Whoo, new story! This started out as a one shot but it ended up being longer than I anticipated, so I broke it up into chapters for more convenient reading. This occurs during the Time Force episode "Quantum Quest" when Eric kidnaps the quantum ranger powers (that's right, I said kidnap. The dick.). In the episode, the box containing the powers was dug up by archaeologists...cue everyone's favorite dinosaur bone lover, Dr. Thomas Oliver!
Please read and review!
Chapter 1
'Another day, another dig,' Tommy Oliver thought to himself as he searched his small kitchen area for his keys. 'Or rather, another day, another lost set of keys.' He thought of calling to Katherine to ask her if she's seen them, before remembering that she wouldn't answer.
'Because she left you,' he thought bitterly to himself. 'Because you're an asshole who can't make it to her opening night on time, let alone make a commitment to your relationship. Asshole.'
After ten minutes of stewing and all but tearing his small apartment apart, he swallowed his pride and called his digging partner.
"Let me guess," Anton Mercer stated when he answered Tommy's call. "You're running late?"
"No," Tommy said defensively. "I just...need a ride is all... I lost my keys. Can you drive?" he finished sheepishly.
"Of course," Anton replied, and Tommy could hear shuffling on his end. "I'll load my car and be on my way."
"Great," Tommy muttered. "Thanks, man."
Twenty minutes later, Tommy was loading his things into Anton's trunk.
"Thanks for driving, man," Tommy said as he climbed into the passenger seat.
"My pleasure. You know, now you owe me a favor," Anton said quickly as he pulled away from the curb.
"What?" Tommy paused in buckling his seat belt. "I mean, yeah, okay. I was going to offer to pay for the gas since it's my turn to drive anyway, but...wait. Wait." He rolled his eyes as he realized what Anton was getting at. "You still need someone to go to Paraguay with you."
"Peru," Anton corrected. "It's only for a few months, and it'll be great experience! And best of all, it's so secluded, this island, that the benefactors won't even be there breathing down our necks! It'll be just you and me and Smitty, digging all day, drinking all night, breaking barriers in the areas of DNA and technology, just like the good old days!"
"First of all, no." Tommy started ticking reasons off on his fingers. "Second of all, what good old days? We only met two years ago. Third of all, no. Fourth of all, do you even drink? Fifth of all-wait, you convinced Smitty to go? But no! It's still a no!" Tommy wouldn't let himself get distracted during his rant. "Fifth of all, exactly what DNA are we using, the dino DNA? Did you not watch what happened to those idiots at Jurassic Park? And sixth of all! No. Just no."
"Aw, come on," Anton pretended to whine. "It'll be fun!"
"You sound like Katherine when she wanted me to go with her to the zoo," Tommy said darkly.
"You're still moping about that?"
"The damn birds kept squawking at me! Every single one of them-even the pigeons at the outdoor food court! And that crazy tiger cracked the glass on his enclosure when he tried to attack me! And I swear he was freaking smiling the whole time, like it was some big game to him!"
"Um..." Anton commented once Tommy was done. "I meant you're still moping about Katherine, not the ill-fated zoo trip. Though that was odd how the falcons and tigers reacted to you. ...What kind of shampoo had you used that day?"
"It was after I cut off the mullet," Tommy glowered.
"Of course," Anton said, though he was smiling. "Since you brought her up, how is Katherine?"
"I don't know," Tommy moped. And though he didn't want to talk about it, it was a safer topic to discuss with a non-ranger than why the falcons and tigers at the zoo were so excited by his presence. "She refuses to talk to me."
"Wonder why," Anton commented idly as he pulled onto the highway. Tommy turned to glare at him. "What? You were an asshole."
"Thanks for the support, buddy."
"I liked her," Anton continued almost cheerfully. "You two were good together, then you just had to go and-"
"I know," Tommy snapped at him, and he had a brief vision of a green burning candle. He shook his head to still the unconscious glimpses of evil he sometimes experienced. "I know," he repeated more calmly this time. "I was. I ruined it. But she's off living her dream while I'm stuck here, unemployed, in a tiny-ass apartment, and I can't even drive to a job interview because I can't find my damn keys in my tiny-ass apartment. So at least she appears to be benefiting from my asshole-ness, because it's ruining me, which is what I deserve at this point."
"How'd you lock the door?" Anton randomly asked.
"Hmm?"
"How did you lock your front door if you don't know where your keys are?"
