Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Power Rangers or the Disney Company.

Passion Power and Dinosaurs

Chapter 14: Strength!

Tommy slammed his Brachiostaff onto Ethan's shoulder before kicking him in the gut. Ethan stumbled backwards before he fell onto his back. Sparring was never easy, especially since it was the four teenagers against Tommy. The poor teenagers don't stand a chance. Tommy quickly ducked to avoid an attack aimed at his neck, which was executed by Kira using her Pteragrips. Using the opportunity, Tommy quickly snatched Kira's Thundermax blaster from her holster, and used it on her. Kira was sent flying thanks to the fury of lasers shot at her by Tommy.

Tommy quickly turned his attention to Trent, who was charging towards him with blinding speed, obviously he was using his White Drago Sword's special ability to see if he could strike first. Tommy quickly stabbed his blade into the Earth with a destructively large amount of force causing parts of the earth to shatter and break. Without a solid ground to run on Trent easily stumbled onto a powerful slash executed by the Black Ranger. "Too easy." Muttered Tommy arrogantly.

"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you!" shouted Conner from behind Tommy, his Thundermax saber was drawn and raised above his head in an attack stance. However, the red ranger never got the chance to attack, because Tommy quickly used Kira's Thundermax laser to shoot several golden laser blasts at him before Tommy delivered a powerful diagonal slash across his stomach before following up with another slash onto his shoulder. Conner stumbled back in pain dropping his saber. The Red Dino Ranger was about to charge back into battle, but he was stopped by a thrust of Tommy's Brachiostaff, the business end of the blade was just inches away from his throat.

"Game over." Tommy softly whispered. A soft purple glow enveloped Tommy as he changed back into his civilian form; his eyes were filled with disappointment. "You guys don't work together, alone each and every one of you guys is strong, but together, you guys will become unstoppable!" Tommy left the other rangers feeling very unsure about themselves.

Back at the Cyber Café, Krista gingerly applied a cotton ball full of rubbing alcohol onto a cut located on Conner's upper arm. A soft hiss, which escaped from Conner's mouth, indicated that she had gotten the right amount of alcohol in; removing the cotton ball, the brunette gently blew on the wound. "Is that better?"

Conner turned around and smiled. "Much better. Thanks."

Krista affectionately brushed a few bangs before tenderly kissing his forehead, before moving down to do the same to his lips. "Anytime. Although I still can't believe that Doctor O did all this to you in a single battle."

"Me neither, I mean I know that he used to a ranger and all, but I never knew that he was that strong, it's almost like he's on a completely different level of power. The way he uses his weapons and techniques, it's incredible." Replied Conner. "Trent tried to get him with his speed, didn't work, Kira tried to use her weapons, didn't work, I tried to attack from behind, didn't work, and Ethan…Hey what a minute where is Ethan?"

Krista shrugged. "I think he said something about the new 'Galaxy Wars' coming out in a week and that he had to line up to buy tickets."

"Tickets?" echoed Conner raising an eyebrow. "I don't recall wanting to watch that movie."

"Oh, the tickets are for himself, he wants to watch it at least ten times." Replied Krista as she took a seat next to Conner on the couch and snuggled up to him.

You're kidding right?"

"Nope."

Reefside, being the small town that it was, had only one Movie Theater called the "Millennium Theater." The theater had survived earthquakes, fires, and even epic battles between giant monsters and giant robots. But never in its fifty-year history, had it seen something like this. The premiere of Galaxy Wars Episode 3: Return of the Swordsman. The entire front of the theater was surrounded by fans of the popular movie series, who had all come in anticipation of the premiere of the final chapter of the epic movie saga. Many of the people had come dressed in costumes of the galaxy destroyers, or Vega the dark knight, or Lucas the last of the galaxy samurai, Ethan was not one of those people. Instead, the young African-American wore his normal street clothes, which consisted of a light blue plaid shirt, an untucked white undershirt, and a pair of baggy blue jeans.

At the moment, Ethan was standing in between, a 35 year-old-man dressed up like Java the intergalactic convict and a pretty girl with medium length blond-hair, which was tied into two pigtails. But Ethan didn't notice her; he was too lost in his Comic book. A light tap on the shoulder brought him back to reality. Ethan turned around; it was the girl with blond hair who had tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, I was wondering if I could read that when you're done with it." Asked the girl politely.

Ethan smiled warmly before handing her the comic book. "I've read it like a million times"

The girl warmly returned the smile. "Me too, I'm Angela."

"Ethan."

"You must think I'm one of those strange girls who would prefer watching a sci-fi movie, instead of spending the day outside." Said Angela as she flipped through the comic book.

"Actually no, I mean I have a bunch of friends who think the exact same thing." Replied Ethan. "In fact tonight's prom, but I'm not going because I plan on buying at least ten tickets for this movie. I wanna memorize every single line."

