Day of the Dino
Tommy sighed. It was bad enough that he still hadn't managed to find the gems, now four of his new students had not only broken into his house but also discovered his secret base. He didn't have time to waste.
"Doctor O before you say anything, can we explain why we are here?" Ethan asked,
"Dude, he's just gonna laugh if we tell him." Conner gulped. He'd already got on the wrong foot with Randall, he didn't need another adult on his back.
"Wait, we don't need to explain anything. It's you who should do the explaining." Nick glared at the teacher. "This basement… this symbol…" He pointed at the claw insignia in the centre of the basement. "Why is this so similar to the one where we found the gems-"
Tommy's eyes widened. How could he have been oblivious! They had found the gems after all, now he just needed to convince them to hand the gems over before they bonded to the dino spirits. Wait, wasn't there another student with them?
"Do you know where those things took Ahana?" Nick demanded.
His heart hammered. Mesagog may have access to a gem and more importantly, a civilian hostage. "Hey Nico, was it? Just calm down and tell me what is really going on."
"Some weird dinosaur creatures kidnapped Ahana when we were coming home and disappeared into a green portal. We need help and you seem to be involved in all this somehow." Kira cut in before Nico could say anything.
Tommy paled. If Mesagog had Ahana, there was no saying what he will do to her. It may already be too late to save her and once again, it was his fault … for bringing teenagers into it and trying to outsmart the grid.
"He doesn't look convinced." Conner muttered.
"The creatures … they're called tyrannodrones and we have no time to spare." He walked past them and pressed some keys on the consoles. "Initialize a scan for invisiportals in the city."
"So, you are involved in all this?" Ethan's eyes narrowed.
"I helped create them." Tommy admitted guiltily.
"Oh, class project?"
Tommy shrugged. He made stupid life decisions and now he was being judged by a high school student of all things. For a moment it felt like Billy and Trini were staring down at him and Kim and Zack were yelling "What the hell were you thinking, Tommy!" at him, which is probably what they would be doing if they knew about all this.
"It's a long story but for now, we gotta figure out what they want with Ahana." He looked at them waiting for them to take out the gems. The four teens exchanged looks before nodding and taking out the gems. Bingo!
He noticed that the fifth gem was with them despite Ahana's absence. On one hand, that was good- Mesagog had not got his claws on any of the gems yet but on the other hand, without the gem, Ahana was expendable to him… Tommy paled at the realization
Ahana blinked, opening her eyes, finding herself in a dark room. Wait, where was she? And everything came back to her. She was kidnapped by those things and taken through a portal. That was the last thing she remembered before falling unconscious. This was not good. She was captured by some unknown force again! The very reason she had left Blue Bay Harbour… given up that gem to which she had felt an inexplicable bond with… and still she was kidnapped! Damn it. Can't the universe give her a break?
She was lying in a plain foldable bed, not unlike the one in the dentist's office and the room was dimly lit. The whole place was like a dungeon and made her more uneasy than the cave where they found the gems.
"The gems." Something hissed in her ear. She turned around. Nothing.
"The gems…" Again, that same voice that sent chills down her spine.
She got up from the bed and whirled around. Even with her ninja training, she couldn't spot anyone.
"Come out so that I can see you." She called out. At least, then she'd have a fighting chance.
Just like that, something or someone appeared right in front of her but she didn't feel any air movement. It was a lizard dressed in a black trench coat. It must have been there all along and somehow had cloaking abilities.
"The gems, where are they?"
"I don't have any jewelry." She tried to be coy only for the thing to sneer at her.
"Don't lie. I sensed them and I felt you."
"I don't know what you are talking-"
Another hiss.
"You mean the stone I found in the woods yesterday.?"
"Yes!"
"I flushed it down the drain. You have to search the sewers, I guess. It's just a piece of junk."
"Silly girl!" He hissed, before vanishing.
She didn't like this place. It seemed to be Frankenstein's laboratory.
"I need to get out of here."
"Unlikely." A cold sneer drew her attention to the left where a glass door slid open and a woman in black leather and dark lipstick walked out with a red sword.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
"My master calls me Elsa."
"Master?" Ahana quirked her eyebrows. "Whatever? Tell me how to get out of wherever this is."
