Cat: Reviews! YAY! As thanks I give you all the longest chapter yet. It's mostly humor with a tiny itsy-bitsy battle at the end. One quick note, I introduce the Ankylozord in this chapter. I like him. I think he's cute and he kicks butt. Therefore you will be seeing a lot of him. Please don't ask where the other auxiliary zords are. They're there; I just don't feel like writing about them. Also, as to how he got un-self destructed, Haylie seriously needs a hobby, as we have seen on the show several times. After all the zords blew up, fixing them became her new task.
Disclaimer: Back you fiendish lawyers! Back I say!
"What are we doing here again?" Max asked.
"We're meeting the DinoThunder Rangers." Taylor replied.
"And why exactly are they in trouble?" He asked.
"Max!" Alyssa admonished. "Don't you watch the news?" Max looked at her blankly.
"Why would I?" Taylor rolled her eyes.
"Um. Isn't this where we were supposed to meet them?" Danny asked, glancing around. They were out in a secluded section of Turtle Cove Park, and there were no other people in sight.
"Maybe they got lost." Alyssa suggested.
"Maybe they stayed home." Max said hopefully and the others glared at him. "I'm sorry, but it's cold and wet out here." He was right, it had been raining and Turtle Cove was below the clouds and the Animarium above it, so the perfect weather that they were used to just didn't apply on solid ground.
There was a very loud crash from every direction around them and the Rangers circled up instinctively, scanning the bushes for any signs of hostile movement.
"That was the worst landing Haylie has ever arranged." A grumpy male voice said from one of the soggy bushes. He pulled himself out of it, covered in small scratches and itching like crazy. Looking at his feet, Cole identified poison ivy and instantly felt sorry for him. There was a good deal of splashing in the little pond on the other side of them and The Rangers watched a wet, bedraggled teen emerge from the filthy water.
"Yeah." He agreed. "That was definitely the worst."
"Next time," said a girl. She dropped from the branches of a tall tree and landed heavily on the ground. "I'm taking the bus." There were leaves and little twigs in her hair, which she was trying in vain to remove.
"Opps." Said a voice through their communicators. Suddenly all three caught sight of the Wild Force Rangers.
"Um." Said the girl.
"You're Kira, Ethan, and Conner, Right?" asked Alyssa.
"Tell me you don't want an autograph, or a piece of my hair." Kira said nervously.
"No way!" Max laughed.
"We're the Wild Force Rangers." Cole said, extending a hand. "I'm Cole." Conner shook it happily, and Kira's face broke into an easy smile.
"Thank goodness."
"Ok, I'm sorry about the landing guys." Haylie said, her face was reflecting in the water of a pool of water in the Animarium. It was a feat which Ethan had already fully examined, and much to his delight, he couldn't figure out how it was done.
Kira was sitting on the edge of the pool, brushing her hair out, Conner was scratching absently. Ethan was in completely different clothes, his other ones having been hung up somewhere outside the clearing where the girls didn't have to look at them.
"Oh yeah." Conner grumbled. "You're sorry. Just think how sorry we are." Haylie was laughing her head off, and not looking really sorry a bit, so Kira was grateful when Tommy broke in and asked to talk to Shayla. It prevented the conversation from escalating from mild complaints to verbal violence and kept the entire encounter rated G.
"Do you have any idea how cool this is?" Ethan asked, rejoining the Wild Force Rangers. "This place defies all the laws of physics."
"Ethan." Kira said. "You've told them that four times already."
"So, how's being the only girl?" Alyssa asked, struggling for conversation.
"Conner and Ethan aren't that bad." Kira shrugged, sitting down on a bench next to the white ranger.
"If nothing else they're…" She paused, trying to be nice. Or, at least, nice-ish. "Enthusiastic." She decided finally. Alyssa giggled.
"I love to say that I can relate, but I can't really. Only Max is like that."
"Where is Max?" Kira wondered.
"Good question."
"I think he went to go get some dinner." Cole said, catching their conversation.
"He didn't try to make it, did he?" Taylor asked, slightly fearfully.
"No."
"Just checking." She glanced over at Kira. "Very long story. You really don't want to know."
Kira was about to say something, probably to ask exactly what it was that she didn't want to know, when she found herself flat on the ground, a large orange mass pushing into her face. Alyssa let out a little shriek, and Taylor jumped back in fear. A giant eye was staring at her. Kira got to her feet and shoved the orange backwards. "Ankylazord." She laughed. He sat back on his haunches, peering at them. "Sorry about that." Kira said. "He didn't mean anything, did you Ank?"
Cole rested a gentle hand on Ank's head. The zord snorted and carefully lifted Cole upward, then dropped him from about two feet in the air. Both were grinning broadly. "Is he yours?" Cole wondered.
"Yeah." Kira sighed.
"He's pretty cute." Taylor said grudgingly. Ank smiled, and nudged her playfully with his nose.
"Oh." Kira slapped her zord playfully on the tip of his huge nose. "Go do something with your life." Ank looked at her with large puppy dog eyes. "No. I will not play with you." Kira told him. "There are plenty of other zords on this island who'll play with you." Ank made a noise close to a grumble and stalked off. His exit was ruined however, by him breaking into a skip a few feet away.
"Could you really understand what he was saying?" Alyssa wanted to know.
"Sort of." Kira admitted, dusting herself off and sitting back down. "I get more like, feelings." (A/N If they got their zords under control in Day of the Dino by communicating their thoughts it makes sense that they have a connection, right?)
"Haven't you gotten him to leave you alone yet?" Ethan asked. Kira glared. "I got Stegozord to cut it out. You just have to be firm."
