Chapter 10: Ocean Alert


His alarm clock went off for the fourth time and he sat up slowly. Stretching himself, he reaches for his alarm clock and turns it off. He yawns and gets out of bed, walking towards the bathroom. The whole morning ritual was a hassle, but he knew couldn't go to school looking like a zombie. About an hour later Matt closes his door, with a whole toast held by the corner in his mouth and heads for his car. He was glad that he had the morning period off, it means he didn't need to be in a rush to get to school. The car roars to life and soon it sped off towards Reefside high.

The day seemed pretty normal to him, same classes, and the same people to talk to. Except there was a subtle difference today and that was that Matt and Kira didn't speak with each other at all. Of course unless it was absolutely necessary they'd silence each other to death. It wasn't as though Kira hadn't tried to talk to Matt, even if it was about the damned weather.

"The weather is nice, Kira. Now if you don't mind I'm going to be late for football practice." He passed her with a stone cold look on his face, leaving Kira with an unreadable expression on her face. Matt could curse himself into oblivion for giving her the cold shoulder, but he didn't have much of a choice. There was too much at stake and he had to make a choice. Her life or his own and truth to be told, he'd rather have them hate him than him feeling sorry for being unable to save them. 'Am I being selfish? Is this really the right thing to do?' The small voice in head kept on questioning his resolve to push others away. But in spite of that he felt that letting them in was being selfish as well. It would have been easier if he wasn't a Power Ranger, he would have just avoided them or switched schools or something. He walked into the locker room and pretended that nothing was wrong.


Later that day at Hayley's Cyberspace…

Four of the five were sitting at the bar and were relaxing. Well relaxing may not have been the right word, Kira was staring at the wall a bit absentmindedly, Conner was stealing glances at Abigail who was writing down ideas for the next Student Council meeting and Ethan was reading something with great interest on his laptop.

"Check it out it says here that brainwaves are just electrical impulses that have converted into a binary language can be downloaded." Ethan tells them excitedly, he looks up to someone at the bar and then to Conner who gazes away not interested.

"I read about that, it means our eyes can be the video cameras of the future." The person Ethan was talking to was none other than Trent. Ethan nods excitedly.

"Geek TV… I wonder if it'll become part of basic cable." Conner sneers sarcastically and Abigail looks up at him and smacks him on the head.

"I wonder if Matt hasn't been rubbing off on you." Abigail says, looking back at her paper. "That would be something he says, only not as sarcastic as you do."

A little bit further away Cassidy and Devin were sitting across from each other thinking about ideas for a new article.

"C'mon Devin, there must at least be something that hasn't been done to death. We need something big and something fresh." Cassidy told him while he was typing on one of Hayley's laptops.

"Oeh… I got it, check this out." He turned the laptop to her with a grin on his face.

"Woman in Iowa raises a 250 pound pumpkin?" She stares at him in disbelief wondering if he was making joke.

"Well Cass, you got to admit it's fresh and it's really big." He said with a grin on his face.

The doors of the café opened and two women were holding the door open for someone else. A beautiful woman on high heels and in a red dress entered through the doors and Cassidy's face immediately lit up in excitement.

"Nikki Valentina!" She let out excitedly. The woman walked through the door with a stone cold look on her face.

"Oh yeah right Cass, like the biggest TV-star in the world is going to…" Devin looked around and he was almost unable to finish his mocking sentence when he spotted the woman, named Nikki. "… here."

The woman struck a few poses and Kira turned around to see what all the noise was about when she too spotted Nikki Valentina.

"Hey, isn't that the girl from Ocean Alert?" She tapped the others on their back and they turned around to see what Kira was talking about.

"Most popular television show of all time!?" Ethan eyes almost bulged out of his head when he saw her. "Does anyone have a brown paper bag?" His mouth fell open and Conner too was staring. "I'm hyperventilating."

Everyone's mouth was literally open as they kept staring at the woman, who looked sensually at her admirers. Ethan was now breathing into a paper brown bag as he tried to catch his breath. His face suddenly crept into a dreaming smile.

Hayley rushed over real fast.

"Welcome to Hayley's Cyberspace. What can I get you?" She asked with an excited smile.

"I'm just dying for a wheat grass shake with a twist lemon." Nikki Valentina told her as she brushed her own black hair aside.

"Oh, sorry, we just ran out of wheat grass." Hayley told her apologetically. "How about a banana berry smoothie?"

"Did I ask for a smoothie?" She answered, no change in the tone of her voice.

"And as I said we…" Hayley got interrupted.

"All right, I'll give you one hundred dollars for it."

"I'm sorry, you can't buy what I don't have." Hayley answered.

"Listen. I don't know if you noticed this, but I'm Nikki Valentina. There is nothing I can't buy." Hayley rolled her eyes. "Never mind, I'm over this place." She turned around and Cassidy appeared out of nowhere with a mic in her hand.

"Miss Valentina. Cassidy Cornell, Reefside Reporter. I'm a huge fan."

"Of course you are." Nikki Valentina says uninterested. 'This is the part where Matt would say something sarcastic.' Kira thinks to herself and hardly aware of the fact that she was thinking of him.

"Someday I'll be a huge star too, except I'm gonna be a news anchor but like maybe we could work together… I know I could be on Ocean Alert!" Cassidy starts rambling and Nikki Valentina starts to frown and is severely annoyed by the girl in front of her.

"Honey, you better get yourself a new dream, 'cause being me, well that's mine and I'm not sharing." Nikki Valentina says with a diva stare and walks past Cassidy. "Let's go!" Her assistants open the door for her and the other presses a paper in Cassidy's hands.

"I could be you. Ugh… I could totally be you and I'm gonna prove it." Cassidy says feeling insulted to the bone. "Heart? Nikki?" She throws the photo away.

"I have to meet her or my life will never be complete." Ethan states dreamily.