Angela giggled, and Ethan felt his heart skip a beat. "Me too." Angela said with a smile.

Mesogog was annoyed, why was it that he had to be surrounded by such fools? Why was it that none of his plans ever worked? Tommy Oliver, that is why. The man had more battle experience then anyone in the city; he was smart, resourceful, and very powerful in battle. In many ways, he was the leader of the group. "Take the head and the rest of the body falls…." Mesogog whispered softly as he watched Elsa create yet another Ruby Dragon Monster from the card she had taken from Ethan a week ago. Although Mesogog personally didn't like the idea of using the same monster twice, Elsa had insisted that it be done, only this time, it would be modified using the Evolution Beam that Mesogog had constructed several months back.

"My lord the monster is ready." Said Elsa, indeed it was. The new and improved Ruby Dragon stepped out from its chamber. "I've made several modifications to this monster while analyzing it's evolution. The Rangers don't stand a chance."

"Excellent….." hissed Mesogog.

While Mesogog was hatching up a plan to destroy the Rangers, Zeltrax was hatching up a plan to destroy both Mesogog and the Rangers. After months of digging, he had finally found it, the Ancient Mobile Fortress, which he had discovered, years back when he was the human called "Smitty." But that was a long time ago, it had been years since Smitty had seen sunlight with his own eyes, instead of through the visor of his helmet. Years since he had breathed fresh air on his own instead of using a machine to help him. Hell, it had been years since he had even seen his own face. 'But all that doesn't matter now. Now that I have you…' Zeltrax thought as he stared up at the massive weapon. Towering at over 50 meters, the monstrous machine was the thing that was going to help him exact his revenge.

"Soon Tommy, you shall pay, you shall all pay!" screamed Zeltrax into the air.

Mesogog's new Ruby Dragon had proven to be a massive pain for Tommy, it had appeared in the park, while Hayley and Tommy were enjoying a picnic of sorts. Tommy of course took Hayley to safety before engaging the monster in battle, unknown to Tommy, Hayley had decided to stay and watch the battle. A powerful slash across Tommy's chest was more then enough motivation for him to call for help. "Guys, I could use some help right now!"

Everyone heard the call, from Trent who was taking drawing lessons, to Kira who was practicing with her band, to Conner who was spending time with Krista, to Ethan who was happily chatting with Angela.

"Uh…" said Ethan to Angela. Angela tilted her head in curiosity.

"Sorry I have to…." Continued Conner to Krista. Krista nodded, knowing just what that something was.

"Go, something just…." Said Kira to her band, the band groaned in disappointment.

"Came up…" finished Trent, his art teacher looked at him disapprovingly.

The four separate Dino rangers left their individual areas and quickly got ready to morph. Raising their Dino Bracelets to their chests, and with a small flash of Dino Energy, the bracelets quickly changed into their morpher forms. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Ready!"

"Ready!"

"Dinothunder! Power-up!"

"White Ranger Dino Power!"

Tommy almost immediately regretted calling for help, since it created an opening for the monster to attack. And indeed it did, using it's sharp claws, the monster delivered a powerful slash onto Tommy's shoulder, it's sharp claws gripping his shoulder, refusing to let go. The monster quickly grabbed Tommy's other shoulder, and kicked him in the gut. The monster quickly followed up by hurling Tommy over his shoulders and blasting him with purple energy bolts.

Tommy struggled to get back up, as the Ruby Dragon continued it's slow march towards him. The monster was quickly stopped by several laser blasts, fired from three Raptor Cycles and one White Thunder ATV. Reinforcements had arrived.

Ethan quickly hopped off his bike and ran over to see if his teacher/teammate was alright. "You ok?" asked Ethan obviously very concerned. The others ran over to confront the monster.

"Yeah." Grunted Tommy as he struggled to stand up.

The rangers all circled the monster, each of their individual weapons were drawn. Conner, with his Tyranostaff, Kira, with her pteragrips, and Trent, with his Dragosword, attacked simultaneously the monster fell. For a few seconds the monster twitched, Trent shot a few energy arrows at it, and then it stopped twitching.

"Is it over?" asked Kira nervously, Kira's question was quickly answered by a massive flash of energy, which blew her and her teammates away. With a roar of fury, the ruby dragon monster got back up and attacked the three rangers so quickly that they were all sent flying before they could realize what had just happened.

The monster began glowing until it became a brilliant .color of violet. "Now the real fun begins!" snarled the monster as it became pure energy. The energy blob/monster flew into Tommy, at blinding speed.

"Dr. O!" shouted Ethan.

"Tommy!" cried Hayley.

Tommy felt strange almost as if there was another entity in his body; he tried to crane his head in order to get a better look around. Instead, he found his right arm lifting his blade up, entire body got up and got into an attack stance.