"Bad example." Conner told him and Ethan realized a second to late what Kira was going to point out.
"Yeah. And then Trent managed to take command of him and nearly blow us bits." Ethan grimaced.
"Fine. Don't take my advice. You're the one who's got to deal with it. Anyway," He pulled out his laptop and set it on his knees.
"You brought that?" Conner asked.
"You brought full soccer gear." Ethan reminded him.
"Did it ever occur to you that you may not get internet access on a floating island?"
"I do. I already checked."
"How?" Taylor asked Kira.
"He probably hacked something."
"He hacks?"
"I don't think he calls it hacking, but pretty much."
"You managed to filter through the global database and gain access to government and private files?" Danny asked. The Wild Force Rangers all stared at him, having never known him to be good with technology, or to have any interest in it.
"It wasn't that hard really, once I got past the first firewall, it was smooth sailing. Wanna see?" Danny leaned in over Ethan's shoulder and they both went off on some complicated description of what Ethan was doing, using a lot of computer terms.
"Would you believe that?" Taylor asked the next day. The eagle zord was flying over head, a stick in its mouth, then dropping it on the other side of the island. Ank would then go tromping through the woods to retrieve it. They'd been doing this for several hours, though neither zord seemed to tire of it.
"As long as I don't have to throw the stick, I don't care who does." Kira said.
"Still, they both seem to be having fun." Alyssa pointed out.
"I give it about five minutes before Eaglezord throws the stick in the water." Taylor said, and as if in response, there was a loud splash.
"I hope Sharkzord doesn't eat him." Alyssa said nervously. As one the three dashed to a cliff overlooking the large lake in the middle of the Animarium. Ank was using his large flat back as a flotation device, and the Shark zord was surfaced and eyeing him carefully. Tigerzord was watching them both, then with the ghost of a smile, he hit the edge of the water with one of his massive paws. A wall of water crashed over both zords and they turned to stare at the tiger.
"I can not believe he just did that." Alyssa said. Sharkzord grinned toothily and used his tail to propel a large quantity of water at the tiger, who jumped at the last second. Instead the water hit Ank, who retaliated accordingly. He blew a stream of water from his mouth and the tiger zord used his back as a stepping stone to dive into the water a few feet away from Sharkzord. A full scale water war ensued.
The three girls just watched in amazement. Until a shadow fell across them. They looked up fearfully, to see the sun completely blocked out by a huge shape. Red Lion leapt from above them and cannon-balled into the water, sending a good deal of it crashing on the girls, even though they were high up. They glanced at each other, at a loss for words. They glanced again over the edge then, "Last one in's a rotten egg!" Taylor shouted and leapt. Kira and Alyssa were right behind her.
"What are you two doing?" Max asked, he and Conner leaning over Ethan and Danny's shoulders to see onto the computer screen.
"Growing flowers." Danny answered shortly.
"On the computer?" asked Conner curiously. responded Ethan cryptically.
"You might not have gotten the memo, but I'm not a computer geek. I'm gonna need a longer sentence then that." Conner informed them.
"Mindless fun." Danny added.
"Yeah see, still not long enough." Agreed Max. Ethan sighed, and glanced over at Danny. He nodded and they both shifted slightly to make room for the other two.
"See, you click here, and the seed is planted and whoosh, you watch it grow. And you click here to get a different kind of flower. And it seems boring, but then you start planting a bunch at the same time and it gets really addicting." Ethan explained eagerly.
"Here, try." Danny urged. Max leaned over then awkwardly and obeyed. He clicked experimentally at first, but was soon pounding on it in excitement.
"Wow. That really is addicting." He pronounced as Ethan pried the computer back from him. "Move over." The boys budged slightly, making room for him on the bench and three sets of eyes locked onto the screen.
Conner glanced over at Shayla, as though searching for comprehension.
"Don't look at me. I don't get it."
"You were the last one in Alyssa." Taylor laughed that night. The three girls were soaked through and were currently arguing over a hairdryer.
"Bisonzord was the last one in." Alyssa argued. Bisonzord snorted and the other zords laughed. Red Lion smiled and blew on the three of them gently. The wind created had them dry in an instant, and Red Lion stepped back looking very proud of himself.
"Thanks." Kira said in surprise. Red Lion nodded and bounded off.
"Look." Alyssa said, nudging Kira. She turned to see Ank asleep under some trees, snoring gently. Kira hid a smile.
"Aw, how sweet is that?" Taylor asked. She started suddenly, snapped from her easy sense of happiness as Eaglezord gave an ear piercing screech. Ank awoke with a start and jumped to his feet. About two hundred gray men were hopping from foot to foot and looking as if they were ready for a fight. Then they charged.
"What are these things?" Kira asked loudly.
"And how did they get here?" Alyssa wondered.
"Whatever they are," Taylor said kicking one hard in the chest, "they picked the wrong gals to mess with."
"Right." Kira agreed, she punched one of the gray things and it vanished. "Man, these aren't any stronger than the cogs." She muttered. Taylor elbowed one in the stomach, and it reeled backwards, then ran directly at her again.
"Oh, so you liked that."
"If we're going to be attacked by random, putrid-type monsters, can't we at least get attacked by ones we recognize?" Alyssa groused, and swept the legs out from under one of the creatures. Alyssa turned to another and flipped him on top of his partner. Ank roared and stomped heavily on a couple of the monsters, when he raised his foot again they were gone. Tigerzord and Eaglezord joined the fray and they almost lazily eliminated the rest of the attackers.
Cat: All you people who haven't reviewed yet, don't you feel left out? Just review and I'll thank you in my author's note too! Also, I try to privately respond to all signed reviews, so feel free to ask questions.