0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

DinoCharge: Call to Arms

by

Nagi Matsuo

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chapter XIV

Past, Present and Fusion - Part I

(Sierra Drive, Three Rivers)

"How far did you say we were from Amber Beach again?" asked Tyler, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

"About thirteen miles, you could have gone a quicker way back there you know," replied Shelby, skimming through the journal that had belong to Tyler's dad/

"Meh, it's more fun this way," grinned Tyler.

"I feel safer already," muttered Shelby, after Kendall and the others had left without her, Shelby had been forced to accept a lift from Tyler, although she surmised he couldn't be to bad as a fellow Power Ranger, something she was going to have to get used herself.

"You see anything?" questioned Tyler, who had been hoping a fresh set of eyes may be able to pick out something he'd missed in his dad's journal.

"Nothing more than you told me," answered Shelby honestly, "Your father vanishes off the face of the Earth when you're four years old, only his journal left on the forest floor, and you go to live with your grandparents, leave home at fifteen to retrace your father's footsteps in the hope of finding out what happened to him, right?"

"Yep, that's about it," confirmed Tyler.

"What about this?" asked Shelby, showing Tyler a drawing, "Your dad wrote that this monster freak was following him."

"Fury," hissed Tyler, recognising him immediately, "I fought him as the Graphite Ranger, I didn't realise that was him until now."

"Tyler! Watch out!" shouted Shelby, pointing ahead of them, where IceAge was stood in the middle of the road, having flipped the car before theirs.

Instead of breaking, Tyler accelerated and slammed straight into IceAge knocking back and of his feet. Bringing the jeep to halt, Tyler and Shelby hopped out, producing their Energems and Dino Blasters.

"Help! My husband's trapped in the car!" called a man as he clambered to his feet.

"Tyler, you help the guy in the car, I'll take Freezeface here," instructed Shelby, raising her morpher and firing, transforming into the Red Ranger, "It's about to get wild!"

"On it!" replied Tyler, morphing into the Scarlet Ranger as he raced towards the overturned car.

"I will get the Energems from you this time!" yelled IceAge, "And when I do, Master Sledge will set me free!"

"Don't worry, I'll be freeing you, from your mortal coil that is!" returned Shelby, summoning her Dino Blade and charging into battle.

"Only you will be dying, Red Ranger," hissed IceAge, kicking Shelby off her feet.

Nearby, Tyler pulled the man out the car and slung him over his shoulder, grabbing hold of the other man's arms and pulling him away from the car, just getting out of the way as it exploded.

"Stay here," ordered Tyler, laying the man on his back down next to his husband, "I'll come and get you when it's safe."

"Thank you, Red Ranger," spoke the uninjured man, "We owe you."

"You're welcome," replied Tyler with a grin, "But I'm the Scarlet Ranger, the one who's fighting ice-guy is the red one, it's gonna be a bit confusing, isn't it."

Before either of them could reply, Tyler dashed back towards IceAge, deflecting a shot meant for Shelby and helping her to her feet.

"This guys fucking tough," moaned Shelby, spinning her Dino Blaster around her finger, "But we can take him."

Suddenly, a silver motorcycle with a green figure raced past them, slicing IceAge with Dino Blade as she went past. Bringing her bike to a stop the Green Ranger stepped off, raising her sword.

"The guys are gonna be glad the Green Energem managed to get in good hands," grinned Tyler, running forward to greet the new ranger, "Thanks for that."

"Don't sweat it," replied the Green Ranger, holding her hand out, "Riley Griffin, pleased to meet you."

"Tyler Navarro," informed the Scarlet Ranger, shaking Riley's hand, "This is Shel-"

"Riley?" questioned Shelby, stepping towards the Green Ranger.

"Shelby?" queried Riley, "I have seen you since you finished high school, I thought your parents said you went to college in Angel Grove."

"My parents would say that, they disowned me when I took a waitress job at the Dino Museum," replied Shelby darkly.

"Hey! Have you all forgotten about me?" shouted IceAge, struggling to his feet.

"We can do this later, let's take this guy down," cut in Tyler, "Boost Hero! DinoCharge, Scarlet Ranger!"

"Bladed Heroine!" continued Riley, "DinoCharge, Green Ranger!"

"Fanged Heroine!" posed Shelby, "Dino Charge, Red Ranger!"

"Power Rangers! DinoCharge!" announced all three Rangers, striking a pose with Shelby in the middle.

Charging at IceAge, Tyler and Riley went low with their Dino Blades, forcing him to jump, leaving him open to a flying kick from Shelby.

