreciate it. I'm going to try to get out another chapter in the next two days but we'll see how that goes. Please REVIEW!! They mean alot. So until the next chapter...