"I'll introduce you at our wedding." Conner says also dreamily,

"Oh… brother…" Kira sighs and Conner receives a sharp kick from Abigail and lets out a yelp of pain. She glares at him before he is able to say anything. 'I wonder if Matt would have reacted the same way…' Ever since their row, Kira had been unintentionally thinking of Matt with every little thing. Trent was in her head too, but for some reason not as strong as Matt, maybe because she had Trent already, she didn't know.

At that moment someone entered through the door and looked up to grin at his comrades. 'Speak of the devil.' Matt just walked through the door and walked up to them.

"Hey guys, why is everyone still staring at the door?" He asks with one of his eyebrows raised.

"Nikki Valentina was just here, dude." Conner answers, rubbing the spot where Abigail kicked him. The reaction everyone expected was that Matt would say something in the spirit of just missing her, but this reaction was unexpected and still somewhat expected.

"Um…. Who?" Matt asks, scratching his temple.

"Nikki Valentina from Ocean Alert? The most famous TV-star?" Ethan replies somewhat surprised.

"Nikki who? From Ocean what?" Matt stares at them with a dumbfounded look.

"Save your breath, guys. Matt doesn't watch TV-shows." Abigail replies, while grinning amusingly.

"Damn straight, the only thing that's on my TV is sports." Matt grins with an 'I'm just kidding'-look. "But seriously I don't know her."

Before Conner and Ethan could protest, they got interrupted.

"My shift is officially over." Trent had walked up to them. Well them was a bit large, it was mostly Kira. They received stares from Ethan."Ready to go?"

"Where are you two headed?" Ethan asks when Kira jumps off her seat.

"What do you think girlfriend and boyfriend do when they leave together?" Matt rolls his eyes at Ethan. "They're going on a date, Eth."

"Oh… A date… wait date? Girlfriend and boyfriend?" Ethan replies shocked.

"Okay, I would have expected this slow response from Conner… No offense. " Matt quickly says to Conner. "Eth, being smart and all certainly doesn't help you to read into people."

"Matt's over exaggerating. Yes, Kira and Trent are dating, but they're not going on a date." Abigail interjects, making sure nothing gets blown out of proportion.

"You're cruel Abigail. I was almost at the point of having fun." Matt pouts.

"Trent's gonna show me some sketches he's done for the cover of my demo." Kira spills the beans and Ethan's mouth forms an O. Matt rolls his eyes and walks behind the counter to get to work, Kira spots him scowling at something. 'I think he really is jealous… Getting things on the good path with Matt is going to be troublesome…' Kira thinks to herself as she walks off with Trent. 'Great, I'm supposed to work so he can spend quality time with Kira. If I had known I would have declined.' It was unlike him to get so worked up over small details. True, he'd spend attention to them, but this was a definite first.

"See ya." Ethan says as he turns around. At that moment Trent's cell phone goes off and he checks the caller ID. Kira is able to sneak a peek, but she can't really tell who it is although she did have a good idea who it was, because Trent started sighing.

"Oh? Let me guess… Your dad?" Kira says with a smile, she thought she could pull it off as a joke.

"Yeah, he needs me at home. I'm really sorry." Trent sighs and his face turns sour. Kira's face turns from a smile to a disappointed look. Trent walks away without really saying goodbye. Kira merely replies with an 'hmm…' She's standing there alone and Matt felt the strong urge to comfort her, but he brushed it aside and placed an apple juice on the bar before walking off to get to work. Kira turns around and sits back next to Ethan. She's about to place her arms on the bar when she spots the apple juice.

"Eth? This yours?" Kira asks him.

"Um… No… I didn't order anything." He answers while his eyes are glued to the screen.

"Must be yours then." Abigail responds as she takes place next to Kira. "Kinda sucks when that happens huh?" Kira nods and sips the apple juice.

"Well I guess it can't be helped when your dad is Anton Mercer." Kira replies and tries to smile.

"You don't need to make excuses for him… Kira if you think this can work then he should at least try just as hard as you are you know…" Abigail wraps an arm around Kira.

"I know Abi… It's just weird at the moment." Kira replies. "And not just with Trent." She adds under her breath, so only Abigail could hear it.


In the Command Centre…

"I know you're out there… and if my calculations are correct… you should be just about ready to hatch." Dr. O mumbles as he watches his screen scan the environment. "But where…?" He continues to type and looks at his screen.


At Mesogog's Fortress…

"Zeltrax!" Mesogog calls for him as he enters his throne room and lab. "Report!"

"My lord." Zeltrax turns around in his presence, Elsa is standing beside him. "We have just finished a new genetic creation we call Megalodor. We combined the cunning elements of a shark with the toxicity of the oleander flower."

"Then we threw in some extra car parts, for fun!" Elsa adds wickedly.

"Hm…. Well? Let's see it!" Mesogog orders them.

Elsa starts activating the machine.

"Genorandomizer, engaged."

They all stare at the chamber and the monster appears.

"It worked." Zeltrax concludes, but the monster isn't as impressive as Mesogog had hoped.

"Fools!" He shouts at them and walks towards one of the workbenches. "What we need are better raw materials." He starts scanning the earth. "We need to find the perfect specimen. Strong. Brave."

Mesogog is focusing on a woman saving a man at the beach.

"She's the one." Elsa's mouth was slightly open and her face was somewhat distorted, her expression unreadable, but from the looks of it she was not amused.

"Zeltrax!" Mesogog calls.

"Yes, master?" Zeltrax immediately diverts his attention to Mesogog.

"Send your creature to fetch me that woman." Mesogog orders.

"And what if the Power Rangers interfere, Master?" Zeltrax asks him, causing Mesogog to turn around and stare at Zeltrax, fury evident in his eyes.

"That's what Tyrannodrones are for." He snaps at Zeltrax and walks off.


At the Reefside beach…

The woman whom had just saved the man's life now stands up.

"Cut!" The director yells and the woman turns around, only to reveal that it is not a woman but a man. Obviously, they used a stunt double to replace Nikki in the action scenes. The man removes the wig he's wearing and grins.

"We're done with the double." The director calls and the double gets pushed aside.

"Okay, I'll take it from here." And Nikki quickly turns her arrogant face to a fake sensual one.