"Dr. O?' asked Ethan nervously.

'SHIT! It can't be.' Thought Tommy frantically.

Tommy's worst fears were confirmed when he slashed Ethan across the chest and followed up his attack with a powerful kick to his gut. Ethan stumbled into the arms of his shocked teammates. "Dr. O! What the hell are you thinking?" snarled Conner angrily as he helped Ethan stand.

Tommy tried to command his body into apologizing, but instead other words came out. "Your precious Dr. Oliver isn't in control of this body anymore." Sneered Dr. Oliver, but the voice that came out wasn't Tommy's; it was the Ruby Dragon's. Tommy's had been possessed by the Ruby Dragon.

"No way." Gasped Kira.

"Yes way. Dr. O's been possessed by the monster." Replied Trent as stepped forward ready for battle, the blade of his sword was lengthened into it's longer form. . "We have no choice but to beat that monster out of him."

Trent charged forward, and started the battle with slash aimed for his mentor's neck, a slash that was easily parried and countered with a kick. Trent quickly grabbed Tommy's leg and twisted it, causing him to fall onto his back in the process. Tommy countered with a sweep kick, which also brought Trent to the ground, followed with a falling elbow to the cut. Trent demorphed before he coughed up some blood. Conner and Kira decided to join in and attempt a double team attack, but they were quickly repelled by Tommy's windblast, shot out from his Brachiostaff. The two were blown back at least 20 feet back before falling and demorphing.

Tommy turned his attention to Trent, an aura of killer's intent was present, but he was quickly interrupted by Ethan, who charged into battle armed with his Thundermax saber. Unfortunately for Ethan, Tommy was much more skilled in sword fighting, and Ethan fell quickly, before he also demorphed in a bright flash of blue light.

"HAHA! These are the mighty Power Rangers!" sneered Tommy/Ruby Dragon, as Tommy walked over to finish off the rangers. It was at that very moment when Hayley decided to intervene and stand in his way.

"Tommy, I know you're in there, please don't do this." Begged Hayley.

It was at that moment when Tommy realized that he had to take charge, that he had to fight this thing that was controlling his body; because if he didn't then he would end up killing the most important person in to the word to him. Tommy's body began to twitch, as the two entities began to battle for control of his body. 'What good is all this strength and power if I can't even use it to protect the one I love most! THIS IS MY BODY AND IT'LL DO AS I TELL IT TO!' thought Tommy as he dug deep and summoned out strength that not even he knew he possessed.

Tommy's Brachiomorpher began to emit brilliant flashes of black and gold Dino energy, as Tommy began to repel the monster from his body. And with a scream of agony, the monster was repelled from Tommy's body and back into the physical world, back into its own body. Tommy stood there panting, on the brink of passing out. "Pathetic human, you may have beaten me, but the war is far from over. Lord Mesogog's dream shall be fulfilled, remember that." Growled the Ruby Dragon as his body began to disintegrate.

'Possessing Tommy's body, and being forced out of it must have pushed it's body past it's limits.' Thought Hayley as a small breeze picked up and the remnants of the monster was scattered by the wind.

With a small flash of black and gold, Tommy demorphed, before smiling affectionately at Hayley and falling into her arms in exhaustion. "Thanks Hayley." Whispered Tommy tiredly.

"You're welcome." Hayley softly replied.

Zeltrax explored the small town, around the area where he had found the newly dubbed "Zelzord," despite the crowds of people running away from him in terror. The police were soon notified and quickly arrived to stop Zeltrax. "Pathetic humans" Zeltrax angrily snarled as bullets harmlessly bounced off his body. Focusing a large amount of Dino Energy into his right hand, Zeltrax sent several blasts of green energy at each one of the cars surrounding him, destroying them. The police quickly ran, all except for one.

"S-S-Stay away!" stuttered the lone police officer as he fired round after round at Zeltrax, but it was useless. The cyborg was now inches away from the police officer. The poor man tried to run, but it was useless, Zeltrax soon had his hand around the poor man's neck. "P-Please, I have a family." Begged the Policemen.

For a moment, it seemed like Zeltrax would actually spare him, but instead he drained the man of his life force and in the process, Zeltrax grew much stronger. With a soft thud, the man's lifeless corpse was dropped to the ground. "A family huh? Don't worry they'll join you soon enough. Them and the rest of this town shall serve their purpose of increasing my power." With that said, the sinister cyborg ran off to find more victims. Screams could be heard, but they were never answered……

Conner was nervous as he walked up to Krista's front porch, of course anytime a person who has to wear a black tuxedo and red bowtie on a date would be nervous, it was time for prom the defining moment in a person's high school career, the moment which would make or break a relationship. Conner wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. The day had been hectic, so Prom would actually be very nice way to relax and have some fun. The red ranger took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. Slowly the door opened and Conner let out a small gasp of surprise.