"You have quite an attitude, girl. You will stay here till my master says so."
Ahana's eyes twitched as she felt the same power she had wielded yesterday manifest again. With a yell, she wrenched her hands forwards, letting loose an energy blast that threw Elsa crashing through the glass doors, creating an opening.
"What's going on here?" It was a man's voice. A being covered completely in grey metal stepped through the wreckage, followed by the creatures from before. He helped the woman to her feet.
"Get her!" She snarled.
Ahana smirked. She ninja-streaked through the opening into the corridors, speeding past the monsters. She won't let herself get captured again, no matter what. Just then, a green portal opened in front of her and something in her head compelled her to jump through it and she did, trying to ignore the unpleasant feeling of going through a vortex. She didn't know why she landed herself in such situations but damn if she let those monsters take her without a fight.
"We are really sorry," Conner said quickly as they handed over the gems to Dr Oliver. "How were we supposed to know these things had superpowers and that those lizard dudes would come looking for them?"
"You weren't. What you were supposed to do were hand the dino gems over to me as soon as you came out of the woods." Tommy sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I guess I was expecting teenagers to do as they were told, which rarely happens and so it's kind of my fault. So, I'll fix this."
"Uh uh." Nick glared at him, stepping forwards. For a vague moment, Tommy felt a sense of familiarity as if he knew Nick from before but couldn't place the feeling. "You obviously know what's going on with these magic stones and crazy monsters."
"Yeah, dude. You need to come clean." Conner agreed.
"Okay first, don't call me dude," Tommy grimaced. "Second, as hard as it seems, you four need to forget about all this. I'll find Ahana," With that, he turned away. There was no way he was going to involve these kids in the fight against Mesagog. These four got detention on the first day of school… They were hardly the model students Jason and the others were and furthermore even if they were, he had no interest in turning children into heroes.
As he turned around, he felt a red streak blurring past him blocking the exit. The red streak slowed down to reveal Conner.
Tommy groaned.
He looked back at the others. "Do all of you have superpowers now?"
They nodded back at him. He was too late. The gem's powers were bonded to these kids.
"You can tell us all about it now or at our next parent teacher conference," Conner smirked at him. Tommy could tell the kid was bluffing but didn't say anything. He knew firsthand how stubborn teenagers could be and time was of the essence.
"We are not going to forget about this." Kira told him. "Fyi, I tried getting rid of the gem. It kept coming back to me. Besides we all got into this mess together and we are not leaving till we find Ahana."
Tommy relented. The kids could help after all. He could figure out what to do with the gems after they rescue Ahana. Maybe he'd lock them in a secure Ranger Vaults in a Promethea faculty and notify Lightspeed or the Silver Guardians to deal with Mesagog.
"Okay, come on." He told them as he led them out.
As they sped down the road in his rover, the kids pestered him with questions.
"So, when you said you created those… tyranno…whatevers, you were just kidding, right?" Ethan asked.
"They weren't supposed to be used like this," He sighed. "Someone has modified their programming. A few years back, I was doing research on xenobiology and the possibility of dinosaurs and their extinction being linked to ancient alien attacks. Originally the tyrannodrones were an attempt to fuse alien DNA with androids to serve as sentries against possible invasions. My partner, a scientist named Anton Mercer-"
"I remember that name, he is that really rich dude who disappeared in the island explosion. My cousin Regina worked with him and a lot of other people too. All of them went missing." Nick scowled. "Of course, the island exploded. You were nutcases. Alien technology and dinosaurs?"
"You are Regina's cousin?" Tommy asked him. "I am sorry, Nick. The experiments were supposed to be safe. They were a joint collaboration between Bio Labs, Promethea and Mercer Industries. Regina helped me escape the island. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have made it out of there."
"So, it wasn't an accident that the island exploded?" Nick asked suspiciously.
"No. Shortly after Mercer disappeared, our lab was attacked by a creature calling himself Mesagog. All of our research was destroyed or at least I thought it was. Regina, Dr Phenomenus, James and Lani … All of them gave up their lives so that Mesagog couldn't get his hands on the gems. Apparently, they only managed to slow him down."
"So this guy… Mesagog is back and he is after the gems… which are bonded to us?" Kira asked.
"Looks like it," Tommy nodded.