"Over-rated diva!" The double scowls as he walks off, passing a few rocks. Just below those rocks is a glowing dino-egg, half buried in the sand.


Back at the command center…

"Almost got it…" Dr. O mumbles to himself, when suddenly the system goes into emergency override. He looks up and wonders what the fuss is about until the screen switches over to the problem. Tyrannodrones were attacking the citizens of Reefside. Leaning forward, he presses the button for the microphone to contact the others.

"Guys, we have some Tyrannodrones downtown." At the moment he said the words the screen switched to a sharkmonster. "And we have little problem at the beach."

Hayley's Cyberspace 20 minutes earlier…

Matt was still working, Ethan had begun to play a game on his laptop, Conner was flipping through a soccer magazine, Abigail was still working on a project and Kira had quietly distanced herself from the others to sit down and write a song. Every now and then Matt would pass by clearly focused on what he was doing because he didn't even so much as look at Kira. For a bit she found herself reflecting on what had happened. 'Well I'm used to be being ignored by jocks.' She found that whenever she thought of Matt as a selfish jock and that he probably only wanted her as a trophy, it didn't feel so bad that he wasn't talking to her. Kira knew it was wrong to think of him like that, but what choice did he gave her? Matt was pushing her away, that was clearly evident from this morning weather chit-chat. She found herself staring blankly at her notebook. 'Thinking about Matt again… How come it's not the person it's supposed to be? Trent? Hello… he's my boyfriend.' She called out in her mind, but as expected no one really responded. She looked around and saw Matt staring at her, the look on his face suggested he was in deep thought and his face contorted with whatever he was thinking about.

He was thinking hard about not just sitting next to her and forgetting about the whole ordeal. However, it wasn't that simple at least not for him. Matt started weighing his options, while working and every time the urge to sit beside Kira got stronger. His look fell on her and for minute he forgot about everything. She raised an eyebrow at him and he snapped back to reality. He tore his gaze from her and continued to work.

Suddenly all 5 of the morphers went off and Conner quietly responded as Matt and Kira hurried over. The message was clear and it was time to save the day again. They rushed off and Matt quickly signaled Hayley that he was moving out by mouthing something to her. She understood perfectly well what he meant and saw him leave through the door.


Outside in the city…

"C'mon guys!" Conner was ordering them to move quickly to help the people in trouble.

They arrived on the scene and the people were running for their lives as the Tyrannodrones were chasing them.

"Wow…" Ethan's first reaction was like always. "This is just like some bad low-budget movie."

"Only this is for real Ethan." Kira replied.

"Oh yeah, right." He replied back at her.

"Time to do what we do best." Matt nodded as they charged at the drones.

Ethan grabbed onto one drone that was chasing after a citizen, moved him out in the open and threw to the ground. His back was towards other drones, but he managed to dodge one that came from behind, by ducking forward. However, another drone kicks him square in the chest as he raises himself up. Ethan stumbles backwards, but quickly gets back into the fight and dodges another attacking drone. One drone decides to attack him, but Ethan blocks him with his arms crossed and uses his super defense to push him back. He grins as the drone falls into his comrades.

Conner runs forward and jumps to kick a drone in chest. He uses the drone to immediately kick away an arm of a drone and then spins around to kick the drone away completely. Conner kicks with his left leg to the right and in the process dodges a drone that tries to slice him. The two drones attack him again and he blocks their attacks with his hands.

Abigail rushes forward and jumps gracefully over two drones that try to kick her. She lands behind them and lunges forward to land on her hands and kick them both to the ground. Her feet land on the ground and she uses her hands to push herself up. When standing on her feet again, 3 drones come at her, but she dances out of their reach and moves behind one of them to kick him in the back.

Matt kicks against one of the legs of the drones, causing it to fall to the ground. His leg is caught by another drone and it throws him upward. He makes an unmeant 180 back flip and lands on his hands. He turns on his hands and spins around, kicking the drones and then flips himself on his feet.

Kira grabs an arm of on drone and turns around, swinging around with her leg to fend off another drone. She moves through below the arm she's holding and kicks a third drone. She pulls the drone into a dive, it rolls around, but doesn't let go. Kira is pulled with the drone, but is able to get free and make a hand stand. When she recovers she kicks against a drone in front of her, it hits the pillar behind him.

Ethan moves to his side and jumps and twists around to kick. A drone attacks him and he jumps backwards, right in between two drones. They both attack, but he fends off with his super defense. He turns 90 degrees and kicks a drone away, it falls to ground. Ethan doesn't hesitate and uses his super defense to bash another drone away. It wasn't as effective as Matt's super strength, but it could certainly make the drones fly.

Meanwhile Conner is still parrying the attacks of the two drones and when he blocks with two arms, he tries to push down the arm of the drone. The drone is slightly stronger and pushes Conner away. The force behind the push was too much for Conner and he gets flipped backwards. He does, however, land on his feet and immediately continues fighting. He kicks a drone on his left and the two drones from earlier charge at him. He jumps and kicks them both, the left with his left leg and the right with his right leg. At the exact moment a drone tries to decapitate him, but misses completely. Conner had used his super speed to move backwards a bit and between another group of drones. He hits the one on the right and jumps to kick the one on his left. It flies and lands on his face.

Abigail hits two drones on her left, turns around and ducks to avoid getting hit. A drone behind her pushes her forward and she lands behind a pillar. The drones slowly move towards the pillar and one of them moves behind it, only to be launched out at that exact moment. Another drone approaches from the other side and also get kicked out the other side. Abigail reveals herself on their right side and some drones try to outsmart her by cornering her. They get hit from the side and a second Abigail appears. They duo together and run towards the drones. One of them jumps and kicks a drone backwards, the other jumps over her, when the other lands and kicks a second away. They lock each other's arms and one of them spins the other around to hit the drones.