"Oh, the handle has a lock on the inside, so I just locked it from the inside before I left."
"Oh." They drove in silence for a few moments before Anton dared to say, "So...how are you going to get in once we get back?"
Tommy took a moment to process this, then he let out a string of swear words.
"I had to say it. I just had to say it," Anton mumbled to himself as they passed a sign that read it was 279 miles to their destination. "Silver Hills, you cannot come quickly enough."
279 miles later, Tommy's temper has stewed as excitement had slowly taken it's place. He could sense Anton's excitement as well as the highway took them along the outskirts of the city and led them out to the desert. Anton pulled hand-written directions out of the map pocket in his door.
"Alright, so, the gentleman in charge of this dig, Dr. Hammond, said we take Exit A, then take a right when we get to the dirt road, and it will lead us straight to the dig site."
"Exit A?" Tommy mused. "Is that really what it's called? Don't exits usually have a number?"
"Yes, I questioned that as well," Anton commented as he kept a look out for exit signs. "As it turns out, they built this exit specifically for the dig site. Once they're finished they'll expand the dirt road to include the next section of land. Once they get a few miles away they'll just build a new temporary exit ramp and let this one-" he gestured as he finally saw the construction sign on the side of the road that warned them that Exit A was a quarter mile away. "-be taken over by nature once again. Ah, here we are," he commented as he flipped his turn signal to indicate the car would be taking the exit ramp.
They took a right when they got to the end of the man-laid gravel exit ramp, and continued to follow the dirt road. Although, Tommy wouldn't call it much of a 'road'...it was more like 'grass' that had just been driven over by dozens of vehicles over and over again.
"Hmm, what's this?" Anton asked, tearing Tommy from his observations of the road.
Tommy looked up to see what Anton meant and was equally confused. The road seemed to end, but there was no dig site. Instead, there was a single jeep and a young woman leaning on the hood. As Anton slowed to a stop, she waved.
"Hi," she said warmly, coming over to Anton's window. "Are you Anton Mercer and Thomas Oliver?"
"That we are," Anton replied enthusiastically. "Are you Amelia?"
"That I am," she said. "I'll be introducing you to the dig site this afternoon. Follow me and I'll lead you to camp."
Anton thanked her, and as she walked to her jeep Tommy couldn't help but think, 'She's cute.'
They followed her down the 'road' for a few minutes, before they finally came upon a scattering of tents and a few vehicles. Amelia's jeep stopped next to the other jeeps and trucks and she climbed out, indicating they should park next to her.
"Gentlemen, welcome to Area 1A," Amelia Strauss said as the car pulled to a stop and they opened their doors.
As they exited the vehicle, Tommy was hit with the heat, the scent, and the atmosphere of a dig site.
It felt good to be back at it.
"I'll lead you to your tent now," Amelia Strauss said after pointing out a few of the main points on site. "You probably won't spend too much time in it, but it's big enough to store your things during the day, or if you just need to get out of the sun for a while."
"I love the sun," Anton replied.
Amelia smiled politely at the middle-aged man's slightly awkward-yet-adorable-because-he-is-a-middle-aged-man comment. "We also have a cooling tent, and a mess tent that's open but completely shaded so you get the breeze and the shade. The normal tents don't have much ventilation, I'm afraid. They get really stuffy, and uncomfortable in this heat."
As they walked towards the tent Amelia said was theirs, they heard several vehicles approach behind them.
"Ah, this will be the convoy with the second shift of the diggers. Everyone is staying in the same hotel, and every day we all drive in together. Those with smaller vehicles or who flew in will usually hitch a ride from those with all-terrain vehicles. Dr. Hammond will also be coming in with this group today."
At the entrance to their tent, Anton and Tommy stopped with Amelia as the cars parked and people and equipment were unloaded. One particularly dirty pick-up truck pulled in last, the cargo area loaded down with digging equipment. A woman hopped out of the front seat and started giving directions, pointing out where things should go.
"And there she is," Amelia said.
"Who?" Anton asked.
"Dr. Hammond."
Anton blinked. "Dr. Hammond is a girl? I mean, the person I talked to was a man," he quickly covered. "When Dr. Hammond called, it was definitely a man."
"Yes," was all Amelia said. "It was."
As soon as Amelia looked away, Anton raised an eyebrow to Tommy, who just shrugged. He was also confused, but was more focused on one of the pieces of equipment that had just been unloaded. It resembled a very large, very heavy-looking, mechanical shovel.
