Bit short, I know, but the next chapter will be much longer!

I hope you enjoy it as much as you seemed to enjoy the first part!

Chapter 21: Once A Ranger Part 2

Mack shuffled through the corridors of the mansion slowly, sighing heavily. It was still early; the sun wasn't long up. But yet he was awake and dressed, used to rising early for training, and wasn't quite sure what to do. None of the others were awake, not seeing the point in training when they were no longer Rangers.

"Ari, your boyfriend is snoring, that doesn't sound like meditating to me!" Mack heard Kira's shout, and blinked in surprise. He looked out the window, and found the team of 'Retro Rangers' as the media had dubbed them, training.

"Just leave him, if he's sleeping, he's not whining about being up early," Ari laughed as she jogged past. Mack walked on through the corridors and down the stairs, going outside as Ari and the others continued on. "Mack!" Ari spotted him, and broke away to jog over to him. "I didn't think any of you were going to show for training," she smiled brightly.

"How long have you been awake?" Mack asked her curiously.

"About an hour. Zoe woke me," Ari admitted with a guilty smile. "Do you want to join us?" she invited him. Mack hesitated.

"But..."

"Dude," Ari sighed, her smile dropping. "You're not going to be without your Ranger powers forever. Your dad, Adam, and even Bridge are working on figuring out how to repair our Overdrive connection," she told him.

"Bridge?" Mack repeated in shock, looking to where the young man was keeping pace with Adam, wearing a pair of jogging bottoms and red shirt. "My dad let him near the Trackers?" Ari giggled at his shock.

"Bridge is a tech genius apparently," the Gold Ranger explained. Her leader gaped at her in shock. "Yeah, he's really good. He's impressed Mr. Hartford, that's for sure," she laughed. Mack glanced back over to Bridge, who didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat. For a tech geek, he was definitely in shape.

"Even with him, how can you be sure that we'll get our powers back?" Mack asked doubtfully, shaking his head.

"Because it's not over yet," Ari told him firmly. Mack blinked, surprised by her confidence. "We still have a job to do. We have two more Jewels to locate, and one to retrieve from Miratrix and Kamdor. We're going to get our powers back," the Gold Ranger smiled again. "And I'm not abandoning you guys for them just because they're my friends, and just to stay a Ranger," she told him.

"I didn't, I never-" Mack spluttered.

"I know that's what the others think. I'm not abandoning you. I still have power, and if I didn't use it purely because you guys didn't, that'd be like, abandoning the world," Ari shrugged, feeling the need to tell him this. Mack was one of the Overdrive Rangers she felt closest to, and wanted to know he understood why she had joined the Retro Rangers. "You guys are still my team just as much as they are, if not more. And if you had the chance to stay a Ranger, wouldn't you take it?" Ari asked, tilting her head. Mack hesitated, but knew she was right.

"Sorry Ari," he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're right. I was just..."

"Sulking?" Ari offered teasingly, and Mack blushed, before nodding.

"Yeah," he accepted, making her giggle.

"So, you wanna join us?" she asked, and he glanced up, before nodding.

"Sure. I bet I can give you guys a run for your money," Mack grinned, and Ari smirked, a challenge gleaming in her eyes.

"You're on, rich boy," she winked, and darted off. With a laugh, Mack followed her, and the two quickly took the lead, calling out insults, first to each other, and then to the others, goading them into chasing after them.

After they finished training and got cleaned up, Mack had gone to talk to his team, while Bridge and Adam had left to help Andrew with the Trackers.

Teddie wandered around the mansion, investigating curiously. When the Mystic Mother had appeared to her, she'd only had enough time to grab a couple of provisions to last her a day or so. She made a mental note to get one of the others to take her shopping so she could get something to wear. While the style wasn't overly different, since she had bonded with the White Energem, she had developed an affinity with the colour white. Her mother had told her it was natural with the whole Ranger thing. Even her aunt, who hated Pink before becoming the Pink Mystic Ranger, grew to like the colour so much she had dyed her hair completely pink. Though it did mean she had to replace almost her entire wardrobe.

Deep in thought about her clothes, Teddie didn't notice someone walk in front of her, equally deep in thought. The two bumped into each other, and stumbled backwards.

"Oh, sorry," Dax and Teddie apologised to each other, with Dax's apology trailing off as he realised who he had walked into. "You're Dax, right?" Teddie asked, and when he nodded slowly, Teddie broke into a wide grin that reminded him eerily of Ari. "It's so cool to meet you guys. You're all so busy and since I lived in New Zealand for ages, I haven't seen you since I was really little," Teddie admitted. Some of the tension in Dax's expression faded in surprise.

"We've met?" he asked.

"Sure! You're part of my mum's team, and you're friends," Teddie nodded eagerly. "Of course we've met," she smiled.