"Not to be rude but how come you made it off the island while Regina and the others didn't?" Nick asked. "Is there a chance they survived too?"
"I almost didn't and the only reason I did was because I was saved from drowning to death in the ocean by an ancient deity calling himself the Keeper. I don't want to give you false hope, Nick. Mesagog is vicious and merciless. Lightspeed and the Silver Guardians couldn't find them or any trace of our research in their rescue operations. I am sorry, this is a lot for you to take in-"
"We need to find Ahana fast." Kira said worried.
Tommy slowed the rover to a stop at a crossroads and waited.
"Why are we stopping?" Conner asked.
"Do you know about parallel dimensions? They exist in the same space as ours but vibrate at different frequencies. Occasionally there are breaches between the dimensions. My research team at Promethea called these gaps in the dimensions invisiportals, basically passage between our dimension and all others."
"Well, this is all fascinating but how is this helping us find Ahana?" Ethan asked skeptically. "I mean she is not just gonna fall out of the sky and land right in front of us."
As Tommy opened his mouth to say something, Ahana dropped out of a green portal and landed on the hood of the rover.
"That was fast." Nick commented. All five of them exited the car and ran over to Ahana.
"How did you do that?" Kira asked.
"I located the interdimensional breaches in the city. There were high chances of a invisiportal opening up here. I was planning of going inside and rescuing Ahana but apparently, she didn't need our help."
Ahana groaned as the other teens helped her off the car. "I am never doing that again."
She blinked and looked at her classmates and teacher. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We came to rescue you."
"Oh, thanks but I already escaped a crazy dinosaur, a cyborg and a maniac woman all by myself. You guys were a little late for the party."
Just then, another invisiportal opened and a small group of tyrannodrones leapt out of it followed by a figure in metallic black armour and wielding a sword and a shield.
"You sure about that?" Conner retorted as they looked at the villains warily. Tommy stepped forwards, glaring at the cyborg. "Mesagog found a new goon to do his dirty work?"
The cyborg let out a low growl.
"You are not fit to speak my master's name," He snarled at them. "Come with me peacefully or suffer the consequences."
"I am going to say…no," Tommy retorted. The cyborg yelled, charging at them, the foot soldiers following closely.
While he tackled the cyborg, the students faced off against the tyrannodrones.
Nick yelped as he barely ducked a punch from a tyrannodrone. He shoved it back and stepped back. Suddenly, two tyrannodrones leapt from behind him and pummeled him to the ground. Nick yelled, shielding his head from the attacks when he felt something stirring inside him. Something cold. The attacks stopped.
He opened his eyes to see all his attackers encased in ice.
"That's cool…literally!" He whooped as he got up. He looked down to see his hands glowing in white energy. Five more tyrannodrones charged at him. He raised his hand at them and let out a blast of ice shards that tore through his assailants.
Ahana sighed. She was going to take a long nap after all this. She was done with covering up her ninja abilities. She ninja-streaked through the tyrannodrones, dismantling them in a matter of seconds.
She ran over to the others, who had also finished off their own opponents with their new powers. If any of them asked, she'd just tell them her ninja abilities were just superpowers.
"Make sure you tell your master Doctor Oliver is back," Tommy declared, kicking the cyborg back. The monster stumbled, regaining his balance.
"I will tell him that this battle is over but the war has only just begun." The monster warned ominously before disappearing with his remaining soldiers.
"That was interesting." Nick commented.
"Yeah, let's never do that again." Ahana said dryly.
"We should get out of here. It's getting late. I don't want your parents to worry." Tommy said, heading back to the rover.
"I bet you don't." Conner snarked at him.
Tommy rolled his eyes before relenting. "I'll fill you in after school, I promise." The four looked at each other before following him to the rover.
As soon as they entered the class, Ahana and Kira found themselves face to face with a microphone, courtesy of Cassidy.
"Kira Ford, Ahana Kaur, I am Cassidy Cornell, Reefside News Network," She beamed at the two.
"Cassidy, I know who you are," Kira rolled her eyes. "We have homeroom together?" Ahana shook her head, as she tried to slither away from the self-proclaimed reporter, only for Cassidy to turn towards her.