Matt moves through the drones and walks up a stairs to gain height. The drones follow him and he kicks them backwards. He slides down the railing and falls unto a drone at the bottom. The drones rush down to get him, but he hits one of them up the stairs with his super strength. The drones don't come at him one by one, but they charge him together. Matt breaks off the railing and hits them all together. The drones try to recover, but Matt won't let them as he throws one of them about 20 yards further into the building. He smashed one of them into the ground and the floor below receives the full impact of it, leaving behind a small crater.

Kira is holding on to another drone and kicks the one next to him. She twists his arm and moves below it and elbows him in the stomach. She finds herself in between two drones, but she easily blocks their attacks. She is able to create space and dodges a high hit and hits one of them in the side. She kicks the other drone back and it wants to get up and attack again, but Kira stops him by using her Ptera scream. They all fall to the ground.


Back at the beach…

The director is flipping through the script, makes a decision and closes the script.

"Okay, that's lunch folks, make it one hour." The entire crew drops what they're doing and heads off for lunch.

On the balcony above Nikki Valentina is sun bathing, for what little time she has left. Even in fall it's hot in Reefside, but when winter breaks it becomes really chilly.

"Finally…" She moans satisfying. "It's just me and my tan." At the point where she dozes off, Megalodor jumps onto the balcony, it sniggers.

"Time for your close up, Miss Valentina." It says menacingly. Nikki Valentina opens her eyes and freaks out at the monster and screams at the top of her lungs. Fear or shock soon subsides and she's back to her bitchy self, when the monster tries to grab her.

"Ouch, get away from me! My nails, I just got fresh tips!"

"You're about to get a makeover, you'll never forget." The monster sneers and is about to drag her off.

"Come with me!" At the exact moment Megalodor says that, Dr. O appears and kicks him away. It falls on the ground and Nikki is released. The first thing she does is check her nails.

"Oh man, I hate shark monsters." Dr. O comments upon seeing the monster for real. "You alright?"

"Great… Where am I going to find someone to fix my nails without an appointment." She walks past Dr. O and he stares at her with a confused look. The monster recovers and Dr. O gets ready to fight him.


Back in the city…

The five gather together with Conner in the middle, Abigail and Kira on his left and Ethan and Matt on his right.

"Who released the hounds?" Ethan asks when drones just keep coming.

"I know who's putting them back where they belong." Conner answers and he takes morphing position. "Ready."

They others assume morphing positions too.

"Ready!" They say in unison, their morphers appear.

"Dinothunder, Power-up! Ha!"

Ethan morphed into the Blue Ranger .

"Tricera, Hyaah!"

Abigail morphs into the Green Ranger.

"Plesio, Hyaah!"

Conner becomes the Red Ranger.

"Tyranno, Hyah!"

Kira gracefully turns into the Yellow Ranger.

"Ptera, Hyaah!"

Matt, lastly, changes into the Gray Ranger.

"Titano, Hyah!"

They take battle positions and the Tyrannodrones are ready to attack them.

"Let's do it!" Conner shouts at the others and they all agree and run off to fight the Tyrannodrones.

Ethan immediately calls out his Tricera shield and swings it around against a drone. He turns around and kicks another drone away and immediately stabs forward with his shield. His next victim received the full power of having the shield slammed into him and the drone afterwards got kicked in the face.

Kira flips herself between a group of drones and the second she lands, she spins around and makes the drones scatter. The drones that are still close get swooped off their feet by Kira's low kick. She brings herself up and pulls out her Ptera grips.

"Ptera Grips!"

Conner already took out his weapon and blocks a kick from a drone. He thrusts his staff forward, but the drone grabs a hold of it. Conner kicks it in the same side, because the drone can't block. This left a vulnerable spot in Conner's stance and another drone kicks him to the ground. His staff is still being held on to and two drones try to attack Conner, but he's able to kick them away with his legs. Conner tries to stand up, but another drone attacks him. Conner is able to block with his staff and pushes the drone away. Annoyed that his staff is still being held on to, Conner kicks the drone in the chest and it falls on its back.

Matt takes out his Titano-Blades and charges at the batch in front of him. They charge him too and he blocks the first drone and second drone. He kicks them both with his left leg and with his right sword he slices the drone on the left. The other drone grabs his right arm and holds on tightly. The other drones now circle around Matt and attack him. With his remaining free hand he quickly shifts it from using the sword like a regular to a back handed weapon. By blocking this way, he can freely use his legs and is able to slice at least three drones.

Abigail takes out her Plesio Rope Dart and swings it around, already hitting a few drones coming too close. She pulls it back and lets it fly around her leg once. The drones charge for her and she swings her legs at them. The kick doesn't connect and gives the drones the opening they're looking for. They attack, but get hit by the dart wrapped around Abigail's leg. She handstands past the drones and swings her dart around again, hitting at least 4 for of them.

Kira is fiercely swinging her Ptera-Grips around and parries the attacks of the Tyrannodrones. Some of them aren't paying attention and get hit by Kira. Ethan flips over a drone and swiftly dodges two hits, he knocks one away with his elbow and the other with his shield. Conner throws his staff towards two drones.

"Think fast!" He yells as he charges them and kicks both of them with his right leg and then he kicks the staff upwards. "I'll take that." He catches it and swings it around. "C'mon!"

The drone is still latched onto Matt's right arm and Matt suddenly has enough of it.

"Seriously, what do I look like? Your mom? Let me go!" He swings his right arm violently and the drone lets go, because Matt thrusts his sword towards the drone. He takes a battle stance, but suddenly the drones disappear.

"That got 'em." Kira is able to bring out between ragged breaths.

"Yeah!"Ethan agrees, also out of breath.

"You two need to work on your stamina, it's like you have next to none." Matt tells them calmly. Ethan was about to say something when Kira interrupts him.

"Dr. O we're heading to the beach." The rest quickly agrees and they run off to the beach.


Back at the beach…

Dr. O is still fighting Megalador and is able to kick him back after they exchange various amounts of blows to each other. Megalador shoots an energy blast at Dr. O, who quickly jumps off the balcony as an explosion occurs right where he stood.

"Dinothunder, Power-up!" He lands on the ground as the Black Ranger. "That was close." His gaze is immediately pulled to his right and he sees Conner, Ethan, Kira, Matt and Abigail running around the corner.