"Team...yeah right," Dax scoffed, and Teddie's smile fell.

"You are! We're here to make sure the Jewels don't end up in the hands of Moltor or Flurious or any of those other creeps!" she argued. "What you don't seem to realise, since you're all too busy sulking, is that we're working on fixing your Trackers," Teddie then turned on her heel and stormed off.

"Whoa, I'd be careful if I were you," Dax looked around to see Mack leaning against the wall. "Her dad," he gave a small snort as Dax's fists clenched. "Is already ready to beat the snot outta one member of this team. Don't piss him off by upsetting his daughter too," he chuckled, walking away as Dax rolled his eyes, but looked slightly nervous at the thought.

"So all the Zords are based off vehicles?" Kira asked as the group walked back up to the main floor of the mansion.

"We can't all have Dinosaurs for Zords," Zoe smirked.

"I did!" Ari exclaimed brightly, having been showing them the Zord bay.

"So did I," Adam nodded.

"I have one too!" Teddie spoke up brightly. "My Compy is awesome!" she smiled brightly.

"Compy?" Xander blinked as Zoe blushed.

"Well some of us didn't have Dino Zords," the Silver Ranger gestured to herself and Xander, before looking to Bridge expectantly.

"I don't have a Dino Zord..." he said quickly. Teddie giggled, and he shot her a weak glare.

"I don't either," Xander shrugged.

"You turn into your Zord, that doesn't count," Kira rolled her eyes. Adam shot Xander a strange look.

"It totally counts! I need my non-Dinos to back me up!" Zoe exclaimed, linking arms with both Bridge and Xander and dragging them along. Ari rolled her eyes.

"You know, you didn't even have a Zord back then," Ari reminded her, following her.

"I like to think we shared your Swan Zord," Zoe retorted.

"It didn't even like you!" Ari exclaimed.

"It's going to be this loud all the time, isn't it?" Adam glanced to Teddie.

"It always is with them," Teddie chuckled softly.

"It was still a Zord, so it counts," Xander told Kira.

"Does not!" both Kira and Ari chimed.

"You turned into a Zord too!" Xander pointed out.

"Not my Dino one," Ari smirked back. Rolling his eyes, Xander broke free of Zoe's grip to grab Ari and tickle her sides, making her squeal and laugh.

"Say it counts!" he told her.

"Never!" Ari declared, struggling.

"Stop showing off for Kira and say it counts!"

"No!" Ari finally broke away and hid behind Kira. The Yellow Ranger smirked.

"She likes me better," she told him in a matter-of-fact voice. Ari peeked out from behind her and stuck out her tongue at him.

"No way," Xander scoffed.

"I agree with Xander," Zoe nodded, and when he turned to her, confused that she would agree, Zoe smirked. "She clearly likes me best," she rushed over and grabbed Ari before she could escape.

"I'm questioning who I like best right now," Ari whined as she was hauled into a hug. "I'm not your doll!" she complained, finally breaking away. They walked up to the games room, pushing the doors open.

"Anyway, those Zords are unbelievable," Xander grinned as he reached over to ruffle Ari's hair. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Yeah, they are, and I know just which I'm looking forward to checking out," Zoe smirked.

"You leave my Jet Driver alone!" Ari warned her.

"And what an incredible Command Centre, Doctor O would have loved to see that!" Kira commented.

"Hey, you know, I still can't believe he's a Doctor," Adam commented to the Yellow Ranger. Both Kira and Ari giggled.

"Seems you're all getting along just fine," Rose smiled sadly from the table, where she sat with Ronny.

"Yeah, I think we make a pretty good team, right guys?" Zoe glanced to the others, who nodded in agreement. Their smiles fell when they saw the expressions of the Overdrive Rangers.

"Come on guys, we're gonna get our powers back in no time," Ari told them firmly.

"Yeah, we're just covering for you till then," Teddie nodded in agreement. Will just scoffed.

"What do you care? You have powers and a new team," he straightened up as he ignored Teddie and scowled at Ari. The Gold Ranger bristled, and reached for Xander's hand when she noticed him tense. The two were close to coming to blows, and Will's foul mood wasn't helping anyone. Mack put his hand on Will's shoulder, shaking his head in a warning to his team-mate. An awkward silence fell over the two teams, before the alarm blared.

"Come on Rangers!" Adam called to his team, leading them out as the Overdrive team stood together, before remembering that he wasn't referring to them.

"Well, I for one have better things to do than sit around here doing nothing," Ronny rolled her eyes.

In the middle of town, Flurious was ordering his Chillers around, having them build a huge blockade in town from rubble from a building he had destroyed, in an attempt to block it off and stop anyone interfering.