"Anyway, what can you tell me about the mysterious goings-on in Reefside. For example, the sudden friendship between you two, Conner McKnight, Ethan James and Nick Russell?"
Kira rolled her eyes again. Ahana hid a smile as she noticed it. Kira rolled her eyes a lot! It was a miracle her eyes haven't fallen off.
Cassidy turned the microphone towards her direction. Ahana gave a small smile.
"I am really not fond of cameras that much?"
Cassidy ignored her completely, posing a question of her own. "What about the strange creatures that appeared out of nowhere and attacked you in broad daylight? What about that, huh?"
Ahana gulped. Really, she had spent half her life hiding that she was a ninja from the world and now she was on the spotlight thanks to some robot lizards. Typical!
"Look, we have no idea what you are talking about. But as you can see, I'm just fine and so is she." Kira took over the conversation boldly. "But you…" She scrunched her eyebrows. "You look kind of pasty."
Cassidy looked scandalized.
"Pasty? Are you serious?" She fussed over herself. "I hate fluorescent lighting!"
Just then, Dr Oliver walked in and taking advantage of the distraction, the two of them went past Cassidy and took their seats.
"Cassidy, unless you plan on taking a lecture on the Mesozoic Period, I suggest you take your seat,"
The blonde girl gave an apologetic smile as she hastily returned to her seat, taking out her makeup mirror and scrutinizing her face.
"Thank you," Dr Oliver said. "Okay, so who can tell me when it all began?"
Ahana raised a hand just when the ground started shaking and the lights started to flicker on and off. Stormy clouds blanketed the sky, cutting off the sunlight. Nearly all the students ran to the windows to see the strange happenings.
"Cassidy, you are not going to believe what is going on!" Devin stumbled into the classroom.
"Let me guess the skies just went black in the middle of the day?" She asked sarcastically.
"It did?" he looked outside and his eyes widened. "Whoa look at that!"
"Devin, hello! What?" Cassidy snapped her fingers, turning his attention back to her.
"I just heard this whacky report about mechanical dinosaurs attacking down-town!"
Ahana and Kira looked at each other before turning their heads at Dr Oliver, who looked pale.
"Oi! Grab your camera! We need to get there! This can make our careers, Devin!"
"Wait a minute you two!" Doctor Oliver stopped them before they could leave. The speakers came to life as Principal Randall's stern voice echoed throughout the building.
"Everybody, please stay calm. The mayor has declared a state of emergency. Please report to the front of the school for immediate dismissal. Again, remain calm." Everyone hurried out of the classroom, leaving only Dr Oliver and the five teens.
"Doctor O, now would be a very good time to have that little chat," Kira told him.
"What madness have we got ourselves into?" Ahana groaned. She just wanted a normal year… a normal life. This was anything but.
"We are out of time. If Mesagog revived the BioZords, we got to act fast!" He shook his head. "Come on!"
The teens followed him. They didn't know what was going on but one thing was clear. Doctor Oliver was the only one who had all the answers.
"So, these mechanical dinosaur things, they are your friends?" Kira asked.
"Bio-Zords," Tommy sighed. "Fusion powered replicants, using actual dinosaur DNA for their neuro functions."
"I'm guessing you helped build them too?"
"I'm afraid so," He winced. "But right now, we… I mean, you have to tame them."
"I'll BBL if that's all the same to you," Ethan gave a nervous laugh as he headed for the exit.
"What's that mean?"
"Be back later, duh." Conner explained.
Tommy shook his head. So, the jock can't appear for classes but knows chatting abbreviations. Conner is seriously reminding him of Rocky. Let's just hope he doesn't share his humungous appetite!
"Ethan, wait!" The boy in blue turned back to look at his teacher.
"You can do this but you don't have to do it alone," He told them. He internally groaned. Keeper was right all along. No one else can harness the dino gem's energies even through the morphers. They were the only ones who can fight Mesagog. He had tried contacting Lightspeed and Silver Guardians but their forces were stretched thin currently thanks to some kind of demon outbreak in Stone Canyon. They don't have the resources or the rangers to spare.
"Ever since I found the Dino Gems, I have had these waiting if I ever needed to harness their powers," He led them over to a case sitting on a table.
"Into what?" Ahana asked suspiciously.
He opened up the briefcase to reveal five morphers, with different dinosaur heads on them in different colours… the colours of their gems.
