Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the Disney Corporation or Power Rangers, this story is nothing more than a way for me to show my appreciation of the series.

Passion Power and Dinosaurs

Chapter 8: Gifts

Hayley awoke in Tommy's arms, snuggling up to him; she placed her head on his bare chest, her auburn red hair pooling all around as she listened for his heartbeat. Bump-Bump-Bump, there it is, smiling happily she looked up and saw Tommy smiling right back at her. "Morning." She said, a silly girlish smile on her face.

"Morning." He replied, as he kissed the top of her head, it had been only three months after the White Ranger Clone's attack on the Cyber Café, luckily the Café had received a massive amount of donations from several members of the community, because of this the Café was back in business in less then a month. Looking over a clock located across the room, she realized that it was 12:00; good thing the café wasn't open today.

"So, the holidays are just in a few days, you do your shopping yet?" asked Tommy.

"That's a secret." Teased Hayley as she poked his nose, giggling she leaned in for a kiss, Tommy didn't complain.

Meanwhile, Conner and Krista were at the local mall, shopping in a way, but it was more on the terms of Conner carrying a few bags, while Krista looked for the right Christmas gifts for her friends and family. The mall was crowed with hundreds of people in a mad rush to get their Christmas shopping done, after all the holiday was only 3 days away. Stopping at a local jewelry store, Conner walked in.

"Conner? Where are you going?" called Krista.

"Oh, Doctor O. asked me to pick up something from this store. Said Conner quickly as he ran in. Quickly handing two receipts to the clerk, he was presented with two jewelry boxes, one used to hold a bracelet and the other was used to hold a necklace. He quickly pocketed the two before walking back out.

"I'm guessing that that's Dr. O's gift for Hayley." Commented Krista "Hey let's look and see what it is."

"What?" said Conner obviously surprised at the suggestion.

"Sure, why not? I mean it's not like we're going to hurt anybody by doing so." Replied Krista, a devious look was in her gentle blue eyes. "Please?"

"Ok, but we can't tell anyone about this." Said Conner, as he pulled out both of the boxes. Opening the first one box, Conner revealed a beautiful silver bracelet, some may have said that it was a bit plain, others cheap, but it was on a teacher's salary, and it was the best that Tommy could come up with, on the center of the bracelet was a heart and an emerald. All around the bracelet was an intricate pattern of strange shapes it suited Hayley perfectly.

"Wait, what's in the other box?" asked Krista.

"Oh, that's for you from yours truly." Replied Conner as he opened box #2, inside was a silver heart-shaped locket, in the center of the locket was a shard of what looked like a red gem. "The red shard is a piece of my Dino Gem."

Krista was at a loss of words, as her boyfriend walked around her and helped her put on the necklace. "Conner, I don't know what to say, other than: how can you afford this?"

"I have a very big savings account, been working every summer since I was 6, from mowing lawns to babysitting to doing crazy chores for a rich guy." Answered Conner sheepishly, as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Wait what was that last part?" asked Krista.

"Uh…."

Deep in Mesogog's lair, Elsa was busy perfecting a virus for her master, although bioengineering wasn't exactly her specialty she was eager to finish the virus, not only would it significantly make Mesogog's army larger, it would help turn the tide of the war that they were waging with the Dino Rangers. Things hadn't exactly been good around the lair after the White Ranger Clone had been destroyed, most of Mesogog's wrath had been focused on her, and she had found herself at the receiving end of stress relief many times. How much more she could take was anybody's guess.

"FINALLY!" she shouted after she had tested the virus on another lab rat, the results were nauseating at best.

Mesogog walked into the room, as he snarled and sniffed the room. "Something smells wonderful….." he said.

"It should, I've finally managed to complete that virus." Said Elsa as she emptied the contents of her experiment into 2 seperate canisters.

"Excellent! Distribute the virus, now" replied Mesogog, this was going to be good.

And it was distributed in the form of a missile which was launched high up into Reefside's atmosphere before exploding and releasing a cloud of green dust into the atmosphere, as birds literally dropped from the skies, animals ran for cover, and humans fell to the ground screaming in agony. Among one of them was Krista.

"Krista, Krista what's wrong?" shouted Conner in worry.

Krista was truly scared for perhaps the first time, as she felt her body begin to change; her bones were crunched together painfully, as she screamed in total agony. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before in her life. "Conner, please don't look at me." She begged as she hid her face from him. She could feel her fingernails begin to extend and harden into claws. The last thing that she wanted was for Conner to see her like this, but Conner wouldn't listen as he turned her to face him. On her face were scales that were continuing to spread at a steady rate, one of her beautiful blue eyes were beginning to mutate into a sickly yellow color. "Please don't look at me…."