He didn't expect the latest Black Ranger to fly in on the Hovertek Cycle and blast the blockade to smithereens. As he leapt from the Hovertek Cycle and began to fight, the others joined him him fighting off the Chillers.

"How have you still got powers?!" Flurious demanded as he clashed with Ari. "We severed them using our combined powers!" he roared.

"I guess you didn't do a good enough job. I'm not shocked really," Ari taunted, dancing around his attacks before kicking him in the back. Flurious stumbled forwards, and Ari flipped over his head to hit him in the chest and knock him backwards. Flurious roared furiously, and several Chillers surrounded Ari.

"Whoa, you forgetting about the rest of us?" Teddie asked as she landed between them, falling into a fighting stance. Ari watched her for a moment curiously, recognising the stance. It wasn't a Sun Ninja stance, but instead an Earth Ninja one. The two then worked together to take out the Chillers around them, and Teddie grabbed her large blaster, inserting a small white cylinder into it. "Dino Morpher Blast!" she fired a powerful white attack, slamming the last into a car and let it drop to the ground, where it exploded in a shower of ice. The rest of the team joined them, ready to continue fighting.

"It's your move!" Adam challenged Flurious as they faced the frozen monster.

"This wasn't supposed to happen!" Flurious growled, before disappearing in a flurry of snow.

"Was that it?" Teddie asked, tilting her head.

Back at the mansion, Adam and Bridge had gone to help Andrew with the Trackers, and the others were now wandering and relaxing after the battle.

Teddie lifted a photo that had been framed and set on the mantelpiece in the main room, examining it curiously.

"That was taken after we retrieved the first Jewel," she jumped as Ari spoke, and she walked over to her future daughter. Teddie looked at her, and back down at the photo, which was of the very excited team. Rose held up the first Jewel proudly.

"That explains why Tyzonn is missing," Teddie nodded, setting it down and lifting the one beside it. In it, they looked even more excited, and Tyzonn held the second Jewel, one arm around Ari's shoulders as she grinned widely at the camera.

"How are you coping with being back here?" Ari asked as Teddie handed her the picture.

"It's fun. It kinda explains why you reacted the way you did when you saw me Morph for the first time. You wouldn't tell me anything," Teddie grinned.

"I know about you being a Ranger?" Ari asked curiously.

"Of course," Teddie nodded, before lifting a picture of Mack down to study. A small, wry smile showed on her face, confusing Ari.

"What's wrong?" the Gold Ranger asked her, looking at the picture of Mack.

"Oh..." Teddie set it down quickly. "It's nothing," she shook her head quickly.

"So you'll tell me you're my daughter from the future, that you have two brothers who are also Rangers, that Zoe's daughter is a Ranger and that you're best friends with Kira's son, and that I know you're a Ranger in the future, but you won't tell me why you look worried when you look at a picture of Mack?" Ari couldn't help but laugh, making Teddie smile again.

"This is different. With what I've told you, that won't change anything, at least while I'm here and you remember everything I told you," Teddie shrugged. "I mean, you love dad, right?" she looked up with her dark brown eyes in an innocent yet piercing look, and Ari blushed scarlet.

"I uh, well...I guess, yeah," she admitted, shrugging. Teddie smirked slightly at her reaction.

"And Zoe's married already, so knowing she has a daughter with Hunter isn't likely to change anything. And Kira loves Trent, so that won't change anything either," Teddie shrugged.

"And that Bridge is clearly involved with Zoe's daughter?" Ari smirked. Teddie's own smirk grew.

"That was just to be mean to him," she admitted, making Ari laugh. "But this is different," Teddie shook her head again. "This, is something that you risk changing, and for my future, for my team, I can't let that happen," she told Ari, who frowned.

"Mack's connected to your team?" she asked, and Teddie let out a frustrated groan, messing up her hair.

"You even torment your own daughter?" they looked around as Kira approached with a smirk. "Let me guess, she's letting you talk your way into admitting everything," the Yellow Ranger asked Teddie.

"I keep forgetting she does that..." she grumbled. Ari smirked.

"Hey guys," they were joined by Adam and Bridge, who looked around. "Where's Xander and Zoe?" Adam asked.

"Zoe's talking to her dad about taking more time away from her classes for this, and Xander is explaining to Toby that he needs to leave Chip in charge for another bit too," Ari smirked slightly at the end.

"He left Chip in charge?" Kira asked, having met her hyper successor.

"Yeah," Ari let her laugh escape.

"Alright, well when they're finished, tell them to get ready to leave," Adam told them.

"Leave? Where are we going?" Teddie asked him. Adam grinned.

"We're going to Angel Grove."

So I've gotten a rather nasty chest infection and am currently off work sick, which means I've gotten a bit more written (just 6 chapters left to write!) so I'll aim to update by the end of the weekend!

Hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think!

Please review!