"Dr. O!" Conner is the first to recognize him.

"You okay?" Kira asks and at that very exact moment Nikki Valentina walks out of the building and is still eyeing her nails.

"Hey, it's Nikki!" Conner says excitedly. "Check it out, baby. It's all about the red." He says seductively as walks up to her.

"Unless you prefer a kinder, gentler Power Ranger." Ethan interrupts him.

"What?" Conner starts argue.

"Ma'am, it may not be safe for you here. It's best if you move someplace else." Matt interrupts, but makes no move towards her. Abigail and Kira are standing beside him.

"I'm not finished with you yet!" Megalador sniggers as he watches the scene. Dr. O spots him grabbing a flower of sorts and aiming at the Rangers.

"Watch out!" He warns them, but they spot it too late and it shoots a beam at Conner and Ethan. Kira and Abigail found themselves on the floor with Matt covering both of them.

"Oh man…" Dr. O sighs as his hand smacks against his head. Megalador jumps down and grabs Nikki Valentina.

"Come with me, human!" Is all he says, before he warps out.

"You guys okay?" Dr. O asks them as they get up.

"We are." Matt replies.

"From now on check your hormones at the door before you morph." Kira says wisely and somewhat sarcastically.

"I'm with Kira on this one." Abigail leans her arm on Kira.

"Let's get back to the lab." Dr. O says as things calm down.

They all agree, but none of them notice the dinoegg, half buried in the sand.


At the Mercer's Residence…

Anton Mercer is holding and looking through a book as Trent walks by his office.

"You're late son." Anton says after Trent almost walked past the opening of his office. "And you know how I value punctuality."

Trent stops, turns around and walks back a bit.

"Yeah, I know. I just kinda had plans." His words are careful.

"I have plans too, Trent. I won't be around forever." Anton says, not looking at Trent, but instead puts the book away.

"Where are you going?" Trent says, clearly not understanding what his father means.

"Nowhere right now, but… if anything unforeseen should happen to me… I need to know that the family business will be in good hands. Can you understand that?" Anton tells all this, while grabbing the next book. It's almost as if it were too hard for him to look at Trent.

"Yeah dad, I can." Trent answers and walks away.


Somewhere in the water, presumably at the beach…

Devin is out in the water and he seems to be drowning.

"Help, somebody!" He shouts out.

A girl with blond hair and in a red swimming suit stands up from the lifeguard shack.

"Oh!" It's Cassidy and she quickly looks through binoculars to see Devin drowning and shouting for help.

"My turn!" Cassidy grabs her buoy and runs off towards the sea. "I'll save you."

She saves Devin and she runs towards the beach. Cassidy then drops him right in front of a camera.

"And cut." She says while gazing in the camera.

"How was that? You know I really felt the peril, I even got water up my nose." Devin grins at Cassidy.

"Yeah I know, I think we're gonna have to do another take. And really try and drown yourself this time, Devin!" She bosses at him.

"Oh, right. Got it!" Devin stands up and runs off towards the sea again.

"We'll see who the real star is!" Cassidy spits with venom at the camera and runs after Devin. "And action!"


At Mesogog's fortress…

"Let me go!" Nikki Valentina yells at Zeltrax. He merely turns around the chair she's strapped on to. "Do you know who I am!?"

Zeltrax merely laughs as he enjoys turning around the chair.

"Let me go!"

Elsa and Megalador snigger too, but Vertier merely gazes at the scene.

"She don't look so perfect to me." Elsa says as she steps forward.

"You're in big trouble!" Nikki Valentina tried to sound convincing, but it came out really childish.

"Oeh! I'm not the one strapped to a chair now am I?" Elsa plays the game along.

"I'm a famous celebrity, you can't treat me like this." Nikki Valentina tries to change her tactic now. "There are union rules!"

Everyone begins to laugh again to mock her.


Command Center…

"This is not good." Ethan says while staring in the mirror, his face full of pimples and rash.

"You guys were lucky you were morphed. It could have been a lot worse." Dr. O tells them as he walks by. Kira is monitoring the screens together with Abigail and Matt is watching the scene of Ethan and Conner with amusement.

"I can't believe this. How am I supposed to save Nikki now? Look at my face." Conner shouts out in frustration.

"Mine looks like it's should be delivered in thirty minutes or less." Ethan says dejectedly.

Matt chuckles at their moans and complains.

"What are you chuckling about?" Conner says to him, while eyeing him in the mirror. "How come you didn't try to impress Nikki?"

"For starters, looking at you guys… well it's just hilarious. Secondly, I don't get what you see in her. Pretty, yes. A woman to fall for? Definitely not." Matt grins.

"Just to get this out of the way… Are you a homosexual?" Conner asks him.

"I don't fall for the same type of women you do… and that immediately makes me a homosexual?" Matt asks confused. "Some guys prefer a woman who is not obsessed with money or status you know."

"Then what is your type?" Conner shoots back at him.

"Hmm… She should be independent, be smart, she shouldn't be too ugly and she should definitely go against me once in a while. If she has a good body and extreme good looks, I'll take that as an added bonus." Matt says, all the while having a thinking look.

"You know most of us could look past the rash and see the person on the inside." Kira states after she gets the chance too.

"Okay… Nikki Valentina is not like most of us." Conner replies back at her as though stating the obvious.

"Two arms, two legs. All seems the same to me." Kira replies, trying to figure what the hell is going on in their heads.

"What arms and legs. Not to mention the rest of her." Ethan concludes. Kira rolls her eyes.

"Ugh… boys." Abigail mutters under her breath.

"Seems like Mesogog shares your infatuation." Dr. O tells them as he walks past them towards the monitors.

"He's set up a fire wall around the invisiportals. Not even the Raptor Cycles could get in." Hayley concludes.


At the Fortress lab…

"Help!" Nikki Valentina continuously screams for help.

"Here she is my lord." Zeltrax and Mesogog walk towards the chair.

