Disclaimer: No Ownership of Rangers Here

A/N: When Blake retired, he became a history teacher. I don't think I've actually written something from Conner's POV before...

Conner was not sure what to think about what was going on. He understood that they were in the future. And, dude, Trent got OLD! But beyond that, he was still trying to understand the shape of things. The Rangers were probably the only part of it that he got, and he liked Scott Truman, the guy was clearly a Red worthy of the color, but he still didn't understand how the Rangers could let something like this happen.

Not to mention that Kira knew something, and from the looks she was giving Dustin he knew that he probably wouldn't understand until she spelled it out for him. Hunter was being the inscrutable Sensei, which meant he had no clue what was going on, was freaking out about Blake and would probably self destruct as soon as everything was fixed.

"Ok," he said, as Hunter and Ethan followed him into his room, "Does either of you get what's going on? I mean, who they're fighting and why and all that?" He sat down on one of the beds and looked up at the other two.

Hunter shrugged, "Not really," He sat down tailor style on the other bed and frowned as it squeaked. "I mean, they say he's a computer virus. I'm not Ethan or Cam, but I've never seen a virus do this."
Ethan sighed, "It's not actually a virus." He pulled out the desk chair and sat down. "From what I've heard, it probably was one at one point, but it's now an AI. That's Artificial Intelligence. This isn't the first time Earth has been threatened by AI life forms."

"When was the first?" Conner asked.

"The Zeo Rangers fought the Machine Empire, who was robots," Ethan replied.

"Weren't they the ones who they fought during the Red Team Up?" Hunter said.

Conner winced reflexively and Ethan nodded, "Remnants of the Empire led by General Venjix tried to reawaken Zedd's zord, Serpenterra."

"Venjix," Conner said, "isn't that the name of their bad guy?"

"It is," Ethan replied. He went still as Hunter looked between them, "You don't think…"

"Is it possible?" Conner asked.

"It could be. If any part of Serpenterra was scavenged, then they could have found parts of Venjix too." Ethan replied.

"Serpenterra blew up," Conner said, "Cole hit it from the inside."

"But he survived," Ethan said, "given what I know about the Zords, it wouldn't have been hot enough for complete destruction."

"Wait," Hunter said, "for the one who isn't a Dino Thunder, what are you talking about?"

"What if," Conner said, "this AI, this Venjix, wasn't new? What if someone found the remains of General Venjix from the Machine Empire and downloaded him? No one would expect him."

"But then the Zeos would have stood a chance," Hunter said, "They were the counter to the Machine Empire the first time."

"This isn't the Machine Empire though," Ethan said, "it's a new enemy, or at least, that's what the Zeos would have believed just like everyone else. RPM has become the counter to Venjix, who probably isn't fighting for Mondo and the Empire anymore."

"We could ask Hailey," Conner offered. "She'd know if it was possible."

"Conner?" Kira said, opening the door.

"Don't worry, we're decent," Conner replied.

Kira and Dustin came in, "What's going on?" Kira asked.

"We were just talking about Venjix," Conner said.

"Oh," Kira replied. "I'm worried about RPM." She sat down beside Conner, "I think there's more going on there than meets the eye."

Dustin looked around the room, and then shrugged before leaning against the desk, "Kira's right," he said, "It's like they've had a big fight, only worse."

"We've been in their company, what, two, three hours, how can you tell?" Hunter asked.

"The way they look at each other," Kira said. "Scott's the worse at it, I think. When he was talking to his dad, there were times he'd hesitate, like he was waiting on something."

"Flynn keeps staring at Scott, always when Scott isn't looking and mostly when he thinks no one is looking at him." Dustin added.

"Summer's torn between them," Kira continued, "she's made more aborted gestures than I've seen in a bad break up. It's like watching Kim, Tommy and Kat at a Ranger reunion."

"The only catch is," Dustin said, "none of them have been dating, much less each other." At the looks, he shrugged, "I asked; Summer's hot."

Kira covered her face with her hand, "Why couldn't Tori be here?" She muttered.

"Is that a trick question?" Conner replied.

