First, I'm sorry I'm late updating. This chapter was a brat and I didn't have enough computer time. Second, this is a very short chapter, because, well, it's supposed to be a TV show, and I suck at transcribing fight scenes. This episode pretty much had the average fight-scene time of a usual PR ep. So I finally had to just transcribe the plot and leave the fight scenes out. I have a feeling they won't be too hard to imagine, though...:p

Location: Mesegog's Laboratory, Unknown Waters
Date: August 30, 2003

This is how it feels to be Tommy Oliver:

For the first time, you are a father.

Conner, Kira, and Ethan share no DNA with you, but that is a formality. They share more, share games and fights and laughter and nightmares; they are the children of your soul. And your daughter, one of the three precious jewels of your heart, has cried herself to sleep on your shoulder while you bandaged horrifying injuries and tried not to weep over them too.

Someone has hurt your child. And you will kill them.

It's as simple as that.

The morph shimmers away almost before you knew you would morph. Green. Of course it would be. You are the first Green Ranger, Commander of the Green Power.

But first things first.

You cut your way free and scout out a safe place to hide Kira, a room someone abandoned when you sunk the island. The only other time you'd been this angry, come to think of it. Mesegog really hadn't learned anything from that.

Kira doesn't wake when you set her down on the old couch. Probably for the best. You don't plan on keeping your gloves clean.

Then you head straight for Mesegog.

A few Tyrannodrones encounter you. You take the first one, tear its arm off, and use the limb to snap its neck. The other drones run away as quickly as possible.

Alarms go off.

You grin.

Mesegog is in his command center with his generals. You wrench the doors apart with your bare hands, and idly notice Kira hiding in a corner. You take your blaster and toss it to her. She can shoot anything that escapes. She's a pretty good shot.

You pull the door shut, though. She doesn't really need to see this. Anyway, you're already a bit gross from Tyrannodrone blood.

Zeltrax charges first. You kick him in the balls, for the lulz. (And make a note to self: Stop lurking on Ethan's sites, you're starting to pick up their lingo, and really, you are far too old for that.) He makes a rattling, mewling noise, and Elsa screams like a banshee, charging. You stab her stomach with the Dragon Dagger, then hit her temple with it, sending her down. As an afterthought, you strike the back of Zeltrax's skull the same way.

"Sloppy." You comment when he goes down. "Armor should cover natural weak points."

Then you walk up to Mesegog and sink your fist into his face.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Reefside, Earth
Date: August 30, 2003

Conner and Ethan studied the street. Tyrannodrones were wandering around it, looking for civilians.

"Okay, we need a plan." Ethan whispered.

Conner held up a fist and raised an eyebrow.

Ethan rolled his eyes.

The two of them were, technically, not supposed to be out of the hospital yet, but they'd gotten bored and found a working radio, which was transmitting emergency broadcasts from citizens who couldn't make it to a shelter, and, well, they were almost healed. Kinda.

"Tommy would slaughter us." Ethan whispered.

"Dude. Tommy's not here." Conner paused, catching a glimmer of Ethan's thought, that he sounded like a little boy with a new car. "...Dude."

Ethan grinned. Slowly. Gleefully.

They nodded in synch, then ran off.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Mesegog's Laboratory, Unknown Waters
Date: August 30, 2003

The Power was changing.

Tommy gritted his teeth as he blocked a strike. This was weird. He'd started off calling on the Green Power, but as soon as he'd sunk his fist into Mesegog's face, it had felt...different. Darker.

Almost black...

Tommy growled, resorting to a more complex, but more powerful series of moves. He was losing power, too. Green was a violent Color, a living weapon. Whatever he was transitioning to was calmer, more defensive. It wanted to wait and form barriers.

This was not exactly part of his kill-everything-that-moves-in-revenge plan.

Tommy slammed his fist into Mesegog again, this time simply frustrated. What did the Power want? Why was he so-

Kira screamed.

Something...happened. It was a bit too fast for Tommy's brain to register. He glanced down. Judging from the corpse, Zeltrax had woken up and attacked Kira. Kira had shot Zeltrax, while Tommy had taken the sharp edge of a table that was apparently connected to the floor and shoved it through Zeltrax's spine.

Okay, then.

Tommy turned back to the fight when all of it started adding up. The darkness, the protectiveness...

He glanced at the still-encased Black Dino Gem.

"Hey, Mesegog." Tommy asked, a very evil grin sliding over his face. "You still want that Gem open?"

*PR*PR*PR*

August thirtieth was not the day the world learned just how much they needed heroes.

Instead, it was the day that Tommy Oliver and the Dino Rangers, using morphers and what they gleefully referred to as 'BFGs', saved Planet Earth. It was the day that a new team of Rangers was formed.

And it was the day when everyone blinked and asked a question that, amidst the dishes and laundry and picking up kids from soccer practice, hadn't been asked.

There had been other Ranger teams. Rangari, the first Rangers, obviously; the Space Rangers; Lightspeed; Time Force; Wild Force; and rumors of ninjas.

Those teams had vanished three years ago.

Where had they gone?