"Ah…. I like your energy. Your DNA is pure evil." Mesogog stares at her.

"Well I have been looking for some darker roles, but I don't know if I'm right for pure evil." Nikki Valentina says with a weak voice, but still manages to throw some seduction in.

"Trust me, you're ready!" Mesogog says with almost no space left between her and him.

"Zeltrax, take her to the energy transfer chamber." He orders Zeltrax. "Ready her for the purge." He commands as he walks off.

"Resistance is futile." Zeltrax extends his hand and she grabs it. Nikki slides off the chair.

"Hey, I was up for that part. I still remember the audition. It went something like this." With her bare foot she stamps on Zeltrax's foot and she runs off.

"Ouch! My toe! Stop!" Zeltrax grabs his toe in pain and watches Nikki disappear through an invisiportal.

Nikki Valentina ends up at the beach.


At the Command Center….

"I don't know how, but she's made it out. She's back at the beach." Hayley says to the Rangers.

"Yeah go Nikki! I told you she was smart." Ethan grins and so does Conner.

"Yeah as a bag of hammers." Kira replies back sarcastically.

"Really I think she's more on the level of just one hammer, Kir." Abigail and Kira grin to each other as they watch how Nikki walks off and see Megalador appear behind her.

"Shoulda seen that one coming." Dr. O interrupts all talk and stands up. "Hayley keep tracking that egg."

"I will, good luck." She replies. The six rangers take morphing positions.

"Ready?" Dr. O asks them.

"Ready." They reply in unison. Their morphers appear.

"Dinothunder, Power-up! Ha!" They morph into Rangers and quickly rush to the beach.


At the beach…

"You again!?" Megaldor shouts as he sees them.

"You're safe now!" Conner says reassuringly to Nikki.

Zeltrax appears next to Megalador.

"Not for long!" Zeltrax points his sword at the Rangers.

Zeltrax storms at the Rangers and they storm at him and Megalador.

"This is so not in my contract." Nikki says and pulls herself out of Megalador's grip and runs off.

"Come back here!" He pursues her.

Zeltrax immediately goes for the Black Ranger, but the other Rangers stop Megalador. Dr. O kicks high, but Zeltrax ducks to avoid it. Ethan tries to kick Megalador, but is blocks and pushes Ethan away. It then tries to kick Conner, but he is able to block. Abigail jumps at it, but is thrown straight into Matt, who falls to the ground with Abigail on top of him. Kira tries to hit him, but he grabs both her arms and spins her in the air. She's able to land on her feet and is able to jump and kick Megalador back. Ethan is up again and tries to hit Megalador. It grabs his arm, twists it and shoots an energy beam at Conner, Kira, Abigail and Matt. They're blasted away by the explosion and fall to the ground.


Meanwhile Nikki is still running and runs straight through the area where Devin and Cassidy are filming.

"Okay Cas and action!" Devin shouts when he spots Nikki running by.

Megalador is tired of having Nikki running away and grabs his flower.

"Let's see how you look after a little flower power!"

Devin spots the monster and then looks to Nikki. The gears in his head slowly turn and he decides to run after Nikki.

"Watch out!" Devin runs after her. Megalador fires, but misses just narrowly, because Devin grabs Nikki and pulls her out of the way. He lands on top of her.

"Are you alright?" He asks her.

"You're even braver than a Power Ranger. Have you ever thought of a career as an action hero?" Nikki asks him and Devin is unable to speak.


Megalador fires his flower again and the Rangers get blasted back.

Zeltrax and Dr. O are still fighting and they parry each other's weapons. Dr. O tries to slice Zeltrax, but Zeltrax ducks. Dr. O jumps out of the way and tries to low kick him, which Zeltrax easily avoids. Dr. O then kicks away Zeltrax's weapon with his other leg and jumps forward.


"An action hero? Huh?" Devin asks her.

"Yeah." She says sensually.

"Hello!? I just saved a life." Cassidy shouts trying to get attention as she walks out of the sea with a dummy around her neck. "Doesn't anyone care!?"

"It's not easy though. Everyone wants a piece of me. 'Can I get an autograph?' 'Can I have your DNA?' It never stops." Nikki explains to him.

"Yeah… It must be so hard, knowing that millions love you. Isn't that why you became a TV-star?" Devin asks her, now that he has the chance.

"No." She answers flatly. "I just want to be rich, have lots of stuff, marry a rockstar and have more houses than J-Lo." And she walks off.

"Oh boy." Devin grins and walks after her. Cassidy's mouth is hanging open at what Nikki just said.

"Wow that is shallow… even for me." She concludes and stares at the dummy. Cassidy comes to the realization that its really is a dummy and drops it.


The fight still rages on and Megalador just evades Ethan. Kira somersaults and narrowly avoids a blast. It tries to stamp on her, but it gets punched away by Matt. He extends his hand towards her and she grabs it. Conner, Ethan and Abigail attack him and it easily parries Conner's attacks. Ethan gets slashed and Abigail steps in and kicks Megalador backwards. Conner then jumps and tries to kick it, but it easily throws Conner over him. Abigail helps Conner and Ethan up as Megalador runs off.

"C'mon!" Conner tells them as he pursues the monster.

Dr. O rolls forward and turns around on the ground and kicks away Zeltrax's weapon and kicks again against Zeltrax. Zeltrax leaps backwards and fires his electric beam at Dr. O. Because of the explosion Dr. O is spinning in the air and falls on the ground.


Megalador arrives in the harbor and concludes he's at a dead end.

"Oh oh…"

"It's time you learned a lesson." Conner points at Megalador.

"Yeah, like don't blast people with a ray that turns people's faces into pepperoni pizza." Ethan spits at Megalador.

"Good one, Ethan." Kira replies sarcastically.

"Really?" He asks her.

"No." Kira says and practically rolling her eyes.

"It should be more like… It's time you learned a lesson, in other words time to turn you in to shark soup!" Matt punches his fist into his other hand.

"Wasn't much better." Abigail coughs.

"I know, but still… I tried." Matt grins.