"Dino Morphers." He told them. "Use these to become Power Rangers."
Ahana gave an exasperated sigh. Nick looked somewhere between excited and cautious. Conner and Kira looked somewhat eager but Ethan looked as if he were about to faint then and there.
"I gotta sit down," Ethan staggered and Conner caught him.
"Breathe dude."
Ahana's eyes were fixated on the purple morpher.
"We can't be superheroes!" Kira exclaimed, shaking her head. "Aren't you supposed to fly or have superhuman strength, stuff like that?"
Tommy looked mildly amused. In their time, they didn't have civilian powers but these kids do.
"Kira, aren't you forgetting the last two days?" Nick asked.
"Oh yeah… sorry. Slipped my mind." Kira bit her lips.
"Your gems are from the asteroid that crashed into the Earth millions of years ago, wiping away the dinosaur population," Tommy explained. "The Keeper, a benevolent alien found them and enlisted me to look after them so that they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands."
"How do you know that these are the right hands?" He asked.
"The Gems are magical, linked to the Morphin Grid that is the source of all life and the power source behind every ranger team in the universe and created by the Morphin Masters, the most powerful beings in all of existence. They are in a way, alive and sentient. Believe me, they chose you and not the other way around. Only you five can successfully use the powers of the gems."
"Can't they unchoose us?" Ahana asked.
"They have already bonded with your DNA," He told them plainly. "That's what gave you your powers."
"So, if they have already bonded to us, why are Mesagog and his goons still after them?" Ethan asked.
"The only way these powers can be taken away is if you are destroyed," came the grave answer.
"Okay for future reference, that's not a great selling point." Ethan said.
"Look all I know is, I don't remember asking to be a superhero!" Conner waved his hands.
"The Gems wouldn't have bonded with you if you didn't have anything that could handle the power," He explained patiently. "Please, time is running out."
Exchanging anxious yet eager glances, the five of them reached out and took their morphers.
"So now what?" Ethan asked as they scrutinized the morphers. They could feel the power emanating from them. "Do we need to have some kind of secret command or password?"
"All you have to say is 'Dino Thunder, Power up," and you'll be transformed. You'll know what to do." Tommy nodded at them.
"Dino Thunder?" Conner repeated, glancing at Ethan. "Did you come up with that?"
"I kinda like it." Ethan admitted, which made Conner smirk.
"You would," Ethan rolled his eyes.
Again, with the eye rolling. What's up with these teens and their snark. Out of all the rangers he'd served with, only Kim, Zack, Aisha, Tanya and Cassie could possibly keep up with their sass.
Tommy cleared his throat. "Look, I know you five are from different worlds, I get it. But you are going to have to work together or this can never happen. This won't be easy. Nobody knows that better than I do."
Nick narrowed his eyes at him and once again, Tommy felt a sense of déjà vu. He had this feeling that he should know this kid from somewhere but he couldn't place the feeling.
"But you're going to have to believe in yourselves because I do." He continued.
"Really?" Conner asked skeptically.
"Really." He confirmed. "You five are the world's best and only hope of survival."
As their teacher drove them downtown, Ahana felt the memories come back to her. She had trained her whole life to be a Guardian and then, Lothor happened. One year of getting stuck in a tiny orb gave her a lifetime's worth of trauma. Her body had been in stasis while her mind was active. She couldn't escape or will her body to break free. But then when Mesagog captured her, she did find a way out of his fortress. These things… kidnapping of innocents by monsters… She couldn't let stuff like this happen to others. As much as she wanted to resume a normal life and watch from the sidelines, she was born for this… to be a hero and she wouldn't back down, not now. She had faltered but she wouldn't let the fear control her life anymore. It was time to be a hero.
"Okay. This is it." Tommy announced, stopping his rover and they looked out to see the massive zords terrorizing the city. They climbed out to see the giant robotic versions of a tyrannosaurus, a triceratops, a pterodactyl, a raptor and a plesiosaurus stomping across the city, tearing down buildings.
"That must be them!"
"Wow, good call, Conner." Kira rolled her eyes.
The cyborg from before landed in front of them. "You'll have to get past me before you get those zords!"
"That's the part I'm looking forward to," Conner retorted.
