So guys, I don't own anything you recognize, yada yada. This is my first fic, so I'd really appreciate reviews! They'll help keep me going!! Sorry for the long wait! One of the reasons it took so long was because I hate writing fight sequences, I'm no good at it.

Park

"What does that mean?" Tommy grunted as he pushed hard against Zeltrax's sword with his Brachio Staff. Zeltrax swung his sword in a wide arc to break the hold. Tommy came back in swiftly, with a striketo his opponent's side. "I said, what are you talking about?" Holding his injured side, Zeltrax laughed at the Black Ranger.

"Right about now little Nicole should be getting a surprise of her own. A little welcoming party, courtesy of Mesagog." Charging forward, Tommy angrily swept Zeltrax's feet out from under him, unceremoniously knocking him to the ground. Taking advantage of this brief respite, Tommy called out to his Red Ranger.

"Conner!" In the midst of struggling with his own group of Tyrannodrones, Conner turned towards his mentor.

"Dude, a little busy here," he cried, sending a Tyrannodrone that was coming upon him staggering backwards with a hard kick to the chest, "what do you want?"

"I need you to check on Nicole. Mesagog's sent someone after her," Tommy quickly stepped to the side to avoid a blow from the recovered Zeltrax.

"Oh no!" Kira cried as she flipped over the head of a surprised Tyrannodrone. "We were supposed to meet her for smoothies at Haley's…maybe she's still there." Kira knocked down the unsuspecting Tyrannodrone with a blow to the head.

"But, Dr. O, why me?" asked the confused Red Ranger as he danced around Tyrannodrones.

Ethan nearly got bowled over by an incoming Tyrannodrone as he stopped to give Conner his patented, Are you really that stupid? stare (the one that only Conner seemed to receive). He hoped his stare was somehow transmitted to his red friend through his helmet, but doubted Conner would pick up on it. He threw the incoming Tyrannodrone over his head and into a nearby tree.

"Well, Conner, let's think about this for a minute. Just how many of us have super speed, hmm?"

Realization dawned upon the Red Ranger; Ethan could swear he even saw the light bulb.

"Just go!" Tommy grunted, pushing Zeltrax away from him. Jason and Trini would kill him if he let anything happen to Nicole. In fact, he would probably have an entire ranger squad after him if she was harmed on his watch. He prayed, for both their sakes, that she was alright. Conner demorphed and took off in a blur of red.

&&&

Woods

Nicole readies herself as she surveyed the pack of monsters she was up against. She knew that she could take care of herself; of course she was a little more advanced than an average teenage girl, considering she grew up with a team of Power Rangers, but she was well-versed in self-defense. But with a group this large even she knew it was only a matter of time. Despite the odds, she was determined to take down as many of these things as she could.

As the first Tyrannodrone came at her she ducked under the wild kick, sweeping out his other leg as she went down, causing him to fall to the ground. Dodging another kick thrown at her, she grabbed the Tyrannodrone's leg and threw him into his friends so that they all toppled over. Taken by surprise, as one of the Tyrannodrones had circled behind her, she was knocked face first into the ground by a hard hit to the middle of her back. Spitting out dirt, Nicole realized that these were a bit smarter than the mindless soldiers she had come across back in Angel Grove. Spinning around so as to lay on her back, Nicole threw up a leg just in time to flip a Tyrannodrone that had been reaching for her over her head. She leapt to her feet, panting for breath.

"So out of practice," she muttered as she took down a Tyrannodrone with a roundhouse kick to the head.

&&&&

Conner slowed down as he neared the entrance to Haley's Cyberspace, not wanting to attract unwanted attention. Pausing to catch his breath, he opened the door and walked in. Glancing around, he spotted Haley, working even harder since the staff was down one worker as Trent had left during his shift, but no sign of Dr. Oliver's niece. As Haley deposited smoothies onto a table full of impatient teens, Conner waited until she was walking away from them before laying a hand on her arm.

"Hey, you seen Nicole?"

"Uh, she came here to meet Kira and Ethan, but she left a while ago since, you know, they weren't here," she deposited her now empty tray on the counter, waiting for the next order. "Why do you ask?" she asked, now worried. She knew that the rangers were battling a disturbance in the park currently, for Conner to leave and look for Nicole meant something was up. She loaded the next batch of multi-colored smoothies onto her tray and looked to Conner for an answer, only to find that he was no longer there and the doors to the Café were banging shut. That only meant trouble. Something was definitely up.

&&&&

"He's going to be too late," Zeltrax said ominously as he rolled to the side to avoid taking a direct hit from the Black Ranger. "By the time he gets there, the damage will already be done." Tommy viciously swung at him with his Brachio Staff, but with his emotions ruling, he was only getting in lucky hits. Zeltrax, assuming that this battle had bought enough time for Mesagog's plan, thought it would be best to retreat.