He couldn't wait to get his hands on it.
As Tommy was watching two diggers set it up, Dr. Hammond's voice carried over the organized mess that was part of the process of setting up a dig site.
"Those go by Rick, he can set them up. Marcus, these boxes go to the mess tent, we got a donation of granola bars. Rubin, for pete's sake, have someone help you carry those!"
"You can't make me-I am man!" the man that Tommy assumed to be Rubin said in a joking serious tone.
"Yeah, okay, until you pull out your back and spend a week sitting around whining about it," Dr. Hammond said jokingly. "Angelina, help him out."
Wait a minute, Tommy thought to himself. I know that voice...
He spun around, looking frantically between the groups of people before his gaze landed on a woman standing in front of what appeared to be the main tent, only because it was the biggest. She was wearing khaki shorts, a black tank top covered by a loose button up yellow shirt, and boots with yellow socks sticking out of the top.
"Ashley?" he muttered to himself.
As if she had heard him, Ashley looked over and her gaze met Tommy's. She cracked the smallest of smiles and gave him a 'look', silently reminding Tommy that technically they didn't know each other.
"You know Dr. Hammond?" Amelia asked curiously.
"Um. Kind of," Tommy tried to cover. "We went to the same high school. She was younger," he said lamely.
"You attended Angel Grove High?" Amelia asked.
"Yeah..." Tommy said cautiously.
"So you know all about Ransik?" she asked eagerly.
Tommy blinked. "Who?"
"Hmm. Guess not," Amelia replied, before indicating they should follow her inside their tent. "Ransik is a mutant being who is currently terrorizing Silver Hills. You should have seen the city from the highway on your way here."
"We did," Anton confirmed. "There is also a power ranger team located in Silver Hills, is there not?"
Amelia nodded as she held the flap of the tent open for them. "Despite her age and lack of experience, Dr. Hammond was placed at the top of the candidate list for this position due to her familiarity with, you know, bad monster dudes."
"Bad monster dudes?" Tommy repeated.
"Yeah," Amelia said sheepishly. "I don't know what to actually call them, so that's just what I started calling them. Most people around here just refer to them as the evil robots."
"I like it," Tommy admitted, and the two beamed at each other as Anton looked amusedly back and forth between the two young archeologists.
"So," he spoke up cheerfully. "Amelia, are you going to be accompanying us? I'm afraid we may need some guidance on our first day here."
"Oh, of course," Amelia replied, forcing herself to break eye contact with Tommy. "I'll show you around, introduce you to a few people, then you can get started right away if you like."
"Wonderful!" Anton said, clapping his hands together. "Just give us a minute to get our gear together and we'll be on our way!"
Tommy gazed at the closed tent flap for a few moments after Amelia had left, not wanting to wait in the stuffy tent. When he turned back, Anton was beaming at him. "What?"
"She's cute."
Tommy scoffed at his friend's unspoken suggestion. "No."
"You don't think she's cute?"
"No, she is-I mean, I guess she is...But I don't-I mean..." Tommy stammered. He pulled himself together and pointed an accusing finger at Anton. "No girls. No dating. Stop smiling."
"You should get her number."
"Shut up."
"I'm only looking out for you, kid."
"Stop it."
"Fine, fine," Anton agreed. "But you're like surrogate family to me, Tommy, and I just want to see you happy."
"Do you harass all your surrogate family members like this?" Tommy muttered as he opened his kit.
"No, but Trent's only fourteen," Anton reached for his own kit. "For now I just don't want him to get anyone pregnant."
"Who's Trent?" Tommy asked blankly.
"Melinda and Brian's boy? Ah, I don't believe you've met him. He's more interested in sketching in his notebook than making his presence known at any of the functions his family attends."
"Melinda and Brian are married? To each other?" Tommy asked incredulously about the archeologists he had met just a few times at said functions. The only reason he didn't know them better was because he made an effort to stay away from the short-tempered digging partners.
Anton threw back his head and laughed. "Hard to believe, huh? They actually get along at home much better than at work. And they're just wonderful with raising their son together, surprisingly."
"That is hard to believe," Tommy muttered as he and Anton both loaded up their bags with the tools they would need for the afternoon. "Anyway, ready to go?"
"Yep. Another day, another dig," Anton was smiling with anticipation as he turned to face Tommy. "Let's do this."