"You guys ready?" Ethan glanced at the other four.
"Oh yeah," Kira smirked.
"Damn right." Nick flashed a devilish grin at the cyborg.
"About time." Ahana glared at the monster.
"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP, HA!" They morphed into their new suits, which had white spikes running down the sides and a golden claw emblem engraved on their chests.
"Whoa!" Nick smiled, inspecting his pink suit. He was a superhero and though it irked him a bit that he was the pink ranger, he couldn't be happier! He was a power ranger… a superhero… something every kid wanted to be… He was living his childhood dream and nothing could ruin his mood, even the fact that he was covered from head to toe in pink spandex!
Ahana studied her purple suit. It was flashy for sure but it felt nice. She could feel the absolute power of the Grid coursing through her veins, burning away any insecurities she might have had.
"So… you are power rangers." The monster drawled.
"Call on your weapons!" Doctor Oliver yelled, "They are in your belt!"
"You got it, Dr O!" Conner whooped and their belts began to glow as beam of golden light shot out of them and circled the new heroes before taking physical form and dropping in their outstretched hands.
"Nice, I got a tyranno staff!" Conner exclaimed.
"I can come to grips with this! Ptera Grips!" Kira twirled the dagger like weapons, before taking a battle stance.
"Sweet! A Tricera Shield!" Ethan shouted like a five-year-old who had just got a new toy.
"Awesome! Raptor Claws!" Nick felt himself grinning ear to ear. His weapons were the coolest. He wore vermilion gauntlets, which had sharp claws extending out of where his knuckles should be.
"I can get used to this! Plesio Crossbow!" Ahana couldn't hold back her excitement as she pointed her new weapon at the cyborg and fired. Energy arrows pelted out of the purple crossbow, heading straight for the monster.
"Enough!" The cyborg raised his shield, deflecting the attack though he was sent staggering back. "Tyrannodrones, get them!"
At his command, an invisiportal opened over him and a platoon of foot-soldiers leapt out, heading straight for them.
The rangers nodded at each other and met their opponents in battle. After six years of training in the Wind Ninja Academy, fighting was second nature to her. She let out a battle cry as she ran at the robots, firing from her crossbow and taking out several of their ranks. As she reached closer, she smirked, kicking a tyrannodrone back to another. She used her free hand to catch a punch by one, before lifting it up and throwing it back to the ground hard. She pointed the crossbow at the remaining attackers and fired, watching with grim satisfaction as the ensuing blast dismantled all of them into scrap heap. She turned around to see others make quick work of the other tyrannodrones.
Nick swung his claws, striking down two foot-soldiers. "Loving this!" He struck his claws to the ground, letting loose a seismic wave that shook through his would-be attackers and tore them apart.
"Freeze!" Nick saw Ethan attempt to stop the cyborg, only for the villain to unleash a laser of light that wrapped around the blue ranger and lifted him off the ground, before slamming him to a billboard. He yelled as he fell down.
"NO!" Ahana screamed. Even if the suit could protect him from a fall from such a height, she wasn't ready to risk it not when she could save him, secrets be damned. She ninja-streaked towards him, catching him and breaking his fall, as both of them landed safely on the streets.
"Whoa!" Ethan gasped. "That was-"
"Amazing!" Nick whistled as the other rangers ran up to the two.
Conner nodded approvingly.
"Guys, we still have to take care of this creep!" Kira reminded them, turning towards the cyborg.
"Rangers, combine your weapons!" Dr Oliver yelled, his voice carrying over the sound of the giant robots tearing through the city.
"Right!" Conner nodded. The five stood together and by instinct, combined their weapons into a blaster.
"Z-Rex Blaster, ready! Fire!" They unleashed a torrent of energy at the cyborg, who was sent crashing through a building.
"We did it!" Kira shouted.
"It's not over yet, rangers!" The cyborg stood up with the support of his battle axe. "You showed me your weapons, now meet mine!"
A large ship flew towards them, unleashing laser attacks that shook the ground, making them tumble to the ground.
"Ok, how do we fight that?" Conner panted, getting up.
"You got to tame the zords." Dr Oliver told them as he helped Ethan and Kira get up. "Concentrate. Your morphers will communicate your thoughts to your zords."