"This was just a warning. The worst has yet to come." With a swirl of green, Zeltrax and the Tyrannodrones vanished.

&&&&

Conner blurred through the trees at a rapid pace. The only way to get to Dr. O's was to go through the woods, so it made logical sense that Nicole would get waylaid there. But there were so many trees…There! He caught a glimpse of green and black and turned around to go back at a slower pace to see if it was really Nicole. It was, and she was surrounded by a pack of Tyrannodrones. He saw her take a particularly hard hit to the jaw, and she was sent sprawling to the ground. Conner grimaced and his face hardened in anger. Taking a few steps back, so as to not be seen, Conner thought it wise to morph.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Hah!" His red suit wrapped around his body as he rushed forward to help his fallen friend.

&&&

Nicole stood up, wiping blood from her mouth. That one hurt. She took down another Tyrannodrone with a well-placed right hook, but was too slow to avoid a harsh kick to her mid-section. The hit had sent her flying. Squeezing her eyes shut as she braced herself for a rough impact into a tree, she was pleasantly surprised when she hit something much softer than any tree. Looking up in confusion, she saw a sea of red.

"Not exactly how I planned it in my head, but this'll do," the ranger said as he held her in his arms. Apparently, he had caught her mid-flight, saving her from a crash landing. Setting her down gently away from the mass of Tyrannodrones, he took notice of her scrapes and bruises. "You stay here; I'll take care of them." Normally, Nicole wasn't one to let someone else fight her battles for her, but in this case she decided to let the Power Ranger do his job. She knew that she was down for the count. Her uncle hadn't told her this city had rangers.

As the mysterious Red Ranger turned to fight off her attackers, Nicole let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

&&&&

Kira demorphed as the rangers grouped together. She turned to their mentor.

"What was that all about?" He demorphed to face her, eyes burning.

"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get back to my house, hopefully Conner found Nicole and took her there."

"Hopefully he found her," Ethan muttered and Kira sent a glare his way. His eyes widened at her glare, "What?" She just rolled her eyes and turned back to Dr. O.

"I should probably go back and help Haley. I kinda ran out in the middle of my shift," Trent rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little guilty.

"Go ahead. If we need you for anything, we'll let you know." The group split; Trent went in one direction and the rest headed for their main base of operations.

&&&&

"C'mon, let's go," Conner said after he had defeated the remaining Tyrannodrones. He fought with an anger and an urge to protect like he had never had before. He knelt down to pick the teen up, but she brushed him off.

"I can walk," she grabbed hold of the Red Ranger's arm to help pull herself up. But as soon as she let go, she stumbled forward and would have fallen flat on her face had the ranger not caught her. He swept her into his arms and chuckled.

"I don't think so," he said as she blushed. Conner trekked through the woods to Dr. O's house, as Nicole spouted off directions that he already knew by heart.

&&&&

"I hope no one sees us riding in our teacher's car. Cause that might look just a little weird…" Worried Ethan from the back seat of Tommy's jeep. Kira just rolled her eyes at him in the rearview mirror.

"Cause that's really what we were worried about right now Ethan." Dr. Oliver had just tuned them out anyway, concentrating on driving. He was thankful that he had years of racing stock cars, for he was now putting that experience to good use. Kira grabbed the dashboard as he took one hairspin turn that she thought was going to make the jeep tip over. "Woa, there, Dr. O. You might want to slow it down a little. You'll be no good to Nicole if we wind up in an accident."

"I was just trying to lighten the mood a little, geesh," complained Ethan.

&&&&

They had finally reached Dr. O's house and Conner set Nicole gently down onto the couch in the living room, where they had first met. How fitting. He lifted her chin, tracing the bruise that was already forming along her jaw. His gaze traveled across her face, taking notes of the minor cuts and bruises.

"We should probably take care of those. Clean them up or something…" Conner trailed off as he went to look for some medical supplies. He knew there would be some in the basement, of course, but he obviously couldn't go there. Figuring Dr. O at least kept an ice pack in the kitchen, he went to the fridge. Grabbing one he walked over to the couch to give it to Nicole.

"Here, for your jaw…"Conner trailed off as he noticed the brunette had fallen asleep on the couch, exhausted from the fight. He dropped the ice pack down onto the coffee table next to the couch and, deciding it was safe to do so, he demorphed. Sitting on the edge of the coffee table, Conner leaned over to brush a stray strand of hair away from Nicole's face. As he spied her bruises he felt guilty for not reaching her sooner.

He heard keys clattering, the doorknob rattling, and three sets of feet pounding through the front door. Conner turned to the trio that entered and held a finger to his lips just as the boy in blue opened his mouth to say something. Tommy sighed as he saw his niece lying on the couch. She didn't look too bad, probably more shaken up than actually injured. Now she was sleeping peacefully.

She had fallen asleep with a small smile upon her face.