"Let's finish this off!" called Tyler, opening his Dino Buckle and inserting a Cephla Charger into his Dino Blade.

"How come we don't have one of those?" asked Riley, noting that both her and Shelby were lacking a Dino Buckle.

"They're something that's issued separately, neither of you have one yet," replied Tyler, charging up his weapon, "CEPHLA STRIKE! BRAVE FINISH!"

"Time for me to cut loose!" squealed IceAge, attempting to run away, but Tyler's attack caught him in the back, injuring him.

"There's no escape now, you Mr. Freeze ripoff!" shouted Shelby, as she and Riley joined Tyler with their Dino Blades raised.

"Think again, Red Ranger!" snarled Fury, appearing out the woods and knocking the three Rangers back with a bolt of electricity from his sword.

"Fury!" hissed Tyler, clambering to his feet to find both him and IceAge had vanished, "Damn!"

"We'll fight him again," spoke Shelby, "We can find out what happened to your father."

"Yeah, you're right," replied Tyler, ejecting his Energem and powering down, Shelby following his cue.

"Wait, you guys use the blaster to morph?" asked Riley as opening the mouth of her Dino Blade and extracted her Energem, her BioSuit fading as she did.

"Yeah, it's kinda our morphers, but I didn't know the Dino Blade could be used as a morpher as well," shrugged Tyler, before returning to the couple he had saved from their car, "You okay?"

"I've called an ambulance, they're on their way here now," answered the uninjured man, "You rangers go, you saved our lives, the least we can do is keep your identities secret."

"Thank you," smiled Tyler, nodding at the man and returning to Shelby and Riley.

"I take it you two are heading to the Dino Museum?" questioned Riley, receiving two replies of confirmation, "I'll follow behind on my bike, see you there."

Walking to her bike, Riley pulled her helmet on and mounted the seat. Shrugging, Shelby and Tyler climbed back into the Jeep and set off towards Amber Beach, Riley riding behind them.

-DinoCharge-

(Dino Lab, ABDM)

"Good news!" called Jake as he entered the base of operations, finding Kendall frantically working at her desk, Chase practicing some kicks and flips on his skateboard and Koda was busy tracing his kanji symbols in the air with his Samuraizer.

"I think we could all really use some right now," spoke Chase.

"What is it?" asked Kendall, not looking away from her work.

"Tyler just texted me, he's bonded to the Scarlet Energem and Shelby's bonded to the Red Energem," replied Jake, sitting down on the sofa next to Koda.

"I thought you said it was good news," commented Kendall, "That's the outcome I was hoping for."

"I thought you hated Shelby?" questioned Koda.

"Shelby thrives when she's trying to prove herself, she's a good choice for the Red Energem," answered Kendall, "I put pressure on her so she could prove herself."

"Tyler also said that he's found the Green Energem as well, it's bonded to a girl called Riley," added Jake.

"That is good news," grinned Chase, prompting Koda to roll his eyes.

"Please tell me her last name isn't Griffin?" asked Kendall, sighing deeply.

"Yeah, it is, is that bad?" responded Jake.

Kendall pulled off her glasses as spoke, "She's the daughter of the first Pink Ranger, Ki-"

"Kimberly Rawlings," interrupted Jake, "I met her and Joel while I was on Project Genesis."

"Guys, I'm back!" called Emma, "I just got a text from Tyler, it's-"

"Good news," finished the other four at the same time.

"I take you got one as well," commented Emma, flopping down in an armchair, "Everything looks okay out there, no monsters."

"That's good, they've not quite got the advantage we thought they did," replied Kendall.

"Hey, I've got a question," spoke Emma, "How come there's Dino Cycles and Dino Chasers, and why the Chasers much more powerful?"

"The Dino Cycles are Jason's pride and joy," answered Kendall, "He built them from scratch and armed them to the teeth with weapons and functions, at the cost of speed and agility. On the other hand, the Dino Chasers were built by a former ranger, Tommy Oliver, designed for speed, stealth and agility."

"Okay, that makes sense," shrugged Emma.

Staring directly at Jake, Kendall watching him closely, having noticed a distinct shift in his mood at the mention of Tommy Oliver. Sighing deeply, Jake stood up and walked over to the Dino Marker.

"I'm gonna hit the streets," spoke Jake, pulling out his Dino Blaster, "Just to check Vrak, Sledge or Fury aren't up to trouble."

With that, Jake activated the Dino Marker and disappeared, leaving the others a little surprised.

-DinoCharge-