Ahana nodded. Though it was brief, she had seen the ninja zords in action. The very thought that she could pilot one of her own was exhilarating.
"Look at that!" Conner pointed at the triceratops, which grunted at them. "They are huge!"
"Calm down boy," Ethan extended his hands in the direction of the triceratops. "It's alright. I'm your friend." He maintained eye contact, assuming the zord could see through his visor and look directly in his eyes, as he raised his morpher. "Tricera Zord!"
The zord roared as it's colour changed from dull grey to bright blue.
"It worked!" He cheered.
"Okay, my turn." Kira turned towards the ptera zord as it flew overhead. "Ptera Zord! We can be friends, right?" Almost instantaneously, the zord turned yellow and let out a friendly screech.
"Heyo!" Nick gave an awkward wave at the raptor, who snarled at him.
"Careful." Ahana warned.
"Sorry, was never that great with pets." He scratched the back of his helmet sheepishly.
"Just be yourself, Nick and the morpher will do the rest." Dr Oliver advised.
"Right." Nick raised his morpher at the giant raptor. "We can be partners, right? Please don't eat me."
Nick smiled as a burst of pink light restored the zord to her true form. "Atta girl! Knew we can do it!"
Ahana smiled, turning towards her own zord. She raised her morpher and as Dr O advised, tried to connect with her. I know how it's like to be held captive against your will. Just let me help you and you can be free. She pleaded the zord.
She heard a deafening roar as the plesiozord turned purple and nodded at her.
"That was quick." Nick whistled. "You didn't even say anything."
"She did." Dr Oliver gave her a knowing smile. "Just not aloud."
"Conner! The Tyranno Zord is still out of control!" Ethan yelled in alarm as the zord attacked the others.
"Do something!" Kira screamed as the ptera zord crashed to the ground as a result of being hit by the tyrannozord's tail.
"Come on! I need you to work with me here!" Conner yelled at the zord, scrunching his eyes and reaching out in desperation. He raised his arm. "Tyranno Zord!" The zord roared and hesitated for a while before turning red and roaring again, this time declaring his independence.
"You did it!" Nick gave him a one-armed hug as the others cheered.
"Only one more thing to do! Bring them together." Dr Oliver said.
Nick grinned. "A megazord!"
"Okay, let's do it!" Conner called, jumping into their zords.
"Logging in, combine powers!" The tyranno zord folded on itself, forming most of the body of the megazord till it's knees and it's right arm. The raptor zord and plesio zord formed the lower legs of the megazord, the ptera zord it's head and the tricera zord it's left arm. The tail of the tyranno zord detached and became a sword for the megazord to wield.
"It worked!" Ahana was buzzing with excitement as she joined the others in the cockpit.
"Your power is no match for mine!" the cyborg yelled from his ship, opening fire on them, the attack pushing them back.
"Now I'm mad!" Conner grunted. Cables shot down from the ship and wrapped around their arms, sending a jolt of electricity through them.
"Time to head for the back of the net!" Conner commanded. Using the cables holding them in place as support, the megazord jumped to the air, heading straight for the ship much to the cyborg's shock. "There's the heart of the ship. Dino Drill, engage!"
They drove the tyranno sword, which started to rotate, through the ship, destroying it in one huge explosion. The monster fell out of the ship just in time before escaping through an invisiportal.
When Tommy held out the briefcase containing the morphers, he felt a bit proud but also anxious. Was this how Zordon felt about them?
Hayley had wanted to get know the kids on her own before letting them know she was part of Tommy's team. The Keeper as usual was a no show. For now, he was their only mentor and despite his urge to lock the morphers in one of the vaults, he had decided to let the kids be rangers. They were bonded to the gems and the Grid for that matter and nothing could change that now. They were now part of the Ranger family.
The morphers changed form to become simple grey bracelets with the gems in their center.
"Keep these bracelets with you at all times," he told them as he passed them their bracelets. "They'll access your morphers when you need them and you can use them to communicate with me and each other."
"Dr O, I know you must be real smart, science teacher and all, but this is…Well…" Kira broke off, looking at him curiously.
"Exactly what I want to know." Nick turned his head at the science teacher again.
"The morphers? It's not easy to get your hands on such technology." Ahana added, looking at him suspiciously. "Who are you?"