Kira glared at him then relaxed, "I'm sorry, I'm really freaked out about this. Not to mention what my manager's going to say if I miss an engagement."

"We're all freaked out about this," Hunter said, "but we're Power Rangers, we are all aware of the fact that things like this can happen."

"Point in fact," Dustin said, "it happened to Tori."

"It did?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, she was surfing and when she got back to shore the Rangers were the bad guys, the aliens were good and Mara, Kapri and Lothor were hippies, I think." Dustin said, "Dude it was so weird to hear about, I mean, Hunter can be evil, Blake can be evil, but me?"

"Actually," Ethan said, "you can be evil," he absently rubbed his side.

"I know you can't still be sore, it was seven years ago!" Dustin protested.

"Sorry," Ethan replied, dropping his hand, "long memory."

Someone knocked on the door, "Who is it?" Conner called.

"Scott Truman."

"Come in," Ethan called.

Scott opened the door, "Everything all right?" He asked, looking around the room.

"Yeah," Conner said, "we were just going over what happened."

"Ok," Scott said, he hesitated, "Mr. McAllister, uh, Flynn's dad, invited us for dinner. He said you were welcome to. Charlie called to and said that the older rangers were going to come over to Charlie's place if you were going to be there."

Conner looked at Ethan, who shrugged, and Kira nodded slightly, then across the way to Hunter, who raised an eyebrow. "We'll have to find Cam," Hunter said, "and did you see where Blake went?"

"He's downstairs," Scott replied, "he said he was giving you space."

"Oh," Hunter said. More looks went around the room.

"Look," Scott said, "I get that you don't want to share all your business with us, but there is a conference room downstairs that's big enough if you want to meet there. Or the roof, even, we've never done much with the roof, but it's a nice place to be."

"Right," Conner said, he stood. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to rehydrate."

"Right behind you," Ethan offered.

Conner slid past Scott and onto the walkway, where Flynn stood. "Good fight?" Conner asked.

"Aye," Flynn said, rubbing his hair with his towel; "No sign of the Android at least."

Conner nodded and made his way down the stairs, "That was weird," Ethan said as they reached the ground.

"What?" Conner asked.

"They're nervous," Ethan said, "or maybe awestruck would be a better term."

"It's not surprising," Blake said, coming out of the kitchen.

"Jiminy Cricket," Conner blurted out, "Give a guy a heart attack."

"Jiminy Cricket?" Ethan repeated as they walked into the kitchen.

"Eth, I just spend three months running soccer camps for ten year olds," Conner said, "we don't use bad words around them." He opened the fridge.

"Whatever," Ethan said. "What did you mean Blake?" He accepted the water bottle Conner handed him and leaned against the counter.

"In 2015, the Education Board revised history to include the Power Rangers," Blake said. "It's not surprising because Scott, Flynn and Summer all spent about six weeks studying the Rangers and their affect on the United States. Summer's school actually rated a visit from Mack and Rose during their Say No To Drugs week." Blake gestured, "With over half the Rangers maintaining their secret identities, they acquired a sense of mysticism in the minds of America's youth. These great defenders who stepped out of their normal lives to defeat evil and then vanished back into the crowd. You're their heroes, and they're getting to meet you, and not just meeting you years after being Rangers, but you are pretty close to fresh off the front line. Remember how it felt when you met the Elders? That's what they're experiencing, except they had no warning what so ever about you."

"I wish they'd get over it," Conner said as he boosted himself up on the counter and opened his water bottle. "It's not like we're all that special." He studied Blake over his water bottle for a moment, noting the wrinkles and the gray hairs. "What about you, how'd you end up here?"

"Dino Thunder Red, please do not sit on the counters." Dr K said sharply.

"What?" Conner asked.

"Dino Thunder Red, please get off the counter," Dr K repeated.

"He's talking to you, Conner," Blake said, "get down."

"Oh," Conner said and jumped down. "I do have a name," he added.

"I prefer to keep things from being personal," Dr K replied.

Conner grinned at the computer screen, "Really, Doc, that sounds like a challenge."