They take a battle stance, but Megalador blasts them.


Zeltrax smashes his lightning into the ground and Dr. O is blasted away by the explosion again. Zeltrax keeps blasting Dr. O, but Dr. O evades them narrowly and jumps towards Zeltrax. Zeltrax does the same and they clash in mid air. They stay in the air for about 3 seconds as they spin down and they ultimately split up because of the massive shockwave between them. They land opposite each other.


At the Command Center…

"Almost…" Hayley says while staring intently at the screen. The computer suddenly locates the egg. "Yes, got it!" She turns around and hurriedly runs off.


Back at the beach…

Dr. O kicks Zeltrax, but misses and so does his slices. He grabs Zeltrax's arm and puts him into a dead lock.

"I'm having some serious déjà vu's, Zeltrax." Dr. O says to Zeltrax. Zeltrax hits him with his other arm and puts Dr. O in a dead lock.

"This is far from over!" He kicks into Dr. O's knee, causing him to hit the ground with that knee. "I will return and then you will all pay!" Dr. O wrestles free and Zeltrax stumbles backward. He warps out, giving Dr. O a breather.


The other Rangers are still fighting Megalador in the harbor. They keep dodging and hitting each other. Conner gets thrown back and Ethan and Kira keep him busy, giving Conner the chance to land a good kick. Matt follows and punches Megalador to the ground. The Rangers come together and take out their blasters.

"Okay guys, let's give this freak a blast!" They fire their blasters at Megalador.

"Yeah!" Ethan shouts in victory as Megalador gets hit.


Meanwhile Hayley is looking for the dinoegg.

"It must be here!" She looks around and spots it in the sand. "Aha!"

She bends down to grab it and rubs the sand off.

"Hey little guy." Hayley picks up the egg and looks around carefully to see if anyone is watching.


Megalador is able to get up again.

"Let's put 'em together!" Ethan psychs.

They take out their weapons and combine them.

"Z-rex blaster!" They shout in unison and take aim at Megalador.

"Ready?" Kira asks.

"Fire!" Conner answers with no hesitation. It blasts Megalador into pieces.


Elsa, Zeltrax and Mesogog watch as Megalador's pieces fall to the ground. Elsa growls in frustration.

"Don't just stand there! Activate the Hydroregenerator!" Mesogog barks at them.

"Yes, milord!" Elsa answers as she turns around and activates the machine.


Outside…

The sharkmonster grows to gigantic.

"Now I'm the big fish! Haha!" It laughs as it thrashes around violently.

"Brachio! Zord time!" Dr. O shouts into his morpher.

"Time for some fishing, Titano!" Matt shouts into his morpher.

Brachio unleashes the four Zords. The Rangers jump in their respective Zords and combine them.

"I'm the catch of the day!" Megalador shouts as he runs towards them. The Megazord charges him and they clash violently multiple times, but the Megazord is able to push Megalador down.

"You asked for this!" Megalador faces them. "Fish Breath!" It shoots a high pressured beam of water at the Megazord. The Rangers get blasted out of their Zords.

"What happened!?" Kira is able to get out before they fall on the ground and she lands on top of Matt.

"This is familiar…" He says before stopping himself, but Kira doesn't say anything. Dr. O runs towards them and checks to see if they're alright.

"Guys, you alright?" He asks.

"Yeah, something's fishy!" Conner says as he is able to get up. Kira extends her hand to Matt and he grabs it. Abigail helps Ethan get up.

"Look at that swell! Surfs up!" Megalador shouts as he disappears. He reappears in the sea. "I summon the power of the Great Tsunami!"

"It's a tidal wave!" Kira is the first the notice.

"Oh damn, where's my surfboard when I need it." Matt scratches his head, or appears to do so because his helmet is in the way. They suddenly hear screeching wheels and turn around to see Hayley screeching through a bend and halting in front of them.

"Guys, I found the egg! Catch!" She throws the egg and Ethan catches it.

"Got it. Here." He's about to give it to Dr. O when his morpher changes.

"Whoa!" Ethan brings out. "I think it's hatching." The egg in his hand suddenly bursts in two and a miniature Stegozord is in his hand. It jumps out of Ethan's hand.

"Oh!" Kira gasps as it starts the grow.

"He's growing!" Ethan yells excited.

"Now if that happened to kids, we'd not need to worry about them." Matt nods to himself as Abigail stares at him.

"It's a Stegazord." Dr. O interrupts them as he looks at the egg shells.

Megalador is still calling the Tsunami and its coming closer.

"Okay, guys. We got a new friend, use your telepathy to tame the Stegazord and combine with it. The Rangers psych up and enter their zords again, they reform the Megazord.

"Online!"

The Stegazord opens up it's backside and forms a board.

"Yeah!"

"Awesome!"

"It's working!"

"Cool!"

The Megazord jumps onto the Stegazord.

"Matt, we'll leave the movement to you." Kira says, before remembering they stopped talking to each other.

"No sweat, I'll ride that Tidal Wave like a real pro!" Matt psyches up.

"Alright, now it's our turn." Kira pumps up.

"Let's turn this fool into a plate of sushi." Conner agrees.

"Talk about a fish outta water." Ethan grins.

"This shark is about to be served!" Abigail says with the thumbs up.

They jump into to the water and Matt moves it exactly like he would a real surfboard.

"Hey! Where'd you get that!?" Megalador isn't paying attention and gets swallowed by his own Tsunami.

The Megazord rides the waves like a real surfer.

"Hanging ten!" They all shout excitedly. The Megazord storms at Megalador and gets hit by the plates at the side. The Tsunami is about to engulf the city and Matt quickly forces the Megazord to turn around and finish the job.

"Dinodrill!" The Megazord drills right through Megalador and it explodes, blinding everything. When the light is gone, so is the Tsunami. The Rangers all psych at their victory.


A little later at the Mercer Residence…

"Well… Glad to see you studying." Anton says as walks up to Trent's desk and pats him on the back. "I hope it's relevant to the business at hand.