Tommy sighed, setting the now empty case down. "I know you need answers but right now, the less you know, the safer we all are. Believe me, I don't want you fighting monsters and piloting giant dinosaurs but the gems are already bonded to you. They chose you. I can't change that no matter how much I want you guys out of harm's way. I promise I will fill you in, on time."
"Speaking of time, you think Mesagog's going to stick around for a while?" Ethan asked.
"Unfortunately, they always do."
"They?" Ahana repeated.
"I know this is a lot to take in. Your lives have changed in ways you couldn't have imagined," Tommy said seriously, feeling slightly guilty as he dodged Ahana's question. "But as long as you work together and remember you are a team, no one can defeat you. No one." He reassured them, praying that he would be able to guide them as well as Zordon had guided him. He hated being on the sidelines but without his morphers, this is all he could do. He just hoped it would be enough.
Hope you liked this chapter and please review. :)
Also there's a "post-credits scene" for this chapter, which won't directly affect future storylines of this story but sets the stage for connected prequels and sequels that take place in the same continuity as this story, which I fondly call the Guardians!verse.
Nick Russell counted himself one of the luckiest people in the planet. He was adopted and unlike other adopted kids, he had no desire to find out his biological parents or learn why they gave him up, frankly because it didn't matter. Those people might have given birth to him but they were not his real parents. The Russells were his real family, the ones who loved him unconditionally and took him in when no one else would. They rescued him from the streets after he ran away from his foster home and for that, he'd always be grateful.
Rick and Tina Russell were his parents and Sabrina was his sister. Nothing and no one in the world could change that. They trusted him so much and were always there to catch him whenever he faltered in anything, dealt with his temper tantrums and always reassured him that he was a part of their family, no matter what.
So that's why it hurt to keep a secret from them. He was anxious even thinking about it but as Dr Oliver had explained it, it was to keep them safe. Moreover, if they knew he was a ranger, they would worry about him continuously and God forbid, try to help him too.
He bit his lip as he opened the door to their apartment. He really didn't want to lie to his parents but what they don't know can't hurt them, right?
"How was school, honey?" His mother asked him, coming from the living room, his father following closely behind. "I heard there were monster attacks."
"And Rangers!" His father jumped enthusiastically. He was obsessed with the power rangers, even going as far to make a scrapbook detailing the various ranger teams.
"It was good. We got off early. School was cancelled because of the attacks. I stayed back in the school with a couple of friends till it was over." He lied.
"Good thing you did, dear. The city is not safe during the attacks. You don't remember much but God, the attacks in Angel Grove used to be downright terrifying." His mom fussed.
"Yeah."
"The news said they have a red, blue, yellow, pink and purple ranger. Guess what, Pink's a dude! And they have a dinosaur team since the original team!" His dad almost squealed with excitement.
"Aren't you too old to be geeking out over superheroes, dad?" Nick joked.
"The superheroes are awesome. For you kids, it's normal… aliens, monsters and heroes. In our time, these things were only in comics and tv shows. The world has changed so much." His mom said gently, giving his dad a quick peck in the cheeks.
"Yeah whatever. It's cool." Nick said. "Guys, I'm super tired."
"Yeah, go rest in your room. We will wake you up for dinner." His dad gave him a one-armed hug.
As he went to his room, he didn't notice his parents looking at each other worriedly.
"You sense it too, don't you?" Tina whispered. "We were so careful."
"There is no reason to worry." Rick reassured her. "Just because he is a ranger now doesn't mean he will remember-"
"But he will be targeted-"
"Just like any other ranger. He will have his team beside him. We can't let anyone find out the truth. That's why we can't interfere."
"But he is our baby."
"I know. We have to trust him and his team to keep him safe for now. We always knew it was his destiny to be a hero."
"But why after all these years?"
"I don't know, Tina." Rick embraced his wife in a hug, as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
"We have to let Sabrina know. If the Phoenix has awakened, that means the return of the Darkness is near. The Order needs to be ready." She sniffed.
"It will be alright, dear. We have to trust in him. We protected him as much as we can but we can't run from destiny forever."
Two parents held each other contemplating the future, knowing the trials their son would face yet bound by circumstances and fate to shield him from the truth.