"Dr. O, what's happening to her? Hell what's happening to the entire city!" asked Conner anxiously, after seeing Krista's condition Conner had rushed Krista to Dino ops on foot, after all he did have those super speed Dino powers. Trent, Ethan and Kira were also present as was Hayley, who was inside Dino-ops and had managed to avoid being affected by the toxin. Quickly placing Krista on a table, the gang was horrified at her appearance, as scales continued to form on her skin at an alarming rate.

Tommy was at a loss of words as he finished up his diagnostic. "It can't be." He whispered softly. "Heartbeat erratic at best, adrenaline levels continuing to increase, rapid dehydration, Krista, along with the rest of the city, is turning into a Tyranodrone."

"Just how's that possible?" cried Kira in shock.

"Mesogog has somehow managed to crack the basic DNA code of the Tyranodrone. I believe that he's used it to create a virus that will mutate all humans into Tyranodrones." Replied Hayley, as she sat down at the console. "I'm detecting some foreign substances in the atmosphere, I think it's what caused the sudden mutations. At this rate atmospheric winds will blow the virus around the world."

"We have to develop a cure. NOW!" said Trent, as he stepped up.

"Wait a minute, I was outside practically the entire day, why wasn't I affected?" asked Ethan. "Isn't that kinda weird?"

"Yeah that is weird." agreed Conner as he nodded his head in agreement. "Since when do you go outside?"

Ethan gave Conner a look, before looking at Doctor O. "Anyways, can we please stick to the problem at hand?"

"The reason why the five of us, and Hayley haven't been affected is because, we have bonded with our Dino Gems giving us immunity to the virus. Hayley was inside when the virus hit, and if we don't hurry she'll also be infected." Answered Doctor O. For now, I'm afraid we'll have to quarantine Krista, to make sure she doesn't infect anybody with the virus."

Two hours and three medical experiments later, the gang still hadn't managed to find a cure for the disease, nothing would neutralize the virus. After doing several experiments on blood samples provided by Krista, they were still falling short of a cure. Krista's behavior was becoming more and more erratic, at times she was docile other times she attempted to break out of the containment room that she was being held in. Finally after hours of work Dr. O sent everyone home while he and Hayley went upstairs. Conner on the other hand decided to stay and watch Krista.

"It's ironic isn't it?" Krista called out while lying on a cot at the corner of the room she was in. Tears began to form in her eyes. "I wanted so much to be like you, and the rest of rangers, so I would know what it was like to have Dino powers. I was afraid, afraid that our relationship just wouldn't last because we were different in so many ways. That's why I so desperately wanted Dino Powers. I guess you really should be careful of what you wish for."

Conner was at a loss of words, Krista had never told him such personal secrets. He wanted to say something, but he knew that words would be useless here. Instead, he went into her containment room, walking over gently he planed a soft kiss on her forehead, Krista looked frightened. "Conner please don't."

"Listen, Krista, I've been meaning to say this to you for a while, so I may as well say it now. I love you. And when I say that I don't just mean I love the pretty nature loving you, I mean I love you when you're sad, when you have crazy ideas such as slow dancing in the middle of the streets, and that includes you right now." Conner said cutting in, as his hand gently caressed her cheek.

"Conner…." Whispered Krista as tears began to stream from her eyes, among them was a single tear which fell and landed on her brand-new locket. A bright crimson flash began to illuminate the entire room as Krista felt a gentle warm feeling fill her body. When the light died down, Conner let out a gasp of surprise.

"Krista you're…"

Krista glanced down at her hands, where there were once claws, there were now normal human fingernails, there weren't even any scales. Crying for joy the two embraced each other before kissing passionately. Finally breaking away for air, Conner realized what this meant. "We've found a cure!"

"Ok! So we can conclude that Conner's Dino Energy is what healed Krista, so if we hope to cure an entire city, we'll need a very large amount of Dino Energy." Said Doctor O, after discovering the cure for the disease, the entire team had regrouped at Dino-Ops.

"Wait, just what is Dino Energy though?" asked Kira.

"Dino Energy is the physical form of human emotions, normal humans can't release Dino Energy, so they have to use a medium in order to release it, in our case our mediums are our Dino Gems." Answered Tommy. "By transforming into our Ranger forms, the amount of Dino Energy released is maximized. Focusing Dino Energy in certain places can have various results, for example when we focus our Dino Energy into our ranger suits, we go from Battle Mode to Super Dino Mode. When we focus our energies into the Shield of Triumph, Conner goes Triassic."