"I'm feeling a sense of déjà vu here." Commented Krista smiling as she walked out the front door. She was wearing a sparkling champagne colored dress, which hugged her curves and made her entire body seem all that more beautiful. Her chocolate brown hair had small traces of glitter in it and was tied into an elegant bun of sorts; beautiful couldn't even begin to describe the way she looked.

Conner smiled before offering his date/girlfriend his arm and walking her over to his red convertible, the back was filled with a hundred roses. "Wow." Gasped Krista in amazement.

"You like it? I thought you might." Said Conner as he opened the door for her. "C'mon Prom awaits."

Prom was held at the school's gym, which had been thoroughly cleaned and decorated for such a magical occasion. Lights hung from several wires, along with a shiny disco ball, which reflected light in sweet colors of red, blue, and violet. A live band was playing a fast-paced party song, and Ethan, well Ethan was playing his gameboy. With smiles, Conner and Krista walked over to greet their friend. "Hey Ethan, I thought you said you weren't coming."

Ethan's attention was diverted from his game playing for a second, a soft crash sound came from the game, and Ethan stared at it in horror. "NO!"

"What's wrong?" asked a very concerned Krista.

"I just died; I was just five points away from beating my high score too." Groaned Ethan miserably.

Krista stared. "Anyways, I thought you said that you weren't coming to Prom."

Ethan smirked. "I did, but it didn't stop my mom from going out behind my back to buy me a Prom Ticket and renting me a tux."

"And what about your date? Did she find that for you too?" teased Conner

"Actually no, I found her and she's right behind you with a very annoyed look on her face." replied Ethan calmly.

Conner jumped about 4 feet into the air when he felt somebody tap him on the shoulder. Fortunately, for him it was just Trent who had decided to mess with Conner, after hearing Ethan's statement. "Gotcha!" Trent happily exclaimed over all the laughter.

"Very funny." Remarked Conner. "But seriously Ethan where's your date?"

"Over here."

Everybody's head snapped to see just where was here. It was right next to Ethan, his date had been standing next to him the entire time. "Hey guys, I'm Angela, Ethan's told me so much about you."

The rest of the night had proven to be a great way to blow off steam for rangers and civilians alike, Conner danced with Krista, Ethan reluctantly danced with Angela, who had prove that she was quite the dancer, Trent moonwalked and did the shuffle with Kira, while Tommy and Hayley chatted with Anton Mercer. Of course the couple also broke away to dance a bit themselves.

The night ended strangely when Anton felt a bit queasy and decided to break away from the rest of the group. Tommy being the observing person that he was followed, Hayley being his girlfriend also followed, Trent being Hayley's part time worker followed suite, Kira being Trent's love interest also followed, Ethan being Kira's source of therapy followed, Conner being Kira's teammate followed, and Krista being Conner's girlfriend quickly followed after. Angela was in the bathroom.

The entire group followed Anton into the halls of the school where he reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. "That's my ruby dragon card!" exclaimed Ethan in shock "But that's impossible, it was taken by Elsa a week ago."

Anton stared at the card in his hand in horror. "But that's impossible, how did it get here?" Anton suddenly began to violently spasm, his mouth became much bigger, his teeth became deadly fangs, ivory spikes began to grow from the back of his head, and a sickening green glow covered his entire body. When the glow had dissipated, where there once stood Anton Mercer, there was now Mesogog.

"No way." Gasped Ethan in surprise.

"Anton Mercer is…." Continued Kira.

"Mesogog." Snarled Conner angrily, as he quickly summoned his morpher onto his wrist.

"Trent Mercer." Growled Mesogog. "You have betrayed me. How could you have told them."

"No, I never betrayed you…." Replied Trent desperately,

"You knew!" cried Kira. "You knew about all this! How could you not tell us!"

"What was I supposed to do! He's my father."

"For now maybe…." Snarled Mesogog. "I shall postpone your demise for another day."

An invisaportal opened up above Mesogog sucking him into it and teleporting him away. Leaving the rangers in complete conflict.

"Go team?" asked Ethan trying to lighten the mood. It was useless.

A/N: Jeez, it seems that every time I write one of these, I'm apologizing for taking so long to update. Oh well. I hope you like it. This chapter was basically a way for me to further Tommy and Hayley's relationship as well as begin to set the gears in motion for the ending of this story. I know it sucks, but don't worry, I'll make the ending a grand one. On a much lighter note, to answer Warstock-Leonhart's comment about the ancient race, introduced in the previous chapter, being the Eltarians. It's not. I'm trying to keep each season as separate from this story as possible. Note the fact that I didn't even bother to mention Kimberly's name in the previous chapter. So that means that people from previous seasons will not be making guest appearances.

Please Review, it's motivation for me to write more, and improve my writing. Plus it's nice to know that someone is actually reading my story.