"Yep, just working on some figures." Trent replies, while his pen traces across the paper. Anton looks over Trent's shoulder and sees that Trent is not lying.

"Good." Anton pats on the shoulder again. "Good, you see all you have to do is put your mind to it and you can do anything."

"Yeah." Trent nods and his father walks off. As soon as Anton is gone, Trent pushes away the papers and grabs a pencil to continue working on the drawing he was working on.


At the beach…

"There she is!" Ethan says excitedly as he spots Nikki Valentina.

"Let me do the talking." Conner says smoothly.

"Oh, yeah, right." Ethan looks at Conner as though he said something insulting.

"If I have to talk to any more annoying love-struck fans, I'm gonna barf in my coffee cup!" Nikki huffs and walks off. Conner and Ethan slowly back off.

"So, you guys put the moves on Nikki?" She says with a malicious grin on her face.

"No, turns out…" Ethan begins.

"She is whack." Conner finishes.

"Well, guys, I'd say you've learned a valuable lesson." Kira grins and Abigail is sitting on a bench behind Ethan and Conner.

"What? Sticking to cheerleaders?" Conner grins.

"He's kidding." Ethan quickly says. "We know. You can't judge a book by its cover." Ethan finishes as Kira drives them against the bench and they nearly fall over it.

"Even a fine one like Nikki's." They sit down. Kira looks at them skeptically as Ethan is staring dreamily at the beach.

"Set and action!"

Nikki Valentina bows down over Devin, who's laying down on the beach.

"I don't like her." Cassidy manages to get out between gritted teeth. "Not one little bit."

A man suddenly stands in front of her with a head set on.

"Excuse me. You're distracting the actors, you're gonna have to leave."

"You can't do that to me." Cassidy huffs indignantly. "I'm with the press and I have a pass."

The man drags her off.

"Hello!? No, no! They know me. Tell them. Tell them who I am!" Cassidy shouts as she passes Kira, Abigail, Conner and Ethan. Devin smiles as the scene is done.

"Where's Matt by the way?" Ethan asks, not seeing him with Abigail.

"He's over there." Abigail points at the sea as a big wave approaches shore and they see someone surfing.

"Wow, he wasn't lying when he said he could surf." Conner says as Matt rides the wave with ease.

As Matt hits the beach he grabs his board, spots them and runs towards them. He's wearing a short wetsuit and smiles at them.

"Surfing in the Zord made me feel like grabbing a wave." He smiles with a goofy grin. "So, how'd things end up with Miss Actor?"

"You mean, Nikki? I think they learned their lesson." Abigail grins. "Right, Kira?"

Kira was feeling uncomfortable with Matt acting like he always did. A hand waved in front of her.

"Earth to Kira?" Matt snapped his fingers in front of her.

"Huh? What?" She snapped back to reality.

"I asked if you wanted to eat something." Matt grinned at her.

"Ehm… Sure." She finally said after his eyes pleaded her.

"Okay, we'll be right here, see you guys in a bit." Abigail gave Kira the okay signal.

Matt and Kira walked off to the shack where they sold food. It was a long, uncomfortable and painful silence. Matt suddenly halted and put his board against a pillar.

"Hey Kir… Listen I don't expect things to go as smoothly as they did when we met." He said, not looking at her, but instead was inspecting his board. "I know I've been behaving weird and seemed like a total jerk, but I can't do this anymore. I don't want you to hate me, it's just… complicated. I can't tell you everything even if that is the way you would forgive me. Right now, can we try to be friends again and drop this whole argument?"

He turned around and his eyes were locked with hers. Kira couldn't move for some reason, nor find the words to say something to him. So instead she just nodded, slowly and unsure. His face lit up into a smile and he pulled her into a bear crushing hug. Realizing he had his wet suit on and that her clothes would be soaked he quickly let go and apologized.

"It's okay." She said after a few seconds. "The clothes… and that. Let me guess Abigail reamed you out pretty good huh?" His face turned into shock, but it quickly disappeared.

"Were you eavesdropping again, Miss Ford? That's a bad habit." He smiled, things would be uneasy, but at least they weren't on the edge anymore.

"No, it's just a wild guess, but I guess I hit it on the mark." They went inside to order food and Matt reached into his backpack.

"This one's on me. To make up for stuff, you know." He smiled. "Yeah, Abigail can be persuasive, but it's not like I didn't want to make up with you. My family is just against everything I do, so I had to choose between my friends and them. I chose you… guys eventually." He had lingered on the word you, but quickly made it into everyone.

"Now that you're being honest with me, are you okay with me and Trent? You're not really jealous or anything?" She asked him while staring quizzically at him. His jaw clenched and his face contorted a bit.

"I'm okay with you and Trent… Maybe I am a little jealous…" He mumbled, just audible enough for her to hear. "I had you to myself and now I have to share." He starts laughing and Kira can't help but smile at his goofy behavior.

"Thanks for the notes, by the way." Kira had almost forgotten, but it flashed her mind briefly.

"No problem, did it make any sense to you?" He asked as he was eating a burger.

"Yeah, it was very helpful. I'm wondering where you get the time to do it so meticulously." Kira asks him as she eats fries and sips her apple juice.

"Hmm… Lack of sleep usually helps with that and I had time to burn." He finishes his burger already and grins at her.

"Shall we head back?" She asks him and he quickly takes care of the bill.

"You know…" He wraps an arm around her. "I'm not backing down even if you have something going with Trent. I meant when I said I would compete for your heart."

She rolls his eyes at him, but doesn't remove his arm.

"As long as you keep it at a minimum." She knew Matt would come clean in time about everything.

"Sure, sure." He grins.


Abigail: Okay so it took me real long to update, sorry bout that. Been real busy with uni starting up again and everything.

Fire: Well you did what you had too. Matt and Kira are back on friendly terms, but things will definitely be rocky in their friendship.

Abigail: Next chapter, the evil white ranger woohoo!! Things will get interesting now and be sure to look forwards, because I'm updating real soon. If I'm not then mail me to smack me on the head.

Fire: Tune in on Fanfiction! R+R