"Ok….." started Conner.

"Well that was a LOT of information for us to process." Muttered Trent under his breath, before Ethan elbowed him in the gut. "Owwww."

"Wait, do you think that we can all focus our Dino Energies into the Shield of Triumph, we can cure everyone all at once?" asked Kira.

"It's worth a try." Replied Tommy, as he pulled out a part of his morpher, the Brachio Key. Raising his Dino Bracelet to his chest, he quickly changed it into his Brachiomorpher. "OK, let's do this! Ready?"

"Ready!" shouted Conner, Ethan and Kira simultaneously as they also changed their bracelets into their individual morphers.

"Dino Thunder Power Up!" shouted all four simultaneously as they changed into their ranger outfits.

"White Ranger Dino Power!" cried Trent as he also morphed.

Conner immediately pulled out the Shield of Triumph, as the other Dino Rangers pooled their energies into the palms of their hands before sending it into the Shield. Conner transformed in a pool of golden energy, as colors of gold and blue were added to his suit along with wicked gold trimmings being added onto his helmet. The other four rangers fall to the floor panting in exhaustion as Conner transformed into a ball of golden light.

"You now carry all of our hopes now, Conner." whispered Kira before fainting.

The ball of light was teleported into the city, where hundreds of Tyranodrones roamed the streets causing mass chaos and destruction. The ball of light turned back into the Triassic Ranger before Conner repeatedly blasted several Tyranodrones with his Dino Energy curing them in the process. Yet the hordes of Tyranodrones seemed endless, as the scared civilians ran away in fear after being cured. Conner was at the end of his rope as he reverted back into his regular ranger suit. 'Crap, I exerted myself. These Tyranodrones are really civilians I can't fight them.'

Conner suddenly felt a massive power boost surge through him, as he looked around and saw hundreds of streams of golden light, Dino Energy rush into him. 'Where is this energy coming from?' Quickly looking around, Conner realized that he was drawing the Dino Energy from the cured civilians, some willingly gave it to him, others unknowingly gave it to him, but it didn't matter the power boost was more than enough energy for him to go Triassic once more. Conner quickly produced a massive aura of Dino Energy, which began to sweep the entire city curing any and everything it touched. The virus in the air was also neutralized as Conner collapsed onto the ground after completely overexerting himself.

"I did it…" gasped Conner as he struggled to get away before he demorphed.

Meanwhile, the triploids were hard at work digging up an ancient relic discovered not too long ago by Zeltrax, if the triploids had been human, they would have died from fatigue long ago, but they weren't. That was the beauty of using triploids as foot soldiers or personal slaves, they didn't question your authority, and they could work for hours, maybe even days without getting tired. The relic was slowly beginning unearthed,but it would still take a few more weeks of digging, but Zeltrax had time. He had all the time in the world.

'Soon Tommy Oliver, soon.' Thought Zeltrax to himself. 'You'll feel my wrath soon enough, everyone will!'

Christmas day….

Christmas was a day of celebration, and family, but because both Hayley and Tommy didn't have any family that lived in town, the two wound up spending Christmas together. The lights were dim and Silent Night was played in the background as Hayley snuggled up to Tommy on the couch, admiring the bracelet that she had just received she sighed in contentment, could it get any better than this?

DING DONG

Tommy reluctantly lost contact with Hayley as he went to get the door. Opening it, he was surprised to find, Conner, Krista, Ethan, Trent, and Kira at the door, all of them baring gifts.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" shouted the five simultaneously. Hayley smiled. 'I guess it can.'

A/N: OK, I'll admit it right here right now, I got the idea for this chapter off of an episode of Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (Japanese version of Dino Thunder) Although I changed a few parts of it, the basic plot an idea are the same. I also wanted to give Krista's character some depth, something I have yet to do with Ethan and Kira's characters. BTW for those of you who haven't noticed yet, I've placed a few tidbits about Power Rangers throughout a few of my chapters try finding them. The tidbits range from the actual show to the actors that play the characters. I'll reveal all of them when I finish the story. When will that be? Who knows?

Oh yeah for those of you who are either in denial about it or are too dense to realize it, yes Tommy and Hayley did have sex, as proven by the scene at the beginning of the chapter. The reason I decided to do this is because I feel that sex is basically the ultimate way to express one's love, and that the two are mature enough to not make a big deal out of it.

I want to take the time right here right now, to thank everyone who has been reading this story, and reviewing it. Your support means a lot so thanks. I'll try to improve my writing, and update often.